The Captain & Ice Raven

Chapter 1 - A Discovery

PRESENT DAY

On the snowy terrain, a car moves through the blizzard, coming to a sudden stop. A man walks forward, carrying a large pole with an orange light on the tip, waving to the driver. The two people climb out, walking over to the man, "are you the guys from Washington?"

"Do you get many visitors out here?" one of the guys says.

"How long have you been on site?" the other man asks, the three of them walking towards other people.

"A russian oil team called it 18 hours ago," the man with the pole says.

"How come nobody's spotted it before?" the first man asks, holding onto the hood of his jacket.

"It's really not that surprising," the lead man says, "this landscape is changing all the time."

"You got any idea what this thing is exactly?" the second man asks, looking to his coworker.

"I don't know," the coworker says, "probably a weather balloon."

"I don't think so," the lead man says, before turning more serious, "you know we don't exactly have the equipment for a job like this."

"How long before we can start craning it out?" the first man from Washington asks.

"I don't think you quite understand," the man says, stopping before a giant piece of metal that a team of people explore, "you guys are gonna need one hell of a crane." The three stare at the piece of metal sticking out from the ice, it looks like some type of wing from a plane.

The two men get the laser drill from their van, and set it up on the top of the plane. The laser traces a circle, until a circle piece is cut out. Wire and rope are throw down, as the two men climb down, looking around the plane.

They walk down the steps, flashing their lights everywhere. "What is this?" the second man asks, looking at an odd centerpiece, that unknowing to them could hold unlimited energy.

"Careful," the first man says, walking over to a broken seat. Lightly digging through the snow, he pauses when he finds an arm draped across a shield.

"Lieutenant?" the man asks, walking over to his coworker, "what is it?"

"My god," the lieutenant says. He presses a button on his jacket, "Mays, get me line to the colonel."

The man on the phone protests, "it's 3 am sir."

The lieutenant shuts down the protests, "I don't care what time it is. These two have waited long enough." The lieutenant stares at the red,white and blue shield with a white star in the ice with an arm covered by black clothing, the only color on it being a pointy blue snowflake with water droplets surrounding it.

TNSBERG, NORWAY MARCH 1942

A man runs through a village, heading straight for a church. Slamming the giant door shut, he turns to the caretaker of the building, warning him "they've come for it."

"They have before," the caretaker says, not paying much attention to the warning.

"Not like this," the man says, making the caretaker give his attention now.

"Let them come," he says, "they'll never find it." Just then a larger tank crashes through the doorway, sending bricks everywhere. The man lays on the ground, blood dripping from his head, dead. The caretaker sighs sadly, looking up to those who storm into the church.

One of the men orders the others "open it." The men attempt to push the piece of stone off the stone casket, but make no amount of progress.

Another man walks through the broken wall, taking his hat off and passing by the other men. The man wears a black leather coat, a silver pin of an octopus over his heart, his name being Johann Schmidt. "It has taken me a long time to find this place," he says, announcing his presence to his men. He walks down to the leveled ground, looking over to the caretaker, "you should be commended. Help him up," he tells his men. The men help the caretaker up, as he looks at Schmidt intently scared. "I think that you are a man of great vision. And in this way we are much alike."

"I am nothing like you," the caretaker says to the man defiantly.

"Of course," Schmidt says, "but what others see as superstition, you and I know as science."

"What you seek is just a legend," the caretaker says, trying to deter the man in front of him.

"Then why make such an effort to conceal it," Schimdt gestures to the stone casket before walking over to it. He looks at it for one moment, and then easily pushes off the stone cover, sending it to the ground. Leaning over the side of the casket, he picks up the clear cube, inspecting it, "the tesseract was the jewel of Odin's treasure room. It is not something that one simply buries," he looks at the caretaker, and drops the cube, shattering it into tiny pieces. He walks over to the caretaker, glancing back to the casket, "but I think it is close, yes."

"I cannot help you," the old man says, shaking with nerves.

"No. But maybe you can help your, uh village? You must have some friends out there. Some little grandchildren. You have no reason for them to die," Schimdt walks away, but stops when he sees the wooden carved tree. "Yggdrasil. The tree of the world. Guardian of wisdom," he walks closer, tracing his finger over the eye of a snake, "and fate for some."

Schmidt presses the snake's eye, hearing a small click. A small box pops out, and Schmidt gingerly takes the box turning to the old caretaker. He opens the box and a blue light casts it light over Schimdt, "and the Fuhrer digs for trinkets in the desert. You have never seen this. Have you?"

"It's not for the eyes of ordinary men," the old caretaker says, shaking in minor anger.

"Exactly," Schmidt says, closing the box and passing it to one of his men, "give the order to open fire."

"Fool," the caretaker shouts, trying to warn the man, "you cannot control the power you hold. You will burn."

Schmidt pulls out his gun, shooting and killing the man, "I already have." Schmidt put his gun away, and gently touches his cheek, fixing his skin. Outside of the church the tank is fired, screams coming from the people of the village