A Twelve Step Program to Omnipotence

by Bakkughan

A Marvel fan from our world is reborn in the MCU. Sure he could follow the SI clichés; become a hero, save the world and get the girl, but Michael McCole instead decides to follow a different path. After all, in a world where magic is real, reality is what you decide for it to be. There will be challenges along the way, but nobody said becoming a God was easy.

64. Arrival at Asgard

CHAPTER 48: ARRIVAL AT ASGARD

---

Wow. Not even a minute in and I was starting to second-guess myself about bringing Tony along. Then again, his chaotic nature might actually work to my advantage, if I manage to leverage it properly against Odin's Court, that is. If I've known him for close to three years now (disregarding the two decades that I knew him through comicbook pages and cinema screens) and still get baffled at what comes out of that madman's mouth at times, then I imagine the Asgardians will be even more flabbergasted.

A man can hope, after all.

Besides, taking only Thor would've left the rest of the Avengers feeling as if I'd sort of kidnapped their strongest member which might have led to friction further down the line, something that I just didn't want to deal with.

Stepping to the front of the group (shooting Tony a disapproving glance which he either didn't notice or simply disregarded completely), I look towards the golden-clad warrior who thankfully hadn't reacted to Tony's words beyond a slightly raised eyebrow.

I'm guessing he has watched enough of what has been going on on Midgard that this isn't the first time he's seen Tony's mind at work, though I imagine it's still somewhat different from actually experiencing the man's sheer personality in person.

"Greetings, Heimdall! Let us not waste any time then. Will you be leading the way?"

Swirling orange eyes slowly track towards my own, before Asgard's Watcher dips his head in agreement.

"No doubt my Prince still remembers the way, but it was deemed more… appropriate, if you were given a proper guide to the Palace." He rumbles.

From what I can pick up from the minds behind me, I'm not the only one who caught the information Heimdall slipped in that single sentence. Prince, singular, and I was willing to bet half of Othrys' vaults that he wasn't referring to Loki, making the Frost Giant's position within Asgard perfectly clear. However, that didn't mean that Odin's remaining recognized son wasn't in hot water himself either, considering that his father demanded an escort to bring us to his palace, despite it being both hard to miss and Thor's home for the past thousand years.

Thankfully, it seemed that Thor wasn't completely disgraced yet, considering only Heimdall was to escort us instead of an armed guard. What that meant for Loki though, I couldn't see. The fact that he would appear in Odin's Hall unshackled could mean that there was still a chance for redemption for him, or it could simply mean that Odin thought himself powerful enough clasping his youngest in irons was useless as he could simply smite him on the spot.

Considering Odin's pretty abysmal parenting record so far, it could go either way really.

Judging by the grimace on Loki's face, similar thoughts were going through his mind as well.

"I understand. My thanks. While I'm sure Asgard is a marvelous place, I wouldn't want to get lost in its beauty and risk keeping its ruler waiting." I say with a grin, though judging from Heimdall's unimpressed expression, my rather blunt attempt at flattery fell flat on its face.

"Indeed." The Watcher simply replied, casting one long look over everyone present, before turning on his heel and stalking down the long length of the remaining Bifrost, moving swiftly towards Asgard proper.

Without much of a choice, my group hurried after him, quickly catching up to the great warrior as it wasn't only Loki that was glad to put some more distance between the endless Ginnungagap and themselves. Thor of course still felt guilt over his own role in why the fabled Rainbow Bridge suddenly ended in jagged pieces, not to mention his own bad memories of what had gone down here just before and after the act. As for the rest of the group, while the starry night extending infinitely in all directions was admittedly awe-inspiring in its raw beauty, there's only so long you can stand on the edge of the world before you start to get nervous about falling off.

As the marred end of the Bifrost started to get further and further away, our group closed in on the home of the Norse gods with barely any talk save for some whispered comments amongst ourselves, often pointing out some fascinating feature of the Asgardian landscape (and including Thor softly muttering under his breath "Just… don't look down" to his brother, who merely grunted in response).

Heimdall, however, remained silent, merely looking straight ahead towards our destination, something that was steadily getting on Tony's nerves, judging by the gleam that was growing in his eye and the way his mind began racing.

I could feel before he moved to act and briefly debated on whether or not to stop him, before deciding to wait and see how this played out. It could give me some insight into what I should expect when we're faced with Odin's entourage and Heimdall, while highly respected, wasn't high up enough on Asgard's totem pole that if he were truly offended by Tony's words, we would get kicked back to Midgard immediately.

At least, I hope he isn't.

Besides, if Tony makes a fool of himself, then it wouldn't have to necessarily have to reflect negatively on me, considering that Othrys and Avengers, while allies (nominally at least), are two very different and distinct organizations. If anything, any cultural offence on Tony's part would badly reflect on Thor. His fondness for Midgard (and one Midgardian in particular) already wasn't exactly popular amongst his kind, meaning that Tony acting out would only reinforce his people's beliefs that the Prince's new circle of friends made for poor company.

Surprisingly, Thor proves himself savvy enough to have thought along the same lines, as his eyes go wide and he takes a step towards Tony, hand stretched out to pull the Iron Man back, but it's already to late as the genius inventor has sped up to where he's walking besides the stoic Heimdall.

"So… you're Heimdall?" he begins, sounding as nonchalant as can be.

As I'm walking directly behind him, I can't see Heimdall's expression, but his mind is far less shielded than Thor's and it isn't difficult to pick up his weary resignation.

"Indeed I am."

"Huh. You know, you're not what I expected."

Heimdall only barely manages to suppress a sigh.

"How so?"

"Well, I mean isn't it obvious? You do know we used to tell stories about you guys, right?"

"I have Seen the stories told from the time Sturluson first wrote them down, yes."

"Right. So, I have to ask… 'the whitest of all the gods'? What's up with that then?"

A shocked silence falls over our group, before a mortified Pepper (who rather interestingly seems to simultaneously turn as white as a sheet and as red as a tomato) hissed out a desperate "Tony!".

Looking over his shoulder with a barely suppressed grin, Tony adopts a painfully fake innocent expression.

"What? We were all thinking it, I'm just saying it."

"Oh my God Tony, you can't just ask people why they aren't white!"

As the exchange occurs, Thor's sadly outstretched hand is slowly retracted to rest over his face instead, as the Prince closes his eyes with a softly muttered "oh god." Loki, meanwhile, is grinning like a loon, probably the first genuine expression I've seen on him since I portalled him out of his SHIELD prison cell.

As our party has come to a halt, Heimdall slowly turns to face down Tony, who rather admirably manages to keep looking straight into the Watcher's heavy gaze. After a painfully long silence, Heimdall lets out a deep sigh.

"While your people have written much about my kin, these were not all fist hand accounts. Very few are, considering we often arrived in Midgard solely for war, in order to protect your kind when you lacked the strength to do so yourselves. As such, we did not interact much, most of us leaving as soon as the battle was won. Consequently, while your people might have known about me, no Midgardian had ever actually seen me."

"So then who told us about you… oh." Tony softly trails off as we all turn towards a now audibly snickering Loki.

"Apparently, someone thought it was funny to describe me rather… inaccurately." Heimdall says in a long suffering tone, though Loki merely grins back.

"It is funny." He smoothly responds back, smile still firmly on his face.

"No joke remains funny after you've heard it told for a thousand years." Heimdall responds somewhat irritated, though if Loki cares at all, he doesn't show it, merely shrugging nonchalantly.

"Wait, if Loki was the one who influenced the writing of the Edda… then why… I mean, with the… you know… birthing… stuff." Jane pipes up, though she slowly trails off as she glances at the scowling Frost Giant, embarrassment coloring her cheeks crimson.

"That I didn't come up with. Someone told those lies about me!" he says in an affronted tone.

Briefly, the group is silent, before we hear muffled laughter… coming from the god standing next to Loki, who turns to face his brother with wide open eyes.

"You know what? You're right: it is funny." Thor says with a big goofy grin as he looks at Loki, who's still looking at him in sheer disbelief.

"That… I… honestly, I would be proud if it weren't for all this unyielding indignation." The Frost Giant mutters.

There's some more banter, the mood now significantly lighter than before, with both Loki and even Heimdall looking less severe than they had before, making me shoot a thoughtful glance towards the grinning Tony, once again evaluating my somewhat impulsive decision to let him tag along.

Seems Iron Man's (in)famous personality might indeed end up working in my favor.

As for Loki's revelation that he has been feeding the Midgardians stories (or, rather, lies) about his people, it actually explains quite a lot. Most importantly, how humans knew about Hela's existence whereas her own younger brother was completely unaware of her existence.

Or even the fact that in this universe she was the firstborn daughter of Odin, whereas in the Edda she's Loki's daughter. It's not hard to picture a young Loki, out on exploration through all of Asgard's hidden nooks and crannies and stumbling across forbidden knowledge that Odin has kept locked away and suppressed for millennia. Considering how effective Hela had been purged from her own people's memories, there'd likely be very little left, probably not much more than just her name and domain. Perhaps some of her allies, such as the great wolf Fenrir.

And young Loki, probably already feeling out of place in his adopted home of burly warriors, feeling slighted or inadequate compared to his adored sibling, in an act of rebellion steals the scraps of knowledge he found and decides to stick it to his old man by utilizing them for one of his most daring pranks: to take this hidden knowledge and make it public to the world!

Except of course, he can't safely do that in Asgard itself. Aside from Heimdall's watchful gaze there's his own father's power to consider. Nothing in the realm of the Aesir occurs without its King knowing about it, in some cases even before it's happened. Not to mention by then Loki probably already has built a reputation for himself: once rumors start spreading containing knowledge that had been lost and locked away for millenia, it wouldn't be long before people would start pointing fingers. At him.

They so often did, after all.

The Vanir are close allies to Asgard and Thor and his companions visit there often as it is the home of Hogun the Grim, so that Realm is out as well. For much the same reason the Dwarves of Nidavellir are out and on Niflheim and Svartalfheim there simply isn't anyone to tell the stories to. And while he may be a rebellious teenager and a God of Lies, he isn't so far gone (yet) that he's willing to aid Asgard's enemies by giving them secret information so Muspelheim and Jotunheim are out as well.

And even Loki, who has traveled across nearly every branch of the Yggdrasil itself as if he were the next coming of Ratatoskr, couldn't find fabled Alfheim, which meant that one world, one people, were left.

The humans of Midgard.

And if these humans were to ask him about these mighty figures that he had found, this Goddess of Death and this great wolf said to eat the mountains and drink the seas, then why would he not claim them for his own? It wasn't as if they could call his bluff, so he made them his children and to further spite his father he told the mortals about Ragnarok, the end of Gods and how his son Fenrir would be the one to strike down Odin in Asgard's final moments.

