Chapter Ten

We were back on the ship, flying through Svartalfheim. This place really was a desolate wasteland. As far as I could see there was nothing but desert and mountains. It made me wonder how anyone could eek out a living in such a barren landscape.

I was the first to notice when Jane finally woke up. Her eyes slowly opened, blinking away a red cloud. It was clear the Aether was slowly taking over.

"Jane." Thor, ever so careful, was at her side in an instant.

"Malekith." Jane whispered the name, but I heard it loud and clear.

While she was out Thor, Loki and I went over the plan once more. Since than we'd been keeping our distance, Loki flying the ship and Thor staying at Jane's side like a loyal pet. For the most part the plan seemed simple enough. But it was risky, and Malekith could get his hands on the Aether.

"Alright, are you ready?" I stood beside Jane, glancing at her warily. Jane nodded as we landed the ship nearby.

Malekith's ship wasn't far from where we were. I bit the bottom of my lip as we approached it. By now I was used to facing dangerous missions like this. But the risk factor always left me feeling uneasy. No matter how many times I'd faced this kind of danger, I could never get used to it.

"I am," Loki replied.

I rolled my eyes at his response. Leave it to Loki to enjoy what lay ahead. Although I could see why he was looking forward to this plan.

We stood up and approached the spot where Malekith and his soldier were waiting. Jane watched them warily, unsure how to handle the situation.

"You know this plan of yours is going to get us killed," Loki said in an accusing tone. He wasn't necessarily glaring at any of us. What I did notice was how curious he looked as he glanced between me and Thor.

"Yeah, possibly," I replied, trying to keep my voice steady.

I've been through many life and death situations. This was no different.

Loki's response was a smirk. He seemed more than ready to face what lay ahead of us. As he lifted his handcuffs I was suddenly reminded of just how dangerous he really was. He could easily turn on us if he wanted to.

"You still don't trust me, brother?" Loki's question left me crossing my arms and glaring at him.

"Would you?" Thor grinned before releasing the cuffs around Loki's wrists.

"No I would not." Suddenly Loki pulled out a dagger he'd been hiding. I jumped back, struggling the urge to fight back as he stabbed Thor in the ribs. Moments later and he kicked Thor down the hill.

"Thor! No!" Jane raced down to his side, stumbling in the process.

I had to admit Loki did put on a good show. I sat back and watched as the scene unfolded before me. Jane was panicking while Loki just smirked as he walked down to join them.

"You really think I cared about Frigga, about anybody? All I ever wanted was you and Odin dead at my feet!" I couldn't help but wince at the mention of Frigga.

Loki did care about Frigga, that much I knew. Her influence on him was still obvious. I just hoped it was enough to keep him from turning on us at the last minute.

Thor raised his hand to summon Mjölnir, but Loki was quicker. As fast as lightning he drew his dagger and cut off Thor's arm. It took everything I had not to fight back. Thor's scream of agony made me wonder if Loki really had cut his arm off.

By the time Jane reached Thor, Loki grabbed her by the waste and turned to face Malekith and his army. They too were watching the scene with keen interest. There was no doubt Malekith was more interested in the Aether than a fight between brothers.

"Malekith, I am Loki of Jotunheim and I bring you a gift!" Jane stared at Loki with hate as he threw her at Malekith's feet. "I ask only one thing in return, a good seat from which to watch Asgard burn."

The look Jane shot me was a venomous one when she finally noticed where I was standing. I couldn't help but stare back. Even if I wanted to there was no way I would fight back now. We were outnumbered and outmatched.

"He is an enemy of Asgard, he was locked in a cell." One of the members of Malekith's army stepped up, looking larger than the others. Actually he looked more like a beast you read about in stories than anything else.

Remind me to look up Norse mythology when I get back. Whatever the creature was it was huge, dark and dangerous looking. All I knew was I was staying out of this fight, for now.

Malekith walked over to Thor as he groaned in pain, gripping his now cut off arm. Loki really did make it look real. Even the blood looked real as it stained the ground.

"Look at me," he ordered. Malekith simply kicked Thor with his boot and turned him over, smirking as the Asgardian was turned to face him. As Malekith summoned the Aether from Jane's body she seemed to float in the air, looking all but defenseless.

But that was where our plan would come in handy.

