A Perfect Storm (IC)

[N/A]

Clouds of steam poured from the giant wolf's eyes and nostrils as the valkyrie's taunts combined with the pain of his lost teeth to form an intolerable mixture. [bg=#000000]"RRRAAAARRR!!!"[/bg] His gutteral scream echoed down the street.

The Fenris Wolf had planned to draw out his kill, to eat his foe one limb, one digit at a time. Perhaps even to delay her slaughter, to first feast upon the flabby veal that passed for "humans" in this land. To eat them alive, and force Thrude to listen impotently to their screams before finally granting her release and tasting godflesh.

But now, his own flesh and his own pride screamed at him in a choir, singing songs of humiliation and agony, and he could abide neither for an instant longer. The wolf reached down to the giant icicle he had created with both of his front paws and pushed downward with the full weight of his body, breaking it free from the ground, knocking the goddess onto her back. The wolf savagely tore into her with one bite, crushing and piercing ice, mithril plates, and divine flesh all with equal ease and abandon. He did not discriminate in his meal, chewing the whole mess a couple of times before swallowing it all.

The taste of Thrude's blood upon his tongue calmed him a little. He staggered half a step backward to survey his handiwork. The goddess lay upon the ground, still encased in his fell ice, though it was splintered in several places. Her upper torso now lay exposed to the air. The plates covering her right shoulder were mangled and sheared apart, the bed of chain beneath them broken and scattered. Her azure and amber linens were soaked in scarlet, and plastered against her alabaster skin. The wolf's fangs had flayed the skin from parts of her throat and pectoral muscles, and blood pooled rapidly upon the snow beneath her. The blood soaked into her braids, staining her golden hair brown until it shined no more.

[Avenger Assembled]

While a god and monster of a forgotten age dueled each other below, an angel flew overhead. Freedom Angel had left his League colleagues without him for some months during his long sojurn outside the city, and he had apologies to make. Not everyone would be as forgiving as Fleur de Joie had been, and though he'd been performing a higher calling, to neglect any duty was painful for him. Thus, in a moment of sinful introspection, he was almost glad when the winter storm erupting in the city as if by magic caught his eye. He fearlessly dived into the worst of the blow, his feathered wings beating the air, repressing a wince as he felt the cold settle in beneath his armor. It had been a long time since he'd flown through something like _this_, and evidently he'd lost the endurance of the mortal world in his time away from it.

He mourned the bodies he saw below in a quick pass, then finally caught sight of the culprits. A giant wolf and an...Aesir? It took him only a moment to recognize both. Fenris and Thrude; Lokison and Thorssdaughter. But what are THEY doing here? Even Loki, the Adversary's ally among the Norse gods, had kept to the Pact that bound his fellows, and as for Donar, he and his get had stayed far away from the mortal realm since his supposed humiliation at the hand of the Nazis. How DARE they bring their war among these innocent souls?, he raged. Despite all that, at the sight of the monstrous wolf sinking teeth into flesh, he dived to separate them, wings folded behind him. Like or not, their struggle was here, and he knew which he preferred to win!

[Dr Archeville]

Hanover, Haus von Archeville, Sub-Basement Laboratory, a few moments ago

Archeville banged his head on the overhanging lamp when the alarms sounded. "," he called, pushing aside the circuit he was working on with one hand, rubbing his head with the other, ""

Dimensional breach detected.

Metahuman conflict detected. Two combatants, subjects unknown.

Thermal flux detected. Wide area manifestation.

The wall before him shimmered to show the view from cameras near the scene, mostly stoplight cameras and a few webcams from offices in the area.

Big wolf! Looks like the Fenrisúlfr. Wait, what language is... Icelandic? Norwegian? Swe- no, Old Norse! Either these cosplayers did their homework, or...

"," he muttered as a silvery monkey brought him his Gravimetric Belt, ""

---

Midtown

Were Thrude a mortal of lesser constitution, she may have felt a twinge of nausea and vertigo as gravity warped spacetime near her and played hob with her inner ear. If she were not a child of the storms (and insulated in thick ice), the slight electrical disturbance would have made the hairs on the back of her neck and arms stand on end. And if Archeville's microwormhole were not opening behind her, she would have seen the super-scientist emerge from the blue-gray portal that winked in and out of existence like the stars in Nótt's cloak.

Ah, Freedom Angel is here! Splendid! He can manage the crowds while I free Thor-Girl!

