Chapter 16

The mothership lifted up off of Asgard as soon as the essence of the Aether vanished from the location. As it cleared the Asgardian skyline and into space, Malekith was sitting calmly in his seet. He was stroking his chin in thought, reaching out with his perceptions to find the Aether. Algrim, his body contorted with machinery, making him unrecognizable to his former self, watched, his electronic blue eyes curious.

"My lord, can you sense anything?"

"Not yet... It could not have gotten far. There are eight other worlds it could have gone to. The only question, is... Wait." Malekith sat up. He felt a sudden twinge in his chest.

"My lord?" Algrim questioned in confusion.

"The Aether. It has returned home." Malekith smiled sadistically, a truly awful sight to behold on his inhuman visage. He glanced at Algrim. "It's on Svartalfheim."

oooo

The jostling of the Asgardian hovercraft was abruptly ceased mere moments after it zoomed into the small cave. It took the group only a few moments to realize they were no longer in Asgard.

Standing up slowly, Darcy's mouth fell open at the sight that she was met with. The world before her was completely desolate. Nothing but dark dunes covered with ravage machinery. The machinery bared similar design to the Dark Elf weaponry that she encountered back in Asgard. The entire surface of this world was laden with damaged warships that looked over a thousand years old. The skies above were stained and polluted, blocking out the sunshine, giving the world a depressing feel. Hikesh and Sif both looked shocked at the barren and ravaged landscape. Loki appeared indifferent, when he to was disgusted by the sight. Jane continued to lie down, barely conscious, the Aether draining her rapidly.

"Good god..." Darcy muttered. "What is this place?"

"This is Svartalfheim." Loki announced. "The Dark Elf homeworld. King Bor blocked off all access to this realm after the great war. Even I have never seen it before."

"This... this is not right." Hikesh said, shaking his head. "When I was last on Svartalfheim, there was life! Forests, animals, everything! How could one war have caused all of this?"

"It was always the nature of the Dark Elves to destroy themselves. Their ways corrupted their hearts over time, and their world paid the price." Sif said grimly. "Odin always said this place dark, but I did not realize the true extent of his words."

"There are ships everywhere. They look ancient." Darcy said, gazing out at the wrecked structures. When she imagined the Dark Elf homeworld, she imagined dark forests, like something out of a fairy tale. Not this hellhole. "

"They are more than just ancient." Loki said. "Their design predates even the earliest of Asgard's kings."

"Damn." Darcy said, awed.

The group continued to sail over the ravaged wasteland. Darcy cringed at the sight of it all. It gave her an unwelcome feeling of despair and uncertainty. It made her wonder if this is what Earth would have looked like if the Chitauri had one. Darcy shivered, turning away from that thought. She glanced at her best friend, who had started groaning in pain. Darcy sighed with worry. Loki followed her gaze to Jane. He withdrew a deep breath.

"What I could do with the power that flows through those veins..." He muttered, watching as Darcy tended to Jane. The moment those words left his mouth, the atmosphere seemed to grow cold. Hikesh and Sif glared at him, while Darcy gave him a frown.

"It would consume you." Hikesh said, sitting down next to Jane and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. Jane briefly shuddered at the contact, but the Prothean's surprisingly gentleness calmed her down.

"And I would kill you first chance." Sif added. She knew that Loki would go through any means necessary to attain that kind of power. But to go after the Aether was suicide.

"She's holding up alright, for now." Loki observed. Personally, he was impressed that Jane was able to withstand the Aether's overwhelming power for so long. Of course, he wasn't keen on handing a mortal that kind of compliment.

"Your habit of underestimating humanity is a weakness. One of many you possess." Hikesh said, his voice dripping with venom.

Loki glared at the Prothean. "You're faith in humanity is your weakness."

"Shut up." Darcy growled, fed up with Loki's backtalk. "Crazy mischief god set to mute?"

