If you want to help me financially, you can do it on
https://ko-fi.com/neverluckysmile
This was an outcome that Harry was somewhat incensed by. "We severely underestimated the Mandarin's ambitions, and the incompetence of the Chinese government. The only saving graces is that he is reversing the communist's push to destroy China's history and is a hardline industrialist. Hopefully that means we can at least see some moves towards their society becoming a little more democratic in terms of their infrastructure, at the very least. And you're right, Dennis, I doubt he'll push for Taiwan or anything to do with it, though he'll probably rattle his saber every so often. The last thing the Mandarin will want to do is to come into conflict with us. He knows we'd crush him like a bug."
"Mmm… Crushing that arrogant bastard does sound like an excellent idea… but not right now," Emma mused, though her words belayed the considering look in her eyes. Like Harry, she'd taken the Mandarin failing to hold to his end of the bargains they'd made personally. But now was not the time to deal with him.
"Right. Let's concentrate on the supervillains for now rather than the criminal mastermind turned political powerhouse. Reed, you've had time to process the various avenues of research going on at each of these locations. Can you see any connection?" Ororo questioned, once more bringing the conversation back on task.
"There are indeed a few subjects which the Advanced Institute of the People's Republic were working on that the scientists at Cape Kennedy were also working on, although of course they were not sharing their research with one another," Reed began slowly, looking up from where he had been examining pictures of the two battlefields and lists of the scientists who had died in the attacks. The one from China was incomplete, compiled from intelligence reports rather than official police or federal records. All the same, Reed recognized many of the names he read through. "Specifically, both of them are involved in attempting to create communication methods that will operate in real time over interspatial distances. I spoke to the late doctors Liang and Dr. Fredericks in particular at various points in the past about such work. They will be missed."
Everyone at the table remained silent for a moment in respect for those who had died in the various attacks. In the quiet, Harry wondered if the loss of his peers was another reason why Reed had vocalized using Bulldozer's girlfriend against him in some fashion before tabling the thought as unimportant. What was important was that since the Wrecking Crew had been broken out of prison, they and Loki had been involved in the deaths of at least eight-hundred people, with an undisclosed number more still being pulled out of the rubble in China as they sat in Camelot.
After a moment, Jean broke the silence and asked, "Interspatial means across large distances in space, correct? Are we talking intra-solar or extra-solar?"
"Both. However… Dr. Liang in particular was also studying gamma radiation in terms of utilizing it as an energy source to rival the arc reactors you and Tony developed." Jean snickered a bit at that, as that was an oversimplification of that topic, but didn't otherwise interrupt as Reed continued. "The Wrecking Crew's interest in such tests makes some sense considering Thunderball's previous occupation."
Harry nodded and looked over at the image of Bruce Banner, who had been brought in specifically for this purpose. That worthy sighed faintly, pushing his glasses up his nose as he shook his head. "I looked over Dr. Franklin's notes, and honestly they're not anything special. He parroted some of my own findings back in new ways, came up with a method of detecting gamma radiation that was really just a miniaturization of my pre-existing design, and was in constant patent battles for his research. Honestly, the attacks on Cape Canaveral and the Institute in China could have just been him lashing out at them using some of his purported research, ignoring the fact that said research was mine in the first place. I will admit that he is a good engineer, but as an honest researcher? He was a hack."
While Reed nodded in commiseration at that, Jean with an eyeroll of the big brains, took control of the hard-light system within the room, enlarging the list of known experiments going on in both places. The two big brains present went through them one after another, scouring for anything that stood out. Beyond the two areas already discussed however, there didn't appear to be any specific connection. Coupled with the Wrecking Crew's earlier spree of smash and grabs, it really did almost look like the criminal group had merely resumed their previous mission of destroying anything even remotely based on Thunderball's research.
That, however, was not something any of the people sitting around table actually believed for a moment.
"So we don't know what they might have been after based on the research going on at their targets. Fine. Reed, Bruce, what else could be in these two places that the Wrecking Crew couldn't have stolen elsewhere?"
"Well, there is the Hyalic Dispersal System," Reed answered immediately. He reached out and directed the hard-light system to create an image of the device . "The HDS is a piece of hardware that's time consuming and expensive to create from scratch, and one that hasn't been even close to mass produced either. There are several applications for an HDS in the realms of energy transferal and output as well as signal communication. Oh. Ah. If we were to use Occam's razor, then the Wrecking Crew at the least might be after something that centers on one of those applications. I'm afraid I can't narrow it down further than that with the information on hand, however."
"Dennis, contact the folks at Cape Canaveral. If this Hyalic Dispersal System was one of the bits of tech Wrecker and Bulldozer stole then they should know about it by now," Harry ordered. "After all, repair spells can't repair something that is missing. Given the nature of those beads Loki seems to have enchanted, sending it away would have been easy."
"What about the other thefts? The ones that Loki has been doing specifically?" Steve questioned, gesturing to the holographic map in front of them. "He hasn't left as much of a trail of destruction and bodies behind as the Wrecking Crew, but he has been nearly as active."
"Historical texts and religious iconography mostly, and a very eclectic collection of iconography at that," Hela murmured, frowning as she ran one finger along her chin thoughtfully.
"I believe I have an idea on that." Everyone turned to look at Spymaster, and Sir Dennis shrugged his shoulders. "Consider this. If we assume that Loki actually has a point behind his actions, above and beyond muddying the waters for what he and the Wrecking Crew are really after, then he might be looking for some sort of religious item like the one MODOK used against you on the helicarrier, Harry."
Harry grimaced, as did Hela and Steve, each remembering the Hulkbuster Army incident that had been SHIELD's final death knell. Specifically, Harry remembered how much trouble he ran into when battling AIM's hyper-intelligent leader. MODOK had tracked down an item of the Catholic faith that had created a nullification field against all types of magic.
"I remember Stephen and I talking about that kind of thing after the incident ended. Those types of items are supposed to be extremely rare. There might be one in Germany at an ancient history Museum that was stolen from someplace in the Ukraine during World War Two by the Nazis, and of course there might be a few held by the Vatican. Although, if any of you think that we're going to get any kind of answer from Rome about anything anytime soon well… think again."
It was unfortunate, but much like with the hardcore Islamists, the Catholic Church and indeed most denominations of Christianity continued to look askance at how integrated magic was in Harry's dealings, specifically Magical Minds and the potions he sold through the company. They refused point blank to speak with Harry personally, although they still deigned to work with him through intermediaries occasionally. Most important though, was that even as at odds as they were, the Pope had still taken a pro-mutant stance. For that, Harry would put up with a lot of sideways glances and preachers shouting about magic coming from the devil.
Still, there was a limit to how cooperative they were willing to be officially given their religious dogma. Inquiring after the existence of any items that could shut Harry—or any other magic user—down would either give them ideas or be firmly rebuffed. Or worse, the mere act of asking could be seen as a sign that Harry was considering somehow physically moving against the Vatican and its vaults. They were a very paranoid lot, alas.
"MODOK got lucky honestly, becoming both aware of its properties and somehow getting his hands on the thing somehow while I was blindsided entirely. If I'd known such things existed, I would've attacked him in a very different manner. Further, I don't think that Loki would be willing to put up with something like that anyway, being a magical deity himself."
"Indeed, I do not believe the scoundrel could even touch an item like that. And for certain, the Wrecking Crew would lose their abilities just as Harry did," Hela spoke up now, adding her opinion to Harry's.
"What about tracing them via magical output?" Emma asked, her holographic image wavering slightly as she moved, addressing something Harry had mentioned earlier. The blonde hadn't been able to make it to the assembly physically as she had a meeting in New York in fifteen minutes, and this meeting would no doubt be going far longer than that. "I'm not talking about tracking their teleportation beads, I'm asking about tracking their basic use of magic."
Every magical present grimaced at Emma's question, each frustrated at their past failures, but it was Stephen who answered. "In terms of tracking Loki magically, I can sense Loki's use of magic in the world if the spells he uses go beyond a certain power threshold. Whatever Loki crafted to keep us from discovering his location isn't perfect. It does slip up if he's too active."
