Thor

Norway, Lofoten Island, December 4th 2033AD - 14:43

A fresh white plume of smoke drifted from his lips and merged with the mist of his warm breath as his cigar cast a soft glow over the map laid out upon the table before him. A budget of 237 billions dollars a year and this run down, dimly lit shack was all S.H.E.I.L.D could put together on short notice? Fury cursed under his breath and another puff of smoke rose into the frigid air and his thick gloves hugged his arms. Even with his survival suit beneath his heavy black snow suit this weather was torturous, a kind of chill that cut straight to the bone and froze your nerves. He turned as he heard a young corporal laugh. "Too cold for you, sir?" The youth laughed, sitting upon a stack of crates, his gun lazily slung over his shoulder as his parka was zipped up to his chin. A fresh faced young man just transferred in from the Army.
Fury scowled as he rose a hand to remove his cigar from his teeth. "Watch your mouth boy, or you'll be digging yourself a grave for warmth out there in the cold come night fall." Others laughed to see their leader willing to joke during such dire times.
"Watch yourself Nelson, that dog may be old but it can still bite with the best of them," Natasha Romanoff smiled from beneath her snowy white coat as she nestled in between an ammo crate and a sergeant. Her hood pulled up about her face, only a few bare wisps of red fell over her forehead. "General, shall we get on with the briefing?"
Fury gave a soft nod as his ominous shadow danced upon the map as the old wire light swung in the icy breeze pushing through the cracks in the walls and door of the dilapidated shack. Taking a pen from his coat, he pressed it's tip to a small black dot atop a hill. A soft hum filled the room as a three dimensional image rose from the map, Fury's men came closer to encircle the image.
"Their main defenses are focused to the southern shores so Team A and I will make our entrance to the west, Natasha, you and team B will enter exactly five minutes later from the north. By then I expect to have complete control of the air to ground tower and the communication hut, understand?" Fury gently trailed his pen along the lines of attacks he dictated, leaving soft beaded trails in its wake leading from their small shack to the large military base to the south.
A crisp, 'sir yes sir' was delivered by each aside from Natasha who simply gave a nod, her hands rose and she slipped her hood down. A black survival suit just barely visible as its collar hugged her neck, it's synthetic fibers designed to retain as much heat as possible in such harsh conditions. Much like Fury's own suit worn beneath his coat it kept perfect watch over her vital signs, core temperature, and pulse. If anything were to happen to Natasha, her suit and S.H.E.I.L.D medical personnel would know well before she herself did.
"What do the projections show, General?" She spoke with a soft eloquence and fluidity, a voice of honey, both feminine and strongly sensed that often made Fury subconsciously weary of allowing her to be the only woman in a strike force of 22 men.
"Resistance will be heavy after the first three minutes or so. These men are running low on supplies and have likely not eaten or slept much in days awaiting more supplies from home. Computer analysis project few causalities on our side. I expect zero. It also projects a full take over of the air strip in twenty minutes time, I want it under S.H.E.I.L.D control in fifteen, understand?" Fury lifted his pen and the projection faded from the map, leaving only the trails drawn upon the hologram embedded into the map.
"Yes Sir," Each man said in turn as Fury slipped his pen back into his pocket and knocked the ash from his cigar upon the edge of the table. "Good, be ready to move out at 1700. Remember it check your lights, sun down is at 15:12, try not to miss it, it will be the last time we see the sun for a good while,"

