HolyDragoon
Call Gespenst!
- Location
- Portugal
Oh man, what a harsh reminder.
A Stark in Winterfell (ASoIaF/MCU)
- Thread starter zombiesaurous
- Start date
Chapter 10
Pepper 1
It was 72 hours before Pepper Potts realized that Tony Stark was missing. Randomly disappearing for days on end wasn't an unusual event for Tony but he would usually leave a message. The lack of a 'hey, I'm not dead' call made her fear, not for the first time, that he really was dead. The suspense of not knowing whether he was alive or dead was one of the many reasons that she finally decided that she couldn't take it anymore and broke up with him.
Of course, the police were no help. They listened carefully and promised carefully. They didn't have any leads but would keep an eye out. Stark Industries security chief couldn't help either. Happy did his best but he was just a normal guy. Tony wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination and his problems were just as weird. This would usually be handled by the now defunct S.H.I.E.L.D.
Pepper reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. She only had the number for one member of Tony's superhero club. He was probably the least bizarre of the whole ensemble, too. She dialed and hoped against hope that Tony was just blacked out in a gutter somewhere and not personally battling the forces of darkness again. He couldn't keep risking his life in that damn suit.
"Rhodes here. What can I do for your, Pepper?"
"Rhodey, is Tony out with the Avengers?"
"The Avengers are...well, it's complicated. I wouldn't know, though. I'm semi-retired at the moment."
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"A few days ago. Is Tony missing?"
"I think so. I've called the police and Happy is asking around. I don't know what else to do. The only thing left is to tell the press and that's a headache I don't want to deal with right now."
"Hold on a sec."
Pepper could hear the sounds of rapid button presses before the distinct noise made by Starkphones before a conference call. Curious, she accepted the call. A suspiciously familiar British accent greeted her.
"Hello, Ms. Potts. I am afraid that I am still unable to locate Mr. Stark."
"Jarvis?"
"Jarvis is a part of me but I am quite distinct from him. I am called the Vision."
Great, yet another robot Tony made, thought Pepper. Rhodey made choking noises.
"Wait, still not able? Vision, how long have you known that Tony was missing?"
"Since he inexplicably vanished while procuring food at a Wendy's restaurant in Los Angeles approximately 68 hours ago."
"Damn it, Vision. That's the kind of thing that you tell someone."
"I am sorry Colonel Rhodes but I did tell someone. I told the United Nations, as per regulations."
Pepper couldn't take it anymore. This was going to be a disaster.
"Where is he right now?"
"I do not know. The unique cosmic energy traces cease to be resolvable 7000 light years to the galactic east. A spaceship equipped with Dr. Selvig's wormhole device would take a minimum of 70 years to reach it without Asgardian assistance."
"Tony is on another planet that we can't reach without divine intervention, great. How do we contact Asgard?"
"I'm afraid I do not know that either. I do know that the people of Asgard do not consider themselves gods."
"There has to be someone who knows how to contact them."
"The most likely candidate is Jane Foster, noted astrophysicist and paramour of the Asgardian Prince Thor. No one, with the possible exception of Dr. Selvig, understands wormhole physics better than her. I have taken the liberty of contacting her and she has agreed to help. Colonel Rhodes, are you well enough to fly a Quinjet?"
"Yeah, yeah, I can fly the damn bus. Just don't expect me to put on a suit unless it's gonna be a slow day. Do you need a ride, Pepper?"
"I'll just use my own jet. Go get Foster, quickly."
Pepper stalked purposefully towards the staircase that led to the private upper section of Stark Tower, New York. It was the former base of the Avengers and much of the equipment remained. Including, of course, a Quinjet hanger and launcher. She preferred to travel low key and nothing does that better than a cloaking device. With the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D, the things were dirt cheap for a military grade stealth aircraft.
She took the steps seven at a time, quick and easy hops for someone with superhuman strength. There were times when she was thankful for the abilities that Extremis gave her but usually she just wanted to kill the person who infected her all over again. In seconds, she was standing in front of her jet. Not Tony's, not the Avengers, it was nobodies jet but hers. She pressed her face against the retinal scanner and waited for the rear hatch to lower.
To her surprise, someone was waiting in the cockpit. Maria Hill, formerly Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, smirked at her as she sat down in the co-pilot's seat. Pepper had no idea how she always knew everything that was going on but her expertise had proven invaluable. Her division of the company, Stark Security Solutions, had an unfortunate habit of constantly making snake puns but they were the most elite private security contractors in the world. They made money hand over fist, partially because they were the only ones in the world with updated Starktech weaponry and partly because of Maria's innumerable connections.
"How long have you known that Tony is missing?"
"I got the call from my UN guy 30 minutes ago, Ma'am. You've got a plan, so where to?"
"The Avengers Facility. We're trying to get help from Asgard before it goes public. How much time do we have?"
"Not long. If Iron Man isn't seen by tomorrow, the UN is going public with his disappearance. With War Machine out of commision, we don't know how it will affect global security but it isn't going to be good."
"Alright, just get me there as quick as you can."
"Are you sure? This baby gets pretty bumpy at mach 2."
Pepper gave her a flat look. There was no way she didn't know.
"I'm a lot sturdier than I look."
The ride wasn't quite as bad as Pepper expected, barely more turbulent than would be expected on a commercial flight. It was barely noticeable to someone who could walk away from a crash at that speed with only a few crippling injuries. Not that any injury was truly crippling for her any longer. It took only a few minutes to get from launch to slowing down for the landing. A part of Pepper felt bad about wasting fuel but it was quickly quashed by the much larger part that was worried about Tony.
The Avengers facility was fairly spacious and definitely luxurious for a secret superhero base. It wasn't just a mansion, though. It included labs and testing facilities as well as uplinks to various sensor platforms and computer networks. It was on the bleeding edge of technological living. Pepper knew these details, even though she had never set foot in the building, because Stark Industries paid for more than half of it.
Hundreds of millions of dollars with zero return on investment was hardly best practices. It's very existence aggravated Pepper, like so many of Tony's profligate expenditures. He usually supported his hobby with his own money but the Avengers had grown beyond a hobby with the Sokovia Accords. They made the group part of the UN and, as a side benefit, allowed the company to right off some of the expense on the company's taxes. It still wasn't close to breaking even.
Pepper jumped off the rear ramp before the plane had even finished landing. One of the security guards approached her almost as soon as her feet touched the ground. He was wearing body armor over a haz-tek exoskeleton emblazoned with the Avengers symbol. He clearly didn't recognize her, which didn't bode well for the competence of security here.
"Ma'am, this is a restricted area."
"I know. I spent 5 hours and a million in campaign donations with President Ellis in order to keep it that way. Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries, and you are?"
Pepper held out her hand with her trademarked angry smile.
"Uh, sorry ma'am. I didn't recognize you. I'm, uh, Corporal Jenkins."
He shook her hand with more force than was necessary. She responded with inhuman crushing force and a happier smile. His eyes widened as he made an involuntary grunt of pain. Maria Hill got out of the grounded quinjet and stalked past the poor guard. She made a passing remark.
"Put yourself on report, Jenkins. The VIP list isn't that long."
"Uh, yes Commander. Right away."
Pepper released him from her grasp and followed her employee into the second floor of main lobby of the building. She turned sharply towards the wing labelled R&D and typed in a long passcode before holding her eye up to the retinal scanner. The door swung open with the hiss of escaping gas. Inside was the familiar setup of a Stark Industries laboratory.
Pepper instantly recognized Dr. Selvig from his very public breakdown. He was talking to a petite Korean woman and an oddly colored man in a sweatervest. As they entered, the man turned and she got a good look at him. He was bright red, with metal bits here and there across his face. He made an awkward shrug and floated serenely towards the entrance. He landed gracefully in front of her.
"Ms. Potts, you have my condolences. We are doing everything we can to return Mr. Stark safely."
"You must be Vision.Forgive me but I insist on being more in the loop than that."
"I...my apologies, Ms. Potts. Have I done something to offend you? I am sensing a great deal of hostility in your body language."
"No, no, nothing like that. It's just that Tony promised me that he wouldn't make any more robots and, well, here you are."
"I see. If my presence is distressing, perhaps it's best if I left."
"No! You can't help what Tony did. I want you right here, working on a solution. Now, what do you know about his disappearance?"
"A great deal of data but few conclusions. He was sucked into a wormhole of unknown make and origins, using unknown technology, while ordering a Baconator sandwich at a Los Angeles Wendy's establishment 68 hours ago. The wormhole was rather unstable and produced a great deal of an unknown form of cosmic energy. It leaked a trail of this energy across space that could be analyzed by long range hyper-sensors. I was forced to invent an entirely new sensor to follow the trail but was unable to properly resolve the endpoint. I am sorry."
"So what would you need to finish tracking it?"
"Either a vastly more advanced tech base or assistance in launching a sensor probe faster than light. Alternatively, the Asgardian known as Heimdall is equipped with far more advanced sensors that may be capable of doing what I cannot."
"Well, I can't help with most of that. What about a ship?"
"Dr. Selvig's device requires more power than can be emplaced on any conventional vessel. A new, vastly larger ship would be required to achieve faster than light travel. Unfortunately, it still wouldn't be enough. The efficiency levels of human produced wormholes are too low to reach the destination in a reasonable timeframe."
"Which is why the Asgardians are needed. Could you do me a favor and design a wormhole equipped ship anyway? It would really help improve our space industry and who know, we might get some insights from actually building it."
"Of course, Ms. Potts. I'll finish the design right away."
With those words he descended through the floor with a green flash. Pepper thought it was properly creepy but couldn't hold a lack of understanding human social conventions against the android. After all, Tony either didn't understand or chose to ignore those same conventions all the time. Probably the latter, now that she thought about it. Dr. Selvig chose that moment to approach.
"Ms. Potts, thank you so much for supporting my research. I couldn't possibly have come this far without Stark Industries."
"I'm sorry, Tony doesn't share a lot of what goes on here with me. How far is this far?"
"My device is capable of making instantaneous jumps over short distances using only conventional power. With your arc reactor and room-temperature superconducting technology, it enables us to reach other stars within an unprecedentedly short time. Exciting stuff."
"What about something less ambitious? Asteroid mining is predicted to be a lucrative business."
"Oh, of course. The device can easily reach any place in the solar system from the comfort of Earth."
"I see. So, it could be used to put satellites in orbit? Launch and recover mining vehicles? Put a man on mars? This technology is worth billions, Dr. Selvig. Why isn't it making billions?"
"I, uh, the truth is that I'm terrible at making money. I didn't realize that doing those things was worth that much. Tony was always focused on other things. He thought my research was great but didn't want to release it until it was finished. He said that we had plenty of time."
"Well, now we don't. I told Vision to design a spaceship. I need you to make your device longer ranged. What do you need to do that?"
"Uh, more funding probably."
"Easily done."
"Access to Stark Industries tech database."
"Also easy."
"Dr. Foster."
"On her way here."
"Dr. Banner."
"Nigh impossible. What do you need him for? Do you realize how hard he is to find, much less recruit?"
"I know it will be difficult but he's the foremost expert on cosmic energy manipulation. I don't know if I can do what you ask at all but I definitely can't do it without Dr. Banner. I'm going to need to emulate the portal that took Mr. Stark and I don't know the first place to start."
"Alright, I'll try but I can't guarantee anything. Now, do you think that you can use your device to contact Asgard?"
"Contacting Asgard is as easy as yelling at the sky. Getting them to respond is the hard part. I'm confident that my device can connect to the Bifrost system to send someone through. They just won't let anyone in with the possible exception of Dr. Foster."
"Then set it up while we wait. I have limited time before I have to chair a board meeting."
Pepper followed the signs towards the opulent break room next to the lab. Tony's influence was quite clear. It had the standard snack and drink machines, albeit much higher quality and totally free, but it also came equipped with an open bar and karaoke machine. Both of them were untouched, thankfully. She lay down on a comfy couch and before she knew it was fast asleep.
She was awoken by feminine yelling. She recognized the voice as belonging to Dr. Foster.
"What do you mean, Thor is back in Asgard? He left without saying anything didn't he?"
"Jane, the device is functioning but the wormhole won't connect to Asgard. Thor didn't want you to worry and he needed to research the Infinity Stones. The fate of the Earth, no the fate of the galaxy was resting on his shoulders."
"The fate of Earth is always resting on his shoulders. It's probably how they got so muscly in the first place. That's no excuse for not telling me he was leaving."
"Please, Jane, quit yelling at me and help me set up the device so you can go yell at him."
"Oh, I will. I will be having words with that man. Here, set the frequency to 88.8 while I yell at the sky. Heimdall, you let me in this instant! Thor isn't getting away with this!"
The soft British accent of Vision could be heard next.
"Wormhole stabilized. Connection to Asgard confirmed. Recording that variable 'angrily yelling at the sky' resulted in success."
Pepper groggily got to her feet and walked into the lab. One end held a glowing hole in the wall through which an orange eyed man in ridiculous golden garb could be seen. Jane Foster ran through and the man drew a sword from a pedestal. The portal abruptly collapsed. Pepper cleared her throat.
"Success? Good. It's going to take hours for Jane to finish chewing out Thor and I have a board meeting. I'll be right back, don't do anything Tony would do until I return."
She stalked off towards the exit, passing through the security doors with the ease of long practice. Maria Hill was waiting on the launchpad. They didn't say a word as they prepared to lift off. They were airborne and halfway to L.A. when Pepper received a phone call from Rhodey. She answered, curious.
"What is it Rhodey?"
"Dr. Foster has returned. Heimdall couldn't find him either but got closer than we did. Odin wouldn't allow her to see Thor but they said that they would handle a rescue. It sounds fishy to me, what do you think?"
"Definitely fishy. I don't trust them to do it without Thor making them. We should act like we need to do it all ourselves and hope that we don't."
"Agreed. Spaceship?"
"Spaceship. I'm assuming the military is interested."
"You know they are. It doesn't matter if it doesn't come with guns and whistles, it's a freaking spaceship."
It was 72 hours before Pepper Potts realized that Tony Stark was missing. Randomly disappearing for days on end wasn't an unusual event for Tony but he would usually leave a message. The lack of a 'hey, I'm not dead' call made her fear, not for the first time, that he really was dead. The suspense of not knowing whether he was alive or dead was one of the many reasons that she finally decided that she couldn't take it anymore and broke up with him.
Of course, the police were no help. They listened carefully and promised carefully. They didn't have any leads but would keep an eye out. Stark Industries security chief couldn't help either. Happy did his best but he was just a normal guy. Tony wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination and his problems were just as weird. This would usually be handled by the now defunct S.H.I.E.L.D.
Pepper reached into her purse and pulled out her phone. She only had the number for one member of Tony's superhero club. He was probably the least bizarre of the whole ensemble, too. She dialed and hoped against hope that Tony was just blacked out in a gutter somewhere and not personally battling the forces of darkness again. He couldn't keep risking his life in that damn suit.
"Rhodes here. What can I do for your, Pepper?"
"Rhodey, is Tony out with the Avengers?"
"The Avengers are...well, it's complicated. I wouldn't know, though. I'm semi-retired at the moment."
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"A few days ago. Is Tony missing?"
"I think so. I've called the police and Happy is asking around. I don't know what else to do. The only thing left is to tell the press and that's a headache I don't want to deal with right now."
"Hold on a sec."
Pepper could hear the sounds of rapid button presses before the distinct noise made by Starkphones before a conference call. Curious, she accepted the call. A suspiciously familiar British accent greeted her.
"Hello, Ms. Potts. I am afraid that I am still unable to locate Mr. Stark."
"Jarvis?"
"Jarvis is a part of me but I am quite distinct from him. I am called the Vision."
Great, yet another robot Tony made, thought Pepper. Rhodey made choking noises.
"Wait, still not able? Vision, how long have you known that Tony was missing?"
"Since he inexplicably vanished while procuring food at a Wendy's restaurant in Los Angeles approximately 68 hours ago."
"Damn it, Vision. That's the kind of thing that you tell someone."
"I am sorry Colonel Rhodes but I did tell someone. I told the United Nations, as per regulations."
Pepper couldn't take it anymore. This was going to be a disaster.
"Where is he right now?"
"I do not know. The unique cosmic energy traces cease to be resolvable 7000 light years to the galactic east. A spaceship equipped with Dr. Selvig's wormhole device would take a minimum of 70 years to reach it without Asgardian assistance."
"Tony is on another planet that we can't reach without divine intervention, great. How do we contact Asgard?"
"I'm afraid I do not know that either. I do know that the people of Asgard do not consider themselves gods."
"There has to be someone who knows how to contact them."
"The most likely candidate is Jane Foster, noted astrophysicist and paramour of the Asgardian Prince Thor. No one, with the possible exception of Dr. Selvig, understands wormhole physics better than her. I have taken the liberty of contacting her and she has agreed to help. Colonel Rhodes, are you well enough to fly a Quinjet?"
"Yeah, yeah, I can fly the damn bus. Just don't expect me to put on a suit unless it's gonna be a slow day. Do you need a ride, Pepper?"
"I'll just use my own jet. Go get Foster, quickly."
Pepper stalked purposefully towards the staircase that led to the private upper section of Stark Tower, New York. It was the former base of the Avengers and much of the equipment remained. Including, of course, a Quinjet hanger and launcher. She preferred to travel low key and nothing does that better than a cloaking device. With the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D, the things were dirt cheap for a military grade stealth aircraft.
She took the steps seven at a time, quick and easy hops for someone with superhuman strength. There were times when she was thankful for the abilities that Extremis gave her but usually she just wanted to kill the person who infected her all over again. In seconds, she was standing in front of her jet. Not Tony's, not the Avengers, it was nobodies jet but hers. She pressed her face against the retinal scanner and waited for the rear hatch to lower.
To her surprise, someone was waiting in the cockpit. Maria Hill, formerly Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, smirked at her as she sat down in the co-pilot's seat. Pepper had no idea how she always knew everything that was going on but her expertise had proven invaluable. Her division of the company, Stark Security Solutions, had an unfortunate habit of constantly making snake puns but they were the most elite private security contractors in the world. They made money hand over fist, partially because they were the only ones in the world with updated Starktech weaponry and partly because of Maria's innumerable connections.
"How long have you known that Tony is missing?"
"I got the call from my UN guy 30 minutes ago, Ma'am. You've got a plan, so where to?"
"The Avengers Facility. We're trying to get help from Asgard before it goes public. How much time do we have?"
"Not long. If Iron Man isn't seen by tomorrow, the UN is going public with his disappearance. With War Machine out of commision, we don't know how it will affect global security but it isn't going to be good."
"Alright, just get me there as quick as you can."
"Are you sure? This baby gets pretty bumpy at mach 2."
Pepper gave her a flat look. There was no way she didn't know.
"I'm a lot sturdier than I look."
The ride wasn't quite as bad as Pepper expected, barely more turbulent than would be expected on a commercial flight. It was barely noticeable to someone who could walk away from a crash at that speed with only a few crippling injuries. Not that any injury was truly crippling for her any longer. It took only a few minutes to get from launch to slowing down for the landing. A part of Pepper felt bad about wasting fuel but it was quickly quashed by the much larger part that was worried about Tony.
The Avengers facility was fairly spacious and definitely luxurious for a secret superhero base. It wasn't just a mansion, though. It included labs and testing facilities as well as uplinks to various sensor platforms and computer networks. It was on the bleeding edge of technological living. Pepper knew these details, even though she had never set foot in the building, because Stark Industries paid for more than half of it.
Hundreds of millions of dollars with zero return on investment was hardly best practices. It's very existence aggravated Pepper, like so many of Tony's profligate expenditures. He usually supported his hobby with his own money but the Avengers had grown beyond a hobby with the Sokovia Accords. They made the group part of the UN and, as a side benefit, allowed the company to right off some of the expense on the company's taxes. It still wasn't close to breaking even.
Pepper jumped off the rear ramp before the plane had even finished landing. One of the security guards approached her almost as soon as her feet touched the ground. He was wearing body armor over a haz-tek exoskeleton emblazoned with the Avengers symbol. He clearly didn't recognize her, which didn't bode well for the competence of security here.
"Ma'am, this is a restricted area."
"I know. I spent 5 hours and a million in campaign donations with President Ellis in order to keep it that way. Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries, and you are?"
Pepper held out her hand with her trademarked angry smile.
"Uh, sorry ma'am. I didn't recognize you. I'm, uh, Corporal Jenkins."
