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Nearby, Amelia did the same for Charles, while Betsy had to look after herself for the moment. Jean giggled at Emma's expression, watching with amusement as their man took care of the normally proud and self-sufficient woman. Hela, meanwhile, had already left to meet with Balder and some of the other commanders as they came into the tent, interested to know how the main conflict was going.
The good-humored atmosphere of easy camaraderie in the tent ended abruptly, however, moments later as Hela let out a bone-chilling shriek. It was a wordless cry of pure fury, like the world's largest raptor on a very bad day coupled with the rage of a woman who had just returned home and found someone had filled her entire house full of trash. "What?! What do you mean the dead rose en-masse?!"
"Balder means precisely what he says," Freya interjected coolly, turning away from the map to address Hela's outrage. As she did, the Asgardian queen reflected she hadn't seen Hela in the flesh for many centuries before this crisis, and the goddess of love and war had to admit that she quite liked how the woman had changed in that intervening time. "After you all had left the Einherjar and our allied forces began to reorganize and bury the dead. Those dead suddenly arose as they were doing so, attacking all in turn both upon the battlefield and here. Between the formidable magic of that human Strange and my own efforts, we were able to create a spell to protect the area around the base camp eventually, and I was able to spread its influence beyond, but it was hard going."
"We had to fend for ourselves for a long time before the… the denial field I guess you could call it, arrived," Cyclops added, shaking his head. "We lost more ODM troopers to the draugr than we had since arriving, thirty-three dead, and they nearly caught Nightcrawler and Uzume several times too."
"It was like something out of a horror film. On top of our dead we had seventy more were teleported away thanks to their arrays. They are now back on their feet, thanks to Lady Eir and you, Harry. Tony says he should have the broken suits repaired quickly, too," Steve reported, shaking his head in admiration and gesturing to one of the tent's walls in the direction of a distant segment of the central camp. Even from here, the sounds of furious blacksmithing could be heard. "I have a list of the final dead, and we were able to get the bodies back this time, thankfully, although…"
"Many of the dead killed by the draugr also then rose to assault their former friends as well," Balder intoned sorrowfully. "Twas a harsh test for our warriors, to face friends and family risen from the dead, a test that nearly overcame the Einherjar."
While Hela set to pacing back and forth, her voice a low murmur of sheer affronted fury, Harry could only nod sadly. "We will make certain that all of our dead are buried with full military honors when we get back to Earth." He then looked over at Amelia, who, besides being there to pamper Charles a bit, was also there to speak on behalf of the expeditionary force's logistical side of things. "How are we on logistics?"
"You would have to ask Tony for most of that. I only know the medical side of things. On that, however, we're good." Amelia looked up from her work on Charles' insanely tight shoulders and smiled at Harry, admiration gleaming in the ex-pro-mutant terrorist's eyes. "We have thirty-eight of the wounded ODMs still in our care due to utter exhaustion, along with Uzume and Johnny Storm. But they should be good as new with a few hours of rest."
"We all need a few hours rest, tovarisch," Piotr said, shaking his head as he entered the tent with Amara, Sif, and Tyr. This made the tent decidedly crowded until Freya gestured them all onto cushions laid out around the map. "I would also like a time for mourning Nikolai and our other dead, and I think it would be good to combine the two, yes?"
"I think it would be more appropriate to wait until after this war is over for that kind of thing, Piotr. And when we do lay Nikolai to rest, I will want the full Custodes present," Harry said gently.
After a moment of contemplation, Piotr nodded silently. In the quiet, Balder spoke up once more.
"I agree that it would be best to wait to mourn the dead until after the final tally has been taken and victory assured. Yet young Piotr is right in that most of our forces do need rest. The Einherjar were fighting on and off for half a day before you all arrived, and even Asgardians have a limit to their endurance."
Balder was ready to go even now, although he felt slightly weakened from what his full strength would normally be. As the Aesir most closely associated with sunlight, by the same token he was weakened when the sun was not in the sky. But that wasn't exactly going to stop him if the strategists among them decided that they needed to press on hard now was it?
"I agree that our forces need rest and refit, Harry. Most of the ODMs have gone through two full magazine reloads, and I've gotten a lot of reports of armor that needs some good ol' TLC," Falcon threw in from his spot, awkwardly half swallowed by a cushion. He had spent a large portion of his time since returning to camp dealing with the logistical side of things.
Thankfully, as Steve had noted earlier, Polaris, Tony and Kitty had stepped up and were even now helping the dwarves repair ODM armor at breakneck pace. Even better, the expeditionary force had already brought along enough material, repair tools, and replacement parts, something that Sam was determined to send general Murphy a gift basket for. But even so their workforce would have been found lacking some serous manpower without Lorna's abilities or the dvergar's understanding of metal.
Scott added a warning note. "We don't have enough Pepper-up potions to go around. With the telepaths taking one practically every hour now the supply is dwindling fast. We didn't have many to go around as it was, and their priority use limits the stock the rest of us can access."
Everyone from Earth nodded at that. While making Pepper-up potions was a relatively easy task, Harry hadn't really devoted much of Babylon's farmlands to the ingredients needed, instead working on building up a vast cache of Veritaserum that was only recently getting to the point where he could sell it in quantity, burn cream, and the other potions he sold via Magical Minds. Pepper-ups had simply been a low priority before this. But now, facing a warzone and several thousand people who might need them due to exhaustion, both magical and not, that lack was coming back to bite them.
Freya turned to her son, interested in hearing about their own forces as she had been buried in the camp's magical defenses and triage efforts before Harry returned. "And what were the losses among the Einherjar?"
"I cannot deny it, my queen. We were mauled," Balder stated simply. "Even with our wounded fully healed, we will have lost a little under half of our army. And that is only because of Jarl Potter and his forces arriving when they did. If not for that, we would have been utterly destroyed by the fire jotun and the dark elves. Even narrowly avoiding that, the raising of the undead would've done us in if the humans had not been there. We lost five hundred to the draugr alone, many of those rising almost instantly despite my best efforts. I have the scrolls marking those jarls and their men lost entirely to us and the names of individuals who have fallen from clans and warbands still viable." He shook his head sadly. "I take full responsibility for what happened in the battle with the draugr. I should have taken the concerns of our new allies about the Shadows more seriously and anticipated they would move in any way that would allow them to hurt us most. And as for the main battle, I—"
"None of that, my son!" Freya cut Balder off tartly, "You had no reason to take their concerns on that score to heart. Certainly, and although it might speak ill of us, the idea of anyone so controlling of our people is not one that any godling can contemplate with any measure of ease. Further, you had no knowledge of their powers or abilities even if you had taken their words seriously. You are the field commander of the Army of Asgard. In that capacity, the battle's outcome is on your shoulders, but only to the extent that you could logically have anticipated things. Wallowing in self-flagellation and what-ifs serves no one."