As Sorcerer Supreme, it was part of Stephen's task to monitor magic being used around the world. Using the Eye of Agamoto, he could detect various types and practices of magic, although his gaze could be overcome by sufficiently strong wards or anti-scrying enchantments. He had been completely unaware of Camelot however and remained blind to events within its environs even now. It was by no means a perfect solution either, as the Eye could only function in this capacity if it was embedded in a large scrying array in his lab. If he were using the Eye for anything else, which he did routinely, its ability to warn him of the misuse of magic was likewise limited.
"If we arrive on location quickly enough, we'd be able to track his enchanted teleportation beads. But Loki and the Frustrating Foursome use two or more at a time, making it almost impossible to distinguish the outgoing teleportation from the… splash, as it were, of the incoming one," Harry said, simplifying an aspect of what made tracking Loki down so difficult. He shook his head. "As for the actual teleportation, we are certain that whatever Loki's using is not the same as my own apparition, or Storm's ability."
Harry went on, a note of intrigue breaking up the annoyance. "However, the beads might be somewhat like a portkey. If that holds true, and we can figure out where they're going to strike next, I might be able to put down wards that could stop them from getting away once they're inside the area."
With that, Jean obligingly began to search for any remaining labs using a Hyalic Dispersal System in their experiments. Official and suspected targets were soon marked on the holographic globe at the center of the table, and Reed and Dr. Banner began to speak over one another for a moment before calming down. "That one in Wakanda just became operational, so no one has much idea what kind of experiments they are running with the system. The one in France though is a military research lab, with equally military grade defenses."
Nodding, Harry said, "I'll pass on the warnings of potential break ins and attacks through our official channels, though I think I'll deliver the message to T'Challa personally. If he agrees to it, it will only be the work of a few moments for me to set up those wards there just in case."
"So we still don't know what their overall plan is, or how to preemptively track them. We do know where they're likely to show up, so we can at least start laying traps," Steve summarized. "And we've proven that if we can force them into a fight, even the full team of the Wrecking Crew isn't really a match for the Custodes or the X-men."
"Yeah, I have to say they've been kind of underwhelming compared to fighting off armies of Fire Jotun," Scott snarked.
"When you put it like that, it does sound like we can just rest easy. But…" Harry trailed off, and Steve gave him a very jaundiced look, as a chuckle ran across the room. None of those present believed for a moment that that was a good idea.
As they began tossing around ideas of what the fivesome could be planning in the long term, Emma waved farewell from her end, cutting the connection from her end. Just then, one of the house elves popped in. "Master, a lady from the special doorway to the place with the kangaroos has come!"
"Did this lady give you her name?" Harry asked, looking over at Hela and Skadi, who'd been sitting next to Dani. Both goddesses had been silent so far during this meeting as even their abilities being flummoxed by Loki's multiple teleportation technique. "I sent Hedwig through with a message to Thor , but I didn't expect someone to come and answer in person."
"The lady says her name is Freya," the female house elf answered.
Harry's eyes widened at that revelation, and he hastily asked for the house elf to show his visitor up to the meeting room, while Skadi looked a little smug as she curled an arm around Danielle's waist. It was clear the Goddess of the Hunt was more than willing to have the chance to rub her victory into Freya's face, if not simply delighting in touching her lover.
That smug look faded, however, when Freya actually entered the room. The Queen of Asgard took one look at the two of the goddess and mortal pair and began to guffaw loudly, shaking her head in merriment. "Dear child, if thou art trying to rub thy victory in my face, you have failed. For one thing, you forget that I am a goddess of love. So you, a virgin goddess of the hunt finding love in any form is pleasing to me. The fact I saw it coming far before you yourself is also icing on that cake, as they say. Secondly, there is being worshiped, as you and our dearest Dani do to one another, and then there is being prayed to."
Freya smirked at the younger, now somewhat embarrassed and flustered, goddess with a light smirk on her face. "Danielle Moonstar will be one of my Valkyries, whatever you do, huntress. She can worship you all either of you like, but she will pray to me."
Skadi's lingering embarrassment faded into an angry scowl at that, while Danielle buried her face into her lover's shoulder, muttering under her breath, "Goddess! I'm not listening to this. I'm not listening!"
"You see, she already knows how to pray well enough already," Freya joked, causing a round of laughter from around the table as Skadi ground her teeth.
"Lady Freya, is twitting Skadi the only reason you came personally, or did you have a message you or Old One Eye wished for you to pass on?" Hela asked, her tone dry, if polite, even as her lips twitched upward. She liked Freya and Skadi both, but seeing them at odds, if such a display could be such, was quite amusing.
Freya nodded, sobering instantly as she took a seat next to her niece. She looked over at Jean Grey as she did so, smiling faintly as she gave her congratulations to the young woman for the birth of her twins. Once settled, Freya went on to explain how Loki had been lost within the dimensional rift that had existed between Asgard and Utland, torn away from the interconnected dimensions of Yggdrasil. "Through magic or technology, there are few who would be able or willing to retrieve him from that void. We in Asgard and those in this room are among those who could pull him from that nothingness magically, though I doubt any here would have found cause to do so."
She hesitated a brief moment before going on. "That then leaves a technologically based method. And according to my husband and King, there is a race known to make extensive use of the void between dimensions to come to and fro."
"And here we go," Harry murmured, tapping his fingers together as he leaned back in his chair, staring at Lady Freya unblinkingly. His tone might've almost been whimsical as he went on, but his eyes were sharp. Those around the table exchanged glances and the military officers on the screens cursed in obscene harmony. "Let me guess, they're an aggressive species, right? Who use the dimensional gap to launch invasions against other civilizations?"
"Indeed, it is as you say. According to Lord Odin, who is the only one who remembers, these travelers once somewhat accidentally arrived in Utland, long ago. As is their wont, they immediately set to invade, only to discover their strengths mattered little against the might of Asgard. I know not how their technologies work, but the Chitauri are apparently an extremely aggressive species. Why they would work with Loki is certainly a question, although perhaps that ties into why they rescued him at all?" The Queen of Asgard shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever else he may or may not be, Loki has always been a silver tongued rogue."
"Still, that's enough to narrow certain things down I think," Harry said grimly. "The tech parts are the thing to focus on everyone, not the religious paraphernalia."
"Impossible," Reed spoke up instantly, Dr. Banner backing him up a moment later. "If we're talking about opening a dimensional doorway of some kind, any kind even, the items the Wrecking Crew could have stolen won't do that. Indeed, they would need an insanely powerful energy source just to send a signal through, let alone open a dimensional doorway. and Franklin isn't smart enough to come up with something like that without resources to build on."
"Which means they probably have both an energy source already lined up. Occam's Razor remember? And anyway, what if all they need to do is send a signal to the other side? Maybe someone on that other side is able to open a door, but just needs to know from and to where? Then the goal becomes merely building a beacon, rather than a whole doorway," Jean disagreed.
Both geniuses winced at having overlooked that, but acknowledged her point.
"Dennis, send out messages to the militaries we have ties with at this point. Sage, talk to Mary Jane; the two of you go through official governmental channels, warn anyone who'll listen that the Wrecking Crew might be working with a belligerent alien power that might be looking to invade the planet directly, in a way that will bypass the Earth Defense Fleet," Harry ordered. "I'll contact Dr. Doom personally. He always requires a… special touch."
As Dennis and Sage nodded, Harry turned to the various screens on the wall. "Generals, Admiral, Sam; put the Orbital Drop Marines on Alert Level Two. All leave is canceled, all personnel recalled, and all training is to be put on hold for now. Start preparing our supplies for a large scale deployment. I want the entirety of the division ready to act when needed. Admiral, General, that goes for you and Fortress Mars as well. I want the fleet ready to leave port at a moment's notice. Keep the Raven Wings ready too, just in case."
"Stephen, are you and yours willing to continue to help?" Ororo asked as the meeting ended and people began to leave.
"Wanda has announced her willingness to stay with the X-Men for now, and so long as she is still taking lessons from Clea and myself for at least half the time we used to dedicate to said lessons, I'm willing to allow that. For Clea and me, we will work to minimize civilian casualties if this invasion comes to pass, and yes, we will also continue to help in hunting Loki and the Wrecking Crew down."
Those who remained all smiled in gratitude at that, and finally Harry stood, politely asking Freya if she wished for a tour before heading back to Asgard. They knew the nature of the threat now, and could prepare accordingly as much as possible, although the original problems of hunting down Loki and his helpers remained.
