land of the lost
"Cora?"
Upon seeing such a familiar face, so out of its familiar surroundings, she gulped down her nerves before greeting the woman her sister had supposedly given her life for
"Hey, Brunnhilde, long time no see"
The brunette ran towards Cora and took her in her arms, the woman was astounded at the display of affection coming from the warrior
"If you are here to kill me as revenge for Sigrún I understand, but I will put a bit of resistance" joked the valkyrie with a hint of seriousness and fear when they broke the hug, Cora just shook her head and smiled brightly
"Today is the 1000th anniversary... Well, at least I think it's still the same day, time here is weird" she trailed off in thought before continuing. "Anyway I visited the other girls for the first time this year, I didn't see you, then they told me you were still alive, so I came here" justified the queen shrugging
"Well, you found me, now what? And please make it quick because I just practically kidnapped a god for pissing me off and I left him at my apartment" Brunnhilde had always been blunt, she was still sweet and a good person, but let's just say, if she invited you over for dinner and you overstayed her welcome, she would have no problem in plainly stating so and showing you to the door.
"A god? The thunder one?" She asked, half hoping it wasn't him, since she had just sent the Hulk to find him, and half praying it was, because if it wasn't Thor, then it was probably Loki.
"No, i'm actually helping him find their way out of here, but his brother, Lackey I think, pissed me off, so i'm keeping him restrained while blondie finds their ship" explained the woman, who by now had made her way towards a bottle of alcohol and downed it
Cora only started feeling the dread of being there now, Thor may let her off the hook, but Loki will remember that Cora said she would be gone for a longer time, she also said she was going 'home', the whole 'her being in Sakaar' would bring so many questions, and if anyone would ask those questions would be the god of mischief
"I want you to go back to Asgard, I know you're trapped here, I can bring you back home" said Cora to the woman's first question, causing her to choke on her almost finished bottle
"I'm not going back to that golden realm, I'm not fighting Odin's fights again, look how it ended" answered Brunnhilde, her eyebrows still furrowed in confusion at the woman's sudden request
"You think I don't fucking know how it ended?" she started exasperatedly, then took a deep breath and carried on "Look, you can do whatever you like when we're out, wherever you like to as well, but, I suggest you go back, tell Odin you're under my wing and working under my jurisdiction, he can't drag my soldiers to the battlefield without Valhalla giving him the green light" bargained Cora, truly hopeful that the valkyrie would accept
"Cool" she said and without any other words she turned around and walked out of the room, now in the hallway she realized Cora hadn't followed her, "Are you coming? I have two gods and a green champion to help!" She called loudly, making Cora grimace at the thought of it, either way she caught up to her and they started walking
"Look, I know those guys, or gods, okay? And they have no idea what I am, and I intend on keeping it that way, so please, please, please refer to me as Cora Francis, you can tell them we met through mutual friends and I came here because my daughter needed something from Sakaar and I ran into you and tagged along" Cora practically begged her friend to get behind that story, thankfully she nodded in agreement, impressed by Cora's ability to make up lies in the moment
A few minutes of silent walking, Cora reminded herself of who Loki was and added something else to her request "I also have to put a spell on your mind, it won't intervene with your memories or anything, but if Loki tries to read your mind to see what you know about me, he will only be able to see things that back up my story"
"Look, as long as you don't play with my actual memory, do whatever you want" she granted casually "but why would he read my mind to find something about you?" Questioned the woman with clear curiosity more than confusion
"Because, I technically live with them and a bunch of other super powered creatures, and they know pretty much nothing about me, no one can read my mind and I get very snappy when they ask too many questions, I only told Loki yesterday that I had a daughter because he saw me have a meltdown" Cora laughed lightly while she spoke but then scowled when she ran into Brunnhilde's back, who had stopped abruptly and turned to watch her with wide eyes
"I thought I had misheard you! You actually have a kid? Wow" her voice was filled with pure surprise, the last time she had seen the woman she was giddily telling her older sister about how she had learnt to conjure up fireworks in her palm, like it was the most amazing thing in the entire galaxy, and now, she had a kid, someone to teach those same tricks, and that, for some reason, was what made the valkyrie realize that she was definitely not a little girl anymore
"But, yeah, do whatever magic you need to do" reassured the valkyrie dismissively, and after sending a purple wisp of magic from her fingertips towards Brunnhilde's left temple, Cora felt the littlest bit more confident about walking through the warrior's apartment door, which was now right in front of them.
