EARTH
A hail of bullets bounced of Steve Rogers shield. Natalia Romanova stepped out of cover behind Captain America and fired her pistols, killing six Hydra soldiers further down the corridor. Clinton Barton was next to step out of cover, launching an arrow at the enemy and its explosive tip caused a violent explosion that took out another four Hydra guards. Rogers ran down the corridor, pushed a disorientated guard to the side, kicked a second down the hallway, punched a third across the jaw and landed a hit with the edge of his shield across the chest of a forth. Black Widow came running after Cap, launching deadly kicks and punches left and right at the enemy. Hawkeye used his bow and arrows to snipe hostiles that emerged further down the corridor, placing arrows in their throats and hearts.
They all took a moment to catch their breath as the last enemy was dealt with by one of Hawkeyes arrows. Looking around, three dozen Hydra soldiers lay dead or unconscious on the floor. A noise had them all ready for combat once more; looking down the corridor, they saw a Hydra soldier flying into the wall from an interconnecting corridor, closely followed by another soldier flying into the same wall. A third soldier came backing into view, firing his assault-rifle desperately at a target further down the interconnecting corridor; Thor charged the last standing guard, using a door as a shield, striking the assault-rifle to the side and then placed a heavy kick in the soldiers chest, sending him crashing up against the wall and landing in a heap on top of his two comrades. Thor looked around for more hostiles to engage and spotted the SHIELD agents.
"Friends!" Thor said with a grin. "Welcome to the battle! At last, Hydra will no longer avoid the wrath of SHIELD! I welcome you to take part in this glorious conquest!"
Jane and Erik came running around the corner and they all linked up in the corridor, standing among the fallen Hydra soldiers.
"Thank god you're here" Erik said with a smile and gave Hawkeye a great hug.
Jane sighed with relief. "We weren't sure you would pick up our transmission."
Rogers returned his shield to his back. "We picked it up alright. We have a satellite monitoring the whole situation. Good work getting a signal out of here. As for you being here at all…" Rogers then said and turned to Thor, "What the hell were you thinking?!"
Thor shrugged his shoulders, resting the pipe he used as club against a shoulder and rested an arm against the heavily dented door he used for a shield. "Something had to be done. Your attacks against Hydra were misguided and cowardly. If you were not going to seek out your foe and fight them face to face, then I had no other choice."
"You stole a UFO that was the property of the US government" Rogers argued. "And now it has ended up in the hands of the enemy. Who knows what they will do with the technology in that spaceship."
"Not to worry, my friend" Thor said. "First, we will deal with Hydra. Then we will deal with whomever it was that stole the Alfheim fighter. I give you my word."
Black Widow reloaded her pistols. "Your word? That's all fine, but someone managed to get their hands on that UFO while it was surrounded by every super-power on the planet. Forgive me if your word isn't good enough right now."
"Look" Jane said and decided to get everyone back on track. "We can discuss the UFO and its whereabouts later. Right now, we need to deal with this base."
Rogers nodded. "Doctor Foster is right. We should secure the installation and secure as many computers we can find before Hydra destroys it all."
Hawkeye pulled an arrow from the throat of a dead soldier. "Well then, let's get going."
XXX XXX
Falcon ran towards the elevator in the middle of the factory, turning and firing his guns out into the shadows as he backed into the elevator, firing wildly at anything, spraying bullets all over the place before he turned and jumped down the hole in the floor, dropping down the deep shaft below. Relying on his jetpack, he fell all the way to the bottom of the shaft and ran inside the Hydra installation.
"Cap?!" he called across the comm-unit. "Cap?! Do you read?! We're in trouble! We're in some serious trouble!"
Behind him, Falcon heard two loud thuds from the shaft in quick succession as the two mysterious hostiles had followed him down; he heard them growl and snarl, encouraging him to run even faster.
XXX XXX
Thor could tell from the expression on the SHIELD agents that something was wrong. "What's the matter? What is amiss?"
Captain America turned to Thor and the two scientists. "Trouble."
