Dark sides

Around them was rubble. It was warm - well, warm by Midgard standards compared to the last few places Sylvie had ended up - the sun high overhead. There was the pathetic wailing of a car alarm, muffled by layer upon layer of metal and wood.

The city had almost been levelled. Almost; there was half of a wall still in place. Sylvie hurried over to that spot, arm clutched over her breasts, stumbling over loose planks and shards of concrete. Hela was close behind, head lifted as regally as she could manage, back still, in a near-identical pose to Sylvie.

There was... nothing about this that felt right. Not Hela, not the attack on the TVA, not fleeing, not leaving behind...

Sylvie hesitated.

She could go back. She could take back the TemPad, but then what? Hela was right about that. One person couldn't do anything.

"Where is this?" Hela said.

"Midgard," Sylvie said. "I saw into someone's head a while back. She had an ex who did, well, this - I think the TVA struggle to follow variance in places that are this ruined, or are about to be even more ruined. This was before they ever met, but she saw the files."

Hela lifted an eyebrow, looking around.

"Impressive," she said. "We could use this, assuming it would function within the TVA's borders."

Sylvie said nothing.

Hela stood out. There was no avoiding that. Her skin was eerily pale, her legs, her breasts, and her face; her eyes were surrounded by shadow and her hair was black in perfect contrast, but the rest of her was a stark white that inevitably made her stick out against the greys and darker shades of the debris around them.

It wasn't clear if she even could blush, though there was definitely the slightest bit of color in her cheeks now, signalling all the self-consciousness she was clearly trying to avoid expressing.

Hela cleared her throat. She sat on a piece of stone, her legs pressed tightly together, considering. After a second, Sylvie sat down as well, picking a smoother piece of stone that was lower down. It was coarse against her butt, but far from uncomfortable. She kept a hand over her lap, face warm.

"There's one thing I don't understand," Sylvie said.

Hela only half-looked at her, most of her attention on the ruin around them.

"You said you were Odin's firstborn," Sylvie said. "I always thought that was Thor."

Hela's expression clouded.

"He lied," Hela said.

That was all. Sylvie hesitated. Well, it wouldn't be out of character for their father.

Their father. It was still weird to think that. Sylvie swallowed, trying to avoid looking up at Hela. This was... not exactly the ideal family reunion.

Something crashed in the distance, and there was a roar. Sylvie fidgeted. That would likely be the thing that had destroyed this place; it'd be coming back for a second go soon, erasing any trace of them. They ought to move at some point.

She took a deep breath. Somehow, she was still shaking.

"I saw another place we could hide in," Sylvie said. "A place where a lot gets destroyed. We can go there when it stops being safe here."

Hela inclined her head, slightly. Her arms were crossed tightly, a flicker of something more than her usual imperiousness in her eyes. Sylvie probably could have read her mind, but politeness made her decide not to; it was easy enough to guess anyway. Pure 'This should not be happening.' Hela was halfway to biting her lip whens he made a conscious effort not to, suppressing any outward display of embarrassment.

Sylvie had long since given up on doing so. Beneath her blonde hair, her face was bright red as she looked down at her lap, TemPad resting on her bare thigh.

Sylvie hesitated.

"I haven't seen my family in... forever," Sylvie said. "I know we never met, but there's something nice about it. Knowing that we might've known each other, if not for father and the TVA."

Hela was quiet a moment.

"I had no siblings in my youth," Hela said. "And after I left my banishment, the only ones I know of sought to steal my throne. I oft imagined it though. An ally throughout all things."

"Yeah," Sylvie said.

Someone who'd left the prisoners at the TVA behind. Sylvie paused. No, she wanted to believe in Hela. She had to.

She finished with her TVA, setting up the next destination but catching her breath first.

"Places like this are where they cannot pursue us?" Hela said.

"I think so," Sylvie said.

"Interesting," Hela said. "Sites of destruction are likely also the sites of powerful weapons. We could use those; so long as they do not appeal to magic, laws of the universe that the TVA's sanctuary lacks, they would be effective."

Sylvie bit her lip, tried not to speak, but did anyway.

"Is that all you're thinking about?" Sylvie said.

"What else is there?" Hela said. "They prevent my reign, so they must be stamped out. Are we not agreed on that?"

"We left people behind," Sylvie said.

"People who should be honored that they served my cause," Hela said. "We are gods, are we not?"

"We... are," Sylvie said.

She hesitated. Hela was her sister, she told herself. She could give her a chance; who knows what time she was from, what dubious siblings they had? Odin had his secrets.

But still, she couldn't help but notice Hela only seemed to care about one victim of the TVA. Not the people that had lost their homes or timelines or places in the universe, just the person who found out she wouldn't win a war.

No. Preventing Ragnarok was a good thing, surely?

"Bruce!"

