Cool night air rippled past him causing his cloak to flutter out behind him as tore across the night's sky. The forest was dense enough that he had trouble seeing to the ground in some places, but given the magnitude of what he was looking for he didn't think that it would elude him for much longer.

Of course it wouldn't he had been told that if he came here and did just this that he would find it. Why wouldn't he believe this, the Gospel as of yet had never led him astray. This path, the current one, was the direct line to all of his goals and desires. He had but to follow it to the logical conclusion.

It was hard for him to express these goals to others and let them know what it was he desired or how he planned to go about getting it, but after all of these years he could feel it within his grasp. The that he had waited for were finally there and all that he needed to do was make sure that they were set up just as they needed to be.

And that they were free of distraction or temptation that might draw them away from their true purpose.

A dark shape moved beneath the canopy of the trees, though it was only visible in the spots where he could see to the ground. Since Peter, Rem, and Steve had wiped out the majority of the Wolgarm in the area their kind had been replaced by the Knickerbocker—a kind of bird that had been pressed out of the forest some time back by the other mabeast. They were larger than regular birds for sure, but this shadow was much too large to be them. He dipped down out of the sky, slowing his flight and circling the area intent one getting a better look at what he had seen.

Roswaal had gotten a good look at his target at the capital the other day, though he couldn't very well unleash his powers in the middle of the city to the degree that he would have needed to stop it nor could he capture it without arousing suspicion.

Or should he say her. He was unsure of how much of the old her remained, but from looking at the way she interacted with those in the castle it seemed to be none of it. There was also the matter of these powers that she displayed and her calling herself an Inquisitor. As far as Roswaal knew there had been no such thing previously, but in the last few years he had heard reports of them.

The power that he had seen this Inquisitor use seemed almost like it was a Witch's ability as it wasn't normal magic or a divine protection. He remembered that his teacher had talked about false witch powers being something that she might be able to produce, but he didn't know if she had ever actually tried it. As it stood, that was the only thing he could think of.

It was inconsequential where the power came from, so long as he neutralized it and took the body back before it could be destroyed or damaged. That was the thing that the Gospel had told him would be necessary, or at least the thing that it had hinted at.

Very little light reached the floor of the forest, but he could still make out the writhing shadow as it passed. The Inquisitor had spoken when he last saw it, but that didn't mean that it was the same as the person who had once inhabited that body.

Roswaal was reluctant to just begin firing spells through the treetops as the thing. He increased hi speed, flying low over the treetops until he could see the ground again; he was out ahead of the Inquisitor now and he came to a landing in the small clearing facing the direction that he had last seen it in.

Through the darkness ahead he could hear the trees rustling, but otherwise the forest around him was silent. Normally there would be mabeasts and animals around as he was well outside of the barriers that he had set up alongside the road. It seemed that the Inquisitor had driven them away too.

Roswaal inched forward, walking through the knee high grass of the clearing toward the tree-line until he heard a great whoosh. He twirled to one side, dodging as the first one of the puppet bodies rocketed at him from the line of bushes that marked the end of the clearing. Then a second was flung his way and he jumped and spun, kicking it twice so that it sailed off through the woods.

More of them were thrown at him and Roswaal jumped, flipped, and even vaulted over them in midair. When a volley of them landed behind him, he nonchalantly flicked a casting of Goa back over his shoulder so that it erupted in a line taking the puppet bodies with it.

He rushed for the trees; he had wondered if there was any chance that she would show herself, this Inquisitor. He had no doubt about who she was, as it had been told to him, but it was curious that she hid like this. Roswaal moved in a blur and broke through the trees, casting another fire spell as he landed to burn a clear path for him to take upon hitting the ground.

Not having the overwhelming force of the Sword Saint meant that Roswaal had to choose his aims carefully here. He couldn't bait her out and spend forever waiting for her to expend the bodies that she might have replenished. Instead he struck right at the heart of her, sweeping around himself in wide arcs to scatter her defenses and burn them away.

