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As part of the initial statements he'd made for keeping Bruce in his own prison instead of handing him over to Canada, he had stated Bruce would work for the Canadian government to make reparations for the damage and deaths he had caused when under the control of Thanos. Since then, most of the damages had been repaired, so what manner of reparations would be accepted was something Bruce and the Canadians would have to work out. With me as a broker. Sigh. Oh, for the days of action and adventure with none of this leadership shite.
Explaining that, Harry watched as Bruce nodded, looking thoughtful, perhaps already thinking up ideas in that direction as Harry went on. "And I don't think we want to send you back to the United States either, lest some fool gets it in his head to arrest you for giving away government secrets or if Ross and his ilk still have people free to act on that whole Super-hulk soldier program thing. One can never truly predict the idiocy of government agencies."
Charles chuckled at that, while Bruce nodded, indicating he understood." I'd actually like to go to work with you in the meantime. Charles has told me that you have of all of your think tanks, many of which I could join, I think."
"My mansion's former nurse, Dr. McCoy, has also put in a request to be transferred to one of those think tanks. He had a bit of a problem with admitting his mutant heritage, but we helped him through it," Charles admitted. "And now with Moira Mctaggert there, we really don't need two immensely overqualified people."
Harry nodded, told Charles to send the resume over, and he would send it to Carol, who, despite not really adding much to the think tank, was still his go-between with it. and between the think tank and the EDF too. "As for you, happy to have you aboard, Dr. Banner."
"Happy to be aboard, I just hope that this ship is large enough," Bruce joked, and Harry laughed.
OOOOOOO
While meetings and romance were the order of the day on earth, Loki and Thanos were staring at a series of images on the distant homeworld of the Skrulls. "What exactly is this? I demanded the 14th and Grand Fleets submit to my control, or I would attack them. Instead of a straight answer, they send me what looks like a video recording and a data packet, along with this message."
Those two fleets were the Grand Fleets, the Skrull equivalent of the Kree Battle Fleets, stations on the far side of the Skrull Empire. They were both being led by one man, Fleet Overlord Len'dok. The man's message simply read, "My reasoning for not responding will be revealed within."
At first, Thanos had assumed it was a trap or some kind of trojan horse, some program that would impact the local computer networks. But it wouldn't. Instead, Len'dok had seemingly just sent him this data package and assumed it would be enough to assuage Thanos' anger.
"One does rather have to give the man points for courage. He did everything he could to make this seem strange and odd to get your attention while also making no effort to obey your commands," Loki quipped. "The effrontery, the gall… the mystery. Perhaps we should view the information within before making any decision, hmm?"
"While your attitude annoys, your advice is unfortunately good." Thanos waved his hand, and one of the videos contained within the data packet began.
It was a battle recording taken from the video camera connected to a random trooper, bouncing around as the man in question fired at a building at the far end of a street in a city somewhere. The street was a wide thoroughfare, matching most of the main roads in every other Skrull city Loki had seen. However individualistic each city might be in terms of local architecture, almost all Skrull cities were laid out with the same road network.
Around the trooper whose video recording they were watching, other Skrull soldiers moved in tandem. Three of them charged forwards, holding large shields, while behind the group, others moved into cover, providing covering fire. The ones holding the large shields pulled up what looked like grenade launchers. Several of the buildings to either side of the street began to take damage from grenades launched through windows and doors. A blast of actinic energy flashed from some unseen heavy weapon, lancing down range at a distant target.
At first, the enemy these troopers were fighting couldn't be seen in the confusion of the recording, but then, as a series of gabled orders were shouted out in Skrull, there was a screaming sound. A second later, green energy beams began to flash back towards the Skrull troopers.
"What is this unit doing the fighting?" Thanos mused, leaning forward with interest. And green plasma energy, much more than compressed than most infantry weapons too. Or is it plasma at all?
The recording had paused as he spoke, and one of the nearby Skrull Potentates, cowed completely by Thanos and his troops, answered quickly. "Those soldiers are part of the 14th Grand Fleet's surface component, I believe that is the group called the 19th division. They are a mixed combat arm division, with tanks, artillery, mechanized infantry and regular infantry all in one. No Specialized soldiers, however."
Thanos grunted in acknowledgment, and the video resumed, and one of the plasma bolts struck. It punched through one of the trooper's armor, killing him. A second later, fire came from several of the buildings which had been attacked already, while the soldiers returned fire. But then a shout came from someone to the side of the video. "Above! Kli'ak, Ta'vor, turn and engage!"
At that order, the man whose recording this was shifted, pointing upwards, his rifle firing as he did, blasting upwards and killing a creature. A creature that Thanos had never seen the like of before, which he voiced.
The creature in question was large and looked like a reptilian crossed with a bug of some kind. It had a short, whiplike tail, only one pair of arms, and hands which looked prehensile, but which ended in long claws. It had no neck to speak of, but a large head, with dozens of sharp teeth set in a thin, triangular face with wide eyes set to either side of their head.
