Chapter 6
(Song suggestion: Blood on My Name – The Brothers Bright)
In the main hall of the palace, frozen, lifeless bodies were strewn across the floor, corpses everywhere you looked. Even on the grounds outside the places were littered with the dead and dying.
They were grossly unprepared, Heimdal could not see them, and Loki was locked up so he couldn't have let them in. The Frost Giants may have remember the secret passage from the time Loki had helped them attack the day of Thor's ascention. They were not prepared for a Frost Giant attack; so when they came in through a secret portal that, Heimdal couldn't see them. The Asgardian soldiers were useless. Thousands of Jotun Frost Giants stormed Asgard, with Laufey leading them.
They killed almost all the male citizens, and every soldier they could reach. The Jotun killed some of the women and children, but captured the remainders, to what end, the heavens only know. Jane, Darcy, and Pepper were hiding with Bruce in Tony and Pepper's room. All that was left for the Frost Giants to capture was the palace itself. That was where the remaining citizens and soldiers of Asgard had gone to seek shelter and safety, along with the Avengers, Lady Sif and the Warriors three, and of course Loki. Hati and Skoll, who had turned into human like wolves, running to the safety of the palace on two feet, which reminded Natasha of werewolves, except they were fifteen feet tall and seemingly bullet proof. The wolves of Asgard were muscular; their muscles were easily visible, despite their thick fur.
But … despite the raw power of Hati and Skoll, and the wisdom of Huginn and Muninn, the Frost Giants penetrated the palace, freezing everything in their path. The Avengers, Lady Sif and the warriors three, Loki, Hati, Skoll, Huginn, and Muninn remained to defend the last of the kingdom. But they were grossly outnumbered.
The few remaining Asgardian had all figured out that the city had been over taken. Well, all of them except Thor, who kept fighting relentlessly, which drove the rest to back up their desperate friend as he tried to keep the super power of the nine realms in the hands of the Asgardian royal family. So, the Avengers kept fighting – for Thor, their desperate friend who felt he had somehow failed his father, his family, and his citizens.
This brought back a horrible memory for Steve. Everyone was surrounded by ice, and he hated it! Plus, he was nervous for Natasha, they just admitted their feelings for one another, they had kissed, and before they could talk about what they were going to do next, they were thrown into battle. While Steve knew very well that Natasha could handle herself, but he still worried, even before he told her how he felt, he had worried about her. Plus, he knew Natasha too well to think she would not avoid talking to him about it later.
As Hati and Skoll were picking up Frost Giants and eating them alive, literally, the soldier and spy were fighting back to back, elegantly feeding off of one another's movements to fight in a synchronized style that tackled as many enemies as possible at one time. He swung his shield to the right and then punched the Frost Giant so hard it stumbled backwards momentarily. However, it came back towards him again. He was certain that Natasha was having trouble because he was as well. Being a super soldier, Steve was huge compared to Natasha. In contrast, Steve, was small compared to the Frost Giants, who were enormous. Thor warned them not to touch the Frost Giants directly nor to let them touch you.
Natasha reached over and used her widow bites on the Frost Giant that was giving Steve so much trouble. Suddenly, she felt something grab her from the left and touch the sliver of skin on her arm that was left exposed between her armor plating. She growled and kicked it in the joint of the ankle and foot. It yowled and stumbled back and then an arrow shot through its head.
Clint found a place to climb and was sniping Frost Giants. Instead of gratitude, he heard Natasha yell, "I HAD THAT ONE!"
"SURE YOU DID!" He yelled back with a grin and continued sending arrows through the heads of numerous Frost Giants.
(Song suggestion: War Pigs - Black Sabbath.)
Natasha rolled her eyes and leapt onto a Frost Giant's chest and sent her blade into its heart. As it dropped, she leapt off throwing knives at three Frost Giants running towards her. Two of the three dropped immediately. The remaining Frost Giant went to stab her with his ice spear; however, she managed to kick the blade out of its hand and then jumped up and kicked its chin. The blue giant stumbled back and while it was still stumbling, Natasha roundhouse kicked it in the face and maneuvered to kick it in the chest, but it somehow dodged her attack. Natasha growled in frustration and then saw Steve's shield flying towards her, she caught it and jammed the shield into the Frost Giant's neck. As the giant fell towards the ground, she leapt onto its back and stabbed the blue beast in the heart. When certain the creature was dead, Natasha threw the shield back to Steve.
Tony was swarmed by Frost Giants. He had already used up the laser wrists. The Frost Giants quickly learned that metal got really cold, really fast. They also figured out that touching the metal caused it to freeze. So for once, Tony was the one having the most trouble. Tony had luckily brought comms with him from earth and he was talking to Bruce who was hiding in his room waiting for the word to help or run to the Bifrost. "Brucey we need you pal," Tony said frantically.
