Thor: The Dark World part 2.
I own only my original characters, nothing else.
Max continued to follow Odin deeper within the castle. Finally, they came to a vault of some sort and Max took a look around and knew exactly where he was.
"Your treasure room...," Max said and Odin nodded slightly as they approached the Tesseract. "And this is the jewel of your treasures."
"It is indeed. For more reasons than one," Odin said and picked up the blue cube and placed it in Max's hands. "Take a good look inside it. What do you see?"
Max looked at it closely and soon he began to see a stone within the cube. It was beautiful, constantly moving, turning within it. Suddenly, the room went black, and then nebulas, stars, planets, galaxies began to surround him. Then he was pulled towards one planet in particular, with permanently eclipsed sun that gave off a pinkish glow. As he drew nearer to the planet, he saw some sort of temple built out of a mountain, and he came face to face with a specter looking thing with a red skull like face.
"Welcome, Maxwell... son of Anthony...," it said. "I am honored to be in the presence of the Nemesis Champion."
"Nemesis Champion? What do you me-?," he said before he was pulled towards the center of the planet to see a small, orange stone.
Then a flash of light blinded him for a moment and he was now on a desolate, stormy planet and the Tesseract then pulled him towards a ruin with an orb floating within a barrier of pure energy. Out of the orb came a stone of purple color. He touched it for a brief moment but when he did, the scene in front of him broke as if it were made of glass and he fell off the edge created by it he began to fall, screaming as he did.
"This can't be real. This can't be real. This can't be-," he muttered to himself as he was beginning to freak out slightly but then he looked at the Tesseract, still in his hands and it dawned on him. "This is real."
"Yes, it is," Odin's voice said, but it sounded as if there were two other voices and he quickly realized that it was Cheetah's voice and another's that he needed a moment to recognize and then realized that it was the woman who saved him during the fight against the Chitauri, the Ancient One. They were all speaking at once to him. "You are so very, very clever, Maxwell Stark."
Then Max was pulled down faster and forcibly as he went through a giant yellow, glowing stone.
"But there still so much for you to learn, and you are not yet ready. But you will be soon."
On the other side was a giant, closed eye, his eye. When it opened, it revealed a somewhat familiar symbol and it then opened to reveal a green stone.
Then Max splashed down into a pool of what looked like blood. Armored arms then began to grab at him. Max tried to phase out but he found that he couldn't do it and they pulled him down further and further, him yelling in frustration as they did so.
Then all of a sudden... they released him.
"You believe you understand the Infinity Stones? Understand the Infinity Realm?"
The arms pulled away from him as the waters poured towards them until they formed a red stone and Max's eyes widened as he hovered over it.
"You do not understand anything about it, but you will... we shall show you."
A massive arm then grabbed him and pulled him into the stone as images around him began to show him everything.
"Before the beginning, before there was even darkness... there was the Infinity Realm," the voices said and then showed the Big Bang occurring. "The creation of the universe allowed the powers that existed within it to take physical form. The Stones..."
"You could've told me all of this...," Max said. "Why are you doing this to me?"
"To show you just how important you are. The Infinity Realm is what you know as the Cheetah Realm. It's true name. Only the wisest and oldest of us know the story of the Realm's Champion. It is you, Maxwell Howard Stark. You shall determine whether the universe lives or dies by your own hand. What will you choose?"
Max was then pulled towards a city filled with people living their lives.
"Life?"
Then he was pulled towards a desolate and barren planet.
"Death?"
Then the Tesseract pulled him back to Asgard, him yelling from the sudden force until in a split second... he found himself back in the Treasure Room of Odin, with Odin himself still standing there, smirking at the shocked and slightly frightened face Max had on.
"I suppose we shall see," he said and took the Tesseract and placed it back onto the podium. "Come. Let's have you explore the kingdom since you'll be staying."
Max stood there for a moment, contemplating what had just happened and breathing heavily.
"Okay... that happened," Max said and he slowly walked out and back above ground where Thor was waiting for him. "No offense, but your dad can be a real jackass when he wants to be."
"Hahaha... what did he do?," he asked, finding the comment humorous.
