As Valkyrie walked across the docks, she drew quite a few eyes; at first, simply because of her appearance; a seven foot tall woman wearing a leather jacket, pants, boots, and a black tank-top, with roughly cut long blond hair, and a face that could easily have been the source of 'resting bitch face' as a term. Those who recognized her continued to stare in awe, or horror... or started to run.
The dock audibly creaking beneath her feet didn't help. While Valkyrie herself only weighed perhaps three hundred pounds; her seemingly infinite durability unrelated to her actual physical mass; her clothing and equipment was all hand-made herself, with painstaking effort, out of materials that only she could make. Was it Neutronium? Not quite; she'd made the genuine article quite a few times, and the amount she wore would sink her straight through the ground like a lead ball into the ocean if it were as dense as she could make it.
As she reached the shore, three figures waited for her; the only ones who weren't avoiding her approach. Two women; both tall, powerful; well over six feet themselves, wearing golden armor, shields, and spears all of beautiful, immaculate construction; and between them, a one-eyed, powerfully built, bearded man who was wearing... an ordinary suit. Black tie, pinstripes; handsome, after a fashion, though 'rugged' might be a better term. Considering what he was capable of, exactly her type. Valkyrie could remember the last time she'd met the man; he'd been wearing fancy quasi-ancient armor, carved with runes, looking like a true mythical figure, standing in the desolate wastes left behind by the fallen titan.
She frowned, looking at the two women, then back at him. "You look a bit out of place in that company, All-father. Where's the fancy get-up?"
Odin shrugged. "That armor is my greatest creation. I built it to fight Titans. There are only four human ones left, three on earth, and none are my enemies. I've been working on something new, to fight the Jotun, and needed some parts of it for that. Besides; I'm not getting into any fights today, am I?"
Vakyrie smiled. "So certain I'm not your enemy?"
"You are a warrior, a mighty one, and one who cares about the common man more than governments or codes. At worst, you're my sort of woman, and a potential ally. At best, you could be the greatest of my Valkyries if you wished."
The woman on his left elbowed him in the side, and he grunted. "One of the greatest of my Valkyries." He glanced at the red-head beside him. "If you genuinely think you're better than her, go ahead and challenge her once we get somewhere safer, I'm sure we could draw an audience."
The woman sighed. "Men." She smiled at Valkyrie; definitely more attractive, although also clearly not nearly as tall or well-muscled. Valkyrie hated her instantly. "I've been honing my skills with the bow and the spear for over a thousand years. I wouldn't underestimate me, titan or not."
Valkyrie shrugged. "I've killed older and stronger. I will again in the future. Now, you called me for a reason?"
"Ahh, yes." Odin started walking down the street, away from the docks. "This way. I've got a gate that will take us the rest of the way. As you may know, unlike Zeus, I can't have children of my own. I've adopted a few over the years. Some still alive, even. Loki is..." He chuckled. "Well. You can meet Loki yourself later. Anyways, I felt as if you might want to see Valhalla and Hel for yourself, get a better idea of what to expect should you decide to come along, pick up a few useful tools for the battle against the Jotun. And, well."
As they stepped out of the coastal town, Valkyrie could see a circle of stones, well-worn, ancient, standing outside, near a common footpath. "I'd heard you were having trouble getting your son to feel normal. Surrounded by people so inferior to himself, physically. I felt I could offer you a chance to bring him there until he's an adult. Let him spend his final years of childhood among his peers before heading out into the world. I suspect it would be good for him."
Valkyrie watched as the trio stopped in the middle of the circle; and after a moment's hesitation, stepped through to join them. Odin paused. "You don't have any..." He tilted his head for a moment, looking at the two warrior-women. One of them piped up. "Bags of holding, extradimensional spaces, or objects made to hold far more space than they should."
She chuckled. "I didn't know such things were real. Like the doctor's tardis, bigger on the inside?"
Odin shrugged. "I've made a fair number over the centuries.. of varying sizes. Thor had a sort-of pouch I gifted him he had bound into a seam of his favorite vest. Seemed tiny. Insignificant. But it held a hundred-ton warhammer he could remove simply by reaching in, and seventeen kegs of the finest mead. If he wore that tunic into Valhalla, everything inside it would be ejected by the gates of Valhalla; so every time, he had to remove the hammer so he could hang it at the door. If I hadn't put that in place, his entrance would've simply killed him and anyone nearby while he wore it. So if you have one..."
She tilted her head. "No, I don't ..Thor... Had? Did he pass on?"
"...Yes. He actually died in space, the last time the Jotun attacked. Took out one of their great warships on his own. His hammer is still floating out there... somewhere. They retrieved what was left of him when they studied the wreckage of the ship."
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Odin reached out, touching the circle of stones. After a few moments, there was a vivid flash of light... and they stood atop what seemed to be an enormous mountain. Below them, the ground extended in massive rings, each seeming to contain vaguely similar buildings; those nearby seemed akin to modern homes and structures, while further down seemed to be ancient hovels and taverns. There was cheering, and laughter, from a nearby building, which seemed to be... a simple old pub, with a group of men in various military uniforms inside, drinking and talking.
Valkyrie frowned, looking at the strange place for a moment; it seemed to have been pulled right out of her childhood. "Well. While I appreciate the visit, and tools to fight the Jotun would be appreciated, I don't think Butch would appreciate being dragged away. He's become too involved in his friends, and now girlfriend." The frown twisted further into a grimace. "I could drag him here, but I don't think he'd want to come. So.. Explain the pub?"
