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Hela groaned loudly, finally finished with the last council of the day—they’ve been at the policy meetings for days now and she was quite literally done with it all. She still could not wrap her head around Odin’s idiotic and utterly selfish laws. They were all quite clearly meant to tailor him and his needs, not that of the people.
It was a headache just reading through it all and an even bigger one trying to change some of them (Hela was woman enough to understand the importance of many of the other laws as she herself agreed with them).
She was also simultaneously working on replacing the old bastards who were still stuck in the era of Odin and which Valkyries she could tolerate being around several hours a day.
Now she was very much looking forward to a nice warm soak in her spring tub with those cute little maidens that she loved to tease (torment). Hela chuckled to herself, her mind on a certain blonde—
“Your highness!…My Queen, wait—!”
Hela ignored him…well she wanted to, she did. If she weren’t the Queen, she certainly would. She quickly came to a stop and pivoted around, “What.”
The messenger skidded to a stop, too hard and fast and in effort not to collide with his Queen, he reeled back onto the floor. Hela placed her hands on her hips, thoroughly unimpressed.
The guards at their posts snickered quietly but remained steadfast lest she turn her ire onto them.
The messenger quickly got to his feet, bowing clumsily before holding up the tablet with shaky hands, forcing Hela to huff loudly as she snatched the damn thing out of his hands. Honestly—she couldn’t be that terrifying. (She was secretly relishing his fear).
Hela saw that it was from her favorite sibling calling but it wasn’t who was on the screen. It was rare that this has happened. Very rare—and the times that it does…something was wrong. “Captain. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Soulless green orbs stared back at her through the screen, it hissed and chittered slowly, repeatedly until Hela was gripping the device so hard it was starting to crack.
“What?!” She growled, eyes narrowed dangerously and the messenger took that as his queue to leave and he did, promptly. “And where is she now?”
The skeleton chittered quicker this time before the screen switched over to a planet Hela was familiar with. With a grunt, Hela dropped the tablet at her feet and pointed to one of the guards and summoned her portal.
But to the guards watching, they simply watched as their leader shook her head angrily and stormed away with said tablet still in her hands. (Doppelgänger spell).
Back on Midgard…
Wanda was as calm as she could manage. She brought Daisy back inside of the compound, sans Skeleton escort, and set her down on the living room sofa. Wanda could care less about the blood staining the fabric ( Tony could buy a new one).
She was now making quick work getting the heavy fabrics off without pulling at Daisy’s injuries. It wasn’t like it mattered though since Daisy was out cold.
Wanda removed her cloak and the top half of her armor by the time a few items flew back into the living room carried by her magic, though what she didn’t notice was that she was no longer alone.
Hela grunted when a folded towel hit her square in the face. Frazzled already, a startled Wanda hurled a strong ball of magic at the intruder.
“Have you lost your mind, witch?!” Hela all but yelled, surprised by how much that ball strung, “Do you know who I am!?”
Wanda quickly stood, directly in front of Daisy’s prone body on the sofa, her hands and eyes glowing red, stance wide and ready for a fight, “No, and I don’t care but what I do know; is that my friend is injured and you’re an intruder.”
“Oh, I like her.” A new voice came from behind Hela, finally emerging and Wanda’s stance faltered a bit, recognition in her eyes, “Ah, so you do know who I am, yes?”
“I would be foolish not to.” Wanda glared at him,but still not standing down.
“I agree…but more importantly you know who I am to her, correct?”
“…Yes.”
“Good. Because I’d rather not do story time while my sister is possibly dying on this forsaken planet.” Loki unbuttoned his suit jacket when Wanda finally backed down with one last cautious glance at Hela who sneered right back.
“And I for one would like to know what the hell happened.”
“As do I, sister, but we won’t know until she awakens so let me work.”
Loki grabbed the bag that was on the coffee table and Wanda quickly stepped aside as the dark haired man knelt next to the sofa, with glowing hands. Wanda watched, silently begging to do anything to help but this was out of her realm and she knew it.
“Ms. Maximoff, the silent alarm was tripped and the other Avengers are on their way. ETA 8 minutes.”
“Oh that just will not do.” Hela huffed, unfolding her arms, “No distractions.”
The Queen of Asgard brought her headdress back and inhaled deeply, murmuring under her breath and Wanda watched in awe as a green hue began emanating from the woman’s body and up through the ceiling.
“What are you doing?”
“This is a family matter only.”
But I am allowed to stay? Wanda was wise enough not to voice that particular thought out loud. She still did not know who this woman was, not really but she was starting to suspect, given how often Daisy spoke about her. It wouldn’t be that hard to guess really.
And she went and attacked her.
