Chapter 39: Avengers Assemble! Part 4

Magic came at a cost.

The magician no longer cared.

Doctor Strange had been roaming the spaceways, searching the secrets of the spiritual universe. On Earth, his sorcery had failed him. But there were other worlds, other magicians. Here, in this dark realm, he would unearth a forgotten enchantment.

The ideas of light and dark, good and evil, chaos and order—he was calling these into question. That these concepts defined the edges of all that existed was contrary to the writings found in the Scroll of the Demodragon. The scroll spoke of impossible choices, of good greater than good, and of darks darker than dark. These imperceptible states lay beyond the normal understanding of both the natural and the supernatural, because to perceive them one had to abandon forever the old ways in which they all saw things.

One must sacrifice everything.

But, Strange no longer cared about the cost. He would pluck out his own eyes if it meant he could see again. He would tear out his own tongue if it meant he could once more utter words of it cost his very soul to have these things, then so be it. He was ready to pay.

Now he was here, in the Netherworld, a dimension on the very edge of existence itself. Everything—from the rocky, uneven terrain, to the cloudy skies overhead—was a burnt orange and brown. Lightning split the skies above, great bolts of it jumping from cloud to cloud. The broken remains of some otherworldly civilization littered the surface as far as the eye could see.

A voice began to speak, surrounding Strange as if it came from the air itself. "Ancient … beyond ancient …" It was scarcely more than a growling whisper, but carried the intensity of a hurricane. "Old as memory are the rules by which this place is governed. Here, there are no secret deals or hidden arrangements to be had. There is only the transaction and nothing else."

A dark figure moved out of the shadows to approach Strange, a tall, graceful creature that walked slowly towards him. She was wrapped in a purple kimono that hid all of her body from sight, except for her face. Long, flowing black hair stemmed from the head of a white-furred fox, a head that looked almost like a mask. The face bore on it a strange red symbol, a circle in the middle of her forehead with a line extending from it almost to her nose. The fox-like creature approached Doctor Strange asked, "You understand our currency, don't you?" in a voice that seethed pure evil.

But Strange didn't flinch in his reply: "I do."

"Then name yourself and what it is you desire," the fox ordered.

"I am Doctor Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme," Strange answered. "And I am here to buy."

The fox grinned, displaying a mouthful of white fangs. "How wonderful." She bowed slightly, and when her head came up her face had shifted. Instead of her fox-like face, she now bore the face of a beautiful Japanese woman. "Well, then, mortal, welcome. I am Kitsune, and I greet all who would have business with the lord of the Netherworld."

She walked back towards the shadows, where a tear in the air gave off a welcoming yellow glow. Strange followed Kitsune as she stepped through the rift, and the sudden bright flash caused him to close his eyes, so that before he opened them again Kitsune was talking to him. "Welcome to the Sinner's Market."

A haphazard collage of low-grade stone structures met Strange's eyes as he opened them, a collection of run-down structures that perfectly complimented the unwholesome-looking individuals filling the street before him. There were one-eyed creatures and thousand-eyed creatures, creatures with scales, creatures with fur, and some with skin that seemed to ripple and change consistency according to their feelings of the moment. Tentacles, claws, and hands waved expressively in the air as the steady babble of demonic conversation and haggling filled his ears.

Kitsune led him through the marketplace, passing by the outrageous assemblage of characters as if they were of no consequence. "As you can see," the spider-cat demoness said, "we do a great deal of business." She leaned close and gestured towards a market stall where a small knot of rough-looking figures lounged, drinking and laughing. "There are quite a few dealers of the lighter fare, but as our name suggests, the market has a tendency to skew dark. Necromancy, demionics, et cetera."

"That it were so simple," Strange said, half to himself and half to Joroguma. "Over time, I have learned that there is no difference between the black and white arts. There is only the price. Which is always steep."

Kitsune had reverted to her fox face once again, and her animal eyes seemed to glitter. "Yeees, about that. A small piece of advice before we begin. The market tends to adapt to the buyer; the longer you stay, the more things will catch your eye. So specificity will serve you well. I implore you, Doctor. Guard your heart against wants and focus on what you truly need."

She sounds almost like a used car salesman, Strange thought. "Do you think someone finds themselves in this place without them being the same?" he asked.

Kitsune shrugged. "Fuhl-maghal. The mind wanders. Who can say?" she said simply. "Shall we?"

"Yes."

"Very well." Kitsune led Strange over to a long, low concrete market stand, stopping in front of the station's unkempt display table. "What is it exactly that you wish to buy today? Longevity?"

A large purple squarish monstrosity of multiple eyes and four tusks stared back at him from the other side of the stall.

"Bliss?"

There was a puff of smoke, and as it cleared a cross between a capybara and a small baboon, its skin a brilliant turquoise, leered at him from behind the table.

"Love?"

Another burst of grey smoke, this one blowing away to reveal one of the most beautiful females Strange had ever seen, head to toe a reddish-pink color, with long tendrils of hair that turned into hissing cobra at each end.

Strange waved it off. "No. None of these things."

"What then?" asked Kitsune.

"I want power."

"Power?" The witch looked puzzled. "But you have so much already."

"I need more," said Strange. "I want to be able to move worlds and shake them to their foundations. I want enough power in my hands to tear planets from the heavens and place them in a new sky."

Kitsune's mouth broke into a satanic grin. "Oh. I see." She gestured further down the street. "You'll be wanting the throne then. Fair enough. This way."

Back in Wakanda, the battle had been raging on harder than over, as finally the heroes had begun to evenly match their enemies blow for blow. But then the V-Series Doombots had been deployed, and now once again they were beginning to lose morale against these new, seemingly untouchable enemies. "United front, people," Cap said, bashing in the face of a Frost Giant with his shield. "Focus on directing them away from the civilians!" He deflected a blast from a Dark Elf rifle before throwing his shield at his attacker. "And hold the line, we need to keep these things contained to the outside of the city!"

"Contained?" Black Widow shouted as she leaped onto a Frost Giant, jamming the barrel of her pistol into the alien's mouth and pulling the trigger repeatedly. "There's still millions of these guys."

She ran and jumped at Vision, who phased immaterial and then materialized as she was leaping through him, trapping her inside his torso. He then flew up into the air and spun around, and Widow let fly with her pistols, cutting down a group of aliens in a murderous rain of bullets. "Actually," Vision said as he landed and released Black Widow, "there are only 14,984 alien biomasses remaining of the initial—"

"Don't matter how many there are," Rocket Raccoon said, responding to Vision over his earpiece as he sprayed a V-Series Doombot with laser fire from his light machine gun blaster rifle. The laser blasts ricocheted harmlessly off the Doombot's armored surface, leaving no damage. "We're fighting blind until we know what these robots are, and what makes them hurt."

"We're on it, Ranger Rick," Iron Man said from the skies. He threw both arms forward, and the nanotech in his suit created a giant blaster that both of his arms combined into. The blaster let forth a massive laser that didn't damage the Doombot, but sent it stumbling back, creating a space for Rocket to scurry away. "We've got outside consultants in the vibranium department. Any leads, T'Challa?"

There was no response; inside the Golden City, Black Panther had his hands full at the moment. He ran towards one of the new Doombots, leaping from side to side to avoid the green laserfire pouring from the Doombot's hand repulsors, before springing forward and slicing deep with his suit's vibranium claws, gouging out a chunk of the robot's torso. The Doombot quickly retaliated, picking Black Panther up and throwing him against the side of a building.

Okoye, seeing the danger, shouted "My king!" before flinging her spear into the opening in the Doombot's armor that Black Panther had created. As the robot fell to the street deactivated, she ran to Black Panther's side. "Are you hurt?"

A furious T'Challa deactivated the headpiece of his panther suit, allowing his head access to fresh air as he shoved Okoye away and struggled to his feet. "Blood of the panther god!" he shouted. "Even with these heroes and an army at my back, I am losing this fight."

Okoye looked grimly at him. "It is time to up the ante," she said.

Elsewhere in the city, Mondo Gecko held tightly to the back of a Doombot as it lumbered through the streets like a gorilla, trampling hapless Wakandan citizens under its charge. "What does it take to stop these things, dude?" he asked, smacking the Doombot on the back of the head repeatedly with his skateboard. This of course did no damage, but the Doombot didn't exactly appreciate it, either. It reached up and took hold of Mondo, slamming him into the street in a wrestling move. Mondo Gecko groaned in pain as he lay on his back, the Doombot standing over him. He shut his eyes as it prepared to finish him off.

"Maximum firepower!" a voice shouted. Mondo opened his eyes and threw his hands up over his face as some kind of sonic weapon hit the Doombot, in waves of sound that literally shook the robot apart. Its pieces clattered into the street around him, and he looked up stunned to see Shuri standing down the street. She was wearing some kind of gauntlets on her arms that looked like snarling panthers, emitting a glowing blue light that faded as she stopped firing and approached him on the ground.

"Time to fight fire with fire," she said, reaching down and helping Mondo Gecko up. Turning, she fired two more powerful sonic wave shots at a Doombot further down the road, knocking the robot's arm off of its body and into the air before it could crush a Wakandan Royal Guardsman. Activating her earpiece, she radioed out over the battlefield to the other heroes. "Vibranium-based weapons are the only thing that's going to work against these new Doombots!"

Outside the city, Cap heard Shuri's message loud and clear. "Vibranium, huh?" he mused, looking down at his shield. "Works for me." He charged through the battlefield towards the nearest V-Series Doombot, leaping and raising his shield in both hands over his head. As he came down towards the Doombot, he brought his arms forward in a powerful swing, jamming the edge of his shield in between the robot's neck plates.

The V-Series Doombot had only a few moments to feebly try and pull the shield out from its neck before the Thing was on him, throwing a massive punch with his orange rocky fist and slamming the vibranium shield out through the back of the Doombot's neck. "It's clobberin' time!" he shouted as the Doombot's head went flying, right alongside Cap's shield.

Falcon happened to be flying overhead, and he was able to catch the shield as he went into a foot-first dive, kicking over one of the Doombots that was fighting Colossus. "Here, big guy!" he shouted, throwing Colossus the shield so the X-Man could finish off the Doombot.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, W'Kabi was directing the remaining Border Tribe war rhinos to target the V-Series Doombots with their vibranium-armored horns. Drax ran, yelling, towards the nearest Doombot, and leaped on, slashing blindly with his knives and of course doing no damage to the Doombot's thick armor plating. The Doombot grabbed him and threw him down, failing to notice the war rhino charging at it until it was too late. The rhinos impaled the larger robot, skewering it like a piece of meat to be grilled.

