Chapter 8: Sylvie's Reluctant Alliance
Despite her best efforts to keep her identity hidden at all times during the long years of being a fugitive from the TVA, the giant had stated her name outright even before she had said ten words to him.
Sylvie did not know how he recognised her by her face or by her magic, nor how he knew enough of her to address her by that particular name.
She would safely worry about that as soon as she wasn't about to be brutally murdered by the Frost Giant.
Candidly, Sylvie preferred simply enchanting people over talking and negotiating with them. But she could still do as such if she was properly motivated to do so- like say, her life depended on it? Then talk and negotiate, she shall.
"I'm not! I'm not working for the TVA." She appealed to him in her most reasonable and appeasing voice while simultaneously adopting her most innocent expression, "I was just infiltrating their strikeforce to sabotage their assassination attempt of you!"
'Please buy it. Please buy it. Please buy it.' Sylvie repeated the thought in her head. She had no wish for it to end like this- not even from fighting the TVA, but from a fellow enemy of the TVA.
"Were you now?" the giant replied in a musing tone- suspicious and not quite buying her statement as a whole truth; but he hadn't impaled her skull on an icicle, and she'd happily count that as a major victory.
"Yes!" Sylvie nodded eagerly with an easy smile- letting her smooth and definitely innocent-sounding feminine voice do the magic for once, "Our interests even align quite well in fact! We both hold no love for the TVA- I can even tell you where one of their leaders are!"
"Here? On Sakaar?" the bone-clad giant clarified as he pulled her closer to his helm, and- more importantly to Sylvie- farther away from the razor sharp jagged wall of icicles.
He was aware of the TVA, but did not know that he was the center of a Sigma-Class Nexus Event? How interesting.
Regardless, that morsel of information about the Ravonna-btich being present planetside seemed to interest him greatly.
Perhaps she wasn't the only one with a grudge against the TVA Judge. Yes, she can work with that nicely; perhaps even work this giant to her favour.
"Yes, she's here." Sylvie immediately confirmed, jumping at the chance that the giant might be inclined to murder the bitch, "I can even give you the address of their outpost if you'd like!"
"She?" He echoed in a tone of voice that told Sylvie that he knew of Ravonna as well.
"Ravonna Renslayer, the TVA Judge?" Sylvie offered up the name as a freebie in a conversational tone, "Curly hair, slightly shorter than me, wears that Dutiful Frown of Self-righteousness?"
She couldn't see the look in his eyes, and his body language was unreadable as well. But the way that the giant let her stand on her own feet again was a big relief- he must have recognized the name Ravonna Renslayer.
Though she wasn't in the clear just yet- the unyielding bone-armoured fist that gripped her by her lapel had not yet released her.
But Sylvie knew that she just needed a bit more before gaining his trust.
"If you'll just bring me to a map of the city, I can point you to the building that she's in." She offered while flashing him her friendliest smile- hoping the giant will take her offer, and in doing so, rid her of the TVA bitch.
And while he's busy breaking the bitch's spine in half, Sylvie will just swipe a TemPad from one of the fallen Minutemen and make her escape. Her current one was dangerously low on power.
"Have you been there?" He gruffly questioned her. And Sylvie didn't like where this line of thought was heading. If she said yes, he would insist on taking her along and possibly dispose of her after her usefulness to her expired.
"No, but I do know where it is." She lied as easily as other people breathed.
The giant only grunted in response and Sylvie found one of her blue-green eyes staring at the razor-sharp tip of his mace's bloody spike slowly approaching it- aiming to gouge out her right eye.
"WAIT! YES, I WAS!" She immediately admitted just as the spike was a bare centimeter or two from her eyeball.
"You will take me there." He told her simply, the spike unmoving from its place until he extracted an agreement from her.
"I will." Sylvie readily agreed- if it meant that she wasn't going to lose an eye then she'd readily agree to anything.
Her response was enough to convince the giant- dipping his helmeted head in a slight nod as he pulled back his mace away from her eye and made the cursed weapon disappear with a gesture.
But before Sylvie could breathe a sigh of relief. His hand came back to undo the strap of her armour- moving it away, and making her look on in confusion.
The fist grabbing her by the lapel suddenly yanked to the side- popping the first two buttons of her stolen TVA uniform and exposing her bare pale shoulder.
"Wait, what are you doi- Argh!" Sylvie asked just before being cut off by the giant biting down on the flesh of her shoulder hard enough to draw blood. She felt his tongue lap at the wound once or twice before he pulled back.
"Sealing the deal." He answered simply as he pulled back from her shoulder- making her hiss as the cool air licked at her fresh bite wound.