Loki looked over his shoulder, face grim and furious, Hela stiffened immediately, “What? What is it?”
“Her wounds are not healing because she’s been poisoned. I might have a cure but I need to leave for a spell.” He then smirked, as if there was anything to be laughing about right now, “Me. Saving Deisi’s life. Oh, that’ll cost her a world of favors. How many would you wager, Hela? A century? Two? A mil—”
“A lifetime if you don’t shut up and go!”
Loki smacked his lips with a soft sigh, “Fine, ruin my fun. Hela, oh I’m sorry, my Queen, (Hela groaned), do you remember when we were younger and Thor wrestled with the serpent that ended with him being poisoned? It’s a lot like that.”
“Vaguely.” Hela drawled, getting impatient and Wanda was trying to figure out just what the hell was going on.
“What? It was your dare,” Loki pointed out, his glowing hand still hovering over Daisy’s back, “How could you not recall? Odin nearly skinned you alive for it.”
“Please, remind me why I bothered to pick you up again?”
“Because I’m the only one in this circus family besides Deisi that knows magic beyond the basics? Honestly.”
“Thor knows magic.”
Loki’s hands finally stopped glowing as he pulled away from Daisy and stood up again, “ Noo, Thor is afraid of magic. Paranoid even. There’s a difference.”
“Entirely your fault. That’s how you ended up banished for 300 hundred years,” Hela chuckled dryly, worried eyes were back on their sister, “How is she then?”
“Clean her wounds and keep her comfortable, I’ve eased some of her pain but not all of it unfortunately. I should be back with the cure before the poison reaches her heart.”
“And, and if it does? What happens then?” Wanda asked, speaking up once she got over the fact Daisy’s siblings were exactly as she described them to be—special. It was a lot for her to process, it was like having two Pietro’s in the same room. But scarier.
Loki stood and grinned at her though it didn’t reach his dark eyes, “A lifetime's worth of favors, my dear.”
Hela and Wanda were left alone on the compound, Loki disappearing to some unknown place before Hela could interrogate him further. Before he left however, Loki did manage to close some of Daisy’s bigger lacerations but they weren’t completely closed, the poison wouldn’t allow it and they could both see the black veins starting to show around them.
The Queen of Asgard looked at Wanda. Her stern expression covering her immense worry and fear of losing her little sister but Hela knew fuck all about healing. She’d only make it worse.
“You there.” Hela gestured towards Daisy with a quick tilt of her chin, and a casual and haughty hand gesture before her hand settled back on her hip, “Dress her wounds comfortably.”
“I have a name you know, it’s Wanda.” Wanda side eyed Hela as she made her way back to Daisy, more worried about her friend than she was about being ordered around by some stranger. Wanda used her magic to lift Daisy’s limp body so she could work, pulling the coffee table closer so that she could sit and Hela looked on warily.
“Are you a nurse?”
Wanda shook her head, unwrapping the packaged gauze, “No, but my mother was. And my father, he was a handyman. My brother and I got to help patch him up when we were old enough.”
Hela hummed thoughtfully as she watched Wanda closely, making sure that she did not cause her sister more discomfort. The Queen was racking her brain for what led Daisy to this moment but she was coming up short and it only soured Hela’s mood at each dead end.
She didn’t even notice that she was now pacing directly behind Wanda and mumbling under her breath, hand on her chin, something she did when she was upset or stressed—usually both.
Was this her fault? Did she send her own flesh and blood to her death? It was supposed to be easy! Something Hela would’ve, and should’ve, done herself if she had the time but Asgard had been in worse shape than any of them would have expected.
“Oh, mother is going to kill me.” Hela rolled her eyes at herself, but her eyes snapped open when she felt her shield being assaulted and she knew that it was those pesky little heroes. “Your friends are here, darling.”
Wanda hardly looked up from her work, “They’re hardly my friends.”
“Oh?” She pressed when Wanda didn’t give her anything else—and when it seemed that she still wouldn’t, Hela pouted behind her, “Fine. I’ll go—”
A booming voice stopped them both in their tracks, “Hela!! I know your magic! I Should have known it was you! What destruc…what?”
Thor stormed into the room, furious and his eyes strikingly blue but all that came to a halt when he took in the scene before him, eyes widening and he dropped Mjolnir at his feet, adding another costly charge to Tony’s bill.
“Hela? What’s going on?!”
“What does it look like?” Hela rolled her eyes, “Where have you been?”
“I…I was on…I was on Xandar.” He admitted reluctantly, not meeting Hela’s gaze, “I disabled my communicator.”
“I know,” Hela drawled, still annoyed with him, “Otherwise that would be you lying there.”
