A/N - Continuation of the storm, or more properly calm before an even bigger one as pieces are moved across the chessboard in preparations for it to happen. A short chapter, but you can't have too much at the time and it perfectly wrapped up on its own, so I didn't bother with writing more.
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Beta - eri1551
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Harry groaned as he opened his eyes, he sat up on the cot and almost immediately felt a throbbing pain at the base of his skull. He looked around and focused on Bobby who was looking at him in worry, when his gaze focused on Bobby he was able to listen to his thoughts and feel his emotions.
"What happened to me?" Harry asked
"They did something to you," Bobby said. "The rest I don't know, two thugs dragged you here last night."
Harry looked at him and his eyes narrowed as they focused on the boy.
Bobby winced and looked at him. "Stop whatever you are doing, just stop it," Bobby said as he tried to control his voice.
"Sorry," Harry mumbled as he focused his gaze on something else. "It seems that I'm a telepath though I wasn't in the past."
"They must have done that to you," Bobby said and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "They do that to all of us."
Harry growled and his growl soon turned into a rage-fueled roar that shook the whole room and made Bobby back away from him in fear. It washed over the whole planet and charged into the void of space, it also breached the borders between reality and the Nevernever.
o-0-o
Jean Grey was walking through the corridors of the Xavier's when she felt a powerful psychic assault slam into her shields, an assault so powerful and primal that it smashed her shields and pushed her onto the ground. She had never ever felt such a thing before, it was far more vicious and stronger than anything she had seen.
"What had happened to you?" Piotr asked as he caught her before she could slam into the hard, unforgiving floor.
"I don't know," she said and vomited as a wave of nausea washed over her. "Something or someone just smashed my shields to bits and pieces. It is furious and just woke up its powers."
"Let's take you to Beast," Piotr said as he helped her stand up. "It might be more than you think and it is better to be safe."
"Yes," she said and looked at him. "Thank you for your help."
"No problem," he said as they walked to the medical bay.
She smiled weakly, tiredness and exhaustion visible on her face. The attack was brutal and had cost her most of her energy.
o-0-o
However she wasn't the only one that suffered from the outburst of Harry's rage and she was lucky to get away from it with almost no damage. Odin was not so lucky as it slammed into his mind like a tsunami wave and threw him across the room. One moment he was sitting on his throne, while the other he was hurled through the air towards the opposite wall of the throne room.
He felt as if someone had opened a wound in his head and pushed a burning iron into the soft flesh below, he reached out with his magic towards the source of the attack, but stopped a moment before the strike as he recognized who it was. It was his grandson and it seemed that something had been done to him.
Rising from the ground Odin growled at the guards that rushed towards him and at the courtiers that were in the Throne Room. "All of you, out!" Odin barked and looked at Freyr. "Find Loki and meet me in the Council Chamber."
The Prince of Vanaheim looked at him, then bowed and disappeared out of the room. Odin sent his glare across the room and saw that everybody rushed out of it, he picked up his crown that had slipped off his head when he flew across the room and walked towards the council chamber. If someone wanted to play hard he was all for it and he would made whoever it was pay for injuring his grandson.
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"What the hell was that?" Wanda asked as a massive wave of energy washed over the wards of the Sanctum Sanctorum.
"I would say a godling being forced to awake his latent powers," Strange said, glancing at the cloud covered sky. "A powerful one and in a kind of dangerous situation."
She growled and reached out to the spells she had left on Harry. Her eyes widened when she felt none of them, she knew that distance or dimension didn't matter when it came to those spells. "He was kidnapped," she flatly said and Strange nodded.
"Indeed, he was kidnapped, by Weapon X if I'm not mistaken," he said calmly and looked at her and her fists covered in energy. "He is fine and it is a catalyst for a certain thing to happen."
She growled and bolts of energy flew from her and slammed into the room's walls. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because there is no need for you to know," Strange said and smirked. "Besides, Loki and Fury are handling the mess and will rip apart those that did it so there was no need for us to get involved and we have our own issues."
She didn't say a word and stormed out of the room, crackling energy surrounding her as she walked to the sparring room, she needed to relax and release as much of it as possible, otherwise bad things could happen. Besides, magic was already going haywire thanks to the damage done to the Nevernever.
