Chapter 61- Releasing Agents

Citadel- Citadel Courtyard, March 22, 2008 (Early Afternoon)

Samantha ‘Sam’ Merrillyn (Basilisk)-

“I can’t believe that Frey guy drank a whole keg of Rual’stock, by himself! That’s crazy.” Pietro gasped while sitting on the roof of the hanger. He kicked his feet back and forth so fast it felt like a box fan was running on her.

Thanks to the gov’s magnetic powers, they converted and rebuilt the old stables building into a hanger for the Grey-Wing over the past couple of days. That was of course after he had recovered and repaired the agents' jet. Since none of the agents knew how to do any of the technical repairs for their craft, all of the work had fallen squarely on them. Mostly Erik, but Nath would help him out too. More to learn Sam guessed.

Not that they got to be lazy either. Two of the Brotherhood and three of the agents would go out every day, either to a scenic location or to one of the smaller neighboring tribes’ settlements. The worst was when Mirage and that Parker guy were together. They could find some of the most boring things fascinating.

That was over though, their jet was repaired and the agreed-upon duration was up. So they would be leaving, with their prisoners. Thus why everyone was gathered here today, even the Asgardians, were standing around as extra security as they lowered the 'sky concrete barracks' so that they can let out the surviving Nazis and transfer them to the agent's quinjet.

"I more can't believe they are still here, it's been what, almost a week." Sam complained. As she watched the oddly dressed women and their shining leader standing watch over by their flying boat. His sword floated and spun, just above and beside his head. How it just spun there kind of reminded Sam of the Citadel's hourglass when she led people around.

Once the prisoners were lined up by the rear hatch of the jet, the row stopped and waited. They watched as Hawkeye, the team's leader, checked the restraints again before letting the prisoner board the jet. How they could have gotten loose in the thirty steps from the now grounded building and their craft was beyond Sam's understanding.

There were seven prisoners altogether. Four soldiers, altered to be hairier and have a tolerance to the poison found here in the Savage Land. The only officer had to be extra restrained. Since they knew he could use magic. And two researchers, who could learn magic, but hadn't earned the right to learn it yet. One of the researchers was the only woman in the group.

Greer waved at her, while she waited. Sam waved back with one of her lower arms. They had an odd friendship, having bonded over the last couple of days on how they both didn't look normal.

Course Sam still insisted that the other woman looked better than her, and the cat-looking lady couldn't argue given on how many times some random tribal champion or shaman in the Savage Lands had hit on her. Despite the language barrier, at least they had Citadel’s emitters that could translate most things.

Even Frey had multiple times. Of course, the agent then would point out that he had also hit on Sam, but then again Frey seemed to hit on any woman with a pulse. ‘Maybe he would hit on the ones without one too, if he met one.’ Sam pondered.

Once the Nazis were aboard, Dum Dum and Trip stayed inside the craft to guard them, but Sam could tell everyone else still seemed to relax a little with the transfer over.

As she continued to stand around her gaze drifted over the clearing, eventually settling over at the two Nazis that had officially made deals to betray their organization. The officer was talking with Erik, while the soldier seemed to just nod here and there.

‘Wonder what we are getting for the gov to let these guys go so easily?’ Sam wondered as her gaze drifted a bit more.

Off to the side of the three of them were the officer’s wife and daughter. Sam saw the little girl, Magda, copy Greer and waved at her and Pietro, so the large woman waved back again. As Nath had predicted, the girl's mind had improved faster than her mother's.

The mage had explained it before, but she hadn't really paid attention when he had, instead she just stared into his glowing eyes. Something about the toxin having less to bind within kids or something.

"You excited to get back to civilization?" Pietro asked John as the novelist dug out a change of clothes from one of the bags he had packed.

He shrugged. With the Grey-wing fixed and things relatively settled down, the idea was to get him back to Australia so he could promote his book. They were basically just waiting for Exodus to return so that Erik felt safe enough to fly the man home.

"My publicist sent me a rather nasty email, so not too excited to meet with her. But it will be nice to see my kid again.” John said as he began removing his armored suit. While half-dressed he stepped inside of the hanger so that he could finish changing.

“Did you meet your deadline?” Sam asked the open doorway towards him.

"More than that, with the connection Nath'aniel set up, I was able to message the woman and send her the three drafts I wrote while here. Thanks for typing them up for me Peitro, me mate." John said between the sounds of him changing.

“Whatevs, only took me a minute. If you really want to thank me, you can get me a souvenir or something.” The speedster said. Then his feet suddenly stopped kicking, and Sam lost her fan.