The conversation was interrupted by a distant cry. Carefully, at Hela's gesture, Sylvie crouched and stuck her flushed face out around the wall. Someone was carefully making their way through the debris.

"Bruce!" she shouted again. "It's Betty! Bruce!"

Sylvie drew back, uncertainly. The stranger was black-haired, clad in an open white top and pants, stomping awkwardly over the trashed city. She was the only person that didn't seem to have fled.

"Bruce!"

"Does she say anything else?" Hela grumbled.

"She's coming this way," Sylvie said.

Hela frowned. Sylvie continued.

"I can get her clothes. I've done this before," Sylvie said. Her blush deepened. "Too many times."

"Stay," Hela said.

Hela got to her feet, face setting as she lower both of her arms to her sides. Flushing, Sylvie looked away, getting just a brief glimpse of Hela, summoning a sword to each hand, striding out of cover.

"You!" Hela shouted.

Betty turned, doing a double-take as she saw the nude goddess approaching. Shock made her freeze just long enough for Hela to lift a sword to her neck.

"Remove your clothes," Hela said.

"Wh-what?" Betty stammered.

"I will not repeat myself," Hela said.

Well, Sylvie reflected, that worked too. She lifted an eyebrow, watching as the black-haired human slowly stripped. She nervously pulled off her top, and when Hela didn't move her sword, awkwardly unclasped her pale bra. She threw both at Hela's feet, crossing her arms over her newly-bared breasts, smiling tentatively.

"I said I would not repeat myself," Hela said. "Do not make me a liar."

Betty looked at the sword, bit her lip, and lowered her arms to undo her pants. She kicked off her shoes to push her pants down, looked pleadingly up at Hela, and when she saw no mercy, slipped off her pale green panties. A second later, she kicked them over to join her shirt and bra.

She crossed an arm over her breasts, shaking a little, clearly squeezing herself much more than Sylvie was; nerves did that, Sylvie supposed. Probably her first time. The woman had her other hand over her core, legs pressed tightly together around it.

"Please, what do you want?" Betty said.

"Tell me about what caused this," Hela said.

She dismissed one of her swords, leaving one pointed towards Betty as she crouched to pick up Betty's clothing. She eyed it dubiously, but nevertheless began to dress in it, panties and pants first and settling for holding the shirt over her breasts until she was done holding Betty at swordpoint.

"Bruce is a good person, really," Betty said. She hesitated. "He didn't take the break-up well. Kind of... lost control. He didn't mean to, this just sort of happens when he's hurt. It wasn't even anger, it just tries to protect him and sometimes comes out at bad times."

"A break-up did this?" Hela said disbelievingly.

"I was moving," Betty said. "And he's on the move a lot as it is, but where I was moving, I'm probably not going to be seen by anyone for years. It feels like I should be around more, but I wasn't going to be, so..."

There was a roar in the distance. Betty turned a genuinely impressive shade of red.

Glancing past the wall, Sylvie saw something green throw a car overhead. And there he was.

"...That thing is called Bruce?" Hela said.

"Let me go to him," Betty said. She hesitated. "Can I at least have my shirt?"

Hela grimaced.

"Go," she said, pointedly keeping hold of her shirt. "More numbers could be helpful."

"What?"

Hela didn't answer. She turned around, already slipping on Betty's bra. The Goddess of **** looked alarmingly strange clad in a Midgardian scientist's casualwear, the same intensity in her eyes and the same unnatural pallor to her skin, though the flush in her cheeks was fading.

Well that was going to cause variance, even if the destruction didn't. Sylvie fidgeted, trying to look around; maybe more than just Betty had decided to brave the rubble. She'd rather get clothes here than worry about it somewhere else.

"This was caused by a person, not a weapon," Hela said. "It will be of little use. This next location you have in mind, it is different?"

Hela looked down at her. On instinct, Sylvie scrambled up to her feet, lifting her arms anew.

"Maybe we should wait a bit before rushing right into it?" Sylvie said.

"Wait for what?"

"Last time I did something like this, I spent a bit of time, made up a wardrobe," Sylvie said.

"A wardrobe will be of little benefit," Hela said. "We must strike as soon as possible, before they have a chance to fully recover."

"Which you say after you stole her clothes," Sylvie said.

"It was convenient. I had to speak with her," Hela said.

So convenient that she'd interrupted Sylvie's offer to do the same. Sylvie hesitated. Somehow she felt it rather clearly that her modesty wasn't anywhere on Hela's list of priorities.

So they had that streak of selfishness in common, Sylvie supposed. She wasn't sure how she felt being on this end of it. Sylvie adjusted the arm over her breasts, and held the TemPad over her core, flicking the switch to open a portal.

The Hulk roared again in the distance. Okay, maybe it would be wise to get out of here.

Here's hoping the destination would offer her some suitably 'convenient' change of clothes.