Mystic War prelude: The battle goes to the swift

[Victor Creed]

Victor Creed was bored out of his mind as he sat on a rock high in the hills above the place known as Raven's Rock. He had to make sure he was far enough away so the runt and his redheaded counterpart didn't sense that he was nearby. He didn't need to make his presence known yet.

"You really need to work on that stealth thing of yours, Loki," he said as he turned around to see the god of mischief walking toward him. "You could end up...well, no, killing you isn't exactly a permanent thing, is it?"

"Do not make me regret this alliance, Victor, or I will make sure you meet your end this time," Loki said as he kept looking down at a grove near the manor house.

"You never said She-Ra would be here, but there she is with some of the bitch's offspring. She is..."

"She is none of your concern," Loki replied as he looked to see Sif battling two more Asgardian women. "Do you have any idea how many people are actually in the house?"  

"Who cares?" Sabretooth said with a laugh. "As long as I can make the runt suffer, that's all I need to know." 

[Loki]

At this point Loki would have tied his lot to anyone as long as he could get what he wanted and then cut them loose. Victor Creed was no match for his shorter X-Men counterpart, but he would serve as a good distraction while Loki got what he was here for. Creed could kill everyone in sight as far as Loki was concerned as long as he got the treasures stored inside Raven's Rock. The Clan MacFeorais was renowned for their armory of mystic items, and he knew many baseline humans who would give their souls for such devices.

Sabretooth was the means to an end. A very profitable end if Loki played his cards right.

"Did you know Karenza and Thor, albeit in another realm, birthed a daughter? As did one of your multiversal counterparts and your least favorite redhead," Loki said as Creed gave him a rather nasty look. "I am not lying. As soon as we get down there, you are likely to see her."

"Like I give a crap?" Sabretooth growled as he started to look behind Loki toward a large hill to the east of them. "Who else is coming to this party?"

"If you see this as a party, that is your business. Anyone not going to that Kabal meeting Revyn Rydenborne is spearheading should be joining us."

[Cailleach]

"Well, aren't you two just the picture of masculine, well, something. I'm surprised you didn't start this little show already."

Cailleach knew they had to wait for her. These two testosterone-heavy fools had no hope in hell of making it into the MacFeorais armory without her. For all intents and purposes, she was her counterpart cell for cell. Doppelganger? Clone? Evil twin? Some errant life spark that didn't come back to home base, as it were? No one, not even Cailleach herself at times, really knew what she was. But that didn't matter to the red-tressed maniac as she walked over and stroked Creed's face before crossing to Loki and whispering in his ear.

"I heard that," Creed said as Cailleach laughed. "You still freak me out, hot pants."

"And you need to stop smelling like a wet dog, Sabretooth, or your diminutive opposite will sniff you from a mile away!" Cailleach yelled as she glared between Sabretooth and Loki. "This has to go seamlessly, or no one will get what they want."

"And what do you want?" Loki asked Cailleach as she moved in closer and bit his ear. "And turn down your hormones! This is not the time or the place..."

"It is always the time and the place, Loki, but I am not into threesomes at the moment, so count yourselves lucky, gentlemen," Cailleach purred as she turned to see Lady Sif in the glen in some sort of mock battle. "Should we crash the party?"

 

[Chieftain]

"Ichigo, will you slow down!" Zach yelled to his half-brother as the tengu flew overhead and toward a hill in the distance. "I felt it, too, but we have no idea what the hell we are going after!"

"And if you keep yelling," Ichigo said as he landed just ahead of his siblings, "whoever is there will bolt like a rabbit. I felt them. You felt them. Enough said!"

Zach wanted to scream, but he turned instead and tried to compose himself. Then he saw Liam, Daniel, Ceri and Shannon coming up behind them over the road from the manor house. "At least we are not going to be alone in this!"

 

[Loki]

"And the pee wee squad is in play," Loki sniffed as he saw some of the younger MacFeorais family members making their way toward him and his companions. "Well, do we let them confront us, or do we take the fight to them?"

"Can't you just magic portal them to the moon or something?" Sabretooth said with a yawn as he got up from the rock he had been using as a perch and growled softly as her stretched. "Those kids piss me off, but I'd rather fight the adults."

"The one that's yours is with them," Cailleach said as she did a mental sweep of the area. "And for Goddess sake, do not say any of them are mine. I may share DNA with the queen bitch herself, but I do not consider any of those whelps mine."

"Will you both just shut up," Loki muttered as a boy with raven's wings landed a short distance from them. "Ah, the half-tengu and his none-too-happy bunch of siblings. So nice of you all to join us," Loki added with a slight bow to the arriving group. "Victor, that is your daughter," he said as he pointed at Ceri. "Now, children, where did Mumsy run off to?"

