Sword in the Stone (Ironman & Valkyrie)

[valkryie]

The control room was mostly quiet but for the soft beeping of computer equipment and the occasional hum of the air conditioning. Lights blinked benignly across an entire wall of control panels and the few people that stood in that room, monitoring said blinking lights, wore white coats to a man.

“It’s really quite incredible,” one of them said as they stared at a computer monitor, some sort of chemical schematics rotating slowly on the screen. Colored light reflected off the man’s glasses as he pushed them impatiently up his nose, leaning closer to examine the results of his recent test. “Simply amazing. Not a single thing changed during the entire experiment. Even diamond will degrade after a certain point, but this…”

Trailing off, he rolled back and turned to look at what appeared to be the entire reason for this room.

A large circular pedestal stood in the exact center of the room, a beam of light illuminating its proud contents from the ceiling above. Various tubes, hoses, and wires plugged into it at nearly every available section and, though it wasn't visible, a thick clear shielding could slide up and completely enclose whatever was on it.

Oddly enough, it was a sword that stood there now, a clear plexiglass stand holding the hilt so that the weapon stood on its end, blade pointed up. At first glance it wasn’t all that show-stopping though the decoration on the hilt was rather striking to some. It appeared to be quite old, but then again it was a sword. Who used swords these days except Hollywood?

“This is phenom—!” A heavy, booming thud echoed into the room, interrupting the man’s excitement and everyone turned to look at the floor-to-ceiling steel doors that shook with the impact of something very large, very angry, or both from the other side.

They all stood stock still for a split second before one of them (they all rather look the same so it’s hard to tell which is which) drops his clipboard and races to a certain panel in the back of the room. Punching in a code on a particular keypad had a whole slew of very loud, very bright flashing alarms going off.

* * * * * *

“Ugh!” Valkyrie made a short grunting noise as she flung yet another man in yet another green outfit across the room, the impact of his body on the wall knocking him out. They didn’t weigh nearly as much as the sparring robot she’d been using fairly consistently back at the Mansion, but she’d just slogged her way through several dozen of them and a few sets of very heavy, very thick doors.

Her breathing was deep and full as she glared over the pile of bodies that had been steadily growing since she’d entered this damndable base. The Hydra were like cockroaches, more and more of them coming out of the woodwork until you had to wonder how in Odin’s name one place could hold so many.

And then even more came.

Not once had she wavered in her focus since she had learned of this newest possible location for Dragonfang. Not once.

Two hours earlier…

Hjordis blinked.

She wasn’t in her room anymore. She wasn’t even in the Mansion anymore. Rainforest surrounded her; tall trees, lush green foliage, bright, huge flowers, and a bright sunny sky above. The scent of the sea saturated the air, which was warm and humid and just thick enough to make the idea of napping in a hammock sound really, really good.

Seconds ago she’d been strapping on her sword and visualizing the island Tony Stark had shown her minutes earlier. Hydra Island. The place that most likely, according to Tony’s data, had Dragonfang. The place she’d already vowed to get to no matter how. A familiar feeling had skated over her as she closed her eyes and thought of the satellite photos and, without thinking about it, she reached for that feeling.

It was not unlike when she pulled souls from the mortal plane into Valhalla, skimming through the land of the dead to do it, and in a moment of nostalgia, she gripped to it with an iron fist.

Except she hadn’t ended up in Valhalla this time. She was at Hydra Island. The place she’d been thinking about.

A brief moment of dizziness assailed her but she stood her ground, blinking and keeping the low compound ahead of her in focus. When she fully realized what had been done, she stopped wondering why and instead smiled.

She had arrived.

In typical Valkyrie fashion, she walked up to the metal door set in concrete and opened it. It was the door’s own fault it had been locked, the jamb spraying bits of metal and concrete out as the thing screamed in protest, but opened nonetheless under the Asgardian’s strength.

That was when the first of the green-clothed men had come running.

Her progress had been hard fought and she looked at the next set of doors with a mixture of resolve and frustration. Every door led to hallway, which led to another door to a room, which held yet more doors to more hallways and more rooms. The place was a maze and no one seemed willing to answer her questions.

Well, now they weren’t capable of answering either.

With her sword held easily in one hand, she strode to the floor-to-ceiling metal doors and slammed her fist into it.

“Knock, knock,” she murmured under her breath, quoting the first bit of a joke someone had told her several days ago.

[Iron Man - Tony Stark]

"Mister Stark, Hjordis' presence on the island is confirmed... and she's giving them more than a little bit of hell."

"Figured she would be. But I also thought she'd at least wait a moment for me to get my suit. Guess I was wrong about that too. " For the first time, Tony found himself really needing the scramjets he'd installed in his armor - he'd gone to a hard burn straight out of his Tower in New York, and broken the atmosphere eight minutes later, going into a low orbit to slingshot halfway around the world to the Pacific where the island was. Now, just under two hours later, as the beautiful jewel of the earth curved below him, he triggered the repulsor thrust system, and kicked himself into an entry path he'd calculated earlier. It would be a hard burn, and more than a little strain on the re-entry system he'd built into this newest variant of his armor, but he needed to be on site quick - even Hjordis was going to have a hard time taking an entire Hydra base on her own, after all...

"Mister Stark, your angle of re-entry is quite steep, I recommend-"

"I'm aware of the math, Friday. But if I make it any shallower, I'll overshoot the island, and if I'd gone in any earlier, I wouldn't have made it in time. Hell, I'm already late." Friday dropped the issue, but the friction was already building as he returned to the atmosphere at well over thirty times the speed of sound, and the red-gold armor plating was already starting to glow under the intense heat. Despite the extensive cooling systems between that heat and his actual skin, he was already starting to feel the temperature rise, despite all they could do, as the Invincible Iron Man turned into a shooting star, blazing across the sky of the Pacific.

"Engage shields, configure for braking." The suit's computer responded instantly, throwing a text acknowledgment up even as the lenses on the arms and legs began glowing.

SHIELD SYSTEM ACTIVATED, POWER DRAWING FROM TURBINE ALTERNATOR. SHIELD SYSTEM CONFIGURED TO WIDE ANGLE, PERMEABILITY 50%

The glow around the suit brightened, and a faintly glowing sphere grew around the suit, acting like a parachute, and the air around it quickly superheated and then burst into flame. The shield formed into three half-spheres, each bleeding off more force, and Tony grunted heavily as the intense G-forces of the decel hit him. He held on, though - his Extremis-altered physiology gave him a much greater ability to do so. After his speed had dropped sufficiently, the turbines spun up to full speed, and fired, vectored back by the repulsor fields and the baffling, slowing him still harder, but the gees weren't as bad now, with his speed bled off to below Mach 10 by this time. The suit computer dropped crosshairs over the island he was rapidly approaching, and a heavily magnified view appeared over it, showing the turmoil as the island came up to full alert. Hjordis was there alright... he triggered a second overlay, this a satellite view with full IR and radar coverage, and set cursors over each of the gunships and aircraft that were powering up to launch. First order of business... sweep the skies.

