The sound of banging could be heard throughout the compound as a master smith was hard at work. The warriors in the compound had long since gotten used to the rhythmic sound; having all grown up with it, or had reaped the benefits that sound entailed. One of the reasons this order of fighters; named the Companions, had grown to be the most powerful guild in Skyrim, if not Tamriel, was in part due to this smith.
Warm hands encircled the smith as he worked, bringing no small amount of comfort to the man.
"How's the amour coming along?" The owner of the voice asked.
"Decent. I've almost got the hang of working with this new metal." He told her.
"I still can't believe you invented your own magical metal. Such a thing has not been done in a millennium." The woman said, still slightly awed.
"I'm pretty proud of it myself. I'm glad you were here to see it. You will be the first one to get a weapon and armour from the stuff" he admitted.
She buried her face in his shoulders, only slightly embarrassed. She was over a thousand years old, but somehow this man made her feel like a lovestruck teenager again. Was this what actual love did to someone? Not that shallow affection one might reserve for quick flings?
"In that last dungeon we cleared, that one draugr got a little too close to you for my comfort. So instead of being an ass and banning you from coming with me, I'm going to give you impenetrable armour instead. That way…" he said, rambling on.
That was one of the things she appreciated about the man: he wasn't controlling, or obnoxiously jealous, and he didn't put her in a bubble. Instead he gave her the tools to protect herself, such as the armour he was making her. Despite his relatively newfound lack of mortality, he knew he could not be everywhere at once. She told him she didn't actually need the armour, she'd heal from any injury in minutes. She didn't mind though, doing this for her made him happy, so she wasn't going to rain on his parade.
"Something wrong? You've been quiet back there for a while" he said after some time.
"Just thinking," she mumbled.
"Oh? Care to let me in on what you're thinking about?" He asked with a small smile.
"Just thinking about how much I appreciate, and love you" she replied with her own smile as she put her chin on his shoulder to see what he was working on.
He missed a hammer blow at her words, but recovered quickly. He seemed to be making a rather sturdy looking buckle. She loved that she was one of the few people who got to see him like this; when he dropped his guard around her and showed his softer side. Almost everyone else saw him as a crazed demon from oblivion. It had gotten to the point that if a criminal heard that he was after their bounty, they usually just turned themselves in. While he was no hero, he wouldn't stand by as someone was hurt either. It was why despite his fearsome reputation, every Jarl, and even the Queen of Skyrim trusted him implicitly.
"I love you too Serana" he said, and she could hear the shit eating grin in his voice.
— — —
The next morning found the two woken abruptly by a loud knock on the door.
"What the hell do you want?" he grumbled at the door.
"You have a message" the muffled voice said.
"Go away. It can wait until later!" he said, throwing a slipper at the door.
"Very well Harbinger"
"Well, now that we're awake, want to continue where we left off last night?" Serana asked with a sultry grin.
"Abso-fucking-lutely" he replied enthusiastically.
— — —
It was around mid-day when the pair finally left his room in the companions hall. His enhanced stamina lending well to extra-curricular bedtime activities. The Harbinger of the companions was the most powerful man in Skyrim, and probably even all of Tamriel. The man had many titles; Archmage of the College of Winterhold, Guildmaster of the Thieves guild, Nightingale, Listener and leader of the Black Hand. He had made changes to the Dark Brotherhood when he had taken over after the previous leader, the first thing he did was implement the old power structure: The Black Hand. Astrid had betrayed them, and she had forsaken much of what made the dark brotherhood feared across tamriel. The Listener had overhauled the Sanctuary in an effort to regain the infamy of the Brotherhood.
With Serana trailing behind him, both of their hair quite the mess, they made their way up to the mead hall on the main floor.
"Well well well, look who finally decided to join the world of the living." One of the companions teased.
"You're just jealous you have no one to help keep your bed warm at night." Farkas said, ever in defence of the man who saved his life.
Ignoring their banter, the Harbinger made his way to the head of the table, with Serana sitting down to his right. They had missed breakfast, so what was on the table was mainly finger food, and what one might have for lunch. Grabbing a sandwich, he looked over at Serana.
"Yoo 'ungry 'oo?" he asked with a mouth full of food.
"Yes, but I shall eat later. Your friends have been very accepting of me, considering I'm not human, but I don't want to push it by feeding on their leader in front of them" she said, still self conscious.
