Thor and Loki reappeared in Heimdall's Observatory, which was in minor chaos. Heimdall remained at his usual post, the Allfather standing beside him, and various people rushed hither and thither around them. "Allfather!" Thor called, wading through the crowd. He tugged Loki's hand and glanced back to see his brother staring around in distraction. Thor remembered Loki hadn't been out to the Observatory at all since his return. "Stay with me, Loki," he said in a low voice.
Loki nodded agreeably, closed his eyes, and allowed Thor to guide him forwards, humming loudly. Thor wondered if the stimulus of so many different people and places today was wearing too much on him.
Odin gently took Loki's other hand as soon as he was in reach and scrutinized his younger son's body with his one eye. He appeared to find Loki satisfactorily intact, and he visibly relaxed. "Heimdall tells me you were victorious against the Dark Elves that pursued you?"
"Yes. Malekith is dead, and his company with him... I'm afraid the circumstances did not allow for mercy. There were no Svartalf survivors."
Odin nodded. "You would have had few options. Our prisoners were also few."
"Heimdall said there was an attack on Nidavellir? Another Svartalf fleet?"
"There was an attack, but not by the elves, so far as we can tell. King Eitri described some kind of alien giant of unknown species who appeared at the great forges suddenly and overwhelmed their defenses almost as soon as he arrived, with the help of what sound like more Chitauri, of all things. At first we only realized something was wrong because communications with Nidavellir were dead when we sent a warning to the Nine Realms about the attack here. We reached some of the dwarves' outlying mines, but they had also lost contact with the forge. Once we had captured the remnants of the Svartalf fleet here, Heimdall readily recognized signs of battle on Nidavellir, but the damage was already done. We evacuated Eitri and perhaps four score survivors as soon as we could. Volstagg is there now with a reconnaissance party, but it seems the enemy has been and gone."
"Why? Why attack Nidavellir?" Thor asked in confusion. "They're neutral. They don't even have an army."
Odin glanced at Loki, who was still humming to himself, though more softly. "The giant forced the dwarves to forge him an Infinity Gauntlet."
Loki stopped humming and opened his eyes. "Well, that's unfortunate. But I suppose it is no surprise, given what we know."
"You mean what we suspect about someone attacking you in order to use you to collect infinity stones?" Thor clarified for Heimdall's benefit.
"No, I mean that when you asked me to listen for the stones through the Convergence, I heard them. They're united."
Heimdall jerked in surprise, and Odin gasped. Thor swore. "Why didn't you say something, Loki?"
"Did I not? Hmm... I think I was distracted by Heimdall's shade at just the moment I had thought to mention it."
Thor waved a hand. "I'm not angry... but now what do we do, if our enemy has Power, Soul, and Time? We don't know who this ravager is, we don't know his purpose, we don't know his location..."
"Yes, we do," Loki objected. "The stones are within ten jump-points of Midgard, possibly in their outer solar system in fact. At least they were a few minutes ago when we left. And who knows, Reindeer Games might know both the giant's identity and his plans, if the Chitauri are working with him."
"Who or what is Reindeer Games?" Heimdall asked in confusion.
"Don't make any illusions right now, Loki," Thor ordered before Loki could attempt to answer Heimdall. "Er, Reindeer Games is... er..."
Thor's explanation was interrupted by a deafening roar. One wall facing the city collapsed, and half the Observatory was suddenly engulfed in violet fire. Some people ran screaming out of the inferno, their clothes and hair alight, but not nearly as many as had been on that side of the hall, Thor thought frantically. Through the gap in the building's exterior, Thor could see that a great swath of the city was transformed to rubble, and a great deal more was also burning. Loki grabbed his arm with a painfully strong grip. "Thor, fire! Real or not real?" Loki demanded.
"It's real..." Thor said, dumbfounded.
"Okay. Good," Loki said, letting go. "No, what am I saying? Bad. Really bad." Loki raised his own right hand, and a deathly cold spread out in front of him, sucking the heat from the flames. The fire in the Observatory was extinguished in a matter of seconds. Thor was stunned. That was frost giant magic, and he had never seen Loki do anything like it before. Loki turned around again. His expression rapidly morphed from one of seeking approval to one of exasperation. "Do something! Make it rain!" Thor roused himself to action and spun his hammer, taking off into the air. He pulled Loki's cold air with him, creating a strong vertical draft that very quickly whipped up into a waterspout. He directed the waterspout towards the city, using the heat from the fires as a gradient to fuel the growing wind and storm clouds.
