"I WANT YOU TO STAND DOWN!" The far wall exploded into rubble as Mjolnir crashed through it. It bounced off the torture device Sayrah was in, knocking her to the floor.
"Thor!" Skadi cried. "Get me out of here!"
He shushed her with a wave of his hand. "In a moment, my lady. I must deal with this monster first." He faced Thanos.
Loki stepped next to him. "It goes against every bone in my body to say this, but, Thor, I am so glad to see you."
Thor smiled at his brother. "And I you."
"Touching. Now if I may have your attention." Thanos flexed his fingers and a glittering sword materialized in his hand. Thor summoned Mjolnir back to him. He let out a fearsome shout and charged Thanos, who flung himself toward him with equal force. Their weapons clashed against each other. Thor struggled to get the upper hand. Thanos smiled and kicked him in the gut. He staggered backwards.
"That wasn't very fair." he panted.
"I don't play fair."
The two engaged in combat, weapons clanging together over and over, sparks flying, creating a terrible noise. Loki darted around them, aiming spells at the chinks in Thanos' armor. A stray shot shattered Skadi's glass prison. She screamed; covering her head with her arms as glass shards rained down on her.
Sayrah flinched when Thor's hammer collided with her chair. She fell to the ground and instinctively rolled away from the wreckage. She glanced down at her hands. They were free. A half- hysterical laugh escaped her lips. Thanos was going to get it now. Possibilities raced through her head.
"Mjolnir must have broken the magic barriers in place too." she thought, testing her magic abilities. A pained cry snapped her to attention.
Thor and Loki had fallen, both sustaining heavy injuries. Thanos stood over them, not a single scratch on him.
"Enough of these little games. You have sealed all of your fates. All four of you will die, and then I shall kill the others outside fighting my forces. The Tessaract will be mine to control and Death will finally return my affection! I will conquer all! I will-"
THWACK!
A stunned look crossed his face. "Huh?" he managed to get out before collapsing, out cold. Sayrah stood behind him, breathing heavily and holding remains of the torture chair.
"You really shouldn't talk. It's quite distracting."
Thor and Loki stared at her, mouths agape and shock etched on their faces.
"What?"
"Did you just hit the Titan Lord Thanos over the head with a chair?" Loki asked.
"Oh, yeah, I guess I did." she said brightly.
"Okay then." he replied, still partially dumbfounded. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."
"You could never get on my bad side."
They smiled at each other.
"Listen, about what I was going to say earlier…" she started.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I wanted to say that I-"
"You guys! We have to get out of here!" Skadi interrupted.
"Yes. Right. Sorry, let's go." Loki shook his head. "This way!"
"You can't run like that! Both of you are injured." Sayrah protested.
"You are too, and there's no time." He took her hand. "I'm fine, really."
She hesitated. "Alright."
Thor hoisted the Tessaract container over his shoulder. "Come on!"
They ran out of the room, Loki in the lead, deftly navigating the remaining ruins of the lair, and avoiding fallen wreckage.
"Looks like the Warriors Three really did some damage." Skadi whispered to Sayrah, who gave her a tight smile in return. "What's your deal?"
"Skadi, I was just kidnapped, tortured, told that I had killed everyone I ever even remotely knew, brainwashed, rescued by the man I love, and now I'm running away from a maniac who wants to rule the world, and you ask me what's my deal?" Sayrah looked at her friend incredulously.
"Did you just say the man you love?"
Sayrah blushed. "Yes."
Skadi shook her head. "How many times do I have to tell you it won't work?"
"Can we please not talk about my love life right now? Not really the right time."
"Later. We will talk about this."
Sayrah rolled her eyes. "Whatever."
They all skidded to a stop, running into Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun.
"There you are! Skadi, Sayrah, marvelous to see you again." Fandral said with a grin. "Thor, turn the handle and let's get out of here then."
He did so. "Nothing's happening! It needs time to recharge!"
"We don't have the time to wait for it." Hogun replied.
"Well then how are we going to get out of here?" exclaimed Skadi.
"The planes." Sayrah said suddenly. "We'll commandeer one of the flying plane things and get out of here. We can use magic to protect us when going between worlds."
"Brilliant! Where are they?" Volstagg asked.
"This way." Loki gestured for them to follow him.
When they reached the planes, a troop of Chitauri soldiers awaited them. They swarmed forward, shooting at random.
"Take cover!" Thor shouted. They ducked behind the nearest boulder, dodging rapid fire and falling debris from the shaking of the room.
"We can't get past them." Skadi cried. "There's just too many!"
"Okay, enough with the damsel in distress bit, Skadi. It's getting really, really annoying. And that's saying something considering you!" Loki snapped.
"I always thought that that bit was overused anyway." Sayrah agreed, giving Skadi a smug smile.
"Stop being mean to me! The minute you got out of Thanos' control, you became a huge bilgesnipe, Sayrah."
Sayrah glared at her. "Do you want to take my place?"
"Seriously, we need to focus. Stop it all of you." Thor demanded.
Loki rolled his eyes. "Always wanting to be the voice of reason, aren't you? Tell me, what do you propose we do now?"
"You didn't have that tone of voice a few minutes ago when I saved your life."
"I didn't need saving, I had the situation perfectly under control!" he argued.
"You were about to make the worst decision of your life!"
"How would you know my decision?!"
"I assumed-"
"YEAH! YOU ASSUMED. YOU NATURALLY THINK THAT I WILL "CHOOSE" WRONGLY! I DON'T NEED YOUR MORALITY, THOR."
"CHOOSE WRONGLY? WHAT DO YOU EVEN-"
"BOYS!" Sayrah shouted. "I hate breaking sibling love up, but I thought you might want to know, our cover is moving."
They all stopped and stared as the 'boulder' they hid behind shuddered and slowly started to rise from the ground. They had taken cover behind a Leviathan. It let out a bellowing roar. The Chitauri stopped shooting and cheered, confident that it would eat the Asgardians.
"We're dead." Hogun said.
"I have an idea." Sayrah backed up and jumped onto the Leviathan, quickly scrambling up to the top of its head.
"What are you doing?!" Loki shouted. "Are you crazy?"
"Only for the people I care about!" she shouted from atop it. "No, scratch that. That sounded cheesy."
The Leviathan bucked wildly, trying to fling her off its back. "Calm down! It's okay, I won't hurt you!" she told it. She stroked its armor, sending waves of calming energy to its brain. It started to relax, hovering gently in midair. She smiled to herself. "That's it. See? Everything is okay. I've got you." Sayrah kept mumbling soothing things until the Leviathan stilled. The Chitauri troops yelled something, seeing that it was indeed not eating the enemy and pointed their weapons at it.
"Quickly! Get on! I don't know how long I can keep it calm!"
The others exchanged bemused and uncertain glances.
"Either ride the flying alien monster home, or die." Sayrah reminded.
They scrambled up the side of the Leviathan as fast as they could. The Chitauri started shooting again, the shots bounced off of the side plates of its armor.
"Yah!" Sayrah urged it to soar higher and forward, knocking over several soldiers in the process. "To Asgard!"