Immediately after Freya's polite decline and departure, Harry headed down to the Room of Requirement. Using a set of floating gloves, he picked up the large, gray crystal-gem-jewel-whatever it was that he had stored there. Regardless of what material it actually was, the crystalline object belonged to Krakkan, the last god of the Octessence pantheon.
A similar gem, that of Balthakk, had already fed Harry's magical core once before. The withering god had cut off access to himself and his dimension before Harry could drain too much of his energy though. Similarly, Strange had later reported that he'd felt five other gods of the same pantheon cutting off their connections to similar gems scattered around the world, none wishing to remain open to such an assault themselves and wind up like their lessened peer.
However, Krakkan was apparently too stupid to understand what happened to his fellows. Not that it mattered. Stupid or not, the power of the deity housed in the crystal would serve to throw Harry over the final barrier between himself and deification once again. Or, if this ritual works, the line between mortal and Titan. Harry wasn't ready just yet to chance taking part in the ritual, but he wanted everything set up just in case.
Harry worked on the ritual site the rest of that day, postponing several meetings with various politicians to make time for it. Much like the array that had drained Odin, the runes he ended up carving into the ground were set into the image of a star, although the points of said star were rounded instead of sharp, its lines following strict Arithmantic algorithms. However, unlike the Shadow's leaching array, which had only been placed on the ground where Odin had been laid, the Titan ritual called for the array to encapsulate Harry from every direction.
To facilitate that need, the runes thus flowed up off the ground and up into the walls in thin beams made of different kinds of metal. No gold was involved, instead bronze and silver were present in abundance, as they were both magically powerful metals. A few other types of ore were mixed in as well, likewise for their various properties.
Every rune within the array was repeated three or seven times, intrinsically heightening the power both created and contained. On top of that, many runes were filled with different matter, elements that represented parts of the human body; rubies crushed to a fine dust for blood, diamond shavings for skin, emeralds for eyes, wood from numerous trees turned to ash and dusted throughout the array for . The oddest was perhaps the black onyx shards to represent his hair. Harry felt the symbolism began to fray more than a bit with that.
Still, that was what he and Stephen had come up with when they'd collaborated on the array. This, backed by Odin's agreement during their brief conversation, had convinced him he was on the right track.
Other runes had to be filled with his blood. The blood would be kept liquid during the ritual by a natural anti-coagulant—not magic—so that nothing could cross-contaminate it. That bit Harry would do right before performing the ritual, as he had no desire to bleed himself dry just to set everything up.
Finally, there were the three entirely new runes that Odin had created for the ritual. One would be inscribed onto his body directly, the others would be placed where he would be placing his palms. Funnily enough, various magical cultures saw the palms as windows to the soul, almost as important as the eyes.
When he was finally finished, the whole thing almost looked like some kind of eldritch cage, the various runes glittering in the light of the laboratory. Not satisfied, he went over everything, several times. Call him overly prepared, but Harry knew that if it came down to it, he might not have the time to do so if he were pressed to use the ritual. That being said, when he was finished, Harry knew everything was right. It didn't make him any happied about actually using the ritual though, and he bit back a sigh of relief when he finally exited the Room of Requirement.
To his luck, he found Hela and Jean waiting for him in the hall. Ororo and Emma would've probably been there as well, but he knew that both had previous engagements. Once more, Harry ruefully thought that with great power, came a great need for time management skills.
Jean wordlessly moved into his arms, hugging him tightly. Hela reached out to grasp a shoulder with one hand, somewhat unwilling to be as effusive as the redhead while in a public part of the castle. Even then, many of the Custodes could be found around the place exercising or training in the other rooms on the seventh floor.
"Am I doing the right thing?" Harry asked lowly, unsure. "We've known for a while now that we might need the power I can call upon as a Titan, but now that it might really come to it, just the idea of leaving behind my humanity, even a little bit, scares me now just as much as it did in the moment I could feel it happening after I drained the Dire Wraiths through their crystal thing. What if we're wrong? What if this process isn't any better in regards to allowing me keep my emotions and human connections?"
"That is just fear speaking through your lips Harry Potter, and you know it. Both yourself, Strange, Clea, and even Lady Gaia and Lord Odin—in so many words—have said this way has the largest chance of allowing you to retain your core aspects and attributes even as a Titan," Hela responded, shaking her head. "You are my Seidr Man, and even if you become a Titan, that will not change. I will not let it."
"I fully agree with Hela on this one, Harry. You are the love of my life, the father of my children, and I'm looking forward to decades, centuries even, of adventures alongside you and the others. Titan or not, that is not going to change. Like Hela said; I won't let it! If you get too big for your britches and need a smack upside the head, or if you start thinking humans are beneath you or something stupid like that, you have four ladies here that can do just that."
Hela snorted, making a joke that she was not in any position to do such a thing in terms of keeping one's humanity, but her words fell on deaf ears. Asgardian or not, she had proven herself long before now. Smiling at the show of support, Harry nodded, feeling better for their reassurance. For now, he'd throw away his doubts. Placing his arms around Jean's shoulders, he walked with his ladies down the hallway, hoping that his preparations would not be needed, but ready to rise to the challenge if they were.
OOOOOOO
Johannes Stigler's legs hurt. His back hurt. Breathing hurt. The elderly gentleman, he was pushing ninety-two, had an uncontrollable urge to piss at least 85% of the time. But as Johannes dressed himself to go out and meet with his grandson and his new great granddaughter, he reckoned that he should be grateful he was still alive at all. Far too many couldn't say the same. And every year, every month and every week it seemed like more and more veterans were passing away, the lessons they'd learned forgotten.
And these days they're all being replaced by Goddamn Neo-Nazi shizer or Neo-Prussian fantasists. Ugh. Johannes didn't know a single veteran who'd truly served that could stand either. The first was self-explanatory. As if we don't know enough about Hitler's sins, as if there wasn't enough evidence as to what madness he'd dragged us to. Johannes would be very hard-pressed to say which was worse, people who denied the Holocaust and other such war crimes, or those people who still espoused beliefs that such actions were justified and in need of repeating.
Either way, tossing both groups into the dustbin of history, along with Hitler and fascism in its totality, would get a loud cheer from him more than anything besides seeing his family. It might kill me to do that huzzah, but I'd still do it.
As for the second, bah! Pride in being German is one thing, but blind pride in our military coupled with the desire to see an old empire revived? To what end? It is that pride which led us into both world wars. Damn Guderian and his 'clean Wehrmacht' lies.
Since the end of the Eurasian War and the role the Bundeswehr had played in it, there had been a sharp uptick in the popularity of the military. With that new focus had come a creeping social movement that espoused it was time to reclaim the 'lost pride of the Germanic peoples,' and time to 'rise again as a military power'. These preachers pointed to the Eurasian War and Rommel's actions in Africa and after as examples of their veracity, along with how honorably the Wehrmacht had shown it could wage war when it was out from underneath Hitler and his attack dogs, the Red Skull and Von Strucker.
Johannes Stigler, retired Hauptmann (captain), recipient and bearer of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, knew such talk was utter shizer, and found his mind drifting back to those days now, as he dressed. From the start, none of us were as clean as we wished to think. And as the war went on, more and more we became just as filthy as the SS we so silently despised. We could feel it, I know it, at least until Rommel and the allies turned the tide against us and ended it all. And even before he was assassinated, Rommel would have said the Wehrmacht was not clean.
Looking back on it all, Johannes felt prouder of his treasonous moments of rebellion during the later years of the war more than anything else from that time period of his life, finding and marrying his Elena. And it's best I get going to meet our legacy, my love, the old man mused, pausing by his door for a moment as he stared at a black and white photograph on the wall. Solemnly, he brushed the aging picture with his fingers before, with a sigh, turning back to the door.
About an hour later found Johannes sitting at a table outside of an upscale restaurant, smiling and laughing along with them as his many children and grandchildren caught him up in regards to their lives. His youngest boy, Walter, wasn't present, still on duty with the Bundeswehr today and unable to get away, but he had sent a phone message to Johannes that morning, so that was all right. And bouncing on her mother's knee and smiling at everyone she could see was the newest member of the family, a cheerful little girl, named after her grandmother. The hustle and bustle of the busy street nearby and the crowd of mostly unknown faces hardly seemed to bother the little tike, as opposed to how some babes Johannes had seen in his time.
