Chapter 3

Germany, Midgard Summer of 1941

Going undercover sucked. There was that time he had been volunteered by Master Ofunn to be an inmate and root out the leaders of a gang in Asgard's dungeons. That had been terrible; especially a particular sorceress. But it had nothing to do with being a new recruit in HYDRA.

His asgardian heritage and training gave him an evolutionary advantage; his body being stronger, faster, and more durable. But since he was to be on Midgard long-term, he had had to disguise that. Therefore, he had deliberately used a set of magic runes to make his body weaker.

There were side effects however. Such drastic changes completely disoriented him and he had had to retrain himself in hand-to-hand combat. He had been one of the best on Asgard. Here, he was mediocre. He would not give up though.

Red Skull had assigned him to pose as a newcomer and to work his way up through the ranks. Despite the months it had taken him to work out the differences in his weakened form his natural skill, like it had been on Asgard, was recognized by HYDRA's captains. He had been one of a few to be assigned to a new specialized kill squad. It was brutal and the latest exercise left him spitting blood onto the floor from the latest beatdown he had suffered.

"Again." Ares's trainer repeated from his position above him; brass knuckles glinting in the harsh light of the room.

It was a good thing he was a fast learner.

"This is a bad idea." Ares said as he followed Loki into the spaceship's control room.

Loki looked back with a raised eyebrow, "Scared?"

Ares couldn't help but grin in return. If someone had told him that he'd be friends with Loki a year a ago he would've laughed; but somehow, it had happened. Ever since that day Loki had come to apologize, the two had struck a friendship with each other. Estranged from a normal childhood and each with a much more outgoing sibling (Sif and Thor got along famously) it seemed natural if one was to think about it.

With their shared love of knowledge, the two could often be seen around Asgard together debating. Or, Ares shook his head as he thought if it, bailing their siblings out of trouble. Thor, with his brazen personality, often pulled himself into messes. It didn't help that Sif could usually be found alongside Thor at the time. Add those three warriors who had joined their two siblings recently, and it was a full-time job. Now, however, Ares and Loki were on their own adventure. Months of research had finally culminated in the finding of yet another passageway.

Asgard was just a piece of a large landmass that sat in space. The landmass was so large that of the Nine Realms, four of them were actually on it: the already mentioned Asgard, Alfheim, Vanaheim, and Nidavellir. Ares and Loki had devoted their time, well the extra time Ares had when he wasn't training, to uncovering the secrets of the landmass. One of those secrets were passageways that occurred naturally between the nine realms.

They had found a few but this one had taken them to a place neither of them had been to, Svartalfheim. Located in a cave in a mountain rather close to Asgard, the passageway had been difficult to get to. Ares had argued for returning immediately as being in Svartalfheim was forbidden but Loki had insisted they explore.

That had lead to them coming upon the largest battlefield they had ever seen. Remnants from the last Dark Elf War sprawled for miles on the largest plain. Colossal spaceships surrounded by hundreds of smaller harrow craft littered the ground. And while the bodies from the battle had long since eroded, there was a sickly stench that hung in the air. It seemed to cling to the light armor that Ares was wearing and brought a despairing mood.

When the two had come upon the largest ship yet they had flown their asgardian skiff inside and proceeded on foot. Now, the two had finally entered the control room of the ship.

Ares marveled over the signs of technology that the Dark Elfs had had. With the rainbow bridge, asgardians never had needed spaceships. Of course, they did have flying ships, like the skiff he and Loki had used to travel here, but they weren't capable of going into space. There was a small fleet of space worthy ships, Ares had been told upon becoming a Ranger, but they were a tightly held secret.

The Dark Elves had been leagues ahead in technology. Their ships were streamlined and built with almost dark, brooding, style of architecture. Through a hole in the the hull, Ares and Loki had lowered themselves into a hallway at which the end was a control room.

Ares looked around and his eyes fell upon a stone bust. He was examining the face it depicted when a light blue screen popped up out of nowhere and made him jump.

"Loki what the-!"

"Shhh I'm trying to read." Loki waved offhandly at him.

Ares maneuvered himself so he could look over his friend's shoulder. Upon seeing the lines of runes scrolling past the screen he frowned. "What is it?"