A long time ago Roswaal had learned to cast not just with his fingers and hands, but on his feet and toes. He could stack multiple spells at once, using them to intensify his magic multiple times over. '

Cassiopeia, or whatever she was calling herself now, was near enough to him that he could feel her movements over the ground. She screeched out from his side, trying to will her puppets to attack him. But when they dove in, he released a wave of flames with a stomp of his foot that pushed them back and left them in burning heaps laying around the forest.

Roswaal turned to see Cassiopeia laying on the ground, her protections stripped of her now. He glimpsed the face of a woman that no one had seen in four hundred years. Her blonde hair was down around her shoulders and with the hands of those puppet servants out of the way, Roswaal could see her blue eyes now. Her face still had a youthful appearance and none of the color had even drained away from her rosy cheeks.

She seemed almost flustered and he wondered if it was possible that she was embarrassed to be beaten so quickly and exposed like this. That was very on brand for the Witch that had once inhabited this body. Cassiopeia drew her fist back near her cheek, reading herself for the rest of a fight that there was no chance she could win.

He relaxed his posture, pacing a line across in front of her with the heat from his magical flames licking at his back. "You really don't remember me…" Roswaal asked as he removed his hat and ran his fingers through his midnight blue hair.

"…do you, Minerva?"

Confusion played across her face and it was apparent that she had no idea who he was or who she had been.

Roswaal's clothes rustled as he broke into a dash and closed the gap between himself and Cassiopeia. He jumped into the air and spun to kick her across the chin hard enough to send her bouncing back against a nearby tree.

It really didn't matter to him if he damaged the body, that could be repaired later.

Flugel's Tree dominated the landscape from the road, with its wide spread of branches stretched up into the night sky. But when they actually started to approach the tree and when it became how apparent that it was how far away it was Peter couldn't believe it. It might have rivaled all of the buildings in Manhattan, possibly on Earth.

On approach they had spread out, fanning out to ride in a wide column as they made for the base of the trunk. Only Wade with his boat was lagging behind because of the nature of dragging a long object like that over the uneven ground, especially one that was not designed to be strapped to a cart the way that it had been.

The thunderous sound of Dragon and Liger feet pounding at the scant grass of the open field rose to a roar as the Subjugation Army raced toward Flugel's Tree. It had been some time since Elsa had spoken, Peter wasn't really about to force her to say more than she wanted to. It was awkward enough that he had grabbed hold of her waist a few times when the Ground Dragon sped up.

"Do you know anything about, uh, the big tree here?" Asked Peter.

Elsa glanced back and from her expression it was apparent that she had been lost in thought and gotten off track with what was going on before he called her name. He wondered where a woman like this ended up when her mind wandered.

Peter figured that it was probably better that he didn't know.

"It's Flugel's Tree," Elsa said. "I think all there is to know about it is that it's a giant tree."

"Doesn't seem odd that there is only one tree that big out here?" Peter asked.

Elsa tilted her head, clearly considering this. "I never thought much about it. Sure, I've passed by here, but never this close to it. Besides, a tree doesn't have a warm belly to explore."

"Nevermind," Peter said.

The moon had risen into the sky and was bright out ahead of Flugel's Tree, lighting the massive trunk and lower branches of the thing where everyone was mustering for the final preparations for the attack.

Already some of Crusch's troops worked to erect these canon like weapons that were set against the ground and aimed in various directions. With all the fog from before, Peter hadn't seen where the creature was going to be exactly, but the tree was the central area that the movements predicted and he knew this was the path it had appeared along in the two loops where knew its whereabouts.

Elsa rode through the lines toward the center of the tree and a moment later, Peter spotted the reason when he looked out directly in front of them. Steve had dismounted his Ground Dragon and was standing with Rem, Bucky, and Kate staring up at tree's canopy far above.

