CLAD IN HIS FULL BATTLE ARMOUR AND HOLDING THE MJOLNIR IN HIS HAND, THE GOD OF THUNDER WAS ONCE MORE. Holding Astrid in his other arm, he smiled down at her as he placed her back on her feet. "I can take over now."

And take over he does. He spun his hammer around causing him to take off into the air. Lightning struck and thunder boomed in the sky. Astrid sighed, realising that Thor could manage the Destroyer by himself for the time being. She tumbled over to her brothers who were lying on top of a smashed car roof, picking up one of Hogun's discarded healing potions from the ground. He healed her brothers, then her guards, and finally herself; seeing that Thor had healed his Asgardian friend's before catching her. "How are you fairing, Asta?" Ashjørn asked his sister, seeing her still weakened after healing herself.

"Not the best," Astrid breathed out, leaning on the side of the car, clutching her necklace. "I think I used up a lot of my energy trying to keep that portal open." She looked to where the portal to the isolated location was, now seeing nothing. "I need to work on that."

Olav laughed. "Unlikely! That was insane!" He gushed, punching her shoulder, causing her to wince, but he did not notice.

The group gathered up once more as Thor defeated the Destroyer, burying it in the ground. They rushed to the desert where the Bifrost would open. They were greeted by several people dressed in black suits, though no one gave them a second thought as Thor shouted up to the sky for Heimdall to open the Bifrost. "He would open it if he could. I fear the worst. Could you open a portal, Astrid?" He looked at the queen.

She shook her head. "I used it all up fighting that thing," she pointed back toward the town where they left the defeated Destroyer.

"Then we're trapped here forever," Volstagg exaggerated.

Fandral placed his hands on his hips. "Then I suppose we'd best start settling into our new lives." He turned to Darcy. "Are all earth maidens as fair as you?" He flirted. Darcy blushed, enjoying the attention, answering his question with a 'no', secretly claiming the man for herself.

Waiting several more minutes, the group begin to lose hope that they would be able to get home through the Bifrost. But just then, the Bifrost exploded from the sky. Thor grinned happily. The mortals looked on, amazed at the wonder before them.

Thor looked at one of the agents stationed around the Bifrost. "Know this, son of Coul. You and I, we fight for the same cause; the protection of this world. From this day forward, count me as an ally."

"As well as I," Astrid smiled, having spoken with him with Thor as they waited for the Bifrost to open moments ago.

"If you could return the items you have stolen from Jane Foster," Thor continued.

"Not stolen. Borrowed," Coulson countered. Astrid shook her head playfully, stepping foot into the Bifrost so Thor could say his private farewells to Jane.

The warriors emerged from the fury of the Bifrost to find Heimdall slumped over his controls.

"Get him to the healing room!" Thor ordered the warriors and guards. "Leave my brother to me and Astrid."

Thor grabbed Astrid and bolted out the door using Mjolnir to sore them through the air, saving Astrid energy so she could build up more. They sped toward the palace of Asgard, rushing through the hallways to land before Odin's chambers. They see Loki and Frigga hugging, a still-sleeping Odin and two finished Frost Giants - one being Laufey. Baffled at the scene before them, expecting to see an injured Odin and Frigga and a living Laufey.

"Thor!" Frigga beamed, hugging her other son. Astrid stood behind him as Frigga took in her beaten appearance. "What happened to you, my dear?!" the Asgardian Queen pushed Thor aside to tenderly caress Astrid's facial wounds.

"Found its way back to you, did it?" Loki asked his brother, eyeing the hammer in his hands. "And you have your necklace back." He added, spotting the white gem hanging over Astrid's armoured chest.

"No thanks to you," Thor scowled.

Frigga picked up on the tension building between her sons. "What?"

"Why don't you tell her? How you sent the Destroyer to kill our friends? To kill me? To kill Astrid?" Thor spat. Frigga turned to Loki, alarmed and confused at what Loki was being accused of.

"I must have been enforcing Father's last command," Loki lied.

Astrid scoffed. "You're a talented liar, Loki."

"Always have been," Thor added. The raven-haired prince grinned mischievously.

"It's good to have you back," he smiled before growing serious. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to destroy Jotunheim." Suddenly, Loki raised Gungnir, his royal spectre, and fired it point-blank at Thor. The blond god flies backwards, smashing through the multiple walls. Astrid followed his crash with her eyes as Loki takes the opportunity to pin her against the smashed wall with his spectre to her throat. "I'll be easy on you, Astrid."

"It's 'Your Majesty' to you," she spat out, gathering energy in her hands to fling him away. Loki landed on the opposite side of the wall. Startled, he looked toward the door and darted toward it, fleeing. Astrid quickly followed behind, sending blasts upon blasts hurdling toward him, but he managed to dodge them.

Finding the time to mount a horse, Loki speeds down the Rainbow Bridge, his eyes set on the Observatory. Astrid continues her chase on foot, using her magic to propel her faster. However, she is too late to stop him from operating the Bifrost's controls. She sensed Thor soaring through the air behind her as they stopped before the huge doorway, seeing the Bifrost pointed towards Jotunheim.

