The Thunderbolts trudged through the darkened forest with Songbird up front humming softly as moved as Abe's high beams flickered behind her. Eventually though hunger and thirst had slowed the group's speed to a crawl and increased the frustration to breaking point.
"This is all your fault," Magneto said from his position between Rachel and Delphyane's shoulders, "That shows me what I get from working with humans. The lot of you should be whipped out."
"Some of us aren't human." Delphyane said flicking her shoulder sending Magneto sprawling to the ground.
"We shouldn't blame each other, we should blame them." Rachel hissed pointing at Abe and Melissa, "The Beetle and Screaming Mimi, trust the Masters of Evil to lead us into this place."
"Shut up," Abe snapped, "Before I break your back in half like I wanted to half an hour ago."
"Oh do it, at least when she's dead we can eat her." Magneto ventured
"Stop yelling," Robbie cried, "Please just stop."
"Oh quit the tortured act emo boy, lighten up for god's sake." Melissa snapped, "And you," she said pushing Rachel to the floor, "I understand what Captain America said when he mentioned you were disappointing."
"At least I date heros, unlike you who only bangs evil guys." Rachel replied
"Lay off Rachel." Abe sneered as he walked over to Magneto, "I say we get rid of the dead weight."
"I am the Master of Magnetism, fear my power before I rip the iron from your blood." Magneto yelled as Abe picked him up and began to squeeze.
"That's right humans, kill each other it's all your good for." Delphyane hissed as she unsheathed her sword.
"At least we don't turn people we look at into stone." Melissa spat
"And we have nice normal hair, lizard freak." Rachel added getting to her feet extending a diamond blade.
"Rachel you can hardly talk, your hair is purple. I mean talk about plagiarism, you should pay me royalties for dying your hair that colour" Melissa mocked. Suddenly Abe was flung back by Magneto, the heavy suit of armor knocking her into the forest where she impacted with something hard. Getting up she felt around and twisted what seemed to be a key, the engine roaring to life and light illuminating a second vehicle crowded around a derelict research trailer.
"I can run them down and kill them all." Melissa said excitedly, "Wait, I should try and break up that fight first, these vehicles may be the ticket out of here."
Walking back to the glade Melissa found Robbie crying as he banged his head against a rock as Rachel and Delphyane clashed blades over an barley conscious's Magneto as Abe lit up the trees with his armour's flamethrower.
"I found a car." Melissa said. Her words however fell upon deaf ears. "I found a way out of here." she said louder but once again to no avail.
"Stop fighting now and act like adults, we have enough problems with HAMMER and whatever lives here attacking us we don't need to be at each other's throats as well. I'm pregnant for god's sake and I don't need the stress of you trying to kill me on top of every thing else I have to deal with." Melissa screamed, the words were so loud that a pink aura fell across the glade.
"You're Pregnant?" Rachel asked.
"Yes," Melissa said, "And Abe's the father." she quickly added.
"What?" Abe said pulling Magneto to his feet, "That's wonderful," he added rushing as fast as his armor would allow up to her before giving her a hug.
"Is this a private moment or can any one join in?" Rachel asked
"Oh come on then." Melissa said her eyes crying. Rachel ran up and joined the hug as Abe let go and got a high five from Robbie.
"What's going on?" Delphyane asked.
"Pregnancy is a wonderful thing, go and congratulate them." Magneto suggested as he shook Abe's hand.
"Congratulations on the parasitic seed growing in your body." Delphyane said to Melissa cautiously.
"That's so sweet." Melissa said pulling Delphyane into the hug as Rachel ran to hug Abe. "Welcome to the Thunderbolts by the way." she added. "In addition to this good news we have transport, HAMMER left some jeeps in the next clearing."
It took a good five minutes to find the clearing but the news of Melissa's pregnancy had seemed to lift the spirits of the entire team. Both the Jeeps were equipped with a large turret consisting of two high powered lights, possibly to aid navigation. The trailer, once opened showed a map, albeit an un-detailed one, of the surrounding area. In addition the HAMMER troops who had abandoned the vehicles had left enough food for a full platoon for three days.
"This tastes like tin-foil." Robbie complained as he ate his second lot of rations.
"Trust me it's better then eating Magneto." Abe replied, "By the way I'm sorry about that."
"It's okay for now." Magneto said as he finished drinking from a bottle of water, "This forest must have some kind of primal power that makes men, both human and mutant behave like animals."
"Thank Artimis for Songbird's child, if she hadn't revealed it we might all be dead." Delphyane stated, "What is that you're looking at?" she asked Melissa.
"A map Brother Voodoo gave me, it seems to have changed." Melissa answered sliding the map to Delphyane.