"Coming," Bruce said quietly, and then they heard a door open and a loud roar.
Just as the Hulk came rushing forward, three massive Frost Beasts bounded into the corridor, all running on all fours in an amazing show of green and grey animalistic power. As the Hulk leapt off his back legs, he tackled the Frost Beast and they tumbled back, taking out one of the palace pillars as they rolled backwards. Meanwhile, Hati and Skoll were dealing with their own Frost Beasts.
Hati was fighting the largest of the Frost Beasts. The two giants faced one another, Hati snarled, drool slipping from his muzzle as the guttural snarl echoed through the chaos, sending shivers down many spines. The Frost Beast began running forward. At the same time, Hati also bounded forward at full speed. But the Frost Beast leapt over Hati and scurried up a column, latching its blue claws onto the golden ice covered column.
Hati barked in anger, the bark shaking the entire palace. He turned and ran at the column jumping up, sinking the claws of his front paws into the ice on the column, trying to push it down, like a bear would push a tree. His paws slipping on the glossy surface of ice, but he somehow managed to hook his claws deep into the ice. As he raked his claws through the ice, ice was chipping and breaking off the column. Eventually, his long claws hit the column and as he raked his claws through the gold, it made a horrible, screeching sound. Luckily that horrific sound was able to pierce the ears of Frost Beast. The Frost Beast roared, the ice on the columns and throughout the room began to break loose, fall, and shatter as the shards of ice hit the floor. Hati could barely reach the Frost Beast, which had climbed as high on the column as he could. However, it wasn't high enough to prevent Hati from reaching his right front leg up and hooking his claw in the Frost Beast's back leg. Once the claw had dug deep into the beast's leg, Hati yanked with all his strength and the Frost Beast fell, spiraling down to the floor.
The Frost Beast grunted as he thudded against the golden floor, the impact causing cracks in the floor. Hati snarled and immediately leapt onto the Frost Beast, who was still lying on his back. Hati sunk his massive fangs into the Frost Beast's throat; the red blood was cold on his teeth. The Frost Beast yowled in pain and anger and kicked with its hind legs, using all its strength to try and push Hati off. Its claws sunk into the soft skin covering Hati's stomach. Hati yowled and let go, but then attacked again, slowly sinking his fangs into the Frost Beast's windpipe. Shaking his head viciously, ripping the flesh and causing blood to splatter onto the floor as well as the beast's face while staining its blue coat. Hati sunk his claws into the Frost Beast's chest and raked his claws to open the beast's chest's, causing blood and entrails to pour down the beast's side. The cold, red blood covered Hati's paws.
The cold, thick, crimson fluid slowly flowed out of the Frost Beast's wounds and travel down to Hati's paws, covering the gray fur with red. Finally, with one good yank of his snout, Hati ripped off a large chunk of the Frost Beast's neck flesh. After swallowing it, Hati licked off the blood on his muzzle and howled in victory. Hati looked at the carcass and sniffed it silently, it was an enemy, not prey. He grunted and walked off uninterested, leaving the blue beast now streaked with red lying where he killed it. Hati returned to picking up dead Frost Giants and eating them whole. But Hati saw that his brother needed help, so he bolted to help Skoll.
Steve hurled his shield at one of the Frost Giants swarming Tony. The shield bounced off the giant's head and hit a second. They both stumbled and turned their attention to Steve. They came running forward at remarkable speeds, holding ice spears pointed at him. Quickly, Steve jumped and caught his shield in mid-air, just as the Frost Giants reached him. While trying to stab him with their ice spears, Steve blocked both jabs with his shield and then jumped, kicking the larger of the two in the chest. Steve landed on his back but immediately jumped back up and grabbed the ice spear, throwing it with enough force to send it sinking into the dormant body of the fallen Frost Giant, the one he had just kicked.
Steve turned his attention to the second Frost Giant. Although Natasha was not far behind him, he couldn't ask her for help; she was busy with swarm of enemies of her own. The Frost Giant sent a right hook at Steve, who held up his shield. After hearing the bang of the icy fist on vibranium, Steve shoved his shield forward as hard as he could, knocking the giant to the ground. Steve threw his shield down, rim towards the floor. He heard the satisfying crack of a Frost Giant's skull just before the shield bounced back up. As soon as he caught it, Steve ran to help Natasha with her swarm.
Skoll was struggling. The Frost Beast was now climbing on the ceiling and Skoll couldn't find a way to get to it. Skoll's beautiful white fur was now covered in blood, both the Frost Beast's as well as his own. When Skoll barked in frustration, the Frost Beast leapt down onto his back, sinking its fangs into Skoll's neck.
