June 4th, 2010
Anderson Security Solutions Office – New York City
Late afternoon sunlight streamed through the bulletproof glass of Ariadne's high-rise office, casting long golden shadows across a battlefield of luxury.
Shopping bags lay scattered across every available surface, the spoils of a thoroughly successful campaign against Manhattan's finest boutiques. The retail district had been conquered, and the evidence of victory now formed colorful barricades around the furniture.
The day hadn't been planned this way.
In the original itinerary, visualized on the Hayes family calendar in bright marker, today was supposed to be a "Family Outing." A trip to the Maldives. Sun and sand and swimming in crystal-clear water. A whole day of doing absolutely nothing productive.
But then Arthur had broken his promise.
He had sworn to limit his Asgard visits to nighttime hours, to be home for breakfast every morning without fail. But the allure of Asgardian magic had proven too strong for even his considerable discipline.
"You don't understand, Eileen," Arthur had explained, his eyes bright with the particular excitement that only ancient knowledge could spark in him. "The library isn't just a library. It's a repository of fifty thousand years of magical theory. The foundational texts alone would take decades to catalogue. Bear with me for the first week. Just to finish the initial survey phase and map out a proper course of study. Then I'll stick to the schedule. I promise."
Seeing that enthusiasm, something she hadn't witnessed in him for some time, Eileen hadn't the heart to refuse.
She had let him go with a kiss and a sigh.
But understanding didn't entirely erase the sting of disappointment. A quiet morning in an empty house wasn't what she'd been looking forward to. Even Tristan and Elena had been moping, kicking listlessly at their toys, their excitement for the beach trip curdling into sullen boredom.
That was when Winky stepped in.
The house-elf, sensing the gloom settling over the household, had immediately taken charge. She had called Ariadne and declared a "Emergency Ladies' Protocol."
Which brought them here.
Four women were now sprawled across Ariadne's corner office, surrounded by the aftermath of retail therapy, finally taking a moment to breathe. The air smelled of expensive perfume, blooming jasmine tea, and the particular satisfaction that came from spending money on beautiful things.
Eileen Hayes reclined on a plush leather sofa, nursing a glass of excellent wine. The sadness from the morning had long since faded, replaced by the pleasant exhaustion of a day well spent.
Winky sat beside her. Currently under her human disguise, examining a silk scarf with critical approval.
Behind her massive mahogany desk, usually the seat of the "Ice Queen" who ruled the underworld, Ariadne Anderson was leaning back in her chair, looking more relaxed than she had in months.
And in the armchair by the window sat Melina Vostokoff, the former Black Widow, sipping tea with a lethal sort of grace.
From the adjoining lounge, the sounds of Tristan and Elena playing with Yelena Belova drifted in, a happy chaotic noise that completed the atmosphere.
"So," Eileen said, swirling her wine and breaking the comfortable silence. "How are things with the empire, Ari? Any progress?"
Ariadne's sigh carried the weight of months of frustration.
"Not great." She set down her tea. "The Hand has gone completely to ground. After our last operation, they pulled back from everything. No activity. No recruitment. No expansion." She paused. "They've even abandoned their usual criminal enterprises."
"That sounds like good news," Eileen offered.
"It would be, if I believed it would last." Ariadne shook her head. "They're regrouping. Planning. The Hand doesn't simply surrender, they adapt. I believe they're waiting for something to happen to me. Or perhaps just waiting for me to weaken and grow old before resurfacing." Her jaw tightened. "They can afford patience. Immortality grants that luxury."
Eileen considered this. "That's a problem. But couldn't you set them aside for now? Focus on consolidating the underworld, then deal with the Hand later from a position of greater strength?"
"That's the other problem. There are complications." Ariadne rose from her chair, moving to the window. "New York alone has too many gangs, too many powers, too many players. The Hand going into hiding left a vacuum, and nature abhors a vacuum. The crime families are jockeying for position. Enhanced individuals are emerging with their own agendas. Street-level vigilantes are disrupting established operations. It's a powder keg waiting for a spark." She turned back. "And this is just New York. If I consider the entire country, I'm severely understaffed."
"And most of our people are still in Europe," Melina added, her Russian accent smooth and calm.
"Can't you transfer more of them here?" Eileen asked.
"No." Melina's response was immediate. "The Widow network is spread thin as it is. All available personnel are needed in Europe to maintain what we've built there. Pull them out, and everything we accomplished begins to unravel."
