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Phase 12:Hard contact

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Part 3

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Alpha Site
New Mexico

The Force could give me only vague warnings of danger, while Mjolnir's awareness acted as if fascinated by the odd energy it could detect flowing through me. It seemed I would have to find the Destroyer the hard way.

Channeling lightning through Mjolnir and using it to tap the vast sea of energy I could now perceive was both similar yet radically different than using the Force. However, shaping the power into lightning felt natural, like second nature. It was almost instinctive.

"Captain, get the word out and try not to blow me up. I'm going to find the damn Destroyer and see if I can disable its repair functions," I hefted the hammer, and it felt far lighter than it had any right to be.

At that thought, I got a distant smug sense of satisfaction. I walked outside, holding Mjolnir in a defensive stance. Thunder and lightning rumbled across the dark storm clouds above. All it took was a thought and a gesture with the hammer to call the boundless energies contained within the brewing storm. Lightning struck Mjolnir, and I threw it forward into a cascading wave that swept over the desert left of the closest Stryker. Shrubs caught on fire, sand glowed with reflected light, and insects zapped in flight until the lightning found its mark. It cascaded over a tall humanoid form, revealing the Destroyer had almost circled around to the back of the site, where Thor was.

"Contact left!" I barked at the top of my lungs and focused on the lightning, channeling more and more power. The wide arc turned into a crackling beam that shattered the active camouflage of the war bot. Its 'eyes' opened and glowed with deadly fire. I was in no position to evade, and no cover nearby could reasonably tank such firepower.

That left me with little recourse but to call back on the Force and Mjolnir to keep me alive. The lightning linking me with the Destroyer collapsed on itself before a bolt of pure energy struck us from above. Mjolnir glowed, forming a cracking vortex of electromagnetic radiation that rapidly solidified into a circular lightning shield.

It was just in time, too, because the Destroyer blasted us with its heat ray. Scorching heat washed over my face as fire and lightning clashed and fought for dominance. My clothes began to smoke, and my feet drove grooves into the sand as the onslaught physically pushed me back.

A loud boom nearly deafened me, and the fiery attack ceased. I collapsed to my knee, panting, while Mjolnir absorbed the lightning shield within its metal head. After blinking away white spots, I could see the Destroyer had a large hole in the side of its chest. Its head was tilted as if examining the injury, which was already mending through rippling metal.

The Destroyer raised its head, and fire glowed within its opened chest. I thrust Mjolnir forward and blasted it with everything I could gather. A thin lightning bolt slammed into its head, snapping it aside just as it unleashed a beam of condensed fire. The attack harmlessly cut a line through the clouds, adding more energy for the storm to feed on.

I needed more time to gather power and think of something. The gun-Stryker crew gave me that time. Another round slammed into the Destroyer, nearly decapitating it. I needed to either disrupt its repair function or its power source.

Mjolnir was eager to help. Suddenly, the way I perceived the world shifted. There were pulsing lanes of energy that connected the Destroyer with something far beyond Earth, yet seemingly so close I could touch it if I raised a hand. The same was true for Mjolnir; however, in its case, it was a spiderweb of arching electricity and energy I didn't know how to describe or quantify. Looking closer at the Destroyer, I saw it was covered in intricate shells of unfamiliar writing like energy shields interposed upon holograms or the other way around.

Did I see magic?

A third round struck the Destroyer. One of the 'shields' flickered and glowed, channeling power into its frame. Golden fire washed away the damage, and metal eagerly rippled to follow suit.

I blinked and looked at the Destroyer with my own eyes, feeling a murderous headache pounding just behind my eyeballs. Whatever Mjolnir did to allow me to perceive the truth of the murder bot? It wasn't something my body could handle for long.

Well, here goes nothing. I raised the hammer and called the power within the storm in a way I've used many times before to strike harder without expending or channeling too much raw energy. Lightning connected Mjolnir and the clouds, like calling to like, and the storm went wild. Thunder and lightning cracked through the clouds; then all that energy followed the path toward the least resistance, which led to me. An incredible amount of power struck Mjolnir. Instead of grounding and dissipating into the soil below me, frying me in the process, it kept gathering within the hammer. At the same time, that energy mixed with the power that Mjolnir drew from the vast sea which fed it, becoming more than mere electricity.

I could see the skin on my hands turn red as if sunburned, then begin to smoke. I wouldn't be able to handle more power without crippling or killing myself. This was going to have to be enough.

Using everything I had left, I shoved Mjolnir forward. I unleashed the gathered energy, shaping it to be as focused as possible while I could still retain a semblance of control. A beam of lightning thicker than the Destroyer slammed into it. The air smelled of charred flesh and fresh ozone. I felt energized like never before and dead on my feet, yet I kept pushing until I had nothing left to give.

All I could see was dancing lightning, followed by soothing darkness.

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"Fuck me running…." Elis muttered.