Once more the video had paused at Thanos' question, but this time there was no answer, and Thanos waved his hand, growling, "Continue and do not stop unless I say so."
The listening computer, an artificial stupid, answered instantly in the affirmative, and the video started up once more. The creature died under the bolts of plasma from the trooper, who fell back to a roared order, overheard by the pickup. "Fal back, fall back, we're in danger of being enveloped by these creatures, curse it!"
Another voice broke in, this one more contained than the first. "Lieutenant, pull back. Your position is being flanked by a large force of the creatures. I'm calling in artillery onto your position and fifteen fulon either side."
The odd term made Loki blink, but he automatically translated it to 'degrees'. So the artillery would cover a certain radius around the position where this recording is occurring.
Moments later, as the video taker ran, Thanos asked where this video was being taken, remarking aloud that, "The video should really be telling me that, the trooper's name, and his parent unit as part of the recording. Something to look into in the future, should you Skrull have such a thing."
As the video went on, it took a few minutes to see any landmark that could be used to denote this planet out of the thousands the Skrull controlled. It was the sight of a bright purple ocean between two buildings that gave them a clue, one that stunned many of the still-living potentates watching the recording with Thanos. "That, that is Broang! It is one of the 14th's main anchorages and a major trade hub. What is going on here!?"
Thanos quirked an eyebrow at that and turned his attention back to the video as it shook, the trooper falling to the ground. For a few moments, all was static. Then the video began to clear up again, the trooper crouching while firing into the dust created by the artillery shells. Several of the buildings around him had been destroyed by the artillery bombardment, but a few still stood.
The video continued, with more of the creatures appearing. Evidently, the artillery barrage hadn't killed many of them. Suddenly, there was a hissing sputtering sound, and the trooper turned, shouting out a curse in his language, as something had just smashed into the train tank behind his company.
"Fall back! Fall back!" came the order once more, as the watchers saw three more tanks dying, drilled like white-hot nails had smashed through them, making each of them look like Swiss cheese.
The retreat was not to be. As the troopers retreated, more creatures appeared behind and to both flanks. These, however, looked almost like the original creature mated with a Skrull. "Kill them!" One of them shouted in perfectly acceptable Skrull. "Kill them for the brood mother! Claim this planet!"
"What… what is this…" one of the potentates muttered.
"Most intriguing, for certain. Some kind of parasite race, perhaps," Thanos mused.
"It seems likely. And these animal-like aliens are both fast and strong," Loki added, smirking slightly behind one hand. "Stronger than a normal Skrull soldier, anyway."
Soon the trooper whose video recording they had been following fell, blood covering the video from some wound to his head or upper body. At that point, the video shifted to another battlefield, occurring outside the first city in what looked like already shattered and blasted suburbs. This video was from an artillerist's perspective, as he shouted orders to his guns. They began to lob barely contained balls of lightning into the city as direct fire attacks, while other guns flung out large shells. The shells split in the air, landing as multiple munitions across the city.
However, the artillery blasts didn't continue for long in that vein, as shouts of alarm began somewhere out of sight of the recording. More strange mixed breeds appeared behind the artillery line, attacking the army units dug in around the big gun. Most of them were mowed down, but the artillery had stopped, some of them even turning their guns in that direction.
The true threat came from the city. Large creatures appeared there, smashing several buildings, charging towards the guns. It was a massive version of the previous creatures, with more arms, which ended in slicing scythes. But otherwise, it looked pretty much the same. They even sounded just as intelligent, hissing out something that sounded like orders to a dozen smaller versions on its back as it charged forwards.
One of the artillery guns ranged on the first beast in sight quickly. The balled lightning tore off several of its arms, halting the creature, but not fast enough. Because behind it came still more.
The artillery went to rapid-fire as best they could, hitting many of them, and the infantry battle began. But more of the shape changed creatures came from either flank, pushing in on the military forces, and then, the image changed once more as the previous trooper fell. He fell, his video recorder facing the sky. More green-scaled creatures were flying down towards them, dragonfly-like wings on their backs.
The next scene was obviously taken from aboard a ship. A security officer was standing in a doorway, firing at other creatures of similar make but a different color scale, as they came on. His weapon's fire bounced off some of them. these enemy units were gray in color, while others wore something that looked almost like body armor as they closed. "For the Brood!"
The first view from the fight inside the ship went down, to be replaced by another, a guardsman again. Unlike the first one, this one stood in a prepared defensive position. A bulwark was set up in front of him, with several others alongside them.
The team of four fired their blasters as the enemy came on, but soon enough, one of the other creatures came close enough to lob what looked like a grenade over the defensive barricade. It flashed, and the video ended for a second before beginning again as one of the brood creatures leaned down into the pickup.
Slather was falling from its mouth, and its teeth wiggled in its mouth like that of an eel. Leaning down, it opened its maw wider and bit down, tearing away a chunk of the man on the ground. He began to scream and continued to do so as the creature fed.
"My, that was disturbing," Loki observed, smirking slightly as he leaned back, listening to a few potentates retching nearby while keeping his own gorge down with difficulty. In terms of violence, Loki had seen far worse before. Eating your enemy alive was a new one to him, though. That smacked of Draugr to him, a thought that made even Loki shudder.