Nearby was Crusch talking to Ferris in a hushed tone. Really, there were a lot of people keeping their voices low. The whole field was bathed in this feeling that Peter felt like he was wading through as they moved forward.

Before Peter and Elsa had gotten too close, Rem turned back as if she sensed them coming. "Oh, Steve, Peter's here and—" Rem focused her attention on Elsa.

Elsa slung her leg over the Ground Dragon's neck while the creature was still moving to drop onto the ground next to it and shuffle forward until she was able to fully commit to stopping.

"Look who showed," Bucky said.

"Did you think I wouldn't?" Elsa said.

Bucky walked up to her, standing with his arms folded across his chest. He was much taller and just bigger than her, his move could have been seen as intimidating. The thing was that Elsa didn't react to him standing there. "I would say that it was about a fifty-fifty chance," Bucky said.

"Glad that you decided to join us," said Steve.

Elsa smiled, grabbing the sides of her cloak and dress in her hands so that she could dip down into an elegant bow. "Thank you for extending the invitation—when you told me that I would get to disembowel a legendary creature I admit I was intrigued, but it also turns out that I have just the thing you might need," she said.

Peter dismounted the Ground Dragon, rubbing at the creature's neck as he led it forward by the reigns. "Hey everyone," Peter said, his voice shaky and uneasy.

"Okay, who is this lady?" Rocket scrambled up, he was on all fours at first but stood upright as he neared them. "I don't remember being told that we were supposed to dress for some kind of swanky party," he with a mocking gesture aimed at practically everyone but Peter and Elsa.

"My name is Elsa Granhiert," she brought her hand up in front of her chest and it was then that Peter noticed that she was holding one of her knives again.

"Where did you get the knife, I took twenty of them from you," Peter said.

"Oh," she said, her face a mask of concern. "You must have missed a few then."

Rem stood intently watching all of this. "You're the Bowel Hunter," she said.

"And you're the head maid of the Mathers Manor, Rem, was it?" Elsa asked.

"Uh, I guess I better do everyone else," Peter said. "This is Bucky," Peter started, but he was cut off by Elsa.

"We've already met."

"Oh, okay, right then. Well, here's Kate and uh Rocket, he's the Raccoon," Peter explained. "Yeah, so over there is Miss Crusch and Ferris—this is Elsa everyone, she's, like a serial killer I guess?"

Elsa's face lit up. "What's a serial killer?" She asked.

Rem's fist tightened at her side. Steve stepped in between Rem and Elsa, blocking Rem from the other woman's view.

"I think we can go ahead and act like everyone knows everyone," he said holding his hand up to silence them.

Then he turned to Elsa. "I hope your surprise isn't something that's going to cause us more trouble."

"If anything it will save you from it. Rather, she will," said Elsa.

"Who?"

Peter scratched at his head. "Elsa has a little sister it seems. She says that she can control mabeasts."

"Control them how?" Asked Bucky.

"She was fortunate enough to be blessed by this world," Elsa said.

Bucky nodded. "Like a Divine Protection—Sam has one that lets him fly," he said to Steve.

"Well that's convenient," Steve said through a sigh. "Do you think she will be able to control the White Whale?"

Elsa shrugged. "I've never actually seen the thing."

There was a panicked scream from the soldiers somewhere in the distance, Steve reached for his shield while Kate went for the bow on her back. The crowd split in two as a massive mabeast that looked like a hippo strolled into the middle of the crowd and toward a small lone figure. Someone yelled for the person to move and she did, but toward the thing to let it scoop her up onto its snout.

As the girl rode toward Peter and the others, he tapped Steve on the shoulder. "The best part of all this—remember the girl who went missing during the mabeast attack."

"You're kidding me…" Steve said.

"I didn't get the best look, but Elsa confirmed it," Peter said.