Even a day out at the museum hadn't phased young Elena, something Johannes's middle daughter Emilia was quite proud of. Indeed, the little one seemed fascinated by the throngs of people as they came and went along the streets, laughing and burbling all the while. My Elena was always so effervescent around people. It's good to see her namesake is the same.
But the evening turned traumatic quickly as shouts and screams erupted, shrill voices quickly punctured the idyllic city atmosphere. Johannes might have been old, but he still had excellent hearing, and he frowned as he stared hard in the direction of the growing disturbance, as did his eldest son, Albert.
Together, the two watched in growing shock as more and more people seemed to practically boil out of the museum. Louder screams and shouts followed, along with the cause of such terror; four truly massive men dressed in extremely outlandish outfits. One, a man dressed in dark green with purple gloves and wielding a large crowbar, abruptly lashed out at some of the crowd, sending several people flying.
"What is…" Albert began to ask, but Johannes was already moving, barking orders. Old voice as loud as it had been in decades, he demanded that his family get under the tables and hide, doing the same himself. The fleeing crowd of people from the museum and those also now running down the street meant if they tried to run away now they would just join the multitude and get trapped in place.
Behind the crowd, the museum suddenly began to collapse inward, as if parts of it were being sucked away by something within. With an almighty clamor and wail, the alarms within gave one last cry before abruptly cutting off, the museum fell inward, trapping or killing anyone inside. From out of the dust that billowed from this sudden collapse came a tall, thin man with long brown hair, also dressed in a costume. The design of this latest threat made Johannes recall the strange aliens who claimed to be Norse gods of all things. The man held a large stone cross in one hand, and with a gesture, his other hand was suddenly filled with a long staff, which he raised over his head.
With a swish from that staff, several dozen nearby cars lifted into the air then smashed down, sending bits of debris and rubble flying everywhere. Cries, screams, and shouts abounded as people fell, fled, or died from flying shrapnel. Johannes glanced over and watched as Albert grabbed Emilia and young Elena and pulled them against his body, shielding them further underneath the table. From where the old man crouched on his horribly abused knees, he turned back and watched as the strange man strode forward.
Another wave of that staff soon flung people around, even as copies of the man seemed to appear elsewhere, doing the same to others. Instead of dispersing the crowd, the copies concentrated them to one spot, aided by the four large supervillains. "Father, those four are the Wrecking Crew!" JohannesAlbert hissed, his normally strong voice cracking with fear. "They've been in the international news lately. What are they doing here?!"
Johannes had no answer. Still, he watched from the other side of the fence separating the street from the restaurant's outside patio as the original man with cross and staff stalked forward, his staff slamming into the ground repeatedly. Each strike sounded like a deep bell, eventually browbeating the crowd into silence. Eventually, it was only the cries of the wounded that remained, unheeded as the man shaped being finally spoke.
"Humanity. There are so many of you these days. I'm honestly shocked. So many tiny, fragile lives. No sooner do I blink, and you have aged, so quickly do you wither. You live your lives at a furious pace, trying to make something of your lives. You mostly fail, with your works either dying with you, or destroyed by your fellows. Ah, so quickly do you turn on one another, your emotions and thoughts so easily swayed."
The scorn in the man—no, the alien's voice, the sheer contempt he spoke with and the searing glare he gazed with caused many of the silenced crowd to back away in fear, but the alien went on as if he didn't notice. Gesturing around him with his staff as if it were a king's scepter. "But at least humanity has always had one thing going for it. You have always known when to bend the knee to those above you."
The words were cultured, almost hypnotizing, and they made Johannes shudder as an unseen force pressed against him. Before he felt like he would snap in two, the power seemingly cut out, and seeing those in the crowd go reeling made the old man realize it hadn't all been in his head.
One such fellow who'd fallen over had the bad luck of being right in front of the alien with the odd dress. The being smiled. "You see, this individual here has the right idea." The alien looked out at the now muttering, reeling crowd, his words cutting through the turmoil. "Now kneel. Kneel to your new god, humanity."
No one moved. The alien grew visible incensed. Smashing his staff onto the pavement, his four large bruisers likewise stomping the ground with their feet, the alien roared, "KNEEEELLL!"
Hesitantly, one after another, those in the crowd, including the people in the restaurant. But Johannes did not. Even as his son tried to pull at his arm, Johannes stood creakily, staring back at the alien. And when Johannes spoke, his voice reverberated in the shuffling silence of the crowd, cutting through the continued cries of the wounded and dying. "Not to you. Not to someone like you."
"….You have never met someone like me old man," the self-professed god stated, snorting as he moved through the crowd towards Johannes. "I am as far above you humans as you are from ants. You stand at the bottom of a well, believing you know what the sky looks like, when you know nothing!"
Johannes smiled sadly, shaking his head. He continued to stare at the alien, but saw another, one whose fiery rhetoric and dark charisma had haunted his dreams for decades. "There are always men like you. You stand in Germany and say we know nothing? We know tyranny. We know evil. We know self-delusion. It is you, whoever you are, who knows nothing. But I know… I know that I will not kneel to such. Never again."
"Then you will be the perfect example as to what happens to those who do not obey their new god, Loki. Look to your elder, humanity, and learn from his mistake," Loki answered, with a sneer, pointing his staff at the old human.
Johannes Stigler, Retired Hauptmann of the Wehrmacht and later the Bundeswehr, closed his eyes and pushed away his son's hands as he waited for the end. I will see you soon, my love, my Elena.
The air charged as a mysterious energy began to build. There were screams. The energy reached a fevered pitch. The sound of an ignition—
Yet Johannes did not die. At the last possible moment, a red, white, and blue shield interposed itself between Loki and the old man. The man wielding that shield stood strong as the bolt of magic ricocheted up and off into the sk., A second later, an opposing blast of power struck Loki, picking him up and hurling him out of the crowd to crash back into the rubble of the museum.
Johannes opened his eyes and stared as Captain America, as young as the day he'd watched him battle in Normandy, strode through the crowd. Between one moment and the next, more of the Custodes Mundi arrived at the scene in the form of the one named Cannonball, a giant wolf the size of a pickup truck and, even more recognizable, the Phoenix and Harry Potter himself. As the new arrivals marched towards where Loki had fallen, Johannes felt his old bones finally give out.
"Or perhaps not today…" he murmured, finally allowing Albert to pull him to cover.
OOOOOOO
As he moved to stand in front of the crowd and Phoenix began to evacuate the wounded, Harry sent a respectful nod towards the brave old man who had stood his ground. Meanwhile, his free hand prepared a shield spell. "You know Loki, while I know this isn't the real you, I've never really understood the kind of people who look down on others for things outside their control. Your petty demands, your all-consuming desire to dominate, I've heard it all before. And I'll say this to you, and any who follow you in trying to conquer humanity, to try and force us to kneel. We will never do as we're told, and we will always defend ourselves!"
Loki might have tried to say something witty then, but by that point, the wounded in the crowd and the rubble of the shattered cars had either been evacuated or, more unfortunately, died from their wounds before Harry and his team arrived. Now free from other concerns, Jean revealed something interesting via their telepathic link. "Harry, those four aren't the Wrecking Crew. They're some kind of animated mannequins. I doubt they could even move without orders, like your golems."
"Hmm. Good. Tell the rest of the Custodes to remain on standby. If the past is any indication, the real Wrecking Crew will be attacking someplace else soon, if not already. Hopefully, it'll be one of the places on our list."
With that, Harry silently lashed out with a spell chain, changing the direction of the second spell to behind him before pointing his hand forward once more. The first spell slashed outward towards the two mannequins of Thunderball and Piledriver, both standing to one side of the area Loki had cleared in front of the wrecked museum. The cutting spell, of middling power, sliced through the two easily. The second spell created a protective shield over the remaining crowd, allowing them more time to safely escape. The third blasted a wave of nearly raw magic towards Loki himself.
Eyes widening, the Asgardian hastily erected his own shield, caught off guard by the sudden shift of Harry's spellwork.
By the time the spell chain was complete, Fenrir had crushed the mannequins impersonating Wrecker and Bulldozer, the dread wolf fighting the instinct to go for his sperm-donor's throat with difficulty. Meanwhile Captain America had crossed the intervening distance to the last man standing. His shield flew out just as Loki's magical barrier popped out of existence, hammering the Trickster in the chest and doubling him over. The Asgardian outcast used that moment to blast at the ground underneath him, sending rubble flying in every direction. The shockwave and resulting debris warded off Captain America and the Falcon, who had just arrived and been approaching Loki from behind.
