STONEHENGE
TUESDAY, JANUARY 1ST 1918
0355 (3:55AM)
Baron Harrison George Carter, Knight Commander of SWORD tapped the top of his cane while his driver Agent Jackson Hill sped them through the winding English countryside roads. There had been a sudden and unnatural storm a little over fifty minutes ago near Stonehenge and the three SWORD agents that were stationed to observe and record any data coming from the stone monolith called it in and requested additional support based on the instruments readings.
The readings were enough to come up the chain of command directly to him just within ten minutes of getting the request. Upon hearing of the readings he had ordered every Agent of SWORD in the south to be placed on alert while the rapid response unit based in Glastonbury was mobilized. Well every agent other than his wife Amanda and her primary bodyguard and best friend Maria. As the Knight Commander of SWORD, Harrison knew he could have waited at home with his pregnant wife Amanda but he always tried to lead his men from the front when he could.
Of course it was something about these readings that had him on edge; it was very similar to the readings of the dimension portal in 1899 when an occult group tried to assassinate Queen Victoria and the royal family. Harrison remembered that night like it was yesterday when it was just himself and his father the then Knight Commander of SWORD George Michael Carter that stood between a Manticore and the Queen and her family.
George Michael Carter died during the battle and it was then Harrison felt the snap of the weight of the metaphysical title of Knight Commander of SWORD fall on his very young shoulders. Picking up the legendary Excalibur from his father’s corpse he defeated the Manticore that had been summoned to kill the Queen and the royal family by a demon possessed former guard that had already been killed by his father.
The newly orphaned Knight Commander of SWORD knelt next to the broken and bloody body of his father until he felt a pair of arms circle around him and finally he broke turning into the warm embrace of whomever was holding him. Harrison had only been ten at the time orphaned and with the weight of his family legacy of the Knight Commanders of SWORD on his very young shoulders. It was said it was Merlin himself that bestowed Excalibur to his family to defend the land from any and all dark forces upon King Arthur’s death.
Harrison never could figure out how long he cried into the shoulder of whomever was holding him but once he had been cried all out he had pulled away and looked into the eyes of Queen Victoria herself. When he went to rise and beg her forgiveness she had shushed him and wiped his tears away. Within a few days Harrison was taken on as a Ward of the Crown placed with Prince George and his wife Princess Mary to be raised with their boys who were of similar age. But that wasn’t all; he was also raised into the peerage as the first Baron of Glastonbury as a reward for not only his family's long service to the crown being the Knight Commanders of SWORD but also the future service of his line. He was forever grateful for his adopted family because they helped him with all the duties and responsibilities he had as the Knight Commander of SWORD but most importantly they loved him no less than his adoptive brothers.
The car slowing just outside the metaphysical barrier placed around Stonehenge brought Harrison out of his thoughts and he watched as the stones ahead gave an eerie glow in the night. So much had been lost over the years about Stonehenge, not that they understood a whole lot about it to begin with when SWORD had been created by Merlin and King Arthur. Gripping his cane Harrison pushed open his door not waiting for Agent Jackson Hill to open the door for him, he would drive himself if his injured leg would allow it.
Of course it was decided he also needed a security detail in the last few months after he had almost been killed by an assassination attempt and his leg refused to heal properly. Jackson Hill had been chosen personally by the King from his own royal guards. Harrison knew not to argue with his King and adopted father especially since he knew the Queen his adoptive mother had cried when they thought they were going to lose him.
“My Lord,” Agent Jackson Hill said, bringing Excalibur from the car and placing it over Harrison’s shoulders. The weight of the legendary sword settled on his shoulders and he took a deep breath as the power of the sword temporarily gave him the ability to walk like he once did before the assassination attempt. It was so tempting to wear the legendary sword all the time just to feel whole again but while the sword gave power it also took a great amount of energy to wield it. No one in the family could wear the sword for more than a few hours at a time without it killing them.
“Come on Agent Hill, time to see what insanity this storm has created or brought” Harrison ordered after placing his cane to rest against the car for later when he would need it again. Walking along the road he came across the assault team part of the rapid response unit doing last minute checks on their weapons outside their truck while the scientific team waited inside their truck but were already recording data with some of the instruments already.
“Are we ready for anything Agent Applegate?” Harrison asked, coming across the assault team’s leader.
“Yes My Lord. All four units are ready to go. Just waiting on the latest data from the science unit before briefing yourself and the team” Agent Applegate stated placing a pistol in a holster on his thigh before calling out to the head of the science unit “Agent Richards, do you have that data?”