"," she heard a small voice behind her say, in oddly accented Old Norse, ""

Cutting torch, to the rescue!

[KnightDisciple]

Magnus had had nothing to do in the office for the last three days. Partly this was due to the fact he'd started to clear his schedule as the fateful time approached.

'We will save you, little Eira...'

Of course, being that he had a lot of free time, but also a lot of pent-up energy, he decided to go out on patrol in his armored suit. Scaring a few thugs, or stopping a super-villain, always helped him burn off that energy. Besides, he'd tweaked a few settings, and it was a good time to test such things out.

He'd had absolutely nothing going on, right up until a storm cell spontaneously appeared over Midtown. Frowning inside his helment, and making the initial assumption it was Doctor Stratos or a similar villain, he started speeding towards the site. The truth, when he arrived, was much...stranger.

"That's the bloody biggest wolf I've ever seen...And what is it talking in? With that...wait. A giant axe? Lightning? She couldn't be one of the blasted Norse ones, could she?"

He didn't know much mythology beyond what TV put out, but he could at least put "large weapons" and "lightning" together to make "Thor". Obviously this wasn't Thor. And maybe it was just coincidence. One way or another, Fenris would have to step in! That big wolf looked like major, Grade A trouble. It had to go down first. But how?

[Dr Archeville]

Ah, the battlesuit hero Fenris! What an odd coincidence!

"," the small oddly accented voice behind her asked. ""

Okay, there is a lot of trauma here! But I cannot treat it until I get her out of the ice! Okay, she is dressed like someone form Norse myth, what would encourage someone of that mindset? Ah!

"," the small voice urged. What was that warmth she felt about her? The last of her life's blood ebbing? ""

The ice quickly melted and broke away at the application of his cutting torch, and now the super-scientist could do more than give reassuring words. His hands darted back and forth between her wounds and the first aid kit's worth of medical equipment he had spaced about his labcoat, pulling out chunks of ice and shards of the (surprisingly lightweight) metal plates of her armor embedded in her shattered collarbone, throwing a few quick sutures on the worst of the tears, and lots and lots of packing and wrapping the wounds. It was quick and sloppy, and did little to address the broken ribs, but it would keep her from bleeding out... he hoped. ""

[Avenger Assembled]

From out of the ice and snow came an angel, bearing in one hand the flaming sword of truth, and over one arm the unbreakable shield of justice. When Freedom Angel landed, he popped his wings out with a "woosh!", scattering the falling snow all around him as a circle of glowing yellow light shone over his head in a gleaming halo. He was close to Doctor Archeville and Thrude, his spread wings partially blocking the great dire wolf's view of the heroic pair. The angel was all light in the darkness of the storm, for all that Heyzel was as cold as anyone else would be in this supernatural chill, facing down the great symbol of winter's darkness and hunger.

"Fenris Lokison!" he pronounced in the perfect Old Norse of the Eddas as he pointed his sword at the wolf's face. He knew enough about the so-called Norse gods to be intimately aware of how outmatched he was against this great abomination, but he faced it fearlessly all the same. He certainly is very large... "Thou art in violation of the holy oaths sworn even by thy dark father that dwells below. I call on you, Father of Skoll, Father of Hati, to remember who you are. Does the mighty slayer-to-come of Odin sully himself with the blood of children and innocents when the terrible foes of his lifesblood yet walk the halls of Asgard? Begone from this place of mortals, and war with those worthy of the Fenriswulf!"

[N/A]

"Fenris Lokison!" Thou art in violation of the holy oaths sworn even by thy dark father that dwells below. I call on you, Father of Skoll, Father of Hati, to remember who you are. Does the mighty slayer-to-come of Odin sully himself with the blood of children and innocents when the terrible foes of his lifesblood yet walk the halls of Asgard? Begone from this place of mortals, and war with those worthy of the Fenriswulf!"

The Fenris Wolf snorted and crept away, withdrawing to the side in a wide arc, circling the assembled heroes in a gradually-widening orbit. [bg=#000000]""[/bg]

Clouds of mist appeared with every breath the great wolf took, even in the most frigid surroundings. [bg=#000000]""[/bg]

[N/A]

Doktor Archeville's torch made short work of the ice surrounding Thrude. Using his extensive knowledge of physics, Archeville made a few cuts in just the right places, and the force of her flailings shattered the entire mound. Pieces of ice still clung to her or ringed her limbs in a few places, but the goddess was free. Her right hand shot up immediately to her throat and clamped down over the wound as she gasped for air. Her blood seeped through the gaps between her fingers. Archeville was able to pry her hand loose with minimal resistance.