He shook her hand with more force than was necessary. She responded with inhuman crushing force and a happier smile. His eyes widened as he made an involuntary grunt of pain. Maria Hill got out of the grounded quinjet and stalked past the poor guard. She made a passing remark.
"Put yourself on report, Jenkins. The VIP list isn't that long."
"Uh, yes Commander. Right away."
Pepper released him from her grasp and followed her employee into the second floor of main lobby of the building. She turned sharply towards the wing labelled R&D and typed in a long passcode before holding her eye up to the retinal scanner. The door swung open with the hiss of escaping gas. Inside was the familiar setup of a Stark Industries laboratory.
Pepper instantly recognized Dr. Selvig from his very public breakdown. He was talking to a petite Korean woman and an oddly colored man in a sweatervest. As they entered, the man turned and she got a good look at him. He was bright red, with metal bits here and there across his face. He made an awkward shrug and floated serenely towards the entrance. He landed gracefully in front of her.
"Ms. Potts, you have my condolences. We are doing everything we can to return Mr. Stark safely."
"You must be Vision.Forgive me but I insist on being more in the loop than that."
"I...my apologies, Ms. Potts. Have I done something to offend you? I am sensing a great deal of hostility in your body language."
"No, no, nothing like that. It's just that Tony promised me that he wouldn't make any more robots and, well, here you are."
"I see. If my presence is distressing, perhaps it's best if I left."
"No! You can't help what Tony did. I want you right here, working on a solution. Now, what do you know about his disappearance?"
"A great deal of data but few conclusions. He was sucked into a wormhole of unknown make and origins, using unknown technology, while ordering a Baconator sandwich at a Los Angeles Wendy's establishment 68 hours ago. The wormhole was rather unstable and produced a great deal of an unknown form of cosmic energy. It leaked a trail of this energy across space that could be analyzed by long range hyper-sensors. I was forced to invent an entirely new sensor to follow the trail but was unable to properly resolve the endpoint. I am sorry."
"So what would you need to finish tracking it?"
"Either a vastly more advanced tech base or assistance in launching a sensor probe faster than light. Alternatively, the Asgardian known as Heimdall is equipped with far more advanced sensors that may be capable of doing what I cannot."
"Well, I can't help with most of that. What about a ship?"
"Dr. Selvig's device requires more power than can be emplaced on any conventional vessel. A new, vastly larger ship would be required to achieve faster than light travel. Unfortunately, it still wouldn't be enough. The efficiency levels of human produced wormholes are too low to reach the destination in a reasonable timeframe."
"Which is why the Asgardians are needed. Could you do me a favor and design a wormhole equipped ship anyway? It would really help improve our space industry and who know, we might get some insights from actually building it."
"Of course, Ms. Potts. I'll finish the design right away."
With those words he descended through the floor with a green flash. Pepper thought it was properly creepy but couldn't hold a lack of understanding human social conventions against the android. After all, Tony either didn't understand or chose to ignore those same conventions all the time. Probably the latter, now that she thought about it. Dr. Selvig chose that moment to approach.
"Ms. Potts, thank you so much for supporting my research. I couldn't possibly have come this far without Stark Industries."
"I'm sorry, Tony doesn't share a lot of what goes on here with me. How far is this far?"
"My device is capable of making instantaneous jumps over short distances using only conventional power. With your arc reactor and room-temperature superconducting technology, it enables us to reach other stars within an unprecedentedly short time. Exciting stuff."
"What about something less ambitious? Asteroid mining is predicted to be a lucrative business."
"Oh, of course. The device can easily reach any place in the solar system from the comfort of Earth."
"I see. So, it could be used to put satellites in orbit? Launch and recover mining vehicles? Put a man on mars? This technology is worth billions, Dr. Selvig. Why isn't it making billions?"
"I, uh, the truth is that I'm terrible at making money. I didn't realize that doing those things was worth that much. Tony was always focused on other things. He thought my research was great but didn't want to release it until it was finished. He said that we had plenty of time."
"Well, now we don't. I told Vision to design a spaceship. I need you to make your device longer ranged. What do you need to do that?"
"Uh, more funding probably."
"Easily done."
"Access to Stark Industries tech database."
"Also easy."
"Dr. Foster."
"On her way here."
"Dr. Banner."
"Nigh impossible. What do you need him for? Do you realize how hard he is to find, much less recruit?"
"I know it will be difficult but he's the foremost expert on cosmic energy manipulation. I don't know if I can do what you ask at all but I definitely can't do it without Dr. Banner. I'm going to need to emulate the portal that took Mr. Stark and I don't know the first place to start."
"Alright, I'll try but I can't guarantee anything. Now, do you think that you can use your device to contact Asgard?"
"Contacting Asgard is as easy as yelling at the sky. Getting them to respond is the hard part. I'm confident that my device can connect to the Bifrost system to send someone through. They just won't let anyone in with the possible exception of Dr. Foster."
"Then set it up while we wait. I have limited time before I have to chair a board meeting."
Pepper followed the signs towards the opulent break room next to the lab. Tony's influence was quite clear. It had the standard snack and drink machines, albeit much higher quality and totally free, but it also came equipped with an open bar and karaoke machine. Both of them were untouched, thankfully. She lay down on a comfy couch and before she knew it was fast asleep.
She was awoken by feminine yelling. She recognized the voice as belonging to Dr. Foster.
"What do you mean, Thor is back in Asgard? He left without saying anything didn't he?"
"Jane, the device is functioning but the wormhole won't connect to Asgard. Thor didn't want you to worry and he needed to research the Infinity Stones. The fate of the Earth, no the fate of the galaxy was resting on his shoulders."
"The fate of Earth is always resting on his shoulders. It's probably how they got so muscly in the first place. That's no excuse for not telling me he was leaving."
"Please, Jane, quit yelling at me and help me set up the device so you can go yell at him."
"Oh, I will. I will be having words with that man. Here, set the frequency to 88.8 while I yell at the sky. Heimdall, you let me in this instant! Thor isn't getting away with this!"
The soft British accent of Vision could be heard next.
"Wormhole stabilized. Connection to Asgard confirmed. Recording that variable 'angrily yelling at the sky' resulted in success."
Pepper groggily got to her feet and walked into the lab. One end held a glowing hole in the wall through which an orange eyed man in ridiculous golden garb could be seen. Jane Foster ran through and the man drew a sword from a pedestal. The portal abruptly collapsed. Pepper cleared her throat.
"Success? Good. It's going to take hours for Jane to finish chewing out Thor and I have a board meeting. I'll be right back, don't do anything Tony would do until I return."
She stalked off towards the exit, passing through the security doors with the ease of long practice. Maria Hill was waiting on the launchpad. They didn't say a word as they prepared to lift off. They were airborne and halfway to L.A. when Pepper received a phone call from Rhodey. She answered, curious.
"What is it Rhodey?"
"Dr. Foster has returned. Heimdall couldn't find him either but got closer than we did. Odin wouldn't allow her to see Thor but they said that they would handle a rescue. It sounds fishy to me, what do you think?"
"Definitely fishy. I don't trust them to do it without Thor making them. We should act like we need to do it all ourselves and hope that we don't."
"Agreed. Spaceship?"
"Spaceship. I'm assuming the military is interested."
"You know they are. It doesn't matter if it doesn't come with guns and whistles, it's a freaking spaceship."
- Location
- Uk
Chapter 11
Bran 4
Bran watched as Tony Stark frantically worked on his latest project. He explained little, unlike with previous projects but what he did explain was extraordinary. Tony freely admitted that the method of building was unusual, he even claimed that he could never have done it before Merlin. Bran would drain small amounts of his blood into a vat of nutrients and dissolved bits of various elements and then Merlin would bring those bits together to build individual parts. Every few minutes Tony would fish a component out of the vat. Sometimes he would attach it to another and others he would set aside.
The basic armor plates were the first to be finished. It took hours longer than his own forging process but was vastly more precise. They made an intimidating sight standing in the corner, a sentinel of red and black starksteel. It would be even more intimidating when finished and if it performed even half as well as Bran expected their enemies would quake in their boots at the prospect of facing it.
Unfortunately, Tony refused to make magical armor for anyone but himself. He printed plans for a factory that made regular armor and helped Merlin design plate armor that took advantage of Bran's heat based abilities but refused to let anyone else have his special Iron Man armor. It made a certain amount of sense, he alone held the title of Iron Man. Bran wouldn't want anyone else to have his own mystical abilities, although he knew that others existed.
"So, Tony, if Merlin is constructing your armor what is the rest of your tower building?"
"The easily made parts of a prismatic accelerator. The more advanced bits are these right here."
He waved at the pile of unused parts. Many of them looked like they combined into some form of tunnel.
"I'll need Starkium for my armor. That's what's taking so long."
"Starkium, really? Do you name everything after yourself?"
"Of course not. Starkium is named after my father, Starksteel is named after you. I just happen to have the same name."
"Just crazy happenstance, of course. I don't see how one man, even one with magical armor, can stop an army of sky snakes. Is it really that powerful?"
"No. It's actually complete crap. This is the fourth least capable armor I've ever made. The plating is the only part that I'm going to keep."
"So why build it if you are just going to replace it?"
"I've never had an AI assisted microassembler or a freaking wizard to help me. I have no idea what is and isn't possible. I'm trying a bunch of new things and seeing what works. This one doesn't. I'm rebuilding it into a basic platform for Merlin to control. He'll be able to set up a manufacturing base in Wintertown at the same time that he is helping here."
Merlin chimed in from the ceiling.
"While I am always happy to help, sir, I have expressed that I do not want a body. I find the idea of only having a single form deeply disturbing."
"It's not a body, it's a platform. I'm going to fail at making the internal workings of my new suit more than I'm going to succeed, at least for the next week. I'm expecting you to have 8 or 9 different platforms by then. I'll eventually design a mass producible drone designed for combat. That's how I'm going to win, I'm going to rebuild the Iron Legion and do it right this time."
"Forgive me, sir, but I've noticed that you are writing the code for a new AI. Am I not sufficient for your needs?"
"You're great, Merlin but I don't trust my suit to fully sapient AI anymore. No offense, I just had a bad experience recently."
"None taken, sir. I should mention that I have completed the design work on the magical control system for Winterfell. I'm afraid that the magical systems you want for your armor are much more complex. I have devoted 30 thousand cycles to modeling cosmic energy flows and I'm no closer to an answer than before."
"I asked for things utterly impossible under my understanding of physics. It's nice to know that the so called magic isn't infallible. Did you get any of it to work?"
"Yes. I successfully reverse engineered my pre-cognitive processing and the wormhole that brought you here."
"What?! Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"
"You didn't ask. I'm afraid that it doesn't do you much good, the energy requirements are too severe for interstellar teleportation. It would take Bran several decades to gather enough energy from Winterfell."
"Then how the hell did I get here?"
"I do not know. I suspect that one or more energy beings, what the locals refer to as gods, were responsible."
"Damnit. I got excited for nothing."
A commotion could be heard outside the tower. Angry yelling, mostly, with the distinct tones of a mourning wail. Bran leapt up and ran outside. The crowd was surrounding one of the Hornwood men who appeared to be heavily injured. Beth Cassel was on her knees in tears. The Hornwood armsman struggled to get to his feet as Bran approached.
"What's going on?"
"It's Ser Rodrik, Milord. He decided to escort Milady back to her castle. We never made it, were ambushed by Bolten men led by Roose's Bastard. I only made it out alive because Ser Rodrik held them off. I saw the Bastard cut him down and make off with Lady Hornwood. Please, Lord Bran, you have to rescue her."
Bran saw red. Rodrik Cassel had been a constant presence in his life, like a dour uncle. He couldn't be gone. Nobody could be crazy enough to make such a stupid play. Evidently Ramsay Snow was that crazy. Bran fell to his knees and roared at the sky. His clothes turned to ash as the snow in the courtyard evaporated. He didn't care. One of the only people he ever considered a friend was dead. Ramsay Snow would pay.
"Guards! Prepare to move out. As of this moment we are at war. We march for the Dreadfort in 2 hours to apprehend the outlaw murderer Ramsay Snow."
Bran walked purposefully back to Tony's tower. The elder Stark looked at Bran's condition and choked.
"Bran, what the fuck?"
"Ser Rodrik is dead. I'm marching the garrison to go kill the bastard that did it in two hours. I need you to make me whatever arms and armor you can manage in that time."
"Shit. SHIT! Goddamnit, I was just starting to like the guy. Most of your armor is halfway done. Merlin, can you focus on Bran's gear right now?"
"Certainly, Mr. Stark. I will need more instances of myself to meet the time constraints, though."
"Bran, Merlin needs more blood. While he's doing that, I have an idea for a sword that takes advantage of your special abilities. It's made of my patented thermal superconductors and special Starksteel engraved with microscopic fire runes. Put enough heat in and you can cut through steel like butter."
"Thank you, Tony."
Bran slit his wrist with a fingernail and poured blood into the vat until he felt woozy. He would be fully recovered before he had to leave with nothing but some food and water. Rest was unnecessary and unwanted. He heated a large bar of iron with his bare hands and plopped it on one of the anvils Tony slammed his hammer down again and again. He formed the metal into the shape of an elegant yet enormous greatsword. More blood was drizzled over the sword.
"Matrix locked, sirs."
Bran put his hands on the blade and melted it in seconds. It transformed into a puddle and then back into a greatsword, it's surface black as the night with a unique pattern where billions of runes formed ever larger runes. Tony took it to the vat and dropped it in with a bag of ingredients. Silvery superconducting material threaded it's way into the spaces made by micro-carved runes. He fished it out when it was finished and handed it to Bran. The boy hefted it aloft with a glowing red hand.
The sword burst into flames instantly. The blade slowly started to change color, white hot creeping in among the blackness. When the blade was completely white, Tony tossed a random steel doodad into the air. Bran slashed and the steel parted as easily as cloth with a squelch. The two pieces each glowed red hot along the razor edge where they were sliced. It was a reminder that no matter what happened on this campaign, Bran would be universally feared.
Within the hour, all the armor that would be finished on time was finished on time. A pair of articulated plate gauntlets engraved with the same material used for his sword, a breast and backplate, a fully closed helmet with thin sheets of diamond instead of eyeholes, a coat of Starksteel mail and an asbestos gambeson. The rest of the plate that Tony had designed wouldn't be ready until the next day but Bran wasn't going to wait.
The garrison was ready to ride when he strode forth in full armor with a sword as tall as he was strapped to his back. A cheer broke out among the men as he arrived. Alebelly held Dancer's reins in one hand while the other held on to his own surefooted Northern garron. Bran waved him off.
"I won't need a horse for this. Put Dancer with the rest of the remounts. We'll be moving fast."
"But, Milord, how will you keep up?"
"I'm more worried about how the horses will keep up with me. Men of Winterfell! This is my first time going into battle but I'm sure that no one will be disappointed in my physical prowess."
A chuckle rose among the gathered troops. All of them knew of the least of Bran's powers, his monstrous strength and speed. They had seen him practising in the yard against half a dozen full grown men at once. Bran continued.
"On the other hand, I don't expect you to follow an untested boy into battle. So you won't. When battle starts, Ser Cregan will take command. He is a tested veteran and has my full confidence. I'll probably be too busy slaughtering the enemy. Until then, I have but one order for you. We ride fast, we ride hard, we attack before they know what happened."
Ser Cregan trotted his horse over to Bran and leaned down. He stroked his grey beard thoughtfully and cleared his throat.
"Lord Bran, I must advise caution. Riding hard will only tire the men and horses. When we arrive tomorrow, our enemy will be fresh while we will be exhausted. Ramsay Snow will take the opportunity to attack and we shall be slaughtered. We must treat this as a long campaign."
"No, Ser Cregan. I mean to arrive tonight. I mean to have the Dreadfort encircled under the cloak of darkness. The men won't be doing any fighting. I just need them to stop Ramsay from escaping. If they sallie, I will break them. If they don't, I will still break them. Warfare is based on the idea that battles will be fought between normal men with normal limitations. I have no such limitations."
"Lord Bran, I hear and obey but protest your choice of actions. You may be akin to a god in power, you may be worth a hundred men in battle. Who knows, maybe you can defeat the enemy on your own. Maybe. The point is that you don't know. If we take it slowly, our victory is assured. If you act like you are invincible, we could easily lose."
"I am no god. My powers make me strong and fast, I heal in seconds from fatal wounds, my sword can cleave through steel and my armor does not yield to blade or hammer. For all this I know that I would die if I challenged an army in the open. So I'm not going to try. I'm going to run ahead of our forces and attack the castle gates. Arrows will do nothing but annoy me and boiling oil will be a soothing balm. I keep them bottled up and you get into siege position. I want them to hide behind their walls, that's when I'll reveal my plan."
"It's...audacious but it might work. I've seen you fight, you could easily hold a chokepoint as narrow as the Dreadfort's gate. If you can keep them from sallying forth, we can rest the men in the siege lines. Very well, Milord. The men are ready to ride. We have two remounts per man and barely any baggage train. I shall see you at the Dreadfort."
Bran nodded. He began the long run and quickly adopted a ground eating lope that he could keep up for days. Faster than all but the swiftest horses he ran. He could see the army chasing after him, slower than his incredible pace but far faster than any army had a right to be. It took a few hours for him to leave them completely behind but they were completely out of sight by the time he arrived at a hill overlooking the Dreadfort.
Bran had left fairly early in the morning and arrived as the sun was setting. He waited for his army to return to his vastly improved sight. The last remounts were lathered and made heaving breathes while the riders slumped with exhaustion. It was, as Tony would say, showtime. Bran got up and ran down the hill towards the Bolten seat. He passed furthest bowshot range and made it far past where Winterfells sentries would have spotted him before he was challenged.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
"Bran Stark, here to collect the outlaw Ramsay Snow. Surrender him and no one else will be harmed."
"Haha, you got a lot of nerve Stark whelp. Did yer daddy never teach you not to start fights you can't win before they chopped his head off?"
"He taught me to be worth a hundred Bolten men. Care to find out or are you boys too cowardly?"
The gates opened and Bran drew his sword. A handful of cavalrymen with lassos and sacks rode forth from the opening as Bran charged. They wore confident smirks as the boy rushed them, hefting their tools as if capturing him was entirely assured. Bran would have felt sorry for them if they weren't a party to his Rodrik's death. He put all his rage into his heat and shoved it all into the sword.
Bran leapt ten feet into the air. The foremost rider only had time to widen his eyes in surprise before the sword struck him in the head. It cleaved through his entire body vertically with barely any resistance and continued on through his horse. Two neat halves of both horse and rider fell to each side and Bran slashed again, horizontally this time. His sword hit the next horse in the face and sliced through it's entire body and it's riders legs like butter.
The third rider turned his mount, trying to escape. Bran jumpkicked him off his horse and landed on top of him, swordpoint first. The last rider screamed as his greatsword boned him like a fish. He was already at the gates before the man had time to fall. A dozen men were hurriedly closing them but Bran sliced lengthwise through one door and all of the men behind it. A vertical leap with acompanied slashes disconnected the door from it's hinges and the boy tossed it backwards like a twig.
A protcullis descended and the drawbridge did the opposite. Bran stopped the portcullis with a single hand and slashed both chains pulling up the bridge. The garrison formed up in the courtyard and started advancing on him. Bran chopped until several horizonal grooves were cut into the stone. He grabbed the metal of the steel grate and bent it to slot into those grooves. He released the portcullis to hang, jammed, in the open position. Then he laughed.
It was a pure laugh of joy, the laugh of a child. The men on the other side paused as the seemingly insane boy monster waited for them. He swung his sword back and forth with impossible ease and idly sliced through steel and stone. The men refuse to attack. Bran didn't blame them. Fighting men would fight other men but none save the mightiest warriors challenged monsters. He was such a monster to the Bolten men, a legend like the Others suddenly come to life.
Bran waited for several minutes before Ramsay Bolten himself walked into the courtyard, yelling abuse. He was threatening to flay them all alive if they didn't attack. It was working, they might face certain death if they charged but they faced certain torture if they didn't. The men advanced. Bran waited. Ramsay advanced. Bran drew his dagger and hurled it into the real monster's unprotected belly in a single smooth motion. Ramsay screamed in pain.
He shrieked as his men charged. Bran waited until they were fully committed before slashing the jammed pieces of the portcullis and leaping backwards. Only a few men made it out before the barrier slammed shut. They were quickly dispatched. The rest slammed into it at full speed. They did not enjoy the expeience. Bran reached out and started slowly welding the portcullis shut with his free hand. Ramsay continued to wail.