Ariadne returned to her seat, reaching for a cup of tea that had long since gone cold. She grimaced at the temperature but drank anyway. "So we're taking things slow. Methodical. It's not my preferred approach."
"But it's the smart one."
"It's the only one available." Ariadne set down the cup with perhaps more force than necessary. "I'm not accustomed to patience. After the pace we maintained in Europe, this feels like crawling through mud."
Eileen nodded sympathetically. She understood the frustration of competent people forced to work below their capabilities.
"What about you?" Ariadne asked, turning the spotlight away from her troubles. "How's the Extremis launch coming?"
Eileen's expression soured instantly. "Don't get me started."
"That bad?"
"Technology that disruptive was never going to slide quietly into the market." Eileen leaned back, organizing her thoughts into something coherent. "Extremis threatens too many established interests. The regenerative capabilities alone, even in the weakened public version, represent an existential threat to entire industries."
She set down her wine, warming to the familiar frustration.
"When you can rewrite cellular damage, entire categories of surgery become obsolete overnight. Chronic care business models collapse. Insurance companies built on managing illness rather than curing it? Their fundamental assumptions stop working. Extremis will do tremendous good for the world, but it will also destroy countless revenue streams that powerful people have spent decades building."
"And this is the limited version," Ariadne noted. "Not what you provided for my elite operatives."
"Correct. Arthur has the full version locked away - data, samples, everything. He says it's too dangerous for widespread release, and I agree. The public version is remarkable enough to change the world. The full version..." She shook her head. "That would change everything."
Melina spoke without turning from the window. "Thank you for giving us early access to Extremis." Her hand moved unconsciously to her abdomen. The treatment had restored what the Red Room's procedures had taken from the Widows, the ability to bear children. The option of a future that included family, if they ever chose to pursue it. "Many of my sisters feel the same. You gave us back something we thought was lost forever."
"Thank Ari for that," Eileen said with a smile. "When she learned about Extremis from Arthur, she pestered him for days until he agreed."
Melina turned toward Ariadne, gratitude evident in her expression, but Ariadne waved it away.
"The Widows have done more for me than I could ever repay. Without your network, without your skills, none of what we've built would exist." She shifted the conversation back to safer ground. "I still can't believe Extremis was created by science. It feels too... magical."
"Yes," Eileen said quietly. "How Maya and Aldrich discovered and worked on it... it is truly extraordinary." Her voice carried genuine admiration. "Because of them, amputation isn't a life sentence anymore. Organ failure isn't a death clock. Disability from trauma becomes a temporary condition. You can't build a business model around billing someone for decades of treatment when you can cure them in a day."
"Which means everyone profiting from those decades has motivation to stop you." Ariadne's eyes narrowed. "All knives are out?"
"Every single one." Eileen began counting on her fingers. "Medical associations issuing warnings about 'unproven long-term risks.' Insurance groups screaming about 'unsustainable liability models.' Pharmaceutical lobbies pushing for regulatory restrictions that would bury us in compliance requirements. Government agencies creating new committees, demanding new certifications, inventing new categories of approval that didn't exist last month." She paused, her frustration evident. "Every victory just reveals another obstacle. And then there's the military, who want to classify the entire project and claim it for national defense."
"What does Arthur say?"
"He says to follow procedure. Fight them with lawyers and money. If we can't win through legal channels, he'll think of something else."
"That doesn't sound like him." Ariadne's tone was skeptical. "The Arthur I know would have already infiltrated the health department and... persuaded the key decision-makers by now."
Eileen almost smiled. "He's taking a different approach this time."
"Why?"
"He says he doesn't want to disrupt our quiet family life." Eileen's voice softened. "Unless there are no other options, he doesn't want to act directly. He says problems that can be solved with money and lawyers don't require his personal involvement. He says he can wait."
Ariadne studied her friend's face. "Something doesn't feel right about that explanation."
"I think so too." Eileen set down her wine. "I've heard him say a few other things, comments that I believe reveal the real reason. He says Extremis entering the public sphere will trigger changes he can't predict. He's being deliberately vague about what he means, but I know him. That's what's actually holding him back."
Ariadne nodded slowly. "That sounds more like him. He likes predicting things. Control is important to your husband. When he can't see all the angles, he gets cautious."
"He prefers the term 'strategic patience.'"
