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The confession stopped Gwen's mind for a full second. She pressed her forehead against Dante's chest. "It's not fair."
His arms came up around her back and folded her in completely. "Give me a chance. Break up with me if I do it wrong."
Her fingers found the front of his coat and closed around a fistful of it. She held on without meaning to.
"Why do you even like me?" she asked, her voice muffled against his chest. "I haven't done anything for you. I just... showed up and did my job."
She had only fulfilled her responsibilities as Ghost Spider and done nothing for him. Meanwhile, he had done too much for her.
"That's not how it works." He rested his chin on her shoulder, filling her with warmth that was uniquely his. "You don't make someone like you by performing for them. That's an audition."
She said nothing.
"Besides, is there anything to hate about Gwendolyne Stacy? Let me think." A thoughtful pause, entirely too long. "Hmm, I don't like her selflessness. She's going to put her vigilante work ahead of her boyfriend. Not the best girlfriend material."
A smile broke across her face before she could catch it. She found his waist with both hands and pinched hard, forcing him to make a satisfying moan. "I'll prove you wrong, idiot. Just you wait."
He chuckled. "You agree then?"
"Mhmm."
She stayed in the circle of his arms. By morning, she would probably have seventeen well-reasoned objections to this decision, probably more. However, one thing was certain. She would regret not trying far more than she would ever regret trying out this relationship. Maybe Death's boyfriend had enough love to satisfy four women.
If he failed, she would get a clean breakup and never see his face again. The power was in her hands.
Dante pushed her shoulders. "Are we fucking—"
"No!"
She gripped his wrists, as he had rested his hands on her lower back, and pushed. He went over with a dramatic scream like he had fallen from a skyscraper. He sprawled on the bed with his arms spread.
She planted a knee on either side of him and looked down. "I'll decide when that happens."
Besides the breakup, some power had to be in her hands, or this relationship would become completely one-sided. She had read enough psychology books to know those always ended in a disaster.
He put his hands on her knees. "But this is such a good position for it."
She slapped his hands away and crawled backward off the bed. "Is the celebration still going on?"
He whispered something to himself, talking to his cosmic girlfriend. "You wanna go?"
"Yes, and you're taking me there."
***
Half an hour later.
In an exclusive VIP room of Hellmoon Club, the lighting was cold and beautiful, just like the moonlight.
Selene sat in a high-backed chair upholstered in black silk, one leg crossed elegantly over the other. She wore a dress that seemed woven from the shadow itself, plunging at the neckline. Her dark hair framed a face that was beautiful and flawless, yet devoid of warmth.
Floating before her was a mystical window displaying people celebrating, drinking, dancing, just enjoying the joys of life.
"These people…" she whispered softly. "Disgust me."
"Do you want them removed?" asked Tessa, who stood perfectly still by the window, awaiting the orders of her mistress. "Skullfire will be… bothersome. Others would be eliminated within a day."
Selene leaned on her luxurious chair and tapped a long, black-polished nail against the armrest. "Hellions. The others are still of some use."
Tessa turned her head, gazing at Selene's back with a frown. "When should it be done, Mistress?"
"Let them celebrate today. Let them believe they've won." Selene revealed a cold smile. "Tomorrow, I want our White Queen to crash down from the highest heaven. Let her despair as her precious students are ripped limb from limb."
The White Queen had to be reminded that Hellmoon Club was not meant for heroes. This was a group of elites who manipulated the world from the shadows.
Tessa flinched at the cruel order. She gave a deeper bow and quickly recovered her emotions. "Should I enact it myself?"
"You aren't cruel enough for this." Selene leaned her face in her knuckle. "Send the dog we've been raising. Tell him he is free to toy with Emma however he wishes, as long as he doesn't kill her."
Tessa closed her eyes in pity and nodded. "Trevor will be happy to fulfill your desire, Mistress."
"Excellent."
***
"This is terrorism. These freaks are trying to wriggle their way into people's hearts! They should not be allowed to! These menaces must be caught and put behind bars right where they belong!"
Anna smiled at the fool called J. Jonah Jameson, who continued spitting at the camera. The vein on his left temple—which she had named little J—pulsed with every hateful word. The clown's performance certainly made her giddy, but her real source of delight came from somewhere else.
She muted Jameson mid-sentence and set the remote down.
The Symbiote and Hivemind crisis had officially ended.
New York could breathe once again. They finally found a source of hope in masked superheroes and mutants, and SHIELD did absolutely nothing this time.
Norman's craziness had her on edge every day. If Silvija had died in Norman's chaos, Anna's value to HYDRA would've been reduced to zero. A dead Silver Sable meant starting over from scratch for the next monarch. Fortunately, Anna could stick to her mission and be useful to HYDRA.
Her phone buzzed against the table. She picked it up. The screen showed a cascade of unread messages from Anna Marie and the most recent one came from her boss, Silvija Sablinova.
Anna's eyebrow went up before she could stop it.
Silvija had a strict habit of never texting her employees. Then again, her boss had become a completely different person after finding love.
Anna opened the message.
[Silvija: Get it framed. Fifty copies from the best studio]
Anna tapped on the PNG attachment. It was a group photograph of nearly everyone who had worked against symbiotes.
Emma Frost held the camera, blowing a kiss directly into the frame with that 'I know I look dazzling' confidence.