By the time the stories had spread enough that they caught Heimdall's attention, enough time would have passed that Loki could make a fair argument that it wasn't him who had given them this knowledge, but that it must have evolved like this over time. Like a game of telephone but one spanning both countries and centuries. Besides, Odin was unlikely to order another large-scale expedition to Midgard solely to tell them to get their stories straight.

And even if he were, what could he possibly tell them? The truth? Then there would have been no point in keeping all that knowledge hidden for so long. And if he didn't give them an alternative to replace their apparently inaccurate stories with, then the humans would simply cling to that which they did know.

No, Odin would've been aggravated for sure, but would see that the best course was to simply ignore it, so as to draw as little attention to the Midgardian's tales about Asgard, its history and its future. At least that way, he could keep his own people from looking too deeply at the silly tales the humans were telling each other and starting to ask themselves (and him) some rather difficult questions.

I could find out for certain by using a similar method of simultaneous use of the Mind and Time Stone like I had done with Eitri to show him what I had seen in his future, but to be honest I was rather wary to try and attempt something like that for something so relatively minor as verifying the discrepancies in our Poetic and Prose Eddas. It wasn't just the fact that Loki was likely to be very adept at the Mind Arts himself (as they formed a pretty significant part of most Illusion Magic, not to mention his own status as a Prince of Asgard and student of Frigga herself, who taught Odin everything she knew), but rather…

Well, to be somewhat blunt about it, his mind was somewhat… messed up. Not to the likes of Captain Marvel, or Jessica's mother Aisha, but still.

Dude had been through a lot.

Best not to touch minds with someone like that when you've got a meeting with one of the most powerful beings in the Nine Realms coming up, who just so happens to be the (adopted) father of said someone.

Instead, I turned towards Heimdall, indicating the still far-off Palace with a slight nod of my head.

"Shall we continue?" I rumble.

Asgard's Watcher gives Loki one last exasperated look before turning towards me and nodding in return.

"Very well. Follow me."

And so we set off towards Asgard's Court.

---

Surprisingly, entering Valaskjálf (which roughly, and rather ominously, translates to Shelf of the Dead), the Hall where Odin resides on his throne Hliðskjálf from where Odin "looked out over the whole world and saw every man's acts, and knew all things which he saw" (Sturluson's words, not mine), was relatively easy.

In fact, entering Odin's personal Hall turned out to be an easier affair than actually getting to the Palace itself. Mostly this was due to the fact that Asgardians are apparently quite a nosey bunch and we had to go through several crowded areas on our way to the Royal Family's house as more and more civilians turned out to gawk at all these newcomers, to scowl at their traitorous Prince and to cheer for their heroic Crown Prince. This in turn meant that the Eihenjar were quickly assembled to clear a path for us, standing stoic and silent as they kept the swelling crowds at bay, allowing us free passage on the wide roads.

Which in the end didn't really improve our speed all that much, as Thor couldn't quite overcome his own homesickness and joyfully (and personally) addressed many of the onlookers, clasping hands or calling out greetings, smiling broadly the whole time.

Honestly, while Loki was somewhat justified in thinking the deck had been stacked against him from the start due to his skill in lying and focus on magic over martial arts and that it had been his heritage that had kept him back from ascending to the Throne, it wasn't difficult to see why the people (and Odin) preferred Thor as King over him.

You just needed to look at the tall blond recalling what must be hundreds of names and calling out a personal greeting to each and every single fan and even smiling and joyfully reciprocating well wishes and cheers from those who he didn't know and it became pretty clear that the Crown Prince was a natural at this.

While Loki could certainly act smooth and suave when he had a need to, he simply lacked the natural, easygoing charisma of his brother.

Unfortunately, said easygoing charisma meant that we were moving at a snail's pace, until we finally left the main roads of Asgard behind us as we began ascending the massive stairs of the palace itself.

Sadly, this wasn't without complications of its own, and what was worse was that this time the disturber of the peace wasn't someone out of the Avenger's camp for once.

"Hey Thor!"

"Yes, Darcy?"

"Why does your home look like a pipe organ? Does it make music? Cause, that'd be, like… really loud, probably. Cause that's a big as hell organ."

"... It is not an organ."

"Well, how would you know? You're an alien right, who knows if you know what a human organ looks like? I mean, a human made organ, pretty sure warrior-type guys like you know pretty well what us squishy people look like from the inside-"

Before the perky assistant can continue, Thor whirls around, bringing the party to a stop as he hastily, but firmly, cuts her babbling off.

"Yes, I do know what people's organs look like, though part of that is just basic biology classes from school. Yes, I know what a Midgardian pipe organ looks like, we have several such instruments on Asgard as well, though their use is not widespread."

Stepping closer and placing one massive hand on the short girl's shoulder, Thor's gaze and tone of voice become slightly desperate.

"And Darcy? Please don't tell my father, the Protector of the Nine Realms himself, ruler of all of Asgard and one of the most powerful beings in existence, that his home looks like an overgrown music instrument?"

"But it does!"

"Even if you think that, please just don't tell him." Thor asked in a pleading tone.

"Fine. Fine, because you're Jane's boy-toy and because you have weirdly effective puppy eyes."

"Thank you, Darcy-"

"So I'll promise to try and not mention the superobvious. But other than that, no promises."

"..."

"Honestly brother, I don't know why you expected anything else."

"Don't you dare start as well."

Thor looked between an innocent looking Darcy and a devilishly grinning Loki, before apparently recognizing when a battle is hopeless, judging by his deep sigh and the way he sadly shakes his head as he turns away from the two maniacs and looks towards his ancestral home again, preparing to lead us up the final flight of stairs.

Just as he makes the first step though, he completely freezes in his motions when from behind him pipes up a young voice in an innocent question.

"Hey, do you think your dad is overcompensating for something, building a massive organ like that?"

"Now there's a thought…" a cultured voice immediately answers in a considering tone.

I hide my smile as Thor seems to sink in on himself, his face drawn as he softly mutters under his strength.

"Ancestors, give me strength… and a bottle of apsirin, that'd be nice too."

But after all that, after we had finally left the crowds and the shenanigans behind us, we stood before the pearly gates. Or in this case, the platinum-gold alloy clad massive double doors inlaid with silver and precious gems and richly decorated with scenes of battle and scrolls of twisting runework.

Sheathing his golden sword, Heimdall nods to the two guards on either side of the door as he steps closer, placing his hands against the massive gate as he braces himself. Thick muscles bulge and with a show of strength, the enormous slabs of reinforced wood and metal smoothly swing open, creating a deep rumbling sound that I'm fairly sure is artificial.

I highly doubt Odin (or Frigga) would be content with a rusty/squeaky front door and despite the immense weight of each door, I don't think the hinges are even remotely strained. The same thing applies to the various gates and vault doors in Othrys, though they lack the complimentary soundtrack.

Hmm… something to keep in mind. Phineas would probably love to install something like that and it did add a certain ambiance to it all.

And then I had to disregard any thought towards home decorating, because while I had been musing, our party had been steadily moving forwards down the impressive length of the Hall, to where on a raised dais stood an immense throne seemingly made out of solid gold and the finest craftsmanship in the universe. More pressingly, however, was the man who sat on said throne, a cloak of sheer power and authority almost visibly settling heavily around still broad shoulders, even as a single blue eye gazed piercingly towards us from beneath a snow white mane of hair.

Odin All-Father, Gungir in hand, sits upon his throne as he stares us down, his face an impassive mask.

A stark contrast to the figure who's standing next to him, somehow managing to appear both regal and motherly at the same time, with a warm, lined face with eyes that seem to permanently smile.

Frigga, the Wisest of the Nine Realms, Queen of Asgard and all around badass lady, stands next to her husband watching the return of her sons, her hands clasped in front of her as bright blue eyes search us with curiosity clear to see.

I'm not the only one who notices that her eyes linger the longest on both her sons and a nervous looking Jane Foster, the Queen's smile widening as she glances at the scientist.

As we cross the last few dozen meters, I notice that the Hall is surprisingly empty, considering Asgard's Crown Prince, Most Wanted (and incidentally its second Prince) and a foreign King are visiting. The only other people present are the Warriors Three and Lady Sif, who are standing off to the side in one of the ante-chambers, whereas several other groups of Asgardians seem huddled together at random points throughout the massive hall.

Most likely nobles or officials in Asgard's government, here to oversee Loki's trial and write it down or something.

All in all, I'd reckon there's less than 50 people here, not counting the guards, who are in surprisingly small numbers as well. There's one every three columns the size of redwood trees on both sides of the aisle, coming up to roughly two dozen guards, if not less.

Then again, that's a bit more understandable, considering that between Odin and Frigga, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif and Heimdall, the strongest people in Asgard are already concentrated in one spot. And of that group, Odin probably accounts for half of its strength already, if not more, so an extensive squad of guards would just be a waste of manpower.

It's not like the Eihenjar really pose a threat to me at this point after all, even should they show up in full force (I'd likely be able to repeat Hela's wholesale slaughter upon her arrival back home, though with less swords and more punching), though the old King is probably keeping several cohorts on standby in order to throw at my companions as he deals with me personally.

Not that I'm willing to let it come to that. I'd rather prevent a confrontation from happening in the first place, but if the use of force turns out to be inevitable, then a Power Stone-enhanced Meteor Fist to the floor (probably destabilizing the entire Palace and likely throwing back Odin and his whole army) followed by a brisk Tesseract jump to Othrys with all my allies tucked safely underneath my arms would immediately follow.

I'm not fighting a man like the Allfather on his own turf, thankyouverymuch.

Before talks can begin however, introductions need to be made, which seems to be Heimdall's task as he has been appointed as our guide. Following Thor's lead, we all come to a halt as Heimdall walks a little bit further, bowing his head towards his King and Queen.

"Hail, King Odin! As requested, your guests have arrived! I present to you, Prince Thor Odinson and his allies, who call themselves the Avengers, a group of honorable warriors. I also present the Sorcerer Supreme of Midgard, King Hyperion of Othrys and his allies, citizens of his kingdom and staunch companions. They are accompanied by the wanted criminal Loki."

I once again note the rather ambiguous way he talks about the resident Frost Giant. No surname, meaning no Odinson like Thor, but no Laufeyson as well, and he wasn't explicitly referred to as our prisoner, merely a criminal.

Interesting.

Of course, I'm not the only one who picks up on this. I can see Odin narrowing his eye, though Frigga's smile widens minutely and she gives a barely perceptible nod towards Asgard's Watcher, who doesn't seem to outwardly react.

Apparently, Loki still has an ally in the Asgardian court it would seem.