He watched Stark wield that alien weapon as if he knew what he was doing, yet for a moment, there it didn't look like it would be enough. The Stryker gun system was the only thing he had left of use, so he ordered it into action and could only watch.

Once again, Stark did not disappoint. Elis could see the man was dead on his feet, his clothes were smoking, and his hands looked like boiled crabs. Yet, he somehow kept channeling the power of the storm above to strike at the alien Terminator, trying to kill them.

It was over as suddenly as it began. After unleashing a devastating beam of energy, Stark collapsed. Elis could only blink away white spots and hope it worked. When he could see the Destroyer again, it was on its knees. Its spiky armor looked partially melted, and its upper layers were flaking off into the wind in pieces of ash. Its eyes spluttered, trying to light up with deadly fire.

The Stryker's cannon thundered, and a round struck the Destroyer in the center of the chest. Alien alloy splintered and shattered, throwing debris in a large arc behind the thing's back. The fire in its eyes went off, and it collapsed. This time, whatever held it together had taken too much punishment, or so it seemed. The Destroyer fell into pieces like a giant metal puzzle that suddenly broke apart.

"Get me a medic out here! Keep aiming at that thing and shoot it if it twitches. Laser its location for the Air Force!" Ellis barked orders, hoping beyond hope that this was it. If that thing got up again, his only option would be to use the Stryker to slow it down while retreating.

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Part 4

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Bifrost control chamber

Asgard

There are times when Heimdall doesn't want to be right. This was one of them. Even with alarms ringing throughout Asgard, his first clue that a Jotun incursion was underway was when he saw the Queen herself fight and the broken bodies of the enemy falling to the ground. He couldn't see them while alive and fighting, only track them by looking for fighting or freshly dead Aesir.

So far, Heimdall could track at least three incursions, and only one was halted cold if you could call it so, when there was fighting in front of Odin's bedchamber while the King slumbered. That the Queen was involved wasn't a good thing, even if it meant that Odin was likely going to be all right.

The Queen having to defend herself or her husband in the heart of the Royal Palace was already a failure state of unprecedented proportions. Heads were going to roll over it.

To his credit, Heimdall didn't care that his might be among them. He was too busy trying to aid the defense by tracking down the enemy.

The second incursion was aimed at the vaults. The Destroyer was nowhere to be seen on Asgard. A look quickly brought the Watcher's vision to Midgard, where the damned thing was rampaging and engaging Midgardian warriors and the Warriors Three with Lady Sif.

At least Prince Thor might survive this madness, Heimdall concluded. There was no question about it! Loki was a traitor! The only question was how much damage that mad boy could cause before someone stopped him.

Heimdall kept sending messages and guiding Asgard's warriors. The fighting at the heart of the palace was intensifying, with more and more Jotun finding their way inside somehow. Their incursion point was another thing cloaked from the Watcher's vision.

Of course, it was; he regularly checked for precisely such breaches in security!

By the time Heimdall figured out there was Jotun, who avoided fighting and gathered for a decisive attack, it was almost too late. A single servant warned him – the unfortunate woman stumbled into Jotun cloaked by magic, both Asgardian and their own, and died quickly for her trouble. It was Heimdall's gaze sweeping for new deaths beyond the active battlefields that noticed her body, and the location sent a chill down his spine.

There had to be Jotun ready to take out the Bifrost, or worse, attempt to turn it against Asgard if at all possible!

Heavy reinforcements were out of position. There were warrior detachments in the area; however, if they would be enough to stop the incursion that Heimdall was now sure was coming was anyone's guess. He tapped into the Bifrost's controls. They were still locked on Midgard, the same area where….

Heimdall's mind came to a screeching halt when he saw that odd mortal Thor listening to wield Mjolnir against the Destroyer. At the same time, Midgardian warriors used their combat vehicles to bombard it. His gaze went to Thor, who appeared to have a broken jaw and was still exiled. Otherwise, the Midgardian wouldn't be the one trying to keep his people and the Prince alive in the first place.

The Warriors Three and Lady Sif were still alive, if worse to wear. Seeing no other options and considering that the Destroyer was losing, Heimdall used the Bifrost to whisk the Warriors Three back to help him defend the device and prepared himself for battle.

The first clue they were under attack came as a hail of ice daggers that murdered loyal warriors. Others die surprised by the invisible and silent Jotun, cloaked by magic. With the element of surprise gone, dozens of the Frost Giants charged the Bifrost control chamber. Others were nearby, using Frost Magic. Heimdall could sense the air chill, and ice began to form over the control center's outer walls.

The Watcher held his spear at the ready and waited behind a thin line of warriors forming the last line of defense between the Jotun and the Bifrost. The Ice Giants were in a deadly frenzy, seemingly uncaring that they were dying upon Aesir's blades. They kept coming and killing, swarming over the defenders with suicidal determination. Heimdall struck true, and his spearhead opened the neck of a large Jotun, catching him just over the edge of his ice armor. Then he had to let go of the weapon and roll aside to avoid a lance of ice that flew through his former location. It touched Heimdall's cape, flash-freezing it, and half of it shattered as he finished his roll.

