“I don’t know, Sam!” Liz shot back, reflexively covering ears as bullets wailed against the pod. “I’m not an X-Man, okay?” She wasn’t panicking, not yet anyways. Yes there was fear, there was certainly danger, but neither of those things were new to the blonde. Quite frankly, huddling amidst gunfire wasn’t too new either, although she normally wasn’t this well sheltered. That didn’t mean she had time to debate Sam on the ethics of killing people who seemed to be clearly trying to kill them.

“You’re the one trained for this stuff, do whatever you’re going to do!” she said hotly before drawing her mind back to the animals. Another wave of clam blasted from her and she immediately soaked some of it back into herself. She took a deep breath and laid a compulsion on the ravens. <<Do not fly. Stay down. Don’t move.>>

The ravens wanted to immediately fly, but doing so might attract attention to their stark black forms. Perched on top of the pod with Liz squashing any urges or motivations to fly away, they were highly unlikely to be noticed at any point.

However, if the ravens had laser vision, she would’ve targeted them at Sam a few times because he kept jabbing at her about not killing things. Even as he downed the helicopter but still managed to break its fall. Even as he remotely disarmed several gunmen and forcibly dismounted others. Even as he nagged in a very Carrick-like manner, he was jockeying around all over the field, twisting the landscape to suit his needs and hinder others, creating golems to step up and take people down, and even managed to portify the pod further!

The bullets dulled as they struck the thickened ice shell and the ravens had to jostle about to avoid being frozen over themselves.

“We’re fine,” she said sharply. “But you’ve still got assailants. The people on the 6x6s are up to something. Looks like--Sam, they’ve got rocket launchers!”

The first rocket blasted toward the man.

”..... Yeah.... I see it.” he sighed as he stepped back out of his armor and tapped it on the shoulder. ”Catch it for me will ya?” before having the snow launch him into another direction away from the impact of the rocket. The golem complied and took a catching stance as the rocket made impact and erupted in an explosion. Problem with shooting rockets, you give your position away. Which was where Sam was falling to.

”Gonna put you guys on ice.” he said raising his hand and shooting a beam straight down at the vehicle as he passed it overhead. The vehicle and two of the gunman in it became encased as the one with the rocket dove out of the way. ”Hey look at that... a gift.” Sam chuckled as he walked over to the man pushing himself up and then stomping him in the face and blasting his back with ice. ”Sit tight a bit I’m gonna borrow your toy.”

”Liz! I found a rocket launcher!” Sam boasted. ”Think I remember how to use this.” he said aiming at the next closest vehicle and fired. The rocket ‘thoomed’ out of the gun ”Still do!” he chuckled as he watched everyone dive from the vehicle as it met another loud explosion. ”And they gave me extra ammo!” Sam said like a kid on Christmas re-thinking his fight with whoever these people were.

”We want the 4x6 or a snowmobile Liz? I’m not taking the helicopter with those surface to air defenses.” he said loading the rocket launcher and then launching himself upwards towards the dome with a pillar of ice. ”Oh! They fixed the copter.” Sam said aiming the rocket in midair, ”Good for them... good for-” ‘thoom!’ The rocket surged forward just as the helicopter tried turning out of the way. Another explosion as the helicopter went down for the last time. No way they could fly without a tail.

”You keeping score?” Sam quipped as he landed on top of the dome once again.

Liz breathed easily as Sam tore through the gunamen on all sides of the pod at once, fighting people through golems, encasing them in ice cells, even blowing up their vehicles with their own rockets while in mid jump. That part seemed excessive to her, but she couldn’t argue with the man’s effectiveness.

Huninn and Muninn barely even glanced at the man as he came down near them. By this point the armed forces were scattered around the ice, their attack lines completely obliterated and the once-pristine landscape churned into a field of spires and sudden spikes that put many of them off from even seeing any of their comrades.

“Grab us one of the 6x6s,” Liz finally said, as the tides began turning against the gunmen. “We’ve got dogs to think about.” The dogs in consideration were behaving amazingly well, even without Elizabeth’s meddling. Once again, Liz had to wonder what exactly Bruno had been through to behave in such ways under these circumstances, considering he and Sam didn’t have a psychic bond.