Sif and Tyr, Balder's senior commanders, and the four jarls chosen to represent the Asatru among the Einherjar all rumbled their agreement to this. After a moment, Balder nodded gravely before turning back to the others. "All that said, after a night's rest, the Army will be fit to move again."
"No," Harry stated simply, shaking his head as all eyes fell to him. He had been examining the map and mentally going over what he knew of the Yggdrasil pocket dimensions, and now he glanced at Freya, his eyes almost challenging. "We have broken the back of the invasion force, and we have a strong team already dealing with Jörmungandr. From Jean's reports, Fenrir is also no longer a threat at present. Now is the time to bring our forces together and go for the throat."
Harry tapped the far eastern edge of the map, an area that had not been updated since Balder and his force had been pushed away from the dimension's mountainous borders. "Instead, we go straight for Muspellheim. Assault Surtur in his realm, remove him, and destroy another tether of the Shadows. This is no longer a war for armies but of magic and might."
All of the Jarls, Baldur, and most of the remaining Asgardians argued back vociferously, with Sam joining in on the Earth side of things. He knew he didn't have much to offer in terms of fighting jotun, just like the Oh Damns were in much the same position. But he also knew that he and every other man and woman who'd bled that day on the battlefield wanted some payback for the draugr assault. Many of the men had been badly shaken by that and wanted to express their displeasure against the willing pawns of those who had cast the spell.
However, Harry would have none of it and, as a counter-argument, simply gestured over to the telepaths. The trio was sitting in their own separate little triangle to one side of the large map at the tent's center. "Do you honestly think that the three of them, Xian, Betsy, or the poor man's British version of Emma, will be able to keep up their defenses till morning, let alone until whatever point after that we'd need them to if we move with the entire army at once?"
Everyone fell silent at that, looking over at the telepaths. After a moment, Harry continued, his emerald eyes flashing with magical power. "No, the Shadows have clearly identified our weakness. Now, we need to strike at theirs. Surtur and his realm." He leaned forward, the magical power visible in his eyes growing from flashes to a steady glow. "I was wrong to take on the job of trying to recover Odin personally. I had thought for certain that the Shadows would confront us with everything they had, maybe look to break me on the Astral Plane when I tried to release Odin from their machinations. They did not. But they still retain the same weakness they did before: they have to work through their servants in the main, their powers lie in illusions and mental magics. Of them, Jörmungandr is already being dealt with. If we focus all of our strength there, while we would undoubtedly bring that battle to an end much more quickly, the Shadows will be free to work their influence elsewhere, including here and against our telepaths. So no. We take the fight to them."
"You're not suggesting, you will leave behind all of our own forces, are you, Lord Potter? Simply the bulk of the Einherjar and your own, what did you call them, ODMs?" Freya asked, still gazing at the telepaths even as she stumbled over the strange term. She knew next to nothing about conflict on the Astral Plane but well understood it was the coterie of Midgard telepaths she and her people had to thank for being free to act as they were.
"That's the abbreviation, or initialism of their official name, my lady, for ease of use. Officially, they are the Orbital Drop Marines. Unofficially, we just call them Oh Damns because that's what the enemy will say when our men drop on them," Falcon said cheekily.
Freya snickered at that, nodding towards the black-skinned warrior. "I quite like that! But now, answer my question, Jarl Potter."
"You have it exactly. Unless the Shadows can revive Stephen's Surtur's entire army, there's no need to bring the bulk of our regular forces against him. We would also move far faster in a smaller unit. Instead, we leave the majority here to watch over the telepaths and be watched over by them in turn. We hide the rest of us under as many cloaking spells and blessings as we can and then push straight for the dimensional gap."
It took a bit more arguing, but Freya eventually came around to Harry's side. Quick to put away whatever frustrations she had about being out-strategized by a child a millennia her junior, Freya could see the sense in what he had planned. She also knew that pride like the type fueling Balder and the other Asgardian's had no place in war, particularly in a war against an enemy like Those Who Watch Above in Shadow.
With his queen mother changing her position in the argument, Balder backed down quickly. The other Asgardians, slowly and grudgingly, following suit. This about face happened so quickly that Harry wondered if maybe Balder had been speaking too harshly on purpose, giving the jarls and Sif no leg to stand on when he gave in.
Of the original expeditionary force, the Oh Damns, in almost their entirety, would be left behind. A single squad of rocket and Gatling-armed Heavy Troopers would be brought along to provide artillery fire if needed, along with a platoon of Valkyrie. Falcon, Nightcrawler, Doctor Druid, Clea, Johnny, Uzume, and Banshee would also be left behind along with Betsy and Tony. Harry had at first wanted to leave Steve behind as well, but the time-displaced soldier insisted on coming along in case they needed someone in direct command of the Heavy Gunners if Cyclops was busy with ground suppression.
With their plans going forward settled the conversation turned to Danielle and her disappearance. Harry and the rest of the Custodes were extremely worried about their comrade, given the lack of means to find her, but to their surprise, Freya reassured them that Dani was still alive. "Worry not, I can still feel the young Valkyrie, somewhere out there. She called upon my power at one point, although her precise location is now unknown to me."
"Valkyrie?" Harry asked, voicing the confusion on many of his officers' faces, particularly Colossus and Amara, the two most worried for the Cheyenne woman, who was their best friend. "I thought you said Dani was still alive? Why are you calling Dani a Valkyrie?"
"Hmm~, surely that is not so surprising?" Freya teased. Since the humans had arrived, lightening the load of the war against the Shadows, many of her queenly barriers had come down in the hours since since. Now, being secluded with only the highest of ranking members of the allied forces, she allowed more of her personally to shine through, rather than simply her warrior queen aspect. "Surely someone who has performed such amazing feats of bravery and skill as Danielle Moonstar has would deserve a place amongst my sisterhood?"
When she saw Harry still looked a bit skeptical, Freya shrugged. "For some reason, I feel an odd connection to the girl, Harry Potter, there is no sinister subtext. It is like she is one already marked to join my sisterhood upon her natural passing. I have felt much the same mild connection to all the women who become my Choosers of the Slain."
"…Well, if she's alive, and Emma and Jean are right in saying that they felt elation from her before she collapsed, we'll have to assume she had some level of success in her task and leave her to handle the rest on her own. She's good at that kind of thing," Harry said, sighing in resignation. He privately wondered if the connection Freya felt was more because of Sigyn's soul hidden in Dani's blood than than anything his Custodes had done. Though if she'd handled Fenrir… "If we want our decapitation strike to work, we can't dilute our forces again."