"If that's what you want, but remember Serana, they're your friends too now." He said, trying to reassure her.
"He is right, my lady. You have proven to be the perfect compliment to our leader. He has become much more tolerable since you have been around. We consider you a member of the companions just like anyone else." Vilkas said with a smile.
"You mean to tell me he was WORSE before?" she asked with a slight smirk.
"Oh yes. The way the rest of the world sees him is how we all saw him. We all of course knew the real him, else we wouldn't have accepted him as Harbinger. Now though he seems to be opening up some." Vilkas explained.
"HE is right here" the Harbinger said dryly.
Serana just smiled at him, pleased to know she had made him feel more comfortable about being open around his friends.
"Vilkas, earlier someone said we had a message?" Serana asked.
"Oh yes, it was a letter from the Queen asking to meet with our esteemed leader in Solitude" Vilkas said.
Said person was in the middle of taking a swig of mead when Vilkas started talking. Mead that promptly and swiftly made its way out of his mouth in the form of liquid projectile as he explained who the letter was from.
"Why in the fuck wouldn't you tell me that sooner? We may not be beholden to her, but she could still easily make our lives hell if we ignore her." the Harbinger said.
"Relax, a few hours isn't going to make any difference." Serana said with a laugh.
"Still… when did she say she wanted to meet?" He asked Vilkas.
"As soon as you are able" the man replied.
"Damn. I was going to stop by Riften soon, but I guess that will have to wait." the Harbinger said.
"No reason you can't do both. For all the queen knows you're in the middle of a dungeon crawl and could be any number of weeks from replying." Serana said.
"She has a point. There's no rush" Vilkas said.
"I suppose you are right. Well let's finish lunch and head out on the road." the Harbinger said.
— — —
Waving goodbye to the companions, Serana and her Harbinger made their way through the city. They needed to make a pit stop at some of the shops in town to offload some of the things they had collected from their last excursion into some ruins. Arriving at the first stop, they opened the door
"Welcome to Belethor's General Goods! Everything's for sale, my friend. Everything. If I had a sister, I'd sell her in a second." the slimy merchant said as the pair entered the store.
"Hey Belethor, how's Business?" The Harbinger asked.
"Interesting, to say the least. What with all that's been going on. On the one hand, supplies are harder to come by, since fewer traders are travelling the roads these days. But on the other hand, the scarcity of supplies has led to some, well, 'elevated' prices." The skeevy man replied.
"Well that's good for us then since we are here to sell" Serana said.
"So what brings you in today?" the merchant asked, completely ignoring Serana, causing her companion's eye to twitch.
"Selling," he said simply.
"Good, good, come this way." Belethor beckoned.
Taking out everything they wished to sell, the Harbinger put everything on the counter. The merchant quickly did a count and gave his price.
"4,000 gold for the lot" he said.
Nodding, the man pocketed the gold before turning to leave. He was about at the door when he had an idea. Quickly turning back to the merchant, he made direct eye contact and pulled on some of his power to compel the unpleasant scam artist. The shop keeper was just standing stock still with a blank look on his face.
"Do you want his blood, or shall I take it?" The Harbinger asked Serana.
"Ew, this dudes blood makes me queasy. I'll just have some of yours later." She replied with a slight look of disgust on her face.
"Make sure no one comes in would you?" he said before turning back to the compelled person before him.
The Harbinger was pissed at how he had dismissed Serana, so he was going to make him hurt slightly. Tilting his head to the side, he bit down on the man's neck. He could remove the pain of his bite if he wanted to, but for this asshole, he wouldn't. He kept drinking the mans blood until he could feel the man begin to weaken. He could feel the surge of power he gained every time he drank blood. It was enough to last for a few days at least. Releasing the man and stepping back, he looked into the eyes of the merchant once again.
"Forget we were ever here. Once we leave, you will be free from your compulsion" The vampire said.
"Yes master," the shopkeeper said in a monotone voice.
"Sometimes I forget you've only been a vampire for a few years, with how easily you did that," Serana said, always impressed at her man's talents.
"It helps that I was already a werewolf before you turned me, so I had experience dealing with not being human," he said to her.
"True enough. Lets go before you change your mind and decide to kill him" Serana said, grabbing the big man's arm and pulling him out the door.