The Falcon pulled up, cursing, just as Captain America snatched his shield out of the air on the rebound and deflected the bits of rubble coming at him. Simultaneously, the bits of debris that had exploded to Loki's right were transfigured into birds, which Harry then sent right back at him
And now, the Asgardian was being attacked from all sides, turning his attention to deal with the birds and blocking the next magical assault. Captain America closed, his shield's edge punching out and smashing Loki's staff out of his hand. "Colossus, now."
Before Loki could realize why Harry had only transfigured the bits of rubble on that one particular side; Colossus appeared out from under a Disillusion spell. Loki barely had a second to realize he was there before the Russian's fist slammed into his head, sending the Asgardian to his knees. Reaching out, Colossus pulled the stone cross from his grip with ease. The symbol hadn't felt like anything special to Harry, but why take chances?
As Loki rolled away from Colossus and tried to ready another series of spells, a fiery talon grabbed him. Helpless and with his clothing now starting to smolder, the Trickster was lifted into the air before a furious Phoenix in all of her avatar splendor.
Quickly, Harry moved to hover next to the bound Loki, his hands flashing. Chains appeared, binding Loki further as Phoenix hissed, "Go on, make my day, Loki. I swear I'll start repairing your mind right here and now, minus even the thought of anesthetic." A
ll of this wrath towards Loki stemmed from the fact that several people had died in this pointless display from the trickster god, among them several children. It had been the first time since giving birth that Jean had seen such and she had not been prepared for the raw fury and grief that seeing those small, still bodies had woken in her.
While he was uncertain what the avatar of the Phoenix Force meant by 'repairing' his mind, Loki understood the without anesthetic part easily enough, as well as how badly he had been overmatched here. Damn me, but Potter is even more dangerous, and duplicitous, than I had expected. He kept me off balance from the start of things, a marked contrast to the way our first or brief second encounter had gone, and had allies I had not thought to look for along for the battle. And this redheaded avatar of the Phoenix… is she the one that Thanos is after over all else? Well, he is welcome to beard that particular dragon as much as he wants. Her power alone is well out of my league. "I surrender."
With a snort, Harry raised a fist, from which flashed the familiar red of a stunning spell just as it connected with Loki's jaw. The Asgardian was knocked unconscious with barely a whimper. Harry snorted, shaking his head. "Puny god, isn't he?"
Jean laughed, her anger slowly simmering down to manageable levels, and she dumped Loki towards where the Scarlet Witch and Clea had just flown in. She trusted the pair to keep even a trickster such as him under wraps while she and her husband began to help the local populace with the aftermath of this battle.
OOOOOOO
"That's it. Time!" Bulldozer announced, looking down at a Rolex barely fitting around his wrist. The watch had been one of the many items the Crew had stolen during their sideline shopping sprees.
"The payoff for all the times we've gotten our asses whooped better be fuckin' worth it man," Piledriver grumbled, stepping out of the destroyed armory. "Ah don' like how often we've hadda turn yeller and run with our tails 'tween our legs."
Thunderball shrugged his shoulders, looking over to Wrecker, who only smirked as he reached into the overstuffed bag to one side of him. "It will be. Remember what Loki said. After the invasion, they'll need local overseers, you know, to control the remaining population. That's gonna be us…" Wrecker trailed off as he grabbed his crowbar out of the bag, almost groaning in ecstasy as its power seared through him once more.
Now fully in his powered form, Wrecker surged to his feet, pointing towards the open area around the tank lot. "Let's get to it!"
The other two quickly reached for their items of power. Or in Piledriver's grabbing onto the crowbar for a moment, and soon all three were in their super powered forms as well.
Bulldozer took the lead, charging forward. The other three formed a triangle behind him, rushing across the open space surrounding the military base's laboratory as alarms began to sound within. A tank, a newer models armed with a plasma cannon, fired in their direction, but Wrecker merely interposed his crowbar between himself and the oncoming beam. Once the energy bolt was spent, he fired back, the burst of orange magic slagging the tank even as it tried to hide behind an artificial dune. Another tank tried to run Bulldozer over after nailing him with an AP round, but the bulky villain just shrugged off both impacts, instead smashing his way entirely through the tank, pulping metal and men alike.
By the time they reached the gates of the laboratory proper, several companies of troopers had readied for them. At once, the men began to fire at the Crew with small arms and even crewed weapons, never even attempting to call for a surrender. Wrecker only laughed as he returned fire with his crowbar. A single blast of power melted through the defensive barriers that the soldiers had used for cover, and the soldiers themselves. All that remained were piles of blackened ash in the wind.
Piledriver leapt in amongst the remaining men, grabbing and crushing limbs and then tossing away the bodies attached to them in every direction. He howled in laughter as he mowed through the pitiful defenders. All of them reveled in using their powers like this, and after the past few weeks of needing to run away from the Custodes Mundi at every turn, it felt so good to let loose.
Bulldozer, meanwhile, continued on, completely ignoring the attacks directed at him, including even an RPG round that crashed into his side. Much like the tank had previously, this only served to knock him slightly off course before he barreled into the complex. In no time he was in one side and out the other, next crashing into a security administration building before tearing out the other side. The whole building began to collapse almost immediately. As the others spread out and moved to massacre the soldiers and the scientists both, Thunderball made his way towards their real target.
OOOOOOO
At the same time that Loki fought Harry and his team in Germany, the rest of the Custodes Mundi had been on standby. Once it became clear that Loki had appeared on his own, regardless of initial reports, those who remained stayed in Babylon, hoping that the Wrecking Crew would finally make a mistake.
This patience finally paid off while Harry and the rest were still busy detaining Loki and helping the locals. Pinoptes' voice boomed out into the gardens, where nearly the full team of the remaining Custodes Mundi waited, snapping all present to attention. The AI had been helping Sir Dennis watching for any activity worldwide and had spread out his feelers throughout the Internet and thousands of local networks. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have another hit! This time it is undoubtedly the true Wrecking Crew, given that the powers they are throwing around would otherwise be incredibly difficult to replicate. They are attacking a military base near Metz, France, known to house some of the country's high tech weapons laboratories. It is perhaps of little surprise that their target would be a nation which never allowed Lord Potter to come in and put down wards."
With Harry gone, Storm naturally took charge of the team, and with barely a glance, set off towards, the rest of the Custodes dutifully following. Moments later they were exiting the space station, diving down into the atmosphere on magic carpets. As they descended, they used the carpets disappeared from normal sight.
Reaching the French Institute, the the first supervillain they caught sight of was Thunderball, standing outside a building with several bodies lying around him. One of the others, probably Bulldozer, had clearly smashed entirely through one building through another and then continued on. The destruction wrought a straight line from just outside the military complex into its interior. The sound of gunfire drew their sights to the base's barracks, where Piledriver was smashing his way through a company of troopers. They were still firing at the super powered villain, but Piledriver was immune to most of their weapons. Realizing they were no threat, he moved to smashing through what appeared to be the base's main armory. All the while, Wrecker stood nearby over the wreckage of a tank that had been pushed out of a nearby hanger.
Storm was the first to announce her presence, a heavy thundercloud swirling into existence above Thunderball and a spell taken from Harry's book sent towards Bulldozer even as she began to give out orders crisply. "Standard operating procedure, ladies and gentlemen. Sharpshooters stay on overwatch and support, everyone else, we'll close and engage as necessary. I will open up the party."
The Reductor curse crashed into Bulldozer as he stood in the center of a group of defenders charging towards them. The blast hurled him away, and Storm coolly ordered Colossus in, keeping him away from his would-be victims before turning her attention on Thunderball. "Husk, with Ghigau. Magma, head down and get some walls between the Crew and the survivors. Cannonball, keep Thunderball locked down before he can pilfer from any other buildings."
Having made to shout that he'd found the part they needed and that he'd already teleported it out via the small teleport beads they'd been using to send the ill-gotten gains away, Thunderball instead could only let out a loud cry of agony as he was struck by what amounted to enough lightning to power a small city. "ARRGGGHHHHHHHH!" The strike sent him stumbling to his knees, his body helpless but to spasm as he snarled between pain-clenched teeth. "FUCK! The Custodes are here!"
