The following morning the Karsten Manor grounds were a bustling hub of activity. It had been hard to imagine before, but the combined forces Crusch's own troops, the Fang of Iron Group, some volunteers, and whatever mercenary groups could be bought was far larger than Peter would have guessed. The planning stages of this whole thing were always small enough that you could keep track of everyone.

Now there were people moving in formation all dressed in the same uniform and others testing strange equipment. His small contribution to the specialized weapons had been a web spear gun—while Peter probably couldn't build a new web shooter of the size that it would work on his wrist in this world, he could create a large version that could harpoon and hold the Whale down.

At least he hoped it did.

Over the course of the day more people trickled in, though some of them were just delivering supplies. Several merchants bearing supplies and provisions moved through the gardens of the mansion like a rotating roster of characters. Peter found himself introduced to so many people as he simply made his way through his day.

More awkward for him was the fact that some of them knew him. They had heard tales of the boy who held a whole tower on his back or who could be seen flying through the air on magical strings. Peter had never been known to the public as Spider-Man. He didn't even like to think of himself as a proper hero like Mister Stark or Captain America."

It was different in this world where some people were just born with innate magical abilities and there were knights who could unleash a bomb-like blast with a swing of their sword. Even though people with powers were still a rarity here, they weren't as rare as they had been on Earth and none of them seemed all that keen on hiding what they could do from the world.

Still it was odd to have people recognizing Peter for the actions of Spider-Man.

Rocket and Kate Bishop showed up with Anastasia Hoshin at some point, but there was barely any time for him to go over and acknowledge them before they were swept up in the commotion of the day.

It was weird, despite having been in this world for a whole month, Peter really hadn't interacted with Ground Dragons all that much. There several people fitting the creatures with armor and making sure that they were prepared for the journey and fight that lie ahead of them. As Peter walked between the rows of Ground Dragons one of them bucked forward, subtly nudging past the person that had been caring for it. The thing didn't seem to want to go on the offensive or anything and what it ended up doing was pushing itself eerily close to Peter's face and dragging its big tongue over his cheek.

"Oh, hey! Okay!" Peter shouted, through a bout of shocked laughter as he held his hands to combat being licked again. "Come on, cut that out."

"Wow, she doesn't usually like, well, anybody, really," said the person who had been caring for the creature.

"Keep that up and Miss Emilia might have a reason to be jealous," it was Ferris. He had just walked out from between two of the dragons with his hands clasped behind the back of the blue and white striped spaghetti strap dress.

"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Peter waving his hands around in front of himself in protest which allowed the Ground Dragon to get back to licking Peter's face. He reached up and started to rub his hand down the snout of the creature, trying to get it to calm down. The Ground Dragon was covered in smooth black scales. It had a long, pointed snout and that widened back into its neck. There were almost feather like strips running from the back of the Ground Dragon's head. The Dragon's belly and the rest of its underside were a lighter tan color.

"Oh nothing," said Ferris with a big smile plastered own his face.

"Right…" Peter said.

"You know, you're going to need to have a Ground Dragon to get out to the spot," said Ferris.

The trainer nodded. "Right, this Ground Dragon is going to be hard for anyone else to handle on the way out there," he said.

"That's just what I was thinking," said Ferris. "You should take this Ground Dragon—since she's fond of you."

Peter didn't really get why this animal would view him as something special, but he didn't think walking for hours on end just to get to a fight or using his webs to speed himself up would be the most optimal thing. And there was no need for this Ground Dragon to not have a rider.

"I can take her, I guess," Peter said. The Ground Dragon snuggled up against the side of his head and made a kind of half purr, half grunt noise that sounded vaguely positive to him.

After the business with the Ground Dragon was decided, Peter made time to make some extra webbing and make sure that the suit was fully charged. He also asked Karen to run a diagnostic, he didn't usually do that, but this seemed like the perfect time to start. Especially since she had spent the better part of a month without access to the internet or proper care.

The preparations really ran through the day with most people choosing to eat while going over whatever they needed to for them to make sure they were ready. Peter was pretty sure at this point that whatever Satella was doing to keep him from staying dead was still in effect, though he didn't plan to try and test that theory.

Besides, he had done all of the work of making sure that everything was in order this time. His words had been just right with Crusch and the others and he had even managed to avoid the situation with Rem ballooning into something worse (though he did have to admit this smell of the Witch thing was something that he hadn't been aware of and as far as he could tell only Rem knew about it).

He had a good feeling about this run so long as he stuck to the plan: stay alive, don't mention the Save State, and beat the White Whale. Yeah, he could do that.