Nath’aniel and Curha had just exited the Citadel. The fire elemental wasn't in disguise right now, but she had posed as one of three different mages during most of the agents' time here. Either the studious Lu'muse, the warrior Ryth’lor or the master craftsmen Cragen.

Sam scratched her head, as she watched the mage walk over to the gathered agents. While they were supposed to be here in case the Nazis did something, Erik had made it clear that he would prefer the mage stay inside, for his safety. So she walked over to both the mage and the agnets, just in case, and to listen in because she figured Nath had a good reason to ignore the risk.

As she got close Sam could hear the archer's warm words. "Thanks for everything you did for us Nath'aniel. You did a bang-up job healing my hand. And Parker has more than enough samples for our lab boys to go over for weeks, if not months."

"I'm glad that we could work something out, but do remind your superiors that I stand by words. If your governments send troops here, they will only find death." The mage threatened.

“They won’t like it, but I’ll tell them. Besides we didn’t find any resources valuable enough to justify the cost.” Hawkeye agreed.

“Would be a different story if we found oil though.” The scientist pointed out.

“Oil?” Nath’aniel asked.

“It’s so weird the things you don’t know about sometimes.” Hawkeye said instead of answering.

Shanna materialized beside him and answered. "It's a black liquid and is known as a fossil fuel. The modern world's technology uses it to power a lot of their machines."

Nath’aniel nodded in understanding as he muttered. “Rot wine.”

“Wait you knew about oil, but don’t use it?” Parker asked.

The mage shrugged before admitting. “My people deemed it inefficient for our needs.”

Hawkeye started to laugh before saying. “Of course they would.”

“Is that why we didn’t find any oil down here, your people used it up?” The scientist pressed.

"No, the Preserve used it up." Nath'aniel answered, but seeing the man's confused face, he asked. "You were there when we visited the new pride of tigers, yes? What do you think the Preserve uses to make such life?"

“So the Savage Lands, uses the remains of the dead, to make life?” Parker theorized.

“Correct.”

“How?” The scientist asked.

Nath’aniel shrugged and shook his head, before saying. “That, I can’t tell you. Life was already here when my people found this place. And even with our eyes and understanding, it is beyond us."

‘Isn’t that valuable enough for them to come here?’ Sam wondered as she listened to the smart people talk.

“Here I thought you came out to see us off, and you drop a bombshell like that.” Hawkeye states while rubbing the back of his head.

"I did not come out here for something so simple, as to see you off. I healed your hand but was unable to heal Greer Nelson. So I have made a temporary fix." The mage explained before reaching onto a pouch he had tied to his robes. He then offered it to said woman.

Greer walked over, her ears standing fully alert. As she did she asked. "I thought you said you couldn't fix me?" Sam watched her eagerly take the bag from him.

“I said I wouldn’t dabble in soul magic, and remove the being that was imprinted on you. Not that I wouldn’t try to help you. Inside you will find a magic amulet, don it please.” Nath’aniel answered.

Sure enough, everyone saw Greer pull out a hand-carved amulet. It looked to be shaped like a tiger's head. She easily slipped the leather cord over her head and around her neck.

Once on her, the mage reached over and tapped the amulet's right eye.

In a flash of light, the woman went from being a fur-stripped tan woman, into being a fair-skinned normal woman. Her hair shifted from red back to black, and her second set of ears and tail vanished completely.

Everyone was so stunned by the change, that no one interrupted Nath'aniel as he explained. "The hard part was getting passed your natural magic resistance. So I strongly suggest that you wear it a full day's worth of time, before removing the amulet. Additionally, you may want to sleep with it on from time to time, to strengthen your link to the magic spells.'

"Pressing the rune on the right eye turns it on, suppressing your appearance and powers. Press the left eye's rune to turn it off, restoring your cat-like features and abilities. But regardless the protection spells of the amulet should work regardless and suppress the other soul's effect on your mind and personality. So long as the link is established that is. So don’t lose the amulet."

Greer leaped into his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him, further stunning everyone. After a few seconds, she pulled away and said. "Thank you. I feel me again."

Frey’s loud boisterous laughter awoke everyone. Sam moved to pull the other woman off of the mage, but Greer blushed and released him on her own. She then hopped back over to the other agents, still bright red in her fair cheeks.

Nath’aniel coughed, before muttering. “I am glad that I could help.”

Everyone slowly moved to their collective groups, the turncoats over by the ramp now that the prisoners were secured, the Brotherhood members by the Citadel’s entrance, and the Asgardians by their vessel.

Hawkeye cleared his throat and was about to order his allies. However, the mage stalled him with a warning. “Our skies have borders too.”