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Mab sat on her icy throne in Arctis Tor when the scream came, it rattled her every bone and as she looked around she saw that Sidhe nobles were as shaken as she was. However that was nothing compared to what followed the scream, a wave of pure power filled with rage and anguish, a wave so destructive and powerful that even she, one of the most powerful beings in existence was damaged by it. She was thrown off her throne and into the wall behind it, however she managed to call upon her magic and she cushioned her fall, but she saw that many of her nobles were less lucky and ended up with broken bones and various cuts.
"Who did it?" she asked, her green cat-like eyes looking around. "Who dared to assault the Winter Court?"
She saw a portal open in the middle of a room and she walked towards it, holding a sword and in second hand spell ready to be unleashed on whoever it was. She stopped when she saw that it was Loki who stepped out of the portal.
"Queen of Air and Darkness," he said with a light bow. "You look truly charming when angry."
"Prince of Lies," she said in reply. "Can you tell me what or who was responsible for this attack?"
"My nephew had his latent power awoken under stressful conditions," Loki said smoothly. "I'm sure that he didn't want to cause this damage, but the power was forced to wake up and this outburst was fueled by his rage and anguish."
She looked at him, trying to see if he was telling the truth. "I can tell you that you do not lie about this, but I can also tell that you have something more in mind."
"Indeed," Loki smiled. "Your Majesty, would it be possible for the warriors of Asgard to use the Ways through the Nevernever, the Ways through your realm, those that allow safe passage to any point in the mortal world."
"What will I get in return?" she asked. "Every deed has its price and the one you just named is a rare gift I don't give frivolously."
"Your Majesty, you owe my family so many favors that half of them would be an appropriate payment for your assistance."
She looked at him and nodded. "It will be done, you will have unlimited access to those paths for as long as it will take to do whatever you want."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace and generosity," Loki said with a mock bow and disappeared in a portal he opened for himself.
Mab stood in the Throne Room, watching the spot in space where Loki was a few moments ago. It seemed as if the universe was getting interesting.
o-0-o
Deadpool scanned the area of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, from one or the highest points in its neighborhood, looking for any potential assassins or troublemakers that thought that taking out Warren Worthington III while he was injured was a bright idea. His gaze swept over the grounds and stopped when he saw a person with a mane of untidy hair and an aura of a predator move towards the gate leading onto the campus.
"Well, we have our prey," he whispered to himself. "Sabertooth wants to play with us."
He carefully picked up his Anzio 20mm portable cannon and slipping into firing position he aimed at his target's leg. Steadying his breath and controlling his heartbeat he slowly squeezed the trigger and felt as if his whole arm had slammed into a steel wall. The rifle had a powerful kick, but as he looked through the telescopic sight he saw that Sabertooth now was missing half of his leg and was unable to move.
Leaving the gun behind him, Deadpool ran across the few hundred yards that were between him and Sabertooth and caught the assassin to be before he had a chance to do anything. "Remember not to leave assassins alive or free," he said, as he tied Sabertooth and made sure that he didn't have a chance of escaping. "They still have teeth and know how to bite."
"To whom are you speaking?" Sabertooth asked
"To our readers," Deadpool said before slamming his fist into Sabertooth's solar plexus and knocking him out. "But you aren't important enough, so shut up."
He smiled as he dragged his prey behind him, works for SHIELD were certainly profitable as this furball just got him two million dollars by just being stupid and getting caught.
o-0-o
Fury looked around the room and wondered when the proverbial storm would strike, the atmosphere was... tense and nothing would change it. "So Director Fury, how are the preparations for Adamantium Cutlass going ?" General Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked.
"We should be ready in two days time, the last deliveries are being made and our people are ready to storm that base."
"What is the official reason for our operation there?" Robby asked. "Russia is touchy when it comes to their sphere of influence and they don't like people doing something like that so close to it."
"Unannounced military exercises, terrorist activity and kidnapping of an important businessman," Fury said with a thin smile.
"Did they believe it?" Jack asked. "As for me it sounds like a lot of crap, excuse my words."
"They cannot prove that we are lying and they cannot prove that we are not lying, so it is good enough."
"Also they know that they can't afford a confrontation," Robby added. "They had manpower and teeth when they were the Soviet Union and had the Warsaw Pact backing them up. Now we have most of it and we can beat them so badly that they won't recover for ages."
"But they have nukes," Fury pointed out. "A good question is their quality, but in quantity they beat us, no matter how hard we try to get more."