Peter sat on the front steps of the manor house, pressed against the railing so as not to disrupt the back and forth of the traffic going through the doors. There sun was setting now, there wouldn't be much they could do to really prepare after dark and they would have to be ready to make their way toward the meeting point. It was normally only a few hour trip, but from what he had been told it was a lot more time consuming moving a larger force.

It was hard too get much of an idea exactly how many people had joined their ranks and there was tell of even more linking top with them at the edge of the city on the way out.

A conservative estimate, if he had to throw one out there was that there was three hundred people involved. That number was based solely on what he could see from this side of the manor and what he had gleamed from the others. With people moving around all day and some of them coming and going it would have been impossible to tell without actually stopping to take a count.

Peter heard someone walk up beside him, but on the other side of the railing he sat against. He felt their weight against the wood as they leaned down and heard the gentle creak of the boards.

"Wow, you really are that Spider-Man."

Peter had heard her voice only the few times before, but he had made a note of her because she was one of the few other people from Earth out there: Kate Bishop stood with her body resting against the railing, with her head perched on her folded arms. She looked way too relaxed for someone about to take on what was essentially a Godzilla monster.

"Yeah," Peter said. "I mean, I was him—I guess I still am here too," Peter muttered this all awkwardly. He felt comfortable with Emilia, but it was still weird talking to women who he could just tell were slightly older and very confident in themselves and their abilities. Even without seeing her in action, he could tell what kind of woman Kate Bishop was.

"Shouldn't they be calling you Spider-Boy or something?" Kate asked. She circled around the railing and sat down next to him as she spoke. "Oh, it's okay if I sit here?"

"Yeah, I mean, I don't own the stairs."

"Right," Kate said. Now that he was getting a look at her in what he assumed was her gear for the White Whale Subjugation he could tell that this was something that Kate Bishop had a hand in designing. It looked very her: a purple jumpsuit with a pale purple accent for things like the scarf she wore. Her dark hair was free, down loose around her shoulders. The whole ensemble looked very much like something from modern Earth and not at all like an outfit you would find here.

"I just wanted to say something to you, like I know it's not the most crazy thing, but you saved one of my friends one time," Kate said.

"Really? Do you remember what it was that happened?" Peter asked.

"Staten Island Ferry—that time that the uh big bird guy in the bomber jacket cut the whole boat in half. I guess it wasn't just you, Iron Man showed up too," Kate said.

Peter nodded. "Really not one of my better moments, I kind of caused the whole thing to go off of the rails."

"I heard that too, but you still stuck around to make sure you saved everyone," Kate said. "Let me ask you this, who's your favorite Avenger?"

Peter turned to her, his face becoming a mask of confusion and at the same time he had to wonder what was her angle here? What was the right answer. The expected thing was for him to say Iron Man. Or even Captain America—those were the two choices that almost anyone was going to say, but who was really his favorite on a raw, gut level?

"I don't think I really know how to answer that question—"

"Mine's Hawkeye," Kate said enthusiastically and nearly cutting him off. Then as if to illustrate the point further she pointed to the quiver on her back. "A little while back, well back in our world, when I met Hawkeye for real I was kind of starstruck and a little bit in over my head and I just ruined everything for him. I nearly made him miss Christmas with his family and almost got us both killed."

"He had this plan and mixing me into it just made the whole thing go tits-up," Kate said. "But I stuck it out and I even went one on one with the Kingpin," she added.

Peter blinked shaking his head. "I'm not really clear of if you're giving me a pep talk or—"

"It looks like you're moping. I'm trying to help. Look, these people here don't know the first thing about whales, my people have been killing whales for centuries," Kate said.

"Are you from a long line of whale hunters—whalers or something?" Peter asked.

Kate shook her head. "I mean like regular Earth humans. We hunted whales for, like—look I just wanted to make sure you weren't worried about this. I'm pretty sure we got this," Kate said with a wink.

"I'm not really worried over this in the immediate sense. We're probably the most prepared anyone has ever been if I'm right about where this thing is supposed to appear," Peter said. It had occurred to him that the appearance could have been a coincidence that just happened in that same area twice or that by altering the course of this day he had altered where the Whale would be. The thing was that if it needed to effectively block people from the capital from rescuing those within the Mathers domain there was only one effective place it could be.

"That's the spirit," Kate said.

"You seem entirely not worried, which is starting to make me worry some," Peter said.

"Oh, well that's because you're talking to the World's Greatest Archer," she said.

Peter could do nothing in reply to this but stare blankly at her.

"What is it that you're all worried about?" Kate asked. "I mean, if you don't mind telling me?"

"I think you met Emilia during the planning meeting," Peter said.

"She was the silver haired half-elf," Kate said. "She seemed nice. Oh, wait is she your girlfriend?"