It looked like the tide of battle was turning yet again. The skies, however, were an entirely different story. The Ravager airships had been unable to do any damage whatsoever to Jormungand, the World Serpent, but had instead suffered heavy losses. Quill was piloting the Milano, pulling up and preparing to go in for another attack, when he saw one of the larvae-like Salamandrian ships flying alongside him. He saw Sal Commander in the cockpit, and asked into his radio: "G'Throkka, are you alright?"

"Yes," G'Throkka replied. In fact, there was some blood on G'Throkka's face, but the brave Salamandrian was still alert. "I am with you, Peter Quill."

"I'm going in for another pass," Quill said, racing his ship towards the giant serpent. "Cover me."

Sal Commander's fighter was right behind him as he prepared for the attack. There were still Harrow ships out here they would have to watch out for, streaking around and trying to take out however many Ravager and Salamandrian ships they could.

Quill angled his ship to fire and stared through the cockpit at Jormungand. The laserfire bounced harmlessly off Jormungand's thick hide, and Quill's heart sank. Nothing they were doing was working. The World Serpent stared back with a glare that chilled him to the bone. It turned its head and roared, firing a stream of venom from its throat. Quill reflexively spun to the side, but Sal Commander's ship wasn't fast enough, and he was hit. Sal Commander yelled as his fighter bucked violently, then his cockpit exploded, and his flaming vessel fell from the sky.

Quill tried to stabilize, but the World Serpent lunged for his ship, mouth agape. There was a sound like a thunderclap as its jaws closed around him, and the noise caused him to reflexively close his eyes. When he opened them, there was a nasty crack across his cockpit window. His ship was filling with smoke, and electrical sparks rippled over his controls. The Milano was lodged in between the creature's jaws, as it clamped down and threatened to bite the ship in half—and him along with it.

The safety harness had dug into his torso, and he frantically tried to pull himself loose. Jormungand shook the Milano in his teeth like a dog shakes a rat before flinging the ship free from his jaws and into the lake. Quill tried not to panic as water started pouring into the ship.

He slipped out of his harness, grabbed his Zune from the center console, and climbed out of the seat. He'd hoped to haul some of his Earth memorabilia out of the ship, like his trading cards or scratch-n-sniff stickers, but when he glanced down at the floor and felt the water soak into his boots and pants up to his waist, he knew he'd never make it. The water would be over his head in a few seconds. Desperately grabbing at his blaster, he blasted a hole in the Milano's cockpit just as the ship went fully under the water and threw his body out of the hole he had made.

He exploded from the surface in time to see Thor come streaking through the sky, striking Jormungand in the head with his hammer in a blow that sent the serpent's head snapping back. I'm sure glad he's on my side and not the other team's, Quill thought, as he started swimming back for shore.

Now, at last, came the hour of Thor's greatest trial. In all his centuries of life, he had never fought a more dangerous or deadly foe. Even Loki was less a threat to him than Jormungand. This was the foe of legend, destined to slay him, the son of Odin. He knew it, and Jormungand knew it, too.

"You are nothing," the serpent sneered. "A simple-minded hero who spoke so well and knew so little. A mere shadow of your former glory. I will break the ancient prophecies and slay you. Then will Jormungand tower above the fates themselves!"

He spat a stream of boiling venom at Thor, who managed to twirl his hammer in front of him as he flew forward and deflect the venom, using Mjolnir as a shield that just barely protected him. "You forget to whom you speak, World Worm!" Thor shouted. "There is still one god left from Asgard, and he would have words with thee!"

He was close enough now to strike, and strike he did, dealing the serpent a great blow over its head that it howled and sprang at him with open jaws. He soared skyward with the speed of lightning, trying to regain the offensive.

"Give it up, Thor!" Jormungand snarled, rising into the air after his enemy. "You cannot fly high enough to escape my enmity! When I have reduced your skeleton to dust, I will shell you and suck the marrow from your bones! And then you shall live forever in the belly of the beast!"

"You should learn, Jormungand, that not everything that moves is merely food for the beast!" Thor said. To prove this, he stopped mid-flight and summoned a bolt of lightning down towards Jormungand, striking the World Serpent in a blow to the side of the head that knocked its head sideways. Jormungand roared in pain and retaliated furiously, throwing his head at Thor with jaws agape. Thor barely dodged the attack, and Jormungand buried his face into the earth with enough force to launch a cloud of dirt and dust in the air, felling nearby trees with the impact's shockwave.

Thor dove down through the air towards Jormungand, not slowing his attack. The World Serpent was too powerful to be injured easily. But his own fighting heart would never surrender. And in his hands, Mjolnir was Asgard unfettered.

Jormungand arose from the ground in wrath, rippling his massive torso in a similar fashion to a whip cracking. Thor wasn't prepared for this attack, that struck him dead on and sent him flying several miles away. He crashed into the side of Mount Bashenga at almost terminal velocity, and the top of the mountain exploded, the statue of the panther goddess that adorned its peak crumbling at the impact.

In the laboratory beneath the mountain, Doctor Doom and Doctor Octopus heard the sound of Thor impacting on the surface above them. They exchanged a look before Doom said, "Your usefulness to this enterprise has run its course, Doctor. We now move into the final stage of my plan. Take your projects, your plans—empty this laboratory and return to Australia. I shall take it from here."

The two began their hasty departure from the laboratory as, outside, Jormungand slithered across the great Wakandan plains towards Mount Bashenga. Smoke rose from the crater at its peak, where Thor had been thrown. "You are a fool, Thor!" the serpent roared. "You might have avoided this fight for centuries, if you'd been sensible. But nooooo! Loki threatens Midgard and suddenly you think it's hero time. Before we finish here, I shall make you a believer in that delightful mortal notion that death is only the beginning of eternal life! You shall long for death and live forever! That's the trouble with godhood. It robs you of your finer judgement. A deity so rarely has to pay for his mistakes!"

Thor could feel earth and stone all around him. The impact had buried him beneath pieces of the mountain, pinning him so he could not move. He could hear Jormungand outside, though, ever taunting him. "I have read the pitiful fragments of mortal legends that survive telling of the battle between us at the end of time," the serpent hissed. "We are fated to slay each other, godling. In fact, I shall die first and you shall take nine steps back before dying yourself. Truly mortals are the most incorrigible fabulists."

Thor was struggling to move underneath all of the rubble, struggling to find Mjolnir. His head was pounding, and Jormungand's deep voice reverberating around in his head didn't help. "Yet here I am, in the full flower of my glory," said Jormungand. "While you wear an iron skin to protect yourself, yet you challenge me to battle. Little godling, I shall inscribe your name upon the finest tombstone imaginable. In Asgard, I shall erect a cairn comprised of shattered buildings." The serpent paused for a moment. "Hmmm. The Royal Palace of Valaskjalf is not too small a monument for Thor of Asgard, is it?" Jormungand laughed, a deep throaty rumble with hissing undertones. "I cannot wait!"

At the mention of what Jormungand had planned for Asgard, Thor's eyes snapped open, blazing a neon blue. His body felt electrified; every hair stood on end as he felt the power of lightning coursing through his veins. "No!" he roared, and at the word there was a massive clap of thunder as a lightning bolt struck where he lay, sending the rubble that pinned him flying in every direction. Reflexively, Jormungand closed his eyes and turned his head away to avoid the shrapnel, and when he looked back Thor stood on his own two feet in the crater at the top of the mountain. Mjolnir slapped into his palm, crackling with electricity that looked more like fire than lightning. The energy climbed up Thor's arm and upper chest until it was pulsing over his body in streaks, as he faced down the Midgard Serpent unafraid.

"Is it not said, Jormungand, that haste makes waste?" Thor asked, a new power in his voice unlike any that had been heard before as he spun Mjolnir in his hand. "Or are such trite epigrams beyond the proverbial wisdom of the serpent?" He let his hammer fly, flinging it before him into the air at a speed that was too fast for Jormungand to dodge. It struck the back of the serpent's throat, causing the great creature to gag. Simultaneously Thor called down another bolt of lightning to Mjolnir, and because it was inside Jormungand's mouth, the lightning struck the serpent directly atop his head. There was a powerful explosion of blue light, and the air was filled with the scent of burnt flesh.

Thor called Mjolnir back to his hand as Jormungand reeled from the blow. The serpent's mouth was a cloud of smoke and char, billowing from between his teeth and eclipsing his vision. He screamed in agony, his body writhing on the ground and crushing the jungle trees and foliage beneath it, as he turned and began to slither away. At last! Thor thought. The serpent is hurt! I must press the advantage!

He flew off towards Jormungand, as he had before. But this time, Jormungand was expecting this move from Thor, and raised his body around the Asgardian, constricting him in massive coils. Thor groaned in pain as Jormungand applied indescribable pressure around his torso and body. He could feel his bones straining, the pressure rising in his head, as he was crushed.

"Careless, Thor!" Jormungand taunted. "A powerful blow, but the hammer you wield will not win the victory alone. And in your attack you have dropped your guard." The serpent raised the captive Thor to its face, its breath hot and smelling of rancidity and death. "Farewell, hero! No seat in Valhalla for you! The Valkyries shall never find the body of Thor and bear it thence! Enter the jaws of Jormungand, and despair!"

The serpent unfurled its coils around Thor and flung him into the air, snapping up with its mouth as its jaws closed around the Asgardian's body and its fangs snapped shut. It took a moment to savor victory; the God of Thunder's cape was stuck between two of its teeth. A small annoyance, but hardly the only injury the serpent had suffered as a result of this battle. Ah, well. Thor was dead, and the prophecies broken. What more was there? The mortals who remained in the Golden City were hardly a challenge for Jormungand.

Suddenly a tingling sensation began to fill the serpent's mouth, as if a thousand insects were crawling and scurrying inside his jaws. That scratching feeling turned quickly to pain, as the spaces in between Jormungand's teeth began to glow a bright blue. He only had time for a muffled scream before his mouth exploded in a burst of lightning, that shattered his fangs and sent pieces of bone flying in every direction. Jormungand collapsed to the surface of the Earth, hissing in pain and writhing uncontrollably, as Thor flew out of his now-open mouth into the air above.

The God of Thunder stared down at his opponent, a thousand thoughts whirling in his brain. All that he ever was, all that he might have been, had led him to this moment. The prophecies didn't end well for him; he and Jormungand would die together. The serpent was right. But whether Thor's afterlife was the highest hall of Asgard or an unmarked grave here on Earth, Odin would know that his son was true to his fate.