The man with many titles started off human some thirty years ago, and when he reached puberty, he had experienced his first shift as a werewolf at the full moon. Neither of his parents were lycans, so he was never sure how he had become a werewolf to begin with. It was a pleasant surprise when he joined the companions to find out they were almost all werewolves, except for the new members. They didn't tell the new members this since they had to make sure they could be trusted first.
The day he had met Serana in that tomb all those years ago had changed his life for the better. She could smell that he was a werewolf and was understandably confused as to why her father would send a non vampire to retrieve her. He still hated that man, even though he was now dead. In the process of acquiring the elder scrolls, he had to go to the Soul Cairn. Naturally, since he was living, he could not enter a place meant for the dead, and as such Serana had offered to turn him into a vampire.
At that point in time he still didn't fully trust Serana, after all they had only known each other for a few months. It was either trust her not to fuck him over, or her father would end the world in an endless night. It had taken him another couple weeks to decide that he would take that leap of faith in order to save the world. Again. As always though, the plan had not gone as they wanted. He was supposed to have become a vampire lord in order to appear "dead" in the Soul Cairn, but instead he had become a hybrid between a vampire and werewolf. The first of his kind. He had been able to enter the Soul Cairn without it killing him, but the entire time he was there he was in constant pain, since he was still half alive.
To this day he and Serana weren't sure what had caused him to become a hybrid, but they suspected it had something to do with himself being a natural born werewolf. As well as the magic used to turn him; because he was such a strong werewolf already, Serana couldn't just let the bite override the infection of the wolf. She had to use her own magic to give her bite a little extra kick.
Being a hybrid meant that he had advantages of both, and weaknesses of neither. He had the strength, stamina, and durability that came with being a werewolf, and the speed, agility, and undeath that came with being a vampire. Both vampires and werewolves were strong, so he was just extra strong. Vampires couldn't go in the sun, but because of his wolf, he could. Serana could go in the sun only because of how old she was. He was also no longer forced to transform during a full moon, and could transform any time he wished. Silver was no longer a threat either. Overall he was the perfect predator. His main prey being Serana, naturally.
Overall he liked the hybrid he had become, except that now he needed blood as well as human food. The blood fuelled his vampire powers, and the food fuelled his werewolf ones. If he went without feeding for long enough, he would become feral and have limited access to his powers. If he didn't get enough food, his body would start to eat itself for sustenance. While he didn't need to eat as much food as a normal werewolf because of his intake of blood, it was still a good amount more than a normal human.
"Ah, we're here. Our last stop before we leave for Riften" Serana said, pulling him out of his thoughts.
Adrianne was the blacksmith in town, and everyone went to her to buy weapons and armour. Despite him being the best smith in Skyrim, better even than Eorlund, everyone knew he didn't do custom work for anyone but his friends free of charge. The average person couldn't afford his prices. He didn't WANT to charge so much money, but if he didn't, literally everyone would be knocking down his door wanting work done. For his own sanity, he had to.
Once again pulling out all their loot from the abandoned ruins, they sold it all to the woman. In total they made about 15,000 gold from that dungeon after selling all their loot. Quite the haul if he did say so himself. They both made their way outside of town far enough away that they couldn't see the guards on the wall anymore.
"Ready to get going?" He asked Serana
"Ready" she said with a grin, knowing what was about to happen.
"DUR-NEH-VIIR!" the dragonborn shouted into the sky.
It was no normal shout of course. It was a shout directly from his soul; a Thu'um. The ground shook with the power of his voice. It was why they went so far out of the city, it was so loud as to cause damage to the surrounding areas if he wasn't careful. He was careful of course, better at using the Thu'um than even the greybeards, but that didn't mean the townsfolk believed him.
He learned this particular shout during his time in the Soul Cairn. It would summon a dragon that lived there, unable to escape. His only time away from that terrible place was when the Dragonborn summoned him. As such, the Dragonborn summoned him whenever he could, even if he didn't need the dragon's help with anything. This time, however, he needed a ride across the damn country.
It wasn't long at all before there was a roar in the distance. The deep, exuberant roar of a dragon. In even less time, the dragon was landing in front of him, giving the pair a sniff, lifting his friend off the ground.
"Greetings Qahnaarin, how may I help?" the big old dragon, Durnehviir asked.
"Sorry to bother you, but we need a ride to Riften" Serana said, also familiar with the dragon.
"It is no bother, Mal Gein." Durnehviir said.
"Mal Gein?" she asked.
"Little one" the dragonborn said.