“Yeah, there are only eight people left. They’re starting to show signs of fleeing,” she said, tuning Huninn’s ear to what the closest ones were saying. They were speaking into radios but the raven was sharp enough to make out words. “Sounds like they’re speaking German. Don’t know what it means but Huninn hears…’Abbrechen! Rückkehr zu Basis! That mean anything to you?” Liz blessed the bird’s ability to mimic sounds.

A few of the remaining snowmobiles began circling back around in an effort to return from the direction they’d come from. Others tried navigating the treacherous field to pick up some of their stranded comrades.

“I’m not an expert, but I think these people may be able to lead us to our missing scientists.”

Sam didn’t argue with Liz’s logic about the vehicle. He wanted to protest a bit, for Bruno. He was getting a little heavier than usual but that was on Sam as a dog owner as well. Maybe he should come on missions more. As long as there were no Ninja.

”I’ll have to thaw one... hold on.” the icemancer said getting distracted as a 6x6 was turning and fleeing in the opposite direction. ”Give me twenty and meet me by the entrance to the pod. Don’t be seen.” offering a warning. He was pretty sure there wouldn’t be any other problems but he knew how quickly things could turn for the unexpected. Thankfully these were all just humans with guns and nothing like the magic users back home or worse. Mutants.

”I already know where they are going. The place we got shot at when we were flying over. I just don’t want them warning anyone we are coming.” Sam didn’t let anyone escape. Anyone running got wave hello and a pair of ice blocks around their feet preventing them from escaping anyone on a vehicle... well Sam had a 6x6 now and with the ice box trailing behind the vehicle he had just enough room so no one died from exposure. ”You’re welcome.” he said to Liz who probably didn’t understand why he was saying it.

With one last sweep and now three large boxes made of ice Sam pushed the last one in front of the pod. ”German is rusty. They know enough English to know I wasn’t going to give up so we do things the old fashion way.” he said taking the dome of ice down freeing all who were protected by the ice sculpture.

Waiting till Liz exited he waved a hand at the three boxes revealing several windows where no one could crawl out of. ”Hallo, Mein Deutsch ist schlecht” knowing he was pressed for time he asked, ”Russkiy?” he waited a moment. The ones who were awake and not still knocked out didn’t make eye contact. ”Nihon?” no answer from any of the boxes. ”Alright, English then.” he said doubting any of them knew any other language. Seriously what kind of mercenaries were these.

”I know someone here speaks English, other than the pilot who I didn’t bother looking for yet...” Sam paused, ”Liz you want to see if they are moving yet?” he asked before looking back to his captives. ”Alright, listen up then. I’m here for the scientists. I know you have them. I’ll leave you naked in the cold if you don’t give me information.” he searched for the words for cold and naked. One of them he was familiar with in most languages, having been called it several times. There was also the time with the ambassadors daughters.... ”kalt... nackt...” he mimed being cold.

”Don’t need to know English to know what happens if we leave you here...”

All there was to do was wait. The battle, if you could call the short, intense, mostly one-sided conflict a battle, was over.

Liz kept herself well occupied in the meantime, deciding she didn’t need to pay close attention to Sam’s clean-up efforts. She busied herself glancing through more of the scientist’s research and any latest developments they’d uncovered, when she wasn’t petting Bruno and Zorro and gushing on about how very good and amazing they were. She made sure they knew it, too, with a little bit of a psychic edge to her words.

Finally, Liz exited the pod, watching through raven eyes and timing things so she reached the door just as Sam did.

She was already up to speed, having scoured the area through nudging the birds. Only now did she tell them they could fly or do what they wanted. They immediately went to investigate some of the shiny bits of shrapnel from some of the snowmobiles.

“The people in the chopper are alive,” Liz said in a low voice so nobody else could overhear. “Not great shape, probably concussed, but their pulses are fine.” Trust a raven to know when something was dying.

The dogs followed her out of the pod and Liz gave them a slight nudge to step up beside their masters. They weren’t attack dogs, per se, but Liz was well aware what the sight of two big dogs appearing could do. Zorro was still on guard mode, so it was easy enough for Liz to get him to open his jaws just a bit and let out a small growl. Her own face remained impassive and she was focusing elsewhere, staring off into the distance as she listened through canine ears.

