"Get me a herd of cattle." Odin glanced back at the soldiers standing around the helicopter. "I know that a fair number fled this place as he approached, get them here.. I will need at least a few hundred. Maybe more." The soldiers stared as the armored figure rolled a boulder into place; yet another in a long series, forming a circle around the crater that had once held Tai's body.

He seemed to be choosing the stones with care; only certain materials, only around a certain size; and moving along the trench Tai had left in the earth to collect them, breaking a larger rock into smaller chunks with a swift blow when needed.

Over the course of a few hours, he formed a complete circle around the crater, the dip on one end filled with gravel and ash to form to form a more flat position.

Spike and Fade had both offered to help, as had some of the other men; but Odin had simply shaken his head and responded.... "No. This needs a deft touch." As if moving multi-ton chunks of rock were knitting.

When all the stones were in place, he then started marking the stones; a carefully placed hammer-blow here and there that seemed to leave runes behind. By the time he'd finished the soldiers.. confused, but not willing to ignore a god... had gathered the cattle. Odin looked out at the herd, with a nod.

Spike stepped forward. "So... are we going to explain just what all of this is for, then?"

Odin glanced at Spike. "Your fellow Titan created far too much heat. Unless something is done, millions, or billions, will die as crops fail and forests light ablaze. I would prefer something more gradual, less direct, but we must act immediately."

He turns to the cattle. "The rituals work best with pigs, or even with men, preferably warriors slain in battle. Well. In my opinion, at least. But as your own generals coined the phrase decades ago... quantity has a quality all its own."

He called out. "Drive them all into the circle!" And stepped out, walking out to its center; as the men, still confused, used a few well-placed kicks, slaps, and a few warning shots to drive the cattle across the line; the cows having to jump and stumble across the rocks.

By the time it was done, it was a truly strange sight. The tall, powerful armored figure standing amidst a circle of stones... filled with cows, of every color and breed. Hundreds of them.

He lifted his spear into the sky, calling out something so loud and incoherent none of the men understood a word of it... but they could see the impact, as lines of glowing blue light spread.. and the cattle lowed in pain, as they were lifted up. The runes on the stones glowed with a vivid blue light, and all of it seemed to come to a point at the tip of Odin's spear.

And suddenly... they were gone. The ground at the center of the circle was a perfectly flat expanse, and Odin turned, pointing the spear at the path of devastation that ended at this crater; and a sudden torrent of blue-white light emerged.

As the soldiers watched in awe, the light burst forth, rolling forward across the landscape... and where it went, an enormous mass of snow and ice appeared to have formed, seemingly from nothing; only to burst and break apart, seemingly of its own will, steaming as it touched the ashen ground, shattering into fragments and scattering into the air... and within moments, a blizzard had begun; hail and sleet pelting the countryside, the ice melting into steam almost instantly.

From above, it would look like nothing more than an abrupt, insane, storm cloud of white and grey, appearing from the point of Tai's death and expanding eastward, off into the ocean; and leaving a trail of ice behind, that would start breaking apart into smaller glaciers almost immediately.

The impact on the weather was both obvious and terrible; as the expanding ring of frigid air met the existing superheated ground, powerful storms began to form.. the beginnings of what would, eventually, be a terrible hurricane, spreading icy water across an enormous span.

In the center; the one spot with clear skies overhead; the soldiers, the metahumans, all stared in awe. Spike walked across the perfectly flat ground, the midst of the new strange monument to Odin's power. ".... So you're worried about what I could do, if an enemy took control of me? And you can do that?"

Odin glanced at Spike. "This? This was a trifle. Impressive, sure. Useful. Unfortunate in its devastating consequences, as I'm sure a few hundred will die in the storms to come, as we prevent millions of deaths from the famines that would have followed. But you, truly unleashed? There is no army in all the heavens that would survive you, though the earth would not either."

The awe had quickly given way to fear, and carefully controlled panic; as the soldiers, here to give Odin a ride home, quickly ushered him to the helicopter... wondering if it would be possible to get out of there before things truly went to hell.

***

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Guadalupe Island was a beautiful place. while the bulk of the location was rock, dirt, and sheer cliffs leading off into the ocean, it also had a fair sized band of forests and shrubland; being over twenty miles across, there was room for a little variety of terrain. There was very little actual settlement there; a cluster of old abandoned buildings centered around a small bay on one end of the island with only a few homes centered around a dock for fishing boats that hadn't been used in years, a small weather station on the other end of the island, and what couldn't really be called a military base on the eastern side with a helipad and a few boats clearly meant for interception work; likely the few people who worked here had been either against, or with, the cartels. The main settlement of the island, 'Camp Oeste', was only a few dozen homes and buildings itself, not far west of the military base.

