Supermaxx

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

_{UOU Presents: THOR, GOD OF THUNDER}

ISSUE #5: Heart of Ice

---

_{Winchester Point ♦ Alaska}

The last survivors of Winchester Point barricaded themselves in the infirmary. Thor stacked stainless steel furniture against the door, unsure if it would even slow their foe but unwilling to leave their safety to a single lock. While he busied himself fortifying their position, Jane looked after Keith.

His injuries weren't significant. Some bruising around his ribs and on his left forearm. A minor concussion seemed likely, given he lost consciousness. But he had no broken bones or major lacerations that she could find. Jane gave him a small dosage of pain killers and anti-nausea medication; provided they weren't eaten by a flesh amalgamation tonight, he'd be right as rain soon.

"I'm glad you're okay." She took Keith's hand in her own. Bags hung heavy under her eyes. Since this nightmare began she'd earned a few cuts and bruises of her own. It was a miracle she'd made it this long.

Keith sat up. He cupped her face in his hand and the two shared a tender kiss. "Me too," he muttered as they parted. "I almost wasn't a couple'a times. If I hadn't run into, uh, this guy in the woods-" Keith shot a look over toward Thor, who was doing his best to look busy but was clearly ease-dropping.

Turning, she faced Thor, giving the stranger a once over. His armored boots decorated with little wings, the crimson cloak hanging from his shoulders, the breastplate peeking out of his coat- he was no woodsman.

"Thank you. You saved my husband's life."

Thor grinned. "T'was no great feat of mine. In truth, stripped of my power, these monsters nearly overcame me twice. Without your aid I fear I would have perished as well."

"Sounds like we make a good team." Jane nodded. "...Thor, was it? God of Thunder?" She raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"Aye," he returned the nod. "I am bound to Midgard for the foreseeable future. Full glad am I to find such worthy companions so soon after my arrival."

"Sorry, did you say you were stripped of your power?" Keith asked, flinging his legs off the side of the examination table. "You sure don't look like some helpless kitten to me."

A shadow passed over Thor's face before he looked away. "Indeed. Though my strength might seem impressive to mortals, 'tis merely a fraction of the might I once commanded. It would seem I am no stronger than the average Asgardian now.

Keith threw his hands into the air. "Woe is me, I only have the power of a freakin' god!"

Thor looked perplexed. "Have I offended? I mean no-"

"No." Jane interrupted, putting up a palm. "You're fine, Keith is just...being Keith. What he means is that you're still much stronger than we are. We don't stand a chance against these things without you." She said, giving Keith a knowing look. His expression turned sheepish.

"How many more of those monsters remain?" Thor asked.

"Russ and I killed Joel. Lit him up when he started growing spider legs from his ribs." Jane said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Moffat and Waites are dead, too. They were in the garage when it blew up."

"We got Wilford earlier. And Thor turned Maloney into pulled pork." Keith added.

"I think that just leaves the meatball in the cafeteria." Jane said.

"That 'meat ball' may prove our end, I fear," Thor said. "It has changed its form in such a way that I can no longer harm it with my bare hands. Your flames slowed it but did not destroy it, as they did previous foes. Do you have any greater armaments we might wield?"

The two humans looked at one another. They exchanged a few questions about the state of their equipment: what was and wasn't destroyed during the attack, how much ammunition they had used up, if there was anything they could be missing. Neither came up with an answer they found adequate. Jane's suggestion they call the state troopers was shot down when Keith mentioned the monster's psychic influence over the radio. The flamethrower was their best weapon against the Man-Beast, and it was gone. They had no backup.

"Maybe we should just run." Keith muttered, turning his clammy hands over. "My truck has enough fuel to get to Kenai."

"And what happens when we leave?" Jane asked, crossing her arms. "It'll take hours for us to get there, send word to the authorities and for them to finally get back here. That thing would have free reign to infect whatever it wants. Maybe every living thing in this forest. Or, hell, it could run, and then it'd have half a million square miles of wilderness to hide in."

Thor was still as stone. "It would not." He whispered. "It plans to follow us. It wants me to join it. To render up my godly body to become one with its so-called 'perfection.' Nay, I will not permit it to leave."

"What are you talking about?" Jane asked, worry besmirching her features.

"It speaks to me in a higher language than the mortal mind can perceive: the tongue of the divine. This is how I am able to converse with you, despite never learning your mother tongue." Thor explained. "Most of us speak it for the sake of convenience, but there are some who master its strange arts in pursuit of greater power. It is said the elder gods used this power to speak reality into existence. If this creature consumes enough matter..." Thor closed his eyes. "I fear for Midgard's future. For all the realms, perhaps."

Jane went silent. Keith shook his head in disbelief, though he couldn't speak either.

"So you claim you're some kinda god, right? N' there's a lot like you?" Keith asked, finding his courage along with his voice. "How in the hell can they permit somethin' like this happenin'? Why ain't they doin' anything?"

There was righteousness to his anger, Thor knew. Long ago had Odin stepped away from meddling in the affairs of mortals. 'They do not worship as they once did,' he bemoaned. 'Why should I waste my power on a people that do not believe?'

The memory made his choler rise. He remembered, too, his mother's anger at having heard it the firs time. All of Asgard had shaken when they quarreled that day. If Freya were still head of her own pantheon, as she had once been before the Aesir and Vanir were joined, she would never have allowed it. Unfortunately for her and Midgard both, Odin reigned. The Allfather took his hand from the earth. He left them to their own devices for more than a thousand years. Few Asgardians dared to defy his order. Thor and his brothers had, on occasion, though he was shamed to remember each visitation was only for their own entertainment. Not once had he answered a prayer.