She heard pounding hearts. She cocked her head, although that would do nothing to alter Zorro’s hearing. She closed her eyes and opened her mind to Zorro’s olfactory senses. Most of the time, she couldn’t make heads or tails out of the smells dogs could smell, but fear was universal.

They were afraid.

“They understand you,” Elizabeth said, raising her voice so all the gunman could hear her clearly as she slid her hands into pockets. “English will suffice.” Their hearts had started speeding up when they heard what Sam wanted.

There was no point in maintaining the charade. “We will say nothing,” one of them said, a note of finality in his tone. “Better to freeze out here than betray our brothers.”

“Reconsider,” Liz said. Her mind churned. There was life there, in the ice. Many things, however small and simple. What had she read about Antarctican wildlife? Some kind of weevil or midge that thrived there? She’d used bugs before to intimidate people. These people had attacked them - she wasn’t feeling especially kind and generous.

“Nothing you can do to us is worse than Herr Weltgeist,” the designated speaker spat. “Our resolve is stronger than you.”

That wasn’t true. She could hear their hearts pounding and the sickening stench of fear was spreading, no matter how well they hid it.

<<Land on us,>> she said to the ravens, imagining her and Sam’s shoulders. The dogs had thrown the men off a bit, and they were still clearly wary of Sam and the ice golems, but maybe some psychological warfare was in order.

The ravens graciously complied and they began cawing in infectious glee as they spiraled down out of the Antarctic sky, before landing on Sam.

Liz didn’t speak, but instead asked the birds to do it for her. “We can tell you’re lying,” they cawed in unison.

That got their attention. Heartbeats sped up.

“Is your resolve stronger than your flesh?” Huninn asked, shuffling her feet.

“Is your resolve stronger than your eyes?” Muninn questioned from the other shoulder.

“Or your tongues?”

“If you won’t use your tongues, maybe we will.”

“I like tongues.”

“So tender, so juicy.”

The ravens, guided by the zoopath, turned their heads to Sam’s.

“We’d prefer them not to be frostbitten - can you leave us one still warm? Still moving?” Huninn asked.

”How about just the last person to speak? The least helpful one?” Muninn cajoled.

Liz never moved a muscle, not even to open her eyes. Her focus was entirely on listening through Zorro and putting words in the mouths of the ravens. If ravens talking about eating them wasn’t enough to get what they needed, perhaps bugs would. However at least one of the men was on the verge of a panic attack and several others were really triggering predatory instincts from the minds available to Liz.

The icemancer looked to where the chopper was and ignored the people in it for now. He’d send a clone to pick them up eventually. They were in an enclosed for now they’d be fine for a bit before they froze. He’d try to get them before that.

Sam folded his arms and waited as Liz spoke to the captive gunman. With their thick accents Sam tried to determine where they were from. Sounded... heavy German but it had been a time since he ran into someone from that part of the world so he wasn’t a hundred percent sure. He was sure when he heard the name Herr Weltgeist. Very German sounding.

Feeling the birds approaching Sam didn’t move while they landed knowing that Liz was up to something. She was scary good with the intimidation when it came to using animals and even more so when the Ravens started to speak. Something Sam heard them do once or twice but never like this. Sam held back a smile and continued to stare the Germans down.

”Anything for you two.” he said reaching a hand up to one of them and offering to rub their chest as they spoke. ”I think I can leave more than one. Maybe a show if your hungry might loosen the other tongues?” Sam said walking forward and staring one of them down. There was fear on his face but not enough so he moved to the next one and then the next one.

”You...” he said finally looking at the man who was visibly worried. Clearly the newest recruit. He definitely seemed the youngest. ”How does this one look?” he asked to the birds and Liz. Hoping the birds wouldn’t be upset when they didn’t get a meal from him. ”Does this one look appetizing my fine feathered friends?” he asked forming a spear in his hand completing the look of a ancient deity.

Muninn delicately allowed his chest to be ruffled by the man in ice and leather. This was a human he knew well, even if his voice was not imprinted upon his thoughts like the other one, the strange and familiar one, the one whose hair sometimes sparkled in the sunlight and who offered shiny trinkets and tiny delicacies. It was her voice that he and Huninn listened to and repeated.