--------------------------------------

"Sir! There's a contact incoming! Hail Hydra, it's been slowing since we picked it up, and it's STILL traveling at over Mach six!"

"What!?" the commander shouted, running checks on the gunship as it powered up. "Dammit! One thing after another! Get this thing into the air, we need air cover, something to do about that bitch inside!"

"Sir!" The gunship floated up slightly, then started lifting off into the sky, the strange Hydra designed craft had no visible jets or propellers, and ran entirely on countergravity. It was one of the most advanced aircraft in the world, and bristling with heavy weaponry and defense systems, including Hydra's own shield technology, and the ships each began to warm up their shields as they brought their sensors up, ready to face the new threat.

"Sir! It's here!"

"Already!? Activate the shields!"

It was too late this time.

The fireball shooting toward the island suddenly stopped, the surface the fire was clinging too, where the heat was trapped, suddenly gone as the shields dropped, and Iron Man shot out of them on a trail of blue fire from the turbines in his boots.

"Iron man! Quick, open -" the man was cut off as the armor's shoulder plates cracked open, and eight streaks shot out, each a small-caliber micro-missile, but equipped with a special warhead based on his repulsor technology. As the missiles hit, each traveling at a tremendous velocity, an explosive charge detonated, and the explosion triggered a bomb-pumped energy system, generating a tremendous amount of current in an instant. The current flowed through a special disposable repulsor lens, and ignited a massive, omnidirectional pulse that slammed into the ships just as their shields were coming up, interfering with the force projection and smashing massive dents in the hulls, as though each had been hit by a giant fist. The force broke several of the gunships in half, and sent them spiraling back to the ground, but the effect was localized to spare the pilots - Tony had little interest in killing the men.

There was still the one ship, though... it turned, trying to bring its weapons to bear as the commander screamed at the pilot, but Iron Man came straight on, lifting both hands and projecting a wide angle barrier as he smashed straight into the gunship.

He passed through it like a bullet, smashing out and destroying the engines and antigravity.... and he flew straight though. His hand repulsors blasted out, in bidirectional mode to apply thrust, and he threw the turbines into full reverse thrust slowing at a breakneck pace as he dropped further down, and slowed close enough to a stop just as he came down into the center of the base, spun once, and his boots hit the ground hard, cracking the dense concrete in concentric rings around him, and creating a considerable depression - just before the sonic booms finally rolled in.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM

His armor still glowed cherry red, and the heat distorted the air around him, and the concrete actually burst into flame from the heat of the thrusters and his armor, spreading out around him. The armor's eyes were dark for a moment as the system cycled, then...

THERMOCOUPLE ENGAGED. POWER INDUCTION GRID ACTIVE.

The fire suddenly vanished, as though blown away by some wind from the suit, and a sudden hiss came forth as icy air blasted through the cracks in the armor, cooling it back down from the hellish heat it had been enduring. The eyes began to glow again, and Iron Man climbed to his feet, a blackened scar on the ground around him.

EXTERNAL TEMPERATURE LOWERED TO 67 DEGREES CELSIUS. SYSTEMS STABILIZED. COMBAT MODE IS RE-ENGAGED. READY FOR COMBAT OPERATION.

"Outstanding."

Hydra agents began flooding out from the bunkers, weapons blazing, but they were low-grade energy rifles, and the bolts simply bounced off his armor or were dissipated against the deflectors, many missing entirely. "Good to know the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy is still getting plenty of business."

A shoulder-fired RPG streaked in and slammed into him, knocking him back a step, obscuring his armor's form with smoke. An amplified voice boomed out from the smoke, and many of the Hydra agents blanched. "You people never learn, do you? Almost makes me wish I could go easy on you. But I guess I can't do that... too bad for you."

The smoke was blasted away suddenly as twin beams of light lashed out from the smoke, and the two armored vehicles that had been driving up to fire on him each took the blasts, and the repulsor beams actually flipped the APCs over, sending them crashing onto their sides and rolling down the ramps they'd come up, armor buckling from the impact, and Iron Man glided up out of the smoke, floating on repulsor fields, the lenses on the arms, legs, and especially the hand and uni-beam crystals glowing brightly.

MUNITIONS -> REPULSORS -> FULL-FRAME: 100%

The glow intensified, and the single beams of force projection from each repulsor lens split into scores, each streaking into a Hydra agent and knocking them back, hard enough to render them unconscious and badly hurt, but not dead - a full force repulsor blast could blow armored bulkheads into scrap, but split into so many beams, the effect was no greater than a solid hit with a baseball bat - though it still worked plenty well for non-superpowered people like these. The pulsed beams worked their way across the soldiers, sending several to the ground and still more running in helpless terror.

Now if only Hjordis would hurry... this tactic was effective, but draining a lot of power...

[valkryie]

The alarms that blared were annoying and she glared at the flashing red lights as if that alone would turn them off. If only it were that easy.

Blocking out the noise, she looked around the doors for anything that might mean she didn’t have to break the whole thing down. There was a keypad beneath a hand scanner to the right of the door, but the screen had turned emergency red and flashed in sync with the lights. She didn’t think it would help at all.

A series of what sounded like explosions boomed low through the building and she looked up for a second, head tilted like she might actually see what was going on outside. Whatever it was sounded like war and she blocked that out too. If it was more obstacles, she’d deal with them when she got out.

One thing at a time…

Turning, she half jogged to the furthest point she could get to from the door and still be in line of sight to it. She’d need a running start for this set and she might just have enough room to do it.

Except then doors started opening with malicious swooshes and the heavy, quick rhythm of lots of booted feet met her head on. Immediately her view of the doors was completely obscured by bodies carrying guns and she was suddenly very busy getting shot at.

The ones with bullets she didn’t mind so much because they stung for an instant but bounced off fairly easily. The other kind though…the kind that emitted some kind of energy beam…had a bit more punch to them. She’d taken several earlier on and didn’t relish getting hit again.

Diving behind the corner, she rolled and was up on her feet instantly, sword in both hands as the first of them ran foolishly after her. A single long swipe took out the first three and she spun again, graceful as a dancer as she brought the blade down a second time; two diagonal slashes that had six or seven bodies at her feet.

Immediately she dropped to one knee and grabbed hold of one of those bodies, reaching slightly back before flinging it out into the hall. Bullets and energy beams lit up the hallway with explosive sound and light but she heard the cries of the men as they realized what they were shooting before it hit the men in front. She picked up a second body and threw it as well only this time she followed it, sword held to the side and slightly behind her as she slammed into the second wave of men with a loud cry that, for those few moments, outdid the blaring alarm with surprising ease.