The very second the good doktor finished stitching and bandaging, Thrude heaved and rolled over onto her back, lifting her head to face the wolf. Archeville could plainly see her broken collar bone, which he'd just worked so hard to set back into place, slip apart once more and tear halfway through the meat of her shoulder. Two of her broken ribs popped apart and poked against her side, threatening to do the same. She clutched at the gash in her chest with her left hand while her right hand reached as far in front of her as her arm would stretch. Her fingers repeatedly scraped and clawed at the snowy ground in front of her, grabbing for her fallen weapon, embedded in the asphalt just out of her reach. Jolts of electricity flowed in waves back and forth between her eyes, which glared hatefully at the great white wolf.

[KnightDisciple]

A lot of the conversations had been going on in a language that Fenris just didn't recognize. He could catch tantalizing hints, and some of the words being thrown around seemed familiar. That's when 2 and 2 came together to make 4.

"Holy crap."

He stood there stunned for a moment.

'What's THE Fenris Wolf doing here? Fighting...shoot, a Valkyrie? Dang it. I don't like those Norse folk, but this puppy is bad news. Looks like that...angel...is talking the big guy down, though. Time to play bodyguard, I guess.'

With a flash of light, Fenris slipped between spaces and ended up about 5 feet in front of where Thrude and Doktor Archeville were. He glances back at her condition, even as he crouched a bit and sent a mental command to his armor. The power flowing through his suit shifted subtly, and the cannons lost their light. However, lines all over the suit glowed more fiercely, and the small claws on his fingers extended a bit, crackling energy starting to flow over them, causing a continual low-level hissing sound as moisture in the air hit the superheated blades. He spoke then, his voice carrying perhaps farther than he'd meant it to. He'd switched to Swedish, as it was the closest to older languages he had. His gaze focused on the large wolf, and his "mouth" didn't move as he spoke, though his words were meant for the "girl" behind him.

<Don't know who you are exactly, Miss Valkyrie. But you look hurt pretty bad. We're here to help. Try to calm down and let us get this fight out of the middle of downtown. No reason more blood needs shed right now.>

'Damn bloodthirsty Norse. Bet she'll try to charge back in if she can stand up straight. Couldn't possibly conceive of a peaceful solution, could she? Birdman over there has a good head on his shoulders, at least.'

[Dr Archeville]

Okay, two options here: one, she and this 'Fenris' are metahumans, perhaps creations of the Labyrinth or SHADOW or some other agency; maybe they are supposed to fight like this as a test of their abilities, maybe she broke their brainwashing but the wolf did not and she just wants to get free. Two, these really are the Fenris Wolf and... Thor-Girl, brings from some other dimension that came here centuries ago and were worshiped as deities.

I wonder what Valkyrie wold make of all this? Are these two connected to her murder?

Either way, she seems determined to continue the battle, even if it means taring herself apart just to get to it! Asking her to stop will likely not work, but if an appeal can be made for the safety of the civilians around us...

"" the unarmored man with the small, oddly accented voice said, ""

Either way, she seems determined to reclaim her weapon and rejoin the battle. Hrm - many of the myths and legends say that deities who have some prominent weapon -- like Wotan and Gungnir, or Donnar and Mjölnir -- are weakened when bereft of it. Perhaps being reunited with it would empower her, and speed her recovery?

He reached for the Vendrvapn, attempting to pull it closer to her. "" he blurted out in modern German as he found himself utterly unable to even budge it, "

[N/A]

Thrude's outstretched hand stopped scraping against the snow-covered street and balled into a fist. Sparks crackled across her knuckles.

Another bolt of eldritch lightning shot down from the sky, sending thunder roaring across the clouds. This one was much smaller than the angry fist of a god that had impaled the great wolf, and it struck in the exact spot where the Nordic goddess lay. The gravimetric force field emitted by Doktor Archeville's belt flared up, both from proximity to the blast and to shield him from the debris it kicked up.

