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A few days back he had gotten contact from an anonymous government agency, calling itself Asgard. They told him that he had been selected to join a top secret government project specifically people who had skills like him, Aesir they called them. He’d thought it was just a prank, until the next day he arrived at U.S. SOC COM and they’d all looked at him like he was crazy. His commanding officer informed him that was being transferred to an undisclosed government facility for an indefinite amount of time.\n\nWhen he’d returned home he’d found a bunch of dossiers along with a single book of Norse mythology. Instead of having a normal name however, when he opened up the first dossier it had the name “Loki” and the black wolf that looked up at him was the most easy face he’d ever identify... his own. It detailed his service record, and it said his current team was “Muspellheim”. According to this he was an expert at fighting hand to hand, and had a rather high intellect.\n\nThe next Dossier was on “Freyja” a strikingly beautiful red fox, according to this she was also one of the Aesir, assigned to team “Niflheim”... too bad she was on a different team from him. She was a former Force Recon. Marine with outstanding marks in her marksmanship and explosives; she’d done a few tours of duty in several wars and a few undisclosed, unsanctioned government actions. She looked like a real firecracker.\n\nThe next one he cracked open was on yet ANOTHER marine from FORECON, answering to the name “Thor”. He was a rather handsome mud colored wolf who had  some serious close combat and small weapons training. He was team Niflheim too... at least he wasn’t going to have to deal with the marines too often.\n\nFinally he found another member of team Muspellheim; she answered to the code name “Valkyrie”. A grey wolf, once again, a stone cold fox, she wasn’t really exemplary in any one category, instead she was just above average in ALL categories. She was a former mercenary that had been involved with quite a few operations.\n\nThe next one he found was weird; it was an executive member or something, because instead of being Niflheim or Muspellheim, he was assigned to Valhalla, and answered to the code name “Odin”. His jacket was relatively thin, no REAL field experience, just operations control.\n\nAfter that he came to “Hermit” he was a badger, with some mysterious training, it was some sort of foreign entity calling itself the “Koga Clan”... it took him a minute to remember that Koga was a famous clan of ninja from Japan. Hermit wasn’t assigned to a team; it listed him as “Midgard” so he must have been a fuckin elite or something because he was running these missions solo unilke the others.\n\nThe next one was a young eastern timber wolf, who had done some serious work with the CIA for a few years; all highly classified, he was the youngest recruit for team Muspellheim; just 19 and already he was this far, judging by his scores figured that he was some sort of tech expert, but it looked like he could handle himself well enough if he had to; he had twenty confirmed kills in hand-to-hand situations. His code name was “Fenrir”.\n\nThe next one was a young black fox, a member of team Niflheim; again Loki had to think back before he figured out that “Heimdall” was ALSO a fuckin’ ninja... a member of the “Iga Clan” great... the two great ninja clans BOTH had a member in this thing. Anyway it looked like he was most apt to stalk and kill his opponents without ever actually fighting them.\n\nAfter Heimdall, Loki came to a dossier on another black wolf, he was a former Navy SeAL, and part of team 6 that had killed Bin Laden, he was a small arms specialist, but he looked capable in pretty much any field, with the exception of stealth. “Tyr” was his codename, Loki thought of the entire group that he would get along with Tyr the best, which was good considering Tyr was the final member of Muspellheim.\n\nThe last dossier was on another member of team Niflheim, this one was a hawk that was of roughly middle age. Again he looked to be a tech expert, although his knowledge of explosives was greater than almost anybody elses... he had worked some time for the CIA and his jacket had perhaps the most overall field experience, however it looked like that had all been a few years back... after Odin, “Balder” was the oldest person in this agency.\n\nSo there were a total of TEN people working at this place, and it looked like they were all elite in their own way; although only Odin seemed completely incapable of anything in the field... most likely he was the bureaucrat desk jockey assigned to be sure that everybody reported everything properly. When he tossed the final jacket down on the coffee table in front of him the phone rang.\n\n“Glad to see that you’re all caught up, sleep well tonight, because when you wake up, the man you were will be dead, and in his place will stand Loki. We’ll pick you up in the morning, at the front door, 900 sharp, don’t be late, and do not attempt to resist,” a voice informed him before the line went dead.\n\nSo there Loki sat. After a while a black SUV rolled up and out jumped two familiar faces. Tyr and Valkyrie approached him where he stood. Tyr wore a business like suit, while Valkyrie was dressed in a grey skirt with a purple top.\n\n“Loki?” one of them asked him.\n\n“Let’s roll,” he answered with a sigh. They drove him from his old apartment to the Hoover Building. They went to one of the elevators and Tyr waited for the doors to close for three seconds, he hit the third floor button for exactly six seconds, the second floor for nine, and finally he hit the basement button and held it down. Slowly the elevator started to go down; it hit the basement, but it kept going from there. They were in the elevator for roughly twenty minutes as it descended; Tyr let go of the basement button after they passed that floor.\n\n“How far down are we going?” Loki asked him.\n\n“Three miles below the surface... that’s where our office is. Roughly half a mile above that is the dormitory... we hardly leave this place unless it’s for a job. You understand what you’re going into right; anything serious, we handle it. You know what happened to Hitler?” Valkyrie told him.\n\n“He committed suicide before he could be put on trial,” Loki answered.\n\n“You sure about that?” Tyr asked him with a smirk.\n\n“That was you?” Loki asked in a shocked tone.\n\n“Not us, but... they were our forerunners, but yeah... the Aesir handled that,” Valkyrie replied.\n\n“Anything else you guys did?” Loki asked sarcastically.\n\n“Well... our team did Castro,” Valkyrie shrugged. The doors in front of them finally opened and what Loki saw before him looked like a bank’s safety deposit box area. As they entered the small, hermetic metal room, Valkyrie and Tyr both placed their hands on a palm scanner. “Make sure it gets a good read... you fuck it up and they’ll gas this whole chamber,” Tyr told him as he stepped forward. The boxes marked Tyr and Valkyrie had opened up as soon as the scanner was done. Loki stepped forward and placed his hand on the scanner. After a few moments he was cleared and his own vault opened next to the others.\n\n“Alright; this is where you divest yourself of all guns, knives, grenades, et cetera before we can enter the actual office area. Odin thinks one of us might try to kill him some day, doesn’t matter that I could snap his flabby neck with one finger,” Tyr explained. He and Valkyrie were already busy filling their boxes. “And you have to admit... it’s pretty cool watching us empty all of our weapons,” Tyr laughed. He had dumped over ten pistols in his bucket and he was still going; Valkyrie had dropped at least four guns and twelve blades and she was still working. Loki hadn’t brought that many weapons. He had a knife in his boot and a gun in the small of his back... he was going to have to invest in more weapons to work with these people.\n\n“Is that all you got?” Valkyrie asked as she looked at his nearly empty box. Loki just nodded sheepishly.\n\n“Pussy!” Tyr whispered as he approached the next door; this one had a retinal scanner. “We all have to clear the scanner too, or again... they gas the room killing us all. This is the only door into or out of the office,” Tyr explained as they entered.\n\n“What happens if it malfunctions while we’re inside; how do we get out?” Loki asked him.\n\n“We don’t,” Valkyrie explained shortly. There was a loud buzz as the door unlocked for them. Loki was completely shocked by what lay beyond this door. He was expecting more high tech; what he found was a small hallway leading to a single door, just like a regular office. Inside there were two sets of four cubicles for them.\n\n“This over here is team Muspellheim’s area, that’s Niflheim’s, got it? Good. Valkyrie you want to handle his introductions?” Tyr asked her.\n\n“Fuck off,” she answered as she sat down at her own desk and kicked her shoes off.\n\n“Alright, great I’ll just keep talking and do all the work, why not. I’d hate to ruin this little streak our team has going... shit might hit the fan if one of you assholes did some fucking work once in a while instead of leaving it to me. Ok, fuck-face, follow me,” Tyr told him.\n\n“What the hell? You guys were so nice in the car and the elevator,” Loki told him.\n\n“That was when you were still a civilian, now you’re my fucking co-worker and I pretty much hate fucking everything about you... unless of course you’re buying me a drink,” Tyr said irritably. Now that he had leaned in to Loki, he could smell booze beneath the completely over-done cologne.\n\nThey went to a single steel door in the back of the office area that said “Odin” on it. Tyr pressed a button on the side of the door. Nothing happened... in the corner of the room there was a security camera that rotated to look at him. Tyr pressed the button again, and again nothing happened. “OH COME ON! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR! IT’S NOT THAT FUCKING HARD?” Tyr yelled at the camera. He turned to the office and yelled at the one listed as Fenrir. “Who’s working today... is it fuckin Brad? I swear to god I fucked the guys wife one time, ON ACCIDENT, and he makes my life hell, I didn’t know she was his wife,” Tyr shouted to him. “HEY OPEN THE GOD DAMNED DOOR YOU FUCKING GUTLESS PUSSY, OR YOU CAN GET YOUR FUCKING RETARDED ASS DOWN HERE SO I CAN GUT YOU LIKE THE WORTHLESS FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT YOU ARE!” the assassin screamed at the camera.\n\n“I WILL FUCK YOU UP! YOU BETTER HOPE I DON’T FIGURE OUT WHO YOU ARE, BECAUSE IF I DO; I’M GUNNA FUCKING RAPE YOU, I’LL RAPE YOUR WIFE, I’LL RAPE YOUR MOTHER, AND I’LL RAPE YOUR FUCKING DAUGHTER YOU FUCKING FAGGOT! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR! GOD DAMN IT! IF YOU DON’T OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR, I’M GOING TO COME UP THERE, I’LL POP YOUR EYE OUT OF YOUR SOCKET AND I WILL SKULL FUCK YOU WHILE YOU’RE STILL ALIVE... I’M GUNNA USE YOUR FUCKING TEARS AS LUBE YOU FUCKING PRICK! OPEN THE DOOR!” he screamed... Loki got the idea that Tyr might have slight anger issues. After a moment there was a loud release and the door popped open a crack. “Thank you!” he said irritably.\n\nAs we entered they entered, Loki recognized Freyja from the dossier photos, she was wearing this beautiful backless, black dress with a low cut front. “Hey Freyja,” Tyr told her with a smile. “I’m sure you recognize Freyja here from the slut-of-the-month club. Freyja, this is Loki,” Tyr introduced them.