“What?” the SHIELD commander seemed confused.

Nath'aniel pointed up into the air towards the northern mountain range as he said. "I could see through your small crafts illusions, what makes you think I can't see through your larger vessel's illusions."

The archer held his hands up in surrender as he explained. “They are just here to pick us up and take the prisoners.”

Sam could hear Erik growl a warning at the agents too. "Then you might want to get going before they cross that border."

The agents quickly boarded their craft. A couple of seconds later the jet engines fired up, and in another minute they rose into the air and flew off towards the northern mountains. Not that she could keep them in sight for very long once they were too far away, Sam waited as Nath and Erik stared towards whatever ‘large’ craft was up there.

Frey then walked over, His warrior women getting their own craft ready for takeoff. His sword had sheathed itself at some point. The blonde beauty asked. “Have they left?”

“They are in the process of turning. Their craft is slow and clumsy.” The mage reported.

“I knew they had helicarriers, but not that they had equipped them with such stealth tech.” Erik admitted.

"Want me to give them a fly-by?" Frey asked with a smirk.

“No, and thank you for staying with us while they were here.” The mage said.

'That's why they stayed here.' Sam thought but stayed quiet.

Frey clapped the mage on the back as he said. “Think nothing of it. The training my shield maidens received at your Servants’ hands alone was compensation enough, not to mention the fine food and excellent ale… As I swore, so long as my king or father does not directly ask of you, I and my warriors will keep your return a secret. Although I really do wish I could tell my sister or Lord Heimdall.”

Nath’aniel frowned and after some time asked. “I recall your sister, so I somewhat understand her being concerned, but why this other lord?”

As Frey answered, his boat began to rise without him. “Why? Because Lord Heimdall and his sister, Lady Sif, are a quarter mage. While she carries none of your traits, he did inherit your people’s keen eyesight. There is little that escapes his vision.”

The muscular man clapped Nath one more time, before leaping up the story or so into the air and grabbing the side of the still rising boat. He climbed aboard as it sailed off straight up into the sky toward space.

Erik sighed and muttered. "Now I just have to wait for Exodus to return with our missing members." Before he and many of the Brotherhood moved back into the Citadel.

It took Nath coughing, for Sam to realize that it was now just the two of them still outside in the clearing surrounding the metal tower. He coughed again before speaking. “I have a gift and a confession that I need to share with you.”

He then pulled out another pouch, one that he had hidden inside his robes. Sam took it when he offered it to her. She was afraid to open it after hearing him say confession. ‘He is going to reject me isn’t he?’ Sam wondered as they stared at each other.

When she didn't say anything or open the pouch Nath'aniel said. "To be honest, I was working on yours before starting on the one used to suppress Tigra.”

Confused by his statement, she opened the bag and pulled out a lizard head amulet. As she put it on, he explained its purpose.

"I can't make your arms disappear. But it should suppress the excess stone covering your face, shoulders, and upper arms. It will also heighten your sense of touch, so you can actually feel those around you." As he spoke the mage nervously rubbed his thumbs together.

She touched the amulet's right eye on her own once it was around her neck. There was no flash of light for her, instead the sound of cracking, as the stone plates covering much of her body began to soften and fall away. The first thing she felt was her own red hair falling down and around her face and back.

Then she reached up and touched her face. Instead of the stony beak, she felt an actual nose. As her hand drifted to her forehead she felt where the other ridges normally were and felt smooth skin. However, there still seemed to be extra nostrils there as she covered them and had shortness of breath while they were covered.

“It’s a glamor. John showed me a picture of his wife and son. She had that odd dot on her forehead. So I figured you having four minor illusions to cover the extra nostrils wouldn’t look too strange.” Nath’aniel explained. Then he conjured a reflective surface.

Sam blinked as she saw her reflection. Her eyes looked more normal but were still yellow. Sure enough, her face looked more mature than she remembered, but was still hers from before her powers first manifested. No longer was her face dominated by the large stone beak.

Then her gaze fell to her arms and shoulders, no longer covered in layers of stone, she looked much more feminine and frail without the extra layers. Tears began to gather in her eyes as she stared at herself. And just like he had said, there were four red dots in the middle of her forehead to conceal her mutation. Now only her extra arms gave her away.

“Did I… did I go too far?” the mage asked, as she began to cry.

Then like Greer, Sam charged him. She easily picked him up, as the amulet did not seem designed to suppress all of her powers, just her appearance. Once Sam had a grip on him, she then carried him inside the Citadel and ran him to a room she had used to take the occasional nap in, when she didn't want to go all the way to her own bedroom.