"Awwww, does little baby Ramsay not like getting knifed in the gut? Walk it off, you weakling. Men of the Dreadfort! Your gate has been shut beyond your ability to open. Your master is writhing in pain on the ground. My army is taking up positions around the castle as we speak and, oh look, it seems that I have magical power over fire."
Bran waved his flaming sword in the air.
"Since you refused my generous terms, now hear some less generous ones. Unconditionally surrender now or I boil you alive with your own moat and sewers. Have you seen what happens to meat when you steam it? It gets so tender it falls right off the bone. I'd really rather not have to murder your families to get at one man who, let's face it, was never going to survive his wounds. So what will it be?"
"What are you?"
"Brandon Stark, the one and only. I'm still waiting on that surrender."
"We...we need time to discuss it."
"I'll be generous again. You have an hour. If the bastard isn't in my custody by then, you all die horribly. Good day, gentlemen."
Bran walked off towards his army that was almost finished encircling the castle. Ser Cregan looked at the smoking gate and pile of corpses in awe.
"Lord Bran, what did you do?"
"Not much, acted like a madman and slaughtered some idiots. Threatened to boil the lot in their own juices if they didn't surrender. It was all an act, of course, but they don't know that. I'm trying to minimize casualties."
"Do you think they will surrender?"
"No. They will try to smuggle Ramsay out of the castle through a secret passageway. What they don't know is that my invisible magical friend Merlin can now track him wherever he goes. As soon as he starts to escape, we'll find the secret passageway and ambush him. With the bastard captured and our men holding the only working entrance, they will surrender."
"This is insane, milord. How long have you had this plan?"
"Since I first got my abilities. The Boltens were always the most likely vassal to rebel but I have similar plans for the rest. My plans to conquer all of Westeros are much less detailed and I've barely started figuring out how to take on the rest of the world."
"I mean no offense, Lord Bran, but you are the most terrifying person I've ever met."
"I know. Thank you."
Bran watched as Tony Stark frantically worked on his latest project. He explained little, unlike with previous projects but what he did explain was extraordinary. Tony freely admitted that the method of building was unusual, he even claimed that he could never have done it before Merlin. Bran would drain small amounts of his blood into a vat of nutrients and dissolved bits of various elements and then Merlin would bring those bits together to build individual parts. Every few minutes Tony would fish a component out of the vat. Sometimes he would attach it to another and others he would set aside.
The basic armor plates were the first to be finished. It took hours longer than his own forging process but was vastly more precise. They made an intimidating sight standing in the corner, a sentinel of red and black starksteel. It would be even more intimidating when finished and if it performed even half as well as Bran expected their enemies would quake in their boots at the prospect of facing it.
Unfortunately, Tony refused to make magical armor for anyone but himself. He printed plans for a factory that made regular armor and helped Merlin design plate armor that took advantage of Bran's heat based abilities but refused to let anyone else have his special Iron Man armor. It made a certain amount of sense, he alone held the title of Iron Man. Bran wouldn't want anyone else to have his own mystical abilities, although he knew that others existed.
"So, Tony, if Merlin is constructing your armor what is the rest of your tower building?"
"The easily made parts of a prismatic accelerator. The more advanced bits are these right here."
He waved at the pile of unused parts. Many of them looked like they combined into some form of tunnel.
"I'll need Starkium for my armor. That's what's taking so long."
"Starkium, really? Do you name everything after yourself?"
"Of course not. Starkium is named after my father, Starksteel is named after you. I just happen to have the same name."
"Just crazy happenstance, of course. I don't see how one man, even one with magical armor, can stop an army of sky snakes. Is it really that powerful?"
"No. It's actually complete crap. This is the fourth least capable armor I've ever made. The plating is the only part that I'm going to keep."
"So why build it if you are just going to replace it?"
"I've never had an AI assisted microassembler or a freaking wizard to help me. I have no idea what is and isn't possible. I'm trying a bunch of new things and seeing what works. This one doesn't. I'm rebuilding it into a basic platform for Merlin to control. He'll be able to set up a manufacturing base in Wintertown at the same time that he is helping here."
Merlin chimed in from the ceiling.
"While I am always happy to help, sir, I have expressed that I do not want a body. I find the idea of only having a single form deeply disturbing."
"It's not a body, it's a platform. I'm going to fail at making the internal workings of my new suit more than I'm going to succeed, at least for the next week. I'm expecting you to have 8 or 9 different platforms by then. I'll eventually design a mass producible drone designed for combat. That's how I'm going to win, I'm going to rebuild the Iron Legion and do it right this time."
"Forgive me, sir, but I've noticed that you are writing the code for a new AI. Am I not sufficient for your needs?"
"You're great, Merlin but I don't trust my suit to fully sapient AI anymore. No offense, I just had a bad experience recently."
"None taken, sir. I should mention that I have completed the design work on the magical control system for Winterfell. I'm afraid that the magical systems you want for your armor are much more complex. I have devoted 30 thousand cycles to modeling cosmic energy flows and I'm no closer to an answer than before."
"I asked for things utterly impossible under my understanding of physics. It's nice to know that the so called magic isn't infallible. Did you get any of it to work?"
"Yes. I successfully reverse engineered my pre-cognitive processing and the wormhole that brought you here."
"What?! Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"
"You didn't ask. I'm afraid that it doesn't do you much good, the energy requirements are too severe for interstellar teleportation. It would take Bran several decades to gather enough energy from Winterfell."
"Then how the hell did I get here?"
"I do not know. I suspect that one or more energy beings, what the locals refer to as gods, were responsible."
"Damnit. I got excited for nothing."
A commotion could be heard outside the tower. Angry yelling, mostly, with the distinct tones of a mourning wail. Bran leapt up and ran outside. The crowd was surrounding one of the Hornwood men who appeared to be heavily injured. Beth Cassel was on her knees in tears. The Hornwood armsman struggled to get to his feet as Bran approached.
"What's going on?"
"It's Ser Rodrik, Milord. He decided to escort Milady back to her castle. We never made it, were ambushed by Bolten men led by Roose's Bastard. I only made it out alive because Ser Rodrik held them off. I saw the Bastard cut him down and make off with Lady Hornwood. Please, Lord Bran, you have to rescue her."
Bran saw red. Rodrik Cassel had been a constant presence in his life, like a dour uncle. He couldn't be gone. Nobody could be crazy enough to make such a stupid play. Evidently Ramsay Snow was that crazy. Bran fell to his knees and roared at the sky. His clothes turned to ash as the snow in the courtyard evaporated. He didn't care. One of the only people he ever considered a friend was dead. Ramsay Snow would pay.
"Guards! Prepare to move out. As of this moment we are at war. We march for the Dreadfort in 2 hours to apprehend the outlaw murderer Ramsay Snow."
Bran walked purposefully back to Tony's tower. The elder Stark looked at Bran's condition and choked.
"Bran, what the fuck?"
"Ser Rodrik is dead. I'm marching the garrison to go kill the bastard that did it in two hours. I need you to make me whatever arms and armor you can manage in that time."
"Shit. SHIT! Goddamnit, I was just starting to like the guy. Most of your armor is halfway done. Merlin, can you focus on Bran's gear right now?"
"Certainly, Mr. Stark. I will need more instances of myself to meet the time constraints, though."
"Bran, Merlin needs more blood. While he's doing that, I have an idea for a sword that takes advantage of your special abilities. It's made of my patented thermal superconductors and special Starksteel engraved with microscopic fire runes. Put enough heat in and you can cut through steel like butter."
"Thank you, Tony."
Bran slit his wrist with a fingernail and poured blood into the vat until he felt woozy. He would be fully recovered before he had to leave with nothing but some food and water. Rest was unnecessary and unwanted. He heated a large bar of iron with his bare hands and plopped it on one of the anvils Tony slammed his hammer down again and again. He formed the metal into the shape of an elegant yet enormous greatsword. More blood was drizzled over the sword.
"Matrix locked, sirs."
Bran put his hands on the blade and melted it in seconds. It transformed into a puddle and then back into a greatsword, it's surface black as the night with a unique pattern where billions of runes formed ever larger runes. Tony took it to the vat and dropped it in with a bag of ingredients. Silvery superconducting material threaded it's way into the spaces made by micro-carved runes. He fished it out when it was finished and handed it to Bran. The boy hefted it aloft with a glowing red hand.
The sword burst into flames instantly. The blade slowly started to change color, white hot creeping in among the blackness. When the blade was completely white, Tony tossed a random steel doodad into the air. Bran slashed and the steel parted as easily as cloth with a squelch. The two pieces each glowed red hot along the razor edge where they were sliced. It was a reminder that no matter what happened on this campaign, Bran would be universally feared.
Within the hour, all the armor that would be finished on time was finished on time. A pair of articulated plate gauntlets engraved with the same material used for his sword, a breast and backplate, a fully closed helmet with thin sheets of diamond instead of eyeholes, a coat of Starksteel mail and an asbestos gambeson. The rest of the plate that Tony had designed wouldn't be ready until the next day but Bran wasn't going to wait.
The garrison was ready to ride when he strode forth in full armor with a sword as tall as he was strapped to his back. A cheer broke out among the men as he arrived. Alebelly held Dancer's reins in one hand while the other held on to his own surefooted Northern garron. Bran waved him off.
"I won't need a horse for this. Put Dancer with the rest of the remounts. We'll be moving fast."
"But, Milord, how will you keep up?"
"I'm more worried about how the horses will keep up with me. Men of Winterfell! This is my first time going into battle but I'm sure that no one will be disappointed in my physical prowess."
A chuckle rose among the gathered troops. All of them knew of the least of Bran's powers, his monstrous strength and speed. They had seen him practising in the yard against half a dozen full grown men at once. Bran continued.
"On the other hand, I don't expect you to follow an untested boy into battle. So you won't. When battle starts, Ser Cregan will take command. He is a tested veteran and has my full confidence. I'll probably be too busy slaughtering the enemy. Until then, I have but one order for you. We ride fast, we ride hard, we attack before they know what happened."
Ser Cregan trotted his horse over to Bran and leaned down. He stroked his grey beard thoughtfully and cleared his throat.
"Lord Bran, I must advise caution. Riding hard will only tire the men and horses. When we arrive tomorrow, our enemy will be fresh while we will be exhausted. Ramsay Snow will take the opportunity to attack and we shall be slaughtered. We must treat this as a long campaign."
"No, Ser Cregan. I mean to arrive tonight. I mean to have the Dreadfort encircled under the cloak of darkness. The men won't be doing any fighting. I just need them to stop Ramsay from escaping. If they sallie, I will break them. If they don't, I will still break them. Warfare is based on the idea that battles will be fought between normal men with normal limitations. I have no such limitations."
"Lord Bran, I hear and obey but protest your choice of actions. You may be akin to a god in power, you may be worth a hundred men in battle. Who knows, maybe you can defeat the enemy on your own. Maybe. The point is that you don't know. If we take it slowly, our victory is assured. If you act like you are invincible, we could easily lose."
"I am no god. My powers make me strong and fast, I heal in seconds from fatal wounds, my sword can cleave through steel and my armor does not yield to blade or hammer. For all this I know that I would die if I challenged an army in the open. So I'm not going to try. I'm going to run ahead of our forces and attack the castle gates. Arrows will do nothing but annoy me and boiling oil will be a soothing balm. I keep them bottled up and you get into siege position. I want them to hide behind their walls, that's when I'll reveal my plan."
"It's...audacious but it might work. I've seen you fight, you could easily hold a chokepoint as narrow as the Dreadfort's gate. If you can keep them from sallying forth, we can rest the men in the siege lines. Very well, Milord. The men are ready to ride. We have two remounts per man and barely any baggage train. I shall see you at the Dreadfort."
Bran nodded. He began the long run and quickly adopted a ground eating lope that he could keep up for days. Faster than all but the swiftest horses he ran. He could see the army chasing after him, slower than his incredible pace but far faster than any army had a right to be. It took a few hours for him to leave them completely behind but they were completely out of sight by the time he arrived at a hill overlooking the Dreadfort.
Bran had left fairly early in the morning and arrived as the sun was setting. He waited for his army to return to his vastly improved sight. The last remounts were lathered and made heaving breathes while the riders slumped with exhaustion. It was, as Tony would say, showtime. Bran got up and ran down the hill towards the Bolten seat. He passed furthest bowshot range and made it far past where Winterfells sentries would have spotted him before he was challenged.
"Halt! Who goes there?"
"Bran Stark, here to collect the outlaw Ramsay Snow. Surrender him and no one else will be harmed."
"Haha, you got a lot of nerve Stark whelp. Did yer daddy never teach you not to start fights you can't win before they chopped his head off?"
"He taught me to be worth a hundred Bolten men. Care to find out or are you boys too cowardly?"
The gates opened and Bran drew his sword. A handful of cavalrymen with lassos and sacks rode forth from the opening as Bran charged. They wore confident smirks as the boy rushed them, hefting their tools as if capturing him was entirely assured. Bran would have felt sorry for them if they weren't a party to his Rodrik's death. He put all his rage into his heat and shoved it all into the sword.
Bran leapt ten feet into the air. The foremost rider only had time to widen his eyes in surprise before the sword struck him in the head. It cleaved through his entire body vertically with barely any resistance and continued on through his horse. Two neat halves of both horse and rider fell to each side and Bran slashed again, horizontally this time. His sword hit the next horse in the face and sliced through it's entire body and it's riders legs like butter.
The third rider turned his mount, trying to escape. Bran jumpkicked him off his horse and landed on top of him, swordpoint first. The last rider screamed as his greatsword boned him like a fish. He was already at the gates before the man had time to fall. A dozen men were hurriedly closing them but Bran sliced lengthwise through one door and all of the men behind it. A vertical leap with acompanied slashes disconnected the door from it's hinges and the boy tossed it backwards like a twig.
A protcullis descended and the drawbridge did the opposite. Bran stopped the portcullis with a single hand and slashed both chains pulling up the bridge. The garrison formed up in the courtyard and started advancing on him. Bran chopped until several horizonal grooves were cut into the stone. He grabbed the metal of the steel grate and bent it to slot into those grooves. He released the portcullis to hang, jammed, in the open position. Then he laughed.
It was a pure laugh of joy, the laugh of a child. The men on the other side paused as the seemingly insane boy monster waited for them. He swung his sword back and forth with impossible ease and idly sliced through steel and stone. The men refuse to attack. Bran didn't blame them. Fighting men would fight other men but none save the mightiest warriors challenged monsters. He was such a monster to the Bolten men, a legend like the Others suddenly come to life.
Bran waited for several minutes before Ramsay Bolten himself walked into the courtyard, yelling abuse. He was threatening to flay them all alive if they didn't attack. It was working, they might face certain death if they charged but they faced certain torture if they didn't. The men advanced. Bran waited. Ramsay advanced. Bran drew his dagger and hurled it into the real monster's unprotected belly in a single smooth motion. Ramsay screamed in pain.
He shrieked as his men charged. Bran waited until they were fully committed before slashing the jammed pieces of the portcullis and leaping backwards. Only a few men made it out before the barrier slammed shut. They were quickly dispatched. The rest slammed into it at full speed. They did not enjoy the expeience. Bran reached out and started slowly welding the portcullis shut with his free hand. Ramsay continued to wail.
"Awwww, does little baby Ramsay not like getting knifed in the gut? Walk it off, you weakling. Men of the Dreadfort! Your gate has been shut beyond your ability to open. Your master is writhing in pain on the ground. My army is taking up positions around the castle as we speak and, oh look, it seems that I have magical power over fire."
Bran waved his flaming sword in the air.
"Since you refused my generous terms, now hear some less generous ones. Unconditionally surrender now or I boil you alive with your own moat and sewers. Have you seen what happens to meat when you steam it? It gets so tender it falls right off the bone. I'd really rather not have to murder your families to get at one man who, let's face it, was never going to survive his wounds. So what will it be?"
"What are you?"
"Brandon Stark, the one and only. I'm still waiting on that surrender."
"We...we need time to discuss it."
"I'll be generous again. You have an hour. If the bastard isn't in my custody by then, you all die horribly. Good day, gentlemen."
Bran walked off towards his army that was almost finished encircling the castle. Ser Cregan looked at the smoking gate and pile of corpses in awe.
"Lord Bran, what did you do?"
"Not much, acted like a madman and slaughtered some idiots. Threatened to boil the lot in their own juices if they didn't surrender. It was all an act, of course, but they don't know that. I'm trying to minimize casualties."
"Do you think they will surrender?"
"No. They will try to smuggle Ramsay out of the castle through a secret passageway. What they don't know is that my invisible magical friend Merlin can now track him wherever he goes. As soon as he starts to escape, we'll find the secret passageway and ambush him. With the bastard captured and our men holding the only working entrance, they will surrender."
"This is insane, milord. How long have you had this plan?"
"Since I first got my abilities. The Boltens were always the most likely vassal to rebel but I have similar plans for the rest. My plans to conquer all of Westeros are much less detailed and I've barely started figuring out how to take on the rest of the world."
"I mean no offense, Lord Bran, but you are the most terrifying person I've ever met."
"I know. Thank you."
- Location
- USA
Well, that happened.
Chapter 12
Tony 4
Tony Stark was mad at the world. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Ser Rodrik's death came at a terrible time. Not only was he a good guy but his death forced Bran to go Ghengis Khan on some idiot motherfuckers. Without a steady supply of blood, the microfabircator vat stopped being useful after a day. Tony just barely managed to finish his second armor iteration before the fabricator micrites all died off. He saved enough to form a viable control system for the first drone but that was it.
The second armor was vastly superior to the first. It had reinforced internals to be able to withstand the full force of it's carbon nanotube muscles without snapping. It's quantum computer core was twice the size of the previous one although still tiny compared to his normal suit computers. It could manage all the control surfaces, the internal systems and the cosmic energy flows at the same time. The micro runes massively increased power flow to the repulsors and made the suit much stronger and lighter.
All in all, it was better than he expected. About as capable as the Mark 4 but with barely any moving parts or wiring. His goal was to create a suit that was entirely solid state so that eventually he could make it fully liquid state. If the suit could be stored within a cybernetic network in his own body, he would never be without protection. It was a fantastic goal but he needed a lot of work before a suitable suit was completed and even more work before he could develop micrites with similar capability to Merlin. The key to the former lay in the manipulation of the awesomely flexible local energy and the key to the latter was returning home with the mountains of data he had collected.
Tony started working on things he could do without Bran's help. It was mostly setting up factories, which greatly benefitted from the extra hands that Merlin's new platform provided. The robot did the grunt work of building structures out of concrete while Tony set up the machines inside. The factories would be mostly automated, requiring only a few humans each for quality control and solving problems that particularly dumb robots can't.
It was a new experience making robots as cheaply and low tech as these. Each was just an arm attached to the floor, all connected to a single arc reactor and a tiny computer bead. This group could build tractors and...that's it. Nothing outside their meager programming was even conceivable. The actual parts of the tractors were made in other facilities using specialized machines but this place was where final assembly was carried out. It was frustrating to need other humans to build something.
That led him to his next frustration. He had, apparently, made a drunken promise to supply an entire clan with decent armor. It wasn't hard, it just required yet another facility being built. They would get cheaply made breastplates and helmets and like it. No really, thought Tony, they were twice as sturdy as the best money could buy in this place. He would send some to the clans he stole the palladium mine from as well in order to apologize. Hopefully, he could smooth relations enough for them to agree to a proposal for hiring workers.
His train project was dead in the water. Even if he managed to fix the problem with the magnets failing at seemingly random intervals, he didn't have enough iron to make railing all the way to the castle down south. He could maybe do it with Starksteel but the metal did wonky things to magnetic fields. It would be too dangerous and irresponsible even for him. So, instead of doing cool things Tony was stuck with boring work.
He had to get out. Had to keep his mind off death and the upcoming invasion. Had to do something fun. Maybe Maester Luwin could handle setting up the factories. There were several manuals he could print out to ease the job. As if he was thinking of the devil, the wizened Maester appeared. He had a concerned look on his face, much like everyone else and their mothers.
"Tony, I have concerning news that I don't know how to handle. I just recieved a raven that Torrhen's Square has come under attack by Ironborn raiders. Normally, Ser Rodrik would take the garrison out to drive them off but neither the garrison or Ser Rodrik are here. I realize that you aren't a military man but I've never really been in a position of leadership before. What do I tell them?"