"Which won't be used," Jack said. "Unless they want to go to the grave with us and the rest of the world as we have more than enough of them to blast them and do it for good."
"Jack, I spent something like twenty years trying to understand Russia and the way they think, I can tell you that everything can happen, no matter how crazy it is for us. They know no reason and logic when their feelings and emotions are stomped on."
"Lovely," Robby muttered. "So we can expect anything and everything from them and we might end with nukes flying towards our assets. So what do you suggest?"
"Tell them to back off and leave us alone," Fury said and smiled. "The 'I have a bigger stick than yours' mentality works on them, it is one of the few things they understand well."
"If that what works on them, I should have a proper stick," Jack said and smirked. "I will get it ready as soon as I can, meanwhile you have my blessing to carry out the plan."
"Thank you, Your Holiness," Fury said with a mock bow and left the room. If he had the green light to go he needed to do some things.
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Odin fought the urge to smirk when Hera was ushered into his study, she seemed uneasy and confused and unsure of what was going on. He indicated for her to take the free seat on the other side of the table and watched as a servant poured her a goblet of wine and disappeared.
She smiled, her smile thin and venomous, as she sipped the wine and regarded him with a calculative look. "Your Majesty, can you explain why you had the audacity to summon me here?"
"Audacity, Your Grace?" He asked. "I am merely taking care of some business that should have been done long ago, it pertains to your granddaughter and my niece."
"She isn't my granddaughter," she spat. "Don't even use that title when referring to her."
The whole room shook as a thunder rumbled above the Citadel. "Your Grace, you are in my house and you have just insulted one of my wards, do you want to be bodily thrown out of it and into the dungeons below?"
Hera's eyes widened as she looked at him.
"I thought so," Odin nodded. "So I would like you to behave with the decorum expected from the Queen of Olympus."
She remained silent and only looked at him.
"Your Grace, you can remain silent for as long as you wish, it doesn't matter to me. Atalanta is your granddaughter, even if you are not going to accept it, that is a fact. You will stop any attempt to kill, injure or kidnap her, or any of her lovers, spouses or offsprings, I spoke with the rest of the Council and all of us have had enough of you and your behavior," Odin said and pinned Hera with his gaze. "You have the choice to either accept this or the Olympus will be isolated and the moment when an assassin gets close to my ward you will see my wrath."
"I understand," Hera said, her gaze hard and her face impossible to read.
"Swear it on the honor of Olympus and your power."
She looked at him, but after a few moments diverted her gaze. "I, Hera, the Queen of Olympus, Goddess of Family, swear not to kidnap, injure or kill Atalanta Herculeia or any of her lovers, spouses or offsprings, directly or through proxies. I swear on my life and power."
"Good," Odin said with a thin, cold smile. "Thank you for your kindness, Your Grace, it will hell our relations in the future, but for today this is all I wanted to negotiate."
Hera glared at him and stormed out of the room, leaving him alone in it.
"Good work, Your Majesty," said a man that appeared in the corner of the room.
The newcomer was a tall and bulky man with long black hair, striking blue eyes, a neatly trimmed short black beard and tanned skin. He was wearing a red tunic covered in golden embroidery and brown leather pants tied with a belt, on which he had a sword.
"It should have been done sooner," Odin said. "It doesn't take a lot to see that your daughter set her eyes on my grandson, even if they don't admit it, it is still visible for those that can think and watch."
"Wise words," Hercules said and indicated to doors. "How good of a chance is there that she behaves?"
"She will or she will get killed."
"Fair enough," he said and poured himself some mead. "I made a good decision when I decided to entrust her to your care."
Odin nodded and slowly sipped his mead. "Speaking about her and my grandson, will you mind if they date each other?"
"No," Hercules said and laughed loudly. "They will date and see each no matter what we do or say, so they can date and see whoever they want to."
"Hera will have a heart attack or two when she sees them together," Odin laughed. "Not that I really care about her."
"She never was my mother," Hercules said and finished his mead. "I bid you a good day and leave you to deal with the paperwork."
Odin growled at those words and heard Hercules laugh, he wanted to curse his relative, but he knew he was right. He looked at the piles of scrolls, letters and hundreds of other things that needed to be done laying on his desk. After five thousand years of wearing the crown he had started to feel its burden, dozens of civilizations destroyed, turned into slavery or conquered by Asgard. Thousands of death sentences and hundreds of other deeds that left their imprint on him, each left a small one, combined it was capable of destroying a weaker being.