"I as well," Thanos admitted, although if he was bothered, there was no sign of it as he scratched his large square jaw and chin thoughtfully with his one remaining hand, grimacing as he felt some of the scars. "Still. Show rest of the data on the disk."
The computer instantly understood, and once more, the biological data of the Brood creatures appeared. But the audio, when it began, did not describe the information shown. Rather, it was the voice of the man who had sent this odd missive to the potentates and Thanos.
"Lord Titan Thanos. My name is Fleet Overlord Len'dok, and I lead the 14th Grand fleet. Or I did until several of our anchorages were destroyed and the ships stationed there taken." He rattled off three names to go with the one already mentioned, then said, "Several other anchorages have fallen into the Brood's hands intact. As such, I only have one more anchorage to my name as my sole supply point."
"Before that, when the planets like Broang went silent, I sent portions of my fleet stationed elsewhere to investigate while gathering the rest from their various defensive positions to respond to what I felt was a plague or some kind of civil disturbance. When my ships found the anchorages fully online, we investigated and found civil unrest. But it was a trap, and the ships sent to many of the anchorages were lost to these Brood creatures, these creatures who have infiltrated us!"
There was a murmur of equally astonished and insulted tones from all around Thanos, who had to let out a chuckle at the irony. Loki was also chuckling, the whole idea calling out to the trickster in him.
"I have lost more than a third of my Grand Fleet in attempting to reclaim these anchorages. And now I'm in a fight against still more insurrections caused by these Brood creatures and the captured fleet vessels. As such, I am in no position to bring my fleet to join the Grand Armada, Lord Thanos."
At that, Thanos, wry smile turned into a scowl. The fact of the matter was, he had been unable to gather as much of a military force as he had expected from the Skrulls. For one thing, unlike the Kree, the Skrull's defenses didn't rely just on mobile units. Instead, they had created several defense platforms, from small hyperspace mines to the largest space fortresses, like the one he had destroyed on his conquest of their home world.
And the admirals of the fleets facing the Kree had flatly refused his summons. Fear of their old enemy overrode fear of Thanos.
Now, Thanos could smash them. But doing so would remove chunks of the very military strength he wanted to use. So he had allowed them to remain where they were and had even helped turn back a Kree foray, crushing one of their own battle fleets to dust between the greater numbers of his own ships and that of the Skrulls. This freed up some of the numbers Thanos needed and further tied the Skrull to him.
But he had counted on the two fleets under Len'dok to make up his numbers, the numbers he would toss at the humans, Guardian and his other super-powered allies to wear them down. These two fleets faced the Skrull's border facing into the great unknown. This was an area of space that had yet to be colonized by any known race.
"Furthermore," Len'dok continued. "Given the timing on all of these assaults, and how much of the local population have been… turned, we have no idea how deep this rot spreads. There could be branches of this invasion on every planet within our Empire. I ask for both aid and that some scientific means of discovering who has been infected with the brood is found. This is Fleet Overlord Len'dok, signing off."
That last observation brought Thanos and Loki both upright, and Thanos then looked around at the Skrulls. "Indeed, how would we tell," Loki murmured, frowning thoughtfully.
Thanos was a genius in nearly every branch of science any being could name, and biology was not an exception. Muting the video, he read through the biological information quickly. "Hmm… the Brood, an excellent name for them. They emplace their seeds into an individual. Then, as little as a week later, the individual's body starts to change, which is affected by the Brood to become a Brood hybrid. Hmm, a psychic connection and a mental dominance too. No wonder the Skrull are having trouble."
Of course, that wasn't all he saw on the page of biological information. Speed, regeneration, strength, the Brood were well beyond what any normal Skrull would be able to deal with. The infiltration aspect too was important, and Fleet Overlord Len'dok and his forces had killed enough of the infected to let them run full scans of them, and it was quite disturbing. A change on the atomic level, changing the infected from 'Skrull' to 'Brood'. How long it took was up in the air, as was how fast the indoctrination worked on its victims.
"We will need a living sample, something we can scan and analyze of a an actual brood," Thanos mused. "Between that, and my own technical knowledge of biology and scanner equipment, I will be able to devise something that will be able to pick these Brood out from the masses."
He turned to the Chitauri leader. "Prepare half your fleet. The rest will remain here. Loki, you will go to the 14th expeditionary fleet with my own forces along with Ebony, Corvus, and Black Dwarf. I refuse to be stabbed in the back by these strange beings and so we will deal with them, although from what I've seen, they pose no true threat to me personally."
"Yes, master," said Ebony while Loki merely nodded his head. A thin alien of undetermined race spoke up for Thanos' other generals, Ebony was bald, with long fingers, pale skin and pure white eyes. Corvus was built along somewhat similar lines, but was from a reptilian race, with a pointed chin, incisors, and long claws. He preferred to go around with nearly skintight body armor complete with gauntlets, and a cloak. Whereas Ebony was armed with telepathic and telekinetic powers which were among the strongest Thanos had ever seen, Corvus, was
In contrast to the others, Black Dwarf's physique was similar to Thanos himself with wide shoulders, thick waist and powerfully built arms. A member of another reptilian race, Black Dwarf disdained armor, and wielded a massive double-bladed axe, and was something of a blunt object. Whereas Corvus used a glaive, and both he and Ebony were Thanos' chief strategists.
