Thor: The Dark World part one.
I own only my original characters, nothing else.
A few months have past since Christmas and now Max was in Stark Tower in New York, packing for his trip to London to deliver his lecture at Oxford.
"How long do you think you'll be gone?," Pepper asked.
"Uh, about a week maybe," he answered. "I deliver my lecture the day after I land, but I've also heard word on a few friends of mine being in London at the moment so I'm gonna try to find them. I'll let you know when I'm on my way back."
"It seems things are always getting in the way of our lives. You always have to leave."
Max stopped and looked at his mom. He then walked and hugged her tightly, which she immediately returned.
"I'm sorry that I haven't been around much. I'm sorry that keep on leaving, I really am. But I promise, nothing bad is going to happen when I'm in London."
She smiled and nodded before eventually gesturing him to finish packing.
"I better get going," Max said once he had finished.
She nodded and said her goodbyes, and Tony came in and said his goodbyes as well.
"Knock them dead, Professor!!," Tony exclaimed, which made Max shudder at the thought of him being a professor or even a teacher in general.
"Never call me that ever again," Max said, which made his father chuckle as he got into his new car, a new R8 e-tron, with a Bugatti Veyron Supersport, in the tower private parking lot. "Thanks for the car by the way, even though it's completely unnecessary for me to drive."
'It might attract unwanted attention to you, Max, should you be speeding all over the United Kingdom,' JARVIS pointed out through the tower speakers.
"Hm... touché, JARVIS. Touché. Later!!"
He got in and drove off to the nearby airport. As he drove, he activated his phone and called his best friend.
"Hello?," Shuri answered.
"Hey. I'm on my way to the airport now," he said. "I'll have someone record my lecture so you can see it as well."
"Okay. Are you going to be visiting some time soon?"
"...Might not be a good idea for the time being."
"Why not?"
"Well, for the past few years, I've been staying in one place for a few months to another. A lot of times it's been away from my parents. My mom has barely been able to see me. So, maybe I should try to spend more time with her after London. But I will visit Wakanda eventually. Just not anytime soon."
"...Okay," she said back. "I understand. I really do. You have been away from her a lot. So... what will you do after the lecture?"
"Heard some old friends of mine were in London so I thought I should see if I can find them," he answered. "Okay, I'm at the airport, so I gotta go. I'll talk to you afterwards."
"Okay. Goodbye, Max."
"Bye, Shuri."
He hung up the phone as he parked his car and walked onto the plane, with Happy flying it.
"How are you doing, kid?," Happy asked.
"I'm good. What about you?," Max asked as he sat down in the copilot's seat.
"I'm good now. Though I'm trying to catch up on Downton Abbey."
"Haha. Can't help you there. I was a little busy with taking down Aldrich Killian. Happy... I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you at the-."
"Stop," he said sternly. "There was no way that you could've known what happened. There's nothing to apologize for, but I do thank you for standing up to defend me and saving your family."
"But I put them in danger in the first place."
"Something tells me that it would've happened no matter what. What's done is done, Max. Best thing to do is to move on."
"...I'll try," Max said.
They continued their conversation for sometime until they finally arrived in London. He said his goodbyes to his friend and got into the car that was left for him.
'Okay, Max, time to go through a trip where you don't fight aliens or evil fire guys,' he thought to himself as he drove.
He stayed in the hotel that was set up for him nearby Oxford University for the rest of the day, rehearsing for the presentation.
The next day, Max was now standing at the front of an Oxford classroom filled with astrophysicists and other such scientists.
"Thank you all for coming in today," Max began. "For those of you who do not know who I am, my name is Maxwell Stark, and yes, I am the Avenger known as Arc. I've come here today to introduce to you a theory that I have come up with involving what is known as the Tesseract."
The lights dimmed down and a hologram of the Tesseract appeared.
"After the portal was closed, I was able to get a look at the cube and I realized... the true power was what was inside. Based on what I've seen, the Tesseract seems to be an object of potentially infinite power, but it's main purpose is meant to be used as possible a transportation device. Obviously, this power cannot be without form, therefore I believe that this power takes the form of a concentrated ingot, a stone. An... Infinity Stone."
There were some murmuring around the room. Some called this brilliant, others thought of it as a joke.
"And this is the theory that you wished to present to us?," one person asked.
"Partly. The main part of the theory is this: that there are more."
"More? More 'Infinity Stones'? Come now, Mr. Stark, like your father and your grandfather, you are a man of science. Surely you must have proof of this, correct?"
"May I please finish before you criticize?," he asked, annoyed by the questioning and interruptions. When no one spoke up, he continued. "Thank you. Now, I theorize that there are six stones. Each one governing an aspect of existence and each of a color of the rainbow. The Tesseract is likely the stone that governs space, the Space Stone. Then there is Reality, Soul, Mind and finally Time. Now for the sixth, Power. It is likely that from this stone that the others were formed."