Sitting sideways atop the maw of the mabeast was a girl who looked to be on the edge of her teen years. She had dark blue hair in a long thick braid that tapers. She was dressed in what Peter would have considered the work-safe-kid friendly version of what Elsa wore. A black cloak with long sleeves and with a white dress shirt underneath with a jabot collar. There was a wide smile on her face and she even waved to the soldiers around her, her yellowish-green eyes sparkling.

It was the exact opposite if the reserved, shy child Peter had fought to protect back in that clearing outside Irlam Village.

"So there was two of you," Steve said. "The first attack's goal seems to be completely different from the second one's though."

"I know what you're going to ask next," Elsa said running a finger down his face. "And you know I can't tell you."

"Who hired you?" Asked Peter.

"What did I just say?" Elsa asked.

"You were supposed to come get me," said the young girl before she slid off of the mabeast into the grass. Her feet slipped as she touched down, but the creature tilted its head to help keep her from falling and right her.

"Hi, I'm Meili," she said as she strolled into the center of the group. "Nice seeing you again, Peter."

Bucky inched forward to look at the massive mabeast, turning so that his Vibranium arm was out in front of him for protection. "You're able to control a whole Wagpig," he said.

Clearly Bucky was familiar with this type of mabeast enough that he was aware of what it was called.

Meili nodded. "For sure, I can control several mabeasts at one time, even if they're not all of the same species," she said. All of this she explained with this muted kind of enthusiasm that made her seem far too mature to be this young. "I'm not sure if I can control anything as big as the White Whale, but we won't know until we try," she added.

"That's at least worth a go at it," Kate said. "Besides, we already had a plan for dealing with it when we got here—if this other plan works then we can just make that our go to."

"It's never bad to have a backup," Steve said.

Rem was studying the Meili. Of course, she had seen the girl too. She and Peter had been working hard to save her from the mabeast attack that it was clear she had somehow managed to orchestrate. Peter couldn't really judge Rem's expression, but he knew she wouldn't hurt a child.

"And with me here you'll have the support of any nearby mabeast," Meili bragged. She turned and looked over her shoulder as someone across the field rose up out of the crowd to shout down at a group in front of them. It was Wade, perched on the bow of his ship and yelling to his crew all manner of nonsensical sailor speak.

Meili pointed back with her thumb. "Why is there a boat here?"

"We're not really sure," Steve said. He shook his head. Clearly trying to rationalize what he was seeing here. "I don't feel really good about putting children in danger."

"Duly noted. But it's not like you can tell me what to do," Meili said waving her fingers as she walked past Steve.

Bucky raised his eyebrows, shooting Steve a glance. His facial expression said more than enough.

"This is awkward," Kate muttered under her breath.

"Pete, how much time do we have until it should be here?" Asked Steve, trying to shake off the sting of Meili's words.

Peter checked the time inside of his HUD, he knew that he didn't have an exact time because when he saw the time the creature had already began its attack and had been attacking for a few minutes from the sound of it. It had caused Peter to push back the time table a little bit and discuss with Crusch about when they should be ready for the White Whale to appear.

"A little over an hour," Peter said. "I set an alarm and the suit will play a song…from one of Aunt May's playlists? That can't be right."

Steve dropped his head back, looking toward the sky. "It's almost time then—we should probably catch some rest while we have time," Steve said.

There was no protest to what he said this time. The moon had moved higher into the sky casting a pale blue light over the open fields that surrounded the field around Flugel's Tree. Peter couldn't believe that in just a few minutes this place would be turned into a battlefield. Part of him hoped he was wrong.

Part of him hoped the White Whale didn't appear.

Elsa had moved around a short ways from the group, though she suspected that Peter or Steve would keep her in sight. There was no trouble there, she wasn't doing anything wrong and had just decided to take a moment to herself. Being around so many people talking and chattering was tiring for her and it was made harder by the need to not lash out. She knew it would be no use, between Steve, Peter, and Bucky there was no room for her to do anything but suffer more deaths.