Skoll yelped and threw it off his back. By then, Hati came bounding forward and he tackled the Frost Beast. The two tumbled, and the Frost Beast pinned Hati and sunk its claws in Hati's chest. Hati howled and reached up, slashing at the Frost Beast's face, taking the right eye out. The beast roared in anger, giving Skoll an opening. Skoll tackled the beast, slamming it up against a pillar. It immediately stood up on its hind legs; Skoll did the same, locking their front limbs together and attacking each other's faces, throats, and muzzles. Hati tackled the fighting pair and all three tumbled back in a tangle of limbs.
Although Hati landed on top of the Frost Beast, the beast managed to reach up and sink its fangs into Hati's neck. Hati yelped and Skoll slowly got up from the position where he had been laying in pain. He lunged forward and sunk his fangs into the Frost Beast's throat, using his fangs to dig in, searching for the windpipe. While blood gushed out of all three, the Frost Beast had taken the worst of the fight. Skoll tugged at the Frost Beast's throat. The beast slowly let go of Hati as its life blood drained from its neck at a similar pace. With renewed determine, Hati repositioned and sunk his claws into the chest of the beast, moving his claws around trying to reach a major artery. Finally, Hati nicked the beast's heart; he then took his claws to rip and tear viciously at the beast's underbelly. Blood spurted everywhere and Skoll finally ripped out the beast's throat and gulped down the huge hunk of flesh.
The two brothers sniffed the carcass and looked at each other. Skoll's normally beautiful perfect white pelt was covered in blood, his own and the Frost Beast's. But his glowing deep blue eyes still shone brilliantly. Hati's black pelt was also drenched in blood, his glowing red eyes matching the color of the blood everyone has shed today. Both of the wolves eye's glowed brighter and their wounds slowly healed, in an amazing show of the lifecycle of the wound of the Asgardian wolves. Quickly, the two brothers gently rubbed the sides of their heads against the other's neck, in a show of affection. Then, they bolted back into battle.
Thor was now supporting Clint. Clint was in the highest place he could climb within the palace, but he found that Frost Giants were excellent climbers. So, Thor was guarding the base of Clint's sniping position and he was fending off the climbing Frost Giants as they tried to get to Clint. Thor aggressively slammed his hammer on yet another Frost Giant head. He kicked another in the knee; its knee buckled and it fell. Once again, a hammer to the head … Sif was next to him, slashing Frost Giants one by one with her sword. She ordered the warriors three to go help whatever citizens who were alive in the city, and find survivors, if there were any.
The Hulk grabbed a Frost Beast by its hind legs and flung it into a wall and then charged forward like a ram to slam the listless Beast against the wall one more time. The Frost Beast pointed its horns at the Hulk and attempted to stab him but the Hulk grabbed the horns and broke them off its head. Hulk then grabbed the beast's snout and shoved its head to the side, trying to break its neck. It managed to shove him off with a furious roar and the Hulk slid back, crushing a few Frost Giants in the process.
The Frost Beast charged forward and tackled the Hulk, holding the Hulk down with its sheer size and force. It bared its massive fangs at the Hulk and snarled, drool dripping into the Hulk's face, raking its claws down the Hulk's chest, actually piercing his iron-like flesh, and shredding it. The Hulk roared in fury and pain. He reached his arm up and grabbed the Frost Beast's neck and used his other arm to punch its teeth out. The Hulk shoved the Frost Beast off and jumped up, leaping forward and landing on the back of the beast, crushing its spine. He grabbed the beast's tail and began tugging as hard as possible, hearing the bones breaking and snapping. The Hulk ripped the trail off the beast and jumped off, kicking it into a pillar, where it lay, lifeless.
Loki was released when all the madness began; Thor had ordered it himself. Loki claimed that he turned a new leaf, and now was the time for him to prove it. There were about one hundred Loki's fighting, tricking Frost Giants. He was having a blast, blasting Frost Giants with magic, and hitting them with throwing knives.
Sam was flying around, kicking Frost Giants in the face and landing next to Avengers who needed backup. He was stuck with Loki, at least he thought it was Loki; there were so many Loki's right now.
Just when it seemed to slow down, more Frost Giants stormed in and began helping their brothers in arms. But one group didn't come to help, they ran towards the Royal Corridor.
Muninn, the black raven with red eyes, came flapping at top speed and landed on Thor's shoulder, putting his beak near his ear and whispering seeming gibberish ... Thor's eyes went wide and his blood curdled … The Frost Giants were going to kill Odin …