"My daughters, you two will also go. But your mission will be to capture one of these Brood creatures for me, bringing it back here. I want at least one live sample, and one body."
"Yes, father," came two voices, and Loki turned to look at the speakers, taking in the view with some appreciation. After all, for all that they were the adopted daughters of a madman, they were both beautiful. And despite a small voice in the back of his mind telling him it was wrong for him to do so, he was a man, and would take what joy he could in the sight before him. Honestly, would it kill them to wear something more sensual?
Both women wore what could be called form-fitting, futuristic leather jackets coupled with leather pants, with one being colored in tones of red and brown. Nebula was her name, and she was blue-skinned and bald, but despite being bald, Loki felt her body type was more appealing, being slightly more mature and seductive than the other sister, Gamora, her breasts and hips slightly larger, despite the fact she was about as fit as any soldier Loki had ever met. Gamora was a green-skinned alien woman, and her body was much more obviously that of a skilled warrior. Her breasts were smaller, her body taut with muscle and little fat visible.
They were both the same age and had been paired together occasionally to hunt down dissidents among the Skrull but seemed to dislike one another for some reason. Or at least seemed to when around Thanos. Loki, as an outsider, had long since decided that their animosity was false. How he would use that was in question, but perhaps he could somehow pit the two daughters against the generals? It would behoove me to think about that most closely. After all, while I am working with him willingly for now, Thanos and my future might not always lay in the same direction.
"We will be back within the week, Father. And we will take numerous samples just in case," Gamora announced.
Nebula glared at her for a moment before promising the same, adding, "We will not fail you!"
"And what will you be doing, pray tell?" Loki asked.
Thanos thought about striking the godling down for his temerity but decided against it. Instead, he smiled. "The Skrull have a super-soldier named the Super Skrull, who apparently has all the powers of the human group called the Fantastic Four. He was able to assume those powers and keep them permanently, although no other Skrull has been able to do the same. I will solve that issue, and so doing, give us a cadre of Super-Soldiers to hurl at Guardian and his allies." One way or another, my Lady will be pleased by the coming concerto I am preparing for her! This, I swear!
OOOOOOO
Unfortunately for Harry, his marital plans and hopes for some months to themselves, the next disaster had been building up for months. In a separate dimension connected to the Earth upon which Harry Potter and his people resided, Yggdrasil grew, its size beyond even the imagining of most gods, a tree that contained within its boughs several different worlds.
Yet a group of Asgardian gods was traversing it now, and no matter how large it was they were finally, after several months, reaching the area they had traveled to explore, among its lower branches and roots. Here sunlight was rare, bright blazing bits of fire flashing from the distant sun among the verdant, shadowy green. Unlike above, this area was a land of shadow, of darkness to the upper reach's light. And it was here where the dread wyrm Níðhöggr lived, gnawing at the roots of the world tree, growing mighty on its endlessly regenerating matter.
They should have been here more than a month ago given the speed with which even an overweight Asgardian could climb and move at need, several times that of nearly any normal human. But it was only in the past few weeks that they had begun to see true differences in the areas they were traversing through, seen real progress, the boughs growing thicker, then thinner, the sunlight disappearing almost entirely.
It was because of Skadi and Thor, though even the Huntress didn't know how to explain it, being but one of the two vessels through which Gaia had once more allowed the power of the Asatru faithful through. Ever since the day after the fight with the Ratatoskr weeks ago, Dani had felt something was different around them. And yet, she couldn't discern what. Then Harry Potter had gifted Gaia with the greater portion of the magic of more than several billion drained Dire Wraiths. Most of that magic had gone to her own ends, saving this species or animal, reviving that species of tree or moss or amoeba.
But the rest, Gaia had thrown behind the prayers going to Skadi and her son, Thor. For, like any mother, she would have her son and his fellows freed from their enforced slavery. And now had the power to do something about it.
One day, the two of them had been standing on a tree limb about to climb up, not down Yggdrasil's trunk to the branch high above them, when they suddenly saw this very thing plain as day. They had looked at one another, confusion on both their faces, then Thor had shouted, "Hold fellows, there is a time for japes and a time for serious work. This journey, for all that we might carouse and exchange skalds around the campfire, is a time for serious work."
Seeing the looks of confusion on Sif, the Warriors 3 and Tyr's face, Skadi pushed around Thor, who looked more annoyed than worried. He doesn't realize what this is then. "It's like before," she explained. "Before we fought the Ratatoskr, we were going in circles. Some foreign device, some fell magic is somehow inserting visions of falsehood into our minds."
