5.3

Location: Paris, in the thick of a swarm of alien fightercraft

Time: Invasion Day +47 min.

The gleaming smile and inhumanly good looks of Gunnr were enough to put me at ease after my near death experience just now. Her willingness to follow my lead even more so. Because if she could punch through shields like they were paper and deflect those annoying beam weapons, what did I need to worry about anymore?

As she floated calmly in the chaos astride a white wolf the size of a pony as it paced in mid-air.

The world was insane; but it was insane and favouring me for once!

"Come, my Lord. The battle has yet to be joined and the enemy yet to be swept before us like chaff!" She called eagerly for the violence to begin, twirling the personal spear of a Wargod in her hands. The round shield on her left held in readiness.

"Indeed." I replied. With a grunt and an effort I tore out past my standard range and pulled a fightercraft alongside me despite the engines pushing at full thrust to escape. Inside I could at last see the same bald, blue skinned alien race through a window. He was in full panic mode now, looking back at me.

With a smile I raised my hand and clenched it, his eyes widening as he realised the meaning a moment before his ship became so much twisted metal.

"The time has come to teach these vermin their place in the universe. Defeated beneath us, as carrion." I growled.

Gunnr laughed cheerfully at the sight. It would be a deranged thing for an average woman to act like this, but this was a spirit of warfare and battle. It only seemed to further her charm.

Odin was aiming for hearts and minds with all the subtlety of a brick to the face it seems.

I burst into flight, testing to see how well she could match my speed. It turns out, better than me. Supernatural flight and the experience of millennia of use.

So I didn't hold back and pushed to my limits, the golden, gleaming woman to my right at all times.

Jousting with fightercraft became our sport. We were together immune to the entirety of their standard weapon loadouts. My iron debris catching the disintegration rays early and ablating them, the plasma globes bouncing back from my magnetic field projection and finally Gunnr wheeling around me and reflecting the particle beam weapons back to sender.

The both of us in good cheer slaughtered our way through the waves and formations of the enemy, taking back air superiority.

The pieces of alien junk trailed behind us like rain as we tore through them.

Soon the fighters, reduced to only a handful turned and fled. I lost count of how many I destroyed over the past hour.

But now we had two choices, to eradicate the remaining ground troops before they dug in and help fortify Paris or seek to help the disparate heroes struggling in their own cities.

"We can do both my Lord." Gunnr suggested. "The heroes have the Flash who will soon be playing messenger. In the meantime, while we await their summons the foot soldiers of our enemy will make a fine distraction."

It was not fair, not even close. It was war and war has only one rule, win with the least sacrifice.

The infantry were so far below the fightercraft they may as well have been gnats.

With the ability to sense their brainwaves in my range I tore through them regardless of defences and cover. But more than that, it showed me a new facet to Gunnr and her powers. She was a precognitive when it came to battle. She could tell when the counter attacks began, the ambushes and retreats... the ebb and flow of war in its entirety plain as day to her insight.

Beyond this her skill with the spear and shield were high, but this I learned was an aspect of Gungnir itself. Ease of use. It seems her weapon of choice is a broadsword intended for a single hand. In fact: she explained as we hunted down a squad of fleeing blue warriors, her name was occasionally used to reference this particular weapon type in the sagas.

Finally she was strong and tough with her reflexes enhanced by her precognition to superhuman levels. I'm guessing Wonder Woman levels of strength from how she punched through those shields. She hasn't needed to exert herself since.

She can also float, slowly under her own power. Her wolf Ikilvarg, was her mount for the speed and flight she gave her rider. Icicle Wolf the canine's name in English.

The screams of a squad as they were ambushed by the wolf from the flank were short and damning.

The wolf itself was also a terror, with a breath weapon that produced restraining ice and strength and toughness equal to Gunnr since they were connected. The Valkyrie and her mount were a singular entity. A bond deeper than telepathy apparently.

It was after twenty minutes of hunting that we stumbled across a fierce firefight between elements of the French military and police forces versus a larger than usual group of foot soldier aliens. It took me a moment to realise that elderly fellow near the rear was the President himself. Also present was Fleur, which was a relief. She was nursing an injured arm, which just proved the final straw of my restraint.

Power lines, cables, pipes all rose at my commands from the surroundings and overwhelmed the aliens, who turned their weapons on the metal objects desperately before they were bound and rendered harmless.

A cheer went up from the ragtag defenders. Fleur's smile displaying genuine relief. She's had a tough day, I'd guess from this mess.

She raced over, pulling me into a hug. "Thank you! Thank you!" She repeated, with teary eyes.

"It's fine Fleur. May and Louise should have retreated to the base you gave us. I figured it would be remote enough it would be overlooked." I explained. "Still… hell of a way to end my holiday!"

Fleur looked to the skies. "Are they gone? I haven't seen many of the small ships in a while. But I haven't been able to observe very long, all I saw was you attacking that huge ship."

"Destroyed or in retreat. At least locally. I defeated the troop transport in orbit and threw it away from Earth and between myself and my newest comrade Gunnr we have been able to put the fear of the gods into them." I told her, with some amusement. "Gunnr here is a very real Valkyrie. Odin favours us in this struggle."

"Yes. For the Aesir are wise and cunning, warriors that are also kind! We will not desert you mortals in your darkest hour!" Gunnr announced from my side. "So rise men and women of fair France! Take up arms and beat back the enemy! For the glory of the gods and humanity!"

Now I didn't expect that to get a rise out of the defenders, but apparently she maxed out her charisma stat at some point in the past. The people began to yell out their approval of her words.

Crafty old man!

Odin really was subverting people back to his religion with his choice of spokeswoman.

It was a perfect time for Flash to turn up, looking haggard.

He looked at the scene of a secured city and triumphant humans with slight astonishment.

"Woah man, you took them all out? That is some serious death defying heroics!" He exclaimed.

I gestured to Gunnr. "I had backup at just the right time to change the flow of the battle and repel them. However that is not important. You're here to gather us for the counter attack, correct?"

"Yeah… that is right. How did you know…?" He asked surprised.

"Because this is something that none of us can do alone, but together we will be a force to be reckoned with." I replied. "Paris is mostly secure for the time being. Let's go boot these blue bastards off our planet!" I looked to Fleur. "Time to bring some of those changes I mentioned into reality. See you soon, keep yourself safe."

"Yeah!" Flash it seems had cheered up, nodding eagerly. Seeing a victory, he must be inspired because he's not the wreck that arrived a few moments ago. He reached out to grab Gunnr, who simply shook her head. "Take my lord, I will be with you momentarily." She then slipped into the saddle of her wolf.

The world became a blur as Flash dragged me along at speeds that boggled the mind. Then I was there. And to Flash's surprise so was Gunnr, who stepped out of thin air at my side as if she never left it. "Where there is war and battle, I am present. And this is most assuredly a council of war." She answered my unasked question.

We were in a bunker, I noted. Faces I knew. Faces and masks that were new. All of them were seated around a rough table.

The League was here, in the first few minutes of its infancy!