"The ship's log. It was the only thing that's still intact after all this time."

"What's it say?" He couldn't read them.

"It's the log of the captain, Scumbag."

Ares let out a laugh. "What?"

Loki glared at him, "That's what it translates to. Don't interrupt me. 'The might of Asgard is upon us and I fear for our race. Our losses on the battlefield have been crippling. I and some of my fellow captains planned for this occasion. The mission to the Vanir was a success but the coward Sorcerer refuses to use—"

"Sorcerer?"

Loki kicked him. "What'd I say about interrupting me?" Ares pouted and Loki sighed. "Malekith. He was the leader of the Dark Elves in the war. He was also known among his people as a great sorcerer. That's him over there. The statue."

Ares looked over at the statue and glanced at it carefully before shrugging. It was a rather ugly depiction. "Magic?"

He grew excited. He had seen Loki's illusions before but that was the only thing that he could compare it to. Long ago the asgardian's sister race, the Vanir, had warred with them, the Aesir. Their best soldiers had been magic-users of great strength but the Asgard had triumphed and the Vanir had become extinct and magic wiped out. There were certain bloodlines in the among the Aesir that had magic but it wasn't nearly as powerful.

"'The coward Sorcerer refuses to use the Summoning. Citing that such a powerful and unknown variable would not achieve our plans. I disagree. My compatriots and I have secured the Vanir's cargo in my ship and we will escape and-"

Ares glanced at Loki when he stopped. "And?"

"That's where it ends." Loki frowned. He fiddled with several buttons before another screen pulled up, this time. "It's the ship's log." He pointed at a set of runes. "This is the same time the message cut off. It says…the ship was manually overridden and set to crash into the ground below."

Ares blinked. "Malekith sacrificed his own people?"

Loki nodded. "I remember my grandfather telling me this story when I was very young. Before he passed. Malekith sought to use the Aether to send the Nine Realms into darkness."

"And this Summoning?" Ares looked at the runes again but he already knew they were meaningless symbols to him.

Loki pressed through flickering pages of runes before finally stopping at one. "Here."

He frowned and push a series of buttons before jumping back suddenly as the entire board flickered with a burst of energy before going dark.

"Erm did you break it?" Ares asked rhetorically as he poked the now non-responsive board.

Loki ignored him and turned around. Ares followed him down a ladder and into a large open room. Dull grey light filtered in from a large window and shone upon a door set into a wall. Suspiciously, the room was void of wreckage like the control had been. It was spotlessly neat besides a layer of dust that had settled over the surface of everything. Loki palmed a pad and the door started to open with a deep groan before stopping.

"Help me." Loki said as he braced against the door to push it.

Ares hestiated, feeling slightly uncomfortable, before he leaned into the door. With a few heavy grunts they got the door open enough for them to step inside. With a snap of his fingers, Loki created a bright ball of light which floated into the revealed room. Ares stepped in.

His first impression was that of a storage area. Spare armor lay everywhere amid boxes scattered askew from the crash. A large beam had fallen and cut the room in half.

"What is this?"

"It's the closet where they stored this summoning." Loki replied as he looked through boxes on a shelf, "See what you can find."

Ares shrugged and prodded a container. He reeled back when he opened it as a putrid smell came out. "Bleghh."

He shut it with a resoundingg click that echoed before coming face to face with a statue. The statue was humanoid in shape except for its arms. The arms had been carved into sharp blades. Taking a closer look, Ares realized it was also covered in runes. Hundreds of them. Each looked as it had peen painstakingly etched into the metal. He frowned.

Loki appeared beside him. "A sentinel." He said with awe. "These were the noted among the Vanir's creations. They were said to guard things of great value. The Summoning must be quite important.

Ares looked over as his friend started to search the room with more speed. He grew more uncomfortable before a glint in a corner caught his eye. Walking over, he came upon a sword. Picking up the slender blade he looked at it admiringly. The hilt was long, almost as long as his arm. When he unsheathed it the blade revealed was long and narrow. It also somehow still retained a razor sharp edge to it. Upon seeing a small button in the middle of the hilt, he pushed it and jumped as another blade slid out the hilt and locked into place. Ares blinked. This was amazing. There was no way this belonged to the Dark Elves. They favored the use of energy weapons. This had to be from the Vanir.