"I have already stated that I was wrong to convince you to do so, Jarl Potter. Belaboring the point is doing you no good in my eyes," Freya answered tartly, and Harry chuckled quietly in response. "As for the young Valkyrie, while we cannot split your forces further, there is one among us that can hunt down both Fenrir and young Danielle Moonstar easily enough and would add naught but another bow to our assault."
As she spoke, an elven page drew aside the front-door flap of the command tent and Skadi entered. The Huntress had returned to the camp barely an hour before Harry and Hela, having been sent out to find if there was any trail of Surtur's to follow. Eventually, she had found the point where the Jotun King had been teleported away. From there, she'd made her way back to the camp, killing several small, scattered bands of dark elves while the wounded were transported.
"Is that what I have been sensing? A new faithful has joined us here?" Skadi asked after Freya had explained her new mission. "I thought I had imagined things, but there was a slight tug on my powers near evening tide as if someone new had prayed to me. And yet, it was as if they were not new at the same time? It was as if the believer was one whose prayers I had felt before somehow. It was barely there that touch, yet I can still detect her personality from it. Yes, I will go to this young warrioress's aid."
"We'll provide you with a magic carpet to take you to the nearest point where Emma and Jean lost their connection to Dani," Harry announced, nodding in thanks to her eager willingness to help. "I also think I'd like to send Wyatt with you. He's a hunter as well and a long-range specialist with a teleport function integrated into his armor. It'd be good backup just in case you need to get her out of wherever you find her quickly."
Carol and Kurt, who were also used to teleportation during battle, would be staying in the camp. So would Logan, Sam, Laura, Lorna, Clea, Betsy, Johnny Storm, Tony, and Dr. Druid. Sam Guthrie, Paige, Piotr, Amara, Scott, Hela, E, and Steve would make up the Custodes Assault Team leaving with Harry to Muspellheim.
As for the rest of the Einherjar, only Tyr and Balder would be joining the Custodes. The rest would be left behind, with Sif in overall field command of the Einherjar.
Harry let everyone rest for three hours, time which he spent holding Jean and Emma's hands, giving them what encouragement he could and helping to feed them their next doses of Pepper-up potion. He watched over them carefully to make certain that there weren't any issues. Besides the risk of building up a dependency, which they could deal with later, he couldn't foresee any issues, but Harry had also never seen any study done on the effects of the continued use of Pepper-up potions by non-magicals or pregnant women, so he was concerned on that score regardless. Admittedly, he was also worried about Charles, but Harry could admit at least to himself if not to anyone else, that the two women of the trio were his primary concerns.
He, Clea, Dr. Druid and Freya also spent some time casting spells to hide the Assault Team from sight, up to and including cloaking the magic carpets they would be taking. However, Freya soon ran into the same problem that Harry and the others had back on Earth; there was no real way to magically hide someone else's mental presence on the Astral Plane from a telepath. This was unfortunate because whatever else they were, the Shadows were definitely psionic in nature.
Even when they all combined their shared knowledge, the group of magic-users couldn't figure out a way. When the impasse remained undefeated, Emma groaned, shifting her attention from keeping Þór from being turned against them back to the real world to give her two cents. "That probably means that you lot need me to come along with you, Harry. Charles is busy defending the camp with Jean but Þór just reached Team Fishermen, so he comes under their protection. With him under that level of protection I can assist elsewhere. No offense Betsy, but you just aren't strong enough to be the first line of defense on something like this. And if you do head to another dimension, none of us will be able to protect you anyway."
"It is almost enough to make me wish I had brought along Cerebro, or indeed that beyond the actual headpiece, the rest of it was at all mobile," Charles murmured dryly. While most of its tasks were to hack into satellites and global communications technologies to warn Charles of unknown mutants using their powers openly somewhere in the world, Cerebro also greatly aided Charles's telepathic reach and, to some degree, power.
Harry tried to talk talk his blonde wife out of her decision, but his protests were only lukewarm at best. Her point on the dimensional barrier was spot on, after all. It was just… the idea of taking her so close to the front lines… it bothered him. A lot. Despite her telepathic abilities, and her sharp tongue should anyone question her abilities, Emma had really never desired or been trained as a frontline fighter. She lacked the instincts and experience, despite the many attempts on her life she'd survived in the past.
Regardless, the Assault Team was ready to go when Harry's watch insisted on telling him it was ten in the morning, although there in Asgard, it was still very much dark out. The Assault Team rose into the air on the large-scale magic carpets, leaving only one behind, while the Valkyries, Harry, Sam Guthrie, and Hela flew along beside them.
OOOOOOO
Malekith stood up with a sigh, surveying his latest work. Deeming it good, he nodded over to Surtur, who glared back at him from the hallway leading into the special array's chamber. The Jotun King had been recalled by the Shadows, in part due to Malekith needing to alter the dimensions a room in his castle for the draining array. The room needed to be a nine-sided star shape, and there had been no such room in the palace.
Since his arrival, he'd not been returned to the area where the stone jotun were being gathered because the Shadows' entire strategy had suddenly changed. No longer were they going to try to win an outright war against the Asgardians. Rather, they were now determined to play a waiting game until their opponent's psionic defenses buckled. Then, and only then, would they go on the offensive once more.
That was all to the good in Malekith's mind. It was a winning strategy that played to their strengths and more importantly, kept Malekith himself out of the fighting. He'd had enough of that after both losing his hand and then running into Potter for that brief moment outside the halls of Valhalla. That human's magical power was utterly terrifying.
Regardless, he was finished with the array. It was an incredibly complex piece of art that first started as a spiral and then shifted into a pattern that followed the room's layout, each point of the nine-pointed star tipped by the runes that the Shadows had gifted him. All together they marked a smaller triangular shape within the array.
At the center of the room and perforce directly on top of the spiral, Odin lay splayed out on his side unceremoniously. Of course, even though the four jotun who'd carried him there had dumped him brutishly and done their best to harm him, the All-Father was uninjured, not even a bruise forming. As the strongest of the Asgardians, the pantheon's Skyfather no less, it was far beyond any of the means of those present to cause him harm. Even Malekith's semi-serious attempt to give the old fool a matching pair of eyes had failed, his new skinning dagger unable to even prick the thin flesh of the intact eyelid. Surtur's own attempt to take a foot for a trophy had failed as well, Gungnir's edge simply flicking off Odin's skin like it was oil. Repeatedly.
