Amaterasu's Marvelous Dawn

Ammy in the Bar - Thor and Sif's Punishment
Enjoy the short. This is not canon. Maybe in a parallel universe it is. Inspired by ptb_ptb on SpaceBattles.

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"I fold, I got nothing. Dammit Wolfy, why'd you have to go in like that?" Clint set his cards face down, and crossed his arms. "And who let Banner shuffle?" Despite being a super spy and quick with his hands, he was up against some rather tough opponents. He was sure someone was cheating, but it was impossible to tell who.

Everyone at the table was a sneaky little shit.

"C'mon Clint, giving up that fast?" Natasha nudged the archer with her foot. "You've got the sharpest eyes here and you can't even see Stark's bluff?" Natasha knew someone was cheating. She knew who it was though, they weren't even being sneaky about it.

"Me? Oh no, look at Mr. Frozen Face over there. Hasn't moved a muscle," Tony rebuffed. "Well, Cap? Got any threes?" Tony, meanwhile, was blissfully oblivious to the idea that anyone would cheat. The game wasn't for money, and he was just trying to one-up his friends and colleagues with some good old-fashioned card counting and banter.

Getting everyone drunk tended to help with that too.

"Wrong game, Tony," Steve replied, not even looking up from his hand. "Did you have to bring the suit with you? We're in a bar. You're not exactly casual." Steve wasn't really too interested in what the others were doing. He was pretty sure he had a great hand with what cards were on the table, but he wasn't a gambling man. However, he'd learned something about not giving away anything with expressions while playing, so he was doing his best.

"Of course I did," Stark huffed. "I look great in the suit and sunglasses. It's called fashion. You should come to the twenty-first century and try it. Besides…" Tony leaned back and nodded at the person across the table, using a finger to lower his shades. "Space Dog there is hardly stealthy."

Amaterasu sat back in her seat, using a paw to lower her sunglasses to send a glare at Tony. She huffed through her nose, and turned her gaze to her cards, one of her ears flicking the slightest amount.

"Tony, she was invisible when she came," Natasha countered. "I don't think your giant mango costume is close to that level."

Natasha, not even looking, reached out a hand toward Amaterasu. The wolf met it with a meaty smack of her paw, the only two women at the table sharing a moment.

"Hey!" Tony pointed at Natasha, then at Ammy. "You don't get to talk about the mango thing. And don't team up, you're both menaces together." He huffed, and gestured to the space at the table between them. "Barton's between you two for a reason."

"I am?" Clint asked. "I wish someone told me before I saw them swap hands."

Tony's spluttering was interrupted by Thor and Sif, the duo stuck in a perpetual state of embarrassment. The frilly dresses they wore fluttered with each step, and the wolf-ear headbands bounced with their movement. They looked every bit the wolf-girl maids that Amaterasu intended them to.

They'd started to reach for their weapons when she'd hinted about tails. Even without them, they still looked absolutely adorable. If a muscular Viking-like man and woman wearing frilly maid dresses were cute, that is.

Sif was allowed to wear pants underneath; Ammy wasn't a monster.

Just a gremlin.

"Your drinks, as requested," Thor ground out. He and Sif set various alcoholic beverages on the table, glasses, mugs, and various other fancy cups to be added to the, in Thor's opinion, rather unnecessarily large pile. Once the drinks were placed, the two grabbed the edges of their dresses and performed a small dip before leaving, both wincing and red with embarrassment.

All according to Amaterasu's plan.

"Hey, so, weird question," Clint spoke up. "Not trying to step on any toes—or paws—but is this… legal?"

"Forcing people to work against their will? Pretty sure we amended that back in-" A slice of lemon was launched at Stark, bouncing off his forehead and landing in his drink with a splash. "Ah, shit, now the suit's gonna be sticky. Thanks for that, Nat." He grabbed at a stack of napkins, fumbling around with them due to his thick gauntlets, and did his best to wipe off his metal armour.

"Is what legal, Clint?" Steve asked. He still didn't look up from his hand—he held the calm, cool façade of a seasoned professional. That he refused to look away from his hand was definitely not the mark of a worried man. Absolutely not. He was cool as a cucumber. Cold as an ice-cube- Wait, bad example.

"Not the Thor and Sif thing, I'm sure they deserved it," Clint added.

Incredulous and moderately offended protests left the two Asgardians, before Amaterasu turned and stared at them through her glasses, causing them to back down. The duo grumbled, and retreated back behind the bar, Thor and Sif idly cleaning glasses. Bruce Banner watched the duo with no small amount of amusement, though he quickly returned his attention to the wolf that was somehow holding cards with one paw and he wasn't allowed to understand or study how!

'Magic' wasn't a real answer. He was gonna get to the bottom of that wolf soon—in the sciencey way, of course. Not whatever weird shenanigans Loki and Thor got up to in their recorded history. Banner wasn't so sure why everyone thought he was weird—Loki had done far worse things than just becoming a giant green smash machine. Like the time he turned into a horse and-

"I mean with Wolfy here," Clint specified. "Normal dogs—wolves—would have died after a few drinks, let alone forty-two. Yet she's still here. But also… Is she, you know…" Clint fumbled for words. "Does the twenty-one rule apply to other species?"



Tony lowered his shades again, and raised a brow. Natasha smirked but said nothing. Steve peered up over his cards, looking at the archer for a brief moment. Amaterasu lowered her shades as well, huffed through her nose, then turned her attention back to her cards.

"Did you just ask if Space Dog is legal?" Tony asked.

Thor decided now would be a good time to chip in. "Fandral certainly thought so-" A sharp look from Amaterasu cut him off. As did the sharp elbow in the side from Sif. "Right, sorry, silence. My apologies."

Amaterasu narrowed her eyes.

"My apologies, your Wolfess-ness," Thor amended.

"Wolves reach sexual maturity and full size at around one to three years, give or take," Natasha spoke up. She pushed several of her poker chips forward, and cast a glance at Tony. "Call, by the way."

"That's a weird thing to know off the top of your head, Romanoff," Stark added. "And why did you have to specify sexual? Do we need to check your browser history?" He glanced down at the table, and pushed some of his chips forward. "How old are ya, Laika? You look like a big dog to me." He leaned forward and squinted at the wolf. "You know, I think I'm seeing a little grey around your muzzle. Better be careful, old lady. Who wants to bet on hip dysplasia doing her in?"

One moment Tony was leaning forward, smug as ever. The next, his drink burst into flames, the entire contents evaporating in an instant and causing a plume of smoke to wash over his face. He coughed and pulled away, tugging the sunglasses off his face. This just left him looking like a reverse-raccoon—face smudged in soot and rings around his eyes perfectly clean.

Amaterasu's low, growling and huffing laughter was added to by Clint and Natasha, the former pulling out his phone to snap a quick photo of the billionaire. Even Steve managed to crack the slightest smile, before returning to cold neutrality.

"Son of a bi-" Tony glanced at Amaterasu. "Nothing." His gaze shifted to Clint once more, who looked far too pleased with himself. "Nice shot, Barton. You should take up a career in photography—you're hopeless shooting anything else."

"Stark take your damn turn," Natasha kicked him beneath the table, a metallic clang ringing out.

"… You just tried to kick my balls. You know you need to pay extra for that." Tony glanced down at his cards again, and pushed several chips forward as well.

"I'm gonna tell Pepper you said that," Natasha hummed.

"… I retract my former statement." Stark turned to face Steve, who was still staring at his cards. "Come on, Frosty, we're not going to wait for you to thaw again." Tony then turned to point at Amaterasu, wagging his finger. "Don't think I've forgotten about you either. Spill the beans, Space Dog."

Steve, without a word, pushed his remaining chips in. Granted, it wasn't many, but considering the losing streak he'd been on, this seemed to be a last-ditch attempt from the poor guy.

"Awuff," Amaterasu replied to Tony. She cast her gaze over her shoulder, peering over her sunglasses to look at Sif.

"… She says she's been alive here for a few months at most," Sif translated.

"Arf."

"She also said she's been alive for one-thousand three-hundred years, give or take a few decades."



"Alright, so, in dog years she's either barely one, or she's over nine-thousand. We just need to stay over twenty-one. I like these odds." Tony laughed and sat back in his seat.

Everyone other than Sif and Thor—and Steve who seemed to be unable to look away from the cards in his hand—looked… not stunned. More like an odd weary acceptance. It wasn't exactly a surprising answer to come from the Goddess of the Sun. They've grown used to the outlandishness. At this point, if Amaterasu started to behave like a normal wolf, they'd be more worried than if she broke out into spontaneous combustion and tap-dancing. At the same time. One or the other by themselves wasn't unlikely.

"Right, right, of course." Barton rubbed at his face. "Magic and gods and stuff. How could I forget?" He slowly pulled his hands down, stretching his face a little, giving a sigh that could have knocked down a straw house. "I'm about three shots too sober for this." Barton stood up, placed his cards down, and wandered over to the bar. He planned on harassing Thor for more drinks, and doing his best to discuss something mundane and normal with Banner. Maybe bowling? Or the weather? Taking bets on what the next world-ending threat would be? Those were normal things to talk to your coworker about—as normal as he could get these days, anyway.

Amaterasu laughed under her breath again, tail wagging through the slot in the chair she'd managed to wriggle herself onto. She set her cards down on the table, proud of herself. She'd gotten two pairs, and felt she wasn't doing half bad for a game she learned thirty minutes ago. That, or she was hilariously overconfident due to the amount of liquor she'd consumed. Both worked for her, she was having a blast.

"Ha! Nice try, Space Dog." Tony laid his cards in front of him, a grin on his face. "A straight. Your 'magic' can't do card counting. Barton! C'mere, take another photo. We'll call it Poker Sympathy."

"Steve? You wanna show your cards, big guy?" Natasha asked, a playful lilt to her voice. She peered over her own cards, drawing attention to the Super Soldier.

"Uh… I think I win?" Steve tossed his two cards down, glancing at the shocked reactions of the others at the table. "This is good, right?"

An Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and a ten. All in Spades. Royal Flush.

Amaterasu reeled back, jaw dropped, and tilted so far backward that her chair tipped over, causing her to sprawl out onto the floor, knocking over the stack of thick mugs that had been sitting beside her.

"How the fu- what did you do?" Tony grabbed at the cards and started poking and prodding at them, squinting, pulling his sunglasses down so they dangled by his chin. "I'm taking these back to the Tower and I'm gonna have Jarvis analyse them. There is no way. Pull up your sleeves you crafty old bastard."

"Oh, damn. Well, congrats Steve." Natasha smirked behind her cards. "You almost had me beat." She tossed down her cards and crossed her arms, sitting back smugly.

"Natasha, control your Russian need for Vodka. You are far too drunk. In what world-"

Tony looked at the cards.

"Why do you have five cards!?"

"Five of a Kind," Natasha replied, stating the obvious. Clearly there was nothing wrong with that statement and Natasha was the epitome of sportsman—and woman—like conduct. She didn't cheat. No, she merely won outside the box.

And the rules.

"Wha- That's not- You can't-" Tony pointed at the table, then at her cards again. "That's not a thing!"

"Oh no, it is. See? Right there on the table." Natasha pointed at the cards. "One, two, three, four, five. I think you need glasses, Tony."

Unfortunately, as Tony went to palm his face, he seemed to have forgotten that he was wearing his suit. The Iron Man suit. The one made of metal alloys and could take hits from Thor without instantly shattering. The one that took a tank round about thirty-seven iterations ago. That suit.

Metal met face.

His sunglasses split in half on impact, and the momentum carried through, his hard head meeting even harder metal. Stark reeled back from the impact, which caused something rather peculiar to happen. When someone is wearing a suit of metal armour, no matter how light it's meant to be, it's still too heavy for a standard wooden bar chair—those tend to break under heavier set people without a several billion dollar mango attached to their bodies.

The back legs of the chair gave out, and Tony fell to the ground, hitting the floor with a metallic clang not unlike a hammer on an anvil. The wooden legs of the chair bounced around, the force on them causing one to bounce off the wall behind Tony, and then tumble back toward him, falling on his face with a dull thunk.

"Odin's beard," Thor cursed under his breath, before shouting, "We have to clean that!"

The two Asgardians looked upon the scene in no small amount of horror. Amaterasu was splayed out on the ground, all four limbs in different directions. She was covered in various glass mugs and other drinking utensils. She still didn't seem to be over her shock of Steve's Royal Flush. That, or she was so drunk she forgot how to move her face.

It was probably the second one.

This was only the first hour of their eight-hour bargain.

And they were paying for it all!

No, using deities, wolves, and various assorted creatures who decided that Chaos Theory was more of a suggestion than a rule of reality was a poor idea. All they'd wanted to do was one up the other and show off who'd acquired the better wolf. It was a simple, easy plan.

Now Thor and Sif were dressed as two wolf-girl maids on Midgard.

Thor had been so certain that Karma was not a real deity. Now he wasn't so sure.


Big thanks to my supporters, you're all amazing: Nithalys, Sleepyghost, Blobbycat, Baron of Bonk, IRS, JoeyW, Spartan211, SugarCube, crpen1992, and Valon.
 
Chapter 24 - Interlude
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Agatha's heels clicked on the concrete floor, the lack of an echo thanks to her punching holes into the little 'secret base' they had. She stepped over bullet holes, wandered around the craters in the ground sizzling with dark magic, and kicked aside several corpses.

They thought that they could keep the pages of the Darkhold from her. They'd tried to construct some energy barrier around it to interfere with the magic output from the cursed papers. Clearly, it hadn't worked. Scientists are no magicians or sorcerers; they should stick to their own field of study.

Hell, she'd even tried to be polite. Agatha asked for the pages nicely—after kicking in their door—and they'd tried to fill her with lead! It was rather rude, all things considered. And amusing. What idiots tried to fend off a practitioner of the Dark Arts with bullets? Clearly, they didn't want to live much longer.

Agatha reached toward the pages of the Darkhold. She could hear their whispers encouraging her closer, to take them. To use them. The sound was familiar, almost comforting in a way, that let her know she was on the right path.

A terrified, horrific, wail sounded out from behind her, interrupting her. She narrowed her eyes, and turned, an annoyed huff slipping out of her. The screams continued. Cries of "Help me please!" or "Kill me!" or "Tell my dying daughter that I love her!" escaped the dying man. Terribly annoying things, really.

"Señor Scratchy," Agatha chided. "Come now, you know better. It's rude to eat when they're still alive. You're supposed to start with the head."

Her little white rabbit, Señor Scratchy, was not so little at the moment. A simple spell increased his size to that of a horse, apparently with an appetite to match. His meal? One of the men she'd passed off as dead. Apparently she'd missed one, and he survived having his arms melted off. Props to him, really, it was impressive.

The man thrashed and wailed unable to defend himself, forced to endure the flat teeth of the rabbit digging in and crushing his bones with sickening crunches. All he could do was curl and twist his torso around, slowly being pulled into the jaws of the rabbit with each bite.

Kind of like an adorable wood chipper.

It was both sickeningly cute and horrific.

Agatha raised her hands, palms facing the man, and closed her hands as if she was gripping something. Purple smoke oozed from between her fingers, dark magic obeying her will. With one hand remaining still, the other twisted to the side. A disgusting series of cracks sounded out, the mans body spinning around several times—once at his waist, another below his shoulders, and a final rotation at his neck.

Now that the man had more in common with a Twizzler than his formerly living coworkers, Agatha let the bunny eat in peace. Either the man was already dead, or he couldn't feel anything and would die of blood loss in moments anyway.

Really, she was too kind. If she hadn't raided their research facility someone else would have. Someone much worse, probably. Someone who would have toyed with them and given them hope that they could have lived, only to snuff out their lives moments from safety. But her? She didn't enjoy senseless violence, murder, or torture. Well… Maybe that last one if the person really deserved it.

These people did though. Their lives were forfeit when they decided to shoot at her, which, again, was incredibly rude. Not that she was surprised they were rude—their base felt a little too cultish for her tastes. The matching uniforms, bleak decorations, matching symbols, and the concerning willingness to throw themselves at her until they'd all perished.