Peter fought against the oncoming embarrassment, took a deep breath and tried not to stammer out his next sentence. "Not exactly, but you know…"

"She seemed pretty interested in you, so I would take that as a good sign," Kate said.

Peter nodded. This wasn't the first time that he had been surprised by a pretty girl's willingness to hang out with him and then choose to do it again the next day. But it didn't mean that she liked him, right? He was one of her first friends to hear her tell it.

"Can I ask you a question? It might be kind of a person thingy, if you don't want to answer—" Peter said, but she cut him off.

"Ask away, Spider-Man."

"If a boy who was, like, your first friend in the whole world kissed you out of the blue, just to like see if it meant anything, what would you think?" Peter asked.

"Just any boy?" Kate teased.

"A hypothetical boy," Peter said holding his hands out in front of himself to drive the point home.

"Like a hypothetical Spider-Boy?" Kate asked.

Peter sighed, shaking his head and turning back to face the railing of the stairs.

"Look, I'm just messing with you," Kate said. "I've had boys try to kiss me that for sure knew I didn't want them to, but they thought that somehow they would show me—" she explained this until she was forced to wave her hands in front of herself as if trying to get her own attention and get herself back on topic.

"What I mean to say is: you've heard all of this before, I'm sure. Consent is sexy, but somehow so is spontaneity. If you're not absolutely sure what it is she wants from you, you can always ask. Emilia really didn't seem like the kind of person to be mean about…well anything," Kate said.

Peter nodded. "Right." He said with a smile. "You're pretty good at all of this," he added.

"The advice stuff? Well, I have made just about every mistake that someone could and I have basically ruined my entire life multiple times over so I can see the signs coming," Kate said with a chuckle.

"Well, you're only a year into being in this new world, so maybe you can make a new you?" Peter suggested.

"That is kind of profound, you're not so bad at this either."

An old man in half-plate sauntered over as he fought to affix his sword to his side where it belonged. It seemed that either he was bigger or the sword belt had aged and dried to the point that it didn't have the give it once had. It was probably a combination of both.

At the same time there was something fierce in his eyes. Though his hair was graying, it seemed to have started out a deep midnight blue as that was the color of his beard and the streaks of hair that had yet to lose color.

"Are you this Peter Park fellow?" He called out.

"Ye-yes sir?" Peter answered.

"Younger than I expected, even though they warned me," the old man said and then he snapped to attention with his legs going straight and his arms down at his sides centered directly on the hems of his pant-legs. Then, in one swift motion, he brought his hand up in a salute.

"I would like to thank you, son," the man said.

"Um, what did I do?"

"You've given this old man a chance to avenge those taken from us—I survived a previous attack on the whale and, for the most part, I don't remember the men I served with or even exactly how many it was," explained.

"How do you know there was anyone then?" Kate asked.

"Regiments are made up of a certain number and there are so many regiments. We lost three that day and I can only remember a few of them here and there—the ones that weren't in the fog. And I remember the Sword Saint."

"Wilhelm's wife?" Peter remembered the story that Wilhelm van Astrea had told him. The fact that everyone remembered her meant that the Whale must have killed her a different way or that she had some protection against whatever it had done. Part of Peter wished that he could see back then and just observe the mistakes that they had made. Other than being caught off guard by the thing.

They were still facing an unknown.

The old man nodded. "I was there the last time that the White Whale was targeted by the Kingdom and this time I aim to see that it is dealt with properly."

With those words he walked away from Peter and Kate. They were silent as he moved off into the distance to join a group of older men who looked to be much the same age as him.

"That was a little intense," Kate said.

"Well, there are people all over the continent who have lost loved ones that they can't even remember to the White Whale. Your contribution to this effort and Peter's finding it are inspiring to a lot of people," Crusch said.

Kate and Peter turned back to see that she had stepped out of the door behind them. She was not yet in her armor and had chosen to remain the the dress blue uniform that she normally wore for work. She descended the stairs until she was right alongside the two of them.

"I think that even when you're from this world it is hard to understand the weight of what we're about to do," Crusch said.

"Does anyone even remember a time before there was a White Whale?" Asked Kate.

Crusch seemed to be caught off guard by the question. She poised her hand against her chin before speaking. "Elves were said to be able to live long spans of time, but they're extremely rare—and Spirits. Spirits seem to live indefinitely."

Peter didn't even think as he muttered the words out lout. "I wonder if Puck knows anything?" Back when Puck was threatening the elder council at the castle he bragged about the oldest thing in the room. Had he been alive when the White Whale was born? How did Spirits even come to be? Peter seemed to remember something being told to him about lesser spirits becoming bigger spirits. The whole thing seemed kind of foreign and not even all that rigid or based on rules to him.

