Chapter Two: Black as Night

[The Mighty Thor]

Waiting around the run down confines of Dr. Strange’s condemned brownstone was not going to get this mismatched group of heroes anywhere, and Frank Castle knew it. With a few exceptions, Castle was coming to think of the Watch as a group of children that had to be led by the hand if they were to get anything accomplished. So, if that was how it had to be, then that is what he would do. Giving Tessa a sidelong glance as she walked with him toward the door, he found himself taken aback by her incredibly self assured attitude. So far he and his team had not found anyone that could help translate the book of the Darkhold. The majority of its texts were easy enough to decipher, for Latin was not all that difficult for a trained scholar. But the incantation they needed most was not written in Latin. It was, for some unfathomable reason, written in an archaic form of Atlantean that had thus far baffled the most brilliant of minds. But if this woman, by some grace of fluke luck could translate it, their war could be drawing to a victorious end faster than he would have thought possible. Backing down on his bravado, Castle replied, “If you think you can pull it off, then be my guest. I would hate to stand in the way of salvation. Wong, help her in any way you can. Dan, stay behind and provide cover, just in case things get ugly. Why don’t you hang back too, Spidey? Because unless I am mistaken, I saw you clinging pretty tightly to your rosary back there, and the bookworms could use a man of faith to watch their backs. But as fun as it would be to stand around and watch you read, I think the rest of us would be more productive elsewhere.”

Having left the quartet of investigators behind, Castle led the rest of the heroes down the vacant moonlit streets of New York, in search of a more obvious target. In a hushed tone, Vance relayed the situation as Castle and Blade walked a few paces ahead, “Before we ran into you guys, we were doing our best to make it north to Westchester. As best as we can tell that is the epicenter of this whole mess, and most likely will be where we find the Master holed up. Frank wants us to split up. Blade is going to make use of your abilities and have Rogue and Norrin fly he and Barry up ahead and scout for trouble from above. If they spot anything, Barry can beat feet back here to warn us. Meanwhile, Paige, McCoy, Victoria and I are going to stick with the big man down here in the trenches and cover that fifteen mile trek to Westchester as quick as we can. So either Tessa weaves us up one whopper of a spell or we take the fight to the Master’s front door, one way or another, Logan and his legion of the damned are going down tonight!”