A month had passed and Alina's magic had been honed well. She had come to trust Loki more and considered Sif and Fandral and Volstagg as friends. She was still unsure of Hogun who remained quiet and suspicious. Meanwhile, Loki's utter fascination for the girl grew. He caught himself watching her when she did not know. Particularly when she was sparring with Sif and Fandral or any of the other warriors, he was mesmerised by her quick movements, the way she evaluated people before attacking so accurately and with such force that they stood little chance. He was evermore curious that she did not use her magic. During sparring when she was taken by surprise or being beaten, she did not resort to underhand magic or even a flash of the eyes to throw her opponents off balance.

Alina had grown more accustomed to Asgard as she had been there a month. She no longer blanched at the elaborate gowns they wore and today, she dressed in a traditional Asgardian lady's dress. It was grecian styled, off white and floor length with golden beading, a green fabric drape and golden brass armour on her forearms. Today, all training had been called off as Loki, Thor and the warriors were taking a visit with Frigga and Odin to speak to a member in the dungeon. She had been point blank forbidden from the meeting and so she was wandering the castle with Eli.

"I know I have said it before but you do look lovely" he said, smiling at her

Unlike Fandral, Eli had never stopped flirting with her. Fandral still did from time to time but Eli did it constantly and it became painful to be in his presence. Today however, he seemed to have toned it back which she suspected was at Fandral's warning. She'd have to thank him later.

"Thanks Eli. Where are we anyway?"

"Ah, this is the entrance to the vaults. It seems we have wandered too far" he chuckled lightly

"What's in there?"

"Stuff that Odin wants to be kept safe, and before you ask: No we can't go in"

She rolled her eyes at him.

They began wandering back up the hall and as they reached the large marble foyer, a strangled scream sounded behind them. They both whipped around. There was nothing there. Eli drew his sword, Alina pulled a dagger from her dress and they crept forward. As they reached the middle of the foyer, Eli froze.

"What?" Alina whispered

Eli nodded to the corridor in front of them. A blue creature stood there, maybe 8 or 9 feet tall. It's body was like a humans but much larger and characteristically a stunning blue with lighter markings covering it's face and hands. It wore strange armour and it's eyes were a bright red.

"Frost Giants" Eli said.

Suddenly, they were surrounded. One jumped from the pillars, another came up behind them until they were surrounded by 8 in total. The first one they saw seemed to be holding a blue cube like object between his hands. Alina and Eli stood back to back watching as the Frost Giants circled them.

A woman came around the corner and screamed before running off. The frost giants appeared unconcerned about this, even when multiple screams were heard from further away as news spread. All the on duty royal guards were at the prison across Asgard keeping a watchful eye on the Allfather and his companions. They were trapped.

/

Across the city in the dungeons, Loki walked beside Thor as they followed his mother and Odin to the far depths of the prison. He detested the place after his imprisonment here but the situation gave them no choice but to visit the one inmate that no one wanted to visit. Dus. A hybrid who had been imprisoned in Asgard's cells for longer than he had been alive. The.. thing.. knew more about what other people knew than they knew themselves. Behind him, Lady Sif and the warriors three followed nervously. They had brought all the guards with them today as the situation was tense and unruly.

"Dus" Odin spoke

The thing, turned around in its cell. ⅓ skeleton, ⅓ monster, ⅓ asgardian, it smiled and Loki could feel his brother flinch.

"Odin.. It has been quite some time" the thing rasped

"I think you know why I am here"

"More or less.. Information Information"

Odin looked at the creature as it rasped.

"Indeed, I seek information"

"The orphan girl, no?" it hissed

Loki stiffened at this. Odin did not reply.

"Hmm Alina Everton. Possessor of the Soul Gem. Midgardian.. Mmn very beautiful. What do you wish to know of her?"

Loki continued to tense and he felt the others do the same. The way which Das spoke of her was too knowing and he hated it.

"We wish to know nothing of her but rather who else knows of her existence"

Das smiled. Then he laughed a rasping, choking laugh.

"You mean who in the realms knows of her possession of the soul gem?" he giggled

"Indeed" Frigga answered

Das stopped giggling and looked at them.

"More than you think. There is an organisation on Midgard, a Hydra as such, which recently became aware and a few select individuals of your Son, Thor's Shield. Yourselves, and much of Asgard of course. The new king of Jotunheim and his advisor and most trusted warrior are aware of the girl but have decided not to press the matter and instead are focussing their efforts on rebuilding Jotunheim. A few other individuals scattered throughout the universe were aware and have been aware of the young ladies existence"

"And of Thanos?"

"He is unaware even of the location of the soul gem, for now"

Odin nodded.

"Oh.. and" Dus continued

"What?"

"8 more Frost Giants have become aware of Miss Everton as we speak?"

"What do you mean?" Loki snapped

"I mean, you are under attack. And your darling infinity gem is in quite the situation" Das smiled

At this a woman came in, accompanied by guards.

