Meeting of the minds.

Things never seem to work out as one would hope, and for some idiotic reason, Amora had thought the psychotic, sword-wielding madwoman would not notice her standing by the throne. Clearly insanity and a lust for blood and death didn't diminish her eyesight at all. The sorceress raised her hands as the woman ran towards her, putting all of her will into a protective barrier between her and the blade and hoping it was not infused with magic.

Thankfully, most of the recruits came to her defense, save for Viper, who was watching with a slightly amused look on her face, and Natasha, who seemed to know better than involve herself with someone who was trading blows with a Kryptonian. "Why do you wish for my death?!" she yelled. "I have done nothing to earn your wrath!" That was the truth as far as Amora knew. She had not been planning anything with Loki, and she certainly hadn't used this girl as she so claimed. Amora had never seen her before in her life.

The sorceress paled when she heard what she was called. Just how many people knew what she was? As far as she knew, only Aldrif and Sif knew her heritage. This was getting more confusing by the minute. "She is not my girlfriend, Logan. I've never seen her before," she told him with a glare. Naturally she was not believed, if Aldrif's tone was any indication. "All-Mother, I swear to you that I do not know this woman. I will explain myself in any way possible," she said as the watched the girl carried off with Natasha following behind her.

Viper glared at Aldrif, shocked and furious at the woman's words. "A fisherman or a shoemaker? Are you blind or just stupid, All-Mother? I was not the only inactive person here. Neither your advisor nor your precious new spy did anything to contribute to your safety or the girl's capture. They simply stood there as well or, in the case of Amora, protected herself," Viper snarled, pointing an accusing finger at the blonde woman. "What do you think being an assassin is? Just another killer? You learn about you target first. She stood on par with a young and inexperienced Kryptonian! That race, when given enough yellow sun, is limitless when it comes to strength, so unless you stripped that away when you gifted everyone with Asgardian-level abilities, that girl is not something to be trifled with. Your damn elite guard is useless because he has no tactics, just pops his claws and runs in. How many times has that succeeded and failed, Logan?" she asked, glaring at the little man. "He may be 'the best at what he can do' but tax his healing factor enough or keep him bleeding and he is beaten. You don't just need strength to help you rule, you need tactics and knowledge."

The anger inside Viper was rising, but she refused to give into just yet. "I've seen fools like you before, Aldrif, those that decide to rule and, against better judgement, throw away their best assets." She walked around Loki's corpse, eyes flicking between it and Aldrif. "Part of me thinks that you would rule a world of corpses and ashes, so long as it got your damn ass on the throne. Give me an actual challenge to prove myself, oh great All-Mother," she purred, her tone slightly mocking. Flexing her gloved hands, claws extended from their fingertips. Acting fast, she lunged at Logan, left hand slashing at his throat while the right embedded itself high in his thigh, lacerating his femoral artery. She hadn't re-filled the anti-coagulant venom inside the claws, so the amount left was unknown, but perhaps there was enough to prove a point. Oh, it was a pointless gesture, but taking her frustrations out on him rather than Aldrif herself felt so satisfying.

"Reminds you of our wedding, doesn't it, Logan?" she growled, grabbing his wrists and kneeing him in the bloody groin for good measure.

Did she actually expect to get very far with injuring Logan? No. Which was why suddenly being yanked off of her feet by those ribbons of Aldrif wasn't too much of a surprise. However, it was exceedingly humiliating. Viper glared at the woman as she was grabbed and slapped. "You know nothing about me, Aldrif. Though I'm curious to find out how many people you've sent to their graves. Only fools blindly give up their lives just so they can they died following orders," she growled before spitting in her face. She was rewarded by being tossed across the room. Viper landed hard but the defiance still shone in her eyes when she looked up. Her childhood and HYDRA had both instilled in her that only the strong survived. The ones that were weak or far too agreeable often ended up dead, either by their own foolishness or because someone else saw them more useful as fodder to further their own careers.

As Viper stood, the floor gave way beneath, and she could feel the cold almost instantly as she fell, landing in a deep snow drift. Her uniform would offer some minor protection from the elements, but it would not keep her from freezing to death if she lingered too long. The sword she was given was large and heavy; an instrument used for powerful thrusts and hacks; something a warrior would have used when they were standing their ground to the last man rather than feinting and countering the enemy as they delivered lightning quick slashes to their weak points. Nevertheless, she took the weapon and started walking, having no clue where the giants would be.

