Chapter 22 – Gods walk the earth (5)

(Midgard/Earth – Puente Antiguo - New Mexico – 2010)

Kal was falling, he remembered once when he was younger hearing a story from an old and very interesting friend of his on Midgard called Sprite, about a boy who flew too close to the sun and fell to earth in flames. At that moment Kal envied that boy, he did not feel merely on fire but instead like his skin itself was ripping apart whilst every nerve in his body exploded into a cacophony of anguish.

Even the brilliant hues of the Bifrost were dimmed for him, it was as if with Loki's betrayal and the pain caused by this green crystal that the world was falling into shadow, everything was becoming darker and gritter as he hurtled through space.

"AHHH!" Kal screamed as he hit the hard ground of Midgard, his rough journey in the Bifrost resulting in him slamming into the ground, adding more pain as he felt bones break.

As he landed, he was thrown clear of the Bifrost's exit site, his body bouncing off the ground causing it to crack and to be thrown haphazardly against a metal Midgardian vehicle. Even in his weakened state, the metal vehicle crumpled as he struck it, with it swaying onto two tires briefly before it collapsed back, however, he still his bones break as he struck.

"CHRIST!" A Shield agent cried as he jumped back from his vehicle that Kal had struck, or else he would have been crushed by the car if it had fallen backwards.

"Okay, not what I was expecting" Coulson stated his demeanour was eerily calm, as his years of experience kidded in, he moved forward to the side to have a look at the new bloody and battered arrival. "Hi, there. Do you need a hand?"

Kal's vision was still blurry but he pushed himself to focus and could make out men, Midgardian men armed with their primitive weapons and armour surrounding the Bifrost arrival site. He tried to speak, but his landing had knocked the air from his weakened lungs and even if he had not, they were filled with bile and blood which he spat forth, as he tried to clear his airways.

"Stand clear he looks sick we could be dealing with an alien pathogen. Call a hazmat team to our location on the double" Coulson ordered to the agent next to him his eyes fixed on Kal, he took a step back as he looked at the strangely dressed man that looked incredibly sick.

Just as Coulson ordered his man to call a hazmat team the dust that had accompanied Kal's arrival cleared and revealed the Destroyer in all its terrible glory, standing erect before them. Half the Shield Agents present immediately switched from Kal to the new unknown entity in their presences if Kal had not been so debilitated he would have been impressed with the Midgardian's professionality, not one of them broke ranks nor needed to be ordered to focus on their new potential enemy.

"Uh is that one of Starks?" Sitwell asked looking from Kal to the large metal man standing in front of them, creeping slightly out from behind his car.

"I don't know. That guy never tells me anything. This is all getting messed up." Phil Coulson stated grabbing a megaphone and pushing forward, desiring to clear up what was going on. "Hello. You are using unregistered weapon technology. Identify yourself or you will be fired upon."

At Coulson's announcement, the Destroyer snapped its head in his direction and opened up its face covering. An act that for the life of him Kal could not understand why but for some reason brought a smile to the mortal who had been addressing the Destroyer, clearing believing something other than immediate death was going to occur.

"Here we go," Coulson said to Sitwell behind in belief that he was about to see Stark's face appear and get answers to what was happening.

However, for Kal, it made him believe that either mortals of Midgard had grown insanely brave or were truly the most stupid of sentient life in the Nine Realms, not to cower before the destructive might of the Destroyer.

The smile on Coulson's face turned to shock as instead of Stark's face a bright hot beam of fire poured forth directed at him, for an instant Coulson thought he had died as a bright light engulfed his vision. However, as his eyes refocused from the bright light, he saw that the first arrival who looked like death was standing in front of him his arms raised taking the brunt of the blast, the smell of burning flesh clearly in the air.

"EVERYONE GET TO COVER!" Coulson roared his order as he stood behind the protection of the armoured individual.

Kal had moved on instinct to protect the mortal however, his weakened state was showing as the blast of the destroyer was pushing him back slightly and his arms were starting to burn from the heat, he could feel his skin burning off.

The Destroyer halted its attack and Kal pushed forward trying to strike, but his lung fell short as the strength the surge of adrenaline he had received to protect the mortal wore off, and he all but collapsed at the Destroyer's feet. He looked up and the Destroyer merely peered down at him before in one swift motion kicked Kal sending him flying into the air in a high arc towards the distant settlement.