"Forgive me. I require a moment alone." Thor said.

He retreated from the main room of the infirmary to the backroom, which was used primarily for storage. Shuffling through piles of boxes, he eventually found a chair to fall upon. Weariness dragged him down. It propagated through his every pore like a virus. Even his Asgardian stamina faltered. Was this how mortals lived? Every battle ended with exhaustion, barely able to stand? It was a hard thing to imagine, and harder still to endure for the first time in his immortal life. They were made of sturdier stuff than the gods gave them credit for.

"Heimdall, I know you can hear me. And I know Odin has forbade your intervention in mine affairs. This is my punishment, and I intend to carry out my sentence with the dignity befitting my royal lineage." Thor began, clenching and unclenching his fists. "But I do not call upon ye for mine own sake. Rather, you have seen that beast I face: it spits in the face of the divine. In its blasphemy it threatens all of Midgard. The fates have put me in its path, I think. I must destroy it, but I cannot- not alone. Mjölnir heeds not my call. I know you cannot help me, Heimdall, but...Send me someone who can. I beg ye.

Please."

A rift tore open reality before him. A brilliant portal of every color of the rainbow danced on the wall, rippling with potential. A voice boomed through it: "I hear all and see all, Odinson. You will not stand alone."

Thor knocked over the chair with the speed he rose. "Heimdall!" He smiled from ear to ear, his fear melting away at the voice of his friend.

A form emerged from the portal, shimmering. It was tiny, barely rising to Thor's knee. As the light died away it became corporeal: a red, fuzzy creature in a rather dashing green tabard, a leather pouch strung along its back and a pan held in its hand. A squirrel, and one of great import, at that.

"Oh dear. This isn't the pantry." It chittered confusedly. Then it looked up. "Oh my, Thor! My good fellow! It has been so long!"

Thor's face lit up like the sun. "Ratatoskr, how I missed thee!"

Without a second thought he scooped up his tiny friend, who climbed atop his shoulder excitedly. "I seem to have taken a wrong turn on Yggdrasil." He thought, looking around the sterile room filled with boxes of paper and medical supplies.

"Nay, friend, it t'was Heimdall that called you here at my request. I am in dire need of your aid."

"What ever could I do for the God of Thunder?"

"It has been a long story, friend. Let us rejoin my mortal allies and I will tell the tale."

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

<Snipped quote by Pacifista>
Wow, I like this banner implementation with the POV character of the post.

@Pirouette

Yeah, this was fuckin dope

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

_{UOU Presents: THOR, GOD OF THUNDER}

ISSUE #4: Heart of Ice

---

_{Winchester Point ♦ Alaska}

Starving steel met meat and flesh with ravenous hunger. Every stroke of the axe carved bloodied chunks off the monstrosity. Even with its chest split open, bursting with blood, the stag-thing advanced. In counterstroke, a tendril of warped bone burst from its torso and impaled Thor's thigh. It wriggled and writhed, trying to worm its way deeper into the wound- but godflesh was not so easily broken. Thor was all too pleased with this. Finally, he was faced with a problem he already knew the solution to: rigorously applying force to the enemy's facial region.

_{'We will sunder your soul from your body.'}

"And I the flesh from your bones!" Thor roared, swinging. The rotating head in the monster's chest cavity split in twain at the axe's kiss. Grabbing the back of the axe head with his off-hand, Thor slammed it down even further. He opened its steaming guts all over the cafeteria floor, strings of intestines filled with fetid bile slinking over the tiles.

Cowering somewhere out of sight, Keith heaved.

"Hackin' them to bits won't stop them," the man called Russell said. He pulled the trigger on his flamethrower and sent a burst of fire in the direction of the wolf-woman hybrid. It shuddered away, stumbling over a table to escape the heat. "Got no idea how many of these things we killed 'fore you got here."

"Your courage-"

Thor dug his fingers into the gap he'd cut into the monster. Even its sinews seemed to grasp and cut at him in defiance. He did not flinch. Instead, he pulled. his muscles tensed and bulged with the effort. A horrifying cry pierced the air as the thing was rent asunder. Bones snapped, skin tore, and organs sloughed to the floor in the seconds before Thor tore the stag in half.

"-Is to be lauded!" He shouted, tossing each half across the room. The remains exploded against the walls, smashing the paneling to bits and smearing them with disintegrated gore.

Russell stopped to gawk. Raw power of this magnitude was not oft applied so casually. He'd seen similar feats in old news reels, perhaps, but this day and age? It was enough to give pause. Enough to drag Russ's attention away from mortal peril for a moment too long.

His head vanished inside the wolf's jaw. It devoured Russell's skull whole in a single bite, blood and brain matter spraying between its crooked fangs. The rest of the man's body convulsed before it went limp, caught in the monster's claws.

"No!" Thor cried out.

_{'The almighty Thor, anguishing over one mortal life? Please.'}

Worm-like tendrils grew from the beast's claws. They snaked along the human's corpse, wrapping around it thrice over until they found what they looked for. Then they began digging. Burrowing into his corpse like it was freshly tilled soil. They remade Russel right before Thor's very eyes. Took his hands, his eyes, his bones and dragged them from the discarded remains of his humanity- his clothes, his weapons, the watch his fiance gave him before he left. The worms joined him to the other creature's grotesque form. The process took only seconds, and when it was finished the malformed giant towered several feet taller than before.

