Chapter 1
A young couple wandered through the entrance hall, stopping occasionally to remark upon the structure and decor. The woman, a classical beauty with glossy raven hair and sea green eyes, had an indulgent smile playing about her lips. Her attention was not directed towards the elegance of her surroundings but towards her partner, a fit man of considerable stature with shorter blond hair and slate grey eyes, gesticulating enthusiastically towards their surroundings. Upon noticing his partner’s attention was directed solely on him he turned to face her more fully, his hand slid around to the open back of her black satin gown while the other went to caress her jaw.
She wound her arms around his neck, leaning her body into his crisp dark grey suit, “As much as I love to hear about the history of architectural development in German culture, why do you think we were directed here?”
He chuckled lowly into her ear, his voice was rich and husky against the strains of classical music floating through the hall. “Well it’s certainly not because of your great proficiency in the fine arts. We should just enjoy ourselves. A date night in Germany, all dressed up,” he trailed his finger up her spine.
She shivered lightly at the sensation, her voice coming out breathily by his ear, “You’re mother hates me, so I’m not so sure I should find this particular date night comforting.”
He placed a feather-light kiss along her jaw, before pulling her through the gala halls, “Without all the information it is nearly impossible to know what my mother is planning. Let me worry about that, and you can just enjoy our night away from everyone.” The couple continued to wander through the gala, making notes of the other guests. Persephone’s eyes had just lingered on the lithe frame of a guest confidently descending the stairs, seemingly intent on his path, before she refocused on Andrew once again. Not even a minute later screams rang through the hall and the young couple was forced to evacuate among the mass of people running towards the hall’s entrance.
Persephone and Andrew pulled away to the side of the courtyard out of the throng of panicked gala attendees, looking for the source of the disturbance. It didn’t take long for Persephone to single out the man who had caught her attention earlier and alert Andrew to the origin of the chaos. The man was now adorned in a green and black leather ensemble complete with golden armaments and a dual-horned helmet.
Perse turned to Andrew with her eyebrows raised, “Do you perhaps think that” gesturing to the spectacle forming, “is the reason your mother arranged for a date night?”
He bent down to draw a celestial bronze dagger from a holster on his ankle, “We don’t have to intervene if you don’t want to…”
Her response was a deep sigh and a sharp look, “Like I want to give your mom another reason to object to our relationship. As it stands she mostly hates me on principle.” As she spoke, Persephone pulled an elegant clip from her hair, releasing her raven tresses and providing a weapon as the clip transformed into a gleaming sword, a xiphos adorned with wave like patterns along the middling-length blade.
As the pair moved to intercept the still unidentified man (?) standing above the crowd of kneeling innocents, they were able to tune into his monologue, “It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled…” Perse and Andrew snickered at the absurdity of the lunatic’s speech. “…you will always kneel.”
The heroine cut in, “And ruin my dress?” Loki spun around to identify the source of the interruption. “Many a man has wanted to see me on my knees, but I’m not a fan of servitude myself.” Perse twirled Anaklusmos in her hand, while Andrew disappeared from view. While invisible he moved to begin evacuating the courtyard by creating diversions for their opponent’s various replicas and then pulling the gala patrons away during the moments of distraction.
The original copy drama goth roared at the woman in front of him, sweeping his arm to encompass her person, “And who are you to defy me? I am a god amongst you mere mortals!”
“And yet you still won’t find me prostrating myself to appease your deranged whims. Why don’t you try me?” Anaklusmos was quick to meet the strike of the scepter aimed for her skull. Instincts ruled as the two exchanged a flurry of strikes, Persephone relying on her ADHD-honed swordsmanship and flexibility to combat a barrage of quick strikes. After blocking an over-handed swing, she used the opportunity to plant her foot against her opponent’s chest and create distance between the dueling combatants.
Chest heaving from adrenaline and exertion, Persephone took the momentary break from fighting to locate Andrew efficiently cutting down the clones. Distracted as she was by Andrew slicing through the last clone, Persephone wasn’t able to react in time to block the blast of energy from striking her unprotected shoulder and forcing her to slam into the concrete steps behind her. She groaned lowly, vaguely registering Andrew’s exclamation of concern, before struggling to raise her sword to defend herself. She was saved from further effort by the appearance of a walking American flag.
“You know the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing.” The newcomer strode towards the momentarily winded opponent, trading what Persephone was sure was supposed to be witty lines, as a small aircraft dropped into position with its weapons focused on the, now identified, Loki.
As Andrew moved to assist Perse from her position against the now-damaged concrete steps, he remarked lowly, “Loki is a Norse name.” Persephone simply cursed in response. The pair inspected each other’s new collection of injuries, the most concerning being the open burn wound on Persephone’s side where the dress had burned away in the blast. “You know I’m glad both of us chose sensible clothing and not to leave behind our weapons.”
His words were met with an airy chuckle, “Considering the expectations of higher society, the most sensible my outfit could be was a dress with a slit in the fabric up through the thigh and gladiator style sandals.”
Andrew simply hummed, his finger trailing down to the aforementioned opening in the dress, “You know those sandals are a bit on the nose aren’t they?”
She was saved from conjuring a comeback by arrival of a red and gold suit of armor - potentially encasing a person? - and the quick surrender of Loki. The couple was startled from their silent observation of the scenario by a deep, firm voice.
“You two should come with us,” Persephone and Andrew looked from the red, white, and blue blonde to each other. With a shrug the couple holstered their weapons and turned to join the now-restrained Loki and the other heroes in the grounded aircraft.