Chapter 115: The Man Called Thor
The rain hammered against the gray metal of Mjolnir.
Thor stood beside Ethan, staring at the hammer that had refused him. The last of his anger had burned away, leaving exhaustion behind.
After a long silence, he turned toward the young man in the leather jacket. Faint golden sparks were still fading from Ethan's fingertips.
"You know who I am," Thor said. "Yet I do not know your name."
"Ethan Williams. Master of the New York Sanctum."
Thor studied him more carefully. He did not know Earth's Sanctums, but he understood a sorcerer trusted to guard the borders of a realm.
The heavy crunch of boots on wet gravel broke the silence.
Agent Coulson walked down the muddy incline, flanked by four armed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. He stopped a few feet away, his eyes moving from the unmoving hammer to Thor.
"Mr. Williams," Coulson said, keeping his tone carefully neutral. "That man assaulted five of my agents. I need him in cuffs."
Ethan didn't step out of the way. "He's genuinely Asgardian, Phil. But right now, he's stripped of his power. Mjolnir rejected him. He remains physically dangerous in a fistfight, but he is not an invasion force."
Coulson looked from Thor to the hammer, then back at Ethan.
"Fair enough," he said. "He stays under guard."
He gestured up the slope. "Let's get him out of the rain."
The main S.H.I.E.L.D. command tent was warm, brightly lit, and humming with the sound of generators and radio traffic.
Thor sat on a metal folding chair in the center of the room. S.H.I.E.L.D. had given him a towel, dry jeans, and a plain gray sweatshirt. Thor wore the borrowed clothes stiffly, clearly offended by every part of them. Armed agents stood by the exits, but Coulson had kept the handcuffs off.
Gwen and Natasha stood near the back wall, observing silently. Clint Barton leaned against a support pole near the entrance, spinning an arrow between his fingers while watching everyone in the tent.
Tony Stark sat backward on a folding chair, completely ignoring the tension.
Coulson stood in front of Thor, holding his tablet.
"Let's start with the atmospheric disturbance," Coulson said calmly. "Did Asgard cause the storm?"
"The storm heralds the bridge," Thor answered, some of his old pride returning to his voice. "It is the path between realms. I did not cause it, but it brought me here."
"Are more of your people coming?" Coulson asked.
"No." Thor's jaw tightened. "I was banished."
Coulson made a note. "And the weapon in the crater. You claim it belongs to you. Why did it fall, and why can't you move it?"
Thor stared at the canvas floor. Explaining the Bifrost was easy. Explaining why his own hammer had rejected him was not.
Tony let out an impatient sigh and dropped the front legs of his chair to the ground.
"Okay, enough of the feelings," Tony interrupted, leaning forward. "Wizard over there says your hammer is made of Uru and forged in a dying star. I have three questions. How do you keep the forge from melting? How much energy can the metal carry? And does Asgard respect Earth patent law?"
Thor slowly looked up from the floor. His gaze moved from Tony to the empty Iron Man armor visible through the open tent flap.
"You are the one who wears the tin can."
"It's not a tin can. It's a powered exoskeleton," Tony corrected. "Important distinction."
"It is an elaborate metal shell," Thor said dismissively, "worn by a small, noisy man."
Gwen had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop a laugh. Natasha gave a faint, approving smirk.
"I like him," Gwen whispered.
"You like anyone who insults Stark," Natasha murmured.
"That is not a small category."
Tony opened his mouth to answer, but a commotion outside the tent cut him off.
"You can't just take my life's work!" a woman's voice shouted over the rain.
"Ma'am, step back behind the barricade," a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent warned.
"Don't tell me to step back! That's my equipment! And why is Tony Stark allowed in there while I have to stand in the mud?"
Coulson frowned and stepped toward the tent flap. Ethan followed him.
Outside, Jane Foster was furious, arguing loudly with two armed agents. Darcy Lewis stood behind her, holding an umbrella and looking past the guards. Darcy spotted Tony Stark through the tent opening and nearly forgot why they were there. Erik Selvig stood beside Jane, tense and watching the command tent for any sign of Thor.
"They were the ones who found him in the desert," Ethan told Coulson, keeping his voice low. "They're connected to his arrival."
Coulson gave a brief nod and motioned the agents aside. "Let them in."
Jane pushed past the guards, ready to continue her rant about stolen hard drives, but she stopped dead the moment she saw Thor.
He was sitting in the center of the command tent, bruised and exhausted, his broad shoulders slumped beneath the borrowed sweatshirt. The proud, booming man who had smashed a coffee mug in a diner and demanded a horse in a pet store was gone.
Jane's anger evaporated. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly.
Thor looked up at her and forced a small, unconvincing smile. "I am unharmed, Jane."
Erik stepped forward, placing a hand on Thor's shoulder, then looked at Coulson. "He's confused. He took a heavy hit to the head yesterday. If you're done with him, we'd like to take him home."
Coulson looked at Ethan. Ethan gave a subtle nod. The interrogation was not going to produce anything else tonight, and keeping Thor locked up served no useful purpose.
"He remains under observation," Coulson told Erik. "But he can leave the perimeter."
The rain had finally stopped, leaving the desert air sharp and cold.
Ethan walked Thor out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. encampment, stopping near Erik's battered SUV parked just past the outer barricade. Jane and Erik were already inside, trying to get the heater working. Darcy was taking a blurry photo of the Iron Man suit with her phone.
Thor stood in the dark, looking back toward the massive plastic structure covering the crater.
"How did you know my father placed the spell?" Thor asked, breaking the quiet.
Ethan leaned against the side of the SUV. "Because powerful fathers rarely make lessons subtle."
Thor finally looked away from the crater. "You wield the mystic arts. Can you remove the enchantment?"
"Probably not without starting a war with your father," Ethan answered frankly. "And even if I could, it wouldn't give you what you actually want."
Thor frowned, his blue eyes hardening. "I want my hammer."
"No," Ethan replied, his voice entirely calm. "You want it to choose you again."
Thor's jaw tightened. His eyes drifted back toward the distant crater. A hammer forced into his hand would not be Mjolnir choosing him.
Thor studied Ethan for a long moment.
"You speak of Asgard as though you have walked its halls," Thor said quietly.
Ethan pushed away from the SUV with a faint smile.
"Not yet," Ethan said.
For the first time since the hammer had rejected him, Thor's eyes sharpened with something other than grief. He gave Ethan one measured nod and climbed into the back of the SUV.
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