“I’m not picking up anything living,” Iron Man said. “Cap, I think they may have figured out how to shield from the drones with some kind of area effect influence. I’ve got the map, but that’s it. Just the throne room ahead, and I’ve got a lot of life signs there.”

“So he wants us to know where he is. Well, let’s go talk to the troll.” Captain America sounded absolutely calm. Jim wished he could feel calm.

Nobody else said anything. Jim felt the armor singing to him, almost as if it was coming close to fulfilling its entire purpose. I hope you’re not disappointed… he thought.

The throne room was dark, the gleaming eyes of the assembled troops staring down at the humans. There was a pillar in the center, beneath Gunmar’s throne, and on it was…

“Oh, God…” Jim said in horror. It was Nomura. But her hands were crossed over her head, and one of her swords had been driven through them into the rock, holding her, while her legs were pinned to the pillar by spikes.

For a moment, Jim thought she was dead. “Trollhunter…” Nomora rasped. “So good to see you, Little Gynt. I’d shake hands, but…”

“What did you do that for!” Jim shouted to Gunmar. “She was loyal to you!”

“She failed me, and without her familiar she is of no more use to me. But that was your doing, was it not?”

“No,” Captain America said. And somehow, even though Gunmar loomed over all of them, he was looking down his nose at the Underlord, like he’d seen a particularly nasty bug. “That’s on you.”

“Where’s the kid, Rockpile?” Iron Man said, lifting one hand, the glowing light of the repulsors rising in intensity.

“He is here,” Gunmar said, lifting his hand and showing Enrique in it. “I grow hungry, so unless you wish to watch him die, Trollhunter, come and submit yourself to my Decimer Bl—”

Claire moved. Enrique vanished into a portal, even as Gunmar cursed and closed his hand. The child fell into Claire’s arms, but Claire didn’t wait, didn’t say a thing as she leaped back through a portal behind her.

Iron Man didn’t wait either, and the moment Claire was out, a full power repulsor blast struck Gunmar and smashed him through his throne, a four-armed adviser dodging to the side. But seconds later, Gunmar had leaped back over the ruins of his throne, now clenching a great sword.

“You’ll have to do better than that, fleshbag! Kill them! Kill them all, save for the Trollhunter! He is mine!”

And with a roar, dozens, hundreds of gumm-gumm warriors leaped down from the stands, poured from tunnel mouths, even as great beasts rose from pits in the throne room.

Shit, Jim thought. He hadn’t assumed he had so many.

“Bruce?” Captain America asked.

“Yeah. Time to play…” And suddenly, Bruce Banner, the diffident man that Jim had come to know, changed. His clothes shredded as he grew to a size to rival any troll, and the entire chamber rumbled when he slammed his hands down.

“PUNY TROLLS! HULK SMASH!” And with that, Hulk charged the oncoming army, Iron Man, Jim, and Captain America by his side.

And Gunmar at their lead, the gumm-gumms roared defiance and met that charge.

Claire appeared next to Javier and Ophelia, a cooing Enrique in her arms.

“Oh—oh my—” Ophelia’s eyes brimmed with tears as she took Enrique from her daughter. “He hasn’t aged—not at all…” Her words broke off into a sob.

“I’ve gotta stay ready in case they need me…”

“The Trollhunter will not need you.” Usurna walked into the chamber, nearly a dozen warriors by her. She put her hands on a heavy stone table and then lifted it and threw it as hard as she could, the stone smashing through the complex equipment, sending the fetch flying off into the corner, hopelessly out of alignment.

I can’t reach the throne room, not without—why is she— Claire’s mind whirled.

“Why did you do that?!” she screamed.

“Foolish girl. Kill them, kill the humans, and kill all the trolls for our Dark Underlord!”

“Treason!” Blinky shouted as screams and shouts started to rise from the market outside. Usurna turned and ran to the door, her bodyguards charging the humans and others. Fury pulled a gun, which evidently wasn’t shooting normal bullets, and put a fist-sized hole through one troll, while Clint killed another troll with his arrow. Claire looked at her parents and raised her staff.

“Take care of Enrique,” she said, and moments later, Ophelia, Javier, and Enrique were standing in their living room.

Claire turned around to see Thor start to go through their attackers like a buzzsaw. Arrrggghhh was getting ready to punch one when his hammer just reduced the enemy to dust.

“Sorry!” Thor called.

And then a pair of foghorn-like bellows roared through the chamber, and the screams outside got, if possible, even more hysterical.

Thor looked and shook his head. “That cannot be. They haven’t been on this earth…” He ran for the entrance.

That isn’t comforting, Claire thought as she followed him.

And it wasn’t. Rising up through the deep crevices surrounding the heartstone were two… things. They made Claire’s eyes hurt to look at, with too many arms and legs and mishappen heads with dozens of glaring eyes.

“What the hell are those!” Fury said.

“Jörmungandr’s scions,” Thor said. “But twisted. Even more insane than normal and that…” He turned to Fury. “They exist to slaughter, and if I don’t kill them, they’ll turn Arcadia into a graveyard. Tobias.”

“Yeah?” Toby said with a squeak.

“I had desired to fight with you, but I must destroy these two abominations. The rest of you must protect the trolls of Trollmarket and the humans of Arcadia, until I return—For Asgard!” With that roar, Thor threw his hammer, striking one of the behemoths in the head, sending it squalling down into the chasm, as he grabbed his hammer and dove down after it, lightning and thunder, for perhaps the first time in Trollmarket, filling the air. With a shriek of rage, the second creature followed him.

“Your protector has abandoned you, fleshbags! What will you do now?” Usurna asked. “Kill them!”

“I am sick of her and her fleshbag comments,” Fury said, reloading his gun. “Let’s show her what we can do!” Natasha pulled out her gun, Hawkeye drew back his bow.

“For Glory!” Blinky shouted, grabbing a handful of dwarkstones from his bag, the explosive stones starting to gleam. Arrrggghhh roared beside him.

For Jim and Enrique, Claire thought as she raised her staff, Toby next to her, his hammer ready. And then the battle began.