His flight was short, ungraceful, painful and ended with him crashing into the end of the main road of the settlement his body tearing the earth beneath it as it skidded along the road until it there was no longer any force left, leaving him strewn in a crater that ran nearly the length of the road. The blow had hurt a great deal and he could definitely tell that something was not right with his ribcage, however even though whatever this poison in his body was reducing him greatly Kal was starting to feel his body heal itself, albeit much slower than usual.

"KAL!" Thor's voice rang out and Kal suddenly saw the blurry haze of his brother appear before him, kneeling next to him.

Kal pushed himself up and grasped the front of the garments that Thor was wearing his bloodied hands staining Thor's shirt, as he spat out blood trying to speak to his brother. "R-R-R-Run!"

With a mountain of effort Kal pushed Thor back and rose to his feet, he buckled slightly but managed to hold himself up. His body still felt like it was burning, he was also still covered in cuts and bruises, but despite that Kal still cut an imposing figure, even with sickly green veins running all over his body.

"Kal! By the ancestors, what happened?" Sif rushed forward-looking at the bleeding and almost gaunt like figure that was her friend.

Kal's response was to cough up blood that he then wiped from his face. "Loki's poisoned me, ahh!" He winced the pain of talking causing the pain in his chest to multiply. "Doesn't matter the Destroyer is here to kill Thor and all of you AH, you need to leave."

"We need to get these people out of here," Thor joined the conversation next to Kal and Sif nodding to the people around them, who were staring either at Kal or the distant explosions in fear. "I'll help evacuate them."

Kal looked at the hazy shape of his brother that was slowly becoming clearer, as his body slowly purged the Kryptonite as Loki had called it, from the open wounds that littered his body. He was surprised by Thor's acknowledgement of the mortals and the need to keep their safety, Thor was never one to think about collateral damage but he was happy that Thor was offering to help.

"Okay, I and the Warrior's Three will deal with the Destroyer, Thor get the mortals and Kal out of here," Sif ordered trying to turn to leave but was stopped by Kal grabbing her arm.

"I'm not leaving, you'll need my help," Kal stated using every ounce of energy he had left to try and sound stronger than he felt, forcing himself to stand taller even whilst his spine protested the act.

"Brother you can barely stand, there is no shame in -" Thor began a look of worry as he saw a large gash in his brother's chest but was cut off by Kal.

"I am Son of Odin and whilst there is breathe in my body, I do not run" Kal looked at Thor, an unspoken message shared between them, at which Thor nodded to Kal, knowing further argument was pointless.

"Then I am staying too. I am a Son of Odin as well, time for me to finally earn it." Thor offered his hand that Kal took with a nod and a grateful smile before the two broke off to see to their duties.

Kal moved forward to stand in the middle of the road next to Sif whilst Thor helped evacuate the mortals and the Warrior Three took up their positions waiting for the Destroyer to appear. Sif was stretching and readying her blade for the work ahead of her, she half turned her head to glance at Kal.

"So, I take it talking to Loki didn't work out?" She asked her voice in its usual steady tone, as she raised an eyebrow at Kal.

"Not exactly, no" Kal managed to force out between laboured breathes as he tried to regain his strength, the feeling of the yellow sun of Midgard helped greatly.

"Hmmm, I wondered who could have told you that." She offered, raising her eyebrows even higher at him, a mischievous tone entering her voice.

Kal let out a chuckle that turned into a short coughing fit, that resulted in blood upon his chin that he wiped away. Sif turned fully to her friend taking in his state, Kal to her eye looked like death, his skin was pale, his veins were sickly green and glowing, he had horrible burn-like bruises over his body and for the first time since she had known him, he looked exhausted.

"Kal, please let me handle this" Sif implored a rare look of genuine worry upon her face, as she eyed the blood still trickling from his mouth.

Kal gave her a smile and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry I have no plans to die here today."

"Okay, now I am worried as you starting to sound like Thor," Sif said a look of mock alarm on her face.

Nearby, Thor was busy helping a small family pile into a back of a pickup truck lifting a small child to her mother, banging the side of the vehicle when the family was secure, to signal to the driver to leave. It took only a short while to get the last of citizens of the town to leave, leaving only Jane, Eric and Darcy to evacuate which was proving more difficult than he wished, mortal friends had the stubbornness of his Asgardian friends.

"I'm not going unless you are," Jane stated bluntly a look fixed on her face that could have rivalled anything his mother could have offered.

"Jane, I can't leave," Thor spoke softly taking her hands in his as he tried to lead her van, which she resisted slipping her hand from his grasp.

