It didn't take Thor long to cross paths with another Chitari. One sight of the design of the twin daggers and the skill put through confirmed his suspicions.

'Sif!' He cried out as he jumped away from the flurry of blades. But the Chitari didn't stop, or rather, tried harder to kill him.

Thor didn't know what to do. With his non-reflective weapon, he could only hope he lasts until Sif's blades reveal the truth for her.

OOO

Clint, Natasha and Coulson returned to Stark's building, only to find it bellowing smoke from several places. Fire licked the sides.

Before Coulson even landed the helicopter properly, the two jumped out and ran into the building. After finding the elevator was smashed down in the basement, they charged up the stairs.

'JARVIS?' Clint cried out.

'Yes, Agent Barton?' A crackling voice sounded from the corners of the building.

'What happened? Where is everyone?'

'Chitari squadrons hacked my system and attacked. Mr Stark was not prepared-'

'Where are they?'

'Top.'

'Right.' Clint huffed.

'They seemed to be angry.'

'Yep.'

'The Tesseract and the Chitari Scepter were stolen.'

Clint stopped in his tracks and raised his hands into the air in shock.

'SHI-'

OOO

'Director Fury-'

'Save you breath, Coulson. I still have one working eye.'

'Of course, sir, but-'

'But what?' Fury snapped. 'It's as clear as glass, Coulson! Clint made a stupid decision, thinking he just 'save the world', and now it will cost even more lives and our future!'

'No, sir, not about that.'

'Then what?'

'I just asked Tony to search where the signal from the Tesseract and the Chitari Sceptre are…'

'And?'

'They are not on Earth.'

OOO

Elixir found himself surrounded by armed Chitari soldiers. But that wasn't the worst part. Under normal circumstances, he would've turned into a dragon and roasted them in this instance, but for some reason, he's stuck as Kitty.

He had never felt so tiny and terrified before.

The Chitari jeered and kicked him around. They called him 'adorably weak thing'. He snarled and pounced, only to get caught by the scruff of his neck.

'No more fooling around!' One of them laughed.

The Chitari holding him grabbed something from his friend. A gold and silver staff, wickedly crafted, with a glowing blue stone set.

The blue seemed horribly familiar.

'Sweet dreams.' The Chitari whispered in his ear.

OOO

It was all his fault.

He should have known what the Idiot would do.

What did the Chinese call it? Sound east hit west.

Or something like that… Damn translation.

He laid down on his back in the air duct and stared up at the ceiling. He was to blame for all the damage. Even Natasha was blaming him for being so irrational and acting on impulses. Coulson was in Shield-

The Shield Director would not be happy with him.

OOO

Hela came past no one so far, scoring the edges of the arena. She hoped to maybe find some weaker areas where she could break through, but so far came across none.

That was when she heard a deafening roar come from the opposite side. It sounded terrifying, which made her wonder why it only came now. She was just about to start towards the sound, when she saw a Dark ELf ran around the corner and stopped right in front of her.

'I am not interested in taking your life.' She said simply and started walking away, but the Dark Elf grabbed her.

'What?' She snapped. She was capable of turning him to dust if she needs to, but his moves were curious.

The Elf shook his head and lowered his spear. He pointed at himself, then pointed at Hela.

'You and me what?'

The Elf shook his head sadly again. And looked down at his spear. Its head was blunt and twisted.

'You want me to fix it?'

The Elf nodded furiously.

Hela wondered why in all the realms she would help a Dark Elf out, especially under these circumstances. Wasn't it because of them father died once? But she took the spear from him anyway, just to stop him from bugging her.

The blade straightened and polished itself. Hela turned the blade around. It caught her in the reflection, then the Dark Elf.

The familiar sharp features, black hair, green eyes-

'Father!' Hela leapt onto him and latched on. Loki lost his balance and fell backwards onto some ice.

'Can someone not greet me with a hug for once?' He groaned.

'Are you alright?'

'Are you alright?'

'Better than ever.' She gave him a light peck on his forehead and helped him up to his feet. His armour was raggedy and torn.

