Jim took another blow, but once again, before Gunmar could follow it up, Steve hammered him aside. But the great troll was fast, strong, and, worst of all, didn’t seem to be running out of steam.

“Is that all you have, boy?” Gunmar asked. “Hiding behind your betters? Wearing an armor you were never worthy of?” Jim spun around and this time, managed to knick the warlord, even as Steve slammed his shield down, shattering one of Gunmar’s horns.

“He’s doing pretty good,” Steve said, ducking beneath a blow.

“No,” Gunmar said. “He isn’t!” Gunmar feinted, and then, before Jim could recover, he struck him with the real blow.

Jim once again hit the wall, only this time there was PAIN. His entire world was full of PAIN. He fell down, sliding down, trying to breathe, and then once again heard the clangor as shield met sword. But Steve was being forced back—having to shield Jim, he couldn’t dodge Gunmar’s blows, reduced to using his shield solely as a defense.

“What will you do now, Trollhunter? Who will save you when your last protector is killed?” Gunmar laughed.

What can I do? Jim couldn’t keep fighting much longer. He felt it. He’d been hurt. Hurt really badly. But he couldn’t…

Wait… yeah. He could do that. He could fight until he couldn’t anymore.

That was all anyone could do, really.

Jim waited, and then Gunmar brought his sword down one more time on Steve, and in the short moment that Gunmar couldn’t see him, Jim erupted from the ground, ignoring the pain, ignoring everything, pouring all of his remaining strength into killing Gunmar. He drove Eclipse… But Gunmar slipped to the side, the sword opening a gash in him.

“You dare!!” Gunmar roared in fury as he was seriously wounded for the first time in centuries and then drove back to the attack. But this time, Jim and Steve met him head-on. Jim didn’t try to avoid his blows—because Captain America would stop them.

Gunmar has nobody like this, Jim realized. Nobody he would trust to have his back.

And that made him weak. And now they were driving the Underlord back across the chamber, Decimer and Eclipse flashing, until Gunmar roared and brought his sword down, as powerful as an avalanche, the weight actually forcing Captain America down to one knee.

But he didn’t flag.

And neither did Jim. Jim screamed in fury and pain and then brought his sword up from under Steve’s shield…

And into the chest of Gunmar the Black.

Gunmar, even then, did not give up. He roared in fury. “Never! I will never lose to the likes of you!” He dropped the Decimer blade and, ignoring Captain America, put one great hand around Jim and started to bear down. Steve was slamming Gunmar’s head with the shield… And Jim didn’t notice. He just focused on pushing the sword deeper into Gunmar. Ignoring the pain, ignoring the desperate need to breathe, Jim kept pushing.

You’ll never hurt my friends! You’ll never hurt anyone again! And slowly, Gunmar’s fury started to flag.

“No… I cannot… Lose… To the likes of you…” Skin turned to stone, and Gunmar fell back, shattering onto the ground.

“He’s…” Jim couldn’t say anything else. He felt strange, like he was floating, the pain no longer so bad. He couldn’t feel his arms. Why couldn’t he feel…

“Cap, we just re-established coms. There’s been an attack—shit.”

“Tony, get Jim up and out. Tell them to open the bridge. We have a critically injured k—We have an injured Avenger coming through.”

“Understood.” For some reason, something was spraying a cool mist over Jim. It really wasn’t important.

He’d killed Gunmar. That’s what Trollhunters were supposed to do.

He’d done it. And he guessed he was about to die.

I really wanted to see Claire… And then he closed his eyes, barely aware of the armored figure rocketing him back to the bridge.

Usurna screeched in fury. “He’s just one man! Just one Asgardian! Kill him, kill him, KILL HIM!” But the one Asgardian was Thor, and the changelings and soldiers just seemed to evaporate around him. His hammer smashed through armor and troll flesh like it was nothing, and he had a fiendish skill that let him strike even trolls who were close to his friends. Soon, even her most loyal soldiers weren’t fighting the Asgardian. They were fleeing him, dropping spears in their panic.

Then there was another roar, and Usurna turned to the Gyre tunnel. She’d stationed troops there to prevent an escape, and now they were coming to reinforce them—

But they were not. They were fleeing. Fleeing from humans and… Draal?

“When we lost communications sir, we couldn’t get in the top entrance, until well,” the agent was out of breath. “Someone remembered that Draal was guarding the Lake’s house. We ah, contacted him to see if we could find an alternate route.”

