Hello, everyone. I just wanted you to know that A SEQUEL TO THIS STORY IS OUT! And this is a shameless plug! If you already know about the sequel, called Mythical Intervention, then feel free to ignore this. If not, then hey, there's a sequel to this. I've been debating ever since I started writing the sequel whether or not I should announce it here at the end of Clashing with Legends, but so far I've been kind of iffy about doing a... well, a shameless piece of advertising. But I figured that since so many of you asked about a sequel back when I was writing this one, I should say something about it now that I've decided to actually write one. And now I've finally decided that yes, it's okay to announce it here... after 11 chapters of sequel is already out. I know, I suck. Anyway, here's a sneak peek to the first chapter of said sequel:

Leaves were disturbed from their gentle falling by a gust of wind that sent them tumbling all over the place. It wasn't a friendly sort of wind. It was unforgiving, cold, and angry. Not the sort of breeze to bask in or have a good, calming conversation with. The leaves hit the ground far away from their tree and were almost immediately coated crisp with frost. As soon as it formed, it melted when the temperature went up again, indecisive of whether to be lingering summer or upcoming winter. It was early October, a time when such a thing was not unheard of, but this time it carried an unease that sent animals into hiding in fear of things to come. An unease that swept across lands and did not go unnoticed by anyone with senses sharp enough. Or those with something to sense for them.

Meteorologists all over the world were baffled by the freak weather patterns. Storms and hurricanes shook the coasts even worse than usual, while in some areas people were suffering heatstrokes because of sudden extreme heat waves that had no business in the area at this time. It was as if the weather itself was having a temper tantrum. Some said it was the Apocalypse, some said it was global warming. Some denied either of them ever happening. Some said nothing and just tried to keep living their lives as if nothing was happening. Some really didn't notice anything odd. Some searched for the source, perplexed and without knowing what to look for. And the very few who did know were even more perplexed.

A sudden storm in the middle of Siberia went mostly unnoticed. It was in a fairly empty area, and people were more concerned when the freak weather hit the cities. The storm tore down ancient trees and lightning bolts struck so frequently that for a moment the air was filled with an unbroken stream of rumble that really did sound like some sort of end of the world. Then it was over. So quickly that the forest was left in eerie silence and even the hardiest of bears stayed cowering in their hiding places for hours after the storm had passed.

Bare feet touched one of the broken, fallen trees and frost coated the trunk immediately, almost gently as if soothing it after it had been torn down and burned. The feet continued on through the biggest clearing left by the storm and stopped in the middle. It was far too silent. The forest felt afraid. As it should be. Storms happened, and it was normal, but these storms were fuelled by emotions. A temper tantrum could really have been a good way of describing it, but as Jack Frost realized when he inspected the cowering clearing, the storm itself was fuelled more by apprehension than anger.

It wasn't right. This had to be her doing. And she didn't get apprehensive without a very good reason. Jack sighed and ran a hand through his snowy white hair. They needed to find her, but she was aggravatingly fast. She hadn't been here long ago, but Jack had just missed her.

"Come on, Wind," he said quietly, mostly just so that the silence was broken for a while.

He hoped Sandy had better luck than him.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters were never quiet. There were so many things the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division needed to keep tabs on that it could never take a break. They too were interested in the storms, among other things. At first they had paid no attention to them, but then their energy scanners had picked up something that made them immediately interesting. They had seen this kind of energy before, in an incident S.H.I.E.L.D.'s leader Nicholas Fury didn't remember very fondly. The energy was like what the spirits known as the Guardians generated all the time, but it was all over the place. It was never still enough for them to get a good enough reading of it. And it was just a bit too different. Perhaps it wasn't the Guardians after all. But then, who or what was it?

Fury sat down in his current office. It was in one of their headquarters in Canada, and it wasn't really one of his most well-equipped offices, but it was the closest to where the most recent freak weather patterns had occurred. Fury adjusted his eye patch and frowned at the screen that was filled with a cluster of opened files. Videos, graphs, 3D-models... all trying to illustrate something they couldn't really see. Something that could end up being just really weird weather. Then again, Fury's instincts told him that it would not. As if they didn't have other things to worry about now. Building new Helicarriers, keeping terrorist groups like HYDRA down, Project Insight... they didn't really need to add weather forecasts to the mix.

His gaze strayed to the phone he had on his desk. It was just one of the cell phones he owned and used. This one was sleek and silver-coloured and couldn't be used for calling. It only had one function, and that was sending one-way text messages to only one number. It was a number Fury had never thought he would need to add to his contact lists, but there it was. Had been since the Christmas after the Guardian incident. He had never used it, even though it had come with clear instructions that Fury had burned after he had memorized them. Now he was seriously considering using it. If the Guardians were involved... if it was going to concern them all... Fury didn't want a repeat of the last time. He picked the phone up but then put it back down. They had managed to coexist without coming into contact for some time now, and that was just fine by Fury. The Guardians and S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't parted in the best of terms. He would double-check things and make sure, then he would contact them, he decided. He turned back to his screen. It was going to be a long night.

You can check the story out on my profile, if you're interested. Again, thank you so much for supporting this and being so awesome!