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(Remy's POV)
For Remy LeBeau, working for Mister Sinister had been like having a loaded gun pointed at his back all the time. He had gotten used to ignoring the gun since it would never fire as long as he followed the orders and kept his charm dialed up.
What he'd watched go down on that SHIELD jet had rattled him to the bone. Dante ripping Nick Fury's arm off like it was nothing but a loose sleeve—that was very tame compared to the horrors of Mister Sinister's lab. But that man with a burning skull terrified Remy to the bone. Even he couldn't say why exactly he had this fear. But Remy never went against his instinct—it was the only thing that had kept him safe until now.
Knowing Dante had it out for Fury, the man Mister Sinister had asked him to follow orders from, Remy wanted to bolt away from that jet. But he was afraid any move might piss off Skullfire. Fear had him nailed to the seat.
And yet somehow, he still got out.
One second, he was staring at the carnage. The next he was standing in a dark room lit only by a deep, blood-red glow. Remy blinked hard, trying to make sense of it.
"Damn," he muttered. "He already sent me straight to Hell. Didn't even bother giving me a chance to explain."
Was he supposed to just stare at the walls and wait for something to happen? He had no idea what to do in Hell. There was nothing to steal here and nobody to follow orders from… nobody would die if he lost control of his powers.
Maybe it wasn't that bad of a fate.
The walls suddenly rumbled, and they slid apart, unfolding into intricate geometric patterns that clicked and unraveled like living clockwork. In seconds, the darkness was gone, and the bright light nearly blinded him.
Blinking, he saw massive iron bars around him like a cage. His gaze flicked to the sky and his heart nearly stopped.
A woman the size of a skyscraper watched him with her red eyes. A pristine white masquerade mask covered the top half of her red face. Strange letters ran down both cheeks like elegant scars. She looked like something out of the old Cajun ghost stories his tante (aunt) used to tell.
He was like an ant compared to her. Either he had landed in another world, where humans were tiny, or the woman had made him smaller.
Remy swallowed. "This ain't what Remy imagined when he said he wouldn't mind being a pretty lady's plaything."
She showed a soft smile. "Remy LeBeau, has this enlightened you to a new perspective on life?"
"New perspective?" He let out a shaky laugh. "Cher, Remy's only life lesson is this: never piss off a woman. They can be the sweetest little things… or the most heartless creatures walking this earth."
"How odd." Her smile took on an innocent look. "Can you tell which one I am?"
"Very sweet, warm, generous… the most graceful madam on this planet," Remy shamelessly praised her, hoping this would get him out of her clutches. "Please, can you let poor Remy out of here? He's got a wife and three little kids waiting at home."
"Haha, I was just messing with you. Here, I'll free you."
The cage's top was taken off, allowing her hand to descend. Her fingers grew larger until two of them gently pinched him between them like he was a toy. Like this, he was carried outside and dropped onto the white floor. The moment his boots touched the ground, he shot back to normal size.
The woman, who had been massive before, now stood eye-to-eye with him. Her red skin was striking as hell, but it didn't take away her charm. Rather, it made her more mysterious. He noticed a strange detail about her clothes. Her white cape and the deep neckline of her white dress formed a heart, made much more obvious by her red skin.
Remy let out a low whistle. "Mon dieu… I should have called every one of them idiots for saying I was gonna suffer in Hell. With a beauty like this, I'm gonna suffer in a whole different way."
She maintained the calm smile, her red eyes peering into him. "This isn't Hell. You're still in New York.
"Excuse me, cher? You said I'm not dead?"
"Not yet. I saw a kind man having a very bad evening and decided to intervene on a whim." She put a finger on her dark lips. "I don't know if I made things better or worse."
"Definitely better." He let out a sigh of relief. The scary man hadn't taken his soul to Hell. "Remy owes you one."
She held her cape open and performed a graceful curtsy. "You're welcome, child."
Remy scratched the back of his head, grinning in the face of her performance. "One time Remy wouldn't mind having a few mommy issues."
She let the cape fall, once more framing that heart-shaped opening. With a casual wave, a door slid open behind her, revealing the glittering lights of Manhattan's streets.
"You can head back from there."
Remy slung his Bo Staff over his shoulder. "You helped me tonight and I don't even know your name. How am I gonna repay you in the future?"
"I'm Rebecca."
"What a charming name," he whispered. "If you run into any trouble, don't think twice about calling on Remy LeBeau."
Nathaniel's experiments had suppressed his powers, but he was still plenty strong. He could still beat people up. Well, everyone except that man.
Rebecca tilted her head, amused by his request. "Can I entrust you to do me one small favor, child?"