“Sister what happened and who is this woman?”
“Some mortal Deisi is—”
“I have a name!” Wanda snapped, turning to glare at both siblings, surprising them, “It’s Wanda Maximoff. Use it or get lost, I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Er…” Thor subconsciously raised his hand, looking at Hela from his peripheral but he was even more shocked to see her grinning a little. “Um…”
“Apologies, darling,” Hela said in a condescendingly sweet tone, “We’ll take this elsewhere. Thor, come.”
Thor didn’t know if he should worry more or relax. Perhaps he should’ve stopped to speak with his friends before barging through Hela’s shield in a way only a sibling could. But still he obediently followed his sister outside and he saw the rest of the Avengers across the training field just outside of the luminescent green dome Hela put up around the compound.
Even the Hulk couldn’t get through and he sounded quite angry. Thor looked at his sister with a frown, knowing that she probably brought them out there on purpose. Hela never did anything by accident.
“Hela. These are my friends and this is their home. What happened to Deisi? Maybe they can help—”
“No. I believe she’s already in good hands.”
“With Wanda? Who is she?”
“Ugh, I forgot how annoying you can be when you’re totally clueless.” Hela sighed heavily, staring up at the sky as if asking for strength. “It’s even worse than when you do actually know something.”
“I take great offense…”
“Hey!” Wanda called from inside, a little frantic, “She’s awake!”
Hela pushed Thor out of her way as both siblings darted back inside, and indeed Daisy was awake—somewhat. Wanda wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and was now helping her sit up in the corner of the sofa, in a position that wouldn’t aggravate her injuries further. Daisy’s normally calm gray eyes were wild and bloodshot.
Carefully placing her hands on the warriors face, keeping her focus on her.
“Daisy? Daisy, it’s me Wanda. Your baby witch? You’re back home, well, on Earth or…Midgard. You’re hurt but you’re safe, Daisy, okay? It’s me, Wanda, your friend—best friend, the one who made you those delicious hot dogs.”
Wanda was gentle, the…thoughts and images in Daisy’s mind were scattered but they were all gruesome and white frankly, scary and Wanda was doing her best to keep them from plaguing of her own mind. She knew ptsd when it presented itself, she herself having it but Daisy had centuries of it.
Hela moved to intervene but Thor kept her back. He too knew the severity of their sister's battle trauma and how quickly things can go left but she was always so quick to attack. But she wasn’t right now and he feared that Hela, despite her good intentions, would set her off. Thor wanted to see this play out.
“Get your filthy hands off me. I swear on Odin’s dirty beard if Deisi dies and leaves me with the two of you…” Hela whispered, annoyed and shoved him away but her shove wasn’t that hard this time, he noted.
Thor and Hela stood shoulder to shoulder both watching in awe as Wanda talked the warrior out of her trance in a way they’ve never seen before. Of course neither of them knew that Wanda possessed telepathy and she was using that to her full advantage to avoid setting off Daisy’s landmines.
“…Wanda?” Her voice was rough and raspy.
Wanda’s eyes went from scarlet to green in a heartbeat.
“Daisy?” Wanda tried not to look too relieved, too involved but when she tried to remove her hands, a bruised and bloody hand stopped her. “Daisy…?”
“Thank you, Wanda.”
Thanking her for what Wanda wanted to ask, there were a lot of things she just did—shifting through her mind? Cleaning her up?
Daisy’s bloodshot gaze snapped to Hela’s, startling everyone a bit by the ferocity behind it, “It was a trap.”
Hela moved around the coffee table, shoving her cloak aside almost violently before gingerly sitting next to Wanda on the rickety thing, “Who are we going to kill?”
Wanda side-eyed Hela.
“Thanos.”
“Thanos?” Thor questioned, suddenly alive and his mass form was taking up the rest of the space on the sofa.
“But I thought after you sent the mind stone back home, it was over?”
“It's never over when it comes to that madman, I was there on orders searching for any infinity fractals,” Daisy finally let Wanda’s hand go, her arm growing tired, “but it seems that our constant interference with his plans have finally made him snap. His fucking horde of shit children were waiting in ambush. They’d already gotten the fractals and hit me with some kind of gas…it was a bloodbath after that but Thanos is now two children short.”
“That gas was poison,” Wanda said quietly, eying the blackening veins starting to show on Daisy’s neck, and neither Hela nor Thor missed it either, “And it’s spreading, quickly.”
“Where is Loki?” Hela called to him with her magic but nothing happened, “Damn it.”
“Loki? Loki is here? You brought Loki to Midgard after what he’s done?”
Hela waved away his protests, she didn’t give a damn about any of that, “Thanos is playing with fire. Thor you stay, protect Deisi until Loki arrives.”