"Best to just say that he confirmed my theory on the Infinity Stones and then some, and leave it at that. But what he did do scared the hell out of me."
"My apologies then. Come on, maybe seeing some old friends will help you calm down."
Max nodded and walked with his brother, thinking on what he had seen.
"Hey, Thor. Your father mentioned something called the Infinity Realm. I think he said it's the Cheetah Realm, is that true?"
"It is indeed. The Infinity Realm is the universal name for the place where the stones came from."
"Well, it gave me my speed," Max said and Thor looked at him. "And I think it's going give me more somehow."
"...Then we best ready should it come to that."
"Yeah. So... where might he be?"
"Follow me," Thor said and he showed him to the dungeons. "The first cell on the corner. I shall see you later."
Max nods and walks over to the cell to find the god of mischief inside.
"...Well, well, well... if it isn't the boy who wasn't fast enough," Loki said, smirking though Max could see that he was rather surprised to see him. "How might I help you?"
"Well, you can drop dead. That'd be a good start."
"Ooh... sorry. Can't help you there, as I quite enjoy being alive."
"Pity," he said. "So... how did you get to be in command of an army like the Chitauri?"
"I have been to worlds you could never even fatho-."
"Please spare me the intimdation speech. You've never scared me, so just tell me."
"Hahaha... that would be telling," Loki said. "Look at yourself. You still think you know better than me? You still think that you are better than me? I will say again, Stark, we are the same. We will lie and cheat and kill to get what we want, without showing any pity or remorse. ...You know I'm right."
"No... I don't," Max said, slightly disturbed by what was just said. "But I do know this. You're the one in the cell, and I'm not. So we're not really the same. Later, asshole."
Loki smirked at this and kept his gaze on him until he was out of sight. Max continued to walk around until he came across a few familiar faces. They saw him as well and the biggest one laughed loudly and walked over to him and picked him up to hug him.
"Hahaha!!!! Young Maxwell!!! Wonderful to see you again," Volstagg exclaimed then put him down as Sif, Fandral.
"Oh!! ...Hey, guys," he said after Volgstagg put him down and could breathe again. "And please, call me Max."
"Very well then, Max," Sif said and the others took their leave. "So what happened exactly after you left?"
"Oh you know, lived with my best friend and her family for a year and a half, where I realized I am in love with her. Then six months with my parents when I became a part of a team of heroes, another six months later I'm defending my family again and then yet another six months and I'm here again. The usual stuff."
"Wow, you've been rather busy. Congratulations though on falling in love. What is this fair maiden's name?"
"Shuri," he answered.
"Lovely name. You better be good to her, or you shall deal with me," she said and this made Max gulp and nod. "Excellent. I shall see you later, in all likelihood."
Sif then walked back to the training area and Max decided to go to the room that was set up for him.
Then suddenly, he was pushed against a wall. He attempted fight him off but his attacker seemed to know every move he made. Eventually, he was pinned to the wall again. Max now had a good look at the man, and saw something familiar about him, but his face was blurred.
"...Look at yourself...," he said in a distorted voice. "All of your failures just waiting to happen. ...Look after your family as best you can. Love Shuri for as long as you can."
"How do you know-?!," he tried to ask, but his mouth was then covered.
"Quiet. A big fight is soon to come, and when you go to war, you've gotta wear an unbroken uniform."
He dropped a backpack next to him and released Max. A flash of light went off and the man was gone. Max looked around and found no sign whatsoever. He looked into the bag to find his Arc suit in it, completely repaired. He quickly got it on and continued walk around Asgard.
'Who was he?,' Max thought to himself. 'How did he know me? How did he know Shuri?'
He decided to let it be for now and soon he found Jane again, now in Asgardian clothing.
"Well, look at you," he said. "An interesting getup."
"Oh, haha... yeah. I tried to ask if they had pants, but they didn't know what I was talking about," Jane replied.
"Well, for one, they're likely called trousers here. And women didn't always wear them."
"Yeah, but... I'm in a dress."
"Better than nothing. Though I'm sure Thor wouldn't mind that," he joked and Jane went red in the face, but laughed a little all the same. "Sorry, curse of the Stark sense of humor. Anyway, did anyone explain what was going on back on Earth?"