Loki sneered at Darcy, but remained silent, returning his attention back to the controls. Sif took a deep breath, he hand grabbing the hilt of her sword as she glanced at Hikesh. He had been acting strange ever since the Dark Elf attack. He was scared, she could tell. She had never seen him this tense, even during Loki's invasion last year.

"Something happened. Back in the palace." Sif spoke up. Hikesh glanced at her.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about." Sif said, glaring. By now, Loki and Darcy were looking at them in confusion. "The way you looked at that ship, the way you reacted. Odin said that it was not of Dark Elf nature. You know what it was. Don't you?"

Hikesh's jaw clenched as Sif, Loki, and Darcy looked at him expectantly. This was not a story he wanted to relive. But he knew he couldn't get around Sif's questioning. He took a deep breath, rubbing his temples.

"You remember last year, during the war for Earth. I briefly mentioned the history of my people." Hikesh said. "We were a proud, imperial people who ruled half the galaxy, but we were destroyed by the greatest threat to the galaxy we ever encountered. The Reapers."

There was a dead silence over the group. As usual, Darcy was the one to break the silence. "The... Reapers? I remember Agent Coulson mentioning something like that back in New Mexico. He said that they were a race that wiped out your people thousands of years ago."

"So you're species was exterminated." Loki said, shrugging. "What does that have to do with the Dark Elves?"

"Everything!" Hikesh growled, causing Loki to blink. "That ship, that alien ship? It is a Reaper."

"Wait, what?" Darcy said, confused. "But I thought that the Reapers were an alien race. How could...?"

"The Reapers are machines." Hikesh said. "Sentient starships that harvest all organic life every fifty-thousand years. My people were not the first civilization to fall victim to their evil. The fact that there is one here now, added with the appearance of that message, it foreshadows their return."

"Message?" Sif said. "You mean those visions plaguing the realms? How does that connect to these... Reapers?"

"Those visions are recordings." Hikesh explained. "Images of my people during the time of their extinction."

"And you knew this the entire time?" Darcy said, lifting an eyebrow. "How come you never bothered to tell us this before?"

"Because we weren't sure whether or not it clarified the Reapers' return." Hikesh said. "I told Director Fury of the signal's nature, and as you can imagine, he was skeptical. We kept the nature of the signal a secret, so that it wouldn't cause any needless paranoia."

"Hikesh, I'm sure you can imagine that this is somewhat hard to believe." Sif said, frowning. "You say that these Reapers wiped out your people over fifty-thousand years ago? How in Odin's name could a machine survive that long without being discovered or tended to?"

"We have only theories." Hikesh said, shaking his head. "In between each extinction, the Reapers would retreat out into dark space, the black void outside the galaxy. There, they would stay hidden. As for how they stayed alive, we presume that they enter states of inactivity to conserve energy."

"So they're real then?" Loki said, looking intrigued, and somewhat disturbed by this knowledge. "I find it odd that we were never able to find any trace of these Reapers' existence. Surely they would have left evidence behind?"

"The Reapers are careful in their work. After they have eradicated their targeted species, they go to great lengths to remove traces of their existence so they are not discovered. After that, they use the Mass Relay network to return to dark space, not returning until the relays are activated." Hikesh said.

"What the hell is the Mass Relay network?" Darcy said, shaking her head. "You mentioned that back in Asgard. What is it?"

"It is a network of interstellar transit devices that the Reapers built to provide interstellar travel." Hikesh said. "A single relay can transport a single ship instantaneously to another relay within the network. It does this by utilizing eezo, the energy that is found within the Tesseract and the Bifrost. The Reaper created them as a means of speeding up the development of civilizations so that time in between exterminations would be shortened to their liking."

"We have been around for millennia, Hikesh, and we have never discovered the machines that you speak of." Sif said, frowning. "The Bifrost and the technology used by the Chitauri are the only forms of technology I have come across that use the energy from the Tesseract."