And that was when Thunderball found himself bodied from the side by Cannonball, who almost picked him up and hurled him over some of the remaining buildings. "Round two, ya jackoffs!"
Wrecker and Piledriver, who'd been closer together as they destroyed another random building in order cover their tracks, in terms of what they had really been after when they were attacked by the Custodes. Under cover courtesy of Coyote and Uzume, Husk and Ghigau closed, coming down from their magic carpet and appearing in midair above the supervillains.
Unfortunately at the last second, Wrecker caught a glint of metal in the broken reflection of the window he'd just smashed. Instantly, he turned, blasting out with his crowbar. The wave of power caught Husk midflight, hurling her away.
However, he completely missed Garm with his next strike as shots from Ghigau took him high in the face and shoulder. He stumbled back, but she quickly closed in turn. A kick from the power-armor-wearing woman nearly ripped his crowbar from his hands, and Wrecker yelped as a short, stabbing dagger nearly took him in the eye. "Fucking hell!"
His boss occupied, Piledriver was left on his own for a moment until Garm barreled right into him. Knife-like fangs tore into supernatural cloth, and fangs bit at his throat. "GaaHah! Fuckin' Jeezus Christ, where'd this beastie come from?!" He yelped, feeling the large wolf's claws raking at him, drawing blood as they carved through his empowered costume.
A following bite barely missed his throat, but did succeed in tearing free his necklace of beads, scattering them everywhere. Incensed, Piledriver grabbed Garm around the neck, slamming the large wolf into the ground and then around into a wall. "Fuckin' die, beastie!"
Through it all Garm snarled in turn, clawing and snapping, seemingly unaffected by the brutal treatment. This was, in fact, the case. Although stronger than the average Asgardian, Piledriver was by no means any real threat to the Guardian of Niflheim. Indeed, it was only by virtue of the strength and positioning of Piledriver's grip around Garm's neck that was keeping the wolf's fangs from his own.
"Magma, Coyote, Uzume, keep Thunderbird under cover. Colossus seems to be handling Bulldozer well enough for now, but Husk, support him just to be sure." The blast from Wrecker had hurled the Southern girl towards where Bulldozer was fighting it out with Colossus, which Storm, still flying above the battle, had seen. "Warpath. Thunderbird, pile on Piledriver and Wrecker. I will pull back for now and throw up the anti-teleport wards we've been working on. Hopefully they will work to keep these monsters from running again."
No sooner had Storm finished speaking than Warpath crashed into Wrecker, his dual hatchets nearly knocking the supervillain's crowbar out of his hand for a second time. Wrecker growled at realizing this, whirling around to bring his crowbar crashing into Warpath's side. Instead, the Native American warrior blocked the strike with one of his hatchets, his other seeking his opponent's neck.
Wrecker barely dodged the blow and bull-rushed forward, blocking a follow up double-ended blow from the twin hatchets with his crowbar. But the strength of the other man surprised supervillain, the blow nearly sending him to his knees. Before he could collect himself, a fist flashed out and into his stomach, doubling him over with a groan of pain. A second later Warpath's knee snapped up into Wrecker's face with enough force to shatter his nose, hurling him backward.
Elsewhere, Thunderbird joined the fight against Piledriver just as he'd hurled Garm into another wall, collapsing it onto the wolf as Piledriver leaped clear. Running on instinct alone, the blonde man barely turned in time to block a punch from Thunderbird before he pulled the other man into a punch of his own, sending the Custodes reeling. AGarm pushed himself out of the rubble and bit into Piledriver's kneecap from the side. The force of the otherworldly wolf's bite easily snapped bone and tore through skin, nearly severing Piledriver's leg clean off.
Piledriver went sprawling with a shriek of agony. Taking his chance, Thunderbird's clapped his hands against the sides of Piledriver's head, deafening the supervillain and nearly shattering his skull. Before Piledriver could even hope to recover, Garm released his leg and launched himself airborne. Slightly reinforced faux-Asgardian neck quickly found itself under assault by the wolf of the Goddess of Death, and it was found wanting. Without a qualm, Garm snapped his head to the right, tearing out Piledriver's throat in a burst of red ruin.
Blood up, Thunderbird turned to take in the battlefield, bellowing a warcry and launch himself away towardswhere Wrecker had turned the tables on his brother.
Thunderball, meanwhile, had found himself on a nearby rooftop after two more bruising passes by Cannonball. Although the Custodes' strikes could hurl the supervillain around—his weight hadn't changed overmuch in his magical form, so they hurled him around more then the strikes actually hurt, just like Thunderbird or Husk's blows. The difference was, Cannonball couldn't land consecutive hits quickly enough for his attacks' overall damage to build up.
So it was that Thunderball, while rattled, was still somewhat cognizant of his surroundings when he witnessed Piledriver get his throat torn out. That gory sight shook the man badly and he screamed out, "Oh fuck this!" Grabbing at one of the beads on his necklace, he crushed it, disappearing again, this time without even caring where he was going.
Bulldozer looked up blearily from where a punch from Colossus had hurled him. One of his arms was broken, a lucky grapple from the metal-skinned bitch, and his supposedly impervious upper body armor was smoking and sizzling from the lava the glowing cunt kept throwing at him. Bits of it had even melted off due to her sustained assault. Seeing none of his crew, and feeling another of those evil Flubber bullets smack into his armored head, leaving him blinded, panic overwhelmed any remaining feelings of loyalty to Wrecker. Desperately, Bulldozer grabbed at one of his last beads between two fingers. Shattering it, he disappeared in turn.
Nearby came a cry of pain as Storm , writhed from the magical feedback of her ward breaking twice over under whatever powers Loki had enchant the transportation beads with. She barely kept herself in midair, her mind thrumming in agony.
While Thunderball and Bulldozer fled, a screaming redskin had caught Wrecker by surprise, smashing him off of his feet before he could finish off the the other savage he'd gotten the better of, having swept the younger man's feet out from under him. Instead of bringing his crowbar down on a head, Wrecker had found his own head smashed into a wall, followed by the rest of his body. Groaning, Wrecker slumped forward, his lips and teeth just able to reach a bead on his necklace. Maneuvering it into his mouth, he chomped on it, disappearing.
Glaring at where Wrecker had laid, Thunderbird ground his teeth. It took a considerable amount of self-control to push down his anger at allowing three of their four opponents to escape. Eventually, he was able to regain himself, and turned to his duties. "Custodes, sound off!" If Harry's able to take Loki in custody, that means those three can only do this so many more times before we get them all.
"I will try to follow them." Ororo's voice came over the communicators a second later as she recovered from the blinding pain the breaking wards had caused her. "Garm, Ghigau, with me. The rest of you, start helping the locals with rescue efforts. Magma, Thunderbird, you're both in charge."
From where Wrecker had knocked her for a loop earlier, Ghigau turned and saluted the other two leader types, reflecting that the number of leader-types they had made for a very flexible structure at need. A moment later, she joined Garm, who was muttering about needing, "Either a good steak or a large peppermint to get the taste out of my mouth" before Ororo raised them both into the air before they disappeared.
Unfortunately, once more, the Wrecking Crew—or at least its surviving members—had used multiple teleportations to cover their tracks from any pursuit. Two out of the three had left decent amounts of blood at their first destinations, but both had been able to move on quickly enough to not be caught.
Realizing pursuit was once again impossible, Storm quickly returned to France. The rescue and triage efforts welcomed her aid with gratitude, her magic the only thing at hand that could possibly save the most severely wounded among them.
One out of four would have to do for now.
OOOOOOO
It took several hours, but Emma and Charles were eventually forced to admitt defeat as they stared at the unconscious form of Loki with looks of frustration on their faces. "To say his mind is protected would be too great an understatement. There are so many different layers occluding the inner Loki it is like looking at a matryoshka doll. One is artificial though, oddly out of place and reminiscent of the defenses Reed and Tony have created to block telepaths."
"Well at least we can remove that one," Amelia announced from where she'd stood during the diagnostic, nodding to Una. "But it'll take days to make sure we find all the bits."