Thor bowed his head, muttering a silent prayer. I will rid the world of this great evil, no matter what the cost. This, Father, I swear.

As his prayer concluded, a storm began to gather over his head, the skies darkening with inky black clouds. Roaring thunder rumbled overhead as blinding lightning began gathering around him, the glory and might of the God of Thunder revealing itself as never before. Back on the battlefield inside the Golden City, heroes and villains alike shielded their eyes from the sudden flashes of light, illuminating their every action.

Below, Jormungand's mouth was a searing mass of pain, his fangs broken and shattered, his gums bleeding. And now Thor had begun to glow so brightly it hurt his eyes. He would wait no longer. "Make your final peace with your fellow gods, Thor!" he hissed, slowly slithering along the ground meekly, to get in position without drawing Thor's attention. "You were a great foe. We are made of the same coin, you and I, bold fighters with great hearts. Once you might have been my equal, in strength if not in wit. But my power is undiminished, while yours has fled, as has your reason. Even your armor is not sufficient protection against the death thrust of Jormungand!"

As he finished his sentence, he sprang, throwing his body through the air towards Thor, mouth wide open and poison spewing from his throat towards the God of Thunder. Thor did not back down. Having gathered all of his power to him, he rocketed to meet Jormungand's attack with his own, Mjolnir in front of him and the power of a billion billion power plants in his hands. The two legends met with a mighty crack of thunder and a vast explosion, as Thor's lightning lit up the entire area in a release of flashing energy that could be seen for miles around.

The explosion ripped through the air in an expanding cylinder of blazing power, turning any unlucky ships that got too close into a billion glowing splinters that rained down on the ground. No one dared look directly at the explosion; nothing could dim that awesome glare sufficiently to prevent a permanent blindness. The universe seemed filled for an instant, alive with raw untamed power, propelled past the heroes on the ground by liberated energy as powerful as a small artificial sun.

And when the light had gone and their eyes readjusted to normal, there were only three signs of the battle of the ages that had just taken place—first, flecks of black dust floating through the air, all that remained of Jormungand the World Serpent—secondly, a mammoth-sized crater on the ground that marked the final resting place of Thor, son of Odin—and thirdly, Mjolnir, a hammer now silent, its song ended, its tale told.

The prophecy was fulfilled.

Ragnarok was complete.

Loki stumbled backwards, dropping to his knees on the deck of Naglfar as a faint smile grew on his face with every passing second. He could sense it happening, though not in detail—but he could feel the shock waves rippling through the universe. Thor is dead.

The ancient prophecies had been fulfilled. Mjolnir's mighty wielder had surrendered his guardianship of mortals, embraced his doom, and slew the great World Serpent. The world's silence had been broken. Thor had taken nine steps, striding as a giant, before falling to earth.

Now the Nine Realms were primed for their rebirth, and he, Loki Laufeyson, would stand unopposed to rule them all, conquering each through violence and war. Then Asgard would rise to its former glory, enslaving the Nine Realms and more, with Loki on its throne as a wartime king. Everyone would kneel before him.

All that remained was to wipe out the few heroes in the city below. They had been faltering to the V-Series Doombots, but the tide had once again turned in their favor. Now was the time for him to make his appearance, and without his idiot brother to ruin things.

"Malekith," he said, barely able to keep his voice from trembling with evil glee. "Monitor the status of our troops from the air. I will deal with the heroes myself."

The battle was almost evenly matched in the streets of Wakanda. Civilians pushed back hard against the Footbots and aliens, with the Wakandan military at their back, while the heroes took down the bigger, stronger V-Series Doombots. The enemy was losing the city section by section, and slowly withdrawing around Doom's imported garrison, the final stronghold that they had under their control.

The turtles were fighting their way through the south side of the city, pushing back the Footbots as they went. Raph bashed in the skull of a Footbot before charging off down the street. Donnie, who was right behind him, looked up to see a tall apartment building burst into flames. The screams of civilians filled their ears. "Guys, look!" he shouted, pointing.

"We have to evacuate the civilians!" Leo said, running towards the building. "Follow me!"

The turtles followed him, leaving behind Renet, who was busy using her energy knuckledusters to go toe-to-toe with a rock troll. She decked the troll and then looked around for the turtles, spotting them running towards the burning building. "Stop!" she yelled. "Those flames are too hot. You'll never be able to make it."

The turtles stopped their charge, turning back to see her pull out her Time Scepter. "If I can reverse the time flow of the building, the fire should go out."

"Wait," said Raph. "You're gonna rewind the fire like some kind of video cassette? You can do that?"

"Your dated reference notwithstanding, yes," Renet answered, shutting her eyes in concentration. She should be able to dampen the flames, at least, if this worked. Her scepter began to emit a glowing orangish light as the fire inside the building's windows began to flicker as it went out.

Her concentration was shattered as a searing pain ripped through her chest, and her eyes snapped open as an agonizing scream burst through her lips. The Shredder had appeared behind her, and with one fell stab run his gauntlet's blades clean through her chest.

"The heroes stand around with their eyes closed?" he laughed. "Too easy." He pulled his blades out from Renet's chest, leaving her lifeless body to crumple to the street.

"Renet!" Mikey shouted. "NOOOOO!" A wild rage overtook the youngest turtle at the sight of his girlfriend's death, and he dashed blindly forward, nunchuks whirling. "You're gonna pay for that, Shredder!"

The Shredder easily blocked the first strike, Mikey's nunchuk slapping against his armored forearm with a metallic clang. He reached out and caught Mikey's other nunchuk in his hand, pulling back and kicking the orange turtle in the stomach and sending him flying back towards his three brothers. As a parting move, Shredder tossed the nunchuk back towards Mikey carelessly.

"Mikey!" the other three turtles shouted, running forward to check on their brother.

Mikey struggled to his feet, shoving away his brothers' helping hands. "Just go," he said, hot angry tears threatening to leak from his eyes. "Get Renet out of here. I'll handle this."

"That's Shredder's voice, and his moves," said Donnie. "But he must have had one shell of an upgrade."

"Doesn't matter," Raph said. "He's still a man under all that metal. We can take him."

The turtles spread out, each drawing their weapons as they stood in a battle-ready stance. Shredder paced back and forth in the street in front of them, spreading his arms tauntingly. He knew he had the advantage. He'd been more than a match for the turtles before, but in Doom's new armor, he was unstoppable.

"Come then, turtles," he said. "Know your better."

The turtles charged with a yell, each taking a different angle from which to attack. Leo was the first to reach Shredder, dashing past with a katana slash that the Foot Clan leader easily dodged. Raph was next, going for a quick and easy jab with one of his sai. "Know this, jerk!" he yelled.

Shredder ducked under the attack and threw a punch at the red turtle with a closed fist. The turtle's head snapped back and he stumbled backwards, dropping his sai and reeling from the blow. "Cretins!" Shredder roared.

Leo leaped for Shredder, attacking from the air and bringing his katana down on the Foot Clan leader's head. Shredder blocked both katanas with his forearms, flipping up and spin-kicking the blue turtle in the chest and sending him into the wall. Effortlessly, Shredder turned as soon as he had landed, deflecting a swing from Donnie's bo staff.

"He moves too fast!" shouted Donnie. "I can't get a hit on him!"

"An astute observation, Donatello," Shredder said.

"I don't know what 'astute' means," said Mikey, "but you're going down, Oroku Sucky!" He leaped, bringing his nunchuks down towards Shredder's head. Shredder dropped to one leg, blocking the blow with a forearm and at the same time sweeping his leg under Donnie and knocking the purple turtle off his feet.

"Going down?" Shredder asked. "Indeed. Something you mutants should well understand." He dodged a charge from Raph with lightning speed, leaping to avoid Mikey's nunchuks sweeping at his feet and spinning in the air to kick Leonardo's chin before he landed. The suit was enhancing his senses, speeding up his reaction times. He felt superhuman.

"You have been led like lambs to the slaughter," Shredder taunted, performing another spin kick that caught Donnie in the side of the head, as Shredder twisted in midair and struck Mikey across the back of the head, sending both turtles sprawling. "You guilelessly follow your friends to their doom, pathetic excuses for heroes who sleep through your own executions."

Raph charged with a wild yell, jabbing with his sai in a move that Shredder blocked almost too easily before whirling and slicing a gash across the red turtle's face with his claws. With all four turtles on the ground in pain, Shredder loomed over them. They had grown sloppy since he had fought them last. Nothing even close to the challenge he deserved. He would find joy in killing them just because of the significance of such an act, but not because they put up a worthy fight. "Shall we continue?" he asked.

"Yes, let's!" a voice came from behind him. Leo had gotten up first, and leaped at Shredder with katanas raised over his head.

"Ah, the failed leader," Shredder said wistfully. He moved as Leo brought his katanas down, catching each of the blue turtle's blades between the claws on each of his hand. He threw his fist forward, punching Leo in the chest and sending the turtle flying over the heads of his brothers further down the street. "The first to attack, the first to fall," Shredder noted, striding confidently towards the turtle.

Leo struggled to get up, having lost his katanas after Shredder's punch. Shredder was on top of him in moments, his hands around the turtle's throat. "Fall?" Leo gagged, choking, trying to beat down on Shredder's forearms and loose his grip around Leo's throat. "We're just … getting started, Shredder."

Shredder's eyes gleamed inside the helmet of his new suit as he lifted Leo up one-handed into the air by his neck. "I promise you, so am I," he sneered, watching the turtle squirm in his grip.

"Promise?!" Donnie's shriek of rage reached his ears moments before a silver gleam flew across his vision and he was struck in a slash that threw him into the air down the street. In midair he flipped, landing on his feet with the grace of some exotic cat. Donnie stood by Leo's body, bo staff raised with the naginata blade extended. "I made a promise too, Shredder," Donnie spat, spinning his bo staff until it became a blinding blur in his hands. "A promise to get home at any cost when Leo and I were stranded in space. A promise to never let you win, whatever the cost!"

"You waste your breath with all this talk of promises, turtle," said Shredder, catching Donnie's first strike in his hand and yanking the bo staff away from the purple turtle. "A pity. This new anger leaves you unbalanced, and unhinged." He struck Donnie in the face, sending him stumbling back before whirling and striking the turtle with his own bo staff. Donnie hit the ground a few feet away from Leo.

"Pitiful," Shredder said, tossing the bo staff to the side.

Meanwhile, Raph had climbed to his feet now, and faced Shredder down with sais in hand. "You're looking pretty smug, Shredhead," he said. "Time to wipe it off your ugly burnt face."