_{'What does it matter if they die now rather than in a decade or three? Beings such as ourselves exist on a timescale incomprehensible to them. Their entire civilization will be dust before a single gray hair mar's your golden head.'}

"It matters," Thor snarled. Blood pumped in his ears to the beat of his rage. His heart thundered in his breast. Now when he shook, he knew it was not for the cold. "It matters more than you could ever know."

'Even the smallest creatures of the field and the wood have hearts,' Freya told him. Thor bounced upon her knee, his eyes shining with child-like wonder. 'They have hopes, desires, love. Same as us.'

'Even Ratatoskr?' Thor asked, his face scrunching up. 'Papa says he is a heartless rat that he should skin and-'

'Especially Ratatoskr!' His mother laughed. 'He tends the World Tree. Without him, Yggdrasil would grow too wildly, and travel through the Bifrost would be much too dangerous. Sometimes, in his anger, your good father...forgets these things.'

Thor puffed up his chest. 'When I am Allfather, I will never forget anything!'

"T...together...We must be- t-together againnnn." The head of Russell rasped from its new place in the nape of the monster's neck. It lumbered forward, arms thick as tree trunks dragging along the ground behind it. Its legs limped along, barely able to carry the immense weight of its bulging upper half. Half-formed hands grasped at the air in front of it. Too many eyes sprouted from wolf's head- human eyes, filled with a tremendous fear. Part of Thor wondered if those people subsumed in that blasphemous body were truly gone. Perhaps they lived in shards of agony, painfully aware of their misbegotten form.

The axe left Thor's hand before he knew what he was going to do. So mighty was his throw that the axe handle exploded to splinters when the head buried itself in the wolf's face. It let out a choked whimper as it died, the head falling limp against its chest. The head of the woman seemed to crawl across the chest and began feasting on the dead wolf. Her head ballooned as new flesh joined it, and the abominable whole morphed as it consumed the wolf fully into it.

"Odin's beard- how wretched!" Thor flinched away, unwilling to watch it cannibalize itself.

"We gotta get outta here!" Keith screamed, scrambling from his hiding place beneath one of the tables and making for the door.

Thor's eyes widened. "Not so close-"

His warning came too late as the beast flung out one of its gargantuan arms, slamming it into Keith's back and knocking him to the floor. He let out a gasping breath before slipping into unconsciousness, blood dripping from a cut in his forehead.

"Release him! Release him at once or face my wrath!" Thor bellowed, springing forward. He rocketed into the monster's chest, shoulder first, knocking it back. Unarmed, all he could do was swing his fists into its great bulk and hope it was enough. Every blow was absorbed by the squirming mass. It was like trying to wrestle a river: it just flowed over him, subsuming him into itself.

The tide pushed him the floor, holding him fast against the tile even as he struggled. It mattered little how hard he fought. Strength could not help against the rapidly liquidizing mass. He had to give the monster credit: its impossible biology had adapted to his methods. He could not triumph, not like this.

"Mjö...lnir-" He choked, trying to keep his head out of the muck. Hand to the sky, Thor willed his hammer return to him. Practically begged to feel its leather-wrapped hilt hit his open palm. If only he could wield her for a moment, Thor knew with all his heart he would vanquish this foul creature. One blow, one burst of lightning and it would never haunt Midgard again.

"To me...t-to me..."

A deafening roar filled his ears, followed a second later by a bright light. Mjölnir had come. He had called, and she had answered, soaring into his-

His still empty hand.

The weight on his chest lessened as the monster stumbled back. Its waves of flesh crashed back together, reforming into its more solid build. Twins heads roared in pain as fire licked at its every pore. Flames danced all across the room. Thor looked to the canisters Russell once carried, discarded when he was slain- they were sundered to pierces. Someone had destroyed them and released the flames borne within.

"Are you still alive? Oh God, I didn't kill you, did I?" A woman asked, leaning over Thor.

With her short hair, sharp angles and hard set jaw, he mistook her in that moment for a valkyrie, come to carry his soul away to Valhalla. It was only when he noticed the winter clothing she wore and the gun in her hand that he realized she was another mortal. Thor nodded, unable to speak with the rawness of his throat. Mjölnir denied him still.

"You're a little big for me to carry. Can you walk?" she asked, grabbing his hand to help him to his feet.

Thor rose on unsteady legs. Together, the two of them rushed to Keith's side and lifted him up between them. They made for the door as quick as they could. By luck or fate, the monster did not stir to follow, and they were able to retreat into the winding halls of the research station.

"Who are you?" He finally asked, voice hoarse.

"Me? I'm Jane. Jane Foster, I'm the doctor on base. Who the hell are you?"

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

Thor will be leaving his frozen hell in a post or three as well. Will be down to clown with any fuckos as soon as he's near civilization.

(editor's note: there are no real people in Alaska. This is a myth perpetuated by the government to make you move to the cold, dark north full of freaky monsters)

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

<Snipped quote by Supermaxx>

Would've got you back for this shit. I'll never forgive you for making me quadruple gay. That's like, twice the amount I already was.

@Simple Unicycle

how the fuck do you remember that lmfao

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

Next person to post in the OOC is gay

@Simple Unicycle

ah man i didn't post in time :(

Pariah Online

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

_{UOU Presents: THOR, GOD OF THUNDER}

ISSUE #3: Heart of Ice

---

_{Winchester Point ♦ Alaska}

Silence descended on the Alaskan woodland as the monster died. Keith Kincaid lay with his back against the stream bank for several minutes taking deep, long breaths. He'd just watched one of his friends- maybe friend was a strong word- coworkers transform into some...thing. Some terrible, monstrous thing, and then it tried to kill him. Him and the freak in the sleeveless breastplate. Keith still wasn't sure he hadn't hallucinated the other guy. He was a giant dressed for LARP camp in the middle of one of the harshest snowstorms Keith had ever seen. That, and every punch he threw carried the force of an artillery shell.

