Chapter 282:
-Layla-
I was sitting on the couch in my penthouse living room. Most of my girls were surrounding me, taking turns hugging me for dear life to make sure I wouldn't "disappear again." Not that I could blame any of them. If any of them had disappeared for two years, I would have lost my mind. I couldn't imagine what they were all feeling. There had been a lot of crying, and there probably would still be a lot more over the coming weeks as we all adjusted to me being back.
I was currently in the room with Hela, Sif, Rias, Sona, Natasha, Artemis, and Yasaka.
Serafall was back on Earth in DxD-Canon, finalizing her faction's long preparations to finally move to our universe. Lady Death was currently in her own realm, although I had felt her reach out to me and gently touch me. I'm sure she was probably listening in on everything anyway.
"You really—what is the Earth term? …You really fucked up, my love," Hela told me honestly. "We're just glad you're okay, though." She sat down next to me and wrapped her arm around my waist. I could feel Hela's arm tightly pull me up against her body. Despite putting on a strong facade, I knew she had some pretty serious abandonment issues courtesy of her dead asshole father, Odin. I leaned my head on her shoulder, and she placed a kiss on the top of my head.
"I know…" I said sorrowfully. I knew that Hela wasn't going to want to let go of me anytime soon. Thankfully, the war with Jotunheim and Muspelheim had both ended during my two-year absence. The Frost Giants and Flame Demons didn't go down easily, though. In the end, tens of thousands of Asgardians and even a couple hundred of my Fallen Angel siblings perished in the fighting. My heart ached upon hearing about the latter.
Thankfully, Hela discreetly told me that my siblings' bodies had been preserved by Azazel in a hidden location in Asgard. He never had any doubt that I would return someday and bring them all back to life. Some of the fallen Asgardians had also been preserved, but the majority had not.
Hence, the reason for discretion. Her people wouldn't be exactly thrilled if they found out she was blatantly playing favorites. Hela didn't outright say it, but I knew the vast majority of the younger Asgardians severely disappointed her. Asgard wasn't going to become a conquering tyrant empire anytime soon, but that didn't mean she wanted a Queendom full of weak-willed warriors who could hardly fight. She dreamed of the glory days, of the restoration of Planet Asgard. Something I knew might actually be possible sooner rather than later, considering I had missed two years. The Convergence could show up any day now, and with it, the Aether.
I had the Power Stone in my possession, the Ancient One had the Time Stone, and soon we could possibly have the Reality Stone. With all three, we could bring back Planet Asgard. But that was for the future. For now, I was focusing on what I had missed.
"It wasn't completely Layla's fault," Rias said, defending me. She was the most understanding member of my harem. She immediately forgave me when she found out what had happened after I didn't show up back home for over a month. Hela had decided to call upon Lady Death for answers and then shared them with the rest of the girls. "Death was the one who sent you on that dumb mission! This was all her stupid fault!" Rias crossed her arms and glared upward at the ceiling.
"Rias! You can't just insult Lady Death like that!" I told her nervously. I stiffened up on the couch momentarily, ready to spring to Rias's side if Lady Death chose to make her displeasure known by punishing Rias somehow for her words.
To my surprise, nothing happened.
"Ara, I wouldn't worry about Lady Death, Anata," Yasaka grinned at me mischievously. "We've all had some time to get acquainted with your most mysterious paramour over these past two years."
"You all have?" That was a surprise. As far as I knew, Lady Death had only ever shown herself to Hela before. Even then, it was only on extremely rare occasions.
"Lady Death won't be offended by what I said," Rias mentioned casually. "We've called her so much worse before. You should have heard how we all yelled at her when you disappeared. I called her a dumb goth cunt to her face!" Rias finished proudly with hands on her hips. Wow, at 21 years old, Rias was a lot more confident and daring. She and Sona used to be absolutely terrified at the mere mention of Lady Death.
But still...
"…You all really yelled at Lady Death?" I asked in disbelief. "And she actually just sat there and took it? I know she would never kill any of my lovers because that would upset me, but I'm still surprised she didn't at least smack you all around a bit," I said.
[Domestic abuse is bad, you know…]
"I thought it was a foolish thing to do at the time—" Sona pointed out, but was promptly cut off by Rias.
"Oh, please! You were the one who got on her case the most!" Rias exclaimed, causing Sona to blush. The red-headed Devil turned back to me with a big grin. "Sona lectured Lady Death for over an hour! She practically read her the whole riot act! And it worked too!"
"It did?" I asked Sona. Who would have thought she had it in her?
Sona nodded at me proudly, though she was still blushing a bit in embarrassment. She had clearly grown more confident in all this time, but not as much as Rias. "We demanded that she not send you on such dangerous missions anymore without telling you all the details first," Sona explained. "She's also not allowed to send you on dangerous missions by yourself anymore. Someone has to be watching your back!"
"That's non-negotiable," Hela whispered in my ear.
I puffed my cheeks. "I don't need a babysitter."
