"Are we sure he really knows where we're going?" Hercules couldn't help but mutter as they followed Doom through the forest. "And even if he does, are we sure that we should be following after him."
"Somebody tried to attack him in his own lands. I doubt that he is thinking about us much at this moment." Kala said with a shake of his head.
Ahead of them, Victor von Doom marched through the forest without slowing his pace even once. The emerald trail left behind by his spell floated just above the ground, winding effortlessly between the trees like lines on a treasure map.
"Besides." Kala muttered. "I doubt he would be trying anything sneaky if he was going to try to kill us. He seem more like the type to say it straight to our faces."
"How reassuring." Bruce muttered back.
"It should be." But not low enough for. "For it is the truth that Doom has no need for deceit on his own lands. The fact that your son understands that much speaks well of him Banner." The ruler of Latveria didn't even turn around throughout his small speech, more focused on the mystic trail.
"…I really hate it when I agree with him." Thor said with a scowl, much to his sister's amusement.
"Come now brother, whatever happened to your sense of adventure?" She asked with her arms spread wide and gave a little twirl. "This shall be just like the good old days, like that time we had to go and get back your hammer from Thrym!"
"Is that supposed to be comforting?"
The rest of the walk throughout the forest was relatively calm. The closest thing to excitement had been several encounters with wild animals like a few curious deer wandered close enough for Thor and Kala to scratch behind their ears before bounding away again and some predators like a few brown bears and some wolves who immediately turned around and ran from their group, who must have appeared like a gathering of apex predators to them.
It wasn't long before they finally reached the end of the trail and found… nothing.
"The trail ends here." Doom declared, his frown hidden by his mask but quite clear in his voice.
"So we walked all the way for a patch of dirt in the middle of nowhere?" Hercules asked with his arms crossed. "You sure you didn't mess up the spell?"
"If I thought you had the barest of arcane knowledge required to cast the simplest of cantrips, I would have killed you; used your corpse as alchemy materials and sell your pathetic soul to the lowest of demons for such an insult." The very air seemed to tremble with Doom's rage, making Thor grip Mjölnir tightly. It appeared that their temporary alliance was about to end.
"Now now, Doom dear. It's not befitting a master of the craft to be so offended by someone who is not even an amateur." But Loki seemed to have a different idea. "It's not their fault that they can not see that we have reached our destination after all."
The goddess of mischief walked for three steps forward before stopping, and then she raised her hands and gripped the air.
And the space crinkled before their eyes.
Like a towel or paper gripped in one's hand. That was the closest approximation they could make of the scene before them.
Loki kept her hands on the space like that for a moment before she grinned and whipped her hands downward and a sound akin to a towel snapping and something fell out of the air.
It kinda looked like a human at first glance but as it tried to move, it became obvious that it was anything but.
It was humanoid with two arms and two legs but it also had a reptilian tail that was almost as long as it was tall and it's head resembled a mix of some sort of iguana and a snake with slitted eyes that showed only the barest of intelligence, only animalistic instincts.
It hissed at them before opening it's mouth to the maximum extent with a green glow coming out of it.
Only for it's mouth to get clamped down by a hand made of earth before chains shot out of the ground and bound it, forcing it down on earth with no possibility of movement.
"Thank you Kala dear." Loki said with a titter. "But do keep the chains from choking it too much, I kind of need it alive."
"What is it anyway?" Thor asked with a glare, his grip tight on Mjölnir and ready to throw at any time. "I have never seen something like this."
"Me neither! Isn't that curious?" The goddess of mischief asked with a laugh. "But if I had to make a guess, I would say that this little weird friend of ours is the culprit behind the explosion and a servant of the mastermind behind it."
"Then it shall die." Doom's declared.
"Oh it will, no doubt about that." Loki said with a shrug. "I just have to ask that you let it live just long enough for me to do this." And then her hands glowed with green sparks that shot forward to the creature.
It howled in agony as the green sparks burrowed into its flesh, blossoming into glowing runes that rapidly spread across its entire body.
A heartbeat later, the runes tore themselves free.
They flew into the air before the group, arranging themselves into a perfect circle. One by one they began to rotate around a common center, faster and faster until they blurred into nothing more than emerald streaks.
The spinning runes flashed once with blinding intensity. When the light faded, a translucent green portal hung in the air, its rim etched with dark emerald sigils.
"The answers are this way." The goddess said with a smirk.
"...a tracing ritual using sympathetic link between the creature and it's master." Doom said as he inspected the runes with narrowed eyes.
"Do you actually expect anyone here to trust a portal you conjured?" Bruce asked with wide eyes, genuinely looking surprised.
"Trust does not matter." Thor said as he walked forward. "There are few who can match a gathering such as ours. Among those, there are few who would make a deal with Loki." He said before looking at his sister with a smirk. "And none who wouldn't simply betray her at earliest opportunity."
"Ah, you do know me so well brother." Loki giggled into her hand before gesturing towards the portal. "Shall we?"
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