She took a deep breath and when the brunette opened the door, the first thing she saw was a god of mischief, chained and looking at the window, planning on not even acknowledging who he thought would only be the woman that had gotten in his current position
Instead, his head whipped towards the entrance when he heard the bewildered remark of a very familiar voice
"It amazes me, you know, the fact that I left less than a day ago and you idiots managed to lose the Hulk and get yourselves trapped in another realm, tell me do you all just wait for me to leave and then decide to be mindless shits?" She asked, rhetorically and very loudly, one would say she was angry, but in fact, she was just trying to cover up her nerves with rage
"What the hell are you doing here Cora?" retorted the god with narrowed eyes when he finally found his voice back from his shock
"None of your business, grease, now tell me what the fuck happened? 'Cause all I got from jolly green was that he crashed a jet and that Thor is a bad friend" she questioned pacing through the small space
"So, you're sakaaran then? That makes no sense... although with you nothing ever does, you're enchantingly unpredictable, but still" mumbled the god, mostly to himself, ignoring Cora's questions just as she ignored his
"How sweet, you're flirting with her" quipped the woman from the bar, downing probably her fifth bottle since they found each other
"Of course he is flirting with me, i'm hot as fuck" said Cora absentmindedly, still pacing through the room as she thought on how to help them leave without blowing her cover
Suddenly the doors opened again and the booming voice of Thor sounded, he, obviously, oblivious to his best friend's presence
"My friends, I have gotten brother Hulk to turn back into brother Banner, but I'm afraid we lost the Quinjet in the process" started Thor, muttering sheepishly the last part, then recovered and added, "but fear not, i'm sure by now our friends will have awoken lady Cora, she''ll come to our rescue" the energetic speech caused Loki to roll his eyes from his chained chair, Valkyrie to grin teasingly at Cora (probably finding amusing that the prince referred to the queen as 'lady'), and the woman in question to snort and smile brightly
"That's so sweet of you, goldilocks" she said, making the two newcomers finally recognize the woman
"What the-"
"Oh, Bruce! I'm so glad you were able to change, Hulk was pretty adamant to do so when I saw him, and Thor, I hope you didn't get any bad cuts jumping through that window" beamed Cora clapping her hands cheerfully as she made her way towards her two friends, giving both a quick hug and inspecting them for any injuries
"LOLITE! I knew the earthlings would send you" cheered Thor
"Oh yes, they were so worried for you three" confirmed Cora at the same time as Loki yelled "They didn't send her" which earned him a hard glare from the woman, confused looks from the two other men and a snicker from the brunette by the bar
"I don't understand" thought aloud the god of thunder
"Yes, and the Earth goes 'round the Sun" muttered the still chained up prince
"Why are you here then, Cora? In a, you know, whole different planet" Questioned the doctor, warily examining his suroundings as he spoke
"Yes, why indeed?" echoed the god of mischief with a shit-eating grin
"I had to run some errands here and ran into an old friend" sighed the woman vaguely, gesturing towards Brunnhilde when she said 'old friend'
"And how on earth do you know a Valkyrie?" Questioned the nosey blonde god, at this Cora briefly panicked, before collecting herself
"Y-You're a Valkyrie?! And never told me?!" Cora gasped with wide eyes, perfectly selling the surprised act
"Didn't think you'd know what that was" shrugged the warrior, playing along
Loki narrowed his eyes not quite believing her, while Thor and Bruce explained to Cora what had happened, how Heimdall had taken them to Sakaar but now had no way of going back, something about the bifrost only being able to take people to the lost kingdom that was Sakaar, but not back.