The dragon lowered his head, letting the two climb onto his back. There would be no being in existence that would be allowed to ride him, other than the dragonborn and his mate. Taking to the sky, Durnehviir relished in the fresh air of Tamriel. Every time he was summoned by his friend was just like the first time. The stuffy atmosphere of the Soul Cairn was oppressive and depressing. Every time he got to be in Tamriel again, he thanked his lucky stars that he had met Qahnaarin.
— — —
The flight to Riften took about three hours, the Dragonborn thought. Even flying at the extreme speeds they were, skyrim was huge. This time they didn't have to be outside the city, since he didn't have to use his Thu'um to call the dragon. As such the dragon just landed outside the front gate with a loud thud, startling the horses nearby. The guards drew their weapons, but quickly sheathed them once they saw who was getting off the dragon. The Dragonborn was the Guildmaster of the thieves guild, and as such essentially owned this city. The Jarl was the leader in name only; aside from her Thanes, every person she surrounded herself with was loyal to the Guildmaster, even though they didn't know who that was. Just the way he liked it.
"Greetings Dragonborn, what brings you to our city today?" the guard asked, warily eyeing the dragon.
"Business." he told the guard.
Turning from the cowering guard, he addressed his dragon friend.
"We'll be in the city for a couple hours. I'll need your services again afterwards. Until then, spend your time however you wish" the Guildmaster told the dragon.
"Very well Qahnaarin" Durnehviir said with a grin in his voice, launching into the air and flying off.
Serana could tell the moment her man's guard came up. He was more surly and he had a certain look in his eyes that hadn't been there until they'd gotten off the dragon. This was the man she'd met initially, and was still surprised now and again at the difference in which he addressed her, and his friends compared to everyone else.
Walking past the guards, they made their way to the local tavern. Despite knowing that the Guildmaster owned this city, Serana was never comfortable here. She knew the guild was loyal to him, but as far as she knew that was only because of the obscene amount of money he had made them. The companions had true loyalty, and friendship, whereas the guild was based on business. At least as far as she could tell. It had only been several years since she had been interacting with humans again, she could be reading them wrong.
Inside the tavern, they took a seat at the bar. Serana wasn't sure what the plan was coming to Riften, but she just liked tagging along. The Guildmaster wouldn't have minded if she'd not come with, but in the same way he protected her, she liked to have his back as well. Just like her, she knew he'd heal from any injury in minutes to hours depending on how severe, but that didn't mean she liked seeing him hurt. In this den of thieves, Serana would look everywhere he wasn't.
"What can I get for you?" the Argonian barkeep asked.
"Mead" the Guildmaster said.
"Alto Wine for me please" Serana said with a smile.
"C-Coming right up" the Barmaid said. Serana could tell she was slightly afraid. He wasn't that bad was he? She often forgot she saw a side of him no one else did, so yes, yes he was that bad.
"Word around town is that a giant damned dragon landed at the front gate" someone said.
"No way. No dragon is going to come here without attacking"
"I swear, my brother knows a guy who knows a dude who works at the stable, said it terrified the horses"
How had it made it across town already? Serana smiled at the people in the conversation. If you people only knew.
"So what are we doing here?" Serana asked the Guildmaster.
"Information. Both giving and getting" he replied with less harshness in his voice when he talked to her.
They stayed at the bar for what felt like forever before they left, apparently he was satisfied with whatever intel he had been able to gather just sitting at the bar. Perks of enhanced senses. After leaving they made their way across town, and passed the orphanage towards the cemetery. There was a faster route, but not as discrete. Ah, so they were headed for the guild hall. It was a long walk, but eventually they made it to an innocuous gravestone which had a button in it that only members of the thieves guild would know.
The grave slowly retreated back into the wall behind it with a loud scraping sound, stone grinding on stone. She winced at the sound, having heard it only a few times before. They didn't come here nearly as often as they did the companions hall or the college. Underneath the gravestone was a small room with a sewer grate in the floor.
Opening the grate, they both just jumped down; their super enhanced bodies not needing to use the ladder. They came into a massive underground cavern that was directly in the middle of town. Serana could see different guild members doing various activities, from sharpening weapons, to training and exercising. A couple were even passed out on their ornate beds; courtesy of the Guildmaster standing in front of her. They never could have afforded that before he came along.