They circled each other before Raph made the first move, throwing a series of jabs and kicks with his sai and trying to get in close underneath Shredder's punches. Finally Shredder locked his gauntlet blades with Raph's sai, and the two warriors stood face to face, each pushing against the other. "You possess the same burning spirit your father once owned," Shredder told him, "before he surrendered to weakness and compassion. A spirit I will welcome into the Foot Clan, once he is gone."

"Yeah?" Raph grunted. He brought his knee up into Shredder's torso, sending the Foot Clan leader stumbling back and breaking their weapon lock. "Over my dead body," growled Raph, dropping low in a fighting stance.

Shredder looked disdainfully down at the red turtle. "So be it," he said. "But understand my offer was sincere. You will regret so foolishly tossing it away."

With a yell Raph flung one of his sai at the Shredder like a giant dart, directly at the Foot Clan leader's head. Shredder moved slightly and caught the sai in his hand by the handle, flinging it back at Raph with a speed so fast the red turtle didn't have time to react. It buried itself in Raph's leg, tearing back open the recently-healed muscle and sinew. Raph dropped to one knee with a shriek of pain, rocking back and forth and holding the embedded sai in both hands, gritted teeth holding back cries of pain.

Seeing Donnie and Leo lying stunned on the ground, and Raph bleeding from his leg, Mikey's vision clouded over in a fog of red rage. "No more!" he screamed, launching himself at Shredder feet-first. His left foot met the Foot Clan leader's vibranium kabuto helmet, snapping his head back with a grunt. Mikey pressed the advantage, whipping his nunchuks until they were circular blurs of motion in his hands as he attacked Shredder. "I'm sick of you!" the orange turtle roared, tears of hot anger leaking from behind his mask. "Always hurting people!"

Shredder thrust his blades out, but Mikey swiftly ducked under the jab and brought his balled fist up hard into Shredder's midsection. The vibranium armor plates cut into his knuckles sharply enough to break the skin and start to barely draw blood, but his punch still managed to knock some of the wind out of Shredder. Mikey backflipped away as Shredder held his stomach in his hands, trying to catch his breath back. "Always hurting my family!" Mikey finished, spinning his nunchuks before catching them and holding still, waiting for Shredder's next move.

Shredder grunted, standing upright. Mikey packed quite a punch. "I did not expect such fire from you."

"I'm not trying to impress you, Shredder," said Mikey. "I'm trying to stop you!" He lunged again, but this time Shredder was ready. Like Donatello, Mikey's anger clouded his focus. And he was easily dealt with. He flipped the orange turtle over his head, and the second Mikey hit the ground Shredder was on top of him, dealing a flurry of powerful punches to the turtle's head and upper torso with his armored gauntlets.

"Good," Shredder taunted, watching with a sadistic glee as the turtle slowly lost consciousness to his blows. "Because I am rather unimpressed."

"Saki!"

The cry came from behind him, the voice of an age-old enemy that had imprinted itself in his mind. Shredder stood up, getting off of Michelangelo's limp form, turning slowly to face the mutant rat dressed in red ninja robes and dual-wielding a green crystalline walking stick and a katana.

"Get away," Splinter snarled, "from my sons!"

The mutant rat sensei charged at Shredder, taking a few moments to regard the man's new armored suit. He had learned, over the years, to never underestimate the Shredder, and so he struck fast and hard, trying to catch the Foot Clan leader off-balance and end the fight quickly. But the new mech suit had augmented Shredder's strength and speed, and he easily ducked and dodged Splinter's attacks.

It was only when Shredder had caught Splinter's katana in between his gauntlet blades that the rat realized Shredder was only playing with him now. Toying with him. And they were both fully aware. Shredder broke their weapons lock, forcing Splinter backwards. The rat quickly caught his balance and assumed a ninjutsu stance.

"You will not prevail, Hamato Yoshi," said the Shredder, advancing menacingly with blades scraping against the ground in a shower of sparks and the screech of metal on stone. "Your defeat is inevitable. You know this."

He skipped backwards as Splinter slashed at his midsection with the katana, trying to keep the distance between them from shrinking. But Shredder was too fast, moving past the attack to strike Splinter in the chin with a hard punch to the chin. As Splinter reeled from the blow, Shredder extended his leg in a kick to the rat's midsection, knocking him several feet backwards onto his back in the street.

"Your body is old," Shredder said. "It weakens now. It fails you." He reared his arms back, flinging his suit's detachable two-foot blades at Splinter like a cloud of deadly knives. Splinter rolled on the ground, avoiding the blades as best he could while struggling to get to his feet. One of the blades managed to nick his tail before burying itself in the pavement under their feet. Shredder raised his arms, and his suit's gauntlets began to hum and glow a blue energy as they magnetically summoned the blades back into his suit. Once he had recovered all of his blades, he ejected each one, making him look like some sort of terrifying metal demon with bladed wings.

Shredder spoke the truth. Splinter was already feeling exhausted from the battle outside and now in the city walls, while Shredder seemed fresh as ever. Every single cell in Splinter's body begged for him to quit, to surrender to the pain and the fatigue. But he ignored their pleas. Instead, he focused on the images of his four sons, lying broken, beaten, and battered in the street under the Shredder's boots. He thought of all that this monster had done to his family, of the pain and fear he had brought into their lives. And the sting of the memories pushed him upward, past his own pain and fears and back into the fight.

He stood up, spinning his green crystalline walking stick before holding it in front of him like a spear. "You were saying, Saki?" he asked.

Behind the vibranium kabuto, Shredder's eyes gleamed maliciously. "Ah, Yoshi. Stubborn as ever. You waste your energy, but so be it. Let us continue." He thrust outward with his gauntlet blades, and Splinter leaned back, using his tail to hold himself up as he ducked underneath the attack, leaving his feet free to kick Shredder in the chest and force him back. Splinter pressed hard, bringing his walking staff down in a blow that Shredder easily blocked with his forearms.

Splinter searched deep inside for the strength required to end the duel, to rid the world of the Shredder's unyielding terror. He even managed to land a hit on the Foot Clan leader, jabbing him in the face with the tip of his staff. Shredder fell to one knee and Splinter leaped on him, trying to pin his staff against the Shredder's neck in a choke position.

But in the end, it was not enough. Shredder blocked the blow with one arm and brought his other fist down hard against Splinter's staff, shattering it into fragments of green stone. "Enough!" he roared, slapping Splinter's chin with the palm of his hand and forcing him backward. "This has gone on long enough. No more games. Just blood."

A quick slash across the chest cut through Splinter's robes and deep into his skin, and a leg sweep knocked him flat on his back. Shredder leaped on top of him, and Splinter grunted as the weight of Shredder's new suit applied its full force onto his chest. He felt a few ribs crack under the pressure.

"Now you will truly die as you lived," Shredder growled, "as a filthy rat." He ejected the blades on his right arm gauntlet, grabbing his old opponent's neck in his other hand and raising his right fist to stab him. "Goodbye, Hamato Yoshi."

Splinter knew he had to accept his fate. The best he could hope for was a warrior's death. But to leave now, with the ones he loved facing such unspeakable dangers, he felt as if he'd failed not only as a warrior, but as a father. "My sons," he whispered, shutting his eyes, "forgive me."

Because the rat's eyes were closed, he did not see Shredder pause, delaying the execution with a moment's hesitation as a figure at the end of the street caught his eye. Nick Fury stood about sixty feet away, clutching a Stoner 63 light machine gun in his hands. "Mr. Saki," he called, in a commanding tone. "Step away from the rat."

Shredder laughed, spreading his arms as he stood and turned to face his opponent, displaying all of his suit's blades in a show of force. "What can you do?" he scoffed. "You are but a man with a gun."

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Director stood his ground, muttering three words under his breath: "Eat lead, motherf*cker." The Stoner 63 erupted in a blaze of noise and light as bullets flew from its barrel at just over 3,000 feet per second, colliding with the Shredder's suit. The vibranium deflected most of the bullets, but the force of the shots sent the Shredder stumbling backwards over the edge of a crater in the street, and he fell, rolling down the steep dirt crater wall to the ground below.

From behind Fury, Phil Coulson and the rest of the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. advanced, checking on the unconscious turtles. Hunter dropped to one knee and placed two fingers on Leo's neck, checking for a pulse. "He's alive," he called back to the others.

"They all are," said Mackenzie, having just checked Mikey's pulse.

The orange turtle was slowly coming to, and in his dazed state he swung out blindly at the agents. "Offa me! Who—"

"It's alright, Mike," said Donnie, having crawled over to Mikey and calming his little brother. "They're on our side."

Mikey, Donnie, and Leo were okay for the most part, but Raph was not in the greatest shape. He sat with his back against a crumbling wall, holding tightly to the handle of his own sai, blade buried in his upper thigh where Shredder had thrown it. Simmons, the medic of the agents squad, was at his side in a moment, followed quickly by the others.

"Raph!" Donnie shouted. "Are you okay?"

"What does it look like?" Raph grunted. "It's a lot of blood, but it doesn't hurt, that badly."

"That's because you're going into shock," Simmons said. "Donatello, lift his legs. Raphael, I need you to lay down flat on your back."

Raph complied, as Donnie held his brother's leg slightly suspended in the air so his heart was below the knife wound, and blood wouldn't pump out faster. Simmons examined the wound for a moment. "Looks like he's struck a vein."

Donnie agreed. "Darker tint blood, oozing slowly, no spurting."

Raph rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you're so fascinated by my injury, but could you get this thing out of my leg?"

After sterilizing her hands, Simmons applied a tourniquet to Raph's leg before carefully removing the sai and soaking up the blood that came pouring out after the knife had been taken out. Once the bleeding stopped she started cleaning the wound. "We'll have to get him back to the Bus," she told Melinda May, who was watching over her shoulder. "I'll be able to finish treating the wound there."

Meanwhile, Leo had moved to Splinter's side. "Father?" he asked. "Can you walk?"

Splinter tried to rise but collapsed weakly into Leo's arms, his injuries too great. "I … I do not think so, my son," he gasped. "My body is …"

But Leo had heard enough. "Donnie!" he shouted. "We're gonna have to carry him!"

"Whatever," Donnie called back, still holding Raph's leg while Simmons worked on the red turtle's injury. "Let's just do it fast before this gets any …"

His sentence cut off as he looked up and saw Shredder climbing out of the crater. " … worse," he finished. "Aw, sewer apples."

