Hey, guys! Time for another chapter! Fair warning, I might not be able to update next weekend. I'm going to a week-long Church camp, and I'm not sure what time I'll be back (whether it's Friday or Saturday). Fingers crossed!

Disclaimer: I own nothing, though there are several unnamed OCs.

Chapter Nine

The door to the room outside opened and several armoured men-some of the soldiers Barton brought-marched in. One of them walked up to the control panel and hit the release switch on the door to the cell. The glass door slid open, and I got up from the bench, gladly exiting the prison.

"Are you alright, sir?" one of the soldiers asked.

I didn't register his question. I was out of the cell now. I could get the Scepter back. I glanced at them and ordered, "Do what Barton has instructed."

"Yes, sir!" they agreed, marching back out the door, though one stayed behind.

Once they left, I closed my eyes and reached for the power of the Scepter. Once it washed over me, I concentrated on my magic. It was dangerous to teleport to a place I couldn't see or have never been to before. I could scramble my molecules or leave half in one place. I also couldn't breath when I moved myself through spacetime like this, so I was limited by my need for air. I could kill myself if I teleported too far, but the Scepter didn't feel that far away. It was worth the risk.

I lifted my hand and physically grasped for the Scepter, and after a moment, its cold metal appeared in my hand. I opened my eyes again and found it resting on a counter in a destroyed laboratory. The exhaustion and pain instantly vanished with its touch, but I didn't have much time to enjoy it.

Thor would surely come for me, and he thought I was still in the cell. Thor was a complication I hadn't planned on. He couldn't interfere. Getting rid of him by dropping the cell 30,000 feet with him in it was the simplest way. He physically outmatched me, so I couldn't take him head on. A drop from that height could kill him, but he still had a chance to live. I never hated my brother before, and even now, I questioned whether or not I truly did. I didn't want to watch him die.

I teleported back to where the cell rested and waited near the control panel. I cast two illusions, one to bend the light around me, tricking the eye into thinking I wasn't there, and the other I cast as the door opened. It made it look like I was just coming out of the glass cage now rather than a few minutes ago.

"No!" Thor's voice shouted.

Thor ran into the room, and I made the illusion of me drop into a fighting stance. Thor jumped to try to tackle the image, but he flew straight through it. I pushed the button to close the glass door the moment he landed on the ground. Thor stood and turned to face the door.

Others from SHIELD would surely come, so rather than reveal myself, I cast another image of me and placed it right in front of the glass. "Are you ever not going to fall for that?" I wondered.

Thor roared much like Banner as the Hulk and lifted his Hammer, bringing it down onto the glass. Cracks appeared in the rounded cage wall, and the mechanisms holding it shuddered, lowering him a few centimeters.

Thor froze, and I was almost surprised that it didn't drop him. I suppose these humans would want to give Banner chances to calm down before letting him go.

I chuckled at Thor's backing away. I made the illusion turn around and walk towards the real me. "The humans think us immortal," I laughed. The illusion was on top of me now. "Shall we test that?"

I lifted the plastic covering from the button that would drop Thor to the ground far below when a grunt sounded from near the door. I looked up and found that the soldier who was standing guard had fallen to the floor, and a man with a large weapon that wasn't from Earth stood over him.

"Move away, please," he calmly requested.

I made the illusion of me back away from the panel a step or two, and the armed man took several steps forward.

"You like this?" he wondered, lifting his weapon slightly. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does."

He was close enough to shoot both me and the illusion. I kept myself invisible and moved behind him. He would try to kill me whether I was an immediate threat to him or not, and I didn't want to die.

The man clicked a switch on the side and powered up the weapon. It glowed with an orange light that looked much like the Destroyer that guarded Odin's collection. "Do you want to find out?"

I dropped both illusions and thrust the blade of the Scepter through his back, breaking his spine and sternum, pushing it through to the other side.

"No!" Thor yelled, his call muffled by the glass as he beat against it again.

I pulled the now blood-covered Scepter from the man's chest, and he fell to the floor. Blood smeared on the wall and dripped down his chest and leaked from the corner of his mouth.

My vision wavered for a moment, and I saw the scene in a different way somehow. It looked wrong, though it didn't feel wrong.

Everything snapped back together again, and my vision returned to normal as I walked past him and back to the control panel.

Thor glared at me with a disgust I've only ever seen him show towards other Frost Giants. I laughed at the situation. It took me killing someone he barely knew in front of him to finally get him to hate me.

I lifted the covering off of the switch again and opened the hatch underneath the glass cage. I looked to Thor, my hand hovering over the drop switch in threat. He backed away from the cracked glass, glancing between me and the open floor.

After a tense moment, I tapped the button, and the cage was instantly dropped, taking Thor with it.

I stared at the empty space for a moment, waiting to feel something as the floor closed up again. Despite what Thor thought, I did remember when we played, making fake war and trying to teach each other our different ways of fighting. He was my brother, and it's what made his betrayal-whether he truly meant it or not-hurt all the worse.

But I felt nothing. The Scepter glowed more and more, but I felt nothing towards him.

Time to get back to work, I suppose. There was nothing left to do here.

I turned away from the control panel and took a few steps towards the door, but a weak voice stopped me from leaving. "You're gonna lose."

I turned back to the dying man. "Am I?" I mockingly questioned.

"It's in your nature," he muttered, the red stain of blood gradually growing along his shirtfront.

"Your heroes are scattered," I pointed out. "Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is my disadvantage?"

The man took a breath, more blood dripping from his mouth. "You lack conviction."

His words filled me with a flare of anger. I was committed to keeping the Scepter for as long as possible, and as long as everything stayed on schedule, I would have it indefinitely.

But I took a breath to make my words calm. "I don't think I'm-"

A bright blast of fire came from the weapon that rested in the man's lap. It was powerful enough to push me through the wall of metal and stone. I rolled to a stop and had to rest there for a moment to catch my breath. The fire had singed my clothes, and it took all I had just to lower the temperature of the air around me so that I could heal. I was never very tolerant of heat, let alone fire.

"Sir!" a voice shouted. I looked up to find an armoured woman racing towards me with a large gun. "We called for your guard, but he didn't respond. Are you alright?"

I forced myself to stand, leaning almost my entire weight onto the Scepter. "Fine," I strained.

"We have a jet standing by to take you to Selvig," she informed.

I nodded, and we both rushed off through the halls of the falling fortress. We came to a destroyed wall that had cut wires and broken metal jutting out from the edges of the hole at all angles. They clouds whipped passed, and wind billowed through so hard that it nearly blew us both off of our feet. After a moment, a jet that must be the one the woman mentioned glided into view and turned around, exposing the open ramp where another soldier stood waiting.

The soldier waved us forward, and the woman and I both took a running jump through the hole in the wall. The jet flew gently towards us, and we both landed onto the ramp without harm. We rushed inside, and the ramp closed up after us. The jet sped away, and the flaming SHIELD ship shrunk into the distance.

I didn't know if Banner managed to destroy the Avengers Initiative. I could only hope for the best, and they don't have Thor's help anymore. It made them much more predictable.

"Where's Barton?" I questioned, finally noticing that he wasn't in the jet.

"He didn't make it off of the ship, sir," one of the soldiers answered.

I nodded. The spell from the Scepter was probably broken now. He would tell SHIELD everything he could remember from working with Selvig and me.

We needed to accelerate our timetable. I didn't care if Selvig was finished with his research or not. We needed to open the portal before the remainder of SHIELD could stop us.

Hope you guys enjoyed, and hopefully I'll see you next week!