"...Maybe," says Darcy. "It's probably gonna get complicated. The Asgardians and the guys Loki started the war with really don't like each other, so even if you could resurrect everybody, they might just go back to killing each other."

"Maybe just a few people, then. But it's sad when people die and if I can undo it I should. I can afford to wait in my world because all the people who have died there will still have died there in six months and then I'll have figured out how to reintegrate them. Everyone who lost the Hunger Games, everyone who was executed as a political dissident, and then I'll start taking special appeals when we've gotten through all those - if it works."

"We'll see, I guess." She glances at the door. "Okay, so if I take you to Asgard, will you try to fix the bridge? Because otherwise I don't actually think taking me back to Earth would help. Unless Sif wants to go too. But I don't think she does. And it would be," she smiles ruefully, "complicated."

"Well, I'll fix the bridge if I can, although it's possible that it's not amenable to fixing with the coins I have. What would be complicated?"

"I want to go back to Earth because it's, you know, my planet, but Sif's Asgardian and she's the one who's giving me the hero lessons, and if I did take her back to Earth we'd probably have to okay it with the nice people from the government," Darcy explains.

"Oh, right," says Shell Bell. "Governments that aren't me! Annoying!"

"They won't be diplomatic with an offworld empress?" Shell Bell asks. "Even a slightly flippant one?"

"Ye-es," says Darcy, "but their idea of diplomatic sometimes involves challenging people to single combat. I get to skip a lot of that because Mewtwo's on my side."

"Is magic allowed in single combat?"

"Good question," she says. "Please don't find out the hard way."

"I'll let you do the talking," Shell Bell agrees.

"Thank you."

Shell Bell sips her milkshake. "Is there a lot you'd want done as long as I'm there? Should I bring my girlfriend along? I can't make more significant magic without her, it's actually kind of a problem, the last time I met one of my alts I couldn't pass along the nifty magic because I was all out of coins from meeting the last one before that."

"I think fixing the bridge is pretty much it," she says, shaking her head.

"Okay." Sip sip. "I want to go check the Belltower in case there's anyone there, but then I'll be happy to go back to your world - unless you're waiting for something or someone here?"

"Nope! Just hanging out with my best bud," she says, patting the hammer at her side.

Shell Bell finishes her shake, teleports up, finds the tower empty and nothing new in the book, and teleports back down. "Shall we?"

Shell Bell goes through, looking for someone to ask to hold it for them.

"Thanks," says Darcy, and she turns to Bell. "Can you take us straight to the end of the bridge?"

"Which end? I have to specify a unique location," says Shell Bell.

"Sorry—there's only one end that's the end," she explains. "The other end is the beginning."