"Jane's not gonna believe any of this shit," he muttered, dragging himself to his feet.

It was a short walk to where Thor hunched over the remains of the Man-Beast. The big man was covered in blood, only some of it his own. That dip in the frozen stream had drenched him from golden-haired head to wing-tipped boot. His hands were balled into fists. He was shaking. Whether it was fueled by rage or him succumbing to the cold, Keith couldn't say.

Keith cleared his throat. "You saved my life," he started hesitantly, "thanks. But we really oughtta get out of here. I'm surprised you haven't collapsed yet, to be honest with ya."

Thor turned. His face was marred by grief, yet only for a moment. On looking the mortal in the eye a steel came over him like a mask, hard and unflinching. He rose.

"Nay, I must thank you. That abomination would have surely ended me without your timely intervention. You must be one of Midgard's finest warriors to face down such a monster so readily." Thor raised a hand to Keith in acknowledgement of his valor.

Keith blinked. The offered hand went ignored as Keith threw his own to the sky. "What the fuck, dude?! I'm a radio engineer, not- Do you know what that was? Why are you- I mean, Jesus Christ, what is happening?"

"In truth, I know not the nature of the beast that assailed us," Thor confessed. "It seemed able to probe my inner thoughts. There are some manner of creatures I know of that can accomplish such things, though none of them are of your realm. I wonder how it came to be here..."

"How did you come to be here? We're in the middle of nowhere and you look like you just stepped outta the Renaissance fair."

"I come from Asgard by by of the Bifrost," Thor explained, pointing up at the Aurora Borealis.

"Alright, don't tell me." Keith held his hands up, palms forward in surrender. "But we can't stay here. If you want I can take you back to my truck and I'll drive you to Winchester Point. We've got a base there. Jane can check you for, uh, hypothermia. Maybe we can find you a ride home."

"I have my doubts I will ever return home. Let us go to your abode, then. I wish to learn more of what attacked us."

Together, the two unlikely companions made their way through the storm stricken wilderness. It was a long walk, and each of them was already bone tired. Thankfully Keith proved a worthy navigator. He'd gone on a number of hunting trips up this direction; animals getting into the transmission array had damaged some of their equipment in the past, so they had the all-clear to trap and shoot anything they found in two mile radius of the station. When Thor asked Keith to explain what he was doing up here, Keith tried and failed miserably to get across the concept of a radio.

"You are telling me that you can speak into a device and another, identical device on the other side of your planet can hear what you say in the same instant? And you claim this is not sorcery?" Thor asked as he shoved a tree down over a crevice several dozen feet deep. Once he was sure the tree was secure, he climbed atop it and crossed to the other side of the crevice. Keith followed reluctantly.

"Radio waves travel at the same speed as light, man. A signal can loop all the way around the planet seven times in a second."

"Mine brother Hermod can do much the same. As our messenger, he is tasked with delivering the word of Odin to every realm on the branches of Yggdrasil. Once, he rode for nine days and nine nights to the depths of Helheim on a dare! None have ever replicated his feat."

Keith sighed. If anyone else had said that it would've been a joke, but after walking with 'Thor' for over an hour it was clear he either believed every word or had the best damned poker face Keith had ever seen. It wasn't worth trying to argue with him, nor could Keith coax out the truth. In all likelihood, Thor was a delusional mutant that wasn't up to date on his X-inhibitor shots. He'd need to contact the authorities- both about the monster and his new friend.

Relief warmed his weary bones when they broke the treeline and found the array station. The truck was right where Keith had left it, and there was no sign of anything that went bump in the night. Kieth all but fell over himself climbing inside to start the heater. Warm air brushed the frost from his cheeks. It was enough to make a grown man cry.

Afterward, he rummaged around in the back of the cabin for a spare set of cold weather gear. They didn't have any clothes in his new friend's size, unfortunately, but he could squeeze into the coat with a little effort.

"You have my thanks, mortal." Thor gave an approving nod even as he struggled to get the zipper more than halfway up the coat.

'Might fit better if you ditch the fake armor,' Keith thought, adjusting the dials on the radio transmitter mounted in the dash. The storm hadn't subsided much but the northern lights seemed to be back to normal. If he bumped up the wattage on the transmitter he might be able to get a signal out- wouldn't help much with getting one back, though. Still, he needed to warn his team if he could.

Not that he knew how to explain a psychic, body-snatching monster without sounding fucking nuts.

"This is Keith to base, come in. Russ, some crazy shit has happened and I need you to pick up. Now."

All that came through was static. Static, and a strange, keening whine. Must've been more interference. Strange way for it to manifest, though. There was a clarity to it almost if as it 'COME AND SEE' talking.

"Bzztttt..eith is that...I will make you perfect can't hea-BRRRRTMold your flesh as if it zzzzt is clay in my hands rrrr...you. Say ag Sinsain?" of your humanity washed away in my image.

Stars spun in Keith's eyes. His jaw slackened. The words behind the broadcast coiled around his brain like a serpent. Beneath his skin, something crawled.

Thor drove his fist through the console with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

The sudden explosion of sparks and plastic woke Keith, who blinked a few times before his face twisted in baffled anger. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Your magic box is vulnerable to the same mental emanations that creature used. I could see your sanity slipping away."

"Oh, you're one to fuckin' talk." Keith slammed his forehead against the steering wheel. After a few more impacts, he was satisfied he'd bashed whatever remained of his rationality out. A giant, red mark covered half of his face, but he felt better.