I already have the system with me, anyway…
[Hey!]
"Two years, Layla!" Sif practically growled at me. "How could you have been so foolish as to have been bested by a mere child!" Sif was offended that I almost got taken out by a baby Spider-Man. What was worse was that I was technically thrown outside the bounds of my Multiverse. Had I died in that Black Hole, I'm not sure Lady Death would have been able to resurrect me. She wasn't even able to find me when I went missing. Early on, when I had first become a Gamer, the System had mentioned the possibility of Gamer's leaving their own Multiverse, but it was incredibly dangerous for them to do. I actually first thought I had left my multiverse when I went on a date with Artemis to Themyscira, but then I remembered DC has had plenty of crossovers with Marvel before…
[Damn straight it's dangerous. You can't go stronger with me outside the bounds of my influence. Also, extradimensional beings won't hesitate to try and kill or enslave you to get to me.]
'I'll be a lot more careful from now on…'
"That's the bare minimum we asked of Lady Death," Natasha added while the other girls nodded in agreement. "She even gave up a few more concessions that were very interesting… but we'll keep them secret for now," Natasha said, trying—and succeeding—to act all mysterious. I'd have to figure out what those secrets were later. Maybe I could make her squeal all her secrets in the bedroom. Father knows that all my lovers must be extremely pent up at this point. I have a feeling I won't be getting much sleep at night for at least the next month as we all catch up with each other…
Regardless of all that, I was just glad to see Natasha again. Natasha was the one who hadn't seen me the longest. Even before I disappeared, she was on a month-long mission from her boss, Fury. Once she returned and found out I had gone missing on my own assignment, she apparently quit SHIELD to help take care of the girls. Could you just quit being a spy, full stop? I thought the answer would have been no, especially considering all the government secrets Natasha had stashed away. I thought wrong. Apparently, the answer was yes—you could just quit, as long as you had a super-powerful girlfriend who could resurrect the dead and even turn people into literal Angels.
There was only one woman left who had not spoken yet. Artemis stood in the corner, keeping mostly to herself. Occasionally, she shot me a small, justified glare. We had been in the middle of cementing our budding relationship when everything got cut short for her. I knew I had a lot of extra making up to do, especially with her.
"Now that we've all caught up about what happened to Layla, maybe we should explain to her what she missed out on these past two years?" Sona suggested, adjusting her fake glasses. I still found it cute how she could switch between an adorably embarrassed young woman and her super-serious "Kaichou" persona at the flip of a switch.
"That's probably a good idea. I know I've missed out on a lot," I admitted. It was a very long list, just off the top of my head.
Heather and Asia were now both seniors in high school. I wondered how that was going for them. And what about our other daughters? They're three years old now...
I didn't sense the Doom Slayer nearby. Had he moved out? What was going on with Tony and Andrea? How was our joint space program progressing?
What happened to the superhero team I was trying to put together? I assumed that project was probably dead in the water by now. It was annoying, but I knew I wouldn't have time to put that back together with how much catching up I had to do.
Had any more villains attacked in the past two years? Did any of them try to take advantage of Earth while I was missing?
I had a lot more questions, of course, but I decided to start slow.
"Our little girls are perfect!" Rias said happily. "They all started talking about a year and a half ago. They're all so incredibly smart. Like, way smarter than babies should be. They've already started their schooling. Hestia and Frigga have both taken on the role of their primary teachers," she explained further.
"We have them going to school on Asgard most days. There's not a lot, but there are other Fallen Angel children their age there," Sona added.
"They are all fine heirs," Hela nodded proudly. "Our daughter Hilga will be an excellent queen of the Nine Realms someday... long into the future, of course. I'm not planning on giving up my throne for a couple thousand years at least." She then went on to explain what had been happening with Heather and Asia, which made me proud of my adopted daughter and niece.
Heather and Asia had both taken up mantles as the city's protectors during my absence. They frequently patrolled the streets as Angelic superheroes. They were kicking ass and taking names. Most of the time.
While no regular thugs could stand up to them, unfortunately, they weren't just dealing with regular thugs anymore. Heather had been involved in quite a few supernatural fights, many of them bloody and dangerous.
"Stray Devils have started appearing all over this half of the world," Yasaka said, narrowing her eyes. "We're not sure what the Devils are up to since losing Ajuka, but they've clearly realized the barriers between our two worlds are weakening more and more every day. I don't think it will be long before our worlds merge again. I think they're using the Strays as scouts. Thankfully, without Ajuka, they don't have an unlimited supply of Evil Pieces anymore. When he died, the device that created them stopped working. The Devils haven't figured out how to fix it, and I doubt they ever will. All the other supernatural factions on Earth DxD have been singing your praises, Layla," Yasaka explained, updating me on what was happening on the other Earth.