When the blinding light finally faded from the eyes of the assembled heroes and the chill winds which still raged across Midtown had blown away the smoke and dust, Thrude stood upright once more. The gash running down her throat and across her chest was completely closed, Archeville's stitches gone, only scar tissue remaining. Her collar bone was no longer jutting out of her flesh, although it was obviously still broken, shifting visibly with every move she made. She clutched her ribs, also still visibly fractured, with her off-hand as she limped forward.

She stepped alongside Doktor Archeville and rested a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him to the side. [bg=#0000BF]"<Vendrvapn yields, not to this,>"[/bg] she said in his native German as she flexed with one arm and pointed to her bulging bicep with the other. [bg=#0000BF]"<...But to this.>"[/bg] She balled her fingers into a fist and slapped the left side of her chest, then reached out toward the ground. The massive rune-etched battle axe jumped into her hand. Electricity crackled along its edge, dancing between the gem-encrusted runes.

Thrude shifted from German to Swedish. [bg=#0000BF]""[/bg] She nodded to each of the assembled heroes. [bg=#0000BF]"I am Thrude, daughter of Thor Thunder-King and Sif Harvest-Queen, granddaughter of Odin All-Father and Jord, Gaea, the avatar of the very Earth upon which you now stand. I am The Daughter of Storms, Chooser of The Slain, Princess of Asgard, and on behalf of my family, I thank thee for thine aid. Few indeed are the mortals, or even the gods, brave enough to stand against The Winter Wolf. Northmen, surely on the day when thou dost fall, thy place among the Lone Warriors is assured. But today, stand aside, unless thou seekest to dine in Valhall tonight. Messenger, you do your Lord proud. Now I will dispatch this abomination and drag its carcass into the sea, where the other son of Loki can see what fate awaits all who would threaten a world under the protection of The Aesir!>"[/bg]

[Avenger Assembled]

Freedom Angel considered his options carefully as he studied the giant wolf. He had no doubt that the Fenriswulf was every inch the monster he was in the ancient stories; by his deeds and terrible words in Freedom City, Fenris had made it clear his intentions for humanity. But, he supposed, Fenris was a natural part of Asgardian mythology and had a place in that world, for all that he had none on Earth. All the better to send him back to his dark father, then. Let the so-called gods fight their wars safe from those not swept into their cult! But he's not shamming; he has no idea what's going on! How long has it been since the Fenriswulf was last seen in the flesh... He couldn't remember, but it certainly had been for many centuries.

He paced, bright and flaming sword still in hand, proof for these that he was no weak thrall to be ambushed and slain, and continued to speak in the Old Norse he had learned from Olav Tryggvason himself. "Listen, for I have a Truth to speak to you both. You have slept a great many eons, Fenriswulf and Donarssdaughter. The Asgardians and their enemies have fled the Earth and closed up the ancient gateways behind them, particularly for the messengers of other gods. However," he added, before the wolf could take this as excuse to plunder humanity for its flesh, or the daughter of Donar could strike him with her formidable hammer, "icy Niflheim has its own doorways to the world you call Midgard. I can deliver you there, Fenriswulf, where you can choose the path of light or dark of your own will. The children of Yahweh, and the free people of this city, take no side in your conflict with each other."

Sword burning with special heat, he added, "But make no mistake, Lokison. He takes revenge on all who oppose him and furiously destroys his enemies. If the free souls of this land are harmed by your war, our wrath will be great. Turning, he addressed Thrude. "I make the same offer to you, Donarssdaughter," he said, pronouncing it as he had been taught while watching that being perform his dread service for the Nazis. "You have slept through the rise and fall of ages. Go home to your family and choose to fight there with knowledge of What Is, not What Was. The god of thunder will be pleased, I am sure, to greet his timeswept daughter home." Despite his disdain for the Asgardians, the angel was ultimately a creature of empathy, and he found himself relating to the girl's plight more than he might have liked to admit. "All-seeing Heimdall's chief vassal is an...acquaintance. I can deliver you straight to her bosom, and so to your family again."

As he spoke, he drove his flaming sword into the air itself, cutting a pathway through Creation that burned with the bright, cold light of truth; the winds that blew through matching the unnatural chill of Fenris' own terrible breath. "This is for you, Fenriswulf, a doorway to your sister's realm which only you may use.I offer it to you freely, in the name of peace and love."