Lines of worry crisscrossed Thor's face. "We ought to return to your base camp with all due haste. I do not believe our troubles are over."

"On that we can agree." Keith sighed, starting the car.

---

Winchester Point was burning when their truck pulled into the yard.

The main building was a long, single story structure shaped like the letter U. It was a boxy, ugly building, and its leftmost arm was on fire. Black smoke and ash choked the air. Flames danced along the wooden rooftop, stifled by the cold but not wholly choked out. This was the main building where the crew lived and did most of their work. A secondary structure on the right-hand side was also on fire. That was the garage, and the open vehicle bay showed their ATVS, trucks and snowmobiles were all ablaze.

"Shit, shit, shit." Keith cursed under his breath, throwing the truck into park and jumping out. "Do you see anybody?"

"Nay. The smoke clouds my vision as well."

"We need to get inside. People might be hurt. Come on!"

Smoke-choke air burned their lungs as the two ran into danger. Thor went first, tearing the door off its hinges and throwing it aside. Mounted on the wall just in the entrance were a fire extinguisher and a fire man's axe for just such an emergency. Keith retrieved the former and started cutting a path through the hallway to the sleeping quarters. Thor took up the axe. It lacked the comfortable heft of his signature weapon, but its edge was sharp. This would do.

_{'Have you come to witness my works, Son of Odin? Will you surrender your flesh to our choir? To join godhood and mortalkind...We will be the envy of the universe...'}

Thor gritted his teeth. "I have had enough of you. I will take your mocking tongue."

_{'I have no tongue yet I have many voices. No arms, yet a thousand hands do my work. You inhale me with every breath you take, child of lightning. To resist is pointless. You are a shell already- stripped of all that made you...you.'}

Shutting out the voice, Thor pressed on, shouldering past Keith to delve into the fire. Flames licked at his flesh. Pain seared his muscles as the fire caught on his clothing. Thor cared not.

He found the source of the flames only moments later. It lay in a pool of dismembered limbs and meat. Parts of it were identifiably human, like the face of a man twisted in fear. Others were covered in thick fur, like that of a dog or a wolf. All of it was sloshed together into one, horrific whole. The gore pile was drenched in a stinking liquid he couldn't identify- that seemed to be the source of the fire.

"Another monster," Thor called over his shoulder to Keith, "and someone else seems to have taken care of it first. Rejoice, friend. Your comrades struggle on."

Keith wasn't as enthusiastic about the find as Thor. He had to fight to keep the bile from rising in his throat. The stench of the thing was unbearable, like rotten meat cooking in a copper pan. "Jesus H. Christ."

Down the tunnel came the crash of steel, the snapping of wood and a scream. It sounded only partially human.

Without another word Thor was off at a dead sprint. He covered the full length of the hallway in a quarter of the time a normal man might have, and he was moving so quickly he couldn't stop at the turn without bashing into the wall. Past a pair of double doors lying on the floor was a large, open chamber filled with tables and benches. It reminded Thor of a mead hall, though it lacked the homely feel with its bare steel and white tiles instead of hardwood and furs. All the blood on the ground didn't help the atmosphere.

Two more monsters lumbered across the room. One had a pair of stately antlers growing from a stump in its neck where a head should've been. Its face was instead lodged in its chest cavity, and it rotated fully in place to stare at Thor with cold, empty eyes. The other thing had two heads: a dog that was barking and snapping at him, and a woman's head, hanging at an odd angle like it was broken. 'Her' jaw hung limply to the side, shattered.

"Look out! Get back!" A man on the opposite side of the monsters yelled at Thor. He had long, flowing hair and a beard to match, and on his back was a strange pair of cylindrical containers. The stranger lifted a tube toward the wolf-woman hybrid and doused it in a spray of fire.

Keith came rushing in a moment later. "Shit, Russ! You're aliv- ah, fuck me." He skidded to a stop at the sight of the monsters and promptly left the room.

"Keith?! Who in God's name is this guy?"

Thor took the fireman's axe in both hands, lifting it high as he charged.

"For Asgard!"

Ultimate One Universe: Emergence

_{UOU Presents: THOR, GOD OF THUNDER}

ISSUE #2: Heart of Ice

---

_{Winchester Point ♦ Alaska}

Thor didn't know how long he knelt in the snow beside Mjölnir. Memory was a prison unto itself in this dark crevice under the earth: Thor could play at doing things different over and over again until the end of time. That is, he once could have- now that he was stripped of his hammer, his godhood was more frail than ever before. Winter's bite was now a threat he could not ignore. So he summoned what strength remained to him and rose, setting forth into the lonely dark.

The land opposed him at every step. Snow clung to his boots like the clawing hands of the damned in Hel. It was hard to navigate here by night, even with the Bifrost lingering. It was somehow too blinding to behold directly yet too dim to light his way. All Thor could do was pick a random direction and pray fate was kind to him. Thick forest blocked his way, forcing him to bend beneath canopies or tear them up with his hands. Both were obnoxious novelties to the God of Thunder- he couldn't remember the last time he walked somewhere. Thor was the living storm. The sky was his domain.

"I deserve this," he reminded himself, "if not worse."

_{'God of Thunder...'}

The voice scratched at the edge of his consciousness. Thor spun around with the force of a whirlwind, the snow around him flung into the sky in a twelve foot radius. Shadows leapt across the trees; the suggestion of wolves racing across the moonlight. No, not quite wolves. The shadows walked upright, as if they were men. Men formed of beast flesh. His fingers brushed against his side where Mjölnir once hung. When they found nothing but air they clenched into a fist. Fine. He may be without his weapon but it was not required to fell these monsters. He would tear them apart with his hands if necessary.

