Chapter 7: Commencing Combat

Anomaly location determined, visual confirmation via Host. Commencing combat, Aettartangi said.

Whoa, wait a second! Rebecka shrieked in her head.

She hadn't moved on her own, the weapon inside her had moved her body instead. Now, she found herself fighting to stay put as Aettartangi tried to push her forward to attack the god Loki who had appeared on the table before her. The face of said god fell as he eyed the long sword that had flowed into being a moment before.

"I suppose that's my cue to leave," Loki said. The lime he was holding bounced off the table with a wet splat as the god vanished.

Anomaly signal fading. Anomaly no longer detected. Threat level nominal, Aettartangi said.

Rebecka felt every one of her muscles relax as the weapon ceded control of her body to her. The sword melted back into the flesh of her palm as her arm dropped. Then she tensed again, because she was pissed. It had taken everything she had to keep Aettartangi from using her body to gut one of the gods. 

Would it have killed him? She had no idea.

"What the fuck was that?!" Rebecka barked.

Everyone in the room jumped a little.

A magical anomaly was detected that severely interfered with my sensors. I assessed the threat to be high and acted accordingly, Aettartangi said.

"That was Loki! The god! Loki! Offering to help! My gods, you just scared the guy off too, shit," Rebecka chided.

Apologies. No god by such a name existed in my data until we synced. I was not certain that was the same entity on the table, Aettartangi explained.

"You weren't sure? Why download my memories and shit if you're not going to believe me? Also, don't you ever use my body like that again without permission, Aettartangi!"

King Nygard poked his head out from between several of the knights, who quickly moved out of the way. "You're actually speaking with the Blade of Generations?"

Rebecka had to keep herself from shouting at the king. She, instead, took a deep breath and stood up straight. "Yes. And I can tell already it's gonna be a pain in my ass. Hey, Aetty, what are your pronouns? Is 'it/its' okay?"

'It' and 'its' are fine. I am a machine and have no gender, Aettartangi confirmed.

"Yeah, well I'm agender too and use 'she' and 'her' so I figured I should ask," Rebecka replied.

"No one can hear when it's replying so you sound like you're yelling at the air," Sigyn shouted from behind the wall of knights.

"And you can?" Rebecka called back.

"A little bit!"

"Great, the dragon reads minds and my sword scared off the only god who showed up to help," Rebecka huffed.

"That was a god?" King Nygard asked. He motioned for the knights to back up then gave some orders via hand signals that made most of them leave the room, including the one who had dislocated Rebecka's shoulder. She decided that guy could keep his arms. The four remaining giants in armor took up positions by the door and four normal sized knights moved to stand a few yards from them. The hall was a lot bigger without so many people crammed in it, for which Rebecka was intensely thankful.

"That was Loki, god of mischief, problems, fire, among other things," Sigyn explained.

"Who?" King Nygard asked.

Anomaly detected at edge of sensor range, Aettartangi noted.

Don't you fucking dare, Rebecka warned.

Standing down.

Good.

"You don't know who the god Loki is?" Rebecka asked. "Blood brother to Odin? You have to give him an offering when you give Odin an offering because Odin won't drink unless Loki also gets a cup. Some people say he's not even a god but he always seemed like a pretty big deal to me. Loki gave birth to Odin's horse, Sleipnir and the goddess Hel. The guy's supposed to lead an army against the gods during Ragnarok."

The King was taken aback. "But Ragnarok already happened."

"It did?" Rebecka asked. "Aetty called the war a thousand years ago 'Ragnarok' but didn't know who Loki was until we synced."

"What does 'synced' mean?" The King asked.

Just then Steve, who was more pale than when he had been brought into the Great Hall, collapsed to the floor. Sigyn quickly raced to his side, tending to him far more gently than Rebecka assumed the hulking dragon capable of doing. She examined his bloodied hand and hissed through sharp teeth. Rebecka moved to join her. Steve's hand was far more injured than she had realized. It wasn't clear what had caused the injury but Rebecka was willing to bet, based on the angle, it was a defensive wound. Steve had his arm up when someone swung a sword at him and nearly lopped off his right hand. He had used a pair of corded earbuds to make a tourniquet which had kept him from bleeding out, but hadn't done much else for the wound, nor the remains of his hand still attached to his body.

Partial amputation detected, Aettartangi observed.

No shit, Sherlock.

"Can you heal him?" Rebecka asked Sigyn. "Just, no extra hands or shit growing out of places he doesn't need."