'Is everybody like this then?' Hela suddenly got worried. 'Uncle is still out there, have you seen him?'

'Yes. He went to find Sif.'

'Lady Sif?'

'And apparently Elixir is also here-'

'Eli- But he was told to stay in Midgard! How did he-'

'Now it's not the time.' Loki picked up his spear and peered to the direction of the roar just then. 'It seemed like Elixir met something he felt is worth turning into an ice tiger for.'

'What if its uncle and Lady Sif?'

Loki sighed.

'Time to go save them again.'

'Wait,' Hela said as they started running. 'What did you see me as? I mean, if I saw you as a Dark Elf-'

'My daughter.' He replied simply, and left it at that.

OOO

Thor didn't mean to smash Sif through a wall, but it seemed to do the job quite nicely.

'Thor…' Sif moaned.

'Sorry!' Thor quickly grabbed her by the hand and yanked her up. Sif yelped.

'Just leave me alone for one sec-' Sif raised her hand up to stop Thor from causing more damage. 'Let me get my breath back-'

'The monster we just heard might be Elixir attacking Hela, or maybe also Loki-'

'So you found him?'

'Well, yes.'

'Good. Get this over with and get back home.' Sif shrugged her shoulders.

'What of the Warrior Three? Are they alright back in Asgard?'

'Actually, they came with me.'

'Then what of them?'

Sif shook her head tiredly.

'I have no idea…'

OOO

'Are you sure this is the way?'

'No.'

'Then what if we end up walking away from the palace? What if we never get there? What if when we did get there it is already too-'

'Volstagg?'

'What?'

'Shut your big blabber mouth.'

OOO

Loki was worried. After the roar from last time, everything was as silent as death. No crashing, no thundering, no more roaring or growling. What was Elixir doing?

They reached the opposite end and found at least a dozen Chitari frozen in a big block of ice. Big claw prints littered the snowy ground. A Chitari nearby had its guts ripped out.

'Elixir should be somewhere nearby.' Loki noted.

Then there was a loud sniff coming from behind them. Hela froze. Loki turned around slowly and found him face to face with a snarling creature. Its muzzle was covered in frost. Its eyes glinted blue.

'Elixir?' Loki whispered.

A claw raked through the air and threw Loki into the ice. The blow tore his arm into a bloody mess. Hela skidded over to him and formed a shield.

'What's he doing?!'

Loki had no idea. Something didn't seem right.

'Elixir!' He called out and he got back up to his feet. 'We are not your enemy!'

But the ice tiger didn't stop coming towards them.

'Are you sure this is Elixir?' Hela whispered.

'Can't be wrong…' But he wasn't sure anymore. He stood in defense behind Hela's shield. If only he saved his magic …

'The Chitari Sceptre, you said it controls people's mind, right?' Hela's voice wavered. 'What if-'

The ice tiger lunged.

OOO

A resonating 'PONG' echoed around Thor and Sif as they hurried through the streets.

'What was that?' Sif stopped in her tracks. 'Like something heavy crashed into something.'

'Dead end.' Thor said and punched a nearby structure to crumbs in frustration. 'I hate mazes.'

Together, they ran back the way they came.

OOO

Dazed, the beast stumbled backwards and shook its great head. Its eyes seemed to unfocus and dim to a shade of silver.

'Elixir, are you alright?' Hela wondered if the impact was enough to shock him out of control (if he was under control), or if she just gave him a permanent concussion.

The eyes glowed blue again and the tiger growled.

'It seemed like the connection was stronger.' Loki gripped his spear tighter. 'Hela, get your shield back-'

Before she could react, the tiger ripped its claws through the ground, tossing shards of ice at them. Hela found one no longer that a pin sinking into her arm. Frost shot across her skin.

'Hela!' Loki yelled as he whirled his spear around, knocking the rest out of the way. 'Pull it out!'

But the shard already disappeared inside of her.

'Blasted Odin!' Loki swore and tossed his spear at the creature, which yelped and dodged the throw.

'Hela! Don't move!'

'But it's just ice, father, I will be-'

'Not fine! It's poison that will kill you, not the ice!'

