Malekith had spent centuries leading what remained of the Dark Elves through exile, bitterness, and shadow. Nothing surprised him anymore. Or so he thought.
Yet today, he stared at a scrap of paper that nearly made him question reality.
"You. Say it again. Every detail. And if you leave out even half a syllable, I'll peel your soul myself. Understand?"
"Yes! I'll report everything! I won't hide anything!"
The dark elf messenger practically folded himself in half under Malekith's silver aura. Trembling, he raised his voice for all the tribe to hear.
"I was scouting in the human city… and someone claiming to be an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. approached me. He handed me this note and said I had to deliver it to you personally…"
Malekith unfolded the note again with rigid fingers.
The message was simple. Direct. Impossible.
Jane Foster wanted an alliance.
Not only that, she was offering up the Aether particles without conditions.
Malekith's calm shattered on the spot.
The Aether wasn't just useful. It was everything. A weapon, a prophecy, salvation itself. No sane leader could refuse something like this.
"What game is this human woman playing? Is she truly giving me the Aether?"
He paced in tight circles, muttering, torn between suspicion and giddy hunger.
Finally he barked to his gathered warriors, "Opinions. Now. Say something useful."
Only silence answered him. The Dark Elves exchanged uneasy glances. They were killers and zealots, not politicians.
Before the tension could stretch further, footsteps thundered from the entrance.
A voice—loud, arrogant, unmistakably Asgardian—echoed from the corridor.
"Haha! Malekith! I've come up with the perfect plan! This time, I'm catching that little brat for sure!"
Thor stormed into the hall like a walking explosion. The Dark Elf guards tried to block him but were shoved aside like decorative furniture.
He ignored the cold stares, grinning like a man who had set his last brain cell on fire.
"Not only can we take your precious Aether, but we can kill Ryuuto too! Two birds, one glorious hammer swing!"
Malekith lifted a brow. "Oh really? Enlighten me, Thor."
He entertained the fool out of necessity, but his irritation flared the longer he looked at the thunder god's excited face. He almost believed Thor already held the Aether.
But then Thor spoke again, and all hope died.
"It's simple! We charge straight into New York together, crush the X-Men, crush every superhero we see, kidnap Jane… then smash Ryuuto into paste! After that, the world bows to you and me!"
Thor flailed his arms like a drunken Viking poet.
He had gathered every Asgardian fighter he could scrape up. In his mind, he was moments away from lifting Ryuuto's severed head in triumph.
Malekith stared at him with the expression of a man reconsidering all his life choices.
"That's… your plan?"
"Well, yeah. Something wrong?"
"Ahem."
Malekith cut him off before the idiocy could worsen. If he let Thor talk for ten more seconds, someone in the room was going to vomit blood.
"Thor, your plan is suicidal. If we declare open war, neither of our sides will survive it. As leader of the Dark Elves, I must think beyond your… impulses. I can't give you an answer now. So please. Leave."
He turned away without another glance. Compared to Thor's nonsense, Jane's offer suddenly felt like the only real path.
"Malekith—!"
Thor roared after him, but the Dark Elf king vanished into the corridors, taking all authority with him.
Dozens of Dark Elves stared at Thor with cold, hostile eyes.
Thor snorted. "You'll regret this! All of you!"
He stomped out, muttering curses about low-IQ elves and fantasizing about wiping them out with a single Asgardian platoon.
Meanwhile, Ryuuto had already crossed the city in a streak of movement so fast it made the night blur. He perched upside down atop a towering crane at a secluded pier, his gaze sweeping across the docks with quiet sharpness.
Below him, five massive workers hauled crates back and forth. Machinery rumbled. Cargo ships and cruise vessels crowded the water.
But Ryuuto wasn't fooled.
This wasn't a normal port.
It was a nest.
A headhunter's lair disguised as honest labor.
Every "worker" here was a pawn under that monster's control, and every crate held something rotten.
"Tch. Guess I'm doing the world a favor tonight."
He located the headhunter's aura instantly. A flicker of killing intent sharpened in his eyes.
Mist Shinobi Technique.
His chakra flared. Fog erupted outward.
In the span of a heartbeat, the entire pier drowned in dense white mist.
"Huh? What's happening? Where's this fog coming from?"
"This is bad! Send word! Call for backup!"
Panic spread across the workers as visibility dropped to zero.
The foreman stepped forward, instincts screaming, but before he could finish speaking—
A flash streaked through the fog.
A star of steel tore through his forehead.
He collapsed without a sound.
"Wha—"
The other workers froze, faces drained of color. The men who had spent years bullying civilians and smuggling human cargo suddenly looked like terrified children.
A shadow moved within the fog.
Tonight, the hunter had become the hunted.