Even Thor looked confused at that, but none of them argued as she went around to each in turn, tying them to her and Thor once more with what climbing rope they had left. The Huntress was in many ways the real leader of this party, at least up until they came upon their prey's hunting grounds. As each was tied to her, the understanding of what they had been doing came to them, and they frowned, the more wary among them realizing the same thing Skadi had.
"The Huntress is right," Hogun growled. The dour warrior hefted his club, made from a broken-off portion of the World Tree. "Once more, we have been captured in a veil of illusion. Once could have been but happenstance, an area of the tree ensorcelled to do such in some ages-old conflict from when Lord Odin searched for the Fates and Wisdom both. But twice? Twice to ensnare us so, to keep our feet from the proper path, and for who knows how long? That is enemy action."
"Verily, that was more words than I have ever heard you speak at one time, my grim friend," Fandral quipped, but he did so while scowling, an odd look on his mostly upbeat and handsome face. "Yet if this hidden enemy was twice able to capture us, then how so shall we protect ourselves from being so ensnared a third time?"
The others thought hard on this as they continued, but Skadi chuckled, a rare thing from her. "Ah, but you have me here. I am a Hunter, and what kind of Hunter would I be if I could be fooled by the same trick twice."
As the others looked at her, Skadi continued to smile. While outwardly her almost catlike eyes had not changed over much inside, power had slowly begun to build up within her for weeks now. And unlike with Thor, whose area of influence did not include hunting or stalking, Skadi's power made her a consummate huntress, as she had said, and it was those who hunted who worshipped her. Now that the power of her worshippers on Earth had built up to a point, she could see through the illusions trying to constrain her and would never be tricked again. "Let me but lead you to the battle, oh mighty wielders of oh so deadly weapons," she teased, "And you might hit the right target. Might."
The others laughed, but they were internally tense and wary as Skadi, apparently, led them down. They twitched at anything even slightly unusual around them. When they were not busy with climbing, Hands strayed to weapons and stayed there until called upon once more. Even Thor, for all his hard-headed self-confidence, was worried. After all, none of them were magic users. Only Thor had ever fought one in recent memory, the Sorceress he had initially been on Earth to drag back to Asgard. It hadn't worked out very well, which he remembered all too well. Worse was being completely dependent on Skadi for leading them.
Yet Those Who Watch in Shadow were stymied. While one of their anchors resided in Níðhöggr, that did not mean they could reach into the realm of Yggdrasil easily. They could conjure up illusions, but those illusions could now not break the will of Skadi, sustained by Gaia as they were. Indeed, even Thor, for all his lack of ability with magic or anything that could be used to find his way forward, was extremely hard-headed. If their illusions changed the area around them a bit too quickly or were too subtle, Thor would simply blunder through them uncaring. This was especially true now, with power from Gaia and the Faithful there filling him as it had Skadi.
And if they could not ensnare those two, they, in turn, would break the illusion on the others. The Shadows could still try to direct other creatures into their path, but that would only slow them with Thor and his fellows on guard.
They attempted just that three times, trying to see if they could wear away the added power Gaia, the pestilential whore, had funneled to her son and Skadi. But they couldn't. The connection between Midgard and Yggdrasil was too intrinsic to the great tree's being, and Midgard itself now had immense magical defenses from influence from other dimensions.
Skadi continued to lead them downward, ever downward. By that point, they could no longer send creatures after the godlings. No other animal would enter the area Níðhöggr roamed in. So now, the Shadows could do two things: just watch events unfold or empower their anchor more. However, that route was risky since they stood to lose any extra invested power if the anchor was somehow destroyed regardless. They were also very leery of any such 'direct' confrontation after they had lost in their attempt to retain control over Hela, thanks to the human mutants who had aided her.
So the Shadows did what came naturally. Like spiders in their web, they just waited to see what would happen, unwilling to risk themselves but unable to look away.
The Huntress led the party down into the darkness at the roots of the World Tree. Here, they started to see marks on the tree. At first, these were simple marks on the smaller roots, although each of these roots were like trees in their own right, growing out of the even larger branches and roots around them which they traversed like giant roads.
And now on those branches all around them were marks on the trees, long slash marks in the bark, scabbed over but still visible to Skadi. The others could barely make them out, even Tyr, who had the best eyesight of the rest of the Asgardians. But to Skadi, they were like a pawprint in white powder.
As they moved deeper, the roots also began to show small markings. As they continued downward, these marks grew in size until they were great slashes. Made of claws as large as a tall man's leg, they were still not deep, and Skadi felt they were made by something moving around the tree rather than trying to claw at the roots on purpose. But the size of the marks was enough to make more than one of the group leery of what was ahead of them.
Then they found the first real, honest bite taken out of the roots, and the groups wariness ratcheted up further. The bite was huge, a section of the root having been torn out by massive jaws, leaving behind ragged edges that, in the light of their torches, to be bleeding sap. And like the slash marks, these bites were not healing as quickly as they should.
"Tis said the sap of Yggdrasil was used to make the best of Lord Odin's own personal mead," Volstagg said, scowling as he stared at the bleeding, ragged gash. "Yet when I, Mighty Volstagg, do see it coming out like this, it seems too much like blood to my mind. It could put even one with my appetite off his drink… for a time at any rate."
