Dashing after the young Asgardian soldier, the Warriors Three following closely behind, Sif huffed in annoyance. They had been told little about the capabilities of the Draugur, only that it was highly dangerous and was to be eliminated on sight. Sif had felt less than satisfied at the vague answers and the city's lack of control over the Draugur. What if an army was planning to attack? She could not allow herself to be caught off-guard or undermined.

Thor had called for their audience almost a quarter of an hour ago. As she trailed after the sentinel, Sif could hear Volstagg muttering about his interrupted late-night snack, followed by a pained yelp. Looking over her shoulder she found him glaring at Fandral, hopping on one foot, and rolled her eyes at their antics.

Coming to a halt, Sif raised her closed fist – a sign of warning. The Warriors Three and their escort froze, eyes alert as they looked around the hall wildly. Reaching for her waist, Sif expertly pulled out her short-staff from its sheath, gripping the pole tightly in her hands. Cocking her head at a slight noise from above, Sif allowed the staff to extend, revealing its sharpened metal tips.

"What is it?" Hogun asked, looking up at the ceiling, his two companions mimicking him.

Skimming over the decorative cornice running across the edge of the ceiling, Sif replied, "I don't know, but I have a bad feeling."

"I-I-I will go inform Thor Odinson of your upcoming arrival, my lady," The guard stuttered, before skipping hurriedly down the corridor and out of sight.

Flicking her long ponytail over her shoulder, Sif called out to her teammates, "Be on the ready. It could attack at any angle."

Sif shuffled backwards to meet the backs of the Warriors Three – their weapons already drawn – all facing outwards. There was no chance now of the Draugur catching them unaware. Sif's eyes travelled the room, searching for any sign of movement in the unnatural silence. Her spear held in front of her, she felt the others do the same with their own weapons.

The ground was beginning to feel increasingly warmer through the soles of her thick boots. Looking down, Sif saw that the ground begin to glow a sickly green.

Eyes widening, she cried, "Get out of the way!"

Somersaulting forward, she came to a stop a few feet away, twisting mid-tumble to face the oncoming attack. A large beam of green energy burst through where she had stood, puncturing the ground with a loud crack of marble and a spray of debris.

Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg had also been lucky in dodging, jumping away shortly after her. Volstagg was still tumbling across the ground.

All of them had come out of the blast relatively unharmed. Fandral however was sporting a slightly charred shoulder. Grasping it tightly, he gave a weak grin of solace to Sif, before rolling further away from where the energy blast had emitted.

Turning back to the hole, she found a cloud of dust had risen where they had stood, obscuring a tall, dark shadow.

Stepping towards Sif, the shadow growled out in a deep voice, "Where's Tony?"

The dust began to thin and Sif peered up into the face of the Draugur they had been hunting, clutching the Tesseract in its large hand. The green eyes were puncturing, staring deeply inside of her. Opening its mouth, the creature roared again, "Where is Tony Stark?"

Speechless, Sif scuttled to her feet. This is not what she had expected of a Draugur. It was younger than any she had met and still retained an almost human-like form. Her morality was going to be put to the test in this battle.

A voice called out from across the room, "That is none of you concern, freak. Tony Stark is under Asgard's protection. No harm shall come to him while we harbour him here."

Baring its teeth at Fandral, the Draugur snarled, "Which is exactly why I am dragging him back to Earth! So he can apologise and I can finally go home!"

"You lie, foul creature! No Draugur is so merciful!" Volstagg stood ready for battle, shoulders hunched with his weapon drawn.

With the Draugur's attention directed away from her, Sif studied the creature. Its body was encased in a skin-tight black suit – hardly acceptable armour. Its shoulders were limp, back stooped, almost as if it was weary or tired. Not physically (oh, definitely not), but emotionally.

She called out in a strong voice, "What has Tony Stark done to you to follow him here?"

The bright green eyes swivelled to face her, "He took something that didn't belong to him. I'm just trying to make things right."

Hogun spoke up, "What about the Tesseract you're carrying?"

The Draugur glanced down at its hand grasping the Tesseract with a look that could only be described as surprised.

"Oh, right. The glowing cube-thingy. Here, you can have it. It's really cool, but I didn't really mean to take it. I just sort of did it without thinking…" The Draugur grinned lopsidedly, holding the Tesseract out for Sif to take.