Men blanched and some flat out dropped their weapons and ran. Others stood their ground but had little hope of stopping the 6’ female juggernaut that cut through them like a laser scalpel. More energy beams hit her and she threw up an arm to shield herself, the force of them sliding her feet back a step or two once she stopped, but it did almost nothing to cease her attack.

Well, until the explosion.

Something fast, cylindrical, and white came shooting in her direction with impossible speed and she dived to the side, but not before it smashed into the wall and exploded nearly on top of her. Concrete and other various building materials rained down in a storm of dust and rock that left most of the men coughing and completely buried her.

For a moment, all was still beneath the flashing lights as they stared at the mound of rubble in the hallway.

One of them had just enough time for a sigh of relief before the mound shifted and she stood, slowly, her side to the men. Covered in dust, she looked a bit like an apparition until she opened her eyes.

Narrowed to mere slits, the cold, icy blue of them said vengeance and this time when the drones let out a volley of energy beams, she didn’t even move. Mostly that was because their aim flat out sucked, but a few did manage to hit her. Not that it did any good.

“Insidious insects!” With another war cry, this one loud enough to shake the walls, she ran toward the men again in a full on charge, taking the word ‘whirlwind’ to a whole new level in a cloud of dust, weapon fire, and screams. In such a narrow space, and with her reach, she was devastating. Literally. Bodies flew as she grabbed and threw, or punched, or kicked her way all the way to the back of the line.

When it settled enough to see, Valkyrie was the only one standing by the end of it, a rocket launcher held in one hand while she lifted it, the man still clinging to it dangling off the ground a few inches.

“Step. Aside.” Each word was painstakingly annunciated with an entire world of threat to back them up. The man nodded frantically and tried to run away despite that all he ended up doing was flailing in the air. Hjordis shook the weapon, hard, and watched the man drop and scurry away like a terrified puppy. Glaring at him, she held both ends of the RPG sleeve and pushed, squishing it from end to end like a pop can.

Throwing the crumpled, metal mess to the side, Hjordis once again took stock. Her "runway" was now littered with debris and bodies, most of who were merely unconscious though there were a few that glowed faintly to her eyes. The Chooser of the Slain did not take life on a fickle whim but she had no qualms about putting the fear of death into those that opposed her.

Shaking her head to rid her hair of the worst of the dirt and concrete bits, the earwig she usually wore dislodged. She caught it easily, frowning at the tiny thing before putting it back in, unknowingly opening its outgoing channel.

And no sooner did she set her eyes back on the door that separated her from the sword than the room vibrated and shook, one entire wall exploding outward as a huge metal robot filled the empty space.

"What manner of metallic beast be thee?" she asked mostly to herself and with a hint of awe just before she dived to the side to avoid a foot the size of a pool table. The thing was huge, its head scraping against the 15 foot ceiling and what it lacked in elegance it made up for in straight up brute strength and weaponry.

Immediately after it tried to squish her, it opened a shoulder mounted missile launcher and shot it right at her. The explosion was huge inside the almost cramped space now and Valkyrie let out a cry as it hit her.

So that’s what it feels like to get hit with a missile…

The wall behind her indented with a ragged bullseye target of cracks with the impact of her body sent flying by the weapon’s momentum and it was enough to knock the breath out of her. But it didn’t give her any time to get it because its massive fist followed, pushing her even further into the wall.

The robot kept its fist there for a moment before pressurized hose vents hissed and the metal shuddered slightly before it moved backward, painstakingly slowly, and not of its own accord. She could barely be seen now between the fist and the wall, but her own arms were straining as she pushed, her face set in a look of angry purpose. A low growl escaped her as well, but it looked as if she might have met her match.

[Iron Man - Tony Stark]

Rounds pinged off Tony's armor like rain, a sensation he was, he reflected, oddly comfortable with after so many years. Hydra didn't pack anything heavy enough to punch through his armor, especially the new adamantium-laced plating he'd put into this suit. But if he let them pin him down he could be in trouble when they got the heavy stuff up and running - like that tank. Ugh.

The huge vehicle rolled to a stop, leveled its cannon, and fired. Tony had no time, with the weapons hitting him from all sides, to dodge, so he pumped power to the deflector shields and braced himself. The tank weapon was, like most Hydra technology, more energy based than solid, a sort of concussion round not unlike the ones he'd used on the gunships earlier, but with a powerful plasma-based component.

The round detonated against the shields with a blinding flash and tremendous force, and Iron Man shot back out of the explosion at incredible speed, where he bounced once, hard, on the concrete, digging a massive furrow in the concrete, then back up into the air, where he fired his thrusters, bringing himself back to a stop.

"Nice try, you tin can. My turn."

MUNITIONS - REPULSOR - MODE - PULSE BOLTS: 60%

He held his hands up, palms out towards the tank, and the usual orange-white glow of the repulsors turned blue-white, then fired both simultaneously. The normal high-pitched sound of the repulsor was replaced by a staccato set of tearing cracks, and twin beams of rapidly fluctuating light lashed out, leaving a trail of heavily ionized air crackling in their wake. The pulse bolts were initially weaker than the repulsors, but the specialized stream of particles had a special property - they leeched heat, kinetic, and other forms of energy from the air as they passed through it, and so at longer ranges they were devastatingly powerful - if energy hogging - weapons. The bolts smashed hard into the shields of the tank and burned out its shield generators, then continued through into the hull, where they released the energy they had gathered and exploded, making the tank's round look pitiful by comparison.

The detonation sent Hydra soldiers flying, and severely crippled the tank but still others continued firing, and Tony's armor dropped crimson 'WARNING' cursors over two more tanks as they started to roll up. and a fourth from the complex Hjordis had gone into.

"Perfect..."[/font] he muttered. It was getting harder and harder to fight this war without killing anyone. And a war was what it was turning into. His armor was barely scratched, but with the hard burn in from orbit as well as being shot at and shooting back in so many directions, his power cells were down almost to 75%. He could recharge them given time and a power source - and there were plenty of advanced power sources in any battle like this - but there was no time to be had in a battle like this one.

"Alright... kid gloves are off. Want to see a new toy of mine?"[/font]

MUNITIONS - HVM - BUNKER BUSTER - FIELD: 30%

He held his left arm out and closed his fist. 30% oughta do it... I don't want to blow up half this base... he thought, and the armor over his forearm split open. A small, sleek missile extended out on a launcher assembly. The air around the missile warped, and a blue light extended from both ends of the missile. The light was actually produced by an intense gravitational distortion, which caught and held the light that tried to pass through, and blue-shifted it hard. The effect caused a similar result to a particle beam - the blue light speared forward into the concrete, melting a deepening hole through it... but that was just a side effect of the actual weapon.

