Castle was expecting many things on his first trip to an alien planet.
Teleporting into a war zone was not one of them.
A laser blast exploded in front of the group, causing a giant stone pillar to collapse at their feet. Castle took advantage of the cover, ducking behind it and casting shield spells on the Guardians and Thor. "Guess this isn't the homecoming committee that you were expecting, huh?" Castle asked Thor.
"It most certainly is not," Thor agreed. Mjölnir was already at his side, primed and ready for battle. "Friends, I know that your priority is the Tesseract, but..."
"I'll get Castle to the treasure room," Esposito volunteered. Thor nodded his understanding of the gesture. Esposito then turned to the newest member of their team. "Ward, we could use a battering ram. Up for it?" Ward nodded.
A second wave of allies surrounded Thor in the blink of an eye, ducking when a laser blast hit Bucky's energy shield and forcing the new arrivals to get their bearings in a hurry. "Asgardian welcome wagon?" quipped Coulson.
Ryan ignored the comment as Thor's internal struggle raged through the Guardian's mind. He passed a mental image of Thor's closest friends around to the rest of the group before turning to the Asgardian prince. "Find your father, Thor. We'll make sure your friends are okay."
"Thank you," said Thor, relieved and grateful for the added support.
The group nodded as Thor took off and Cap took over the responsibility of command. He turned first to Banner. "Head outside. Take care of as many big rocks as you can."
"On it," declared Banner. He turned and sprinted away from the group, growing into the giant Hulk a few steps later.
Cap watched his friend's transformation before turning back to the group. "The rest of us should split into wizard squads in case the shields go down. Stay close to each other and watch your backs."
Alexis conjured sheathed swords of the backs of each member of the group. "Good luck, everyone," she said. Bucky, Coulson and Beckett followed Cap and Alexis to the outer courtyard.
Blair took charge of the group that remained. "Anyone got a read on who's who?" he asked. "I'd really like to be sure I'm shooting at the bad guys..."
Ryan opened up his mind as wide as he dared in the unfamiliar surroundings. "I gotta get Thor to teach me more Asgardian," he grumbled. To his friends, though, he said, "I think the human-looking ones are the Asgardians..."
The hesitation in Ryan's voice surprised Jim. "You think?" he asked the Guardian.
"For some reason Thor's thoughts don't translate completely when I read him," Ryan admitted in frustration. "But the thoughts of the other guys aren't translating at all. So..."
"Educated guess?" added Blair, completing the explanation that he guessed Ryan was trying to give them. Ryan nodded.
Jim took the affirmation as 'best available' Intel...until an idea came to his mind. He turned to his Guide. "Any way you can help Ryan translate so we're sure?"
Blair's eyes widened briefly and slightly before the same wind of inspiration struck him. "Can I listen in?" he asked Ryan.
The group watched as a furious blast of rapid eye movement passed between the two men. The flash of energy that followed felt oddly satisfying to the Sentinel. He opened up his hearing to discover that the human-looking warriors were now speaking what sounded like English, while the others...grunted. "How sure are you guys about this?"
"Seventy-thirty," Ryan and Blair replied in unison.
Jim pulled his sword out of its sheath. "Good enough for me," he declared before vaulting over the remains of their cover.
The rest of the group followed the Sentinel's lead.
#
It took Bucky's eyes a moment to adjust to the brightness of the Asgardian day when his 'squad' burst out of the castle's doors...but once his eyes could see, it did nothing to minimize Bucky's amazement at the sight before him. "We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, Toto," he commented.
Cap was in full agreement with his best friend's comment but did nothing to let it show. He drew his sword and ran it through the nearest non-human-looking enemies. The move saved the lives of a couple of Asgardian soldiers...who eyed the red, white, and blue-suited soldier with wary confusion. "Who the hell are you?" the nearest one demanded.
"You're welcome," Cap deadpanned, rolling his eyes at the Asgardian's ungrateful question. It was only then that Cap realized he had been able to understand the Asgardian's ungrateful question. "Thanks," he told Alexis.
The young wizard electrocuted a nearby enemy. "Not my work, sorry," she admitted. "I think Blair cast the translation spell."
"How'd he know who to translate?" asked Bucky. "I'm only hearing half English..."
Coulson watched the ungrateful Asgardian run across the courtyard, then smiled when the soldier's path led Coulson to spot the only Asgardians he would have been able to recognize on sight. "I see Thor's friends," he told the group. "Over there." The group split up and fought their way across the courtyard, providing much-needed support to the Asgardian soldiers and turning the tide of the fight in their favor.