Her shoulders were slumped over and she was more looking toward than toward the ground when she heard someone walk up beside her and stop a few feet away. She cast her glance toward the man, he was slender and tall with his hair white from age. He looked to be at least twice her age, but seemed to be in good shape. There was a familiar, dignified aura about him.

And a finely made leather sword belt with six scabbards about his waist.

"Were you admiring the flowers, Miss?" Asked the old man. His tone was polite, but there was a caution there like he recognized how dangerous she was or like he didn't question if a woman could be dangerous.

The normal thing for her to say would be an affirmative, but there was no reason to disguise who she was. He would see her at full force soon.

"Not really," Elsa said. Before her was a field of yellow flowers that just jutted up above the grass. "I don't think I had noticed them."

The man nodded. "I was the same way once—but these type here," he stepped forward, careful not to crush any of them and stooped down to run his hands over the tops of them, brushing through their petals, "—they were my wife's favorite."

Elsa wondered why he was talking about his wife. Right, he must have lost her. If he was out here to battle the White Whale maybe it took her. Though it was curious that he remembered her then. She could ask that, it was a normal thing to ask.

"Your wife, you lost her?" Elsa asked.

"Yes." He said. "She was taken during the previous attempt to destroy the White Whale. What brings you out here?"

Elsa walked up next to the man, trying to get a closer look at the flowers. They were just plants. They certainly couldn't feel or react to pain and thus there was nothing interesting about them. She shrugged. "Coin. And a chance to watch the White Whale suffer."

The old man rose to his full height and tilted his head to the side. "I suppose there's no shame in either of those goals, Miss—"

"Elsa," she said.

"Wilhelm van Astrea," he said with his hand pressed to his chest as he bowed slightly.

Her eyes went wide. "The Sword Demon," Elsa shifted, her fingers curled to grasp at her dress.

"I see that you know of me," Wilhelm said.

Elsa's mouth was still hanging open slightly. "I don't think there is much of anyone out there who hasn't heard of you," she said.

He let out a breath. "It has been a long time since I have really gone by the name Sword Demon. Wilhelm stepped around the flower patch, turning to look up toward the top of Flugel's Tree. Spread out across the field before the tree were canons mounted against the ground and braced with legs that were staked into the ground. Interlaced with these canons were reflective looking discs aimed up toward the sky.

When Wilhelm was standing a little further away he turned to her. "If you would excuse me for saying so, but while I have no doubt of your combat prowess your appearance and the ease which you face overwhelming odds does beg the question—how did you come to meet Peter and Steve."

Elsa met his gaze, her smile deepening. "I was hired to steal a certain badge of pedigree and to eliminate any who got in my way, so naturally it came to blows," she said before drawing an 'X' with her index and middle finger right in the center of her chest. "Steve punched clear through me—that was when I knew he was special."

The old man's gray, bushy eyebrows lifted a good distance from their normal resting place, though that was as far as the shock on his face went. "I see," he said. Most people would have distanced themselves from her further or made some maneuver to attack. He seemed more intrigued by who or what she was and not at all frightened of what she might do to him.

Elsa wasn't here to fight an Astrea, despite the fact that she was sure the pain would be exquisite. No, it was best not to get to excited too soon. There was a very large event ahead of them.

"I think that I have figured out who you might be, Miss Elsa…" Wilhelm said.

"Please," Elsa started. "It's just Elsa—there's really no need to be so formal."

"…The dark hair and eyes. That pale skin…" Wilhelm said.

There were footsteps nearby, Wilhelm and Elsa looked back to see Steve's figure coming around the tree through the darkness. "Mister Wilhelm," he said giving the older man a small nod.

Wilhelm nodded back at him. "Steve."

Steve let out a sigh, perhaps he could feel that he had just interrupted something. He gestured to Elsa. "Elsa, can I borrow you for a moment?" Then he looked to Wilhelm. "I just have to say a quick word with her and some of the others."

