~SHING!~
A blade of pure darkness split through the frozen Siberian air. The fabric of space immediately twisted and turned before unravelling, allowing Maxim and Hela to step forward.
The severed dimension began healing itself behind them like a wound knitting shut. The temperature was sub zero, an intense frost biting at the duo, though neither of them bothered to pay it any mind, easily able to fend it off.
"What are we here for?" Hela asked in her signature icy breath as she looked around before staring at Maxim who had already began walking off, leading her to follow.
"Don't you want to stretch your limbs after being sealed for so long? Just enjoy, we'll be meeting up with some of my friends." Maxim responded.
"Friends? Someone as calculating as yourself has friends?" Hela asked, an ironic smirk on her lips.
"Of course, though I doubt you had any even when you weren't sealed." Maxim responded and Hela just snickered and remained silent as they walked forward.
The entire environment around them was a vast expanse of white, barren, lifeless and still, layers upon layers of snow covering the entire environment.
Soon enough, they had arrived at their destination. In front of them, Maxim and Hela could both spot an underground bunker concealed within a desolate, snow-covered mountain range.
They could spot a huge set of steel doors, reinforced with heavy metal plating that was partially obscured by snow and jagged rock formations surrounded the door.
Not far off of them, they could spot a quinjet parked up, and as they arrived, the ramp opened and out stepped Steve, Natasha, Wanda & Bucky.
The group immediately looked at Hela with silent assessment, with Bucky and Wanda in particular being more apprehensive as they could sense her intense power, especially Wanda, who took a step behind the others as she stared at Hela.
Then Steve broke the silence, "I take it she's the 'help' you mentioned?"
"That's right." Maxim responded.
Hela scoffed, shifting her weight with regal ease, "Help? Hmfm, you seemed pretty confident I'd of accepted your deal."
"Well didn't you? Seems like I was onto something." Maxim responded, and Hela just clicked her tongue, looking towards the others.
Meanwhile, Steve furrowed his brow as the duo's conversation, "Who exactly are you?"
Hela's gaze flickered across the group, assessing them with the ease of someone looking at mere curiosities. She took a slow step forward, tilting her head.
"Mortals," she murmured, voice dripping with something between amusement and indifference, "Call me Hela, the rightful hei...."
"Aye aye, no need for all those formalities and titles." Maxim interrupted and Hela just glanced at him whilst Natasha and Wanda narrowed their eyes, shifting into an ever more combat ready stance as they recognized Hela's aura and way of speaking.
Steve, however, exhaled sharply, muttering under his breath, "Fantastic. Another god."
But Hela barely acknowledged him. Her piercing green eyes had already locked onto Wanda, and for the first time, something like interest sparked behind them.
"A witch," Hela mused, "A rare breed. And one with power worth noticing."
Wanda stiffened slightly, her fingers curling into her palms. A flicker of red energy wove around her fingertips before she forcibly suppressed it.
"Careful how you say that," she murmured, voice cool as she tried to hide her nervousness.
Hela merely smirked, "Oh, I meant it as a compliment, dear." She leaned in slightly, her tone taking on a measured curiosity. "Tell me, how much of that chaos in your veins do you actually understand?"
Wanda's gaze darkened, and for a moment, the air crackled between them. But before anything could escalate, Maxim casually stepped between them, raising an eyebrow at Hela.
"Play nice," he said lightly, though there was a quiet edge to his voice.
Hela exhaled through her nose, her smirk lingering, "As you wish."
Maxim turned back to the others, "Enough introductions. We have work to do."
He glanced at Bucky, his expression turning serious, "Are you ready?"
Bucky's gaze drifted past him, toward the facility hidden beneath the ice. The weight of old memories pressed down on him, but his eyes remained steady.
A slow breath. A small nod.
"Yeah," Bucky said, voice firm. "Let's end this."
The group walked to the entrance of the door, and Steve came to a halt just before the entrance, adjusting his shield on his arm before glancing at Maxim,"You got a way in?"