Remy nodded so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. "Anything!"
"Whenever you do a good deed from now on, say this little mantra. Something to spread kindness in this near-unforgiving world of ours."
"What mantra?"
She had saved him from the wrath of a demon. Forget about saying one mantra, he wouldn't mind creating her statue and worshiping her.
Rebecca revealed an enigmatic smile. "Thank you, Mother Righteous."
"Mother Righteous…"
Remy mistook the name for some obscure prayer to a goddess and agreed on the spot. He didn't know the woman before him was one of the great mystic practitioners.
A woman could ruin someone's life and people would be grateful in the wake of it.
Mother Righteous.
***
(Lady Loki's POV)
Lady Loki had been observing Dante from the shadows of her scrying mirror. Staying informed with Dante—her only protection against Hela—was important. This way she could save him in any emergency. After all, he was only one man. Making mistakes was unavoidable. One misstep might cause a catastrophe, which was where she would step in to help.
It had nothing to do with her desire to show him how competent and valuable she could be.
After witnessing both of his battles, she found that… unnecessary. The man had shrugged off attacks that should have destroyed half of Asgard. How could a human be this sturdy? Was his body forged entirely from Uru?
Agreeing to betray Odin for him might have been the smartest decision of her life.
She watched him disappear with the old man who had been powerful in his own right. He, too, could easily destroy Asgard with his control over metal.
'I should inquire when the dear conqueror plans to grace Asgard with his presence again.'
A certain someone on the throne grew restless in his absence. Besides, Dante should be glad to see that she came to visit him.
With such thoughts, she made a plan to meet him. A few elegant spell-threads across the distance guided him to his current location. She traversed the distance with a flight cantrip, one of the basic spells her mother had taught her. Just when she could see the large mansion, the threads twisted and pointed somewhere in the sky.
'His teleportation ability.'
She muttered things beneath her breath that would have made even Frigga blush and pivoted, only for the event to repeat. This time, it was near where she had first met him.
'Is he toying with me on purpose?'
Dante should be living a life of luxury, befitting the most formidable being in Midgard, yet he moved around without a moment of peace. If he wasn't toying with her on purpose… it would be quite sad actually. Asgard would treat him far better.
Finally, over an hour later, she found him stationary in a house.
'Don't tell me the mighty Skullfire has retired for the day…'
She would shed a tear if all her meticulous work had been for nothing.
'Best to verify in person.'
A scrying spell could've displayed Dante's current situation, but she didn't feel like wasting more energy. A simple levitation cantrip lifted her to the window, where she sensed his presence.
Dante stood with his back to the window, dressed in nothing above the waist and very little below it, which communicated that this was not an ideal moment to announce her presence. She had every opportunity to turn around. To retreat gracefully with dignity and avoid being branded as a peeper for life. To maintain her composed, calculating, graceful, and meticulous Asgardian she prided herself on being.
Yet she didn't.
The view was… exquisite. His broad shoulders narrowed to a sculpted waist, every muscle etched clear in every corner. Lady Loki found herself enjoying a moment of shameless appreciation.
'What a splendid physique. One could write multiple sagas about that back alone. His butt…'
If Aphrodite was the Goddess of Beauty, then the man before her had to be the male version of said deity. He was too perfect not to be.
She was given perhaps five seconds of the stellar view before his clothing magically appeared. He returned to being the dreadful villain of Asgard.
"Lady Loki, I didn't know you were a voyeur."
Her concentration broke at the words, nearly sending her crashing to the ground. She caught herself on the windowsill and recast the cantrip. Another look inside made her aware of a second presence in the room.
A nearly naked man, a woman wearing an indecent outfit, and a bed—only an innocent wouldn't know what she had stumbled upon.
Lady Loki, after experiencing Asgard and Midgard's literature, wasn't innocent in any sense.
'He is going to execute me…'
There was no elegant exit from someone whose companion was Death. So, she did the only sensible thing. She nudged the window open and drifted inside, keeping her head slightly bowed. In Asgard, this was the posture of someone who had chosen to accept their misdeeds.
"Lady Loki?" said the masked woman whose costume was very, very inappropriate by Asgard's standards. "Who the hell is she?"
Lady Loki crossed her arms, showing the white-haired woman a mildly disappointed look, one that her parents should've given her. "That is quite a rude way to address a being of my status."
"Rude?" The woman growled. "Honey, you were peeping on us like a creep. Be glad I haven't taken your head off."
