The people below were the first to see the sky change.
The Sentinel formation had spread across several kilometres of Albion's coastline, hundreds of machines descending through the clouds while others raced ahead at low altitude, deliberately scattering rather than concentrating upon a single objective. It was the logical choice. A single formation could be intercepted, surrounded, and destroyed, while dozens of smaller groups could force the remaining defenders to divide themselves again and again until something inevitably slipped through.
The Enforcement Knights rose to meet them regardless.
Golden light flared across the countryside as the artificial soldiers of Camelot hurled themselves into battle, intercepting the first machines long before they could reach the towns and settlements below. Magic flashed through the sky, arrows tore through metal, and broken Sentinels fell trailing black smoke behind them, but the machines had not committed hundreds of units because they expected all of them to survive.
They merely needed enough to get through.
One formation broke past the first defensive line and split apart immediately, six Sentinels diving toward a nearby settlement while the others continued farther inland. Another group changed direction before the Enforcement Knights could intercept them, flying low enough that hills and buildings obscured them from distant defenders. More followed behind, constantly adjusting their movements in response to every knight sent to stop them.
For perhaps a minute, the Sentinel intelligence might have believed its calculations had proven correct.
Then the clouds split apart.
Rainbow light descended from the heavens.
Not a single pillar, nor even a handful, but dozens of great columns of colour reached down from the sky at once, striking across Albion with thunderous force. Windows shook for miles around, the earth trembled beneath every impact, and brilliant light washed across the countryside as the Bifrost opened again and again.
Every Sentinel in the area reacted almost instantly.
Heads turned.
Sensors shifted.
Weapons changed targets.
Across the invisible network binding the machines together, information flowed toward the central intelligence faster than any human mind could have followed.
Unknown deployment.
Unidentified military force.
Energy signature recognized.
Asgardian.
The first pillar of light faded.
Thor Odinson stood at its centre.
Mjolnir was already held in one hand, his red cloak snapping violently behind him in the displaced air left by the Bifrost, while an enormous grin spread across his face as he looked upward at the hundreds of machines filling the sky.
Behind him stood Lady Sif and the Warriors Three, each already armed and prepared for battle. Beyond them came the Einherjar, rank after rank of Asgardian warriors stepping from the fading light with shields raised, weapons drawn, and expressions that showed considerably more excitement than fear.
More Bifrost columns vanished across the surrounding countryside.
More Asgardians remained behind.
The Sentinels had spent weeks studying the defenders of Midgard. They knew the weapons of humanity, the powers of its mutants, the limits of its heroes, and even the strange magic of Camelot well enough to create specialised countermeasures against them.
They knew almost nothing about the army now standing before them.
Thor lifted Mjolnir toward the heavens.
"FINALLY!"
His roar was almost as loud as the thunder that answered him.
The clear sky darkened in an instant.
Clouds gathered where none had existed moments earlier, rolling violently across one another as lightning flickered within them, and then Thor brought Mjolnir down.
The heavens answered.
A bolt of lightning wide enough to swallow a Sentinel struck the first machine directly, tore through it without slowing, then leapt into another and another until half a dozen machines fell from the sky as burning wreckage.
Thor laughed.
Then he flew.
He struck the next Sentinel before it had properly adjusted its weapons toward him, Mjolnir crashing into its chest with enough force to fold the machine around the hammer before both disappeared into the formation behind it. A moment later, lightning erupted from within the mass of metal bodies, scattering machines in every direction as Thor tore his way through them.
Nearby, Fandral stared upward as burning pieces of Sentinel began raining down across the fields around them.
"For weeks," he complained while casually drawing his sword. "For weeks I have listened to him complain about not being allowed to fight, and now we shall never hear the end of this."
Volstagg let out a booming laugh as he hefted his weapon onto one shoulder. "Then fight quickly! Perhaps we can exhaust him before he returns home."
"I have attempted that before," Fandral replied with great seriousness. "It does not work."
Hogun had no interest in joining the conversation. By the time Fandral finished complaining, he had already started forward, his weapon raised as the first Sentinel descended toward them.
Sif merely shook her head at the others before following.
Then the Asgardians charged.
The Sentinel came down firing.
A weapon built into its forearm released a concentrated beam that had previously torn straight through armoured vehicles, but the first Einherjar in its path simply raised his shield. The impact drove him several feet backward across the earth, boots tearing deep trenches through the soil, yet when the beam faded, the warrior remained standing.
His shield smoked.
The warrior looked at it, frowned at the newly formed mark upon its surface, then looked back at the Sentinel.
Apparently offended, he charged.
