This is a shortie, but it has to be separated to avoid the final chapter from being too long! I will not be mad if I get no reviews for this one. Save them for chapter twenty-four: the final battle!

Music: During this fight portion, "The Destroyer."

Chapter Twenty-Three - Where's the fun in that?

The people of the realms that were witnessing the battle of the century between Prince Thor and King Loki were seeing one that they would never soon forget.

Prince Thor came high in order to block a staff shot from his brother. As held the crude wood nearly splinter and break.

Loki was pushing down hard, forcing him to push not only up, but also inward to maintain the integrity of the staff.

"It appears that you are growing weaker brother," Loki said, gloating in the fact he had the upper hand at the moment. "Why not surrender now and spare yourself any further suffering?"

"Never," he howled.

His brother came down and shattered the staff into two equal portions.

While he was in awe at the shattering of the staff, Thor took advantage and struck his brother with a ruthless kick into his ribcage.

Loki had to recoil and clutch at his chest briefly.

"Thor," a voice called out to him.

It was Sif who held Mjolnir in her possession. She brought it up so he could see it.

"Now Sif!" he called to her.

Sif tossed down his trusty weapon and he caught it in his hand. A brilliant flash of light came when it was secured in his grasp.

"Welcome back my friend," he told his trusty hammer.

"So that is the way we shall play?" Loki asked him. "Magical entities?"

"If that is what it will take to ensure victory, let it be done," Thor responded. He released the first attack with a mighty windstorm.

But his brother put up his scepter in order to defend himself.

The Midgardians that served in Loki's court were watching as their king and master was holding his own in the battle against the God of Thunder.

Darcy was concerned as she shielded her eyes from Loki being struck by a powerful wind blow. She did not want to witness the death of her king, but knew that it was a real possibility.

Coulson stood there stolid and unemotional.

"Keep it up, keep it up," he said a very low tone.

They watched as Loki was able to push the wind away from him and cause the ground to quake, sending the prince off balance.

"Great job," Darcy shouted. "Keep it up!" She then leaned back as she was being heckled by the other Asgardians and races that supported Prince Thor. "So what are we supposed to do if the master wins his battle?"

"I have Roger's group on standby," he answered. "All I have to do is call Barton, who is sitting pretty in the monitoring tower, he calls over to the North American battle contingent, and they march through the portal even before everyone here has had a chance to regain their breath."

"And what happens if he loses, you know, god forbid he does?" she asked.

"We are to make a run for the portal here in Asgard," Black Widow interrupted. "We call Barton to open it on our side and we run through before we can be taken prisoner and used for interrogation. Do not worry Darcy, we are going to get out of here; one way or another."

For some reason, Darcy was not reassured by the assassin's comments.

Icehawk Portal Room

Clint Barton was sitting peacefully in the portal command chamber, taking a sharpening block and slowly scraping an arrow across it. His eyes were locked on each, teeth clenching swipe on its surface.

Another person, a technician who was running a maintenance scan on the portal generator was watching every swipe and motion.

"Enjoying the show, are we?" he snapped.

The technician got back to work.

Finally, the third arrow in his arsenal was ready and it was on to the fourth one.

The doors to the palace were opened and there appeared a group. He recognized Tony carrying a dark covered something with feet and two more women.

One of them was not Pepper Potts, but he recognized the mother of his king. How had they gotten to Earth without using the portal system?

Barton snapped from his desk and ran across the catwalk. Two of his newly sharpened beauties were armed in his bow; ready to be used in a strike.

"Whoa, down boy," Tony said to them. "You do not want to shoot the queen now, would you?"

"What are you getting at Stark?" he asked.

The person in his arms moved aside the hood so he could lock eyes with her.

"My queen," he said and wanted to bow out of respect, but could not with the bow in hand. "Out of no disrespect for you, but these people are our enemy and need to be subjected to questioning."

"Barton," his queen's voice barely audible called to him. "Please, you must..." she started to cough and gasp.

"Yo Clint," Tony was saying, "Jane needs to get to Asgard and we are going to take her there. Maybe bring our king back in one piece. If you do this, I will forgive the money you owe me."

As enticing as it may seem, Clint did not want to be held accountable if he was doing the wrong thing.

But where was the fun in that.

See, nice and short. If you want to review, go ahead, but why not save it for the next chapter. That one is so much more worthy of a review.