"Loki, now!" Loki suddenly appeared beside me, the magic around Thor's arm fading. Malekith's eyes widened in surprise when he realized what Loki was up to. Thor wasted no time in summoning Mjölnir to destroy the Aether with lightning.

Now that was a spectacle I never thought I'd see. The Aether looked stunning mixing with Mjölnir's lightning. But as Thor tried to destroy it Malekith managed to absorb the Aether. My eyes widened in dismay as he turned back to his ship.

Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse. It was times like these I really wished I was back on the Grid. At least life was fairly simple there. On the Grid you didn't have Dark Elves to worry about or any powerful magic like the Aether or the Tesseract to destroy things with.

Yeah, because getting repurposed is so much better. One of the elves that was left behind suddenly ran forward, towards me. I reached for my light sword and swung it across the elf's thigh. Before it had time to react I quickly stepped aside to avoid getting stabbed with a knife.

The Dark Elf was faster than I'd expected. It struck out at my arm, leaving a nasty gash as I tried avoiding it's attack. And now I had this to worry about. Maybe we could've thought this plan through a little better - right now things were not exactly going the way I had hoped.

Meanwhile Thor and Loki were taking care of the other Dark Elf while I was left facing this one alone. It's not like Jane could be of any use in the condition she was in.

"I think I've about had it with elves," I muttered as I dodged each of it's blows.

"How many times have you faced these creatures in battle?" Loki demanded as he threw more magic at the Dark Elf.

I was about to respond when I noticed the creature that had spoken to Malekith earlier. The creature suddenly grabbed what looked like a bomb and tossed it over to Jane, who was still standing there in shock. I didn't even know what I was thinking as I pushed her aside.

Almost at once a portal was opened, and as it threatened to suck me in I half expected this to be the end.

Luckily Thor was there to pull me out. Loki had just finished the other Dark Elf when Thor faced the creature that had opened the portal. The creature was stronger than Thor by a long shot. I winced as it threw it's fists into Thor, knocking him aside like he was just a pebble.

Loki suddenly rushed forward and impaled the creature with his dagger. I couldn't help but cringe as the creature turned to face Loki, who just stared back in disbelief. He didn't get a chance to flee as the creature pulled Loki into the blade that was still sticking through him.

The panic I felt moments ago returned at full force. Loki may be a big-headed jerk, but he didn't deserve to die like this.

"No!" Thor's shout was left unheard as the monster took a step towards Loki, who was now struggling to stand up.

"See you in hell, monster!" It took me a few seconds to realize what Loki had meant by that. Attached to the blade Loki had been stabbed with was a grenade the creature had used earlier. The creature's eyes widened in panic when a portal opened, sucking it in.

"No, no! Fool, you didn't listen!" Thor had rushed over to Loki's side.

I could only watch, feeling a pang in my chest when I realized what was happening.

For the first time I felt something other than hate and distrust for Loki. This could be a trick too, as far as I was concerned. But I couldn't help but feel some kind of pity for Loki. He sacrificed himself to kill the creature.

"I know, I'm a fool. I'm a fool!" Loki's face twisted in pain. I didn't even notice that Jane had joined me when she noticed what was going on.

"Stay with me. Stay!" Thor's desperate pleas were left unanswered.

All of a sudden I was reminded of what Tron had said when Beck lost his disk. He said the same thing, trying desperately to make sure Beck didn't lose his memories. But this was different. Beck may have lost his memories but he wouldn't derezz, or die.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry..." Loki whimpered. He was looking at me, and for a short while I realized that his gaze was apologetic.

"It's alright. I'll tell father what you did here today," Thor said reassuringly.

"I didn't do it for him." He did it for Frigga. What he said made me wonder whether or not this really was just an illusion. Surely the great God of Mischief wouldn't allow himself to be killed so easily.

"No!" If one could hear Thor's cry from Earth than they likely had.

I swallowed the grief that was threatening to overwhelm me. This didn't feel right. Something about this made my skin crawl with unease. It was like Loki had provoked the creature to attack him. Maybe that was why I couldn't stop staring at him.

. . .

"He's gonna unleash it, not just on Asgard or on a star, Malekith is gonna destroy everything." Jane sounded so reassuring as we made our way towards any shelter we could find.

It was a cave. Kind of fitting considering what I used to live in on the Grid. Before I met Tron I spent a majority of my life in caves in the Outlands. It wasn't much but at least it kept me protected from the cold and weather.