\n\n“Tyr... I see you’re drunk again,” Freyja responded shortly. “Did you piss yourself, or is that just the smell of your cologne?” she asked him in a bitter retort.\n\n“You used to be a nice girl, we had a lot of good times. Then you switched over to Neflheim and you became a cock-teasing, skank, bitch,” Tyr replied.\n\n“Last time we had a ‘good time’; you finished and I didn’t... from what I hear your times gone down... they say you can’t even finish the job any more... that you’re firing blanks. You- Loki... turn around for me,” Freyja responded. Loki followed her command and did a quick spin. “Not bad... I mean... why not? I’d fuck you... assuming you didn’t try to talk or cuddle or any of that fuckin pussy shit,” Freyja told him. She pulled a cigarette from her purse and lit it up right there. Not to be out done, Tyr pulled a fat cigar from his inside jacket pocket and lit that.\n\nThe man behind the desk had remained quiet until now. He stood up and held his hand out to Loki. “Loki; I’m Odin, and I must say it’s such a pleasure to meet you. I’m really excited to be working with you,” the man introduced himself.\n\n“I assume that Tyr here is going to show you around and make sure you get settled,” Odin told us.\n\n“Fuck that... let the fuckin’ cunt do it!” Tyr objected.\n\n“Fuck you Tyr,” Freyja shouted at him.\n\n“No fuck you you fuckin’ whore,” Tyr told her.\n\n“Fuck you!” she yelled back at him.\n\n“It’s good to see that time apart hasn’t altered any of the rough feelings between the two of you,” Odin commented.\n\n“Fine, I’ll show the retard around!” Tyr conceded after a moment. Tyr and Loki left Freyja and Odin to whatever business the other two had been attending to when they had arrived.\n\n“Is it always this... combative around here?” Loki asked him after they’d left. Tyr had already pulled a flask out of one of his jacket pockets and took a deep quaff of whatever was inside.\n\n“No... I drink so much because it’s always fuckin’ rainbows and sunshine... you stupid fuck!” Tyr replied angrily.\n\nTyr proceeded to show Loki around, first he took him to his desk, where all of the things from Loki’s previous desk had been stored exactly how he had left it. In his cubicle he had several ornaments, like a model airplane and his father’s old army letter opener.\n\nHe checked to be sure that they’d brought over his lock-box; in the bottom drawer of his desk he kept a lock-box with a dial lock; in it he kept his passports and identification documents along with a stock-pile of money, he called it his “burn box” in case he got burned on an op he could escape.\n\nIt was right where he’d left it, beneath his secondary change of clothes... in case he pulled an all-nighter. From there they toured around to the bathroom, the file room, the storage lockers, the maintenance closet, and finally they went down a few hallways that lead to vending machines, more restrooms, meeting rooms, and the copy room.\n\nThen came the call over the PA. “Attention everybody; there will be a staff meeting for members of both teams in the central meeting room in ten minutes,” Odin called over the speaker.\n\n“Fuckin’ great... just what I wanted. Another stupid ass meeting to welcome another retarded fucking shit like you... fine, whatever,” Tyr said irritably as we walked toward the meeting room that had been indicated. We arrived two minutes ahead of time, Thor followed us through the door and we were the last ones.\n\n“Anybody know what he wants?” Thor asked calmly.\n\n“Now how the fuck would any of us have any fuckin’ clue about what the old bastard wants?” Tyr snapped at him.\n\n“Tyr... good to see you’re drunk again, hate to think you might have sobered up on our account,” Balder commented dryly.\n\n“Fuck you! I’m not drunk ‘AGAIN’; I have continued to be drunk since our last encounter,” Tyr responded with a chuckle.\n\n“It’s been 10 days since the last time we saw you,” Heimdall added.\n\n“For Tyr, being drunk 10 days is when you’re on the wagon,” Fenrir laughed.\n\n“Fuck you Fenrir,” Tyr responded angrilly.\n\n“Fuck off, Tyr!” Heimdall told him.\n\n“Oh look, you’ve got a new boyfriend... so... who’s on top?” Tyr taunted them. Heimdall almost jumped the table as he lunged at Tyr, but Balder leapt up to hold him back and Thor held Tyr back.\n\n“He’s late,” Fryeja announced, she was looking at her watch. Loki looked down at his own watch, and sure enough, it had been fifteen minutes since the announcement. Suddenly an alarm started blaring.\n\n“Oh shit!” Fenrir said instantly; the others eyes all narrowed as the looked around frantically.\n\n“What? What does that mean?” Loki asked them all confusedly.\n\n“Attention, Operation Ragnarok is in effect. This area been placed under full physical and communications lockdown,” Odin’s voice called out over the PA alarm, but it didn’t sound quite like him... it must have been some sort of recording.\n\n“OH FUCK!” Tyr yelled as he pulled his flask from his pocket and upended it.\n\n“What- What does that mean... what the fuck is Operation Ragnarok?” Loki asked them all in a confused panic.\n\n“Operation Ragnarok was Uncle Sam’s contingency plan in case one or all of us went fucking insane. Odin enters a password into his computer and it locks this place down, and then two hours after this place locks down... boom... it’ll wipe out all traces of our existence,” Valkyrie told him in a calm voice.\n\n“Why- why does it give two hours?” Loki asked.\n\n“For Odin... it’s set up so he can gather all of his shit and get the fuck out of here before this place blows,” Freyja told us.\n\n“What about a shutdown... can we do that?” Loki asked.\n\n“There’s a password that would shut down the sequence, but only Odin knows it, and it has to be entered from Odin’s desktop; otherwise the sequence will terminate early,” Fenrir told me.\n\n“We need to get to Odin’s office,” Thor said suddenly.\n\n“Isn’t it locked down?” Loki asked.\n\n“No... it unlocks when the sequence begins so that Odin can escape,” Balder explained.\n\nWhen they got to the door outside his office they could see that convincing Odin to stop the sequence was hopeless... he was hanging from the ceiling by a phone cord. When they saw the spectacle everybody looked shocked.\n\nFenrir was the first to act; he jumped behind Odin’s desk and started typing furiously on the keyboard.\n\n“What’re you doing?” Balder asked him.\n\n“I’m bringing up the security logs, checking the elevator activity seeing if we can’t determine who did this,” Fenrir answered as he continued working. He stood there for a moment looking at the screen with his eyebrows knit, then he looked up slack-jawed as he looked around the room, his eyes darting with suspicion from face to face.\n\n“What’s wrong?” Loki asked him suddenly.\n\n“It says that the last time the elevator was used... it was carrying you down,” he answered.\n\n“What does that mean?” Valkyrie asked. Thor seemed to have put it together first.\n\n“It means that whoever killed him... is one of us,” Thor said. Balder was the first to react to this news.\n\n“We don’t have time to go on a witch hunt right now... our top priority should be finding a way out of here... even with the lock-down there has to be one... Odin couldn’t escape if they’re wasn’t. We should start a clean sweep of the building, checking every wall and every door to see if we can’t find some sort of secret escape,” Balder instructed them.\n\n“We should also try to find Hermit; he knows this place better than anybody else... if there’s a passage out I’m sure he knows how to find it,” Valkyrie added.\n\n“We can’t go out alone though... the killer is still among us, so here’s what we’ll do. We’ll go out in pairs, one person from each team to a couple, this way, we can keep an eye on our partner and figure out who killed him,” Fenrir suggested.\n\n“What do we do if we find him?” Loki asked.\n\n“Odds are if you find the killer, he’s going to try to attack you... we all know that none of us are allowed to bring guns or blades or any of that stuff in here, but this is an office, and all of us are trained fighters... if you find the killer... use whatever means necessary to subdue and kill them,” Heimdall suggested.\n\n“Sounds good to me,” Tyr declared.\n\n“Fuck me... SERIOUSLY? This is my FIRST FUCKING DAY. THIS IS JUST MY LUCK... I’VE BEEN HERE FOR LESS THAN A FUCKING HOUR AND ALREADY THIS SHIT IS HAPPENING TO ME. FUCK MY LIFE!” Loki declared irritably.\n\n“Hey... cut that shit out, we’re gunna get out of here, ok?” Thor told him as he walked over and looked into his eyes.\n\n“Fenrir and Balder have to go out together... they’re both tech guys, and one will know if the other one tries something with the computer,” Freyja demanded.\n\n“Agreed. Tyr and I will go out together,” Thor volunteered.\n\n“I’ll keep my eyes on Loki,” Heimdall responded as he began to watch Loki like a hawk.\n\n“I suppose that leaves us girls together?” Valkyrie asked Freyja.\n\n“You try anything bitch and I will scratch your fuckin’ eyes out,” Freyja threatened her menacingly.\n\nCautiously they all left Odin’s office, each off to different parts of the compound to search out the exits or failing that, to find Hermit, who would find the exit.\n\nChapter 2\n\nLoki and Heimdall elected to search the office area first because it would be almost ironic if the place they spent the most time also stored the secret hiding place of the exit. “Search in the Muspellheim area; see if you can find any indications,” Heimdall told him hurriedly as he rushed over to the desk area. Loki searched through his own teams area quickly as he looked about. He glanced over to Heimdall, and that’s when the feeling started.\n\nHeimdall was searching through his own cubical... why would he need to do that... if there was anything there surely he’d know having spent so much time there. Loki tried to reason out why, and then it hit him... Heimdall was looking for something he knew was there, not the escape route. Loki ran over to his desk quickly, he plucked his old straight-edge letter opener and slid between his forearm and his watch’s wrist band, then he opened the bottom drawer of his desk. He pulled the sock out and then quickly began opening the lock. He wasn’t after the box or what was inside it... no amount of documentation would save him here, what he wanted was the lock itself. He re-latched the bolt on the padlock as he shoved it down inside the sock, he wadded it up inside his sleeve... best to play this careful in case Heimdall was only taking a precaution.\n\nJust in case he grabbed a few more items off of his desk, one was a mirror so if Heimdall wasn’t the killer they could see around the corner, second was a camera... for... he had no clue why, and third was a flashlight in case the power went out or somebody hit the lights on them.\n\nLoki moved on to look over Tyr’s work area, he had a picture on the desk of himself and Freyja from a while back, he had his arms wrapped around her, and she was wrapped in a towel. Loki took a moment to stare at the picture before he remembered that he had to search for an exit. He was rifling through the doors when he realized that Heimdall hadn’t said a word since they’d entered the office.\n\n“You find anything over there?” Loki asked him without looking up. Heimdall didn’t answer right away, Loki looked up at a moment, and as it so happened he looked at the picture, which was a good thing because at this angle he could see a reflection in the glass, silhouetted by the light was Heimdall with both hands up above his head. Loki rolled out of the way at the last second and a metal bat came crashing down on the desk where his head had been a moment before; before Heimdall could raise his weapon again Loki flung the lock out of his sleeve, holding on to the open end of the tube sock; the lock shout out quick as lightning and hit Heimdall right on the bridge nose with a loud crunch and a spurt of blood.