The disturbance Kronos created upon breaking free was staggering—apocalyptic in scale.
A thick, pitch-black layer of clouds blanketed the West Coast and half the Pacific. A column of smoke and dust erupted from a thousand meters underground, spewing outward in a frenzy. Dirt choked the air. Lightning split the sky. It looked like the end of the world.
The Cabin in the Woods base was almost completely destroyed. Not many of the prisoners had managed to escape, though—the temporal power radiating from Kronos's body had erased them.
Werewolves, vampires, ghosts, zombies—every last one of them had their time drained in an instant. The werewolves' life force simply vanished; their corpses crumbled to powder the next second. The vampires held on one second longer before their curse-sustained existence winked out. Even ghosts—incorporeal spirits—had the grudge energy sustaining them scrubbed clean by the force of time.
Casualties were beyond counting. The God of Time was not an enemy that modern weaponry could contend with. Anything within the radius of his divine power died on contact.
Mercifully, Kronos couldn't have cared less about the human ants beneath him. He lingered for fewer than three seconds before vanishing from the spot.
Bella cast a teleportation spell and brought Natasha, the elf Kailin, the fifteen Pegasi, and the male unicorn straight to Arendelle. The sight of familiar buildings and familiar subjects finally let her exhale. The premonition of death beforehand had been overwhelming; she hadn't dared delay for even a heartbeat.
Natasha's experience was quite different. She hadn't felt the same existential dread. The teleportation had been smooth, her constitution was strong enough to spare her any discomfort, and now she was studying Arendelle's medieval architecture with open fascination—the stonework, the furniture without a single modern feature in sight. She kept clicking her tongue in wonder.
Hm? She spotted a beaver waddling into view. Her first thought: That one's pretty plump. He'd make a nice hat.
Mr. Beaver froze under the weight of her predatory gaze, let out a panicked squeak, and dove behind a chair—only his round, fat rump visible.
"This is fun!" Natasha grabbed Mr. Beaver by the scruff of his neck and hauled the pitiful creature out. The more she looked at him, the harder it was not to laugh.
"Nata, leave Mr. Beaver alone. He's a friend of mine," Bella intervened.
Her dear little sister immediately switched to that bewitching, deceptively innocent smile of hers. She pointed at her own nose and introduced herself to Mr. Beaver: "Hi there! I'm Natasha. Nice to meet you."
Poor, simple-hearted Mr. Beaver beamed like an idiot. Beside him, Mrs. Beaver—wearing her apron—whacked him with a ladle.
Bella's palace was modest. She didn't plan to live here full-time, so the furnishings were fairly spartan. Even with a mountain's worth of treasure at her disposal, she hadn't bothered decorating.
As they walked through the halls, she introduced Natasha to the little animals and her subjects.
"That's Miss Squirrel. She's a bit timid, so please don't bully her."
"This one... this is Mr. Turtle. He moves slowly, yes, but he has tremendous courage. Last time I fought the White Witch, he led the charge."
"Ah, and over there—that's the Centaur General. My top commander. He's in charge of the capital's security."
The female unicorn—who had been treating Bella with the perpetual resentment of an abandoned wife—caught sight of the rescued male and underwent an instant transformation. From resentful spouse to lovestruck mare in the blink of an eye. The two unicorns galloped eagerly into the forest to do their part for the continuation of the unicorn species.
Unicorns and horses had similar gestation periods: a little over three hundred days. By this time next year, little Elsa would most likely have a baby unicorn to play with.
The elf Kailin thanked them for saving her life and pledged to serve Arendelle for one hundred years.
Bella tasked her with organizing the Pegasi into a Pegasus unit. Fifteen was far too few, so the priority was encouraging the Pegasi to breed.
Bella had originally planned a whole series of events—a proposal, a coronation, the works. The ceremonies were nearly ready. But Kronos's emergence had shaken them both, and what lingered was not fear so much as worry. If Kronos remained in the material plane, Bella would have to seriously consider evacuating her family and friends to Arendelle.
There was no appetite for grand romantic gestures. After a brief stay, the two of them returned to Earth.
Approaching the Cabin in the Woods site with extreme caution, Bella scanned the area thoroughly. No sign of Kronos anywhere. She could only conclude the god had already left Earth.
With Natasha taking the lead and Bella providing support, they began treating the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel who'd survived the catastrophe and helping with the cleanup.
It would inevitably raise questions—why were you two conveniently passing by?—but they hadn't hesitated when lives were at stake.
They helped with search and rescue, helped contain the escaped creatures, and evacuated the wounded to a nearby town. There, they organized the survivors and townspeople to repel a mixed assault force of shapeshifters, giant serpents, and Bigfoot before Victoria Hand finally arrived with reinforcements.
By the time Bella received word that "Comrade 006" was behaving strangely, three days had already passed.
Bella had granted 006 enormous authority as Weyland's CEO. For a corporation of that caliber, leasing a floor of the Empire State Building and renting Central Park to build a "shelter" were expenses that barely registered—nowhere near the threshold that required notifying the company's shadow owner.
006 handled Weyland's day-to-day operations. The projects crossing his desk routinely ran into the hundreds of millions. He had an entire team of specialists from every conceivable field at his disposal. While his subordinates had noticed he was acting a bit off, the paychecks were generous, so they carried out his orders to the letter.
In Hollywood, plenty of stars travel with not just makeup artists, assistants, and bodyguards, but professional companions—people whose entire job was to drink with you, listen to you hold court, or simply ride the wave of whatever mood you were in. Easily a dozen at a time.
America was a country with no shortage of wealthy eccentrics. Leasing an entire floor of the Empire State Building to establish a "divine kingdom"? Renting Central Park to build a "shelter"? People had done far more outrageous things.
As long as you could pay, nobody batted an eye.
The person who alerted Bella to 006's abnormal behavior was 007—the recently retired, ready-to-spend-his-twilight-years James Bond.
An agent of that caliber always kept a few cards up his sleeve. Bella had been careful, but certain tells, when examined by a trained eye, left lingering questions.
007 followed his spy's instincts and made the call to Bella.
Bella teleported to New York. Finding 007 wasn't difficult.
"Miss Swan, it's a pleasure to meet you. Alec is my friend—or at least he was, once. His current situation is quite peculiar. I felt it necessary to inform you."
007 sat in a wheelchair, both legs amputated below the knees. His career as an agent was unquestionably over.
His composure, however, remained intact. Even without his legs, he maintained that effortlessly charming smile.