Nodding in agreement, the Kree nurse flicked her fingers and a computer screen enlarged and flashed up onto a larger screen to one side. Those present had gathered within the asteroid prison complex that had originally held the Hulk for this meeting slash examination. No one wanted Loki anywhere near Camelot—or anywhere else in the Empire to be frank -until his mind was completely clear of Shadow Gunk, as Jean put it. Unfortunately, what appeared on Una's screen showed how difficult such a goal would be to achieve.
To put it simply, Reed and Tony's psychic defensive measures came in two forms: either as a single chip installed at the base of the brain or as a helmet. What had been done to Loki was entirely different even though the result had felt the same to the telepaths. Instead of a single piece of hardware, hundreds of tiny nanite-sized chips had been scattered throughout the Asgardian's brain, creating a network of anti-telepathic signals that defended Loki's mind from outside intrusion.
"And what you're seeing is just the top layer, and that's part of the problem," Amelia murmured. "Even if my mutant ability lets me figure out where they are, I would still have trouble removing them all because they're so damn small and layered. Phasing takes endurance, more than I've got for something like this all in one go. Right now I could maybe remove half before needing a break. Give me eighteen hours or so though, and I can promise to do the whole thing."
"And then I could begin to remove the magical protections," Stephen added, raising a glowing hand. Harry had never gone into the mental disciplines of magic, so he'd called the Sorcerer Supreme, and surprisingly Madame Harkness, in just in case, a precaution that proved all too necessary. "My scans revealed there is a deep enchantment on Loki's mind to defend it from intrusion. Given our experience with them, I can tell without a doubt half of it originated from the Shadows, but… half is… well, I think that whatever was originally there had come from Loki himself. It's odd to see, but since it's powered by Loki's own soul, it had to have been consensual to a certain degree to be placed there and remain so deeply entrenched for so long. I think those memories that young Dani reported Sigyn's soul to be guarding are far more than we originally thought…"
"Huh… okay then. Good to know. That being said, let's see if we can get anything more out of him before we go the Dani route."
Hearing Dani hiss at that, but shook his head at her, pointing at Fenrir where he lay beside her in his minor form, and then jerking a thumb towards where Hela stood leaned against the wall. "I presume that if we let your blood mingle with Loki's, Sigyn's soul will do the rest. However, we don't know what that will do to you or how long it'll take, or what that will do to the memories Loki has made since he first came under the thrall of the Shadows. While they'd already been ripped from her, Hela permanently lost the memories between when she first met me and when we met once more in her realm. I won't take that chance here. We need information, Dani, far more than anything else right now."
"Tsk," Dani grumbled, eager to free Sigyn from her bondage within Dani's blood. But ultimately she understood Harry's wisdom, and bowed formally to her jarl to indicate such.
"Good," Harry said, smiling faintly at Dani's over the top action, knowing it was a way to poke fun at him. He looked to the others. "Shall we wake him up then?"
"Ooh, allow me," Hela chortled, striding forward.
Seeing the wicked grin upon the goddess' lips, the others backed away quickly. Unopposed, an arc of magical lightning formed around Hela's hand. The next second, she touched Loki lightly upon the chest.
"GYAAAHHHHHHAAA!" Loki howled, jerking upright, eyes blowing wide. Hela guffawed, twitching away from her patriarch as he flinched and writhed in pain. Thankfully, the god was durable, and quicker than expected he recovered his wits. Once more in control of himself, Loki stared at the people around him. He tried bringing his hands together but failed to do so due to the chains around his wrists. He might've thought to try magic as well, but he somehow knew the cuffs on him would stop that from happening.
If this bothered Loki, he didn't allow it to show upon his face or body language. Instead he smirked at them all congenially. He waved one hand deliberately, causing his chains to clink.
"Ah, well now, that was a most unpleasant way to wake up and I've suffered through Thor's ideas before. So is this the part where you torture me in an attempt to discover what I have been up to or why I'm here? That would be annoying, and somewhat out of character I suppose. But given that wake-up call I can no longer ignore the possibility. Or will you try to force answers out of me through passive aggressiveness? If so, I would like to request a pillow of some kind. I prefer to sleep through such stupidity," Loki addressed, his voice directed towards Harry. For the moment, he decided to ignore Hela entirely and deliberately.
"We already know what you're after. We already know that you're not working alone. We even have an idea of your overall goal," Harry said, dismissing each possibility in turn, his arms crossed as he stared back at Loki. "Details would be nice, I won't lie, but not necessary. Though, we are wondering if the Chitauri are the only ones you're working with,"
Stephen held up the Eye-Binder, the strange, many-eyed ball on its chain, tilting his head toward Loki in a small a bow of professional respect. "And I wished to say that this piece is magnificent," the sorcerer said, gesturing to the artifact. "I can feel the enchantments woven into it, and yet only vaguely understand the underlying principle. If you could create something like this, it makes me wonder what else you could do if you turned your attentions to advancing the understanding of magic instead of self-aggrandizement."
Loki bowed as much as he could, but said nothing. The smirk on his face was composed of equal parts pride and hauteur. "Flattery doth fall nicely upon mine ears but will gain you nothing in the end sorcerer."
"Hah!" Hela snorted in response while Stephen shook his head.
"Why are you working with the Chitauri?" Harry questioned, tone demanding. "I can force feed you a potion that will get me my answers, but it's a last resort kind of thing given its side effects." This was a lie, obviously. Harry didn't know if Veritaserum would actually work on an Asgardian, or if there would be any side effects at all. But such a lie would
"So unless you want to deal with wearing an adult diaper for a week or puking soprano while your skin goes through all colors of the rainbow, I suggest you start talking. I will take pictures and send them to the Asgardians ahead of extraditing you to them. And just so you know, you will find your fellows much changed since you were last home."
Gulping at the gravely delivered lines, Loki stared back at Harry, almost taking the wizard seriously. Then, he smiled wryly. "Never try to trick a trickster, Potter. I have no reason to believe you. And I do not answer to you. For all your power, you are but a mortal, a human. I. Am. A. God! I answer to no one and nothing, my own whims the exception."
"What utter ravings is this? Answer to your family, you lout!" Hela barked, moving forward with a deadly glare, Fenrir beside her. Both had lost their tempers for a moment at that last statement. "Do you have nothing at all to say to us? Or can you not even remember that you had children at all?"
"You are the daughter of a political marriage, dearest Hela," Loki sneered, not giving either child the respect of even looking at them. "I'll admit you turned out as much less of a mistake as anything I sired through Angbroda, but surely it should not come as any shock to you that I do not consider us truly kin? Or has this mortal and your ridiculous relationship with him turned your mind to mush with his blatherings? As for that beast beside you, who would acknowledge something like that as their get? Only another beast surely."
Next to Hela, Fenrir snarled viciously, but Harry managed to hold them both back with some difficulty and liberal use of his weighty aura. After a moment, Hela subsided, stiffly stepping away. "So that is it then, is it? You have none of the true Loki's memories, only twisted creations of the Shadows to drive their playacting. I do not know whether to pity you or hate you further for your harsh words."
"I speak merely the truth my dear," Loki answered, smirking even as his mind skittered at the repeated assertion that there was something manipulating his being. Nothing controlled him!
"That you do. You say you do not answer to mortal powers?" Harry asked, his emphasizing that one particular word finally causing Fenrir to stop trying to pull out of his grip as everyone else there started, staring at Harry in surprise. "So then, who do you answer to?"
Loki instantly clammed up, glaring heatedly at Harry. That was answer enough, and Fenrir snorted amusement at the revelation. "Someone more powerful clearly, someone so strong it scares him. I can smell his sudden fear, it reeks!"
"Well its not a Demon Lord, obviously," Stephen mused." Those fell creatures can no longer enter our realm, nor would they think to work with the Chitauri."
"Hmmm. So… either a god of some kind or… or a Titan," Harry murmured, his eyes widening before becoming hard as stone. "Thanos. FUCK!"
Harry's cursing went on for moment more, with quite a lot of feeling. Eventually he calmed down enough to ask, "But is he coming with only the Chitauri, or does he have more forces this time?"
Again Loki refused to answer. Harry, no longer willing to play around now that the stakes had become clear, got straight to the point. "Veritaserum it is then."
Harry gestured, and Fenrir was on Loki before anyone else could move, bearing the Asgardian to ground despite only being the size of a grizzly at the moment. His jaws gnashed at the air right in front of the suddenly horrified and terrified Loki. "You look mighty tasty father! My hunger might not control me any longer, but I can make an exception for it with you!"