Shredder reared his arms back, flinging his gauntlet blades at the group of heroes from about twenty feet away. Thinking fast, Quake raised her hands, using her powers to rapidly vibrate the air molecules in front of them and then shape the air into a physical force-field. The Shredder's blades bounced harmless off of Quake's force field projections, and he recalled them back to his suit before putting his head down and charging towards them. Phil Coulson moved forward next to Quake, quickly firing a concussive blast from his Destroyer Gun that exploded on impact and stopped the Shredder in his tracks. Quake hit him next, with her own wave of vibrating air strong enough to send the Shredder flying into the air. He tumbled head over heels as he flew sky-high, landing a few city blocks away into the side of an apartment building with enough force to propel him through three stories before landing in a heap of rubble.

Warning signs of damage appeared inside the kabuto helmet of Shredder's suit, but the Foot Clan leader ignored them, as well as the feeling of blood seeping into his body glove, as he forced himself to rise. As he did, Doctor Doom contacted him via comm. "Saki. The time has come. Have your forces withdraw from the city and return to New York."

"Do you think me a fool, Doom?" Shredder yelled. "You would keep Loki, and let the two of you receive all the glory for the battle fought today? The Foot Clan has invested far too much to turn back now! We have but exhausted all our own forces for your venture. Are we to receive no profit?"

"You had the turtles within your grasp, Saki," Doom shot back. "And nearly had them, if not for the interference of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team. But the time for petty squabbles is past. The procedure is now complete. And I have more power than has ever before been possible to humankind. All who stay for what is to come will perish, and I still have need of your services."

Footbots appeared in the hole in the ceiling, dropping down to make sure the Shredder was ok. They were led by Fishface. "Master Shredder," he said. "The city is being overrun. What are your orders?"

"We are done here," the Shredder said. "Order the remaining Footbots to withdraw to the airships, and contact Bradford as well." Fishface bowed and headed off, with a few of the Footbots following him. "But Doom," Shredder warned, his voice dropping to a threatening tone, "keep the turtles alive and bring them to me when you have finished here. Their heads are mine to take, and no one else has claim."

"You have my word, Saki," said Doom, before the transmission ended.

Doom's garrison at the center of the city had become the final stand for the alien army, backed up by Doom's endless robotic forces. Doombot after Doombot marched forward from the giant metal doors, met by a wave of heroes charging forward, trying to push inside the doors and take the garrison down. The Citadel had already been secured, and the Wakandan Medical Center safely retaken from the enemies. The garrison was the only place left in the city that the Masters of Evil could be hiding.

"I am Groot!" Groot roared, scampering over the battlefield on his six legs, impaling Dark Elves and using his stumpy arms to throw Doombots sky high, his mutated form striking unease into the hearts of the enemy. Rocket sat on his shoulder, laughing maniacally as he let loose with his blaster cannon and sprayed the area in front of them with laser fire.

Black Panther and Shuri were pushing back a trio of Doombots using their vibranium technology when a giant shadow loomed overhead. "One side, Your Highnesses!" called Ant-Man from above them, who had used his suit to increase his size and turn himself into a giant-sized man. He stepped over the Wakandan king and princess, bringing his foot down on top of a Doombot and crushing it under his heel like a pesty bug before continuing his march towards the garrison.

Spider-Man was rappelling off of one of the Ravagers ships by a line of webbing, which was going in for a strafing run against the garrison with three other starfighters. As they got closer, he spotted Ant-Man's giant form and let go of the webbing, firing another line as he fell so that he caught onto the side of Ant-Man's arm. Ant-Man was reaching out towards an incoming Harrow ship, so Spider-Man used the momentum of Ant-Man's swing to arc up and over the battlefield, landing on the group and immediately throwing himself at a Dark Elf pulling the pin on a black hole grenade.

Daredevil sprinted past, throwing his billy clubs around the legs of a Doombot and tripping it up, continuing his charge. Drax, meanwhile, spotted the Doombot on the ground and looked at Power Man. The two heroes made eye contact before charging the robot, Drax grabbing its legs and Power Man grabbing it by its shoulders. They swung it back and forth, with Power Man counting down, "One … two … three!" On "three" they released the Doombot, flinging it into a group of Frost Giants and knocking them all down like bowling pins.

Elsewhere, Iron Fist threw a chi punch through the chest of a Footbot, fighting alongside Gamora who was busy dueling a Footbot. Suddenly from behind them someone shouted: "Heads up!" and they both dove out of the way as Slash came barreling through, leaping on top of a larger V-Series Doombot. The bulky robot rocked back and forth, staggering under the weight of Slash suddenly piggybacking off of him and accidentally crushing a Doombot in the process. Slash dropped to the ground, and the V-Series Doombot had time to slightly turn its head before a massive swing from the mutant snapping turtle's morning star sent him flying.

Mister Fantastic and Captain America had made it inside the doorway of the garrison, trying to clear a path for the other heroes. Mister Fantastic stretched his arms out, wrapping them around a pair of Dark Elves and smashing the two together so they headbutted each other before dropping each of the unconscious warriors. "Captain!" he shouted. "Behind you!"

Cap turned just in time to see Rahzar spring at him from the shadows with a snarl. He spun on his heel, raising his shield just in time to block the attack. Razor-sharp claws cut across the vibranium surface with a shriek as Rahzar hit the floor, crouching a few feet away.

Cap reared his arm back, throwing his shield at the nightmarish-looking mutant. Rahzar ducked, and the shield flew over his head and down the hall. "You're fast," he laughed. "For a human." He pounced, pinning Cap to the wall by his neck in a sudden blow that cracked the concrete wall. "Which isn't near good en—"

Rahzar was cut off as the shield slammed into him from behind, having ricocheted off of the walls of the hallway back towards them. The metal disc hit him in the back of the head, stunning him and knocking him forward into the wall. He hit the wall hard enough to knock himself out, and Cap shoved the unconscious mutant off of him, gasping for breath and rubbing his throat.

"Are you all right?" asked Mister Fantastic.

"Yeah, I think so," said Cap.

Cap's earpiece buzzed suddenly as Iron Man radioed him from the skies above. "Hey Cap, we've got a lot of airships leaving the garrison. Looks like the Foot Clan is getting the hell outta Dodge."

Cap glanced down at the unconscious Rahzar. "I think we just ran into their rear security," he said. "Let them go. We need to finish taking down the garrison. Too many of our boys are getting hurt."

"I've got eyes on Loki," came another voice. It was Captain Marvel. "Top level of the garrison. Inside some kind of command room. He's got two Dark Elves with him, and no one else."

Outside the garrison, Karai, April, and Shinigami were pursuing a group of the fleeing Footbots. "We need a way up there now," Shinigami said, throwing her kunai in a razor-sharp slice that severed a Footbot's head from its neck. "End this quickly, before more are hurt."

Without warning Mona's Salamandrian starfighter pulled up in the air behind them, the sudden roar of spacecraft engines startling them slightly. Hovering over their heads, the spaceship opened fire, cutting down the fleeing Footbots in a spray of blasterfire.

"Climb on!" shouted Mona. "We must avenge G'Throkka and end the life of the Asgardian tyrant!"

Karai hopped on and Shinigami and April behind her, all three women clinging to the hull of the Salamandrian ship as it rose through the air until it was on level with the top of Doom's garrison. Mona opened fire with her ship's cannons, punching through the glass windows of the garrison's command center like—well, like glass. April, Shinigami, and Karai leaped through, landing inside. Karai rolled on the cold steel floor and drew her wakizashi short sword, with April on her left and Shinigami on her right. Behind them, the cockpit to Mona's ship hissed and rose open, and she stood, drawing her energy blade as she faced down Loki.

"Coward!" the Salamandrian warrior shouted. "Now you will pay for G'Throkka's spilt blood with your own!"

She jumped from the ship, landing in front of Karai and between the three women and Loki. Behind them, more of the female heroes had seen them and were coming to the rescue. Captain Marvel flew in, carrying Okoye in one hand and Shuri in her other in a Spartan grip, setting both women down on their feet as she landed. Storm used a whirlwind to propel herself and Lady Sif in from the ground through the broken window, and Scarlet Witch used her own powers to leap up through the air and land next to both of them. All ten women faced Loki down, powers at the ready.

"You betrayed Asgard, Laufeyson," Sif accused.

Loki smiled, unmoving in the face of Sif's words. "Oh, ye of little faith. I fight only for its survival. Against all who would stand opposed. And now, it seems, against all of you."

"You really think you can beat us?" asked Captain Marvel.

"I have every advantage," said Loki.

"You don't have friends," noted Shinigami. "Or a sense of fashion."

Loki grinned, chuckling slightly at the witch's insult as twin knives slid from his sleeves into his palms.

"Earth's beaten you before, Loki," April added.

"Only because the Avengers interfered," Loki shot back.

Karai switched her short sword to a reverse grip and took a fighting stance. "Now it's our turn," she said, and they charged.

Each of these women was a skilled combatant in their own regard; however, none of them had ever fought alongside each other, and so each had to wait for one to finish their attack before they could attack. And Loki was as skilled in hand-to-hand combat as any of them. He easily parried Okoye's attacks, leaping over Shinigami's low-sweeping kusarigama before locking blades with Karai.

"Really, I had expected much more," he said, ducking under a shot from Shuri's vibranium gauntlets and backing up.

"What did you expect from us, tyrant?" Mona Lisa cried, pressing her attack with a series of thrusts with her sword that Loki blocked almost effortlessly.

"Flattery," Loki said, ducking under Mona's blade. "Service. Worship."

"And I thought April was a diva," said Karai, as she leaped over Mona to strike at Loki. But again, Loki was just too quick, moving around her attacks before delivering a knee to her stomach that caught her off guard.

"Thanks, Karai," April said sarcastically, moving at Loki duel-wielding her tessen fan and her tanto short sword to keep him off of Karai while she recovered. Loki parried her attacks, slicing through the sleeve of her outfit that left her clothing torn but her body unhurt. Before he could do much else, a lightning bolt fired from Storm's hand sent him into the far wall.

He climbed to his feet, grinning as the women advanced. "Now, this is a bit more of a challenge," he said. Suddenly he shimmered and split in half, each half becoming its own full-grown Loki.

The heroes stopped, startled at this display, as both Lokis shimmered in a burst of greenish gold, multiplying over and over until the room was full of Loki's, each holding twin daggers, each grinning evilly at the women heroes, surrounding them and forcing them to circle up back-to-back.

"Don't fall for it!" Scarlet Witch said. "They're just mind illusions!"

"But they're so real!" said April. "How do we know which one is real?"

