"Why are all the dogs barking?"

"They bark for you"

"What are they saying? Why can't I hear anything but them? And you - do I know you?"

"Oh yes. You know me. Like calls to like after all. And you can understand them - you just don't want to hear them out. They've been howling at you for a very long time, taking up more and more of your conscious being. They're out there Buzz, tired of being tied to the porch. They want to roam the streets Buzz, they want to prowl."

"But I can't let them." The man named Buzz Baxter answered, "She'll hit me again. She's always hitting me. She doesn't understand. I'm the man of the house. I AM the man of the house. She shouldn't be disrespecting me like that."

"But that's her way isn't it? She's always telling you what to do, what not to do. She tells you to keep the MadDog on a leash, and so you do. Never really giving in to the real honest to goodness madness that rages in your soul. But rather playing at it, toying with it on a string. It's time to let that go Buzz. It's time for the dogs to roam the streets. It's time for them to stop sniffing in the backalleys and start running down the weak on main street. It's time for you to be free."

"But won't I get in trouble? Won't she hit me? She's back you know... the imposter is gone. I can feel it. Or, she will be soon. I'm not sure about that part. Either she's back or she's coming back soon. I can feel it."

"Oh yes. Your exwife..."

"Wife! She's my wife! I never divorced her! We said til death do us part and I mean it. I'll rip her lying cheating head off her shoulders..."

"Of course you will. If she lets you. She has indeed come back. But her friends are closer still. Wouldn't you like give her a nice welcome home present? Maybe a couple of heads on a nice blanket? Woulnd't that be nice? Give her the gift that keeps on giving - the blood of the innocent. But they won't be innocent - not really. After all, they're a part of her. Which means that they're just as guilty as she is."

"The doctors say that I shouldn't be thinking such things."

"The doctors are strung up on telephone poles outside. I saw to it myself. I used their guts to cast auguries. We're going to win this time. Call it a gut feeling."

"But what about Patsy? She's going to stop me. She always does."

"Not this time. This time you have an ace in the hole. Something that she won't be expecting."

"And what is that?" Buzz asked, eager.

Maximus the Mad smiled as he lightly fingered the hilt of the sword Dragonfang, sheathed in his stomach, "Me".

Her fingers had just grazed it really. Just a touch of forever... just a touch of something that had called to her, something that pulled her to it.

Now though, now she was forever... here and there... gone and back...

"I am Yggdrasil" Rina Patel, the young woman called Timeslip heard herself say to the universe. She knew that her body was screaming, she could hear it from across the distance... she could hear everything. She could know, everything.

"I've been waiting for you," a familiar woman's voice declared from across the expanse of creation.

Rina looked around, "Brunnhilde?" she looked around but couldn't see her former teammate.

"Stop looking with your eyes. They're useless here. Feel your way through."

Rina closed her eyes tight, concentrating on the sound of Valkyrie's voice. Suddenly she could FEEL her presence all around.

"I am Yggdrasil," Brunnhilde said, "I am all of creation. You are partaking of but a small part of that which is me."

"But you're not really Yggdrasil," Rina countered, "You have a life beyond it, you have friends who care about you."

She felt Brunnhilde's smile upon her, " I feel Patsy out there. It does my heart glad to feel her again. And Clea..."

"Patsy's back?" Rina exclaimed in confusion.

"Feel over there," Brunnhilde guided.

"Yes - of course," Rina declared, her mental doors propping themselves open at her whim. "I wonder why I didn't see that before?"

"You were not Yggdrasil before." Brunnhilde answered, "You do not see the change coming, or the future man or the madness.You can see these things with your powers, but you cannot truly know them."

Rina reached out her mind, and felt the whole of that which was Yggdrasil flow into her. Back on Midgard, Earth she reminded herself, she called it Earth, she had felt the city call to her. She had been able to see flashes of things that had happened there. She had heard its voices... this though, this was all the cities, all the creatures - in all creation.

She reached out her hand and peeled back the screen between life and death. The screen was so flimsy...