Besides, the two ravens were having fun. They didn’t know exactly what they were saying, but they liked the impact it was having on the other humans. It was something to remember for later.

Elizabeth fought back the small concern that maybe teaching ravens how to deliver threats of pain and torture was probably not a good idea - she couldn’t afford the distraction, much like the smile the thought brought on! She continued the charade.

And it seemed Sam wasn’t content to let Liz steal the show. He had to make an ice spear and take on the role of the benevolent master. Liz fought back another smile.

“He looks delicious,” the ravens said in harmony, echoing Elizabeth’s mental direction.

“Delicious!” Huninn repeated, much more gustily. Muninn echoed with a guttural “Delicious!” For several seconds, the ravens alternated chanting the word delicious, varying their tone and pitch, occasionally throwing in caws and shrieks. A sensation of desire and hunger flooded them, courtesy of the empath, and their glossy black eyes took the man in critically, as if they were already sizing him up for a dinner plate. They began beating their wings, stamping their feet, and ruffling their feathers. Huninn even pranced down Sam’s arm to get closer to the potential prey.

The man, who’d easily launched a hailstorm of bullets at the figrue in fornt of him just a half hour before, stood in stark terror.

Weaponless, he could still see creatures of pure frost around the piles of weapons. His comrades were encased in blocks and cells of solid ice. He himself was bound by it. Now this man, the one who’d so effortlessly wiped out a helicopter and all their reinforcements, this man with a single eye? This man who spoke to his ravens and his dogs and was here? Right now? At such a time as this?

The man snapped.

“Herr Weltgeist took them back to base to begin indoctrination!” he began babbling, tears starting to run down his face. Several other men started cursing at him and yelling for him to shut up. He didn’t stop. “They got too close - we couldn’t risk them telling anyone else about us! You can find them at the base! I can take you there! Just please spare me, Allfather! Have mercy!”

If the man hadn’t been partially supported and constrained by ice, he would’ve fallen to Sam’s feet with wailing and gnashing of teeth. Liz didn’t need Zorro’s ears to tell his wasn’t lying.

Also, did this person think Sam was….Odin?

“SILENCE!” the ravens shrieked, their rough, scratchy voices drowning out the others. At the same time, a nudge from Liz elicited loud, angry barks from the dogs, but only until the men shut up. Silence fell, but for the sobbing of the man.

“Your words have the ring of truth,” Muninn said.

“A pity,” Huninn mourned. “I should have liked to feast on your entrails, too.”

Indeed. But perhaps we may have one of the others instead?”

“Oh yes, please!”

The ravens again turned toward Sam. “Allfather, Allfather, what say thee? May we still feed on the flesh of one of these?”

If it wasn’t for the fact that Liz was coaxing the ravens to say all the things they have been saying Sam’s stomach would have churned at the thought of them picking someone alive apart. Could they do it? Yeah, that seemed on brand for the type of bird they were but hearing the different ways they could say ‘delicious’ was pretty off putting for the icemancer. He however didn’t say anything because it was working. All too well.

The look of fear on a few of their faces was as clear as day but the one Sam was standing in front of was a wreck. Would he leave them? Yes, will he? No, not with Liz there. She had a whole ‘no killing’ rule that was harshing his vibe. He was raised a killer, assassin, mercenary. Whatever he was called Sam was capable of it. Just not with Liz around, she was his conscience for now. He found that roll got filled often. Which was good for others, mainly the people he was staring down.

‘All-father’ Sam mouthed looking away from his target of intimidation to look at Liz. The air got colder around him the more into the part he got. ”All depends.” Sam said slamming the blunt end of his spear on the ice under his feet. It gave off a ‘clang’.

”If the others are of use to me, they will not be eaten. Whoever refuses to help me well... I’m sure the dogs are hungry as well.” an ice golem locked it’s face onto Liz as it stood behind the men giving her a ‘que’ to get creative. If she could get more creative he wasn’t sure but she was doing a stellar job as it was right now. Maybe she’d be good at interrogation as well as search and rescue.