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is just the thing to make me feel better. Tell them to look to the sky. I'm going hunting."
"I don't understand. Are you going to defeat the raiders yourself? How?"
"No, I'm not going to just defeat the raiders. I'm going to defeat the Ironborn, all of them. Merlin, can you upload a predictive path for every Ironborn ship on the planet?"
"It has been uploaded to your suit, sir. Shall I engage my defense protocols in your absence?"
"Sure. Don't let anything happen to our stuff."
Maester Luwin's frown deepened. He seemed almost as apprehensive about Tony attacking a fleet by himself as he did Merlin's platform. He followed as Tony walked through the gate towards his tower.
"Tony, this is incredibly risky. What if you get killed?"
"By what? Boredom is more likely to kill me than idiots with bows and arrows. Come on, I'll show you my new suit."
Tony walked into his tower and pulled the sheet off his Mark 48 armor. It had the red and back plating made by Bran and a non AI control system since he was still working on A.R.T.H.U.R. It would fly and that was the most important thing. It was time to be Iron Man again. It was time to protect the people of Westeros. Luwin cleared his throat.
"It is most impressive looking but I don't see how It's different from what a knight would wear. Sleeker, certainly."
"Then prepare to be amazed."
The suit opened itself up as Tony stepped behind it. It wrapped itself around him and clamped into place. Maester Luwin didn't even blink.
"Very clever, Tony. Armor that puts itself on will reduce the workload on squires everywhere."
"I thought you would be surprised at least. It took me years to get it to do that."
"Years well spent, I assume. You see, Tony, at this point nothing you do can surprise me."
"Wanna bet? If what I do next surprises you, you have to oversee the construction of my factories."
"I'm not going to bet against you. I'm not an idiot, you know. I'll do it anyway. Now show me your shocking reveal."
Tony smirked even though no one could see it. He put his arms out, palms down and pressed his legs together. Activating his reuplsors, he shot straight up into the sky. He made sure to record Maester Luwin's dumfounded expression as he went to maximum speed. A sharp crack could be heard as he broke the sound barrier a few miles west of Winterfell.
It took him only a handful of minutes before he reached his first target. A half dozen longships were beached near Torrhen's square. A few repulsor blasts reduced them to kindling, each ship splintered along their keel. They would never float again. The actual raiders were only slightly further away and each took only a single blast to be knocked unconscious. It reminded Tony of the old day's when no one could fight back.
He zipped west at Mach 1.5 and tracked multiple targets on hyper-sensors. Merlin's data was surprisingly inaccurate, most of the ships were almost a mile off from where he said they would be. If Tony was limited to the mark 1 eyeball he might have missed a few. Luckily for him and unluckily for the men of the Iron Isles, he was not. A single blast was enough to punch a hole in a ship but he did multiple passes to blow off steam by blowing away stupid wannabe vikings.
It was amazingly simple to wipe out the Iron Fleet presence in the western ocean. Most of them moved in convoys towards the various northern holdings. It looked to be more than simple raiding, the ships were heavily laden with troops and there were far too many for a smash and grab. It seemed like Iron Man would be preventing another unprovoked invasion, this time on accident. The only survivors left were those that had already landed, mostly on Cape Kraken and a heavy group attacking Moat Cailin.
Tony left the survivors unconscious and unarmed. They probably would have preferred a swift death by repulsor beam once the locals arrive. He shot up into the sky again and flew straight to the Iron Isles themselves. Most of the castles guarding the islands were made of wood. Some of them weathered a few repulsor beams but the majority were as easy to smash as the ships. A handful of shipyards got obliterated as well.
All in all, it was a fun but uneventful slaughter. Most of the raiders never even saw what killed them. The residents of the timber keeps he blew up got a very good look though. Hopefully it would scare the place straight for a generation. If not, there is always tomorrow. Ending them as a threat only took a few hours. Tony flew home in far better spirits than when he left. Halfway there he heard a ring. Merlin was calling.
"Sir, I am happy to report that Bran has taken the castle. Not that there was ever any doubt. There is, however, something concerning. A buildup of exotic energy to the north that I don't recognize. Can you identify it?"
The readings show the formation of a familiar wormhole.
"Bifrost! It's the Asgardians, late as always. My rescue party has arrived."
Tony turned north and went back to supersonic flight. The northern mountains whipped by as he approached the Wall. It was the first time he had seen the construction up close and it was impressive even to his eyes. Early civilization on this planet could have been amazing, he thought. It probably was just as shitty but with taller buildings. Tony chuckled at his private joke as he zipped over the ice.
His hyper-sensors could detect Asgardian power sources at this range. However, there were other things it could detect that didn't fit. Exotic energy he had never seen before and movement without a source of heat. The latter was especially scary. Ever since he was 12, Tony had been creeped out by the undead. That was his only explanation for the massive tide of movement without the telltale signs of life. It was either that or some kind of ultra-low temperature lifeform.
Tony flew within visual range and shuddered. It was zombies after all. A huge tide of thousands of shamblers were swarming towards a high hill where the Asgardian power sources lay. The friendly gods were tearing the undead apart with their anachronistic high tech weaponry but they were too few to contend with such an enormous wave of enemies. Maybe if they had Thor, they could win. Luckily for them, they had Iron Man. Tony prepared to swoop in but was interrupted by a warning blare.
"Warning: Targeting sensors detected. Active Air Defence Grid detected."
"What?" Tony yelled to himself as he desperately went into evasive maneuvers.
Hundreds of projectiles seemingly made of ice launched upwards like a reverse hailstorm. They weren't particularly dangerous on their own but if even one hit he would be knocked out of the sky into the zombie pile. He had no idea where a medieval society got their hands on an ice based Air Defense system, much less a group of zombies. Whatever was hiding in the forests was far more dangerous than anything else currently on the planet. Tony was almost to the clearing around the Asgardian position when his sensors detected a huge buildup of the exotic energy powering the ice guns.
A bright blue beam slammed into him and all his control surfaces froze up as one. He felt the cold deep in his bones, it was like liquid nitrogen was shoved into his body. His suit shut down from the cold like a rehash of his first flight in the Mark 2. This time he couldn't even move his arm to manually trigger his flaps. Tony smashed into the ground at a little under a thousand miles per hour. Everything went black.
Tony Stark was mad at the world. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Ser Rodrik's death came at a terrible time. Not only was he a good guy but his death forced Bran to go Ghengis Khan on some idiot motherfuckers. Without a steady supply of blood, the microfabircator vat stopped being useful after a day. Tony just barely managed to finish his second armor iteration before the fabricator micrites all died off. He saved enough to form a viable control system for the first drone but that was it.
The second armor was vastly superior to the first. It had reinforced internals to be able to withstand the full force of it's carbon nanotube muscles without snapping. It's quantum computer core was twice the size of the previous one although still tiny compared to his normal suit computers. It could manage all the control surfaces, the internal systems and the cosmic energy flows at the same time. The micro runes massively increased power flow to the repulsors and made the suit much stronger and lighter.
All in all, it was better than he expected. About as capable as the Mark 4 but with barely any moving parts or wiring. His goal was to create a suit that was entirely solid state so that eventually he could make it fully liquid state. If the suit could be stored within a cybernetic network in his own body, he would never be without protection. It was a fantastic goal but he needed a lot of work before a suitable suit was completed and even more work before he could develop micrites with similar capability to Merlin. The key to the former lay in the manipulation of the awesomely flexible local energy and the key to the latter was returning home with the mountains of data he had collected.
Tony started working on things he could do without Bran's help. It was mostly setting up factories, which greatly benefitted from the extra hands that Merlin's new platform provided. The robot did the grunt work of building structures out of concrete while Tony set up the machines inside. The factories would be mostly automated, requiring only a few humans each for quality control and solving problems that particularly dumb robots can't.
It was a new experience making robots as cheaply and low tech as these. Each was just an arm attached to the floor, all connected to a single arc reactor and a tiny computer bead. This group could build tractors and...that's it. Nothing outside their meager programming was even conceivable. The actual parts of the tractors were made in other facilities using specialized machines but this place was where final assembly was carried out. It was frustrating to need other humans to build something.
That led him to his next frustration. He had, apparently, made a drunken promise to supply an entire clan with decent armor. It wasn't hard, it just required yet another facility being built. They would get cheaply made breastplates and helmets and like it. No really, thought Tony, they were twice as sturdy as the best money could buy in this place. He would send some to the clans he stole the palladium mine from as well in order to apologize. Hopefully, he could smooth relations enough for them to agree to a proposal for hiring workers.
His train project was dead in the water. Even if he managed to fix the problem with the magnets failing at seemingly random intervals, he didn't have enough iron to make railing all the way to the castle down south. He could maybe do it with Starksteel but the metal did wonky things to magnetic fields. It would be too dangerous and irresponsible even for him. So, instead of doing cool things Tony was stuck with boring work.
He had to get out. Had to keep his mind off death and the upcoming invasion. Had to do something fun. Maybe Maester Luwin could handle setting up the factories. There were several manuals he could print out to ease the job. As if he was thinking of the devil, the wizened Maester appeared. He had a concerned look on his face, much like everyone else and their mothers.
"Tony, I have concerning news that I don't know how to handle. I just recieved a raven that Torrhen's Square has come under attack by Ironborn raiders. Normally, Ser Rodrik would take the garrison out to drive them off but neither the garrison or Ser Rodrik are here. I realize that you aren't a military man but I've never really been in a position of leadership before. What do I tell them?"
"Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is just the thing to make me feel better. Tell them to look to the sky. I'm going hunting."
"I don't understand. Are you going to defeat the raiders yourself? How?"
"No, I'm not going to just defeat the raiders. I'm going to defeat the Ironborn, all of them. Merlin, can you upload a predictive path for every Ironborn ship on the planet?"
"It has been uploaded to your suit, sir. Shall I engage my defense protocols in your absence?"
"Sure. Don't let anything happen to our stuff."
Maester Luwin's frown deepened. He seemed almost as apprehensive about Tony attacking a fleet by himself as he did Merlin's platform. He followed as Tony walked through the gate towards his tower.
"Tony, this is incredibly risky. What if you get killed?"
"By what? Boredom is more likely to kill me than idiots with bows and arrows. Come on, I'll show you my new suit."
Tony walked into his tower and pulled the sheet off his Mark 48 armor. It had the red and back plating made by Bran and a non AI control system since he was still working on A.R.T.H.U.R. It would fly and that was the most important thing. It was time to be Iron Man again. It was time to protect the people of Westeros. Luwin cleared his throat.
"It is most impressive looking but I don't see how It's different from what a knight would wear. Sleeker, certainly."
"Then prepare to be amazed."
The suit opened itself up as Tony stepped behind it. It wrapped itself around him and clamped into place. Maester Luwin didn't even blink.
"Very clever, Tony. Armor that puts itself on will reduce the workload on squires everywhere."
"I thought you would be surprised at least. It took me years to get it to do that."
"Years well spent, I assume. You see, Tony, at this point nothing you do can surprise me."
"Wanna bet? If what I do next surprises you, you have to oversee the construction of my factories."
"I'm not going to bet against you. I'm not an idiot, you know. I'll do it anyway. Now show me your shocking reveal."
Tony smirked even though no one could see it. He put his arms out, palms down and pressed his legs together. Activating his reuplsors, he shot straight up into the sky. He made sure to record Maester Luwin's dumfounded expression as he went to maximum speed. A sharp crack could be heard as he broke the sound barrier a few miles west of Winterfell.
It took him only a handful of minutes before he reached his first target. A half dozen longships were beached near Torrhen's square. A few repulsor blasts reduced them to kindling, each ship splintered along their keel. They would never float again. The actual raiders were only slightly further away and each took only a single blast to be knocked unconscious. It reminded Tony of the old day's when no one could fight back.
He zipped west at Mach 1.5 and tracked multiple targets on hyper-sensors. Merlin's data was surprisingly inaccurate, most of the ships were almost a mile off from where he said they would be. If Tony was limited to the mark 1 eyeball he might have missed a few. Luckily for him and unluckily for the men of the Iron Isles, he was not. A single blast was enough to punch a hole in a ship but he did multiple passes to blow off steam by blowing away stupid wannabe vikings.
It was amazingly simple to wipe out the Iron Fleet presence in the western ocean. Most of them moved in convoys towards the various northern holdings. It looked to be more than simple raiding, the ships were heavily laden with troops and there were far too many for a smash and grab. It seemed like Iron Man would be preventing another unprovoked invasion, this time on accident. The only survivors left were those that had already landed, mostly on Cape Kraken and a heavy group attacking Moat Cailin.
Tony left the survivors unconscious and unarmed. They probably would have preferred a swift death by repulsor beam once the locals arrive. He shot up into the sky again and flew straight to the Iron Isles themselves. Most of the castles guarding the islands were made of wood. Some of them weathered a few repulsor beams but the majority were as easy to smash as the ships. A handful of shipyards got obliterated as well.
All in all, it was a fun but uneventful slaughter. Most of the raiders never even saw what killed them. The residents of the timber keeps he blew up got a very good look though. Hopefully it would scare the place straight for a generation. If not, there is always tomorrow. Ending them as a threat only took a few hours. Tony flew home in far better spirits than when he left. Halfway there he heard a ring. Merlin was calling.
"Sir, I am happy to report that Bran has taken the castle. Not that there was ever any doubt. There is, however, something concerning. A buildup of exotic energy to the north that I don't recognize. Can you identify it?"
The readings show the formation of a familiar wormhole.
"Bifrost! It's the Asgardians, late as always. My rescue party has arrived."
Tony turned north and went back to supersonic flight. The northern mountains whipped by as he approached the Wall. It was the first time he had seen the construction up close and it was impressive even to his eyes. Early civilization on this planet could have been amazing, he thought. It probably was just as shitty but with taller buildings. Tony chuckled at his private joke as he zipped over the ice.
His hyper-sensors could detect Asgardian power sources at this range. However, there were other things it could detect that didn't fit. Exotic energy he had never seen before and movement without a source of heat. The latter was especially scary. Ever since he was 12, Tony had been creeped out by the undead. That was his only explanation for the massive tide of movement without the telltale signs of life. It was either that or some kind of ultra-low temperature lifeform.
Tony flew within visual range and shuddered. It was zombies after all. A huge tide of thousands of shamblers were swarming towards a high hill where the Asgardian power sources lay. The friendly gods were tearing the undead apart with their anachronistic high tech weaponry but they were too few to contend with such an enormous wave of enemies. Maybe if they had Thor, they could win. Luckily for them, they had Iron Man. Tony prepared to swoop in but was interrupted by a warning blare.
"Warning: Targeting sensors detected. Active Air Defence Grid detected."
"What?" Tony yelled to himself as he desperately went into evasive maneuvers.
Hundreds of projectiles seemingly made of ice launched upwards like a reverse hailstorm. They weren't particularly dangerous on their own but if even one hit he would be knocked out of the sky into the zombie pile. He had no idea where a medieval society got their hands on an ice based Air Defense system, much less a group of zombies. Whatever was hiding in the forests was far more dangerous than anything else currently on the planet. Tony was almost to the clearing around the Asgardian position when his sensors detected a huge buildup of the exotic energy powering the ice guns.
A bright blue beam slammed into him and all his control surfaces froze up as one. He felt the cold deep in his bones, it was like liquid nitrogen was shoved into his body. His suit shut down from the cold like a rehash of his first flight in the Mark 2. This time he couldn't even move his arm to manually trigger his flaps. Tony smashed into the ground at a little under a thousand miles per hour. Everything went black.
Chapter 13
Jon 1
Jon Snow was having a bad day. It wasn't the cold and poor food that made it terrible. It wasn't even the company, although Thoren Smallwood was as odious as ever. It was being forced to keep his tongue about the obvious trail they weren't following that did it. Smallwood had made it clear that, no matter his skill at tracking, Jon would be silent if he wanted to remain a part of the vanguard. They were supposed to be tracking down wildlings but they wouldn't get far without actually tracking wildlings.
Jon was standing on a rock formation when it happened. A lance of bright light shot down from the sky to the north. It was gone almost as soon as it arrived. Everyone in the vanguard stared in the direction of the event but none could comprehend it. Smallwood shivered in the brisk autumn air.
"What...what was that?"
Nobody had an answer. Nobody could answer, every member of the group was too shocked to do so. Smallwood cleared his throat nervously.
"Well, I think we should check it out. Yes, definitely. So that's what we will do."
The rest of the party was hesitant but Jon Snow knew his duty. He got back on his horse and trudged after Smallwood. They travelled for close to an hour before they found anything strange. There was a small clearing with a handful of wights clawing at a man in bizzare armor. It was painted black and red and seemed to fit together like a puzzle. It was definitely the highest quality armor Jon had ever seen. One the the wights fell over and Jon realized that it was very heavily burnt. Whatever it was, it was putting out an awful lot of heat.
Jon didn't hesitate, he charged the wights with Longclaw held high. A single strike decapitated one of the more intact wights but it barely slowed down. Most of the rest of the vanguard was right behind him and chopped the undead monsters to bits. It was easier to be brave when the enemy was heavily outnumbered, even for supernatural foes. Jon dismounted next to the man and the pile of crisp corpses. He tapped the armor on the head with his sword.
"My apologies but you should probably wake up now. More wights will arrive eventually."
A groan could be heard from inside the armor. Jon jumped back with a start as the faceplate rose by itself. It revealed the face of a middle aged man with a neatly trimmed goatee. He look up at Jon's face.
"I'm not dead?" Tony asked hopefully.
"You seem to still be among the living." Said Jon with a gleam in his eye.
"My regeneration works, then. Fantastic. If only I could say the same about my suit."
"Your armor is intact. What more do you need?" Jon questioned, confused.
"Only on the outside. Most of the internals are fused. No flight, no sensors, only the one repulsor, it's practically useless. If this was one of my old suits you would have to get me out with a can opener."
"Flight? You must be an intensely powerful wizard. Perhaps you can tell us about the lance of light from earlier." Said the impressed Snow.
"It's a portal to another world. Asgard, specifically. They are my ticket off this rock."
"What rock? I don't see any rock. Regardless, we must leave. Can you stand?" Jon asked, all business.
"Not yet. Give me a few more seconds for my shattered spine to heal."
Jon looked at the wizard with a new expression. He knew of only one man who could heal a damaged spine so casually.
"You wouldn't happen to be related to Tony Stark, would you?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out. Do I know you?" Questioned Tony suspiciously.
"No but you do know my half brother Bran. He sent a raven about how you fixed his legs. I owe you a great debt of gratitude."
Smallwood stalked over from the treeline. He smirked at Jon.
"Made a new friend, have you? Don't forget who's in charge, bastard. Get the metal man on his feet, we're heading back." The senior Ranger spat acerbically.
Tony groaned as he stood. His armor creaked like a shrieking snark.
"Correction, you are heading back. I'm going North." Said the armored man with pain evident in his voice.
"That's suicide. There are thousands of wight tracks, all heading North. You'll be swarmed before you know what hit you."
"Uh, hello? I'm wearing power armor. If the zombies couldn't get in when I was unconscious, they aren't getting in when I'm punching them in the face."
"Fine. Go die for all I care. Snow, you're going with him. Make sure he gets back to the Wall in one piece. And Snow? I may not like you but I godsdamned better see you again." The older watchman railed.
Smallwood mounted his horse and angrily rode off. The rest of the watchmen followed, some shooting sympathetic glances at Jon. He sighed.
"Well, we just got left to die. I hope these Asgardian's are worth getting killed over." Jon dejectedly said.
"Oh, you bet your medieval ass they are. Let's go."
The artificer moved quickly through the snow, faster than a man could run in a loping gait. His magical armor seemed even more amazing to Jon that it could run almost as fast as a horse. Of course, Jon had a horse so he had no trouble keeping up. Of more concern was the possibility of encountering more wights than he could handle. Lord Tony had armor that was impervious to them but he was far less fortunate. He cleared his throat.
"Lord Tony, we should plan for if we encounter wights. If you burn them with your heat powers, I can chop them apart with Longclaw."
"Yeah, about that. The heat is a side effect of me getting seriously injured. I can't control it."
Jon frowned as the pair exited the forest into a much larger clearing with a small hill visible in the distance. What made it different was that the entire area was carpeted with corpses. Decaying bodies covered the entire clearing but were especially concentrated on the distant hill. Jon squinted and realized that it wasn't a hill at all. It was a huge pile of bodies. This must have been the site of a huge battle between wights and these newcomers.