"Let's find out!" Shuri shouted, charging up her vibranium gauntlets with blue energy and blasting sonic bursts at the illusions, melting them away one by one. The other heroes followed, attacking the fake Lokis or defending against their attack. When each one had been hit, or exposed, it shimmered and disappeared, until there was only one Loki left, standing in front of all of them wearing his golden horned crown and holding a long golden scepter in his hand.

Sif paled. "Oh, no," she whispered.

"Oh, yes!" Loki howled with laughter. "The late, great, Odin's spear. Sceptre of Asgard and symbol of its rule. And a most fitting weapon indeed, for King Loki!"

"You dare?" Sif spat, choking in a fit of blinding rage. "Show respect, cur! He was your king! Your own father!"

"A father who stole me from my family after slaughtering them all, only to snub me in favor of his birth son!" Loki shouted. "King of a realm that thought me dung under their boots!" The staff shimmered in his hand, turning a glossy ebony in color, with the tip glowing a vibrant emerald green. "Well, now the staff of office is mine, dear Lady! And remade to my liking, to murder you all!"

He thrust the staff forward, firing a powerful beam of energy from the re-colored Gungnir that tore through Storm's body and hit Scarlet Witch, who was standing directly behind her. Both women died without a sound, melting away as they were completely vaporized by the blast.

Their death caught the others off guard, and there was a moment of frozen surprise before Shuri attacked Loki, yelling as she blasted away with her sonic cannons and immobilizing the Asgardian for a moment as the other women ran in hoping to disarm him or get this new powerful weapon away from him. But he was almost unstoppable with the spear in his hand. He slammed Gungnir's hilt into April's jaw hard enough to knock her out, and hit Shuri with a blast of dark energy that launched her out of the window and into a long fall to the ground below.

"Stand back!" Captain Marvel shouted. The other women backed away as she went binary mode, her fists lighting up with orangish-yellow cosmic energy that spread over the rest of her body as she produced a massive amount of energy to reach this state. She threw her hands forward and unleashed a powerful photon blast that knocked Loki head over heels into the far wall.

Loki struggled to his feet as Captain Marvel fired another stream of energy at Loki, her eyes blazing with pure fiery power. But Loki was prepared this time. He raised Gungnir in front of him, angling it slightly towards Captain Marvel so that her photon beam struck the spear's tip. Gungnir's strong metal alloy diffracted Captain Marvel's attack, splitting her single beam of energy into five separate cosmic beams. Loki angled the spear in his hands, twisting it so that the diffracted beams swept through the room like lasers. "Watch out!" Shinigami shouted, as the women ducked and leaped over the deadly beams of energy. One of them hit Okoye, who screamed as she was instantly vaporized by Captain Marvel's beams.

Scarlet Witch's scream of pain caught Captain Marvel's attention, and she immediately stopped before Loki could use her to hurt any more of her allies. But with her binary state deactivated, she was vulnerable, and Loki launched a stream of his own dark energy from Gungnir that struck Captain Marvel and sent her flying into the wall. She couldn't get up in time before Loki was upon her, a knee on her chest as he thrusted at her with Gungnir. She grunted, trying desperately to conjure up enough cosmic power to fight back. As Loki raised his weapon in both hands and brought its point down, she reached up and grabbed the handle, trying to push back and keep him from killing her. But, with an evil grin, he locked eye contact with her as he stabbed through her heart and took her life.

"You monster!" Sif screamed.

Loki smiled. Drunk with power, he turned to face his Asgardian ex-friend even as Captain Marvel's corpse slid down the wall. "You're right," he said. "I am a monster. And I've done bad. I've done things you cannot even imagine. Horrible, evil, messy things. And I've loved every. Damn. Minute."

Sif blinked back angry tears, clearing her vision for a duel with Loki. "To think as a child I venerated you," she said, voice trembling with emotion.

"And as an adult, you will obey me," Loki said.

"Hardly." Sif charged, locking her sword with Loki's staff. "As an adult, I've outgrown you."

Both Asgardians were capable duelists, but Loki had the upper hand in this fight. He was the first to land a block ,smashing Sif's chin in with the hilt of his staff and forcing her back. She quickly recovered and used a dueling move to get inside his defensive line and push him back against the wall, with her blade inches from his throat and stopped only by Gungnir's long handle in the way. He pushed back, pushing her off and elbowing her in the chest.

He threw another elbow which Sif blocked with her own forearm, but Loki twisted his arm around hers and brought his arm up, bending her elbow the wrong way and snapping the joint. Sif screamed in pain as Loki headbutted her, his golden helm cutting into the skin of her forehead and snapping her head back as he followed up with a kick to her midsection.

Now it was Sif's turn to hit her back against the wall, Loki's spear aimed at her throat. That infuriatingly malevolent smile hadn't left his face, as if he were amusingly play-fighting a child. "Your fire is flickering, my lady," he taunted.

Sif raised her leg and smashed it into Loki's chest, kicking him back. "I may flicker, but I will not fade," she promised, switching her sword over to a one-handed grip. This would reduce her options, but with her left arm broken, she didn't have much of a choice. She went for a strike that Loki immediately side-stepped, using her momentum to flip her head over heels onto her back on the floor. The wind left her lungs a second before the tip of Gungnir buried itself in her chest, puncturing her lungs.

As the life faded from Sif's eyes, Loki dropped to one knee, lowering himself to her level and locking eyes with her. "So said the candle to the wind," he said, as he stood and withdrew his weapon from Sif's lifeless corpse.

April, who was lying on the floor losing consciousness from Loki's earlier attack, saw him kill Sif and knew the other three—Karai, Shinigami, and Mona Lisa—stood almost no chance. Her last action before her world narrowed into a shadowy tunnel and everything went black was to reach into her pocket and press the distress signal button on her T-Phone. Maybe the turtles would be able to reach them in time, before it was too late.

Meanwhile, Loki had his hands full with Mona Lisa, who had leaped for him as he taunted a dying Sif. She locked weapons with the god of mischief, whirling in a spin attack and forcing him to back up out of reach of her tail spikes. "I'll stuff that grin with your entrails!" she shrieked.

"You are skilled, Salamandrian," Loki said, pressing an attack of his own that Mona blocked with her energy sword. "Serving me will save your world."

"My people are not bargaining chips, fool," Mona said fiercely, grabbing Gungnir and trying to wrest it from Loki's grip.

Loki grunted before bringing his elbow down on the back of Mona's neck, loosing her grip on his weapon. "Then I need not bargain," he said, slamming her in the gut with the butt of his spear and forcing her to her knees before placing his spear tip against her forehead.

Mona locked eyes with him, refusing to back down even in the face of death. "My people will not submit to you," she spat. "We choose death before dishonor."

"Then die," Loki said simply, about to blast her into cinders when a furious yell from behind him caused him to turn and parry a strike from Shinigami. "Apologies, but it is too late to curry my favor," he said.

"I want your head, Loki," Shinigami snarled.

Loki smirked. "You will have neither, my dear. A pity your skills do not match your fortitude. You are both children, old enough to be taught their place."

Karai and Shinigami fought well against Loki. Both girls had spent years training together, and were a duo to be reckoned with. Loki found himself being pressed hard, and knew he had to do something to take down one of them. So he forced Shinigami back before maneuvering behind Karai and stabbing her in the leg with a knife.

"No! Karai!" Shinigami shouted, moving quickly to protect her friend by swinging her kusarigama in a wide arc that forced Loki away from her. She kept up the ranged attacks, using both the kusarigama blade and the magic Hypno Stone at its end to try and land a hit. Loki managed to evade most of them, but on one occasion the Hypno Stone struck him in the shoulder painfully, and Shinigami moved in quickly for a finishing move.

She activated the claws on her gloves, hoping to bury them in Loki's neck. But he reached up and grabbed hold of her wrists, turning and pushing her against the wall, viciously slamming her into the metal wall by the back of her head twice, three times, then four, before she flopped over unconscious with blood dripping from a nasty-looking gash in her forehead.

"Shini!" Karai screamed, yanking the knife from her leg and flinging it at Loki with lightning speed. The Asgardian dodged the incoming knife as Karai launched herself at him, swinging her sword in a high arc aimed for his neck.

"Saki's adoptive daughter," Loki noted.

Karai bristled at being called Shredder's daughter, but she refused to show Loki. "And the Foot's most venerable assassin."

"So I've heard," Loki said. "I've heard quite a lot of your family and clan. And let us be clear; I don't fear you, ninja. You are almost worthy."

Karai pushed Loki back. "You think I'm going to join you after you killed all my friends?" she shouted.

Loki laughed. "Oh no, you misunderstand. You are almost worthy to die by my hand. And die you shall."

"We'll see about that," Karai growled, sweeping her leg in a kick that forced Loki to sidestep while she moved in with her katana. She backflipped over Loki's staff jab, throwing a few ninja stars as she went that the Asgardian avoided effortlessly.

"Now I see why you never progressed past second in command," noted Loki. "The Shredder is a much better leader."

"He leads through lies and fear!" Karai yelled.

"Both are the pillars of order, little ninja," scoffed Loki, as he fired a stream of energy from Gungnir that Karai flipped past. She went for a slash with her sword, but Loki moved underneath them and kicked at one of her shins, knocking her off-balance long enough to send her sprawling with the hilt of his spear.

She skidded across the floor. Struggling to rise, she reached for her sword, unable to find it after Loki had sent her flying. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in her side, a loud and bright pain as Loki pounced and gored her with his weapon's point. She screamed as the white-hot flash of pain radiated through her entire abdomen and torso.

Loki pulled the sceptre from her body and left her lying on the ground, her vision fading as the taste of her own blood filled her mouth. She barely registered Loki's presence as the Asgardian walked around her in circles, gloating. "I've done a lot of travelling lately. Had the pleasure of visiting many, many heroes. And killing them. They're fierce little creatures. I even took down their names before I killed them. One thing is consistent about them, though. They always fight till the end."

"This isn't . . . the end . . ." Karai gurgled, choking on her own blood as she forced every muscle in her body to try and get up. "Donatello . . . Leonardo . . . my brothers, they'll find a way . . ."

"Stop." Loki's boot came down on her stomach viciously, and she screamed in pain. "You hear that?" Loki asked. They both listened to the sound of battle outside, of men shouting and dying. Even up here, at the top of Doom's garrison, they could still hear the fight in the Golden City below. "You mortals think of birth as loud, and death as silent. Things start with a bang, end with a whimper. But I'll tell you a secret. See, endings . . ." He bent down and pulled Karai's chin up, gazing into the kunoichi's eyes. "Endings are the loudest of all."