Even if he felt that way, he knew that none of his family members was ready to take the burden and he knew that he could rule for a really long time without burning himself out. He pushed those thoughts away and focused on the work in front of him.
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Gambit looked at the piece of paper on which he had deciphered the message from Fury and smirked, the time to have fun would soon be upon him, he would just need to get Blob out of the way and somewhere where it could get removed out of the equation.
He lit a cigarette and slowly exhaling the smoke he looked at the display of his laptop, thinking how to do it. The key would be X-23, he knew that she was unpredictable and if she was convinced to follow him, she could be both saved and wouldn't cause injuries to them. If not, then it could get tough and dangerous.
He picked up the piece of paper on which he had written Fury's message and holding it above the ashtray, lit it with his lighter. The fire burned it quickly, consuming the sole piece of evidence that could prove his treason. He could tell that the situation was tense as the guards that patrolled outside were getting grumpy and were even less talkative than normal.
He finished his cigarette and putting his trench coat on he snuck out of the room, he needed to make some preparations to get things ready.
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Amelia Bones muttered a curse under her breath as she looked at the note that made its way onto her desk, this was bad, really bad. She grabbed the note and a report that until now didn't make sense and quickly walked towards Director's Wisdom office, if someone had power to at least reduce the fallout of this, it was him.
She stormed into his office, the doors slamming in her wake, he looked up at her and she could see a stormy expression on his face. "We have a problem," she said flatly and dropped the note and the report on his desk. "These two are bad."
"Can you clarify?"
"A goon squad of Russian wizards is gone from their base," she said. "That on its own is bad, but the last few satellites passes also suggest that they are moving troops out of their bases and radio traffic has dropped to almost zero."
"They are either preparing for very realistic exercises or war," Wisdom said and walked to the window. "I don't know what kind of game they are playing on Kremlin, but they won't survive such a war, especially if Asgard is in."
"What are we going to do?"
"Play a game of chess with them," Wisdom smiled. "They want to play by the Cold War playbook, so we will as well. Exercise REFORPOL should keep them occupied and cause so much shock that they won't know what happened to them."
"Is it wise to increase the stakes so much?"
Wisdom smiled and looked at her. "Russia understands fear and power, if we don't play hard they will see us as weak and they might do something incredibly stupid, stupid and irrational so we better play hard."
"Or we might cause a war," she said carefully. "And if we do that, we will be the very first to get hanged."
"We shouldn't," Wisdom said. "Russia understands only those that can tell her to watch out and be careful, so if we show her our power and do so close to her borders she should back off. And even if she doesn't, she should calm down substantially."
"You know the way they think better than I do, but can we launch this exercise without any forewarning?"
Wisdom only smiled. "That's the beauty of this exercise, it is the only exercise with already drawn plans and everything ready. After all it is also one of the plans in case of a war in Europe, REFORPOL, REFORHUN, REFORROM, REFORBAL, REFORTUR are five plans kept up to date at all times. We just change the name from Operation to Exercise and launch it."
She nodded and looked out of the window and at the peaceful hustle and bustle of any large city, in London it was maybe even bigger than in any other city in this part of Europe. Billions of dollars, pounds and euros changed hands, transactions were being made and things sold or bought. She finally sighed and looked at him. "I don't like this idea, but I see your point."
"Yes," he said. "It is the best course of action available to us. I will make some calls and it should start in a couple of moments."
"I will get our wizards ready for deployment," she said and walked out of the room.
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Fury nodded to the agents as he was ushered into the Oval Office, he has been here so many times, first as an Agent, then a Regional Commander, then a Deputy Director and now as the Director of SHIELD who everybody recognized. He walked across the room and took one of the seats in front of the desk. "Mr President," he said, with a nod.
"Director Fury," President Henry Hayes said in reply. "What is so urgent that you needed to see me this soon?"
"SHIELD is preparing to rescue several dozens of our citizens kidnapped from our country and trafficked across the border to Romania. They were kidnapped by Weapon X or the Red Room, we are unsure of which one did it, but it doesn't matter for the operation. They are being used as test subjects for illegal experiments. However it seems that someone or something doesn't want this operation to happen as there are some obstacles that SHIELD on its own is unable remove."
"So what are those obstacles you cannot remove on your own?"