"That was probably an avenue we could have explored while he was here, but I doubt that Emilia's Spirit would know some vital clue and not tell us," Crusch said.

When Peter died the first time, in the hidden room behind the bookshelf in the Mathers Manor, he had heard Puck's voice echoing and emanating from all around him. The cold air had been just like that time when Puck was releasing his mana except for a million times worse.

It made Peter think that Puck had to be keeping something hidden.

"Have you seen Steve recently?" Asked Peter.

"It's hard to know if he's back since there's so many people here," Crusch said. "It's impressive how many people we've got—no one here is being forced into doing this. They're all here for coin, glory, or revenge and all by their own will."

Peter glanced over the gathered groups that filled this side of the yard. He had walked around the outside of the house, circling around through the different groups to take in what each of them was doing and the different make ups of the people there.

""It's kind of like a cross-section of the Kingdom," Peter said.

"Huh?" Crusch said.

"The people here are from all over the Kingdom is all that I meant," Peter corrected himself.

"All over the Kingdom and all walks of life," Crusch said.

Kate raised her arm to point toward the main gate of the manor, Peter looked up to see something large and dark drawn by Ground Dragons's rounding the corner to enter the gate.

"Is that a boat?" Kate asked before looking to Peter and Crusch.

As the boat, rigged up on a cart so that it could roll came into view it became immediately clear why a small ship was being towed into the manor garden. Standing at the front of the boat, dressed in his red and black super hero regalia and mask (topped off with a borrowed tri-coner captain's hat) was…

"Wade Wilson," Crusch barked as she descended the stairs the rest of the way. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Call me Ishmael," Wade said striking a majestic pose with one foot on the boats edge and a spyglass clasped in hand.

"What are you talking about?" Crusch demanded.

"You mean Ahab," Kate hollered.

"What?" Wade asked.

"You said the first line of the book, but Ishmael is just the narrator, Ahab is the captain and you're wearing a captain's hat," Kate explained.

Wade ripped the hat off of his head and crumpled it up in his hand, his heroic composure breaking. "You're really putting that Liberal Arts Degree to work there, I doubt all of this trivia comes in handy at your barista job!"

Kate tossed her hands up in a gesture that didn't even require her to say 'whatever' for the sentiment to be clear.

"Why did you bring a boat here?" Crusch asked, the confusion about whatever it was they were discussing seemed to have somehow calmed her.

"To hunt that damned White Whale," Wade said.

The idea of bringing a boat to a Whale Fight seemed to confusion Crusch further, she pondered it in silence.

"It's also kind of tiny boat," Peter said.

"Well, Mister Smarty-Pants you try finding a whaling boat in a world that doesn't have fucking oceans!" Wade screamed.

It was right about then that the other people sitting in the back of the boat started to stir and it became apparent that they were even there. Four other men were outfitted with small metal helmets and spears. The crude weaponry didn't seem to be any kind of a match for any of the stuff that Crusch's recruits had.

"Who are they?" Asked Kate.

"My crew. This is Starbuck, Queequeg, Stubb, and Pip." Wade pointed back over his shoulder at them, but didn't seem to be really moving in turn or even aiming exactly at them.

"We keep telling him those ain't our names!" One of the men shouted.

Just then Bucky, Sam, and Steve walked through the front gate. Sam actually slapped the hull of the boat with his hand, looking it over. "Whoa, why do we have a boat?"

"Because we're going whaling!" Wade screamed.

Sam pointed at him. "Well this ain't the right kind of boat for that or any kind of serious fishing. Also, it's trash."

"You're all going to look silly when we get out there and the five of us are the only ones prepared for a proper whale hunt!"

Ferris made his way up to the group. He looked over Wade's boat with a kind of strange curiosity even going as far to knock on it. Then he turned to Crusch.

"Miss Crusch, we need to be leaving soon," Ferris said.

Crusch nodded. "If you all will excuse," she said as she made her way to the corner of the yard. There she could see most of the areas where people had gathered and with the ring of a bell she could call the assembly to order.

The bell chimed, its hollow sound reverberating through the gardens and bouncing off of the walls and house. For a moment the soldiers must have thought it was the sound of the city or some distant bell that was unrelated, but as those nearest to the noise took notice and fall in others soon followed.

Rows of soldiers wearing everything from mage robes to scraped together piecemeal armor to fabulous ornate plate that glinted against the light stood lined up in either direction around the manor facing Crusch at the corner of the grounds.

Seeing as how Kate had moved over to join them and Steve and the others had moved too, Peter thought to move to where they were standing in the crowd. Then he decided that he wasn't sure if he wanted to draw anymore attention for being the boy that made all of this possible. So he leaped up into the air and webbed himself the rest of the way up to sit on the awning of the roof.