At the center of the frame was Dante without the Skullfire extravagance. Just the charming man. He was holding Catseye against his chest. On his left, Silvija had risen on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek. On his right, Felicia had done the same to his opposite cheek. Ghost Spider had a hand on Dante's shoulder from behind and her left hand was raised high in a cheerful wave. The way her lenses narrowed gave the impression that she was smiling under the mask.
On the right, Logan was growling at Piotr, who had forcefully dragged the grisly man into the picture. Jean grinned from beside the two, her hands forming a small heart at the camera.
On the left side, Psylocke posed with her katana and all the young mutants from Hellions stood around her in various states of enthusiasm.
And in the center-upper frame, Ororo Munroe was hovering at a dignified altitude for absolutely no reason.
"That's a good shot."
She set the phone face-down on the table and looked at the muted television. Jameson was still going, face cycling through shades of outrage.
She picked the phone back up and looked at the photograph again. A sigh left her lips.
'I missed a fun event.'
The work wasn't the problem. The timing wasn't either. She was afraid of the two telepaths in that picture. Emma Frost and Jean Gray. Anna's identity could've been easily exposed in their presence. Her work in HYDRA wasn't done until Magneto was satisfied.
"Should I photoshop myself in?"
She genuinely considered the idea and shook her head. That figure in the composite wouldn't be the real her.
Did anyone even know the real her?
***
Loki sank deeper into the warm spring until the water lapped at his collarbone. Today was like several lifetimes compressed into a single day.
Steam curled off the surface in lazy spirals. The carved stone walls of the private bath contained the warmth in. The torchlight on the walls cast an amber glow across the luxurious place.
Asgard's night was quiet outside. It always was.
He stared at the ceiling.
"What a terrible father I have."
Odin had betrayed Skullfire who arrived in this realm without hostile intent and then tried to capture Dante's wife as leverage as a contingency. A leash ready in case the man escaped wherever his father had banished him to.
Or so Loki interpreted. He was, admittedly, excellent at interpretation.
Whatever the truth may be, this was utterly ridiculous, lacking the honor and dignity the Protector of Nine Realms should have.
He looked down and smiled. The reflection in the water shifted and changed to that of a woman with an exceptionally beautiful face and lush, long black hair—a face no one was allowed to see in this Asgard.
'Gods are always so foolish. No wonder my Asgard was destroyed.'
This Asgard was not going to be spared the consequences of that foolishness. Death's Companion had foretold the destruction of Asgard, which would most likely manifest under Odin's rule.
The only interesting question was who would carry it out here. Perhaps Skullfire would arrange the beginning and ending of Rangarok himself.
"How do I stop my foolish father before he accelerates this catastrophe?"
He leaned against the carved stone and closed his eyes. Not even his Wise Father knew the answer to this question.
"Maybe you should ask me."
Loki's eyes snapped open. On the opposite end of the spring, Skullfire was lowering himself into the warm water. Unlike his skull face, the rest of his body was normal. Above normal. He was built with strong and dense muscles like a warrior.
Loki's hands flew to his own chest before his brain caught up with the fact that he was not, at this moment, the woman in the reflection. His hands covered nothing of consequence.
"You absolute fool!" He straightened with as much dignity as the situation permitted, which was limited. "You have no manners. No decency. How dare you intrude in my private—"
Skullfire moved one hand in a lazy arc through the water. The splash hit Loki directly in the face.
The silence afterward was profound.
Water dripped from Loki's nose. From his eyelashes. From the ends of his hair, which was now plastered flat against his cheeks. From his chin.
"What are you getting worked up for?" Skullfire asked, making himself comfortable. "We're both men here."
Loki's left eye twitched. He pushed the wet hair away from his face and assumed the authority of a prince of Asgard. "Indeed. We are."
"Why did you hesitate, asshole?" Dante splashed another wave at him. "Stop acting gay."
"Stop that—"
SPLASH.
It hit Loki square in the chest and chin.
"I am a prince of—"
SPLASH.
"You absolute—"
SPLASH.
Loki sat very still in the water. He felt a pressure behind his eyes that he had not experienced for hundreds of years. If there was another splash, he would tear up like a little girl without any dignity worthy of a prince whatsoever.
Thankfully, Skullfire stopped the harassment. Stillness was the only reliable defense against the water wave, Loki noted.
"Why did you act like I walked in on you changing?" Skullfire asked with a sigh. "I feel like I committed a crime."
"You were right," Loki said in a hurry. "I mean, my response was inappropriate."
Skullfire chuckled. "Good boy."
Loki felt blood rush to his face. Since when had he fallen so low that he would quietly accept such a degrading compliment from a man? However, that indignant feeling vanished the moment he remembered the Destroyer's fate in Odin's throne room.
Killing Loki would probably be easier than crushing a bug for Skullfire. Magic tricks meant nothing in the face of absolute power.
"You were just sitting here talking to yourself. You do that a lot, by the way."
"I was thinking—"
"You were blabbering like a lunatic."
"I—" Loki's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I have lost my mind."
This humiliation was killing him from the inside. Yet he was powerless to go against Skullfire.
The man with a burning skull began humming an unfamiliar upbeat tune. Minutes passed before Skullfire spoke another word, "Loki."
"Hmm."
"Me or your father?" Dante asked with his head tilted back toward the ceiling like this was a very casual question. A question that wouldn't concern the fate of all nine realms. "Choose wisely."
Loki looked at the man across the spring and then thought about Odin, the king without honor. He remembered his mother, the woman most dear to his heart.
He looked back at the ceiling. "The spring is very warm tonight."
"Loki, stop being a pussy."
"I…"
***
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