Hel stood at the edge of the chamber, her pale fingers tracing the cold stone wall. The nekomata girl hung unconscious in the center, bound by chains that glowed faintly with magic.
Small thing. Fragile. Almost not worth the effort.
But her father seed pleased.
Loki leaned against the far wall, a satisfied smile playing on his lips. His yellow eyes glead in the dim light.
"Look at that," he said, gesturing toward Koneko. "A gift from the universe itself."
Hel turned to face him. "This wasn't part of the plan."
"Plans change, daughter." Loki pushed off the wall and walked closer to their prisoner. "When opportunities present themselves, only fools ignore them."
"And when those opportunities destroy everything we've worked for?" Hel's voice ca out flat. Cold. "What then?"
Loki waved his hand like he was swatting away an annoying fly. "You worry too much."
"Soone has to." Hel crossed her arms. "Leon Mishima killed my brothers. My siblings. Your sons."
The smile on Loki's face didn't falter. If anything, it grew wider.
"I haven't forgotten."
"Then why are we taking unnecessary risks?" Hel stepped forward. "We had a plan. A good plan. One that would make him suffer."
"And this?" Loki gestured to Koneko again. "This makes it better."
Hel stared at the unconscious girl. The small nekomata didn't look dangerous. She looked like a child. Helpless. Alone.
"She's one of his," Loki continued. "One of his pets."
"I know who she is." Hel's jaw tightened. "That's exactly why this is a mistake."
"A mistake?" Loki laughed. The sound echoed off the stone walls. "Daughter, this is a blessing. The boy cares about her. That ans leverage."
"That ans he'll co for her."
"Exactly." Loki's eyes glead brighter. "And when he does, we'll be ready."
Hel didn't like this. Not one bit.
They'd spent weeks planning. Weeks gathering resources. Setting traps. Building alliances. All of it carefully calculated to make Leon suffer without exposing themselves too early.
And now her father wanted to throw it all away for this?
"What about Valper's work?" she asked. "The Excalibur fragnts? The clones?"
"Still progressing." Loki waved his hand again. "But this, this accelerates everything."
"Or ruins everything."
Loki's smile finally dropped. He turned to face her fully, and for a mont, Hel saw the god behind the mask. The real Loki. The one who'd survived for centuries through cunning and cruelty.
"Are you questioning ?"
Hel held his gaze. "I'm reminding you what we stand to lose."
The silence stretched between them.
Then Loki's smile returned. Softer this ti. Almost gentle.
"You want revenge for your brothers," he said quietly. "I understand that. I want it too."
"Then why risk it?"
"Because," Loki stepped closer to her, "sotis the best revenge isn't the one you plan for. It's the one that falls into your lap when you least expect it."
He turned back to Koneko, studying her unconscious form.
"She's small. Weak. " He tilted his head. "But to him? To Leon Mishima? She's everything."
Hel's stomach twisted. She knew where this was going.
"We're not just going to kill her," Loki continued. His voice took on that theatrical quality he always got when he was enjoying himself. "We're going to break her first. Make her suffer. Make her scream. And we're going to make sure he knows exactly what's happening."
"And then?"
"Then we kill her." Loki's smile widened. "Slowly. Painfully. While he watches and realizes he can't do a damn thing to stop it."
Hel's fingers curled into fists. This wasn't strategy. This was cruelty for its own sake.
"That's your plan? Torture her and hope it draws him out?"
"It will draw him out," Loki said confidently. "Boys like him, they can't help themselves. They think they're heroes. Saviors. They rush in without thinking."
"He's not stupid."
"No," Loki agreed. "But he's arrogant. He thinks he's untouchable. That sword of his, all that power, it's made him reckless."
Maybe. But Hel had seen what Leon could do. She'd watched from the shadows as he burned her brothers to ash. As he moved through Kokabiel's followers like death itself.
That wasn't arrogance. That was power.
"What if he doesn't co?" she asked.
Loki's smile never wavered. "Then we send him pieces of her until he does."
The casual way he said it made Hel's skin crawl. Not because she cared about the nekomata. She didn't. The girl was nothing to her.
But this kind of cruelty, it had a way of backfiring.
"You're playing with fire," she said quietly.
"I'm playing with his heart," Loki corrected. "There's a difference."
He walked past her toward the door, pausing just before he reached it.
"Trust , daughter. This is how we win.Through pain. Through loss. Through making him feel exactly what we felt when he took our family from us."
Hel watched him leave. The door closed behind him with a heavy thud.
She turned back to Koneko.
The girl's breathing was steady. Peaceful. Like she was just sleeping and not a prisoner in a nightmare.
"You better hope he cos for you quickly," Hel murmured. "Because if my father gets bored waiting..."
She didn't finish the thought. Didn't need to.
They both knew what Loki was capable of when he got impatient.
And Hel? She wanted her revenge. Wanted to make Leon suffer for what he'd done to her siblings. Wanted to watch him break the sa way her family had broken.
But not like this.
Not with this kind of recklessness.
She could feel it in her bones. This wasn't going to end well.
For anyone.
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