Author's Introduction.

Well, for those who've followed all this so far, please take your
seats for the big fight scenes!! (You didn't think I'd leave them out,
did you?)

Ice-cream & P-chans-onna-stick from Mr. Dibbler, Bodybags courtesy of
US Army Surplus.

Please fasten your seatbelts as the management is about to engage the
sound system...


Chapter 11


I shivered slightly. Whatever I had just done had cleared my head at
last. It felt very odd; I could remember exactly what I'd done, but
hadn't the faintest idea on how I'd gone about doing it. It was almost
as if someone else had been controlling my actions My mind raced as I
caught up with the last few minutes of what I'd been doing - then
abruptly shuddered to a halt as I realised just WHAT I'd done, and my
eyes widened as I looked at the slim woman standing in front of me.

There's something _unreal_ about seeing someone you think you are
familiar with from drawings standing in front of you in the flesh. For
a start, no matter how good the anime, the real person differs
considerably in appearance - like in having a normally proportioned
body! And pictures on celluloid don't have the feeling of _presence_
that this woman did.

But it wasn't just that. As I stared at her, I couldn't drag my eyes
away from her. I was held like a rabbit in a cars headlights, unable
to look away, despite what was happening around us, my attention
fixated on her.

She stood there, tall, slender, the dark fires of concealed emotion
burning deep within the cerulean depths of her eyes. Blood-red hair
fell in a long straight waterfall down her back, stray strands
shifting slowly in the wind, two 'tails' parting it to show her
delicately pointed ears. Clad in a tight blue bodysuit which showed a
gymnast's lithe, small- breasted figure, over which she wore a black,
well, bikini I guess, some glowing panels on the top glowing faintly
as shimmering pastel colours flickered across them.

Despite her looks, that wasn't the most arresting thing about her
appearance.

An air of controlled power, so intense as to be almost visible, 
surrounded her as she stood there with the easy, powerful assurance of
a tigress. I almost felt that I should be smelling the tang of ozone
in the air, a faint crackling of energy registering on me at a
subconscious level

Not losing her concentration for a moment, she absently brushed back
her wind-tossed hair back, looking back at us, her head tilted
slightly to one side, expression almost thoughtful as she took our
measure..

I was fascinated by her. Or maybe mesmerised was more accurate, 
fascinated doesn't imply a strong enough feeling.
There was just something about her, the way she stood, her whole
attitude, that made the rest of what was happening simply irrelevant
to me at the moment. I kept having to fight off a completely
irrational desire to reach out and just touch her. Which was a pretty
stupid idea, if she was as powerful as I hoped she was, the last thing
I should be doing was annoying her!

She looked around, her eyes flickering across the scene in the temple
courtyard, the devastation, the people, taking it all in, her eyes
narrowing slightly. Then she looked at Skuld, and, finally, at me. I
met her gaze. Big mistake, I found I could hardly drag my eyes away
from her again.

When she finally spoke, it was in a low, husky voice. Not what I'd
expected (come to that, I don't really know what sort of voice I'd
expected a living weapon to possess), but it seemed to fit her; once
I'd heard it I couldn't imagine her sounding any different.

"So why did you bring me here?"

I licked my suddenly dry lips.

"We need help. Badly. Your help. To stop that madman in the courtyard
before he destroys this world..." Well, maybe not the world's best
speech, but at least it was concise...

She looked at me calmly, her eyes flicking across for a moment,
looking at the ending of the fight in the courtyard. It looked like
Urd and Belldandy had put up a good fight, but they were simply no
match for Loki's trolls. Both of them were being held by a pair of the
monsters, while the rest of them licked their wounds, and Loki was
obviously enjoying himself immensely in a seriously heavy attack of
the gloats. I hoped he would continue for just a little longer, I had
to find a way to persuade Iczer-2 to help us.

She looked back at me, the corner of her mouth twitching up for a
second into a small grimace.

"So, you want me to fight for you?"

For some reason, I felt that something about that statement
disappointed her deeply at the same time as it caught her interest.