Cults rarely had manners. They were all about "summoning demons" or "it's just one blood sacrifice what's the big deal?" and getting really stabby or shooty with anyone else. Honestly, if they practiced a little extra hygiene and didn't go straight for killing people, they'd have a much better reputation. But no, it's the crazies that make it weird to be in a cult nowadays.

Agatha glanced up at the shattered remains of the wall, her dark magic still sizzling away, eating at the material. Unfortunately, it was difficult to tell what the symbol was. She may have rendered the wall more holey than Swiss cheese. Good thing that wasn't the only symbol because these people seemed to be all for team uniforms.

Agatha glanced at one of the bodies and crooked a finger, causing one of the patches to tear off and fly toward her. She gazed at the floating symbol and narrowed her eyes. Something about it was chillingly familiar and tickled at the back of her mind.

It was a skull, sitting atop six tentacles.

HYDRA.

Suddenly, any remorse that Agatha may have harboured for killing these people evaporated—almost as fast as her mind was whiplashed seventy-some-odd years into the past. Not that she felt bad anyway. People hiding out in shacks in the middle of the woods were rarely up to something good. She should know.

But these people?

She remembered them a little too well. They'd been searching for the Darkhold like she'd been all those years ago. So had the Sorcerer Supreme, funnily enough. It was a three-person race to get the book, and that annoying baldie had done something to the pages.

As annoying as it was, Agatha respected the decision at the very least. Keeping it out of HYDRA's hands was the second best solution—the first being her getting that damned book she'd struggled to get. She was fully aware she wasn't any saint, and she wasn't opposed to killing people to gain power in the end. It wasn't her preferred method, but hey, something about the ends justifying the stabbing and face-melting magic.

No, she wasn't what she considered a good person.

HYDRA though? Complete maniacs. They slaughtered anything and everything in their path. They performed horrific experiments on people—innocent people that had nothing to do with their war, and weren't in their way. They did it for 'science' and cruelty. They'd performed those horrible experiments on children.

Agatha hadn't intentionally sought them out in the forties, but whenever she ran into them she was more than happy to end their miserable existence. Taking power from the underserving and all that—kind of her thing. She'd absorbed nearly a dozen magic artifacts the group managed to collect. After she ripped them out of their cold, dead hands, however.

They were supposed to have been wiped out. Yet, here they were, back again almost seventy years later. And they were still after her book. Persistent little fuckers.

That wouldn't do.

Agatha grabbed the pages of the Darkhold, holding maybe ten of them in total. Still, it wasn't an all-powerful magic book for nothing. Even these little scraps sent a thrill up her spine, and her magic surged in response. Her eyes trailed over the pages, memorizing anything and everything she could.

The Darkhold had a will of its own—it longed to be whole once more. She could feel that desire pressing down upon her mind, trying to wriggle its way in to make her seek out the rest of them. It took little effort to shut that down, her practice and experience more than enough to overwhelm the corruption of some sentient paper.

The tug toward the other pages of the Darkhold she allowed to stay, however. It merely enhanced her own magic sensing abilities and told her roughly where the other pages were. There was a reason she was being tasked to find the pages, after all.

That asshole in Latveria likely couldn't even sense them. Victor Von Doom, that bastard. He didn't have the finesse needed for real magic. He just pumped power into some gravity or electricity spells, there wasn't anything clever about that!

But he wanted the pages. Oh, she'd bring him the pages alright. Them, and whatever magic artifacts she could gather. She'd continue her quest to gain power, and she was going to show that metal-faced asshole who the real master of magic was.

He'd caught her off guard, and she'd been cocky. She wasn't going to be making that mistake again.

Agatha huffed and glanced down at the pages. Already her fingers were starting to turn black and look corrupted, thanks to the properties of the paper. A flick of her wrist sent them into her claimed portion of the ether, and a flare of magic returned her digits to normal. Much better. She might be several hundred years old but that was no excuse to look like a wrinkly old hag.

Professionals have standards.

Being a professional also meant she had to keep her activity a little on the quiet side. It seemed that the closest section of the Darkhold to her was somewhere on the eastern half of the United States. Specifically, New York City.

Lovely. Nothing like wandering into the home of the Sorcerer Supreme to collect pages of an evil book from right under her nose. That's not to mention all the other super-powered weirdos that happened to reside in that massive ugly sprawl of humanity. No matter, she could handle whatever came her way. She'd just be on her best behaviour so that baldie wouldn't need to invite her for tea.

Though… Tea time did invite the opportunity for poisoning. That could be fun. Maybe…

"Come on, Señor Scratchy, we've got a little trip to make." Agatha fearlessly approached the blood-stained bunny, who still had little bits of hair and meat in his teeth. She grabbed the massive rabbit by the jaw and pried it open. Agatha plucked a rabbit treat from her pocket and flicked it into his mouth in a fluid motion.

The bunny shrieked in agony, its bones twisting and snapping. It writhed and flailed about on the ground, thrashing as its fur began to fall off, and out of the bare flesh sprouted oily black feathers. Legs thinned, and stretched out. Toes broke and extended. His muzzle shattered and jutted forward, forming into a sharp beak with a wicked hook to it.

In place of the bunny was a massive raven, its intelligent eyes flicking about the room, before falling on her. Its eyes immediately went blank and hazed over, and the bird slumped forward slightly.

Agatha grabbed a handful of feathers and swung herself up onto the back of the bird, settling herself into place. A couple uses of magic had her more-or-less strapped to the bird. She needed to be secure. She'd fallen off one-too-many times by catching a stray bird to the face. Annoying feathery fucks. Geese were the worst—they'd run into her and then act offended as if it was her fault they weren't paying attention.

The worst part? They were surprisingly resistant to having their necks twisted. Annoying to deal with too.

Agatha dug her heels into the side of the bird, and it lurched forward, leaping from the shattered remains of the Hydra base, and taking to the skies. As an afterthought, she tossed a blob of dark magic behind her. It was just a little send-off to those rude cultists. It's not like anyone is going to miss them, and she wasn't going to feel bad when that blob grew to eat everything there, including the building.

She was recycling, it was good for the environment.

With a chuckle, Agatha settled herself in. She was rather excited for this trip. Not only was she going to be gathering more pieces of the Darkhold, but she was going to try to see something rather exciting. If it was real, that is. Considering how much of a stir the world had been in though, it was at least taking a look at.

"What do you think, Señor Scratchy? Is that wolf really a Goddess?" Agatha pat the birds neck, and chuckled. "If it's real, she might be a fun challenge. And, if she's not, you get a nice snack. Doesn't that sound great?"

A shrill cry from the raven was her only response.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

Nick Fury wasn't an idiot; he knew full well that the circumstances around Brock Rumlow were suspicious. The job in general fell outside the agent's area of expertise, at least on the surface level. Why would someone running an anti-terrorism task force and strike team be investigating AIM? By himself, no less? That's not something he does.

Then, coincidentally, Agent Rumlow wound up going on a mission halfway across the country a day later. Out of reach, radio silence, because he was dealing with a terror group that just popped up. Of course, with him gone, there was no one to directly confirm the details of the meeting with AIM.

Which is why Fury thought the whole thing smelled like bullshit.

The written records were targeted, and the details of the conversation, including the recordings, were wiped. Amaterasu's file was locked without his knowledge and her tracking collar was disabled. There would have been no telling where Amaterasu went, or why, because Rumlow couldn't have been reached.

Fury didn't believe in coincidences—things don't just happen without a reason. There was something going on, and Fury was going to get to the bottom of it.

Unfortunately, due to the actions of a certain wolf—whom Fury was certain was the Goddess of Chaos, not the sun—and the blistering temperatures of the Extremis users, Killian's mansion was destroyed. The servers in the basement? Gone. Any backup files on their computers? Melted with the rest of the hard drives. The only thing they had to go off of was a single ping from their servers.

It looked like it was a simple slip-up from whoever was in their system. Only, the people that could get into their systems in the first place didn't make mistakes. Not ones like that. It was sloppy. Amateur. His folks had called it embarrassing.

That's why he knew it was meant to throw him off—to keep his attention elsewhere.

And it worked too. At least, for a short time. Countless hours had gone into tracking every money transfer, bank statement, text, call, and anything else AIM or Killian had gone through in the last five years. They were still pouring through things, but…

Unless Killian had a metric fuckton of cash stashed away somewhere, and had used burner phones and in-person meetings with someone that could hack into SHIELD, it couldn't have been them. There was no one on Killian's payroll that had the ability to get into SHIELD's systems.

Not that Fury thought it was an external attack. His gut told him it was something else—someone inside SHIELD did it.

Things lined up a little too perfectly for it not to.

Captain Rogers was meant to take on a mission in Europe, until Fury reassigned him to investigating that small town event. He'd passed that mission off to Agent Romanoff, which caused Rogers to come back three days earlier than he would have otherwise. They'd been planning on doing this while Steve, the person around Amaterasu the most often, was away.

The only reason they knew it was AIM in the first place was because Rogers found that card. Because Amaterasu left it behind. Because Steve was back early, felt bad, and offered her to stay with him while the rest of the city lost their collective fucking minds over a magic dog. No one would have known where Fido was if Steve hadn't tried to find her, leading to one thing after another.

It was a series of chances that they managed to figure out what was happening. They wouldn't have even received the distress call from the collar if Fury hadn't tasked his people with getting it online. They managed it maybe an hour before it was used.

Fury didn't believe in coincidences, which is why this whole thing pissed him off so much. Someone was running laps around him and his agents, and it was embarrassing how far they managed to go.

No, it was someone inside of SHIELD, it had to be, and he was going to find out who had the fucking balls to betray the organization.

So, he started at the beginning. He checked the logs and had his teams see when and where the files were accessed. There was nothing. It was all wiped. There wasn't even a trace of the wipe. All that existed was the log of a ping from AIM's servers—a clear misdirection.

Chronologically, his next step was to talk to Rumlow.

"Sorry I didn't answer your calls, Sir, I was undercover. Those terror cells are full of paranoid little fuckers."



"Nothing on file? I swear up and down I wrote everything. Maya Henson; took photos of the card; wrote the details of the meeting down. All that jazz. Even submitted the paper copies, they should be in the archive."



"Even the paper copies? Shit. I'll do my best to remember everything and get it down again for you, Sir."



"Oh, I was just following up on info from Mr. Garrett. Biological super-ish stuff is his department, hey? He told me to look into it, something about a possible terror threat from the organization. Nothing came up though, they were pretty clean other than one run-in with the law years ago. I joined Poochy to make sure everything was up to snuff. Did they delete the recording too? Damn, they were thorough."

Fury didn't buy it. The terror organization that Rumlow was investigating? They hadn't been active in nearly eight years. There hadn't been a single peep since Barton took care of them all that time ago.

Bull. Shit.

Unfortunately, other than a feeling in his gut, Fury had nothing to go on. So, he followed that lead.

John Garrett—dedicated agent of SHIELD for decades, injured in the field of duty, and transferred to a high-level desk job. His department was indeed 'biological super-ish stuff'. Ever since the creation of the Super Soldier Serum, there have been dozens of attempts to recreate it.

That, and weird super-insects. Why science insisted on creating super spiders was beyond his understanding. Spiders were already super enough, they didn't need to shoot lasers or fly, thank you.

Still, Fury followed that thread and had a chat with Agent John Garrett.

"I did pass the case to Agent Rumlow. I'd received word from an anonymous source that AIM was turning their attention to Amaterasu. They'd mentioned something about bombs and explosions in the public. That seemed to fit his typical duties, and AIM has been relatively clean, so I figured his people skills would help out."



"No idea, Sir. They took great lengths to keep their identity hidden. The information was passed on to me by one of my agents. I can get them to come in or give you their contact information if you'd like."



"No, Sir. I submitted the information and files, then turned my attention to a little town in Russia. They're a hotspot for super-soldier attempts. They're stubborn, but we're keeping on top of them."



"Yes, Sir. I'll let you know if anything else comes up."

What a fucking coincidence. An anonymous source just happened to bring information about AIM to an agent associated with biological threats.

Fury didn't believe in coincidences. There was something going on here.

Inactive terror organizations that suddenly jump into being threats again? The chain of dead-ends? The lack of leads? How the 'anonymous source' managed to get into contact with Garrett's department? How everything just conveniently slotted into place?

Someone planned things thoroughly and was running laps around everyone. Fury wasn't a big fucking fan of that.

How does one deal with an unknown person running where you don't want them to? You could always stay up and vigilant in the hopes you manage to spot them. You could set up signs and little notices to scare them away. You could tear up the paths they took and ruin everything you'd worked so hard for.

All those were pretty standard.

Standard wasn't how he dealt with things. Someone was running laps around SHIELD? Fury was going to set a bear-trap for the fucker. There was something going on, and AIM was involved, but not the way that someone was trying to make him think.

He was going to get the truth.

And, when he did, there would be hell to pay.

It would be some time until Killian, his goons, and the scientists were securely locked up. In the meantime, there were some people he needed to talk to. Some old friends-turned-enemies of Victor Von Doom.

The Fantastic Four—just another super-powered pain in his ass. At least none of them seemed hell-bent on driving Fury to the brink of insanity. That job was reserved for a certain dog-wolf-goddess-thing.

And Stark, the smug bastard.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

Alexander Pierce was a cunning man. He was paranoid, thorough, and dedicated—he had to be. It wasn't easy running a secret organization within a secret organization. Especially when the person in charge of said secret organization was Nick Fury, the most paranoid man alive.

He paced in his office, the tapping of his dress shoes on the floor echoing around the empty room. His hands were folded behind his back, fingers of one hand drumming anxiously on the other.

Somehow, Fury managed to throw a wrench into his plans. Again. It likely wasn't even intentional, the son-of-a-bitch was just lucky, infuriatingly so.

John Garrett had called him—let him know that Fury was snooping around. They'd been so thorough and careful, trying to make things seem like an accident, or a little tech glitch. Just iffy and experimental technology, nothing to worry about.

But then Fury had to send Captain America of all people to wedge his way unwittingly into Hydra acquiring what could very well be the next advancement in super-soldier technology. Current attempts were extraordinarily unreliable and for every super-human they managed to create, one hundred others were a complete failure and had to be put down.

Mutants were an option, but with how nosey Charles Xavier was, collecting a large number of Mutants within HYDRA would likely lead to their exposure.

Thus, the Extremis serum. The odds for success were nearly equal to that of a coin flip. Those that weren't accepted would explode and make convenient bombs to destroy targets. Those that were… Well, near-unkillable humans with the strength of three people and the ability to cut through metal with their bare hands?

HYDRA was very interested.

So was SHIELD.

Still, it was better to continue working from within SHIELD to get results than it was to send Fury into a manhunt if they managed to free Killian. If, however, the man managed to escape on his own, that was a different story.

As of now it was all a waiting game. Killian would be locked up and be tested on by HYDRA whenever SHIELD had its back turned. The scientists could be exploited for their knowledge, and the ones that were a threat would end up in prison. Some of HYDRA's contacts inside the prisons could deal with them a little more permanently.

No, Fury's investigation wasn't worth worrying over. Some false documents and lack of evidence will let his suspicions run dry. His agents were well trained and already had cover stories made up. They could afford to throw an agent or two under Fury's boot if it meant the survival and success of HYDRA.

And, even if Fury's snooping brought up a little trouble, it wasn't worth worrying over. After all…

The Winter Soldier was only a call away.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

The Other strode into the command center of Sanctuary II, his eyes falling on his master, Thanos. Beside his throne stood the little Kylosian girl he'd 'adopted' after his latest conquest. The two appeared to be engaged in conversation. Well, Thanos was speaking, showing the child why things were the way they were. The child couldn't possibly comprehend the scale or true meaning behind Thanos's plans.

Not yet, at least. But she'd learn, like they all did.

Gamora stood on the other side of his throne, the woman looking impassive. How she managed to look so unpleasant while standing next to her father, his master, he'd never know.

The Other's steps caught the attention of Thanos, whose eyes fell on him with the weight of an impossibly vast will and power that was nearly impossible to comprehend. The Other averted his gaze, and stopped at the foot of the stairs to his master's throne, inclining his head in a bow.