Ares twirled the now two bladed staff experimentally and found that it was perfectly balanced. He was even more fascinated when he pressed the button again and the blade slid back in without there being a seam from where it had come out.

He nodded silently to himself. As a Ranger, he didn't carry a sword. He specialized in knives and their uses. But Sif, she would love something like this. It caused a smile to appear on his face as he sheathed it and buckled it onto his hip.

Ares shook himself out of his thoughts and spun his gaze around the room for Liki before seeing him with an ancient looking tome in his hands.

"What is it?" He said as he walked over.

Loki snapped the book shut quickly and looked up with a start. Ares reeled back slightly. For a moment Loki's countenance had almost seemed to darken. He shook his head. They had been in here for too long.

"I'm not sure. It's a book written in the Vanir's runes. From what I could tell it speaks of magic. But not as a force, but as a being. At least that's what I believe it translates to."

"A being?"

"We already know that there is a lot more to the universe, Ares." Loki reminded him.

"But your magic. It isn't alive." Ares protested.

Loki's face grew grim and he slipped the book into a satchel that he had on himself before standing up. "We should return."

Ares nodded and made to turn around when a red glow appeared. Facing its direction his eyes widened as the sentinel from earlier started to move.

"Interlopers. Intruders. They who dare to steal the Summoning."

With a few hisses the sentinel settled in front of door, its blade-arms held out to either side.

"Crap." Ares instinctively moved himself in front of Loki. He was only wearing a padded tunic with a small chestplate. Loki only had a tunic on. This was not good. He drew the sword he had found with his right hand and slipped one of the many daggers he had on his person into his left.

"You're going to have to teach me how to wield one of those if we make it out of here." Loki murmured from his position behind Ares. He then spoke to the sentinel. "We mean no harm."

Are ignored him and carefully watched the sentinel. Its eyes glowed a dark red before it darted forward. He met a swing of its arm with his dagger and managed to pull his sword over his head to stop a heavy over-handed blow that jarred his teeth. His arm muscle tensed from the effort of holding the weight over the other's blade before it came crashing down. He was sent flying as the sentinel's other arm simultaneously slipped passed his dagger and flew into his side.

Groggy and dazed, Ares watched as the statue marched toward Loki who was holding up the bag for protection. He looked down at his chest and could see a gash in the armor where the sentinel had struck. Ares clenched his left hand and brought his fist upright toward his shoulder in a jerky motion, releasing the dagger he was holding. It flew with unerring accuracy and stuck in the sentinel's neck. It only seemed annoyed however and with a jerk of its neck, the dagger fell away.

The statue swung its arm and Ares watched as Loki dodged nimbly to the left and then winced as the other arm backhanded Loki into the wall, forming a human shaped dent. "

Loki!" Ares threw his sword to Loki even as he struggled to rise. He managed to get to his feet just when Loki was thrown into him. The pair crashed into the ground yet again.

The sentinel moved toward them. "Usurpers. Thieves. Return the staff and the summoning." Its voice was like the grating of metal and seemed to emanate from off the entire form instead of where a mouth would normally be.

"Staff?" Loki growled.

"There!" Ares shouted. Upon the mentioning of staff Ares's eyes had fell upon a glaive lying amongst all the chaos. It had to be what the sentinel was talking about. The sentinel's arms swung for them and the pair dodged to either side. Loki managed to crawl behind the sentinel and grabbed the glaive. With a quick thrust, he impaled it in the sentinels stomach as it turned around. If a faceless statue could look furious this one did.

"You dare!" Its arm formed long, metal fingers which grabbed Loki's neck and hauled him into the air.

"No!" Ares launched himself over. An enormous surge of energy suddenly ran through him when his fingers made contact with the handle of the glaive. Power seemed to rush through him and into the rod. A large beam of green light was the last thing he saw before black rushed through his vision.

*Scumbag is an actual character taken from the Dark Elves' wiki

A/N: Sorry about the slow update, hope you enjoyed!