[vulpine]

"Loki.....Why am I not surprised......"Ceri said with a grumble as she looked at those around her but one face threw her off her game.

"Dad?..." She said trying to shake her feelings off. She knew he wouldn't look at her the same way she looked at him. "We'll give you 30 bleedin' seconds to get yer arses out of here! Where Kari is is none of your damn business!" At this point she wished Alexia and Sif were there with them.

[Victor Creed]

"The runt is used to this crap, but I ain't," Creed huffed as he looked at Ceri. "And no way in hell...would I do anything but gut that witch."

"Your hatred of my cousin is legend, Sabretooth," Daniel said as he stayed at Ceri's left side with Shannon staying on her right. "You and Mystique have proven yourselves by gutting her more than once. If you didn't come to meet Ceri, I suggest you leave. Now."

"And what am I, chopped liver?" Cailleach asked as she stepped up in front of Sabretooth and Loki. "We came for something that belongs to Loki. Maybe you've seen it? Lovely little axe about so big and all hella shiny. And I don't mean your Hela, Loki. Just hand over the axe, and we'll be out of here...unless you think the family wants to share tea with us? I'd love to see Ronan's face as we all walk in."

Sabretooth started to walk around Ceri and those closest to her. "So, how did you get here? Or are you from some freaking Weapon X tube job?"


 

[lostgirlxm]

"Your looking for.......Oh lord!"Ceri started laughing as her feral like fangs could be seen. "You are in for a surprise!" She said as she put her attention to her father. "You could say I am a bit of both dad." She responded. "Since when have you ever heard of govt not meddling in things they shouldn't?"

As she was about to add to what she said she felt her half sister as well as the other appear. "Well if it's a certain Axe you are looking for I think here it is." She said as Bryce appeared first in full armor with macha at her side. Alexia and her father followed by SIF and the other extended members of the family.

"Uncle.....I knew our little family moment would be short lived....Your quest was worthless Macha has a wielder now."

[Loki]

"This is becoming some sort of perverted family reunion," Loki said with a laugh that echoed through the hills around Raven's Rock. "Brother, I am glad that you finally got to meet your progeny. And as for Macha, I am not surprised it found a wielder. I am, actually, quite glad about it."

The grin on Loki's face grew more and more disturbing as he watched Bryce carrying Macha. His glee seemed almost too much to take.

"Loki, your trickery knows no bounds," Sif said as she stood next to Alexia and Bryce. "You wanted this to happen. Why?"

"Sif, you may be swift in battle, but at times you can be exceedingly dull," the Trickster said as Sif glared at him. "You pay no heed to prophecy. You care less for portents and omens. I build my life around them, and all of them have been predicting our downfall for some time. Ragnarok, again, for Asgard, and the fire of the pit of Annwyn for our Celtic brethren..."

"Loki, speak plainly, or do not speak at all!" Thor shouted as his brother kept grinning like the famous Cheshire Cat. "If harm comes to anyone here..."

"Brother, brother, just as the mutants of your fair Midgard have been under attack for years, so have the magic wielders. Bryce, my dear, you may one day be the savior of your people. My concern was to see the weapon in the right hands. Not necessarily in my hands," Loki added as Cailleach turned on her heel and gave him a dirty look. "Yes?"

"I came all this way so you could make sure she," Cailleach said as she grimaced and pointed at Bryce, "can carry that Mjolnir knockoff? I did not come here to make you king, Loki!"

"Who said I would be king?" Loki asked as he walked toward Bryce and Alexia. "How does it feel carrying Macha, Bryce? Is it all you were told it would be? Or have Sif and Thor not shown you what it can do?"

[lostgirlxm]

Bryce looked at him confusingly after he spoke. She kept her hand on Macha but didn't know what to make of what he had just said. She looked over at her mothers doppleganger and could see she was not happy with this turn of events.

"I...." She started to say before Alexia cut her off.

"If you wanted this to happen then why the company you keep now?" She said standing next to her father as Bryce looked at her sister as if to say "I have this."

She looked at Loki with a smile a look of pleasure on her face as she was starting to fall under the influence of the weapon once again. "I like it...." She said walking towards him. "As for what I know....More then enough."

[Cailleach]

"Bored. Bored. Soooo bored," Cailleach said as she started to circle around Alexia, Bryce and Loki. "And angry as hell at you, you prattling nitwit," she said as she got very close to Loki.

"Now, now, temper, or your other part will feel you here and beat you senseless," Loki replied as he glared at Cailleach. "You know how Asgardian weapons go. The brave. The strong. The pure of heart and spirit. You are likely none of those things, Cailleach, so you could never wield such a weapon."