"Gamora, take Kamaria to her room. Clean her bandages, and get her a new arm. I'm putting her under your care for now," Thanos spoke.

Gamora looked startled, the green-skinned woman's eyes widening for but a moment, before she returned to her cool neutral, almost angry expression. "Yes, Father." Her strides brought her around the throne, and Gamora held out her hand for the girl. "Come."

The terrified Kylosian reached out with a shaky hand, not at all the firm fearlessness her species was known for. No doubt that too would be fixed in time, like the others were. Thanos had a certain way of moulding people into perfection. Everyone fell into line… eventually.

Gamora led the one-armed Kylosian girl down the steps, the duo passing right in front of the Other. He flashed them a grin, to which Gamora sneered, and this 'Kamaria' flinched away. Once the two women were out of sight, and no longer in earshot, the Other turned his attention back to Thanos.

"My lord. There is news from the Nine-Realms." He took a step and planted a foot on the lowest stair up to the throne. "The Asgardians… They may be more powerful than we believed."

"… Explain," Thanos rumbled out. The titan sat back on his throne, gazing down at the Other, sitting regal and imposing as anyone on a throne should.

The Other held up his hand, a projector spinning to life. "The Marauders. With the Bifröst destroyed, they attacked the Nine-Realms." The projector spun up faster and let out a quiet whine, starting to hover. "Asgard repaired the Bifröst faster than we thought possible. They have a new weapon."

Both Thanos and the Other looked up, watching the orb fly higher, until there was a flash of light, projections showing several different angles of a battlefield. It encompassed them, various sights from electronic eyeballs, or starships and fighters surrounding filling the room. Bright flashes of light appeared on several of the images at once, showing various viewpoints of the Bifröst sending down troops to the battlefield.

Everything seemed about as Thanos likely expected it to. Asgard had incredibly annoying accuracy with deploying troops where they were needed, and in positions that would render their enemies helpless. That wasn't anything to be concerned over.

Thanos narrowed his eyes when several of the perspectives were cut off.

An impressively tall ice wall exploded into existence, sharp spikes skewering multiple Marauders as it grew. Their bodies froze over and hung from the wall like gruesome ornaments while it continued to rise and expand. So thick was the wall that even with several spacecraft impacting it and exploding, it didn't so much as crack.

"We know Odin has the Casket. That is nothing of concern," Thanos sat back and appeared to grow bored.

"It was not the Casket that did this, but a creature." The Other raised a hand and spread his fingers, enlarging several points of view. "It appears to be of Terran or Asgardian origin."

As the battle progressed before their eyes, the viewpoints started to focus on something above them. There was a four-legged creature on an arch, sprinting its way up the sheer surface at high speeds. It avoided gunfire, leapt over ships trying to hit it head-on, and fought back in violent strikes.

Huge streams of fire lashed out from the creature, lighting up the battlefield in bright flashes. Passing ships caught in the blast had holes punched in their side, the metal left glowing red-hot and sizzling. Those that weren't struck to the ground became victims of its next attack—waves of thick ice shards. They impaled various parts of the spacecraft, and those that missed fell upon the side of the Marauders in deadly waves. Several more perspectives were cut off, replaced with others, able to see the resulting humanoids impaled with razor-sharp ice, pinning them to the ground through their bodies.

Thanos leaned forward, resting his elbows upon his knees, and his eyes narrowed.

The battle progressed as expected, the Asgardians making short work of the Marauders. There was a particular perspective that tried to impale the small wolf on the front of the ship. That perspective ended, and another one revealed that the spacecraft had simply been torn in half. Nothing showed what happened, or why. It just simply was, ripped in twain, like an act of a God.

That wasn't even the most shocking part. Multiple perspectives caught the wolf looking up, gazing at the smoke-filled sky. Then, there was a shift, and the sky rapidly darkened. The sun simply disappeared from view, causing everything to come to a grinding halt. The only light left on the battlefield came from the fires around the Marauders.

Then, even that began to disappear. It was pulled away from the ground, and willed upwards, like it had been possessed by a serpent. The stream of fire curled around the arch and worked its way higher and fire, curling into itself above the glowing form of the wolf. From the distance poured an absolutely massive river of fire, the flame pouring into the ball, growing brighter, larger, like a miniature sun.

The sole source of light hovered above the arch, just over the wolf that seemed to be orchestrating all the movements of the world around it. Then, it threw its head back and howled. It was a deep, powerful, commanding sound, carrying a weight and presence behind it that seemed to reach through the projections and press down on the command center.

Thanos remained silent as the miniature sun shot into the sky, a brilliant streak of white climbing higher and higher, punching through the smoke and the clouds. Once above the layer of smoke, the sky started to grow brighter, light pouring in through the hole punched in the cloud cover. The sun had been put back into the sky, with a beam of light filtering through the smoke and chaos to land on the wolf.

The spacecraft they were viewing from turned tail and took off as fast as they could within the atmosphere. Those on the ground either threw down their weapons and surrendered, or turned tail and fled, pushing their fellow Marauders to the ground to get away.

The projector whirred to a halt and plummeted downward, the images vanishing in an instant. The Other caught the projector and held it up in his hand, gesturing with it.

"These have started to spread. People are fearing Asgard may return to their conquering. Others are calling it a hoax—propaganda that Asgard-"

"Fools, all of them. Asgard has no need for bluster." Thanos stood and made his way down the stairs to his throne. Each step was slow, heavy, unhurried. "If Asgard were to return to war, they would first have to win over the Nine Realms. There is no shortage of animosity between each world." Thanos held out his hand, and the Other set the projector in his massive palm. "Odin is old, but he is more powerful now than ever. He would be fighting a war on all sides. The Nova Core; the Kree; Ravagers, Marauders, and the Sovereign. Countless groups, all would want to keep Asgard from carving a piece out of their empires. The foolish would try to take Asgard. The smart would ally themselves with Asgard." Thanos grinned, and turned to face the viewport, gazing out into the stars, and, below, the recently balanced planet. "The ones who want to live will keep away at all costs."

"Is this nothing to be concerned over?" the Other asked, keeping himself rooted to the spot, respectful of the Mad Titan.

"The opposite. Odin and the Asgardians are powerful adversaries. If they have restored the Bifröst, that's reason enough to avoid the Forge. But with this..." Thanos turned from the massive expanse of space, and began his steady march back toward his throne. "We need to accelerate our plans."

The titan climbed the steps to his throne and sat down, his seat to watch the universe fall to his will. He idly tapped at a panel beneath his right hand, inputting coordinates on the controls. Moments later they appeared on a holographic display.

G52 22C848T12F+E16UC22

Beneath the coordinates was what looked to be a bright, vibrant planet. The red-coloured atmosphere was broken up by large swaths of blue light that seeped from the planet, illuminating entire continents in a blue glow.

"This creature… Asgard may have exceeded even the High Evolutionary in biological manipulation—created the perfect being to funnel the Odin Force through. However… I believe this to be a new deity. A young creature, borne of the Earth's own desire for something more. Innocent, pure, corrupted by the perversion of Asgard." Thanos explained. "Humanity may have spawned this creature, but Asgard has likely twisted it for their own gain. A safeguard—Odin's paranoia allows no room for what could be. We cannot combat two beings that can manipulate the cosmos. Not yet. We need to subjugate our own. And, if it does not comply, we will turn it into a living factory for our own needs."

"My lord?" the Other asked.

"Tell Ronan that Kylos was the last planet he will balance. His full efforts will be put toward finding the relic. Nebula will be at his side to assist him, or, kill him if he refuses." Thanos explained. "As of now, the Nova-Core is of no concern. Ronan's perpetual tantrum will be delayed."

"As you wish," the Other complied with a bow.

"Have Midnight, Glaive, and Obsidian hunt for enemies of Asgard. Any weaknesses that can be exposed, any allies that can be gained, will be needed. As for us…" Thanos sat back in his chair, his hands clasped together in thought. "This 'Celestial' has had free reign for far too long. Replacing the universe with himself—a vain pursuit. Selfish. It will not bring the balance the universe needs." Thanos grinned, and clenched a fist in front of himself. "The universe is growing restless. We will ensure it remains prosperous and merciful as it was meant to be. Alert the armies—we set out in a day's time."

"Yes, my lord."

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

Steve stepped back and took a breath, wiping the sweat from his brow. Still exhausted from pushing himself hard for the last two hours, he shook it off. He had to train and test out this new equipment R&D had provided him.

With one hand he hefted up the SHIELD specialty equipment and took it off the chains. He unceremoniously tossed it to the side, where it landed hard enough to shake the floor. There was one more bag to go, and he'd been told this was the toughest one yet—something that even an Asgardian should be able to wail on without causing too much damage.

Then again, they said that about the last one too, and it was oozing impact gel onto the floor. Sure, it wasn't anything a normal person could break. Heck, he was sure that Thor could hit it a few times without any significant damage. But, Steve had been beating the thing silly for over an hour, and it had failed.

Steve was definitely no Asgardian. Then again, he was far from normal.

Speaking of Asgardians—there wasn't any realistic way for Steve to find Amaterasu if Thor had taken her off planet. And wasn't that a weird thing to think about? Some alien from another planet, worshipped as a god with lightning powers, abducted a wolf who is supposedly the goddess of the sun, and took her into space through a magic portal.

If Steve hadn't seen it for himself, he would have been certain he'd lost his mind.

Yet, that seemed to be the new reality he found himself in. Aliens from space portals, Gods, Goddesses, snarky billionaires in metal suits, super spies, and secret organizations. Gone were the days he could just punch Nazis in the face, destroy a research facility, and call it a day.

Steve heaved the last 'Asgardian-Proof High-Strength-Polymer Blow-Absorbent Punching Bag' (ASPHISPOBA Bag, name and patent pending) upward and secured it to the thick chains overhead. With a quick step back, Steve shook out his hands, clenched his fists, and dropped into his natural fighting stance.

He lashed out with a powerful blow, shaking the bag, the chains above rattling violently. A step forward and a quick rotation allowed him to slam his other fist into its side on the downswing, sending it upward once again.

Steve hopped backward, avoiding the downswing. He stepped forward, planted his foot firmly, and whirled around, lashing out with his heel to catch the bag hard. It folded dangerously around his leg and launched upward, slamming into the metal support beam hard enough to make the entire thing rattle in place.

It still didn't feel like enough. Not after New York, where it was all he could do just to try and slow the endless tide. Not after Killian, and being unable to do anything to stop the Extremis users for more than a minute or two. The Extremis soldiers weren't as strong as Steve, nor as fast, but that meant little if he couldn't stop or even touch them.

Steve threw another series of harsh jabs at the punching bag, each one harder than the last, the strain of pushing himself burning in all the right ways. Each impact was thunderous in the quiet room.

His saving grace against Killian was his shield, and even that hadn't been enough. Killian didn't stop. He kept swinging, and fighting, and wearing them down. Steve couldn't touch him, and wound up playing the distraction while Stark dealt damage. He still didn't know if they could have won unless Amaterasu stepped in.

But, what could he do against threats that needed a maybe-deity probably-magic wolf to step in? He couldn't fly, shoot lightning, breathe fire, or regrow lost limbs. He was just one man with a shield. There was only so much he could do.

He threw another shot to the middle. A sidestep, and he lashed out with his leg. He ducked to the right, leaned in, and delivered an overhand blow that sent the bag swinging to the roof again with a horrendous bang. He had to be careful, avoid the lethal points unless absolutely necessary.

Yet, in that fight, those hits hadn't done anything to the soldiers—stunned them or put them down for a couple minutes before they were back on him. What could he have done differently if Ammy hadn't rescued the civilians? If Stark hadn't been able to fight Killian at range? Martial arts did nothing when he couldn't touch the guy, and there was next to nothing he could have done other than throw things had he lost his shield.

Steve growled and wailed on the bag; his breath ragged. He had to keep pushing himself, keep training, so he could protect others. Others that fell victim to those trying to copy what had been done to him.

Sixty years later and people were still trying to recreate it. People with poor intentions and even worse morals. Banner had tried and wound up with a split-personality rage-beast affliction. Then Killian and his soldiers had done it, and they wound up either exploding or becoming a near-unkillable super-weapons.

Who knows how many others went unnoticed. How many others had died, or killed for it?

His fists rained down blow after blow, lungs screaming for air, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. His hands had long gone numb, but that was nothing. Nothing compared to what others had to deal with, and continued to. Echoes of a single decision, his desire to help, rippling through time. And he'd been frozen, unable to stop any of it.

And still, even as his arms felt like lead, and his muscles burned from overuse and exertion, he couldn't keep the thoughts from swirling in his mind. No amount of pushing himself to his limit could keep him from the questions he was too afraid to ask.

How many had he inadvertently killed by just taking that one extra step? Was Captain America just the start of something worse? Did his existence just lead to another power struggle? More pain, more suffering, more deaths?

His hands were a blur, his torso leaning into every strike. His whole body was put into each hit, straining just that little bit harder. Pushing himself just a step further. Doing as much as he could—his absolute best.

What if, eventually, his best wouldn't be enough?

Something gave in, snapped, and caved. Steve blinked, and looked down, pulling himself from his thoughts. His fist was buried up to the forearm inside the punching bag. The impact gel was hot around his hand, and the metal weave of the bag dug into his skin.

Steve sighed, and slowly extracted his arm from the bag. Several of the wires inside seemed to have scratched him deeply enough to start bleeding. He shook the impact gel from his hand, and unchained the bag. Now properly exhausted, he dragged the bag along, lugging it over to lie with the others.

Maybe he was done punching things for one day. A run seemed more his speed—something to help him wind down and get out of the building.

After he was done that… Maybe he should visit Stark. He wasn't going to call the guy, especially since SHIELD's communications were so recently breached. It was just one of the many reasons he wasn't a fan of modern technology. But, griping about it would make him sound old, and Stark would comment on it, and Natasha would say something equally insulting and embarrassing and it would just be a whole thing he would regret.

Still, visiting Stark seemed like a good idea. He'd taken off in a hurry after everything went down. They might not see eye-to-eye on some things, but Steve wasn't going to leave a teammate struggling with something on their own.

That, and, Steve had something to ask of him. It was just a little idea in the back of his mind for now, but… if Tony's suit could hold up against something like Killian, at least for a little while, then that meant he could hit him. Something Steve couldn't do.

Maybe, just maybe, he'd see if Tony could whip up some fancy gloves, or some temperature reactive suit, or… well, he didn't really know. Something that would help him out if this ever happened again.

And it would.

Ever since Captain America, it never seemed to stop.


Shout-out for all the amazing people supporting me: Nithalys, Sleepypuff, Blobbycat, Baron of Bonk, IRS, JoeyW, Nihilea, PizzaJolt, SugarCube, and Valon.
 
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Lots of big villains are steadily advancing in the background, Amaterasu and the Avengers will probably need to be wary of HYDRA, Agatha Harkness, and Thanos.
 
On one hand, Poor Steve.
On the other, HOLY SHIT! Cap is gonna get upgrades from Tony.

Lmao
Poor Rhodey is gonna be so pissed when the Iron Patriot is upstaged by Captian America.

Lots of big villains are steadily advancing in the background, Amaterasu and the Avengers will probably need to be wary of HYDRA, Agatha Harkness, and Thanos.

Oh yes, absolutely. Agatha, HYDRA, Thanos, Dark Elves, Ego, Hela, Dr. Doom, the random kiddo Tony accidentally nudged on the street 25 years ago and wound up making them a super villain, Ronin, probably The Collector, many of Asgards enemies, Ninetails from Okami, as well as character ego, hubris, and desire to do the right thing only to cause terrible things to happen.

Good thing some or more than a few of those enemies may become allies, isn't it?
 
Hah! Amy's little stunt in the Asgardian battle is being streamed all over the universe! Smile Amy, you're on candid camera!