"Russia is moving their troops closer to the border and entered radio silence, several of their special forces units are missing from their bases and we suspect that they will attack the moment the operation is launched."
President Hayes nodded and Fury could see his technical superior think over what he had just been told. "So what would be necessary for the operation to succeed?"
"A distraction that would keep them on their toes and if they decided to attack they would be unable to succeed," Fury said and opened one of the folders he had brought with himself. "Exercise REFORPOL," he said handing the folder.
President nodded and quickly scanned it. "Isn't it too much? It looks to me like preparations for a war in Europe."
"Mr President, may I speak candidly?"
"You may."
"Russia understands a show of power and might, if we don't do something on a scale similar to theirs, they will see us as weak and attack. If we do this, they might still attack, but the chance is smaller and we might save a lot of lives with the units prepared."
"I understand," President Hayes said and winced. "I don't like the decision that needs to be made, but I see the reasoning behind it. It will be done."
"Thank you, Mr President."
"Just free those kidnapped and make sure that this group is punished appropriately."
Fury smiled at those words and walking out of the room started to plan how to do this and keep the Russians occupied and out of the way. This could be the operation that would show the power and might of SHIELD, and their good face or the one that would drag the whole world into a war. There was also a third option, one that seemed impossible for him, that there would be an outbreak of violence, but it would be a short one and they would be able to survive it.
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At first nobody noticed that there was something big happening, but once the orders were given and it started to happen, people had trouble not noticing it. Soldiers were being called to their units and units began to prepare for their deployment. Some were slated to fly to Europe with equipment already awaiting them on the Old Continent. From there they would travel by road or by rail to their deployment zones and would perform various drills or if the war happened, be in place to stop the attack.
At the same time millions of tonnes of cargo were being loaded onto trains that would take them to ports located on the East Coast, from there they would travel by sea to Europe. On board of those ships hundreds, if not thousand pieces of equipment, millions of pieces of ammunition and millions of pieces of other equipment necessary to keep an army working at its full capacity would travel. The purpose of these exercises was always twofold, one was to test the ability to move troops, but the second was even more important, to test how well they could be equipped and supplied.
However movements of military units would happen not only in the USA, but also on the Old Continent, units would be moved east towards the border countries of NATO. At first the sudden announcement of this exercise caused chaos and shock among the governments and militaries of the European NATO countries, but soon it was gone and the units were being moved.
It was a large and visible exercise, impossible to hide, thus soon the various media outlets published photos of military equipment moving in columns through highways and whole trains loaded with tanks and military equipment moving towards the east. But that was the whole point of it, it was supposed to be seen and commented about.
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Freyr put on his golden helmet with a pair of massive elk antlers made out of silver, fastened it and looked at the group of warriors that had gathered around him. All of them were drawn from the very best formations Asgard had to offer, they had seen thousands of battles and hundreds of conflicts. Behind them were a few antigravity carts loaded up with shackles, chains and ropes to tie those that would be brought to Asgard.
His gaze swept over their forms for one last time and he pulled out a knife inscribed with hundreds of runes, its blade pulsing with power. He cut the fabric of space in front of himself and a ripple opened in it, he was the first one to step through. The moment he passed through it, he moved to a land of frost, ice and everlasting winter. It was the Nevernever, the realm hidden under the surface of the world and home of magic, fae, demons, angels, gods and hundreds of other creatures and beings. Many of the things inhabiting it were good, but just as many were malevolent and dangerous. Snow and crystals of ice swirled around and when they dispersed they revealed a being of power and beauty.
She was tall, graceful, with hair white as the purest snow, emerald green cat-like eyes, pale skin and lips the color of frozen mulberries. Freyr needed to remind himself that even if she was beautiful, she was also deadly and angering her, especially here was a bad thing. Bowing his head he looked at her. "Your Majesty, in the name of my liege King Odin I thank you for allowing us to pass through the land of the fae."
"Asgard is a powerful realm and one known for staying true to its values as well as one of our most precious allies," she said. "A passage through my realm will take you to your destination and if need be allow you to return safely to Asgard with whatever you bring back."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Freyr said with one last bow, he looked back and saw his warriors form into even ranks, the carts placed in the middle.