Thor briefly looks to his fellow Avengers, muttering a soft "please, let me deal with my father", receiving a firm nod from Steve and (after a not too subtle elbow to the side) a reluctant one from Tony. Nodding in thanks, the prince steps forwards, holding his head high as he approaches the dais. Thor sinks to a knee as he places Mjolnir on the floor, bowing his head towards his parents. I allow him to go first for several reasons. The primary one being that, as he's the returning Prince, it's only proper decorum that he addresses the Royal Court first. Besides, the (relatively speaking) young man hasn't seen his parents in over a year, during which he almost died and they had to protect the peace in the Nine Realms without a way to efficiently transport their peacekeeping force.

It's no wonder he's eager to talk to them again.

Besides, by letting the Avengers play out their bit first, I can hopefully get more insight into Odin and Frigga and learn how to better influence them, since I can already tell from here their minds are impressively shielded, to the point it'd take the full might of the Mind Stone to look in on their thoughts.

So, it's information gathering the old fashioned way then.

"Hail father! I have returned from my quest to defend Midgard and capture Loki!" he begins, and though his voice is strong, he can't quite mask his nervousness.

"Hmm. It is good you tell me this, my son, or I would not have been sure. After all, despite claiming that he is now your prisoner, your charge is neither muzzled, nor is he in chains." Odin muses in a hard voice and though Frigga's lips thin at her husband's words, she doesn't go against them.

Thor visibly winces before looking his father in the eye.

"During my long absence, certain matters have come to light. I now feel it would have been unjust to constrain him so severely. Besides, uh, well, we left in a hurry so there wasn't really any time to pick up the muzzle and stuff…" Thor trails off, shooting a glance my way which I politely pretend not to see.

'Oh no, young man, you are not throwing me under the bus for this!' I think to myself as I look on with the others.

Odin leans back on his great throne, one hand coming up to briefly stroke his immaculate beard, before he fixes his son with a heavy look.

"New matters you say. Apparently of such a nature that you feel my orders, the orders of your father, of your King, are unjust? I would very much like to hear what these 'matters' are then." Odin eventually responds as a dangerous edge creeps into his voice.

Thor manages to maintain his composure this time, though he does look somewhat confused.

"Ah, forgive me, but I thought… I'd just assumed that Heimdall would've told you already. Considering… well, that's what he does, right?" the prince says haltingly, looking towards Asgard's Watcher, who in turn glances towards his King, apparently silently asking permission to speak.

Instead, Odin leans forwards on his throne again, the butt of Gugnir slamming against the tiled floor with a deafening sound that reverberates throughout every corner of Valaskjálf with an unnatural loudness and an unsettlingly deep echo.

Permission denied, it seems.

In the silence following the small display of power, Odin's strong voice is easily heard.

"I'd like to hear it from you."

Thor swallows nervously, before steeling himself and launching himself into a tale of what has happened since his father sent him down to Midgard. Finding Loki already beaten down and briefly clashing with the Avengers over the misunderstanding that they had been the ones to brutalize him so, before allying with them against the invasion of the Chitauri. How Loki had managed to escape SHIELD custody in order to lead the Invasion forces, leading to yet another beat down at the hands of the Hulk this time.

And his subsequent years spent in one of SHIELD's most secure cells as Thor tried to keep reaching out to his now utterly defeated brother. While the Frost Giant had been obstinate and taciturn, he had slowly, bit by bit, opened up to his adopted brother over the course of months, answering the most important question Thor just kept on asking him.

Why?

Why the attack on Midgard? Why work with the Chitauri, or for Thanos? And even further back, why his misguided attack on Jotunheim?

Why try to commit suicide by throwing himself into the endless depths of Ginnungagap?

When the Frost Giant had finally cracked and answered his brother's desperate questions, it had been quite an emotional moment between the two, with a lot of shouting and tears involved and I couldn't help but feel somewhat dirty as I looked on through SHIELD's cameras.

In front of the Court however, Thor was willing to protect what remained of Loki's dignity and merely tried to present Loki's answers and motivations to his parents.

Why attack Jotunheim? For the same reason that Thor had done so, to win their father's approval and their people's love. Loki simply would have been more effective at it than his brother (and in a way still was, as the damage done meant that Jotunheim was still recovering and probably would be for decades to come).

Why throw himself into Ginnnungagap? Where else could he go? He knew that only a lifetime imprisonment awaited him in Asgard now, and he adamantly refused to spend the next couple of thousand years merely staring at the same walls. If he were to meet his end, it would be on his terms.

Why ally himself with the Chitauri, or rather, with Thanos? Simple. When one comes across the likes of Thanos, one doesn't exactly get a choice in who they ally with. Which led to the most important reveal: that Loki had been manipulated into attacking Earth by the Mad Titan.

Part of it had been good old-fashioned torture, part of it had been Thanos talking in on the troubled Frost Giant's mind, fanning the flames of desperation and rage that had already steadily been growing. And part of that was simply chaining Loki's will to his own through the power of the Mind Stone.

Loki hadn't been a puppet like he had turned Selvig and Barton into, but an argument could be made that part of the blame for his invasion could be laid at the feet of Thanos who had pointed the troubled Prince in Midgard's direction.

As to why he continued with the Invasion even after his beatdown at my hands had broken Thanos' mental hold over him? The same reason why he had hurled himself into Ginnungagap instead of allowing himself to be taken prisoner. Succeeding in the Invasion, becoming King of Midgard, was the only course he felt he had left.

Additionally, if he did end up ruling Midgard, and ruled it well, then maybe it could accomplish what his destruction of Jotunheim couldn't: prove to his father that he was capable of ruling.

That he was worthy of Odin's respect.

After finally talking all of this out, Loki had slowly begun to open up to his brother, which included passing on what little he knew of Thanos and his forces to Thor and his allies. Sadly, as he had been locked up and tortured for most of his time in Sanctuary, Loki couldn't reveal anything that I didn't already know.

He couldn't even give an accurate location for Sanctuary, as he was transported from there to Earth through Tesseract-travel, meaning he had very little reference to go off.

And after all that, after having spent nearly a year in solitary confinement in a SHIELD blacksite that officially didn't even exist, Hell Week happened and he was conscripted to fight against devils and demons alongside his brother, though under constant supervision of the Ancient One.

Thor made sure to stress how valuable Loki had been in the fight, mentioning multiple times how his brother had saved his life by pushing him out of the way of a vaporizing beam. He also stressed that, after Hell Week had been ended thanks to mine and Sterns' efforts, Loki had returned to his cell with very little fuss and that as far as the Ancient One could tell when she took his magical monitoring bracelet, he hadn't attempted to tamper with the spell in any way beyond simple observation.

As suspected, Odin's face remained completely unreadably, and neither he nor the Queen showcased any surprise during Thor's lengthy tale (though Frigga did smile widely at her adopted son when Thor mentioned Loki saving his life), meaning that Heimdall had indeed told them most of this already.

Finally, Thor was done, slowly rising to his feet as he looked towards his parents.

"Odin… father. My brother has committed great crimes, that cannot be denied. But I feel that neither should the roles that others have played in these acts be denied as well! My brother has suffered much already, and risked more in aiding me in protecting Midgard from both Dormammu and Mephisto, saving my life! On his behalf… I would ask you for leniency. Please. Judge him mercifully." Thor says in a heartfelt plea.

Unable to keep quiet any longer, Steve Rogers steps forwards, fearlessly looking towards the Protector of the Nine Realms.

"King Odin. Yes, Loki was our enemy, bringing destruction to our world. But after his defeat he has been reasonably cooperative, neither attempting to escape or harm anyone else and if it weren't for his aid during Hell Week, Earth would have lost one of its greatest defenders, which might have meant the end of humanity altogether. That, as well as his trauma before his attack, is something that the Avengers feel cannot be overlooked. We too would petition for mercy, to give him a chance to redeem himself. Vengeance serves no one here." the soldier's voice called out, clear and unwavering.

Leave it to the man who was ready to give his life for his long lost brother to be willing to see the good in Loki of all people, the Frost Giant looking somewhat surprised at the Avenger's words and doing a surprisingly bad job of hiding it.

Either that, or I've just become more perceptive. Perhaps both.

"Well, I mean he did throw be through a window, but whatever apparently." Tony mutters under his breath, only placated by Pepper's hand softly resting on his arm.

There's a long, considering silence in Odin's Hall as he looks from his son, to Loki and finally his wife. An unspoken conversation occurs between the two of them, made possible through millennia of familiarity and I'm pretty sure they already know what the other is thinking before Odin turns back towards our group.

"By your own account, his crimes against Midgard might not have been committed entirely out of his own will, even though he chose to continue aiding his new master instead of surrendering. Even so, he acted honorably in defending Midgard in a later incursion and his deeds during this so-called "Hell Week" have been taken into consideration. However, Asgard still remembers the offences he has committed here, none of which can be considered light. And for those, as addled as it might have been, his mind was still his own."

"Father, I-!"

Thor is cut off when Gungnir once again slams into the palace floor, silencing the young prince as Odin fixes him in place with a stern look.

"I'm willing to let Midgard judge him on the acts committed against them. If the Avengers feel that a year of imprisonment and the aid against a common threat suffice as penance, then so be it. But Asgard has yet to enforce its own judgement against Loki. Had it not been for his acts on Midgard, and for certain kinder elements at court, that judgement would've been a lifetime imprisonment. As it stands…"

Odin slowly trails off, before his one-eyed glare slowly moves from Thor to Loki, for the first time since our group entered, truly looking at his second son. His gaze remains stern and forbidding, but as he looks at the lithe form of Loki, something else enters his eye.

A look of pain… and remorse.

"Tell me… what do you have to say for yourself? So many people have suffered… so many people have died… for what? Recognition? Respect? Was it worth it?" Odin slowly says and for the first time his voice shows his true age.

Loki is silent for a long moment, his lips thinning and face stormy.

"What was it for? The fact that you even need to ask shows how little you truly know me, oh Odin Allfather. How little you care." the prince spits mockingly and for the first time Odin shows true rage, his face taking on a dark expression.

"You think I do not care? It is because I care, that your betrayal has hurt Asgard so! Has hurt your mother, has hurt me! We gave you everything! Love! A home! And yet, it wasn't enough, for you needed a throne as well!"

Loki isn't one to back down though, both sides now releasing feelings that have been steadily building for more than a year as the Frost Giant steps forwards.

"And whose fault is that! Who told me that I had what it takes to become King?! Who raised two boys, brothers, to aspire for a single crown?! I was willing to do everything to prove you right! To win your respect, to show that I was worthy! Who was it who filled my head with those lies?! Who was it that pushed me to train until my magic was spent and my bones cracked?! And it wasn't enough! Never, not once, have you told me you were proud of me. Even when I did what Thor could not, when I did what you have done in all those stories we were raised on, you couldn't bring yourself to say it!" Loki screams, his eyes teary now and Odin springs to his feet, power welling like a massive wave around him.