"All these years, and no one's ever dared to use it as a weapon," Loki stated, as he stood atop the frozen controls.

Thor hurries to the ice and raised his hammer to smash through it to get to the controls frozen within. Before he can, Loki fired Gungnir. The blast hit the ice in front of Thor, blasting him back across the flood, landing before Astrid's feet. Loki steps down from the ice as Thor staggered to his feet. "You can't stop it. The Bifrost will build until it rips Jotunhiem apart."

"Why have you done this?" Astrid asked.

Loki chuckled. "To do what Odin never could. To destroy their kind forever. When he awakens, he'll see the wisdom of what I've done."

Thor yelled, "He won't! You can't kill an entire race!"

Loki taunted. "What is this newfound love for the Frost Giants? You, who would have killed them all with your bare hands," he stated, then turning to Astrid. "You were the one who encouraged the battle with them in the first place, don't tell me you've had a change of heart too."

"I never wished for genocide, Loki," Astrid sneered in disbelief.

"We've changed," Thor continued.

Loki laughed. "So have I," he fired his spectre at Astrid, causing her to collide with the wall of the Observatory. Her head crashed into the stone before she could comprehend what he did. She slumped against the wall, her head in a daze as she tried to regain reality. "Fight me," she heard Loki order his brother.

She couldn't understand what was happening before her as her vision remained blurry, but she could hear. "I will not fight you, brother," Thor spoke.

"I am not your brother. I never was," Loki countered.

"Loki, this is madness," Thor spoke.

Astrid heard Loki snicker as he spoke amongst the sounds of a struggling fight. "Is it? What happened to you on earth that turned you so soft? Don't tell me it was a woman." Thor does not respond, causing Loki to laugh at the realization he was correct. "It was. Perhaps when we're finished here, I'll pay her a little visit myself."

Astrid shook her head, cradling the back of it as she clenched her eyes shut and open a few times, trying to regain her senses. She watched from the sidelines as Loki and Thor fought, seemingly due to Loki's comment about Jane. Astrid rushed up toward the still-frozen controls of the Bifrost, desperately trying to find a way to break the ice with her sword. Mjolnor rushed past Astrid's head and hurdled through the Bifrost. She cursed, continuing to slam her blade into the ice.

Thor slid toward the Bifrost, his arm reaching into the portal, trying to summon his hammer back to him. "If you care so much for the Jotuns, then die with them," Loki sneered.

Thor finally has a grasp on this hammer and rushed back to Loki, hoping to end the fight quickly. In the process, Loki grabbed Astrid, holding her between the two brothers. This in turn halted Thor's actions in order not to hurt the blonde queen. The trio slammed through the Observatory dome and land hard, rolling across the Rainbow Bridge. Astrid propped herself up to only see Thor with her on the bridge.

"Thor! Astrid! Help me!" She heard Loki's detached voice shout. Astrid peered over the edge to see the dark-haired god clinging to the edge of the bridge in desperation. Astrid squinted, whipping her head around to see another Loki behind her. She flung her leg out below him, hoping to plummet him to the ground. However, she has not been as smart as she thought she was as the Loki in front of her disappeared like the one clinging to the edge of the bridge.

"Shit," she whispered.

"Oh Astrid, I'll always be more clever than you," Loki smirked, lifting his spectre to shoot at Astrid.

"Yet still not clever enough," Thor spoke behind him, raising his hammer in the air. He summoned lightning and sent it toward Loki. The prince was sent hurdling across the bridge, his sceptre flying from his grasp. Thor walked toward his brother, lying his hammer on top of Loki's chest, keeping him pinned to the ground.

he then rushed to the Bifrost, desperately trying to stop its destruction.

Loki watched smugly. "Look at you, the Mighty Thor. With all your strength, what good does it do you now?" He mocked. A look of realisation crossed over Thor's face as he extended his hand out for his hammer to land in his grasp. He raised Mjolnir in the air, summoning clouds and lightning in the sky of Asgard. He struck the lightning down upon the Rainbow Bridge, the blow massive, causing a rumble along the whole stretch of the fragile overpass. A crack appeared where the blow struck as Loki and Astrid rise to their feet. Thor continued to bash his hammer into the ground.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" Loki shouted. "If you destroy the Bridge, you'll never see her again!" He declared, grabbing his weapon and ready to pierce it through his brother's back. But he couldn't. It was too late. Thor had sent the finishing blow to the bridge, causing the Bifrost to shatter, along with Rainbow Bridge around it.

Astrid, Loki and Thor fall together. Astrid thought all was lost when a powerful hand clutched her ankle, hauling her up from the abyss that awaited her below. She saw Thor above too, only Loki still clutching to the ledge, looking up to their saviour, Odin. Loki searched Odin's face for any signs of approval or redemption but all he found was disappointed. He looked to Astrid, studying her bruised, wounded and bloodied face, analysing her expression. Fatigue.

A wave of guilt washed over him, thinking of what he had done to her. Astrid reached her hand down for him to grab. An olive branch. One he could not bring himself to take.

So he let go of the ledge, falling into space below.

And to think... his feelings for her were true but now she'll never know.