It was longer that Serana would have liked before anyone noticed their leader had come back. He was a massive man standing at nearly 7 feet tall, how could they miss him? She guessed that he was a master thief for a reason, despite his size. When finally someone noticed them, a shrill whistle went through the base, signalling that the Guildmaster had returned.
The Guildmaster moved towards his desk at one end of the giant cavern, behind which was a bookshelf filled with the various trophies he had collected over the years. Sitting down, he began to look over the different correspondence and papers sitting on it. He hadn't been back in several weeks after all, so a lot had piled up. Serana hated paperwork, so amused herself with toying with one of the trinkets on the shelf while she waited. It was an ornate knife that was useless for combat, and she dexterously twirled it in her fingers, looking over her lover's so-called allies. She didn't trust them as far as she could throw them, which was pretty far as it were.
They had all gone back to what they were doing, but were all keeping a subtle eye on the pair. It wasn't long before a door on the far end of the cavern opened, and a man wearing dark guild officer leathers came through and made their way over.
"Brynjolf" the Guildmaster said in greeting. Less hostile than when talking to everyone else, but still not best buddies.
"Guildmaster. How goes things?" the man asked.
"I finished those jobs. The Bedlam, Heist, and Sweep jobs have been finished." The guildmaster said, handing Brynjolf the items.
"Excellent. Any complications?" the man questioned his guildmaster.
"None, however the Mark of the Sweep job must have really pissed someone off." the master told his subordinate.
"Oh?"
"I've been back to that house several times already. They have almost nothing left. This time there were guards posted outside." he explained.
"That's troubling. Guards are not good, I trust they were no problem?" Brynjolf said.
"None at all. However I'm putting that house on the blacklist. No one is to take any job for that mark." the guildmaster declared.
"It shall be done, but may I ask why?" his subordinate asked.
Serana wanted to say 'because he fucking told you to that's why', however she was able to hold her tongue. She knew the reason though. Despite being the Guildmaster, he had a good heart. He didn't want that person to be homeless if the Guild kept robbing them. The answer he gave though was:
"With the increased security, it's only a matter of time before one of ours gets caught, or worse killed by the guards. I don't want to have to spend the gold to bail them out, or the extra paperwork to ask the Jarl to pardon them" the Guildmaster explained.
"That makes sense, but why not just leave them to their own devices?" Bryn questioned again.
Was it really that hard to explain? Serana once again knew why, how could this guy not know? Her lover was trying to change the culture within the guild. They were thieves, yes, but that didn't mean they had to be strangers. He wanted a place for the guild to come back to and not feel like they had to constantly be wary of their fellow guild members. Making them feel like it wasn't every man for themselves by not abandoning them to jail was a step in that direction. But ever the guarded man the guildmaster was, he never said that.
"Because it's costly to have to train new wet behind the ears recruits every time we need more people," he explained. Again. He hated that he had to appeal to their greed instead of being honest.
"I understand. You want me to put your reward in the guild coffers like usual?" Bryn asked.
"Yes"
Finishing up the paperwork he had to do, he made his way to the Ragged Flagon, to talk to the other officers.
"Delvin!" he called out.
"Yes boss?" the man in question asked.
Walking over to where the man sat at a table with bags of coin crowded around him, the Guildmaster sat down.
"The Queen has asked me to come to solitude. I have no idea why. I'm likely going to be gone for some time. Does the guild need anything before I leave?" he asked Delvin.
"Interesting. Making friends in high places are you? No not that I can think of. Do you want to take another job before you go?" Delvin asked in his usual accent.
"No time. I was supposed to leave already, but had to make a stop here." he told the man.
"Alright then. You want Bryn in charge while you're gone?"
"I want both of you in charge."
"Oooh, that's interesting. It will be done. Anything else?" Delvin asked.
"I need you to send someone over to the Dark Brotherhood, and the Mages College to give them a letter each. Nazir for the Brotherhood, and Mirabelle for the College." the Guildmaster ordered, handing Delvin the two letters he had written, and signed.
"Done. If that's everything, I'm off to bed. Enjoy your trip" Delvin said, before getting up.
"I'll be back. Maybe a month or two?"
— — —
Exiting the city, the Dragonborn scanned the horizon for his dragon friend.
"The guild always puts me on edge" Serana said.
"Oh?"
"None of them feel like your friends. More just business partners who could turn on you" she explained.
"I'm trying to change that. It's slow, but I'm having some success. It's why the guild is doing so well." he said with a smile, not realising that it was mostly him as the reason.