"You—you would let this beast eat me?! After taking me prisoner? This is insanity! A blasphemy! I thought you all were heroes," Loki shouted, his fear pealing back any sense of the suave, confident mask he'd been wearing.
"We are, but we're also realistic and effective ones. And I'm not going to actually let Fenrir eat you Loki, I shudder to think what that would do to his digestion." Or his mental state, or Hela's, Harry added internally. "No, like I said, we're going to do this with Veritaserum."
Unfortunately, this would not go the way Harry had hoped. While Loki didn't show any negative reactions and the truth potoin did seem to take hold judging by the Asgardian's glassy eyed and blank expression, trouble began when they actually started asking questions.
"I—I—Aaarrgggh!" Loki shrieked, arcs of magic flowing up and down his body as he convulsed. Blood burst out of his mouth and eyes, and Loki slumped to the floor and groaned as if someone had stabbed him.
"Shit!" Harry cursed, he and the others pulling back. "He's under some kind of geas, a contract to keep Thanos's secrets or something. Damn it!"
A purging potion was quickly poured down Loki's throat, in case just having the Veritaserum in his system was enough to keep the geas active, and Una and Amelia went to work to keep the tortured Asgardian alive.
While they began their work, Harry turned to the others. "That was a nearly complete wash. We learned very little, but it'll have to be enough. I think it would be prudent to assume Thanos will be coming for us from more than one avenue of attack at least, even if the Chitauri provide the bulk of his forces. While they are working on Loki, let's get out some messages, orders too. I want the EDF fleet to be away within an hour, the Ravens and the few Verdun satellites we have up and running as soon as possible. We're going on full wartime footing people. Unless… does anyone have any ideas on how to find the three remaining members of the Wrecking Crew?"
There were no answers to this, and as Stephen and the still silent Madame Harkness watched over Loki, the others soon broke off to give out their new orders.
OOOOOOO
EWrecker and Bulldozer stared at Thunderball in anticipation,; the disgraced scientist nearly finished putting together the primary beacon. "Well, will it work?"
"There was never any question of this one working. It was the ones that we had to build from scratch that were the issue!" Thunderball grunted, heaving up the radio dish and pointing it directly above their heads. "But, according to the blueprints, those should work the moment this one comes online and starts beaming them power."
Moments of tinkering later, Thunderball looked over at the other two, a frown crossing his ace. "It's done. But you do realize that once we do this, there's no going back. We'll have to be on the winning side to get out of this with our hides intact, and we'll have pretty much betrayed all of humanity."
"Oh cry me a fucking river," Wrecker snorted, shaking his head and gesturing for the man to continue. "It's either death or life in prison, or a life of power and wealth. That's no choice at all. Do it."
Smirking at the completely expected answer, Thunderball shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the controls of the main beacon that Loki had brought along in his ship for just this purpose. "It just had to be said, that's all."
With that, he pressed a few buttons, and power rose through the man-sized device in front of him. A moment later, that power appeared to boil over, lancing up from the antenna to the radio dish then into the air. The solid beam of energy disappeared midair, entering the space between dimensions, a small signal flaring out to those who were watching, waiting.
For several seconds there was no response, and just as the remaining Wrecking Crew began to wonder if they'd been duped by the ever duplicitous Loki once again, along the same line that the beam had created as it carved through the air, a jagged gash appeared. It was as if someone had created a snapshot of the sky, and then jabbed a hole through it into the darkness beyond before ripping the hole into a tear. A blast of some kind of energy reverberated back through that jagged gash down towards the main beacon, impacting it and then shattering into shards that zoomed out towards the secondary beacons that the Wrecking Crew and Loki had created over the past few weeks. Those beacons too began to open as they received power, portals tearing open above them.
The sky over Washington DC darkened, clouds broiling. The sky over the capital of Paris cracked open, causing horror among the populace. A city in Russia, a city in Hungary, another in China. And out of these holes in reality poured the Chitauri, each contingent accompanied by one of Thanos' lieutenants.
The force that through the main beacon's tear was far larger than the others, however, and was led by Ebony who rode a strange giant monster-fish-thing. Once through, Ebony used his vast telekinetic powers to lower himself towards the main beacon. His ever-present frown deepened at the presence of the three Wrecking Crew members, his head listing to one side in annoyed confusion. "You three are not Loki. I take it the fool recruited local aid in his endeavor then?"
"That's right. He promised us positions in your government after you all take over," Wrecker responded with a growl, Thunderball and Bulldozer stared up at the forces amassing above the very out-of-the-way mountainside that the primary beacon had been moved to.
"…" For a moment, Ebony was silent, and then a wave of telekinetic force crashed into all three criminals, bearing them to the ground as if they were no more than normal humans, and weaklings at that. The sheer pressure was crushing enough that it drew gasps of agony from all three, and for once Wrecker's crowbar did nothing to the energy pressing down at them.
"You do not demand such things of me, or my Lord Thanos, you insignificant insect. You showed a good grasp of the reality of what is facing your planet by aiding Loki yes, and for that you will be rewarded by being on the winning side. Serve well during this invasion, and you will live to be given further rewards. But do not speak like that to me or any other direct disciples of Lord Thanos again. Understood?" Ebony announced calmly, as if this were an everyday chat.
Wrecker grimaced but nodded his head as much as he could, as the others. The pressure let up, and the telekinetic gestured, all three of them rising into the air. Helpless, the now floating criminals followed Ebony as he rose upwards, where the forces of the Chitauri were still spreading out, half of them putting down portions of what looked like a pre-prepared installation of some kind. "Excellent. Come with me then, and we will rid this world of the enemies of Lord Thanos!"
OOOOOOO
Aboard the Skrull Great Armada sitting a few lightyears away from the Sol System's Oort Cloud, others were reacting to these events as well. A sensor specialist on the flag bridge announced, "Sir, the signal has been given!"
"Excellent. Signal the fleet, go to combat footing," Fleet Overlord Len'dok ordered. "Five minutes from now we will jump in system and engage the human defenders. Is Lord Thanos planning to go with the fleet, or has he decided to go ahead with the Chitauri?"
"His last indication was that he would be joining the Chitauri's second wave, sir."
"Good. This will be much easier without him breathing down our necks. I hope. For the glory of the Skrull Empire!"
OOOOOOO
An hour had passed since Loki's own magic had tried to kill him, and he was now sitting up in bed, most of his wounds healed bar one of his eyes, which was still bleeding a small amount. "I… I take it the side effects were worse than anticipated? I suppose I should be thankful you saved me, although I doubt you did it out of the goodness of your heart."
"Hah. No. Not at all. We just don't think you can actually answer our questions at all," Harry shook his head before smiling wryly. "So we have decided to go another route entirely. We're going to remove you from the board, so to speak. Trust me Loki, if what we've learned about the real you is accurate in any way, you will thank us for this later."
Loki's eyes widened as he tried to parse out once again the assertion that he was not himself. Mind instantly rebelling, he began to thrash in place, but Harry ignored that. Instead, he turned to Hela. "Blood to blood, yes, Hela?"
"Indeed. If memory, soul, and self are to meet, twained blood must mingle," Hela announced, before smirking at her father. "I would say this would hurt us more than it will you, Loki Laufeyson, but I would prefer not to perjure myself."
"Wait! What—what are you talking about!?" Loki squawked but before he could do anything more than wiggle in place, Fenrir had bitten down on Loki's hand before ripping back, tearing open the back of the appendage and backing away.
Touching Fenrir's back gently, Danielle, hitherto hidden, moved forward. Silently, she raised the dagger Skadi had given her, the one which had replaced Sigyn's Gift. From behind the budding Valkyrie, Skadi herself watched with interest. With no sign of pain, Dani sliced open her palm, clamping her now bleeding hand onto Loki's, mixing her blood with his. "Someone very much wishes to speak to you, Loki, and I think you are going to want to hear what she has to say…"
That was as far as Dani got before alarms suddenly began to blare throughout the prison asteroid, Pinoptes' voice coming with the klaxon. "Sir, you'd better return post haste. Earth is under attack, and it's as you feared. It isn't just the Chitauri. The Skrull are here too, a full Battle Fleet. And worse, there seem to be super-powered individuals leading the Chitauri."
Harry looked around, locking worried gazes with the women around him. The invasion they had all feared was here.