“How?”

“We texted him.”

Usurna growled in fury as the tide turned against her completely. The Odinson alone would have been bad enough, but now her dwindling forces were being smashed by a positive legion of furious trolls, human soldiers, and those fleshbags that had started this entire mess.

Gunmar’s plot has failed. We killed far too few, and the survivors will spread this tale far and wide. I can… I can survive… and maybe prosper.

Usurna gestured. “Attack the trolls!” she screamed. The fleshbags had been so concerned about the survival of the trolls, let them be distracted once again.

And at that moment, when they were distracted, Usurna sent the last of her guard against Thor, so that they would keep him distracted and then leaped for Arrrggghhh and that annoying fleshbag. A single powerful blow knocked Arrrggghhh to the side, and suddenly Usurna produced a dagger with creeper’s sun on it. Arrrggghhh hardly had a chance to react when the chubby fleshbag jumped in front of him, spinning his hammer as he tried to take off Usurna’s head. He was bruised and beaten, one arm lying limp at his side. But even so, Usurna had to back off from his furious defense of Arrrggghhh, and for a moment, as the others, fleshbags and trolls alike, closed on her, the plan dangled by a thread.

But then she managed to get past his guard, grab him by the throat and hoist him up.

“Warning. Suit parameters exceeded.”

“Remain still!” she shouted. “Or the whelp dies.”

Hostage situation. Shit. Natasha had her gun out, and so did Nick, and Clint had a bead on Usurna.

But they didn’t know trolls. How quickly could they kill her? She’d been throwing around objects that had to weigh close to a ton. Natasha wasn’t about to trust Stark’s tech to hold up to that kind of punishment.

“Usurna! Cease this folly!” Vendel said, the elder being supported by another troll. He’d been in the forefront of the fight. “What does this gain you? Surrender, and I shall promise you fair treatment.”

“I am Queen! It is my word—my word—that rules here! I will take the fleshbag to the Gyre and leave. When I have reached my destination, I will release him.”

Natasha didn’t dignify that with so much as a snort. If Usurna left Trollmarket, Toby was dead.

“And what about your followers?” Fury asked. “There aren’t many left, but well, are they going with you?”

“It is their duty to die for me, and as for the impure… They are no longer of any use.”

Fury cocked his head. “So, just you. I want that clear, you’re giving everyone else to us, even if they fought for you?”

“Enough!” Usurna looked at Thor. “Drop your hammer, Asgardian. I know how fast it moves, and the fleshbag will be dead before you can swing it.”

“Claire, how are you?” Toby asked.

“I’ve been better—” Claire coughed and felt blood trickling down her chin.

“Claire, you have to stay still!” Barbara hissed.

“Yeah. Remember the tennis ball game, back before this all got started?”

What? Natasha had no idea what he was saying, but then Claire giggled, coughed, and nodded.

“Yeah.”

“That was sure fun, but I guess we don’t have any choice but to give in. But really, Thor, put your hammer down hard.”

“Throw it down?” Thor asked.

“Throw or drop it, now!” Usurna said, and Toby gasped in pain. “Now, or the whelp dies!”

“Get me up,” Claire whispered.

“Claire—”

“Now!” Claire hissed, and Natasha dropped to her side, helping Barbara lift her so she could see Thor and Toby both.

Thor raised his hammer and threw it down to the ground, hard.

Usurna was smiling—and then a black portal appeared on the ground, the hammer flying through it.

And out another portal, right between Toby’s body and Usurna’s chest, the enchanted hammer smashing through the side of her chest and removing the arm she had been using to hold Toby.

“Ho-how!” She gasped, staggering back, her skin turning into dead stone. “You flesh—” Her voice cut off as she fell back onto the ground, shattering, her head coming to rest, blank eyes staring at Claire.

“It’s not fleshbag,” Claire said, her voice loud in the silent chamber. “It’s Claire Maria Nunez!”

Then, Claire started coughing more, blood splashing onto the stone floor, Fury barking into his communicator, demanding trauma teams to stand at the ready.

“Claire, you’ll be okay,” Barbara said, in that professional voice that disguised the fact that Natasha bet she had no idea if Claire would be okay.

“Huh,” Claire said weakly. “That’s a lot of blood.” Then she fell unconscious.