”You however will be spared.” he said tapping the man on the shoulder who was ready to drop to his hands and knees if it wasn’t for the ice. ”Mercy... choose your next words carefully.” they didn’t show mercy. Or rather Sam didn’t give them a chance to.

”It all depends on what you can do for us.” he said raising another finger to the birds chest rubbing it to silence it for a moment. He was worried the cry of ‘All father’ would get someone carried away. Mainly Sam. He was in his element after all. Did that make him a god here?

“Silence you fool!" The gunman closest to the talker shouted as if he was tying to break free. “You would betray us!?! Our mission!?!? I’ll ki-” Sam turned the blunt end of the spear on him and smacked him so hard he was knocked unconscious.

”Now, what is your mission. They see all. I know where your base is.” they flew over it without realizing it. It was what shot at them. ”I know you have more men. How many? What type of artillery, any mutants?” he asked raising his hands lifting the one who was knocked out by a golem who dragged him off into a dome of ice that started to form behind them. It would be their jail till they could call for an extraction team to collect them.

”They want you to lie.” he said petting the bird again with his free hand. ”Speak truth. What is Weltgeist’s mission here?”

Elizabeth herself didn’t see Sam’s expression - her eyes were still shut in concentration and to block out additional contrasting visual stimuli. However Muninn did catch the lips moving as Sam ever so briefly turned his head. She resisted the urge to shrug. She didn’t know what these people were going on about anymore than he did, but she wasn’t about to pass up a free psychological weakness. If turning Sam into Odin was going to garner cooperation without the need for actual violence, then it was a solid plan in her book.

She didn’t see the puppeted golem’s expression either, but again, the ravens did. Oh, Sam wanted to up the ante again? Well he wasn’t the only one who could puppet!

Zorro and Bruno were excellently trained dogs and they’d been with their masters for a long time under a variety of scenarios. They were smart and experienced. It was easy for Liz to convey her thoughts to them and trigger them to begin pacing around and growling again, like stalking wolves waiting for a sign of weakness, right on cue.

She almost didn’t need their enhanced senses to detect the pungent spike of fear emanating from the men.

Her real eyes snapped open for a split second in surprise as Sam struck and knocked the one soldier out, before she shut them again. Her world only briefly swam as she dealt with visual input from two ravens, in addition to her own. Okay, she needed to pay more attention, not let herself get distracted.

The man began babbling. “Forty more brethren at our base! Two anti-aircraft cannons. Automatic weapons. RPGs. Military grade ordenances. No mutants, other than Herr Weltgeist! We found the map to you spear, my lord! Herr Weltgeist is planning to launch an expedition to reclaim it! With it we shall find your throne, your armories, and thus armed, bring Ragnorak to this foul world, that is may be reborn properly!”

The man was weeping and gushing even as others glared. None of the other men said anything though. The growling, stalking dogs and the hungry ravens kept staring them down.

”..... You got to be ****ing kidding me.” Sam said finally when the one who was terrified spilled the beans. Sam looked back to Liz and glared at her with his one eye for a moment realizing she wasn’t looking anywhere then sighed. ‘No killing.... they want to end the world but I’m not supposed to kill them?’ he thought to himself and took the blunt end of the ice spear and smacked someone in the head making sure not to kill them. One less to deal with.

Sam looked back to the one talking, he was playing a part now after all. What did Carrick always say? ‘Never break character?’ no, that didn’t sound right. There should have been more swearing in that statement. ”Why would I want Ragnarök? I happen to like things as they are now.” lied Sam. He would have been happier not having this conversation.

”And none are worthy of my weapons or my throne.” Sam said as a throne rose up behind him made of ice. Sam sat back into the throne and stared at them all. ”You’d steal from me? The Allfather?” he asked looking to the raven. ”What happens to those who would steal from me?” he asked hoping Liz was following along.

”What can Weltgeist do and I can assure you that,” he pointed the spear tip to the one who was spilling everything, ”You will be granted passage to my halls.” he said chilling the air and forcing ice to climb up the others that were silent.

The icemancer was never one for theatrics but in this case he thought they were needed. It take some time to take everyone down by himself if he didn’t have all the facts.