"No, you can't stay, I get that you are like a god or something, but you've said your mortal now, what can you do if you stay?" Jane asked her voice pleading for him to listen to her, her fears evident in her voice.

"I can keep you, Eric, Darcy and everyone else safe. Now please go." Thor said, taking his right hand to brush back Jane's hair, his own voice pleading for her to listen to him.

"It's here." Kal's voice cut through their conversation forcing both to turn to face the end of the road, where a massive metallic figure was lumbering down the road.

Thor immediately grabbed Jane's hand tightly and started heading for cover basically dragging her with him, Eric and Darcy following suit recognising the time to leave had passed. Kal waited for Thor to be out of the way before acting, his eyes turned red however instead of unleashing a torrent of death, they flared up only a little before dying down again.

"Dam." Kal cursed shaking his head, as he was still too weak to unleash his heat vision, his eyes just feeling warm in that moment.

"Don't worry we've got this," Sif said, giving the signal for the Warrior's Three to make their move.

As the destroyer approached it unleashed its energy beam at the surrounding buildings seemingly with the desire to merely level everything that it came across. As it approached, Fandral and Hogun took up a position next to each other and gestured for Volstagg to run at them so that they throw their large comrade at their enemy.

"FOR ASGARD!" Volstagg bellowed as he hurtled through the air only to be met by the Destroyer's fist sending him hurtling back.

As Volstagg landed on his back the Destroyer moved steadily forward until it was stood over him preparing to deliver an energy blast that would reduce Volstagg to cinders. Sif however gave Kal a nudge and knowing look, whilst she gestured upwards with her head.

Knowing what she wanted Kal quickly grabbed Sif and tossed her straight up into the air, her ascent was controlled and with a graceful twirl at the height of the throw's arc, she came soaring back down. Twisting her body perfectly she extended out her twined ended blade and with a great strike struck the Destroyer squarely in the centre of the neck. Her own strength combined with the fall allowed her to impale the metal automaton so deeply that her blade was firmly lodged in the earth below.

Sif gave a triumphal smirk at her victory which quickly disappeared as the Destroyer's body rolled and twisted, its metallic body reconfiguring itself until it was facing her. Sif quickly jumped off her foe when it unleashed a beam of energy meant to kill her, as she landed, she rolled and grimaced at her defeat.

"Fall back!" Sif shouted resulting in Fandral and Hogun grabbing Volstagg and trying to run.

Kal darted forward in an attempt to battle the Destroyer himself in his weakened, he hoped either that he still had enough strength to vanquish the metal monstrosity or else merely cover his friend's retreat. He quickly struck the Destroyer's chest, causing a small dent to appear, which he smiled at but his reward was a kick from his foe that sent him flying.

The Destroyer then wasted no time in laying waste to his friends, a well-placed beam caused the ground between the Warrior's Three and Sif to explode sending the latter crashing against a car whilst the formers were sent into a building. As the Destroyer reared back its head to annihilate the building Kal moved in again, slightly faster than before, landing several blows to the Destroyer that forced it back.

Kal was starting to feel his strength returning to him, it was slow but he could feel that his body was healing quicker now and was forcing whatever was left of Kryptonite out of his body. Oddly enough this fight was aiding him, the surge of adrenaline in his blood was definitely helping to extradite the expulsion of Kryptonite. While every blow and blast, he took also aided him as it caused him to bleed or cough out more of his blood that was infected with the toxic substance, resulting in his body being able to heal itself better.

Whilst not the most ideal method he was happy nonetheless to take any course that would aid him in his fight. He was still not back to normal but was at least able to now actually fight back instead of just hitting the Destroyer once just to be tossed aside.

Kal ducked and rolled out of every blow and blast the Destroyer sent his way, whilst also landing every blow he could get in, each one slightly stronger than the last. Whilst he still looked like death, the Destroyer at least no longer looked pristine, its perfect metal body was riddled with small but noticeable dents.

Out the corner of his eye, he saw Thor talking to Sif, about what he could not tell but he saw him take her shield and then move towards him. He turned to call to his brother to stay away, but his distraction allowed for the Destroyer to pin him to the ground with one of its gigantic hands, its helmeted head opening up to blast Kal.

"ENOUGH!" Thor's voice cried out causing the Destroyer to halt its act and lift its head towards Thor, who was slowly walking towards it, casting Sif's shield away to one side.