\n\n“OUCH! YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU BROKE MY GOD DAMN NOSE!” Heimdall shouted as his hands left the handle of the bat and jumped up to his face. There was a sickening sound as he straightened his nose.\n\n“Why’d you kill Odin?” Loki asked him quickly.\n\n“I didn’t kill Odin,” Heimdall answered as he picked his back up, he torqued it around in a circle with one hand, standing about five feet from Loki, the two of them circled each other for a moment.\n\n“I didn’t kill him either,” Loki explained.\n\n“I’m supposed to just trust you? You’re the new guy, no body's had any time to learn all your tells... could be you’re lying out your ass right now. A lock... in a sock......... that’s a new one to me,” Heimdall responded with a shrug.\n\n“Except I’d be the first suspect in anybody’s book... why would the guy that nobody knows make the mistake of killing somebody on his first day... that’s almost a little too suspicious isn’t it?” Loki responded.\n\n“Maybe he thought he could talk his way out of it,” Heimdall countered as he rushed forward, this time he swung his bat in a side arc so that Loki just managed to jump back out of it’s reach.There was a return swing and this one caught him on his right side, he might have cracked a few ribs, but Heimdall hadn’t gotten as much power behind it.\n\n“So that’s how it is, huh? I’m guilty until proven innocent... I don’t want to kill you, but I will if you make me,” Loki answered as he began swinging his sock in a circle... he had to get some momentum behind it or the weapon didn’t offer much power. He swung it up in a high arc trying to take Heimdall down with a single shot, but at the last second Heimdall brought the bat up, unfortunately he didn’t do it properly, the sock curled around the bat and he was still clipped just above the eye with the lock. Loki quickly recoiled his weapon to him before Heimdall could think to grab it.\n\n“I see... the closer I catch it to the heavy end, the less the odds are that it hits me; so that’s how it is then... alright,” Heimdall said as he backed away and wiped one hand up to the orbit of his eye socket to keep the blood from falling in his eye. He swung the bat from the side again, and this time Loki just managed to jump back, he tossed the lock straight out again, but Heimdall snapped his neck to the left just before it hit him again, Loki arced it so that when the lock reached the end of it’s line it followed Heimdall to the left, he ducked just under the arc this time.\n\nHeimdall lashed out with the bat and again Loki just managed to jump back; Heimdall began leading Loki as best he could. Slowly the ninja backed Loki up to the wall. When Loki’s back was to the wall, Heimdall swung a high shot intended for his head, Loki pulled up both hands and caught the fat end of the bat at about half-an-arm’s length. Heimdall snapped the butt of the bat into his temple. Loki fell back to the wall as his head screamed in pain.\n\nInstead of winding up to swing again, Heimdall put one hand at both the fat and skinny end of the bat as he pressed it to Loki’s throat in an attempt to strangle him. Loki struggled, but Heimdall was too strong for him. He tried to scratch Heimdall’s face, or push his chin away so that he couldn’t get all of his force behind it.\n\n“I didn’t kill him,” Loki croaked breathlessly.\n\n“I know,” Heimdall responded. “Nothing personal man, you just started on the wrong day.”\n\nWhat happened next surprised Heimdall beyond anything else. He felt a slight pain behind his ear, he was dead before he could figure out why. Loki pushed back with all his strength. He coughed as the warm air surged back into his lungs. He slid down the wall and rested his forearm on his knee as he regained his breath.\n\n“The most dangerous weapon isn’t one you’ve never seen before... it’s one you never see at all,” Loki gasped as he reached out and pulled his letter opener from where he’d jammed it behind Heimdall’s ear and into his brain. He wiped the blood and brains off the blade as he flipped it over and tucked the blade back into his watch’s wristband. He went over to his desk, pulled out his old blueprint case, the one with the shoulder strap. He threw the document inside out as he opened the top, he slid the baseball bat in instead as he tossed it over his shoulder, where he could reach it if he needed it. He picked his original weapon up off of the ground where he’d dropped it as he regained his breath before he left the office area to see if he could find somebody else.\n\nChapter 3\n\nWhen Thor looked over at Tyr, his eyes were so glazed he could start a donut factory, he was stumbling more than a man with only one leg as they walked down the hallway. “You’re not detoxing are you?” he asked his companion.\n\n“Fuckin’ impossible, in order to detox you have to stop drinking, and I’m still drunk. Thank fuckin’ God for these little flasks or I’d be fucked hard... I couldn’t get through the day without being completely wasted,” Tyr answered as they finally came to the file room.\n\nThis room was a musty old store room, it contained every last one of the Aesir mission files from the last seventy years. They were stored in sealed boxes and kept in metal cases to be sure they were keeping properly; there were a few viewing tables spread throughout the room so that should the need arise they could find a file, take it down, and review it. Each table had a few box cutters along with replacement boxes and duck tape for when the file was to be returned. Their footsteps echoed ominously in the cavernous, poorly-lit room. They began searching around the edges for hollow spots, but a few minutes in Tyr suggested that maybe somewhere in all the files they might find a set of blueprints.\n\n“That’s good thinking,” Thor told him as they turned to begin the search. Thor went down one aisle, and Tyr the next. “Can I ask you a question?” Thor asked him suddenly as they passed to one of the few viewing areas.\n\n“Fuck no,” Tyr responded as he pulled his flask from his pocket and took another deep swig.\n\n“What the hell happened to you man? I mean... you came here what... ten years ago? When you got here, you were one bad ass mother fucker my friend. You were the best at what you do; and now... now you’re sloppy, drunk, and you kinda smell bad. I used to look up to you man... I was your superior here, and I wanted to be like you,” Thor told him as he rested one hand on the corner of the viewing table.\n\n“The job. That’s what happened, before... when I came here, I could go out and fuck a different girl every night. Now... what the hell am I supposed to say? ‘Hi, my name’s Tyr... wanna fuck?’ Getting a different pussy every night kept me sober, without that... this is all I’ve got,” Tyr responded as he wagged the flask back and forth before downing another mouthful.\n\n“You know... I used to wonder who would win a fight between me and you; you’re one of the only people to ever work here, that I ever thought MIGHT be able to kill me one on one,” Thor confided to Tyr. Tyr looked over at him out of the corner of his eye... this was going someplace dark he sensed.\n\nTyr was watching Thor out of the corner of his eye when the latter of the two suddenly lunged slightly over the table and he felt something slash at his arm. Luckily for Tyr he was wearing his jacket and he’d reacted just in the nick of time. Part of the fabric had been cut, by a box cutter in Thor’s hand. Tyr turned to face him immediately; he dodged as Thor tried to stab him in the eye.\n\nTyr put both of his hands on his edge of the table... they were steel, but they weren’t fastened to the ground. He leaned in menacingly. “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” Tyr asked.\n\n“Oh yeah... you’re gunna die here a lonely, broken drunk,” Thor answered.\n\n“I don’t think so. Let me tell you how things are going to go from my perspective. First, I’m going to take that fuckin’ box cutter away from you. Next, I’m gunna methodically cut you to ribbons with it. Then I’m going to bash your fucking skull in with my own two fists. After all that, I’m gunna cut your dick and you balls off... I’ll put your balls in your mouth, just like an average friday night for you. Finally, I’m gunna shove your pecker up your ass so you can literally GO FUCK YOURSELF, YOU FUCKIN’ PUSSY!” Tyr screamed at him. As he finished he shoved the table hard toward Thor and caught him in the waist, as Thor bent over the table, Tyr pushed with all his strength to flip it over toward Thor. While Thor was busy shoving the table off of him, Tyr removed his belt and held it at the ready.\n\nThor rolled to his feet again, there was no table between them now. “C’mon bitch; let’s settle this!” Tyr taunted him.\n\n“What’s happening with the box cutter?” Thor asked him suddenly. “It’s over here,” he said as he held it out so Tyr could see. “Now it’s over here,” he said as he tossed it. He moved his hands so that he could toss and catch it without thinking until he had Tyr watching his hands. He moved in slowly and Tyr allowed it, probably because he thought he could force him back if he had to, or because the closer Thor got, the better the odds were that Tyr could hit him in his drunken stupor.\n\nThe two fighters circled each other for a moment, trying to gain an advantageous position, but before either of them did Tyr took off running down one of the aisles. He ran for a few steps before he threw open one of the metal containers; it slid all the way across the aisle at roughly eye level. Thor was so close he’d almost fallen for it, Tyr made sure to throw up as many obstacles as he could in his pursuit, until eventually Thor lost sight of him. After a while Tyr just started throwing out all the middle drawers which were too high for Thor to jump regularly, and they were too close for him to vault... it force Thor to crawl.\n\nThor was so bent on catching up with Tyr, that he didn’t care that after the end of the aisle Tyr had pulled an entire shelf out up past his head. He just slid the lower levels shut as he crawled underneath. It turned out to be his undoing, Tyr reached down quicker than a cobra strike and wrapped the belt around his neck. Tyr kicked the box cutter out of his hand and sent it sliding to the far side of the aisle.\n\nThor’s lungs started to ache for a moment, then his foot bounced off the wall behind them. His mind flashed with an idea momentarily. Before Tyr could pull him back he ran at the wall to the aisle fast enough that he could get up about to his waist, then he pushed off with all his might. He felt Tyr’s head bounce off his back as the two of them clattered to the ground only inches from the box cutter. He slashed once with all the strength in his arms and it cut the belt in half.\n\nTyr kneed him in the back, so Thor got as far away as he could. “You shouldn’t buy those sort of things from Walmart... real leather would have held,” Thor told him.