Hawkeye and Black Widow readied their weapons and took aim down the corridor they had come from, while Steve Rogers retrieved his shield from his back. Thor prepared himself also, dented door as a shield and bloodied pipe as a club.
ASGÅRD
The armies of Jotunheim, Nifelheim and Alfheim forced their way inside Valhall, killing their enemies in the great halls and corridors of the glorious palace of Asgård. The Einherjar doing their best to keep the enemy at bay, but no matter what they did, the enemy kept pushing further and further into the palace. On the outside, the Jormungandr and the Alfheim fleet had turned their attention on the Asgård forces commanded by Odins brothers, Vali and Wé, making use of the fallen gatehouse as a defensive position; having turned the tables on the Aesir army, Vali and Wé were now forced to try and attack that deadly bottleneck that had been so devastating to the enemies of Asgård. The Jormungandr launched balls of fire at the Asgård fleet, bringing down one of the Aesir warships in great flames. The Alfheim warships fired their cannons and the Asgård warships did the same, massive volleys of destructive energies filling the air above Asgård.
The army commanded by Wé charged the rubble that once had been the gatehouse of Valhall, Wé at the very fore of the army, climbing the debris and throwing themselves at the enemy.
"Death Has Come For You All!" Wé bellowed, his voice a vessel of pure hate and rage.
Wé jumped and slammed into a Frost Giants chest with his shield, toppling the great beast by force of impact alone, landing on its torso and split its head with his sword. Wé wasted no time and jumped down from the dead giant, landed in the midst of draugr and orcs, swung his sword and cut them down in droves and then threw his shield, its edge slicing through the bodies of the horrible beasts with ease before it returned to his grip. Wé looked up and saw the Jormungandr aiming its head down at him and opened its terrible maw; Wé ducked down beneath his shield and took cover as the unforgiving fire of the great serpent rained down on top of him.
Vali Borson ran up to the railing of his warship and jumped into the air, ramming his spear into the side of an Alfheim warship; hanging from his weapon, feet up against the hull of the vessel, he unleashed the powers of his spear into the heart of the warship, the great vessel coming apart in a great explosion that split it into six burning pieces that all crashed down to the ground. Vali held on to the hull as he fell, crashing into the enemy army beneath it and crushing a hundred warriors as it struck ground, bringing down three buildings in the process. Vali pulled his spear free and took aim at the enemy, firing its deadly beam into their ranks and cut them down as he moved the beam from left to right, the deadly energies unleashed by the spear slicing through flesh and armor alike.
"For Asgård!" Vali called out as he leapt into the melee, attacking the enemy in hand to hand combat, making use of his spear, both deadly tip and heavy shaft, to strike his enemies down, his cloak made from the wings of a dragon flowing behind him.
XXX XXX
A portal opened in the great court of Valhall itself, allowing a thousand Alfir warriors to charge the innards of Valhall straight from the fields of Alfheim. Malekith joined them, stepping through the portal confidently, his scepter in hand, the Blue Stone glowing with all of its power. Malekith watched as Ljos Alfir and Svart Alfir alike spread out and secured the majestic courtroom, moving on to attack the enemy from an unexpected quarter. Malekith himself moved towards the impressive throne, the seat of Odin himself, climbed the stairs and watched the beautiful chair, made from gold and silver. His face twisted with a frown and Malekith struck the thing with the tip of his scepter, the throne splintering into a thousand pieces of rock and dust, turning into pile of rubble within the blink of an eye. He turned and watched as an entire legion of Alfir warriors marched through the portal in strict formation, their banners held high, their steps taken in perfect unity, some of the elven warriors flying on hovering wings, others riding great and terrible beasts of war.