Things were going…unusually well, Elizabeth decided. She tried not focusing on that though - she didn’t have any wood to knock on. Then again, out in the Antarctic tundra, would there actually be any wood sprites around to mess things up? She probably didn’t want to find out. Instead, she just thanked God that this ridiculous plan was working.

No matter how horrific it was that these people literally wanted to end the world.

“The folly of mortals to take upon themselves the authority and power of gods!” Huninn shrieked into the air.

“Hubris!” Muninn cried out, flapping his wings some in anger.

At least Sam wanted to avoid Ragnorak as well. There was a brief moment where Liz wasn’t so sure if he would rather bring Ragnorak to these people instead.

The cryomancer moved and the birds fluttered off as he resituated himself. Hunin returned to his shoulder after he pulled an ice throne out of nowhere. Muninn landed on the armrest opposite the hand holding the spear of ice. They began to laugh in their croaking, scratchy voices.

“You give thieves to us,” Muninn grated out.

“Each morning we strip off a new piece of flesh,” Huninn added.

Day by day.”

“Until nothing is left.”

“The ears are the last to go.”

“So you can hear us coming.”

“You can last for months that way.”

“Or thieves are given to the dragon.”

“His venom dripping into their eyes.”

The screams are delicious!”

And those people wish they could die.”

“But they can’t. Only pain, never an end.”

Liz left the dogs mostly to their own devices, which meant they pretty much just kept doing what they did before. They were smart boys. Elizabeth didn’t have the focus available to keep pushing them - she was too busy racking her brain for everything she knew of Norse mythology and substituting Greek myths to fill in the gaps. Hopefully these Ragnorak-obsessed people wouldn’t notice. And on top of that, she had to coordinate between two different birds to speak through. All Sam had to do was sit there and chill out!

Which, to be fair, was very effective.

“Herr Weltgeist can make you do things! He makes you want to do things! Nobody can resist him! The last time someone tried, he made them eat their hand! With a spoon!” the whistleblower babbled in panic.

”A puppet master.” the one eyed X-man said brooding over one of the birds admiring the reflection of light on it’s obsidian feathers. Sam probably had too much experience dealing with puppet masters. Those who could control by making their target see what they want most and giving everything to them and those who did it by force. Neither were pretty by the end of it. Sam wondered if Weltgeist knew of Amanda, his former puppet master and once girlfriend.

”A grotesque one at that.” he added looking to the men who were around them. ”You no longer work for Weltgeist. None of you. I’m going to prevent Ragnork... again.” he said wondering if he should quote another god he knew. Sam directed a smirk towards Liz then looked back, ”You’ll await my return or don’t the decision is yours. Either you’ll suffer my wrath or the elements. I’m a forgiving god today.”

Sam stood from his throne and flicked his hand and the throne reformed and expanded outward collecting more and more until it started to form a wall. Looking to Liz then the dogs, ”I have all the information I need. Do you want to return to the jet?” he asked before pointing backwards to the one who spilled the information on the site.

”You come with me,” a golem walked over and hefted the man up as he was guided out from the wall that soon became a box around all the men. At least they’d be protected from the elements for some time. Not to mention the sun warming them under the ice.

”This shouldn’t take too long. Been a while since I assaulted a secret base. Hopefully I’m not too rusty.” he said shifting his shoulders around. ”And Liz... terrifying effect.” he said hoping she wasn’t the one making the birds say all that stuff.

”Come one henchman.” he said walking over to one of the vehicles that wasn’t destroyed.

It was a good thing Elizabeth’s eyes were closed because she would’ve ruined everything if any of the people had seen her rolling her eyes so amazingly hard at Sam. A forgiving god? OH, she was going to slap her forehead so hard after all of this! What had she been thinking, handing that to him on a silver-tongued platter?!

But she said nothing. Threat displays required confidence, no weakness could be shown. They had to keep selling this. Even if Sam was starting to get over the top. Seriously, what was next? “Only you can prevent forest fires?”

The ravens shrieked as Sam made his declaration and with a quick impulse, the dogs barked. His command was law, witnessed by nature itself. Even the ice throne began shifting and changing and soon everything was contained, except for the weak link, the guy who’d definitely be needing dry pants after all of this.