Jane nodded and began to explain to Max about the Convergence and how it is when all the realms line up at the same time every five thousand years.
"Hmm... now it all makes sense."
"I know, right? This could completely change how we view the universe. More than we already do I mean."
"Indeed. I certainly hope that you can further Midgard's studies of the cosmos when you return home," a voice behind them said and they turned to see none other than the Queen of Asgard, Thor's mother.
"Queen Frigga," Max said, bowing his head in respect.
"Sir Stark. I'm afraid that I must take Miss Foster away."
"Oh, of course. Be my guest, I'll see you later, Jane."
She nodded at him before going with the queen and they walked off, leaving him alone once again. So, with no one to talk to, Max decided to go see the one man he hadn't spoken to much yet.
He quickly sped down the Rainbow Bridge and to the Bifrost.
"Hello, Sir Maxwell Stark," Heimdall greeted, just as Max arrived.
"I'm gonna sneak up on you. One of these days," Max said, making the gatekeeper chuckle.
"Hahaha, oh I highly doubt that, but you're more than welcome to try. How might I help you?"
"Ah well, just wanted someone to talk to. No doubt you saw what Odin showed me, right?"
"I saw the king take you to the treasure room and I saw you holding the Tesseract, you vanished from my sight afterwards. Or perhaps, you were moving too fast for even myself to see."
"Maybe, but in the end it doesn't really matter," Max stared and he nodded in agreement. "...What's it like?"
"What?," Heimdall asked.
"To be able to see everything in the universe? Is it a blessing or a burden?"
"...Some days it's a blessing, others a burden. It's more of an honor than anything else, though. To be able to see everything, both the prosperities and the hardships of the universe. Though they'll likely never know for themselves, but under my watchful eyes, no one is ever truly alone. What I see now is though is the Convergence drawing closer."
"Is there anyway that I can see what you see?," Max asked and Heimdall nodded, placing a hand the boy's shoulder.
A sudden flow of energy went through him and after a moment, Max opened his eyes and they were the same color as Heimdall's. Soon, he saw the Convergence as he did. Massive portals to all of the nine realms and surrounding space, slowly lining up and and piling upon one another.
"Oh, wow!! ...It's beautiful..."
"That it is, my boy. That it is," Heimdall said but then he heard something. "Something is coming."
He released Max and the boy quickly recovered and followed him outside the Bifrost as an invisible ship passed them. Heimdall quickly ran over and jumped onto the support wire and ran up to jump onto the ship, daggers out.
He stabbed his blades into the side of the ship and it revealed itself to be black and almost dagger shaped itself. Max could do nothing but watch as Heimdall slid down and threw a dagger into the engine and it came crashing down onto the bridge and Heimdall landed safely back onto the bridge.
"You alright?," Max asked, running over to him.
"I am," he said just more humming could be heard.
They turn around and see an even larger ship arriving.
"Who are these guys?"
"...The Dark Elves. Go, Maxwell, now. I must activate the palace shield. Should it fail, Thor and the others will need all the help they can get."
"...Okay," he said and he quickly sped off towards the palace.
Soon enough, he finds Odin and some soldiers fending off some escaped prisoners.
"Your Majesty!!"
"One moment, Sir Stark!!," Odin said.
Max simply cracked his neck and sped straight through the mob of prisoners and began taking them all down, one by one. When they were all taken care of, Max sped back to the king.
"The Dark Elves, sir... they're here."
Odin gave no immediate response as gunshots started going off and explosions were heard as the shield was activating.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Max said.
Another explosion was heard, but it was within the palace. Slowly, the shield lowered and a ship crashed straight into the throne room.
"I shall deal with the Dark Elves in the throne room. Go find Thor and aid him where you can," Odin said and Max nodded.
He sped off to go find him.
Arc soon found Thor arriving at the dungeons, attempting to stop the riot.
"Return to your cells, and no harm will come to you. I give you my word," Thor said before someone punched him in the face. "Very well, I do not give you my word."