A great crack sounded, Malekith looked up and saw the ceiling coming apart, a great web of cracks spread across the ceiling in a few seconds. Then, it all came crashing down. The legion of Alfir warriors was crushed beneath the great blocks of stone, rubble and debris that fell down upon them, enveloped by a massive cloud of dust. Malekith, having shielded his face with an arm, looked out across the devastation, five thousand Alfir dead, buried beneath tons of debris. Above, not an inch of the ceiling remained, allowing the sun to freely shine down on Malekith. The dust settled and slowly dispersed, and as it did, Malekith gripped his scepter tighter still. On a knee, with spear in hand, in the middle of the great calamity that had filled the golden court of Valhall, sat Odin himself. The king of Asgård slowly raised his head and fixed his one remaining eye on Malekith, looking out from within his helm, adorned with the two great horns of a ram. Odin rose to his feet, spear held in hand and despite his impressive beard, his frown was clearly visible.
"It was a mistake to come here, Malekith" Odin growled. "Not even the Infinity Stone can save you from my wrath."
"It is you who are mistaken, Allfather!" Malekith snarled defiantly. "It is you who cannot be saved!"
The Black Prince took aim with his scepter and with a blast from its tip opened another portal halfway between himself and the Allfather; a company of Frost Giants charged forward together with a great howling blizzard that covered everything with snow and frost. Odin held up his hand to shield him from the biting cold that washed over him and froze his clothing and armor. He then unleashed a blast from his spear, incinerating two Frost Giants instantly before he took three quick steps and jumped at a third; the Frost Giant stood no chance as Odin rammed his spear through the beasts skull and forced the giant to topple over.
Malekith turned and left the courtroom as quickly as possible as he saw Odin pulling his spear free and using it to parry the combined attacks of three Frost Giants armed with axes and clubs. Malekith walked down a corridor, the echoes of battle flowing down the hallways of Valhall. He found a small unit of elven warriors having defeated a unit of Einherjar and walked on over to them.
"The enemy has planned their defense well" Malekith said. "We shall regroup and gather our forces. Find Algrim and inform him to find a position that he can hold until I return with reinforcements. I shall go to Nidavellir and have Surtur assign a detachment of warriors to come to our assistance."
"Very well, mylord" the officer among the elven warriors said and bowed out of respect.
Malekith opened a small rift in space and time with the scepter and was about to step through, when suddenly, the scepter was pulled from his grip by an unseen force. The Black Prince turned, fury on display across his features, as he spotted one of his warriors holding the scepter. The fury, however, transformed into fear and awe as the image of the elven warrior came apart in veils of smoke and revealed his true identity.
Malekith hissed the name of the creature standing before him. "Loki!"
A mad grin split Loki's face as he took aim with the scepter and blasted each of the Alfir warriors in turn, each one transported away from Asgård in a bright blue flash of light.
The Alfir warriors came crashing down on the burning fields of Muspelheim, where Fire Giants stood waiting and instantly began pounding the elves with their glowing hot weapons.
Loki, grinning wildly, turned his attention to Malekith, but before the son of Laufey had time to unleash the powers of the Infinity Stone on the Black Prince, Malekith quickly jumped through the portal he had opened.
As Malekith landed on the metallic fields of Nidavellir, the passage closed behind him in the blink of an eye; around him the massive buildings made by Dwergur hands stood ablaze, great fires rising to the sky, blotting out the sun with thick layers of black smoke, the heat so intense it all but blistered Malekith's purple skin. He climbed back on his feet and looked around, trying to orientate himself; he needed to find Surtur, and quickly. And he needed to know why Surtur was attacking Nidavellir.
Loki held the scepter in his hands, studied the Infinity Stone embedded in the spear-tip, the swirling energies within the cube that held the stone a raging storm that bathed everything with blue light. Loki began to laugh, wild and madly, a sinister laughter befit a vicious jester.
EARTH
Thor was first around the corner, closely followed by Steve Rogers and Romanova, Hawkeye following in turn with bow and arrow ready. Jane and Erik carefully took a look around the corner as the more experienced warriors advanced. Rogers ran past Thor and hurried over to Falcon; he was on the floor and as Rogers turned him over, they could see the terrible wounds that covered his arms and torso, not to mention the throat that was entirely ripped open. The amount of blood should have been evidence enough, but Rogers refused to accept it; he immediately began to try and revive Falcon, desperately trying to bring him back to life. The others felt the tragedy weigh them down. It was Romanova who in the end tried to get Rogers to accept fact.