The response of the others in the Hall to such a massive surge of sheer power is immediate. Tony's hands are covered in his Iron Man gloves similar to what he used against the Winter Soldier in but a flash as he pushes Pepper to stand behind him. Cap's shield falls into his hand with a smooth notion which goes fast enough I barely even manage to catch it. The Ancient One doesn't react but her eyes snap towards Odin's towering statue with unnatural focus as to her side Harper merely grips the futuristic handcannon tucked in the back of his belt, though thankfully he doesn't draw it yet. Sam's hand is in his pocket and through the outline of his faded jeans I can clearly see that he's grabbing his screwdriver in the right.

The only people in our group who don't outwardly react are Loki and I, albeit it for different reasons. Loki probably has simply given up entirely, whereas I... well, to be perfectly honest, I don't really care, considering I have more pressing matters to attend to than Asgardian family drama.

For a moment, it seems as if the King of Asgard is about to strike down his rebellious son right then and there, and I can see Thor move closer to Loki as he grabs Mjolnir tightly in his hand, a pained look of desperation on his face, just as Frigga moves swiftly towards her husband's side, moving through the well of power with startling ease.

Even Loki seems to grasp the full extent of Odin's wrath as the mighty King stares him down, but he instead merely closes his eyes and bows his head, waiting for that final blow… which never comes.

After a few long, tense moments, Odin's rage seems to leave him as the pressure we all felt recedes back again. His posture slumps somewhat and as he now stares at his youngest, the earlier rage is now replaced solely by regret.

"They were no lies, Loki. You were capable of being King. A throne awaited you, merely not the throne here on Asgard. It was my mistake, to not tell you of your true heritage sooner, to include you in my most ambitious plan for true, everlasting peace yet. Peace between the Kings of Asgard and Jotunheim, for they would see each other as kin. As brothers. You would have been a shining example for your people, Loki. You could have led them in one of the strongest alliances they have ever known, lead them out from their dying world and into a new Golden Age and ensure peace with Asgard for millennia to come. But… we couldn't. We loved you too much, saw you as our own flesh and blood, we couldn't tell you the truth, make you feel as if you were an outcast. And an outcast you would be if the other Asgardians knew a Frost Giant was being raised as a Prince at their own Royal Court. And then you grew older, and still realized that you were too different. You began acting out, yet still we loved you too much to see what you were becoming, what our own blindness was turning you into. How you could never be the instrument of peace and prosperity that I had destined you to be from the day that I found you."

Loki's jaw is clenched and a couple of tears are leaking down his cheeks as he stares at his now tired looking father, who slowly sinks back into his throne again, a teary-eyed Frigga placing a delicate hand on his broad shoulder.

"You had no need to make me proud, Loki. I have always been proud of you." Odin softly finishes.

Silence reigns over the Hall as we look in on the family drama playing out, though Odin is looking far off into the distance at something only he can see. He's shaken from his thoughts as Frigga softly squeezes his shoulder. As he looks up at her, she raises an eyebrow and after a moment deliberation, he gives her a slow nod, prompting a wide smile from his Queen.

Looking towards us, she takes a step forward, calling out in a clear voice.

"Let it be known that the fate of Loki shall be decided after further debate. In the interim, he shall be confined to his old quarters and placed under constant guard, though he may make requests for any amenities that he should require, within reason."

Here, the Queen sends a firm, knowing look towards her son, who's too busy looking absolutely baffled to really even notice it.

"The first day of his trial shall take place one week from now and Loki may either appoint a defendant or choose to defend himself. Until that time, he shall not be placed in chains, nor shall he be muzzled." she continues, shooting a disapproving look towards Odin, who merely looks away from her.

Turning back towards her sons, she smiles broadly as she gestures to the side of the massive hall, indicating the antechamber where the Warriors Three (and Lady Sif) have been watching the proceedings with rapt attention.

"Please, stand with your fellows as we continue with the Court proceedings. Tonight, there shall be a feast and we will speak more." the Queen says towards the Avengers, eyes once again lingering on Jane with a curious expression, making it clear just who Frigga wishes to discuss with her sons.

Honestly, this is probably the best outcome that Loki could've hoped for, considering until now he likely thought his chances were split between either being smote (smited?) on the spot or a lifelong imprisonment in Asgard's dungeons (not that the latter was completely off the table, but still).

As the group slowly walked off, Thor greeting his friends with a massive, seemingly permanent grin fixed on his face while his brother stands like a subdued shadow behind him, the Royal couple turned their attention towards my own group.

"Approach, Hyperion. You and I have much to discuss." Odin eventually says, his expression once again an inscrutable mask.

I take a step forward and though I offer the Allfather a respectful bow, I don't drop to a knee like Thor had done. I was King in my own right and Sorcerer Supreme to boot. While I acknowledged Odin's strength, that didn't mean I recognized him as my superior.

"Hail Odin! As you can see, upon receiving your gracious invitation, I came to Asgard with all due haste, even bringing both of your sons with me." I respond with an easy smile, trying to get things started off the right foot.

"Indeed. Though that begs the question as to why you have not returned them to me sooner, instead choosing to wait a full year in order to do so." Odin immediately shoots back.

So much for starting things well it seems.

Straightening and schooling my expression to be more determined and neutral, I respond in a strong voice, refusing to be intimidated.

"It is only because I recently discovered how to use this method of travel safely, King Odin. It wouldn't do to expose the Princes of Asgard to untested energies, now would it?"

"Yet your method of travel is hardly untested. You may have only recently incorporated the Tesseract into your own arsenal, Hyperion, but it has been in your possession for over a year now." Odin responds, his voice once again growing sterner.

"Indeed it has. It had to be kept safe, studied and utilized in the way that it would benefit humanity the most." I respond coolly.

"Hoarding objects of unimaginable power for yourself is the way humanity benefits most? Even if that were to be true, something that I severely doubt, then what of the fact that these objects do not belong to you? Or, what of the fact that the Bifrost has been broken for a year now, leaving Asgard unable to keep the peace in the Nine Realms, allowing chaos and war to come to our allies?" Odin shoots back, definitely frustrated now.

"Forgive me, King Odin, but since when has it been Midgard's task of fixing Asgard's mistake? For millennia you have defended those who could not do so themselves and for that Midgard is in your debt. However, the destruction of the Bifrost was your own sons' doing. I am more than willing to repair the Rainbow Bridge for you, but do not pretend that I had to drop everything I was doing in the defense of humanity to rush to your aid and undo the damage you yourself are responsible for."

"Take care of how you speak, Hyperion. You stand in my Hall and you are on thin ice already. The warnings King Eitri gave you were no idle threat: the power you have been hoarding could very well be your undoing and with it bring doom to your entire world." Odin cautions me with a dark expression on his face as his grip tightens around Gugnir.

"You caution me against the power of the Infinity Stones, yet you know what fate awaits all life in the universe if they were to fall in the wrong hands-"

"And how do you know your own hands are not the wrong ones themselves? If you truly wished to safeguard all life as you say, then gathering them all is not necessary, merely hiding them away would have sufficed-"

"What, and just leave them lying around for someone else to find? Because clearly, that policy has been working out so well for Asgard. Such as the Tesseract, oh, wait-"

"You dare mock me? What gives you the right? You have scored great victories against terrible evils, yes that cannot be denied, but do not pretend that you fought them for the sake of Good! Everything that you have done so far, all of this power that you have gathered and yet barely can control, all of it was for the selfish pursuit of power!"

"And who are you to judge me for it? I know Asgard's history, better even than your own people because I have seen that which you've made them forget. Do not pretend that you were any better than me in your youth!"

"Why is that I caution you now? It is because I acted as you do during my youth! I have seen the path you walk, Hyperion, and I have seen what awaits you at its end. You are still young, in a manner of speaking. It is not too late to abandon it: to discard this sick fever that has taken hold of your heart and mind and instead to become the hero that you merely pretend to be. Do not destroy yourself any more than you have."

My nostrils flare as my eyes begin burning with light and heat.

"I would not have a need to if you had acted sooner. How long have you known of Thanos' plans for the universe? How long have you known of the location of most, if not all, of the Infinity Stones? Let's face it, the only one that was properly hidden away is the Reality Stone and we both know that was your father Bor's doing, not yours. You must have known that an immortal like Thanos would find the others in time, yet you did nothing. You did not hide them better, nor did you take the fight to Thanos himself in order to stop him. Someone had to. You're simply angered that it had to be me."

"And you blame me for this? You've taken that which isn't yours, keeping my sons from me and forcing the Bifrost to remain broken, you've lied, cheated and manipulated those around you into giving you more power than any human can hope to control and it was by your actions that Shuri of Wakanda turned to the dark powers of Dormammu and Mephisto to enact her revenge on all of Midgard! And now that your own power has become your undoing, you look towards my allies, setting them against me! Against Asgard!"

Odin isn't shouting, not exactly, but the force in his words is undeniable as his voice echoes off the far walls of Valaskjálf. Taking a deep, calming breath, Odin focuses back on me, choosing to ignore the way that Jim and Sam have tensed up, or the way Phineas' Soter platform has not-so-subtle pushed Darcy to stand behind its large frame.

"You have risen to great heights Hyperion, greater than any human in history, but the cost has been far too great. Your predecessor holds great faith in you and Asgard values her judgement. As I said, you've stood valiantly against the forces of Darkness before, so Asgard will not act against you or yours. We'll even offer to lend our knowledge and magic to find a way to restore your body before you return to Midgard. But… you will not be returning with your Infinity Stones. To keep them so close together and without sufficient protection is to invite destruction to rain down upon your world. The Tesseract shall remain here, as it is Asgard's property and will be used to repair the Bifrost so that peace can be restored amongst the Nine Realms. The Mind Stone is far too dangerous and insidious to remain amongst your people, amongst any people, so Asgard shall hide it away in the dark forgotten corners of the universe, never to be found again. The Time Stone has been with your Order for centuries ever since Agamotto mastered its powers and had a containment unit made by the Dwarves, so that is your right to keep, as is the Power Stone." Odin decreed, as if he expected me to just roll over and agree.

Fuck. That.

Heat spreads throughout all my limbs as my lips peel back as I snarl at the King of Asgard.

"Now listen here you little-"

That's as far as I get. Not because I'm stopped by Odin, but because my attention is suddenly grabbed by Heimdall. The Watcher had been standing impassively to the side throughout all of the proceedings, wordlessly looking on, but now he suddenly moved with speed.

Apparently, this was so out of character and place for him that even Odin looked on in confusion as his guardian moved to stand behind my group, swirling eyes focused intently on the far double doors of the Hall.

"Heimdall? What is it, what do you see?" Odin asks, coming to his feet, his voice stern as he shifts his grip of Gugnir.