Sigyn grunted then motioned for her to back up.

Magic detected, scanners experiencing interference.

You were a lot less robotic before I woke up, Rebecka said.

Attartangi's tone changed to be more natural, I just...didn't want you to start seeing me as a human.

You're basically an alien parasite that hijacked my body. I'm never going to see you as a human, Rebecka replied coldly.

Sigyn cut the headphone cord with a claw before putting her hands in the air above Steve's mangled right hand. A soft glowing light emanated from them as she whispered something. The tissue began to stitch itself back together at his wrist joint, the remains of his palm and fingers, sloughing off to the polished stone floor.

Sigyn's expression changed from concentration to anger as she hissed, "Gods damn it."

"You said you could regrow limbs," Rebecka said.

"Normally, I can. But the magic here is messed up. Maybe it's me. Each world is different. Whatever the reason, I can't channel enough magic to regrow his hand. All I could do was seal the stump and deal with the infection," the dragon growled.

She was about to get up when Steve grabbed her forearm with his left hand. "Thank you."

Sigyn snorted at him, then patted his hand. "Sorry I couldn't do more."

"Can you heal Quincey?" Rebecka asked.

The bouncer shook his head as he backed up, hand still holding his bloody side. "It's not that bad. I'm good. Really."

Sigyn got up, stepping clear over Steve and Rebecka as if the pair of them were a speed bump, and marched forward. Her thick crocodile-like tail narrowly missed hitting both of them.

"I can smell it. Hold still."

"Hey, wait! Rebecka, do something! Stop this thing!"

"Her name is Sigyn, and she's going to help you," Rebecka said as she rolled her eyes. She looked down at Steve, who examined the remains of his hand on the floor. "I'm sorry, Steve."

"I can almost feel my hand," he said.

She stopped herself just before making contact with his shoulder.

Aetty, you're not going to do anything to my friend if I touch him, right?

I can not return his missing hand.

That's not what I asked. I asked if you were going to hurt him if I touch him, Rebecka clarified.

I won't hurt him.

She gently touched Steve's shoulder. He looked up at her, his eyes wet. "I couldn't help her."

"It's okay, Steve."

He shook his head and choked back tears. "I couldn't help Barbara. One minute I was driving her car, the next we stopped. I thought something hit us but, she was pinned. I tried to go for help and...there were knights. One of them attacked me. I don't know if Barb's alive, Rebecka and there's nothing I could do."

"I swear to gods, if I find the person who did this to you, I'll tear-," she choked up. "I'll...shit."

She didn't want to finish the threat.

Normally, she was well capable of seriously injuring or even killing someone. Even if she'd never had to kill someone before, she knew how to get the job done. There were a lot of ways to hurt someone with an axe. 

A normal axe, that is. 

Now she had Aettartangi which was capable of far more gruesome work than mere metal. She was even scared of hugging her best friend for fear that maybe the weapon had lied. Maybe it would turn him inside out too?

"Hah, I got you!" Sigyn bellowed with a laugh.

"Put me down! Oh god!" Quincey screamed.

Magic detected, scanners experiencing interference, Aettartangi said.

Back to being robotic?

Please forgive my speaking preferences.

Don't turn my friend inside out if I hug him.

Your friends are safe. I will not harm them, nor anyone you do not wish harmed, Aettartangi said.

Rebecka gently hugged Steve about his shoulders as he broke down into shaking sobs. King Nygard watched from near the table as she consoled her friend and as Sigyn released Quincey from a bear hug. He ran to Rebecka and Steve. His shirt still had a gash in it but the blood was gone.

"You're welcome," Sigyn said with a huff.

"Stay the hell away from me!" Quincey shot back. "Steve, oh shit, what did she do to you, man?"

"She saved him," Rebecka said.

"The man's hand is on the floor, Beck!"

Steve managed to catch a breath. "She saved me. It was a knight."

"One of those giants?" Quincey asked.

Steve shook his head. "I didn't see their face but they weren't giant."

Quincey got to his feet and approached the king who put his hands in the air. "Blade Wielder, you and your friends are welcome to stay here in the castle as long as you wish."

"The fuck are you saying?" Quincey asked hotly.

"He said we can crash here," Rebecka said.

Quincey turned back around. "Seriously?"

"You saw what the axe did to that skinhead, Quincey," she said.

"I guess I'm out of luck," Sigyn said with a growl.

Rebecka laughed, "You kidding? You're my friend from prison."