Thor awoke with a start; he was uncomfortable and laid out on the rock floor. He sat up from the ground and inspected his surroundings, it was a cell of some kind he could see the bars on the entrance to the cell. Beyond the bars was a wooden door that Thor assumed led to the exit of the prison. He tried to remember everything that had happened he vaguely remembered hearing a noise and searching for the source. Then he felt sick and woozy before falling to knees and seeing Ulik come out of the woods and then nothing. He looked around for Mjolnir but did not see it. "I must have dropped it back where I fell" he thought no troll would be deemed worthy enough to be able to lift Mjolnir. He then heard the door that led to freedom open and in walked Ulik. "What is this treachery Ulik?" Thor cried as Ulik approached the bars and looked right into Thor's eyes.
"You are my prisoner god of thunder" replied Ulik showing off his yellow toothed grin. Thor nearly vomited at the smell of Ulik's breath.
"You will release me Ulik" ordered Thor. Ulik let out a guttural laugh.
"Why would I do that? I have you trapped without your precious Mjolnir and with no help on the way to save you" Ulik spoke turning his back to Thor.
"You are a fool Ulik. I will escape and I will destroy you to end your reign of terror" Thor cried defiantly.
"Do you know what my Knuckle dusters are made of" Ulik asked raising his fist to Thors eye level. The dusters as Ulik called them looked like metal coverings for ones knuckles but the material they were made of did look eerily familiar to him. "Its Uru" he muttered as Thor's eyes widened. His weapons were made with the same metal that Mjolnir was made of. "Please feel free to attempt escape for I would love to break every bone in your body with these fists" Ulik stated before turning and leaving Thor alone in his cell. Ulik left the building he was using to hold Thor, it was a large rock building that he placed in the center of his camp, he had found it many years ago and had been using it as a camp when he came to Alfheim. Ulik began walking to his tent in order to take a short rest before he would kill Thor. Just as he was about to enter his tent one of his trolls came to him with news.
"Master Ulik our messenger has not yet returned from the light elf outpost." The troll informed.
Ulik pondered what it could mean, surely Loki would not allow his messenger to be broken, Loki was well known for not letting lesser beings screw with his plans but if the messenger was not back yet which could mean Loki was caught and now the Asgardians would be marching her to face him. Ulik felt he could handle Thor if Thor was alone but if Thor had Sif and the warriors three with him that would be a different story. Loki had led him to the Alfheim-Jotunheim Bifrost Bridge so he could escape if the Asgardians came to save Thor. If they came he would have to flee, no matter how much he hated running.
Thor paced the length of his cell in thought, he would need Mjolnir in order to escape but he did not know where it was exactly. He could call to it but he did not know where to focus his attention since he was unconscious when he was brought to his cell. He would have to search every direction for it and hope it was close enough to feel. After nearly an hour Thor faintly felt the power of Mjolnir, but it was just outside of his reach he would have to focus more intently then he ever had before.
Loki, Sif and the warriors three had moved quickly from the elf outpost to where Ulik was camped. Sif was surprised when Loki came sprinting to them saying he had forced the troll to talk and knew where Thor was but she didn't question it either. She still didn't trust him and could not help but feel he had something to do with what had happened. "Where is he I wonder?" said Volstagg quietly from the back of the group.
Loki pointed to the large rock building in the center of the camp "Must be there" he said.
"What's the plan Sif?" asked Fandral completely ignoring Loki. Loki simply rolled his eyes after the obvious disrespect paid to him by Fandral.
Before Sif could speak Loki began outlining his plan to free Thor. "I will fire a blast into the sky to distract and frighten the trolls then we will fight our way to the building where I will free Thor"
The warriors three looked at the god of mischief in complete disbelief. "Solid plan almost as if you were ready for something like this" Sif said emphasizing the part about Loki being ready. Loki chuckled and fired the blast into the sky where it exploded in a blinding collage of colors. Some trolls panicked when the explosion occurred, others just stared in awe of the spectacle. The group then charged into the camp and started taking trolls down left and right when a second explosion was heard, this one had come from the building where Thor was being held.
Thor had done it, he had pushed himself to a new limit and summoned Mjolnir to his side, and it had left a rather large hole in the side of the building he was in. He had heard the large explosion outside but ignored it as he destroyed the rest of the wall that Mjolnir had crashed through. He looked to his left to see his brother and friends charging towards him. "Yes" he cried getting their attention. "My friends let us destroy these pirates and free the nine realms from their tyranny."
Loki's heart dropped when he saw Thor had escaped on his own; now Loki would once again just be a side show to Thor's heroism. They will tell stories of Thor's greatness and how he valiantly escaped from the clutches of the evil Ulik. Loki gasped inward; "Ulik had to have run by now he had to of" he thought. Loki could not risk Ulik being caught and having Ulik give him up. Loki goals changed from glory to survival he had to make sure that Ulik got to Jotunheim. He scanned the battlefield looking for the creature that was unfortunately too easy to manipulate and was still fairly useful. Sif and the warriors three had joined Thor and were helping him strike down trolls from all sides. Loki grunted in frustration and joined them as well. After a few minutes of intense fighting Loki finally spotted Ulik and saw him run towards the Alfheim-Jotunheim Bifrost Bridge. He sighed inwardly as he could see the troll was about to escape until he heard his brother let out a cry of anger.
Thor caught a glimpse of Ulik running into the forest and cried in anger at the fact that the one who captured him was going to escape. "Come my friends we must not let Ulik escape his punishment" he cried. Thor began sprinting towards where Ulik was running and was soon joined by Sif and the warriors three. Loki sighed in frustration and followed the others. They ran for several hours and the sun was beginning to set on Alfheim. Thor was surprised by Ulik's endurance he did not think that Ulik could run this far that fast without stopping but then Thor saw him. "Ulik" he cried. The troll turned to see Thor and smiled before walking into a portal that Thor knew was a smaller Bifrost Bridge. He was about to follow when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.
"Stop" cried Loki grabbing Thor's shoulder.
"Why?" Thor asked obviously not wanting Ulik to escape his wrath.
"Look at the symbol on that tree there" instructed Loki. Thor turned to a large tree that was a few feet to the right of the portal. Thor recognized the symbol immediately. It meant the portal led to Jotunheim.