The machine attempted to fire again, only for an Asgardian spear to strike it through the shoulder and tear the entire weapon arm free. Another warrior struck from the opposite side, and within moments, the Sentinel disappeared beneath half a dozen Einherjar who hacked it apart with the efficiency of men who had spent centuries fighting creatures far more dangerous than anything built upon Midgard.
That scene repeated itself across the battlefield.
The Sentinels were not harmless.
Their weapons could injure some Asgardians. Enough concentrated fire could kill them, and the machines were intelligent enough to realize this almost immediately.
But there was an enormous difference between being capable of killing something and being capable of fighting an army of them.
Even the freshest Asgardian warrior had far more training and experience than any living human, so naturally, they were more than capable of avoiding getting hit more than once.
Sif moved through one group of machines with the ease of someone performing a familiar exercise, her blade cutting through joints and weak points while she used the machines themselves as cover from one another. Fandral fought with considerably more flair than efficiency, dodging attacks he could likely have survived merely so he could answer them with increasingly elaborate sword strikes.
Volstagg simply hit things.
It was remarkably effective.
One Sentinel attempted to grapple him from behind, only for the enormous Asgardian to seize it by one arm, twist his entire body, and throw the machine hard enough that it collided with two others in mid-air.
"Ha!" Volstagg shouted, seemingly delighted with himself. "Did you see that?"
"I am desperately trying not to," Fandral replied as he ducked beneath a beam and drove his blade through the machine responsible.
Above them, Thor continued turning the sky into a storm.
The Sentinel network recalculated.
Again.
And again.
The new variable was catastrophic.
There had been no Bifrost activity connected to the conflict during the previous weeks. No movement of Asgardian military forces had been detected, no Asgardian warriors had appeared beside the Avengers, and despite Thor's known connection to Midgard, even he had remained absent.
Every available piece of information suggested Asgard would not intervene.
The conclusion had been reasonable.
It had simply been wrong.
Now an army capable of waging war across the Nine Realms had appeared directly in the centre of the Sentinel intelligence's largest offensive, deployed without warning to exactly the location where it had committed more forces than anywhere else on Earth.
The machines adjusted almost immediately.
Sentinel formations attacking other regions of Albion changed direction first.
Then machines farther away began doing the same.
Across Europe, Sentinels broke away from smaller assaults and turned toward the coast. Those flying above the Atlantic altered course. Even some of the forces attacking locations elsewhere in the world began abandoning their original objectives.
The network had discovered a new threat.
Naturally, it intended to eliminate it.
...
Steve watched the change happen across the screens before him.
One by one, hostile markers that had been advancing toward cities, laboratories, mutant settlements, and military positions began changing direction. Not all of them, but enough that the pattern quickly became impossible to miss.
"Captain," one of the operators said, surprise clearly audible in his voice, "Sentinel formations are breaking away from New York."
Steve's eyes remained fixed upon the larger map. "Where are they going?"
"East."
Another operator spoke almost immediately. "Same thing in France. Two formations just abandoned their targets."
"Mutant settlements in Ireland are reporting the same," Charles added from nearby, his eyes still closed as he maintained contact with people spread across several nations. "They're pulling away."
Steve already knew where they were going.
"Albion."
The first operator checked his screen before nodding.
"Yes, sir."
A small smile appeared upon Steve's face.
"Let them."
Charles opened his eyes and looked toward him. "They will concentrate upon Asgard."
"I know."
"And if enough of them gather?"
Steve glanced toward one of the live feeds coming from Albion just in time to see Thor disappear into another formation of Sentinels beneath a burst of lightning. For perhaps two seconds, nothing could be seen except white-blue light, then shattered metal began falling from the sky.
"I think Thor will survive."
Charles watched the same feed for another moment before the smallest smile appeared upon his face. "Survive? Undoubtedly. The Sentinels? I doubt it."
The redistribution of Sentinel forces continued.
It was exactly what Steve had hoped for.
Every machine moving toward Asgard was one no longer threatening civilians somewhere else. Every Sentinel that abandoned a Stark facility removed another reason for Tony to turn around. Every group that broke away from a mutant settlement made it easier for Erik to continue toward the central core without wondering whether his people were dying because of his absence.
The Sentinels were still reacting intelligently.
That was perhaps the most satisfying part.
They weren't making stupid decisions.
They were making perfectly rational decisions based upon incomplete information.
And Loki had ensured that information remained incomplete until it was too late.
"Another formation is changing course," one of the operators announced. "Approximately ninety units currently over southern Europe."
Steve nodded. "Let them go."
"Captain, there are still attacks ongoing elsewhere."
"I know."
"We could use reinforcements."
"And you'll get them."
The man looked confused, but Steve had already turned toward another channel.