"And where do you suspect that these stones came from?," another asked.
"In all likelihood, perhaps these powers were around before the beginning of the universe. Then the Big Bang happened and these powers became the Infinity Stones. Now I know that this all seems absurd and far-fetched. I'm not expecting any support, I merely wished to present this to you. Are there any questions?"
"I have one," the first man from before said. "If you were to take all six of these so called 'Infinity Stones,' and use all of their power at once, what do you think would happen?"
"...Likely, one would potentially wield a power beyond measure or imagining. But considering we are dealing with objects of infinite power, we mere humans would likely only be able to handle harnessing one, and that would likely depend on who was using it. But as for what one could do with all six of them... one might be able to destroy the universe, create a new one, reshape time and space. You'd likely have the power to do anything... but who wants that much power? If that's all the questions, thank you all for your time and have a wonderful day."
The lights went back to normal and Max casually walked out of the room and he dropped everything off at the hotel and sped sixty miles east to explore downtown London. After an hour or two, he then saw someone he hadn't seen a few years.
"Darcy Lewis?," Max said and the said person turned and her eyes widened.
"Whoa, Max Stark?!," she exclaimed. "Wow, it's been a while. Last I saw you, you..."
"Left to go to Asgard, yeah."
"Yeah. Everything went fine, I'm guessing. Obviously. Um... what are you doing here?"
"I just finished giving a lecture at Oxford and I heard that Jane and Selvig were in the England. Just wasn't expecting to find you as well."
"Hi, by the way. Name's Ian," a guy in the back of Darcy's car said. "Honor to meet you, Mr. Stark."
"He's my intern," Darcy explained.
"An intern can have an intern?," Max asked.
"Yeah, why not?"
Max decided not to continue the conversation and changed the subject.
"So, why are you here?"
"Well, Jane is inside this building on a date, and I came by to tell her about her scanner thingy started going off and I thought that she might be interested."
"Might be?"
"She hasn't paid as much attention to the stuff as she used to after you know..."
"Ah, well can I see the scanner?," Max asked and she handed it to him and his eyes widened slightly and then grew into a frown. "...Just once, I'd like to go on a trip that doesn't turn into a world changing event..."
"What?," she asked, not understanding his mumbling.
"Nothing, but I'll be coming with you guys. Move over, Ian."
He did so as he got into the car and Darcy followed suit. A few moments later, Jane Foster got into the car with a not so pleased look on her face.
"And I hate you," she said.
"What?! I thought he was cute," she said cheekily.
"Just shut up and drive."
Darcy pulls out and drive off, as they are driving through London suddenly Jane is shocked to see a familiar face in the backseat.
"What the-?!! Max?!!"
"Hey, Jane," he said. "Been a few years huh? So who's this supposedly cute guy you were on a date with?"
"Oh, don't you dare start!! And who is this other guy?"
"He's my intern," Darcy answered.
"You have an intern?," Jane asked.
"Oh, yeah."
"Hello, Dr. Foster. It's uh... it's a great honor to be working with you. Take a right."
Darcy quickly makes a sharp turn, earning some honks as she follows Ian's instructions. All the while, Max begins to regret coming and Jane tries to call Erik Selvig.
"Left!," Ian yelled as Max looked the whereabouts of Selvig.
"I have totally mastered driving in London," Darcy proudly said as she drove very recklessly.
"Yup, next step is to master your patience with driving in New York, then it's all downhill after that."
"Hi, Erik, it's me again. Where are you? I came here because you said you were onto something and then vanished," Jane said over the phone.
"Uh, Jane?," Max said as he handed her his phone which was showing a news report that showed where Selvig was naked and running around Stonehenge with the police trying to catch him. "Guessing he's been a little out of it since New York, right?"
"Yeah, but it hasn't been this bad before. Why are you here?"
"He gave a lecture at Oxford."
"An hour or so ago. Thought you would be there. What I was talking about is right up your alley."
"Sorry. How about you tell me about it later then?," she said and he nodded at this as she looked back at him. "It really is good to see you again, Max."
"You too, Jane," Max replied as they arrived.
"Come on, this is exciting!! Look, even the intern is excited."
"Ian," Ian and Max corrected.
"Do you want the phase meter?," Darcy asked.
"No."
"Bring the phase meter," she said and threw the keys to her intern and began to walk off. "The toaster looking thing."
"I know what the phase meter is."
Jane and Max began walking towards the factory as Darcy called her on her cell phone, which began to playing an annoying ringtone.
"How do I change the ringtone on this thing?," she asked, annoyed greatly.
"An astrophysicist with three degrees should be able to change her own ringtone," Darcy said over the phone and Max turned to her.
"Why are you calling her?," he asked.