I held out my hands in a pleading gesture.

"I know we haven't any right to ask you, but you're the only one I
could think of who might be able to stop him."

She looked back thoughtfully, slightly narrowed deep crimson eyes
regarded me. For a moment, I was unable to recall just where I'd seen
that particular type of examination recently, then I remembered it was
when Urd had examined me after I had fainted. Looking at me, but not
quite at my body. Then she looked across at Skuld.

"So what will you pay me?"

Skuld looked back, her eyes looking upward to meet hers. She didn't
look 14 any more. More like 14 going on 414, she hadn't changed but
her whole stance, her body language was that of someone much older,
much more mature, and deadly serious.

"Any price we can."

"Any price? That covers a lot..."

Skuld nodded, her eyes not leaving Iczer-2. I was startled to see
tears glistening in her eyes; looks like I'd underestimated her
feelings and commitment to Midgard despite some of her earlier
protestations of disgust for it and certain one of its inhabitants. 

"We are goddesses. And this is our world. We will pay any price in our
power to deliver to stop that madman destroying it. You have my word
on that"

I shivered on hearing her speak. This wasn't the Skuld I'd seen
before. This was Skuld the Norn, speaking ex cathedra. I didn't doubt
her for a second, I COULDN'T doubt her, the timbre of her voice left
no room for that.

Iczer-2 looked at her thoughtfully for a second, then nodded, a small
bow of acknowledgment and respect.

"Very well. Any price I care to name that you can deliver"

Then she turned, looking straight at me. This time, her eyes 
deliberately met and held mine. I was like a bird facing a snake, I
couldn't move, I could hardly think. Although with a tiny part of my
mind I knew I wasn't moving, I felt myself falling into those cobalt
pools. It was the weirdest sensation. I felt her.. presence...? her
feelings...? wrap about me, and mine wrap about her, as I felt rather
than saw curling streamers of colour wrap around and entwine us both.

No, that didn't describe it at all well. But it wasn't something I
could describe, not in words. Words weren't involved. It was feelings,
emotions. I felt her pride, almost arrogance, a fierce strength... and
a deep well of sadness and longing for something she didn't have. Then
the streamers merged, and we...touched..??  Again, words are so
clumsy, so useless at trying to explain what I felt. Even after, I
couldn't find any way of describing it even to myself, it just was.
Like finding a piece of myself that I hadn't realised was missing.

A timeless moment later, my head swimming, I found myself looking at
her again. This time at least I found I could meet her eyes. For the
first time, she smiled, and when she did I wondered why I had ever
thought of her beauty as cold, that smile transformed her whole face,
making her warm and human to me for the first time. Then she looked at
Skuld.

"I have my price. Him to be my partner."

Skuld looked at her, then rapidly at me, then back at her.

"Ano...but...I can't give him, we don't own him!

Her expression was almost anguished, knowing she couldn't pay the
price she needed to pay to save her sisters and the world. I reached
out, my fingers just touching her shoulder lightly, but she still
flinched as if struck.

"Skuld? Don't worry, please. I'm happy to be her partner..."

She looked up at me, eyes wide...

"But.....!!"

I grinned for the first time in what seemed (even if it wasn't) years.

"Really. She needs me. I...felt it...And, truly, I suspected the price
would be something like this when I brought her here, that this is
what would happen."

Skuld's eyes searched my face, and she must have found something there
that she understood, because her frown faded a bit...

"Well.... OK... But what do we do now??"

We all looked over to where Loki seemed to be finishing his diatribe
over his two captive goddesses. Both Belldandy and Urd were glaring
defiantly at him, but even from over here we could feel their sense of
impotent frustration.

Iczer-2 gave a soft chuckle.

"Well, I'd better go over and introduce myself..."

I half opened my mouth, about to warn her to be careful, then shut it
again, deciding she probably knew her business far better than I did,
and instead reached out to Skuld, taking her hand in what was, I
guess, a mutual feeling of reassurance for us both as we watched her
slender form walk out into the courtyard to approach the mad god.

Skuld looked at me sharply for an instant.

