00119. Sometimes your word isn’t enough.

00119. Sometimes your word isn’t enough.

Spoiler

So this is 11 in a row... I just couldn't leave my patreons on a massive cliff hanger... But you guys... See you in a week!

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Sanhildr glanced at the people in the room with her while looking for a suitable weapon. When she didn’t find anything and the other people didn't move she said, “I know I died, I felt Hela's blade pierce my heart. But I should be in Valhalla with my sisters…”

Her eyes narrowed as she asked in a lower tone of voice, “Instead I seem to be still alive? Where am I and why have you brought me here?”

Ezekiel with his hands still raised said, “We mean you no harm, you are currently on Midgard. As for why you are here, we brought you back to life.”

Sanhildr glanced at everyone once more, her eyes lingering on Tao and Agatha before she asked, “For what purpose did you do this Midgardian?”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “To help you and your sister's mostly. But I'll be honest that the idea of having some powerful warriors owe you a favor or two doesn't hurt.”

Sanhildr focused her gaze on Ezekiel as she asked, “What makes you think we need your help in the first place?”

Ezekiel lowered his hands before he pointed at the soul sphere Tao currently possessed and said, “Well considering all your sister's souls besides Brunnhilde's are locked in that thing to start.”

Sanhildr's eyes widened slightly at Brunnhilde's name before it sharpened in on the soul sphere as she asked, “Is that why I am not in Valhalla? Was I trapped in that thing, along with my sisters?”

There was a slight pause before her voice took an edge and she asked, “Was it Hela’s doing?”

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “While Hela might have saved your souls in that sphere, it's actually Odin's fault.”

“Watch how you speak of my liege, mortal.”

“Wow, you still consider him your liege. You know you died for him once already, your duty should be considered over by now.”

Sanhildr stood up straight, but kept up her guard as she said, “My duty to the king and the people of Asgard is my life's work. Now that I am alive again, I can go back and protect them.”

Ezekiel let out a tired sigh before he said, “So you would go back into service for a King who pretty much erased your existence. To a place that has no idea why you and the other Valkyrie’s died. A place that doesn't even sing of your glorious last battle?”

Ezekiel stared directly into Sanhildr's eyes as he said, “To serve a man, who knew sending you into Hel would trap your souls there when you died? No glorious death in battle with a trip to Valhalla afterwards. Just an eternity of wandering around Hel, until something finally found and consumed your soul.”

Sanhildr's body shook slightly as she stared back at Ezekiel. Her lips were pressed tight before she said, “You're lying.”

Ezekiel shrugged as he asked, “Maybe, maybe not… Are you brave enough to find out the truth?”

“Do not question my bravery, mortal. Send me to Asgard and I will find the answers I seek there.”

Ezekiel shook his head before he said, “I would love to, but you showing up in Asgard would bring attention to me and my friends here. Attention that we currently don't need.”

Sanhildr crossed her arms over her chest as she asked, “Then how do you expect me to find out the truth? Take your word, that what you speak is the truth?”

Ezekiel weakly smiled as he said, “That would be nice… But I know that's not likely to happen.”

Ezekiel then smiled normally as he said, “What I can do is show you proof. If you will relax for a moment, I will share with you what we found.”

Sanhildr didn't have any chance to speak before her eyes lost focus and she started to collapse. Ezekiel easily caught her and placed her back on the bed she awoke from. He glanced at everyone else as he said, “You can go, I'll wait for her to wake up.”

Tao glanced at Sanhildr and asked, “Do you think that will be enough to convince her?”

Ezekiel shook his head and said, “No, but it’ll be a good starting point. Next we’ll have to go find Brunnhilde. She knows what happened in Asgard and it’s one of the reasons why she left the place.”

“And where exactly is this Brunnhilde at?”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “The trash planet Sakaar.”

Tao raised an eyebrow as she asked, “Why do you sound excited to go explore a trash planet?”

“Because we can collect a bunch of alien tech while we’re there. Maybe even a couple working ships.”

Tao let out a little sigh before she said, “Should we really be trying to steal stuff, if we’re going there to find someone?”

“I never said steal, it’s collecting.”

Ezekiel waved off her concern as he said, “Plus it’ll be fine, everything on that planet comes from random wormholes. It's pretty much the galaxy's junk drawer. I’ll have some of my stronger clones collect stuff as they search for Brunnhilde.”

“And how exactly will they be able to ‘collect’ a ship? I’ve seen your storage scrolls, they don’t have enough room for something like a ship.” Agatha asked.