[N/A]

[floatr][/floatr]The tunnel through the multiverse carved by the angel's flaming sword pulsed bright white like a strobe light, or the reflection of Sol off the surface of a glacier. A gigiantic bronze tentacle shot out from the hole in the air, piercing the asphalt, shaking the ground. The edge of the portal stretched taught, and then the ring snapped and evaporated. Where it had stood, the buildings and the air for several blocks in every direction melted and fused together into the trunk of an impossibly colossal ash tree. The trunk, inside which one could have fit the entirety of Pyramid Plaza with room for several more just like it, rose well beyond the rolling storm clouds still covering the Midtown sky. The very tips of the bottom branches peeked down under the clouds, clad in emerald leaves the size of tractor-trailers. As the trunk rose above the clouds, the roots whipped out and plunged into the ground. The tip of each root split into two more, which split again, and again, drilling tunnels and trenches through the streets, digging deep to grasp the Earth all the way down to the mantle.

The angel had meant only to open a private portal to Niflheim for the great wolf, but opening the way from Midgard to the Nine Worlds was as the opening of a floodgate. Once unleashed, the long-suppressed dimensional energies could not be contained, only endured.

[Avenger Assembled]

"...Christ give me strength!" said the angel, looking appalled at what he'd wrought. He'd sensed the outpouring of magical energy while cutting the hole to the other dimension, but withdrawing early would simply have seen his sword sucked into the passageway without actually sealing the entrance. "The power of the cosmic ash is mighty indeed. Well..." He sighed, and did his best to run with this setback. "If the two of you will go to your respective homes," he said, gesturing at the tree, "I will employ the aid of mortal mystics to close the gateway from this end. Donarssdaughter, once through, thee should contact thy grandfather and warn him of the weakening of the passage between worlds. Lokison, as thy father would not, I imagine, enjoy a conflict with the Morningstar, I am sure he will take a similar interest in patching yon hole between worlds."

[N/A]

[bg=#000000]""[/bg] The great white wolf guffawed heartily as he demonstrated his own mastery of the Swedish tongue. [bg=#000000]""[/bg]

The Fenrir half-trotted, half-limped up to the roots of Yggdrasil. He climbed up to the base of the trunk, which was so humongous that the valleys between each shard of bark were of comparable size to the Freedom City streets running perpendicular to them. The wolf walked up the side of the tree as easily as he had walked upon the snow-covered ground, demonstrating some sort of localized gravity distortion. He turned back to the assembled heroes.

[bg=#000000]""[/bg] With a final cackle, the wolf opened his great maw and exhaled another cloud of eldritch frost upon the streets where the heroes stood. The fell mist flash-froze everything it touched. Steel lamposts, brick walls, concrete sidewalks, all of it turned brittle as glass, shattering under its own weight. Several buildings halfway across the street, caught in the path of the mist, lurched and buckled as their bottom floors began to splinter apart. The great wolf howled, and scrambled back up the side of The World-Tree.

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris had hoped the wolf would just leave already. And it mostly was. Even though birdman messed up the portal.

'Some kind of freaking super-tree.'

Then the wolf blasted them all with his horrible breath. He couldn't move fast enough to mitigate the effect, but even though alarms blared in his helmet, his plating held strong. He let out an electronically modulated growl, and disappeared in a charge of light. He appeared next to the fleeing wolf, but his strike went wide.

<Damn it!>

Even as he was recovering his defenses somewhat, he saw the buildings around groaning dangerously. With another flash of light, he appeared next to one of them.

<Just need to re-route some things and...there!>

With a slight groan, his armor's electroactive polymer mucles surged with enough strength to at least partly prop up the building. He wedged himself against it, grunting with the effort.

<Hey! Birdman! Valkyrie! Doktor Archeville! Start helping! Please!>

[Dr Archeville]

As the strange woman rose up, Archeville shifted and edited his meta-intellect to a more combat-oriented mode.

Wind 16 mph WNW... NNW... N... distance to 'Fenrisulfr' 33.52 meters... accounting for precipitation... accounting for effects of ionization on metallic projectiles... tagging objects available for banked shots...

Then Freedom Angel opened his portal, which Yggdrassil burst through. Everything going on in these past few moments had worn on his 'outgrown such silly superstitions' mindset, but to have this, unfurling in his city, and absorbing part of the area into it? This was too much!

Sometimes I really do not like the Multiverse.

Ah, no, I must stop these prejudices: what kinda of a scientist would pass up the opportunity to study such a thing?! Look -- this would seem to lead credence to the 'these are otherdimensional beings once worshiped as deities'! Maybe von Däniken was right?!