The gravity field worked like a slingshot, and the light was just formed as the 'rubber band' was stretched out. Finally, it snapped forward. There was an intense flash of light, and the small, tungsten carbide and composite missile crossed the half-mile distance effectively instantaneously, and went straight down the shallow hole the beam had made earlier. It punched deep into the solid concrete bed of the launchpad even as its impact, generating an incredible amount of kinetic energy. The heat actually flash-boiled the very rocks in the concrete, and created a massive underground explosion, obliterating a space comprising hundreds of square meters beneath the two tanks. The tanks were thrown upwards a few yards with the detonation, but their tremendous weight brought them back down seconds later - into a ground that was almost completely destroyed.

The huge vehicles crashed down into the much larger pit, armor buckling and snapping under stresses it was never built to take, and Tony chuckled. "Even more fun than I thought it would be..."[/font] he glanced at the power readout then and winced.

POWER LEVEL: 59%

"Well, damn... lesson learned there. I'd better get Hjordis out of here before I decide to show off any more and run out of power."[/font] He applied a quick blast of his thrusters, dodging the shot of the fourth tank, then swooped around, and shot towards the tank. He brought his shields up as its machine guns lashed out at him, and the rounds bounced off harmlessly. He hit the ground, boots smashing holes in the ground only a foot from the tank, and he leaned down, engaging the gravity grip system on the boots and his gloves as he slammed his gauntlets into the tank. The grips actually enabled him to hold back the almost eighty-ton tank, despite weighing less than a quarter ton himself. The tank crew opened the hatch and climbed out, terrified, as Tony grunted, set the servomotors to max, and lifted the massive vehicle clear off the ground.

-------------------------

The battle between Hjordis and the titanic fist had only been going on for a couple minutes when the huge metal wall began glowing, then suddenly was burned away, falling apart as the intense heat took its strength away. As it fell, Iron Man stepped in, ignoring the tremendous heat, eyes and chest gem glowing brightly - and a massive tank held over his head.

"CANDYGRAM!!!" he shouted, his voice booming from the suit's speakers, then he drew the tank back and heaved it forward, adding a full power blast from his repulsors as he threw the tank straight at the mech that was trying to crush Valkyrie. The machine was powerful, but far lighter than the tank Iron Man threw, and crumpled under the weight as the tank's momentum carried it into - and through - the wall opposite the one Tony came through. He slumped slightly after that, worn from the effort, but it took him only a second to recover, and he stepped out of the still glowing molten hole, and knelt next to Valkyrie. He noted the dead Hydra agents scattered about, and winced, but now wasn't the time.

"If you'd waited a few minutes I could have come here with you. You alright?" He had no doubt that she would be, however, and he pushed aside his feelings about the dead men, and stepped up in front of the huge door that had kept her out. He put his hand over the keypad, reaching out into it with his technopathy - but the alarm had disengaged the computer from the doors, and he stepped back, irritated.

"Alright. We do this the hard way." He stepped back, away from the door, and re-engaged the heat mode of his chest unibeam. There was a bright beam of crimson-orange light that slammed into the huge door from his chest, and the metal quickly began to glow and melt away under more than 15,000 degrees Kelvin. The scientists inside cried out and fled, trying to get as far from the incredible heat as they could. Tony shut it off when there was a hole twice as big as he and Hjordis needed, and looked back to her.

"Let's get your sword... and Valkyrie - We Avengers don't kill people... remember that."

[valkryie]

Valkyrie tasted blood as she stood in a deadlock with the robot, both bodies trading inches of ground back and forth. Every time she gained enough room to move, the thing’s noise level would increase as its engines whined to a higher level and she’d lose it again. She was far from crushed, obviously, but unless she could get some leverage, it was going to be a feat fit for songs if she managed to escape completely unscathed.

Then it added its other arm into the mix. Worry speared through her even as she met it hand for hand. Pressed up against the wall as she was with one hand on each robotic fist, she could keep the robot from flattening her but that was about it.

Then the wall to her left began glowing and falling apart, the metal actually dripping down as it melted away. She didn’t have much of a view beyond the robot, but she could smell the heat just as Iron Man shouted his greeting.

Of a sudden all the weight was gone, the robot hurtled off to her right by a…tank.

Blinking rapidly to clear the dust out of her eyes, she slumped down to catch her breath, give her arms a rest, and wipe at the sheen of red on her lips. That cursed missile had thrown her head back awkwardly so that when the robot punched her into the wall, she’d bit the inside of her cheek.

“Nothing is harmed but perhaps mine pride,” she replied, giving him a half smile as she put her hands on her knees and stood up straight. Dust and concrete bits fell off her in a fine rain and she shook her head again. “It was mine intent to wait for thee, this I swear. The Fates, it seems, had different notions.” Now was not the time to go into detail about her little teleportation stint and she said nothing more about it as she stood to the side and watched him burn through the door.

She had to admit, his approach was probably more efficient than hers would have been, though no less destructive. As soon as the hole was made and Iron Man killed the chest beam, she started forward only to stop at his last comment.

Whatever amusement or softness that had been in her face before was suddenly gone, replaced not with anger but with a kind of stark grief, impersonal as it was.

“It was not mine intent to take life either. I have had more dealings with death than any can measure and not one of these men would I wish to see in Hel. They are not worthy of death,” she said quietly, glancing over the motionless bodies that littered the room, the hallway, and beyond. Only occasionally did she see the bright glow that was so familiar to her and she sighed, moving one hand beside her head as if to gently shoo away a fly. “There are not many and I can hold their souls here if you wish, barr them from taking the final step to Hel, but it will take time I do not think we have.”

She looked at him directly for a moment, unblinking and surprisingly patient before she strode into the lab room and paused before the pedestal that held Dragonfang. She reached for it, hesitating oddly enough, before taking firm hold of its hilt and lifting it reverently off the stand.

Her breath sucked in as a current of energy slammed through her. If her fingers hadn’t locked around the handle, she would have dropped it to the floor as her vision went white. It lasted seconds at most, but it felt like longer and when the room came back into view, she’d turned around and was looking at Tony again.

She wasn’t glowing (though it felt like she should be) but somehow all the dust and dirt and grime from the fighting was gone. The blade felt perfect in her hand; superbly balanced, just the right weight, and it felt like coming home. The sword had not initially been Hjordis’, just as it had not originally been Brunnhilde’s, but the new Valkyrie had to wonder if her previous leader had felt the same rush every time she held Dragonfang.

With sudden purpose, she sheathed the sword at her side and walked back to the armored man.

“Stay or go?” she asked simply.

[Iron Man - Tony Stark]

"I'm glad."[/font] he said smiling a little before he realized the smile was effectively invisible, and stopped, nodding to her instead. "And you can tell me about the Fates later - I hear they're a wild bunch." he said, sort of ironically, making a light joke despite the rest of the situation. He turned back to look at her a while after the comment about killing, and he remembered what her purpose was... of course she'd seen plenty of death, he'd known that, but somehow he thought she'd have been more okay with it. To see that she wasn't...