Amaterasu and the Avengers will probably need to be wary of HYDRA, Agatha Harkness, and Thanos.
Good thing some or more than a few of those enemies may become allies, isn't it?
Yeah, to be fair, Agatha is more immoral than outright evil. Hell, not only was she the governess for the Fantastic Four's kids, she was even a teacher at Strange's school in some timelines! Got one hell of an ego though... I wonder just how badly Amy is gonna puncture it?
 
Ammy in ATLA Part 1
IMPORTANT INFO:

This is just a little short I wrote, inspired by a chat with A Wild Dapper Slime Appeared. Big thanks. I apologize but update times are going to be wonky for a while and unpredictable, I'm working two jobs so figuring this out is a little rough.

Also, this is a notice that I did update Chapter 3 - The Battle of New York on the main story. It's much better, I think.

If you like my work, you can become a Patron. Just look up InfamousVenous on the Site for Patrons. Patrons get early access to my work and can suggest changes before chapters are posted.

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[The New York City Sanctum, New York, New York, United States, Terra, The Solar System, Orion-Cygnus Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, Universe 2628ER2SU-N…]

"Amaterasu, I implore you not to torment the Tesseract. We've reached thirty days without an incident, and I would like to keep that new record," the Ancient One said. Well, begged, but not in a tone that would indicate begging. More of an exasperated 'why me' sort of way than anything. As one does when dealing with potentially one of the most powerful creatures in the world, and also the biggest gremlin in the universe.

"Awoo-"

"No, she's right," Stephen Strange interrupted. Amaterasu's jaw clicked shut and she narrowed her eyes at the sorcerer. "Don't even look at it. You make it angry by just existing. I've examined it many times-" with that he glanced at his teacher, and added, "-with permission and supervision. The Tesseract is simultaneously alive and inanimate until you are near—like a quantum state of spite."

The Goddess of the Sun sat there for a moment, looking between the Sorcerer Supreme and Doctor Strange, her mind racing. Could she reach the Spicy Blue Cube before they stopped her? Leaving the object alone wasn't an option—it'd won their last seventeen encounters and she wasn't going to stop until she finally came out on top.

… It's not like the Cube was a worthy nemesis or anything. It was just inconvenient. That's all. It had nothing to do with her wounded pride—she was above such petty things. Why would a Goddess be offended by the existence of a… a… three-dimensional square!? No, it was purely for the safety of everyone else in the world that she deal with this devious creation of pure evil.

And if anyone asks, she'll tell them she felt demonic energy coming off of it. Yes! The perfect excuse. After all, it's not like anyone nearby would be an expert on demonic activity and energies. Well… except for the two sorcerers standing right next to her. They had a little bit of experience with that.

Her eyes slowly, agonizingly, shifted to lock onto the cube, and-

"I can see your tail wagging," the Ancient One warned. She kept her palms at her side, though her fingers twitched into a bizarre contortion, energy crackling over the tips of her digits.

"Don't even try it," Strange added. He clasped his hands together—in a way that really reminded Ammy of children playing Rock, Paper, Scissors—and narrowed his eyes at her.

Clearly, they were under the Tesseract's spell. Yes, that explained everything! She needed to get the cube now, to free her friend—and the other one—from the Spicy Cube's wrath! Amaterasu looked at the villainous blue box through the glass in the ornate display case, feeling out the thirty-seven layers of magic barriers meant to stop her from getting at it.

… Yeah, she could take it. She might come out of it completely shaved and with an additional tail, but that was a risk she was willing to take.

… Could she fly with two tails if she spun them around fast enough?

She didn't have long to ponder the idea. One moment everything was calm and relaxed—two tense and extremely powerful sorcerers didn't mean the situation couldn't be relaxed—and the next, all hell broke loose.

And this time it wasn't her fault! Hooray! That meant she hadn't caused Tesseract issues three of the now eighteen times something happened.

The glass enclosure and enchantments were meant to keep people and things from breaking in to get the cube. Nothing was stopping it from breaking out on its own. The ornate display case exploded outward, glass shards turning to sand with a twitch of the Sorcerer Supreme's wrist. Doctor Strange did his best to hold back the massive surge of energy rolling outward, keeping everything contained in a sphere around the Tesseract.

It worked for half a second.

The rippling blue energy held at bay exploded outwards, washing over everything in sight. At the last moment, the Ancient One threw up her hands, a bubble of magic springing into existence around them. Various runes glittered and sparked dangerously as the power of the Tesseract pummeled at the shield. Doctor Strange articulated his hands in strange—pun intended—ways, reinforcing the shield against the might of an infinity stone.

And Ammy just sat there, happy as could be. She was innocent! Hadn't even done a single thing, and was content to prove it to the duo. She told them it was evil. 'No, the Tesseract is not going to hunt you down' they said. 'No, the "spicy cube" will not break out of the shielding,' they decreed. 'Stop bathing your nethers in front of the Space Stone, it is impolite,' they said.

But Amaterasu had told them it was up to no good. Now look where it got them—trapped in a slowly crumbling bubble of magic while an aspect of the universe crashed down over them, folding inward time and time and time again, intent on both crushing them and rapidly vacating their organs into unpressurized space through their nostrils.

Maybe they won't question her divine judgement next time.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

[The Jasmine Dragon, Ba Sing Se, Earth Kingdom]

Iroh closed the entrance to his tea shop with a soft thud, the heavy wooden doors securing his beloved property. It had only been several days, but the Jasmine Dragon already felt like home to him.

… He realized that might be more accurate than he first thought. Iroh had spent more time in this building than he had in his new apartment. It certainly didn't feel like he was working much, in any case. This job, this work, it was soothing in a way that was hard to describe. He likened it to a cup of warm tea—and wasn't that ironic. The people were polite and calm, the conversation fulfilling and insightful, and the pay wasn't half-bad either.

Despite technically living as a refugee fugitive under a fake name with his banished nephew, Iroh felt happy and fulfilled.

… Though he still wasn't sure how no one recognized his nephew with the rather prominent burn mark. It was a wonder Ba Sing Se stood against his assault all those years ago if the people living here were that oblivious. Maybe he should have just walked in through the front gates claiming they were an army of humble tea makers, or done that thing with the wooden horse.

Now wouldn't that be a sight? An army of firebenders exploding out of a wooden horse. His mind conjured up an image of a torrent of fire spewing from the horse's mouth, while a team of firebenders sat at the rear, blasting fire outward in a way that reminded Iroh of an evening after eating his nephew's cooking.

Iroh chuckled to himself as he slipped into the back of the shop. He might as well get started on the morning preparations while waiting for Zuko to return from his errands. After all, doing this early meant he could sleep in just a little more.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't get more than a couple of minutes into his prep.

A thunderous explosion of blue light seeped around the small gaps in the doorframe, and the entire building rattled, throwing Iroh off balance. He staggered for a moment, before planting his feet, mind racing.

Explosions? Blue light?

Azula.

He needed to find Zuko, and he needed to slow Azula and her troops down enough to get out of the city.

Iroh raced for the door separating the back of the shop from the rest of the building and kicked it in. Though it pained him, it was just a door. He could always get a new one. What was important was-

Iroh froze, and his jaw dropped, eyes boggling out. He looked at the two strangers—and dog—standing in the middle of a crater.

Right in the middle of his tea shop!

Tables were overturned, cups and plates shattered, and a chair had somehow embedded itself into the stone wall and stood straight out as if gravity suddenly decided to go left. The gorgeous green and gold tile had all but been obliterated, with only the smallest remnants of the pattern left sizzling with blue energy at the edge of the crater.

"I… You…" Iroh was lost for words. He sank to his knees, hands gripping his hair. It took several seconds for him to properly form the words, his peaceful demeanour replaced by equal parts shock, despair, and a deep feeling of loss. He took a deep breath and-

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

"Arf!" Amaterasu interrupted what had to be a cry of utter despair.

The man blinked, and his eyes shifted to focus on the wolf. He blinked again, narrowed his eyes, opened his mouth, then closed it again. There was a light shuffle as Stephen and the Sorcerer Supreme exchanged a glance. The old man kept his eyes on the trio as he clambered to his feet, using an overturned table as support.

The Ancient One was the first to interrupt the silence, taking a step forward and bowing her head in a little dip toward the man. "Our apologies, it seems we displaced part of your floor." She glanced around and let out a curious hum, pursing her lips. "And remodelled the interior thoroughly. The chair is certainly interesting." The Ancient One turned to Amaterasu and narrowed her eyes. "That wasn't your doing, was it?"

Ammy shook her head. She was innocent! This entire situation was—finally—not her fault. Though embedding a chair in the wall with all four legs parallel to the floor was rather hilarious. She was going to do that to all of Stark's chairs when they made it back home.

"Don't believe her, she's using that face," Stephen Strange spoke up. He rapped her on the head with a knuckle and stepped out of range of Ammy's retaliatory tail smack.

What face!? She only had the one! And, it was a fine face, thank you very much. A cute face, even. Very godly and wolfish, with just enough cuteness to be adored while not infantilized by the adorable nature of floofy doggy cheeks.

Doctor Strange continued, clambering out of the hole in the floor. "We apologize for the mess, mister…"

"Mushi," the man answered after a slight pause. He stepped closer to the group, his body falling into a more relaxed stance.

Amaterasu wasn't fooled. She recognized the calculating eyes, the careful answer, and the half-curled fingers. There was an odd heat and warmth she could feel from the man that wasn't entirely his personality and demeanour.

"Mister Mushi," Stephen continued with a nod. "We'll restore your shop to its previous condition. You have my word."

A flash of emotions crossed the man's face, before finally settling on a concerned smile. "Ah, that is very kind of you. Taking responsibility for one's actions is admirable. However…" Mushi came to a stop a few steps from the group. "Maybe this is best left to the professionals-"

"Do I smell Jasmine tea?" the Ancient One asked.

'Mushi' stopped in his tracks, his gaze flicking toward the bald woman, his lips quirking up in a slight smile. "You have a good nose, it was the last one I made for the day. At least, the last one in the store." He chuckled and flashed her a smile.

"Oh god, now there's two of them," Stephen whispered in mock horror.

Amaterasu climbed out of the hole in the ground as well, scrambling a little at the edge to haul herself up. Her companions were refusing to use their magic and she figured it would be best to avoid doing so as well. At least for the moment.

She lost any and all interest in the conversation between the Ancient one and 'Mushi' when they started talking about different blends of tea. The building was far more interesting, what with all the fancy—shattered—decorations, and the unique scents through the interior. There were many strange things that weren't quite close enough to ancient Nippon like she remembered, but there were some similarities that piqued her interest.

That and she wanted to look busy, or at least somewhat inconspicuous, while the Sorcerer Supreme was led to the back of the store by a rather excited tea maker.

Humans were weird.

While the two tea fanatics wandered to the back of the store—much to Strange's relief—Amaterasu set about exploring. After all, new place, new things to smell and taste and steal off people's plates. With consent. After she stole it. Puppy eyes usually helped with that.

"We told you not to go near the Tesseract," Stephen groused. He glanced up at the door to the back of the store, then gestured with his hand, flipping every single table back onto its feet with magic. "You just had to go and challenge the physical aspect of space in the universe, didn't you?"

"Boof," Amaterasu defended, tossing her head back with a huff. She flicked her tail at Strange, spattering his robes with a healthy amount of ink, just for added insult. She couldn't believe he'd accuse her of such a thing.

"I've watched you do it!" Stephen exclaimed.

Amaterasu merely rolled her eyes, and used her abilities to Restore the huge half-sphere of floor that was missing, returning the lovely green and gold pattern to life. As a little afterthought, she swished her tail over the floor in a broad area, returning it to a polished and pristine state, as if everything was newly installed.

"So how are we going to explain the new floor?"

"Wurf?"

"I don't think 'I found it' is going to be a good enough reason." Stephen laughed, and tugged the chair from the wall, allowing Amaterasu to fill in the holes in the stone.

"… Grrrruff."

"No, don't just break the floor again!" Stephen protested.

Amaterasu rolled her eyes. Did they want the floor fixed or not? Again, humans were weird. They couldn't make up their minds. Did they want miracles performed by a goddess or did they want holes in a stranger's floor? The answer seemed pretty simple.

Numerous shards of ceramic and glass lifted from the floor and swirled around in the air in a dangerous tornado of sharp edges. Amaterasu froze reality with a thought, and swished her tail in the general direction of the shards, painting over them all with a single swipe.

Perspective-based magic was bullshit, and she was all for it.

The various parts of the broken cups, plates, and pottery all shot toward one another, finding their matching pieces, gluing one another together-

"I'm back from the market, Uncle!" The doors behind the two opened, causing Amaterasu and Stephen Strange to freeze in the act. "I managed to-"

Amaterasu and Stephen looked over their shoulders at the newcomer. Then, they glanced at each other, blinked, and turned to the scarred young man again. Wide, sheepish grins split their faces as the various cups, plates, and pots zipped around the room and returned to their proper place.

"… What?" the young man asked. Narrowing his eyes at the newcomers to the shop.

Of course, that was the moment the Ancient One and 'Mushi' stepped through the doors again.

A long, pregnant silence filled the room, everyone standing still, watching one another with confused, curious, or concerned looks.



"I think I'm going to make us all some tea."

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

Having three strangers in his uncle's shop after closing wasn't that weird—his uncle was kind to a fault and was more than happy to make time for others (especially if they enjoyed food and tea). Seeing cups, plates, and various decorations flying around the place was a touch weirder, but not unheard of. Earthbenders could do that with fancy stone plates and whatnot. Sure, it took some time to get used to, but it was kind of entertaining after a while.

But this?

Zuko eyed the strange animal in front of him, who was watching him right back. Amber eyes met gold, unmoving, unable to break the impromptu staring contest. He couldn't quite pin what it was. It was a something-wolf, that was for sure. But what?

That could wait until after though. He didn't know how they wound up in a staring contest, but Zuko wasn't one to back down from a challenge, especially one such as this. It should be child's play.



Why wasn't it blinking!?

It seemed to sense his discomfort, because the creature leaned down, eyes still locked on his, and dunked its muzzle into the cup of tea. Instead of drinking it, however, it started blowing bubbles. His uncle made a distraught noise, and the two other strangers at the table sighed.

Zuko's eyes watered. He drank from his own cup, his eyelids twitching, begging for some relief from the dry air. The creature was unrelenting, focused in its mission to win, a deadly opponent of unbridled will and-

The wolf-thing crossed its eyes and pulled its muzzle out of the cup so fast it left a trail of tea arcing through the air. Its jaw dropped, and it looked to be struggling, inhaling air, trying its best to keep its eyes from closing, even as they slowly, agonizingly slipped lower. Its claws tensed on the table, and it took several deep breaths, looking as if it were about to-

A thunderous sneeze tore itself from the creature in front of him. The force of the explosion caused the animal to rocket backward, going from sitting upright on a chair to flat on its back in an instant. Zuko raised a palm on instinct as a torrent of fire slipped from the creature, the powerful stream shooting straight at him like a trained firebender's strike. Unthinking, he parted the flames harmlessly, allowing them to disperse into the air.



"Dragon-wolf!" Zuko exclaimed, pointing a finger over the table at the downed animal.

"Zuko, it is rude to point," Iroh said. He paused and brought a hand to his chin in thought. "Though it is arguably more rude to sneeze fire in someone's face…"

"Wait! You can't- I mean, um." Zuko coughed into a hand and rubbed the back of his head, flashing the group a grin. "Who's… Zuko? I've never heard that name before and oh would you look at the time uncle we need to go now."



Zuko's gaze flicked between the three sets of eyes on him, from the strange man in an odd cloak (apparently named Stephen), to the bald woman (who had danced around the topic of her name in ways that made Iroh's metaphors seem logical) in the painfully bright yellow robes that really had no business being worn. Iroh looked stuck between being disappointed, amused, and-

Four sets of eyes. The dragon-wolf peered up over the edge of the table, slowly sitting higher, revealing ears, eyes, and finally its nose. It didn't go any higher, just content peeking at him from across the table.