So much had changed, Fury sighed as the briefing ended and the men began to depart and return to their business. Pulling his hood up and stepping outside into the snow, wind nearly whipped the door from his hand and the wind bit into his face harshly. He grimaced as he looked over the once magnificent view. This war had done so much to the world, but never had he thought it would go this far… never before had anyone imagined the effects it would have upon the earth itself. As far as the eye could see snow blanketed the earth, beyond that lay miles of frozen of freezing ocean. The once beautiful mild Lofoten islands now a snowy wasteland, near uninhabitable by those without the advantage of military class electronics and supplies. A desolate archipelago, perfect for what it had now become, a supply station and drop of point for enemies of the Allied Nations… or what was left of it at least.
The wind, so biting and fierce, he didn't even hear the footsteps approaching from behind nor feel the hand upon his shoulder. It wasn't till he heard her voice beside her ear that he turned his head to acknowledge her. He lowered his head slightly, buried nose deep into the collar of his coat. "Need something, Romanoff?"
"Nick…" She sighed softly, those sharp eagle eyes softening at his words.
"Natasha…" She could sense him rolling his eyes and he knew it, he couldn't help but crack a smile.
"Are you alright Nick?"
"Fine, why do you ask?" He turned his attention back out to the snowy canvas stretched out before him, on his left side he couldn't see her at all, only a soft fuzzy image in the peripheral of his right eye. It wasn't till now that he realized his cigar had been not only put out my the wind but it's frayed burnt tip frozen to frailty. He tossed it upon the ground and kicked it into the snow.
"You're not the type to go off and stare off into space like this," She slipped her gloved hands into the sleeves of her coat as she crossed her arms before her chest.
"Look around you Natasha… tell me. Is this Lofoten? This war has done so much to humanity, but the earth as well. How long till this is Los Angeles?" His cleared his throat as he lowered his hand and kicked the tip of his boot into the ground. "Even if we stop this, end this war, how can we ever repair the damage this war has done?"
Natasha smiled softly. "Since when did Nicolas Fury become an environmentalist?"
"Since 90 degrees become a hot summer day in New York," She could tell by his tone there was little chance of cheering him up at this point, not when discussing a situation like this. In all honesty she wasn't even sure how to respond. How could humanity ever repair the damage they had done to the Earth?
"I don't know Nick. But the world has faced an ice age before and overcame it, I'm sure it can again,"
"Yeah, but that ice age was one of it's own creation. This one, this was forced upon it,"
There they stood in an awkward silence, uncomfortable and unsure of what to say, do or even look at. Maybe it was best to simply do as they had before and look away from the big picture, only focusing on the problem at hand. The airbase was to be number one priority and would remain so. But now the looming knowledge of the ruin they had done to their home was beginning to finally set in for the two warriors.
Natasha's cheeks reddened from the beating wind upon her face and she felt her nostrils begin to freeze, with a girlish huff, her arm rose to rub to cold from her sinuses . She pulled her collar up about her face once more and allowed her gaze to rise up to the darkening sky, she slipped her hands into her pockets and she felt the chill rise through her bones.
The temperature had fallen and rapidly too, as the sun slow fell against the horizon causing a momentary blinding flash against the snow before darkness began to set and the numbers on the thermostat before the cabin's door continued to fall. Night had begun, Lofoten would not see the sun again for 33 days, and by the time it rose again, Fury, his men, and the airbase to the south would all be gone. As long as all went to plan.