"My King! There are frost giants in the castle! They were outside the vaults!" she cried

Everyone in the room exchanged panicked looks.

"And.. and.. and" she hiccupped "and Eli and a dark haired woman with green eyes were surrounded! I.. I i just ran!"

Loki didn't listen to the rest, he just started running. Thor followed suit with Sif and the warriors three tailing quickly behind. As they reached outside, screams could be heard from the palace. Thor summoned Mjolnir and leaped into the air, Loki disappeared in a shimmer of golden dust and the Warriors leapt onto a air ship.

Both Loki and Thor landed in the fighting pits and entered in a sprint towards the Vault Hall, the warriors in suit. As they reached the hall, they skidded to a stop to find both Eli and Alina back to back, weapons drawn, surrounded by more than half a dozen frost giants.

Alina and Eli looked across at them tensely.

"Unhand the tesseract!" Thor roared

The frost giant merely laughed at his suggestion before all out battle ensued. As bodies and weapons began flying, a yell was heard across the hall.

"Get her out of here!" Loki screamed at Eli who accordingly dragged her behind a pillar but something caught her sharp eyes.

As Hogun fought one Frost Giant, another loomed behind him, it's hand raised in an ice dagger. Taking Eli's sword, she broke away from the pillar.

"Hogun!" She yelled, jumping behind him and intersecting the frost giants blade with her own sword.

She shoved Hogun out of the way, taking his sword as well and was now locked with both her swords pushing back against a separate frost giants' blades. Kicking outwards at each of them, she sent them off balance and drove her swords through their chests. As they dropped to the ground, she brought up a forcefield, separating herself and the final standing 3 Jotuns and the warriors from each other.

By this time, Frigga had arrived too.

"Loki clone yourself in there!" Thor cried

"I can't!" he replied, slightly panicked

"Mother?" Thor tried

"Her magic is blocking ours" Frigga said

They looked back to Alina, trapped in her own forcefield box with the 3 remaining Frost Giants. She began to stalk, moving with slow, calculated steps, her eyes bright gold green and her head tilted.

"Another Infinity Stone… Do not kill her, I want her" the lead frost giant hissed

The two at his side immediately leapt forward. At one point, Loki feared she may be losing as she was knocked to the ground by a backhand from one of the giants. She quickly got up and took a swing at his legs, knocking him down and spiking the sword through his throat before swirling and driving it through the chest of the second Frost giant, twisting it as she pulled it out.
However, as quickly as his fear dissipated, it returned as the final Frost Giant opened the tesseract on her, blasting ices directly at her. To his genuine surprise, she reacted quickly enough to raise another shield and block the attack although it seemed to blow her backwards a little. She quickly regained her feet and attacked the Frost Giant. As they fought, it used the tesseract as a weapon both for it's power and to swing it directly at her head.

After a fatal kick to it's shoulder, the frost giant dropped the Tesseract and Alina stumbled, falling on top of it. Obviously sick of her games, it formed an ice dagger from it's hand and bore down on her. She rolled out of the way to her feet and the dagger went straight into the tesseract. There was a moment of dead silence before it began to crack and hiss. The Frost Giant drew it's hand out and stepped backwards hastily. On her side, Alina did the same.

The tesseract shattered open and out of it came a bright blue liquid substance, floating. Somewhere in between a mist and a liquid it hung with weight in the air between the two. With a quick, twisting movement it encompassed Alina entirely, wrapping her in it's glow and then disappearing through her hands and mouth. She gasped loudly and seemed to struggle for air.
In a final movement, she formed a golden dagger and hurled it at the Frost Giant's throat, killing it instantly.

She fell to her knees and then to the ground with a groan. As she passed out, her shields fell. Loki sprinted to her side, dodging the bodies and leaning over her. She was tossing lightly and as he felt her head he realised she already had a rising fever. Frigga knelt down beside him and gave him a concerned look.

"We need a healer, now" he growled

Fandral and Volstagg kicked some of the bodies out of the way while Thor picked up the discarded Tesseract container with Sif by his side. Hogun knelt down and touched the girl's head with light finger tips, watching her moan slightly.

"She saved my life" he said simply

"What the hell was that?" Eli asked

"It seems we now have two infinity stones in one place" Thor spoke quietly

"You don't mean…" Fandral trailed off

"I am afraid so. The space gem… the ether… it is now hers" Frigga said quietly

"She is ill" Hogun said as Loki attempted to calm the girl down. She still tossed a little and moaned in pain and her temperature was only rising.

At this, Loki realised that it was going to take far too long for anyone to come out of fear of the Frost Giants so he scooped her up into his arms and began to walk towards the healing rooms. She hung limply in his arms and occasionally shivered involuntarily. He turned on his heels, looking back at the group.

"Healing rooms. Now" he said before disappearing with Alina in a shimmer of green.