"You can break it," Brunnhilde told her, "Ollerus has suspended rebirth in Asgard. Soon it will have wider implications. Soon it will have a greater effect. But, you can simply tear death apart. Or reach in and grab those you wish to snatch across the veil."

Rina stared at the screen in her hand blankly, "They can live again?" she mouthed. The New Warriors... her friends, the ones she had left behind... they could live again...

She reached across the veil... Brunnhilde grabbed her hand and threw her backward, "Not yet." she snapped, "You are not yet ready to do it."

Tears streaked down Rina's face, tears that had manifested from nowhere. She found herself on her knees sobbing. "I need to," she said, holding the fragile screen in her hands.

"Soon," Brunnhilde answered, "But first we have other things to attend to."

Rina turned her senses inward, feeling the essence of the unborn life that existed within her, a life still in formation. She felt her daughter's being, wrapped her senses around the unknowable.

Such a tiny spark, but one that would be great. One that might be great. One that...

"My daughter!?!" Rina exclaimed as it hit her, "But how?!?!?"

"How could she be a possible Kang? How could the son you have already met not exist? These are questions for another time. Your daughter is a puzzle for another time. Time waits not for the Yggdrasil, but rather coils in the roots, waiting to strike down those unprepared, those unworthy."

Rina felt for her physical form, trying to will herself back to no avail. Brunnhilde's conciousness, or something else, held her firmly in place. "My... daughter..." she mouthed.

"Yes," Brunnhilde repeated, "But first we have other things to attend to."

Her fist connected with the jaw of a Valkyrie, knocking her target off her feet. From there, the melee had taken over. Instinct jumped over logic and went straight for the throats of their opponents.

Chloe Boudreaux was the Fist of the Moon God Khonshu, at least she was... before. Now though, now she was part of

	June- Year 5
	#206

which made fighting the Norse handmaidens of death just another day at the office.

When Chloe struck the first Valkyrie down, Kyle Richmond started to protest. He wanted to help calm things down. That was before he had to duck out of the way of a swinging blade. After that, his gloves went off. With a teammate screaming out in pain, and another being crucified on a tree - there wasn't much in the way of deciding what to do next. Something was obviously wrong with the Valkyries - and he had to take them down before he could get answers.

He took to the air, out of range, glad that he had gone back to the suit with the arsenal. There were so many question marks in his life, or rather, death. Too many not to be packing some serious heat. He fired the blasters at two Valkyries charging at Battlestar. The guy was good, but he was still a bit on the green side. No use giving him slim odds when there were ways of evening things out.

He checked the horizon. Sure enough, the Valkyries had sent for reinforcements. The entire horizon was rushing at him on pegsus wings. "Crap," he muttered, looking around for the Wasp. If anyone would know what their next move should be, it would be her. She was the Avenger after all...

"What the hell are we going to do?" Janet Van Dyne, the wonderful Wasp, muttered to herself as she easily dodged another sword swing. At her insect size, her opponent's were having a hard time hitting her. She wasn't having the same problem with her "stings", "At this size, I can keep dodging all day. But there's only so many times I can blast them before I'm completely drained. I'm hitting them hard, and they just keep on coming. The others don't have that luxury either. We need to get Rina, free Brunnhilde, and get the Hell out of here before things get even further out of hand."

As if on signal, she caught sight of Nighthawk waving at her. She read his lips, and followed his frantically pointing finger. Her eyes went big as she saw the approaching regiment, and her hopes of getting out of the fray in one piece went out the window.

"I'm in Asgard" he kept telling himself, hoping that if repeated, it would become more believable. So far it hadn't. Lemar Hoskins, Battlestar, found himself grateful for the strength of his energy shield as he blocked yet another immortal's blade that was aimed squarely to seperate head from shoulders. His old one had been decent enough, but he knew that under such pounding, it would have long since been found wanting.

Of course, back when he took on the midnight blue costume and new shield, a complete wardrobe and weapon change, he had never imagined that they would be getting such a field test. First mystical foes - including Satan himself, and now - Norse myths. There was certainly a lot more to being a Defender than had been in the traveloge.

