Chapter 35
“Tony, what the bloody hell happened here?” Lilith asked, as she returned, only to find Paris floating.
“Mom, I think Dad messed up.” Six-year-old Ron said.
“I figured, honey.” She said to her son, watching the floating city on the news from Avengers Tower, deserted. “Stay here, Ron. Teddy, watch him.”
“Yeah, I figured. Dad told me to stay put. Told me to tell you Ultron was a little too sentient.”
“I have to go.” She said, as for the first time in a long time, she walked through the tower to the apparition point, Basilisk-hide battle robes with an acromantula silk bodysuit underneath.
She disapparated to the outskirts of Paris, before going to the Eiffel Tower. This was far past the moment to hide her powers.
“Tony, what the fuck is going on?”
“Ultron didn’t like his mission objective. I summoned the Dragon legion back, they’re helping and evacuating.”
“That won’t be enough. Tony, get everyone off. I can handle Ultron.”
“Lilith…”
“Tony.” She said her voice calm, cold, form, and calculated. “Get everyone put. Even the Avengers.”
“Ok.” Tony shot off again, getting everyone off. Now that he was ignoring Ultron, he managed that in twenty minutes.
“Thanks Tony. Now get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Activate idiot genius portkey.” Tony was whisked away, as cameras around lost focus.
Lilith closed her eyes, and reached for her deep wells of stored energy.
“Your magic won’t beat me. I know you, Lilith Stark.” Ultron said.
“Honey, Ultron, nobody really does.” She said sweetly, as emerald fire exploded from out of her. It seized the floating city that was Paris, and seized all of it. Then she pushed.
Ultron shot, rounds and rounds of bullets. None of them even came close.
“Is that really the best you can do?”
Legions of robots lined up behind him. “This is the best I can do. As I planned it, all of you against all of me. Because as a robot, I have no soul, and I cannot die.”
“Ultron, everyone has a soul. And yours is now mine.”
“Death will not get to me.”
“Death reaches everyone eventually.” Lilith said, “even you. Even me.” And then she tugged. A wise person learned from everyone, even the enemy. And so she took his soul, partially imbued with her own magic, and tugged.
Out of him fire not only his soul, visible only on the magical spectrum, but also a golden colored stone. Lilith kept it floating there, hissing in pain. “Darcy, start Operation Yin and Yang.”
Darcy apparated in, understanding. Back to back with Lilith, she reached out with her own magic, grasping the soul stone. Then she reached out with her magic through the golden stone, as it acted like a magnifying glass.
The tesseract created a small portal for itself and disappeared from the Weapons Vault.
The reality stone followed the space stone, it’s semi-sentience glad to escape Knowhere.
Pietro got the burst and instinctively knew to open the orb, as the power stone disappeared.
The eye of agamotto flared to life, the time floating out of the hands of the Sorcerer Supreme.
The mind stone disappeared from Baron Zemo’s base, joining it’s fellows.
All six infinity stones circled in front of Darcy, as Lilith held the three Hallows.
“Now?” Lilith asked.
“Now.” Darcy confirmed.
The power absorbed into the two sisters as they stood back to back, sharing the power boost. And just as the power reached its peak, they cut their hands and clasped hands, back to back.
They both changed in Merlinian, having known this beforehand. They had known this would happen, just not when.
The pulse of pure magic burst out of them, just as Paris sat down again. The Eiffel Tower lit up, a beacon of magic and the sisters set down on the ground, realizing they had been floating a little.
The only visible change was the vibrant emerald fires in both their eyes, swirling not only emerald, but if one looked, gold, blue, green, violet, red, orange, and bottomless black. The silver aura around them dissipated, as their hands healed over and they hugged.
Lilith grasped the soul stone in her hand. It didn’t burn, it didn’t feel anything. Just a stone.
“They’re just stones now.” Darcy said.
“They’re you now.”
“And the Hallows are you.”
“Life and death, united by the blood of a madman. Poetic.” Lilith said.
“Is he that bad?”
“He wasn’t. Not in the beginning. But then he left, and I was fine. I was the orphan they expected me to be. But then New York.”
“It was the anniversary, wasn’t it?”
“May 16th, and he was the exact mirror of Voldemort. I didn’t see him, I still don’t. For all intents and purposes, my father is dead. Sirius might as well have been my father, I wish it were so. I see the worst in him now, because that was what he showed.”
“I’m just trying to understand him. You always said family is everything.” Darcy said, as they apparated to a Black Family property nearby, where it could be just them.
“Family isn’t only blood. Jane is your family, isn’t she? Teddy was never blood adopted, yet so is he. Your mom has no relation to me yet she’s like Aunt Petunia was. Dudley has no relation to you, yet he was still the fun cousin when you were drowning under calculus homework in high school.”
“Ugh. Calculus. Hogwarts didn’t have that.”