Elsa moved to follow Steve, walking the direction that he came from. She did take care not to trample the flowers. When she fallen in step behind Steve he let out another breath. "What was that?"

"A conversation," Elsa said.

"Right."

"Look, if you're about to lay down some exhausting list of rules for me to—"

Steve cut her off. "This isn't about that," he said. "You're a professional, I know."

They were on the back side of the tree, away from most of the army except for the scouts when they came into view. Standing on this side of the tree was an assembly of various people that had traveled here to fight the White Whale. Some of them were people that Elsa had been introduced to earlier. Steve waved her through to go stand with the others.

Steve walked back and forth in front of the line of people he had personally beckoned over off to the side of Flugel's Tree. He kept the trunk of the tree to his back so that the moon spilling around the side of the trunk split his form between light and dark. His mask was off now and the shield was resting on his back where it had for so many years.

It felt good to wear it again, to have the have the surprisingly slight weight of the disc of a shield clamped to the the harness that he wore over his shoulders. The sword was a new touch, but maybe he would grow used to it too?

As Elsa joined the group Steve began to swing his arms in unison, fidgeting with his fingers when they met in front of him. This was something that he never expected before he got here and he still hadn't really seen it coming too far ahead of time. He nodded his head knowing what he needed to say and do before he cleared his throat.

"Back where I come from there was this idea that if you could bring together a group of remarkable people they could become something more and fight the battles that not just anyone could. Now believe it or not, this isn't the worst position I've found myself in. Our enemy doesn't expect us to expect it and all of you are formidable," Steve paced along the line of them turning back when he reached the end.

"I still believe in that idea. We called it the Avengers Initiative," he said. As he walked past them he looked to them in turn and spoke their names. "Kate Bishop. Rocket. Bucky Barnes. Sam Wilson. Elsa. Peter Parker. Wade Wilson—"

Wade raised his hand to cut him off. "Um, it's Captain Dead Pool now."

Steve shook his head. "And Rem," he said looking at her finally with a faint smile on his face. "And I believe that idea can work here, despite our backgrounds and the allegiances we hold. We have one shot with one goal: stop the White Whale at all costs." Steve, by now had paced back to the center of the line.

The group of them were nodding and looking on with grim determination, well those of them without faces that were obscured. Elsa just…looked like Elsa.

"Alright then, wait for my signal and be ready for anything," Steve said.

"Woo," Wade shouted throwing his hands up before he moved closer to Rem and tried to high five her. "Let's get this Big Mouthed Bass Bitch," Wade said. When Rem didn't high five him back he took her by the wrist and slapped his hand with hers.

"O-o-okay. Let's, um, go," Rem said.

"You know what time it is Sexy Party City Maid," he said pointing at her. "We ready down there Arrow Girl? Trash Panda?"

Rocket was fiddling with with one of his weapons. "Oh-ho-ho, you just wait. I'm gonna stab you in the taint."

Peter glanced down and to the side, as if he were listening to something that only he could hear. Then he straightened up and looked toward Steve. "There's only a few minutes before—things get started," said Peter.

Steve nodded to let Peter know that he had heard him and then pointed toward the the other side of the tree where the rest of the army waited. "Looks like we're on," Steve said.

There wouldn't be much time now, Steve was no stranger to that tension the comes on before combat. The air feels tight somehow, like a piece of string being drawn until it snaps. There were no sounds from the birds or bugs in the area, even the wind was still now as they made their way back around the tree to where everyone else was waiting. Wade joined his men on the ship and Elsa took the time to stand with her "little sister", the Subjugation Force's stowaway, Meili.

Steve wanted to say something about it again, he didn't like leading the child into battle, but at the same time she was not inclined to listen and she clearly thought herself an adult with all of the considerations that should afford her. If she was going to be here he would just have to make sure she was not left unattended was all.