"Did you plan it like this? Bringing someone who would accept you as a
partner as their price for helping?"

I tried to look calm and reassuring, the expression of someone who was
totally in control and had planned all this with precision from the
start. "Of course I did, you didn't think it was an accident did you?"

She just looked at me, her expression saying it all - that she didn't
believe my  smooth assurances for a moment.

That was OK, I didn't either.

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**

Iczer-2 walked slowly across the devastated courtyard towards Loki,
her booted feet making soft crunching noises as she glided across the
rubble. Actually, walked didn't really describe it. It reminded me
irresistibly of a leopard stalking up on her prey, a blend of graceful
agility and barely restrained raw power.

Something must have made Loki notice her. He turned, facing her, a
small frown on his face as he saw her progress, ignoring the other
captives in front of him for the moment. "Well now, I don't remember
ordering you to appear, mortal!"

She stopped, and looked at him, slowly. Appearing completely
unconcerned with his arrogance and madness as she examined him. I
don't know if many people could face him like that, frankly his
madness terrified me, but she managed it without even blinking, a cool
calculated assessment that seemed to enrage him even more. I couldn't
believe she was doing it accidentally, but I did hope she knew what
she was doing.

"I'm not a mortal"

He frowned. 
"Are you a god?"

A small quirk twitched at the corner of her mouth for a moment.
"I'm Iczer-2"

Loki's frown deepened, as he tried to work out what this answer meant,
then he smiled, broadly, nastily, as he dismissed it as not worth his
godly consideration. "No matter, you are quite presentable. You'll
make an acceptable addition to my harem once we get you some more
_suitable_ clothes!"

Iczer-2 looked at him, tilting her head slightly to one side, an
expression of mild distaste on her features as she narrowed her eyes
slightly. "You remind me of my mother, madman. I didn't get on with my
mother"

Loki looked down, a darkening spreading across his face.
"Arrogance, in a female? Not acceptable."

He gestured to his Trolls.
"Get her. Play with her a little, show her her place!"

The Trolls grinned, widely, toothily, some of them drooling with
anticipation as they looked at the slender beauty in front of them. In
a mass, they started forward, some with weapons raised, a mass of
greenish muscle, power, sadism and old sweat. Only the Trolls holding
Belldandy and Urd didn't move to join them.

This time, Iczer-2 did bother to look at the advancing horde, an
expression of sheer pleasure spreading across her face. One hand
reached out and gestured slightly, inviting the Trolls closer.

Next to me, Skuld started to heft a bomb.
"David, we've got to help her! Those Trolls, they'll..."

I grinned, putting my arm in front of her to restrain her.
"Don't worry, Skuld. I have a feeling she's not in any danger."

That was the understatement of the day!

With a stuttering crackle of released energy, Iczer-2 summoned her
energy-sword into her hand, and leapt straight at the advancing mob,
the sword leaping out before her like a three-foot bar of caged
lightning.

What followed could probably best be described as 'What happens when
you drop a package of Trolls into a blender set on fast'. In not that
many seconds, there were no trolls left alive in the courtyard. They
were still scattered about, it was just that any one Troll wasn't
exactly in any one place in it...

Even Loki looked a little impressed by this. His eyes narrowed as he
stared at the slender girl standing nonchalantly in front of him, a
faintly humming sword of blue-white energy in her hand and a small
smile on her lips. She raised her free hand, looking disdainfully at a
drop of greenish blood on it, then flicked the blood off her finger in
a gesture of dismissal, as if to indicate her boredom with the quality
of her opponents.

I grinned, humorlessly. Even though I'd expected something of the
sort, actually seeing her in action was nothing like I'd been
preparing myself for. Now I could see why her reputation as possibly
the most dangerous humanoid fighting machine in existence was fully
justified. At last I allowed myself a small shred of hope that we
might actually be able to defeat Loki's plan. Unfortunately I was also
pretty sure that a few Trolls weren't all the followers he had
available, but I hoped that Iczer-2 would be up to stopping whatever
he came up with.

to be continued

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