Max sighed in annoyance and then sped down and took all of the prisoners down, one by one, and putting them back in the cells, activating doors once they were all back in them.
"Are we finished here?!! This was a diversion so someone could take out the palace defenses. The Dark Elves are attacking."
"What?!!"
"...Malekith has come for the Aether," Arc said and they all quickly ran back up to the fight.
Thor and Arc quickly headed up towards Jane's chambers... only to see Queen Frigga being stabbed through the back with a sword by some sort of giant, demon like elf with an unmasked elf watching.
"NO!!!!!," Thor yelled and shot lightning straight at Malekith's face and Kursed quickly grabbed him as Arc used his speed to toss a tracking device on his back as they jumped off the balcony and into a ship and they and the Dark Elf mothership retreated, for now.
Jane then came out from her hiding place, and Thor ran over to check on her as Odin, who also arrived too late, held his wife's lifeless body, becoming filled with grief.
In the end, many lives were lost because of the Dark Elf attack.
Later that night, all of Asgard gathered around the river that flowed through the realm, with the queen's body in a boat. It was then sent out to float away, and like a Viking funeral, an arrow was fired and the boat was lit. The boat fell as it went over the cliff, but her ashes spread out across the stars. Afterwards, the people of Asgard released numerous floating lanterns into the air, honoring their dead family, friends and loved ones as well.
All the while, a guard went down to the dungeons and informed Loki of his mother's passing. He did not take it well, as he immediately began to wreck the inside of his cell out of anger as soon as the guard left.
Max quickly began to notice the changes in the king. The grief of losing his wife was now clouding his judgment, though he dared not mention this to him, or anyone for that matter. He knew that he wouldn't stand much of a chance against Odin, despite his speed and fighting skills.
Now, he sat down at a table in a mead hall with Thor outside the palace, simply talking.
"You know, eventually, Malekith will return for the Aether," Max stated discreetly and Thor nodded in agreement.
"Yes, and next time they will destroy us," Thor said as Heimdall walked over to us. "You were not at Odin's war council."
"The Bifrost is closed by your father's orders. No one is to come or to go," Heimdall said as he removed his helmet and sat down. "We face an enemy that is invisible even to me. Of what use is a guardian such as that?"
"We don't have the time to play the blame game right now, Heimdall," Max said.
"Malekith will return, you know this. ...I'll need your help."
"I cannot overrule my King's wishes, not even for you two."
"We're not asking you to. The Realms need their All-Father strong and unchallenged, whether he is or not. But he is blinded, Heimdall, by hatred and by grief."
"As are we all."
"Well... I see clearly enough," Thor stated.
"So do I," Max said.
"The risks are too great," Heimdall argued.
"Everything that we do from here on is a risk, there is no other way."
"...What do you require of me?"
A couple of hours later, Arc and Heimdall had Sif, Fandral and Volgstagg meet them in a small, secret room.
"What I'm about to ask of you is treason of the highest order," Max began to say. "Success will mean we will all be exiled from Asgard and failure shall mean... well, if we fail, we'll all be killed. Malekith knew the Aether was here, he can sense its power. If we do nothing, he will come for it again, but this time lay waste to all of Asgard. We must move Jane off world."
"The Bifrost has been shut down and the Tesseract locked away in a vault," Sif said.
"There are other paths off Asgard, ways known only to a few," Heimdall said as he stood apart from them.
"One, actually, if we're being specific."
"...No," Volgstagg said when they realized that he meant Loki.
"Too late. Thor is already on his way to the dungeons now to speak to him."
"He will betray you both," Fandral said.
"I have no doubt that he'll try. But we'll need him to get to Svartvalfheim. Before they fled, I placed a tracker on one of the elves, that big one. Hopefully they don't discover it before we get there and know that we're coming."
Back in the dungeons, Thor approached Loki's cell.
"Thor, after all this time and now you come to visit me. Why? Have you come to gloat? To mock?," Loki asked.
"Loki, enough. No more illusions," Thor said and a moment later, Loki's cell transformed, the illusion was lifted and the cell was a complete mess. Everything had been thrown around and Loki himself sat on the floor, looking unkempt and messy, in the other corner of the cell.
