nextgen_asgard:

Loki could not keep the smug look off his face. "You hath lost, Grandmaster. Mine champions didst roust thine in the end. A slim victory, yes... but the simple majority was all thou didst require."

He pointed a finger. "Thou art bound by the terms of our agreement. Thou art to leave now and not to quest for the Norn Stones again, nor to use pawns to acquire them."


The Elder of the Universe frowned deeply. "I always honor my word, Asgardian. Unlike some I have known. My champions shall be returned from wence they gathered, and yours shall be brought to thee. As we agreed."

With that, the Grandmaster was gone, and the Defenders appeared before Loki, no worse for wear for their adventures.

Loki moved quickly, faster than any would have expected. He had kept himself schooled during the fighting, not letting his surprise or even his worry show, but now, here, he was able to release these emotions. An intensity, even a a worry, showed clearly on his face. When he was closer, his arm shot out, grasping Dawn about the next and holding her off the ground.

"Speak ye, mortal, now! What has thou done to mine GRANDDAUGHTER?!"

godlierthanthou:

Dawn was still trying to get her head wrapped around everything when the Grandmaster had teleported them to their battle sites.  The first thing she was aware of was the thin air, as though they were on a mountain somewhere.  The second thing she noticed was the cold, the intense, almost life-sucking cold.

She collapsed to her knees instantly, fingers fumbling for the umbrella she always kept with her now.

C'mon... don't die... don't die...


Fingers that were already freezing gripped it, stamped it upon the ground, transforming her body into that of Asleif in a flash and boom.

A body that was from the line of Frost Giants, a body far more at home in this land.

What the hell am I doing here?  I'm no god.  I'm no super-hero.  I'm just some luckless librarian in way over her head...

Who else had come with her?  She hoped to God she wasn't alone.  She knew she would surely die here if she was.

ng_offenders:

The New Man known as the Killer Kobra flicked his tongue out, tasting the damp, underground air of the caverns of the Trolls.  As good a spot to battle as any.  Though the High Evolutionary had considered the gods of Asgard something to be worshiped or admired, he did not.  The only true god to him was the Man-Beast, he who embraced the predatory instincts the New Men were meant to.

He was accompanied by Ms. Hyde, the one Offender he could stand, the only one with the same terribly cruelty and predatory instincts he too possessed.  He did not know he was embracing, in some small way, a tradition, nor did he particularly care.

He would taste flesh today.

ng_offenders:

Hrothgar Hoganson had spent a considerable amount of time preparing for this moment, looking for just the right people to join his cause.  Ever since he had learned the cursed son and daughters of Thor were being sent to Midgard.  The honors that had come to them, the gifts they enjoyed, were all denied to him.  And if he could not have them, then they would not either.  He had made dark pacts, followed them to Midgard, recruited people with as much cause to hate Thor's children as he did.

And when the Grandmaster had approached them about the opportunity to battle and slay them... well, who was he to say no?

The Radioactive Man and the Element Man were with him.  He gripped his axe tightly.

He was going to enjoy this.

Hel.  A fitting place for those he hated most to meet their end.

nextgen_asgard:

Once the players had all been gathered, Loki transported himself, along with Ardis and Halbjorn, the spider-god Ohu, the mortals Grace, Griffen, and Dawn, and the mysterious woman called Marlow, to Asgard. It was a desolate, abandoned region, where few would ever traverse. He himself had only been here to make certain that the Norn Stones had still been in place, should he require them for a future plot. He had discovered the Grandmaster only by chance.

The Grandmaster, the being who stood before them now.

"Greetings again to thee, Elder," Loki said, feigning humility and feeling disgust at doing so. The Elders were older even than the Asgardians themselves, possibly the one set of beings in the universe who might yet give them pause. He it galled him to know there were beings truly his superior. "And again, mine thanks for thine leave to gather mine champions. T'will make for a most entertaining game, I doth assure thee."

nextgen_asgard:

He appeared before the Defenders compound without fanfare or signal, without any of the usual lavish displays he attempted when wishing to make a point. Instead, it was simply as though he was not there one moment and there the next. His features--he would never be called handsome, though some might have called them regal--contorted slightly. Why was so much of Midgard so insufferably warm? A proper place was cold enough to freeze the marrow from unworthy bones.

Well, you know what they say. You can take the giant out of Jötunheimr, but you can't take Jötunheimr out of the giant. He resisted the urge to change the climate to something more to his liking.

He was not, technically, supposed to travel to Midgard these days. But when had he ever cared for the rules? Besides, who would deny him the opportunity to see his niece and grandchildren?

Loki, Lord of Lies, God of Mischief, adopted son of Odin, had come to Earth.