2. What the hell is going on?

"We got clearance to land, we'll touch down in 2 minutes. Are you ready sir?" asked the pilot.

Fury just nodded, not taking his eyes from the city below them.

It had been almost twenty-four hours since the world had found out that Canada had fallen under the control of a superpowered dictator and things had only gotten worse since.

In a surprising display of decisive action the US, UK and other allies of Canada had quickly protested and prepared to mobilize to help their beleaguered ally. A state of emergency had been declared and there was talk of a counter invasion into the Great white north. But this was not to be.

The new government of Canada had been quick to make contact with its would-be enemies and had promised brutal retaliations if any attack on Canadian soil was carried out. Normally it wouldn't have been more than a laughing matter, but the speed in which the Canadian government had fallen and the continued support from Latveria of all places had stayed their hands. They may have been bluffing or telling the truth, but at the end of the day Canada simply wasn't worth it.

Of course it was then that they had come to Fury. After all it was his job to deal with strange superpowered megalomaniacs, wasn't it? And sadly for Nick Fury, they were right.

He had decided not to beat around the bush and had come directly to the unknown villain and surprisingly the villain was, for once, ready to talk.

Some had argued that sending him into danger was irresponsible and that he, as commander of SHIELD shouldn't be allowed into such danger. All of which made little sense to him and thus he had freely ignored. Prepared the basics of a team and taken a modified hoverflier to Ottawa, where the new regime had installed itself into the vacated government buildings.

Surprisingly Ottawa wasn't burning.

He had experience with violent takeovers, what with participating in more than one and being on the receiving end many others. He had expected to see half the city burning, soldiers or robots or something else marching through the streets, putting fear into the hearts of the people as the newly crowned generalissimo, king or whatever it was enjoyed his victory. But he was wrong. Ottawa was surprisingly intact.

Where he expected destroyed and damaged buildings there was an intact city, where he expected chaos and anarchy he found order, where he imagined dark armies marching through the streets… well, he actually found that.

Waiting for him as the hoverflier descended were what could only be described as a squad of knights and an honest to God maid.

The knights were armored in a pure black plate, standing more than two meters tall and emanating pure undiluted violence. For a second even Fury thought they were impressive but quickly brushed it over, aura of fear or not he had seen worse.

The maid on the other hand was more interesting. Fury had seen many beautiful women over the course of his life, some closer than others, but the one standing before him put most of them to shame. Her features could only be described as perfect, like a sculpted greek statue or the magnum opus of a great painter. Her beauty was blinding.

It was also heavily unnatural.

Fury wasn't dumb, no one lived as long as he did by being so. He knew that humans, or even other species that looked like humans, could never be so perfect, not naturally at least.

Clones? Shapeshifters? Or maybe some kind of glamour or advanced plastic surgery? I don't see any traces of work but if they were advanced enough...

"Director Fury I presume?" said the maid in a strangely accented English as the brutal looking knights, who Fury now noticed had no face under the helmets, stood behind her.

What they were doing would be very obvious even for an amateur, for him it was almost insultingly obvious.

So they are trying to intimidate me eh?

It was one of the oldest tactics in any negotiation. Show around your power and make the other party doubt theirs and use that when negotiating, either they will make a mistake or at least be less confident in their own strength even if logically they shouldn't.

Fury's party on the other hand consisted mostly of Dougan and a few of his men as a security detail. He had been forced to compromise in the quality of his escort due to time concerns and while they were certainly impressive for normal humans now that would hardly be enough. Especially if those monstrous knights were half as strong as they looked.

Of course that isn't to say he wasn't packing heavy weapons of his own.

"What did I miss?"

It wasn't quite a crash landing, but the strength of the impact was clearly felt by everyone there. Strangely the maid seemed unperturbed, while the knights simple focused their hate filled gazes upon the new arrival.

Captain Marvel on the other hand just stood there, the ground softly cratered under her feet. Acting as if she hadn't just made a clear breach of protocol, even if one convenient to Fury's schemes.

Marvel hadn't been his first (nor second or third) pick for the "muscle" of the operation but she was the only one really available to him on little notice so he had to make do. Fury just hoped he wouldn't regret it later.

"Yes, I am Director Nick Fury and they are my escort. I'm here representing the United States and Canada's other allies," said Fury while looking dispassionately at the maid.

"We are honored to welcome you Director. Please accompany me," answered the maid while making a short bow before doing a 180° and walking away, her escorts moving at her sides.