He raised his scepter, and Karai shut her eyes, praying for a swift and painless death. Then, from out of nowhere, a whizzing noise filled the air as a sai flew through the air and struck Loki's scepter hand. The Asgardian cried out in pain as he dropped his weapon, his hand pinned to the floor by the sai.

Raph came leaping through the window, his foot connecting with Loki's head in a flying kick that sent the Asgardian's neck snapping backwards. Now between Karai and Loki, Raph took a fighting stance. "Should have left my family alone," he growled.

"And miss all the fun?" Loki asked.

"Now you answer to me," said Raph. Behind him, Loki saw a Ravager ship hovering in front of the window Raph had just jumped through, with Leo, Donnie, and Mikey all standing on it. The turtles jumped through the window on cue, sending glass shards flying as they surrounded Karai, a wall of mutant turtle between her and Loki with weapons drawn.

In the air outside, Loki noticed the Dark Elf Harrow vessels flying past, pursued by what remained of the Salamandrian and Ravager fighters. The smaller Harrow fighters were joining up with the Ark, a massive T-shaped warship used by the Dark Elves as a cruiser. Loki was baffled by the Ark's appearance. What was Malekith doing? The Dark Elves were his most skilled infantrymen, and he could not afford to lose them now. The turtles would only be a waste of time for him at this point.

He returned his gaze to the four turtle brothers and spread his arms in a reassuring gesture. "I think not, mortals," he said. "We shall meet again." With a mock bow, he disappeared in a golden shimmer. The sai clattered to the ground.

The turtles rushed to the sides of their friends, checking on them. Karai noticed Raph's leg was bandaged again, and looked at him in confusion. "What happened to you?"

"Shredder," Raph grunted. "Not a fan of his new look."

"Are you okay?" Karai asked.

"Meh," said Raph, shrugging. "I can take a hit." He helped Karai to her feet, throwing her arm over his shoulder to support her. "You oughtta know," he added. "You gave me plenty of hits back on the New York rooftops."

Karai groaned, half in pain and half at Raph's comment. "How many times do I have to apologize for trying to kill you?"

"Once would be nice," said Raph.

Karai considered it. "Hmmm. Nah."

"Leo!" Donnie called. "April's alive."

"So is Shinigami," added Mikey.

Leo, however, was frozen in front of Sif's lifeless body on the ground, unmoving, unresponsive. "Leo?" asked Raph, puzzled by his brother's behavior.

But Donnie knew. "Leo …" he said softly, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

But the blue turtle shoved it off, wiping his eyes before saying shakily, "Gather up everyone. We have to get back down to the battle. We can't let Loki get away." He waved at the Ravager ship outside, which was being piloted by Yondu himself, and the Kree moved his ship into position for them to board.

There is a space that is not a space. A space between the Nine Realms. The journey depends on the traveller. Sometimes it is as epic in scope as the stars themselves. Sometimes the road is as hard as a vast desert. And sometimes, as it was in the case of Thor, it is very long, and very cold.

Thor stumbled along through a vast blizzard, rubbing his shoulders and shivering. The wind bit into his skin as he walked, almost colder than the wastelands of Helheim. Dazed and lost, unable to move or feel, and barely able to think, he was almost ready to fall facedown in the snow and wait for the inevitable when he spotted a shimmering, spectral figure in front of him. As he lurched forward, he recognized the figure as none other than—"Father?"

Indeed it was Odin, standing before Thor in all his formality, his eye twinkling as the gruff fatherly smile that Thor had grown up knowing covered his face. "Thor," he said, and his shimmering form became solid. "My child. My greatest accomplishment."

"Father, it is so good to see you," Thor said, holding back tears as he fell into Odin's arms and was relieved to feel that his father was a physical being, not some ghost or mirage tormenting with his mind. Odin wrapped his arms around Thor, holding him tightly. They pulled apart after some time, and Thor sniffled, hiding his emotion as he asked, "But how are you here? And not in Valhalla?"

"I am where I need to be, Thor," Odin said. He turned and started to walk away, and Thor followed. "I am an old man," Odin went on. "Foolish and fond, and quick with my temper. There are times I show little wisdom. You of all know better. And yet—" He turned back to Thor and pointed at his golden eyepatch "—here there is wisdom. The strange wisdom of an injury sustained aeons ago that prompted me to search for what it was I truly valued. To discover a different kind of sight. A sight of the soul. And that led me here."

The blizzard around them stopped without warning, and they found themselves on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a vast sea of stars, more stars than Thor had ever seen before. Ahead of them was a great rainbow cloud, a nimbus of stars and constellations joined by stretches of grey cosmic dust.

"The World Tree, Yggdrasil," Odin said. "The tree that is everything. That has its roots and branches in all that is. There are nine realms in this reality, my son. Nine spheres, nine universes, and the tree winds through them all. Through every star and planet. Every hero and villain. Every life. Every story. I am Odin Borson, who united the Nine Realms through peace. I am Odin One-Eye, and sometimes my one eye is open. But above them all, I am Odin All-Father. I am the one who speaks for the tree. I am the king of all stories. And you are my child."

"Then …" Thor gasped in exhaustion, fatigue seeping into his bones from the battle he had just endured, with both Loki's forces and Jormungand. "Then you must help me …"

"No I must not," Odin said firmly. "You are my child, and you are loved. These are truths that do not change. But this is your time of fire."

Even as he spoke the word "fire", a towering wall of flame appeared around them both. Startled, Thor backed up, as fiery tongues of reddish-orange heat lapped at his boots and singed the skin on his bare arms. "When the storm is at the door and all is darkest," came the voice of Odin. "Hold to yourself, God of Thunder. Be worthy of your own power. Remember. Remember what thunder is."

As the flames surrounded Thor, he threw his head back and focused on the black sky above him, letting out a shout as he tried to summon his powers. The stars became eclipsed as a cloud formed above him, lightning crackling through it as the fire swept over him like the surface of a great ocean. It was then that the lightning struck, a massive bolt arcing down through the clouds and branching into several strands of lightning that all struck Thor directly where he stood. The fire around him was immediately engulfed in an explosion blazing blue, and when it cleared the fire had changed its color from red to blue.

His entire body surged with lightning, his eyes glowing blue in the darkness, boiling with energy. But they cleared and returned to their normal color when he saw Odin standing before him, smiling with satisfaction.

Thor could feel his spirit being pulled away, to where he did not know, but he hoped it was back to Midgard to put and end to Loki. But he had a final question for his father, before the All-Father joined the other heroes in Valhalla and they would not see each other again until Thor's death. "Pray satisfy my curiosity, father," said Thor. "What do you expect of your son?"

Odin turned, looking lovingly at Thor one last time. "To be the hero and god men have worshipped for so long," he said. "Now away with you."

And away Thor went.

"Forget this," Malekith hissed, standing on the command bridge of the Ark vessel as his chief lieutenants scrambled around. "This whole endeavor has become a massive liability. We've lost too many Dark Elves. The Svartalfar are finished here. You are on your own, Asgardian."

Loki's blood boiled. "This isn't what we agreed!" he shouted. They couldn't leave now; there was still a chance at victory.

"Dark Elves are warriors, not fools," Malekith shot back. "There is no more sense in this fight. Enough blood has been spilt over Midgard, and we will contribute no more."

"Follow you orders," snarled Loki. He was shaking with rage at Malekith's betrayal. "Hunker down and fight. If you abandon your posts I will hunt you down and kill you myself!"

But Malekith was not phased. "Assuming you survive the day," he said, returning Loki's stare with his own. He turned away from the apparition, shouting at his chief lieutenant in their native tongue to call for a full retreat.

The real Loki stood on the deck of Naglfar, shaking with rage as he watched the Harrow ships entering the larger Ark vessel as it prepared to enter the jump point to escape. The sky in front of the Ark split, forming a large hexagonal-shaped wormhole that the ship would leave through. Before the Dark Elf flagship could complete the jump, however, the skies grew suddenly dark, as clouds appeared out of nowhere—thick, oily black clouds that smothered sunlight from the battlefield. There was a rumbling of thunder, a furious crackle of lightning, and Loki knew immediately what was happening. A slow smile spread across his lips, a smile that gave way to maddened laughter.

With a bright explosion that lit up the skies with a blazing blue, a gargantuan lightning bolt flew from the heavens, splitting the skies with a deafening crackle and the putrid smell of burning electricity. The massive lightning bolt hit the Ark directly on its left wing, causing a small explosion chain to ripple across the surface of the ship. The Dark Elves aboard staggered about, babbling in their native tongue in confusion as alarms started to blare throughout the Ark.

The massive lightning bolt was followed by others, a veritable storm of electricity that was too powerful to have been anything caused by nature. Bolt after bolt hammered the Ark, each one wreaking havoc on the vessel until it lost power and fell slowly, almost dramatically, out of the air and crashing into the ground. The Ark broke into pieces, shattering as chunks of its black construction fell and broke against the surface of the Earth.

Then another lightning bolt struck the magical protective shield around Naglfar, the Ship of the Dead. Loki stumbled, trying to grab hold of something as the ship lurched under his feet. The electricity spread out from where the lightning had hit, crackling over the surface of his green mystical forcefield. Bolt after bolt hit, rocking the ship dangerously, until the shield finally cracked and shattered like a thousand shards of emerald glass. One final bolt hit the surface of the deck, sending Loki backwards onto his back. The lightning cleared to reveal Thor standing there, the lightning in his power springing to life and curling around his hands like a miniature blue hurricane in his palms.

"Brother," Thor said, his tone stern and barely concealing the power behind a single word, more power than the entire lightning storm put together. He extended his hand, and after a few seconds, Mjolnir flew from the ground where he had fallen and rocketed into his palm. As the handle slapped into his hand and his fingers closed around the weapon, his eyes illuminated with sparks of electricity. "It is past time we talked."

Loki grinned, scoffing slightly as he climbed to his feet. "Is that what this is?" he asked, looking up pointedly at the dark skies and streaks of lightning. "Talking?"

"As I said," Thor said, "it is past time."

He raised Mjolnir over his head, leaping for Loki as lightning arced off his body and trailed behind him. Loki raised Gungnir in both hands, bracing for Thor's attack as Mjolnir struck Gungnir's hilt, sending a shockwave rippling through the air in a hot white explosion that could be seen from the ground below.

The heroes stared up at Naglfar, the battle pausing as both sides took in the storm above them. "It's Thor!" shouted Mantis, beaming.

"I am Groot!" Groot cried, in awe of the sheer levels of power on display.