“One moment” he called back not looking at them as he was handed several sheets of paper from the agents inside the science unit’s truck. Harrison watched as Agent Richards’ shoulders seemed to straighten even more while unconsciously tapping his own thigh to feel the reassuring weight of his own weapon holstered there. Agent Richards said something to the tech’s in the truck causing a stir of motion inside only seen by the rocking of the truck from the outside before coming towards himself and Agent Applegate and handing each of them a copy of the current data.
“My Lord, and Agent Applegate” Agent Richards greeted them before beginning the briefing. “As you can see these readings are the highest readings we have ever recorded near Stonehenge but while similar to other recorded portal openings it only had one huge spike, the largest ever recorded before collapsing. Indicating that it might have been another portal but from where we wont know if it is the same place as 1899 or any of the other recorded portals till we are actually able to study the residue.”
“Understood, has there been any observed movement within Stonehenge?” Harrison asked the two agents in front of him.
“None reported from any of our original observation team, or subsequent scouts” Agent Applegate told him while Agent Richards just shook his head.
“Okay then we move along the west side and sweep east with the first unit of the assault team while two and three hold the north and south. Your heavy weapons unit I want here in the east to defend the scientists in case we push something their way. Agent Richards I want a containment unit with a full crystal and runestone readout ready” Harrison ordered and watched as the two men went to go pass his orders along to their teams.
“I’m assuming we will be with the first unit, My Lord,” Agent Hill asked as the other two agents disappeared, reminding himself of the man now sworn to protect him. It was an odd thought and set off so many conflicting feelings within himself having someone sworn to protect him when you are sworn in service and protection to the crown.
“That is correct, if Excalibur is needed this time I’d rather be there from the beginning. I know King George wants to keep me alive for some time yet but I learned from my birth father like he did his father that leaders lead from the front” Harrison explained as he shared a look with Agent Hill seeing if the man understood the need to be in the front.
“Understood My Lord,” Agent Hill nodded after a moment before indicating the approaching Agent Applegate.
“We are ready to move to positions, My Lord.”
“Very well, give the order” Harrison ordered as he began to follow Agent Applegate along the southern edge of Stonehenge heading towards the western side. Minutes passed in silence as the two units heading south and west walked along the metaphysical barrier that had been up since the time of Merlin that could only be brought down by Harrison and only two others within SWORD. It was meant to stop anything coming through a portal on its ground and so far it had always worked but he never would assumed anything was working unless verifying it himself. The southern unit began to stop and break away from the western unit that continued along the barrier.
Once they reached the western edge of the barrier Harrison waited as the unit began to fan out on either side of himself, Hill and Applegate. A low whistle from their left and then their right let them know that the farthest agents of the western unit were in position. Applegate answered with three short whistles before nodding to Harrison.
Harrison brought Excalibur out of its sheath and temporarily handed it over to Hill to hold while drawing one of the three daggers that controlled the metaphysical barrier around Stonehenge. Taking a breath he slowly cut the palm of his left hand before smearing the etched runes into the dagger with his blood before kneeling down and plunging the blood covered dagger into the earth while whispering in latin “Sanguis dimittere obice” that roughly translated to ‘Blood to release the barrier.’
A flash of green from the earth hit the barrier and showed the royal blue of being at full power. The now visible barrier met the green light of the earth while encompassing all of Stonehenge ending in a domed off top. Twisting the dagger to the left he watched as the barrier began to fall and once it was fully down he pulled the dagger out and replaced it on his hip. Harrison would have rather kept the barrier up but Excalibur and other ancient devices they used for observations couldn’t cross the barrier when it was powered. Getting up he took the unsheathed Excalibur from Agent Hill and began to lead his men forward through the stones to the center of the henge.
What they found in the center of the henge shocked Harrison to his core. As upon their approach they saw a giant unknown beast beheaded about the size of maybe an elephant, next to it was a blue humanoid looking creature cut in half with only the top part visible, the bottom half missing. Neither of these things shocked him more than the small body of an infant that was inside a set of strange armor. At first Harrison thought the infant was dead but once he got closer he realized the child was still alive as he saw the slight rise and fall of it’s chest.
“Hill your jacket” Harrison ordered as he quickly sheathed Excalibur and knelt down before moving the armor away from the infant and saw that it was a girl. With an angry red rune that Harrison didn’t quite recognize inflamed just over her heart. Taking the jacket from Hill he quickly but gently wrapped the girl in it and brought the then wrapped bundle close to his body to warm her. As he did this the bundled infant opened her eyes and he was greeted by eyes that almost seemed like they were glowing blue.