The ring of metal calls out throughout the cavernous space as Heimdall unsheathes his golden sword, dropping into a low stance, eyes remaining locked on the doors, his expression utterly focused and (to my growing dread) somewhat frightened.

The man's actions are a signal to every guard in the Hall to fall into a combat stance as well, shields raised and spears lowered and my companions as well as the Avengers are quick to follow suit.

"A great evil is approaching." Heimdall calls out lowly, but in the baited silence of the Hall he's clearly heard.

The silence drags on as the tension rackets up, before muffled sounds finally approach us: confused and terrified wails. Before Odin can call out any orders, the double doors are slammed open with unnatural force and speed and… there's nothing there.

I can spot the two guards we passed on the way inside, looking back in shock towards the hall, clearly taken completely by surprise. A few guards who had had been positioned closer to the front of the hall make to move towards the now opened entrance as the others make their way forwards to investigate, but Heimdall spots something that only he can See.

"No! Stay back!" he calls out desperately to the confusion of the assembled Eihenjar.

To their credit, the guards don't question Heimdall's warning, trusting Asgard's Warden to See what they cannot. Immediately, they fall back in a defensive formation, eyes flitting about from underneath their helmet as they move back towards the Royal Couple as one. Even so, they cannot hide their nervousness as something clearly is advancing down the Hall, a sense of unease screaming at their every sense, warning them of a danger poised right up against their skin.

I know they're feeling this... because I can feel it as well. It's a sensation that goes deeper than the metaphysical, a yawning abyss hungrily breathing down my neck.

I imagine standing in the presence of a Dementor would be somewhat similar, though this feels like it's a hundred times worse.

Without a word, my armor and weapons flash into existence around me, which is a sign to my group to arm for battle as well. Sam's suit snaps into existence around him in much the same way as mine had, his mechanical arms already extended and ready to strike. Tony and Pepper run over to their suitcases, each one grabbing a sleek container and letting a lighter Iron Man (or in Pepper's case, Rescue) armor form around them in much the same way as Tony had done during the Whiplash fight in Monaco. Harper pulls his gun (though that's rather like calling a F1 car a go kart) the massive iron humming with a keening noise as light slowly pulses down the length of the barrel.

As we stand arrayed there, armored up and weapons at the ready, I can't help but think we look... silly, rather than imposing, thanks to the fact that none of us are aiming at the same spot. We're trying to roughly follow where Heimdall's looking, which isn't exactly easy as he's standing with his back towards us and none of us can actually see the threat approaching.

Even Sam with his advanced suit of sensor arrays and impossible knowledge, and the Ancient One with her monitoring spells and her impossible knowledge can only see a vague disturbance about ten meters in front of Heimdall which is steadily closing in on the steadfast Watcher.

Heimdall apparently can see it, or at least see more than the rest of us, as suddenly moves to the left, his sword Hofund extended towards the hidden threat, clearly moving to block its path.

"Intruder. Whoever, or whatever you may be... know that you stand in the Hall of Odin, son of Bor, son of Buri, King of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms. Reveal yourself, or leave, but you will not set one step further." Asgard's Gatekeeper calls out in a strong voice, filled with determination and utter conviction.

Unfortunately, it seems the unknown threat isn't all too impressed with Asgard's Watcher, clearly moving to walk around Heimdall, judging by the warrior's sudden leap to the left. The bizarre looking dodging to side to side (considering that as far as we can see, it's just Heimdall running up and down) continues for a few moments, before the ebony skinned warrior skids to a halt.

Once again, Hofund is extended towards the danger (and with a sinking feeling, I realize that Heimdall, tall as he is, is pointing his sword upwards) and once again Asgard's Gatekeeper snarls out his challenge, the words echoing through the hall.

"You shall not set one step further."

For a long moment, Heimdall remains locked in place and somehow I can feel that the intruder is considering his options. It doesn't take long to figure out what it eventually settles on, as Heimdall is suddenly forced to move.

Clearly, the threat has chosen to go on the offensive instead.

Still, Heimdall is one of Asgard's greatest warriors for a reason. Without fear or hesitation, he moves to engage a foe that only he can See, and probably not even that clearly. That still doesn't stop him, his motions fluid and without wasted energy, Hofund gleaming almost a pure white in the sunlight now pouring into Valaskjálf through the opened doors. After a few intense moments, Heimdall dodges an invisible strike, throwing himself into a desperate roll forwards, (presumably) taking him behind his enemy, before coming up as he brings his greatsword around in a backspin, cutting into… something.

I still can't see what kind of creature he's fighting, but the thin, small arc of blood is unmistakable as it splatters across the tiled floors and with a grim look I sink into a deeper stance, feet braced against the tiling underneath me, ready to explode into movement, drawing on more of the Mind Stone's power to fortify my thoughts against the screaming protests of my body.

Whatever it is, it bleeds. Which means that I can kill it.

However, just because it was cut doesn't mean it was out of the fight, as Heimdall's entire body suddenly jerks to a standstill. As he slowly moves upwards, standing on the tips of his toes, it becomes immediately clear that his enemy has managed to grab a hold of him. Within in that same moment however, before any of us have even had a chance to call out to him or come to his aid, Heimdall's eyes widen in shock… before they roll back into his head and he sinks to his knees, crumbling to the floor.

Dead, though with no visible wounds. As though the light of his life was just... snuffed out.

"NO!" Thor's voice calls out throughout the Hall and a massive bolt of lightning impacts where the invisible creature likely was standing when it killed Heimdall.

It's impossible to tell whether or not that did anything, though since I didn't see any blood or smell any cooked flesh, I'm betting it didn't. I turn to glance at the Ancient One, nodding as we both think of spells to use that hinder invisibility, or strip it entirely, but it seems we needn't have bothered.

Heimdall may have died after only drawing a bit of blood from our sudden assailant, but apparently his valiant fight and sacrifice bought the Queen enough time to cast a large area of effect spell. I'm not certain which spell she used exactly (knowing her it's one she created herself), but I can see how various runes along the floor, pillar and ceiling light up, before there's a soft golden glow suffusing everything in sight as a ripple effect travels through the air, not to dissimilar form whenever a Sorcerer accesses the Mirror Dimension.

The moment my mind makes that comparison, understanding of what's going on floods my mind. It's not invisibility at all: someone is in a separate dimension to ours, striking at us through the veil between them at will. Depending on how far away the dimensions are removed from each other, such a thing can take immense power and is therefore done the easiest from the Astral Plane, where souls reside (which is how haunted houses work).

Whoever is Astral Projecting into Valaskjálf itself can hide no longer however, as the Queen's spell forces their projection into our own dimension. It doesn't take away their apparent power of killing with but a touch, but it should give us a decent fighting chance now, so I lower Harpe as I tense my muscles, prepared to launch myself at the figure that's struggling against the golden glow that binds it.

Slowly, the magical energy fades, showing a tall figure, heavily muscled, in clearly alien garb… with… purple skin.

I almost drop Harpe as the intruder slowly raises himself to his full height, a familiar face with an unmistakably grooved chin looking back at us with an unbreakable conviction and unending determination.

And, planted square in the middle of his forehead, shines the baleful orange light of the Soul Stone.

"Thanos…" I whisper under my breath, my eyes as wide as they'll go and my heat hammering away about a hundred times a second.

As I whisper the name, recognition floods the others and reactions range from outright dread to mere confusion, correlating to just how much people know about one of the most feared beings in the universe.

The alien warlord straightens from his hunched over position, clearly affected by Frigga's spell. Briefly, he looks uncomfortable, almost verging on pained, clenching and unclenching his hands a few times, as he takes audible, deep breaths. Considering that no ships should be even remotely in the vicinity of Asgard (or Heimdall would've reacted sooner) and can't have suddenly jumped in since the nearest Jump Gate is several solar systems away, I get a sinking suspicion that Thanos is Astral Projecting all the way from his Sanctuary.

The power required to do something like that... it's simply unheard of. It should be outright impossible. No wonder he looks somewhat strained from Frigga's spell affecting him: she basically yanked on his very soul. Still, the Mad Titan shakes off what should've by all accounts have left him comatose, merely glancing around at the brightly blazing runework, before looking past me and towards the Queen, respect clear in his orange-hued eyes.

"Well done." he rumbles in a deep voice, before purposefully striding forward again.

Before he can take more than two steps though, the assembled Eihenjar finally come out of their stupor and with roars of rage and grief for their fallen comrade, charge forwards, metal-clad boots slamming against the decorated floor, spears held low and pointed unerringly towards the Titan's body.

"No don't! Stay back!" I find myself calling out, but it's too late as the guards' Asgardian biology makes them deceptively fast and within seconds the vanguard is upon him.

Even as he's still reeling from the aftereffects of Frigga's spell, Thanos shows his infamous determination as he grits his teeth, the orange glow of the Soul Stone suddenly blazing in intensity as the color seeps more noticeably into his eyes. With a grunt, he raises his arms high, fingers splayed wide, before bringing them down in a brutal chopping motion... and all around him, the charging Eihenjar are suddenly forced to their knees.

Many seem to be struggling to breathe, hunched over as if an impossible weight is suddenly resting on their very lungs, eyes wide and panicked. Thanos himself doesn't seem unaffected himself either, stumbling for just the briefest of moments, his breath coming harder than before as the edges of his form... blur. As if he's, just for a fraction of a second, less here.

Thanos himself seems to notice it as well, and without hesitation he steps closer towards the nearest downed guard, one massive hand moving out to grab the man's head, his Astral Form allowing him a speed that's almost impossible to follow with the naked eye.

"Halt!"

Unless you're Jim Harper, a veteran of countless years and in beyond peak-human physical condition and with an itchy trigger finger to boot. Before the word has even fully left his lips, Jim has already squeezed of three shots of his massive handcannon, a combined project of Radcliffe's Kree technology and Randolph's Asgardian smithing, with occasional input from Sterns himself.

During a round of testing, I've seen a single explosive shot, appearing more as a ray of furious, screaming light, tear through an armored vehicle, leaving a glowing, melted hole in its wake and taking out a decent chunk of the reinforced duracrete on the other end of the shooting range.

Against Thanos... it does nothing, merely passing through harmlessly, only a visible rippling in the Titan's form evidence that the hit even registered at all, the hypersonic, superheated slug travelling the length of the hall and harmlessly sailing outwards over the Asgardian houses in the distance.

Briefly there's a lull in the tension following the deafening thunder from Harper's gun discharging, the stoic man himself merely raising an eyebrow in surprise as he looks at the astral titan.

"Huh. That usually works."

"A good attempt." Thanos rumbles, before his hand shoots out and grabs the neck of the downed guard at his feet.