“That was arithmancy.”
“Which you didn’t take.” The sisters dissolved in lighthearted giggles at the familiar fond giggling.
“Hela, why were you exiled?” Thor asked.
“A long story that involves a broken treaty, a tryst on Midgard, and a broken bifrost.”
Thor chuckled. “Well, you’re not the only one, I am simply surprised you were exiled for so long.”
“I started the Vanir-Aesir war and got the Valkyrie killed. Odin is dead, and I am back. It does not bother me any longer, given I served far more than a proper punishment.”
“I nearly did the same, but with Jotunheim. I am merely surprised father did not return you after you learned the lesson in mind as he did with me.”
“What did you do, restart the war? Your mother is Vanir and the one who ended the war, although I am surprised she had not killed at me yet. I started the war by killing her father, the King Consort and nearly killing her mother.” At both brothers questioning looks she said, “it was a skirmish over a bilgesnipe egg, a sword, and dwarven mead, and I will admit all of us were very much drunk, but it exploded because was I supposed to know Vanir couldn’t survive a mere single stab that didn’t even go through the heart*?”
“Yes, I should think you should have.” Loki drawled. Since he had feverishly read up on bylaws, finding out for sure that unless both his siblings and his mother wished himself behind bars, he would be free no matter what, Loki had been testing the bounds of what he could and could not do.
“Well I didn’t, I got exiled until high and mighty but nevertheless inanimate Mjolnir came to me, but given it was then handed down to you,” she glanced at Thor, “that didn’t exactly happen.”
“How old are you?” Loki asked.
“Older than you.” Hela snapped back.
“So how did the Jotun-Aesir war start? Those books were redacted and since it wasn’t me, it had to be done involvement of yours,”
“Odin was always thorough with his lies. It wasn’t me per say, I was exiled shortly after I helped start that as well..”
“But the war… that is a tale. My birth father was dead weeks after my mother was pregnant, but his sister was my mother’s blood sister and as well as my mother since Odin wasn’t exactly the parent-type.”
“Is that supposed to be news?” Loki snarked. Thor gave him a glance, but Loki brushed it off.
“So when a Jotun prince kidnapped, raped, and eventually killed her, well, I was far from asking Odin not to wage war. I did have the pleasure of violently exploding said Jotun, although I regret he did not die, and was instead transplanted to a much larger body, giving a literal definition to Frost Giant, although one that could father no more children. Considering he had no other family but his parents, reigning monarchs and both killed in the war, I am sure I ended that royal line.”
“What was the prince's name?” Loki asked, “in case you haven’t heard I was born on that world.” Loki casually sipped his mead, reclining on his chair. His legs were kicked up on the table, and Thor sighed but he didn’t protest, knowing how fruitless it’d be.
“Laufey.” Hela hissed, and Loki and Thor both choked on their mead, spitting it back out again.
“Pardon?” Loki asked. He may have been a super villain, but he was a high functioning one that did have manners.
“Laufey. What, heard the name? If he still lives, there is no more Odin to stop me acting out on a grudge I’ve held very well.”
“Consider it a favor, I killed him 8 years ago.” Loki said.
“Then why such a reaction?”
Thor cleared his throat, glancing at Loki. “Are you alright?”
“I won’t try and kill you again. At least that explains how I can shift.” Loki said, as blue crept up to his wrist.
“I’m missing something.” Hela deadpanned.
“You know, if Odin had told me the whole story we might have done away with the whole mass murder angle.” Loki said. “Though that would have included revealing Hela’s existence, so…”
“My Earthen shield-brother, Toby Howardson, his wife Lilith recommended I get you something they call counseling.”
A strange look passed on Loki’s face but it was brushed away “Hela, do promise me you won’t try and kill anyone?”
“What.”
“Last I checked, this is all according to Odin, of course, I was born Loki Laufeyson.” Loki said. “Four years younger than Thor, although time is different on Jotunheim so I was likely actually born the same year.”
“I was exiled mere months before you were born.” Hela said to Thor. “But… Laufey, even when he was king of Jotunheim, never had a queen. Or rather he tried making Frigga that as well but that was the final straw for Odin.”
“So that was why Mother was so thankful when I killed him.” Loki said.
“But if…” Helas eyes widened. “That makes you not only half-Aesir. That makes you related to me by blood.” Then Hela started cursing up a storm in every language, not only those of the nine realms, and Loki’s eyes widened a little when he recognized Merlinian, as well as others, from Kree to Groot. “So that was why he left her alive.” Hela said, suddenly frighteningly calm.
“A warning, if you want to use the bifrost to destroy Jotunheim, make sure Thor won’t come barging in and stop you, I made that mistake.” Loki warned.
“My long term planning is a bit better.” Hela answered as she swept out, as elegant as Frigga at her best.