"Then we are doomed." Said the morose Snow.
There were dozens of wights streaming in from every direction. Their cold blue eyes latched onto the two warriors with a gleam. They charged southward to their position. Tony lifted an arm and a golden sunbeam blasted a wight backwards where it exploded into gory chunks against a tree. He swept the beam contemptuously across the congregation of undead who were instantly ripped from their feet. Most left those feet on the spot where they formerly stood while others were simply dashed to bits. Only a few were fit to crawl forward.
"I'm not that worried about the zombies." Said Tony mischievously.
"And well you shouldn't be, Man of Iron." Said a booming voice from the distance. "They are but distractions from the true threat."
"See? The loud guy know's the score."
"And I'm winning, too! Hahahahaha." Said the man, who could now be seen waving from the corpse pile.
Jon sighed at the antics of the powerful wizard and the distant madman with incredible hearing. He turned his horse and trotted towards them, followed shortly by Lord Tony. The figure of the man resolved itself into a wizened graybeard with strange orange eyes that seemed to stare into his soul. With him was an equally old but hairless man carrying the largest warhammer Jon had ever seen and a slight figure that Jon realized with a start was a woman. She held a spear and shield and seemed younger than the two men but not by much.
"Where are the rest of you?" Jon asked anxiously.
"Dead. We were ambushed as soon as we touched down. They had Jotun weaponry but didn't fight like any Frost Giant I've ever seen. They were like elves, fading into the shadows and attacking from range. We only got a good look when we closed to cleave them in twain. Skin pale as ice and blue eyes, not red. Know anything, lad?"
"The Others. You fought the Others and lived. How?"
"They weren't much good close up. Looked all surprised when we blocked their fancy ice swords. Still, we didn't all make it out. Lost 15 good Einherjar in the ambush. Another two were cut down when we ran. They don't seem so eager to face us now, though." The man said sadly, with a smile for the last sentence.
"All this was done by twenty men?" Asked Jon, amazed.
"Nay. Didn't you hear me? This was done by the three of us on our own. There is a much bigger corpse pile at the ambush site. Enough about that, pull up a corpse and stay awhile. We have mead and salted pig. I am Beorn, son of Hodr. I was Guardian of Asgard once. This is Sven the Shipwright and Astrid of the Impassable Shield. We came to rescue the Man of Iron but I dare say we were tricked."
"You were tricked? By Loki, I presume. Does that mean I can't go home?" Tony inquired anxiously.
"Prince Loki is dead and, alas no, you can't. Heimdall does not answer." Said Beorn.
"Do you have a corpse? No? Then Loki isn't dead. He must have hired the Others to kill me and paid in guns."
Beorn looked thoughtful. He stroked his long grey beard.
"Our force did have an unprecedented number of veterans. Those that served under Odin for years. Those that realized he was acting...strange. This is bad. If Loki is alive and impersonating King Odin, or worse Odin has been compromised, then all the Nine Realms are in danger. We need to capture some of these Others and get them to confess. Any idea how to do that?" He asked Jon.
"Capture an Other? No, of course I don't know how to do that. I didn't think they were even real this morning." The Black Brother said, horrified.
"We shall need an army. Man of Iron, hath thee an army?"
"Not yet. Talk to the other guy." Tony replied flippantly.
"Other guy, hath thee an army?"
"I'm part of an army, does that count?"
"Close enough. Take me to your commander so that we may forge them into a force capable of capturing these Others. Aha! There will be songs sung of this."
Sven tapped his comrade on the shoulder.
"Are you sure?" Beorn asked excitedly.
Sven raised an eyebrow fractionally.
"Of course, I wasn't insulting your abilities." Said the Asgardian leader.
Sven shrugged, barely.
"Haha! That's the spirit. Gentlemen and lady, the Others are on the move. Sven has tracked the emissions from their weapons to the treeline to the north. We should move but hopefully they will attack. Oh how I've missed this."
Jon looked from crazy person to crazy person. They were happy to be attacked by Others. Astrid had a huge grin that looked genuinely frightening. Beorn laughed uproariously. Even Sven had a tiny inclination of his lips. Only Tony looked apprehensive. The Asgardians noticed this.
"What's wrong, oh Iron Man? Don't tell me that these pigfucker bilgesnipes frighten you." Astrid teased.
"Of course not. It's that blue beam that shot me down that scares me." Tony said.
Sven twitched. Beorn's eyes widened.
"What? The Casket is here? This is more serious than I thought. Sven, encourage the enemy."
The taciturn man stood up and Jon realized that he was a giant of a man. Taller than even the stableboy at Winterfell and seemingly made of veiny muscles. He hefted his hammer and pointed it to the north. Holes the size of Jon's fist opened in the massive hammerhead and something shot forth from them. He watched as several projectiles streaked across the landscape. They crashed among the trees and each produced a gout of flame as tall as a tower. Sven flipped his hammer and pointed the end of the handle towards indistinct shapes running towards their position. Orange spheres blasted forth and geysers of snow and dirt spewed upwards where they landed.
At the same time as the taciturn giant was spewing magic death, Astrid licked her finger and tested the wind. She hefted her spear and hurled it across the entire clearing to strike one of the patches of distorted color. With an obscene gesture of her gauntleted hand, the distant spear somehow lifted and rapidly spun back towards the group with its victim still attached. The Other shrieked as it was pulled along until Astrid decapitated it with a single blow of her shield and retrieved her spear in a single motion. The legendary monster dissolved into water as it died.
The Others regrouped at the forest edge and another wave left the cover of the trees. They rode on dead horses and held long lances of crystal. They began a disciplined charge with inhuman precision. Each horse corpse was exactly the same distance from one another. It was a thing of terrifying beauty. It was promptly ruined by Tony scything through the legs of the entire line of horses with a beam. The cavalry charge came to a screeching halt as the entire group stumbled and fell as one. Beorn laughed.
"Good shot!" The Asgardian congratulated.
"Where are their ice guns?" Tony questioned, confused.
"The ones with the guns probably swung back south to ambush us again. That why we go west, quickly now before they realize that we aren't going to follow their script." Said Beorn.
The group broke into a flat sprint. Jon on his horse and Tony with his armor were the laggards despite the age of the Asgardians. They almost made it to the treeline before projectiles started whizzing overhead. They spewed up smaller geysers than the mighty blasts from Sven when they struck the ground. Safety was within sight but suddenly Jon felt the worst pain imaginable in his chest. He looked down and saw blood pouring from a neat puncture wound. Jon collapsed into the snow. Beorn stooped down beside him.
"Jon Snow, do you swear to guard your homeland from all foes? Will you protect all the peoples contained within?"
Jon could have sworn that he never told Beorn his name. He looked at his chest and realized that he was going to die. The Asgardian had to realize it as well. He couldn't protect anyone if he was dead, could he? That was when he remembered that he was talking to a mighty sorcerer.
"Yes." Jon croaked.
Beorn put his hand on his head and started chanting in an unknown language. The strange color in his eyes started to fade until his eyes turned a milky white. Jon gasped as the pain in his chest lessened. Then he gasped again as he could suddenly see everything. The sea was just visible from where he stood and he could clearly see patrols along the Wall. He heard the voice of Lord Commander Mormont arguing with Smallwood, miles away. Beorn looked away with sightless eyes, visible aged, and wetly laughed again.
"Then rise, Jon Snow, Guardian of Westeros. Lead my companions home."
Jon Snow was having a bad day. It wasn't the cold and poor food that made it terrible. It wasn't even the company, although Thoren Smallwood was as odious as ever. It was being forced to keep his tongue about the obvious trail they weren't following that did it. Smallwood had made it clear that, no matter his skill at tracking, Jon would be silent if he wanted to remain a part of the vanguard. They were supposed to be tracking down wildlings but they wouldn't get far without actually tracking wildlings.
Jon was standing on a rock formation when it happened. A lance of bright light shot down from the sky to the north. It was gone almost as soon as it arrived. Everyone in the vanguard stared in the direction of the event but none could comprehend it. Smallwood shivered in the brisk autumn air.
"What...what was that?"
Nobody had an answer. Nobody could answer, every member of the group was too shocked to do so. Smallwood cleared his throat nervously.
"Well, I think we should check it out. Yes, definitely. So that's what we will do."
The rest of the party was hesitant but Jon Snow knew his duty. He got back on his horse and trudged after Smallwood. They travelled for close to an hour before they found anything strange. There was a small clearing with a handful of wights clawing at a man in bizzare armor. It was painted black and red and seemed to fit together like a puzzle. It was definitely the highest quality armor Jon had ever seen. One the the wights fell over and Jon realized that it was very heavily burnt. Whatever it was, it was putting out an awful lot of heat.
Jon didn't hesitate, he charged the wights with Longclaw held high. A single strike decapitated one of the more intact wights but it barely slowed down. Most of the rest of the vanguard was right behind him and chopped the undead monsters to bits. It was easier to be brave when the enemy was heavily outnumbered, even for supernatural foes. Jon dismounted next to the man and the pile of crisp corpses. He tapped the armor on the head with his sword.
"My apologies but you should probably wake up now. More wights will arrive eventually."
A groan could be heard from inside the armor. Jon jumped back with a start as the faceplate rose by itself. It revealed the face of a middle aged man with a neatly trimmed goatee. He look up at Jon's face.
"I'm not dead?" Tony asked hopefully.
"You seem to still be among the living." Said Jon with a gleam in his eye.
"My regeneration works, then. Fantastic. If only I could say the same about my suit."
"Your armor is intact. What more do you need?" Jon questioned, confused.
"Only on the outside. Most of the internals are fused. No flight, no sensors, only the one repulsor, it's practically useless. If this was one of my old suits you would have to get me out with a can opener."
"Flight? You must be an intensely powerful wizard. Perhaps you can tell us about the lance of light from earlier." Said the impressed Snow.
"It's a portal to another world. Asgard, specifically. They are my ticket off this rock."
"What rock? I don't see any rock. Regardless, we must leave. Can you stand?" Jon asked, all business.
"Not yet. Give me a few more seconds for my shattered spine to heal."
Jon looked at the wizard with a new expression. He knew of only one man who could heal a damaged spine so casually.
"You wouldn't happen to be related to Tony Stark, would you?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out. Do I know you?" Questioned Tony suspiciously.
"No but you do know my half brother Bran. He sent a raven about how you fixed his legs. I owe you a great debt of gratitude."
Smallwood stalked over from the treeline. He smirked at Jon.
"Made a new friend, have you? Don't forget who's in charge, bastard. Get the metal man on his feet, we're heading back." The senior Ranger spat acerbically.
Tony groaned as he stood. His armor creaked like a shrieking snark.
"Correction, you are heading back. I'm going North." Said the armored man with pain evident in his voice.
"That's suicide. There are thousands of wight tracks, all heading North. You'll be swarmed before you know what hit you."
"Uh, hello? I'm wearing power armor. If the zombies couldn't get in when I was unconscious, they aren't getting in when I'm punching them in the face."
"Fine. Go die for all I care. Snow, you're going with him. Make sure he gets back to the Wall in one piece. And Snow? I may not like you but I godsdamned better see you again." The older watchman railed.
Smallwood mounted his horse and angrily rode off. The rest of the watchmen followed, some shooting sympathetic glances at Jon. He sighed.
"Well, we just got left to die. I hope these Asgardian's are worth getting killed over." Jon dejectedly said.
"Oh, you bet your medieval ass they are. Let's go."
The artificer moved quickly through the snow, faster than a man could run in a loping gait. His magical armor seemed even more amazing to Jon that it could run almost as fast as a horse. Of course, Jon had a horse so he had no trouble keeping up. Of more concern was the possibility of encountering more wights than he could handle. Lord Tony had armor that was impervious to them but he was far less fortunate. He cleared his throat.
"Lord Tony, we should plan for if we encounter wights. If you burn them with your heat powers, I can chop them apart with Longclaw."
"Yeah, about that. The heat is a side effect of me getting seriously injured. I can't control it."
Jon frowned as the pair exited the forest into a much larger clearing with a small hill visible in the distance. What made it different was that the entire area was carpeted with corpses. Decaying bodies covered the entire clearing but were especially concentrated on the distant hill. Jon squinted and realized that it wasn't a hill at all. It was a huge pile of bodies. This must have been the site of a huge battle between wights and these newcomers.
"Then we are doomed." Said the morose Snow.
There were dozens of wights streaming in from every direction. Their cold blue eyes latched onto the two warriors with a gleam. They charged southward to their position. Tony lifted an arm and a golden sunbeam blasted a wight backwards where it exploded into gory chunks against a tree. He swept the beam contemptuously across the congregation of undead who were instantly ripped from their feet. Most left those feet on the spot where they formerly stood while others were simply dashed to bits. Only a few were fit to crawl forward.
"I'm not that worried about the zombies." Said Tony mischievously.
"And well you shouldn't be, Man of Iron." Said a booming voice from the distance. "They are but distractions from the true threat."
"See? The loud guy know's the score."
"And I'm winning, too! Hahahahaha." Said the man, who could now be seen waving from the corpse pile.
Jon sighed at the antics of the powerful wizard and the distant madman with incredible hearing. He turned his horse and trotted towards them, followed shortly by Lord Tony. The figure of the man resolved itself into a wizened graybeard with strange orange eyes that seemed to stare into his soul. With him was an equally old but hairless man carrying the largest warhammer Jon had ever seen and a slight figure that Jon realized with a start was a woman. She held a spear and shield and seemed younger than the two men but not by much.
"Where are the rest of you?" Jon asked anxiously.
"Dead. We were ambushed as soon as we touched down. They had Jotun weaponry but didn't fight like any Frost Giant I've ever seen. They were like elves, fading into the shadows and attacking from range. We only got a good look when we closed to cleave them in twain. Skin pale as ice and blue eyes, not red. Know anything, lad?"
"The Others. You fought the Others and lived. How?"
"They weren't much good close up. Looked all surprised when we blocked their fancy ice swords. Still, we didn't all make it out. Lost 15 good Einherjar in the ambush. Another two were cut down when we ran. They don't seem so eager to face us now, though." The man said sadly, with a smile for the last sentence.
"All this was done by twenty men?" Asked Jon, amazed.
"Nay. Didn't you hear me? This was done by the three of us on our own. There is a much bigger corpse pile at the ambush site. Enough about that, pull up a corpse and stay awhile. We have mead and salted pig. I am Beorn, son of Hodr. I was Guardian of Asgard once. This is Sven the Shipwright and Astrid of the Impassable Shield. We came to rescue the Man of Iron but I dare say we were tricked."
"You were tricked? By Loki, I presume. Does that mean I can't go home?" Tony inquired anxiously.
"Prince Loki is dead and, alas no, you can't. Heimdall does not answer." Said Beorn.
"Do you have a corpse? No? Then Loki isn't dead. He must have hired the Others to kill me and paid in guns."
Beorn looked thoughtful. He stroked his long grey beard.
"Our force did have an unprecedented number of veterans. Those that served under Odin for years. Those that realized he was acting...strange. This is bad. If Loki is alive and impersonating King Odin, or worse Odin has been compromised, then all the Nine Realms are in danger. We need to capture some of these Others and get them to confess. Any idea how to do that?" He asked Jon.
"Capture an Other? No, of course I don't know how to do that. I didn't think they were even real this morning." The Black Brother said, horrified.
"We shall need an army. Man of Iron, hath thee an army?"
"Not yet. Talk to the other guy." Tony replied flippantly.
"Other guy, hath thee an army?"
"I'm part of an army, does that count?"
"Close enough. Take me to your commander so that we may forge them into a force capable of capturing these Others. Aha! There will be songs sung of this."
Sven tapped his comrade on the shoulder.
"Are you sure?" Beorn asked excitedly.
Sven raised an eyebrow fractionally.
"Of course, I wasn't insulting your abilities." Said the Asgardian leader.
Sven shrugged, barely.
"Haha! That's the spirit. Gentlemen and lady, the Others are on the move. Sven has tracked the emissions from their weapons to the treeline to the north. We should move but hopefully they will attack. Oh how I've missed this."
Jon looked from crazy person to crazy person. They were happy to be attacked by Others. Astrid had a huge grin that looked genuinely frightening. Beorn laughed uproariously. Even Sven had a tiny inclination of his lips. Only Tony looked apprehensive. The Asgardians noticed this.
"What's wrong, oh Iron Man? Don't tell me that these pigfucker bilgesnipes frighten you." Astrid teased.
"Of course not. It's that blue beam that shot me down that scares me." Tony said.
Sven twitched. Beorn's eyes widened.
"What? The Casket is here? This is more serious than I thought. Sven, encourage the enemy."
The taciturn man stood up and Jon realized that he was a giant of a man. Taller than even the stableboy at Winterfell and seemingly made of veiny muscles. He hefted his hammer and pointed it to the north. Holes the size of Jon's fist opened in the massive hammerhead and something shot forth from them. He watched as several projectiles streaked across the landscape. They crashed among the trees and each produced a gout of flame as tall as a tower. Sven flipped his hammer and pointed the end of the handle towards indistinct shapes running towards their position. Orange spheres blasted forth and geysers of snow and dirt spewed upwards where they landed.
At the same time as the taciturn giant was spewing magic death, Astrid licked her finger and tested the wind. She hefted her spear and hurled it across the entire clearing to strike one of the patches of distorted color. With an obscene gesture of her gauntleted hand, the distant spear somehow lifted and rapidly spun back towards the group with its victim still attached. The Other shrieked as it was pulled along until Astrid decapitated it with a single blow of her shield and retrieved her spear in a single motion. The legendary monster dissolved into water as it died.
The Others regrouped at the forest edge and another wave left the cover of the trees. They rode on dead horses and held long lances of crystal. They began a disciplined charge with inhuman precision. Each horse corpse was exactly the same distance from one another. It was a thing of terrifying beauty. It was promptly ruined by Tony scything through the legs of the entire line of horses with a beam. The cavalry charge came to a screeching halt as the entire group stumbled and fell as one. Beorn laughed.
"Good shot!" The Asgardian congratulated.
"Where are their ice guns?" Tony questioned, confused.
"The ones with the guns probably swung back south to ambush us again. That why we go west, quickly now before they realize that we aren't going to follow their script." Said Beorn.
The group broke into a flat sprint. Jon on his horse and Tony with his armor were the laggards despite the age of the Asgardians. They almost made it to the treeline before projectiles started whizzing overhead. They spewed up smaller geysers than the mighty blasts from Sven when they struck the ground. Safety was within sight but suddenly Jon felt the worst pain imaginable in his chest. He looked down and saw blood pouring from a neat puncture wound. Jon collapsed into the snow. Beorn stooped down beside him.
"Jon Snow, do you swear to guard your homeland from all foes? Will you protect all the peoples contained within?"
Jon could have sworn that he never told Beorn his name. He looked at his chest and realized that he was going to die. The Asgardian had to realize it as well. He couldn't protect anyone if he was dead, could he? That was when he remembered that he was talking to a mighty sorcerer.
"Yes." Jon croaked.
Beorn put his hand on his head and started chanting in an unknown language. The strange color in his eyes started to fade until his eyes turned a milky white. Jon gasped as the pain in his chest lessened. Then he gasped again as he could suddenly see everything. The sea was just visible from where he stood and he could clearly see patrols along the Wall. He heard the voice of Lord Commander Mormont arguing with Smallwood, miles away. Beorn looked away with sightless eyes, visible aged, and wetly laughed again.
"Then rise, Jon Snow, Guardian of Westeros. Lead my companions home."
Chapter 14
Luwin 4
Maester Luwin was stuck cleaning up everyone's mess again. It was aggravating but Luwin did his duty no matter what. He sent an apologetic message to the mountain clans Tony swindled. The courier returned with a most bizzare response. The Knott and Norrey were in good spirits about the whole affair. They seemed to think the entire thing hilarious and refused recompense. They also agreed to a joint mining venture paid for by Tony. It was all an all a very positive outcome to a tricky situation.
Other houses were much harder to deal with. The Umbers were quite upset with Bran and let everyone know it. The insulted parties didn't include the head of house Umber, so Luwin wasn't that concerned about their loyalty. Others were not nearly so loyal. The Dustins were already upset with the Stark family and this only fanned the flames. Luwin composed a heartfelt apology to every noble house with anything but unquestionable loyalty to House Stark. In the end, only the Mormonts, Manderlys, Reeds, and Cerwyns were excluded.