#
Jim, Fallon, Katya and Ryan stood back to back, defending each other as a group of snarling, angry beast-soldiers had them surrounded. Blair threw a relentless barrage of energy bolts at their enemy. But when one soldier went down, another one jumped in to take its place. "How many of these things are there?!" exclaimed Jim.
"Too many," Ryan agreed.
The pile of corpses that surrounded the group was doing them no favors; their enemies simply jumped on top of the bodies of their fallen comrades, which gave the beast-soldiers a dangerous advantage on the 'high ground'. "Chief..." Jim called out to his partner.
It was all that Blair needed to hear, having just had a similar thought of his own. "On it," he agreed.
The bodies were gone a moment later, but there was no time for Jim to thank his Guide. Not when two new enemies had completely stolen his attention on the other side of the throne room. "Is that...a tree?!"
Katya turned in the direction that her squad-mate was staring, and soon found herself staring at the same being. "Bozhe moj..." she exclaimed.
The 'tree' took down four of the beast-soldiers with a swipe of one of his limbs, then turned, locked eyes with Jim and Katya, and charged.
Jim and Katya each tightened their grip on their swords, bracing themselves for the impact with the fast-moving being. "Guys..." Jim warned, hoping to get the attention of the rest of his team, "we got incoming!"
The urgent tone in Jim's voice quickly caught Ryan and Fallon's attention. "Is that...?" asked Ryan.
Ryan had no further time to react as the 'tree' fell on his side and started rolling. Reflexes and instinct kicked in instantly. Blair vanished, reappearing atop a stone buttress high above the ongoing battle. The rest of the group jumped in the air, seemingly trying to reach the shaman's safe spot...
...and leaving only beast-soldiers to be mowed down in the path of the rolling tree-trunk.
The four warriors landed behind the rolling tree as it rolled into a back wall and pushed up to a standing position. Blair dropped an energy 'bomb' from his perch, blasting all approaching beast-soldiers out of the range of his friends.
Four swords were pointed in the tree's direction...until Ryan lowered his. His eyes locked with the tree's until both beings solemnly nodded.
Fallon stared after the tree as it ran back toward the castle's front doors, then, confused, he looked to the Guardian for answers. "Master..." he began.
"The big guy's on our side," Ryan declared.
It was all Fallon needed to hear. He instantly filed the encounter in his ever-growing 'just roll with it' collection. "Okay," he shrugged, before turning his attention back to bracing for the next wave of attackers.
#
With the courtyard finally clear of beast-soldiers, the surviving Asgardians took a moment to catch their collective breaths and regroup. Fandral wiped the blood off of his sword with a weary sigh. "That...took far too long for my liking."
Volstagg's stomach was growling loud enough for his comrades in arms to hear the rumble. "And why did they have to attack before breakfast..." he grumbled.
Lady Sif wished she could enjoy the witty banter of her best friends. The battle raging over their heads, though, was keeping all levels of pleasant thought far from her mind. Who are these beings? she thought. What do they want...
It was then that she noticed him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the one being that she never thought she would ever see in the palace. Or on Asgard. Wiping blood off of his sword. "Son of Coul?!" she exclaimed. "What...how..."
"A long story, milady," Coulson replied. "Thor thought that you could use our assistance."
Sif looked behind Coulson and noticed the four other Midgardians re-grouping steps away the Son of Coul. Three of the group had swords...but none of them were wearing battle armor. "And you were...helping...in the battle just now?"
Coulson recognized the tone in Lady Sif's voice and chose to ignore it. "We held our own," he replied simply. "But how did this battle start? Who the hell are these guys?"
"I wish I knew," Lady Sif replied with a frustrated sigh. "The assault began early this morning..."
An unearthly roar above their heads stopped Sif from continuing her explanation. She gasped as she looked up to see some giant beast hopping from ship to ship, ripping the mechanisms apart with nothing more than its bare hands. Her hand went to the hilt of her sword...until the Son of Coul stopped her from pulling the weapon from its sheath. "Don't worry," Coulson reassured her, "he's one of ours."
"He is one of yours?!" Sif gasped, eyes widening.
Coulson nodded before turning Lady Sif's attention back to his questions. "You have no idea who these guys are?" Sif shook her head. "So they're not with Loki?"