\n\n“It was a good belt or more liquor, I don’t regret my choice,” Tyr chuckled breathlessly, he’d been running his hardest. Thor came at him again with the box cutter, but Tyr caught him by the wrist and locked onto it with both hands, he held it at arms length, forcing himself in between Thor and the blade so that his shoulder was to Thor’s chest. He pushed with both feet so that they slammed into the opposite wall, but Thor was forced to drop the box cutter again. Tyr turned and jumped like a boxer. “What you didn’t know, Thor, is what’s hurting you right now... I function better when I’m drunk off my ass,” Tyr said as he pulled his flask from his breast pocket. He took a quick gulp as Thor lunged at him, he dropped the angle of the flask and jerked it forward. Vodka jumped out at Thor’s eyes blinding him. The two circled each other again, Tyr would jump forward and hit Thor... it was like he had a small hammer his fist hit so hard, but Thor managed to dodge a few and even landed a few solid hits himself.\n\nThen Thor went in for a solid hit, and Tyr managed to trap his arm; Tyr struck Thor’s throat with the inside of his hand, causing Thor to stutter, but Tyr kept pushing back until they were by the wall. There he grabbed Tyr by the back of the neck and slammed his head into the metal cabinet hard, he was pulling back to do it again when Thor threw open the cabinet in front of them and it hit Tyr right in the face as Thor ducked at the last second. Thor then reached back and pulled the second one open as hard as he could; Tyr’s head was trapped between the two doors when they smacked together solidly. “Fuck you,” Thor whispered as he spit out some blood... he was cut and bleeding all over and his mouth was cut. He limped away after a moment... Tyr was tougher than he’d thought.\n\nHe should have confirmed the kill, because after about a minute Tyr stirred slowly.\n\nChapter 4\n\nFreyja and Valkyrie had been paired up based on their sex, but whatever. “Did you ever think that maybe we chose the wrong career?” Valkyrie asked her suddenly.\n\n“What are you talking about?” Freyja answered. They were in the copy room looking for an escape.\n\n“I mean, I wasn’t cut out for this job. I’m tough, smart, attractive, and ambitious... I could be running a Fortune 500 company, or I could have a husband and some kids. Instead, I’m here... I kill people,” Valkyrie explained.\n\n“What you say or think doesn’t matter in the world. Life’s about choices, the only thing that matters is your actions. Would haves, could haves, and should haves are all just the pondering of an idle mind. If you have time to consider this sort of thing you should instead focus on what you think your life is missing, and go after it,” Freyja told her.\n\n“You know... I miss having you on our team. I don’t have a girl to speak to, whatever happened to make you switch teams?” Valkyrie asked her former teammate.\n\n“Tyr,” Freyja responded simply.\n\n“You mean the drinking? Is that really what did it? Most days I’m surprised he can get out of bed with as much as he takes in,” Valkyrie laughed.\n\n“Actually... I think I caused the drinking,” Freyja confessed.\n\n“What do you mean? How could you have caused the drinking?” Valkyrie asked.\n\n“Well, Tyr and I... we kinda, well... we slept with each other, and at first it was just because of the job, but after a while he came to me and said he wanted more. I couldn’t give it to him... not in our line of work; deceptions part of the job. It was after we stopped seeing each other that he started to drink. I figured if I switched teams he’d slow down with the drinking since we wouldn’t have to see each other, but it looks like it only fueled the fire more,” Freyja explained to her.\n\n“So THAT’S what it was... about a year after I started here you and Tyr started acting all strange around each other, especially when you started to argue with each other constantly,” Valkyrie said as if she’d just put something together.\n\nFreyja moved quickly to pull a pair of scissors while Valkyrie was investigating the wall behind the paper cutter. Freyja raised her hand to throw the scissors at her, when Valkyrie turned and saw her. In a flash the scissors were gone, but Valkyrie reacted just as quickly, she dropped to the floor. As she fell she latched onto the paper cutter with one hand, when she was down she held onto the end of the edge while she stomped down on the flat surface to break it away from the blade.\n\n“You wanna fight bitch let’s do this,” Valkyrie responded as she spun on one knee so she could stand.\n\n“Nothing personal Valkyrie, but you have to die today,” Freyja told her.\n\n“You killed Odin?” Valkyrie asked as she backed away, she was moving to pull the scissors from the wall where Freyja had embedded them. Freyja had another set of scissors and a whole stash of sharpened pens and pencils. Valkyrie turned sideways to present a smaller target and she held the large paper cutter blade in front of her with one hand, if Freyja threw anything directly at her she could deflect it in a twitch. She reached back with one hand and pulled the scissors from the wall, and too late Freyja realized why that was a bad thing.\n\nInstead of pulling the scissors for later, Valkyrie tossed them at her head on. Freyja threw her left hand up in front of her face, and the scissors had been thrown with such force that the point penetrated clear through her palm. Intense pain shot through her entire arm, she nearly collapsed from that alone, but she knew that if she did, instinct to catch herself would only push the scissors the rest of the way through. Instead she reached over and pulled the scissors out.\n\nEverybody knows that when something like an arrow hits a target, the worst idea they have is also their first idea, to pull it out. The problem with this reaction is that, while the arrow is in it acts something like a tourniquet, keeping the victim from bleeding out quickly, so pulling something like that out means you have to move quick. After Freyja pulled the scissors back out of her hand, she tore off a part of her shirt to wrap it around the hole. It hurt like hell, but she also made sure to shove some of the fabric into the wound, it had to be done to slow the bleeding and hopefully keep her from passing out.\n\n“I didn’t kill Odin,” Freyja told her as she held the scissors in her damage left hand, just gripping the scissors was difficult for her, but she kept her right hand buried in her pocket, she had a pencil held in a death grip, she was going to have to be quick and subtle to make this work.\n\n“I didn’t kill him either,” Valkyrie told her as she advanced a step.\n\n“I know you didn’t, but this morning Niflheim was called in and given orders by the management to take out Muspellheim,” Freyja explained.\n\n“Why?” Valkyrie asked as they started to circle each other.\n\n“Remember that botch job your team did in Bangkok... evidently it was a little more serious than you thought, since then I guess the company has been biding their time, waiting for the day when all of us were here at the same time. Don’t feel bad though, Odin got the axe too... that’s why he did this, if Niflheim dies here today, everything goes with the explosion... it’ll take them another twenty years to train a group of fresh agents as good as we’re trained now,” Freyja told her slowly.\n\n“You call Tyr well trained? He drinks more than an AA meeting held at a bar, he smells like shit, every piece of clothing he owns has some sort of bodily fluid stain on it, I mean Jesus... he’s fucking pathetic,” Valkyrie pointed out.\n\n“You really want the last thing you talk about to be Tyr?” Freyja asked her cynically.\n\n“What really pisses me off about him is this... it’s his fucking fault we botched that job. Yeah! He was going through the compound’s security checkpoint and his fucking flask set off the metal detector, and then of course they x-rayed his luggage and they found thirty pounds of C4. That’s right, we’d planned for six months, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, worked our asses off to get the timing of the escape right, and that drunk dick goes and sets off the security with a flask. It was supposed to be a quick in and out drop off followed by a little boom, designed to look like a group of local rebels had gotten fed up with him and decided to strike, instead it turned into a fucking gunfight, we barely escaped with our lives, and now this shit? It all comes back to Tyr and now I’m being punished for his drinking. God has a pretty fucked up sense of humor doesn’t he?” Valkyrie ranted... that was one of her weak points, she could get in an off-topic rant even in the middle of a fight to the death.\n\n“Do you mind if I go back to trying to kill you now?” Freyja reminded her. Valkyrie was still standing there perfectly defended, Freyja had to figure out how to strike her right quickly. Two hours was a short time. She tried going in and stabbing with the scissors to one side, Valkyrie dodged to the opposite side of the paper cutter, Freyja whipped her hand out of her pocked in a flash, the pen headed straight for her throat, instead she nicked the neck and left only a slight scratch. Valkyrie brought the paper cutter down in a straight arc attempting to sever the arm holding the scissors from her body.\n\nFreyja leapt back just in the nick of time, she only had a small cut on her forearm, but Valkyrie pressed the attack, she slashed horizontally at Freyja’s neck, but again Freyja managed to retreat just in the nick of time. Valkyrie continued to push her back, anytime Freyja tried to escape to the left or the right Valkyrie would lunge at her, forcing her back into the line. This was getting dangerous for Freyja, she could imagine why Valkyrie was pressing her back, she was trying to force her to a wall where she’d get one side-step followed by a quick lunge and she’d be dead.\n\nFreyja had just figured it out when she took a step back and her worst fears were realized... the back of her heal was up against the cabinets on the wall. “Game over,” Valkyrie said as she swept the paper cutter forward in a lateral arc, Freyja was going to sacrifice one of her arms to stop the blade when she felt something brush up against her hand, it was a book of some sort. She jerked it up quickly, the paper cutter buried itself in the book deep, but it wasn’t sharp enough or swung with enough force to cleave it in half; Freyja looked at the title of the book as she twisted it quickly, the book was titled Lord of drinks: a connoisseur's guide to alcoholic drinks and drinking traditions from around the world. Tyr had saved her life through his carelessness.\n\nBy twisting the book she had twisted the paper cutter out of Valkyrie’s hands, she pulled it from the book quickly as she took the cutter in her own right hand. She swung once to try and cleave Valkyrie’s head from her neck, but the other assassin was more skilled in melee combat. She ducked under Freyja’s swing and used a scissor kick to take Freyja to the ground. There she kicked the paper cutter away as she mounted Freyja. Valkyrie slammed her fist down onto Freya’s face, again and again. Freyja could feel the blood pouring from her face everywhere and felt herself loosing consciousness. She reached out on the ground one last time desperately, her hand brushed up against the book again. She grabbed it by one end and rammed it up into Valkyrie’s throat, forcing Valkyrie off of her, and at the same time stunning her. Freyja rolled on top of Valkyrie, reached out to a nearby ledge, and found something hard and heavy. She cupped it in her and and brought it crashing down into Valkyrie’s temple.\n\nShe hefted it up above her shoulder and this time brought it slamming down on her face, again and again she hit Valkyrie until the other woman’s head was nothing more than blood and chunks of bone and pulp on the floor. Freyja was covered in blood from the battle, some of it her own, but most of it was Valkyrie’s. She dismounted the dead body and lay down beside it to catch her breath.\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Chapter 1