“Wait, where are you going?” Thor asked, eyes narrowed as if he knew that Hela was about to do something extremely…Hela-like, but the Queen was already gone. And it didn’t help that Daisy passed out…again.
“…sometimes I think I’m the adopted one.” Thor glanced at Wanda sheepishly, “Sooo…I’m Thor.”
A few hours later…
When Daisy woke again, she knew immediately that she wasn’t in the living room of the compound anymore but instead the infirmary. Daisy felt sore all over but no longer on the verge of death, thank the nine.
Daisy's eyes slowly opened. The room was dark, except for the little tv playing quietly in the corner—Daisy recognized that it was one of Wanda’s sitcoms.
Daisy laid there for a few more minutes before enough was enough, her memory leisurely filling in the gaps. She recalled everything from leaving to fulfill Hela’s favor
She doesn’t know how long she was out but she felt as if she slept enough. Daisy sat up, forcing her body to corporate but wise enough to take it slow. Daisy’s bare feet barely touched the cold floor when the door swung open and the bright lights were switched on, nearly blinking her.
“Deisi!” Thor smiled brightly at her, his blue eyes lit up like a Ravenger’s ceremony, “You’re finally awake!”
“Finally?” Daisy grunted when Thor nearly tackled her into a hug, “Too tight, Thor, still sore.”
“Oh,” he laughed softly and stepped back quickly, “Sorry, but how are you feeling? Any lingering blindness? Can you hear out of both ears okay? How are your teeth?”
“What?”
“Do you still have all your teeth?”
“What the…” Daisy smacked his hand away from her face, “What did Loki do to me??”
“Ah…he cured the poison, yay,” he cheered, doing the little thing he did to make it sound like it was a thousand people, but Daisy wasn’t having it and continued to stare him down, “I don’t know, truly, but it worked…you’ve only been asleep for a week.”
“A week?”
“Had to give the poison time to get out of your system.”
Daisy nodded slowly, “Okay that makes sense. Where are Hela and Loki?”
“They went home last night when you started healing again. Royal duties, you know?”
“They did something and pissed off Lady Hill, didn’t they?”
“More like she pissed them off,” he chuckled, sitting on the edge of the bed next to his sister, “Tony’s Ultron popped up in Europe, and Lady Hill tried to enlist their help but once they were sure you would be okay…they left.”
“Why aren’t you with your friends, Thor? I would’ve been fine. I’m sure they could use their God of Thunder right about now.”
Thor frowned, “Tony can handle his own problems just fine on his own. Besides, I swore not to leave your side until you opened your eyes again. Hela wants you to visit at your earliest convenience by the way.”
“Of course.”
“She said to bring your witch too.”
“Wanda?” Daisy perked up a little bit, too slow to stop herself and Thor grinned widely, “I’ll beat you if you start teasing me, Odinson.”
Thor held up his hands in mock surrender, “Noted. But if it makes you feel better, she’s been worried about you too.”
Daisy shrugged, clearing her throat, “Naturally, my Captain did dump me at her feet all bloody and nearly dead—”
“No, no…she worries about you like Jane worries about me.” Thor emphasized with a gentle shoulder bump, and Daisy scoffed, shaking her head, “I think she’s a lovely woman, but I am glad I missed the whole mind thing, didn’t seem very fun.”
“Stark didn’t think so either.”
“Stark’s an ass.” Thor nodded, “But he has his moments, as do you sister.”
Daisy gave him a funny look, “Meaning?”
“Wanda told me what you are doing for her, that’s very nice of you.”
Daisy used her hair as a curtain to hide her blush, “Just ensuring my way into Valhalla. Anyway…Um, speaking of; where is Wanda?”
Daisy didn’t want to be presumptuous but she was maybe hoping to see a certain witch at any moment. She pointedly ignored his snickering.
“She’s with the Avengers in Europe. She wanted to stay but I encouraged her to go. From what I understand, she could use the fresh air anyway.”
Daisy nodded, knowing that he was right—she wouldn’t want Wanda waiting around for her to wake up in some stuffy old room either.
The hilts of her dragonfangs were suddenly in her sight, safely sheathed in their leathers. “Ah, my babies, did you miss me?”
“I’m going to help the fight against Ultron.” Thor said once she finally took her weapons, he summoned Mjolnir from the floor, “If you feel up for it, you’re more than welcome to come with me.”
Daisy stared down at her swords, “What happened to letting Tony handle his own problems?”
“Eh, figured we could have a little fun. Whoever destroys the most Ultrons owes two centuries of favors.”
Daisy considered it—then nodded, “Deal.”