Odin glanced at it, and chuckled. "With each passing century, I add a new layer to the place, to store more souls. This will be the last one. Most layers aren't too different from the others, but they've grown dramatically different lately. Running water and electricity? Popular features."
"..Last one?"
"When Ragnarok comes? All of these men and women take up arms for one last war. I believe they'll end up in Hel after if my grand-daughter built it properly, but... well. I'm reasonably sure there's a place souls go, but I can't be sure."
"..Hell? Hell is real?"
"Not the christian Hell. Actually, that might be real; I hope not to find out. Hel is a place like Valhalla. A construct we built long, long ago, to hold the souls of the dead. Not as nice as Ragnarok.. this place is built to help the souls prepare for war. It strengthens them, prepares them, and of course, lets them enjoy their time before the final war. Hel is more of... a resting place. Calm. Sedate. When Ragnarok comes... Valhalla will fall apart, and the warriors will return to earth for the final battle, alive once more. Sort-of."
He turned, walking down the street; giving a friendly wave to a few soldiers who offered him a drunken salute.. as he turned onto.. a rough, cobblestone street, vastly different from the pavement that graced the front of the pub and its concrete sidewalk.
Valkyrie looked up at what appeared to be an enormous wooden dome. As they passed inside, she could see... hundreds of the women in golden armor, most of them holding a cup, mug, flagon, tankard... a few of them fighting, some with blades, others unarmed, with their sisters circling around them, chanting, laughing. Off to the side, what was clearly a recent addition; television screens mounted to a wall, though without too many watchers.
Odin kept on walking through the room, exchanging comments, insults, as he went; and walking right by an enormous throne-like chair that seemed to be made mostly out of helmets and weapons roughly forged together... and passed through a final door into a room containing... what looked to be a forge, and an armory. Hundreds of blades hung from the walls, hammers, swords, spears, flails; clearly favoring older, ancient styles of weaponry, but including more recent things like cavalry sabers as well.
The most notable feature of the room was none of these, however; not the forges or the weapons, but rather the central feature of a massive statue; dark grey stone with runes seemingly painted all over his body.
As Odin stepped on into another, smaller room, he paused; noticing that Valkyrie had stopped, looking at the statue. "Ahh, Atlas. The only one of the old Titans who was like you. Truly impossible to kill."
Valkyrie blinked. "Wait. This... is a living person. A Titan, like me?"
"Of course. Killing him was impossible, so we tricked him. The only one strong enough to hurt him was himself. The binding ritual required his own blood painted onto his skin; something that took the deaths of hundreds to accomplish, after tricking him into breaking his own nose. Anything else would've worn away with time."
She nodded. "I can get that. Someone trying to do that to me..." She clutched her belt for a moment. She had a few balls of matter pre-prepped so that she could trigger a nuclear detonation; both for defensive purposes, and in the event someone launched her into space; she could actually propel herself back to earth on a wave of nuclear fire. "It would be more than just hundreds dying."
Odin nodded. "Well, now he's a battery. The barrier around him is powered by the only thing that could keep up. Himself. And of course, the leftover power? Keeps this entire place running. It'll be interesting to see what happens once its gone." He led her on into a side-room; one where she could see the armor he'd worn on their previous meeting, in pieces, on a massive stone counter; alongside a variety of seemingly golden pieces of armor; likely made for the Valkyries.
He walked up to a pair of boots. "I make each suit of armor special for its owner. All of them get flight, and invisibility, of course. The rest is up to them. Much how each spear is a channel to gather souls to Valhalla, but I also make each one to fit its wielder."
He extended the boots to Valkyrie. "And these are built specifically for you. You're the only person... conscious.." he glanced at the doorway, and the outer chamber where Atlas resided. "Who can make Neutronium. But you can't make weapons or armor out of it. Because..."
She smirked. "Because if I'm wearing a Neutronium gauntlet, it weighs so much that I crash through concrete like it was water with every step. A full suit of armor, or even a sword made out of the stuff... I could only use it in space."
"Well. These boots channel the energy of the wearer, and spread her weight around. I've got a pair I'm working on for Spike; quite a bit smaller, and not as ornate." He nodded at a pair of dull grey boots, seemingly leather, in the corner. "Both do about the same thing. Take your footprint and spread it on the surrounding surfaces. You can turn them off just by thinking about it when you want to drop-kick someone straight to hell, but otherwise... They let someone carry five hundred tons of armor, and spread that around to a huge area."
"..Well. That could certainly come in handy. Good for jumping?"
"No better than normal, for you. But you won't shatter the ground as badly when you take off."
She gave a low chuckle. "You know what? I think I can forgive the style in exchange for that. I always have to leave the house like a quarter-mile out before I really get moving."
Odin nodded. "Good. So. You can have the boots, either way, but I've got a request for you. Everybody knows you. Some like you, some hate you. But they all respect you. And the smart ones fear you."
"..I can crush the strongest man on earth between my fingers."
".... Its coming. Ragnarok. And when it does, I want you by my side. If they take control of me, I want you to take me out. Knocked out if you can. The chains only last a day or so; a Jotun day, even, so seventeen hours, so a knockout is fine. Kill me if not."