Even as he hurried so as not to be left behind Fury filed down that little detail for later review. They still knew nothing of the mystery warlord who had taken over Canada and even the smallest of cultural mores could come in handy later.

But for now he had a mission and like always the world needed saving.

---

Thanks to being allowed to land the hoverflier nearby, they didn't need a car or limousine and simply walked to Parliament Hill.

It had been some time since Fury had visited the city but the Gothic buildings were as beautiful as ever and if the circumstances had been different he would have insisted on being allowed to explore a little.

As it was they simply went straight into the building without ever stopping. On the way Fury saw many soldiers patrolling around the ancient building. Unlike the monstrous knights these, while also honest-to-God skeletons, were also much smaller at only around 180cm tall. Their armor more intricate and decorative if emitting a similar sense of danger to their bigger comrades.

In either a show of trust or power, Fury suspected the latter, the hulking knights were left at the entrance of the building while the maid continued guiding them through the ex-Parliament building.

Finally they reached a small conference room where two other maids were waiting with refreshments ready. Fury was offered a seat, which he accepted, and told to wait until their leader came, saying something about a delay.

Fury didn't believe the excuse for a second, this was clearly a well though political maneuver. Somewhat crass if you asked him but for now the locals held all the advantages so they could afford to be more direct than proper. Something Fury rather envied.

He left the food they had offered untouched but accepted the water while he waited. While the possibility of an agent, either chemical, biological, mechanical or even magical being introduced to his drink was a risk he rather doubted they would. If they intended to fight they would be upfront about it, much like they had been with Canada.

Even then Fury took care to take a sample of his water with a cleverly disguised poisons detector which thankfully came out as clean.

As he waited he mentally reviewed everything he knew about the would-be conquerors:

They used some kind of artificial footsoldier, maybe of mystic nature. They were capable of altering people or outright creating them as shown by the maids standing close by and they had been planning this for a long time. No way to take over with so little damage otherwise.

That or they had someone really powerful working with them.

Regardless, there were still many unknowns to decide on any specific course of action and it was for this reason he was here. To both ascertain their level of danger and if they were agreeable to cooperation. It was an awful truth but if needed be, they could deal with Canada under a dictatorship. In truth it couldn't be much worse than the previous regime.

Having said that I need to be careful. I'll rather not have another Doom rise in the US' front yard. Maybe I should-

Just then everyone of the maids went to one knee as one, lowering their heads in a sign of submission.

For a moment Fury was confused but it didn't last. A hemisphere of pure darkness, like a wound in the fabric of reality itself, opened up on the other side of the table Fury was sitting at. The portal, for Fury was sure that's what it was, didn't emanate any sense of wrongness. No realm of madness or crazy evil dimension on the other side that he could sense yet it gave a foreboding feeling all the same.

First stepped through what he could only describe as a giant bipedal bug, its appearance reminding Fury of a mix of praying mantis and ant. The being, clearly a soldier of some kind, quickly took stock of his surroundings before signaling, even if Fury didn't know how, that it was safe.

What came next took everyone's breath away.

The being was tall, close to 2 meters if not more. It was dressed in an immaculate dark robe, full of rich gold etched designs which emanated obvious power. Much like the soldiers before this being was but a skeleton, its head flawless bone with no indication of flesh on it. A dark halo adorning his head, much like a crown fit for a king. But the most striking thing about the skeleton were its eyes, or what passed for them. Dark red fae lights dimmed and grew within its empty eye sockets, to Fury it looked like an ancient boundless intelligence hid within.

And the being was doing something. He could feel the fear trying to seep into his heart, the type of animal instinctive fear he knew so well how to control. But even as Fury remained immutable his escorts were not as fortunate, one simply passing out while the rest reached for their guns. All but Dougan that is. Who remained as nonplussed as Fury himself.

Marvel on the other hand took a fighting stance and seemed ready to pounce at the skeleton now standing opposite to them, but before Fury could say anything to her the feeling of fear disappeared as suddenly as it came.

"I am extremely sorry for that," spoke the skeleton in a deep baritone voice. "I didn't intend to startle you," The being as it bowed its head slightly.

Fury was sure the creature was playing some kind of game with them but there was no choice but to follow along.

"I don't know what you did but it is certainly a break of protocol. Something that can't be ignored," he said, trying to see how the skeleton would answer.

"That is true and I promise I will make amends, that I swear upon my name."

Fury nodded, wondering what the being meant with it.

"Now please get back to your seats and let's start this meeting. My name is Ainz Ooal Gown and I happen to be the new king of this country, a pleasure to make your acquaintance".

Fury was really starting to miss the lizard now.