"No, Hjordis, let them be... I'm sorry. I just wanted to make sure you knew where the team stood... We've all killed, though... things happen." There'd be time to talk about it more afterward.... he motioned her through into the room, then, but just as more doors opened behind them, and he turned around, holding his hands out. "Get the sword, I'll hold these jokers off..."

He held an arm out, and there was a series of light cracks as the shoulder of his armor fired a set of tiny drones, which ricocheted off the floors and walls before each detonated with a thunderclap, the shockwave knocked the soldiers off their feet, at least the first wave.... and the second came wearing powered suits. "Oh, that's just great - how many people are going to rip off my ideas before they realize there's only ONE Iron Man?" The armored men lifted their arms, and the weapons slung under their arms opened fire. The weapons were decently powerful, so Tony activated the shield, and the glowing orange barrier took the hammer blows of the energy weapons without wavering, though Tony winced a little as he saw their power level dropping. The shields, as much power as they used, had to be run off capacitor banks that recharged off the main batteries... which meant they couldn't last as long as the rest of the suit. Of course, every hit he didnt have to take meant the armor would hold out longer... until he could fire back.

Still, the platoon of armored soldiers was keeping up a steady stream of fire... it took a few moments to find a decent break, so when it appeared, he exploited it mercilessly.

MUNITIONS - REPULSORS - NARROW ANGLE - 80%

"Sorry, boys. Just not your day." The twin beams of the repulsors streaked down the hall and smashed into two of the armored soldiers, punching heavy dents in the armor as it knocked them back down the halls, then he tracked and blasted away the other six in rapid succession, wincing a bit at the heat buildup, but they held, and he lowered his hands, switching his targeting over to the micro-missiles, which popped out of the armor over his shoulderblades, and blasted away much of the ceiling, dropping the panels just in front of the Hydra agents, blocking them from the room where he and Hjordis were.

With that done, the missile racks retracted again, and he turned back, just in time to see her lowering the sword, radiant as ever, and certainly not looking like she'd just been in a minor war...

"Ah... go. But how do you want to do that? I can fly us out, or can you teleport us both?"

[valkryie]

Hjordis blinked, only just then noticing the new destruction from the most recent battle. Perhaps the sword had taken her senses for longer than she’d thought… And from the sounds of it, the Hydra were not yet finished throwing men and weapons at them.

Not by a long shot.

There were already shouts and the sounds of pursuing men.

If she were able to duplicate what had happened earlier on command, she would have done so. But she didn’t even know exactly what it was she’d done or if she could repeat it with another person. If he were in his deathglow and it was his soul she were escorting, that would be a different matter entirely. Quite suddenly the idea of seeing his deathglow made her lips press together into a thin line and her chest grew tight.

Stepping in front of him, she slipped one arm around his torso and shifted the sword hilt enough to not jab either of them as she pulled herself close. It was the only safe way.

“For this, thou must fly. I am uncertain if I can take us both.” Hjordis was not in the habit of voicing her shortcomings, but they had little time to debate this. The take off was rather abrupt, but she held on even as her stomach hit her toes, her hair and clothes whipping frantically.

For an instant her eyes watered, but this was not so very different from flying the skies on her winged steed. The exhilaration was certainly the same. For a moment she let the feel of the wind on her face draw a smile from her. A real, genuine, smile, only to be erased at what she behind them over Tony’s shoulder.

A gunship. Fast on their heels.

She had no doubt Tony could outrun them and was about to suggest it when she caught movement to their side.

Three more gunships. And from the motions on the ground, more things were on their way.

Iron Man could battle the flying ships, but not with her as a burden. The first gunship, the one behind them, was closest and a hard look entered her eyes as she looked back to Tony.

“Throw me.”

[Iron Man - Tony Stark]

Tony waited a moment, watching as Hjordis made her decision, and he turned again as there was a series of blasts from the pile of rubble - Hydra was trying to blast its way through. He was charging the repulsor again to try and hold them back when Valkyrie made her choice, and latched onto him, pulling herself tight against his chest. For a fleeting moment he wished he was in an older suit, without the tactile sensors... hard not to be distracted with her like that... no time for those thoughts. He nodded then.

"Alright. Hold on tight, Hjordis." he said quietly, then started moving, lifting her easily, and making a few on-the-fly adjustments to the VRFS's roll, pitch, and yaw control to accommodate the extra weight and bulk of the Asgardian woman - dense as her bones and muscles were, she weighed considerably more than he did unarmored, and a good chunk of what he did even when wearing it. He wouldn't be going supersonic with an external passenger anyway - the air resistance would be absurd and control would be a nightmare - not to mention how incredibly uncomfortable it would have to be for her.

He didn't want that.

With that done, and him already at the hole in the wall, he lifted off on the repulsor system, then hit the turbines, and the two blasted out of the facility and into the sky, pulling several gees - he knew he didnt have to be half as gentle with her as he would have normally been. Chances were he couldn't break her grip even if he went to max, but he didn't want her digging her fingers through the armor plating either.

Unfortunately, they weren't fast enough to avoid the last few gunships... or the new gunships, and the three much larger motherships incoming from the sea. He grit his teeth a little, marking all the enemies for his weapons, but with Hjordis holding onto him, his options were severely limited. He looked down to her, and saw the look of fierce determination in her eyes... and somehow he knew what she was going to say.

Throw me, she says... her people are something, but she really is something else entirely...

"If you start to fall, yell. I'll catch you." he said, as softly as the roar of the wind would allow, then he put one arm over her waist, and grabbed her armor carefully with the other, shifting her weight, switching to flying upright as he lifted her. "Like a spear! And be careful!" he yelled, then set the servos in the suit to 100%, and let her fly with all the force he had, straight into a group of the gunships that was coming in fast. She'd be alright... somehow, he figured even if she fell, it would be whatever she fell on that he had to be sorry for.

Even so, he found himself worrying... but no time. He had his part of this to do...

"Alright, you Hydra bastards... GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

He shot forward towards the oncoming fleet, and there was an almost immediate BOOM as he broke the sound barrier. He launched the last set of his micro-missiles, taking down another eight gunships, but that left him to take the others with more conventional means, even as they all opened up on him with missiles and energy cannons. He spun and dove, launching flares and EW decoy drones, several of which actually used tiny image inducers to produce false visual images of him all over the sky, diving and weaving, and the gunships fire control was quickly overwhelmed - leaving the real Tony to blast towards them, slicing the engines off two with tightbeam repulsor fire, then spinning around to launch a set of pulse bolts long range at one of the much bigger floating ships - only to have the pulse bolts expend themselves against its powerful shielding.