Norway, Lofoten Island, December 4th 2033AD - 18:13

If there ever was such a thing as flawless, then it was the men and woman standing before Fury at this moment. Each one had fought as hard and masterly as Fury had expected of each of them. Only when a blade-charge had failed to go off and clear a path for their trucks had Fury not been pleased with his men and their tactics. Sixteen minutes, for the moment a forgivable sixty seconds over Fury's set goal, was all that his men needed to bring the base into S.H.E.I.L.D control. Twenty-two men, one woman fought that evening against one hundred and seven strong and won, only seventeen had met their ends that evening. All overzealous enemies, blinded from reason and sanity by rage and brainwashing patriotism. After collecting the needed information on their new prisoners of war, compiling detailed reports of the attack recounting every bullet fired, every door broken, ever word spoken during their maneuvers to S.H.E.I.L.D Headquarters nearly 3700 miles away they were allowed to rest.
Setting her rifle down upon the ground, propped against a wall Natasha sighed heavily as she took a seat upon a steel framed chair set against the wall of the communications room of the air tower. The small room, east and north walls lined with radios and computer consoles. Fury sat before the tower control, his feet upon the keyboard as he blew smoke into the air before knocking the ash from his cigar. The victory smoke, there was none better. Natasha unzipped the collar of his survival suit and shed her coat onto the back of the chair, for the first time since they arrived in Norway, it was warm.
"We have three days, our pickup will be here at 0900 Wednesday morning. Let the men know," Closing his eyes Fury felt himself nearly drift off into sleep. The warmth was so incredibly comforting after suffering the wind for so long, yet he forced himself to snap his eyes open and sit up which brought a soft laugh from Natasha in the corner. He couldn't help but return a gentle smile before rubbing his forehead and snuffing out his cigar.
"Nick…"
"Yeah?"
"I was thinking. When we get home, back to New York. We need to contact Reed, he may have an idea on how to reverse what we have done,"
"Or he'll make things worse,"
Natasha smiled.
The door suddenly opened as the young fresh face from the Army stepped inside, nearly hitting Natasha with the door, his chest heaving as he caught his breathe. "Fury, sir!"
Natasha and Fury were both on their feet quickly at the appearance of the boy. "What is it son?"
"Sir, we found something. It's interesting to say the least…"
Sharing a glance to once another before giving a nod to the boy Natasha pulled her coat back on and Fury cursed under his breath as he realized that instead of sleeping away his fatigue he would simply have to endure as they ventured out into the snow once more.
"Out of the way!" Fury barked as he pushed his men aside to advance as they gathers around a deep trench in the middle of the compound. He had noticed several wooden markers set around the trench as they entered, each once with the same set of chicken scratch lettering on them. He had thought nothing of it till now, but as he approached it seemed like this had been more then just an airstrip but an excavation site as well. "What is going on here?"
"We aren't sure sir, we threw the dud blade-charge into here and turns out it wasn't a dud after all just faulty," A tall rough looking young man said as he dropped down into the chest deep trench. He approached the smoldering stones against the trench floor with caution. "It uncovered something,"
"Watch yourself Hughes," Fury warned as he dropped down into the trench after him. He picked up a forgotten shovel and threw it out of the trench to be retrieved and stored away by the others who encircled and watched with interest.
"It looks like a box or something," Hughes dropped to his knees and began pulled cold, dry earth away from the find. As more was revealed it appeared to be a block of stone or coarse metal buried beneath the soil, a soft reflection causing it to glint against the light of the surrounding flashlights.
Natasha stood by and crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head softly. This didn't seem right, it had to be some kind of a trap, a weapon, something. It was far too much of a coincidence to simply find a curiosity sitting in the middle of an enemy establishment "General, Corporal, be careful, this is too suspicious,"
"I don't think it's a weapon, it looks like stone… very old. What the hell would they be doing running an excavation here?" Fury peered over the Corporal's shoulder as he watched it come into sight. "Hughes, carefully now, see if you can free it,"
"Yes sir," Hughes brushed his hands off on his pants before scooping away another chuck of earth and placing his hand upon the stone.
Electricity crackled through the air and the smell of ozone filled the air as Hughes screamed, his eyes wide with fear and pain as his muscles tensed and bulged. The sky above crackled and boomed with the sound of thunder and a gust of wind as a warning to the warriors of a coming storm, but there was a more pressing issue at hand. The sky split was a crack of lighting as steam began to pour from Hughes' flesh.
"Nick, help him!" Natasha screamed as she hopped down into the trench and dashed to Fury's side. Fury clenched his teeth as he gripped Hughes tightly around the arm and began to pull with all his might. The screams were terrible, unbearable. What was happening, what could cause a man to suffer through so much pain just from the touch of a stone. Was this even a stone? So many questions yet no time to search for an answer. All that mattered now was the man who was screaming bloody murder in Fury's ear.
"Get in here and help me, damn it! Can't you see he's dying?!" Fury yelled to the panic stricken men and at his words they began piling in behind him, each of cautious to avoid the stone as they surrounded Hughes and with Fury's lead struggled to pry the man free from the stones grip. The horrifying sound of skin tearing brought shivers down the spines of every man to hear it as Hughes came free and landed upon a pile of terrified allies. Each one shaking with fear for what they had just seen and what Hughes himself had just experienced.
Thankfully for Hughes he didn't stay awake long enough to hear the yelling and see the scrambling of his comrades as they rushed to pull him free from the trench and retrieve the Field First Aid kits from the hanger being used as both prison and barracks. His palm a bloody mess, torn and burnt from an unseen flame, Fury feared the worst. How could the nerves and ligaments ever survive or recover from damage so extreme? Yet for Natasha only one question continually come to mind, what could do such a thing?
"Natasha,"
She did not hear Fury's words, her mind too focused on the disaster and gore before her. Too paralyzed with fear and chilling curiosity to move or react. It wasn't till she felt his firm grip upon her shoulder that she awoke from her fear and peered up into his eyes.
"Natasha!"
"Yes, Nick?"
"Contact HQ, tell them we need a team up here now damn it! A medic and an excavation team, asap! I want that thing out of the ground and I want to know what it is now, understand? Men, get a stretcher and get Hughes inside now!"
"Y-Yes sir," Natasha spoke softly through shaking lips as she turned and made her way hurriedly to the communications tower.

Norway, Lofoten Island, December 5th 2033AD - 04:08

Fury stood at the helipad, Natasha at his side in silence as they watched two bright pinpoints of light in the sky approach. The storm promised by the clouds and thunder had finally arrived making air travel necessary but incredibly dangerous. Fury was willing to risk it though, his men were in danger, he could feel it. After reporting the nights happenings to headquarters the agreed to Fury's request of an excavation team, from the description alone it was more then enough to peak government interest. At this time any discovery, any news not related to the war would be an incredible boost to the overall morale of the country. To find anything at all during the course of this war would be beneficial, anything no matter how little, just to prove it really meant and accomplished something. Although the approval of the excavation also meant an extended stay for Fury and Natasha in the ice land of Norway. As the helicopter came it its landing sending a shower of powdery snow into the air Fury stepped forward as the drop hatch opened and the second team began to make their way out from the plane. He watched as a sliding door near the front of the chopper opened an a dull burgundy cane touched the concrete. He stopped for a moment as the sight and straightened as the excavation team dashed past him to obtain orders from Natasha.
A short blonde man stepped out of the helicopter with the help of the pilot who held his arm. Once both feet were firmly planted on the ground the short man jerked his arm from the pilot's grip and waved his away with his cane. He was young and terribly thin apparent even with the numerous coats he wore, wire framed glasses hanging from his nose. He looked to Fury and stepped forward, speaking up loudly over the wind and blades of the chopper.
"General Fury?!"
"Yes, I'm Nick Fury! Are you our medic?"
"My name is Blake, Donald Blake! I'm an archeologist and historian! I was told you found something of great interest!"