"Steve" she said, a hand on his shoulder, kneeling next to him while Rogers applied CPR. "Steve… he's gone. He's dead. There's nothing we can do."
"The lady is correct, my friend" Thor said. "Your comrade has fallen. And I am certain he died bringing honor to his ancestors and glory to his own name."
"Glory?!" Rogers growled and looked up at Thor. "Glory?! The man's dead! Where's the damned glory?!"
Hawkeye forced them all back to the moment. "Target!"
They all prepared themselves for battle as four figures emerged out of the darkness further down the corridor, Captain America and Thor took point with their shields with Black Widow and Hawkeye behind them with pistols and bow and arrow. Jane and Erik ducking into cover behind them all.
"Whatta hell is that?" Hawkeye said as the figures stepped into the light.
"My Friends!" Thor erupted, his face split in a smile and he dropped his shield and club and ran on over to the four figures.
Siv, Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg erupted with laughter in turn and ran to meet Thor, them all embracing in a massive group-hug, patting each others backs and shoulders, grinning wide with joy. Thor turned to the SHIELD agents with a smile.
"These are my friends from home" he said. "My most trusted comrades in arms. Great heroes of Asgård."
Rogers nodded. "Swell… I trust they're here to help."
"Indeed" Thor nodded and then turned to his friends. "Why have you come here? Has my father lifted my banishment?"
"No" Siv said. "We came here to bring you back, against your fathers wishes."
Fandral sighed before he continued explaining as it was evident that Thor was at a loss. "Malekith has most likely already launched an assault on Asgård, my prince. Asgård needs you on the field of battle in her defense. We are all needed against the armies of Jotunheim, Alfheim and kingdom needs you. Your father needs you."
Thor felt the weight of the situation. He was needed at home, his people were under attack, his family fighting the invaders on the field of battle. Thor turned and looked as Rogers and Romanova sat kneeling next to the body of Falcon, Hawkeye and Jane and Erik mourning next to them all.
The snarl of a beast caught their attention and they all turned to face the creature. The Asgård warriors readied themselves for battle, as did the agents of SHIELD. Slowly stepping out from the shadows were two creatures; two men, slowly moving towards them, great claws of polished metal extending from their clenched fists, eyes feral and wild, their lips trembling with anger and their throats rumbling with growls. Rogers and Romanova recognized the two creatures easily enough.
"Stryker's combat specialists" Black Widow said, freeing her pistols from their holsters.
Rogers nodded. "Wolverine and Sabretooth."
Hogun and Siv positioned themselves with their shields ready on either side of Volstagg, his twin-bladed axe ready to deal out punishment. Behind them, Fandral stood ready with his bastard-sword next to Thor.
"I see your talent for finding deadly trouble has not faded with your banishment."
Thor frowned and spat at the floor to clear his mouth. "Rejoice, Fandral, for that talent has earned us much reward and glory."
"And scars" Siv reminded them.
Thor turned to the humans. "You should go. We will deal with these creatures."
Hawkeye sneered. "I bet those freaks were the ones that mauled Falcon. I'm not leaving them to you."
Black Widow cocked her pistols. "Me neither."
Captain America, shield on his arm, got up on his feet. "We're in this together."
Jane turned to Erik. "We better hide."
"Good idea" Erik said and the two of them ran the opposite direction.
Hawkeye frowned. "Let's do this."
The arrow flew, shooting past Thor, right past Volstagg's ear and struck Wolverine in the forehead, right above the ridge of his nose. Wolverine took a step back as the arrow struck, but that was all that happened. He reached up and removed it from his head and tossed it to the side, the slight wound instantly healing in a matter of seconds. Wolverine and Sabretooth looked at each other briefly and then turned their attention back at their enemies, snarling like mad beasts, holding their bloodied claws on display.
Hawkeye sighed. "Just great."
Wolverine and Sabretooth growled like feral beasts as they charged. Hogun and Siv took cover behind their shields and Volstagg let forth a roar of his own, axe held ready to strike.
To be continued…