Finding his friend in the air, he could see the dragon dive bomb a massive bison, scooping it up in his talons and chomping on it as he flew back into the air. The Dragonborn whistled at his friend. It wasn't quite his Thu'um but it still had power in it, enough to let the dragon know he was being called. The dragon looked in his direction, and immediately headed towards the man and his companion. He did not drop his hunting prize, just eating it has he flew.
"Hello, Qahnaarin. Are you finished with that den of thieves?" the dragon asked.
"Yes, thankfully" the Dragonborn said, jumping on to the dragon as it lowered its head. He was careful to avoid the gore around the dragon's mouth.
"Off to meet a queen?" Serana asked.
"Unfortunately"
— — —
Crossing the giant bridge in Solitude, just passed his house, the Dragonborn looked at the sky. It was almost dark out, and if he took any longer, it would be too late to see the queen today. The flight from Riften to Solitude had taken about nine hours. He was glad he didn't get saddle sore anymore. He would have been in bad shape if he had been human. Walking up to the palace door, he approached the guard who saluted him.
"Dragonborn here to see the Queen." he announced.
"Very well, you may enter. Your companion must wait outside." the guard said.
Looking the guard right in the eyes the dragonborn said
"Either we both enter, or neither of us do"
"F-Fine, but she's your responsibility" the guard stammered.
Serana was once again reminded of how awesome her man was. Also slightly annoyed that the guard thought of her as his property to be managed. As if she was a dog that would pee on the carpet. If she hadn't eaten on the way to Riften, she would have taken a bite out of him for it. Maybe even not stopped when she should. Oops.
"Do you want to feed on him before we leave? No one will miss a random guard." The Dragonborn whispered to his lover.
"While I appreciate it, it would be more trouble than it's worth to hide the body," Serana said with a smile. Did she mention she loved this man?
"We can make it look like an accident"
Whatever Serana's response would have been was interrupted by the court speaker announcing their arrival.
"Dragonborn and company have arrived in response to the Queen's summons!" the guy said.
"Welcome. Thank you for coming." The Queen said.
"What was so urgent you had to call me of all people to an audience?" the Dragonborn asked the Sovereign.
"Straight to business I see. Very well. A new ruin of unknown design has appeared about a day's ride west of Dragon Bridge that was not there before." the Queen said, used to the bluntness of the adventurer before her.
"And you want me to explore it I assume?" He queried.
"Always quick on the uptake. Yes, I would like my most trusted Thane to go. The ruin is unlike anything anyone has ever seen before, and I do not want to lose any soldiers to it." she explained.
'But you have no problem sending your 'most trusted thane' to die huh?' Serana thought bitterly. Just when she was beginning to accept that mortals weren't awful, she was reminded all over again just how selfish they could be, especially nobles. Always nobles.
"Very well. I'll be off then" The Dragonborn said, getting up from his kneel on the floor. As he was about to leave, he called over his shoulder:
"I expect the compensation to be huge. Do not disappoint me, my 'queen'."
He didn't see the look of disgust on the Queen's face, but Serana did. Bitch. Maybe she should suck that woman dry instead of the guard from before.
— — —
Dragon bridge was close enough that the duo didn't need the dragon to fly them, so having been in the world of the living long enough, he went back to the Soul Cairn.
"Ready to go?" the Dragonborn asked.
"Ready." Serana replied.
And they were off at super speed.
— — —
They blew past Dragon Bridge and headed west, it only took about twenty minutes of running before they saw the ruin in question. It was impossible to miss. It was hard to make out detail from this distance, but it appeared to be made of a light grey stone. Another ten minutes before they were at the ruin entrance. They had yet to see any enemies, so they had yet to don their armour. It was time now; they couldn't go inside without being prepared.
With a thought, the Dragonborn's armour materialized around his body from his pocket dimension. It was made mostly out of bone, with black metal chain links at the joints. He had long ago found a way to incorporate the magical bone of dragons into the rare ebony ore. The result was dragon bone that had the colour of ebony, but much stronger than either material alone. It was different from the ore he was trying to make Serana's armour out of. This armour had no magic other than the enchantments he had put on it after it was made.