The baneful glare of the Soul Stone becomes unbearable to look at, a sense of wrongness brushing up against my very being as most of us take an involuntary step back, Odin being the only exception, the aged King rushing down the steps towards his throne, teeth bared in a snarl that shows his history as the leader of the Berserkers, rage blooming in his eye as he's forced to watch what Thanos does next, too far away to stop it.

Writhing in the Titan's unbreakable grip, the unfortunate guard can only get out a choked gasp before he just... withers. His very life is sapped from him, his muscles slinking as his skin wrinkles, fades and retracts. It takes only a second, yet it feels as if we're rooted to the spot for an eternity as Thanos callously lets the now mummified guard fall to the ground.

The dry 'crack' it makes as the dried corpse hits the stones is sickening to the stomach, Thanos himself standing noticeable taller than before and more... solid.

"But, it's not enough." Thanos concludes, his eyes now dropping to meet mine.

And recognition blooms in his.

Fuck.

"Thanos! What is the meaning of this!" Odin thunders and now he's truly pissed off, his knuckles white around Gungnir's staff, his teeth bared and his voice echoing throughout the Hall.

The ground underneath his feet is shaking as the air wavers and it becomes difficult to stand too close to the irate King of the Asgardians.

"Be at ease, King Odin. I have no quarrel with you or yours. I had hoped to avoid confrontation altogether, take only that for which I've come for, that which is rightfully mine. That which I need to fulfill my destiny. To fulfill all our destinies. It seems, however, that this is not to be." the Titan easily responds, appearing completely unaffected by Odin's nearly visible corona of power as he once again looks back at me, making it clear just what he considers to be 'his'.

"At ease?! You slaughtered my people! You will answer for this!" Odin roars as he moves forward, Gugnir humming with power as the King fearlessly strides towards the hulking Titan.

"In time, we all must answer for what we have done, for good or ill. You, or I, are no different. However, I have come to speak with McCole, not you. Thankfully, his unique soul makes this a lot easier." Thanos says in an unhurried tone, seemingly completely unconcerned with the irate Odin standing mere meters away from him.

Before I can question what 'this' can possibly be, Thanos turns towards me, lashing out with a hand as if he's grasping for something, faster than the eye can see, the light from the Soul Stone becoming an unbearable flash…

The sense of wrongness increases a thousandfold and it feels as if countless meathooks have lodged themselves in my flesh, burrowing down into the deepest reaches of what I am. The ground falls away as I'm simultaneously both dragged and pulled at the same time in seemingly all directions at once, all of them leading away from where I was and to... I can't tell. It's a titanic struggle to just keep standing as I thrash as widely as I can, each movement sending a thousand lances of agony through my body, but once again the Mind Stone allows me to continue acting unencumbered.

I feel a willpower, ancient and seemingly endless pushing against mine, conviction against desperation. A roar in the far distance, yet coming from all around me, resounds in my ears, sounding suspiciously as Thanos. But then the final tether snaps, the anchor that was the space and time of my physical body in actual reality falling away from underneath me and a deep orange vortex seemingly swallows me whole, the only thing I can see is a purple face with a ridged chin, expression strained to the limit.

And then we're somewhere completely different. My feet are standing in shallow water and a reddish glowing mist surrounds us both, stretching infinitely in all directions. As I glance around in shock, I spot a Gate far behind me and immediately know where I am.

The small Zehoberei child standing underneath its middle arch is a large clue.

"The Soulworld." I breathe in shock, before looking down at myself in confusion at the sound of my own voice, far too light than what I've become used to.

Looking over myself, I see that I've taken the same form that I had all those years ago when I first appeared in Bast's domain before my Trial of the Body and the Mind. My normal, human body, the one I possessed in my original life, but deeper, with odd angles that stretch out into a faraway infinity.

A body that now just looks wrong to me.

"You know… seeing you like this… feeling your soul… I can understand why the Stone dislikes you."

Thanos' deep voice snaps me out of my thoughts and with a sinking realization which nearly paralyzes me I realize I'm locked in a sub dimension without my physical enhancements and only my weird-ass multiverse-hopping soul as protection, which likely won't do jack shit against someone wielding the power of the Soul Stone. My own Infinity Stones still sit in my armor, which now fits awkwardly around my much smaller frame, but their scintillating glow has disappeared, leaving them looking like ordinary gemstones embedded in the metal and their powers feel muted, suppressed somehow.

This is, after all, the Soul Stone's domain and its wielder is currently standing not even a dozen meters away from me.

Fuck.

Looking the Titan over, he simultaneously looks like shit and a lot better than in Odin's Hall. Gone is his slightly translucent appearance, gone are the soft non-edges of his body. He's here completely, fully solid and in the heart of his greatest source of power. But he doesn't look healthy. Whatever he did to pull us both into the Soul Stone's pocket dimension, it must have been an immense strain on his own soul, not helped by the fact that his essence was galaxies away from his physical body when he kidnapped me.

Even with an infinite powersupply juicing up your soul, it doesn't change the nature of said soul, and right now it should be pushed to its very limits. If he continues pushing like this, he's going to burn it up and there's no coming back from destroying your own essence like that. Not that Thanos seems to care, even if it's unlikely that he's unaware of the toll his attack has taken on him, the omnipresent energy of the Soul Stone in this place almost visibly pulling into him, the ripples in the water moving towards him instead of away from him.

Where upon our arrival he had appeared hunched over with a drawn expression and deep bags under his eyes, he's now slowly rising to his full height, his breaths returning to a steady and deep rhythm. Having regained his balance, Thanos looks towards me with a determined expression, before his eyes slide past my form, seemingly only now noticing the massive gate in the distance... and the little girl that's standing underneath it.

His entire body freezes, his eyes fixated on the distant child as his composure breaks, grief and melancholy clear to see as he merely stands there in utter silence. For a moment, neither one of us speaks, but while I'm fairly certain time flows differently here than in the outside world, I'm still filled with a sense of urgency. This entire place feels... hostile to me and I don't wanna spend any more time in here with Thanos' manifestation of his soul and willpower than absolutely necessary. While he may want to linger here for however long he wishes to grieve his lost ones, I still have people that are counting on me to get out of here and save the universe.

No biggie.

"You wanted to talk to me? Then say your piece. Perhaps all this can be resolved without further bloodshed? Some sort of deal we can make?" I call out, desperate to figure out if there's any way out of here, or perhaps expose a chink in his armor or figure out why the fuck he has got the Soul Stone already, he should still be sitting on his ass for five more years, fuck this is bad, this is really bad, this is so fucking bad-

"It is ironic, that you chose his name. I assume you know what happened to him? The real Hyperion?" Thanos muses, slowly shaking off his melancholy thoughts, dragging his gaze away from the faraway Gate as he turns to looks towards me, drawing me from my steadily panicking thoughts.

Gathering my courage, I raise my head and attempt to stare down the source of almost every nightmare I've suffered for the last twenty years of my new life. I nearly falter when those tainted eyes lock onto mine, but then I think back to Jess, to Helios, Eos and Selene, who are in danger as long as this madman remains alive. I think back to the vow I've made to Jess and I feel myself subconsciously squaring my shoulders and balling my fists.

Thanos dies.

"Same thing that happened to all other Titans. You killed him." I shoot back, having gotten this information from my deal with Dormammu.

"Hmm. True enough, in a sense. But do you understand why? Why I had to do it?"

"Because you're mad."

"I imagine that most of those who seek the truth when others are content in being coddled by lies are called mad." Thanos easily waves my accusation away, before continuing, his voice a steady, low cadence.

"The same was true for me and my people. I loved them. All of them, with all of their greatness and imperfection. We were a great people, inhabiting a precious world. But as we rose to ever greater heights of civilization, the cost to sustain, to grow it, kept increasing. A cost that was being paid by our planet, by the weak and disadvantaged in our society. A cost that they were steadily becoming unable to continue to pay. A solution had to be found, everyone agreed on that. Our leaders, our common folk, oh how we cried out for our planet, for our people. 'Yes', we said, 'let's do something'!" Thanos' voice rises as he talks, his eyes focused on something far away, before they slowly turn towards me, though I still notice when they briefly flicker towards the spectral child looking on with accusing eyes.

"They talked. And they talked. And they did… nothing. They chose to do nothing. Because, all the while that they were throwing around ideas and campaigns, to reduce consumption, to manage waste, they all saw that there was only one solution that would actually work. That was the truth, but they were too weak, too afraid or both to accept it. But not me. Because I cared so much about our people, I was willing to accept that truth. To carry it out."

"Genocide." I mutter back, getting a slow nod in return.

"A harsh word, for a harsh truth. But it was the truth. It was the only solution that would lead to a fair judgement. Random. Dispassionate. Uncaring for who could or couldn't afford the cost that our society kept demanding of us. Instead, it would offer a clean slate to all survivors. A balance restored. But, when I revealed it to them… I was branded a terrorist, the plan failed and before my eyes, even as our farmland burnt and our buildings crumbled, my people turned on each other, until I was the only one remaining. Standing in a field of corpses."

Glancing towards me, Thanos lets out a bitter chuckle.

"Hyperion… the real Hyperion, a great magic user and the "brightest" of our age… he had been part of a group of our people that had set out amongst the stars. All of you were so very young back then. Even mighty Asgard had yet to fully come into its own. Desperate, left alone on a dead planet amongst the bones of my own kind, I found a still working signaling relay and recalled them home. So much life had been lost, because people chose lies over truth, talk over action, but perhaps with Hyperion's group, we could rebuild. It would be hard, but we could have a new beginning. Instead…"

"They blamed you." I say, disturbed by the other Titan's story and his clear grief, as if he truly believed in what he was saying and in his own justifications.

"Indeed. Madman, they called me. Murderer. They would not listen to my pleas, to my explanations. I begged them to stay, to remain with me and rebuild our great people, restore our beautiful home. They… refused. They had been revered as gods on other planets and had gotten arrogant. They chose to return to these primitive worlds, these people so much weaker than themselves, and take them for their own. Rebuilding our society on other planets, raising our civilization up off the backs of our lesser. They were going to make the same mistakes, again! I… could not let that happen. I stopped them. Tried to keep them from leaving, but they fought back. I was stronger however, I have always been so much stronger than the others and they... did not survive. Even of Hyperion, mighty and skilled as he was, only a faded echo remained."

He glances at me again, hands clasped in the small as he lectures us, regret mingled with a melancholy sort of amusement briefly visible on his face before it's replaced again by a stoic expression of determination.

"They had given me an idea, however. A renewed sense of purpose. It was too late for my kind… but these other peoples, these young and inexperienced cultures… perhaps they could still be saved. Kept from making the same mistakes that had destroyed Titan. My words were rejected, of course, but I couldn't bear to see them end in ruins like my own people had, and so I ensured balance by force. I saved countless civilizations, even as I became feared and vilified throughout the universe. But, I'm okay with that. I'm willing to take on the universe's hatred, if it means that balance is ensured. That life itself is safeguarded, that it is given a chance to prosper, before it chokes itself out."