'Oh, poison…'

'Loki!' Thor shouted but skidded to a halt when he saw the beast.

Sif came into view a second later and froze. The illusions were broken too much to continue working.

'Don't move! Don't attack!' Loki shouted and threw his hands into the air. But Sif already threw one of her daggers. It hit the tiger's hind leg, and the tiger sank his teeth on Thor.

OOO

Thor struck the monster on the head with Mjonir, making it let go. The bite only left dents in his armour, but he wouldn't be so lucky next tiem.

'Loki! You alright?'

'I'm fine! Hela is poisoned! Elixir is the one you two just hit after I specifically said not to!'

Thor hadn't seen Loki this irritated in a long time.

'What?' Sif said stupidly. 'That's Elixir?'

'Took you long enough with your brain.' Loki muttered.

The tiger prowled around Thor and Sif, not giving up on them yet. He also didn't seem to notice the blood flowing out freely from his leg.

'Then why is he attacking us?' Thor said as he whirled his hammer around, staring back into those foreign blue eyes.

'Under control…' Hela croaked.

'Save your breath.'

'Yep, the Goddess of Death feels like she's dying. What else is new…'

Elixir lunged again, catching Thor under his claw. Sif tried to get his attention by stabbing him repeatedly on his limbs, but Elixir seemed more determined to bite Thor's head off before dealing with anything else. Several times he got dangerously close.

Either Thor dies with his head off, or he dies from being crushed under the beast's weight. Neither sounded pretty to him.

'Loki!''

OOO

'Elixir! You listen to me!'

The beast turned around, but didn't let Thor or Sif free. His eyes burned with madness and craving. His claws seemed aching to tear flesh.

But under all of that, Loki was sure there was a spark of Elixir under there.

Loki couldn't bring himself to do it.

'Elixir! Let them go! It's me you want!'

But did he have a choice?

'Loki-' Thor gasped under the beast's weight.

'Monster! Get over here! Or is your piteous little courage failing to meet the wrath of the Trickster?' He hated using the nickname as much as he hated what he had to do. 'Come! Challenge me instead! I will send you down to Helheim.'

At that, Elixir ditched his prey and dashed towards him, with a trail of blood in the snow behind him. Loki became deaf to his comrades' callings. Thor was struggling to get up. Hela was screaming nothing. Sif threw her last dagger, which missed wildly.

Elixir pounced. His bloody jaws yawned wide, his fangs glistened. Loki ducked down. As the beast leapt over him, Loki closed his eyes and pushed upwards.

OOO

'Finally!' Volstagg cheered. 'The palace!'

Fandral grinned with an air of 'I am always right.'

Hogun felt uneasy. He could smell fresh blood in the air. Whoever's blood it was, it must not bode well.

OOO

Elixir blinked. What just happened? He was lying on his back on the cold ground. Blood was flowing freely out from his abdomen. Blood also soaked his right leg. Someone was next to him.

'I am sorry.' Loki said softly.

Elixir tried to smile. It hurts.

'You are alright…'

'I stabbed you.'

Elixir raised his head as much as he could manage. He saw everyone around him cowering in the snow, clearly hurt. He then lowered his head back down. It felt so heavy.

'I tried to kill everyone-'

'I need you to focus, Elixir. Remember the energy transferring theory you had?'

'The stupid one or the one you haven't tried?'

'Of course the one I haven't tried!'

Elixir closed his eyes and nodded.

'Yeah?'

Loki grasped his hand. Something warm fell in it.

'Then you know what to do.'

Even as everything blurred, even as his limbs began to feel numb and useless, a smile tugged on his lips.

The last thing he heard was his heartbeat slowing to a crawl.

OOO

Thor watched Loki searching frantically for a pulse. 'He is dead, it's not use' was on his lips, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

'I'm sorry, Loki.' Sif placed one hand on Loki's shoulder. He swatted it away.

'Brother, Hela needs your help.' Thor said.

There was a long silence. Loki got up to his feet slowly and turned. His face was partially hidden by his hair.

'Let's leave this retched place.'

'But Elixir-' Hela gasped.

'Dead.'

No one argued anymore.