“Applegate, sweep the area and see if there is anything else. You are in charge till I return in a few hours. Hill, send someone for the car and bring it as close as they can get” Harrison ordered not taking his eyes off the small child in his arms as he made shushing sounds to her hoping to keep her from crying. “Well aren’t you a little surprise child.”
“Take this My Lord,” Agent Hill said, handing over a small blanket as he knelt in front of Harrison with the medic of the unit and they began to check over the child to make sure she didn’t have any other wounds. Once they quickly dressed the angry red rune over her heart they gently flipped her to find what looked like a tattoo of wings on her back with another angry red rune between the wings and a healed bite mark from some type of animal on her left thigh.
“Car is here My Lord,” Agent Hill said standing up and then the medic and himself took an elbow each of Harrison and lifted him up. “Let’s get you two into the car and get back to Glastonbury. I’m assuming you want Lady Amanda to check over the child at the main facility?”
“That is correct, make sure that a call is placed to alert my wife we are on our way” Harrison ordered sliding into the back seat of the car with Excalibur still on his back and the now sleeping infant in his arms.
“Already done My Lord,” Agent Hill answered, closing the door before running around the car and getting in himself.
“Very good Jackson” Harrison said not noticing at first he had used the young agent's first name then thought he might as well get to know the young man since he was now a permanent fixture in his life.
“Thank you My Lord.”
“And when it is just us please just call me Harrison and I’m more than sure Amanda will want the same. Years later and I still can’t stand all the frivolous formality of my title and neither can she” Harrison said, earning a small chuckle from the young man driving. “Tell me Jackson, are you married?”
“No sir, I’m blessed to have a soulmate but we haven’t met yet. I will wait for her” the young man said as they sped even faster back to Glastonbury then they had when racing towards Stonehenge.
“And if you never meet?” Harrison asked curious because it was the same reason he had avoided an arranged marriage like the plague.
“Then we will meet in the next life. I know the statistics but I don’t care” Jackson answered with his voice full of conviction.
“I think we are going to get along just fine Jackson, I was of the same belief. It drove my family and the Queen and then the King to distraction that my line might end with me” Harrison answered honestly.
“I know, that was why the King personally chose me for your security detail. He said something along the lines of us hopeless romantics deserving each other” Jackson answered drolly.
“That rascally old man would say that!” laughed Harrison, causing a shocked laugh coming from Jackson.
GLASTONBURY MANOR
TUESDAY, JANUARY 1ST 1918
0530 (5:30AM)
Agent Maria Black of SWORD quickly woke up with a growl at the phone in her room ringing. Blindly she reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the receiver answering “This is Black.”
“Agent Black this is Samuel from communications ma’am. Agent Hill called ahead to say his lordship needs Lady Carter and her team at the facility to assess a small infant they found at Stonehenge”
“Another portal?” she asked looking at her bedside clock and realized herself and Amanda had only been asleep for a little over four hours.
“Yes ma’am.”
“I’ll alert her ladyship and escort her to the facility. Alert the rest of the team and have them ready” Maria answered, throwing off her covers and switching on her lamp.
“Already done ma’am” Samuels answered before he ended the call but she barely heard it as she hung up the receiver and began pulling on her pants and shirt before also her weapons. She might be living inside Glastonbury Manor because she was the childhood friend of Amanda Wells the now Lady Amanda Carter but she was also the official primary bodyguard of Amanda now that she was pregnant with the heir and a Lady herself.
Both Maria and Amanda’s fathers had been Agents of SWORD and best friends and raised their families together at the facility in Inverness. It was quickly learned in SWORD that where one went the other was sure to follow because they had become a team and force to be reckoned with when taking on missions and projects. It was one of those projects that got them on the radar of Knight Commander of SWORD a few years ago and when called to his office they had all been shocked with Amanda and Harrison being soulmates.
Maria had quietly excused herself from the office, not that those two love struck fools noticed her leaving. She had told the Commander’s secretary what happened and had her reschedule his appointments for at least that day. That day Maria Black stood outside the door guarding it till she finally pulled the two out of the room for dinner. The two were married just a few months later with the soon to be heir of SWORD to be born in just another few months.
Swiftly moving out of her room flicking the light off she moved down the quiet hallways of the newly built Glastonbury Manor towards the master suite where she had left her best friend a few hours ago being watched over by Agent Gawain Wilson the secondary bodyguard in case Amanda had an emergency with the pregnancy. She watched as Agent Gawain Wilson turned towards the noise she was making as she ran up the stairs, his hand on his side arm looking for any threat that might be chasing after Maria.