"Well, damn... that's not bad at all..." he muttered, curving up and streaking around towards the ship - just as he was, however, the suit computer cried out a warning, and he made an almost instantaneous change in direction, barely avoiding a beam of energy with a larger diameter than he was tall, wincing as the heat from the beam jumped his suit temperature several degrees. NOT something he wanted to take a hit from... "NOt bad either... but not good enough!" He flew straight in towards the ship, drew his fist back, wrapping his own shields around himself, and slammed hard into the glowing barrier with his own, narrowing his eyes as his own energy field and the other fought, sending arcs of electricity sparking around both.

I just have to match the resonant frequency of my shielding to the frequency of theirs... create a region of instability in the field, and then... Got it! He slipped straight through the barrier as though it weren't even there, his shield parting the Hydra device, and landed hard on the green hull, putting serious dents - but he intended to create more. He locked the gravity grips onto the armor, drew his fist back again, and pounded it again and again into the armor until he'd punched a considerable hole, ignoring the attempts to shake him from the hull - the gunships couldn't fire on the bigger ship, and the ship's own shields protected him from the rest.

Once he had a hole, he deployed a swarm of his tiny drones into the maintenance corridors and conduits, where each floated along, down spaces the engineers had never thought to protect Tony broke back out through the shield and shot away just as the first few drones found the critical control systems he'd programmed them to look for, and exploded. Only a few of the explosions were visible, blasting armor plates out of the ship from the inside, but it was the ones that you couldn't see that made the real difference, destroying the ship's power junctions and antigravity generators, and dropping the massive vessel from the sky.

"Great. Two more to go..." The gunships came at him again, but their light shields were no match for his pulse bolts and repulsors, and he caught a few more by dropping clouds of drones in their paths, using them like mines, since the small weapons weren't nearly fast enough for this sort of fight - another upgrade idea, though.

Which still left the two huge ships... and he still had to get back to Hjordis - he'd lost track of her in the dogfighting, he'd only had time to check he didn't shoot down any gunship she might have been riding... Time to try the HVM at a higher power, I guess... even if I am down to 36%... try it on 60% this time.

He lifted the other arm this time, and the small blue beam lashed out against the enemy shields, the gravity distortion reappeared... and with the flash of the launch, a titanic explosion engulfed the ship, smashing its shields instantly and blasting away much of the bow, sending cracks all down the hull, and the ship slowly listed, then started to fall... he was moving on, though, firing until he could feel the heat building on his repulsors even through the armor's heat shielding, and he caught sight of Hjordis, somehow still in the air, and still wreaking havoc.

"Hjordis!" he called, streaking off to give her a hand, when the other mothership fired. He could dodge, but now she was in the path... dammit! He spun, bringing his shields to full, and expanding them as far as he could. The blinding beam of light smashed into the semicircle of the shield, veering off in other directions, and he had to fire his turbines almost on max to hold his position before the shield finally gave, and he was punched back through the air, smashing into one of the gunships trying to shoot Hjordis off his companion. It took Tony a moment to recover, tasting blood, but he looked back up, ignoring the warning on his suit telling him power was low, and he selected the most powerful energy attack he had.

MUNITIONS - SPECIAL MODE - BLOCKBUSTER

He drew both hands back, and both the chest gem and the gauntlets glowed brightly, then he pushed his hands forward, and fired them all at maximum. The 'blockbuster' attack synced the repulsors and the unibeam, allowing the weapons to reinforce one another, creating a blast far more powerful than the sum of its parts, and the beam that resulted was considerably more powerful than the one with which he'd just been hit, despite its smaller size. The blockbuster burned out the enemy ship's shielding in a fraction of a second, and split a massive crack down the center of the ship, literally cracking it in two. Lifepods shot out as the desperate crew evacuated, and Tony allowed himself a brief moment of vengeful satisfaction... just before the suit flickered and lost power.

Whether he had overstressed it with the slew of massive attacks, or just finally killed what was left, he didn't know... but his multibillion dollar suit had just turned into what was effectively a rock, and he was left falling, cursing loudly as he tried to restart the system. He would survive the fall, but without the impact-dampening system, it was going to be rough, and if he wound up at Hydra's mercy afterwards... and then there was Hjordis.... he had to get her out of here, too...

Showed off one time too many, didn't I? Sorry, Hjordis... Screw it, what am I saying!? Start, you twelve billion dollar piece of crap!

[valkryie]

Most would have looked at her in confusion, shock, disbelief, or some combination thereof. Tony didn’t. Part of that was because he happened to be wearing his helmet, but there were no words of incredulity or attempts to change her mind. He simply changed his grip and did as she asked.

There was something terribly heartening about a man who listened and understood that must be done, must be done no matter the risk or consequences.

"If you start to fall, yell. I'll catch you."

She nodded once, firmly believing that what he said was true. If she had need of him, he would be there. He shifted his grip on her and she helped when she could, glad that she was facing away from him when her cheeks heated in a blush. It wasn’t that their positions were all that intimate (in fact they were far from it considering the situation), but in the heat of combat everything was heightened.

Then they were ready and there was no more time for idle thoughts. She tensed, holding her body straight as he directed and nodded once again just before he threw her.

The wind was tremendous and she closed her eyes to it for a second before barely slitting them open. Just enough to see, and what she saw was the gunship fast approaching. Mentally she counted, gauging the distance and letting her breath out slowly…slowly…NOW!!

* * * * *

“Incoming missile!” the helmsman of the gunship shouted before he squinted at the screen again. “Wait, that’s not a missile. What the—!!”

“Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph…”

* * * * *

Valkyrie shoved her shoulders down and rolled forward in mid-air, both hands taking hold of Dragonfang and unsheathing it as she spread her limbs just before slamming feet first into the front bow of the gunship. The impact alone severely denting in the metal plating, but she hadn’t even started.

In fact, for an instant there, she didn't even know where she was.

Light burst out from her in all directions like an flashbang on steroids that temporarily blinded the men inside the gunship she'd landed on. Power surged through her and again her vision went white but this was so much more than what had happened in the lab. This was the full force of the sword at work and it felt like being pulled in every direction at once. Strength flooded her but it was laced with pain as the energy of the sword turned darker.

Her teeth clenched and she tightened her fists, both of which were strangely empty, and bore down against the flood of power. It focused, sharpened, intensified until it was all she could feel. Until she was sure it would explode and take her with it in millions of pieces.

No, this was NOT how it would end.

Fury suddenly drowned her; anger at the Hydra, at the sword's sudden possession of her, at her exile, at everything that had ever happened to her, built and heated. The spear point of the sword's power suddenly melted away, merging with that fury instead of fighting it, and she heard the impossible scream of a dragon's frustration in her ears before she came back to the world.

