Siren

Dark Days

Sakaar

Unsure of where she was, Gianna found herself in a room all by herself. She had an idea on where she might be but it wasn't until a door opened that she heard a wave of chattering unfold in the next room filled with other otherworldly creatures and weapons and a laser-field stopping her from interacting with the other contestants. Not finding her dagger or sword brought great concern to Gianna as she could not find it on the weapon stands. So, as a replacement, she chose a particular sword that seemed most identical to that of the one she was gifted from her grandfather. Once she was drawn out, she found herself in an arena with thousands of people cheering on in excitement of what was to occur. 

Tensely, Gianna braced herself for her first opponent coming through the gate on the other side of the arena. An eight foot tall ant-like creature appeared before her, wielding dual swords as it charged towards the black-haired woman. Readily, she struck first, landing a killing blow that left the creature dead in the dirt. More creatures dared to fight her for the sake of gaining blood and glory or few that fought in order to survive. After over three hours of fighting, Gianna was tired. She had not much strength left to fend off the creatures trying to kill her until a real challenge. Lo and behold, the champion. 

"Oh my Gods..." Gianna muttered to herself.

A mighty roar broke out, to which the green behemoth himself was her challenge. Not only the fact that she couldn't stop the Hulk, she didn't want to hurt him in case that made him more upset to fight her and possibly kill her, if she allowed it. The Hulk walked over to her as she closed her eyes and dropped her weapon and braced to get punched by his gigantic fist into the wall of the arena, but the blow never came. Amazed by this, the man in charge overseeing the fight called upon his guards and ordered them to incapacitate her and bring her to his office.

The events that took place back on Midgard circulated through Gianna's mind. The expression her father made when Odin said that Loki was still his son touched him deeply after everything he'd done and everything they'd said. Even after surrendering his entitlement to Thor, they could not have stopped the Goddess of Death. Her anxiety increased as she thought heavily about her soulmate having to deal with Hela herself. 

When Gianna awoke, she was trapped in a chair that which seemed magnetically connected, stopping her from even leaving the chair let alone daring to remove her arms from the rests. The Grandmaster himself was present and intently staring at the black-haired woman wondering where the hell she was. 

"W-Who are you?" Gianna asked hoarsely. 

"Who, who am I? Little lady, I'm the big man around these parts. What, did you have a few too many beers or somethin'? My name is Grandmaster. I preside over a little harlequinade called the Contest of Champions. People come from far and wide to unwillingly participate in it. And you, my friend, might just be part of the new cast!" The stranger replied jollily. 

"I'm not doing shit for you! I'm going back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok!" 

"R-Ragna-who?" 

"Rag-na-rok! It's the end of Agard, and I must save my people and my family!" 

"Ohh, the f-word. Yeah, yeah. Nothing you can do, unfortunately. But, I'll cut you a deal. You fight in my contest, and I'll let you go home and Ragna-rock your homeworld, Assgard." 

"Asgard! Fine!" Gianna hissed. 

The chair Gianna was in automatically drove backwards and spun around one hundred and eighty degrees so that she was now facing the direction the chair was taking her, back to the armoury to await the beginning of her fight. Meanwhile, on Asgard, terror had seized the Realm as the Goddess of Death who sought to reclaim her army and take over the universe. Using much of her strength and power, Gianna casted an illusion of herself to exactly where her soulmate was and communicated with her as if she were actually present. 

"Gia? Darling. W-What's going on? Somebody's invaded Asgard and killed half the town - nearly the entire army! - who's doing this? Where are you? Our son cowers in fear while your absence brings us both great agony." Wanda spoke quickly, sharing her distress clearly to the Goddess. 

Gianna frowned at her wife and gave her a reassuring smile as she said, "My love, I'm afraid I know not where I am, or the gain of the villain ruling over Asgard, but know this; I will return to you, that I may hold you and love you and cherish you until the end of time. Stay strong, my darling. I will return home soon to rescue you and my people. I believe the one responsible for the dark reign of Asgard is held accountable by the Goddess of Death, known better as Hela, and... she's apparently the true firstborn of Odin, making her my aunty and Thor and Loki's sister." 

"What does she want?" 

"I think she wants to rule the universe, using Asgard as her source of power. Do you remember the tale of Ragnarok I told you that one evening you and I returned home from our honeymoon?" 

Wanda nodded, humming. 

"I think, I believe this is how we can stop Hela. But I know not where Surtur's remains remain. Possibly in Odin's vault? What is of the Warriors Three and Heimdall? Are you safe? Is our son safe with you?" 

"Yeah... They haven't found me yet. But, I, I think the others are dead." 

"N-No... And Heimdall?" 

"He's leading Asgardian refugees throughout the forests to escape an undead army. I don't know how long I have until they find me." 

"Wanda, listen to me carefully. Find Heimdall. He will protect you. Just wait until we return. I'll be back soon, darling. I love you." 

"I love you too. Hurry back." 

Gianna gave her one last smile before closing the illusion so that she could use what energy she had left to fight the Grandmaster's champion: the Hulk. For her second joust with the Hulk, she felt a little less prepared, knowing that the illusion to contact her soulmate took much energy from her. As soon as Gianna stepped foot into the arena, the crowd immediately booed her. Ignoring the negativity built up, Gianna awaited the Hulk to appear. The gate on the other side of the arena burst open, pieces of the gate flying everywhere as Gianna thought of relying on her one sole weapon to fight the Hulk. After all, that was her title.