"I'm sorry, what did you call her? A dragon-wolf?" Stephen asked. "No, that's just Amaterasu. She's just a- Well… I wouldn't say just a wolf. She's more like-"

"A gremlin," the 'Ancient One' replied, a grin on her lips. "Truly the worst kind of creature. She'll steal your food and assault you with terrible breath."

Amaterasu reeled back as if struck, her jaw dropping, eyes wide. She stared at the woman for all of three seconds, before letting out a sharp huff from her nose, and turned away. Strange seemed to have paled at the comment, as if they'd all narrowly avoided a complete disaster.

"Your spirit friend is quite the character," Iroh said. "I must say I have never met one so full of life and warmth."

"Probably because she's a dragon-wolf," Zuko muttered under his breath. He sat back down in his seat and huffed into his teacup, taking a sip.

"I can assure you that she is just a wolf, nothing more." The woman reached over and pat the wolf on the head with a smack of her palm and the thunk of the wolf's jaw on the table.

"Just a wolf that can firebend," Iroh added with a nod. "I would recommend keeping that to yourselves. Ba Sing Se is wary of firebenders right now. Even ones as adorable and fluffy as your friend." Iroh flashed the wolf a smile, to which he received a large doggy-grin back, and her wagging tail thumped against the ground so hard Zuko could feel it through his chair.

"Why, is fire magic banned?" Strange asked. "What about water magic, or-"

"Arf!" Amaterasu interrupted.

"Or plant magic," Stephen translated. Ammy gave a firm nod.

"You keep saying magic." Zuko glanced at his uncle, and then back at the three across from them. "Not bending. Why?"

"Wurf?" Amaterasu spoke up. Iroh laughed, and the bald woman smirked.

"No, don't say it's a regional dialect, that's absurd," Stephen shook his head. Amaterasu's head fell further, chin hitting the table again with a thunk that rattled the cups on the surface. "We're, uh, not really from around here. I have a few guesses as to where we are, but-"

"Wait, how did you even get here? Can't you just follow the way you came?" Zuko asked.

"Not all paths are able to be retraced, Zuko. Besides, it is just as important to look ahead for new opportunities, instead of just retracing old steps." Iroh nodded sagely, with a look about him that just oozed a sense of wisdom and tone that decreed common sense.

"That doesn't mean anything," Zuko muttered and crossed his arms.

The bald woman took a sip of her tea and sighed. "Ah, wise words. Your uncle is quite gifted—great advice and even better tea." The Ancient One flashed Iroh a smile.

"Oh! Well…" Iroh laughed and his cheeks darkened. He rubbed at the back of his head and gave a sheepish grin to everyone present. "It is just as impressive to recognize the meaning behind the words, and the love behind the tea."

Aaaannndddd now they're flirting. Zuko really didn't want to be within several city blocks of this… display.

"Good tea can do wonders for the mind, body, and soul." The woman nodded and took another sip. "That, and making it well is a reward unto itself."

"I've tried to tell my nephew that, but he does not listen."

"Oh for-" Strange buried his face in his hands and looked through his fingers at the rest of the table. "Can we get back to the matter at hand? Where are we exactly?"

"You're in my shop. The Jasmine Dragon. It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Iroh asked.

"About fifteen minutes ago we were in the floor," the Ancient One added. "Please try to keep up, Strange. My best student cannot be this slow."

"That reminds me," Iroh started. "How did you manage to fix the floor? You three left an impressive hole in it—not that I'm complaining about it being fixed."



"… Boof," Amaterasu 'spoke' to Iroh.



"What do you mean you 'found it'?" Iroh asked. "How do you just find-"

"I told you that was a stupid answer," Strange sighed, his voice muffled by his hands again. "I'm going to need some coffee for this mess."

"Oh please, you don't need your gritty bean water. Be thankful for the lovely tea our host has provided us." The Ancient One shot a glare at her student, and shook her head.

"Ha! Bean water!" Iroh laughed, leaning back in his chair.

"It's better than warm leaf juice," Stephen retorted.

Zuko winced as Iroh let out a rather offended series of grumbles and words that Zuko had no idea Iroh even knew of. Still, this Strange man wasn't wrong.

"That's what I said." Zuko turned toward Stephen, looking at him directly. "That's what tea is. He doesn't believe me."

"You two are terribly uncultured. It is not 'leaf juice' any more than Stephen here is a doctor," the Ancient one said.

"I am a doctor," Stephen grumbled.

"So you're saying tea is just leaf juice?" Zuko asked. "If he is a doctor, that is what you said."

"Zuko, a good tea is not just its ingredients," Iroh said. "She clearly said that something is not just what it is made of."

"But things are literally what they are made of. That's how recipes work! How magic works!" Stephen sounded exasperated, and Zuko had to agree. This was getting ridiculous.

"Exactly!" Zuko pointed to Stephen, and looked at his uncle. He didn't know about the whole magic thing, but it sounded like it made sense. That, and he really needed someone on his side for this argument. Maybe this time Zuko would win.

"Come now, Strange. You of all people should know that-"

"A person is not just the sum of their parts, nephew."

"With all due respect, you should know that magic is-"

"Just the recipe that you follow, uncle. It's a leaf in warm water."

"I can't believe my own nephew-"

"I can't believe my own student-"

"You can't just metaphor magic into-"

"You can't just metaphor tea into-"

And, amongst all the bickering, squabbling, arguing, and crying, there was something that Zuko realized far too late. It wasn't that one side of the argument was more correct than another, or that tea was indeed more than its ingredients. It wasn't that there was a hilarious parallel between himself and Strange, and the Ancient One and his Uncle.

No, what Zuko finally realized, after fifteen long minutes, was that the front door of the building was open.

And the dragon-wolf was gone.


Shout-out to all the amazing people supporting me: Nithalys, Sleepypuff, Blobbycat, Chris, Baron of Bonk, IRS, JoeyW, Nihilea, PizzaJolt, SugarCube, and Valon.
 
to the bald woman (who had danced around the topic of her name in ways that made Iroh's metaphors seem logical) in the painfully bright yellow robes that really had no business being worn
Ya know, it just occurred to me but... That description REALLY should be bringing up something rather pertinent in Zuko's mind. Especially considering who he's spent the past few years chasing.
 
Ammy in ATLA Part 1
Ya know, it just occurred to me but... That description REALLY should be bringing up something rather pertinent in Zuko's mind. Especially considering who he's spent the past few years chasing.

Zuko is going to be walking alongside the Ancient One with Strange and Iroh, and then suddenly whip toward her all Spiderman pointing meme, and tell her she looks like an airbender. But like. In the worst possible place.

Ancient One: "No, these are just my robes. They're quite comfortable."

Zuko is going to lose his mind when she starts using solely air magic and then deny it ever happened.
 
I'm going to ignore the steamed hams reference to take a third stance. Both Tea and Coffee are far inferior to the supreme thirst quencher, cactus juice. It'll quench ya.
 
Ammy in Fallout 4
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Amaterasu trotted along happily, holding a rather funny football in her jaws. This new world was filled with so many oddities, so it was nice finding something relatively normal that she could take with her. It was comforting, in a fashion, reminding her of her time in that other world, playing ball across the entire state of Montana with Hulk. He could kick far, and she ran fast, it was a perfect combination!

... Though this ball was made of metal, and she was certain she'd break a few teeth trying to catch it. Well, she couldn't win everything.

Yet.

She wandered her way over the broken concrete and pavement, scanning the brown and grotesque landscape for something that resembled civilization. Anything mildly familiar looking would do, like some kind of royal palace, or a little wooden shack. Ammy wasn't picky.

Every few steps she would swipe her tail across the broken road, repairing the path behind her for the next inter-dimensional wanderer who might happen their way down the road. A sprained ankle or stubbed toe was quite the annoyance.

Yet, as she walked, there was no sign of anything. Well, almost anything. There were some rather large cockroaches that smelled *off* and some sickly looking bear she healed with a swish of her tail. They exchanged pleasantries, and a little snoot boop for good measure-though not before Amaterasu put down her football. The bear referred to it as a Spicy Ball.

Better than a Spicy Cube at any rate. And it didn't actively hate her, score!

Giant mutant lizards waved at her, but other than pointing in a general direction, was unable to give her any helpful information on where to find humans. She left it to its rather bloody meal, allowing it to scoop out the meat from a strange looking metal man. What oddly shaped food capsules.

Finally, after the better part of an hour, Amaterasu managed to stumble upon something that looked vaguely human-made and in relatively solid condition... If the massive holes in the walls counted as solid, anyway. The roof on the structure looked about ready to collapse, the windows were blown out, and the whole place smelled vaguely of rotting meat and plant life.

Ammy gave an excited (muffled) bark around the Spicy Ball and raced toward the structure. Her ears stood tall, listening for something that would give her an indication that something living and human-like existed in the area. It certainly smelled like there were people in the area. They must have... *questionable* opinions on personal hygiene. But who was she to judge, baths were awful.

Heavy paw-steps brought her to the entrance of something called the Red Rocket. It was a curious name, but made sense considering the massive, well, rocket on the roof. What else could it be referring to?

Amaterasu nosed the door open, glancing up as a small bell above the door jingled at her entrance. Immediately she heard the sounds of people, and voices sounding out from the back of the store.

"Who the *fuck* is that!?" someone shouted.

"Leave or we'll blow yer fuckin brains out!" another cried.

Heavy footsteps sounded out behind her, and a shadow fell over Amaterasu, indicating that there was a third person as well. She craned her head back, looking up at the absolute behemoth of a man behind her. He looked kind of funny, wearing baseball padding as armour, and he didn't have any pants! What a funny way to play baseball.

... She was relatively certain baseball bats were not supposed to have metal spikes sticking out of it.

"Marv! Grab the fucker-"

The owners of the other two voices finally stormed around the corner, just to be met with a terrified grunt from the man behind her. Amaterasu looked ahead again, finding two people pointing weapons at her (rude!), looking her over.

"Oh, it's just a mutt." the woman on the left muttered. She lowered her gun, not listening to the terrified and muffled noises that this 'Marv' behind her was making. "Think she belongs to someone?"

"Who cares? Fresh meat!" the man on the right growled. He was an unsightly fellow, with yellowing skin, thin arms, and more missing teeth than an infant. There was also a rather prominent hole in his face where his nose should have been.

"Bwrff!" Ammy retorted, her words muffled around her football.

"Jim, quit thinkin' with 'yer stomach for two damn minutes. A dog is useful!" the woman turned around and smacked 'Jim' over the head with her gun, the man staggering to the side, crying out in pain. "Marv, grab it, we can-"

Another muffled sound came from behind Amaterasu, and she turned again, finding the absolute unit of a man had retreated halfway across the parking lot, and ducked behind a metal column that was barely supporting the roof.

"What are ye doin', Marv? Grab the-" the woman's eyes widened, and the gun in her hands clattered to the ground. "NUKE!" she cried.

Nuke? Her name was Amaterasu, thank you very much. Unless she was referring to the football in her jaws. Maybe this world had a funny sounding name for footballs. Maybe they were scared of footballs? She didn't see why, they were plenty of fun. She'd batted this one around for hours when she first found it. There was nothing scary about it!

Despite her calm demeanor, the others did not feel the same. 'Marv' was now nothing more than a speck in the distance, cowering over the lip of the hill the truck stop sat on. The woman whirled herself around and sprinted away, pumping her arms hard, vanishing around the corner. A moment later the sound of glass shattering sounded out. Ammy wandered forward, and ducked around the corner.

She'd jumped out of a window.

Huh. People sure were scared of wolves in this world.

"Fresh meat!" the voice of Jim spoke up off to the side.

Ammy backed herself up, and glanced at the man. He'd lost his gun in the minor scuffle with his friend, and was looming over her, hands outstretched, drool running down his barely-existing lips.

Well, this wouldn't do. Amaterasu had to correct the man. Her name was not 'Fresh Meat' as he kept calling her, nor was she dinner. She opened her mouth to clear up the minor misunderstanding, allowing the football to drop to the ground.

"Bark-"

Tink!

The world exploded into white around her, hit by a massive wave of pressure that launched her straight into the air. Amaterasu flew upward, flipping end-over-end, all five limbs flailing about as she struggled to orient herself. It was too bright to see, and too loud to really hear anything other than a ringing sound in her ears.

Amaterasu reached the peak of her flight, and managed to glance down briefly, seeing nothing but fire and smoke rising up to meet her.

Now she would really need a bath… Dammit.

Ammy dropped through the cloud of fire and ash, back into that bright heat that rose to meet her, enveloping her body in light, heat, smoke, and spicy feeling air. She hit the ground hard and bounced, landing on her front, all her limbs splayed out around her.

"Grrff…" Amaterasu groaned.

Slowly she sat up, blinking through the smoke and ash that started to fade away around her. Amaterasu shook her head hard, clearing away the glowing green birds flitting around her head, and huffed, forcing herself to all fours.

She immediately slipped, the ground crumbling beneath her, leading Ammy to roll a short distance, end-over-end once again.

With a grumbling huff Amaterasu took a moment to accept her spot, stuck in what felt like a hole in the ground, all four legs up in the air. It took some doing, some wiggling and wriggling and scrambling and flailing before she finally managed to snake her way out.

Amaterasu clambered up the slope, taking time to find footholds and purchase on the unstable ground. It took some time, allowing for the smoke and ash to clear out and drift away in the wind, leaving the area relatively clear. Finally, she pulled herself up and over the lip of the hole, and looked around.

The truck stop was gone. A single wall remained, as did the unstable looking roof with the massive red rocket sitting atop it. Everything else was gone, nothing but a smoldering crater where the building used to me.

Amaterasu looked around for the rather rude individual who she'd been trying to speak with, but there was nothing around her. Nothing, that is, except for a pair of shoes that had somehow wound up on the power lines across the road.

Her gaze roamed the landscape, her ears folding back as she realized that, maybe, the Spicy Football could have been a bit more dangerous than she realized. But… did they all explode, or was it just hers? She'd have to test that out later, for science.

As for the other two people who'd fled from Amaterasu's explosive entrance… The duo were hiding behind the edge of the hill, their eyes wide. They were silent as Amaterasu walked out of the still sizzling crater, and slipping through the haze of smoke and ash that hovered over the ground.

Amaterasu blinked. She'd completely forgotten her goal!

With an excited bark, Amaterasu raced toward the humans.

They screamed (Marv let out a muffled 'MMMFFFF!') and sprinted away from her as fast as their likely irradiated legs could carry them.

Unfortunately for them, Amaterasu was faster. But the chase made it more fun! Her tail wagged faster as she ran down the terrified humans, intent on making her first actual friends in this new world. Wasteland or not, people were people, and she was going to win them over.

Whether they liked it or not.

In the distance, the remnants of the Red Rocket gas station collapsed inward. The bright red pillar, a beacon of Humanity's existence, crumped to the ground, limp, and lifeless.

Terrified screams and excited barks sounded out across the landscape.
 
Last edited:
Well, Amateratsu IS a god at the end of the day, some disregard for humanity is pretty on point, more so if they are asshles.
 
Chapter 25 - Back Home
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Amaterasu was rather excited—as excited as a wolf could physically display anyway. That may or may not have involved knocking several Asgardian children off their feet due to the near lethal speeds her tail was wagging. And no, she wasn't tippy-tapping on the ground like some kind of hyperactive house pet, she just was rather antsy to get things underway. Definitely.

No, Ammy was excited because she was going home! Well, that part didn't excite her too much, as lovely as her new home was. It was the fact that she got to show another one of her kind-of-friends the place she'd been living in and working on! Thor was definitely a kind-of-friend. He was jovial and caring, so that was enough for Amaterasu.

Still, Steve, Tony, and the Ancient One were maybe a little higher on her list... But Thor! Thor was great too! And that didn't even include dragging Sif along for the adventure. Or the Asgardian children who were coming too.

Somehow, Amaterasu managed to convince Frigga to allow the children to come with her on a short 'cultural exchange'—Odin was too hungover to do much more than grumble and shoo Ammy away. When learning of Amaterasu's idea, however, the Queen of Asgard agreed wholeheartedly. The children would be perfectly safe under the watchful eye of Heimdall.