When the light faded this time, she was glowing. Her clothes had been replaced with gold and black armor that covered her from neck to elbow to thigh in large-scale armor that seemed to flow rather than simply move over her. Her hair was loose from its braids and flowed down her back in waves, held away from her face with a golden circlet, the center of which held a dragon's head with jaws spread wide in vengeance. Even her boots were gold, reaching up to her knees.

All this was shadowed, quite literally, by a pair of wings that stretched out from her back. Or rather, from the back of her armor. The wings were not the pretty, golden feathered things one would expect from a Valkyrie. No, these were sleek and smooth, black with veins of gold that spread out to a span of fifteen feet or more. They were membrane wings. Dragon wings.

With head tilted back, she let out a long, furious cry that ended with both hands over her head gripping Dragonfang before driving it down into the gunship. Light exploded from it before she switched her grip and ran down the length of the ship, Dragonfang's blade still buried in the outer hull of the ship and it ripped apart behind her.

The ship split like a melon as not only the sword's blade but the furious energy of it cut through steel, wire, rubber, anything in its way. As she reached the end of the gunship, her eyes narrowed and she leapt into the air. Both arms were held straight out to her sides, the sword's tip reaching the edge of one wing. The wings flared out and caught the wind, flinging her up and away from the ship as it fell out of the sky, continuing to split in half as it did so.

Anger made her face hard and fearsome though no less beautiful and she turned, banking around to see the rest of the battle. Tony was doing quite well on his own, but there were so many Hydra. So many enemies.

Enemies...

Sunlight flashed off the sword in her hand and she focused on the next gunship. The wings beat and speared her toward it at an ever increasing rate. The ship was more prepared than the first and turned its cannons on her. In an instant she flicked the sword in front of her and the blade split the energy beam around her as she kept coming.

Even when she reached the ship she kept coming.

With another war cry and a lethal slash of Dragonfang, she opened a hole in the side of the gunship before disappearing inside it like a torpedo. Seconds later she exploded out the other side and just kept going. The ship faltered before something inside detonated and spewed flame and smoke out the channel she'd cut. Then it too began to fall.

Tony had cut down all but the last two motherships and she streaked toward one, landing on it with deadly intent when the second turned its fire toward her. Her head snapped up and she watched as its energy canon let loose its beam...then as Tony suddenly appeared and took the blast.

"No!" she screamed, nearly ready to fling herself off the ship when he kept his ground, gathering for another attack and she took a breath of relief. She watched as he let loose from all three points in his suit, chest and both hands, and smiled a grim smile before she knelt and punched the hull of the last gunship. The force of it rippled over the metal as if it were water, the skin of the ship screaming in protest as seams split, welds shattered, and the whole skin of the ship hung like so much wet toilet paper over the skeleton of it. She punched it again, the shockwave of it splitting the rest of its critical supports.

A flash of red drew her attention to the side and she paused before a third punch as she watched Tony fall. And fall.

"Tony!" But he didn't respond.

Abandoning the last gunship completely, she took to the air and dived, wings tucked tight against her as she arrowed straight for him. Mere feet before she would have hit him, the wings flared and she reached for him, none-too-gently taking hold of him. Need for safety, for his safety, swept through her and she reached for the feeling that had brought her here in the first place without question or hesitation.

Both of them blinked out of sight and disappeared.

Somewhere in the Swedish Alps[/u]

The clearing was quiet and peacful. Deep green, lush grass grew almost knee high in this sheltered bit of the Alp countryside and the air was pleasantly warm. Fat bumblebees buzzed lazily from flower to flower under the clear, sapphire blue sky and somewhere beyond the circle of trees that lent shade to this place, a mountain goat grazed.

Valkyrie and Iron Man appeared a mere foot above the ground, both of them dropping with a bit more force than mere gravity would have lent, but it was better than smashing into the ocean at terminal velocity.

Momentary disorientation did not stop Hjordis from taking hold of Tony's shoulders, fierce concern blocking out the fury of combat in her eyes as she ripped at the helmet, pulling it off with sheer brute force before flinging it off somewhere. She wasn't paying any attention, but it was a full fourty five seconds before it hit the ground.

"Tony?" She was breathing quickly, the wings of her armor held out to her sides protectively as she took hold of his face between her palms. "Tony?"

[Iron Man - Tony Stark]

Well, this was a fine mess he'd gotten himself into. The new suit had output so much higher than the last one, he had obviously pushed too far into the power of his weaponry, and hadnt done enough work with power distribution. Now he'd fried part of the power bus leading from the main cells, and had to make some kind of workaround... pain in the ass, and all while falling through the air, mostly blind and immobile... a fine mess indeed. Something like this always happened when he made a new suit...

One of these days he was going to have to slow down a bit. No sense complaining now...

He could still see at least a little through the eye slits of his helmet, and through them he caught a glimpse of something gold and black flying towards him... beautiful somehow, but was that...?

"OOF!" he grunted in the armor as she slammed into him, and there was suddenly a tremendous sense of disorientation, and then a second and even worse impact, and he felt the oddly familiar sensation of being driven hard into the ground, digging a considerable furrow and making a small crater. He'd done far too much of that in the past.

He could hear her, but dimly - the armor's powerful insulation deadened the sound considerably, and he knew she wouldn't be able to hear him, so he went back to work, closing his eyes and technopathically working his way through the armor, thanks to the reconfigurable wiring and the cellular nature of the armor, he was actually able to wire around the damage, and he was just restoring backup power when he felt a tremendous pulling on his helmet. The connections stretched and then gave way as a safety before they tore and were destroyed, and he blinked a little, dazzled by the bright light.

"Tony? Tony!"

He blinked a bit, and looked up at the shadow above him, his eyes slowly adjusting, and the shape resolved into Hjordis' face, and that strange but beautiful black-gold armor she was wearing. But then, what was more beautiful was the body it covered, of course... but her eyes... he couldn't move his from her eyes, and he lifted a hand slowly, putting his armored hand on her cheek. "I'm alright... thanks..." he said. She'd been afraid for him... saved him. His heart skipped a beat - or five - as he looked at her, so close...

It was about that point he heard the faint sound of his helmet hitting the rocks, and he lifted a brow just slightly. "You just chucked a one-point-eight billion dollar helmet, you know..." he said quietly, not really able to put any actual admonishment into it, even for the sake of the joke he had been trying to make. Her eyes just...

[valkryie]

Sweet gods, he was alive. Relief nearly made her faint, but she was Valkyrie and Valkyrie do not faint. Her breath came out in a whoosh and her hands on his face tightened a bit as she stared into his eyes.

There had never been much of an opportunity to be this close to him and it was…surprising. She tried to blame it on relief that he was alive, but her breath caught in her throat and the word ‘captivated’ came to mind. The fury of earlier was not gone, not while she was still under the power of the sword, but somehow she’d pushed it aside far enough that it wasn’t affecting her.

"You just chucked a one-point-eight billion dollar helmet, you know..."