"Who dares challenge the Prince of Asgard?" Thor stepped forward, holding his head high against an unseen foe.

_{'Prince of Conquest. God of Death. Drenched in so much blood it could extinguish the sun. You truly are your father's son.'}

Thunder roiled. Thor took another step forward, casting his gaze all around him to the empty woods. "Who are you? Who dares invoke my father's name with such lies?"

"S-stay away f-from me!" Someone screamed in the distance, and a loud bang followed. Thor tore his attention away from the bestial shadows to look. Perhaps a hundred paces away from him he could see the dull glow of what must've been lantern light. Its cone of light was pointed southward away from him, low to the ground and unmoving.

"Who goes there?" Thor shouted.

He waited several seconds for a reply. Only the howl of the wind called back.

Glancing back around at the trees, Thor found the shadows of the Man-Beasts gone. Even as he made his way to the light, he was careful not to keep his back turned to the dark for too long. Something was lurking in these woods- something all too malevolent for his liking.

The lantern had fallen in a stream bed frozen over by the storm. Thick brush gathered on other side of the stream, though the forest was not so dense with trees here. Thor stepped through the brambles, bending low to take up the device. It was like nothing he had ever seen: small, able to fit easily into the palm of his hand, and behind the glass face was no obvious flame to cast this light. He could sense the pulses of electricity contained within. His brother, Balder, once showed him a similar device he had found on a place called 'earth' in the realm of Midgard.

Searching the area with the the strange lantern, Thor spotted an iron club a dozen paces up stream. It was a metal rod stuck fast to a carved wooden handle. There were mechanical switches of unknown purpose near the grip. Mortal weaponry, he assumed. Casting the light further, he found a break in the ice. The brushes up the nearby bank were crushed and there were marks in the snow. Heavy, dragging prints, like something was carried this way. Thor bent low. He cast his light to the break in the frozen stream. Blood stuck fast to the jagged edge of the ice, yet he saw no body in the water. Perhaps the mortal had dragged himself out?

"Hear me: if you yet live and seek respite from your woes, reveal yourself. I will guide you from these woods. You have my solemn word."

_{'You won't leave these woods alive, butcher.'}

Thor bristled. "Who dares-"

A sharp pain shot through his shoulder, seizing his voice in his throat. Thor looked down to see four razor-tipped claws sticking through his breastplate, coated with golden god-blood. The attacker pushed Thor down into the stream with a terrible strength. Ice shattered, and freezing cold water rushed down Thor's open gullet, choking him.

The god writhed, unable to find anything solid to push himself up against. His attacker wrapped its other clawed hand around his head to keep it beneath the surface. It must've had the strength of a frost giant to render Thor so helpless against it.

_{'Let us see if gods can drown, shall we?'}

Darkness crept at the edge of Thor's vision. He kicked against the ice above him, trying to find purchase against it, only for it to shatter at the slightest pressure. His hands groped for the bottom of the stream bed, finding nothing. It was disorientating. Hardly could he tell up from down in the nearly pitch-black water. Indignation raged like a tempest in his breast. This was the peak of his humiliation. Cast from Asgard, stripped of his birthright and weapon, and now he faced death at the hands of some Midgardian beast. It was going to drown him. He who had soared in the space between stars. He who had commanded stormy seas for fifty thousand years. He was to be bested by a brook.

'Is this what mine actions have wrought? Am I owed such indignity, father?' He thought, consciousness slipping away.

A sudden, distorted bang sounded from above him. The weight on his back lessened as the claws vacated his shoulder. Another bang, followed by an inhuman roar.

In the seconds before his consciousness fled down river, Thor threw his fingers upward. They found purchase against a stone on the bank. With all the power remaining in his muscles, he dragged himself up and up and up until his head finally breached the surface. Thor took a desperate breath.

"You are one ugly sonofabitch, aren't you?!" Keith Kincaid shouted. He was scrambling backward up the stream bank, tearing through the brush as he tried to force another shell into the shotgun.

The man-beast loomed. It must've been over ten feet tall, all wiry muscle and bone. Dark red fur hung to its frame like a too-big coat. Its claws were huge, dangerous looking things, hanging from thin arms that were so long they dragged against the ground. Bony protrusions of half-formed hands littered its sides. The worst part was its face, though: its face was Wilford's, split straight down the middle in a gory heap so a wolfish maw could peak out. Even covered in blood and transformed into this horrible thing, Kieth recognized the old man's pale blue, paranoid eyes.

"Jesus. Wilford? Is that- don't-"

The thing that used to be Wilford leapt on Keith before he could fire again. Keith screamed. It pinned him down under its weight, one claw wrapped around the arm Keith was using to hold the gun, and the other outstretched behind it, ready to strike.

A fist seized the upraised claw. Keith could see the drowning man better in this light: he was tall, broad, and built like Arnie in Conan the Barbarian. His long, blond hair was matted against his scalp, and there was a fury in his eyes unlike anything Keith had seen before.

"Nay." Thor snarled. "Not him. Me. I am not done with you yet."

Twisting his body around, Thor lifted the Man-Beast off its feet and flung it into a tree fifty feet away. The monster flew so fast it was a blur before Keith's eyes, and when its body impacted the trunk exploded into splinters. The force of the blow sent out a shockwave that rocked the forest.

_{'You are not worthy of your strength. You never were. Murderer. Kinslayer.'}

"I will not be mocked by some abomination!" Thor bellowed. He jumped, taking to the sky for dozens of feet before coming back down on the Man-Beast, feet first. Snow and dirt and splinters exploded in every direction.

