Chapter 49: Assualt Begins

"Your highness, we have arrived in Midgard." A voice rang out on the bridge of the Arc as it appeared silently within Earth's solar system.

"Remain cloaked and bring us within the atmosphere of the fifth planet. I will descend to acquire the Aether hidden within. Make sure to keep an eye on the location of the center most area affected by the Convergence. Upon our return with the Aether, we can begin." Malekith said as he tried to remain calm, his excitement was building.

Once again he would have his ultimate weapon at his disposal. The only weapon capable of accomplishing his goal, turning the whole universe into his own realm of Svartalfheim, a dark realm devoid of light.

This would basically kill off all life within the other realms, since life in the other realms haven't adapted to live without light.

In Svartalfheim the trees and plants that grew were adapted to life without a sun, as were the other lifeforms within the realm.

Malekith watched as his ship moved into position within the large atmosphere of Jupiter, the ship rumbled as it entered the thick atmosphere. As lightning struck the ship, it became visible for a brief moment, but was undamaged due to the energy shields from the ship.

"Sensors are down, the atmosphere is too thick, the signals are being interrupted. We are flying blind." The same voice who spoke up earlier spoke up again to notify Malekith, his voice had a hint of fear.

Jupiter has some history in the Marvel Universe, in the comics it was a planet that was either a settlement for genetically engineered humans or it was a prison planet. In fact, Charlie-27 from the Guardians of the Galaxy from Earth-691 was born there, there were several universes that had used Jupiter to either hide or use as a base.

Jupiter's gravity and hostile atmosphere made it the perfect hidden base, most sensors couldn't penetrate down accurately to give a reading on the planet's surface.

In Universe-616, when the "Pool of Madness", a pool of fiery liquid that sustained the Jovians, the race of inhabitants of Jupiter, had begun to affect Earth, scientists on Earth only knew where the rays originated but couldn't see or find the source. Its rays of madness began turning Earth's animals insane first, then it began to affect humans. Human Torch was eventually sent to stop it, when he found the Jovian race he was surprised to say the least, this finding also led to the extinction of the Jovian race since they were a parasitic race in that Universe, unlike the others.

"Move! Cowardice has no place here." Malekith commanded, he didn't care about anything else. He shoved the navigator aside forcefully, he was thrown heavily into a wall, crumpling to the ground after slamming into it with a crunch.

It was unknown whether he was alive or dead, Malekith didn't care as he took control of the ship. He closed his eyes and let the Aether guide him, moments later a small alarm sounded which Malekith tried to ignore.

As the ship moved into position, Algrim entered the command center, "A ship and crew have been prepared and are ready to launch whenever you are ready." Algrim said with a salute, to which Malekith gave a nod in acknowledgement and continued to pilot the ship.

The ship moved quickly thru the atmosphere, Malekith searched visually as the alarm continued to sound which began to irritate him greatly, he began looking at the console to find what it was.

His issue was he had no idea what he was doing, he wasn't a pilot, although he could read and knew just enough to command a fleet, actually piloting one was another story.

Similar to an airline passenger with zero hours of flight experience, even if you read a book or guide to land a plane on auto pilot, your focus would be narrow since you are having to take things step by step since you only have the knowledge but not the experience to be able to react instinctively.

"What is that incessant beeping sound!" Malekith shouted, he was so close to his objective and was getting impatient for success.

"I..I..It's the energy detection radar, your Majesty." A dark elf spoke up as he shivered in fright, Malekith was giving off an intimidating aura right now due to his irritation.

"Energy signatures, how many?" Malekith asked as his mind raced as to what it could be, although the dark elves are long lived and knowledgeable, they hadn't explored much of Midgard.

"One large energy signature, 150 planetary miles East of our current direction and heading." The Dark Elf answered quickly, he didn't want to share the same fate as the one before.

"They too must be searching for the Aether, come Algrim, this should be far enough. We will take a smaller ship to the location of the Aether, we will find it before the crew of the other ship." Malekith announced excitedly as he brought the ship to a halt to allow himself the chance to change ships.

"Monitor that other ship, keep us informed of where they are at all times." Malekith ordered as he began to walk away from the terminal and head towards the door leading to his ship, Algrim falling in step behind him as he began leaving.

"Also, find me a new, more obedient pilot by th....." Malekith's order was suddenly cut off by a loud bang from outside the ship, sounding like a loud crack of thunder.

The ship went completely dark instantly, causing Malekith to walk straight into the door, which failed to open due to the loss of power ship wide.

"What happened?" Malekith shouted into the darkness as he rubbed his sore face, but before a response could be issued four loud thuds were heard and felt throughout the ship, followed by silence.

"Your Majesty, we have lost all power throughout the ship. Emergency systems as well, it is unknown why the ship isn't crashing to the ground with power loss to the engines." A voice called out, breaking the silence that once again pervaded the bridge of the ship.

Even though the darkness was absolute, none of the elves panicked. They were born in darkness after all, so they didn't fear the dark, what had them on edge was what those four thuds were. Due to the ships systems being down, they had no way of knowing they were currently being boarded.

The four boarding pods were shot from the large Corvette Cruiser, each hitting different places on the Arc ship, each pod brought each team close to their mission area.

The pods easily punched thru the hull of the Arc, after the pods systems detected that it had breached the enemy ship, they began to initiate sealing protocols before it opened to allow the soldiers out of the boarding pods.

Once the entry holes were confirmed to be sealed completely, the four pods opened, allowing the UNSC soldiers along with their SPARTAN team leaders to begin their mission in securing the sections of the ship they were assigned to.