Loki sat in the chair waiting; after ten years of doing missions for the Army Rangers and Green Berets he was waiting for his new job. A few days back he had gotten contact from an anonymous government agency, calling itself Asgard. They told him that he had been selected to join a top secret government project specifically people who had skills like him, Aesir they called them. He’d thought it was just a prank, until the next day he arrived at U.S. SOC COM and they’d all looked at him like he was crazy. His commanding officer informed him that was being transferred to an undisclosed government facility for an indefinite amount of time.

When he’d returned home he’d found a bunch of dossiers along with a single book of Norse mythology. Instead of having a normal name however, when he opened up the first dossier it had the name “Loki” and the black wolf that looked up at him was the most easy face he’d ever identify... his own. It detailed his service record, and it said his current team was “Muspellheim”. According to this he was an expert at fighting hand to hand, and had a rather high intellect.

The next Dossier was on “Freyja” a strikingly beautiful red fox, according to this she was also one of the Aesir, assigned to team “Niflheim”... too bad she was on a different team from him. She was a former Force Recon. Marine with outstanding marks in her marksmanship and explosives; she’d done a few tours of duty in several wars and a few undisclosed, unsanctioned government actions. She looked like a real firecracker.

The next one he cracked open was on yet ANOTHER marine from FORECON, answering to the name “Thor”. He was a rather handsome mud colored wolf who had  some serious close combat and small weapons training. He was team Niflheim too... at least he wasn’t going to have to deal with the marines too often.

Finally he found another member of team Muspellheim; she answered to the code name “Valkyrie”. A grey wolf, once again, a stone cold fox, she wasn’t really exemplary in any one category, instead she was just above average in ALL categories. She was a former mercenary that had been involved with quite a few operations.

The next one he found was weird; it was an executive member or something, because instead of being Niflheim or Muspellheim, he was assigned to Valhalla, and answered to the code name “Odin”. His jacket was relatively thin, no REAL field experience, just operations control.

After that he came to “Hermit” he was a badger, with some mysterious training, it was some sort of foreign entity calling itself the “Koga Clan”... it took him a minute to remember that Koga was a famous clan of ninja from Japan. Hermit wasn’t assigned to a team; it listed him as “Midgard” so he must have been a fuckin elite or something because he was running these missions solo unilke the others.

The next one was a young eastern timber wolf, who had done some serious work with the CIA for a few years; all highly classified, he was the youngest recruit for team Muspellheim; just 19 and already he was this far, judging by his scores figured that he was some sort of tech expert, but it looked like he could handle himself well enough if he had to; he had twenty confirmed kills in hand-to-hand situations. His code name was “Fenrir”.

The next one was a young black fox, a member of team Niflheim; again Loki had to think back before he figured out that “Heimdall” was ALSO a fuckin’ ninja... a member of the “Iga Clan” great... the two great ninja clans BOTH had a member in this thing. Anyway it looked like he was most apt to stalk and kill his opponents without ever actually fighting them.

After Heimdall, Loki came to a dossier on another black wolf, he was a former Navy SeAL, and part of team 6 that had killed Bin Laden, he was a small arms specialist, but he looked capable in pretty much any field, with the exception of stealth. “Tyr” was his codename, Loki thought of the entire group that he would get along with Tyr the best, which was good considering Tyr was the final member of Muspellheim.

The last dossier was on another member of team Niflheim, this one was a hawk that was of roughly middle age. Again he looked to be a tech expert, although his knowledge of explosives was greater than almost anybody elses... he had worked some time for the CIA and his jacket had perhaps the most overall field experience, however it looked like that had all been a few years back... after Odin, “Balder” was the oldest person in this agency.

So there were a total of TEN people working at this place, and it looked like they were all elite in their own way; although only Odin seemed completely incapable of anything in the field... most likely he was the bureaucrat desk jockey assigned to be sure that everybody reported everything properly. When he tossed the final jacket down on the coffee table in front of him the phone rang.

“Glad to see that you’re all caught up, sleep well tonight, because when you wake up, the man you were will be dead, and in his place will stand Loki. We’ll pick you up in the morning, at the front door, 900 sharp, don’t be late, and do not attempt to resist,” a voice informed him before the line went dead.

So there Loki sat. After a while a black SUV rolled up and out jumped two familiar faces. Tyr and Valkyrie approached him where he stood. Tyr wore a business like suit, while Valkyrie was dressed in a grey skirt with a purple top.

“Loki?” one of them asked him.

“Let’s roll,” he answered with a sigh. They drove him from his old apartment to the Hoover Building. They went to one of the elevators and Tyr waited for the doors to close for three seconds, he hit the third floor button for exactly six seconds, the second floor for nine, and finally he hit the basement button and held it down. Slowly the elevator started to go down; it hit the basement, but it kept going from there. They were in the elevator for roughly twenty minutes as it descended; Tyr let go of the basement button after they passed that floor.

“How far down are we going?” Loki asked him.

“Three miles below the surface... that’s where our office is. Roughly half a mile above that is the dormitory... we hardly leave this place unless it’s for a job. You understand what you’re going into right; anything serious, we handle it. You know what happened to Hitler?” Valkyrie told him.

“He committed suicide before he could be put on trial,” Loki answered.

“You sure about that?” Tyr asked him with a smirk.

“That was you?” Loki asked in a shocked tone.

“Not us, but... they were our forerunners, but yeah... the Aesir handled that,” Valkyrie replied.

“Anything else you guys did?” Loki asked sarcastically.

“Well... our team did Castro,” Valkyrie shrugged. The doors in front of them finally opened and what Loki saw before him looked like a bank’s safety deposit box area. As they entered the small, hermetic metal room, Valkyrie and Tyr both placed their hands on a palm scanner. “Make sure it gets a good read... you fuck it up and they’ll gas this whole chamber,” Tyr told him as he stepped forward. The boxes marked Tyr and Valkyrie had opened up as soon as the scanner was done. Loki stepped forward and placed his hand on the scanner. After a few moments he was cleared and his own vault opened next to the others.

“Alright; this is where you divest yourself of all guns, knives, grenades, et cetera before we can enter the actual office area. Odin thinks one of us might try to kill him some day, doesn’t matter that I could snap his flabby neck with one finger,” Tyr explained. He and Valkyrie were already busy filling their boxes. “And you have to admit... it’s pretty cool watching us empty all of our weapons,” Tyr laughed. He had dumped over ten pistols in his bucket and he was still going; Valkyrie had dropped at least four guns and twelve blades and she was still working. Loki hadn’t brought that many weapons. He had a knife in his boot and a gun in the small of his back... he was going to have to invest in more weapons to work with these people.

“Is that all you got?” Valkyrie asked as she looked at his nearly empty box. Loki just nodded sheepishly.

“Pussy!” Tyr whispered as he approached the next door; this one had a retinal scanner. “We all have to clear the scanner too, or again... they gas the room killing us all. This is the only door into or out of the office,” Tyr explained as they entered.

“What happens if it malfunctions while we’re inside; how do we get out?” Loki asked him.

“We don’t,” Valkyrie explained shortly. There was a loud buzz as the door unlocked for them. Loki was completely shocked by what lay beyond this door. He was expecting more high tech; what he found was a small hallway leading to a single door, just like a regular office. Inside there were two sets of four cubicles for them.

“This over here is team Muspellheim’s area, that’s Niflheim’s, got it? Good. Valkyrie you want to handle his introductions?” Tyr asked her.

“Fuck off,” she answered as she sat down at her own desk and kicked her shoes off.

“Alright, great I’ll just keep talking and do all the work, why not. I’d hate to ruin this little streak our team has going... shit might hit the fan if one of you assholes did some fucking work once in a while instead of leaving it to me. Ok, fuck-face, follow me,” Tyr told him.

“What the hell? You guys were so nice in the car and the elevator,” Loki told him.

“That was when you were still a civilian, now you’re my fucking co-worker and I pretty much hate fucking everything about you... unless of course you’re buying me a drink,” Tyr said irritably. Now that he had leaned in to Loki, he could smell booze beneath the completely over-done cologne.

They went to a single steel door in the back of the office area that said “Odin” on it. Tyr pressed a button on the side of the door. Nothing happened... in the corner of the room there was a security camera that rotated to look at him. Tyr pressed the button again, and again nothing happened. “OH COME ON! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR! IT’S NOT THAT FUCKING HARD?” Tyr yelled at the camera. He turned to the office and yelled at the one listed as Fenrir. “Who’s working today... is it fuckin Brad? I swear to god I fucked the guys wife one time, ON ACCIDENT, and he makes my life hell, I didn’t know she was his wife,” Tyr shouted to him. “HEY OPEN THE GOD DAMNED DOOR YOU FUCKING GUTLESS PUSSY, OR YOU CAN GET YOUR FUCKING RETARDED ASS DOWN HERE SO I CAN GUT YOU LIKE THE WORTHLESS FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT YOU ARE!” the assassin screamed at the camera.

“I WILL FUCK YOU UP! YOU BETTER HOPE I DON’T FIGURE OUT WHO YOU ARE, BECAUSE IF I DO; I’M GUNNA FUCKING RAPE YOU, I’LL RAPE YOUR WIFE, I’LL RAPE YOUR MOTHER, AND I’LL RAPE YOUR FUCKING DAUGHTER YOU FUCKING FAGGOT! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR! GOD DAMN IT! IF YOU DON’T OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR, I’M GOING TO COME UP THERE, I’LL POP YOUR EYE OUT OF YOUR SOCKET AND I WILL SKULL FUCK YOU WHILE YOU’RE STILL ALIVE... I’M GUNNA USE YOUR FUCKING TEARS AS LUBE YOU FUCKING PRICK! OPEN THE DOOR!” he screamed... Loki got the idea that Tyr might have slight anger issues. After a moment there was a loud release and the door popped open a crack. “Thank you!” he said irritably.