“Get the car ready, we are being called to the facility” Maria ordered after taking the last pin out of her mouth and finished putting her jet black hair in a bun. She watched peripherally seeing Wilson move to complete his task while she herself knocked on the door before moving into the master suite and began to wake her best friend that slept like the dead. Maria used to joke that Amanda could probably sleep through an explosion, that assessment only got worse now that her friend was pregnant.
Thankfully she had some approved tricks to wake up her best friend as she opened herself up to her elemental powers passed down from her fathers line. She used them to create a sphere of cold water and lobbed it at the sleeping woman then dropped to the ground as the answering fireball sailed just at chest level where she had been and chuckled at the answering “Bloody hell!”
“Is it safe to get up princess? I don’t feel like being roasted tonight” Maria singsonged, continuing to chuckle when another fireball flew over her at the use of the name princess.
“It is if you don’t call me that again” Amanda answered with a growl as Maria heard the bed shift with her movements. “What is it now? And where is Harrison?!”
“Apparently on his way back from Stonehenge with a small infant that needs to be assessed. Another portal opened up and he went to investigate” Maria said while finally getting up off the floor.
“Without letting me know! Bloody hell, he better have taken Agent Hill with him this time. Even if it is mainly you, if I have to get used to having a bodyguard now, so does he” Amanda groaned, getting out of the bed and heading towards the en-suite bathroom as she began to pull her red hair in a bun. “I’ll be ready in ten minutes. Is Wilson getting the car ready?”
“Yes he is” Maria answered before checking her friend's weapons and laying them out on the bed. Both of them might be part of the research division of SWORD but even research agents were required to be armed at all times while inside one of the facilities. All SWORD facilities either housed dangerous artifacts, people or creatures and after one creature that had gotten loose and slaughtered a team of research agents it became mandatory over three hundred years ago.
GLASTONBURY FACILITY - SWORD HEADQUARTERS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 1ST 1918
0600 (6:00AM)
Harrison Carter breathed a sigh of relief once they were inside the perimeter wards of the Glastonbury Facility because it meant they were that much closer to getting the little girl in his arms assessed and protected. He still wasn’t sure what had happened but he had a theory and though it was a crazy theory, this was SWORD and they only dealt with the insane and the highly impossible. The car stopping seemed to wake the child in his arms as she opened up her nearly glowing blue eyes and gurgled up at him. Jackson hopped out of the car and was quickly opening the back door and helping Harrison to get out of the seat without jostling the child too much.
“Grab my cane please” Harrison asked as he quickly moved towards the now being held open doors of the facility by two guards.
“Yes My Lord” from Jackson he barely heard as he quickly moved through the doors. Inside the facilities lobby he was greeted by his wife Amanda and her partner Maria Black.
“We found this little one at the center of Stonehenge after a portal opened up. In the circle was an unknown beast beheaded, the top half of an unknown blue humanoid creature while this little one was found inside an adult sized unknown type of armor. She has an inflamed rune on her chest and one on her back that were lightly bleeding, what looks to be a healed animal bite on her left thigh and what looks to be a tattoo of wings on her back” Harrison reported as he placed the small bundle on the small gurney but the small child started crying with a mighty wail of clearly fully working lungs.
“Hey, hey little one” he said quickly pulling the child to his chest and instantly she quieted. After a few moments he tried to lower the child onto the gurney again but stopped instantly at her cries. Sharing a look with Amanda he watched as she moved closer to the small infant in his arms.
“Already have this big softy wrapped around your tiny fingers, don't you little one?” she said softly, chuckling as the little girl grabbed the finger she had used to try pushing the blanket so she could get a close look at the inflamed rune on her chest.
“Okay I guess I’ll let you steal my husband for now” she said, earning a gurgled laugh from the child as she shook the tiny fist holding her finger. “Come on Harrison, it looks like you are stuck here for a bit.”
“Oh the torture!” he exclaimed, earning a small chuckle from Maria and Jackson behind them.
“Oh stop that” his wife laughed as well as she smacked his stomach.
“Yes Ma’am!” he cheekily said as he began to follow his wife with Maria and Jackson following behind them with the gurney. Once inside the facility's elevator Amanda pressed for two levels down and the doors slowly closed. “Oh my bad. Agent Maria Black, meet my keeper Agent Jackson Hill.”