He found a grin on his face as he turned another slash and pressed forward an attack of his own. Things may not have been quite what he had imagined - or maybe they were. After all, the one thing he had known for sure when signing on - that things certainly would never be boring.

Asgard held no mystique for Satanna. No magic or wonder. It was just another realm among many. The Valkyries were just another group that stood in the path of those she had found common cause with. She stared up at the coming reinforcements with a smile and rose into the air to meet them. It didn't matter how outnumbered they were, she would find a way to help her team win.

She watched her companions fight against the odds, battling for... she shook her head. She wasn't completely sure why the fight had started. Rina had screamed.... Chloe had hit someone... it didn't really add up to an all-out war. But then again, with each side seemingly itching for a confrontation, she wasn't all that surprised. Tensions were high, with a teammate being turned into some sort of oracle on one side, and a plague that threatened to unravel everything on the other. A plague that... Satanna stopped herself and smirked. Was it really that simple?

She steadied herself in midair to parry the charge with a few words of her own.

He tried to stay out of the way. That was what he was used to doing after all. Staying out of the way of anything big and bad. As part of the Great Lakes Avengers or was it the Lightning Rods, or Midwest Avengers, sometimes he wasn't too clear on that himself, Doorman had done that the best. Staying out of the way until it was time to make a portal from spot A to spot B. That, and make quiche. He made a mean quiche.

But the Great Lakes Rods Midwestern Avengers or whatever they were called had gone the way of the dodo. Their leader, Craig Hollis, the man, the legend known as Mr. Immortal had left to find a place with the Defenders. Finding one, he had ended up more dead than even his powers had been able to overcome. Which made it crisis enough for his old friend and teammate to try to figure out what was wrong with him. More to the point, it had been enough for Doorman to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and get drafted to a rescue mission in Asgard.

He shook his head as he tried to keep out of the way of all the swinging blades. Being with the Defenders was the last thing he wanted. Well, next to last if being attacked by Valkyries in Asgard was counted as something he may have at some point wanted. Seeing them otherwise engaged, he considered his options... after all, this wasn't his fight. If he left... if he COULD leave... Satanna had used him as a tool, expanding his powers to the point that they could make the journey. On his own, he had never before been able to travel so far. There was no evidence that he would be able to get himself, let alone anyone else back to Earth. If he was able to leave though - where he that leave everyone else? And should it matter to him? After all, these weren't his teammates. They certainly weren't his friends.

But - maybe they were Craig's friends. Did that mean that he owed them something? What? How much? How far did that debt stretch? Getting himself killed?

He allowed a blade to pass through him.

If he stayed though - what possible use would he be? He made doors, pathways between places. Maybe he could send some Valkyries to wherever people ended up when he sent them away - but would that really be the right thing? After all, no matter the current situation, weren't they just doing what they thought was right? Didn't they have some sort of duties to perform as part of Asgard that his inference would prevent? Maybe if he could just find a way to end the battle, save some time - maybe some lives. Maybe that would be enough - then... then he could go home and leave the Defenders to do whatever they were going to do with a clear conscience.

He glanced around for something to do... for the key to the problem. He looked up to the oblivious figure of Brunnhilde and smiled beneath his pure black mask and opened a door into the heart of the Yggdrasil.

"They are engaged," his lieutenant smirked, "Asgard is as good as won." Ollerus the Unmerciful understood the reaction. After so many times, after so many defeats - victory was at last in his grasp. It didn't stop him from blasting the man to cinders on the spot. He whirled on the rest of his junior officers.

"There is no room for pre-emptive victory celebration," he hissed, knowing the lie he told. In truth, he had gloated quite a bit over his own plans. But that was different, after all - he was about to finally win. "The enemy is still mighty. There are still those within the Valkyrior that might yet stand against us. Odin himself yet stands with the forces of the Golden Realm at his disposal. Should they chose to risk it all rather than bend a knee to my might - things will not be easy."

"We shall prove enough," another stepped forward with.