Serana's armour wasn't really armour, at least not in appearance. He had made her some lightweight chainmail that was so tightly woven it appeared to be cloth at first glance. Upon closer inspection though one could easily tell it was chainmail. He had wanted to cover Serana head to toe in plate armour to give her as much protection as possible, but she said it wasn't her style, so this was a compromise. The metal was a dark red colour that he had dyed during the forging of the armour. He thought it was quite good looking on her. She had tried to make him put it on at some point for some form of amusement, but thankfully he had made it to fit her, so he didn't have to go through that experience.
Hefting his massive shield, he led the way into the strange ruin. It's a good thing he had, because the second he entered, an extremely loud bang had resounded, followed by a blow to his shield that felt like a dragon had slammed into it. Almost an instant later, it exploded into a ball of fire, blocking his sight. Serana had thrown up her own Ward in time so she was safe from the fire. When it finally died down, he peered around his shield to see the ground around them was totally destroyed, with a cone of intact floor behind them.
"Serana?" he asked.
"Fine" she replied in the short and clipped exchanges they used when on the job.
"Moving"
Serana followed the immovable mountain of a man and scanned the area for threats.
Neither of them saw any enemies, but the entire place seemed to be filled with traps. They had found what appeared to be the source of the explosion earlier, after another one happened. It had come from a long cylinder that was attached to the wall somehow, and it looked like it had shot something at them. But what? He had no idea. It was way more powerful than any arrow fired from an enchanted bow he had ever seen. Looking around he saw more of them all over the place.
"Serana, can you get rid of them all?" he asked.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" she snarked.
One by one, she shot a lance of ice at each one. They all exploded, but the fire was quickly snuffed out by the cold of Seranas ice. So it seemed it was not a magical fire at least. Now that the immediate threat was gone, he surveyed their surroundings. The room they were in was quite large, and there were what looked like benches scattered around the place. Some of them turned on their sides. Pillars around the area seemed to be keeping the vaulted roof from falling on their heads. He could also see windows everywhere that didn't lead to outside, they just had a black void on the other side.
The grey stone this place was made of was very strange as well, it was solid but at the same time had many little holes all over the place. It was also formed into different shapes that would have been extremely difficult to move in one piece. There were no seams anywhere that indicated it had been cut and moved into this location, it was as if it had been created right here.
Moving on, they walked through what appeared to be a guard booth, made out of metal and glass. The Dragonborn was familiar with every single metal in Tamriel, being a master smith as he was. This metal was nothing like he had seen before. It was similar to steel, but more lightweight. The glass was also much thinner than any glass he had seen before, it shattered with just him putting a light amount of pressure on it.
"Glass shouldn't break that easily" Serana commented.
"No, it shouldn't" the Dragonborn agreed.
There still hadn't been any more enemies past the guard booth, but many more ranged weapons mounted on the walls. They weren't bows, or crossbows, but had much more power than either; they also seemed to reload almost instantly between shots. That had been annoying, it was like a mammoth rapidly stomping on his shield when he was shot by them. Serana was kind enough to end their existence. They didn't explode in fire this time, but there were many arcs of lightning that came from them when they were destroyed.
What kind of weapons used lighting to shoot chunks of metal?
After another hour of exploring, they finally found another living being. And it had attacked them.
The Dragonborn, the unstoppable force that he was with his shield raised, charged.
"Cover me" he said.
"Always" Serana confirmed.
— — —
"Hostiles spotted!" the soldier said.
"Shit!" a scientist said.
"Get rid of them!" Howard Stark said.
— — —
Howard Stark had been in the middle of a press conference, when this whole mess started. He had been about to announce the start of his new company, Stark Industries, when all hell broke loose. A man in a Hydra uniform had infiltrated the conference and set off some sort of device. Security had shot the man, but hadn't been able to stop him. Said device had opened up a… portal… that had sucked everyone and the building they had been in into it.
The building had been deposited… somewhere, Howard didn't know where but it wasn't earth. He knew mainly because the windows that had previously shown the hustle and bustle of the city outside, now nothing but a black void was visible. He had no idea where Hydra had gotten this kind of tech, but it wasn't good. Looking around, he saw the body of the man who had set all of this in motion. The device itself was pretty big, completely covering the man's chest. Given time, he could figure out how it worked, but he had no time for that.
He was in the middle of trying to figure out how to send them back, when in the distance everyone heard the rocket launchers go off that had been added in case of terrorists. Shortly after, another went off, and then soon what sounded like the end of the world happened when from what they could tell they all went off.
"Someone get me the security camera of the lobby!" Howard yelled.