He didn’t sound terribly adamant about it but she wouldn’t have cared if he had.

“Silence,” she said just as quietly as he had before she made it impossible for him not to comply.

She kissed him.

She didn’t know why she did, but it just seemed…right. To not have kissed him would have felt odd and awkward. Then she just stopped thinking.

[Iron Man - Tony Stark]

'Silence' was a command that Tony had never in his life taken without at least some sort of snide comment to snipe back at the one who issued it, and indeed, unbidden, his mind was coming up with possible retorts, but no one who had ever given him that command had ever followed it up with quite so effective a method for ensuring his compliance. Or one he enjoyed half so much.

He kissed her back, his eyes closing unbidden, and, under the slowly recharging backup power, his gauntlet broke apart, and the pieces floated away, leaving his hand uncovered but for the neural sheathing, which melted away back into his skin as he rested his hand against her cheek, brushing his thumb across her skin gently as the kiss deepened.

He lost track of time, and despite his very nearly computerized brain, he didn't even take the nanosecond necessary to check the suit atomic clock. For the first time in years, he wasn't multitasking, he was focused on one thing... and there was an incredible allure to it... to just stay that way... and for more than one reason. It might have been hours before their lips finally parted, maybe from surprise or having forgotten to breathe, he couldn't be sure what, or which of them had even moved, but his eyes opened slowly, and found hers again right away.

"I'm glad you're okay too..." he whispered, brushing the fingers of his bare hand back lightly through her hair.

[valkryie]

He wasn’t the only one who lost track of time. She’d never kissed like this before. Or been kissed like this in return. Intimacy and romance had never been much of a part of her life in Asgard and it was probably the very last thing she’d contemplate on her own. It had just never been important.

Oh, but it felt so good right now.

He had to have deepened the kiss because she certainly wasn’t aware of doing it and…oh my.

Her eyes closed and she steeped in the moment, her fingers gently spearing through his hair. The feel of it on her skin felt oddly exhilarating and for once she just let herself enjoy it. Enjoy the whole thing.

When it ended it did so quietly, softly, and her eyes opened slowly and only halfway. What met them was the same image they’d seen last; Tony’s face. And it still made her heart skip.

Words failed her so instead she smiled, slightly amused at his whispered comment.

“Thou should not worry me so,” she ordered in a whisper, but there was little heat to it. If anything, there was an aching vulnerability to it and the smile slowly left her face. Something shifted in her eyes and the delicate bubble of tenderness began to leak a little as she sat back on her heels. She still touched him, one hand at his cheek, but the other hand dropped to her side, the tips of her fingers brushing against Dragonfang’s hilt, the sword laid out on the ground.

That same something in her eyes flared with that brush of fingers, growing hot and dark and dangerous. She stiffened, her other hand dropping as the wings of her armor lifted of their own accord.

Abruptly she picked up the sword and stood, sheathing the blade in a smooth, angry motion. No sooner did the hilt hit the edge of the scabbard than the same flashbang light from before burst out.

Hjordis dropped back to her knees, the golden armor, wings, and circlet gone, replaced with her more familiar attire, hair disheveled, and arms trembling finely.

What just happened?

[Iron Man - Tony Stark]

"I'll try not to next time..." he whispered back, grinning slightly back to her, but he grin faded a little bit when he saw the deep feeling behind those words... he nodded then, sincere, and spoke softer. "Really..." The moment didn't last, though, and his eyes narrowed a little, concerned, when he saw the anger leeching back into her eyes... why? Had he said something? Hell it wouldnt have been the first time, but he was fairly certain he hadn't... or done anything either.

It was then he noticed her hand was on her sword again, and he watched as she stood, sheathed the blade, and all the new 'features' vanished. So that was where they had come from... which still didnt explain the sudden change in her mood. Or did it? His eyes widened a bit as she fell back down, and he moved forward quickly, catching her as she fell to her knees, and he set her down carefully, resting his hands on his shoulders as he searched for her eyes, trying to make sure she was alright.

"You shouldn't worry me either..." he half-joked, smiling warmly, and he brushed a bit of her hair from her face in a tender gesture. "Sword packs a kick for you too, huh..?" It had to have something to do with the blade... and it wouldnt be the first weapon he'd seen - especially the magic sort - that had some kind of feedback for the wielder. "You think you'll be alright with it?" he asked then, concern deepening - if the weapon was going to be dangerous for her, no matter how powerful it was or could make her... he was far more worried about her. And somehow... not just as a friend.

[valkryie]

For that first moment it felt impossible just to lift her head and, despite the weakness it would show, she was glad she was not alone. She did not protest when he caught her. In fact, she leaned toward him a little as she waited for the fatigue to pass…or if it even would.

It wasn’t so much that she felt tired, though that was definitely part of it. It was more that she felt drained, not unlike what others describe after having a ‘crying jag’ or completing some other type of highly emotional ordeal. She felt like herself again, but expended. All the anger was gone and there was no longer that seething, vibrant, greedy power.

He was repeating her order back to her and it made her smile a little but it wasn’t until his hand brushed her face that she finally looked up. Her eyes were the same impossible blue as the sky, perhaps a bit lighter in color than they had begun the day, but they were clear and the corners of them softened as she smiled.

“I shall endeavor not to,” she said, nodding at his observation about the sword. It did indeed ‘pack a kick’ and, now that the battle was over, the idea of meeting the challenge it presented was a little exciting. Not today though. Definitely not today.

Whatever she might have said to his last question, the ghost of a smile still on her lips, died at the concern she saw in his eyes. It left her speechless for a time because no one had ever looked at her so. Sure there were those she considered friend and ally in Valhalla, and she knew they cared for her safety, but it was always known that she was Valkyrie first. War was her element and war had no mercy or caring for concern or love…and this was not just concern. It was something else and not terribly unlike what she had seen between couples at the Valhalla court.

She had never actively wanted that kind of caring from another person. To know someone cared that deeply would affect her decisions and her single-minded focus had held no room for doubts. But she found herself wanting to swear oaths that she would not be careless.

Instead she nodded, her hand raising to set fingertips lightly against his jaw.

“I will be careful. I am Valkyrie,” she reminded him, using the word not as her name but as description of what she was. Valkyrie were harder to kill than that.

“And what of thee?” she asked, a subtle yet not-so-subtle change of topic as she drew her eyes away from his face and ran them over the rest of his suited body, searching for outward damage. Her hands ran lightly over the metal from his chest to his hips for the same reason. “Thou is not injured? Truly? Thou took that blast meant for me and next I see, thou art falling.” Her fingers returned up to trace the opening of his chest beam as she looked at the soft light it emanated. “Thine armor was dark and thou were falling.”

Her cheeks blushed a little then and it was not just that she had exhibited caring beyond what she normally considered appropriate. Perhaps she had overreacted? Perhaps she had grossly overreacted?