As Archeville pondered the implications of this, and the mechanism of how this great tree has done what it had, Heyzel talked, and Fenris leaped. And then something caught his eye.

He appears to be in a prime position for-

For doing what he did.

"Nein!" The Doktor's fingers flew over the controls to his Belt, altering the gravitic field that normally enveloped and protected him into a pair of fields that could change the gravitational constant in an area, thus decreasing weight to nothing. In a blink his Elektromagnetik Screwdriver was in his hand, now split into two stubby rods, with wires connecting them to his Belt. Each was pointed at a separate building, and beams of blue-gray light lanced out, enveloping both in that eerie glow. They abruptly stopped falling, and simply hung in midair.

But there was one left, the biggest one, with which Fenris (the battlesuit) struggled. " someone help him! It is all I can do to hold up these two!"

[N/A]

The Nordic goddess stared incredulously. [bg=#0000BF]""[/bg]

[bg=#0000BF]""[/bg]

Thrude's advance was interrupted by the wolf's foul breath. The plates of her enchanted mail were unaffected beyond a slight coating of frost, but a few of the links in the chain underneath turned brittle and snapped apart. The spells forged into the armor tried to pull the fell ice away from her bare flesh, but they were overwhelmed. Several ice crystals burned tiny holes in her leathers and linens, and then bored into her skin, leaving black dots of frostbite.

A stray gust of windborne frost blew squarely into Thrude's eyeball. The part of her helm's rim around the eye cracked and corroded. She reached up instinctively to cup her palm against her frost-bitten eye. It burned like fire for a few seconds, then went completely numb. She pulled her hand away, and her palm was full of broken chunks of obsidian. She rolled them around in her hand for a moment before she realized they were the crumbling, frozen remains of her own eyeball. She reached up again to graze her eye socket with her fingertips. More ebony shrapnel scraped off and tumbled down her breastplate to the ground, blackened flesh against white snow.

At the sound of the shattered buildings lurching and grinding against their foundations, Thrude looked up from the snow, grateful for the distraction. She glanced rapidly back and forth a few times between the impending collapse and the great wolf fleeing up the side of The World-Tree, before glaring at the wolf's back with her one remaining eye. [bg=#0000BF]""[/bg] she spat under her breath. Growling, she sprinted through the falling snow, taking a place by the Baron Katastrof under the crumbling masonry and buckling steel. She hurled her great axe into the sidewalk between her legs, rested one foot against its haft, reached her hands up over her head, leaned her back and her palms against what remained of the side of the building, and heaved with all her divine strength.

[Avenger Assembled]

When the wolf showed his true colors, Freedom Angel's wings snapped around him like a cloak against the icy chill of Winter personified. Foul beast!, he thought, saving his words for the next time he and the great wolf fought. I had hoped his pride greater than his wickedness, but such is the way of things with those tainted by the Adversary. With a shower of ice, he snapped his wings open again, having fearlessly stood against the chill. Sizing up the situation, he took action quickly. Raising his voice, he shouted with a voice like the trumpets of Heaven, his voice resounding through the air to reach every ear: "All of you! Exit your buildings in a calm and orderly fashion! The heroes guard you now, but cannot do so for long!"

Illustrating the errors of the godling by his side, healing her grim but not-lethal wounds, calling Dr. Metropolis to repair the damage: all that could wait until human life was protected.

[N/A]

As the heroes did their best to prevent the crumbling apartments from collapsing entirely, a stray gust of wind passed through a bedroom exposed to the open air by the battle with the great wolf. Shards of broken window glass and a loose bedsheet sailed on the wind, lazily circling their way down to the snow. The sheet fell upon a pile of snow-covered rubble that used to be part of the street. The broken chunks of asphalt, concrete, and even a few loose bricks rumbled and shook, then rose up under the linen sheet. The debris fused together into a haphazard patchwork shaped vaguely like a person.

The literal street-person bent down to one knee and, with a surprisingly light touch, gently picked up two of the fallen glass shards and pressed them against its lack of a face. The bedsheet hugged its shoulders like a cloak. The golem's rocky flesh shifted like desert stands in the wind, gradually mimicking a human body with greater and greater levels of detail. Limbs of stone showed muscle definition. A face took shape. The glass pieces sank slightly into that face, the rock sanding down the edges of the glass until they formed eyes. A soft yellow light glowed behind the glass.