"On it!" someone said, running to a computer and pulling up said footage and playing from the beginning.
"My god" someone breathed.
What happened in the video footage was nothing short of impossible. The camera pointed at the front door showed that as the door opened, a massive black figure entered, and he appeared to be holding a raised shield. The first rocket flew towards it and… nothing happened. The creature just took it like it was nothing, and just kept walking forward. The ground around them had been destroyed, but the ground they were standing on had been fine. Following the thing that had walked in the door, was what Howard could only describe as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was dressed in a long black and red robe, and she appeared to be using the big creature as a living shield.
Not a creature, Howard realised. It was a person wearing armour. What kind of armour could block a rocket blast with ease? If he could get something similar for his weapons division… It wasn't long before they encountered another rocket launcher. The same exact thing happened as before, but this time the woman was visible, and she had what appeared to be a shimmering shield around her, protecting her from the explosion.
What happened next shocked Howard all over again. He knew supernatural things existed, but he'd seen nothing like this before. The pair appeared to talk for a second, before the woman concentrated, and a massive circle of ice shards appeared around them, aimed at the various defensive emplacements in the room. Each one was destroyed simultaneously. If he could capture these two, they would be excellent additions to his super soldier program.
The group around the computer followed the duos progress until finally,
"Hostiles Sighted!"
— — —
The dragonborn barrelled into the people who seemed to be human, but remarkably weak. Swinging his sword at one of them, he was surprised when his sword completely cleaved one of them in two at the waist. The man had tried to block, but his sword just cut through the weapon and arm of the man. He died almost instantly. He heard a small explosion and looked up to see a man covered in ice that was about to stab him with that puny little dagger. He waved to Serana and continued on.
— — —
"They're unstoppable! What the hell are they?" one of the scientists exclaimed.
"We have to figure out a way back before we all die!" another yelled.
Howard paled when he saw the one in black armour cut one of the soldiers in half with ease, and then his partner froze another soldier. It was time to go. Going back to work on the device, he scrambled to find a way to activate it and send them back to their world.
— — —
The dragonborn made his way through the enemies that just kept attacking him, until finally he reached what seemed to be the end of the ruins. There were several dozen people crowded around a single person who was crouched on the ground; he seemed to be fiddling with something.
Scanning the crowd who were all staring at them in terror, one of them pointed some black square thing at him, and it produced a very bright flash of light for an instant.
"Stop that" he said, his voice coming out in a growl.
— — —
Howard finally figured it out. He was almost done. Just a little more and… someone screamed. Looking up he saw the massive person in the armour looking at them all. They were so much more terrifying in person. Their armour looked like it was made of bone. He couldn't see the person's face underneath his helmet, but he could see the eerie glowing sapphire eyes underneath. They looked pissed. To add insult to injury, someone took a picture of them and the bright flash just seemed to irritate the duo further.
"Steðja þaðan" the man said, growling at them. His voice too deep to be a woman.
Was that ancient norse? Had they been sent back in time? No. That woman used magic. Alternate reality then? The man stepped forward, causing another person to scream. Howard had figured out how the device worked, if not the function.
Just as the man went after the last soldier in the room, Howard pressed the button…
— — —
The Dragonborn saw another man get up from inside the crowd that he hadn't seen initially. The man pointed his strange ranged weapon at him and Serana. He charged; then everything went black.
— — —
As Howard woke from the unconsciousness that followed the dimension hopping, he looked around. The device that took them to and from his world was gone, only a few charred wires remaining. The building was exactly as it had been. All the scientists were here too. The corpses of the guards were also here. Looking around, he didn't see the two monsters that were about to end his life. That was a relief. What he did see though, was arguably almost as exciting. Sitting there on the floor, were the empty armour of both the man and the woman. Had they been vaporised having originally not been from this world? No, that didn't make sense since the same should have happened to him.
He walked over to the armour laying on the ground, trying to pick it up. It wouldn't budge. What the hell? How could that guy have worn this with it being so heavy? Suddenly the ease of which he cleaved his men in half made sense. The robe the woman was wearing was much the same, extremely heavy, but he could at least lift a corner of it. He would need a forklift, or perhaps a crane to get these out of here. The first thing Howard intended to do was find the Hydra cell that ordered the hit on him. Then he was going to study the hell out of this armour. He needed to figure out what metal it was made from, and how to copy it.