Ollerus looked at him and smiled, no matter how many men he went through, there would always be another hungry for a spot as his right hand. His hand of vengeance and glory. "Indeed," he cooed.

He glanced out over the army that he had been able to assemble. Hela had taken part of hers with her when she had blundered iin Midgard. Those were lost to him. Nor could he take from the ranks of the dead as easily as she had been able to do. The ranks were thin on the ground for solid fighting men. Those he had he preferred to leave as a defensive force. With Hela out of the way, the title of Lord of the Dead had fallen into his lap. However there were more than enough people with reason enough to use any opportunity to cast him back into the pits. He needed to be sure that if he sent out a force, he wouldn't have to use another against his home gates upon return. Which left him to find a ragtag army of giants, dwarves, and misspent immortals and demigods. The forgotten who had fallen through the cracks of the Golden Realm. Men and women of ambition who knew a kindred soul when they came across one. More to the point, those who realized the implications - and power - of the spell he had unleashed upon Asgard. Ones that feared him, and wanted to be on the winning side.

These were his people. His army.

His eyes came to rest over them. They were not what he would have used had he possessed his druthers. But in a pinch, with luck, they would be enough to win the day. Especially with the bulk of the Valkyrior's forces riding against the Defenders.

He chuckled to himself, imaging how easily a handful of men of quality and training would be able to hold the Great Hall of Valhalla The place was a fortress... which, in attacking it, was something to be factored in. But once inside the walls, its strength would be joined with his own. And all of Asgard would learn of the folly of opposing him.

He could hear their voices, but no respond. No matter how many times he tried to open his mouth to let them know what was happening to him - or to find out what was going on, his body defied him - insisting instead on staying dead.

Harokin chastised his body and tried once more. As the leader of the mightiest warriors assembled in the afterlife such refusal to respond was frustrating to the extreme. He had seen fellows be brought in to lie beside him in death. No one seemed to know what to do about it. After all, part of the glory of Valhalla was that warriors could eat, drink and fight with each other without quarter and arise the next day hale and hearty with no ill effects. Death though, was an ill effect of the strangest variety. As was, he noted, the fact that being within the spectre of death he was still able to function mentally. Did that mean that, despite evidence to the contrary, he was not truly dead but in another state of being? Did that mean that there was something he could do from his end to help revive himself? Or was he helpless to the fates until such a time that he was released.

He thought back to the days leading his tribe across the hills and valleys of Midgard. Of the carnage, the burnings, the glory. It seemed so long ago. A savage time truth be told. He was better than that now. Years in Valhalla had brought him into civilization. Or so he told himself. But then he caught himself thinking of finding the coward who had struck him down. He thought of him - and found the smell of burning flesh in his nostrils. It smelled good.

Rina felt that which was Yggdrasil fade from her mind, as her mind - or something more - was literally forced back into her body. She felt her hand, it was still connected to the tree that was life. She didn't want to let go. There was so much there - so many answers... finally though, she pulled herself free and took stock of the situation.

The various Defenders were battling against the Valkryie still on the ground, holding their position. Satanna was above, addressing the reinforcements that were preparing to swoop down and turn the tide of battle against her teammates. "If anyone had ever told me that I'd be routing for the persuaviveness of the daughter of Satan a few years ago," Rina muttered to herself, "I would have asked where they were getting the drugs and if they had any left."

The fact that she had a vague idea of what was coming didn't stop it from being a surprise.

The sound of flesh tearing filled the air. The sound of extreme agony, and sense of purpose.

The Valkyrie drew back from their foes.

The Defenders collectively, unconsciously, took a step back.

Something landed with a thud that shook the ground beneath them. Not just that though, it seemed to take to the air as well.

The Valkryie Brunnhilde landed solidly in a crouched position. She straightened herself up to her full height, as if examining the lot of her assembled companions. She was bloodied and battered. She stared at them with her one good eye - the other, the price of her new wisdom. She stared with power, and an intensity of gaze that no one could stand long under.

"Tell me," she mummered, as if to herself, "Why I shouldn't just kill the whole lot of you?"

NEXT: The conclusion of The Greater Good!

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