Crusch waited until the noise of the crowd's movements and chattering settled. She was holding her sword now, the point dug into the earth in front of her. In a commanding tone, one that even Peter was surprised to hear come out of her, she began to speak.

"Four hundred years have passed since the Jealous Witch loosed the White Whale on the world. Since that day it has made what reminds of the continent its hunting ground and countless lives have been lost. Thanks to the nature of its fog we may never know the number of people the beast callously stole or even remember their names."

Thought the crowd Peter could see people with tears in their eyes and hands clenched so tight that they turned red with the blood from their nails digging into their palms. He could see Rocket Raccoon now, the small creature had joined up with Kate in the crowd now they were standing with Steve, Bucky, and Sam. Steve actually kept glancing around, was he looking for Peter?

"I am here to say to you that the four hundred year reign of terror is over. I am here to promise to you that before we return to the manor this city The White Whale will have drawn its last breath. Those of us gathered here will strike down this vile creature, not the Wiseman Council and not the Dragon!"

Crusch raised her sword into the sky the metal shining above her head. "We move out! Our destination is Flugel's Tree on the Lifau Highway!"

There were cheers and rousing shouts that started small and bloomed until the sound shook the whole of the mansion. Peter figured he would let them get started before he just jumped down and the Ground Dragon that he had selected earlier.

Something stirred next to him and then he realized that for a while now there had been someone else nearby. He didn't figure that there were many out there who would one comfortable this high up on the roof of a building. His Spider-Sense hadn't triggered, but still he wondered why the person hadn't spoken yet.

"Well, that was a rousing speech."

Peter instantly recognized the voice as the madwoman assassin from his first day in the capital, Elsa. She must have sensed him about to make a move and she added.

"You should calm down, I'm not here for you—I've been paid to do a job," Elsa said.

"Crusch paid you?" Peter asked.

"No, our mutual friend Steve Rogers did. One hundred blessed coins to assassinate the White Whale," Elsa said before licking her lips.

Peter didn't think Steve could come up with that kind of coin on his own, but Roswaal was good for it for sure. He didn't let any of this slip to Elsa, he really didn't know what to say with her. She had stabbed him, tried to kill him, Emilia, Felt, and Old Man Rom. Peter had to wonder what Steve was thinking with this one.

There was also the fact that Elsa seemed to be barely able to contain herself, Peter watched her out of the side of his eye for a moment before saying anything in response to her.

Then Elsa reached inside of the cloak that she was wearing, her clothing was slightly more toned down than it had been the previous time that he had seen her. He only noticed as he watched her hand search for something under the fabric. Peter stayed frozen, waiting for the signal from his Spider-Sense that there was some immediate danger.

"I made this," Elsa said as she pulled out a small sewn doll in the likeness of him in his Spider-Suit. It was a good likeness, she had even stitched the little lines running down his suit through it. "I made it for someone else, but had to remake my work because the eye got a little crooked—I decided it was best for you to have it."

Peter took it and stared down at his little plush doppelgänger. Maybe this was her way of relating to people, he had known she had given something like this to Steve too. But the peculiar thing was that even knowing that she had done that didn't register with him until he looked at her work here.

He had thought of Elsa as this monster, the kind of creature at the end of a book devoid of all human emotion and logic that was just there to kill and make the plot happen until someone else comes along. Peter glanced at Elsa, kicking her legs as they sat on the edge of the awning watching the movements of the people on the ground down below.

"Thank you," Peter said to her. "This is…really good work." There was something else there, something else that Steve must have seen to make him believe that she could be more than a hired sword for their cause.

Elsa said nothing.

"We better get down there," Peter said. Most of the people had cleared out of the garden and were forming up in the streets while someone blocked the oncoming traffic for them. He jumped down into the grass, landing with a soft thud and dropping into a crouch to absorb the impact.

There was a flutter of sound behind him and he looked back to see Elsa running down the wall of the manor and stepping down into the grass next to him. She looked over to him Peter with a sigh. The two of them made their way toward the area where the last of the Ground Dragons were gathered while people selected theirs and readied themselves.

"Is there a boat over there?" Elsa asked.

Peter sighed. "It's a really long, confusing story," Peter said.

Elsa stroked her chin seemingly lost in some kind of deep thought. He watched her for several moments waiting to see what it was that she was considering or plotting. A smile appeared on her pale face, her dark eyes shrouded in the shadows from the house.

"Would you mind if we shared a Ground Dragon?" Elsa asked.

"Huh, wha-what do you mean?"

"Most of them are gone and it looks like most people had assigned ones, then there is the fact that a lot of the beasts tend not to like me for some reason," Elsa said.