As we entered they entered, Loki recognized Freyja from the dossier photos, she was wearing this beautiful backless, black dress with a low cut front. “Hey Freyja,” Tyr told her with a smile. “I’m sure you recognize Freyja here from the slut-of-the-month club. Freyja, this is Loki,” Tyr introduced them.

“Tyr... I see you’re drunk again,” Freyja responded shortly. “Did you piss yourself, or is that just the smell of your cologne?” she asked him in a bitter retort.

“You used to be a nice girl, we had a lot of good times. Then you switched over to Neflheim and you became a cock-teasing, skank, bitch,” Tyr replied.

“Last time we had a ‘good time’; you finished and I didn’t... from what I hear your times gone down... they say you can’t even finish the job any more... that you’re firing blanks. You- Loki... turn around for me,” Freyja responded. Loki followed her command and did a quick spin. “Not bad... I mean... why not? I’d fuck you... assuming you didn’t try to talk or cuddle or any of that fuckin pussy shit,” Freyja told him. She pulled a cigarette from her purse and lit it up right there. Not to be out done, Tyr pulled a fat cigar from his inside jacket pocket and lit that.

The man behind the desk had remained quiet until now. He stood up and held his hand out to Loki. “Loki; I’m Odin, and I must say it’s such a pleasure to meet you. I’m really excited to be working with you,” the man introduced himself.

“I assume that Tyr here is going to show you around and make sure you get settled,” Odin told us.

“Fuck that... let the fuckin’ cunt do it!” Tyr objected.

“Fuck you Tyr,” Freyja shouted at him.

“No fuck you you fuckin’ whore,” Tyr told her.

“Fuck you!” she yelled back at him.

“It’s good to see that time apart hasn’t altered any of the rough feelings between the two of you,” Odin commented.

“Fine, I’ll show the retard around!” Tyr conceded after a moment. Tyr and Loki left Freyja and Odin to whatever business the other two had been attending to when they had arrived.

“Is it always this... combative around here?” Loki asked him after they’d left. Tyr had already pulled a flask out of one of his jacket pockets and took a deep quaff of whatever was inside.

“No... I drink so much because it’s always fuckin’ rainbows and sunshine... you stupid fuck!” Tyr replied angrily.

Tyr proceeded to show Loki around, first he took him to his desk, where all of the things from Loki’s previous desk had been stored exactly how he had left it. In his cubicle he had several ornaments, like a model airplane and his father’s old army letter opener.

He checked to be sure that they’d brought over his lock-box; in the bottom drawer of his desk he kept a lock-box with a dial lock; in it he kept his passports and identification documents along with a stock-pile of money, he called it his “burn box” in case he got burned on an op he could escape.

It was right where he’d left it, beneath his secondary change of clothes... in case he pulled an all-nighter. From there they toured around to the bathroom, the file room, the storage lockers, the maintenance closet, and finally they went down a few hallways that lead to vending machines, more restrooms, meeting rooms, and the copy room.

Then came the call over the PA. “Attention everybody; there will be a staff meeting for members of both teams in the central meeting room in ten minutes,” Odin called over the speaker.

“Fuckin’ great... just what I wanted. Another stupid ass meeting to welcome another retarded fucking shit like you... fine, whatever,” Tyr said irritably as we walked toward the meeting room that had been indicated. We arrived two minutes ahead of time, Thor followed us through the door and we were the last ones.

“Anybody know what he wants?” Thor asked calmly.

“Now how the fuck would any of us have any fuckin’ clue about what the old bastard wants?” Tyr snapped at him.

“Tyr... good to see you’re drunk again, hate to think you might have sobered up on our account,” Balder commented dryly.

“Fuck you! I’m not drunk ‘AGAIN’; I have continued to be drunk since our last encounter,” Tyr responded with a chuckle.

“It’s been 10 days since the last time we saw you,” Heimdall added.

“For Tyr, being drunk 10 days is when you’re on the wagon,” Fenrir laughed.

“Fuck you Fenrir,” Tyr responded angrilly.

“Fuck off, Tyr!” Heimdall told him.

“Oh look, you’ve got a new boyfriend... so... who’s on top?” Tyr taunted them. Heimdall almost jumped the table as he lunged at Tyr, but Balder leapt up to hold him back and Thor held Tyr back.

“He’s late,” Fryeja announced, she was looking at her watch. Loki looked down at his own watch, and sure enough, it had been fifteen minutes since the announcement. Suddenly an alarm started blaring.

“Oh shit!” Fenrir said instantly; the others eyes all narrowed as the looked around frantically.

“What? What does that mean?” Loki asked them all confusedly.

“Attention, Operation Ragnarok is in effect. This area been placed under full physical and communications lockdown,” Odin’s voice called out over the PA alarm, but it didn’t sound quite like him... it must have been some sort of recording.

“OH FUCK!” Tyr yelled as he pulled his flask from his pocket and upended it.

“What- What does that mean... what the fuck is Operation Ragnarok?” Loki asked them all in a confused panic.

“Operation Ragnarok was Uncle Sam’s contingency plan in case one or all of us went fucking insane. Odin enters a password into his computer and it locks this place down, and then two hours after this place locks down... boom... it’ll wipe out all traces of our existence,” Valkyrie told him in a calm voice.

“Why- why does it give two hours?” Loki asked.

“For Odin... it’s set up so he can gather all of his shit and get the fuck out of here before this place blows,” Freyja told us.

“What about a shutdown... can we do that?” Loki asked.

“There’s a password that would shut down the sequence, but only Odin knows it, and it has to be entered from Odin’s desktop; otherwise the sequence will terminate early,” Fenrir told me.

“We need to get to Odin’s office,” Thor said suddenly.

“Isn’t it locked down?” Loki asked.

“No... it unlocks when the sequence begins so that Odin can escape,” Balder explained.

When they got to the door outside his office they could see that convincing Odin to stop the sequence was hopeless... he was hanging from the ceiling by a phone cord. When they saw the spectacle everybody looked shocked.

Fenrir was the first to act; he jumped behind Odin’s desk and started typing furiously on the keyboard.

“What’re you doing?” Balder asked him.

“I’m bringing up the security logs, checking the elevator activity seeing if we can’t determine who did this,” Fenrir answered as he continued working. He stood there for a moment looking at the screen with his eyebrows knit, then he looked up slack-jawed as he looked around the room, his eyes darting with suspicion from face to face.

“What’s wrong?” Loki asked him suddenly.

“It says that the last time the elevator was used... it was carrying you down,” he answered.

“What does that mean?” Valkyrie asked. Thor seemed to have put it together first.

“It means that whoever killed him... is one of us,” Thor said. Balder was the first to react to this news.

“We don’t have time to go on a witch hunt right now... our top priority should be finding a way out of here... even with the lock-down there has to be one... Odin couldn’t escape if they’re wasn’t. We should start a clean sweep of the building, checking every wall and every door to see if we can’t find some sort of secret escape,” Balder instructed them.

“We should also try to find Hermit; he knows this place better than anybody else... if there’s a passage out I’m sure he knows how to find it,” Valkyrie added.

“We can’t go out alone though... the killer is still among us, so here’s what we’ll do. We’ll go out in pairs, one person from each team to a couple, this way, we can keep an eye on our partner and figure out who killed him,” Fenrir suggested.

“What do we do if we find him?” Loki asked.

“Odds are if you find the killer, he’s going to try to attack you... we all know that none of us are allowed to bring guns or blades or any of that stuff in here, but this is an office, and all of us are trained fighters... if you find the killer... use whatever means necessary to subdue and kill them,” Heimdall suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” Tyr declared.

“Fuck me... SERIOUSLY? This is my FIRST FUCKING DAY. THIS IS JUST MY LUCK... I’VE BEEN HERE FOR LESS THAN A FUCKING HOUR AND ALREADY THIS SHIT IS HAPPENING TO ME. FUCK MY LIFE!” Loki declared irritably.

“Hey... cut that shit out, we’re gunna get out of here, ok?” Thor told him as he walked over and looked into his eyes.

“Fenrir and Balder have to go out together... they’re both tech guys, and one will know if the other one tries something with the computer,” Freyja demanded.

“Agreed. Tyr and I will go out together,” Thor volunteered.

“I’ll keep my eyes on Loki,” Heimdall responded as he began to watch Loki like a hawk.

“I suppose that leaves us girls together?” Valkyrie asked Freyja.

“You try anything bitch and I will scratch your fuckin’ eyes out,” Freyja threatened her menacingly.

Cautiously they all left Odin’s office, each off to different parts of the compound to search out the exits or failing that, to find Hermit, who would find the exit.

Chapter 2

Loki and Heimdall elected to search the office area first because it would be almost ironic if the place they spent the most time also stored the secret hiding place of the exit. “Search in the Muspellheim area; see if you can find any indications,” Heimdall told him hurriedly as he rushed over to the desk area. Loki searched through his own teams area quickly as he looked about. He glanced over to Heimdall, and that’s when the feeling started.

Heimdall was searching through his own cubical... why would he need to do that... if there was anything there surely he’d know having spent so much time there. Loki tried to reason out why, and then it hit him... Heimdall was looking for something he knew was there, not the escape route. Loki ran over to his desk quickly, he plucked his old straight-edge letter opener and slid between his forearm and his watch’s wrist band, then he opened the bottom drawer of his desk. He pulled the sock out and then quickly began opening the lock. He wasn’t after the box or what was inside it... no amount of documentation would save him here, what he wanted was the lock itself. He re-latched the bolt on the padlock as he shoved it down inside the sock, he wadded it up inside his sleeve... best to play this careful in case Heimdall was only taking a precaution.

Just in case he grabbed a few more items off of his desk, one was a mirror so if Heimdall wasn’t the killer they could see around the corner, second was a camera... for... he had no clue why, and third was a flashlight in case the power went out or somebody hit the lights on them.