And of course, Thor and Sif, two of the greatest warriors Asgard has ever known.

And Elder, the massive Asgardian Battle Wolf.

And Amaterasu, the Goddess of the Sun.

Really, at this point, the children would be in more danger if they returned to Asgard than remain beside the near-gods (and one actual Goddess). Oh, and the giant wolf the entire group of children were riding.

Amaterasu raised a paw in farewell toward Heimdall and Frigga, the latter replying with a small smile and no small amount of amusement. The former had a slight smirk on his face, Heimdall's grip firm on the sword sinking into the floor. Thor and Sif were far less amused with the situation, and tugged at the collar of their outfits, shifting about uncomfortably.

"Lady Amaterasu, are you-" Thor's attempt at talking was quickly interrupted by over two dozen Asgardian children shouting at him.

"You said it wrong!" a girl exclaimed.

"You have to say Gah-dess!" another boy announced, clinging to Elder's ear without fear.

"No cheating!"

"It's the rules mister Thor!"

...

Thor winced, and sighed hard enough that on Earth it likely would have registered as a category one storm. The God of Thunder forced a calm smile, his cheeks red from embarrassment, and pulled at the neckline of his new outfit again.

The one Amaterasu specifically and deliberately picked out for the two of the finest warriors in all of Asgard. Really fluffy, soft, jackalope pyjamas, in a bright teal colour, just so no one would be able to miss the sight of supreme and complete comfort. That, or near-fatal embarrassment to Thor and Sif alike.

Ammy was rather fond of how the antlers flopped about whenever the two walked or turned their heads.

"Oh, Lady Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun," Thor drawled, bowing his head toward the wolf, "are you sure this is the, erm, punishment you and Elder desire? I'm not sure-"

"Boof," Ammy interrupted.

"... The entire time?" Thor winced, keeping his head bowed. His question was met with a small chuff from Ammy, and a soft laugh from Frigga who was watching the entire thing.

"You and Sif have made your beds," Frigga said, "now you must lie in them. Go on now, the children must be back home before sunset. I do not believe Amaterasu will allow the sun to set on time if you continue stalling."

Thor seemed to pale at that, glancing between Amaterasu and his mother several times over. "That... That's not something she can do, is it? Extend the length of the day?"

"Arf!" Amaterasu confirmed both Frigga's comment and Thor's question. A simple 'yes' does wonders sometimes.

It was Sif who made the first move to really get things underway. She rolled her eyes and walked passed Thor, grabbing the hood of his jackalope pyjamas and started to drag him against his will. The staggering attempt to stand from Thor just caused him to topple forward again, off balance as he was dragged to the entrance of the Bifrost.

The children, of course, loved it—the giggling and shameless laughter was a decent indicator. Elder huffed a laugh through his nose, his tail swishing lazily.

Amaterasu watched it all with a smug expression. There was something satisfying about watching someone dealing with the consequences of their actions. Especially if said consequences would embarrass him for the next thousand years or so. She fully expected the humans to start taking photos when they returned.

Revenge was best served warm and fuzzy, in a cute set of pyjamas.

"Come on," Sif groused "The sooner we start, the less we have to suffer his whining." She released Thor's hood with a 'gentle' toss forward, causing the God of Thunder to sputter as he stood.

"What!? I am not whining! I am merely, um, expressing my feelings on the matter. That is all." Thor turned from Sif and crossed his arms, pouting. "Whining... I cannot believe... I do not whine," he whined.

Amaterasu didn't believe Thor. Not one bit. Still, it wasn't her place to point out the blatantly obvious whining, especially when Sif elbowed him in the ribs, drawing a grumble from the God of Thunder. No, Amaterasu was much more interested in catching Heimdall's gaze, a sly smirk growing across her muzzle once the keeper of the Bifrost winked at Ammy.

Heimdall turned the giant blade in the dais, rotating the structure, causing all sorts of mechanical rings and gears and other fancy nick-knacks to start twirling and whirling around them. Sure, given enough time Amaterasu could probably figure out the name of each bit and bob and figure out their exact function.

But, today was about causing Thor and Sif misery, and giving the children joy! No time for that fancy stuff, thank you!

"Bork!" Amaterasu announced, turning to face the swirling rainbow tunnel of the Bifrost. She glanced over her shoulder and gestured forward with her nose, encouraging Thor onward.

"Wait," Thor protested. "I believe that, uh, for a proper educational experience, we should, maybe, outline what we're doing?" He flashed a wide smile, beaming at the Goddess of the Sun. "You know, something really in depth so we don't miss anything. It'll take a few hours at least." Thor's smile fell at the flat look from Amaterasu. "You know, for the children!"

...

Amaterasu huffed dismissively and turned away from Thor, ignoring his slighted 'hey!' of offence. Instead, she crouched down and coiled her muscles, preparing to spring into the swirling tunnel of the Bifrost.

Then, she leapt, soaring toward the Bifrost, about to enter the magical transportation to Earth...

And with a slight tug in her core, she popped out of existence, reappearing mid-air behind Thor with a burst of displaced air. All of her paws contacted Thor, leaving four very visible paw-prints on his back as she shoved him forward.

There was no time for Thor to react, or even prevent himself from entering the Bifrost. One moment he was a proud-ish warrior in pyjamas, and the next he was essentially a (comfy) flailing ball of limbs tumbling into the Bifrost.

And then Thor was gone.

Amaterasu landed gracefully on all fours, her tail lazily swishing side to side in satisfaction. Her gaze slowly shifted to land on Sif, the warrior meeting her gaze with a raised brow.

"What?" Sif challenged. "I am not arguing, so do not push me." Her gaze narrowed and her hand tightened around the hilt of her sword as Amaterasu took a single, slow, playful step toward Sif. "Goddess or not, I will turn you into a rug."

Amaterasu reeled back, as if struck. Her jaw dropped, and her eyes widened. Quickly, the wolf wheeled around, spinning in circles as she tried to get a good look at her body—which may or may not have resembled a dog chasing her tail.

A rug!? That was preposterous. The rugs that royalty had back in Nippon were positively massive, taking up large sections of rooms.

... She wasn't that fat, was she?

Sure, she'd maybe been having a few too many hot-dogs from the nice vendor. And maybe she stole some food off Thor's plate when he wasn't looking. And so what if she'd eaten until her physical form ached and threatened to pop. It was a feast! That's what they were for! What was she going to do, not celebrate the massive party thrown across three different worlds? They were celebrating her, and Asgard's victory, it would have been rude not to join in!

Amidst her panicked self-inspection—which definitely didn't stress her out at all, not one bit—the floor beneath her paws shook and rumbled as the massive russet wolf began to move. Elder, the giant Battle Wolf, wheeled himself around, causing the children riding his back (and clinging to his ears, legs, tail, and neck) to cry out with glee. The sound was barely enough warning for Sif, who just managed to look up.

Right at the massive tail swinging straight for her face.

A muffled shout was all that she could let out before Sif was sent into the Bifrost as well, vanishing into the rainbow bridge with a rather furious cry.

Elder merely chuffed a laugh, and shook his head, turning back around to face the portal once again. He would follow everyone after, like they'd planned, just to make sure that the area was clear and the children were safe.

Amaterasu, having finished her inspection and determined that no, she was not fat, she was just floofy, turned to face Frigga and Heimdall. She gave the two a firm nod, and a quiet 'yip!' of assurance. The kids would be safe with her, she swore it on the sun. And yes, that's a thing she could absolutely do, and what bigger promise was there than the sun? It was huge!

... Was that why Sif called her fat?

"Take care," Frigga said, raising a hand in a small wave. "Do not let my son escape his punishment. Make him squirm a little." She laughed at that, a smile gracing her lips.

"I will be watching," Heimdall added, nodding toward Ammy.

Amaterasu turned from the duo and glanced at Elder. Apparently the children seemed to be growing restless or antsy about going, because they had started to braid the massive wolf's fur, while others took turns climbing over his head or swinging around on his tail.

Poor Elder already looked like he was ready to go home, and they hadn't even left.

Being the caring goddess that she was, Ammy figured there was no need to torment Elder any longer—not when they had fun plans for the day! She wheeled around, tensed, and sprang backwards, arcing through the air, performing a smooth back-flip as she dropped into the Bifrost.

Immediately her senses were assailed by colour. Sound was colour, smell was colour, taste was colour, and, surprisingly, colour was still colour. It battered her sensitive wolf senses and left her reeling, the universe shifting and racing past just beyond the walls of the hyper-velocity tunnel.

Thump!

Amaterasu finally landed, somehow managing to maintain her upright stance on a rather soft and pliable surface. Her entire being was still being assailed by rainbows smacking her upside the head and trying to shake her out for lunch money.

"... Amaterasu, please, get off of my spine." Sif's voice groaned up from somewhere below.

The ground beneath her paws shifted and suddenly went vertical, causing Amaterasu to tumble forward, rolling several times before coming to a stop on some rather soft and familiar grass. Amaterasu closed her eyes and shook her head, rattling her brain back into place, and opened her eyes.

Directly in front of her were smooth stone walls, almost unnaturally perfect in their texture, and impossible cleanliness. Vines crept along the surface of some of them, and flowers bloomed in full force in the grass outside the walls. Amaterasu could count nearly two dozen species in just the small patch of grass in front of her.

The air was fresh, the life vibrant, and the whole structure radiated a warmth that seeped into her being.

She was home.

As Amaterasu lay there, taking in the world around her, she just started to realize just how much this place grounded her—filled her with energy and calm and a sense of belonging and-

Another bright light formed around them, the Bifrost once again activating. A shadow quickly grew over her, as well as Thor and Sif, blocking out some of the light.

...

Elder!

Her claws sank into the dirt and Amaterasu blurred forward, racing around the edge of her shrine and out of the soon-to-be crater. She ducked down and covered her ears with her paws, preparing for the impact.

She wasn't disappointed.

Amaterasu was nearly thrown off her paws. The ground beneath her rattled hard enough for the trees around her to shake and creak, leaves dropping in the thousands to the ground, adding a new layer of foliage to the Central Park floor. Birds took off in the hundreds, filling the sky with panicked feathered forms colliding into one another. Squirrels, raccoons, dogs, cats, coyotes, and anything else within this half of central park bolted.

Slowly, cautiously, Amaterasu peeked her head around the corner of her shrine. She blinked through the dust and debris, watching the cloud slowly settle, revealing the massive form of Elder laying on the ground, and the children atop him. They were giggling and laughing shamelessly, not at all fazed by the multi-tonne wolf shaking the earth around them by simply landing.

Asgardians were a whole other breed of crazy.

A pair of muffled shouts and groans sounded out, barely audible through the laughter of the children, or the sound of the forest settling around them. Just sticking out from beneath the fur of Elder, was Thor's hammer Mjolnir, and a pair of legs courtesy of Sif. Several more muffled curses and expletives sounded out, none at all properly audible through the fur mountain laying on the duo, which caused the children even more joy.

After several seconds Elder pushed himself to all fours, standing up well over the tree line, sending several children tumbling off of him and to the floor of Central Park. Sif and Thor gasped for breath and groaned, laying on the ground in little imprints of their bodies, their backs almost level with the dirt.

Ammy quickly padded her way over to the two warriors, who seemed very reluctant to stand up. Good thing she was here to help them out! Her jaws clamped down on the hood of Thor's pyjamas, giving him a sharp tug, quickly yanking him to his feet. Amaterasu then turned and did the same to Sif, who was a bit lighter than Thor, and wound up gaining a little air time as a result of the tug.

While Sif managed to land rather gracefully, the Asgardian children clambering off or springing from Elder's back were not quite at their level. Several wound up with mouths full of grass, and a couple more tumbled their way through a few somersaults.

Amaterasu barked once to gain everyone's attention, and waited patiently for a moment while the children settled. Finally, she was going to be able to show off her shrine! Oh, how exciting!

... Amaterasu glanced up, and narrowed her eyes. The universe lurched to a stop around her, and she casually swiped her tail upwards at the sky, brushing away the clouds that would dare block the sun from landing on her shrine.

The white wolf wheeled around, her tail swishing, and gestured with her head to the stone walls and red accents of the perimeter of her home. Several gasps and surprised sounds came from behind Ammy, likely those of the children. She could hear the footsteps of Thor come up behind her, and felt a rather heavy hand land on her shoulder, lightly patting her.

The children stepped passed her and walked to the entrance, looking up at the walls with curiosity. Most of the kids gathered around the painting on the outside of it, the one that she and Steve made, and traced their fingers over the art.

The ground shook as Elder turned around as well, one of his massive paws settling down beside Amaterasu. He remained silent, though stood beside her, clearly looking over the walls and into the shrine proper. Ammy could imagine he was admiring the trees and the lovely layout within. She worked hard to-

"Why is it so small?" one of the children asked.

Amaterasu reeled back, surprise etched across her face. Small!? That wasn't exactly the response she was looking for. Majestic maybe. Or warm feeling. Perhaps pretty, or serene, or quirky. Not-

"Yeah, it's tiny!" another child exclaimed. A number of the asgardian children had no issues jumping several times their height, grabbing onto the ledge of her shrine and pulling themselves up.

Amaterasu's tail fell and her jaw dropped as well, stunned by the complete lack of respect. Her shrine was not a playground! Not that she needed them in awe over her shrine, but a little appreciation would go a long way. You know, "lovely flowers", or "I love the colours", heck, even a "this is cozy" would have done it. Not this... this-

"I think my house is bigger!" a third Asgardian child announced to the amazement of his peers.

...

Amaterasu huffed, and her eye twitched.

"There there," Thor murmured, his patting migrating up to her head. "A wise man once told me that it is not the size that is important, but what you do with it." He paused, and furrowed his brow. "... Though, I do not think he was referring to a minuscule shrine."

...

Thor staggered back, celestial ink splattered across his face. The God of Thunder—in teal jackalope pyjamas with cute floppy horns—spluttered and huffed, trying in vain to wipe the ink away. All it did was smear over his face and make more of a mess.

Amaterasu glanced over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. Another swish of her tail formed a sheet of ice directly beneath Thor's foot mid-step, catching the Asgardian completely off guard. He fell as if his feet had been yanked out from beneath him, winding up in the grass once more.

Now slightly more amused and in higher spirits, Amaterasu glanced over her shrine, the outer walls by the entrance immaculate as always. In fact, the painting sitting there by itself looked rather lonely. Maybe she should encourage the children to add another painting to the wall.

Something was off as Ammy entered her shrine. Something felt different, as if it had been taken without being obvious. Like if someone moved a book on a shelf, or tilted a picture frame the wrong way.

The stone pathway felt fine, as did the gravel beneath her paws. The pink and continuously falling petals were normal too, coating the ground, dissolving, and feeding the trees to continue the loop indefinitely. The air was warm; the breeze was soft; the smell clean.

It was the claw marks that she saw first—a set of large and deep grooves in the grass of her shrine. As she walked forward more was discovered. The claws had shredded the rock walking path in several spots, creating jagged and rough edges. Next was the large pieces of wood scattered about the area, previously hidden by the tunnel of trees and the angle of entering the shrine.

Amaterasu froze for a moment, looking at the damage to her home. A large hole was knocked out of the front wall, and based on the debris, it wasn't from someone breaking in. Something broke out. Her eyes narrowed as she followed the lines of the building, noticing a thin line carved into the walls, which somehow made its way up along and through the roof.

A glance over her shoulder revealed the children still clambering over the walls, laughing at Thor, or requesting to be picked up by Elder. At this moment she was thankful that these kids were used to the massive Asgardian palaces, because they weren't at all impressed by her structure.

With a little flex of power, Amaterasu threw an illusion up and around the building, disguising the damages and returning it to its normal look. No one noticed at all. None other than Elder, who was watching Ammy over the walls, and a frowning Sif, who was leaned up against the entrance, caught the little change in the building. From her angle she shouldn't have been able to see much with the trees in the way.

Amaterasu ascended the steps to the building and shoved open the doors with a shoulder, causing the heavy wood to bang against the inner walls, the sound echoing out of the building, and muffled by the illusion. Darkness greeted her, the normally lit inside of the building being drowned by shadows that seemed too dark, too long, and far too tangible.