Before the first raindrop fell, Two more lances of violet fire struck Asgard, each exploding on impact. One destroyed another fifth of the city. The other fell behind him. Thor twisted around in the air to see the Observatory was completely demolished. He cried out involuntarily. The chances were fair Odin and Heimdall and many other Asgardians within would survive, but Loki was another story. He might not have the presence of mind to save himself. Yet Thor could not go back for them, not yet. He sent his eyes and senses skyward, seeking out the source of the assault.
Thor barely managed to dodge the fourth strike, aimed seemingly straight at him. He could easily identify the source, though. A huge warship had appeared in the sky. It had four broad wing sections attached to a central bridge and stardrive. Another beam of pure, magical power appeared, emanating from the central section. Thor swerved again to avoid it. At the same time, he swung Mjolnir up and called on the the Reality Stone, imparting unnatural weight and momentum even beyond the weapon's usual enchantments. Mjolnir punched straight through the alien ship, and again on the way back to his hand. Unfortunately, although the hammer burst through each deck like a stone through spiderweb, it appeared he failed to hit anything vital. Thor mentally scolded himself: he should have aimed for the stardrive.
The next attack was not a single beam but rather a disc of scorching light spanning twice the breadth of the warship and descending upon him almost faster than the eye could see. There was no way for Thor to dodge under his own power, so this time he reached for the Space Stone, skipping through the deathly plane to settle several hundred feet closer to the enemy vessel. He winced as seconds later the disc hit the sea with a great flash, vaporizing huge amounts of saltwater. The steam was still hot when it reached his level, but tolerable. He squinted, looking for his enemy through the mist and smoke.
The sixth strike Thor did not see until it was too late. It was the same hot, bright, violet fire but spun into a line as thin as sewing thread. He jerked his head backwards to barely keep it from hitting him in the eye, but it struck his chin instead. The needle-like energy felt like it shattered his jaw, passing though the skin, muscle, and bone with ease. It sliced straight through and then pierced the armor of his chest in turn and seemed to ignite his insides. A terrible, burning pain took him, squeezing so tight he couldn't breathe... He doubled over and saw utter devastation spread out before him. The Observatory was still burning, the flames apparently so hot as to melt the metal casing of the dome like wax. Any life was hidden in the steam, which would be scalding and potentially deadly down there, Thor feared. He turned his head to the side to see his City was faring no better; besides the original damage and the fires, it looked like the harbor had boiled up into the streets. Thor was witnessing a catastrophe they had all been utterly unprepared for. This was a battle they were losing badly.
Thor jerked his head back up and managed to dodge out of the way of another violet blast. This time, he glimpsed the source, an armored figure standing on one lower wing of the ship, pointing at him with one shining hand. A hand Thor guessed was armored in an Infinity Gauntlet, studded with three stones. He knew then what he had to do. He swallowed his pain, drew on the Space Stone, and again stepped in between the folds of space to emerge face-to-face with his foe. The creature was a species Thor had never seen before, a bald, purple-skinned giant with a hard face almost too small for his strong jaw and muscled body. Thor looked him in the eyes. Both of them seemed equally surprised and alarmed to see the other up close and did nothing but stare for a split second. Then Thor snatched at the giant's gauntlet, fingers closing on the glowing violet gem Thor sensed with eerie conviction was the Power Stone. He ripped it free of its setting and immediately fled. The stone scorched him, punishing the theft for but a moment before Thor mashed the stone against his own Infinity Gauntlet, which received the influx of power eagerly.
The addition of the Power Stone was a bit too much for Thor. The Gauntlet forged new links between Power, Mind, Reality, and Thor's will, but at the same time, Thor lost his grip on the winds entirely and simply fell.
His chest tightened further, and his vision darkened. Even without conscious effort, his fall slowed. Then it stopped. Then it almost seemed to reverse. Thor closed his eyes and merely accepted this, too tired to attempt to understand. The whole world blurred around him...
And then Thor came back to himself, suddenly. He was no longer suspended above Asgard but rather standing back on Midgard, holding Loki's hand as Loki listened for the Infinity Stones through the Convergence. Confused, Thor flexed his fingers, sensing only three stones again.
"Oh, dear," he heard Loki say. At almost the same moment, an astral projection appeared in the midst of the Avengers, resolving after a few seconds into a shimmering image of Heimdall.
Author's note: sorry it's been awhile, and sorry again, I feel like this fight scene isn't particularly interesting, since it's mostly just Thanos shooting Power stone energy (E=MC^2) beams. The Power stone is the least interesting of the six, in my opinion, at least in a combat sequence. It is a weapon of mass destruction, so the only interesting narratives are how to counter it and how to deal with the consequences. Thor's not exactly prepared for this job, whereas Thanos has done his homework. Hopefully the ensuing chapters make up for this one :)