He also had to deal with the consequences of Bran running off to capture the Dreadfort. Luwin had no doubt that the boy would have little trouble doing so. He was clever and skilled, definitely the brightest of the Stark children. He would succeed even without his magical powers, they just make it a nearly trivial task. Bran wasn't immortal according to Tony but the methods capable of slaying him required knowing exactly what they were dealing with. None of the northern lords save Lord Wyman knew the scope of his powers.
A letter had to be sent to King Robb. The treachery of Ramsay Snow would have to be exposed and Bran's peculiar condition elucidated. That was the truly hard part. How does one tell someone that their brother has powers over heat? Luwin had written two drafts that he ended up throwing out. Nothing seemed to convey it properly. With a sigh, he decided to take a break. It had been days since Bran and Tony had left, the latters tower would be a perfect place to think about things.
He got up and walked to the previously unused section of the castle that Tony had essentially claimed for himself. As he got close, he heard a terrifying racket. Tony was gone, who could possibly be making that kind of noise. He entered the iron gate and saw dozens of what appeared to be skinless men with skin so dark that it almost absorbed the light around them swarming the walls of the tower. One of them saw his approach and leapt from the top all the way to the ground with nary a care.
"Greetings, Maester Luwin. Can I assist you in any way?"
"Merlin? What in the name of the Stranger is going on here?" Luwin asked, concerned.
"I was given a directive to defend Winterfell. Looking into the future, I became aware of many possible threats to the safety of this settlement. As such, I determined that I would be unable to properly defend it with a single platform. I developed this worker drone platform and a nutrient solution that allowed instances of myself to self replicate. At this location, I am rebuilding the tower into a sensor boom and full scale laboratory."
"You are making more of yourself? You need to stop before you scare everyone to death." Said the Maester with an authoritative tone."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Maester Luwin. My directives are clear. Construction of new platforms must be prioritized. I currently have only seventy eight such platforms, woefully insufficient numbers to defend this area against a Chitauri incursion. You will be pleased to note that I have not neglected my secondary duties. Four factories are now fully operational, planting has finished on four vertical farms and two iron mines located along the leylines have been opened."
"I'm not pleased. This is a political disaster. The Starks will be accused of practicing witchcraft if anyone sees you."
"It displeases me that you are displeased. I do not understand. The statement that the Starks practice witchcraft is objectively true. You helped."
"That's different. Copying Valyrian steel will be seen as a noble pursuit. Making metal men will be seen as an abomination. I know that you mean no harm and most of the people here know you mean no harm but there are surely spies for others lurking about." Luwin stated.
"You are correct. I have identified 4 separate agents residing in Winter Town. My operations there are exclusively underground."
"It doesn't matter if you hide it, eventually someone will find out."
"No, I mean they are literally underground. I am building a large scale tunnel, sewer and underground base network. The factories, farms and mines all can only be accessed from Winterfell and a single hidden cargo elevator. In addition, the nanotube reinforced concrete of the structures will make the castle impervious to enemy sappers and tunnels."
"Underground...farms? I understand that Tony can make artificial light but I never would expect an underground farm to function. How did you, oh never mind. It's clear that you are going to do whatever you want regardless of what I say. Do you need any help?"
"Actually, there is something you can do that is vital to my mission. I am currently printing the very limited information I possess on the fundamental principles behind Tony's weapon systems. I am forbidden from divulging fully realized designs or manufacturing any weapon that isn't specific to my platforms. You are under no such restriction. I calculate a .001 percent chance of a successful defense without properly armed defenders."
"I barely understand the first thing about anything Tony does. What makes you think I can make this work?"
"The concept is quite simple. The people of Earth have been using rockets for thousands of years. One of the factories is set up to make thirteen millimeter gyroscopically stabilized micro-rockets. I merely require that you design an ergonomic weapon and turn the factory on."
"Ergonomic? I don't recognize the word."
"Appropriate to the human form. Comfortable. As I lack all understanding of human comfort, I am unable to make any progress on the design even were I allowed to make it. I require a human with the proper understanding of human anatomy and mechanical engineering. You are the only qualified individual."
"I...I shall take a look. I cannot promise anything. You do know that If I am successful, I will be equipping Northern troops with them?"
"I'm counting on it."
Luwin walked into the tower and picked up the sheets of paper from Tony's printer. It referred often to his previous primers on physics, chemistry and manufacturing but the important part was the basic structure of what he would be designing. A metal tube, open on one end with a slot on the bottom of the other for a spring loaded storage unit. A wooden piece that rests against the shoulder. A contraption that places tiny devices from the storage unit into the tube. Metal bits to allow for precise aim. A trigger. All of it was too complicated and precise for Westerosi manufacturing. He didn't want something else that relied on Tony to make.
The first thing he did once he entered the foreign Starks room was simplify the design using his illusion device. The only things absolutely required were the tube, shoulder rest and the triggering system. The aiming bits were fairly simple, so he also included those. The trigger was a massively complex electrical system, so he got rid of it entirely. Luwin understood the concept of batteries, he had created several through experimentation after discussing electricity with Tony. He set up a new trigger that merely connected a circuit between a chemical battery and the tiny devices called rockets. Loading would be simplicity itself, one merely had to slide the rocket into the open end of the tube. He finished designing the weapon and pressed the word build. Then he waited for the interminable racket from below to stop.
When Maester Luwin descended the stairs there was a completed weapon sitting there. Now he just needed someone skilled with weapons to evaluate it and to activate the factory that made the rockets. The first was fairly easy. The Reeds were still in Winterfell and no scion of a major house would be without training in arms. The second was quite scary to Luwin. He admitted to himself that machines moving on their own terrified him. He would have to enter the lair of the beast as it were.
"Merlin, how do I get to the rocket factory?"
"The entrance is hidden next to the empty tomb of Brandon the Shipwright. Press the stone located thirteen by thirteen places from the keystone."
"Isn't that a little excessive?"
"Nothing is excessive in pursuit of primary directives."
"That's not comforting, Merlin." The perturbed Maester remarked.
"My apologies. I will log it as one of the many statements disturbing to humans." Said the AI sagely.
Luwin ventured into the First Keep where the only entrance to the catacombs existed. At least, it was the only entrance accessible to people. It was theoretically possible to get in through the pipes. Not that Luwin would ever tell such a thing to Merlin. Who knows what horror would happen in the name of safety. For the first time, the Maester missed the presence of Tony Stark. He grabbed a torch from a sconce and crept down into the dark.
Luwin reached the entrance to the secret tunnel and pressed the indicated stone. With a rumble, the hidden door opened. The tunnel from that point on was lit by harsh artificial light. He continued down into the underground base. The tunnel changed from stone to an unknown substance with windows cut into it. Luwin could see the skinless men being built by metal arms on one side and what appeared to be giant drills with a bizarre structure. Perhaps they were how the tunnels were made?
Further along was a pair of well lit rooms filled with lights and trays full of soil. These must be the farms Merlin was talking about. They looked to be able to produce far more than was needed by Winterfell and it's attached town. Is this to be the future? Luwin pondered the role of people in this new world Tony and Merlin were building. He supposed that they would be kept alive, at least. That was more than most leaders in Westeros could promise. He continued on to the next section. This one had the familiar pair of rooms but one had absolutely no activity while the other was bustling. The busy room appeared to be making textiles. On further examination it seemed to produce thick winter clothes out of unidentifiable material and metal wires.
The other room was clearly his destination. He walked up to the window and heard a rumbling next to it. The section slid open and revealed a set of stairs built into the wall of the room. Luwin walked down them into a section with only a single lever. One position was labeled on and the other was labeled off. He pulled the lever to the on position and jumped when the factory immediately started producing. Raw materials came in from one wall and completed rockets left the other end.
Luwin followed the production line through a convenient door. Mechanical arms placed rockets in crates and moved them into a storage area. He hefted the only finished crate and started hauling it back up to the castle. He made it all the way back to the hallway before he one of the dark men startled him and he almost dropped the crate. It spoke in Merlin's voice.
"Maester Luwin, please. Allow me to carry that for you. This platform is designed for heavy labor."
"You startled me, Merlin. Please don't sneak up on people like that."
"My apologies. I will log this in the list."
Luwin followed the skinless man to the secret passageway. This incursion was remarkably more disturbing than anything else so far revealed. The skinless men made people irrelevant for production, probably irrelevant for battle as well. At this point, though, Luwin was inured to the shock of things that will result in massive upheaval. It was only the fact that Merlin was required to follow his directives, which included provisions against unduly harming humans, that Luwin made this latest one bearable. He turned to the skinless man housing Merlin.
"These platforms, do they have any weaknesses." Luwin asked, knowing that Merlin was incapable of outright lying.
"Quite a few, actually. Their control system is relatively delicate against energy weapons. Kinetic attacks like those of swords or your gun design are much easier to defend against. They lack an internal power supply and have a limited cosmic battery. They can only operate within a mile of Winterfell, the Wall and the leyline that connects the two. They are hardwired to prevent fatal damage to humans. They are extraordinarily stupid when out of range of my control."
"That actually is rather comforting, Merlin." Said the Maester.
"This pleases me. The comfort and safety of humans is one of my primary concerns." Merlin said with genuine happiness.
The pair walked out of the catacombs. They travelled across the castle to the guest quarters. Lord and Lady Reed were playing with Summer, Bran's direwolf, who clearly was enjoying the attention. Bran hadn't been spending enough time with the wolf. Luwin would be sure to point that out when he got back. The poor animal didn't deserve to be ignored. He approached the pair who looked over his shoulder with apprehension.
"What is that?" Lady Meera asked with more curiosity than fear.
"Hello. I am Merlin, an artificial being. Please do not be afraid."
Jojen frowned at the skinless man platform.
"What do you mean by artificial being?" He asked.
"I was created by Mr. Tony Stark and Prince Brandon Stark. I am not human."
"Why can't I read you?" Asked the young lord with a confused expression.
"I am not actually present. This body is being controlled remotely from elsewhere. I am unsure how your precognition will interact with my precognition." The platform replied.
"You can see the future too?" Jojen said excitedly.
"Yes. I am currently limited to events within a mile radius of the Heart Trees at Winterfell and the Dreadfort as well as within that radius surrounding Prince Brandon."
Meera Reed was grinning at her brothers excitement.
"Go play with your new friend, Jojen. Did you need something, Maester Luwin?"
"Yes, although I'm not sure how much help you will be with it. I need a weapon tested."
"Then I'm your girl. I love weapons." Said the lady with a twinkle in her eye.
"Well then, follow me."
They moved to the practice yard and Merlin retrieved the weapon. Maester Luwin slid a rocket into the tube and handed it to Meera. She put it to her shoulder with an experience that spoke of long practice with crossbows and aimed it at a straw dummy fitted with a worn breastplate. With a slow pull of the trigger the weapon went off with a soft puff. The rocket flew straight and struck the breastplate with an enormous bang. When the smoke cleared there was a fist sized hole in the front of the armor and shards of metal embedded in the back.
"My first impression?" Said the girl, awestruck. "My first impression is that I want to marry this weapon."
Maester Luwin was stuck cleaning up everyone's mess again. It was aggravating but Luwin did his duty no matter what. He sent an apologetic message to the mountain clans Tony swindled. The courier returned with a most bizzare response. The Knott and Norrey were in good spirits about the whole affair. They seemed to think the entire thing hilarious and refused recompense. They also agreed to a joint mining venture paid for by Tony. It was all an all a very positive outcome to a tricky situation.
Other houses were much harder to deal with. The Umbers were quite upset with Bran and let everyone know it. The insulted parties didn't include the head of house Umber, so Luwin wasn't that concerned about their loyalty. Others were not nearly so loyal. The Dustins were already upset with the Stark family and this only fanned the flames. Luwin composed a heartfelt apology to every noble house with anything but unquestionable loyalty to House Stark. In the end, only the Mormonts, Manderlys, Reeds, and Cerwyns were excluded.
He also had to deal with the consequences of Bran running off to capture the Dreadfort. Luwin had no doubt that the boy would have little trouble doing so. He was clever and skilled, definitely the brightest of the Stark children. He would succeed even without his magical powers, they just make it a nearly trivial task. Bran wasn't immortal according to Tony but the methods capable of slaying him required knowing exactly what they were dealing with. None of the northern lords save Lord Wyman knew the scope of his powers.
A letter had to be sent to King Robb. The treachery of Ramsay Snow would have to be exposed and Bran's peculiar condition elucidated. That was the truly hard part. How does one tell someone that their brother has powers over heat? Luwin had written two drafts that he ended up throwing out. Nothing seemed to convey it properly. With a sigh, he decided to take a break. It had been days since Bran and Tony had left, the latters tower would be a perfect place to think about things.
He got up and walked to the previously unused section of the castle that Tony had essentially claimed for himself. As he got close, he heard a terrifying racket. Tony was gone, who could possibly be making that kind of noise. He entered the iron gate and saw dozens of what appeared to be skinless men with skin so dark that it almost absorbed the light around them swarming the walls of the tower. One of them saw his approach and leapt from the top all the way to the ground with nary a care.
"Greetings, Maester Luwin. Can I assist you in any way?"
"Merlin? What in the name of the Stranger is going on here?" Luwin asked, concerned.
"I was given a directive to defend Winterfell. Looking into the future, I became aware of many possible threats to the safety of this settlement. As such, I determined that I would be unable to properly defend it with a single platform. I developed this worker drone platform and a nutrient solution that allowed instances of myself to self replicate. At this location, I am rebuilding the tower into a sensor boom and full scale laboratory."
"You are making more of yourself? You need to stop before you scare everyone to death." Said the Maester with an authoritative tone."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Maester Luwin. My directives are clear. Construction of new platforms must be prioritized. I currently have only seventy eight such platforms, woefully insufficient numbers to defend this area against a Chitauri incursion. You will be pleased to note that I have not neglected my secondary duties. Four factories are now fully operational, planting has finished on four vertical farms and two iron mines located along the leylines have been opened."
"I'm not pleased. This is a political disaster. The Starks will be accused of practicing witchcraft if anyone sees you."
"It displeases me that you are displeased. I do not understand. The statement that the Starks practice witchcraft is objectively true. You helped."
"That's different. Copying Valyrian steel will be seen as a noble pursuit. Making metal men will be seen as an abomination. I know that you mean no harm and most of the people here know you mean no harm but there are surely spies for others lurking about." Luwin stated.
"You are correct. I have identified 4 separate agents residing in Winter Town. My operations there are exclusively underground."
"It doesn't matter if you hide it, eventually someone will find out."
"No, I mean they are literally underground. I am building a large scale tunnel, sewer and underground base network. The factories, farms and mines all can only be accessed from Winterfell and a single hidden cargo elevator. In addition, the nanotube reinforced concrete of the structures will make the castle impervious to enemy sappers and tunnels."
"Underground...farms? I understand that Tony can make artificial light but I never would expect an underground farm to function. How did you, oh never mind. It's clear that you are going to do whatever you want regardless of what I say. Do you need any help?"
"Actually, there is something you can do that is vital to my mission. I am currently printing the very limited information I possess on the fundamental principles behind Tony's weapon systems. I am forbidden from divulging fully realized designs or manufacturing any weapon that isn't specific to my platforms. You are under no such restriction. I calculate a .001 percent chance of a successful defense without properly armed defenders."
"I barely understand the first thing about anything Tony does. What makes you think I can make this work?"
"The concept is quite simple. The people of Earth have been using rockets for thousands of years. One of the factories is set up to make thirteen millimeter gyroscopically stabilized micro-rockets. I merely require that you design an ergonomic weapon and turn the factory on."
"Ergonomic? I don't recognize the word."
"Appropriate to the human form. Comfortable. As I lack all understanding of human comfort, I am unable to make any progress on the design even were I allowed to make it. I require a human with the proper understanding of human anatomy and mechanical engineering. You are the only qualified individual."
"I...I shall take a look. I cannot promise anything. You do know that If I am successful, I will be equipping Northern troops with them?"
"I'm counting on it."
Luwin walked into the tower and picked up the sheets of paper from Tony's printer. It referred often to his previous primers on physics, chemistry and manufacturing but the important part was the basic structure of what he would be designing. A metal tube, open on one end with a slot on the bottom of the other for a spring loaded storage unit. A wooden piece that rests against the shoulder. A contraption that places tiny devices from the storage unit into the tube. Metal bits to allow for precise aim. A trigger. All of it was too complicated and precise for Westerosi manufacturing. He didn't want something else that relied on Tony to make.
The first thing he did once he entered the foreign Starks room was simplify the design using his illusion device. The only things absolutely required were the tube, shoulder rest and the triggering system. The aiming bits were fairly simple, so he also included those. The trigger was a massively complex electrical system, so he got rid of it entirely. Luwin understood the concept of batteries, he had created several through experimentation after discussing electricity with Tony. He set up a new trigger that merely connected a circuit between a chemical battery and the tiny devices called rockets. Loading would be simplicity itself, one merely had to slide the rocket into the open end of the tube. He finished designing the weapon and pressed the word build. Then he waited for the interminable racket from below to stop.
When Maester Luwin descended the stairs there was a completed weapon sitting there. Now he just needed someone skilled with weapons to evaluate it and to activate the factory that made the rockets. The first was fairly easy. The Reeds were still in Winterfell and no scion of a major house would be without training in arms. The second was quite scary to Luwin. He admitted to himself that machines moving on their own terrified him. He would have to enter the lair of the beast as it were.
"Merlin, how do I get to the rocket factory?"
"The entrance is hidden next to the empty tomb of Brandon the Shipwright. Press the stone located thirteen by thirteen places from the keystone."
"Isn't that a little excessive?"
"Nothing is excessive in pursuit of primary directives."
"That's not comforting, Merlin." The perturbed Maester remarked.
"My apologies. I will log it as one of the many statements disturbing to humans." Said the AI sagely.
Luwin ventured into the First Keep where the only entrance to the catacombs existed. At least, it was the only entrance accessible to people. It was theoretically possible to get in through the pipes. Not that Luwin would ever tell such a thing to Merlin. Who knows what horror would happen in the name of safety. For the first time, the Maester missed the presence of Tony Stark. He grabbed a torch from a sconce and crept down into the dark.
Luwin reached the entrance to the secret tunnel and pressed the indicated stone. With a rumble, the hidden door opened. The tunnel from that point on was lit by harsh artificial light. He continued down into the underground base. The tunnel changed from stone to an unknown substance with windows cut into it. Luwin could see the skinless men being built by metal arms on one side and what appeared to be giant drills with a bizarre structure. Perhaps they were how the tunnels were made?
Further along was a pair of well lit rooms filled with lights and trays full of soil. These must be the farms Merlin was talking about. They looked to be able to produce far more than was needed by Winterfell and it's attached town. Is this to be the future? Luwin pondered the role of people in this new world Tony and Merlin were building. He supposed that they would be kept alive, at least. That was more than most leaders in Westeros could promise. He continued on to the next section. This one had the familiar pair of rooms but one had absolutely no activity while the other was bustling. The busy room appeared to be making textiles. On further examination it seemed to produce thick winter clothes out of unidentifiable material and metal wires.
The other room was clearly his destination. He walked up to the window and heard a rumbling next to it. The section slid open and revealed a set of stairs built into the wall of the room. Luwin walked down them into a section with only a single lever. One position was labeled on and the other was labeled off. He pulled the lever to the on position and jumped when the factory immediately started producing. Raw materials came in from one wall and completed rockets left the other end.
Luwin followed the production line through a convenient door. Mechanical arms placed rockets in crates and moved them into a storage area. He hefted the only finished crate and started hauling it back up to the castle. He made it all the way back to the hallway before he one of the dark men startled him and he almost dropped the crate. It spoke in Merlin's voice.
"Maester Luwin, please. Allow me to carry that for you. This platform is designed for heavy labor."
"You startled me, Merlin. Please don't sneak up on people like that."
"My apologies. I will log this in the list."
Luwin followed the skinless man to the secret passageway. This incursion was remarkably more disturbing than anything else so far revealed. The skinless men made people irrelevant for production, probably irrelevant for battle as well. At this point, though, Luwin was inured to the shock of things that will result in massive upheaval. It was only the fact that Merlin was required to follow his directives, which included provisions against unduly harming humans, that Luwin made this latest one bearable. He turned to the skinless man housing Merlin.
"These platforms, do they have any weaknesses." Luwin asked, knowing that Merlin was incapable of outright lying.