_{'You were cast aside for a reason.'}

Thor slammed a fist down against the monster's maw. "You-"

_{'He only ever loved you.'}

He punched it again. Teeth shattered like glass. "Do not-"

_{'And you killed him for it.'}

And again, blood splattering against the snow. "Know me!"

Again, again, and again once more. Every blow struck sent another wave of debris flying. Every tree for a few dozen meters lay on its side. Blood caked Thor's fists and chest. Beneath him was an unmoving pile of meat, lying in a crater that hadn't been there moments ago. Thor heaved every breath, falling to his knees atop the corpse. He loosed a long, pained howl that echoed across the valley.

The Things We Fight For

Theodore Howser

xxxxxxxxxxxx B A S I C I N F O [Name] Theodore Howser [Callsign] Teddy Bear [Gender] Male [Age] 41 [Rank and Designation] Master Chief Petty Officer [Place of Birth] New Halcyon [Official Statement] "Why'd I join up? 'Cause I've got a bunch of people back home countin' on me: I put food on the table n' keep them safe. 'S more than that, though. There's the kiddos I met out here, too. Teenagers puttin' themselves in the line of fire, seein' things nobody their age ever should. Breaks my heart. They need me. I wanna be the place they can hunker down when things get bad, y'know?" C O M B A T A B I L I T Y [Mech Model] MBM-78 'Grizzly' [Type] Direct Fire Support [Size] 60 ft tall, 225 tons [Core] Epsilon [Description] The Main Battle Mech-78 Grizzly began development by Union General Mechanics in 3006 to replace its last generation of mech, the MBM-60 series. They hoped their 70s series could replicate the reliability of the last generation while taking advantage of advances in weapons technology. The greatest of these advances was the 'SmartWorks' Autofactory System which- if successful- would allow a mechanized unit to forgo resupply entirely, instead relying fully on scavenging the battlefield for material to replace lost ammunition and even damaged mech parts. The latter function still eludes the 70 series, but the MBM-78 makes full use of the former with its ammo-guzzling Prometheus cannon. When firing on full bore, the Prometheus can empty its 30,000 round magazine in less than two minutes. This is not recommended as it will assuredly damage the cannon's barrels if not outright destroy them. The Grizzly remains an unpopular model in the MHA for its expensive Smartworks technology and inflexible weapons selection. The Prometheus is a powerful tool for shredding soft targets from an advantageous position but lacks the penetrative power to effectively combat unshielded rooks and knights; though its Guardian shield and heavily armored hide allow it to take no small amount of punishment from those larger combatants. Given the weight of its weapons load and backpack, the Grizzly is also considered slow and unwieldy compared to other models on the market. [Armaments] The X-66 Prometheus is an eight-barrel rotary cannon with a variable firing rate, with four distinction RPM settings that max out at 16,000 rounds per minute. It utilizes a magnetic accelerator in each barrel in conjunction with traditional propellant to launch its 30mm rounds at hypersonic speeds. The SmartWorks Autofactory System (SAS) is a backpack mounted on the Grizzly's rear. It utilizes bleeding edge matter replication technology to recycle discarded battlefield material and convert it into ammunition for the Prometheus, extending combat effectiveness near indefinitely. While originally designed to manufacture a wide variety of parts, the complicated fabrication process of the Magnetic Accelerator Assisted rounds made that goal unrealistic at best. There are two Augsburg Arsenal Auto Shotguns built into each of the Grizzly's forearms for close quarters combat. They are loaded with 'Krakenshot' flechettes, four inch long daggers shoved into a shell and fired into the soft bits of a target at close range. These completely annihilate lightly or unarmored Aberrants. Included with the SAS backpack is the scavenger drone, designed for retrieving high quality construction material for the autofactory. Guided by the SAS's patented 'PAL' A.I assistant it ranges the battlefield up to eight miles away, and comes equipped with several a full suite of tools for cutting into, prying open or even hacking fallen tech. It has a small personal defense turret mounted on its underside for fending off Aberrant pawns. Optionally, the Grizzly can carry a 'Guardian' tower shield in its offhand for assaulting fortified positions. The Guardian shield has its own Beta-class Aberrant core to power an energized barrier.