"Now you see me, brother," he said truthfully and Thor walked up closer to Loki. "Did she suffer?"
"I did not come here to share our grief. Instead, I offer you the chance of a far richer sacrament."
"...Go on."
"I know you seek vengeance as much as I do. You help me escape Asgard and I will grant it to you, vengeance. And afterward, this cell."
This just made Loki chuckle a little.
"Hahaha... you must be truly desperate to come to me for help," Loki stated. "What does Arc think of this? And what makes you think you can trust me?"
"I don't. Mother did. And this was Max's idea. Also, you should know that when we fought each other in the past, I did so with a glimmer of hope that my brother was still in there somewhere. That hope no longer exists to protect you. You betray me... and I will kill you."
"Hmm. ...When do we start?"
"Well, what then?," Fandral asked, back in the meeting room. "The lovely mortal woman is being guarded by a legion of Einherjar who will see anyone coming from miles away."
"Which is why I will be the one who gets her. I will then escort her to the rendezvous point."
"And what of the All-Father?," Sif asked.
"It is my sworn duty to notify him of crimes against the throne," Heimdall answered.
"Heimdall will distract him long enough for us all to complete this plan."
"Assuming you can get Loki's help, and you can free this mortal, what good would it do? We'd all be dead the minute we step one foot outside the palace. I doubt even you can escape Asgard fast enough," Volgstagg said.
"I agree, which reminds me that I need to see how fast I can go," Max said. "Anyway, we won't be leaving on foot. Volgstagg you'll have to hold off soldiers as well. Heimdall will you all in on the rest of the plan. Right now, I must go do my part. I know what I'm asking is a lot, but this might be the only chance we have to saving Asgard, and perhaps all of the realms.
"What will you do once you get to the Dark World and find Malekith?," Sif asked.
"We will wait for Malekith to extract the Aether, and then we will destroy it. Or try to capture it. But once all of this is done and if we can succeed, it'll be up to you guys as to what you do with it, but keep it off Asgard. I don't think that it's wise to have two Infinity Stones in the same place."
They looked between each other and after a few moments of silence, they looked at the teenager and nodded.
"Awesome. Heimdall, this might be the last time we meet so, it's been an honor meeting you."
"As it was meeting you, Maxwell Stark."
was
He nodded and quickly sped off towards the palace.
Once he was inside, he headed towards Jane's room and stood by for about ten minutes, everything to be ready. Once those minutes had passed, he walked towards her room to see a guard bringing her some food.
"I'm not hungry," Jane said and suddenly, Max came up from behind and knocked the guard out.
"Magnificent news, because we have got to go now," Arc said and picked her up, speeding them both down to where they were to meet up with Thor and Loki, with Sif already waiting for them there. After a moment or two, the two they were waiting for finally arrived.
"You're..."
"I'm Loki. You may have heard of-," Loki began to say but was interrupted by Jane punching him in the face.
"That was for New York!!!"
"...I like her."
"Thank you very much. I've been wanting to do that since I first got here," Max said.
"You are most welcome."
They all then turned to hear soldiers approaching.
"I'll hold them off. Take her," Sif said.
"Thank you, Sif," Thor said and walked away with Jane.
"Remember to always protect Shuri, Maxwell."
"I will. I promise."
Max then nodded to her, and quickly walking away to catch up with Thor. However, before Loki walked away, Sif stopped him with her blade at his throat.
"Betray them, and I'll kill you," she threatened, and he just chuckled at it.
"It's good to see you too, Sif," he said and kept going as she readied herself for battle.
The four of them soon came to the wrecked throne room where the crashed Dark Elf ship was. Volgstagg stood in front of it, waiting for them.
"I will give you as much time as I can," he said and he and Thor do a forearm handshake, and then he pats Max hard on the shoulder, making him wince ever so slightly. "Good luck to the both of you."
"Thank you, my friend."
They all began to walk towards Malekith's crashed ship, Jane nodding at Volgstagg in the process.
Loki was about to board the ship when Volgstagg stopped him as well.
"If you even think about betraying him..."
"You'll kill me? Evidently there will be a line."