"I didn't want to shout. Intern, the entrance is this way."
"Ian. My name's Ian," the intern said as they entered the factory. Then they stopped when Max heard a noise and he pushed Jane behind him.
"I am not getting stabbed in the name of science."
"No one is getting stabbed, period," Max said. "Not while I'm here. You can come out, we're not gonna hurt you!!!"
"It's okay, we're Americans!!," Darcy yelled.
"Is that supposed to make them like us?," Jane questioned as some kids came out. "Oh, they're kids."
"Are you the police?," one asked.
"No, no, we're scientists. Well, I am."
"...Thanks a lot," Darcy commented.
"No need to worry, I'm an Avenger. I'm Arc. You can trust us."
"...Okay. We just found it."
"Can you show us?"
The three kids lead Jane, Max, Darcy and Ian to a truck, one of the boys touched the truck and pushed it up with two fingers. They all watched in amazement as the truck began to float in mid-air.
"That doesn't seem rigged."
"That's because it isn't," Max stated as he walked closer and inspected it. "Something is affecting the gravity in this area. Is there anything else?"
The kids nodded and took them over to a nearby stairwell in the factory. One of them then dropped a bottle down and they all watched as the bottle disappears into thin air.
"Where did it go?," Darcy asked.
The girl pointed upwards and they all looked up to see the bottle reappear above them and it began to continuously fall and disappear in the same spot in the air until the girl caught it.
"That's... that's incredible."
Jane picked up an empty can and dropped it down and it did the exact same thing. However, when it disappeared into thin air, it did not reappear.
"What happened?"
"Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't," the girl said.
Darcy began to act childish and began to throw things over the ledge, unfortunately including the car keys, which did not come back. Jane, on the other hand, began look at the readings her equipment was picking up.
"I haven't seen readings like this since...," Jane began.
"New Mexico?," Max guessed and she slowly nodded, but didn't say anything.
Max began to look around the factory for any other anomalies the children might've missed. It was then that after several hours, Max realized that he hadn't seen Jane for sometime. He began to zoom around all over the building, looking for her. When he couldn't find her, he sped back to Darcy and Ian and saw the kids were gone.
"Max, where's Jane?!!," she asked, freaking out a little.
"I don't know. I've looked all over. I'll look again, you two call the police."
He ran around again and by the time the police arrived, Jane reappeared and she wasn't happy that the authorities were present.
"Jane! Where the hell were you?!"
"Tell me you didn't call the police!!," she yelled.
"What were we supposed to do?"
"Not call the police!"
"I was freaking out."
"You call the cops they tell the feds, the next thing you know we have SHIELD crawling all over area fifty-one-ing the place."
"Hey, SHIELD isn't as bad as you think," Max argued.
"They took my equipment!!"
"They gave it back."
"...Whatever. Anyway, Darcy, we had a stable gratification anomaly, we had unheeded access. Our only competition was ten years old!"
"Jane, you were gone for five hours!," Max and Darcy yelled and this shocked Jane.
"What?," she said.
"Yes, Jane. Five hours."
Then they all took notice that it had started raining, but the rain wasn't hitting them.
"That's weird," Darcy commented.
"I'm gonna have to go on a limb here and say that Thor is back," Max guessed and looked behind Jane and laughed a little at what he saw. "Hahaha... as if on cue..."
Jane turned around to see none other than the God of Thunder himself. She then began to walk over to him as the barrier following her and the rain began to fall on Darcy and Max.
"Typical."
Max just chuckled and fixed the bag he had as it was slipping off his shoulder and walked towards the two who were about to kiss.
"Hate to interrupt, but this is probably not the best place to do that," Max said and got their attention and Thor gave him a one-armed hug, which returned.
"Good to see you again, brother," Thor said.
"You too."
"Hey, is this you?," Darcy asked, referring to the rain. Thor looked up and it ceased instantly.
"Uh, guys...we're kind of in the middle of something," Jane said.
"Um... I'm pretty sure we are getting arrested."
"Um... hold that thought."
She quickly left to speak to the police and Darcy turned to Thor.
"Look at you, still all muscly and everything. ...How's space?"
"Space is fine."
"...This is awkward now," Max commented and they slowly nodded. "So, why are you here?"
"Heimdall lost sight of Jane so I came to see if she was alright."
"And the gravity loss and broken dimensional barriers?"
"Merely signs that the Convergence is approaching soon," Thor explained, but before he could continue, a blast of energy came from Jane when a cop tried to grab her arm, throwing him away a distance. Jane!!! Jane?"
Thor and Max ran over to her and help her up as the cops drew closer.
"You alright?"
"...What just happened?," Jane asked.
"Place your hands on your head, step back!," a second cop ordered.
"Stand down!!," Max yelled. "What happened was unintentional. This woman is unwell."
"She's dangerous."