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “I'm gonna ask Hank if I can borrow a couple of his shrink discs in exchange for some of the alien tech we find.”

Agatha nodded in understanding as she said, “I see… But won't the shrunken object's mass overload the seal's capacity?”

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “Already tested it with my tablet and a few other things. The object's new size is the only thing that matters in the storage process. Plus the mass of the object changes when shrunken down.”

“But that doesn't make any sense, where does the weight of the object go? Its overall mass shouldn't change like that. If anything, it should still have the same mass, but it would be more condensed is all.”

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “It's bullshit science that works like magic as far as I know. I even had my clones do tests with different shrunken objects and none of the testing results made any sense.”

Both Tao and Agatha gave Ezekiel a look before he said, “What!? It literally works like magic. I asked Hank to explain the scientific principles behind it once and even he didn't sound completely confident in his answers. So as far as I'm concerned, Pym particles are basically bullshit magic.” Ezekiel crossed his arms over his chest as he finished talking.

Tao and Agatha shared a glance before Tao said, “For someone who practices magic… You sure are foolish sometimes.”

Ezekiel waved them off as he said, “Then you go talk to Hank, figure out how it works then come back here and explain it to me. While you're at it, ask him if we can have some of those shrinking disc's too.”

Tao nodded as she said, “Fine, I’ll be back in a while.”

After Tao and Agatha left the room, Ezekiel told his clones to let the others know about the upcoming mission to Sakaar. Once he was alone, Ezekiel pulled out his tablet and settled down in a chair to work on a coding project.

After about an hour Sanhildr started to stir, so Ezekiel put his tablet away and waited. Once Sanhildr sat up in the bed, Ezekiel asked, “Have any questions?”

Sanhildr watched Ezekiel for about half a minute as she collected her thoughts before she asked, “What exactly was that?”

“A power of mine, I can use that for a number of different things. This time I used it to share the memories of some friends of mine who recently snuck into Asgard.”

Sanhildr frowned slightly as she asked, “Couldn’t you just show me whatever you wanted? Even if it wasn’t true?”

Ezekiel nodded as he said, “You’re correct, I could easily do something like that. But that would defeat my purpose of trying to befriend you.”

“Then we are back where we started then.”

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I don’t think so.”

Sanhildr's eyes narrowed a tiny bit as she asked, “What makes you think that?”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “The fact you didn’t jump out of bed and take a defensive stance this time.”

Sanhildr laughed lightly for a moment before she said, “That’s because you're the only person here this time.”

“So you kinda trust me now?”

Sanhildr shook her head as she said, “I don’t feel threatened by you or the others. Those two women who were here early are a different story.”

Ezekiel smirked as he said, “Ya I guess you have a point. But I take that as a complement, since part of my training is to seem non threatening.”

Sanhildr watched Ezekiel for a few moments before someone knocked at the door. Ezekiel and Sanhildr glanced at the door before Ezekiel said, “It’s open.”

The door opened up and in walked Tao, Agatha and Darren Cross. Sanhildr tensed slightly in bed, but otherwise didn’t move from the bed. Ezekiel glanced at Tao and Agatha before his eyes settled on Darren and he asked, “Good to see you Darren, what brought you by?”

“Hank told me to join you and pick up a bunch of good tech.”

Ezekiel glanced at Tao who shrugged as she said, “It was the only way he would let us have some of the shrinking discs.”

“Oh, makes sense I guess. You do know this will be dangerous right?” Ezekiel asked as he glanced back at Darren.

Darren nodded and touched his belt buckle. Within moments a yellow and black suit covered his whole body. He reached up to his neck and touched a switch there, which collapsed his helmet down and he said, “I’m still getting used to the suit, but I should be able to stay safe using this.”

Ezekiel nodded as he said, “Good, you’ll be assigned to the procurement group.”

Ezekiel glanced at Sanhildr as he said, “I didn’t think you would believe me, so we are going with the backup plan now. Do you wanna join us for it?”

Sanhildr glanced at everyone before she asked, “Are you taking me to Asgard?”

Ezekiel shook his head and said, “We are going to find Brunnhilde, so she can tell you about Asgard.”

Sanhildr stood up as she asked, “Brunnhilde? She isn’t in Asgard?”

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “No, she left Asgard a little after your death. She now works as a scrapper on Sakaar and I’m pretty sure she is a complete alcoholic now.”

Sanhildr glanced at the others before she said, “I would like to join you to find Brunnhilde.”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “Great. If you check the bathroom over there, there is a change of clothes for you. We’ll leave once you're ready.”