He let him pass as more guards show up. Max closes the door as Thor attempted to turn it all on.
"I thought you said you knew how to fly this thing?," Loki questioned.
"I said, 'How hard could it be?,'" Thor clarified.
"We're a little pressed for time, so would you please...?," Max asked In a very serious tone and Thor quickly backed away from the controls.
Immediately, Max used his speed to memorize and put together how the controls work.
"Okay, it takes three people to fly this thing. I'll handle the controls, Thor... and Loki, unfortunately... keep an eye on those screens next to you."
They did so and almost instantly, the ship began to hover and fly off and broke through the palace walls, making Volgstagg laugh in joy at seeing them being able to escape, and then was overwhelmed by the guards.
"Shut up, Loki!!!," Max yelled all of a sudden.
"...But I didn't say anyth-."
"Shut up!!!," Max, Thor and Jane yelled.
"Oh, I see now. You're hilarious. Building dead ahead."
"I know. But are too pressed for time for any fancy flying."
Then all of a sudden, Jane collapsed onto the floor of the ship.
"Oh dear. Is she dead?," Loki asked and Thor ran over to her.
"Jane?"
"...I'm okay," she said as he held her.
"Loki... haven't you figured out that you must take over Thor now as well?," Max asked sarcastically.
"Um... I have now."
"Then get to work!!!!"
As he flew the ship, he crashed into many buildings, getting the attention of more guards, who began to fly in smaller ships.
"Now, they're following us," Loki said and they began to shoot at them. "Now they're shooting at us."
"Thanks for the not at all distracting commentary, Loki. They'll be noted in the captain's log."
"Hahaha... your sense of humor is improving. But perhaps I should fly, I'm clearly the better pilot out of the three of us."
"Oh? Well, between the three of us, which one can actually fly?," Thor countered.
"Not the current pilot."
"But you can't fly either, but my speed helps me learn things faster than you," Max said as a piece of the ship smashed through a statue of Odin's father, King Bor. "Sorry, Thor."
"No hard feelings."
"You know this is wonderful," Loki said as they began to close in on the water and out of the city. "This is a tremendous idea, Maxwell Stark. Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe and escape in that. Flying around the city, smashing into everything in sight so everyone can see us. It's brilliant, people! It's truly brilliant!!"
"Will you shut him up already?!!!," Max yelled and Thor then pushed Loki out of the ship, him screaming all the way down. "Well, that is music to my ears. Shall we?"
Thor laughed at this and they jumped out as well while he carried Jane. They all landed in a smaller ship, with Fandral piloting it and Loki landing on his butt in front of him
"Haha... I see your time in the dungeons has made you no less graceful, Loki," he said as Loki got up.
Thor placed Jane down and Arc looked up to see the guards still shooting at Malekith's ship.
"You both lied to me," Loki said and then he smirked. "I'm impressed. I must admit... your plan was brilliant. Smashing into everything so that could attract as many of the guards as possible so there were no sneak attacks on us and they couldn't surround us. I'm very impressed, Max."
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Max said.
"Now, do as you promised," Thor said. "Take us to your secret pathway."
Loki smiled at this and quickly took over the ship's controls. However, at the same time, one of the Asgardian ships spotted them and started to fire at them.
"Fandral," Max said.
"Right," he said and picked up a rope and stepped onto the edge of the ship. "For Asgard."
He jumped off the ship and used the rope to ship following them, beginning to fight the guards on board, saluting them as they flew off,
Loki steered them across the waters... and towards the mountains.
"Loki!!!," Thor exclaimed.
"If it were easy, everyone would do it," Loki explained.
"You're insane, aren't you?," Arc said.
"Possibly."
Thor grabbed hold of Jane and Max as Loki headed straight for through the wall of the mountain. Suddenly, they began to go right through it and a portal opened up, which brought them straight to Svartalheim.
"Ta-da!!," Loki exclaimed as they flew towards their destination, and perhaps the end to this madness.
Sorry for the long wait, took a while to figure how I wanted to do this one because Thor 2 is not my favorite Marvel movie. Hope you enjoyed it. Until the next update, see ya later.