"Don't touch me, you idiot!"
"We had rules."
Valkyrie shot Thor a warning glare. Thor only gave an awkward grin and raised his hands in surrender.
They weren't exactly close. Allies, perhaps. Friends, barely.
Seeing Thor get shut down, Loki snorted from the side.
"Pfft—"
"Loki! You laughed."
"No," Loki replied instantly. "I was remembering something pleasant."
The shift in expression was seamless.
…
Return to Asgard
At the Bifrost Bridge, Odin and Frigga were already waiting.
"Oh, my children…"
Frigga stepped forward and embraced each of them warmly—even Tony, whom she had never met before.
Tony blinked, pleasantly surprised, then accepted the royal maternal hug with polite composure.
Loki approached Odin next, hands clasped in front of him.
"Father, I—"
"Loki," Odin interrupted calmly. "I am aware of your actions on Midgard. So is Asgard."
Loki's jaw tightened slightly.
"But," Odin continued, "one matter does not erase another. You will still prove your reform to Asgard. Escaping imprisonment remains a fact."
"Return."
"Continue your sentence."
"In Asgard."
Loki bowed his head.
"Yes."
Internally, however, he calculated quickly.
Exile commuted to supervised service. Not ideal—but survivable.
A victory of sorts.
Valkyrie
Odin turned toward Valkyrie.
She avoided his gaze at first—then straightened.
She owed him nothing.
"If you have returned," Odin said evenly, "then you are aware of Hela."
"Father," Thor interjected, "why did you never tell me? About her—or about the Valkyrior?"
"Hela and Ragnarök are bound together," Odin replied. "Knowledge carries weight. For the young, too much of it becomes a burden."
He gazed toward the horizon.
"But now that you know of her… Ragnarök draws near."
Thor stiffened.
"Ragnarök? So soon?"
Beside him, Loki's faint smile vanished.
He had only just begun rebuilding his future.
He would not let it end in cosmic fire.
"Surtr," Loki said suddenly.
Thor's eyes widened.
"Yes—Surtr! If Ragnarök depends on him, then we stop him first. Without the Eternal Flame, he's nothing. I'll kill him myself."
For once, the Odinson brothers stood united.
"For Asgard."
Odin did not discourage them.
"You may try."
That was permission enough.
Thor seized Tony.
Loki grabbed Leon.
"Heimdall!" Thor called. "Open the Bifrost to Muspelheim!"
The rainbow bridge flared.
"Wait—I'm coming too!" Valkyrie shouted, leaping into the beam just before it closed.
Only Frigga, Odin, Kayla, and Supergiant remained behind.
Frigga studied Supergiant thoughtfully.
"My, what a striking figure," she mused, gently taking her hand. "No wonder Leon keeps you close."
Supergiant stood rigid, unsure whether she was being complimented—or assessed.
Muspelheim
They arrived almost instantly.
A realm of molten rock and churning magma.
The air reeked of sulfur.
Ash blanketed the sky.
Tony exhaled sharply. "We couldn't have toured Asgard first?"
"Sorry," Thor admitted. "Ragnarök tends to motivate."
Loki drew both Lion's Fangs, abandoning subtlety.
"Let's go. The four of us together? Unstoppable."
A massive lava-beast erupted from the magma—a salamander-like creature over ten meters long.
Loki charged.
Two seconds later—
He was swatted mid-strike and embedded into a volcanic wall in the shape of a rune.
Leon and Thor didn't even blink.
Valkyrie sighed.
She launched thirty meters upward and drove her blade straight through the creature's skull, twisting cleanly.
The beast collapsed.
Efficient.
Professional.
She flicked molten residue from her blade and looked smugly at Thor, Leon, and Tony.
Loki remained embedded in the wall.
Suddenly—
The ground trembled again.
"Behind you!" Thor shouted, raising Mjolnir.
Valkyrie turned—
A second lava-beast swallowed her whole.
Thor froze.
He couldn't unleash lightning at full power without risking her.
The creature charged toward them—
Then abruptly convulsed mid-stride.
Its eyes bulged.
It collapsed at Thor's feet.
Blades burst outward from its chest cavity.
Valkyrie stepped out through the molten carcass, unfazed.
"Forgot something," she said calmly. "It's entirely magma. No vital points."
Thor exhaled slowly.
"Of course."
Leon watched in silence.
Muspelheim burned around them.
And somewhere deeper in the inferno—
Surtr waited.
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