With nothing more than a swish of her tail Amaterasu began to clear out the corruption that had soaked into the wood, the disease vanishing in a fine mist. Her tail lashed side to side as she purged the darkness within her own home, causing the interior of the building to gradually brighten.

Who would dare to do such a thing? What person would decide to invade her home and attempt to corrupt it. What human-

It was then that Amaterasu saw something that caused her heart to drop. She looked up and peered at the slash that carved straight through a portion of the wall, and then the roof. But it wasn't that cut that worried her. It was the one she could see through the damaged walls.

There were cuts on the outer walls too, the ones surrounding the shrine. They were placed far too distant for a conventional weapon to hit it. Even if it was, the cuts would be smaller and proportional to her perspective. But from where she was standing, they were the exact same size, which means the gash was larger on the walls than where it started in here.

Either Stephen Strange had been practicing his perspective-based magic inside her own home, or... Something from her old home came with her to this world. The corruption she'd just purged spoke to the latter. She hadn't sensed this kind of magic beyond anything other than those dark, awful pages in the library. The corrupting energies, the draining sensation of just being around it...

Ammy quickly restored the building to its former state, the extensive damages fixed in seconds with just a few swipes of her tail. She allowed the illusion to drop around the building, and stepped forward, glancing around the interior of her shrine for anything at all that would explain what had happened.

But there was nothing.

Amaterasu shook her head. Right now she was in charge of keeping the children safe, occupied, and out of trouble. They needed something to do. Something to keep them engaged, and entertained—to feel like they're getting something out of this trip, and giving something in turn.

As Ammy padded out through the front gates, her eyes fell onto the painting that she and Steve had made. It looked clean and fresh as ever, almost life-like in an off and natural sort of way. The paint was crisp, lines smooth, and everything about it imperfect, and with that, perfection.

It looked... lonely. There was a lot of wall left...

Her gaze fell upon the kids, and her tail started to swish side to side again. An idea came to mind. It might be tricky, but it would definitely be doable. Especially with children from a culture where battle and arts go hand in hand.

... She was going to need a lot more paint and brushes.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

Being the owner of a simple little hobby shop, Leonardo didn't expect much out of the day. His normal customers were quiet, in an odd "this looks like one of those eccentric people on the verge of insanity" kind of way. Just your normal type or artsy folk. In his fifteen years of running the business after the previous owners—his parents—passed, he hadn't really run into any situations he found particularly memorable.

Sure, there was that whole alien invasion thing, that was really scary. But, not many people were really hurt, and compared to the whole surprise of superheroes being real, the shock faded pretty quickly. After all, he couldn't afford to be stressing about the universe trying to kill him. He had bills to pay!

Though, there was that one young fellow. Tall, well-muscled, and looked kinda like that Captain America guy from the news. He was polite, and had the friendliest furball with him too! The similarities were uncanny, but, it's not like some big-time hero would just wander into his store! That was laughable.

… Or so he thought. His opinion didn't initially change–it's not like it's weird for someone to walk into his store in a blue bunny suit. After all, it was New York. But, two people like that tends to make someone pause for a second. Additionally so when one of those people had a sword at their side, and the other a very familiar-looking hammer.

Then of course the whole idea that he was being robbed flew out the window when a very familiar dog raced around the duo and ran up to his counter. Said dog was followed by a couple dozen children pouring into the store, looking around at everything as if they'd never seen retail shelving before.

The large dog jumped up and planted her paws on the counter, giving a friendly bark. It sounded vaguely like a greeting, so Leonardo responded in kind.

"Hey, fluffball, it's been a few weeks. Hope you've been behaving." He reached forward and ruffled up her head, much to the shock of the Thor-lookalike in pyjamas. The dog didn't seem to mind though–not the way her tail sped up and caused things to wobble on the shelves from the airspeed alone.

A series of happy barks and yips was her reply, and Leonardo smiled, pulling back to look at his other customers. All two adults, and twenty-something children. One of the pyjama-clad adults suddenly seemed very interested in something on a lower shelf and directly out of sight, much to the amusement of the children.

"So, what can I do for you all?" As the owner of the store, he had to ask. It's not like he had the time to just entertain an entire elementary class in his building.

Everyone seemed to freeze at that. Slowly, everyone's gaze shifted to the large dog in front of him, who cocked her head to the side, as if thinking. There was a tense silence, the children watching carefully. It's not like this was their first time seeing a financial interaction or anything, that would be absurd. The two adults seemed to be waiting as well, but for what, he had no idea.



The answer to his question was a single happy bark from the large dog. She beamed at him, a large doggy smile visible, accented by the lazy swaying of her tail. Leonardo just laughed and pat the canine several times, which she seemed to happily accept.

"Psst!" one of the children 'whispered' to the man still half-hiding by the shelving. "Mister Thor, why isn't he answering her?"

"Shh, I am not here!" 'Thor' hissed. "Ask Sif!"

The children looked absolutely baffled, and this Sif person sighed rather audibly. The biggest reaction was from the big floofy dog, however. A sharp, commanding bark rolled from her jaws, and the sound echoed around the store, causing the metal shelves to rattle.

"Of course!" Thor shot upright, banging his head on a shelf on the way up. "My apologies, Lady Amaterasu, Goddess of the Sun." He turned to the child who'd asked the initial question, and gestured toward Leonardo. "Most mortals-" A sharp growl from 'Amaterasu' interrupted Thor. "Ahem, midgardians, are unable to see or understand the spiritual. This means that Lady Amaterasu should appear to be a large dog to most," Thor explained.

The children seemed in absolute disbelief. Leonardo was just confused, however.

The man certainly sounded like Thor, at least from the brief couple television appearances he'd made right after the battle. Though, just to be sure…

"Sorry, are you the Thor?" the store owner asked. "Like, thunder, lightning, all that stuff? You sound like him, but uh…" Leonardo gestured toward his rather questionable choice of outfit.

"Trust me, it is not my first choice," Thor mumbled. His demeanour very quickly perked up at the huff from Amaterasu, and he flashed Leonardo a wide smile. "Indeed, I am Thor, Son of Odin. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

It was hard to believe. Why his shop? Why him? Didn't Thor go back to Asgard with his crazy brother? But, the moment Thor held out his hand and the hammer at his hip flew into his palm, Leonardo fully believed him. It was hard not too, not with that ethereal hum of the space-metal swishing through the air.

"Uh, y-yeah," Leonardo laughed nervously, "nice to meet you too. Wait, so, that means…" he turned his gaze from the God of Thunder in front of him to the wolf. The wolf who suddenly had some very clear red markings across her body, and radiated a mystical kind of warmth that seeped into his very bones.

And he still had his hand on her head! Leonardo pulled his hand back as if burned, much to the amusement of everyone in the room.

"Wurf!" Amaterasu 'said' once again. "Bork!"

Thor seemed to perk up a little, now that he could be useful. "Allow me to translate," he began. "Lady Amaterasu-"

"No, uh… I-I heard." Leonardo couldn't quite believe that he did indeed hear what she said. It wasn't like she said anything, just that he could understand what she meant. "I have all that, I'll need to get it from the back."

It was then that his entrepreneurial spirit came back to the forefront of his mind, battering all other things to the side. He didn't have time to be stunned or shocked, or even to entertain that what had to be two, maybe three gods had just walked in through his front door. No, he had a business to run, and one hell of an opportunity before him. Sure, it was a gamble. But his grandparents opening a store in New York was a gamble. His parents keeping it opening and running was a gamble. Him inheriting it and deciding to keep it going while everything started to shift to digital was a gamble.

But this? It was worth the risk.

"I have a bit of an offer for you." Leonardo turned toward Amaterasu, who was clearly the person in charge of this whole operation. "How would you like all that for free? Every last bit. Heck, I'll throw in a permanent discount to the store."

"Arr?" Amaterasu asked. She tilted her head to the side, ears flopping with the motion. She was hooked, now he just had to reel her in.

"Mhm, honest." Leonardo nodded his head. "The only condition is," he turned and pointed to both Thor and the wolf, "I want a photo with both of you. And," he interrupted Thor's panicked noises, "I would like to share it. That's all."

These two were some of the most popular names in the world right now. Literal celebrities on the global scale–they fought off an alien invasion, there was no getting bigger than that. Even just a photo of the two with him would likely skyrocket his business. If he managed this situation well, he'd never have to struggle to pay rent another day in his life.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Amaterasu who spoke first–she seemed to be weighing the options. Nor was it Thor, who had paled immensely, and was opening and closing his mouth like some sort of possessed goldfish. No, it was Sif. She snorted, and laughed loud enough for Amaterasu's ears to flick. The children responded favourably and cheered soon after, the shop filled with laughter and excited babbling.

"What- I don't-" Thor sputtered. "Lady Amaterasu, surely you cannot be considering this offer!"

There were no words. No verbal confirmations of any sort. Instead, Amaterasu grinned. She slowly turned her gaze to Thor, a smug aura growing around her. How a wolf could be smug, Leonardo didn't know, but smug she was.

Thor paled.

Leonardo went into the back to grab his camera.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

Steve ran through the streets once again. Always running. Never just a slow walk, or a casual jog. Everything these days was fast and immediate and no one seemed to have the kind of patience that was necessary when he was growing up.

Then again, this kind of situation warranted a quick response. Steve had been in the training room when he got the message from Coulson—the Bifrost had once again struck the Earth. Or, at least, something resembling the Bifrost. Coulson had gone on about 'electromagnetic waves' and 'radiation signatures'.

Really, did SHIELD know of anyone besides the Asgardians that travelled by giant rainbow sky pillars?

Still, he was the closest Avenger—other than Banner, but SHIELD was still wary of sending him alone—to the scene, and the most capable to deal with a Loki kind of scenario. Especially now that Amaterasu was off with Thor somewhere out there in the universe.

How ironic that the scene of the Bifrost impact was exactly where Amaterasu's shrine was. He hoped that the commotion was just Thor returning the chaotic wolf-god-thing home, and not another Asgardian set on enslaving humanity.

Once was enough, thank you very much.

Thankfully, as he approached the area, there was no screaming. No gunshots, no terror, no aliens flying overhead. There was nothing to suggest anything particularly horrible and awful was happening. Nothing at all, save for the few bystanders who stood a healthy distance back, looking ready to bolt at any second.

Steve, with his shield held high, darted between the bystanders, and ran into the scene. More specifically, the scene ran into him with the force of a semi-truck. A massive wall of fur swept him off his feet, sending him straight onto his back. It bashed against Steve a couple more times, sending him rolling across the grass, before it finally stopped.

The world spun for several seconds, and just as Steve tensed to jump to his feet, a familiar bark made him pause.

"... Ammy?" Steve asked.

A white wolf snout appeared above him, taking up a decent portion of the sky, golden eyes peering down at him. Amaterasu's breath washed over his face, and Steve did his best to avoid cringing at the awful dog-breath.

Several sets of footsteps and voices sounded around him, and multiple children leaned into view, looking down as well. One of them even climbed onto Amaterasu and stood on her back, watching him closely. There was something off about them, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

The ground itself shook, the trees shuddering once, twice, thrice, before a massive shadow blocked out the sun. Steve blinked, locking eyes with one of the largest living things he'd ever seen. The giant wolf looked down at him, so high that it had to really tilt its head downward to look at the group, causing its jowls to lift and expose its large teeth.

Such a large creature shouldn't look so hilarious, but dogs looking down would never not be funny.

"So, I take it we're not under attack?" Steve asked. "Unless Asgardian kids- sorry, mighty Asgardian warriors are taking over, that is."

Several of the children giggled at that and reached down to help him up. Steve accepted their help, not quite expecting the strength of the kids. He knew Asgardians were stronger than normal people, but almost being thrown by a few twelve-year-old kids was not something he expected.

Or, they looked roughly twelve, that is. Based on his research and SHIELD's information, they might be three-hundred and the 'god' of winter, or something.

When Amaterasu jumped up, planted her paws on his shoulders, and dragged her tongue across his face, Steve figured they were actually just kids. They were far too amused about his deadpan expression and the very expressive wolf wagging to be anything else.

"That will never not be disgusting," he huffed, wiping away the wolf slobber and nudging Amaterasu away. The wolf dropped to all fours with an indignant huff, and narrowed her eyes, before whirling around and flicking her tail at Steve. Once more, he found his face wet, now spattered with black ink that quickly evaporated, leaving a cold and uncomfortable sensation behind.

"Boof," Amaterasu said over her shoulder. She quickly trotted away, leading most of the children toward the rest of the group huddled near the walls of her shrine. Toward the children, a woman in a teal outfit of some sort, and... Was that Thor hiding behind the kids?

A tug on his sleeve gained Steve's attention. He looked down to find a young asgardian girl staring back up at him.

"Miss Ammy said she should make you wear jackalope pyjamas too."

Steve blinked.

"What's a jackalope?" he asked. The only response he got was another tug on his sleeve, this time forward, being led along by the young asgardian. He fell into line behind her, easily keeping up, approaching the rest of the group.

Thor peeked up over the hoard of children, spotted Steve, and ducked back down, much to the amusement of the kids.

"Quick, hide me!" Thor whisper-yelled. "I cannot be seen like this!"

Of course, being kids, they did the exact opposite. They stepped aside for Amaterasu and Steve, displaying Thor in all his kneeling-on-the-grass-in-bright-teal-pyjama glory. He immediately dropped Mjolnir on the ground, and then reached for it, standing up straight and giving it a little flip in his hand.

"Ah, there you are. Sneaky little-" Thor paused and looked up, feigning shock. "Oh, Steve Rogers! What a surprise! I did not see you there. I was just looking for Mjolnir. It-"

"Arf?" Amaterasu interrupted.

"... Yes," Thor sighed, "Mjolnir returns to my hand whenever I call." The God of Thunder crouched down to meet Amaterasu's eyes at her level, whisper-yelling toward the wolf, "Odin's beard, do not make this worse. I am dressed as a fuzzy creature in public, you have no need to embarrass me further!" He cleared his throat and stood up, rolling his shoulders, ignoring the smug look from Amaterasu, the giggles of the children, and the soft smile from Steve.

"Do not be a child, Thor," Sif groused. She stepped away from a bare patch on the shrine wall and crossed her arms. "Accept your punishment with honour. Be grateful it is not worse."

"Mortals have already taken photos…" Thor grumbled.

In an attempt to save the tattered remains of Thor's pride, Steve turned his gaze away from the pouting God of Thunder, and to the walls of the shrine instead. At the very base were what had to be a dozen different paint buckets, and tens of brushes. Multiple children had paint on their hands, arms, and a couple wore it on their face like war-paint.

"Adding to the wall?" Steve asked. There was a significant gap between where the kids were painting what looked to be a battle between wolves, and a giant arch overtop some sort of battlefield. Thor was in the image too, as well as Sif, mighty warriors in their formal battle armour.

Some child added antlers to their heads, however.

"Wurf!" Ammy nodded, and wagged her tail, nosing at the shrine walls.

The children immediately whirled around and returned to work with a ferocity that would have been terrifying if it weren't so adorable. Brushes flew overhead, splatters of paint working over stone walls and somehow miraculously staying on despite it being for the wrong material.

It was difficult to see, but Steve swore be could see flashes of light and colour on the walls before anything was even put there. It was eerily similar to the illusion projection that Amaterasu used for their first piece of art—the mural of what had to be her old home. The paint there was as fresh as the day it was made, and just as vibrant. But the flashes of light are what dragged Steve's gaze back to the other section of wall.

It looked... almost like a dance. Something would appear, and one of the children would dart out to paint it, as if chasing the illusions. But, it wasn't taking over their art. It merely enhanced it. Little accents on a flicker of flame, or a shadow to add depth to the images being made. It all fell together like some sort of puzzle, meshing the individual pieces of art into a single cohesive unit.

And the puzzle was definitely something Steve wasn't expecting. To the left was the giant arch, and to the right, what looked to be a sprawling city made of gold, beneath the slowly forming night sky. Fires flickered across the painting, each finished section almost appearing to glow and dance with the flame. People sprawled far into the distance, and each child made sure to apply their own families and touches to the mural, providing detail and perspective that the last couldn't possibly have.