The Destroyer slowly released Kal and stood up taking a few steps towards Thor who looked unfazed at the danger he was in. Kal was about to move but a look, smile and slight shake of the head from Thor stayed his hand, as Thor obliviously had a plan to end this fight.

"Brother, whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am truly sorry. But these people are innocent, taking their lives will gain you nothing. So, take mine, and end this." Thor offered his voice calm and steady.

Kal was just staring at Thor whilst the Destroyer lingered over him its helmeted head opening up to destroy Thor, yet instead of reducing Thor to ash, the Destroyer just stood there unmoving. Then unbelievably it turned away slowly, called off by Loki, causing Thor to grin at Kal, who released a sigh.

'Brothers were still broth-' Kal started to think to himself ecstatic that Loki was clearly not able to follow through with murdering his own brother.

However, that happy thought ended quickly as the Destroyer suddenly whirled around and struck Thor so hard that Kal heard every bone in his brother's body break. Thor flew through the air and struck the ground hard, a pool of blood quickly forming.

Everything stilled for a moment as Kal's mind went blank as rage overtook him, his body shook and despite the lingering traces of Kryptonite in his veins, Kal rose in the air and his eyes turned red. The Destroyer turned to fight him but never got the chance as a torrent of heat blazed forth from Kal's eyes, so hot and powerful that it not only turned his foe into a puddle, the skin around Kal's eyes burned at the heat.

"AHHHH!" Kal's roared as he vented his rage, it was all over in a split second.

Kal collapsed back to the ground his body feeling completely drained as he stared at the puddle of metal that had been his foe. His attention however shifted to his brother as he heard Thor gasp for air, causing both Kal and Jane to rush to his side.

"No, no, no." Jane cried as she moved next to Thor her hands outstretched but not touching him for fear of making anything worse.

Kal too quickly moved to kneel next to Thor taking the opposite side to Jane. "YOU IDIOT, YOU BLOODY FOOL, WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Kal cursed as he looked at the dying Thor, his brother's face was a mess as blood leaked from his mouth.

"It's okay, it's okay, your safe now." Thor's voice was soft, and his eyes were on Jane, he lifted his arm to comfort her, stroking her cheek.

"Yes, we're safe, we're all safe," Jane said as she cradled his hand tears in her eyes not knowing what else to say.

Thor's eyes then turned to Kal who despite the fury that had been on his face was in a similar state to Jane, tears threatening to break free.

"What a lucky man I was to have a brother like you" Thor lifted his arm weakly to grab Kal's arm, each word he spoke was weaker than the last. "…. I'm proud of you, … little …. brother."

Thor's arm fell at his last word, dropping swiftly to the ground, a shocked silence hovered over the area as Kal heard his brother's heart stop.

The air was still for a dreadful moment that seemed to stretch into eternity as Kal looked down at his murdered brother unable to understand how any of this had happened. Just as reality was about to crash down on him, he felt something tingling on his skin as the air around him became electrified, as he looked up he saw a storm could had formed above.

Acting on instinct he suddenly moved, tearing Jane from Thor's side an act she was about to protest when a blot of lightning descended upon Thor, who was blinded from view as the lighting engulfed him.

As quickly as it had appeared the lightning and storm cloud dissipated, and Kal could swear he could hear his father's voice on the wind.

"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."

As both his father's voice faded along with the lightning, he and everyone else was greeted by the sight of Thor standing tall, Mjolnir in hand and his armour restored.

Kal moved forward as did Jane both however had different reactions to Thor's resuscitation and return to godhood. Jane looked at Thor in awe admiring his true godly appearance she all but threw herself at Thor who caught her, and the two entered into a passionate kiss that caused more than a few eyebrows to raise.

Kal however just shook his head with a chuckle, waiting for the two to break apart which they did, eventually.

"You just had to show off didn't you." Kal joked giving Thor a smirk, as Jane stepped back from him.

"You know me brother," Thor replied with a grin.

Kal moved forward and hugged his brother.

(Outskirts of Puente Antiguo - New Mexico – 2010)

Coulson was sore, he was bruised, he was very confused, and he was more than a little mad as he drove up with the last of his tactical response unit following the metal creature that had reduced more than half his men to ash.

Then as he was about to regroup at the containment site and call-in backup, he suddenly got a call from Barton informing him that the 0-8-4, that they had found had started shaking and suddenly flown away. Forcing Coulson instead of doing what he wanted to which was to regroup to instead follow the projected path of the hammer, into town where their impolite metal visitor had headed.

