A couple weeks passed by and Ezekiel helped Aleksei settle his family in the US. It took a bit of online work, but it was mostly done in person. Aleksei's father was apparently ex-KGB and that was the reason he couldn't leave the country. So Ezekiel sent out clones to basically erase any trace of the man from the records. He also sent out Inoichi and some of his clan members to modify people's memories.
Once that was finished he created green cards for his family and set them up in a house next to the one Aleksei owned. They were only a few blocks from his dad's shop and the scrapyard itself.
As for the Russian mafia, Ezekiel and the ninjas were still in the process of dismantling their organization. It was surprising just how big and organized the whole thing was. Sure the groups around the world were affiliated with each other in some way and worked together sometimes, but overall they mostly acted independently. Ezekiel was positive that within half a year they would be completely gone.
After Aleksei's family was completely settled down, Ezekiel decided to try and help the man out with one more issue. He knew that he had a wife he loved dearly and even turned away from crime for her in the comics. So Ezekiel looked around for the woman and found her where he thought she would be. At a little diner one bus stop away from Rikers Island.
Ezekiel took Aleksei there one day to eat lunch and made sure that they were seated in her section. Aleksei seemed to like the woman and apparently went back to eat every couple of days for lunch, even though it was about twenty minutes away.
Ezekiel didn't interfere any more than putting them in the same place and making sure they interacted once. After that it was all on Aleksei and if things worked out then great. If not, then it just wasn't meant to be.
Ezekiel was out with Hela to go eat dinner together in Genosha. While she lived there full time, she never really visited the place and only really left her apartment with Ezekiel. Even when she left the apartment, it was always to someplace else, not Genosha itself. So after they went out to dinner, Hela asked Ezekiel to show her around Genosha.
It was just after sunset as Ezekiel slowly led Hela around Genosha. They just finished walking through the main city park and were on their way to the amusement park when someone screamed out, "HELA!"
Hela and Ezekiel both turned to see a group of women and each had different reactions. Hela completely froze in place like she had seen a ghost, while Ezekiel frowned slightly at one of the women running towards them. The woman in question was Brunnhilde and her face was contorted in fury.
Ezekiel stepped in front of Hela and intercepted Brunnhilde before she could reach Hela. Brunnhilde tried to move past Ezekiel who attempted to deescalate the situation as he said, "Settle down Brunnhilde."
"Settle down?!? She killed everyone!"
Ezekiel crossed his arms over his chest as he asked, "The same ones who are behind you?"
Brunnhilde seemed to deflate a little bit at that as Sanhildr and some other valkyries approached with questioning looks. Ezekiel glanced over his shoulder at Hela who was still stunned as she stared directly at Sanhildr with widened eyes filled with fear and hope. Once Sanhildr was next to Brunnhilde, Hela asked in a hesitant tone, "How is this possible?"
Ezekiel glanced towards Hela who's eyes looked watery as she stared at Sanhildr. As he glanced back towards Sanhildr she said, "Ezekiel was able to bring us back to life."
"But… I killed you, I collected your souls." Hela said in a regretful tone.
Ezekiel glanced towards the people who stopped to see what was going on before he said, "How about we have this conversation somewhere more private?"
"No we have nothing to say to that bi…" Brunnhilde was cut off as Sanhildr placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "No we should talk. Just not tonight."
Ezekiel glanced at Hela who nodded in agreement before Sanhildr said, "I'll contact Ezekiel when we're ready."
Sanhildr and the others quickly left as Ezekiel turned to look at Hela and asked, "Do you still want to explore the island?"
"No… I wanna go home."
Ezekiel nodded and started heading back towards Hela's apartment in silence with her. Once back inside her place, she moved to the couch before she asked, "How are they still alive? I thought you sent their souls to Valhalla?"
"The soul sphere you gave me, it gave me more options than just that. With it I was able to place their souls back into cloned bodies."
"Why?" Hela asked in a confused tone.
Ezekiel sat on the couch next to her as he said, "Same reason I helped you escape from Hel. I thought they didn't deserve to die because some asshole didn't know how to properly communicate with his own daughter."
Ezekiel let out a sigh as he leaned back on the couch and said, "Sorry… Now that I think about it, I probably should have told you sooner."
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "I should have also told Sanhildr that I freed you from Hel… Then again I wasn't sure how either of you would take the news, so I kinda put it off until later."
Hela placed a hand on Ezekiel's hand as she said, "Thank you."
Ezekiel turned to look at Hela only to freeze as he watched a tear roll down her cheek as she said, "I killed them… I thought the only thing I could do for them afterwards was release their souls into Valhalla…"
Hela turned to look at Ezekiel and he could see now that she had tears running down both sides of her face. Ezekiel quickly pulled her into a hug as he asked, "Why are you crying? Didn't they betray you? I kinda thought you would hate them after what happened."
Hela shook her head into Ezekiel's chest as she said with a muffled voice, "Hate? No, I could never hate them. I was upset with them. Upset they chose that bastard over me. But after I killed them… I only felt regret."
Hela buried her face deeper into Ezekiel's chest as she said, "You know how close I was with them, they were my troops, my closest friends… It hurt being betrayed, but not as much as it did killing them. That's why I could never hate them."
Ezekiel gently rubbed Hela's back as she cried into his chest. After a while Hela finally stopped crying and when she sat back up she was smiling. Her eyes were puffy and her nose was red, but she had a genuine smile on her face.
She took Ezekiel's hand in hers again as she said, "Thank you for not sending their souls to Valhalla."