Doctor Metropolis walked up alongside Heyzel and Archeville. "Greetings, Comrades. I arrived as soon as I was made aware of the situation." The urban elemental let his gaze wander up the length of the World-Tree. "The sensation was akin to what a human might feel were you to apply a local anesthetic, reach into his abdomen, pull out his liver, and then replace it with a pinecone. Technically not painful, but also not an experience I would recommend or seek to repeat."

[N/A]

In response to the angel's commands, dozens of people peeked their heads nervously out from broken windows and doors which hung precariously from what was left of their hinges. Seeing two members of the world-famous Freedom League, and a distinct lack of eternally hungry genocidal wolves the size of 18-wheelers, seemed to put them at relative ease, and they marched down to the snow-covered streets in a more or less orderly fashion, clutching the heaviest coats and sweaters they could find to shield their flesh against the unseasonable, unnatural wind and rain which still scoured Midtown.

The improvised body of Metropolis stood motionless, a bulwark against the storm, but the terrain surrounding him betrayed signs of a frenzy of activity. Broken masonry and glasswork rolled through the snow as if pushed by some unseen force. Pieces of buildings slid up the sides, reclaimed their old places, and then melted back together with their original hosts. The walls and frames and pipes and wires of the broken buildings held aloft by the heroes bent and twisted and whipped and flowed like the thickest of syrups, whatever movements and distortions were required to knit themselves back together. The process took several minutes.

Meanwhile, the walls of several apartments tore themselves open, unfolding like blooming flowers, to reveal those tenants too sick, injured, or infirm to evacuate the buildings of their own volition. Metropolis pointed up to each of them as they were exposed. "Some of these people appear to require medical attention. Fortunately, we can oblige them." He turned to a door on the ground floor of one of the apartment blocks, which hung open, slapped repeatedly against the outer wall by the roaring wind. It appeared to open up into a mailroom, but at The Doctor's mental command, the door beat back the wind and slammed shut. Then, a second later, the knob twisted itself, and when the door fell open once more, it revealed a hospital corridor. An orderly wheeled a cart past, then stopped to glance at the door. "Hey, who left this supply closet open? SWEET CRISPY WALNUTS! Doctor Quinlan, you better come take a look at this!"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Let me help," said the angel, and soon he was guiding the old and sick through the gateway to the hospital and away from the scene of carnage wrought by the war between the Fenriswulf and Donarsdaughter. He reminded himself that the wolf was the monster, that it was he who had brought their war to Earth and risked the lives of so many for nothing more than the innate desire to sin. Thrude herself had suffered as much as anyone in the fight, which she'd waged for the people of Freedom against the monster, though with the usual Asgardian stubborn pride she was doing nothing to draw attention to her wound. And yet...She didn't believe me. She knew nothing of Odin, nothing of the Pact, nothing of the great Asgardian flight. What could have happened?

When he was done, he called, "Daughter of Donar! My offer to you still stands, nay, is reinforced by the treachery of the Fenriswulf. Ask, and you shall receive. And before your pride tells you to stand alone, remember. You are not."

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris took several moments to catch his breath, as the chill of the storm quickly faded. Then he was flashing all over, helping move the worst injured towards the hospital entrance that Doctor Metropolis had created. Finally, as most of that was taken care of, he turned to the other hero present, as well as the two "divine" beings. He first walked over to Doktor Archeville and offered him a handshake. When he spoke, it was in English.

"Doktor, it's a great honor and privilege for me to have worked alongside you. I know we haven't met before, but I'm a great admirer of your work. Oh, my manners. Obviously I won't hand out my birth name, but while "on the job", you can call me..."

Here the metallic wolf head turns towards Thrude. Despite the fairly static nature of the face and eyes, there was something...different...in them.

"Fenris."

He gave the good Doktor another nod and marched over to stand about equidistant to Freedom Angel and Thrude. First, he points one clawed finger at FA, as if lecturing him.

"You seemed pretty eager to just go ripping up dimensional portals, even when this area was likely already unstable, mister "angel". Bah. At least you helped get that meta-wolf out of here. Next time, watch your portals better."

He turned, and all but stabbed his finger at Thrude. There's clear anger and derision in his voice.