"Your Majesty."
Loki answered almost immediately this time.
"Captain Rogers."
"How much can Heimdall see?"
There was a short pause.
"Are you questioning his eyesight again?"
"I'm asking whether he can track Sentinel formations outside Albion."
"Captain Rogers, Heimdall is currently watching machines change direction on the other side of your planet. He has been complaining that they are making this embarrassingly easy."
That was useful.
Steve looked toward the map as another group of Sentinels appeared over a heavily populated region.
"Then I need thirty warriors moved to—"
"Already done."
Steve stopped.
On the display before him, rainbow light suddenly appeared exactly where he had been about to request reinforcements.
A second later, the Sentinel formation found itself confronted by a fresh group of Einherjar.
Steve stared at the screen.
Loki sounded pleased with himself. "You were saying?"
Steve sighed. "Nothing."
"I thought so."
It was irritating.
It was also extremely effective.
The Bifrost turned Asgard's army into something the Sentinel intelligence had never had to account for during the war: a military force that did not need roads, aircraft, ships, portals prepared in advance, or even proximity to the battlefield.
Wherever Heimdall could see, Asgard could appear.
Sentinels attempted to resume an attack upon a mutant settlement and found a Bifrost column descending in front of them before they arrived.
Another group turned toward an industrial centre, only for Sif and several dozen Einherjar to vanish from Albion and reappear directly in their path.
A much larger formation tried to move toward New York.
Steve barely had time to identify it before Loki spoke through the channel.
"I believe this one requires something less subtle."
"What are you—"
Rainbow light swallowed Thor.
He vanished from Albion.
Less than a heartbeat later, another Bifrost column struck somewhere far across the Atlantic.
Steve looked at the corresponding feed.
Thor stepped from the light, looked up at the approaching Sentinel formation, and grinned.
Steve rubbed his forehead.
"Loki."
"Yes?"
"You could have sent anyone."
"I did."
"You sent Thor."
"Exactly."
Steve decided, once again, that arguing would accomplish nothing.
The Sentinel intelligence recalculated.
Again.
Its forces changed targets.
Asgard changed positions.
The machines concentrated.
The Bifrost scattered the defenders.
The machines scattered.
The Bifrost concentrated them again.
For the first time in many weeks, the Sentinels had encountered something they simply had no time to learn around.
Perhaps, given another month, they might have developed countermeasures.
Perhaps they could have found some means of detecting the Bifrost before it opened, created weapons specifically designed for Asgardian physiology, or developed strategies capable of exploiting weaknesses in Heimdall's sight.
But they did not have another month.
They barely had another hour.
The Nexus was under attack.
Their central intelligence was being approached.
And every attempt to force that assault to stop was collapsing around them.
"Captain."
Steve looked toward the operator who had first reported the assault upon Albion.
The man was staring at the global display now, his earlier tension replaced by something close to disbelief.
"The attacks are failing."
Steve studied the map.
The red marks that had covered so much of it were rapidly thinning. Some had vanished entirely, destroyed by the forces waiting for them, while others were still moving toward Asgardian positions only to disappear soon afterward.
"Casualties?" Steve asked.
"Still coming in, but far lower than expected."
"And Albion?"
"The main offensive has collapsed. Remaining Sentinel groups are either retreating or concentrating against Asgardian forces."
Charles looked toward Steve. "Then their diversion has failed."
Steve nodded.
That was what all of this had been.
A diversion.
An enormous, bloody, intelligent diversion intended to force the people inside the Nexus to choose between continuing the attack and protecting everything they cared about.
The Sentinels had made the correct move.
They had attacked the places their enemies valued.
They had struck at Stark's people, Reed's home, mutant settlements, population centres, and Albion itself. They had correctly identified the emotional weaknesses of everyone involved and applied pressure where it would hurt most.
They had simply failed to account for one thing.
This time, there were enough people to protect all of it.
Steve activated the Nexus channel.
"Arthuria."
The response came almost immediately.
"Yes?"
"They've made their move."
"And?"
Steve looked toward the feeds coming from Albion.
Thor was somewhere beneath a sky filled with lightning, Asgardian warriors were advancing across the countryside, and Sentinels that had terrified much of humanity for weeks were being driven back by an army they had not even known would enter the war.
Elsewhere, Bifrost columns continued to descend wherever the machines attempted to create a new crisis.
And somewhere beyond Midgard, Loki Odinson was no doubt already deciding exactly how this would be described when the skalds recorded the day Asgard descended to defend the realm.
Steve allowed himself a faint smile.
"It didn't work."
There was a brief pause.
Then Arthuria laughed softly through the channel.
"Good."
(End of chapter)
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