Coulson looked at the men he had left, just three men, three men out of forty. Coulson hated days like this, he had started out with some of the best operatives Shield had, but then they encountered an 0-8-4, the designation for an object of unknown origin, and everything went to hell.

None of them was in great shape, if Coulson had to guess he believed he was doing the best out of all of them, largely due to the strange black-haired visitor that had protected him. His eyes turned to the youngest member of the survivors, it was hard to call him a man, he was a kid really, barely looked over 20, with red hair, freckles and had the typical fresh out the box look most rookies had.

"What's your name, son?" Coulson asked the young agent, causing the young man to immediately straighten.

"Olsen Sir," The young agent gave him a nervous smile trying to look confident.

"First assignment?" Coulson asked giving his own reassuring smile, which in truth was more an act than he wished.

"Yes sir, just got out of the academy last month sir," The young Olsen responded a little pride entering his voice which was helping combat the nervousness.

"Well, you're doing good, son. Just stick close to me and will get through this, you'll have one hell of a story when anyone asks you about your first mission." Coulson offered with a reassuring smile and a nod.

"Yes sir," Olsen responded with a chuckle a grin, feeling better after Coulson's encouragement.

'Let's hope I'm right.' Coulson quietly thought to himself as their car pulled into what was left of the town of Puente Antiguo.

The devastation was not the worse Coulson had seen but it was still pretty bad and what made it worse was the amount of time it had taken to do it in. The place looked like a warzone and it had taken less than an hour for it to happen, whoever these people were one thing was clear they were dangerous.

"Sir up ahead on the left." The agent driving the vehicle pointed to a small gathering of very oddly dressed people, one of them Coulson recognised.

"Pull up, stay with the vehicle, let's hope we can get this sorted out," Coulson ordered taking a deep breath to recentre himself.

As he exited the vehicle he could see a large area of mostly melted metal nearby, it was still giving off a significant amount of heat and Coulson could see what looked like the half-melted remains of the helmet of the metal creature that had attacked them. Well that was good at least, however, I now have to deal with the people that turned the thing that roasted half my men, into a melted popsicle.

"Excuse me!" Coulson shouted trying to make his voice sound as friendly as possible as he approached, buttoning up his suit to look more professional. "Donald? I don't think you've been completely honest with me."

"Know this son of Coul, you and I we fight for the same cause the protection of this world," Thor exclaimed stepping forward, commanding as ever with his power returned. "From this day forward, you can count me as your ally IF you return the items you have taken from Jane."

"Stolen." Jane butted in.

"Burrowed" Coulson defended, giving his best diplomatic smile. "Of course, you can have your equipment back. You're going to need it to continue your research.

"Sorry, I hate to do this BUT we really need to be going, brother." Kal stepped forward coughing slightly drawing everyone's attention to him.

"Well I really need to debrief yo-" Coulson began but stopped as the world around them suddenly went dark.

"OH COME ON!" Darcy exclaimed nearby, throwing her hands into the air "What now?"

Looking up, it appeared solar eclipse had just occurred, however, something was clearly wrong other than the fact that there wasn't supposed to be an eclipse at all, whatever was blocking the sun appeared to be moving. Kal immediately stepped away from the group and tilted his head backwards, trying to force his vision to work despite his weakened state, he managed to force it to work enough to see what was blocking the sun.

"Kal is that what I think it is?" Thor asked stepping next to his brother.

"Yes, it appears Loki has unleashed the Sun-Eater, wonderful," Kal replied a look of concern on his face which was only matched by his exhaustion.

"Um, Sun-Eater that doesn't sound good," Jane stated behind them causing both gods to look back at the mortals.

"It's not," Kal replied before turning to Thor. "Loki has gone mad, he has some insane scheme to prove himself to father, he is going to destroy Jotunheim with the Bifrost."

"What?! He can't that's madness." Thor exclaimed in disbelief.

"Like I said he has gone mad, evidently with the Destroyer failing in its task, he's unleashed the Sun-Eater from the vaults either to kill us or distract us from returning." Kal sighed, clearly troubled greatly by Loki's madness.

"What do we do then brother?" Thor asked, surprising Kal before his exile Thor would have immediately rushed off on some half-baked idea.

"You and the others go to Asgard, stop Loki, Tyr has the army and he'll support you. I'll stay here, deal with the Sun-Eater and then join you." Kal explained confidence entering his voice even though he still felt weak.

"Are you sure brother you still look weak?" Thor asked with concern.