The aliens had been trying to rally and failing, and whatever morale they had managed to muster within their hearts melted completely away at the sight of Thor's return. "Let's mop up the last of these guys and go help out the big dude with the hammer," Iron Man said, landing on the ground at the front line and blasting a pair of rock trolls with his repulsors.

The Mighty Mutanimals pushed forward with Metalhead leading the way, "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC blasting from his speakers as his shoulder-mounted laser cannon lit up the night. They pushed forward, moving into Doom's garrison, and wiping out everything in their path, rallied and energized by the presence of Thor. The Doombots had been randomly shut down, and the few Frost Giants and rock trolls who remained only put up the briefest of fights before turning tail and running as fast and as far away from the battle as they could.

Thor, meanwhile, had his hands full with Loki, who was showing his brother the full power of the All-Father's weapon. A powerful blast of dark energy flew from the weapon's tip, only to clash with a bolt of lightning from Mjolnir. The two energy beams struck each other, fighting for dominance as their users poured out even more of their power. The collision point soon grew to be too much, as the power between the contrasting energies could not be contained any longer, and there was a massive release that sent each of them skidding across the deck of the Ship of the Dead.

"I thought you were better than this, brother," Thor shouted across the ship as he got to his feet.

"Really?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow. "Why?" He shimmered and split into seven different Lokis, each illusion moving in a circle around Thor to try and pin him in.

But Thor would not be fooled this time. Calling a lightning strike to Mjolnir, he slammed the hammer into the ship's deck, loosing a shockwave that ripped through the illusions of his brother and turned them into golden sparkles. "You have no conscience!" Thor yelled, scanning the deck for Loki. "None!"

A laugh from behind him alerted him to Loki's presence, and he whirled just in time to avoid a strike from Gungnir that had been aimed at the back of his neck. "Ha!" Loki cackled again, jabbing at Thor with the mighty spear in his hands. "Conscience! The finest joke in this sweet comedy. Let nightmare breed nightmare, brother. Let chaos reign. Let the Midgardian fools be buried in their chosen ground, and then that very ground shattered!" They clashed, Mjolnir pressed against Gungnir, and Loki stared into his brother's blazing eyes as he said, "Let there be nine realms again, to be ruled as one! By the Laufeyson!"

He threw back his head and laughed, a crazy laugh that shook Thor to the bone. It seemed as though the one he had called his brother was truly gone.

No.

He refused to believe it.

They were brothers, mortal enemies since time immemorial. They had fought more battles than could be counted. But never like this. Never with this much power between them. What happened when the unstoppable God of Mischief met the immovable Thunder King? Blood was what happened. Blood and the burning of Midgard, for starters.

Loki was more powerful now than he'd ever been. If Thor was going to beat him, he would have to beat him at his own game. Loki was not called the God of Mischief for nothing. He excelled in mind games. Thor would have to get inside his head. A shot at his brother's ego should do the trick.

"You told me you had changed, Loki," Thor said. "And what do you bring me? Old things. Old games and old schemes. Attacking Midgard and Asgard in the name of petty vengeance."

Loki rolled his eyes. "Really, brother? I loose the World Serpent himself, and you call it petty? Look at yourself. You are a blade grown blunt. God of failed attempts. A joke told too often. You bore me. Away with you."

He threw a blast of magical energy that caught Thor in the chest and sent him flying off the ship's deck to the ground below. The dark energy's residue coated his body, dampening his powers and preventing him from being able to fly. As such, his landing was particularly hard, crashing through the roof of a building and rolling out onto the street.

Peter Quill was flying through the air, blasting down at the Frost Giants and rock trolls still attempting to make a stand when he spotted Thor and flew over. "Thor!" he shouted. "I gotcha, buddy."

The other Guardians ran over as Thor got unsteadily to his feet. "I am Groot," Groot said excitedly.

Rocket rolled his eyes. "He says he's a fan of the upgrade," he said.

"So am I," Mantis said.

A pillar of green fire appeared in the street before them, whipping up the wind and sending debris flying their way. "I'm getting sick of all this magic," Rocket growled. "I can't use it, and I sure can't understand it."

"Then learn fast," Thor said. "We face Asgard's greatest foe, and I have no time to coddle rabbits."

Rocket glared at him. "Now wait a—"

"'Greatest foe'?" Loki shimmered into appearance before them all, the pillar of fire evaporating behind him as he stepped out of it. "Why, brother, I'm so touched that you'd rank me above them all. But why deny it? After all, who slew the Warriors Three and mounted their heads as trophies? Who freed the World Serpent, Jormungand, from his bondage on Midgard? Who united the armies of the realms against Asgard, once a shimmering golden apple but now rotten to the core? Who else, but the one, the only, Loki!"

Thor had lived for many years, a millennium and a half, with many years to go. But no matter how long he lived, whether he outlived his lifespan and went on to live for more eons than any god ever born, he was starting to fear that it wouldn't be enough. He could have never imagined that it wouldn't be enough time, enough life, enough thunder, to save his own brother.

As Thor and Loki went at it again, Captain America and Agent Coulson were watching a short distance away, crouching inside an abandoned building to shield themselves from the furious onslaught between Asgardian gods outside. "Thor's tough, but Loki's way more powerful than I've ever seen him," said Cap. "The only way to win this is going straight for the throat."

"Way ahead of you, Captain, sir," said Coulson. "The team and I figured it was time to, shall we say, heat things up a little."

In the street outside, Loki had once again knocked Thor down, and placed his boot on his brother's chest, raising Gungnir to finish him off once and for all. Before he could, however, the sound of a revving car engine filled their ears. Loki turned his head, staring down the street off in the distance towards where the sound was coming from. The heroes in the street did as well, following Loki's gaze down the long wide city street, where an orange glow had appeared on the edge of the horizon.

"What in Mother Russia's name is that?" asked Colossus.

The orange glow grew brighter, the revving noise grew louder, and the sound of squealing tires began to grow. A black 1969 Dodge Charger sped into their midst, squealing to a stop about twenty feet away from Loki and Thor. The Charger's hot rod engine built into the car's hood, as well as all four of its tires, were ablaze with a flame that looked as if it was burning hotter and stronger than any flame of this world, and its radio was blasting "Tom Sawyer" by Rush.. The car door opened as the car screeched to a halt, and from inside stepped a tall figure, wearing all-black clothing except for a white symbol on his jacket's zipped front. Where his head should have been was only a skull engulfed in flames, with fiery orange eyes that glowed with sinister purpose. He closed the door and stepped forward to face Loki.

Casey was almost beside himself. Metalhead's music, the modified Charger, the flames, the man with a flaming skull head—it was too cool for words. "Oh, man," he squeaked. "This … is … awesome!"

"Call me Ghost Rider," the man said, staring down Loki as if they were the only two beings in the entire universe. "I am summoned when innocent blood is shed, and you have shed much innocent blood." A length of chain appeared in his hand, and as he touched it the chain lit up with his fire, spreading along until it was a long, flaming metal chain. "Do you dare face the agony of those you have slain?" he asked, pointing an accusatory finger at Loki.

Casey's eyes rolled back as he went limp and passed out, flopping back against Doctor Rockwell. "I say!" the monkey mutant yelped as Casey crashed against him.

Loki stepped away from Thor and turned to face his challenger, unamused at the display. "Mortal or demon, whichever you be, begone. I have no time for games."

"This is no game," Ghost Rider growled, opening his mouth and releasing a blood-curdling roar as thin lines of flame stretched from his eyes, connecting to Loki's. Immediately Loki's jaw went slack, Gungnir dropping from his palm and clattering against the ground as Ghost Rider activated his infamous Penance Stare. "Look into my eyes," said Ghost Rider. "Your soul is stained by the blood of the innocent. Feel their pain."

The thin lines connecting Ghost Rider's and Loki's eyes fizzled out as the Penance Stare took effect, and Loki's soul felt, in an instant, the fire of his every sin. Every pain he had ever wrongfully inflicted upon another, exploding through him all at once. For a mere mortal, the effects would prove quite agonizing. For a god, not to mention the God of Mischief, there were no words to describe the suffering.

Only screams and tears.

And so Loki screamed. He threw his head back, unleashing a terrifying scream of agony before collapsing with his hands over his eyes, muffled grunts and sobs escaping him. Cursing in languages that had been dead for untold centuries, and weeping tears of godblood.

Except for the sound coming out from behind Loki's hands, the rest of the area for miles had fallen into a stunned silence. All eyes were on Ghost Rider, who wound up the chain over his shoulder and spun on his heel. "My task is complete," he said, walking back to his car. "I leave you now, Loki, in mortal hands."

The door to the Charger slammed shut, and the car sped off, driving faster and faster down the street until it was gone. The only evidence it had ever even been here was the flaming tire tracks the Charger had left behind, and Loki's sniveling form curled up in a fetal position on the ground.

The heroes started to slowly move forward towards Loki, but Cap held up a hand, and they stopped. The only one who approached him was Thor, no longer in his lightning state, but still just as furious.

Loki scooted away, covering his face, trying to avoid Thor's gaze. "Brother," he whimpered. "Please believe me. I did not mean for this to happen."

Thor's heart lurched in his chest when Loki called him "brother." He sounded just like back when they were children, a sad, scared young boy. Whatever Ghost Rider had done had broken him. But as much as it hurt, he had to make sure Loki had learned his lesson. "Asgard has fallen," Thor said, grabbing Loki by his lapels and yanking his brother to his feet. "Ragnarok itself washed over our kingdom. Now you would lay waste to Midgard as well." The intensity in his voice grew with every word until he was yelling in his brother's face, yelling to keep from crying: "Your home is no more. And it is your fault!"

"Yes!" Loki cried. "Yes, I led this battle to our door. Not to ruin Asgard but to save it. Though mischief is my weapon, I meant only for Asgard to rule in greatness as it has done in the past. I could not perceive of these mere mortals adding such madness. I could not see that this sorcerer Doom was so all-powerful."

"Speaking of which," Wolverine said suddenly, sniffing the air, "he's here."

The clouds that had previously been a dark gray suddenly lit up with an orange glow, as if the skies themselves were on fire. The wind began to pick up, whipping around the heroes with the ferocity of a hurricane, sending clouds of dust, rubble, and debris into the air.

At the epicenter of the winds, in the proverbial eye of the storm, hovered Doctor Doom, his arms spread in a massive display of power as his body coursed with purple strands of electricity. The clouds above them began to rumble again, but not by Thor's power this time, as violet-colored lightning bolts started to strike the outskirts of the city and the Wakandan countryside.

The fight wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.