But while Odin may be too strong to hurt physically, this is something else… Malekith smiled excitedly as he reached down and sent a pulse of magic into the array, watching with wicked glee as light of mixed gold and a deep, cold-seeming light blue began to spiral out from under Odin. Array activated, he then retreated, carefully stepping over the freshly carved runes until he was beside Surtur. Now presumably safe, he whirled back to watch. The light of the array grew brighter, the cold blue and bright gold spreading out through the spiral until it reached the outer edges.
There, the light sped into the first of the nine star points. In the darkness of those points, the light hit the uppermost segment, the triangle of runes that Malekith had been given by the Shadows. The gold tint to the magical light of the array shifted abruptly to purple, although the cold- blue light stayed. The new purple glow continued to darken as more magic continued to flow through the array until eventually it became almost black. Soon, the whole array was alight with magic.
As that magic created a haze in the air, which seemed to build and then go nowhere that Malekith could see, Odin finally reacted, beginning to shudder. Then his body twitched, and for a moment, Malekith feared that whatever fell psionic power the Shadows had been using to keep the Asgardian King asleep had failed. But then there came a change upon Odin. His skin started to lose its ruddy, healthy color. His beard began to lengthen almost imperceptivity, as small blemishes and wrinkles appeared on his face and half-clothed form.
"It has begun," Malekith whispered, grinning as Surtur's booming laugh echoed throughout the halls of burning castle.
OOOOOOO
Danielle Moonstar knew she had felt this sensation before. Before she even opened her eyes she knew that her mind had once more been released from her body. Blinking rapidly, she sped through time and memory for several moments, but not through her own memories. Instead, the memories she saw were those of her ancestors. They were memories passed down through her the blood, much like the burden of her family, the soul of Sigyn, the Victorious Wife.
Most of these splashes of remembrance were extremely brief. One fragment showed Dani the first meeting between a band of Viking explorers and the Cheyenne side of her ancestors through the eyes of a tall, well-muscled man. She had just enough time to see one of his hands rested on a necklace that had the runes for Loki carved into it before it faded away. Another memory focused on a great exodus across a vast plain, all the while fighting with bow and spear against bands of white men wearing dark blue or brown leather outfits, their eyes alight with greed as they rode her people down on horseback. Still yet another memory showed her charging up a hill somewhere in some hellish battlefield, a gun Danielle recognized as a model from World War II clutched tightly in her hand. On the wrist of the hand wrapped around the gun's barrel, a series of beads made to look like animal heads representing ancestor spirits clattered as she ran.
My family has always been warriors going as far back as the original ancestor who made the deal with Loki and Sigyn, Dani thought. There was a certain kind of joy in that knowledge and in the knowledge that in her own life, Dani had honored those ancestors by following the same path.
Soon after that thought had gone through her disconnected mind, Danielle's perception changed. No longer was she a wandering sentience lost in the odd connection between her soul and her body's blood. Instead, Dani found herself in a seemingly physical form. However, instead of finding herself on Fenrir's broad shoulders, she stood outside the same lodge where she had met the spirit of Sigyn during their previous discussions.
Looking around the area once more, Dani spoke aloud, a faint smile on her face. "This is the kind of place I would like to call home one day. Although perhaps I would change the scenery just a bit if I could? Maybe add a waterfall to that nearby hillside? Hmm… perhaps not. Much as I like the sound of flowing water, I'm not sure if I would like to try and sleep with it so close by."
"You know this place is technically inside you, yes?" Siygn's amused voice announced from nearby. Danielle turned to look towards the doorway leading into the goddess's lodge.
"As you are the one who is currently living here that would seem rather rude, wouldn't it?" Dani asked, bowing from the waist as she did so. "Greetings once more, Victorious One. I humbly ask for entrance into your home to warm myself by your hearth."
Sigyn laughed quietly at that, moving forward with her arms open. "Be welcome in my house now and for as long as you require rest, Danielle Moonstar." Then she pulled Dani into a fierce hug, nearly squeezing the life out of her. Of course, that made Dani wonder if she technically had breath to leave her body at the moment, but the young Cheyenne warrior decided to set that aside for now and just enjoy the hug.
"Thank you! You have done all I could have asked—more than we, Loki and I, could have ever dreamed a human could do when he thought up this mad scheme to ensure that I would remain free of the Shadow's reach. At every turn, you have stepped and done the best you could
Danielle smiled at that, although her grin was somewhat wry. "And the reward for a job well done is another job, yes?"
"Unfortunately so." Sigyn acknowledged, sighing. "My husband is still out there somewhere and thus still not freed from the changes made to his body and mind, and neither am I yet free to live beside him once more. In the meantime… You know that while here, I cannot sense anything going on in the outside world that is not directly communicated to me through your memories? Well, even so, I can tell this war against the Shadows is not done with you or Fenrir. Perhaps it is my understanding of tactics, or of fate, but it is obvious regardless."
"Fenrir could be a massive ally on either side of the conflict. The Shadows aren't going to just let him remain so disconnected," Danielle agreed with a shrug. "What happens when either side comes for him, I have no idea. And, if I was conscious, able to see what was going on myself, I wouldn't be here able to speak to you now, would I, Lady Sigyn?"
"True enough." Now it was Sigyn's turn for her smile to become wry. "With you unconscious, neither of us can see what will come upon you. Ah well. Now, sit. Recuperate. Hopefully, if Skuld and Verdandi smile on us, you will awake at the proper moment." She then linked her arm with the much younger woman, pulling her gently towards the cottage. "But come, it has been some time since you were here last and seeing things through your memories only as you sleep or are otherwise unconscious is not the largest window to life beyond this hiding place as I could wish for. Tell me what has been going on, not just with this war I could discern you were fighting, but with everything else in your life."
Laughing, Danielle allowed herself to be pulled along, reflecting that goddess or no, some things appeared to be universal, and it seemed that housewives loving to gossip was one of them. Still, if I'm stuck here anyway, I suppose that will be a nice way to spend time…
OOOOOOO
Elsewhere, a woman who could in no way be called a housewife, indeed, one who actively fled the title, was staring down at the trail left behind by Fenrir as he'd raced away from where the Midgardian humans and Hela's wolf Garm had attempted to break whatever enchantments had been lying upon the youngest son of Loki. And from what Lady Freya tells us, they apparently succeeded too! That is as astonishing as my current mode of transportation, Skadi reflected, patting the carpet under her as if it were the side of a horse.