Cora remembered how her bronze friend had tried to warn her about something before she stormed off, now it made sense, he was probably about to tell her that the princes were there or that she would have to help them get out
When they finished she called them all around her, Loki now free of his restraints
"Okay, Loki, I know you got on well with the Grandmaster, go and get one of his best ships, no tricks or I will hurt you" threatened Cora which merited her a solemn nod "Bruce and Thor, you gather all of your stuff and go to the roof of this building, when we have the ship we'll pick you up from there" the two nodded as well, "Val, you are coming with me, we have a deal to strike" she finished and the brunette mumbled an 'aye aye, captain' while raising her empty bottle
Cora was almost out of the apartment when she heard a condescending voice addressing her, "Sorry, but are you daft? Are you truly not sending any backup with me? You know, in case I feel the need of betraying you and get a few favours from the Grandmaster by handing you in" wondered the god of mischief with his usual teasing tone, earning a growl from his older brother
"No, I trust you" assured Cora simply before leaving the apartment with the rest, leaving behind a frozen Loki trying to recompose his thoughts
- - -
"So, let me get this straight, you, want to take 142 aka my best scrapper, my second best warrior, my new cute friend and a random 'doctor', whatever that means... That would leave me with just my Grand champion" Cora bit her lip at the Grandmaster's words, 'Not really since the doctor is your champion only he's in his less destructive form' she thought to herself, but for obvious reasons refrained herself from voicing it
"Yes, and, in exchange, you and all sakaarans would go to Valhalla, or Helheim if they refuse to do the tests, you'd be a part of our afterlife, instead of that horrible void you'd all go to instead, I visited once, trust me, it's nasty" bargained the woman with the expertise of a queen
"Ah-ah-ah, then that would put me under your jurisdiction, and, well, I don't think I'm a big fan of that" argued the man pointing fingers with a childish pout
"Yes, Jeff, but, if I'm being completely honest, as long as you don't wreck havoc through the universe, I don't really give a fuck about what you do" said Cora, honestly getting kind of tired of the negotiation
Of course she could easily put a spell on him, but as a ruler, you always have to keep the most powerful people on your side. Spells wear off, but debts? Not so much
"Yeah, okay, deal, you've got it" agreed the man, finally.
From Cora's open palm, a long, old looking contract materialized, floating over her hand, an inked quill appearing from thin air and floating towards the Grandmaster's hand, ready to be taken and used for the signing
"You can proofread it if you wish to, though, you should know better than to question the veracity of my words" dismissed Cora, winking at the valkyrie behind her, who had been watching the whole exchange in grave amusement
'Jeff' finally put his name on the piece of paper, handing it over to the woman, and just as it had come, it disappeared. They exchanged a quick shake of hands, just in the sake of old formalities, she then made her way back to her friend
"Bye, dictator, do give my best to your champion" said the queen, cheerily waving before taking Brunnhilde's hand and vanishing in a cloud of purple mist
- - -
"Why don't you free all the gladiators from the contest of champions? Aren't you supposed to be all benevolent? You are just leaving knowing there are prisoners doomed to gruesomely die" spoke the valkyrie as they made their way to where Loki should be
"Firstly, you're being a hypocrite, half of those gladiators are there thanks to you scrapping them up, '142'" she replied, still looking straight ahead, making quotation marks when saying the number Brunhilde was known for in the planet, "secondly, liberty in death" she finished with a shrug indifferently, until her friend started laughing... that had the queen's eyebrows furrowing in confusion
"Dude, if you weren't literally heaven's boss, i'd say you sound like a derailed prophet trying to promote suicide" said Brunnhilde between laughs, answering the unasked question
"Yeah, that's why I spent a millenia away from the living, they usually take offence if I say that they should kill themselves" muttered Cora humorlessly, actually looking back to how many encounters surrounding that topic had ended, "i just have honest knowledge that death is better than life... unless you end up in Helheim but, c'mon"
Brunnhilde in return just shook her head in bewilderment and kept on walking
- - -
"I'm glad you actually followed through, prince of mischief" mocked halfheartedly the woman when they found Loki by the biggest ship dangling with the keys before the queen snatched them out of his grasp
"God of mischief" corrected the man with irritation "I would very much like to know how in the nines you managed to convince the Grandmaster to let you leave this place with us" mused the pestering god, and this time it was Cora's turn to roll her eyes in irritation
"Obvious, I put a spell on him, I am, after all, somewhat of a witch or whatever" she shrugged, earning a nod from the god and silent cackle from the valkyrie. And with that they got on the ship, picking up the other two boys on their way, and out of the sickening planet