"Peeping? I saw nothing except…" Her gaze drifted to Dante and her cheeks burned. "It does not count—"
A gust of wind hit her, leaving her wide-eyed. Sharp black claws had stopped inches away from her eyes. The white-haired woman had crossed the distance in an instant and attacked her. The attack would've succeeded if Dante hadn't stepped in to hold the woman back.
Lady Loki gulped, feeling cold sweat on her back. Just one second's delay would've destroyed her face or left her blind. Neither fate was desirable.
"Felicia, calm down," Dante whispered. "I'll shoo her away."
"Let go!" Felicia snarled, reaching out with her claws even as Dante dragged her back. "How dare she peep on my man? I'm gonna kill this pervert!"
Lady Loki's cheeks flushed at the accusation. An accusation she couldn't deny because that would be a blatant lie. Instead of biting back at Felicia, she addressed Dante. "Shoo me? I am not some stray animal. I am Lady…"
Dante's glare made her reconsider her words.
She swallowed her grievances. "Perhaps I am a stray after all. Do carry on shooing me away if it pleases you, my lord. I live to serve."
What a humiliating way to be introduced to one of his lovers… but she could do nothing besides showing servility.
Felicia flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. "You know what, it's fine. It's completely fine. A thief like me deserves this."
It seemed Felicia had been experiencing a series of misfortunes on this night. As the person responsible for the latest one, Lady Loki felt a tiny bit of guilt.
Dante sat beside Felicia, pulling her close. The man, who had put Odin into eternal slumber, was surprisingly nice. Frankly, she should've expected him to be like this in private. All of Skullfire's deeds were about helping others. Odin had really picked an unnecessary conflict.
The comforting quickly turned heated--kisses and hands wandering over each other's bodies… almost as if Lady Loki didn't exist. She got the first-hand experience of how a king's loyal subjects felt when their ruler lavished affection on his queen right in open court.
'I was once Prince of Asgard,' she thought with a bitter smile. 'How in the Nine Realms did it come to this?'
Eventually, and mercifully, their intimacy ended. Dante glanced at Lady Loki and began explaining things to Felicia. He told her about his and Lady Loki's current role in Asgard. It seemed his lover had not been informed of his conquest.
Felicia sat up straighter and her eyes sparkled. She slid off the bed and walked a slow circle around Lady Loki as if she was appraising a dress in a shop. Lady Loki stood very still and resisted the urge to say anything.
"Wait, Loki's supposed to be a guy, right? How the hell are you almost as gorgeous as me?"
Lady Loki suppressed the very unladylike urge to roll her eyes at Felicia's audacity. Almost? She was objectively, cosmically superior in beauty to any Midgardian woman. Still, she had to concede Felicia earned second or third place.
"It's… complicated. Not a story you'd like to hear tonight."
Felicia glanced between them, arching one brow. "So why are you really here? You got a thing for my man or what? I literally saw you drool over his back."
"No." Lady Loki stared at Felicia's face even as her cheeks flushed. "I came here to inform him about Asgard's circumstances. Hela has been… exceptionally moody of late."
Dante's departure had caused Hela to spend most of her time in the training field, refining her combat skills. Only Dante could get Hela to resume her queenly duties. Lady Loki could handle the work, but she would rather not do anything that might give Hela an excuse.
He showed a calm look, unfazed by the information. "Noted."
"I would also ask," Lady Loki said, maintaining a careful, respectful tone. "When do you intend to return? Hela may go on a rampage… and disrupt the balance."
He waved a hand dismissively like he was sending off a servant. "I'll be there when I'm free."
She nodded, swallowing her displeasure at his nonchalance. Then again, she had intruded on his perfect night.
'It matters not,' she told herself as she turned toward the window. As long as he kept his promise to safeguard her mother, she could endure a great many things. Some disrespect was nothing.
As she climbed through the window, she heard Felicia whisper, "Darling, is there no solution?"
"Death, take us to your realm. It's the only way to avoid it."
She looked back inside and saw nothing. The couple had disappeared, taken by Death to her realm.
This was not great. Midgard already stopped Dante from focusing on Asgard. If Death made him the ruler of her own realm… he might never return to Asgard. Her realm would end up being a side conquest that he never cared about. Just a nuisance.
"No, I cannot let it happen."
Lady Loki closed the window and flew up, taking in the strange city of Midgard.
A God of Mischief made schemes and took actions, doing everything to control every situation.
She would give Dante a reason to keep Asgard in his mind and heart, which would also raise her own standing to be more of a disposable pawn in his eyes.
Considering Dante's personality, she saw solutions. Two very extreme routes.
She chose the least humiliating option because she had suffered enough of it at his hands.
A smirk touched her lips.
"You took Asgard for yourself. I will make sure you're responsible for it."
***
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