"How much time is left?" Crusch said as they approached. She was standing next to Wilhelm and her Ground Dragon, the moon reflecting off of the breastplate that she wore over her normal navy blue uniform. At some point she had taken her dark green hair up into a ponytail to get it out of the way.

"It could be, uh, any minute now," Peter said.

Crusch put her hand to her hip, touching her sword near the center of the hilt, just where it met the scabbard. She rubbed a gloved hand over the insignia inscribed there and then drew her sword.

Then she looked at Steve, as if she just remembered something. "Wilhelm tells me you keep some strange company, Captain Rogers," she said.

It was hard to judge exactly what her tone and expression implied, but it was clearly not happiness.

"Alright, everyone listen up," Crusch yelled. "Be on your guard—the White Whale could appear at any moment.

There were people talking here and there. Ferris walked up around this time, from where ever he had been, and stood near Crusch. He whispered. "I sent Otto back to town with a message—just in case we need someone to know what all happened," Ferris said.

Steve had heard the plan from Crusch herself, though he didn't like the think of the morbid nature of it. Given the Whale's ability to make someone completely vanish from the memories of everyone they knew the only way to assure that any people lost here would be afforded a proper headstone and remembrance was to note down the names of everyone on the battlefield.

It had been tedious work for sure, but very necessary.

Here and there someone would cough. Or speak a stray thought out loud. Off in the distance Steve could see Wade's boat where he was sitting atop the very front with that tri-corner hat on over his mask again. The uneasy silence lasted for so long that Steve began to wonder if Peter had been wrong. Could his math have been off, or whatever it was that he used to solve this last piece of the puzzle.

The idea that the Witch Cult would want to cut everyone off from the Mathers Domain did make sense given everything that had happened with Emilia so far.

Someone grabbed Steve's arm, hugging it tight. He glanced down to see Rem's powder blue hair as she rubbed her cheek against his bicep. Over the top of her head he spotted the Fang of Iron members lined up alongside the artillery lines that had been set up along both sides of Subjugation Force.

"You doing okay, Rem?" Steve asked.

"Mmhmm," Rem hummed.

He rubbed the top of her head and then she stepped back and pushed up onto her toes to kiss him.

"Was that a just in case kiss?" Steve asked when she broke contact.

Rem shook her head, blushing. "It's because you're a really good leader and—"

DA-NANANA! DA-NANANA! DA-NANANA!

"My, my
"At Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender
"And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way…"

The opening beat of the song coming through Peter's suit frightened him more than anyone else, he jumped. He had mentioned to Steve that the suit only had a small number of songs to pull from as there was no internet connection in this world to download more. One of those groups of songs was a playlist May had made him construct for one of her event.

The song played out over the over the field, breaking the silence that was left in the wake of whatever had driven the animals away. People turned and looked, considering they had never heard music played through a recording without a band before they were probably confused.

"Waterloo
"I was defeated, you won the war
"Waterloo
"Promise to love you forever more…"

The longer that the song played the more complacent they came with it and with the break of the tension. The White Whale might not show up. This would be a failure. A massive waste of money and time which would be in part blamed on Peter, and through him, Miss Emilia.

"And how could I ever refuse
"I feel like I win when I lose…"

"Karen, stop the music," Peter jerked forward, grabbing for his head in a fit of discomfort.

"What is it Peter?" Asked Rem.

"Is he going to be okay?" Bucky asked.

"Look up there!" Someone shouted in the crowd just ahead of where the group of them stood. Everyone turned back to see the dark form of a fish moving across the trunk of Flugel's Tree. It was the shadow, but a massive that writhed its tail side to side eerily. The whole thing was enough to hold Steve's attention until someone gasped.

Steve turned and glanced upward to where the moon was high in the sky, but in front of the moon was the bulbous shape of the White Whale wriggling its way down out of the sky. Stunned silence, more silent than before, fell over everyone as the Whale let out a mournful groan.