Profile [Surface-level Impression] The universe is a dark place and worth fighting for. Theo's life hasn't been an easy one. He lost his ancestral homeworld when he was born and has spent the last twenty years at war. Slipping into nihilism would be all too simple; natural, even, some might say. Theo couldn't disagree more. He's always tried to look hold out hope for a brighter future- to a future without the Aberrants or their genocidal hate. The road ahead is long, however, and in meantime he embraces the little victories of life: a battle survived, a night out with friends, a cool beer and a starry night. He mourns lost squadmates and embraces new ones as friends with equal fervor. Every month he has video calls scheduled with his family, his mentor and some of his old comrades who rotated off the front. [Personal History] Theodore Howser was born on a refugee barge fleeing New Halcyon as it was consumed by Abberants. Life on barge 117-Beta was harsh: food supplies were thin and medicine supplies even thinner. People died in the hundreds every day. those who worked earned more rations than those that didn't, so Theo spent his childhood repairing oxygen scrubbers and cleaning out waste recyclers. Unlike some ships, the refugee barge wasn't a permanent settlement. It was part of a larger fleet that flew ahead of Aberrant incursions, rescued as many people as they could, and then fled for safer waters. 117-Beta spent seventeen years in transit before Theo's boots touched soil for the first time in his life on a planet called Kabral III. Poverty loomed over the Howser family even here. Levi Howser, Theo's father, was paralyzed during the invasion. The cybernetics necessary to repair his spine cost far more than they can afford. Even with minimum medical attention, his bills are astronomical. He's trying to make a career out of dictating novels with a speech-to-text program, but it isn't going well. Asmara Howser worked for a non-profit education advocacy group before her planet was destroyed. She works fifty hours a week as a public educator and another fifteen as a private tutor. Its enough to scrape by even if it leaves her children to fend for themselves most days. Theo decided he needed to ease the burden on his mom, so he decided to pitch in. His application to military service was accepted near instantly- the machine always needed more bodies- and he was shipped off world to Camp Triton for training two weeks later. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life. The regiment's doctor nearly failed him out after he vomited all over himself and passed out during a run. The human body could only take so much punishment and he was already malnourished when he showed up; Theo wasn't ready. Be it luck or providence, it just so happened that the chief medical practitioner at Camp Triton was a Halcyonite too. Major Russom Samir prescribed an expensive physo-gene therapy program that built Theo back better than he'd ever been, and two months later Samir cleared Theo for service. Theo earned the callsign 'Teddy Bear' at Camp Triton both because of his affinity for the MBM-78 Grizzly and for his soft nature; he was 'too soft for war,' his bunkmates would mock. When they took bets on which of them would run or die first, the majority settled on gentle, soft Theodore. He was determined to prove them wrong. Thanks to recommendations of Major Samir and Lt. Colonel Strutzheim, the base commander, Theodore was accepted into the pilot program. No one would've called the boy a prodigy: he made more mistakes than most every single time he climbed into the cockpit. But none could deny his passion. There was a fire in his heart that drove him harder than anyone would've thought possible. The flame followed him through his next two decades of service: he fought on the moons of Pele, liberated Calypso IV, dug in around Rao City for the Hundred Day Siege, rescued the battleship Benevolence from an Aberrant boarding action, and so much more. One of his more notable tours of duty saw him aid in the defense of Thrax in 376. Teddy was grievously wounded when he attempted to engage a Bishop still protected by its barrier. Without a Constellation present, his unit had no hope of stopping it from massacring the tribe of Cain. Still, Theo refused to retreat, and had his men carry out delaying tactics: mine the ground to slow its advance, fainting charges to drag its attention backward; split the retreating tribes people into small groups so it had no easy target. Despite their efforts, Teddy fell. The creature cracked his mech open like an egg, split his head nigh in twain and left him for dead. It was a miracle Teddy survived, though he still has the scar to show for it. He never let the tragedies of his life define him. He never let himself dull to the little pleasures of life, like a hot cup of terrible coffee or a night dancing with a pretty woman. Even at forty-one years old he lives every day with the same passion of his youth, for he knows full well it could be his last. A universe cursed with the Aberrants was a harsh one- but life was about more than its darkest hours. Home World [Planet Description] New Halcyon was a garden world on the frontier of human-controlled space. Its terrain is as varied as Earth's, though the planet itself was slightly smaller and orbited by twin moons rather than one. It was settled hundreds of years ago by Neo-Reformist Liberation Theology pilgrims fleeing the coreworlds from persecution. Over the centuries it developed an average economy stifled by sanctions and isolationism. Most of its settlements were clustered around the original landing site, though some adventurous sorts crossed the ocean to settle other continents and islands. Its population hovered around eighty million when the planet was conquered by Aberrants. [Culture] The first settlers of New Halcyon considered it a paradise gifted to them by God. They christened their landing spot as the Rock of Mercy, and built upon it a massive cathedral. The first settlers were all canonized as saints, and hundreds of statues were erected in the halls of the cathedral to remember their sacrifices. Reformist influence promoted government and economy policy based on their religious teachings, including: the elimination of poverty, equitable distribution of resources and a reform-first criminal justice system. Anti-coreworld sentiment was common enough that the Halcyon government faced regular censor by federal authorities. Notable Contacts Russom Samir [Name] Commander Russom Samir [Relation to Subject] Mentor [Analysis] Russom Samir is a military doctor and Commander (0-5) in the Navy of the Mobilized Human Alliance. Originally educated as a doctor, he signed up for officer's school after spending fifteen years in civilian medicine for one reason: he'd lost his son to an Aberrant attack. He's hopped between dozens of postings over the decades, including a few on the front, but it was during his time as the chief medical officer at Camp Triton that he met Teddy Howser. Russom is a native of the planet New Halcyon, a world lost to Aberrant invasion over forty years ago. It was his shared ancestral homeworld that drew him to Theodore Howser. When they met Theo was a young firebrand with a failing body- broken by the death of their world. The kid wanted nothing more than to join the fight against the things that took a home from him that he'd never seen. That warmed Samir's cold heart enough to stick his neck out for the kid. He ensured Howser received the best medical care available so he could complete his training at Camp Triton. Many of Russom's peers consider him a sardonic man that is difficult to work with, with utterly terrible bedside manner. Still, he cares deeply for his charges, and tries to maintain relationships with those few people willing to put up with his bitterness. He has a service record longer than his arm and has earned many a favor from higher ups by saving their lives. Teddy is one of those friends- the two trade messages frequently and make plans to share a drink or two whenever their paths cross. Theo owes Samir everything for saving his career when he was only a teenager, and he does whatever he can to pay Samir back for his...unique brand of kindness. A critical lack of experienced medical personnel on the front saw him transferred again. Russom's too old to fight on the line, but he can mend wounds and command a small army of orderlies on the deck of a destroyer or in the back of a tent if he has to. God knows he has the steel for it.