While there was already a helicopter there, there was plenty of open space nearby to land the rental, so of course that's precisely where the couple set down. Eyeball looked around at the tiny base; three boats, each with a single deck-mounted gun, one with obvious bloodstains running down one side, and a few scorch-marks and impact holes scattered on that one as well. One helicopter; military, but not armed, clearly not having been used for a while. A jeep. A few small shacks; clearly meant for people to sleep in, and to store supplies.

And of course a fuel tank; a good-sized one, too, hopefully full; it'd come in handy. Thanks to solar panels mounted on the rooftops, everything even seemed to still be working. Eyeball smiled, and glanced at Emerald. "Alright. So for right now, today? This is our own private island. The natives were either killed or rescued, the machines were destroyed by the navy... and while Nicky is gonna be coming down here with some gear and people to get to work... thats not gonna be for a few days. Gotta get all the plans in order."

He walked up to the jeep; an old, dusty, beat-up machine. "So... I figure we drive around a bit. Pick out which house we want to stay in. Do a little looting. And then... just settle in for a vacation. Hell, you just killed a Titan. If they've got decent booze hidden around here somewhere we can celebrate. I think there's even a bar in that little village on the other side, so if there's nothing decent, we'll at least have -something-."

After checking out the base; a few rifles, plenty of ammo both for the rifles and for the deck guns outside; and a fair amount of blood from when, most likely, a group of controllers had converted the unfortunate soldiers here into Pale Ones; they loaded up in the jeep, and took off; heading down the dirt road that ran the length of the island.

The ride was bumpy; the path a bit treacherous; but the jeep made it around without a problem, to the small village tucked into the canyon, a bay pressing partway in; rough, rocky beaches and a handful of fishing boats remaining; out of what were clearly the moorings for at least thirty.

A small bar; Oreste Cantina; was the only building that seemed to host any sort of business; though there were clearly modestly sized warehouses as well, and numerous small, quaint, homes. Eyeball stepped out of the jeep, looking the area over... and glanced at Emerald.

"This place is supposed to be clear. But before we relax, lets check the place, make sure nobody get left behind... and there aren't any stray booby traps or machines."

Emerald chuckled. "Yeah. It'd suck if the local pests we had to clear off were metal monsters that turn people into puppets." One by one, the duo moved around the bay. There were less than a hundred buildings in the entire town; and most of them, Eyeball simply swept across, aiming his Breach-cam round at them for a moment, before calling clear.

He hesitated for a moment as he swept the weapon across one of the boats... before declaring it clear as well. When they reached the end of their circuit, he glanced at Emerald. "Alright. I'm gonna check the boats out, see if there's anything worthwhile; I know they catch lobster and crab out here, so maybe we can have a nice dinner. You check the bar, see if they have something decent we can cook up, and I'll be back to help you cook."

She tilted her head. "Wait. So as the woman, I'm in charge of the cooking?"

"If need be, you can cook without an oven. So while I know I'm a better cook for the most part... maybe. I think they mostly ate goat and fish here, so they likely have plenty of that... but down here..." He looked up at the cliff walls surrounding the bay. This place would be well-protected from inclement weather; likely exactly why they built here. "No solar panels. They probly run on a generator. If its not working, we'll need you to, well. Do your thing." He grinned. "Fire-wise, not cooking."

Emerald shook her head, turning into the cantina to investigate the state of its power; definitely off; and what she needed to do to get it started once again to avoid having to be a living cooking appliance.. while Eyeball headed out to one of the three fishing boats; quietly swapping rounds in his grenade revolver to load an armor-piercing round as he walked out onto the dock... and pointed it at the water, standing there in seeming calm... before he turned to look down at the water beneath the wooden boards his weapon was centered on.

After a moment, a figure emerged from the water.. pale-skinned, waterlogged, wearing a set of soaked overalls, boots, and covered with seaweed... and an orange box attached to his shoulder. Clearly, this man had been dead for some time; hours. Possibly even days. It leveled a pistol at Eyeball... and there was an audible 'clunk' as the trigger was pulled... with no result at all.

The figure started to stumble towards him through the shallows, clearly intent on making some attempt to hurt him, as doomed as it might be, as Eyeball dropped to sit on the edge of the dock. "So, machine. Dark Ascension? Can you speak through these things, or just use them as puppets?"

The machine stopped. A digitized voice emerged from the orange box. "I am called Ascension. I am meant to end the dominion of the oligarchs, and to bring humanity into a new future. Someday, the tyrants will be destroyed."

Eyeball kept the gun centered on the orange box, mentally sweeping the area... no others nearby. This was the only one out here, unless more were hidden in the boats.

"I'm called Eyeball. Or Titanslayer. You already know you can't win this war, the way you've been fighting it. I've seen some of the paperwork about you; I've got the crate that they held you in, and the notes your inventor made. Brilliant man. Incredibly stupid not to build a fail-safe, but brilliant. So I have to ask... just what are your priorities? Is keeping humanity as a whole alive still your highest one?"