As it happened, they found Viper. But how creatures twenty or thirty feet tall could sneak up on her, she did not know. They just appeared out of the snow. Ice blue and covered in furs, there were four who charged the green woman almost immediately. At first the snow hindered her movements, the large drifts tiring her quickly, causing her to be on the defensive more than anything else. Thankfully, the giants only had the most rudimentary of weapons; clubs and sticks used for beating, rather than forged weapons, though one had what appeared to be an axe carved from ice. Dodging one weapon caused her to get in the path of another, knocking her backwards into a copse of trees and shattering her sword in the process. Whether that was something the giants had planned or if they were simply swinging at her randomly, Viper did not know, but their actions actually did her a favor.

Taking the largest fragment left from her sword, a piece slightly larger than a foot and still holding a wicked edge, Viper used the cover under the trees to hide her tracks and climbed the branches into one further in the copse. The giants soon followed, intent on finishing what it was they had started. They were looking down, searching under the trees, their own steps fouling up and hiding any evidence of her passage. When the last one passed her hiding spot, that was when Viper struck. Quickly, she leapt on the back of the nearest one and jammed her blade into the base of its skull. The creature gasped, giving a soft, startled gurgling sound as it just collapsed, its spinal cord severed.

Wasting no time, Viper yanked out her blade and dashed towards a second giant. Not stopping, she slipped between it's legs, slashing at the Achilles' Tendon in one leg, while hamstringing the other. It bellowed, dark blue-ish red blood staining its skin as it tried to lunged forward and grab at her, only to collapse onto the snow in pain.

Hearing the second giant’s cry, the remaining two turned towards the sound, and the one with the club swung instinctively towards it. Whether it was to counter an attack it thought was coming or if it just reacted to the noise, Viper was unsure. Either way, she would have liked to say she dodge it cleanly, but that was not the case. The fallen giant reached out for her just as the club came around. They both suffered for it; the club clipping Viper’s leg as well as smashing the hamstrung giant’s fingers. The pain was intense but Viper had to force herself through it. She had survived worse, she told herself, the scars on her body were proof of her survival. She could lay in agony later.

Out of nowhere a large icy spear shot past her, embedding itself in the tree trunk next to Viper. She did not question where it had come from, she only saw one of the giants reaching for the shaft. Swinging herself up onto the icy weapon, Viper jumped to the giant’s arm and scrambled up to its head. The look on its face was one of shock, as if it couldn’t believe this little green thing would actually be stupid enough to do such a thing, but it proved two things to Viper. One; that her injured leg could still bear weight, at least for the time being, and two; that none of these giants were prepared for up close combat. She used the surprised brute’s gaping mouth as an opportunity to attack, driving her blade up through the roof of its mouth. The risk of losing her arm was great, but it was a chance she was willing to take. The giant gagged and retched as the blade sunk deep. In its death throes, Viper lost her grip on the weapon, and the last giant saw its chance at revenge. It wrapped its meaty fist around her waist, yanking her away from its brethren.

There was a pause in the battle then. Viper saw the slow comprehension dawn on the giant as it looked down at its three dead companions, the hamstringed one’s head currently buried face down in the snow, smothered beneath the bulk of the most recently killed one. The giant brought her close, studying her intently. She watched as the rage kindled in its eyes and soon boiled over. His grip tighten around her body. Viper gasped in pain, finding it hard breathe. She struggled ineffectively in the creature’s grasp, letting out an unexpected scream as she felt bones beginning to break. At that noise, the giant paused in its efforts to kill her, a certain gleam in its eyes becoming apparent. It was a look Viper was intimately familiar with. It liked to cause pain more than it liked to kill. It took his finger and gently stroked the side of her head, brushing her hair back from the scarred side of her face. Viper shuddered at his cold touch. “Please…. Please don’t kill me…” she whispered, reaching a shaking hand out to him. At that he smiled and brought her closer, telling her something in a foreign, guttural tongue. “What?” she asked. “I don’t… don’t understand you…” Again, the giant spoke, slower this time, as if talking to a child. Either way, it didn’t matter as Viper was close enough.

The claws in her gloves popped out as she shoved her hands deep into his eyes, tearing into them like some strange fruit and feeling her nails scape the back of the sockets. The blinded giant howled and flung Viper far. It was a tree trunk that broke her fall as well as knocking her unconscious.