I could barely believe what I was hearing. The man slaughtered millions, possibly billions and still saw himself as a martyr. My horror grows as I stare at the other Titan and for the first time truly realize just how… wrong, how twisted and broken his mind is.

My thoughts were apparently easy to read from my expression (or he learned of them through the power of the Soul Stone which would be far more worrying), since he sadly shook his head.

"I had thought that you would understand now, McCole. Every life I have taken, I haven't taken for my amusement. For sport, or some sick pleasure. Everything that I have sacrificed... everything that I have made others sacrifice... it was all for the sole purpose of protecting more lives. I did not think that this would be such a difficult idea for you to grasp, as you've had the same mentality for so long. The scale which I operate on is simply larger."

"We are not the same-!" I begin, but am almost immediately cut off by Thanos' rumbling words.

"All life is equal. Therefore, as many lives must be preserved, regardless of the cost to other life as long as that cost doesn't supersede the lives saved. That's how you've operated so far, isn't it? When you first started your journey in this world, how much were you willing to sacrifice, in order to stop me? How many people were you willing to kill if it meant that I couldn't gather all the Stones? A hundred? A thousand? An entire planet worth, or ten planets? Twenty? All of it an acceptable cost, because you'd save the lives of millions of planets, of trillions of lives. Half of all life in the galaxy. As long as you killed less than half of all life in the galaxy, you thought the cost would be acceptable, because more life would be saved than lost."

Thanos' words hammer home, each word rumbling through the dead silent void as I try to refute him, to throw his own words back into his face and yet... I can't. He's right in his judgement of me, even now, and judging by the grim half-smile he sends me, he knows it too. Seeing me struggle for words, he leans in somewhat closer to me, water rippling around our feet as he fixes me with a burning stare.

"Which is exactly the same as I'm doing. I'm going to kill half of all life, so that the other half may continue to survive. What I'm going to do will save uncountable lives because the alternative is the death of everyone!"

"That's not how it works, you dumbass!"

There's a shocked silence at my outburst, which surprised even me and it takes all my willpower to not clasp a hand in front of my mouth. Thankfully, Thanos seems more surprised than offended (though to be fair he's probably been called a lot worse in his life and justifiably so), merely raising an eyebrow as he crosses his thick arms over his massive chest.

"Even your own people have come to this conclusion, McCole, at separate times and through different means. I know of your history, of your scientists, including something called the 'Malthusian ceiling'."

"That has been disproven many times over!"

"Has it? Has it truly or are you merely choosing to ignore the symptoms that are beginning to show through the cracks in your society? I have seen it happen, McCole. An increase in population always leads to an increase in consumption. Farmland, minerals, energy, the more people there are, the more they take from their planet, draining it dry. Scarcity is the only end result, no matter how long or how cleverly you manage to postpone it. You cannot run from it, cannot hide from it, it is the end result of unchecked growth and it will come for you. You think you can outsmart it, push it back, because your lives are so short that you cannot see the end result. See just how little your efforts have amounted to. All you can comprehend is but a fraction of the complete road to destruction your people are set upon. But not me. I have seen it all, McCole. The beginning... the end... and I know every pitfall of civilization, have seen it happened a hundred times before and prevented it a thousand times over! With scarcity comes poverty and suffering and before you've even noticed the change, before you've come to understand, to accept what's happened, your people, your precious civilization… it will turn on itself like rats for a scrap of food. Tell me, McCole, how could I stand by and let that happen again. How could you?" Thanos refutes, his voice cold and filled with terrible certainty.

"But it can be avoided! More resources can be found or extracted! There's so much in the universe that's untapped, we can-"

"Spread like locusts? There is much still left out there, I agree. The universe is a place of vastness beyond reckoning. But those resources don't multiply. They can only lessen as they are used in greater and greater numbers, never to recover. They don't grow and develop and breed and the more you take from these sources, the more people you create and the faster your population grows. Looking to technology for more resources doesn't postpone or negate your end. You merely enlarge the cycle you're already stuck in."

"But not with the Infinity Stones! If you truly want to save life instead of destroy it, you could travel to worlds that are failing to grow properly and help them! You could grant them limitless resources that match their needs, give them knowledge and technology that they lack so that they can live in balance with their world!"

"You still blind yourself to the truth! Resources always lead to unsustainable growth. What use is it then to give them limitless resources! What use is it if I have to travel the breath of the universe as some sort of holy man, stopping at every planet on my way, solving their problems for them? By the time I've reached one end of a galaxy, I'll turn around and see that all these problems have surfaced once more and in greater numbers! If I have to hold every civilization's hand, have to provide them with the means to their expansion and the solution to their every problem… they can never learn. Never grow. What you suggest would be the end of all progress in the universe, and only hasten the death of us all. This is something I learned long ago. Going from planet to planet... solving these problems case by case... it is an impossible task. Only by enforcing balance, instantly on a universal scale can this cycle be broken. Only by using the Infinity Stones can catastrophe be avoided, and destiny fulfilled."

"But if you cut all life in the galaxy in half, you won't have made more resources available to the remaining populations! Half of all livestock gone means people would still have the same relative amounts of food left! How does that help?!"

"Their lessened numbers and the pain of loss would force them to come together. To find a new way, a better way. To build a future different from their past, free from their endless cycle."

"How can you know?! What of galaxies who have never even heard of the Infinity Stones?! What of planets that haven't reached interstellar travel, who've never even heard of you? What do you think will happen to those worlds when suddenly, without explanation, half of their people are suddenly gone? What of the populations that haven't even industrialized yet, who number only in the low thousands? They wouldn't know that you want them to find a new balance, they'd probably panic, they might go to war with the people that are left because that's the only answer they can think of!"

My voice echoes hollowly in the not-space of the Soulworld, the only reaction of the world to us is the increased rippling at our feet. Thanos is silent for a few long moments, looking down at my much smaller form with an inscrutable expression. Slowly, his eyes track from me towards the little girl staring at us from so far away, before he looks back to me again.

"Even though you carry more Infinity Stones than any being before you since the departure of the Celestials, you still underestimate what they can do. What they are capable of, if they wish. They have a will of their own, McCole. Once I snap my fingers, every firmament of existence, Time and Space, Mind and Power, Reality and the Soul of the universe itself, will move to enact my will. Do you think that they are limited to but a single moment? That I snap my fingers and that that would be the end of it? Why would you reduce such an act to something so… simple? Every life taken, every life lost in the aftermath, all of it will contribute to my ultimate goal: half of all life. No more, no less. Those that need culling will be culled, those that have yet to grow will be allowed to do so."

"Bullshit." I say, because honestly, at this point, what else is there left to say?

For several unbearably long moments, we simply stare at one another, locked into a conquest of will. Eventually, it's Thanos who gives me a nod.

"Very well then. I see I cannot sway you to see reason. To cast off the comfortable lies you've been fed and accept the truth, painful though it may be. Regrettable, but I can respect someone who remains true to his beliefs. However, you asked me if we could perhaps strike a deal, prevent more bloodshed between us. And indeed there is: give me the Infinity Stones and I swear to you that during the fulfillment of my destiny, you and your family shall be spared."

My eyes widen in shock as I feel lightheaded at the offer. Perhaps it's the nature of this place and Thanos' connection to it, or perhaps it's simply because I've known him, seen him before, but I can somehow tell that the offer is genuine.

The Infinity Stones… in exchange for the safety of my family.

"That is why you fight, is it not? Why you oppose me, so desperately. You fear, not what I will do to the universe, but what I will do to you. To your family. Your wife. Your children. Your fear of death, your near hatred of it, is what has put you on a direct course against me for all of your life. But it need not be so. I can save you from it. My victory is inevitable, McCole. But your death does not need to be a part of that. I swear that you'll live, if you give me the Stones."

"Doesn't… doesn't that invalidate what you just said? Random, dispassionate justice? If you're going to pick and choose who lives and dies… what's to stop you from saving yourself, or your own people… where will you draw the line? How can I trust you to do something you're completely opposed to doing?"

"It's true. My plan will only be successful if there's no choice in who lives and dies. No favoritism. This includes myself. This includes those who work for me. All of us are willing to die, if it means the other half of life gets to live. But as I have been trying to tell you, what all of this was for, was to convince you that I value all life. That I wish to save as many as I can. To have you fight against me, your Infinity Stones against mine, your forces against mine… it would lead to a conflict of a massively destructive scale. It would only serve to bring further death and ruin into this world and I would avoid that. Additionally, I recognize your strength. Out of everyone who was faced me during my long life, out of every opponent that has stood against me... I recognize you as the strongest. If you are to involve yourself in the fight against me, then there's a chance that I could lose which would doom all life in the Galaxy. I refuse to let that happen."

Conviction blazes from his every word as he stalks closer to me, extending one massive hand out towards me, his expression grave.

"So yes, I will sacrifice my principles on this matter. I will exempt you from the Stones' judgement. Your Infinity Stones, in exchange for the very thing you've desperately sought since awakening in this universe: your survival. What say you?"

What do I say to that? If I'm being painfully honest? If he had come to me with that offer ten years ago, I would've taken it in a heartbeat. Before my quest for omnipotence had kicked off, hell, even during the earlier years, if that was all that it took to get what I wanted, I'd have shook his hand without hesitation or guilt and with a massive grin of sheer relief on my face. Before I started to make friends in this universe, before I began to see them as real, living, thinking, feeling people.

Before I fell in love.

Before I had a family.

I stare at the Titan's hand and instead of seeing my own salvation, I merely see three little lights, floating gently in the back of my mind. I see my newborn son, little Helios swaddled up in a blanket and looking so tiny in my arms as he stares up at me with curious golden eyes.

I remember my first words to him.

I remember the vow I made to his mother, when we first learned of her pregnancy.

Thanos. Dies.

I slap the Titan's hand away, staring up at him in defiance and he glances in surprise from his hand back to me, as if he can't understand why I'd throw away the only thing I've ever wanted out of life. While he was right and there are many parallels between the two of us, I can't help but feel bolstered, lighter, happier somehow when I realize the true difference between us. The thing that will always separate us and keep me from turning into the very thing I've spent my life fighting against.

Because I will never have to face one of my kids underneath that arch.