"And you, you so-called "god". Bad enough you drag your petty "god" wars into this place. Then you had to go and try to attack the meta-wolf when it was finally starting to leave? You're probably what provoked that ice breath attack! You're lucky it didn't just try to eat us all! Probably thanks to your blasted parents. You Norse "gods". All the same."

There's bitterness there that's festered for years...

[Dr Archeville]

Shifting Tentacle-Brain from Ranged Combat to Enhanced Charisma

Archeville had offered his hand to the armored hero, who he knew by reputation. When he saw the man was about to introduce himself, he intended to cut him off, "Oh, yes, I am aware who-"

... oooh.

Too late.

"Ah, yes, you!," he replied, loudly. "Yes, I have heard much of the heroic deeds you have performed in your short time here, and how you have done so without once resorting to lethal force! Why, just the other day I... was..."

He is still talking, to Heyzel. Heyzel, of all people! That suit is clearly an advanced piece of work -- if he thinks such portals can be opened reliably, in combat conditions, he must not a soldier assigned to the suit, not the scientist who developed it!

"Now, now, I am sure Freedom Angel had the best of intentions," he said, desperately trying to avert any flaring of tempers (not that Heyzel was likely to get angry, but it was the principle of the thing), "and from his reaction, it appeared he was just as surprised at the disruption of his transdimensional breach as we were! I am sure he had no idea that... that...," he gestured towards the Yggdrassil, "that that would burst through! Have the people who made your suit never performed work under less than ideal cond-"

He is still talking?! He- ohhhh crud.

As much as I agree with him, this really is not the way to go about it!

"There is a time and place for such recriminations," he counseled the battlesuit wearer, "and this is neither. There are civilians who need attending, and infrastructures to repair. You should go where your talents would be better used."

"Before she attempts to remove your head," he added, under his breath.

[N/A]

For several minutes, the goddess ignored her aching bones, her torn muscles, and the hundred points of screaming pain throughout her body. She ignored her rage at having been bested and eluded by her foe. She ignored the voices in her head that reminded her how long she had been awake, how good it would feel to just let her eyes close for a second. She dug her feet into the snow and helped the armored Northman keep the building from collapsing and told the voices in her head things too vulgar to repeat.

And then the Northman opened his mouth.

Thrude glared at Fenris with her one remaining eye, the other a shattered, blackened ruin. Her lips trembled. [bg=#000080]"You stupid, whining, ungrateful SWINE!"[/bg]

[bg=#000080]"How DARE you?! After all my people have risked, all they have SACRIFICED, to make YOUR lives better! SAFER! After ALL the gifts of INCALCULABLE value they have given unto the mortals of The North, you SPIT in their faces! SLANDER their names, and wear our ENEMY'S heraldry as your own! Our enemy, who would see your ENTIRE world BURNED to a CINDER, with your HALF-EATEN CORPSES used as KINDLING!"[/bg]

The head of her massive battle axe melted and flowed, morphing into a great warhammer. Lightning crackled along the metal, and the striking face glowed pale blue, leaking mist into the air like dry ice. [bg=#000080]"It is not the MORTALS who have suffered at the hands of the Traitor OR his foul get! It is not the MORTALS to whom he swore a blood oath, only to then MURDER their beloved kin and sow their DOOM from his very LOINS! And it was not MY choice to spend EONS trapped in Loki's cursed oubliette, locked in UNENDING battle with the Fen-Wulf! It was not by MY hand that our prison was moved to Midgard, nor was it I who unleashed the Winter-Wulf upon this land! I would GLADLY have remained imprisoned for all ETERNITY if it meant protecting the Nine Worlds from He Whose Hunger CANNOT Be Sated!"[/bg]

Thrude advanced upon Fenris as she ranted and bellowed. [bg=#000080]"And EVEN in the face of your SLANDER, I would have kept fighting the Wulf to my last breath and BEYOND to save this world and all in it from his fell hunger. I would have chased him clear across the Nine Worlds. But YOU, you SNIVELING little LAPDOG, YOU remained content to hide behind this Messenger of Yahweh, like a CHILD hiding under his mother's SKIRTS! The Messenger, I understand. His Christ-God COMMANDS him to lay down and die! But YOU, Northman, what POSSIBLE excuse have YOU for being such a COWARD?! If you TRULY think the Trickster's kin will treat you better than the Aesir, then tell your comrades to stand aside, and I will gladly send you to MEET Her!"[/bg]