The Aesir surged to his feet, drawing his sword and swinging in a single, smooth motion that took the head off a particularly eager Jotun. While reinforcements were coming, they were too far away. Small groups of Jotun jumped at them from the shadows, slowing them down. At the same time, the attackers pushed aside the last of the Bifrost's defenders, forcing them to fight for their lives in small groups that were of no use.

Heimdall stood alone in front of the control chamber, fighting with all his skill just to survive yet another moment. The Bifrost roared as if guided by divine providence, and four more Asgard warriors appeared in a flash of blinding light that saved the Watcher's life. Within moments, four more blades joined Heimdal in holding the line.

They might hold long enough, he thought.

The Jotun had other ideas. A ray of frost shot at the control room from the roof of the nearest building. Jotun magic clashed with Seidir-enhanced materials, and for the moment, the walls held.

"Fandral, take them out!" Sif ordered.

The agile warrior slit Jotun's throat and tried to slip away from the fighting. A hail of ice-daggers sent him rolling away for his life. A frost lance flashed above the corpse that Volstagg cleaved nearly in two. It hit the large Aesir in the chest, freezing his armor, which shattered as he jolted back in shock. Volstragg's flesh upon his now bare chest turned blue, then black, and he collapsed with a choked gasp.

Heimdall's sight showed him in painful detail how the warrior's skin broke like glass, revealing frozen and cracked muscles barely clinging to shattered ribs. Without healers getting to him fast, Volstagg was a dead man. Just like the rest of them if reinforcements failed to reach them.

There was nothing to it. They had to fight for as long as they could. Retreat or failure was not an option!

"Volstagg!" Fandral shouted when he saw the state of his friend. That brief distraction cost him dearly, as he failed to avoid the next barrage of ice daggers. Some shattered on his light armor; others cracked it. Yet more bit into flesh, freezing it and chilling blood.

Now there were only three of them left holding the line. The Jotun were running out of bodies to throw at them, yet not fast enough.

Behind them, the enchanted wall finally lost its battle against the Jotun magic. It imploded with a loud thunderclap that threw everyone in the vicinity off their feet. Heimdall's gaze showed him a frost bridge forming from that compromised building, with Jotun running over it straight toward the hole in the wall. He got up to his feet, gutted a Jotun who was slower on the uptake, and sprinted to intercept the new threat. Behind him, Lady Sif and Hogun had to survive or die alone.

A Jotun saw him and vaulted off the ice bridge, heedless of the danger. The Frost Giant pointed his hands forward in a sweeping gesture and unleashed a wave of razor-sharp ice at Heimdall. The Watcher saw the attack coming and jumped over it. He threw his sword in the same motion, and the Jotun had no way to avoid it while flying.

Unfortunately, the same was true for Heimdall himself. A second Jotun jumped off the bridge and sent ice-daggers his way while two more vaulted towards the breach. Ice slammed into Heimdall's breastplate with bone-crushing power. He hit the ground hard, just a moment before the Jotun that struck him landed on his feet and raised an arm encased in frost spike for a killing blow.

A silver beam burned its way through the Watcher's would-be killer, blasting it to shards after a heartbeat of contact. More beams lanced from above, cutting through Jotun and their ice armor like flimsy fabric. A wave of ice erupted from the breach in the wall, and a piercing alarm the kind Heimdall had never heard shook Asgard.

"Excise the core!" An angry voice rose above the shrieking alarm.

Heimdall found his footing, and his gaze swept through the Bifrost control chamber. Everything inside was shredded by ever-expanding ice that dug into the walls and floor and buried them like the roots of a cursed tree. Heimdall next saw a tall, bulky figure in silver armor turning away from the compromised chamber. A transparent visor on a helmet that enclosed its head revealed this was General Tyr, who looked positively murderous.

The ground below their feet shook as an immense silver form materialized in the sky above Asgard. Blinding lances of silver energy lanced from its oval belly and touched critical parts of the Bifrost and the systems that powered it. Parts of Asgard ruptured under the onslaught, splitting open chambers that hadn't seen the starry sky since before Heimdall was born. A device spinning around what looked like a small darkening star flew out of the largest fissure, and the monstrous ship above accelerated, taking it away with it.

"Watcher!" General Tyr's murderous voice sounded deafening in the sudden silence that followed the ship's departure. "Explain this madness!"

Heimdall's eyes and gift swept around, looking for answers that wouldn't end up with him dying or worse. He saw healers attend to the fallen warriors, which heartened him. His gaze swept over the rapidly leaving star and the ship that carried it away. Roots of frost crawled over the spinning device containing it, and the star itself was going dark. The vessel pulling it away let go and accelerated moments before containment broke. The flames of a dying star bathed Asgard's skies with their agonized light.