"Oh. Really. Go impale yourself on your horns, you washed up Viking," Cailleach growled at Loki as she moved toward Bryce and reached for Macha. "How you Asgardians laid claim to a weapon with a Celtic name, I have no clue. It is not staying in your circle of influence if I can help it," she added as she managed to brush against the handle of the axe. Cailleach's eyes grew wide as the power of the weapon seemed to kick in and push her back a step. 

[lostgirlxm]

Bryce looked at Cailleach with a sly grin. "You felt it didn't you?" She said grabbing the hilt of the weapon as she felt her connection growing to it. "It isn't staying within their sphere of influence....It's part of our clan now and what you just felt is as close as you will ever get....." Bryce said as she let her spirit under the influence more of the weapon that was now a part of her soul.

"Mother would have been able to wield it....It just shows how much purer she is."Bryce said twisting the proverbial knife.

[Cailleach]

"There is much you don't know about your 'mother' little bird, and you never will," Cailleach said as she crooked her fingers to make air quotes as she spoke. "She is not as spotless as you make her out to be. She is as much a murderer as this hairy oaf is," she said as she pointed at Sabretooth, "or as the trickster god is, or as I am. And I know you all know my record chapter and verse."

Cailleach kept looking at Macha as Bryce held it. Frankly, Cailleach was shocked that Dark Askani named Mecha had not shown up to claim it for his lunatic-fringe, religious-zealot mob, but then again, he seemed to be lurking more than making his presence known of late.

"And part of your clan? Goddess, when that old bag Siofra finds out, she will try to scrub you clean of it. We all know she is a bit of racist when it comes to her magicks and her family blood line. She was never a fan of Asgardians, any more than she is truly a fan of mutants," Cailleach said with a grin as she tried to touch Macha once more. "A slip of a girl should not wield this much power."

  

[lostgirlxm]

Bryce grinned as Cailleach reached out to touch Macha at her side while taunting her. In a flash of speed she grabbed Cailleach's arm and put a surprising amount of strength behind her grip. "Don't touch what is not yours witch." She said as her eyes started to glow Golden she released Cailleach's arms and looked back to those that were with her.

"As for my mother I know more about her then you know.....And as for my wielding of this weapon....If you think you can....try to take it from me." She said with an evil smile looking at Cailleach's arm and detaching Macha from her side in her left hand.

[Loki]

Loki wanted to bash his head into a tree as he watched Cailleach playing stupid games with Bryce, but that would only give him a headache, and he could ill afford a headache. "Bryce, perhaps baiting the old crone here is not the best tactic?" he said as he steepled his fingers and tried not to anger Thor, Sif or Alexia. "Yes, we did come to see the weapon, and as I said, I am happy it is in the right hands, even if it makes Cailleach a bit unhappy. And as for my company...I have wondered the same thing since I got here, my dear niece."

"Screw you, Loki," Sabretooth said as he looked back at the Trickster and started to flex his clawed hands. "You sold us a bill of goods. Come with me to Ireland and paint the forest with blood. Never going to listen to a sissy like you again. Hot pants, are you staying?"

Loki snickered as Sabretooth uttered his term of "endearment" for Cailleach, but the snickering did not last long as the Asgardian saw something moving toward them over the mountains in the distance. "Are you expecting more family, Alexia? That transport seems to be coming in much too quickly to be a random aircraft..."

[Damon MacFeorais]

"And here I thought something was wrong," Damon said as he came to a sudden stop amongst his siblings, uncle, cousins, Thor and the pack of villains they were talking to. "It's just the Freak Show, here for yet another afternoon matinee."

"So, you did crawl back home," Sabretooth growled as he saw his fellow former Weapon X operative. "I'm sure Romulus wants to mount your spine on his wall for that."

"Blah, blah, you do sound like a broken record, Chewie," Damon interjected as he looked in the direction that Loki seemed to be staring in. "Is SHIELD paying a visit, Daniel?" he asked his cousin, but the man shook his head "No" in reply. "Then maybe we should get ready to send whoever it is packing?"

"It could be SWORD or some other group," Shannon replied as she stayed close to Ceri. "Better not to blow them out of the air. For now anyway."

 

[lostgirlxm]

"There is something I am feeling about our unexpected guests."Bryce said looking at the sky. "I hope I am wrong but I don't think they are here for a friendly social call." She said as she looked at Loki "Can you sense anything?" She said also looking at Thor and the others that were mystically inclined while keeping a close eye on Cailleach to make sure she didn't try anything further.


"I can feel it too Bryce...I am not as tapped in but something doesn't feel right." Ceri said as she pulled the MP5 Sub Machine gun that was on her shoulder and brought it down to her side in preparation.