Behind Skadi, at the far edge of even her sight, she could see two of the humans from Midgard, the ones named Tony Stark and Johnny Storm, escorting a large carpet, carrying the heavily wounded Garm, away back to base camp. The old wolf had wanted to stay and give her aid, but Skadi had forbidden it. Garm's wounds had been and still were too great to be seen to here. Had he pushed himself anymore…
Grabbing the tassels at the front of the carpet as if they were reins, Skadi aimed towards the ground. Once within range, she shook her head and stared at the prints below, then along the ruler-straight route that Fenrir had smashed through the landscape. "I doubt my skills will be needed if the fell wolf continues to act more bull than wolf." Skadi snorted, shaking her head somewhat in annoyance. I am missing the assault on Muspellheim for this?
However, an hour of tracking later, Fenrir's tracks stopped their straight heading from the battlefield and began to seemingly meander, heading through rough terrain on an uneven, looping course. The signs showed that he'd still headed vaguely away from the battlefield, but on a more diagonal tilt now. Randomly, he would also turn back in on himself, and then away. A few times, even from the air, Skadi lost sight of the trail for a measure or two, such was the nature of the broken terrain. It was at that point, the Huntress realized, that yes, someone of her skill did need to be sent on this mission.
Eventually, the trail turned toward the outer edge of Utgard and resumed its previous head-on course. Having a sudden guess as to where this might lead, Skadi pushed the magic carpet to as fast as it could go, passing swiftly over an expanse that would have taken her weeks to cover in mere hours. Soon enough, she was staring out into the dark at where the giant wolf had clearly leaped across into the nothingness separating Svartalfheim from Utgard.
Much like traveling between Yggdrasil itself and the realm of Asgard, travel between the other dimensions was possible using the monstrously huge tree as a medium if one did not just use magic. The dark elves, for example, had used their magic numerous times to create what amounted to magical rope bridges to carry them up to Asgard. The denizens of Muspellheim had done much the same in the past. For this invasion though, their bridge had been transformed into a solid thing, a dark mirror of the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard. It wound its way around the central mass of Yggdrasil like a long, winding corkscrew.
Without the means to use such magic, the fell wolf had to have climbed to a high peak before leaping from there to Yggdrasil, just as Skadi, Þór, and the others had done who knew how long ago on their hunt for Nidhöggr. From this location alone, Skadi could guess he'd then made his way down several boughs to the next closest realm; Svartalfheim.
"Well, at least we now know where he went." With a shake of her head, the huntress goddess of the Vanir urged the magic carpet forward, out into the nothingness between dimensions.
OOOOOOO
Team Fishermen held on. Even as Thundra was smacked out of the air by a blow from one of Jörmungandr's many paws, her arm shattered on impact, and the Thing hammered by a smack by the creature's head that left him reeling, blood spurting out of his mouth from his side being crushed, they held. All the other front-line combatants had taken at least a few stray strikes each by then, although only Thundra had been forced to retreat and let Ororo heal her. And thanks to Harry sharing his newly made anti-illusion spell, Ororo and Wanda had been able to concentrate further on the actual battle in front of them rather than the magical defense side of things, which had quickly raised morale.
And they had held long enough, shown as their promised aid arriving with a cry of "For Odin the Allfather and Asgard!"
Þór flew out of the sky like a bullet, Mjolnir striking Jörmungandr's head and hurling it down to crash into the ice below. For the first time, the special assault team heard the creature howl in actual agony. Þór's next strike sent serpent's head skittering across the ice, but by then Jörmungandr had already recovered from his initial shock and struck back, fang and claws wide. Þór laughed and leaped away, reminding those who saw him of how the Hulk traveled immense distances with superhuman strength.
As Þór pressed his attack, the Sorcerer Supreme slid into the airspace beside Storm, nodding his head to her. "I apologize for arriving so late but getting to Þór and then getting him to trust me was somewhat time-consuming."
"Was that a joke on how late it must be back on Earth or an actual comment on how long it took you to arrive?" Storm asked with weary good humor, although that faded as she looked over at the distant magic carpet that held Emma Steed and Xian. "I don't suppose you brought any Pepper-up Potions, have you? As tough as this battle has been on the rest of us, it has been doubly so for our members keeping us safe abroad the Astral Plane."
"I…" Stephen began before he was interrupted by a loud Krakoooom!
The two magic-users turned back to the battle and saw Þór's hammer had smashed into Jörmungandr's chest in an armed version of an uppercut. The blow actually lifted several coils of the beast out of the ice and sent the serpent up and sideways to crash downwards onto the frozen ocean aways back. Again, a bellow of real pain came from Jörmungandr as hundreds of scales were crushed and shattered by that single blow.
Racing forward, Þór leaped onto the beast's side, his sparking hammer raised above his head for only a moment before he brought it down. "I may not be able to strike at they who have enslaved my people and slew my children vile cousin of mine, but your hide will do as a start on their debt!"
A claw lashed out and raked the Thunderer aside, smashing him off of Jörmungandr as the serpent quickly twisted around and lunged down its length at him, jaws agape. Even from where she hovered, Ororo could tell that Jörmungandr was at last taking this fight seriously. Those eyes, previously somewhat lucid and almost amused, now seemed blood-streaked and maddened with fury as a roar tore through the air. "Not this time Þór! There will be no victory for you here!"
"Take a moment to recuperate a bit, Ororo. Þór and I will hold the line here," Strange suggested as he waved his hands to either side. Magical circles appeared out of thin air, arcs of energy, each as wide as a human was tall, blasting down from them. Those magical bolts crashed into Jörmungandr full force, each of carrying a different elemental flavor. Stephen watched, clinically examining the result of his first wave. "Which will hurt him, I wonder?"
"Thank you Stephen. Do you think we could we move Xian and Steed onto Þór's chariot and tie their carpet to him? A carpet would surely be more agile and maneuverable" Storm inquired.
Stephen looked between the now driverless chariot and the figure of Þór, who was now cursing Jörmungandr as he hammered a paw away. The blow smashed off a claw, but the limb kept on going, crashing into Þór and lifting him off his feet. The Thunderer was sent hurtling through the air ass over teakettle, cursing even harder. Rolling and leaping up, Þór's hammer smashed into the serpent's follow-on bite, hurling Jörmungandr's head aside to be intercepted by a leaping punch from the Thing. "I… think that would be a good idea, although getting Þór's attention at the moment might be somewhat difficult."
"Then it is better to beg forgiveness later than wait to ask for permission now," Ororo remarked.
Thankfully, the goats hitched to the chariot were biddable beasts and allowed the two telepaths to board without fuss. Once in place, Ororo used the healing spell she had learned from Mother Gaia to begin healing both girls. While they were not visibly injured, Charles had passed on how physically ill their Emma had been after holding the line for so long when he had reached out earlier that night.
Once the Thing had flown over with Thundra and the pair was healed of their latest wounds, Storm dove down, flipping around a claw aimed at Þór. Flying over the Asgardian's head, she tapped his shoulder with one hand. "Apologies, Þór."