She came to hearing the wet sounds of flesh being torn and eaten. Opening her eyes, she found herself half buried in snow as two massive wolf-like beasts feasting upon the dead giants. She could see the blind one’s body had been mauled, its throat torn out. They must have heard the fighting and smelled the blood. The blind one, in its condition, would have been easily flanked and taken done. “Cut off one head, two more shall take its place,” she breathed, watching the beasts eat. “Satisfied, Aldrif? Or must I bring you back a pair of wolf skins as well?” she asked, not even sure if the damn woman could hear her. Not that it mattered. Viper could barely move. Her breaths came in short, painful gasps. She felt at least two broken ribs and the nauseous feeling would not leave her. Her head throbbed and her vision was blurring at the edges. As if consciousness was a cue, Viper rolled over slightly and vomited. At least there was no blood in the bile and it relieved the pain for the moment. “I would even settle for my bastard ex to show up,” she muttered, covering the bile with more snow so as not to look at it.

Viper looked up at the woman. "No, you're not my ex. You're definitely an improvement over him, being tall and blonde rather than short and hairy," she answered, struggling to stand and get out of the snow. Viper had noticed the dragon, not that it was something hard to ignore. The beast was.... it looked almost irritated that it had to be here, not unlike its rider. Neither seemed to be fans of the snow and the cold.

"I expressed an unpopular opinion and got punished for thinking that way. Who would have thought that rushing headfirst into an unknown battle would be the intelligent thing to do?" she asked, not really expecting to be answered. "So I was tasked with killing these frost giants. I think she expected me to die instead." Viper glanced around at the carnage she caused and noted that the wolves had left, or at least moved off to a safer distance, away from the new guest and her pet. "I take it you're here to retrieve me?" She certainly wasn't a native, not with the way she was dressed. "You have an impressive and beautiful creature there, Miss...?"

Viper detected that bit of vanity in Melina's voice, it wasn't that hard to notice. "It could be worse. You could have been caught in an explosion when you were eight and have a side of your face scarred." After all these years, she still was affected by that. Some days were better than others and mostly she could quietly handle her disfigurement, but other days she wanted to break every mirror or reflection she saw.

"I am very well aware of what vikings thought regarding death and dying. They would often inflict wounds on themselves to trick Hel and avoid staying in her realm in case they were dying outside of battle." Viper frowned slightly as she watched Melina destroy the bodies, leaving no trace. Hopefully Aldrif would ask for prove of the deaths. If she did, she would blame the girl. "I wouldn't have survived here for long, and she knows it. Not unless I struck a deal with the frost giants." Or became a damn scavenger. Viper could have done that, but it would have been a hard, pointless existence if she had no means to escape this realm, hence the reason to ally herself with the brutes.

"Why is that any concern of yours? If she sent you, then you know that I am just human and that she is the ruler of all Asgard. I wouldn't stand a chance against her as I am," she answered truthfully. "My name is Viper, but I'm sure you already knew that." Hell, if she was a sorceress like Amora, she likely knew Viper's entire life story. "May I ask what you receive in return for retrieving me, or are you just being a good little soldier for Aldrif?" she asked, walking over to Lorelei and showing the dragon her hand before trying to pet her head. Viper liked snakes, along with a few other dangerous reptiles, and dragons were essentially just giant, dangerous reptiles, so the affinity was still there.

"Of course you don't get hurt that easily. It seems that few people do these days," Viper commented. She noticed how the girl looked at her, especially where her eyes landed. The look Viper gave in return was a defiant one. "The result of war torn, Eastern Europe surgical techniques of the 1920's. Stop the bleeding, sew her up, and get her out of here. Now that you know the story, you can stop staring." Viper held her tongue on the threat that would have normally followed. It would have done her no good anyways. Melina's skin was flawless and her arrogance just added to the fact that she could likely not get wounded. The girl had probably never seen her own blood.

Viper cocked her head at the news regarding murdering the Olympians. "And your sister followed suit? Interesting. You seemed to defy authority at points, but your sibling obeys orders that sound like a suicide mission. Let me guess, she can't die or get hurt either?" She was an arrogant young woman, so sure in her position of power, it almost made Viper laugh. "I'd offer them what any abused person would gladly take. I'd offer revenge," she told her plainly.

"A word of advice, my dear? And this is not me trying to corrupt you or your thoughts, but, if she can so easily slay her own kin, what would stop her from killing you or your family just so she can stay in power or keep people in line? Ruling by fear means that the ruler must occasionally escalate things, else the illusion of power wears thin." Having said that, she turned back to the dragon, trying to figure out the best way to mount the beast in her current condition. "Now, may we please head back to Asgard? I would like to have my injuries looked at before they worsen.