Liz needed to remember that tactic for some of her more troublesome students.

Once out of direct sight and out of hearing of the other men, Liz dropped the act entirely.

“You’d be nothing without me,” she said smugly as she marched past Sam with the dogs in tow. She relaxed her link to the ravens and breathed a sigh of relief, opening her own eyes to the icy world around her. She could feel a faint headache coming on so she started rubbing her temples through her gloves. “This was just a taste. Remember that in case you ever try to get on my bad side.” The smile she flashed him looked an awful lot like the one an alligator would give a deer by the side of the pond.

She helped get the dogs up onto the vehicle and took the driver’s seat for herself. “Probably better I go with you, at least be nearby and ready with a getaway vehicle,” she said, making sure the 6x6 was ready to go. Not to mention that she couldn’t fly the jet in the event something happened to Sam. At least this way she was on hand to….be a witness or something.

“Ready when you are.”

”They’d be dead without you and I’d still know where to go.” he said far too casually. If anything they should have thanked Liz. Very few people were able to shoot at him his co-workers and live to tell the tale. Especially when they Bruno was concerned. The boy needed to protected at all costs.

”I think the ice was a good effect, the birds really brought it back around though. Knew you were useful.” Sam said chuckling, ”You might be getting more invites on missions. Not just the search and rescues.” Sam lied. Her ‘no killing’ made it difficult to work with but Sam didn’t need any more proof that she was X-man material.

”I imagine Carrick could tell me all about it if I was every curious.” Sam said knowing that he didn’t want to end up there with the loudmouthed Irishman. There were far too many animals in the world to cross someone that could control them. Sam was good at surviving, cross Liz would have obvious results.

When she hopped onto the vehicle with the animals Sam slowed his approach and looked to her and then to their captive. ”You have my word if any harm comes to any of them, I will hold you responsible. You, your loved ones. All of them are responsible... do we understand each other?” the look of fear in his eyes at the implications could be seen. “Ye-...Yes Allfather!” that was an answer he was okay with.

”You’ll also radio for help if I run into a problem, I’ll at least get the jammers taken care of. You can call my Valkyries after that.” the team had just one but the meaning should have gotten across. Another pained look hit the man in the face as he imagined what they looked like. Sam didn’t elaborate further. If anything he would have gotten chewed out for bringing Liz a non-combatant on an X-mission. Even if it was search and rescue. What were they going to do? Kick him off the team? Could they?

”Alright... you ready to introduce your former boss to your god?” he asked as the roof of the 6x6 covered in ice and snow making the vehicle more difficult to spot on the icy terrain. ”Hit it.” he said tapping the side as the sound of men shouting to be freed echoed out behind them knowing that they’d be fine for a few hours at least.

Elizabeth frowned in alarm at that comment. Again, with the whole killing people thing. She knew there was a dark past there. She didn’t know many details of it, but even the broad strokes were pretty horrible. But he knew what she knew. He knew what he was doing. He knew she would pick up on the jarring disconnect between his words and how he said them. The question was why he did it anyways.

Her humor dried up very quickly and her face returned to raptorlike intensity. She cocked her head and stared at him, like one of the ravens, but she didn’t say anything. These were potentially treacherous waters - it wasn’t yet time to risk rocking the boat. She didn’t engage when he brought up yet again her joining the X-Men. Especially if his attitude was part of what was expected on the team.

She nodded at Sam’s suggestion to summon help. She assumed he meant the X-Men. Even if he didn’t, that would be her plan. She didn’t look at him. She didn’t need to. There were four pairs of eyes that could see him - she kept her on the road, er, the ice.

Then Liz started the engine and they shot off into the white world of ice and snow.

It wasn’t long after that they came within sight of the base. It was a series of scattered prefabricated buildings, not unlike the buildings at the research station. These buildings had a dock that extended out into the water though. It looked like a small compound, but there was also what looked like an anti aircraft weapon aimed at the heavens.

Huninn and Muninn could see the base long before any of the humans and Liz used their senses to guide the 6x6 to a small hill just beyond range of the regular site. At a distance, the white vehicle would be virtually invisible, but the brightly painted base would be easily noticeable to them. “What’s the plan?” she asked.