Peter could see that Steve and the others were already lined up outside, probably thinking he had found somewhere else to ride in one of the carriages or with Crusch herself.

He let out a deep breath and held out his hands. "Give me all your…weird bent daggers."

"Kukri," Elsa corrected him.

"Whatever they're called." Peter shook his hands in front of him as if to get her to comply with the order. Elsa started to fish in her cloak and around her body gathering up knives. Peter stopped counting around the tenth one and when she stacked them into his hands he did a once over to see how many there were.

"Twenty?" Peter glanced around her looking for a place that they could all fit. He had seen some of them strapped to her leg and waist, but others appeared to appear out of nowhere. "Where were you keeping them all?" He asked.

Elsa chuckled. "This is my traveling cloak, the magic gives it extra storage."

Peter didn't like that.

He began to walk toward his Ground Dragon. "I'm going to store these in her satchel," he said acknowledging the dragon as he approached. Then he had to wonder where he should put Elsa, time was getting kind of short as most of the people in the courtyard area were already on the street and ready to go.

Peter could put Elsa behind him which would be the normal way you would do that with the person in the front driving the dragon—at least that is how it had seemed. But Peter had never ridden on anything more complex than a petting zoo pony. He for sure wasn't equipped to control her.

That meant that he could put Elsa in the front and make her drive, it also meant that she would be in front of him and unable to do anything sneaky. Not that his Spider-Sense would give her much opportunity. This was the setup that made the most sense, but sitting behind Elsa pressed close together would be an issue.

"You're sitting in front of me," he said, masking the very awkward position he was putting himself in with the forced determination in his voice. Peter dumped the knives into the satchel filling it up the rest of the way. He stored the Spider-Man doll in another pouch for safe keeping and then pulled his mask down over his head to let the suit tighten into place.

As Elsa approached she turned to look at him. "I see we're getting out fighting clothes out." The moment that she got near enough to the Ground Dragon to take its reigns, it yanked its head away and let out a hiss.

Peter held his hand out. "Hey, whoa—it's fine. It's fine, girl. She's with me."

Elsa watched him closely, Peter reached for her hand. "Can I see your hand? Please…" he asked. Elsa offered it out to him and he took her at the wrist and moved her hand to stroke the dragon's snout.

"See," Peter said, his voice changing to accommodate whatever sensibility he thought that an animal would have about voices. He had seen other people do this kind of thing with dogs and cats, he had probably done it himself before. "She's with us, she's okay."

Sure, Peter said those words out loud, but he didn't fully believe them. For some reason the Ground Dragon did believe him though. She moved her head to accept Elsa's hand, letting it glide over her scales until Peter released Elsa's wrist and let her rub the animal for a little bit longer.

"I guess we better get going," Peter said.

Elsa nodded and climbed onto the back of the Ground Dragon first, sitting herself as far forward as was possible for her. Peter leaped up onto the back of the dragon, catching himself with his hands and landing so that he was sitting in the allotted space behind Elsa. He was in luck, there was just enough room so that he didn't have press his body to hers to stay comfortable.

Elsa pulled the hood of her cloak up over her dark hair before taking the reigns and leading the Ground Dragon out into the street to muster with the rest of the Subjugation Force.

They were part of the last group to exit from the manor grounds and the moment that they were out Peter could see how vast their numbers were. It was a matter of being unable to hear the orders to move out and having to just start moving when the group in front of your did. They inched forward, maintaining a steady clip until they had neared the edge of town.

At this time of night there was rarely a pedestrian or carriage. Whenever the massive column got nearer to the edge of the capital they picked up speed. Before there had been this stop and go that kept happening when they would come to a cross road. Peter could see Rem was riding with Steve, Bucky was actually alone, and Falcon, Peter had guessed, was flying ahead to check the roads for any signs of trouble.

Peter was glad that Elsa didn't seem to find cause to speak much, he didn't know what he would say to her and though he had been speaking to her for some time from this close to her all that he could smell was the scent of blood.

Steve was surprised at how swift the Ground Dragon reacted. He had worried that it would be weird riding on one of these himself, but the creature intuited the desired course of action and followed in line with those in front of it. He supposed that they must have been particularly smart or that they were just very well trained. Crusch had rented or bought them all, it stood to reason that she would have only taken the best.

Rem's thin arms were holding him around the waist and her cheek was pressed against his back. She hadn't said anything for a while and he wondered if there was something going on or if this was just her reaction to the situation they were in: riding off to sneak attack a four hundred year old demon.

Things could be more awkward, he thought, Elsa could have actually showed up. Steve had both hoped for her to make the right choice and been sure that she never would have. It would have been something that he could see saving a lot of lives, not just hers. There was no reason for her to remain a murderer especially when there seemed to be so many causes out there worth fighting for.

