Special Agent 2: The Dark Soldier

Chapter 45

The dark-skinned girl stepped toward Loki, her eyes deadly serious. "You are?" she inquired.

"I don't answer to you," Loki told her. "Who are you, anyway?"

The girl lifted an eyebrow. "I am Tekahionwake Brant, one of the Masters of the Mystic Arts. These are my colleagues, Nasario Almarez and Karl Mordo. The Ancient One has felt Dormammu's power stirring, his attention turning to this dimension. We have come to investigate this disturbance, and since Asgard fought the Dark Elves during their last awakening, we have come to you first."

"I told you," Odin insisted, his voice harsh. "The Dark Elves all perished in that battle, five thousand years ago. My father made sure of that."

"Their world stands empty," Hailstohm interjected quietly. "Svartalfheim has not been touched since Asgard's battle with them. It is desolate."

Tekahionwake glanced from Loki to Odin to Hailstohm before her gaze drifted back to Loki. "Still, I must verify. The Älfeneel are the most loyal servants to Dormammu and, like him, they wish to bring primordial darkness back to the universe. I must make sure they are definitely no threat."

"The dead are no longer a threat to us," Odin asserted.

The sorcerer did not look away from Loki. "Yet, I find their weapon still exists. The Aether coils inside him, and the Älfeneel will be searching for it." Tekahionwake glanced back to Odin. "Wasn't the Aether destroyed, along with the Dark Elves?"

Odin didn't answer. He didn't have a chance to.

The bright purple flare of sheer power shattered through the side wall of the throne room, sending shards of stone and metal flying. The shock wave flung the Asgardians, the sorcerers, the NCIS agents, and Hailstohm back, pieces of shrapnel colliding with flesh.

POWER, a voice whispered inside Loki as he struck the floor, skidding. It is POWER.

Loki thrust himself up into a sitting position, gazing at the ruin of the wall. Several figures were stepping through, a purple glow coming from the chest of the leader. Platinum blonde braids swung with his steps, his pale mask obscuring his face. But Loki didn't need to see the face. He had seen enough images of the mask alone to know what it was.

"The Dark Elves," Tekahionwake muttered. "See, this is why I verify things."

Four Dark Elves stood in the gaping hole, dressed in Marauder accouterments. Rifles hung over their backs, but their masks belonged to no pirate. They were pale, sculpted to be generically beautiful, and devoid of any expression.

And the Power Stone, a relic of primordial strength, rested in the chest of the leader, pulsing with might.

"Asgardia," the leader pronounced. "Syvo mavake alina! Syvo mavake Vela Myrkel!"

"We do not bow before monsters," Odin spat.

"Or Dormammu," Tekahionwake added, her eyes fierce. She and her fellow sorcerers slid their right wrists over their left ones as they stood, their Tao Mandala shields springing to life before their hands, the orange rings glowing in the thin cloud of dust that had erupted with the destruction of the throne room wall.

Loki, Thor, and Hailstohm were on their feet as well, Loki gripping his daggers, Thor his hammer, and Hailstohm twin ice swords, ice plates of armor forming over her leather tunic. DiNozzo and Bishop had drawn their guns, aiming them at the Dark Elves. Odin gripped Gungnir tightly in one hand while he helped Frigga up with the other, pushing her behind him.

The leader's eyes landed on Loki, their inky blackness terrifying and impenetrable. "Aether," he breathed.

Then the battle began as the Dark Elves lunged forward.