"What think you, Skadi?" Thor asked, scowling as he fingered the hilts of his hammer. "Would our quarry be near? How large is its territory?"
Skadi was silent, staring around them, trying to penetrate the deep gloom of the trees. "Douse the lights." When her fellows all started to protest, she turned on them, her fury plain in her face, her words a near-venomous hiss. "Douse them now! You are killing our night vision, making this impossible!"
Sheepishly Volstagg, Sif and Fandral, doused the torches, wrapping each in a wet cloth. As they did, the group found themselves in a darkness that would make even a moonless night seem bright in comparison. But it didn't last. As the Asgardians' eyes became accustomed to the dark, the sap from the World Tree's wounds started to glow. Not brightly, but a diffuse dim green light, enough to see by, but not very well for most of them.
To Skadi, that was enough and what she saw was disturbing. She looked over at Hogun, the only other one in her opinion among their party who had the makings of a true scout and hunter. "What think you?"
He was kneeling down next to one of the slash marks, gently running his finger into and out of it, then along another one nearby, not touching the sap but feeling the depth of the mark, the heat of it. "Some of these marks are hours old, maybe even older," he said with a grunt. "But some of them are new. You can tell by the sap in them."
"And what think you of the size of our mighty foe, do you think it will be big enough to fill up mighty Volstagg?" Said Volstagg with a laugh thumping his stomach with one hand, trying to chase away the darkness with his usual braggadocio.
"The meat of a Dragon is said to be rare indeed, perhaps worthy of mine own beauty," said Fandral.
Sif shook her head irritably, kneeling down beside Hogun, looking him in the eye. "You were saying?"
"This looks to be the outskirts of his territory," Hogun said, gesturing around them. "And I would wager that…"
Whatever Hogun would have wagered was lost in a bellowing roar nearby, seeming to come from their left and below on another root. A second later, noxious fumes began to waft their way through the verdant green all around them.
It was as if someone had mixed poison with the coldest breath of winter ever known by man or god. When it touched, the tree's leaves faded and died or simply froze, shattering an instant later, the bark underneath becoming gray and marred. It started to heal itself an instant later, sap coming out of the new wounds where leaves had been, but it was clear that the fumes were doing some damage even so.
"Do you think it's close then?" Thor asked rhetorically, pulling his hammer out of his belt and standing ready to do battle.
The others all pulled out their weapons. But they were not as well-armed as they had been when they started this journey.
Skadi had made herself a new bow, but the wood was green, the string not of the best quality. Worse, she only had ten arrows tipped with steel remaining from those she had used during the battle against the giant squirrels, having been unable to find her used arrowheads. Beyond that, she had a simple hunting dagger.
Hogun had his wooden club instead of a metal mace, although there, the wood of Yggdrasil might help him. It was heavier and denser than most metals.
Astonishingly, Fandral had a backup sword he had brought along but no shield, having lost it in battle before this. Tyr had also lost his shield in one of the prior battles, although he had retained his sword come what may. Thankfully, Volstagg retained his giant claymore, and Sif and Thor still had their original equipment.
"I think that Níðhöggr knows we're here and I think at this point, who is hunting who is up in the air," Skadi murmured, stringing her bow with deft movements before placing an arrow on the string, laying out four more beside her as she hid herself in one of the deepest, darkest portions of the surrounding area, a gnarled area between two roots. "Be ready, friends," she whispered. "I know not what kind of predator this dragon is, but judging by its size, it is not used to feeling fear or concern for a potential enemy."
"Then we will teach it such," Volstagg said, slamming his hands together before lifting his massive blade in both hands, staring around them.
The others waited, spreading out to fight better yet still in a position to aid one another. Skadi was hidden in the center, along with Tyr, ready to fire in either direction.
For several minutes, all was still and slowly, the Warriors 3 and Thor began to relax, believing it was just a trick of the acoustics of the tree which had surprised them. Or perhaps the dragon regularly expelled its breath like that. Even Sif and Tyr began to relax, leaving only Skadi still glaring out into the darkness around them, as tense as her bowstring.
"A false alarm…" Tyr began right before Níðhöggr pounced.
How it had gotten so close to them without any of them sensing its movements was something that Skadi would castigate herself about severely later. For now, she had more important things to concern herself with. One moment, they were all wondering if they were jumping in shadows, and the next, those shadows were alive, coming at them from above with claw and fang.
Hogun was knocked flat instantly. He was held under one claw, having dodged just enough to not lose his neck or arms to the rending power of them but unable to get away from the paw beyond those claws. Fandral was smashed to one side, his head ringing from a blow from its tail, sending him to his knees. Sif and Tyr were both hurled aside from another blow, and with Volstagg out of position and Skadi scrambling away, only Thor stood against its charge for a moment, his hammer slamming out to meet its snout, only to be bashed aside as his blow merely angered the creature.