Loki moved on to look over Tyr’s work area, he had a picture on the desk of himself and Freyja from a while back, he had his arms wrapped around her, and she was wrapped in a towel. Loki took a moment to stare at the picture before he remembered that he had to search for an exit. He was rifling through the doors when he realized that Heimdall hadn’t said a word since they’d entered the office.

“You find anything over there?” Loki asked him without looking up. Heimdall didn’t answer right away, Loki looked up at a moment, and as it so happened he looked at the picture, which was a good thing because at this angle he could see a reflection in the glass, silhouetted by the light was Heimdall with both hands up above his head. Loki rolled out of the way at the last second and a metal bat came crashing down on the desk where his head had been a moment before; before Heimdall could raise his weapon again Loki flung the lock out of his sleeve, holding on to the open end of the tube sock; the lock shout out quick as lightning and hit Heimdall right on the bridge nose with a loud crunch and a spurt of blood.

“OUCH! YOU SON OF A BITCH, YOU BROKE MY GOD DAMN NOSE!” Heimdall shouted as his hands left the handle of the bat and jumped up to his face. There was a sickening sound as he straightened his nose.

“Why’d you kill Odin?” Loki asked him quickly.

“I didn’t kill Odin,” Heimdall answered as he picked his back up, he torqued it around in a circle with one hand, standing about five feet from Loki, the two of them circled each other for a moment.

“I didn’t kill him either,” Loki explained.

“I’m supposed to just trust you? You’re the new guy, no body's had any time to learn all your tells... could be you’re lying out your ass right now. A lock... in a sock......... that’s a new one to me,” Heimdall responded with a shrug.

“Except I’d be the first suspect in anybody’s book... why would the guy that nobody knows make the mistake of killing somebody on his first day... that’s almost a little too suspicious isn’t it?” Loki responded.

“Maybe he thought he could talk his way out of it,” Heimdall countered as he rushed forward, this time he swung his bat in a side arc so that Loki just managed to jump back out of it’s reach.There was a return swing and this one caught him on his right side, he might have cracked a few ribs, but Heimdall hadn’t gotten as much power behind it.

“So that’s how it is, huh? I’m guilty until proven innocent... I don’t want to kill you, but I will if you make me,” Loki answered as he began swinging his sock in a circle... he had to get some momentum behind it or the weapon didn’t offer much power. He swung it up in a high arc trying to take Heimdall down with a single shot, but at the last second Heimdall brought the bat up, unfortunately he didn’t do it properly, the sock curled around the bat and he was still clipped just above the eye with the lock. Loki quickly recoiled his weapon to him before Heimdall could think to grab it.

“I see... the closer I catch it to the heavy end, the less the odds are that it hits me; so that’s how it is then... alright,” Heimdall said as he backed away and wiped one hand up to the orbit of his eye socket to keep the blood from falling in his eye. He swung the bat from the side again, and this time Loki just managed to jump back, he tossed the lock straight out again, but Heimdall snapped his neck to the left just before it hit him again, Loki arced it so that when the lock reached the end of it’s line it followed Heimdall to the left, he ducked just under the arc this time.

Heimdall lashed out with the bat and again Loki just managed to jump back; Heimdall began leading Loki as best he could. Slowly the ninja backed Loki up to the wall. When Loki’s back was to the wall, Heimdall swung a high shot intended for his head, Loki pulled up both hands and caught the fat end of the bat at about half-an-arm’s length. Heimdall snapped the butt of the bat into his temple. Loki fell back to the wall as his head screamed in pain.

Instead of winding up to swing again, Heimdall put one hand at both the fat and skinny end of the bat as he pressed it to Loki’s throat in an attempt to strangle him. Loki struggled, but Heimdall was too strong for him. He tried to scratch Heimdall’s face, or push his chin away so that he couldn’t get all of his force behind it.

“I didn’t kill him,” Loki croaked breathlessly.

“I know,” Heimdall responded. “Nothing personal man, you just started on the wrong day.”

What happened next surprised Heimdall beyond anything else. He felt a slight pain behind his ear, he was dead before he could figure out why. Loki pushed back with all his strength. He coughed as the warm air surged back into his lungs. He slid down the wall and rested his forearm on his knee as he regained his breath.

“The most dangerous weapon isn’t one you’ve never seen before... it’s one you never see at all,” Loki gasped as he reached out and pulled his letter opener from where he’d jammed it behind Heimdall’s ear and into his brain. He wiped the blood and brains off the blade as he flipped it over and tucked the blade back into his watch’s wristband. He went over to his desk, pulled out his old blueprint case, the one with the shoulder strap. He threw the document inside out as he opened the top, he slid the baseball bat in instead as he tossed it over his shoulder, where he could reach it if he needed it. He picked his original weapon up off of the ground where he’d dropped it as he regained his breath before he left the office area to see if he could find somebody else.

Chapter 3

When Thor looked over at Tyr, his eyes were so glazed he could start a donut factory, he was stumbling more than a man with only one leg as they walked down the hallway. “You’re not detoxing are you?” he asked his companion.

“Fuckin’ impossible, in order to detox you have to stop drinking, and I’m still drunk. Thank fuckin’ God for these little flasks or I’d be fucked hard... I couldn’t get through the day without being completely wasted,” Tyr answered as they finally came to the file room.

This room was a musty old store room, it contained every last one of the Aesir mission files from the last seventy years. They were stored in sealed boxes and kept in metal cases to be sure they were keeping properly; there were a few viewing tables spread throughout the room so that should the need arise they could find a file, take it down, and review it. Each table had a few box cutters along with replacement boxes and duck tape for when the file was to be returned. Their footsteps echoed ominously in the cavernous, poorly-lit room. They began searching around the edges for hollow spots, but a few minutes in Tyr suggested that maybe somewhere in all the files they might find a set of blueprints.

“That’s good thinking,” Thor told him as they turned to begin the search. Thor went down one aisle, and Tyr the next. “Can I ask you a question?” Thor asked him suddenly as they passed to one of the few viewing areas.

“Fuck no,” Tyr responded as he pulled his flask from his pocket and took another deep swig.

“What the hell happened to you man? I mean... you came here what... ten years ago? When you got here, you were one bad ass mother fucker my friend. You were the best at what you do; and now... now you’re sloppy, drunk, and you kinda smell bad. I used to look up to you man... I was your superior here, and I wanted to be like you,” Thor told him as he rested one hand on the corner of the viewing table.

“The job. That’s what happened, before... when I came here, I could go out and fuck a different girl every night. Now... what the hell am I supposed to say? ‘Hi, my name’s Tyr... wanna fuck?’ Getting a different pussy every night kept me sober, without that... this is all I’ve got,” Tyr responded as he wagged the flask back and forth before downing another mouthful.

“You know... I used to wonder who would win a fight between me and you; you’re one of the only people to ever work here, that I ever thought MIGHT be able to kill me one on one,” Thor confided to Tyr. Tyr looked over at him out of the corner of his eye... this was going someplace dark he sensed.

Tyr was watching Thor out of the corner of his eye when the latter of the two suddenly lunged slightly over the table and he felt something slash at his arm. Luckily for Tyr he was wearing his jacket and he’d reacted just in the nick of time. Part of the fabric had been cut, by a box cutter in Thor’s hand. Tyr turned to face him immediately; he dodged as Thor tried to stab him in the eye.

Tyr put both of his hands on his edge of the table... they were steel, but they weren’t fastened to the ground. He leaned in menacingly. “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh?” Tyr asked.

“Oh yeah... you’re gunna die here a lonely, broken drunk,” Thor answered.

“I don’t think so. Let me tell you how things are going to go from my perspective. First, I’m going to take that fuckin’ box cutter away from you. Next, I’m gunna methodically cut you to ribbons with it. Then I’m going to bash your fucking skull in with my own two fists. After all that, I’m gunna cut your dick and you balls off... I’ll put your balls in your mouth, just like an average friday night for you. Finally, I’m gunna shove your pecker up your ass so you can literally GO FUCK YOURSELF, YOU FUCKIN’ PUSSY!” Tyr screamed at him. As he finished he shoved the table hard toward Thor and caught him in the waist, as Thor bent over the table, Tyr pushed with all his strength to flip it over toward Thor. While Thor was busy shoving the table off of him, Tyr removed his belt and held it at the ready.

Thor rolled to his feet again, there was no table between them now. “C’mon bitch; let’s settle this!” Tyr taunted him.

“What’s happening with the box cutter?” Thor asked him suddenly. “It’s over here,” he said as he held it out so Tyr could see. “Now it’s over here,” he said as he tossed it. He moved his hands so that he could toss and catch it without thinking until he had Tyr watching his hands. He moved in slowly and Tyr allowed it, probably because he thought he could force him back if he had to, or because the closer Thor got, the better the odds were that Tyr could hit him in his drunken stupor.

The two fighters circled each other for a moment, trying to gain an advantageous position, but before either of them did Tyr took off running down one of the aisles. He ran for a few steps before he threw open one of the metal containers; it slid all the way across the aisle at roughly eye level. Thor was so close he’d almost fallen for it, Tyr made sure to throw up as many obstacles as he could in his pursuit, until eventually Thor lost sight of him. After a while Tyr just started throwing out all the middle drawers which were too high for Thor to jump regularly, and they were too close for him to vault... it force Thor to crawl.

Thor was so bent on catching up with Tyr, that he didn’t care that after the end of the aisle Tyr had pulled an entire shelf out up past his head. He just slid the lower levels shut as he crawled underneath. It turned out to be his undoing, Tyr reached down quicker than a cobra strike and wrapped the belt around his neck. Tyr kicked the box cutter out of his hand and sent it sliding to the far side of the aisle.

Thor’s lungs started to ache for a moment, then his foot bounced off the wall behind them. His mind flashed with an idea momentarily. Before Tyr could pull him back he ran at the wall to the aisle fast enough that he could get up about to his waist, then he pushed off with all his might. He felt Tyr’s head bounce off his back as the two of them clattered to the ground only inches from the box cutter. He slashed once with all the strength in his arms and it cut the belt in half.

Tyr kneed him in the back, so Thor got as far away as he could. “You shouldn’t buy those sort of things from Walmart... real leather would have held,” Thor told him.