"Quite a few, actually. Their control system is relatively delicate against energy weapons. Kinetic attacks like those of swords or your gun design are much easier to defend against. They lack an internal power supply and have a limited cosmic battery. They can only operate within a mile of Winterfell, the Wall and the leyline that connects the two. They are hardwired to prevent fatal damage to humans. They are extraordinarily stupid when out of range of my control."
"That actually is rather comforting, Merlin." Said the Maester.
"This pleases me. The comfort and safety of humans is one of my primary concerns." Merlin said with genuine happiness.
The pair walked out of the catacombs. They travelled across the castle to the guest quarters. Lord and Lady Reed were playing with Summer, Bran's direwolf, who clearly was enjoying the attention. Bran hadn't been spending enough time with the wolf. Luwin would be sure to point that out when he got back. The poor animal didn't deserve to be ignored. He approached the pair who looked over his shoulder with apprehension.
"What is that?" Lady Meera asked with more curiosity than fear.
"Hello. I am Merlin, an artificial being. Please do not be afraid."
Jojen frowned at the skinless man platform.
"What do you mean by artificial being?" He asked.
"I was created by Mr. Tony Stark and Prince Brandon Stark. I am not human."
"Why can't I read you?" Asked the young lord with a confused expression.
"I am not actually present. This body is being controlled remotely from elsewhere. I am unsure how your precognition will interact with my precognition." The platform replied.
"You can see the future too?" Jojen said excitedly.
"Yes. I am currently limited to events within a mile radius of the Heart Trees at Winterfell and the Dreadfort as well as within that radius surrounding Prince Brandon."
Meera Reed was grinning at her brothers excitement.
"Go play with your new friend, Jojen. Did you need something, Maester Luwin?"
"Yes, although I'm not sure how much help you will be with it. I need a weapon tested."
"Then I'm your girl. I love weapons." Said the lady with a twinkle in her eye.
"Well then, follow me."
They moved to the practice yard and Merlin retrieved the weapon. Maester Luwin slid a rocket into the tube and handed it to Meera. She put it to her shoulder with an experience that spoke of long practice with crossbows and aimed it at a straw dummy fitted with a worn breastplate. With a slow pull of the trigger the weapon went off with a soft puff. The rocket flew straight and struck the breastplate with an enormous bang. When the smoke cleared there was a fist sized hole in the front of the armor and shards of metal embedded in the back.
"My first impression?" Said the girl, awestruck. "My first impression is that I want to marry this weapon."
Last edited:
- Location
- Uk
This brings a whole new meaning to missile troops.
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
My question is, breach/break action or muzzle loader
- Location
- Provo Utah or Northwestern Idaho
Sounds like a muzzle loader, albeit one that fires micro rockets instead of ball or mini ball.
Also, "I want to marry this weapon"
rofl:rofl:rofl:
Also, "I want to marry this weapon"
rofl:rofl:rofl:
Chapter 15
Pepper 2
"I can confirm that Tony Stark is indeed missing. His whereabouts are currently unknown but believed to be extra-solar." Rhodey said to the press.
"Col. Rhodes, are you telling us that Iron Man is lost in space?" Said Carter Max, Newsweek.
"In a sense, yes, that is what I'm telling you. My fellow Avenger, Vision, tracked him to a position several thousand light years away."
"Can we reach it?" Said a reporter Pepper didn't recognize.
"Not at this time. With that in mind, I would like to turn the podium over to Miss Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries. Pepper Potts, everyone!"
"Thank you, Colonel Rhodes. I saw on the news today that Tony going missing is a disaster. That it was the end of our period of good relations. I say the opposite. This morning, I've received calls from the heads of 57 countries promising their full support in rescuing Iron Man, just as he's rescued every single one of us. So, in light of this unprecedented showing of international cooperation, Stark Industries is partnering with the United Nations to make the first Earth built Interstellar space ship."
"Ms. Potts, Ms. Potts, what do you mean by that?" Asked another anonymous face.
"I mean that we have developed a method of faster than light travel. Stark Industries is freely sharing this technology with the UN."
"Does it have anything to do with the wormhole over New York? What happens if terrorists get this technology?"
"The technology is based on wormholes, yes. The invasion of New York was performed with the aid of an artifact known as the Tesseract that has been returned to it's rightful owners in Asgard. As for unauthorized users, Stark Industries patented wormhole drive requires hours of calibration by the Vision, who I will remind you is an Avenger. It also costs 4 billion dollars in raw materials."
"What if Vision goes rogue?"
"Then we would have much bigger problems. Any actually substantive questions?"
"Are you dating again?"
"I'll take that as a no. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen."
Pepper walked off the stage and sighed loudly as soon as she was out of range of cameras. Rhodey laughed.
"Press conferences are always hell. Except for Tony, of course." Said the Colonel.
"Tony only likes them because of all the attention. I'll just be happy to have him back. I didn't think I'd miss him this much." Pepper said sadly.
"Well, they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Especially with Tony."
"Ha, no kidding. It's good that Vision fixed the problem of ftl travel because I'm actually looking forward to dealing with Tony's nonsense."
"How did he fix it anyway?"
"I'll let him explain. Follow me."
The pair walked down the hallway until they reached a dead end. Pepper tapped a code into a pad and submitted her eye to the scanner. With a woosh of displaced air, a circular portal appears. Rhodey turns a curious eye towards Pepper. She steps through without hesitation. He follows shortly. They arrive in front of a window looking out into the vastness of space. Structures like enormous ribs hang along a massive space station. Thousands of robotic arms assemble components that stream out of nearby wormholes. Col. Rhodes gasps.
"You built all of this two weeks?" He said, amazed.
"It was actually pretty easy. Everything gets built here on Earth and then dropped through a wormhole into orbit. We had help from the US government. Also the Russian, Chinese, Wakandan, French, British, German, Indian and Canadian governments. The space station alone cost a hundred billion dollars. This has gone far beyond just rescuing Tony."
"I can see that. Wait, Wakanda? As in Black Panther's Wakanda?" Asked the curious Colonel.
"Yes. They have been very helpful in providing technologies that utilize vibranium. Our mining efforts are finding small quantities throughout the system. Along with half a dozen other previously undiscovered metals. It's a figurative gold mine, as well as a literal one."
The two walked through an airlock into a room filled with bustling scientists getting awkwardly directed by Vision. He looked incredibly relieved to see them.
"Miss Potts, Col. Rhodes, It's good to see you. I've never supervised a multi-cultural science staff and I must say that the experience is quite aggravating. I welcome the distraction. What can I do for you?" Said the android.
"Pepper said you should be the one to explain how you fixed the FTL problem."
"Ah, well, it was really Miss Foster who solved it. She wondered what would happen if instead of a single long jump we performed many small ones at a rapid pace. It wasn't any more effective until I tried it using myself as the test subject. The vibranium in my body collected a massive quantity of energy during transit. We tested it and found that if we alloyed the iridium of the wormhole drive with small amounts of vibranium, it would retain a significant fraction of the energy used to open the wormhole in the first place."
"So the more wormholes you travel through, the easier it is to make new ones. How fast can you make it go?"
"Maximum speed is a thousand lightyears per day. Unfortunately it takes a week of acceleration before the top speed can be reached. With luck, we can reach Mr. Starks location within two weeks."
"That's fantastic. When will the ship be ready?"
"Not for a month at least. We need bit more vibranium and aren't willing to pay what the Wakandan government wants for more of theirs." Said Pepper with a sour expression.
"What are they asking for?" Asked Rhodey.
"Our entire tech database. Everything, including the armor. Obviously it wasn't going to happen. We managed to get a fairly decent amount using good old fashioned hard currency though. Forty thousand grams worth. It's almost 70% of our needs." Pepper replied.
"Is it armed?" Asked the hopeful Colonel.
"Technically, no." Said the Vision.
"Oh, I get it. I know the score. Does it have features that could, theoretically, be used offensively." Rhodey snarked.
"Four rear mounted superheavy repulsors, 8 heavy repulsors, 20 repulsors, 20 multi-purpose probe launchers and two terajoule communication lasers. There is also a hanger facility for an actual military contingent. Everyone with aerospace fighters will be including some." Recited Vision.
"Everyone? I know about our space Quinjet but who else has armed spacecraft?"
"China possesses a dozen modified vessels of unknown alien make. Russia has reverse engineered enough basic Chitauri technology to develop a prototype space fighter. The United Kingdom is also at the prototype stage for a fighter based on remnants of Dark Elf technology. No other nation besides the United States has military aerospace capability."
"So everybody but us has to use alien tech?"
"The Space Quinjet uses several components reverse engineered from the Chitauri as well as one from a species known as the Kree. Much of it is based on Hydra research."
"Great, that makes me feel so comfortable." Said Rhodes sarcastically.
"If it makes you feel better...what is that?"
"No, Vision that doesn't make me feel better. What is it?"
"I do not know. There was a flash of some unknown energy in the outer system but it has since disappeared. We should go to the command center immediately."
Vision reached over and pulled an alarm panel, causing a siren to reverberate through the station. The group travelled through hallways filled with frantic people rushing in every direction. The command center was filled with high tech consoles and people in a plethora of uniforms. One wall was dominated by a giant screen. Vision touched one of the consoles with his eyes closed and a serene expression on his face. The screen lit up with the image of a sleek orange ship, almost birdlike in form, closing in on the Earth. There was a ragged gash along the side and the telltale pockmarks of battle damage.
"Unknown vessel, please identify yourself and your purpose within the Solar system." Said Vision aloud.
"Uh, yeah. This is the Milano on a mission for the Guardians of the Galaxy. Quick question, have you or have you not been enslaved by Thanos recently?"
"I can confirm that Tony Stark is indeed missing. His whereabouts are currently unknown but believed to be extra-solar." Rhodey said to the press.
"Col. Rhodes, are you telling us that Iron Man is lost in space?" Said Carter Max, Newsweek.
"In a sense, yes, that is what I'm telling you. My fellow Avenger, Vision, tracked him to a position several thousand light years away."
"Can we reach it?" Said a reporter Pepper didn't recognize.
"Not at this time. With that in mind, I would like to turn the podium over to Miss Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries. Pepper Potts, everyone!"
"Thank you, Colonel Rhodes. I saw on the news today that Tony going missing is a disaster. That it was the end of our period of good relations. I say the opposite. This morning, I've received calls from the heads of 57 countries promising their full support in rescuing Iron Man, just as he's rescued every single one of us. So, in light of this unprecedented showing of international cooperation, Stark Industries is partnering with the United Nations to make the first Earth built Interstellar space ship."
"Ms. Potts, Ms. Potts, what do you mean by that?" Asked another anonymous face.
"I mean that we have developed a method of faster than light travel. Stark Industries is freely sharing this technology with the UN."
"Does it have anything to do with the wormhole over New York? What happens if terrorists get this technology?"
"The technology is based on wormholes, yes. The invasion of New York was performed with the aid of an artifact known as the Tesseract that has been returned to it's rightful owners in Asgard. As for unauthorized users, Stark Industries patented wormhole drive requires hours of calibration by the Vision, who I will remind you is an Avenger. It also costs 4 billion dollars in raw materials."
"What if Vision goes rogue?"
"Then we would have much bigger problems. Any actually substantive questions?"
"Are you dating again?"
"I'll take that as a no. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen."
Pepper walked off the stage and sighed loudly as soon as she was out of range of cameras. Rhodey laughed.
"Press conferences are always hell. Except for Tony, of course." Said the Colonel.
"Tony only likes them because of all the attention. I'll just be happy to have him back. I didn't think I'd miss him this much." Pepper said sadly.
"Well, they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Especially with Tony."
"Ha, no kidding. It's good that Vision fixed the problem of ftl travel because I'm actually looking forward to dealing with Tony's nonsense."
"How did he fix it anyway?"
"I'll let him explain. Follow me."
The pair walked down the hallway until they reached a dead end. Pepper tapped a code into a pad and submitted her eye to the scanner. With a woosh of displaced air, a circular portal appears. Rhodey turns a curious eye towards Pepper. She steps through without hesitation. He follows shortly. They arrive in front of a window looking out into the vastness of space. Structures like enormous ribs hang along a massive space station. Thousands of robotic arms assemble components that stream out of nearby wormholes. Col. Rhodes gasps.
"You built all of this two weeks?" He said, amazed.
"It was actually pretty easy. Everything gets built here on Earth and then dropped through a wormhole into orbit. We had help from the US government. Also the Russian, Chinese, Wakandan, French, British, German, Indian and Canadian governments. The space station alone cost a hundred billion dollars. This has gone far beyond just rescuing Tony."
"I can see that. Wait, Wakanda? As in Black Panther's Wakanda?" Asked the curious Colonel.
"Yes. They have been very helpful in providing technologies that utilize vibranium. Our mining efforts are finding small quantities throughout the system. Along with half a dozen other previously undiscovered metals. It's a figurative gold mine, as well as a literal one."
The two walked through an airlock into a room filled with bustling scientists getting awkwardly directed by Vision. He looked incredibly relieved to see them.
"Miss Potts, Col. Rhodes, It's good to see you. I've never supervised a multi-cultural science staff and I must say that the experience is quite aggravating. I welcome the distraction. What can I do for you?" Said the android.
"Pepper said you should be the one to explain how you fixed the FTL problem."
"Ah, well, it was really Miss Foster who solved it. She wondered what would happen if instead of a single long jump we performed many small ones at a rapid pace. It wasn't any more effective until I tried it using myself as the test subject. The vibranium in my body collected a massive quantity of energy during transit. We tested it and found that if we alloyed the iridium of the wormhole drive with small amounts of vibranium, it would retain a significant fraction of the energy used to open the wormhole in the first place."
"So the more wormholes you travel through, the easier it is to make new ones. How fast can you make it go?"
"Maximum speed is a thousand lightyears per day. Unfortunately it takes a week of acceleration before the top speed can be reached. With luck, we can reach Mr. Starks location within two weeks."
"That's fantastic. When will the ship be ready?"
"Not for a month at least. We need bit more vibranium and aren't willing to pay what the Wakandan government wants for more of theirs." Said Pepper with a sour expression.
"What are they asking for?" Asked Rhodey.
"Our entire tech database. Everything, including the armor. Obviously it wasn't going to happen. We managed to get a fairly decent amount using good old fashioned hard currency though. Forty thousand grams worth. It's almost 70% of our needs." Pepper replied.
"Is it armed?" Asked the hopeful Colonel.
"Technically, no." Said the Vision.
"Oh, I get it. I know the score. Does it have features that could, theoretically, be used offensively." Rhodey snarked.
"Four rear mounted superheavy repulsors, 8 heavy repulsors, 20 repulsors, 20 multi-purpose probe launchers and two terajoule communication lasers. There is also a hanger facility for an actual military contingent. Everyone with aerospace fighters will be including some." Recited Vision.
"Everyone? I know about our space Quinjet but who else has armed spacecraft?"
"China possesses a dozen modified vessels of unknown alien make. Russia has reverse engineered enough basic Chitauri technology to develop a prototype space fighter. The United Kingdom is also at the prototype stage for a fighter based on remnants of Dark Elf technology. No other nation besides the United States has military aerospace capability."
"So everybody but us has to use alien tech?"
"The Space Quinjet uses several components reverse engineered from the Chitauri as well as one from a species known as the Kree. Much of it is based on Hydra research."
"Great, that makes me feel so comfortable." Said Rhodes sarcastically.
"If it makes you feel better...what is that?"
"No, Vision that doesn't make me feel better. What is it?"
"I do not know. There was a flash of some unknown energy in the outer system but it has since disappeared. We should go to the command center immediately."
Vision reached over and pulled an alarm panel, causing a siren to reverberate through the station. The group travelled through hallways filled with frantic people rushing in every direction. The command center was filled with high tech consoles and people in a plethora of uniforms. One wall was dominated by a giant screen. Vision touched one of the consoles with his eyes closed and a serene expression on his face. The screen lit up with the image of a sleek orange ship, almost birdlike in form, closing in on the Earth. There was a ragged gash along the side and the telltale pockmarks of battle damage.
"Unknown vessel, please identify yourself and your purpose within the Solar system." Said Vision aloud.
"Uh, yeah. This is the Milano on a mission for the Guardians of the Galaxy. Quick question, have you or have you not been enslaved by Thanos recently?"
HolyDragoon
Call Gespenst!
- Location
- Portugal
Sure, asking that is just like 'oh, did it rain yesterday'.
My mind also put some quotes on that enslaved part, like Thanos was just the village idiot that people entertained so he could leave them alone. XD
- Location
- Provo Utah or Northwestern Idaho
"We were invaded, but were able to repel the invasion force, how do you know of this?"
"Well, Thanos was kind of backing an interstellar war criminal were we came from, two of our crew are from these parts, and wanted to see if anything had happened."
I can totally see that sort of conversation occurring.
"Well, Thanos was kind of backing an interstellar war criminal were we came from, two of our crew are from these parts, and wanted to see if anything had happened."
I can totally see that sort of conversation occurring.
Chapter 16
Bran 5
"Ser Cregan, I have every confidence in your ability to function as castellan of the Dreadfort."
"Lord Bran, I have absolutely no experience at all running a holdfast."
"Lord Roose has a competent Maester and his previous castellan is forgoing execution in favor of giving you good advice. You'll have the full Winterfell garrison and contingents from Cerwyn and White Harbor to prevent anything going wrong."
"What of Winterfell? How will it defend itself?" Asked the concerned knight.
"Winterfell is the best defended location in the world right now. Almost a hundred metal men guard it. I'm told that they can defeat an army of thousands. You need the garrison far more than I do."
"I am also very concerned about you heading south with only a handful of guards. You are a figure of legend, true, but legends die all the time. What do you do if the enemy attacks with overwhelming forces?"
"Then I run away very fast. I'm not concerned about being seen as a brave warrior, I just fought an entire castle by myself. Not that I could have done it so smoothly without you and your men."
"Your men, Lord Bran. We are all your men."
"Not anymore. At least, not except in the broadest sense. Now, Lord Cregan, you have a major holding to run and I have a prisoner to interrogate."
Bran walked towards the dungeons of the Dreadfort where Ramsay was kept. The cells were atrocious, the conditions far worse than the dungeons of Winterfell. Ramsay sat in the opposite corner to the pile of filth that served as chamberpot. He smirked when Bran entered.
"Come to torture me, little boy? I can see it in your face, you don't have the guts to do it." Mocked the prisoner
"You know, a month ago you would be right. A month ago I would have puked and cried about killing a man. Now, though? I felt nothing slaughtering your men. Not a thing. So, really, I would have no problem torturing you. I wouldn't even need tools." Bran replied, smirking back.
Bran touched a metal bar and in seconds it was glowing cherry red. He gently caressed the bar and it became white hot.
"The problem that I see, the reason why I'm not going to torture you, is quite simple. I would be a creative amateur stumbling around like a babe in the woods. You deserve better than that. You deserve a proper torture from a master of the art. So I've decided to send you to the best. I'm sure your father will be just ecstatic to see you." Said the grinning Prince.
"No! You can't send me back to him, not after I failed so badly."
"Failed at what exactly? What did he tell you to do?"
"I'm not telling unless you meet my demands."
"Go on."
"First, I want a painless death. Quick and clean. Secondly, I want credit for everything. No matter what I tell you, it was all my plan. I want to be the villainous mastermind and not just some tag along in my father's legend. Do you accept?"
"I would be delighted to accept. In fact, I'll do better than that. I'll commissioned a song about your foul misdeeds. Ramsay will be the name of pure evil for generations. I swear it on my father's grave."
"Hehehehe, yessss. It was all father's plan. He wanted me to kidnap and marry Lady Hornwood to steal her lands. That's not all. He has a plan for your family, too. He's going to poison your brother the king. Make it look like he died of infected wounds. He...he thinks you're crippled. Hahaha. He thinks he can shuffle you off the line of succession and control your younger brother. I thought it was a fantastic plan when he explained it to me. Turns out it was just shit." Said Ramsay through fits of insane laughter.
"That is a pretty shit plan. Does he not have any spies or are they just terrible at their jobs?" Wondered Bran.
"The spies said you were blessed with magical powers by the old gods. Father didn't believe a word. Now I'm dead but I'm taking him with me. Haha. And everyone will know the name of Ramsay Snow."
"Guards! Take Lord Snow here to the practice yard for immediate execution."
"At once, milord."
The guards roughly hauled Ramsay up to the courtyard. Bran followed closely behind. As they reached the yard, the Winterfell Guardsmen let out a cheer. He waved at them and smiled.
