The Nature of Death

Lu Qi shook his head helplessly as Hela made no attempt to dodge.

Being locked up really had made her stupid. She hadn't even tried to move.

He adjusted the spear's course slightly, sending it straight into the black spike beneath Hela's feet.

Though smaller, the spear Lu Qi had thrown easily pierced the spike's surface and blasted it to pieces.

With nothing left to stand on, Hela rose a little farther on momentum alone, then fell.

Lu Qi gauged the height. Once he was sure the fall wouldn't kill her, he flew down to catch her, just as the script called for.

Hela slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Lu Qi descended slowly. Hela lay motionless where she had fallen. Without her divine power sustaining it, her helmet had vanished, revealing her black hair once more.

After confirming she was alive and merely unconscious, Lu Qi had the Shadow Ninjas carry her to the spatial rift.

Thor had come back to his senses by then. The two palm prints on his face made it easy to guess how.

Loki hid his reddened hands behind his back and asked Lu Qi, "Is Hela... all right?"

Lu Qi glanced back at the still-unconscious Hela. "Don't worry. She's fine. I just don't know why she passed out."

"She fainted from hunger."

Odin had appeared behind them at some point. His single eye rested on the unconscious Hela, and sorrow weighed on his voice.

"Hunger? She didn't faint earlier or later, but right now?"

At that, Lu Qi opened a portal and, with practiced ease, fetched a pile of food from the Asgard kitchens. He had the Shadow Ninjas feed Hela slowly.

Odin sighed and stepped through the spatial rift to Hela's side.

He placed a hand on her