"So am I," Thor threatened as the cop called for backup and Thor called for the Bifrost. "Hold on to me."
"What are you doing?"
"Looks like we're going back to Asgard."
Suddenly the Bifrost opens and Thor takes Jane and Max to Asgard.
"Holy shit!!!," Darcy yelled as she looked up at where they disappeared.
A few moments later, Max, Thor and Jane travel through the Bifrost and enter Asgard where Heimdall is guarding as always and Jane looks around her in amazement.
"We have to do that again," Jane said excitedly and then saw Heimdall. "Hi..."
"Welcome to Asgard," Heimdall said and he turned to Max. "Welcome back to Asgard... Arc."
"Hey, Heimdall. Shouldn't we get her some help?"
Thor nodded and they headed to the healing room where Jane was being examined as she laid on a stranger device. As they examined her, she could not help herself but ask what everything was, amazed at the entire place. Max and Thor watched as the healers tried to figure out what was wrong with her.
"This is not of Earth, what is it?," Thor asked.
"We do not know, but she will not survive the amount of energy surging within her," a nurse answered and Thor looked at Jane with worry.
"May I see?," Max asked and head healer, Eir, stepped aside for him to look. "...Based on what I'm seeing, it looks like whatever is within her is feeding off her, her life force."
This only made Thor worry more.
"That's a quantum field generator, isn't it?," Jane asked.
"It's a Soul Forge," Eir said.
"Does a Soul Forge transfer molecular energy from one place to another?"
"Yes," she said, slightly impressed.
"It's a quantum field generator," Jane whispered to Thor and he smiled as Odin came in.
"My words are mere noises to you that you ignore them completely?," Odin asked Thor, indicating that he'd been standing there for a while. "It is nice to see you again though, Sir Stark."
"You as well, sir," Max said, bowing his head slightly.
"She's ill," Thor tried to reason.
"She is mortal. Illness is their defining trait."
"This is unlike any earthly illness," Max argued.
"I brought here because we can help her. And I brought him here because he can do the same."
"She does not belong here in Asgard anymore than a goat belongs at a banquet table," Odin said and Jane sat up and looked at him, rather insulted.
"Did he just...?," she said. "Who do you think you are?"
"I'm Odin. King of Asgard. Protector of the Nine Realms."
"...Oh. Well, I'm-."
"I know very well who you are, Jane Foster," Odin said as guards came and Jane turned towards Thor.
"You told your Dad about me?"
"Something is within her, father, something I have not seen before," Thor tried to explain.
"Her world has its healers, their called doctors, let them deal with it. Guards, take her back to Midgard."
The two guards then began to approach Jane.
"No, I wouldn't-," Arc warned but was too late as they were pushed back by the energy. "-touch her."
"Jane, are you alright?," Thor asked and she nods as Odin and Arc inspect the energy running through her.
It was a fluid looking energy with a blood red color to it.
"That's impossible..."
"The infection, it's defending her," Eir said.
"No... it's defending itself," Thor said.
"...Come with me," Odin said as he took them to another part of the castle and pulled out an ancient book. "There are relics that predate the universe itself. What lies within her appears to be one of them. The Nine Realms are not eternal. They had a dawn as they will have a dusk. But before that dawn the dark forces... the Dark Elves... reigned absolute and unchallenged."
"The Dark Elves? People of Svartalfheim, right?," Max asked.
"You are correct, Sir Stark."
"'Born of eternal night, the Dark Elves comes to steal away your light,'" Thor read from the book. "They were stories mother told us as children."
"Their leader, Malekith made a weapon out of that darkness, it was called the Aether. While the other relics often appeared as stones, the Aether is fluid and ever changing. It changes matter into dark matter and seeks out host bodies, drawing strength from their life force. Malekith sought to use the Aether's power to return the universe to one of darkness. But after eternities of bloodshed, my father, Bor, finally triumphed. Ushering in a peace that has lasted for thousands of years."
"What happened?," Jane asked.
"He killed them all," Odin answered.
"Are you certain?," Thor asked. "The Aether was said to have been destroyed with them and yet here it is."
"...The Dark Elves are dead."
"Why don't we send some people to Svartalfheim to make sure that they are all dead?," Max suggested.
"Nothing has been heard from the Dark World for five thousand years now. They're dead."
"Does your book happen to mention how to get it out of me?"
"...No, it does not," he concluded as he walked away and Max looked closer at the image of the either and then remembered what Odin said before.
"...You said the other relics that predate the universe were stones," Max said and Odin turned to look at him.
"Yes, I did say that."
"Is the Tesseract one of them?"
"...Follow me, Sir Stark. It's time I confirmed this 'theory' of yours."
Sorry it took so long. Work got busy for me and then school started up. So life just got in the way. Hope you like this. Until the next story is up, see ya later.