The boarding parties easily made their way thru the dark hallways, any dark elves they came across were swiftly dispatched as the teams moved in perfect unison, as if they have been a team for decades.

Taskmaster broke off from Yelena's group and headed to the bridge, she knew that was where Malekith, along with several of his subordinates that she was detecting thru her helmets HUD, were seen attempting to bring the power systems online while Algrim was making his way to the Armory.

"Steve, you have the secondary target enroute to your position. He is bringing a small team of four others with him." Taskmaster called over the comms as she hid down a corridor that allowed her to observe the area outside the command center.

"I appreciate the heads up, you be careful with the primary target, Commander Adam said Malekith is dangerous." Steves voice was heard back, the sounds of gun fire could vaguely be heard as he responded.

"You too. The secondary target is supposed to be more dangerous." Taskmaster commented, she wasn't too worried for Steve, he was one of the stronger SPARTAN soldiers.

Eve speculated that the difference in strength between Steve and the other SPARTAN's was due to the serum he had injected into him by Doctor Erskin.

Unlike the serum injected into Bucky and the Widow's, Steve's serum was more stable and potent. The serum given by the Red Room and HYDRA were inferior to the one made by Doctor Erskin. Even the UNSC Super soldier serum for the typical soldier was inferior in many ways.

Only the SPARTAN serum could hold its own against Erskins formula, and now Steve had both serums coursing through his body.

"Don't get distracted, and make sure you call if you need help. Remember, even when your by yourself, your not alone. We do this together." Steve wanted to ensure they all came home, he has had a shadow in his heart since Bucky was found.

So Steve was attentive on every mission, he learned from Adam to not just have a Plan B and C. Adam made plans A thru Z and sometimes double and triple that depending on the circumstances.

Seeing that the small group had left out of view, a round black shield materialized on her left arm and a small caliber rail gun that had a four round capacity appeared in her right hand.

Using her suits sensors to allow her to see the situation she stealthily moved into the main bridge, watching as Malekith and the remaining men tried to get the main systems back online.

Seeing her moment Taskmaster opened fire, the rail gun didn't use gunpowder so the shots didn't ring out, four of the bullets penetrated the four Dark Elves skulls causing them to explode into a mist of blood and brain.

Just as Malekith turned he was welcomed by a metalic object slamming into his head causing him to stumble back into the control station.

"You dare! Who dares invade my ship?" Malekith angrily shouts after he slowly gets back up.

"It's not yours anymore. You have been found in violation of UNSC Intersellar trespassing laws without proper notification and clearance. According to article 61 subsection C, you and your crew are considered pirates and therefore this ship has been confiscated. If you surrender peacefully you will only be given 30 years in cryoprison and after release will serve another 25 years in our mercenary company to work off your debts to society. Noncompliance can and will result in an escalation of my use of force. Do you surrender, or do I need to escalate the situation?" Taskmaster stated as the shield had bounced back to her allowing her to have it at the ready for what she knew came next.

"Surrender? To a human? Such weak creatures, you have no idea who I am, I am MALEKITH!"

Seeing him dash forward, a smile slowly appeared on Taskmaster's face, though Malekith couldn't see it he could hear the happiness in her voice as he moved forward to kill this intruder.

"Escalating it is then. Just what I was hoping for."

Just as Malikiths fist neared her head Taskmaster moved the shield up at the last minute, Malekith's fist stuck the shield with a resounding bang, stunning him that the metal withstood his full powered blow.

Malekith had increased strength and durability due to being in possession of the Aether for so long, normally he could rip even steel apart, but he never would've realized that her shield was far from being normal.

Taking this opportunity, Taskmaster reached in with her right hand from under the shield grabbing his wrist, pulling down and towards her, she then used the shield as a battering ram right to Malekith's face once again sending him flying back into the control station he had previously picked himself up from.

Malekith took a few moments to clear his head, flashes of lights where sporadically going off in his field of vision, his brain was healing itself from being battered around in his skull.

As his head cleared and his anger boiled, Malekith got back up, this time however he didn't rush in. He observerved his opponent more thoroughly this time as he wiped the parts of the terminal station he had just completely destroyed off his body.

"Who are you? Why are you aboard my ship pirate?" Malekith spat the blood from his mouth.

"I told you. You are under arrest. You have violated UEG protocol for foreign entities from outside of our system to be within our territory. You and your crew will now be sent to prison and then work off your debt to society. Those who survive their time will then be allowed to return home."

"You mortals have no clue who you are defying!" Malekith moved in once again, this time however he wouldn't take the opponent lightly.

As Taskmaster and Malekith began their fight, Steve Rogers had also began his with Algrim. Although Algrim was tough, Adam had known the weakness of the Kursed, overload their healing factor and they will fall faster.

As the black mist healed them it also invaded their minds, a double edged sword, its greatest strength was also its greatest weakness.

A single cut wouldn't be hard to overcome, but a thousand seperate cuts healing would be a thousand invasions into their mind all at once. It was why a black hole grenade would work, which was why they had went directly to the armory.

Using the suit, Steve could scan a grenade and upload it to Eve, she could reverse engineer the tech and then use it to create duplicates.

Unfortunately for Steve, Algrim arrived too quickly, and a unmodified grenade could do more damage than good.

'Why is it never simple.' Steve thought to himself as a M12H Special Operaration Carbine appeared in his hands.

He then opened fire at Algrim and the few Dark Elves with him.

The assault was now in full swing.