Chp. 41 Animal Reserve

"It seems HYDRA is calling connections with other bad guy groups." Paul noticed that other than Romulus there was the mutants that seemed to be working for another group. Not even HYDRA has this much mutants they could deploy on short notice so someone else might be in the shadows pulling strings because he found nothing of the guy's minds.

"It seems someone is very good at hiding…" Paul said as he tried to search to whoever the person sponsoring these mutants, but thinking about it maybe the X-men will find out about it and he has no need to interfere.

"They'll find whoever it is…" Paul looked at Deadpool still tea-bagging Francis while taunting him over and over, but in the end he still shot the guy in the head after Colossus tried to stop him. Logan has no problem with it because he felt it was better for such a person to die than let him live and plot more plans to hurt more people.

Paul teleported his clone back in the RV in the Mini control room. He then started searching the results of the info dump he made to the leaders of the three sides. Viper seemed to be quite cruel but she somehow follows the instruction he left for her seamlessly.

Charles and Magneto were saving more and more people being experimented on and was having a hard time keeping the large influx of people on their group in order. But since Charles was still Old money rich he was able to make arrangements easily and now had more mutants to teach.

Fury was having the time of his life getting more funding and even was able to cut some strings tied on him by the counsel. He now was able to find more deep secrets done by them and planned some contingencies for them.

Paul even saw a file meant for him but he didn't bother since Fury only placed him on the watch list since he still hasn't done anything drastic since the world threat he did. At least it made most people on the top seat of their governments on alert as they still felt the subconscious fear Paul implanted to them if they thought of using excessive actions against him and those he care about which is just Shanna.

King Pin stopped his future plans in expanding on schools and stayed where he is right now. Paul had also placed the fear of death on the big guy that he found time to spend with his still alive Wife and Son.

But he was still the largest crime boss within New York and the entire East Coast. Paul felt that maybe he should try to copy some aspects of the High Table and apply it here on the Marvel world to keep crime lords in check.

But he felt he should let Fury know about this, as strong as he is and smarter now due to the vast knowledge he has. Paul still admits that he is not perfect and that maybe he should not take more than what he can feel he can handle.

He already juggles his mind on different time perspectives from his different clones, even if his soul somehow could handle the strain Paul felt that he should draw a line on how he should do things.

"We're here!!" Shanna's voice rang as she ran inside and looked for Paul(real body) who was pondering in the Living room.

"Really?" Paul said as he stood up and went outside with Shanna and they were greeted by the vast beautiful lands of Nigeria. They were now in Dahomey Reserve where Ina and Biri will be living from now on and live as Leopards of the wild.

(A/N: I don't know where the exact location of this place is but it was just mention casually in the Wiki of Shanna O'hara with no complicated explanations. So I took the liberty to place it in Nigeria since it has lots of great wildlife reserves there n real life.)

Paul smiled alongside Shanna while holding her hand as he felt her excitement anticipation to wander the forest. He knew her wild adventurous side will always be there so he let her be and know that no one could easily have the jump on Shanna after her training with him.

"This seems to call for a celebration no?" Paul smiled as he brought Shanna with her inside the RV making her blush but also excited at the same time. They spent about three hours until they eventually stopped since the handlers in the Reserve are now there to meet them.

Paul let Shanna handle these matters as he went to make dinner for them in the Kitchen. Just as he was cooking a thought passed his head making him almost want to slap himself. His clone just now saw the emergency med pod designed and made to cater the emergency needs of a wearer of the Decoy Jade seal.

The one that he placed on Shang Chi's mother, she had been there for days and he did not notice since it was in the Man-cave. He rarely used his telepathic powers there since only robots were his companions, telekinesis was used too but the pod was placed in a safe private space.

He does not know why he forgot about this at all so he stood there again contemplating. Thinking he might need to check himself if there is indeed something wrong with him but he does not know how.

His soul already is very powerful and gave him a lot of magical abilities but even that could not detect what is wrong with him. So Paul let this be pinned on the back of his mind as he went on about his day here.

[Middle-earth]

Bilbo was crouching down on a rock as he watched the orc packs riding over the other side of the Hills. Soon he saw Azog and his minion leave but just as he relaxed and turned around he saw a large Bear on a cliff not far away from where he currently is.

He could also see two other large bears behind the first one but they made Bilbo raise his brows a bit since the bears wore armor on. But hearing the growl of the first one made Bilbo decide to leave quietly and go back to his company.

*ROAR!!!*

The bear's roar echoed in the hills besides the Misty Mountains as Bilbo ran back to where his Company was. Bilbo ran as fast and as quietly as he could towards Thorin and as soon as he was within sight Thorin asked.

"How close is the Pack?"

"Too close, a couple of leagues, no more. But that's not the worst of it." Bilbo panted as soon as he arrived and stopped in the middle of the dwarves.

"Have the wargs picked up your scent?" Dwalin asked.

"Not yet, but they will do. We have another problem." Bilbo looked at the dwarves with a grave tone.

"Did they see you?" Gandalf asked but he changed his expression. "They saw you."

"No, that's not it." Bilbo shook his head.

"What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse, excellent burglar material." Gandalf looked proud while the dwarves smiled and laughed a bit cheering silently.

"Will you listen? Will you just… listen?" Bilbo raised his voice a little catching the attention of the company.

"I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there." Bilbo's words made the dwarves worry a little.

"What form did it take? Like a bear?" Gandalf asked as he looked a bit serious as well.

"Ye-..." Bilbo was going to answer but Gandalf words made him pause a bit. "…yes, but bigger. Much Bigger and some bears were with it too."

"You knew about this beast?" Bofur asked looking a bit fearful.