“Oh you poor unfortunate soul” Maria stated, holding out her hand for Jackson to shake. Harrison watched as Jackson’s eyes got wide before a smirk slowly crept on his face.
“Oh I don’t think I’m that unfortunate if it led me to you” Jackson said and took Maria’s hand causing the woman’s eyes to widen and her face to blush. Harrison started laughing once he realized what had just happened as Jackson moved to bring Maria’s hand up to his lips.
“Did they?” Amanda asked him as she looked between her best friend and his bodyguard.
“Yep” Harrison said, popping the ‘p’ as the door to the elevator opened up and they were greeted by his wife’s secondary bodyguard Agent Gawain Wilson.
“Wilson, these two idiots just met,” Harrison said, tilting his head towards the clearly shocked Jackson and Maria. “Do me a favor and get another agent to get them to a room. Post a guard so they aren’t interrupted till I or Amanda get a moment to snap them out of it.”
“Right away My Lord.” Agent Wilson said before running off to grab another agent while Harrison saw Amanda put the elevator on lock-down till the two idiots could be moved.
GLASTONBURY MANOR
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24TH 1918
1000 (10:00AM)
Baron Harrison George Carter stood in front of the main doors of Glastonbury Manor with the newly married Agent Jackson Hill at his back in full dress uniform. Also at his back was also his newly added secondary bodyguard Agent Franklin Wisdom in his dress uniform as well. There were only a select few people here today at the manor because they were about to do a ritual and were waiting for their last and pretty much only guests to arrive. It was just a little bit over four months later since they had found the infant girl at Stonehenge inside a still unknown set of armor.
The beast had been identified as a Frost Beast from one of the Nine Realms called Jotunheim through some ancient Norse mythology that the also newly married Agent Maria Black-Hill was familiar with. How a portal opened up from a fabled realm they didn’t before believed was actually real they weren’t sure but they were already assessing the danger if any of the realms of Norse mythology were real and preparing. It was also Maria who identified the rune on the child’s chest as the one associated with royalty while the one on her back was for Loki the God of Mischief.
Of course that opened up another threat analysis because if they had to conclude that the other realms of Norse Mythology were real they had to accept the fact that the legendary Asgardian Gods of Norse Mythology were possibly real. It brought about a whole other mess of re-evaluating all Pantheons and Mythologies of the different civilizations both current and ancient. The whole thing was a headache he was glad he could ignore at least for today because today they were going to be blood adopting and christening the little girl that stole his and his wife’s hearts with her glowing blue eyes.
A small line of three cars came up the driveway and came to a halt just in front of the main doors of Glastonbury Manor. Harrison heard his two guardsmen come to attention behind him, saluting before moving towards the now stopped cars of the convoy. Opening the back doors Jackson reached inside and helped Queen Mary the wife of King George V out of the car, while Wisdom held the door for King George V and their youngest son Prince Albert or as Harrison knew him “Bertie”. After everyone was out of the vehicle the three cars moved again heading towards a staging area off the property.
“Your Highnesses, welcome to Glastonbury Manor!” Harrison greeted them formally trying to hide his amusement because even he knew the royal family hated the pomp and circumstance that came with their titles but his guardsmen had been scandalized when he had come down just before their arrival in only a plain suit. Both of them had shared a look before Wisdom threw Harrison over his shoulder and carried him back to the master suite to change into his dress uniform. Amanda and Maria had been suspiciously hiding in the nursery probably knowing that this would exactly happen.
“Oh cut the shite Harri and take Mum to see her new grandchild” Bertie called out getting a chuckle from his father that earned both men a smack on the arm from the Queen.
“Just this way” Harrison laughed while both Hill and Wisdom were standing there like they couldn’t look away from a train wreck. “Told you boys we wouldn’t really be standing on all that nonsense except for the actual ritual.”
“And quite right we are family” Queen Mary or Mum as he knew her since he had been a newly orphaned boy at ten.
“Now show me my new granddaughter and what did you decide as a name?” Mum asked as she took his offered arm pulling him to
“Well let’s see…Athena after the goddess of war because she’s a little warrior, Maria for her Godmother and Mary for her Grandmum” Harrison said earning him an excited sound from the woman on his arm as she hugged almost too tight the arm she was holding.
“Athena Maria Mary Carter, sounds like a good strong name” King George or also known as Dad to him said, clapping him on a shoulder as they moved through the front doors. “Hill! Wisdom! Snap out of it!”
“Yes your Highness!” they answered automatically and Harrison laughed as his Dad rolled his eyes.