Elsa would never be that normal though and there was little hope of changing the life of a person who didn't want to be changed. Steve wondered if he had imagined the glimmers of the other woman that he spotted briefly when her armor cracked.

"Yay!" There was a high pitched shout from next to him and he glanced over to see a little orange haired beast human girl with a staff leading a pack of riders that sat on wolfback. Steve recognized the girl as Mimi, from the planning meeting the other day, but there was someone next to her that had to be a sibling.

"Miss Mimi, it's good to see you again," Steve called down to her.

"Mimi's glad to see you too."

Steve pointed to the other beast human, they seemed to be earring a monocle and had no discernible weapons that he could pick out. All of the soldiers in their little area were cloaked in white robes, most of which had the hood up with two little raised notches on either side of the head where ears could jut up.

"You never introduced me to your sister," Steve said, taking a chance and guessing.

"Mimi doesn't have a sister, that's brother and fellow vice captain, Tivey," she explained.

"You can see the resemblance," he started. Then he pressed his hand to his chest, gripping the reigns tighter in his other hand. "I'm Captain Steve Rogers," he said.

"Another Vice Captain?" Mimi shouted, puzzled. "But you've got to be a beastie really, sorry Captain Steve!"

"It's nice to meet you," Tivey said.

"Nice to meet you too," Steve said. "And not a Captain with your group," he told Mimi.

Mimi seemed to consider this for a while as Tivey spoke again. "You're going to have to excuse my sister," he said.

"She's fine—wait, how old are you guys?" Steve asked.

Rem spoke up. "For some kind of Demi-humans adulthood comes rather earlier, I would say that their all practically adults," she said over Rem's shoulder, lifting her head up to do so.

"I see, what's with your—wolf mount there," he asked pointing to the thing that Tivey was riding on.

"Oh this, it's called a Liger," Tivey said. "It's like a fast dog."

Steve nodded. It still seemed to him that he was talking to a child, but no one else really was batting an eye at all of this. When America was at war back in his time some of the people that were joining the effort were what would be considered on the young side. He was sure that some of the things he had said after he got out of the ice shocked the people around him.

As they got further from the city center, Steve started to wonder where Peter had gotten off to. He must have hung back and caught a ride with Rocket or Wade or someone like that. Steve knew that he would be somewhere in the column, especially after all the work Peter had done to find out where the Whale was going to be next. Some of it he hadn't even properly explained to Steve.

"Is there anything the matter?" Rem asked.

"Just thinking about something that happened earlier," Steve said.

"Oh. Is it anything that we should be worried about?"

Steve shook his head. "Probably not, but I was wondering have you noticed Pete seems a little different."

Rem groaned and though the sound of the wind rushing past them drowned most of it out, Steve could feel it in his spine and vibrating out through his chest. "I have something that I should probably tell you," Rem said.

By now Tivey and Mimi had slipped back a little and were talking to Ricardo. The outskirts of the actual capital were thinning, but they still had a ways to go before they were fully out of the city.

"What is it?" Steve asked.

"The other day, after the departure of Miss Emilia and Lord Roswaal I noticed that Peter seemed to carry the Scent of the Witch on him," Rem said.

"What does that mean?"

"It's hard to explain, but it is usually associated with the Witch's cult. I-I don't think that he has joined them, of course, but it still could be affecting his mood—maybe," Rem explained.

Steve glanced at her over the top of his shoulder. "And you asked him about it?"

Rem bobbed her head up and down. "He didn't know what it was, but there was a moment where he made it worse—it didn't quite make sense."

"Thanks for telling me," Steve said.

"You seem upset!" Rem said, her voice shrill with worry.

"No, I just need to keep an eye on Pete," Steve said. "I kind of feel—well, he is kind of my responsibility. He is just starting out in all of this."

"He's very lucky to have you," he could hear the smile in Rem's voice. Then she chuckled. "You're like a big brother to him," she added.

"Yeah, it's kind of funny when you say it that way," Steve said.

"You two look like you're having fun," Bucky had ridden up beside them.

Rem turned to look at Bucky, her head resting on Steve's back still. "Oh, James, we lost you for a bit in the crowds there."

"It's a little dense in the city, but once we get further out it'll be easier to move freely," Bucky said.

"You look like a natural on that thing," Steve joked.

Bucky shook his head. "Well, I've had almost a year of practice—this is Dot, my Ground Dragon," he said.

"You named it after that redhead you used to chase after," said Steve.

"I just like the name," Bucky countered.

Steve shrugged. "You always did have a type."

"A type of what?" Rem asked.