"The first one yes, but not so much about the other bears Bilbo talked about…" Gandalf answered a bit confused as this was not how he remembered it, last he checked Beorn was the last of his kind.

"I say we double back." Bofur suggested as Gandalf pondered.

"And be run down by a pack of orcs?" Thorin refuted but as soon as the dwarves were about to argue Gandalf spoke.

"There is a house…" his words caught the attention of the Dwarves as he turned back to look at them. "…Its not far from here, where we might take refuge."

"Whose house? Are they friend or foe?" Thorin said looking distrustful.

"Neither." Gandalf answered. "He will help us or…he will kill us."

"What choice do we have?" as soon as Thorin's words were spoken a mighty bellow echoed out startling the dwarves and followed by other bellows of large beast similarly sounding.

"None." Gandalf said.

Soon the dwarves ran as fast as they can towards the woods trying to reach this House Gandalf spoke off. They ran through streams, flower fields, plains and small woods trying to escape the pack of orcs and whatever it was that made the fear inducing roar.

Azog was not far behind chaing the dwarves but another roar of Beorn they stopped as their wargs shivered. Soon six large armored Kodiak bears sprang from the foliage and ambushed the orcs making them pigs for slaughter.

Azog had brought with him more warg riders but they were all slowly being thinned down by these armored bears that popped out of nowhere as well as the larger bear killing them like flies with each swat of its paws.

Azog and a dozen of his riders were able to run away leaving five of their wards and riders to be torn apart by the bears. They had tried to kill them too but the armor had been proven too thick for their swords to pierce, blunt force is also useless on them since they were larger and armored from head to paw.

Azog scowled and went on another route while the dwarves were scared shitless when they saw the large form of Beorn from afar.

*ROAR!!*

"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf shouted making the dwarves gain their senses. "Run!!"

"Bombur, come on!" Thorin pulled Bombur's beard to get him back on his senses.

"The house!" Gandalf shouted making the dwarves look ahead as they came out a clearing and saw the house. Then they ran as fast as they could, with Bombur taking the lead as he sprinted like his life depended on it.

"Run!!"

"Come on, get inside." Gandalf stopped at the gates of the house letting the dwarve through first and looked behind at the forest just in time for the large bear to suddenly charge out to the clearing.

*Roar!*

Bilbo looked behind as well and was horrified at the sight of the large quadruped charging at them. The dwarves were banging the door in panic as they looked behind as well paling at the sight of the beast.

"Open the door!" Gandalf shouted.

"Quickly!" Thorin called out to the wizard as he can see the beast was close but seeing the door was still closed he pushed aside the dwarves and pushed the hinge up to open the door.

*Roar!!*

The dwarves was barely able to get inside and close the door but Beorn's head stopped it from closing completely.

"Push! Push!" the dwarves shouted as they tried pushing the door close. While the others behind readied their weapons but Gandalf watched while smiling.

"Dwalin!" Thorin shouted.

"Come on, lads!" Dwalin helped push the door close and locking it immediately.

"Whoa!"

"*Sigh*"

"*Pant!*

"Hooah!"

"What is… that?" Ori asked as he looked at Gandalf panting out of his breath.

"That is our host." Gandalf said.

"Huh?" the dwarves said in unison as they looked at the wizard shocked.

"His name is Beorn. And he's a skin-changer." Gandalf looked at the weary faces of his company and explained. "Sometimes he's a huge black bear. Sometimes he's a great strong man."

"The bear is unpredictable… but the man can be reason with. However… he is not over fond of dwarves." Gandalf looked at his company members and saw their faces change at the last part.

*Grunt!*

*roar*

"He's leaving." Ori said as he listened by the door.

"Come away from there. It's not natural, none of it. It's obvious, he's under some dark spell." Dori said as he looked a bit scared.

"Don't be a fool, he's under no enchantment but his own." Gandalf said as he warned the dwarves. "All right, now get some sleep. All of you. You'll be safe here tonight."

"I hope…" Gandalf murmured this words under his breath as he looked unsure since heard Bilbo say something about other bears with Beorn.

Meanwhile beyond the clearing when it was dark, the orc pack watched the lights on the house in the middle of the clearing. Azog watched frowning and looking over the entire place weighing something but seeing Beorn and some armored bears guard the area tightly he hesitated.

"Attack them now! Kill the Dwarf filth while they sleep." An orc rider said in black speech to Azog as he looked at the lighted house.

"No. The beast stands guard." Azog denied as he found it hard to get past the group of armored bears.

"We will kill them on the road." Azog said as he was about to go on his warg but a rustling sound alerted the group looking towards a direction. But it was just another orc rider going straight to Azog.

"They are gathering in Dol Goldur, the master has summoned you!" Bolg, a spawn of Azog said as soon as he arrived making Azog growl in displeasure. But the orcs left nonetheless and rode as fast as they could towards Dol Guldur.

Later that night Beorn morphed back into his 10 feet tall human form. He looked at his home and saw the some lamps were lit. He panted and walked back to his home while ten armored bears walked to him and snuggled to comfort him.

"So they are here…" Beorn said as he looked at the bracelet he is wearing. This was one of the artifacts from the cultivation world that has a universal use for everybody. It was a calming jade meant to help clear the minds of evil thoughts and it made Beorn able to be more conscious in his bear form.

"roar…" a bear roared quietly to Beorn.

"I know, we scared them good." Beorn smiled as he looked at the giddy bears. Since Paul left them here life for Beorn had been less depressing and lonely. One bear even had suggested if they could scare the dwarves when they get here.

"roar?"

"I will, do not worry. I have promised him I will give the small box he left for them. Come let us rest…" Beorn walked towards the large cellar he recently made since Bears mostly like to live underground or in caves.