Supernatural kidnappings had hit an all-time low since young Devils could no longer acquire their own sets of Evil Pieces. Their favorite pastime used to be raiding other factions for potential slaves, and now they couldn't do that anymore. It didn't surprise me that Ajuka—well, technically his clone—set it up so that all his inventions would stop working upon his death. That was pretty petty and seemed exactly like something he would do.
Yasaka's mention of the barriers between the two Earths weakening severely worried me, though. I had thought we still had more time before that, but it seemed like time was almost up.
I wouldn't be surprised if the two halves of Earth finally merged during the convergence—whenever that was going to occur.
[Actually, that's highly likely.]
Shit, I'd have to stop by Kamar-Taj and ask the Ancient One about it.
Artemis finally decided to speak up when the Doom Slayer was mentioned. "He was a strong warrior... for a man. His presence in our home wasn't terrible..." That was all she had to say, but coming from a man-hater like her, it was still high praise.
Apparently, he had moved out about a year ago and was now living with his girlfriend. And who was his girlfriend? Susan Storm. They had met when he saved her and the other members of the Fantastic Four from being dragged into Hell during Mephisto's demonic invasion. Reed Richards had been oddly silent these past two years. Everyone had honestly expected him to try and attack the Doom Slayer "to get Susan back," but that hadn't happened yet. Or maybe it had and the Doom Slayer just didn't bother mentioning it to anyone?
[He is a man of few words after all…]
The Doom Slayer wasn't the stay-at-home kind of guy, though. He regularly went on patrols with Asia and Heather, helping them slay any stray Devils that made it into our city. I was glad that he was keeping them safe.
Unfortunately, the conversation then shifted to my superhero team that I had tried to create. As expected, it was pretty much dead in the water.
Frank Castle had officially retired and was now raising his two teenage children. He had even met a new woman and gotten married last year.
Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes had also retired around the same time Natasha left SHIELD. Both of them were now working with the VA, helping soldiers with PTSD adjust back to civilian life. I wasn't sure how long that would last in Steve's case—considering he was a Campione, and they were naturally driven to fight—but I figured I'd leave him alone for the time being.
I didn't even bother asking Yasaka about Isane's availability. I was sure that girl would happily rejoin if I ever attempted to start up another team...
Finally, we got to my last question, and Hela let out a sigh beside me. I was surprised when she unwrapped her arm from around my torso. She looked slightly embarrassed and even a bit guilty. "There was an attack a few months ago... by my foolish little brother. He's always been a sneaky one. He managed to get into the Royal Asgardian vaults and abscond with the Space Stone. I don't know what got into his head, but he decided to lead an army of Chitauri to attack Earth…" She then basically recounted the events of the first Avengers movie to me—except it was much more embarrassing for Loki. He didn't even come close to winning. If anything, his invasion was barely an inconvenience.
Earth was protected by far more heroes in this world. Not to mention, the planet was allied with Asgard, which had just finished its own war and had plenty of battle-ready soldiers and Fallen Angels eager to beam down via the Bifrost and kill some ugly aliens. Loki didn't even have the guts to attack New York. Instead, a giant portal opened up over the city of... Houston, Texas. A city already considered the gun capital of the United States! The heroes barely even needed to help fight off the invading army.
Rias mentioned that there were tons of YouTube videos of Texas cowboys absolutely wrecking the Chitauri in the streets. Laser weapons might be cool, but Thanos was apparently a bit of a cheapskate when it came to equipping his soldiers. Their guns weren't very powerful and could only fire a shot every few seconds. Meanwhile, Texans were running around with full-auto assault rifles, mowing down every single "ugly alien SOB" they spotted.
…The anti-gun movement pretty much died on that day.
In fact, firearm sales in the U.S. had doubled since, which was kind of a scary thought... but it was what it was.
I patted Hela on the arm reassuringly. "That attack by Loki wasn't your fault. He didn't even kill that many people did he?"
She shook her head. "No, with Asia and Asgard's healers visiting Earth right after, the death toll was less than 50." That was an incredibly low number of casualties for an alien invasion. After his defeat, Loki was back in Asgard, with one of my Chakra disrupting collars around his neck. Hela was planning on leaving him in the dungeons for the next hundred years, but at least she allowed him visitors. The last she had heard, Frigga had been frequently visiting her adopted son and giving him some very stern lectures about how disappointed she was in him.
"Most of those human deaths were actually from the humans accidently shooting each other…" Sif added plainly. "That's why I don't like hot weapons. A good blade is all you need at the end of the day," she said while patting the sword on her hip, completely forgetting the fact that a sword is only useful in the modern age if you're bulletproof.
While I was momentarily distracted by Sif, Hela reached into her personal storage space. She pulled her closed hand out of a small black portal before opening it in front of my eyes. A yellow light shined around the room as I beheld the Mind Stone, just sitting there in her palm.
"The Tesseract has been returned to Asgard's vaults. It's never wise to keep two infinity stones so close together for prolonged periods of time. I've been keeping this one on my person," Hela explained."I've been waiting to ask what you think should be done with it?"
XXX
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