"Very well." Thanos says in a low voice, as if he's truly saddened by my answer and then his hand pools with orange light and he strikes out against me and

Oh God, w ha t is h appe ning to me? I… I have never e xperienced something li ke this. There's pain, b u t there's so mething mo re tha n that. Pain that se ems to be ti ed into m existence some h ow . It transcends an yth ing I've ev er felt before, to the point it b es diffi cult to re mem b er if I ever have felt something diff erent before. Have I? I'm not sure? All I can think abo ut, all that I can express and c ompr eh end is this unim aginable pain. It consumes more than just m y th oug hts or f ee lin gs, i ins to enc ompass all that I am, ev ery thi ng that makes me, me, to the point that I'm having trouble remembering who me is. There is sh outing, sreaming, I can't understand, is it mine? The floor trembles, or am I the one shaking un controllably? Is it both? Reality se ems to peel away, my thoughts blurring into words on paper, actions become reduced merely to fingers flying over a keyboar d, where have all the dimensions gone, why is everything so flat and colourless what happened to the world bring it back

A deep gasp resounds in my ears and as the pain suddenly disappears as if it were never there to begin with, clarity returns to my thoughts and I realize that I'm the one desperately choking for air. It feels as if someone just tried to tear my fucking soul in half! Taking a deep, pained breath which results in a coughing fit, I work myself to my knees, resting on trembling arms as I slowly look across from me.

Thanos… looks as disoriented as I am, blood leaking from his nose and eyes as he's sunken to one knee, blinking rapidly in confusion, before his bloodshot eyes land on my own.

"What… are you." He rasps with deep breaths, before looking at his own hands, a deeply disturbed expression on his face.

"What… are we?"

I couldn't have answered even if I wanted to, my body still desperate for air, and lacking the strength to work myself up to my feet, though honestly, right now I'm about as defenseless curled up in a ball as I am standing on my feet.

Though, I suppose there's a certain dignity to dying on your feet at least, I lucidly muse to myself, desperate to get my legs working again. It seems, however, that the Titan is made of sterner stuff as he's already (shakily) walking towards me, still blinking rapidly and with that confused and perturbed look on his face. As he moves shakily on his large feet, the energies of the Soulworld are pulled in with more force towards him, just to keep him going, but as I speculated before, Thanos' own soul is about at the limit of the amount of power it can take.

Sweat is pouring down the Titan's face as muscle spasms wrack his body and I have the vindictive realization that what's happening to Thanos' very soul is somewhat similar to what's happening to my own body, though sadly he's not as far gone as I am. Additionally, while it's a comforting thing to know that Thanos can't just juice himself up to godlike level without making his own metaphysical essence go 'boom!', right now that information isn't really useful to me, as the Titan grits his teeth and powers through what must be unimaginable amounts of pain in order to finish the job and smite me on the spot.

"No… no matter. I don't understand what you are… what you just did to me… what you showed me… but you have chosen your fate. And I... I won't be denied mine." He rasps, coming to a halt in front of me.

There's no great speech. No 'I have you now Hyperion! Face my wrath, muhahaha!', which, considering I'm in a superhero universe, is oddly disappointing to me. There's nothing. Just the Titan raising both his hands high above him, the Soul Stone glaring brightly, almost angrily in his forehead, burns extending around the flesh in which it is nestled.

Orange light once again pools into his hands and with a sense of finality I just know that I'm going to die here. I won't survive… whatever he did to my very soul for a second time in such short succession, before it has had a chance to settle back down into my corporeal form. I am… not okay with that, but in a surprising way. I'd always imagined that, if I were to fall against Thanos, I'd be raging or (in my more honest moments) weeping or something.

Instead, I merely feel… sorry. Not for myself. But towards my family.

'I tried… and I failed you… I… I wish…'

I don't even get to finish the thought. With a grunt of effort, Thanos brings both his hands down towards me, energy flying in long burning streamers off his flesh, his fingers splaying out in a claw-like grasp-

"No!"

A shout, the familiar twist of magical energy and before I can even comprehend what's going on, a thick burning rope of magic furiously wraps itself around Thanos' thick throat, pulling the Titan away from me and making his attack go wide, completely missing me, the soulfire extinguished now that he has lost his focus.

As the Titan struggles, I blearily look past his broad frame to spot Frigga standing a dozen meters away, a thick, brightly burning lasso held firmly in her hands, the end of which is wrapped tightly around the Titan's neck, a dimensional portal standing behind her.

How the hell she managed to follow us into the Soul Stone's personal dimension I have no idea, though I imagine she likely homed in on my unique soul signature, which must have been all over the place during Thanos' attack on it.

Still weakened and disoriented, the Mad Titan fails to properly stand against the Vanir Queen as she gives a mighty heave on the lasso, sweat dripping from her forehead and the magical construct digging angry wounds in her flesh as she gives it her all.

And her all seems to be sufficient, at least for a moment, as the Thanos is literally dragged a couple of steps away from me, before his mind has caught on to what's happening.

"No!" he growls out, soulfire once again blooming in his palms as he resist the frantic pulling on his neck, eyes solely focused on me, determined to end me here and now, before I've had a chance to recuperate, to grow stronger.

Before he can step closer though, I can feel a slim, strong hand clamp down on my shoulder, a familiar presence standing over me.

"We got you Michael. We got you." The Ancient One murmurs in my ear.

"Bodhmall, he's tearing free!" Frigga calls out, straining against the impossible might of the Titan, who's slowly but steadily regaining his strength as his wits return to him.

Before I can question the odd (yet vaguely familiar) name, the Ancient One acts, hauling me to my feet with one deceptively strong arm, and describing a wide circle with the other, leaving a trailing glow in her wake. Thanos has now grabbed the magical band around his neck (somehow seemingly grasping the magic itself), even as he slowly walks towards us, one inexorable stride after the other, physically dragging Frigga behind him, but then the Ancient One (or Bodhmall, apparently) finishes the framework of her spell and with a frown and grunt, she strikes outwards with that same arm, punching the centre of the magical circle.

And what comes out the opposite end can only be described as a miniature hurricane, immense gale level forces, strong enough to tear at our clothes even as the attack is aimed away from us, shooting out at immense speeds and impacting Thanos thick legs with an audible clap of thunder which leaves a ringing in my ear.

For one long moment, it seems as if the Titan will be able to maintain his balance, straining and roaring in defiance at the display of magical power arrayed against him. But then Bodhmall's frown deepens as she bares her teeth, pushing her arm further into the circle's center with a pained grunt and the gale forces pick up even further in intensity. The lair of water that covers everything is blasted back in a wide spray, showing that the floor is made up of dried, cracked brown stone as Thanos is blasted with the full force of a typhoon.

And then he slips.

The winds knock his legs out from underneath him and the mighty Titan goes down. The moment he crashes to the ground, Frigga turns on her heel and jumps through the portal behind her, the lasso rapidly shortening in length, reeling Thanos in as if he were an overgrown fish, literally tearing him off the ground and through the air.

Right as he's about to be bodily dragged out of the soulworld, the roaring Titan shoots out his arms, his enormous frame allowing his hands to catch onto the edges of Frigga's portal. Instead of having his appendages sliced off a la Cull Obsidian, once more an orange glow suffuses the flesh of his hands and he manages to grip the shear in space-time itself, straining against the desperate pull on his neck, his raging eyes never leaving my own.

Until the Ancient One describes another magical array with her free arm, seemingly struggling against the weight of the soulworld itself to cast the spell, before a lightning bolt flies from her index and middle finger, striking the Titan square in the chest with tremendous force and a deafening thunderclap, finally sending the Titan out of the Soul Stone's pocket-dimension with a fading scream of rage.

"Come Michael, we must hurry. We will have need of your strength." Bodhmall whispers, slightly out of breath as she drags me towards the portal at speed.

We immediately dive through (or rather, the Ancient One does, at this point I'm still very much out of it and mostly just along for the ride), but before we cross the threshold, I glance over my shoulder at the tiny girl standing so far away, who silently watched the whole confrontation between me and Thanos go down.

Like her father, Gamora's eyes never leave my own as the portal closes behind us and we're back in Valaskjálf as if nothing even happened, if it weren't for my heavy breathing and the fact that Frigga just whipped Thanos through the air and slammed him down into the floor in front of us, throwing up dust and stone and making the thick pillars tremble.

Damn. That's one badass lady.

Still, the mighty feat greatly drained her, as she sinks to her knees with a tired gasp, sweat dripping off her face and her entire body shaking. Both of her sons are immediately crouched at either side of her (and I notice that Loki shares her same exhausted look and clearly is running low on magical energy as well) as Odin stands at her side, grim eye focused on the floored form of Thanos.

Who's steadily working himself to his feet, a grimace on his face as he glares at us, the Soul Stone shining brightly in his forehead.

By now, he's managed to wrest his fingers in-between his throat and the burning rope and he takes a deep, slightly raspy breath, fixing the exhausted Frigga with a long look.

"Truly… you are deserving of the title, Wisest of the Nine Realms, to breach my dimension so swiftly. But… you made a mistake in bringing me back to your world. Now, I shall be the one to bring about your foretold Ragnarök." He growls out, which was apparently the wrong thing to say, as with a deep breath and a mighty yell, Frigga gathers the remains of her power and surges to her feet, once more reeling Thanos in with such force that he's lifted off his feet.

He's rapidly flying on a collision course towards her which can only end badly, the Titan clearly looking to take advantage of the rapidly closing distance to rain down death and destruction upon the assembled group, hunger in his eyes and the power of the Soul Stone filling his hands. Despite my own misgivings (and the fact I can feel my soul still reeling from Thanos' earlier attack) I make to jump between them, before I'm beaten to the punch. With a speed that belies his ancient age, Odin strides forward with quick, sure steps, slamming Gungnir forwards, a kaleidoscope of glaring, invisible colors swirling from its gleaming tip as power shines from the ancient warrior's remaining eye. The famed spear of Dvalin strikes true and embeds itself deeply into Thanos' chest, bursting out through the Titan's back in a spray of darkened blood, bringing him to a sudden halt.

Holding the Mad Titan up on his spear, Odin snarls at Thanos, his one eye blazing with rage and power.

"You will not lay a finger on her, or anyone else in Asgard! You will bring no further death to my people, Thanos!"

---

Fun Fact: Thanos creator Jim Starlin has stated that he was inspired by Darkseid for the Mad Titan's design. Around this time he also conceived the backstory for Drax the Destroyer (it's... a lot weirder than the backstory they gave him in the MCU, though the core themes remain the same), most notably how it ties in to Thanos' species, the Eternals who had started a colony on the Moon Titan (hence Thanos' title as the Mad Titan). Thanos was one of the last children born in the colony, but upon birth it was discovered that he was malformed as he suffered from the Deviant Syndrome (which is why he's big and purple with the distinctive chin). While Eternals are cosmically fueled humans, the Deviants are the other side of the same coin, with physical mutations from generation to generation to the point mother and child rarely even look alike. These two offshoots of humanity are part of a far larger experiment by the Celestials that I'm not gonna get into right now.

Besides, most of this is moot anyways as the MCU!Thanos has a severely trimmed down origin story of his own.