◉◉◉◉◉
Thor and Loki found themselves standing inside Nolan's Mirror Dimension.
Thor bristled, Mjolnir's shards still raw in his memory. "If he unleashes Surtur here, Asgard will burn—"
"Look around, brother," Loki cut him off, eyes flicking across the crystalline horizon. "No screams. No fleeing citizens. His spell cages the entire battle. This is his arena. Not ours."
Thor faltered. The giant who was prophesied to end Asgard thrashed against glowing chains, but in Nolan's grip Surtur looked less like a god of doom and more like a tantruming child.
---
Nolan let the Space Stone's power pulse down the spectral manacles. The more Surtur strained, the deeper the locks bit not just into muscle, but into the fire giant's essence.
"Who are you?!" Surtur thundered, flames clawing high enough to scorch the false sky.
"Just a scientist," Nolan said. "And you're my specimen."
A rift yawned beside him. From the darkness padded a sleek black panther, its eyes burning with starlight.
"Bind him," Nolan said, stroking the great cat's head.
The goddess Bast did not protest. She opened her jaws and a gravitational pull ripped across the chamber.
The Eternal Flame's champion shrieked as his titanic frame compressed, dragged screaming into her maw until he was no larger than a cinder, swallowed whole into the pocket-dimension that was now her domain.
Thor and Loki stood stunned. The monster of prophecy was reduced to nothing more than a captured sample.
"Handled," Nolan murmured. With a snap, the Mirror Dimension shattered into glittering shards, and Odin's vault reassembled around them.
He dusted his hands. "Promise kept. Odin's Ragnarok won't be happening on my watch."
Then he vanished, leaving the princes staring at one another in silence.
---
Back at Oscorp, Nolan stepped into the sealed pocket of infinite space where Hela clawed endlessly at the walls of her prison.
She spun, eyes blazing. "Why do you hound me, Sorcerer? I've never touched Midgard! I could swear it leaves me to rule Asgard, and Earth will be yours!"
Nolan folded his arms. "I made a deal with Odin."
"Odin!" Her laugh cracked with venom. "I bled for his conquests, made Asgard feared across nine realms, and he cast me aside when my vision outgrew his! I am the rightful heir. The throne is mine by conquest and by birthright!"
Her voice dropped to a hiss. "Weaklings despise war, but they exist only to kneel. Power is the only law, Sorcerer. Even on Earth, don't your mortals bend to your will? Can you claim otherwise?"
Nolan regarded her calmly. "Perhaps you're right. But I'm not here to debate philosophy, Hela. I don't want your throne, or your bargains."
Chains of space unfurled around him, weaving into a web of shimmering restraint.
"I only want to study you," he said softly. "Nothing more."
The bindings lashed across her form, sealing the Goddess of Death in place as her furious scream echoed through the void.
◉◉◉◉◉
~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
◉◉◉◉◉
For early access to advanced chapters on P-atreon:
P-atreon/iamxeno
(Just remove the - hyphen to access Patreon normally)
Thank you so much for your support and for reading!