When he saw that they were ready he started to slowly walk forward, making sure not to fall into one of the hundreds of traps awaiting for the careless that stomped onto a wrong piece of ice or frozen snow. He had seen similar things on Jotunheim and he didn't want to get killed by them. It would be an hour or two of walk, but they would emerge in the middle of their target in the place of their choosing.
o-0-o
Rhodes watched as the last preparations were being made and his staff was preparing for the mission to come. He looked at Banshee who stood to his side and nodded. "We are ready."
"We still have thirty minutes before the attack happens," Banshee pointed out. "The bigger question is what the Russians will do since now they are silent. Maybe our preparations rattled them a bit and made them think once again if dying for this is a good idea."
"We will see," Rhodes said and looked at the staff. "Helm, ahead full, take us to the operation's launch point."
He acknowledged the confirmation of his order and looked at the cloud covered night sky, even at their cruising altitude of five kilometers there were not many stars visible, instead there was only a sea of dark steel clouds. Clouds from which waves of rain poured, which made aircraft operations tricky, since everything was wet and slick which was bad when you tried to keep things where they were supposed to be.
His eyes swept over to the right and left and he could see pairs of F-22 Raptor fly close to the helicarrier, the lights at the tips of their wings blinking and showing their exact position. While Valiant had her own defenses, ones that would swat away almost any threat, their activation would tell everybody where to find her, while those planes could do the same job and stay undetected.
"Play smart," Banshee said. "I won't intrude and command for you, but be careful and don't rush, Russia is a very unpredictable customer and even if Ukraine is between them and us, they have bases closer and they can do weird things."
"I know," Rhodes said. "I know and I hope that they will stay put as it might turn ugly really soon. We both know how high tensions are and we have over four hundred thousand troops on the border but Russia has probably even more. One shot and we will have a war."
"We shouldn't have, especially if we avoid any confrontations," Banshee said and shook his head. "But weirder things have happened and will happen, so we might have a skirmish somewhere but just that or a even a single shot is enough for a total war to break out."
"We will see," Rhodes said, looking at the displays. "But we better prepare, the show will start soon."
Banshee nodded and both of them turned to look at a timer that was getting closer and closer to zero and the moment of the attack. Rhodes' eyes swept over the bridge for one last time, feeling the tension in the air, then finally settling back on the timer.
o-0-o
Gambit picked up a deck of cards and slipped it into one of the uncountable pockets of his trench coat, he slipped a few more into them, followed by his telescopic bo staff. He knew that it would get bad and goons would be over them the moment the alarm was activated. Putting on his trench coat he walked out of his room towards the cells where the mutants were and glanced at his watch, just fifteen minutes more and he would be able to stop playing this game.
As he walked through the corridors, passing Weapon X's goons, he controlled his expression to not show his complete loathing of them and their ways. They were good only for mistreating other beings, fighting with numerical superiority and torture, other than that they were complete idiots.
I guess that they are not chosen for their brains, he thought, SHIELD will turn them into bloody spots on the floor. The question is just how many lives will be taken with them. He corrected his coat and played with his access card, he would need to lock the cells from the rest of the base and lead them onto the surface. He shook his head and leaned against the wall, waiting for the attack to come.
o-0-o
A flight of four B-2 briefly emerged from the clouds that covered the night sky above Durmstrang, their matte hulls slicing the air as they entered the valley. They split and the leading trio started to drop altitude, their bomb bay doors of the leading trio opened and six dart-like shapes left them, falling towards the ground, their rocket engines fired and Ward Busters charged towards their target and death.
All of those bombs slammed into the ward system and were immediately followed by a chain of explosions as the defenses around the school shattered, revealing it to the world and making it vulnerable to normal attacks.
The last one, that lingered behind opened its bomb bay doors and started to deploy its cargo, dozens of bombs, whose targets were the defense positions around the castle, dropped. Slamming into their targets they exploded, taking with themselves their targets and ensuring they were destroyed.
The attack on Durmstrang had started…
o-0-o
A/N:
Those that watched Stargate recognized one name, Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill, I won't be using whole series, just most of military personnel, scientists and some politicians as I'm fond of them and whatever is being said about some, they are fun.
The Dresden Files are going to be used as rules that govern the magic in that universum help to keep more crazy spells on a leash and everybody that read them will see that the Merlin meeting with Dumbledore will be an interesting sight. Lore and bending of canon will be explained later as some might scream about Seven Laws of Magic and the fact that half of the wizarding world should be executed. All of it will be explained in due time by certain characters that might surprise some.