"Why durst you apologize, fair lady?" Þór grunted, hurling Mjolnir into the claw Storm had just dodged around.
"We traded in your chariot for a magic carpet. Two of our allies needed a better place to rest and you weren't using it. Waste not, want not," she announced before zooming away.
With Þór's bellowing guffaws following her, Ororo recast the spells that would make the magic carpets follow the Thing and Thunderbird before a flare of an overpowered Lumos soon burst out into Jörmungandr's eyes, blinding the creature and causing a howl of pain. This was quickly followed by a gale of wind that sliced into several of the already shattered scales around the massive serpent's head. Several of these broke off entirely and Thundra and Rogue, who had followed their team leader despite her injunctions to rest, instantly took advantage.
Zooming back up towards the Scarlet Witch, Ororo checked on the two telepaths. Directly below her, Rogue's club slammed into the next layer of scales covering Jörmungandr's cheek, while Thundra's harpoon—she had lost her original weapon at some point—stabbed deep between two of the broken scales directly under the serpent's chin.
"How long have we been fighting this monster?" Thunderbird murmured, staring towards the southeast as he recuperated to one side of the ongoing brawl.
"I… huh. Would ya look at that. Must've been near to eighteen hours," Ben grunted, staring in the same direction, seeing the sun just beginning to rise over the horizon. However, this sun was nothing like the sun back on Earth. Here, just as ancient people had thought, the sun rotated around the world, rather than the reverse. That being said, it was clear that Yggdrasil was the real center of the interconnected dimensions and having stood within its boughs, Ben could see why. That big fucking tree... Makes that sun look small. Although, I'd wager it's at least half the size of Utgard to look so big in the sky.
Turning back, he shrugged at Thunderbird's shocked expression. "Meh, this still doesn't beat the time I was locked in a wrestling match with the Hulk. We were literally just straining against one another for God knows how long, stuck in the same position man. This is way better."
Thunderbird gave a single finger salute to that sentiment, muttering something that was undoubtedly unflattering in Apache.
Overhearing his two teammates' chatter reminded the nearby Hulk about the news Jean had passed along regarding Dani Moonstar's situation. Looking over to Thunderbird as they all moved around the chariot carrying Emma (the British one) and Xian were resting, the two women leaning against either side of their new transport with their legs a jumble between them, the gamma infused doctor felt compelled to ask something that had been on his mind. "Are you worried about Dani, John? You are of the same nation no?"
"NO." Thunderbird snapped, rolling his eyes while muttering about Banner being a typical ignorant white man under all his green. "I am worried about her, aye. Dani may have been a proven survivor before this, and she does have a certain connection with Fenrir, but all the same having no way to contact the rest of the team is a perilous position to be in. But as to your assertion, she is Cheyenne. I am Apache. Very different."
Ben snickered. "Yeah, kind of like being from the east coast or the west coast, you know what I'm sayin'?" he stated before twisting his carpet around, leaving Thunderbird spluttering behind him.
The others took a bit longer to recover, but eventually, Thunderbird and Hulk rejoined the fight, with Wanda and Ororo following soon after.
Despite the initial impact of his arrival, Þór did not have everything all his own way going forward. Clad in his belt, wearing his Guantlets of Power, and wielding the real Mjolnir, a weapon tied not just to him but to Odin and Gaia, Þór could match Jörmungandr in strength. But again, Jörmungandr's sheer size and durability meant that injuring him in any meaningful way was immensely difficult.
Thunderbird could shatter granite the size of an average house, as could Thundra or Rogue. The Thing could likewise dust boulders likened to five-story apartments, the same as the Hulk now that Banner's strength was no longer linked to his anger. In comparison, Þór could now shatter a large mountain.
This was plainly shown in the number of scales that flew away from each strike of Mjolnir, but Jörmungandr had grown so large that he now embodied the idea of a living mountain range rather than a giant serpent, and this was with barely a fifth of his full length having managed to rise above the frozen ocean. That impossible size was what turned what would've been killing blows to any creature human-sized or larger, or even beings like Surtur who had supernatural strength backing them, only painful strikes for the dread wyrm.
Shatter limbs, there were more to take their places. The monster had six pairs of claws pulled out of the ice by this point. Snap fangs, there were dozens more. Smash a few scales? Jörmungandr would simply move, his sinuous body. Targeting the same spot over and over was almost impossible, so much could he move despite most of his body still being frozen in the ice. On top of all that, with a healing factor, while slow, any damage dealt would be eventually undone.
Having been smashed off of his purchase near Jörmungandr's head once more, Þór raced along its unending back, making for the slowly healing impact point where the Hulk had torn aside several scales earlier. Mjolnir flashed down, but before the hammer landed Jörmungandr twisted, bringing new scales to bear. Frustrated he'd only hit more fresh scales, an instant later a paw raked down, smashing into Þór while he was distracted.
"Gah!" Þór cried out as a claw slashed him across the face. While Þór could match Jörmungandr in strength, the same could not be said for his durability. The attack opened the Asgardian's cheek to the bone even as another claw punched through his armor, drawing blood from that wound as well, although his armor had stopped most of the blow, making it more like a a scratch than anything serious. Even as he tumbled from the counter, Þór struck back in turn. This time Jörmungandr shrieked in pain as not only was another one of his claws snapped off under the might of the blow, but Mjolnir also discharged a hefty amount of electricity into the fresh wound.
A second later, Strange was in Jörmungandr's face, a cutting spell streaking into the monster's gullet. This was a modified example of the Drills of Light that he knew Harry employed so effectively. "By the might of Cyttorrak, let this spell pierce you whole!"
The refined magic struck true and caused a torrent of blood to burst out of Jörmungandr's mouth. The serpent writhed in place, entire body shifting wildly. "GRRRAAAH!" Jörmungandr's shriek was so powerful it literally pushed Thundra and the Thing away. The Hulk fell to his side, hands clapped to his ears in agony. Rogue veered off from the run she'd planned to start, and Storm grimaced, shaking her head.
The flailing proved too much and, with a resounding crack that sounded for all the world like someone had just broken a continent, the ice imprisoning Jörmungandr shattered. The thickness and overall integrity of the ice had shifted as the battle had continued on due to the dimension's weather, and now that the sun had risen, the star's heat had an accelerated impact.
"NO!" Storm howled in rage, turning her full attention from the fight to keeping the weather chill. Unfortuantely the momentary break in her focus had cost her dearly, and like dominoes falling more and more of Jörmungandr's body began to free itself. While the dread wyrm continued to fight Þór and the others with fang and several claws, from that moment on, any body part not engaged in battle turned to smashing and clawing at the ice.