"Should I bite your shoulder back?" Sylvie grunted- snarking back with more than a little discomfort. As a former Asgardian, she cursed whichever barbaric backwater settlement the giant came from that thought it was a good idea to bite someone's shoulder to seal an agreement.
"Heh, maybe later." He chuckled gruffly before placing a hand on her bare shoulder where the bite mark was.
His hand and her shoulder began glowing a soft glow like the morning light at the start of a long vacation.
She could feel the flesh knitting from where he bit her. Not only that, but even that slight ache she had from falling asleep in an odd position was remedied by the light.
And as he removed his hand from her shoulder, Sylvie could only race a confused brow at the sight of pristine fair skin where the bite mark once was. Not only ice magic, but also healing magic as well. And Sylvie couldn't help but voice her thoughts.
"You can enchant people's weapons to fly from their hands, you have control over ice, and you can heal people's wounds… Just who are you?" she couldn't help but ask out loud- an actually honest tone of confusion in her voice.
"My name is Hevnokren, and I'll explain later... If I feel like explaining." He responded as he turned- fearlessly showing his back to her as if she wasn't even a threat to him anymore. He stepped over the broken bodies of the TVA Minutemen and began walking back to the room.
Sylvie couldn't help but not care for them. But she did note with a frown that the giant, now named Hevnokren, had somehow already looted all the Tempads already.
"I took a ten minute shower and you've already killed seventeen people?" An amused voice called out to Hevnokren from the room, and Sylvie had to peer around his armoured bulk to see who his friend was.
Her blue-green eyes widened at who she saw- definitely not expecting someone like her.
Leaning casually against the doorway of the room was a valkyrie of all people- clad in her ceremonial gray and white armor plated with the gold alloy of Asgard's armies, a heroic blue cape draped across her back.
Her earthy brown eyes twinkled with mild amusement as they surveyed the broken bodies of the Minutemen and the blood-splattered form of the giant.
Sylvie thought the Valkyries had all been wiped out- to see one before her in the flesh.
"I also made a new ally." The giant, now named Hevnokren, told the Valkyrie as he introduced her, "This is Loki Laufeydottir, adopted daughter of Odin."
At the mention of her father, the valkyrie glowered- her brown eyes flashing with a dark emotion.
"I can't care less about Asgard and Odin." Valkyrie coldly remarked, "I'm only wearing this armour because it's still the best one I've got, and I'd rather my insides remain inside for the remainder of our busy week."
The valkyrie went silent after that, her brown eyes staring into the distance for a few seconds before she let out a frustrated sigh and turned her brown eyes to her. Slyvie couldn't help but raise a blonde eyebrow at the display.
What did her father do to alienate a warrior from one of his most loyal and formidable forces?
"Still, I'm not about to hold it against you." the raven-haired valkyrie scoffed, before walking past Hevnokren and right up to Sylvie. Her earthy brown eyes appraised her for a moment before she grinned with an easy smile.
"Brunhilde, former Valkyrie. The best damn professional alcoholic slaver and/or bounty hunter- also alcoholic- this side of the galaxy." She introduced herself as she extended a hand.
"A... pleasure." Sylvie replied- unable to keep the tone of cool amusement out of her voice as she shook hands.
"It seems I have yet to tell you what has transpired in Asgard since your departure from service." Hevnokren mused before running his eyes up and down her gray-white-gold armour approvingly. "Still, that's a nice look. Remind me later to enchant that armour for you."
"You can imbue armour with magic now?" Sylvie noted in an disbelieving tone, yet amused tone, "Are you sure you're not a Dwarf from Nidavellir?"
But internally, she was feeling worried. The more she learned about him, the less wise it seemed to try and escape from this powerful sorcerer.
Her mother had trained her in some magics back in Asgard, but a full magical education was something she did not have.
More worrying was the phantom ache that was still radiating on her shoulder where he bit her. Sylvie did not know what type of magical pact she had struck with him, but from how unconcerned he was of her… she would say that it was the magically binding kind. The type that would be enforced with her soul's possible annihilation should she attempt to break her promise of guiding him to Ravonna.
How troublesome.
"But down to business. Valkyrie. Loki." Hevnokren's deep voice called to them- pulling her out of her scheming before continuing, "We will be taking detours to kill TVA teams on the way to Ravonna."
"Please stop calling me that. It's Sylvie now." She explained as she looked up to meet him eye-to-eye, her soft voice in a patient tone- for now. "Also, I'm not immune to the Pruning effects of TVA batons like you are, so if you don't mind... I'll- as they say- sit this one out."
Hevnokren's facial expression was hidden behind his full helmet, but Sylvie did get the feeling that he was amused by her attempt to stay away from the fighting. Reaching behind his back, he pulled out a full staff from… somewhere and offered it to her.
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