The mention of Loki's name brought the full attention of the Asgardian warriors to Sif and Coulson's conversation. "The traitor is alive?!" exclaimed Fandral. "How?!"
The sound of an explosion coming from the throne room stopped the conversation from going any further. "Another one of yours?" asked Sif.
"God, I hope so," Coulson replied nervously.
Swords drawn and ready, every standing warrior in the courtyard turned and sprinted back to the throne room.
#
The entire castle seemed to be a study in chaos, even more so than when the Dark Elves attacked. Thor sprinted through the hallways, using Mjölnir to barrel his way through any beast-soldier who had the misfortune of crossing his path. The god was single-minded in his focus, intent on the success of his one and only mission. "FATHER!" Thor bellowed, his booming voice echoing through the corridors even over the clang of sword against sword and the whoosh and explosion of laser blasters hitting their targets.
The god finally found his father in Odin's private chamber. Thor's breath caught in his throat. "Father?" he gasped, struck speechless by what he was seeing.
Loki smiled at the arrival of his foster brother, although his eyes never left the tip of his sword...which was drawing a hair-thin line of blood around Odin's neck as the allfather knelt, bound and gagged, between them. "Thor! So good of you to join us," Loki greeted Thor with a warped, cheerful smile. "Surprised to see me?"
Thor channeled his rage into regaining his composure. "An oracle warned me of your deception, brother. But do you hate us so much that you would destroy the only home you have ever known? For revenge?!"
Loki drilled the tip of his sword into Odin's neck by the barest quarter inch, causing the older being to wince at the pain. "Alas, brother," Loki sighed, "I cannot take credit for all of...this." He pulled his sword away from Odin's neck, letting the weapon hang nonchalantly at his side while using his free hand to apply pressure and additional pain to the allfather's wounds. "Contrary to your most deeply held beliefs, 'brother'...not everyone worships your father like you do." A flash of rage crossed Loki's face, and he squeezed Odin's neck even harder. "In fact...there are some who even hate him..."
Finally, Thor could no longer stand seeing his father in pain. He charged at his foster brother...
...only to have his body pass through empty air. Thor wheeled around to discover that the false images of Loki and his father had not changed.
Loki was not there.
And neither was Odin.
So where were they?
#
The third hit was what impressed Castle the most.
The first beast-soldier could have ricocheted away from the defense of Esposito's sword. The second beast-soldier barreled past them, attacking the nearest Asgardian soldier with such ferocity that Castle had to wonder if the beast had seen them there at all.
But the third one...the third beast-soldier was heading straight for them. It never once attempted to dodge their approach. The beast simply raised his sword...and slammed into an invisible wall.
Castle let out a low whistle as he watched the beast-soldier fly across the room, knocking himself unconscious when his head impacted with a stone column. "You are going to be handy to have around, Mister Ward," the wizard declared.
Esposito cut off any chance for Ward to respond to the compliment. "That's the entrance to the treasure room," he declared.
"And those do not look like Asgardians," Ward agreed.
"They're not," Esposito agreed. "But I don't think they're with the invaders either."
Ward nodded, having seen their kind before. "Catfish?"
"Catfish?" asked Castle.
"Bottom feeders," Ward explained. "No one's looking to catch thieves in the act when there's a war going on."
The three men crept closer to the door, hiding behind cover to let the thieves continue their work. "What language are they speaking?" asked Esposito.
"It's not Asgardian," Castle agreed. "The translation spell's covered that so far."
Ward raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Translation spell?"
"You thought they were speaking English all this time?" Castle countered with a smirk.
Esposito steered the conversation back to the present problem. "These guys aren't speaking English or Asgardian," he reminded Castle.
Castle turned his attention toward the thieves for a moment, then turned back to Ward and Esposito. "There. That should solve the problem."
Satisfied, Esposito and Ward ended their conversation to focus their attention elsewhere...
#
The bald, grey-skinned, heavily muscled being was losing patience with his fellow thieves. "The amount of time remaining with which we can retrieve the stone is growing shorter by the second..."
"TELL ME SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW!"
#
Ward's eyes widened when he realized who had just screamed in frustration. "Is that...a talking raccoon?!"
"Shhhhh!" Castle insisted.
#
A human-looking younger man seemed to agree with his heavily muscled associate. "Drax is right, Rocket. We gotta get a move on here..."
"We cannot let the stone fall into Thanos' hands," the green-skinned woman agreed. "If Asgard is about to fall, then we need to get the stone to the Nova Corps."
