"So, do you have anything to say to me?" Hela asked with a deceptively kind smile, pointing at the motionless Mera standing on the empty, icy ground.
"How are you here?" Lothar answered her question with a question. Hela should have been on Asgard, not on Earth where Loki was.
The Other, having descended from the ship, felt the immense tension in the air. He suppressed the urge to cheer and instead went to unfreeze Pietro and his sister, along with the traitor Gamora, who were all encased in ice within the ruins of the New York Sanctum. He also saw Doctor Strange, Bruce Banner, and Pepper Potts frozen in place.
The Other knew his place; it was best not to get involved in Lothar's family business. His duty was to find a way to earn him some prestige.
"My dear brother destroyed the city's magical energy hub, and Asgard felt a disturbance, so I came to see what was going on. And then I ran into this Mera." Hela laid out everything that had happened, plain and simple, her narrowed eyes still full of both suspicion and concern. "What about you? Weren't you supposed to be in the Black Quadrant?"
"Do you want to come to the Black Quadrant?" Lothar asked, sidestepping her question entirely.
This caught Hela off guard. By all logic, shouldn't Lothar be desperately racking his brain for an explanation about who this Mera woman was? Instead, he was acting as if nothing had happened.
"Mera, and Clark before her, are not from this universe."
"I know. Loki already told me everything before you arrived, including her," Hela said, dropping the act. She made it clear that she knew everything and just wanted a good reason.
"Then come with me," Lothar said, hoisting the motionless Mera onto his shoulder. He walked with a cold expression toward his ship as Woz guided it to a slow landing.
He had a very bad feeling.
A very, very bad feeling.
The sudden appearance of Loki, Clark, and Mera had awakened a sense of unease he couldn't shake. He couldn't pinpoint the source, but his gut told him he needed to bring Hela with him to the Black Quadrant.
"It's very dangerous out here right now." It sounded like a line you'd say to a child, but coming from Lothar's stern face, it was oddly convincing.
At least, Hela believed him. Lothar rarely wore such an expression. In fact, he had never said anything so caring to her before.
"I want the truth. About you and her." Hela, seeing that Lothar was in a state of genuine confusion, didn't press him further.
An inter-universal invasion was clearly a higher priority than her feelings. Especially considering, from what Loki had said, the enemy's ultimate target was Lothar himself.
....
DC Universe, Apokolips.
The Lord of Apokolips, the great and powerful Darkseid, sat upon his throne. At the bottom of the steps, Loki, who had just emerged from a portal, bowed respectfully.
"My lord Darkseid, I have followed your orders and left the Sea Queen, Mera, with Lothar." His task complete, Loki stood a little straighter. He had a reason to feel confident.
"And Lothar's combat data?" Darkseid opened his eyes, his sharp gaze instantly making a smug Loki cower like a beaten dog.
"As you commanded, I had a power analyzer installed beneath downtown New York a while ago. Mera's ice isolated it from the artificial intelligence on Lothar's ship, so the data should be processing now."
The obedient Prince of Asgard was a disgrace to his title as the God of Mischief.
Darkseid, having already lost a previous battle in his avatar form, was taking this invasion very seriously. To know your enemy is to win a hundred battles. Only by measuring Lothar's current power limit could Darkseid decide his next move.
Destroying Earth's magical energy hubs to cause a disruption in the planet's energy field; luring and defeating Hela to draw out Lothar and collect his data. All of this was based on the intelligence Loki had provided.
As for leaving Mera behind, Darkseid wanted to use her to meet the one Loki called Thanos, the formidable warlord who had raised Lothar.
"Connect the database. I want to know Lothar's current power levels as soon as they're ready." Darkseid waved his hand, signaling Loki to leave.
"Yes." Loki, who didn't dare make a single misstep in Darkseid's presence, bowed and retreated. He didn't even dare to have a fleeting thought, fearing it would be read.
Soon after Loki left, the processed data from the energy analyzer appeared before Darkseid.
Lothar's, Hela's, even the data for Wanda, Pietro, and Strange... All the data on the beings who had fought in New York was neatly organized and presented to Darkseid by the instruments Loki had planted underground.
"He's... grown to this extent?"
Darkseid stared at the data on the screen, lost in thought.
....
"Yes, Father."
"What a pity." Thanos said, walking down the steps with his hands behind his back.
Since the white-haired Thor had grown so strong, it was understandable that Lothar hadn't been able to bring him back.
But... Thanos looked at the young woman standing behind his son. "Lothar, you brought her to me, but you left Hela in your private chambers?" He really wasn't afraid of what Hela might think?
"Father, Woz's analysis shows she has a very strange energy signature that he can't process." What Woz couldn't do, Lothar could only turn to Thanos for. To be "cursed with knowledge." This was Thanos's tragedy, which he had once spoken of to Lothar.
"I see. You can go back now. I will handle her myself," Thanos said with a faint smile, waving for Lothar to go and pacify Hela.
"Yes, Father." Lothar bowed and turned to leave.
"So this is the energy of another universe?"
"Hm?" After Lothar was gone, Thanos turned his attention to Mera. After a moment of study, he felt something was wrong. The previously still, lifeless Mera suddenly looked up, the grey blankness in her eyes completely gone!
A massive holographic projection slowly coalesced behind Mera.
"Darkseid?"
"Thanos?"
Two formidable powerhouses, two beings of myth, met each other's gaze across two separate universes.
——————————
Want to read the whole story? Head over to my Patreon ——— patreon(.)com/PrimalDemon [remove the parentheses ( )]
This fanfic has been fully translated!