We left Loki's body behind. There was no place to bury it, and I wasn't even sure of Asgardians believed in burials like humans did. Plus it wasn't in my place to ask. Thor was already stricken with grief over Frigga and Loki.

"How? Jane, how?" Thor demanded, sounding more exhausted than ever. With everything that had happened I couldn't blame him for that.

"I saw him on Earth. Why would he go to Earth?" Jane's question made me stare at her in surprise.

"It's the Convergence," I muttered. Malekith was going to unleash the darkness during the Convergence. It all made sense now why he was so desperate to get it back. I remembered what Heimdall had said about the Grid not being effected by the Convergence. But I still couldn't help worrying about it.

What would everyone do if they suddenly saw Dark Elves destroying the cities? I could imagine how panicked everyone would be. The thought left me feeling uneasy.

"Oh, God. None of this would have happened if I hadn't found the Aether," Jane whispered.

"Then Malekith would have only possessed it that much sooner." Though Thor was trying to reassure her I could see that he was failing, miserably.

"Is there anything we can do to stop him? I'd really rather not have SHIELD involved with all this," I pointed out. Truthfully with me around there was no telling what Clint and Natasha would do if they found out about this.

"Jane Foster is very clever, I am sure you would find a way," Thor replied as he looked proudly at his love.

"I agree with you on the SHIELD thing, and I'm still not forgiving you for lying," Jane said in an accusing tone. To which I just rolled my eyes. "But the devices Erik built should be able to give us enough time to distract Malekith."

"Well I'd love to go back to Earth, but we have no way of getting there," I muttered crossly.

Jane was about to respond when her phone suddenly started ringing. It took her a few seconds to recognize where the music was coming from. Thor only looked at her in confusion while I tried not to smirk at their confused looks.

"It's not me," he told her.

She pulled out her phone after realizing where the sound was coming from. "Hello?"

"Hi, Jane, it's Richard." Wow, she really needs to turn down the volume on that thing. But the voice was strangely reassuring.

If she was getting full service than that meant... Suddenly my phone began ringing as well. Thor raised an eyebrow when I pulled it out. I held back a groan of annoyance when I saw how many missed calls and messages I had.

"Clint's gonna kill me when I get back," I sighed after deleting them all.

"Oh, my God! This is amazing." Jane's eyes widened when she noticed the objects scattered across the cave.

"I don't really see how this is amazing." I rolled my eyes as the phone started ringing again.

"Does Sir Barton know that you are here?" Thor's question caught me off guard, and Jane glared at me once again.

"Not... exactly," I replied with a shrug. Which meant he could have already made his way to London just to find out what I've been up to. "It's not easy living with overprotective parents."

"No, no, no, no! Please, whatever you do, do not hang up the phone," Jane suddenly snapped. She glanced back at me as if she was about to say something, than thought better of it.

I spotted the keys to the car the intern had dropped days ago among various other objects. Trying not to laugh I knelt down to grab them, than tossed them over to Jane.

"Why are there so many shoes in here?" Okay, that did make me laugh. Leave it to Thor to always ask the awkward questions.

Jane just ignored him and led the way forward. I was quick to follow. This place was already depressing enough knowing that Loki was dead. Or he could have pulled a trick on us. Either way I didn't feel like sticking around.

As we stepped forward we found ourselves back on Earth, right outside the factory. My eyes widened in disbelief when I realized what just happened. This was a portal, similar to the one I'd stumbled into back inside the factory.

The car Ian had been driving was still there, though it now had broken windows and graffiti all over it. I tried not to smirk as I got in, followed shortly after by Jane and Thor. It was really more amusing seeing Thor try to hide his cape in the car than anything else.

"So who's Richard?" Thor's question made me laugh again as Jane rolled her eyes.

"Really?"

AN: Thought it was time for an update :) So did anyone else get any crazy weather last week? We were driving through some pretty nasty hailstorms on our way home. And of course our new car has dents in it from the damage, but what really scared us was how heavy the hail was. They were the size of golf balls D: But luckily we weren't injured.

Oh, and a very happy Memorial Day to everyone! I'd like to thank all of the soldiers and veterans who fought for our freedom or still are fighting for it. And thank you 2theSky and Panda Bear Lover 317 for reviewing!