Maxim nodded, ready to break open the door, but Hela just took a step forward with an air of utter nonchalance, raising a single hand and tapping a delicate finger against the cold metal.
A pause.
~Then~
~BOOM!~
The steel doors detonated outward in a violent eruption of force, shards of metal and ice blasting into the air like shrapnel. The very ground trembled as the explosion sent a deep crack echoing through the frozen mountains.
The team barely had time to react. Steve instinctively raised his shield, bracing against the unexpected shockwave.
Bucky stepped back, hand on his sidearm, while Natasha's fingers twitched toward her holster. Wanda flinched, eyes widening in stunned surprise.
Maxim, meanwhile, just let out a slow exhale and glanced at Hela with mild exasperation.
"...Subtle," he muttered.
Hela smirked, brushing nonexistent dust off her fingers, "We're wasting time. Unless you'd prefer to knock?"
A thick cloud of steam and debris still lingered in the air, the remnants of the obliterated doors now nothing more than twisted, molten slag embedded in the walls.
Steve gave Maxim a look, one that silently screamed 'What the hell did you bring with us?'
Maxim just gave a small shrug.
"Well," Natasha murmured dryly, her posture still tense.,"That's one way to do it."
Silence descended on the group as Maxim led the way in, his form shifting subtly in the low light while Hela followed at a measured pace, her sharp eyes taking in every detail of the facility.
They walked through the hallways ready for a battle, and then, as expected, the first sign of resistance appeared.
~CLANG!~
A metallic clang echoed through the corridor as a pair of blast doors slammed shut ahead of them, cutting off their path. Almost immediately, floodlights flared to life, bathing them in stark illumination.
A moment later, the unmistakable sound of rifles cocking filled the air, followed by the emergence of Hydra operatives in black tactical gear from concealed alcoves along the walls.
A synthesized voice rang out from unseen speakers.
"Intruders detected. Eliminate them."
The first shot fired, Natasha was already moving before the muzzle flash ignited. She weaved left, her Widow's Bite crackling as she sent an electric charge into the nearest soldier, dropping him before he could even squeeze the trigger again.
Steve charged forward with his shield raised, the clang of bullets ricocheting off vibranium filling the air.
Maxim disappeared into shadow. One moment he was there, the next, he was behind the nearest Hydra soldier. A blackened blade of void energy pierced through armor like paper before he phased into incorporeality, slipping past another attacker's wild swing.
Bucky fought with brutal efficiency, his vibranium arm catching a rifle mid-air before tearing it away and slamming its owner into the wall. M
eanwhile, Wanda's hands glowed, and with a flick of her fingers, two soldiers were violently wrenched off their feet, colliding midair before crumpling into unconscious heaps.
And Hela…
Hela barely moved.
With a bored expression, she flicked her wrist, and black, shimmering blades erupted from the ground, impaling three soldiers in an instant.
She watched them slump over, eyes still burning with life for mere moments before fading into nothing. A sigh left her lips.
'Weak.'
She turned her attention to Wanda, who was hurling another Hydra operative into the ceiling with a twist of her hand. There was power there, raw and untamed, but inefficient. Hela watched with the air of a predator observing an untested cub.
"You're terribly slow with those hands," Hela remarked, stepping over a fallen soldier as though they were nothing more than an inconvenience.
Wanda stiffened mid-motion, her next attack faltering for a second, "Excuse me?"
Hela tilted her head, amused. "All that potential, and yet, you hesitate. You rely on theatrics." She gestured lazily to Wanda's glowing hands, "Tell me, how many seconds do you waste with all that dramatic hand-waving?"
Wanda frowned. The next soldier who rushed her was flung into the nearest wall with enough force to dent the steel, "It works just fine."
Hela chuckled, the sound dark and knowing, "For now."
Wanda narrowed her eyes but didn't press further. The fight continued, but the conversation lingered in her mind.