Chapter 27: Siblings and Synthetics – Hela and Thor Get Sentimental.
[ASGARD BIFROST CHAMBER – DAY]
The tension in the chamber was a palpable force. Loki was gone, having taken the **Space Stone** and the **Soul Stone** to Earth to begin the final hiding protocols with Doctor Strange. Now, the final strike team was deploying.
**Thor** stood ready, Mjolnir at his side. **Hela** stood opposite him, still wearing her tactical leather but now armed with a truly massive, jagged sword—a weapon forged from the ruins of Thanos's scout ship.
"Your mission is simple," I instructed, standing beside Odin. "Find **Vision**. He is on Earth. Convince him to allow you to extract the **Mind Stone** safely—not destroy it, but contain it."
"Convince?" Thor frowned. "Mother, I specialize in encouragement via thunder. Not persuasion."
"That's where Consultant Helga comes in," I smiled, looking at Hela. "Hela, you understand what it means to be a powerful, complicated being created with a purpose that turned to destruction. You also know what it's like to be betrayed by a Father."
**"I know what it's like to be the best and be sidelined,"** Hela corrected, her eyes burning. **"I will handle the synthetic being. He needs a lesson in self-preservation."**
"Thor, you will handle the **human element**," I continued. "Vision is currently being protected by **Wanda Maximoff**, the Scarlet Witch. She is a powerful asset. You must convince her that this is the only path to saving Vision's life. Be honest, be heartfelt, and for once, **be quiet**."
Thor nodded, looking thoughtful. "A mission requiring brute honesty and emotional vulnerability. I shall treat it like a particularly difficult poetry slam."
I placed a hand on Thor's massive arm. "Remember, Son. You are protecting the people you love. Go. And Hela, no unnecessary casualties. We need the Earth intact."
Hela snorted. **"Casualties are relative, step-mother. But I shall keep the mess to a minimum."**
Odin opened the Bifrost. The two vastly different, fiercely powerful siblings stepped into the rainbow light, headed for Midgard.
---
[EARTH – EDINBURGH TRAIN STATION – MOMENTS LATER]
Vision and Wanda were having a quiet, desperate moment—the very scene that kicked off the original *Infinity War* tragedy. Their faces were pressed close, debating the danger of the Mind Stone.
Suddenly, the Bifrost roared directly onto the train tracks, showering sparks and vaporizing a vending machine.
Wanda immediately threw up a massive, scarlet energy field, protecting Vision.
Thor stepped out of the smoke, raising Mjolnir in a peaceful, non-threatening manner (which, for Thor, involved a lot of shouting).
"Wanda! Vision! Greetings! We are here on an urgent mission of **mandatory synthetic entity relocation**!"
Wanda's eyes flared with protective fury. "Thor! Stay back! We are not going anywhere!"
Hela stepped out of the Bifrost smoke, looking utterly bored. She took one look at Wanda's energy field and Vision's worried face, and sighed dramatically.
**"The melodrama is astounding. You mortals cling to suffering like a favorite shawl."**
Wanda whirled around, recognizing the aura of immense, chilling power. "Who are you?"
"I am Hela, Goddess of Death," Hela stated simply, walking toward the energy barrier. "And I am here to tell your glowing synthetic boyfriend that he is an idiot."
Hela casually tapped the energy field with her finger. The field didn't break, but it pulsed violently, clearly destabilized by the sheer magnitude of Hela's presence.
"He carries an item the most dangerous being in the cosmos desires," Hela continued, ignoring the furious Scarlet Witch. **"That makes him a target, not a person. He is collateral damage waiting to happen. We are offering him a chance at a functional existence."**
Thor, remembering his instructions, stepped in quickly. "Hela is correct, Wanda! Thanos is coming! We have secured the other Stones, but he needs the **Mind Stone** to complete his dreadful gauntlet!"
"If we remove the Mind Stone, he dies!" Wanda argued, tears gathering in her eyes. "I won't let you!"