"You don't have to thank me. I did it because it was the right thing to do… I just hope you can mend your relationship with Sanhildr and the others."
Hela shook her head gently as she said, "Whatever happens, it's enough that they're alive."
Ezekiel stayed with Hela for a couple more hours and listened to her talk before he finally went home. It was a couple of days later when he received a message from Sanhildr who said she was ready to talk. The meeting place was set for Mars though, which made Ezekiel raise an eyebrow. He figured they would talk someplace in Genosha or possibly at the base.
With a meeting time and place set, Ezekiel went to Hela's and informed her about it. A couple hours later they left her apartment to find Tao and Agatha waiting for them by the portal array. Ezekiel greeted them both before he asked, "What are you two doing?"
"We were asked to mediate."
"Mediate? Well I guess they do have some things to work out."
Tao created a portal to Mars and when they stepped out, they were on a different part of the planet than he expected. In the distance he found all of the valkyries lined up in armor and prepared for battle. A little to the left of Ezekiel's group was Tsunade and a bunch of other medical personnel along with a bunch of medical supplies.
Ezekiel took in everything before he glanced towards Tao as he asked, "Aren't they supposed to be talking things over?"
Hela studied Sanhildr and the other valkyries for a few moments before she said, "This will be faster than talking."
Tao nodded slightly as she said, "Sanhildr said the same thing."
"I'm not going to let them fight… What if they try to kill each other?" Ezekiel asked with a frown.
Agatha smiled slightly and pointed towards Tsunade and the others as she said, "That's why we're all here. We've already set up everything. Anything that can cause a fatal wound or instant death will be negated. And anyone who becomes too injured will be removed from the battle and healed."
Ezekiel's right eye started to twitch slightly before he turned to Hela and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Hela nodded and with a flick of her wrist, her battle armor replaced her clothes while a sword appeared in her hand. Her gaze was focused on Sanhildr as she said, "Yes… But thank you for your concern."
Hela stepped forward and after passing by a small metallic rune cluster on the ground, a massive magic barrier sprang into place. It easily covered half a mile and was the stage for Hela and the valkyries 'talk'. While Ezekiel wasn't that concerned for Hela's safety, since she obviously beat them all once before. He just didn't think fighting was a good way to settle their issues. But then again, Asgardians weren't humans and had different customs.
As Hela approached closer, the valkyries took up a battle stance and drew their weapons as they prepared for battle. After a minute or so, Hela was only about ten yards from Sanhildr and said something he couldn't hear because of the distance between them. Sanhildr said something back which made all of the valkyries bang their weapons together as they started to spread out.
Sanhildr drew her own weapons a few moments later and raised her sword in the air as she yelled out, "Valkyries! Show no mercy!"
Sanhildr's figure blurred as she charged towards Hela before their swords clashed together in a display of sparks. They turned into a blur of motion and within a moment over ten attacks were exchanged. As they fought each other, the valkyries approached closer to try and attack her from different angles. Within seconds Hela was being attacked from almost every direction and she turned into a whirling dervish of death as another sword appeared in her off hand.
If it wasn't for his training and eyes, Ezekiel was positive he wouldn't be able to follow Hela's current movements. Unfortunately he lost sight of her as more people moved around behind her and quickly blocked his view. Not wanting to miss anything, Ezekiel quickly formed hand signs and created a large rock wall under his feet. It lifted him and everyone close by forty feet in the air so they could now see Hela again.
As they watched the battle a portal opened up next to them and one of the valkyries fell through it with one of her arms hanging on by a thin piece of skin. Tsunade quickly got to work as she went to reattach the arm as another woman landed nearby with her leg cleanly severed at the knee.
Ezekiel raised an eyebrow as more and more people were quickly ejected and asked, "You think they are going to be able to help everyone?"
"Worst case we stop the bleeding and keep them alive until we can give them new bodies." Tao said as another woman appeared with both arms barely attached at the elbows.
Ezekiel let out a sigh as he created thirty shadow clones to help with the wounded. While he couldn't reattach a limb, he could at least help heal other issues and stem blood loss for a while. The only positive to the whole thing was Hela seemed to only be fighting with conjured swords. If she was fighting with her magic and powers, they probably wouldn't be able to keep up with the wounded.
Ezekiel mostly focused on the fight going on but would occasionally help heal someone if his clones and the others couldn't handle it. After almost an hour only around five hundred of the valkyries were taken out of the fight. Apparently they were the 'youngest' and least experienced, while everyone else was more cautious in their fighting with Hela. That helped stem the tide of people Hela removed each minute and Ezekiel's clones were no longer needed so he dispelled them.
As the fighting progressed and less valkyries were left to fight with Hela, it was clear that it was taking a toll on her. She was still fighting and Ezekiel knew she wouldn't lose. But the handicap she gave herself by only fighting with swords was finally showing. The more experienced fighters were landing blows against her and while most healed in moments.
The larger, deeper wounds took minutes to heal. Hela never faltered though and pushed through the pain and damage she took. Ezekiel watched the entire thing with a slight frown on his face as Hela acquired more wounds and returned twice as many as she got.
Slowly more and more valkyries were removed from the fighting and by the time only Hela and Sanhildr were left, almost ten hours had passed. Hela was breathing heavily and if it wasn't for the fact her clothes magically mended, she would probably be naked right now. Sanhildr was slightly better, with only a handful of minor cuts on her body.
Both women stared at each other for a while before Sanhildr said something that made Hela smile. A moment later they rushed each other and turned into a flurry of sparks as their weapons clashed continuously.