"There's just a certain type of girl that Bucky tends to like," Steve explained.

Rem's voice went up in the excitement of the moment. "I've actually got a sister, I'm frankly shocked that Steve didn't take a liking to her over me…"

"I like you just fine," Steve said. "You don't have to compete with your sister."

"Maybe I'll get to meet her when all of this is over," Bucky said.

Rem had retreated back into her shell, he didn't want it to be him scolding her, but he also didn't want her to be so down on herself all of the time. The more he thought about it the more he wondered what hampered her in her past, what exactly was it that had made her this sure that she was not worth anything?

"You seen Sam recently?" Asked Steve.

"Not since we left, he said he would scout ahead and report to Crusch. Where's the kid?" Asked Bucky.

"I don't know," Steve said. "Probably somewhere in this column." For all of the things he knew about the kind of person Peter was, he also knew that Peter was dependable and brave. He would be working his way toward the Whale with the others and he didn't need to worry about where he was for now.

Throughout the journey Ground Dragons would fall back and gain ground periodically so that you were never next to the same person for long unless you tried intentionally. Peter was beginning to think that he had a pretty good grasp on when Elsa was steering or trying to control the beast and when it was just going with the flow of things and slowing down to rest as needed.

After being ahead of it for quite some time, the boat that Wade Wilson had rigged up to be drawn on top of a long cart that it was lashed to caught up to them during one of The Ground Dragon's slower segments. The 'crew' Wade had assembled was mostly lounging on the deck or preparing various supplies for the battle ahead, seeing as how they had kind of arrived at the last minute with a whole boat. There was a second where cargo had been moved out so they could get to it and in the rear of the boat was an area covered by a tied down tarp presumably where the rest of their weapons were.

"Spider-Man," Wade called from the side of the boat. "Whose the cute goth dommy-mommy you've caught a ride with."

Elsa's head whirled around to look at him, her dark hair slapped Peter in the face. She held her gaze on him for a moment and then looked to Peter. "I see now why you took away my affects."

"She might not be the best person to play these games with," Peter warned him.

"Besides, I've got my eye on someone else," Elsa moved, drawing up on the harness that held the Ground Dragon to cause it to slow enough for the drawn boat to pull ahead of them. Seeing as how their Ground Dragons were further up under the control of a driver it looked like this simple maneuver would be enough to deal with their Wade problem.

Peter glanced around aimlessly from their new position in the Subjugation Force Convoy and he spotted Kate Bishop with Rocket Raccoon standing on her shoulders and using his little paw to brace against her head as he pointed at something out ahead.

"Is that 'someone else', Steve Rogers?" Peter asked.

Elsa lowered her head, trying to hide from his view even though he was behind her. "It's a secret," she said.

"That's pretty ominous," Peter said. And just then, as he spoke, Peter looked to the boat's stern and noticed that the word Pequod had been painted there with a rushed hand and in Earth English. Then he saw something move beneath the tarp on the boat and it drew his attention. Looking at it closer now he could see that it had to be a human hand pushing up to gain room to move.

At first he wanted to call out as he assumed that someone had been trapped or forgotten about. But then the hand sized bulge moved further toward the stern until a familiar looking girl appeared in the gap between the boat's wood and the tarp that was held aloft by her hand. It wasn't much space, but because they were looking straight at that spot she was visible.

Running through his time here, Peter fought to recall where he had seen this girl, but he knew that he knew her. Then he remembered as she raised her hand to wave at Elsa. "The little girl from the mabeast attack—"

Elsa waved back at the girl.

"The Mabeast attack on the village—the two of you were working together?" Peter asked.

"Not really, she's my little sister," Elsa said. "We're in the same line of work, but she handle herself just fine," Elsa said.

The girl looked very young, there was no way Steve would have agreed to this if these were Elsa's terms. "Should we be bringing her out here now—I mean the White Whale…"

"She's safer with me. It stands to reason that what's happening here could lead to immediate danger if she or I is found out," Elsa muttered.

That didn't make sense. They weren't headed out to feed the ducks, this whole plan with the White Whale was dangerous, but it seemed like Elsa was referring to a different external danger. Like something that was after her and her sister. "It's going to be pretty dangerous where we're going," Peter said.

Elsa nodded. "But Meili has a special affinity with Demon Beasts and she's going to be the key to slicing open the White Whale."

Peter sighed, that part of her was still there. He could hear the excitement in his voice and it made him deeply uncomfortable, but there was no where for him to go while the Ground Dragon was racing out across the sparse farmland at the edge of the city. In front of them, the girl, this Meili, dropped back into her hiding place as someone approached the back of the ship.

Peter had a feeling that this day might not be done with him yet, but he really didn't want to have to do all this again.