"And if you don't, Thanos will kill him and take it anyway, and then he will destroy the rest of the universe," Thor said, his voice dropping to a sincere, desperate pitch. "Wanda, look at me. My mother, Queen Frigga—a woman who loves us deeply—has been forced to sacrifice herself to save us all. She came back, but the point remains: **we are out of options.**"
He gestured to Hela. "My sister, a goddess who would rather conquer the cosmos than talk about feelings, is here because *she* knows the cost of letting a father's mistakes define your path. Vision's creation was a mistake, Wanda. But his *life* doesn't have to be. We are offering you a chance to **save him**, not the Stone."
Hela crossed her arms, watching the exchange with cold interest.
Vision, who had remained silent, finally spoke, his synthesized voice trembling slightly. "The logic is sound. If the Stone is the objective, removing the Stone removes the imminent threat to the host. But what then? I am the Mind Stone. Without it, I am nothing."
**"You are a blank slate,"** Hela scoffed, finally dropping the 'Consultant Helga' act. **"And that is the greatest gift. You will be free from the baggage of your creation. You get to decide what you are. That is a luxury my brothers and I were never afforded."**
Hela's admission of personal regret—however tiny—hit Vision with surprising force.
Wanda looked at the two siblings: Thor, the god pleading with his heart; and Hela, the goddess of death offering a strange, brutal form of hope. She knew they were telling the truth.
"How?" Wanda asked, her voice cracking. "How do you separate him from the Stone without destroying him?"
"My mother has a plan," Thor said, smiling faintly. "We have secured the **Eternal Flame**. The Mind Stone is pure consciousness. The Eternal Flame is pure *rebirth*. We can use the Flame to stabilize Vision's core essence during the extraction. But we need a quiet, safe place to do it."
"And a massive scientific battery," Hela added. "I know the perfect place: **Wakanda.** They have the resources and the secrecy."
Wanda looked at Vision. Vision nodded slowly, resigned but determined. "We must go. But I will not leave Earth undefended."
---
[ASGARD ROYAL LIBRARY – SHORTLY AFTER]
Yuta, recovered and back in her robes, watched the live feed from Thor's helmet (Loki had set up a permanent spy-cam link). She saw the tense negotiation conclude.
"They are going to Wakanda," Yuta announced to Odin. "It's the perfect defensive location for the final battle. Loki, you must create the final lure."
Loki, now back from his mission, set the **Space Stone** and **Soul Stone** on the main map table.
"I've cloaked the Tesseract and the Soul Stone within a series of dimensional rifts here," Loki explained, pointing to coordinates near **Titan**—Thanos's dead home world. "When Thanos uses the Power Stone's residual energy to track them, he will be lured to a series of elaborate, empty traps."
"Good," I nodded. "Thanos wastes his time on the Stones we *don't* want him to have. The **real** battle will be for the **Mind Stone**."
"We have to get the main forces to Wakanda," Loki said. "But the Bifrost is too obvious."
"Then we will bring the Bifrost to them," I declared, looking at the complex, final solution forming in my mind. "We are going to move Asgard."
Yuta looked at the two most dangerous artifacts now in their control—the **Soul Stone** and the **Eternal Flame**—and realized the full extent of the chaotic power now at her disposal.
"Odin," I said, my voice firm. "We are going to use the **Soul Stone's** authority to command the remaining Bifrost energy, and we are going to use the **Eternal Flame** to power the biggest move in our arsenal. We are going to bring the main battle to the only place that can withstand it."
"What is the final plan, Frigga?" Odin asked.
"The **final battle**," I stated. "Is going to take place not on Earth, but in the skies *above* **Wakanda**. We are going to create a **final, defensive Bifrost shield** around the nation, and we are going to move the entire **Asgardian fleet**—including Hela, the refugees, and the Dark Elves—to Earth. **We are fighting Thanos at full strength.**"
The cosmos was about to witness the most crowded, complicated, and utterly decisive battle in its history.
To Be Continued...
***