"I'm sure he does." Ariadne set down her tea. "Speaking of Arthur, where is the Great Wizard now?"
"He's on an alien planet called Asgard."
The silence that followed was profound.
Melina turned from the window for the first time in several minutes. "Asgard. As in Norse mythology. Thor. Odin. Valhalla."
"The same," Eileen confirmed casually. "Arthur showed us the place in his Pensieve. But they are not actually gods. Just an extremely advanced alien civilization that visited Earth thousands of years ago. Their actions here became the basis for the myths."
"Of course they did." Ariadne rubbed her temples. "I should stop being surprised by anything at this point. What's next, Greek gods are real too?"
Eileen's hesitation said everything.
"No." Ariadne stared at her. "You're not serious."
"Arthur confirmed it. Zeus, Athena, all of them. Another alien civilization on another planet. They visited Earth around the same time as the Asgardians, became the basis for a different set of myths."
"The world is more complicated than I ever imagined." Ariadne shook her head in disbelief. "Every time I think I understand how things work, Arthur opens another door to something impossible."
"That's what it's like being part of his life," Eileen laughed softly. "You get used to impossible eventually."
"I sincerely doubt that." Ariadne's curiosity overcame her shock. "So what does Asgard look like? Please tell me Arthur sent pictures."
Winky smiled and nodded. She held out her hand, and a small album popped into existence.
The photos were stunning.
Golden spires reaching toward an alien sky. Buildings that defied architectural logic, held together by magic and engineering beyond human comprehension. The Bifrost, or what remained of it, a shattered rainbow bridge stretching toward infinity, its broken edge dropping into a swirling cosmic abyss.
"It's beautiful," Ariadne breathed, turning the pages slowly. "Like something from a dream."
"Arthur says the reality is even more impressive. Photos don't capture the ambient magic, the feeling of age and power saturating everything. He says standing there feels like being inside a living myth."
"And what is he doing there exactly?"
Eileen gave her a knowing look. "What do you think?"
"Gaining more strength." It wasn't really a question. "Learning new magic. Pushing himself further than before."
"Exactly. Asgardian magical traditions are thousands of years more advanced than Earth's. Arthur has full access to their libraries. A reward from Odin himself."
"A reward? For what?"
"It's a long story. Involving a dead Frost Giant king and family drama. There was a big battle."
Ariadne processed this for a moment. "He's already so powerful. Sometimes I wonder why he keeps pushing himself."
"Don't say that." Eileen's voice carried an edge. "He works hard to keep us safe. All of us. If Asgard is real, what other things might be out there? What other threats? Arthur trains so that when those threats arrive, he's ready."
"I know." Ariadne held up her hands. "I didn't mean it as criticism. I just... I worry about him. He's been working hard since before I even met him. Does he ever truly rest?"
"He finds time." Eileen's expression softened. "He plays with the children. Takes me on dates. Reads bedtime stories with ridiculous voices. He's not consumed by it." She paused. "He just... never stops preparing."
"For what?"
"Everything."
The word hung between them, a single syllable that somehow encompassed alien invasions and supernatural threats and dangers yet unimagined. The comfortable atmosphere had shifted into something heavier.
Then the heavy oak doors to the office burst open.
"Mom! Auntie Ari!"
Tristan and Elena ran in, faces flushed. Yelena followed close behind, her usually bored expression replaced by sharp alertness.
"We were watching from the playroom window," Elena gasped. "There are army trucks outside!"
"Military," Yelena corrected, moving quickly to the window. "Humvees. APCs. Not NYPD. They are creating a perimeter."
Melina was out of her chair instantly. "A perimeter? Around this building?"
"No," Yelena said, peering through the blinds. "Around the block. But they are looking toward the University. Something's happening over there."
Ariadne stood up, her relaxed demeanor vanishing instantly. "Why is the military locking down the city in the middle of the day?"
BOOM.
The answer came as a tremor that shook the entire building. The shopping bags toppled over. The wine in Eileen's glass rippled violently.
Then came the sound.
It wasn't a gunshot. It was a roar. A primal, guttural scream of rage that sounded like it came from a throat the size of a subway tunnel.
"That wasn't a truck," Tristan whispered, clutching Winky's hand.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Heavy machine-gun fire erupted from the street level, followed by the distinct whoosh of a rocket-propelled grenade.
Whatever was happening outside, it wasn't routine.