For time-line continuity, it is set two years after Skin Games which means - SPOILERS! - that Dresden is Winter Knight, a Warden, Warden of Demonreach, has four of the five artifacts stolen out of the vault belonging to Hades, Red Court is no more and geopolitical world is a giant mess, which will be explained by few characters as there are even more players wanting to get something.
Odin, in the books he is known as Kringle or Donar Vadderung, but it is also said that those are also Mantles, capital M intended, and in book fourteen it was stated that one person can have many of them. So to keep them as one person, Vadderung, Kringle are his persona when he doesn't want to cause a lot of noise. As if a former god shows up, not many will care, if a Skyfather, well many will need fresh pants and calming potions. Power levels, with age comes control over magic and after five millennia, you get pretty darn good at what you do, so keeping your power on the level that won't raise too alarms is achievable.
Explanation of terms from the Dresden Files:
The Nevernever - alternate version of our world, inhabited by supernatural things, laws of physics usually apply, but powerful beings can alter them and for example in hour in the Nevernever is equal to days here or the other way around. Asgard is not in the Nevernever, but is extremely close to it and border between the two is as thin as a sheet of paper. Wizards can open portals that lead into it and as a rule a spooky and a dark place in our world will give a very similar place in the Nevernever, a vault in a bank will lead as to a vault of some being in the Nevernever.
It is also attuned to magic and if something big enough has a tantrum it gets ugly, that wave of force that washed over Mab and almost took her by surprise was an effect of powers that normally would take centuries to show, being forcibly awoken. If it was done to a wizard, no such thing would happen, but to a being that is attuned to magic and has a far bigger ease when wielding it? You get a reaction that is equally proportionate to the action. Take one furious demigod, forcibly awake his powers and you get a lot of chaos and destruction. He had a bracelet that should disable his powers, yet he used them with no issue, that means that he has a lot of power.
Faerie/Fae - there are two courts and a large number of unaligned ones, some are nothing more than pixies, while some are a dangerous foe for Odin, they inhabit the part of the Nevernever that is the closest to our world.
Ways - think of them as highways of the Nevernever, paths through it that allow for quick movement and a kilometer down such path can take us from Chicago to Tokyo. Distance from Asgard to Midgard by Ways is a much longer one, but compared to Bifrost it is a stealthy way and Mab has control over the area through which pass those ways, so she can make it pass quicker.
Mab - the best comparison is think about her as Fury of Fae, cold, ruthless, patient, extremely dangerous and powerful magically, if you cross her, you suffer badly. If you think that Asgard is cruel, she is way above this, she tortured her servant for betraying her secrets for ten years.
Other terms and certain behaviors:
REFORGER - was a codename of a series of exercises whose goal was to test readiness of NATO forces to move whole divisions from the USA to Europe, here they do the same, but for the border countries of NATO and in case Russia feels that their pride was trampled and needs to attack, they are ready to stop any attack before it has time to pick up momentum.
Game played by Fury - he has two equally bad choices, pretend that nothing happens and have Russia jump, or flex muscles of NATO and also pray that Russia stays put. Even if on the maps border between NATO countries and Russia looks small - thin strip of Norway's border, three Baltic States, Poland and that's it. In reality it is longer as Belarus is a puppet of Russia and Ukraine can be overrun in a couple of hours. So in reality it is a really long line and without reinforcing it Russia could do whatever it wanted to. Launching an exercise that cannot be hidden or ignored (as seriously, you cannot hide hundreds of trains and convoys moving as quickly as possible, usually escorted by various law enforcement) he simply checks what Russia will do and limits their options. As when you expect the war to happen and that is assumption taken by everybody, you look for even the smallest thing, which means that clandestine operations are risky as hell and you better not do it as explaining what your soldiers were doing on the wrong side of the border is a challenge.
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Reviews:
GothicChevy - yup, a lot of Blackhawks is incoming, some Ospreys and several others, but mostly Blackhawk, Hercules and Galaxy will do most of the work. SHIELD in general will use a lot of US equipment, but you will also find a lot of western in general and even some Russian, as while their planes are bad, their firearms are one of the best. Also some weapons are unique and nobody else developed them, one of examples is TOS-1 Buratino, an overgrown flamethrower mounted on a task chassis. If you have a lot of zombies or ghouls coming and have time to prepare…