Sif eyed the Tesseract intently, allowing herself to be drawn into the calming waves of its energy flittering under its shell, before looking up, "I will strike you a deal, Draugur. Give yourself and the Tesseract up peacefully and we will take you to Thor's companion."

The Draugur shrugged again, "Fair enough," The Draugur replied, holding its empty hand for her to shake in mortal tradition.

She saw the fearful looks of her teammates as she stepped closer, hand outstretched to meet its halfway, "Alright. Deal."

A solid hand enveloped her own as the Draugur gave Sif's a firm shake of agreement, holding out its other hand containing the Tesseract. Looking into the Draugur's face, she noted the deep shadows under its glowing eyes and how one side of its mouth tilted up a little more than the other. It really was quite handsome for a Hel-spawn, with its close resemblance to a human.

A thundering echo was drawing closer to the corridor, rumbling louder with its approach. As the noise grew, she heard the individual sounds of stampeding feet, clad in thick boots similar to hers.

The Draugur whipped his head up in surprise, stepping back out of Sif's reach with a dark frown, clutching the Tesseract tightly to its chest with one hand. The other was beginning to glow a savage green as it gripped it into a fist.

A low whirring sound joined the sounds of charging feet, approaching fast. Sif narrowed her eyes uncertainly, eying the end of the corridor. The noise was getting louder. Pulling away completely from the Draugur and the Tesseract, Sif warily held her arms up for battle, spear pointed at the doorway, in preparation of other possibly less-friendly Draugar.

The whirring noise grew to the level of a hurricane. Sif's ears rang as it echoed inside her head. She remembered this sound – it was similar to the sound that Thor's—

Mjölnir crashed through the golden doors at the end of the corridor, splintering the wood as it barraged through, headed straight for the Draugur. Flinching back, the Draugur attempted to dodge, but was clipped heavily on the shoulder, spinning it across the other side of the room with a flailing of arms and legs, before landing with a heavy thud.

Looking back at the destroyed doorway, Sif found Thor and his human companions standing there, hundreds of Asgardian soldiers following closely behind, weapons raised at the Draugur.

/ / /

"Ugh," Danny groaned, "I don't know how much more I can take of this."

Grasping his tender shoulder Danny stood up, stumbling slightly and shouted, "What is your problem? Seriously, you guys are insane!"

"You do not belong here, creature. Go back from whence you came." The blond man in the dorky armour stepped forward, his hand outstretched. The sledgehammer that attacked Danny flew back into his hands with another faint whir.

Glancing around the room and finding himself surrounded, Danny felt nervousness creep in. There was no way he could take on all these ghosts. He struggled with the blond one alone. Ignoring the hammer-wielding man, Danny spoke up, "How about a deal? I'll give you back your little nightlight and you hand over the humans so I can take them home? Then everyone's happy, right?"

"The Tesseract does not belong to you," A booming voice called out, an old man strode through the destroyed doorway, a gold-plated eye patch strapped tightly to his face, "Nor do you have any rights in Asgard. You are powerless in our borders, Draugur. It was a mistake to come."

"Powerless?" Danny threw a face, "You're not even going to listen to me?"

Cold stares were his only answer. Even the female warrior and her friends he had almost formed an alliance with had sided against him.

"Fine. I'll show you how helpless I am here! And you aren't getting the Tesser-whatever back either!" Danny knew he was being childish, but he was tired and frustrated, which made him – in Sam's words – act like a spoilt brat.

Gripping the cube tighter, he felt a rush of warmth spread over him once more, watching the cube healing his shoulder as the glow sunk into his skin.

Feeling revitalised, Danny crouched down, "Wanna fight, old man? Let's go!"

/ / /

Thor had seen his father in battle only a handful of times in his near-immortal life. To see the Draugur attempting to taunt him would become by far one of his more humorous memories. His humour was downplayed, however, when he saw the faint glow of blue energy escaping the Tesseract, seeping into the wound the Draugur sported from Mjölnir.

Turning his head he looked down to see Jane staring with rapt attention on the Draugur, her eyes wide and her mouth had seemed to unhinge quite some time ago. Steve's face was identical to hers, a look of awe painted across it. Tony was watching the scene with a cool disposition, glancing every so often at a miniature clock strapped to his wrist.

