Heroine ϟ Marvel [3]

4.4

CHAPTER FOUR

Beta Ray Bill

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SAKAAR

Even though time was different on Sakaar, Ana felt like the weeks she had been stuck on the strange planet went by in a blink of an eye. That meant her birthday already passed. Ana Michaels was twenty seven. She had unknowingly spent a birthday in one of the worst places in the entire galaxy. Alone. And usually, she would be annoyed at herself because she didn't have any cake, but she found that she didn't really mind, and believed she could still share her birthday when she got out of Sakaar.

In order to keep her identity a secret, and for Brunnhilde to keep her mouth shut, Ana was forced to fight back against gladiators who were pitted against her in the Contest of Champions. Every time she entered that arena, she would fight at twelve percent. She didn't want to hurt anybody. To avoid scrutiny, Ana would make a deal with an opposing gladiator beforehand to let them win as long as she got a few hits in. Nothing too serious, but enough to pass as trying. Although, the Grandmaster was still pushing her to battle beings that were unfortunate enough to fall into his trap. He was sick. He had a twisted idea of fun and games. He wished to see people kill for his own pleasure. Ana had told him this many times, but all it did was make him laugh until tears were running down his cheeks. He was an old man. He probably heard it millions of times from millions of people. Her response was ignored, as expected.

There was a part of her, that she didn't want to admit, that felt bruised. Ana felt insignificant. She was used to being the one to stand up and fight. She was used to being relied on. On Sakaar, no one needed her. They were fine to fall in line and be treated like scum. They didn't need a hero.

Brunnhilde was losing money. The Grandmaster was displeased. And Loki was soaring. His plans were solid. He climbed to the top, and held on. Ana was surprised at how quick he joined the Grandmaster's inner circle. Now, Loki was a lackey. He did as the Grandmaster asked without question to show his loyalty. Ana suspected they had something else going on behind the scenes, but she dared never to bring it up when they saw each other.

Ana had developed a friendship with Korg and Miek. They would eat lunch together after battle practice and cheer each other on when they were sent into the arena. Ana even went along with Korg's failed attempt at a revolution. It didn't go far. She remembered the face off they had with the guards. There were hundreds against a handful of gladiators. These days, they took it easy. They didn't cause any trouble and strayed from attention. It was going well, but Ana had a felling something was about to happen that would shake things up.

Ana stood in the centre of the room she was forced to share with Loki, a miniaturised electromagnetic pulse in her hands. She had arranged a deal with a local engineer after catching him sabotaging aircrafts on purpose to get better business. He was willing to do anything to avoid the Grandmaster interfering with his work. Ana asked him to build an EMP that could hopefully remove the obedience disks from her neck so she could be set free.

Loki sat on his bed in the corner, breezing through a book. He looked up from the pages when he noticed Ana start to walk down the middle of the room. He scoffed to himself when he realised what she was doing. Being confined in the same space with a person who wanted nothing more than to shove his face into molten lava wasn't exactly fun. Sometimes, he would sleep with one eye open, just incase.

"That won't work." Loki spoke up from behind his book.

Ana spared him a side glance. "You don't know that." She muttered. She had tried prying them off with her bare hands, used a blade to cut them off, and dunked the disks into water in hopes to fry the tech. It was difficult to remove them since they were attached to her neck. Any wrong move and she could hurt herself real bad.