It was then that Steve properly noticed something. There was a massive paw print encompassing the entirety of the scene, large enough to hold what he assumed to be the city of Asgard within it. A quick glance at the large Asgardian wolf revealed the red fur around its paw stained with black paint. Surrounding the black outline was various shades of purple, blending from bright shades to darkness, and then back again, a smooth transition of day into night. All orchestrated by Amaterasu, who pranced back and forth around, between, and behind the children, obtaining her fair share of paint battle scars. How she managed to look elegant while being a literal finger-painting was anyone's guess.

Now that Thor was no longer mortified by his state of dress, and was entertaining the children by wielding his paintbrush like a sword, Steve made his way toward what was possibly the only normal person in the group. Hopefully. As normal as someone from across space, born in a warrior culture, wearing teal pyjamas with antlers could be...

Leaning up against the side of a wolf the twice the size of a city bus.

Really, at this point, Steve wasn't surprised.

"Well met," Sif greeted, inclining her head toward him. "I am Lady Sif. You must be Captain Steve Rogers."

"That's me. Please, just call me Steve." He, of course, knew who Sif was. He did his research into all his teammates, including known contacts—Sif was one of Thor's. "Can I ask what all... this is about?" Steve gestured around himself, unable to really pick something specific to focus on. Fury would want details, and Steve really didn't want to have to explain that he just allowed space-children to invade.

"We lost a wager." Sif pursed her lips and sighed, shaking her head. "Your friend is quite the devious and formidable opponent."

"What happened?" Steve asked. He turned and pressed a hand into the fur of the massive Asgardian wolf, sinking in to his wrist before actually reaching a solid surface to scratch at.

"Entirely too much," Sif laughed. "To keep it short, from what I have gathered, Lady Amaterasu broke into Odin's weapon vault, consumed two ancient magics of cataclysmic potential, and scared off an army from multiple worlds at once." Sif smiled at Steve's stunned expression. "She then worked with Elder here," she turned to pat the russet wolf, "to force Thor and I into losing a wager between one another. That is why we are dressed as jackalopes."

Steve just sort of stood there for a moment, unable to really get out the words he wanted to express. None of that made sense, and yet it made perfect sense. It was such a sudden and wildly expansive concept to go from fighting aliens a little while back, to learning about Asgardians. Now he was being told the fluffy wolf that slept on a pile of blankets in his apartment ate magic, scared off space armies, and could physically match with a creature many times her size.

He nodded his head and frowned slightly, turning away from Sif to look upon Thor and Amaterasu. "... Yeah, that sounds like her," he admitted.

The two stood in silence for a minute, Steve gradually scritching his way through Elder's fur, working up and down wherever he could reach. Suddenly, the wall of fur behind him shifted, and the muscle beneath his fingers tensed up. He knew exactly what this was, and focused on that one spot. Soon, a repetitive, ground shaking thump thump thump sounded out, and a low growl vibrated Steve's chest.

"Your friends speak highly of you," Sif said. She looked from Steve and up at the large form of Elder, who was currently kicking his leg and enjoying getting that fierce itch scratched.

"Oh?" Steve raised an eyebrow, but continued scratching at Elder, shifting to use both hands and really work the large wolf. The response was immediate, and the ground shook as the asgardian battle wolf flopped over, squirming against the grass.

"All good things, I assure you," Sif added. "Thor was impressed by your fighting techniques, and your bravery in battle. Once drunk, he went on about you blocking and redirecting Mjolnir's blow—he could not believe someone from midgard could do so. Both of them mentioned your unique fighting style using your shield and were impressed."

"That's just a little bit of training, nothing special," Steve brushed it off. He did appreciate the compliments even if he didn't need them. It was nice to know that the people—'gods'—he fought alongside were genuinely kind. "I'm sure you all go through quite rigorous training yourselves."

"Lady Amaterasu did say you were honest..." Sif mused. "She mentioned several other things, but she was also several kegs deep into Asgardian mead. I would rather not suffer divine punishment beyond some rather comfortable sleepwear." Sif grabbed at the side of her clothing and gave the fabric a tug, making a curious little hum. "I think I might keep these."

"It looks good on you," Steve said, glancing at Sif. He stepped away from the now scratch-comatose monster wolf, and paused. He blinked, and turned to Sif, who raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean- I just meant to say that you still look every bit the warrior you do in the photos." His cheeks grew red, and stammered when Sif's other eyebrow lifted as well. "Wait, that came out wrong. I was researching Thor when the whole Loki thing happened, and you were one of Thor's known associates, so I read up on everything and this all just sounds awful I swear it isn't like that."

Steve, at this point, had given up trying to save face. Great, now he sounded like some sort of weird stalker to this battle-hardened warrior from another planet that he literally just met for the first time! This is exactly why Steve didn't do politics or make speeches—he was going to say one thing wrong, and then it would spiral out of control. This is why he had scripts on stage way back when!

And Sif just... smirked? She smiled, and it looked like she was doing her best not to laugh. That failed miserably when she tossed her head back, laughing quite audibly at Steve, much to his combined relief and confusion. It became worse when Amaterasu turned to look at the commotion, as well as several children, and Thor, suddenly making Steve the center of attention.

Honestly, not his best moment.

Thankfully, after a few seconds Sif calmed, still chuckling, and flashed Steve a smile. "No offense taken. I appreciate the compliment."

It took Steve nearly a minute to return to normal, his embarrassment fading when Sif did not take out the sword at her hip and try to run him through. That was a good sign. Probably. Instead, she crossed her arms and turned away, leaning against Elder again, the large wolf still laying down. Steve followed her lead and stood nearby, turning his attention toward Amaterasu and the rest of the group.

Ammy trotted up toward the wall, and looked over the collaborative painting with a critical eye. She dabbed her tail at a few spots, adding shadows—and somehow highlights—to the scene. It seemed as if she was satisfied, because she pressed her nose against the wall, and pulled back. A hazy, shimmering barrier raced across the surface, and Steve watched once again as art was sealed and made permanent with magic. The children gasped and made various noises of excitement and approval as the scene almost took on a life of its own, faint movements and tricks of light making it look just as real as the first city Steve and Ammy painted.

His gaze fell upon the finished mural on the wall, a pretty significant distance from the small town and tree they made. A battlefield stood beneath a massive arch, and above that, a rising sun, clouds parting for it. Slowly moving to the right, the bright sky steadily faded into night, revealing a slowly growing mass of lights and buildings. A grand party stood before a golden city, the entire scene encompassed in a black paw print.

While Steve was focused on the more cultural aspects of the scene, Sif seemed to be looking at the earlier portions of the painting. At least, that's what he assumed, because he wound up asking her a question at the exact same time she did him.

"What's Asgard like?" he asked.

"Would you care to spar?" she asked.

The two paused for a moment, looked at each other, and chuckled.

"Sorry, go ahead." Steve nodded to Sif.

"Would you care to spar?" Sif asked again. "Not today, of course—the children are my top priority." She nodded her head toward the group, who seemed to have settled down and were in the process of cleaning up. "Odin may be more agreeable to travel due to Lady Amaterasu's contributions, and as a warrior of Asgard, educating oneself in combat is important."

"That's kind of... unexpected," Steve admitted. "I don't think I'm going to stack up to whatever Ammy or Thor can do." Once again, Steve was suddenly finding himself in over his head. There was a certain kind of whiplash to being outclassed by actual people from space, or deities that could, allegedly, control aspects of the world. "... Still, I'm willing to try," he added.

"That's the spirit of a warrior." Sif smiled and nodded. "When we spar, you may ask your questions about Asgard, and I shall answer them to the best of my ability. Is this acceptable?"

"You have a deal," Steve replied. He stuck out his hand, which Sif clasped.

Her grip was surprisingly strong, as expected from a battle-hardened asgardian warrior, and they shook on it. Steve was... oddly excited about it. He was having a bit of a lull in his training, and felt like he'd peaked with what he could learn technique wise. He needed someone to go up against, to test things out.

Maybe this would be the push he was looking for.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

For a country that just recently underwent a violent insurrection and forceful takeover, Latveria was relatively calm and peaceful. In comparison to other small European countries that have been shoved under a new dictator with an iron fist, that is. At least, it seemed to be peaceful, according to what limited information Natasha could pull from the CIA spy networks that remained. Almost all of them had been purged and shredded, entire systems erased and flooded with extremely malicious viruses. The only thing that prevented Natasha's tech from being fried was SHIELD's pestering of Stark to start working on security upgrades after the AIM breach.

Still, all she had to go off of was outdated information, and she wasn't willing to connect to just any local network inside of a country with an information bubble keeping track of everyone and everything.

Natasha unplugged her laptop from the Ethernet cord in one of the few remaining CIA spy-houses left over from the previous king. Evidently, they'd had an agreement with the CIA in exchange for being left alone. Clearly the new leadership didn't respect corrupt verbal agreements with previous despots. How unethical and moderately bothersome.

Looks like she'd need to be doing some leg work. That should be easy though. How hard would it be to find someone supposedly in a metal suit of armour and able to wield lightning powerful enough to be detected from space? It's not like she came with negative intentions anyway. She just wanted to talk.

… And maybe manipulate the man into revealing all the information she wanted to know.

She just had to find this Victor Von Doom fellow now.

Natasha rose to her feet and pulled on a sweater she had 'borrowed' from one of the locals, throwing the hood up. Her plan was simple: wander around the capital city for a while to gather information, maybe chat with some locals, and grab a bite to eat before returning.

However, her plan hit a bit of a snag as she opened the door. A rather big snag. One that towered over her, his entire frame blocking the door, his metal suit glimmering from the afternoon sunlight. His green hood hid his eyes well behind the mask, giving Natasha almost nothing to read as far as body language went.

"Natalia Alianovna Romanoff," Victor Von Doom began. "You did not request permission before entering the borders of Latveria."

"Natasha is fine," she replied. "I was actually looking for you. Thank you for saving me the trip."

"Doctor Doom formally invites you to dinner at his palace in the capital city of Doomstadt," came the emotionless reply.

"Hang on," Natasha interrupted. "I thought this was the capital."

"It is."

"Isn't this Fortunovstadt?" she asked.

"It was."

This man was starting to get on her nerves. He was unreadable, and spoke of things that made little sense. It irked Natasha. She felt as if she were talking to a brick wall, and was trying to get the emotionless masonry to smile.

She had no time to ponder this further. Doom stepped away from the door and to the side, gesturing out into the street with one arm. Clearly, she wasn't being given an option.

"Can I at least get my keys?" Natasha asked. "I'd like to lock up before going out with a hunk of metal like you." Hopefully he'd be dumb enough to let her out of his sight. She'd be able to make a quick escape, and blend into the crowds without-

"The keys to this house are in your left pocket," Doom stated. "You need not be concerned about theft—criminals fear the good people of Latveria."

... Shit. Natasha had half a mind to use her Widow Bites—those wonderful little electric charges—on the mans metal suit. But, for all she knew, it would just destroy any patience and good will that this man was giving her.

"Alright, you've got me," Natasha sighed. She stepped past Victor Von Doom and closed the door behind her with a solid thud, the sound of European wood design pleasing to the ears. "I'm ready for our date, Doctor," she purred. She didn't let the fact that there was zero response from the man get to her.

Heck, for all she knew, the guy was into men—she was hardly going to be upset. She'd just need to rework her interrogation tactics a bit. Natasha was nothing if not adaptable, and more than willing to rise up to the challenge of pulling the information from Doom piece by piece.

Though, she had to admit, the name was a little overkill.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

Somewhere, far from Earth, lay a survivor. A small yet fierce warrior, freed from the shackles of slavery, and spared from the horrors performed in the name of progress. Someone who had suffered through countless trials and lived to become stronger for it. His battle had been fierce, and though the enemy had nearly done him in, he had come out victorious.

Thus, he had taken a long rest amidst the strewn corpses of his foes. Curled into a corner, holding his tail in one paw, safe and sheltered as he recovered from the perilous battle that had lasted for days. He dreamt of his saviour—of his future. Of what he could do to repay his hero tenfold for her kindness. What she had freed him from was worth his undying allegiance.

But, as he finally woke up, the bonfires around him blazing bright, he realized something was amiss. He looked around, ears perked, looking for the being who'd unshackled his mind, body, and soul.

She was gone.

Frantically, he leapt atop the pile of corpses and scaled the very peak, clambering over the arms of felled giants, avoiding their horrendous breath. They wouldn't wake, not after their battle.

Upon reaching the top, he turned, red eyes peering through the night.

She was nowhere to be seen.

He called her name, softly at first.

Nothing.

He called for her again, louder, hoping to reach her ears beyond the sleeping giants and the crackling of fire.

Nothing.

He screamed her name, his voice echoing off the battlefield around him.

... Nothing.

The warrior slid down the slope of felled enemies, landing on all fours, and took off into the night. He needed to find her. To serve her, and make sure that he fulfilled his purpose. To keep her from harm, like she did him.

His shouts and calls faded into the night as he ran, intent on finding her.

~{O}~{O}~{O}~

Amaterasu yawned, curled up in her shrine once again. It was good to be home.

Idly, she scratched at her neck, back leg kicking and claws working at that itchy spot in all that fluff. She settled back down once more, and buried her nose under her paws.

As she drifted off, she sleepily noticed that her little rodent friend was nowhere to be seen today. It's not like she owned him, and he was free to make his own choices.

A sharp yawn left her, and she sighed, her eyes slipping closed.

...

...

...

Wait, did she leave him on Asgard?


Thank you to my supporters, you deserve all the best: blobbycat, pizzajolt, Sugarcube, Bast, Baron of Bonk, Eris, JoeyW, Nithalys, Sleepy Ghost, and towerator. I appreciate the early feedback and your continued support.

Also thanks to Tetrine and Baron von Richington for feedback on the chapter.
 
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Just read a first chapter, I like it, very sunny

Because of "likes" buttons on this site I need a scene of "Teh good doG" rocking sunglasses
 
it was a good and funny chapter i like it

Thank you, I was aiming for a more light-hearted chapter! Happy you liked it!

It is good to see our dear wolf back.

Ammy couldn't stay contained within my mind forever, she was wearing holes in the brain carpet with her pacing. She needed to get out! I'm not planning on quitting Ammy, I really wanna finish this story for a friend, and for myself.
 
Ah Steve, never change. That earnestness of his is just sublime. And hey! He's now got a new sparring partner! He can give those poor punching bags of his a break.

She just had to find this Victor Von Doom fellow now.
Oh Natasha... You're in far more danger right now than you were during the Loki fiasco. Here's hoping things don't go TOO poorly for her.

Oh little warrior, you're going to have your work cut out for you if your desire is to serve The doG. I wonder how his adventure in Asgard will go?

Wait, did she leave him on Asgard?
/sigh Amy, you don't just strand a friend in a foreign city after a party. Or at least you don't do so without the knowledge that karma will come for you eventually.
 
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Ah Steve, never change. That earnestness of his is just sublime. And hey! He's now got a new sparring partner! He can give those poor punching bags of his a break.


Oh Natasha... You're in far more danger right now than you were during the Loki fiasco. Here's hoping things don't go TOO poorly for her.


Oh little warrior, you're going to have your work cut out for you if your desire is to serve The doG. I wonder how his adventure in Asgard will go?


/sigh Amy, you don't just strand a friend in a foreign city after a party. Or at least you don't do so without the knowledge that karma will come for you eventually.

Steve is a wholesome bean and I love him immensely. I think he just wants to better himself in the rapidly changing world and continue to help people. And nah, Nat's got this. It's not like her smug act and intelligence in wringing the truth out of people will infuriate narcissist Doctor Doom. It's fiiinnneeee.

The lil rat buddy is going to have FUN and NOTHING will go wrong and he WILL end up with Ammy again in the near future probably. Maybe. After some adventure that is. And don't blame Ammy, she was *really* drunk and eepy. It'll probably work out eventually!
 
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