Thor frowned. That man was beyond aggravating. His constant skipping around subjects was leading them to be unprepared for battle. It was almost as if Tony Stark was purposely trying to stop them from getting the upper hand…

Thor felt a strong, insistent tugging from his right hand, before Mjölnir was forcefully wretched from his grasp, flying into his father's.

Odin's voice was gravelly, "You are pushing my limits, young one. I will give you one last chance before I obliterate you out of existence. Concede now and you might survive."

The Draugur stood tall, "No," it stated.

"So be it."

Gripping the leather thong at the end of Mjölnir, Odin began to swing the hammer in tight circles, gaining centrifugal force. Turning Mjölnir towards the Draugur, it continued to gain speed. The Hel-creature looked confused, uncertain of what to do.

"Nice party trick," it called out, "Must be a hit at the retirement homes."

Thor thought he heard Tony chuckled before being overcome with a violent coughing attack.

"Sorry," Tony grinned, noticing Thor's stare, "Must be coming down with something."

The air currents were now twisting under the force of Thor's borrowed hammer, being sucked into the developing vortex. The air was becoming thinner as it was dragged into the eye, making it hard to breathe. The Draugur choked in a deep breath, its hair flicking uncontrollably against the wind.

Odin stood strong, continuing to spin Mjölnir with a calm expression.

The Draugur dug its feet into the ground, deep cracks appeared as it tried to keep its balance. Its face had contorted into one of fear, clinging to the Tesseract as a form of protection. Closing its eyes and turning his head away from the thinning wind, the Hel-spawn held it out, apparently relinquishing its possession of it. Thor's father refused to stop, however, continuing to build up speed, dragging the Draugur ever closer to the hammer.

The Draugur unwillingly moved forward, desperation clear on its face as the winds whipped around him, shoving him towards his death.

"No!" A screech pierced the dark atmosphere, Odin, momentarily distracted by the loud cry that had escaped Jane's mouth, slowed the hammer down, "You can't kill him! He's just a kid!"

Odin opened his mouth to respond, when a burst of pure white-blue energy escaped from the Tesseract, sending shockwaves at the army of Asgardians and humans, knocking them all off their feet. Thor was thrown into a far wall, Jane landing next to him with a groan. Raising his head towards the Draugur, he watched the look of surprise spread across the Draugur's face, staring in shock at the Tesseract's power.

No one spoke as they slowly stood up, energy streams trickled out of the Tesseract, the light quickly diminishing.

"Um… Sorry?" The Draugur whispered loudly in the silence.

Tony's voice was muffled as he shoved a dazed Steve Rogers off himself, "Okay, as much fun as this little shindig was, its way past the kid's bedtime. He has a curfew, you know?" Striding up to the shocked and battle-weary Draugur, Tony easily pulled the Tesseract from its grasp, patting the Draugur on the back comfortingly, "You alright, Danny?"

The Draugur's eyes never left the cube, "Y-yeah. I'm fine."

Tony smiled before turning to the rest of the room, reaching up to fling an arm over the Draugur's shoulder, "Everyone, I'd like you to meet a friend of mine, Danny Phantom. World's first ghostly superhero. And don't worry, he's only grumpy when he hasn't had his nap."

The Draugur glared at Tony, shoving his arm off its shoulder.

"So Danny is… good?" Thor heard Steve asked warily from the other side of Jane, who was rubbing her back with a grimace.

"Yep. Wouldn't hurt a fly," Was the cheerful response.

Odin stood up from around his fallen squadrons, "Since he has relinquished the Tesseract and promises no harm against us, I will no longer be the one to fight him," he tossed the hammer back to Thor, who caught it easily. Odin sent him a dark look which Thor nodded in reply to.

"Cool," the Draugur – Danny – replied, eyes blank.

"So… can we eat now?" Volstagg asked.

/ / /

Danny had been amazed when a pretty woman called Jane Foster had told him about Asgard. Apparently, he had jumped right into another dimension without even noticing. His friends did constantly call him clueless – maybe that's why he was only getting a D+ in history.

Now however, Danny had been relocated to a small ice-chamber for 'security purposes', and was stuck listening to an Asgardian guard blather on about something called a Bilgesnipe through the thick ice walls – whatever that was.

Danny sighed. Even the company of Tony Stark would have been better than this. Despite his constant urge to punch the arrogant man at least he knew when to be quiet – most of the time.

Danny rolled his eyes as the guard began talking about Asgard's plumbing system. It was going to be a long night.