"Well, excuuuuse me," Rocket snarled, "but unless you've got some other way for us to warm up a dead guy's body..."
#
It was then that Castle noticed the corpse on the floor between the four thieves. "Biometric security?" he asked Esposito.
Esposito nodded. "Only a handful of Asgardians have access to that room."
"Is he one of them?" asked Ward, pointing to the dead man.
Esposito nodded again. "The spell needs a living gatekeeper to open the door."
"Can it be fooled by what those guys are trying to pull?" asked Ward.
"No idea," shrugged Esposito.
Castle seemed to come to a decision. "Better if we don't stick around to find out."
#
The three men reappeared in a cold, dark space that was sparse and pristine, undamaged by the war raging around it. Castle opened his hand and conjured a ball of pure energy, then floating the ball high into the air and flooding the space with light. Ward followed the ball's path, staring at the energy in awe. "You're pretty handy to have around yourself, Guardian," the younger man exclaimed.
Castle chuckled at the comment. "Let's find the stone," he declared before turning to Esposito. "You know where it is?"
Esposito nodded. "Follow me."
The group descended the stairs, letting Esposito's confident strides dictate their direction as they crossed the room.
The energy ball floated to the ceiling when the three men got to the center of the room as the blue light shining along the back wall gave them more than enough light to see by. They only stopped when they got to the source of that blue light. "This is it?" asked Castle. Ward and Esposito both nodded, so Castle tried to grab for the case that surrounded the blue stone...
Esposito chuckled as he watched Castle pull and grunt with exertion, trying with all his might to dislodge the stone from it's storage space. "Need a hand with that?" he teased.
"What could...possibly...have given you that idea?" Castle grunted, clearly annoyed by the comment. Finally fed up with his lack of success using 'traditional' methods, Castle waved his hand over the stone in an attempt to magically release the mechanism...
All thoughts of teasing left Esposito as he watched his fellow Guardian stagger backwards, clutching his head in obvious pain. "What happened, Castle?!" he demanded. "Talk to me!"
"Stone...attacked...me..." Castle replied through clenched teeth.
Ward tried to encase the stone in a shield of his own, hoping to block the energy that was hurting Castle. Instead, he flipped backwards into that air and landed flat on his face as the shield backfired.
Esposito watched Ward stagger to his feet and attempt to shake off the disorientation. "You ok, Ward?"
Ward ignored the question, focusing his attention entirely on the wizard before him. "Can you bring Doctor Foster here? To us?"
Jane Foster's unconscious form appeared at Castle's side...and Castle's agony instantly vanished. The three men stared while Jane's body lifted up off the ground and started to float high into the air. The blue stone began to vibrate with a deafening hum. That hum grew louder and higher in pitch, finally causing all three men to collapse and cover their ears to try and protect them from the pain. The stone broke free of its anchors, rotating in its container and lifting up, phasing slowly through the casing until it was completely free of the shell.
The stone then flew through the air at light speed, stopping only once it had entered the base of Jane's neck.
#
Esposito was the first of the three men to regain consciousness. He rolled over and sat up slowly, crawling over to Ward first, then to Castle. Satisfied that no one had permanently died, the Guardian fought through his disconnected thoughts to try and piece together what had happened. The memories shocked him back to his senses.
Castle and Ward both woke in time to see Esposito scramble on his hands and knees in the direction of Jane Foster's still unconscious form. "Don't touch her!" Ward warned Esposito.
The Guardian's hand was hovering dangerously close to Jane's shoulder. "Why not?"
"The first time I touched Skye after she merged with her stone I got sucked through her head and into the temple," Ward replied. Esposito pulled his hand back and sat up, appreciating the need for caution.
The three men jumped to their feet, though, when the four thieves stumbled through the now open doorway. The human-looking thief was the first one to speak. "Who the hell are you guys?" he demanded.
"We're here for the stone," Esposito replied. "So I guess you'll have to get through us to get it."
"Guess so," the thief agreed.
The two beings took three running steps toward each other...and then froze in place mid-run.
"No."
Esposito was the only being in the room unable to face the being that had just spoken. The rest of the room, though, had her full attention. "No?" the frozen thief asked. "Whad'ya mean, no?"
Jane Foster's eyes glowed an icy blue. "This stone is safe, Peter Quill," she told the thief. "It does not need your protection...carrier."
Every being in the room disappeared.