"Coward! You will not return to your protective depths if I have anything to say of it!" Þór bellowed, roaring battle cry. He hurled himself forward, crashing into the creature's outthrust upper stomach area. Several consecutive hammer blows followed, the impacts causing sonic booms that would have severely injuried, or at least damaged the hearing of, any nearby bar perhaps the Hulk or the Thing.
Said two individuals were now elsewhere engaged however. Both the Thing and the Hulk had since hurled themselves forward and landed on Jörmungandr's mountainous sides once more. While the Scarlet Witch, Thundra, and Rogue concentrated on the beast's eyes, the two strong men were now resolutely climbing up the back of the creature, hammering at the occasional loose scale they came across. Thunderbird was there on his carpet as well, his hatchet in hand, searching for the best place to start hacking. "Damn it, I wish we had thought of pitons and rope!"
"Hah!" the Hulk guffawed, almost losing his grip for a moment. Then a claw scratched at him as if he were a tick on a dog, and the Hulk was flung into the air, his laughter turning into a howl of pain as his arm was ripped and shattered.
"Blast it. Will you just feel this?!" Thundra shrieked as she struck from her place, massive club crashing into the creature's side, feeling altogether useless. This was not a feeling the extra-temporal woman was used to, but she simply lacked the raw strength needed to cause any damage to this beast. Watching Þór in action was making her feel even more useless.
For her part, Rogue had another card to play. Followin' the menfolk in just poundin' away on this beastie ain't workin'. Time ta think of somethin' else, no matter how annoyin' it may be. With that in mind, she pulled away from Jörmungandr, flying her broomstick high up into the air where Ororo still flew. "I just thought of an idea, Miss. Do ya think that mah touch might work on this critter?"
Storm blinked. It took her a moment to remind herself that Rogue's mutant power wasn't actually super strength or durability, something that Ororo cursed herself for volubly in several different languages. Those were only accessible to her by way of her primary mutant power, which was to drain other life forms of their various energies for her to use herself. This had been case with the Juggernaut and Sebastian Shaw. If she held her touch for long enough, the change became permanent. By the Goddess, why didn't that occur to either of us before this!?
"Pull away the instant you begin to see memories or have thoughts that are not your own… or notice your body changing uncontrollably," Ororo ordered. "Otherwise, sound thinking, my dear. Follow me in. I will give you an opening to latch onto the beast."
With that, Storm sent another slashing spell towards Jörmungandr, aiming for his eye. Again the serpent twisted, reaction speed paired with heightened animal instincts making certain such blows were easy to avoid. A dozen cutting spells followed, crashing into together below the monster's eye and creating an interesting looking checkerboard pattern on the scales there.
Jörmungandr howled at the sustained spellfire and darted toward Ororo, his jaws gaping. But Storm evaded once again, flying down and away, twirling around the several paws that attempted to crave into her as she retreated while still sending more cutting spells back at the serpent, always aiming for weakened points. Above and forgotten, Rogue grit her teeth before diving down and landing on Jörmungandr's back. There, she saw the Thing grimly making his way up the metaphorical mountainside, Thunderbird soaring through the air after being slammed by an errant paw. Thankfully, the Apache warrior didn't appear injured as Þór had been.
Once Rogue was certain she had a grip on a protruding spike strong enough to hold on with one hand, she used her other to reach up under her armor. Dented and somewhat mangled at this point, the armor had served her well so far, keeping her alive when even a stray swipe might well have shattered her body before this. Her questing hand reached his destination around her neck, where the runic array that Harry had created for her only a few months into his stay in their dimension hung as it always did.
For the first time since receiving the miracle gift, Rogue pulled off the runic array and stuffed it into her item pouch just as she lost her grip to Jörmungandr suddenly twisting hard to the right in an attempt to swallow Thunderbird whole as the Apache warrior flew in for another run with Thundra following close behind. She could barely hold on to the spike sticking out of the serpent's back, but the bit of snake she'd happened to grab was unfortunately part of the beast that Jörmungandr decided to then smash into the ice. "GUAA!" Rogue choked out as her breath was violently driven from her. She felt something in her back give, though her armor held.
Still, Rogue held on, and as the loop of Jörmungandr she was hanging on pulled away from the ice, she used her teeth to pull off the glove of her free hand. Despite the runic array, she'd decided to keep them as part of her combat outfit since they offered better grip than bare skin and just plain looked badass. Taking a deep breath, Rogue placed her naked hand on the dread wyrm's side, muttering one last, "Here goes nothing."
Almost immediately, she felt it. The vitality, the energy, the strength of Jörmungandr raged through her like the force of a tsunami through a small hose spigot. Rogue gasped, the sound a mixture of agony and ecstasy. She hadn't used the mutant power she'd been born with for months, and even before then had only used it sparingly. After being gifted the array, the southern belle had then been simply too delighted to be able to touch people again to even think of using her powers. Even in most combat scenarios, the thought never occurred to her. It probably should have, she could only reflect now. As her mind sailed through the flush of overwhelming power, Rogue had one last thought. I'd have been a much more effective fighter if I could'a turned mah sapping powers on and off. Ah well, too late now. Here's ta hopin' this does somethin'.
OOOOOOO
Despite their best efforts to remain hidden, Harry, Hela and the rest of their team were quickly discovered, and the mental assaults against them equally picked up. For the first few hours, it remained that way, as if the Shadows were uncertain what they were doing so were keeping more power intensive tactics on hold. It was only as the sun rose and the team closed on the dimensional gap where Muspellheim was currently connected to Utgard that the Shadows seemed to realize what they were up to, or had an idea at least.
As they neared where the dark bridge exited onto Muspellheim, Hela flew over to the magic carpet carrying Emma and a quarter of the Heavy Gunners. "How do you fair, Emma?"
"I fare about as well as I look I imagine, which is to say, not good at all," Emma replied, sounding both annoyed and tired, or rather, utterly drained and exhausted. Fighting off Jean's clone had been a similar experience, but it was still like comparing a hill to a mountain.
"Hmmm," Hela toned, looking thoughtful. Then she leaned in, still flying separately, so that their shoulders were touching.
When she gestured to her head, Emma grimaced but obligingly created a brief connection between them.
"It has occurred to me that while I thanked you for your aid back when we first met, never have I said to you how I have come to admire and, yes, even feel affection towards you. You are a formidable woman, Emma Frost, and I trust that fact will remain unbroken. Whatever the Shadows throw at you, the Diamond of our little family will not shatter under the challenge." Hela thought, allowing her emotions to carry over even more than the words she used.