"Ramsay Snow, you have been found guilty of treason, murder and kidnapping. Do you wish to take the Black and live out your natural life as a brother of the Night's Watch or do you desire immediate decapitation?"
"Cut off my head. I demand it."
"Very well."
Bran jumped and spun in midair. He kicked out with one leg and plucked Ramsay's head from his shoulders like a chicken at dinner time. There was no blood, no mess beyond the corpse. His greave cooled from white hot until it was only as hot as a forge. He turned to the vaguely queasy looking Ser Cregan and smiled.
"I leave the castle in your capable hands. I must go south to reach my brother before the poisoner does. Send a raven, ser. I shall endeavor to outrun it. Goodbye and good luck, Lord Cregan."
"You know I'm just a household knight, Lord Bran. I am no lord."
"Nonsense. You are clearly lord of...some part of formerly Bolton land. I'll get Robb to make it official when I see him. Take care of Lady Hornwood while I'm gone. She has had a horrible ordeal and deserves every comfort until she is well enough to return home."
Bran waved a final time and broke out into a flat sprint. He just kept running, faster and faster, until his muscles began to strain. He moved faster still and felt the pain of his muscles tearing with each step. His regeneration fixed each wound before his foot again struck dirt. Each step propelled him forward a dozen feet and cratered the kingsroad. His legs were like Tony's pistons driving downwards with a frantic tempo. Hours flew by while Bran knew nothing but the run.
Night came and passed. Dawn shined its rays and became noon. Noon turned to a new night as Bran only ran faster. The Neck was in view by the third day when he grew hungry. He spotted a deer in the distance and altered his trajectory to bound towards it. The animal had only a few seconds to be startled before it was dead. Bran paused to let the agony of his legs fade while he cooked the venison using his powers. He tore into the haunch with a ravenous appetite. In 5 minutes of hurried eating, the deer was entirely consumed. Meat, organs, bone, tendons, all was devoured.
Despite his full stomach and the lingering soreness of his legs, Bran set off again. He was faster than ever before, his leg muscles noticeably thicker and stronger by far. He ran at speeds which horses could only dream of achieving. It took only an hour to reach to reach Moat Cailin and only a few hours after that to make it to the banks of the Trident. The distinctive shape of the Twins could be seen in the distance. Bran knew that, as the entrypoint for supplies to the riverlands, someone at the Twins would know the location of his brother.
He approached the castle and waved at the gate guard. He looked slightly startled at the rapid approach of a black armored knight from the North.
"Halt and identify yourself." Said the guardsman in a booming voice.
"I am Brandon Stark of Winterfell. I'm looking for my brother the King. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?" Said the Prince.
"Um, yes. King Robb is still besieging the Crag. If you truly are a Stark of WInterfell, let me contact my superiors to arrange an escort. The land is crawling with Lannister troops." The guard replied.
"I appreciate the thought but the quickest way is through Ironman Bay. I'll just swim it. It's no issue." Bran said, completely serious.
"Haha, that's pretty funny. Wait, you're serious? You can't be serious. It's a dozen miles across Ironman Bay and you're in full armor. You'll drown. Wait!"
Bran laughed and launched himself into the air. He landed and sprinted to the west. The coast was quite close by and swimming was even faster than running. He didn't have to worry about managing his heat in the cool water and could use both arms and legs for movement. It wasn't long before his arms were tearing themselves apart with every stroke like his legs had. His muscles rebuilt themselves every second and he could feel himself get stronger with each movement.
It took hours to reach the Crag but he meant to spend the few moments necessary to capture the fortress before checking on his brother. He scaled the seaward wall with the same ease with which he climbed all things. A guard saw his ascent and shot an arrow at him. Bran grabbed the projectile out of the air and hurled it back at it's source. He heard a wet choking noise from the guard before he saw the man fall off the wall. The boy got to the top and leapt downward into the courtyard with a roll.
Bran ran to the gatehouse to startled cries from the garrison. He reached it before they could react and started cranking the windlass to raise the portcullis with a single hand. His sword was drawn with the other and the unlucky first guard to reach him got a blade through his throat. Bran idly fought the few men afterwards who tried to stop him while he finished raising the grate. They died within seconds of his attention being turned to them. He chopped the handles off the windlass to prevent the gate being barred and walked out.
There were a dozen men gathering in the courtyard but Bran ignored them. He sliced through the chains keeping the drawbridge up and kicked the doors open. The men had expressions of terror on their face while he smiled and waved. Bran nonchalantly walked out the open gate towards the siege lines. He walked towards a clump of Winterfell men with his visor raised and pointed towards the defenseless castle.
"It's Bran Stark! The old gods have heard our prayers." A helpful soldier cried out.
"Yes, it's me. I figured you boys were bored by now, so I decided to help out. I opened up the gate for you, now it's your turn. Take that castle for Winterfell, for House Stark and for the King in the North!"
The soldiers started forward with a monumental battle cry. They were already entering the castle by the time a noble officer noticed the disruption and rode over to investigate. He was from one of the minor houses sworn directly to Winterfell. He stopped and gaped at the charging men and Bran.
"Lord Bran, what are you...is the gate open?"
"Of course. Enemy castles just spontaneously open their gates whenever I approach for fear that I will become cross with them." Said Bran sarcastically.
"Is...is that a joke?"
"Well, It took me about a minute to scale the castle wall, take out the gate guard, raise the gate and sabotage it so they couldn't close it. So it might as well be true. Don't worry about the men, the Crag armsmen looked about ready to surrender before I left. I need to talk to my brother."
"I'm sorry, Lord Bran. The King took an arrow to the side yesterday and is sick with fever. The Maesters say no visitors." Said the crestfallen officer.
"Take. Me. To. My. Brother. Now!" Bran said in a voice that promised intense violence.
"At once, milord. Forgive me, milord." The man cried in fear.
They travelled further behind the lines to a large tent set up outside of even siege engine range. Bran pulled back the tent flap and rushed in. Robb lay on a pile of furs with Grey Wind snuggled in close. Two Maesters, one elderly with more links in his chain than any Bran had seen and the other a young man with barely enough to wrap around his throat. The greybeard looked very angry at being disturbed.
"What part of no visitors was misunderstood?" Said the Maester with a heated voice.
"The King has been poisoned. It's something that could be mistaken for fever from his wounds." Said Bran without preamble.
"Sounds like Feverwort. Check the back of his throat Rickard, if the boy is right there should be little white spots. Now, lad, what makes you say he was poisoned?"
"A full confession. Are there spots, Maester Rickard?" Said the Stark abruptly.
"Yes, milord. Little white ones in the back of his throat, just like Maester Jon said."
The Maester spoke up at that.
"Then I'm afraid that there is nothing we can do. Feverwort does little on it's own but makes wounds sure to fester and make fevers deadly. Even with an antidote, the king's brain is too swollen. He won't survive."
"Then give him my blood." Said the desperate Stark.
"He doesn't need more blood."
"He needs what's in it. He needs my power."
"I can't condone blood sorcery for my patient. On the other hand, I won't stop you. Do as you must." Replied the Maester suspiciously.
Bran cut his hand and dripped blood into the wound on his brother's side. The swelling immediately went down and pus ceased to drip. An orange glow travelled up his torso and into his head. It then did the unexpected and died down. The wound didn't heal and Robb didn't awake or catch on fire. Merlin whispered into his ear.
"I'm sorry, Bran. The part of his brain that Extremis requires has been damaged beyond my ability to repair. I neutralized the poison and did what repairs I could but he has extensive brain damage. There wasn't enough time to fully fix that before I had to terminate the instances in his body to avoid an explosion. With proper medication and physical therapy, he could very will live a full life."
Maester Rickard looks down his throat and smiles.
"Amazing. All the spots are gone. He's cured."
"No he isn't. That just means that the poison is gone and from the look on the lordlings face he couldn't fix the swelling. How bad is it?" Asked the concerned Maester.
"I don't know. His brain is too damaged for me to fix. He might live but he will never be fully cured."
"You did what you could, lad. More than anyone else could. We can take care of him from here. Go do the rest of what you came for."
"This was the only thing I came to do and I couldn't do it. If only I was faster, I could have prevented this. I could have done something." Cried Bran.
"You did do something. You gave him a chance to live. That was a chance that he never would have had without you. There is only one thing for you now. Justice on those responsible."
"Yes, Justice. That is something the world sorely lacks. Thank you for showing me the light, Maester. I will become the world's Justice."
"Ser Cregan, I have every confidence in your ability to function as castellan of the Dreadfort."
"Lord Bran, I have absolutely no experience at all running a holdfast."
"Lord Roose has a competent Maester and his previous castellan is forgoing execution in favor of giving you good advice. You'll have the full Winterfell garrison and contingents from Cerwyn and White Harbor to prevent anything going wrong."
"What of Winterfell? How will it defend itself?" Asked the concerned knight.
"Winterfell is the best defended location in the world right now. Almost a hundred metal men guard it. I'm told that they can defeat an army of thousands. You need the garrison far more than I do."
"I am also very concerned about you heading south with only a handful of guards. You are a figure of legend, true, but legends die all the time. What do you do if the enemy attacks with overwhelming forces?"
"Then I run away very fast. I'm not concerned about being seen as a brave warrior, I just fought an entire castle by myself. Not that I could have done it so smoothly without you and your men."
"Your men, Lord Bran. We are all your men."
"Not anymore. At least, not except in the broadest sense. Now, Lord Cregan, you have a major holding to run and I have a prisoner to interrogate."
Bran walked towards the dungeons of the Dreadfort where Ramsay was kept. The cells were atrocious, the conditions far worse than the dungeons of Winterfell. Ramsay sat in the opposite corner to the pile of filth that served as chamberpot. He smirked when Bran entered.
"Come to torture me, little boy? I can see it in your face, you don't have the guts to do it." Mocked the prisoner
"You know, a month ago you would be right. A month ago I would have puked and cried about killing a man. Now, though? I felt nothing slaughtering your men. Not a thing. So, really, I would have no problem torturing you. I wouldn't even need tools." Bran replied, smirking back.
Bran touched a metal bar and in seconds it was glowing cherry red. He gently caressed the bar and it became white hot.
"The problem that I see, the reason why I'm not going to torture you, is quite simple. I would be a creative amateur stumbling around like a babe in the woods. You deserve better than that. You deserve a proper torture from a master of the art. So I've decided to send you to the best. I'm sure your father will be just ecstatic to see you." Said the grinning Prince.
"No! You can't send me back to him, not after I failed so badly."
"Failed at what exactly? What did he tell you to do?"
"I'm not telling unless you meet my demands."
"Go on."
"First, I want a painless death. Quick and clean. Secondly, I want credit for everything. No matter what I tell you, it was all my plan. I want to be the villainous mastermind and not just some tag along in my father's legend. Do you accept?"
"I would be delighted to accept. In fact, I'll do better than that. I'll commissioned a song about your foul misdeeds. Ramsay will be the name of pure evil for generations. I swear it on my father's grave."
"Hehehehe, yessss. It was all father's plan. He wanted me to kidnap and marry Lady Hornwood to steal her lands. That's not all. He has a plan for your family, too. He's going to poison your brother the king. Make it look like he died of infected wounds. He...he thinks you're crippled. Hahaha. He thinks he can shuffle you off the line of succession and control your younger brother. I thought it was a fantastic plan when he explained it to me. Turns out it was just shit." Said Ramsay through fits of insane laughter.
"That is a pretty shit plan. Does he not have any spies or are they just terrible at their jobs?" Wondered Bran.
"The spies said you were blessed with magical powers by the old gods. Father didn't believe a word. Now I'm dead but I'm taking him with me. Haha. And everyone will know the name of Ramsay Snow."
"Guards! Take Lord Snow here to the practice yard for immediate execution."
"At once, milord."
The guards roughly hauled Ramsay up to the courtyard. Bran followed closely behind. As they reached the yard, the Winterfell Guardsmen let out a cheer. He waved at them and smiled.
"Ramsay Snow, you have been found guilty of treason, murder and kidnapping. Do you wish to take the Black and live out your natural life as a brother of the Night's Watch or do you desire immediate decapitation?"
"Cut off my head. I demand it."
"Very well."
Bran jumped and spun in midair. He kicked out with one leg and plucked Ramsay's head from his shoulders like a chicken at dinner time. There was no blood, no mess beyond the corpse. His greave cooled from white hot until it was only as hot as a forge. He turned to the vaguely queasy looking Ser Cregan and smiled.
"I leave the castle in your capable hands. I must go south to reach my brother before the poisoner does. Send a raven, ser. I shall endeavor to outrun it. Goodbye and good luck, Lord Cregan."
"You know I'm just a household knight, Lord Bran. I am no lord."
"Nonsense. You are clearly lord of...some part of formerly Bolton land. I'll get Robb to make it official when I see him. Take care of Lady Hornwood while I'm gone. She has had a horrible ordeal and deserves every comfort until she is well enough to return home."
Bran waved a final time and broke out into a flat sprint. He just kept running, faster and faster, until his muscles began to strain. He moved faster still and felt the pain of his muscles tearing with each step. His regeneration fixed each wound before his foot again struck dirt. Each step propelled him forward a dozen feet and cratered the kingsroad. His legs were like Tony's pistons driving downwards with a frantic tempo. Hours flew by while Bran knew nothing but the run.
Night came and passed. Dawn shined its rays and became noon. Noon turned to a new night as Bran only ran faster. The Neck was in view by the third day when he grew hungry. He spotted a deer in the distance and altered his trajectory to bound towards it. The animal had only a few seconds to be startled before it was dead. Bran paused to let the agony of his legs fade while he cooked the venison using his powers. He tore into the haunch with a ravenous appetite. In 5 minutes of hurried eating, the deer was entirely consumed. Meat, organs, bone, tendons, all was devoured.
Despite his full stomach and the lingering soreness of his legs, Bran set off again. He was faster than ever before, his leg muscles noticeably thicker and stronger by far. He ran at speeds which horses could only dream of achieving. It took only an hour to reach to reach Moat Cailin and only a few hours after that to make it to the banks of the Trident. The distinctive shape of the Twins could be seen in the distance. Bran knew that, as the entrypoint for supplies to the riverlands, someone at the Twins would know the location of his brother.
He approached the castle and waved at the gate guard. He looked slightly startled at the rapid approach of a black armored knight from the North.
"Halt and identify yourself." Said the guardsman in a booming voice.
"I am Brandon Stark of Winterfell. I'm looking for my brother the King. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?" Said the Prince.
"Um, yes. King Robb is still besieging the Crag. If you truly are a Stark of WInterfell, let me contact my superiors to arrange an escort. The land is crawling with Lannister troops." The guard replied.
"I appreciate the thought but the quickest way is through Ironman Bay. I'll just swim it. It's no issue." Bran said, completely serious.
"Haha, that's pretty funny. Wait, you're serious? You can't be serious. It's a dozen miles across Ironman Bay and you're in full armor. You'll drown. Wait!"
Bran laughed and launched himself into the air. He landed and sprinted to the west. The coast was quite close by and swimming was even faster than running. He didn't have to worry about managing his heat in the cool water and could use both arms and legs for movement. It wasn't long before his arms were tearing themselves apart with every stroke like his legs had. His muscles rebuilt themselves every second and he could feel himself get stronger with each movement.
It took hours to reach the Crag but he meant to spend the few moments necessary to capture the fortress before checking on his brother. He scaled the seaward wall with the same ease with which he climbed all things. A guard saw his ascent and shot an arrow at him. Bran grabbed the projectile out of the air and hurled it back at it's source. He heard a wet choking noise from the guard before he saw the man fall off the wall. The boy got to the top and leapt downward into the courtyard with a roll.
Bran ran to the gatehouse to startled cries from the garrison. He reached it before they could react and started cranking the windlass to raise the portcullis with a single hand. His sword was drawn with the other and the unlucky first guard to reach him got a blade through his throat. Bran idly fought the few men afterwards who tried to stop him while he finished raising the grate. They died within seconds of his attention being turned to them. He chopped the handles off the windlass to prevent the gate being barred and walked out.
There were a dozen men gathering in the courtyard but Bran ignored them. He sliced through the chains keeping the drawbridge up and kicked the doors open. The men had expressions of terror on their face while he smiled and waved. Bran nonchalantly walked out the open gate towards the siege lines. He walked towards a clump of Winterfell men with his visor raised and pointed towards the defenseless castle.
"It's Bran Stark! The old gods have heard our prayers." A helpful soldier cried out.
"Yes, it's me. I figured you boys were bored by now, so I decided to help out. I opened up the gate for you, now it's your turn. Take that castle for Winterfell, for House Stark and for the King in the North!"
The soldiers started forward with a monumental battle cry. They were already entering the castle by the time a noble officer noticed the disruption and rode over to investigate. He was from one of the minor houses sworn directly to Winterfell. He stopped and gaped at the charging men and Bran.
"Lord Bran, what are you...is the gate open?"
"Of course. Enemy castles just spontaneously open their gates whenever I approach for fear that I will become cross with them." Said Bran sarcastically.
"Is...is that a joke?"
"Well, It took me about a minute to scale the castle wall, take out the gate guard, raise the gate and sabotage it so they couldn't close it. So it might as well be true. Don't worry about the men, the Crag armsmen looked about ready to surrender before I left. I need to talk to my brother."
"I'm sorry, Lord Bran. The King took an arrow to the side yesterday and is sick with fever. The Maesters say no visitors." Said the crestfallen officer.
"Take. Me. To. My. Brother. Now!" Bran said in a voice that promised intense violence.
"At once, milord. Forgive me, milord." The man cried in fear.
They travelled further behind the lines to a large tent set up outside of even siege engine range. Bran pulled back the tent flap and rushed in. Robb lay on a pile of furs with Grey Wind snuggled in close. Two Maesters, one elderly with more links in his chain than any Bran had seen and the other a young man with barely enough to wrap around his throat. The greybeard looked very angry at being disturbed.
"What part of no visitors was misunderstood?" Said the Maester with a heated voice.
"The King has been poisoned. It's something that could be mistaken for fever from his wounds." Said Bran without preamble.
"Sounds like Feverwort. Check the back of his throat Rickard, if the boy is right there should be little white spots. Now, lad, what makes you say he was poisoned?"
"A full confession. Are there spots, Maester Rickard?" Said the Stark abruptly.
"Yes, milord. Little white ones in the back of his throat, just like Maester Jon said."
The Maester spoke up at that.
"Then I'm afraid that there is nothing we can do. Feverwort does little on it's own but makes wounds sure to fester and make fevers deadly. Even with an antidote, the king's brain is too swollen. He won't survive."
"Then give him my blood." Said the desperate Stark.
"He doesn't need more blood."
"He needs what's in it. He needs my power."
"I can't condone blood sorcery for my patient. On the other hand, I won't stop you. Do as you must." Replied the Maester suspiciously.
Bran cut his hand and dripped blood into the wound on his brother's side. The swelling immediately went down and pus ceased to drip. An orange glow travelled up his torso and into his head. It then did the unexpected and died down. The wound didn't heal and Robb didn't awake or catch on fire. Merlin whispered into his ear.
"I'm sorry, Bran. The part of his brain that Extremis requires has been damaged beyond my ability to repair. I neutralized the poison and did what repairs I could but he has extensive brain damage. There wasn't enough time to fully fix that before I had to terminate the instances in his body to avoid an explosion. With proper medication and physical therapy, he could very will live a full life."
Maester Rickard looks down his throat and smiles.
"Amazing. All the spots are gone. He's cured."
"No he isn't. That just means that the poison is gone and from the look on the lordlings face he couldn't fix the swelling. How bad is it?" Asked the concerned Maester.
"I don't know. His brain is too damaged for me to fix. He might live but he will never be fully cured."
"You did what you could, lad. More than anyone else could. We can take care of him from here. Go do the rest of what you came for."
"This was the only thing I came to do and I couldn't do it. If only I was faster, I could have prevented this. I could have done something." Cried Bran.
"You did do something. You gave him a chance to live. That was a chance that he never would have had without you. There is only one thing for you now. Justice on those responsible."
"Yes, Justice. That is something the world sorely lacks. Thank you for showing me the light, Maester. I will become the world's Justice."
- Location
- No
Well, the insanity is showing. Are you sure Bran hasn't contracted some targaryen,eh ?
Nice chapter
Nice chapter
Kerashana
Warden
- Location
- The Outer Gate
That's not ominous. Not at all~
- Location
- USA
Ultron Time?