The things shining red eyes were fixed on them and it became abundantly clear how huge it was. It was far above and it still almost dwarfed the moon and blotted out all of its light and it was moving fast. Even from here Steve could see the sheen of its white skin. It also had a massive horn jutting out of the middle of its forehead.

"We've got a problem," Steve heard Meili say from atop her mabeast. She was using her foot to prod Elsa in the side.

"It's got a horn," Elsa said.

"What…" Peter asked.

"The horn makes mabeasts more difficult to deal with—probably has the same effect on controlling them. That things got to come off if the kid has any chance," Rocket explained.

The Whale swooped down hard and passed in front of them, its eyes when it was closer up were even more red as their glow pierced the darkness. It seemed that this wasn't just some trick of the moonlight. The massive creature flew past, studying them with one eye. Even Steve was rooted in place, his feet refusing to move.

Then, just before the Whale slung its body upward and took to the sky again, Steve felt a rush of wind. He looked to his side to see Elsa sailing through the air with two knives drawn and one clenched between her teeth. She slammed into the Whale's flank, digging her blades in and causing blood to splash out across her face and chest. She dropped the other knife from her mouth to replace one she left buried in the Whale's side.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" Elsa shouted as the Whale carried her higher. "I'm going to find a way to open its belly up!" The last part of her sentence faded as the Whale pulled away.

Steve was about to signal to the rest when he spotted movement across the field. It wasn't many people, but they seemed to have on dark robes like the ones worn by the Witch Cult. The movements to intercept the Whale must have been noticed.

"You heard the woman! Do you think the White Whale is going to wait for your nerves? Attack!" Crusch yelled.

The mirror like weapons lined up with the canons fired out what looked like lines of white light that pounded into the sides of the Whale exploding on impact with it. A second there was a thunderous canon burst that shook the ground and sent a large object streaking into the sky. Steve remembered being warned about this, the Night Banisher. He shielded his eyes as did everyone else as the missile arced up above the Whale and exploded with a brilliant light.

Suddenly it was like they were standing in this field in the daylight on a cloudless day. To hear them tell it the Night Banisher would keep the battlefield lit for more than enough time for them to bring the thing down or die trying.

Crusch looked to Steve. "It looks like we've got trouble on the horizon," she said. "We may have to adjust the plan."

The men around them were already moving, racing across the field to go on the offensive when the Whale swooped again. As far as they knew it had no ranged options. It would have to come down to meet them. But as the thing cried out in the sky above, seemingly confused by the light. Steve took this time to coordinate.

"Kate, I'm going to need you running crowd control down here. Take shots at the Whale only when you can hit it hard. Rocket, stick with Meili and try to keep the Whale off of her while she does her thing—we need her ready once we get the horn off. Meili, if other mabeasts show up, use them to your advantage. Sam, you can match the Whale in the sky, keep an eye on things and let us know what's going on and if anyone falls…"

"Got em, already on it," Sam said taking off in a burst of wind.

"Pete, Buck, and Rem with me—we split the difference and take the Whale. When the Witch Cult gets closer we play it by ear and deal with them in the usual way," Steve said.

"Right," Peter and Rem said, almost in unison.

Steve glanced up to where the Whale was engaged with some of the mages hitting it from the ground with bursts of spells, it was mostly coming from the Fang of Iron camp at this point as they had been a little closer to where the creature started out. Elsa hadn't fallen to the ground yet, so he assumed that she managed to hang on. It wasn't like the fall would kill her permanently from what he had seen.

Crusch and Wilhelm were racing out across the field, though curiously the old man was on foot and still moving with a speed that impressed even Steve. He had sparred with him, but it seemed that he hadn't even experienced the full extent of what he was capable of. The slowest of the areas to move was Wade and his boat propped up on carts. That thing was going to be a liability, but Steve couldn't worry about it right now.

"Alright, I guess we're going whaling," Steve said.