"By my father's beard, what is its hide made of!" He shouted, even as he rolled in the air to land on his feet nearby. And it was only now that he saw the true horror accosting them. Not for nothing was Thor known as the champion of the gods, and because of that, he did not quail at the sight as the others around him did.
Níðhöggr wasn't as large as many might have expected given the sheer size of Yggdrasil. Indeed, it looked only about two stories tall at the withers, if that. But it was long, at least a hundred yards long, maybe more. And it was also misshapen, almost diseased looking.
None there knew it, but this was a side effect of Níðhöggr being down here, away from the sun for so long and subsisting on only Yggdrasil's roots. While the tree had intense magical reserves within its wood, that magic was all nature magic, the magic of a living being. Certainly not the air or fire magic that Níðhöggr should have subsisted on as a dragon.
And there was also the taint to consider. Harry had fought Professor Quirrell, who had been keeping himself and the shade he remained alive by feeding on the blood of the unicorn, one of the holiest, intrinsically good creatures alive. And while Yggdrasil was not exactly good, it was only a tree after all, it was far holier than any unicorn.
The dread wyrm's scales were marred by moss the color of puss. It had six limbs, all of them with larger claws and paws than should've been expected, each of them a different length too. The dragon's head was also large in comparison to the rest of its body, with large, deep-set eyes, which seemed to glow with an eerie, almost sickly greenish glow, a horrifying imitation of the bright, vibrant green of Yggdrasil's sap.
The dragon's tail was massive, half as long as the rest of its body and marked here and there with stabbing spikes, the tail coiling and twisting this way and that as if it had a mind of its own, just waiting to strike. Its fangs were as large as a longsword, and dozens of them gleamed in the light of the luminescent sap, looking like they couldn't quite fit into its mouth, with slather dropping from the fell wyrm's mouth.
But the greatest change from before he had made his home in the roots of Yggdrasil was that Níðhöggr was now a true wyrm despite having once been a dragon: his wings were gone, having become weakened and then perhaps even scraped off. This left behind slightly shinier scales and a back spotted by large spikes, each of which gleamed sharp as daggers.
"What is this, I wonder…" the dragon's voice hissed, sounding almost as if coming from inside a deep cavern, reverberating the bones yet also somehow sounding high-pitched and exceptionally unpleasant. "Little god creatures coming to see mighty Níðhöggr? Well, if you have all tired of life, far be it from me to dissuade you, creatures of Asgard!" that voice said, its timbre changing abruptly from teasing and almost convivial to sharp and hateful. "All of you will die here, die and feed Níðhöggr!"
With that, his neck twisted, and he leaned down, opening his maw, intent on biting Hogun in half. However, not all of Níðhöggr's victims were stricken with sudden fear at his coming. Not at all.
"Have at thee!" roared Thor, slamming his hammer into the wyrm's side, causing it to grunt in pain and rear backward. "It is time to fight or die, friends! Rally to me!"
Sif was the first to reply. "For Lord Odin and Asgard!" she shouted, racing forward to try and stab into the side of the beast. But her blade didn't penetrate, and she stood there, her charge entirely stopped by the scales of Níðhöggr, and in return, one of his six legs lashed out. She ducked with a yelp, barely able to dodge. Her sword flashed up, catching the paw but not penetrating again even as she deflected the blow away from her.
At the same time, the beast's tail whipped side to side, only to be grabbed by Volstagg, who had dropped his claymore for a moment. "I think not! No mere drake is going to best the mighty Volstagg!"
For a second, his prodigious strength was able to stop the twirling, lashing tail and even pulled Níðhöggr back away slightly, releasing Hogun, who lashed out, not at Níðhöggr's paw or anything like that, but where the wyrm's claws met the paw. His club smashed down with deadening force on this weak point, and Níðhöggr shouted in pain. The dragon breathed down at Hogun with his breath weapon, intent on killing the presumptuous fool.
But Hogun was already rolling away, letting himself fall entirely off that root of the tree, trusting that there would be another root close enough so that he wouldn't kill himself in doing so. Hogun was correct, even though he did burst through several smaller roots before coming to a stop. When he did, Hogun smiled grimly and began to circle around the sound of the fight above, his mace still clenched in one white-knuckled fist.
Above Hogun, Skadi and Tyr had engaged now. Skadi had retreated upwards and now rained arrows down on Níðhöggr's head, trying to aim for his eyes or open mouth. That latter stopped being a target as she saw two of her arrows actually enter the wyrm's mouth and bounce off the interior. Meanwhile, Tyr closed in, slashing at the thing's side, trying to get behind Níðhöggr's legs or under the tail, where the scales seemed to be slightly smaller.
Níðhöggr laughed at Skadi's arrows even as he twisted to smash Thor to his knees with one paw and smack away Fandral with the other. "I chew upon the oh-so mighty Yggdrasil itself! If you thought your puny arrows could do more damage than its splinters could to the inside of my mouth, you are sorely mistaken, female!"
Cursing, Skadi shifted her aim. The next arrow hit the dread wyrm in the eye. But even there, her arrows couldn't penetrate. There seemed to be a film of some kind over the dragon's eyes defending the orb within.