Emma was somewhat startlingly found herself touched by the simple words and the emotions she could sense behind those words. Although she wasn't nearly as good at getting emotional content like that as Jean was via her telepathy, she could clearly get a sense of how the other women felt about her now. But given who they came from, Hela's words were quite telling. "I'll do my best," she said before adding, "And as for being a most formidable woman, it takes one to know one. Now, get out there and give them Hel, Hela."
Hela pulled away, mock glaring at the blonde in faux-outrage even as her lips twitched under her half-mask. "Really? Puns Now? Rather lowbrow for one such as you, is it not?"
"You caught me on a bad day," Emma replied tartly, waving her off, although there was a faint smile on both their faces as Hela rejoined Harry at the front of the formation.
Having almost arrived at their first destination, it was clear to see how Surtur and his folk had made a near permanent connection between Muspellheim and Utgard. The large bridge, unlike the Rainbow Bridge, was not straight, but ran rather like a long freeway built haphazardly between where the two pocket dimensions hung separately in Yggdrasil's boughs. Instead of being created out of magic or concrete, the construct appeared to be molten metal and basalt. Surprisingly, where the bridge had been somehow melted into place against the mountains of Asgard, the metal and stone had been twisted into odd-looking shapes reminiscent of giant lizards, flames, and tortured faces.
"Good grief, 'abandon all hope, ye who enter here' very much? Odd indeed that Muspellheim is not, in fact, connected to the idea of Hell as we would term such things," Piotr mused.
To Harry, the dark bridge was a reminder that even if the Shadows hadn't existed, the fire jotun would still very much be warlike and aggressive folk. From the imagery shaped onto the bridge, it appeared that they not only enjoyed burning but apparently eating people alive as well. The Shadows might have chosen them as their chief servants, but there's a reason why Surtur agreed to become their willing pawn in the first place.
Following the bridge down through the branches of Yggdrasil, Harry was called into action to defend against newer illusions of the magical variety. However, the spell he had designed outside of Asgard the city worked well, leaving the Shadows to realize they either had to concentrate only on the telepathic side of things or expend more magic than they wished to at that point.
Before the Shadows could decide one way or the other, the assault force burst into the air over Muspellheim, a land of blackened stone and melted glass pieces as large as hills, some of which were startlingly beautiful. Moving through the area, the team could immediately see there were huge rivers of lava flowing throughout the realm, boiling along and out of sight. There were also wide-open areas surrounding strangely built structures dominating the view in places. The buildings also looked strange to Harry's sense of aesthetics. They were built out of fluted arches that crisscrossed over one another, with numerous doors built into most of them seemingly at random. These were large buildings, hill-sized or more at their smallest, and by how they were clustered apart from each other it almost appeared as if the fire jotun were clan-based, instead of a united people.
In the distance, there was a large mountain whose peak was obscured by black clouds of smoke and ash. Instinctively, Harry knew that would be the center of this realm. Even from where he currently floated in the air, he could see bulbous growths pockmarking the mountain, a clearly sprawling castle-like structure. The area around the odd-looking castle glowed faintly reddish.
That, however, was all Harry could observe before the group came under attack. Several large towers, built on the Muspellheim side of the bridge to defend it against any incursion from the Asgardians, came alive. From the tops of two of those towers came spears, soaring towards the attacking team like bolts from ballista. Arrows swiftly joined the spears, but they were few and far between and not exactly aimed well. Even over the sudden shrieking and shouts of alarm from below, and the Custodes and Oh Damns responding in kind, Harry could hear the explosive cursing as several bows broke or the arrows shattered upon their strings.
These attacks were barely enough to make the magic carpets shudder. The most dangerous attacks, in fact, came in the form of magma that was hurled up at them by several hundred of the super-large variety of fire jotun. Most of the defenders not stationed within the towers appeared to have gorged themselves on raw material to the point that some nearby structures now looked very dilapidated.
With the response to Harry's invasion came attacks from Surtur as well. Now in Muspellheim, it barely took the Jotun King an instant to reach down into the tectonic energy of his realm and send several giant spouts of lava up towards the magic carpets from directly below them. At the same time, volcanic rocks the size of boulders were launched from far away, joining the bombardment sent the assault force's way from above as below. It was as if anywhere in the entire realm could become a large artillery cannon, of which Surtur could use to launch incredibly long-range attacks at Harry and his people nearly instantaneously.
"Heavy Gunners, get some distance straight up. Get away from the lava bursts, follow Steve's orders on targeting priorities," Harry ordered, rocketing forward. A protective shield appeared all around the assault team for the first few seconds, blocking the worst of the lava and the rocks streaking towards them. As that first wave of attacks faded and the nearby extra-large jotun roared and began to march forward, Harry also raced ahead of his people, barking out still further orders. "Valkyries spread out and engage. Custodes don't take to the ground unless your name is Colossus and Husk for now. Cannonball, do your thing!"
The Heavy Gunners obeyed Harry's orders instantly. The carpets carrying them shot high into the air, taking them and Emma out from even Surtur's range. Once they were safe from all of the anti-air fire, the team began to rain down rockets on the approaching jotun.
Meanwhile, Steve pulled out his sniper rifle and began to target the enemy far below, aiming for their vulnerable eyes. Before he fired, he remembered that his rifle was one of the prototypes that Jean had originally created and that apparently there was some kind of magical component to it. Letting his steadying hand move slightly Steve found a switch where there wouldn't normally be one. A moment later he flicked the switch, moving a rune into position within an array, much like someone completing a circuit.
With that done, Steve aimed at a jotun down below and fired. The regular gauss round shot down the barrel, but as it exited the muzzle a brief flicker of magic covered it. As it continued through the magic, the gauss round expanded to the point where it looked like it had been fired from a tank instead of a rifle. Clearing the distance to its target faster than normal human eyes could follow, it struck with enough force to remove the head of unlucky jotun while Steve only grunted a bit. The pull from the runic array on his stamina made him feel like he had just run a half marathon. But given his super-soldier serum-boosted endurance, that really wasn't all that much. A second later he fired again, scanning for any jotun that seemed to be trying to give out orders.
As the Heavy Gunners began to unload rockets into the larger-than-average giants, E targeted several normal-sized jotun. His arms enlarged in every dimension, and his fingers joined together, merging and morphing into four large barrels.
When he fired, his rounds were smaller than the rockets but larger than the auto-cannon rounds. However, instead of exploding on impact, the modified gyro-rockets were revealed to have drill bits on their tips, which allowed them to dig into the jotun. None of these defenders were armored with the same black metal as the fire jotun they had fought before, a possible sign that the jotun were having logistical difficulties. Thanks to that failure the auto-cannons and rockets of the Heavy Gunners were now cutting them down far more easily than before.