"This is a fragment of the original Mappa Mundi." Delphyane gasped, "This is, even Hera doesn't possess an artifcat such as this."
"Wait isn't the Mappa Mundi inaccurate compared to modern maps?" Rachel asked, "I remember watching something about it on National Geographic."
"The chart you speak of is a copy of this artifcat." Delphyane explained, "The original Mappa Mundi changes with the location, for example in Erebus it's a map of Erebus, on Earth it's a map of Earth. It also shows things in real time, any event worthy of recording will be shown albeit crudely on this chart."
"Isn't that the HAMMER insignia?" Robbie asked pointing out a symbol on the map.
"Yeah, it looks like this is an outpost for a main facility," Abe announced, "HAMMER forces must have constructed it while they took whatever they were looking for."
"What's that symbol?" Rachel asked as she hovered over Robbie's shoulder straining to get a good look at the map.
"It's a well." Delphyane answered, "I don't know why it would be marked on here." she added handing Melissa the map back.
"Let's saddle up. That HAMMER base may be out ticket out of here." Melissa ordered
Eventually the Thunderbolts decided that Melissa, Robbie and Delphyane would take the first jeep and Abe, Rachel and Magneto would take the second. Melissa slid into the driver's seat as Robbie clambered onto the turret. Nervously Delphyane got into the passenger seat and put on the helmet that had been left on the dashboard.
"This device is amazing." Delphyane gasped, "It lights up the forest as if Helios himself stood before me."
"My guess is that HAMMER planted long lasting radiation markers in the forest. From what we can see over here, it looks like there's a highway straight through this wood." Abe said over the radio, his bulky form mounted on the second jeep's turret.
"Then let's follow that trail and hope we don't run into any trouble." Rachel replied from the second jeep's driver seat. "Melissa if you lead the way, we'll follow."
Half an hour later the two jeeps smashed through the underbrush and emerged at a massive clearing criss-crossed with fortifications and tall flood lights illuminating the area. There was no sign of a HAMMER welcome party but the base alone was a welcoming site, the sanctum covered in a massive metal cage.
"So much Iron," Magneto gasped, "They must have brought it with them, this world reacts strongly to metal." he added indicating the dying line of foliage around the edge of the clearing.
"That would explain the weapon's HAMMER brought." Abe announced, "The gun stocks were a steel-carbon alloy, at first I thought Osborne was being fancy but now it makes sense."
"Do share your epiphany." Robbie asked sarcastically
"How many of the creatures did we kill when we arrived?" Abe asked.
"A few, not as many as we actually hit." Robbie replied, "Only those that Rachel shot or were taken down by Delphyane's arrows appeared to die."
"Exactly," Abe said, "Delphyane what are your arrows tipped with?"
"Hephestian Steel, metal blessed by the craftsman himself." Delphyane replied.
"Iron, hell metal of any kind kills anything from this world." Abe said, "The bullets in the weapons have a higher iron percentage then normal rounds."
"I know where we are." Delphyane interrupted, "I should have remembered sooner." she added as her hair hissed furiously, "This is Svartálfaheimr, home of the Dark Elves, one of the Nine Realms of the Norse."
"So how do we leave dark elf land and get home?" Rachel asked
"Idiot, why didn't I figure out sooner." Delphyane growled, "It's a little out of my Parthenon but I remember Thor talking to Hercules about a portal to the other realms."
"The well." Magneto said strongly as the metal around him vibrated, "Back in 1942 the Nazis did an experiment on an ancient well thawing the frozen water at the base. They took undesirables and threw them down it and in return creatures from Norse mythology would ascend. They called it the Mímisbrunnr Well and believed that it led to the Germanic Realms of old."
"Where is this well in our world?" Abe asked
"In a sunken frozen forest atop a Norwegian Glacier." Magneto explained, "I forgot the name but at least it's in Midgard."
"Okay we move into the base, rest and gather supplies and then head for the well. This time tomorrow we might be back on Earth." Melissa ordered walking up to the massive gate and looking into the camp.
"Stand aside." Magento ordered walking up to the gate. Slowly the gates quivered and then toppled to the floor.
Walking inside excitedly talking to the others Rachel finally felt like they were leaving this horrible world. Suddenly she felt cold steel on her throat as a man grabbed her from behind. The others turned and saw her struggling to get free from her assailant's grasp.
"What do you think you're doing in my home." the man growled as he held his struggling captive in-front of him. "Answer quickly or I slit her throat."
Any chapters marked with TB at the beginning refer to the true Thunderbolts trapped in the Nine Realms, any chapters marked with DB refer to Scourge's 'Dark Bolts'.