"We're not doing any damage!" she shouted as Fandral came back into the fight. He leaped from one root to another to try to get above Níðhöggr, slashing at its side and back before sliding out of the way of a return slap down a root. Above him, a blow shattered the root he had been on, the luminescent sap splashing everywhere, giving more light to the battle.
"We must keep trying. Something has to get through!" Sif shouted from the other side, thrusting hard towards the exposed underside of Níðhöggr. The dragon had turned to attack Thor and Fandral. Yet Sif found her sword blocked by one paw as another slammed her aside, a claw cutting into her chain mail armor and opening a long but thankfully shallow cut along one side.
"No," Níðhöggr growled dryly as he lashed out at Sif again, ignoring the attempt of Tyr to attack his tail with Volstagg, smashing them both flying with that same appendage. "something doesn't. Now, if you could all just stay still and die, that would be magnificent."
"I say thee nay! You will not have the life of fair Sif this day!" shouted Thor, racing forward and slamming his hammer down with all of his mighty strength into the side of the foot that was about to slash Sif into cutlets. This blow actually did some damage, smashing and breaking the joint there, the paw now hanging limp.
Níðhöggr howled in real pain now and hopped backward with a speed that belied his size, and a second later, his two forwardmost claws smashed into Thor, sending him flying and cutting his chainmail armor to ribbons, opening long gashes in his chest. If it had been any of the others, those blows might well have ended them, but Thor was reckoned one of the strongest of his people for good reason, and he merely groaned as he crashed into another root, sliding down into the darkness.
"The joints, we must aim at his joists! Go for thrusting or blunt damage!" Skadi shouted before taking another shot at one of the eyes. Then faster than anyone could follow, Skadi launched two more arrows to hit the same mark. The first two arrows shattered. But they did do some damage to whatever glass-like film. Skadi's eyes, which could see as good in this gloom as in the light of day, saw a crisscrossing pattern appear on the eye as if the covering had been shattered there.
Tyr's attempt to stab the beast's foot failed, the point of his sword being unable to penetrate. Then Volstagg was striking at the thing's other side, followed by Fandral attacking it from behind. A second later, Hogun appeared out of the darkness beyond the battle, slamming his club down on one of the spikes sticking out of the thing's tail.
But none of those attacks had penetrated even the weaker portions of Níðhöggr's armor. Instead, Frandral lost his blade, wrenched out of the Asgardian's hands as Níðhöggr twisted around, while Tyr was sent flying by another blow. Hogun was able to dodge a blow sent his way, though in doing so, he slipped off the root they were fighting on, disappearing below the battlefield once more. His head barely peeking up from where he pulled himself out from a similar fate, Thor watched a wounded Sif get smashed aside with one paw. The next second, Fandral and a leaping Hogun were borne to earth by the dread wyrm's front paws.
Níðhöggr roared in triumph, leaning down with his mouth wide open, his breath appearing like a vapor around the sides of his maw. But then Tyr was there racing forward and using all his strength to slam a makeshift spear into the side of Níðhöggr's neck. Even that mighty blow failed to penetrate, but it forced Níðhöggr's head to the side and stuck there. The spear, like Hogun's weapon, was made from a branch of Yggdrasil that had been broken in one of their earlier fights. The point had been hardened slowly over the course of many days in the fires of their camp, making something as hard as steel while retaining the holy properties of Yggdrasil's wood.
Seeing the spear sticking out of Níðhöggr's neck right next to a broken arrow tip from Skadi's attack gave Thor an idea. After all, there were several metal things sticking out of the wyrm at this point...
With that thought, Thor began to whirl his mighty hammer from its leather cord, gathering his energy. For Thor was not just the god of the common man, defender of Aesir and human and wielder of Mjollnir. He was also the god of lightning. With a roar, Thor brought the hammer down, slamming it into the branch of the world tree that Níðhöggr was crouched on over the bodies of Hogun and the Fandral. A blast of lightning lashed out from the head of the mighty hammer, slamming into Níðhöggr's head.
If it had just been lightning, it would not have harmed Níðhöggr much. But all the metal bits stuck in Níðhöggr's scales acted as conductors directly into his body. Thus bypassing his scales, the lightning started to do some damage, causing him to cry out in pain.
The instant Níðhöggr's mouth opened in a scream, Tyr took immediate advantage, pulling out his spear and thrusting up into the thing's mouth. But even through his pain, Níðhöggr saw it coming and twisted his head aside, the spearpoint puncturing into the membrane to the side of his maw, punching through there instead of up into the slightly weaker segment at the top of his mouth.
Then the mighty wyrm twisted its head and dragged both man and spear into the air, hurling them through the roots to crash with bone-breaking force against the main trunk of Yggdrasil. Tyr gasped in agony and flopped, almost boneless to another root far below.
But for a moment, Níðhöggr was distracted by the spear through the side of his mouth and the agony of the lightning. It screamed angrily, leaning down and trying to get at it with its paws, but its claws were not exactly created for detail work like this.