Hikesh frowned. That couldn't be right. The relays should still be out there somewhere...

"Hikesh, if what you're saying is true, then how the hell did the Dark Elves find a Reaper?" Darcy interrogated.

"I don't know." Hikesh said. "But the fact that they seem to be allied with one is troubling. Very troubling. I feel like things are about to get much worse than they already are."

"If you're all done discussing old folk tales." Loki spoke up, catching everyone's attention. "It seems we have company..."

The group all looked towards the horizon, and their faces filled with dread when they saw the ship in question descend rapidly through the dark cloud bank. It landed on the ashen surface of Svartalfheim, the ground quaking from the landing. The ship let out its electronic wail, and it echoed throughout the dead realm.

At the sound of it, Jane gasped and jolted upright. Her eyes, to the surprise of the group, were now completely glazed over with blood red. Darcy looked at her surprise.

"Jane, what-?"

"Malekith." Jane muttered, before going weak, and falling on her back. She was now breathing heavily, practically panting, and turning her around around rapidly.

"She's losing control." Sif said, and she looked out at the ship. "We need a strategy. While I don't completely believe your story, Hikesh, that ship is powerful. If we are going to stop Malekith and save Jane Foster, we need some kind of plan."

"I have a plan." Loki said, smiling mischievously. "But it will require all of your cooperation for it to succeed."

"You actually expect us to trust you?" Hikesh said, glaring daggers at the prince of lies.

Loki glanced at the Prothean. "Do you have a better idea, Hikesh? If so, I'm all ears."

No one said anything. Hikesh growled in submission, while Darcy looked at Loki wearily. "What did you have in mind?"

Loki smirked.

oooo

Bethlam Royal Hospital was filled with people reeking of insanity. It made Soladat cringe. She, May, and Ward were standing at the front desk, talking to a confused looking desk officer.

"Can I help you?" He queried.

"Yes." Soladat said in a no-nonsense tone. "I'm Agent Soladat Wrekk, with S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm here for Dr. Erik Selvig."

"Ah." The man said, nodding his head in realization. "Government finally came to pick up that loon. I'd be happy to hand him over to you. I just need you to sign a few things..."

Soladat just groaned.

Meanwhile, Skye and Fitzsimmons were hanging around in a nearby lounge where some of the more stable patients liked to mingle. While Skye and Fitz were sitting on a couch next to an old man who was dead asleep and snoring rather loudly, Simmons was sitting at a table, playing cards with two elderly women.

"Okay." She said, looking at her cards. She glanced at the two women in front of her, smirking, and then laid her cards down. "I fold."

Suddenly, one of the women, an elderly Asian woman, stood upright, glaring at her, and yelled loudly in Japanese. "Anata wa sore o okonau koto wa dekimasen!"

Simmons reared back in surprise at the outburst. Skye and Fitz looked up, blinking, while the man next to them jumped awake for a brief moment before nodding off back to sleep.

Getting over her initial shock, Simmons frowned. "What's your problem?"

"Sore wa anata ga gēmu o purei suru hōhō wa arimasen!" The woman yelled, clearly angry.

Simmons stood up so that she was looking straight at the woman. "Mā sore wa, watashi wa sore o saisei suru hōhōdesu! Ima suwatte!"

The Asian woman looked surprised, and then sat back down grumbling. Smiling contently, Simmons sat back down and continued the game. On the couch, Skye and Fitz looked at the pair in utter confusion.

"Er... What the hell was that about?" Skye asked Fitz.

"No idea." Fitz said.

And there's chapter sixteen. Now, for those of you who didn't figure it out before, this fic is technically a crossover with the Mass Effect series, given the presence of a Prothean and now, a Reaper. I'm just clarifying this now before anyone gets upset. If you don't like, don't read. and no flames please. Next chapter, Soladat and friends get Erik out of the nuthouse, while Darcy and friends deal with the Dark Elves on Svartalfheim. Thanks for reading