“It was a good belt or more liquor, I don’t regret my choice,” Tyr chuckled breathlessly, he’d been running his hardest. Thor came at him again with the box cutter, but Tyr caught him by the wrist and locked onto it with both hands, he held it at arms length, forcing himself in between Thor and the blade so that his shoulder was to Thor’s chest. He pushed with both feet so that they slammed into the opposite wall, but Thor was forced to drop the box cutter again. Tyr turned and jumped like a boxer. “What you didn’t know, Thor, is what’s hurting you right now... I function better when I’m drunk off my ass,” Tyr said as he pulled his flask from his breast pocket. He took a quick gulp as Thor lunged at him, he dropped the angle of the flask and jerked it forward. Vodka jumped out at Thor’s eyes blinding him. The two circled each other again, Tyr would jump forward and hit Thor... it was like he had a small hammer his fist hit so hard, but Thor managed to dodge a few and even landed a few solid hits himself.

Then Thor went in for a solid hit, and Tyr managed to trap his arm; Tyr struck Thor’s throat with the inside of his hand, causing Thor to stutter, but Tyr kept pushing back until they were by the wall. There he grabbed Tyr by the back of the neck and slammed his head into the metal cabinet hard, he was pulling back to do it again when Thor threw open the cabinet in front of them and it hit Tyr right in the face as Thor ducked at the last second. Thor then reached back and pulled the second one open as hard as he could; Tyr’s head was trapped between the two doors when they smacked together solidly. “Fuck you,” Thor whispered as he spit out some blood... he was cut and bleeding all over and his mouth was cut. He limped away after a moment... Tyr was tougher than he’d thought.

He should have confirmed the kill, because after about a minute Tyr stirred slowly.

Chapter 4

Freyja and Valkyrie had been paired up based on their sex, but whatever. “Did you ever think that maybe we chose the wrong career?” Valkyrie asked her suddenly.

“What are you talking about?” Freyja answered. They were in the copy room looking for an escape.

“I mean, I wasn’t cut out for this job. I’m tough, smart, attractive, and ambitious... I could be running a Fortune 500 company, or I could have a husband and some kids. Instead, I’m here... I kill people,” Valkyrie explained.

“What you say or think doesn’t matter in the world. Life’s about choices, the only thing that matters is your actions. Would haves, could haves, and should haves are all just the pondering of an idle mind. If you have time to consider this sort of thing you should instead focus on what you think your life is missing, and go after it,” Freyja told her.

“You know... I miss having you on our team. I don’t have a girl to speak to, whatever happened to make you switch teams?” Valkyrie asked her former teammate.

“Tyr,” Freyja responded simply.

“You mean the drinking? Is that really what did it? Most days I’m surprised he can get out of bed with as much as he takes in,” Valkyrie laughed.

“Actually... I think I caused the drinking,” Freyja confessed.

“What do you mean? How could you have caused the drinking?” Valkyrie asked.

“Well, Tyr and I... we kinda, well... we slept with each other, and at first it was just because of the job, but after a while he came to me and said he wanted more. I couldn’t give it to him... not in our line of work; deceptions part of the job. It was after we stopped seeing each other that he started to drink. I figured if I switched teams he’d slow down with the drinking since we wouldn’t have to see each other, but it looks like it only fueled the fire more,” Freyja explained to her.

“So THAT’S what it was... about a year after I started here you and Tyr started acting all strange around each other, especially when you started to argue with each other constantly,” Valkyrie said as if she’d just put something together.

Freyja moved quickly to pull a pair of scissors while Valkyrie was investigating the wall behind the paper cutter. Freyja raised her hand to throw the scissors at her, when Valkyrie turned and saw her. In a flash the scissors were gone, but Valkyrie reacted just as quickly, she dropped to the floor. As she fell she latched onto the paper cutter with one hand, when she was down she held onto the end of the edge while she stomped down on the flat surface to break it away from the blade.

“You wanna fight bitch let’s do this,” Valkyrie responded as she spun on one knee so she could stand.

“Nothing personal Valkyrie, but you have to die today,” Freyja told her.

“You killed Odin?” Valkyrie asked as she backed away, she was moving to pull the scissors from the wall where Freyja had embedded them. Freyja had another set of scissors and a whole stash of sharpened pens and pencils. Valkyrie turned sideways to present a smaller target and she held the large paper cutter blade in front of her with one hand, if Freyja threw anything directly at her she could deflect it in a twitch. She reached back with one hand and pulled the scissors from the wall, and too late Freyja realized why that was a bad thing.

Instead of pulling the scissors for later, Valkyrie tossed them at her head on. Freyja threw her left hand up in front of her face, and the scissors had been thrown with such force that the point penetrated clear through her palm. Intense pain shot through her entire arm, she nearly collapsed from that alone, but she knew that if she did, instinct to catch herself would only push the scissors the rest of the way through. Instead she reached over and pulled the scissors out.

Everybody knows that when something like an arrow hits a target, the worst idea they have is also their first idea, to pull it out. The problem with this reaction is that, while the arrow is in it acts something like a tourniquet, keeping the victim from bleeding out quickly, so pulling something like that out means you have to move quick. After Freyja pulled the scissors back out of her hand, she tore off a part of her shirt to wrap it around the hole. It hurt like hell, but she also made sure to shove some of the fabric into the wound, it had to be done to slow the bleeding and hopefully keep her from passing out.

“I didn’t kill Odin,” Freyja told her as she held the scissors in her damage left hand, just gripping the scissors was difficult for her, but she kept her right hand buried in her pocket, she had a pencil held in a death grip, she was going to have to be quick and subtle to make this work.

“I didn’t kill him either,” Valkyrie told her as she advanced a step.

“I know you didn’t, but this morning Niflheim was called in and given orders by the management to take out Muspellheim,” Freyja explained.

“Why?” Valkyrie asked as they started to circle each other.

“Remember that botch job your team did in Bangkok... evidently it was a little more serious than you thought, since then I guess the company has been biding their time, waiting for the day when all of us were here at the same time. Don’t feel bad though, Odin got the axe too... that’s why he did this, if Niflheim dies here today, everything goes with the explosion... it’ll take them another twenty years to train a group of fresh agents as good as we’re trained now,” Freyja told her slowly.

“You call Tyr well trained? He drinks more than an AA meeting held at a bar, he smells like shit, every piece of clothing he owns has some sort of bodily fluid stain on it, I mean Jesus... he’s fucking pathetic,” Valkyrie pointed out.

“You really want the last thing you talk about to be Tyr?” Freyja asked her cynically.

“What really pisses me off about him is this... it’s his fucking fault we botched that job. Yeah! He was going through the compound’s security checkpoint and his fucking flask set off the metal detector, and then of course they x-rayed his luggage and they found thirty pounds of C4. That’s right, we’d planned for six months, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, worked our asses off to get the timing of the escape right, and that drunk dick goes and sets off the security with a flask. It was supposed to be a quick in and out drop off followed by a little boom, designed to look like a group of local rebels had gotten fed up with him and decided to strike, instead it turned into a fucking gunfight, we barely escaped with our lives, and now this shit? It all comes back to Tyr and now I’m being punished for his drinking. God has a pretty fucked up sense of humor doesn’t he?” Valkyrie ranted... that was one of her weak points, she could get in an off-topic rant even in the middle of a fight to the death.

“Do you mind if I go back to trying to kill you now?” Freyja reminded her. Valkyrie was still standing there perfectly defended, Freyja had to figure out how to strike her right quickly. Two hours was a short time. She tried going in and stabbing with the scissors to one side, Valkyrie dodged to the opposite side of the paper cutter, Freyja whipped her hand out of her pocked in a flash, the pen headed straight for her throat, instead she nicked the neck and left only a slight scratch. Valkyrie brought the paper cutter down in a straight arc attempting to sever the arm holding the scissors from her body.

Freyja leapt back just in the nick of time, she only had a small cut on her forearm, but Valkyrie pressed the attack, she slashed horizontally at Freyja’s neck, but again Freyja managed to retreat just in the nick of time. Valkyrie continued to push her back, anytime Freyja tried to escape to the left or the right Valkyrie would lunge at her, forcing her back into the line. This was getting dangerous for Freyja, she could imagine why Valkyrie was pressing her back, she was trying to force her to a wall where she’d get one side-step followed by a quick lunge and she’d be dead.

Freyja had just figured it out when she took a step back and her worst fears were realized... the back of her heal was up against the cabinets on the wall. “Game over,” Valkyrie said as she swept the paper cutter forward in a lateral arc, Freyja was going to sacrifice one of her arms to stop the blade when she felt something brush up against her hand, it was a book of some sort. She jerked it up quickly, the paper cutter buried itself in the book deep, but it wasn’t sharp enough or swung with enough force to cleave it in half; Freyja looked at the title of the book as she twisted it quickly, the book was titled Lord of drinks: a connoisseur's guide to alcoholic drinks and drinking traditions from around the world. Tyr had saved her life through his carelessness.

By twisting the book she had twisted the paper cutter out of Valkyrie’s hands, she pulled it from the book quickly as she took the cutter in her own right hand. She swung once to try and cleave Valkyrie’s head from her neck, but the other assassin was more skilled in melee combat. She ducked under Freyja’s swing and used a scissor kick to take Freyja to the ground. There she kicked the paper cutter away as she mounted Freyja. Valkyrie slammed her fist down onto Freya’s face, again and again. Freyja could feel the blood pouring from her face everywhere and felt herself loosing consciousness. She reached out on the ground one last time desperately, her hand brushed up against the book again. She grabbed it by one end and rammed it up into Valkyrie’s throat, forcing Valkyrie off of her, and at the same time stunning her. Freyja rolled on top of Valkyrie, reached out to a nearby ledge, and found something hard and heavy. She cupped it in her and and brought it crashing down into Valkyrie’s temple.

She hefted it up above her shoulder and this time brought it slamming down on her face, again and again she hit Valkyrie until the other woman’s head was nothing more than blood and chunks of bone and pulp on the floor. Freyja was covered in blood from the battle, some of it her own, but most of it was Valkyrie’s. She dismounted the dead body and lay down beside it to catch her breath.

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