None could blame him for the question, as Kal's body was stilled battered and bruised from head to toe, although Thor had to admit that the sickly green colour on his brother's veins seemed to be dissipating and Kal's natural glow was returning.

"Don't worry brother, the closer I get to Midgard's sun the stronger I will be, and besides I don't need to beat the creature just drive it off." Kal offered, giving Thor his best confident grin.

Thor just sighed heavily realising that there were really no other options. "Good luck brother."

Kal took to the air slowly, as his full strength had yet to return. "You as well brother."

With that Kal started climbing into the air faster and faster, his body was protesting the sudden effort but he ignored it, pushing on until he broke the bounds of the earth. On the ground, Thor grabbed Jane into a tight hug causing her to blush before he too took to the air heading for the Bifrost site, with lady Sif and the Warrior's Three following on foot at godly speed.

Leaving Coulson standing alone, he turned his head to look at the only two remaining people in the area other than his team. Eric Selvig and Darcy Lewis were standing off to the side Eric tried to give a comfortable smile, whilst Darcy just gave a little wave.

"Um, Hi we don't know anything!" She shouted over to him in her usual manner before pointing to Eric and adding "Well I don't, he might."

Her statement caused Eric to start chuckling uncomfortably and just shaking his head. "She's kidding of course."

Coulson just sighed turning back to his team, "Come on let's follow them for all the good it will do."

(Meanwhile 100 million Kilometres above the Earth)

Once he had broken free from Midgard's atmosphere and was in direct contact with the solar radiation coming from Midgard's sun, Kal was feeling his strength returning like a dam had been broken. The paleness that had threatened to envelop him broke as his skin returned to its natural almost glowing colour, and the sickly green lines that were his veins faded away.

He would have been smiling if not for the site that also greeted him, the last time he had seen the creature before him it had been an infant, less than one fourth its present side but now the Sun-Eater of D'Rill was a massive swirling mass of tentacles around a gaping maw. It's very present seeming to draw in the light coming from the nearby sun, as it slowly moved its way towards its prey.

He moved forward faster than the Sun-Eater to position himself between the creature and the source of Midgard's light. In truth Kal did not wish to truly harm the creature, it was merely a pawn being used by Loki and was just following its natural instinct, heading towards a star that it believed to be dying to consume it, as was part of the Sun-Eaters function in the grand balance of the cosmos.

Kal stayed motionless for a few moments debating what the best course of action would be, although the Sun-Eater did possess intelligence, it was akin more to an animal than a sentient being like a celestial, so debating was out. And whilst his strength was returning, he wasn't sure even at full power that he could wrestle the creature out of the system, even then if he could, it would not be without causing it serious harm.

'I need to get it moving away from the star and out of the system then hopefully it will just go on as it naturally should.' Kal thought to himself as his mind tried to conjure up plans. 'It follows heat and starlight so maybe?'

A burst of energy radiated from his eyes aimed directly for the gaping maw which was the Sun-Eaters mouth, the energy did not travel straight as when it got close enough to the more it started twirling in spiral-like water down a drain. The effect was immediate the large swirling mass that was the Sun-Eater, slowly began to change course, heading towards Kal more so than the sun.

'That's it, girl, that's it, follow me.' Kal thought to himself as kept up on his heat vision whilst manoeuvring in space leading the Sun-Eater away from the sun.

It was going well, however, Kal was struggling to keep up the energy from his eyes he was already exhausted and although the solar energy was replenishing him, he was discharging about the same amount he was receiving. Which caused him to abruptly halt his action's, however to his surprise instead of varying off back towards the sun, the large spacefaring creature kept coming towards him.

'Huh, okay maybe this is going to be easier than I thought' Kal smiled to himself, as he prepared to lead the Sun-Eater all the way to the edge of the system.

However, as he turned one of the creatures' massive tentacles that had been flexing behind it pushing it through space somehow, suddenly lurched forward wrapping itself around Kal, in a bone-crushing grip.

'Ah knew that was too easy' Kal cursed as he pushed his arms out from his side, using his great strength to push free.

The action caused the tentacle gripping him to tear apart, and the creature to writhe in pain, he was pretty sure that if sound could travel in the void of space he would have a shrill scream coming from the beast.

'Okay, girl sorry about that but I'm not food, now let me just -' Kal's thoughts to himself was cut off when he suddenly felt the impact of multiple tendrils battering him.

The Sun-Eater unleashed an instinctive barrage of animal fury on Kal, he would have been impressed if it had not been so painful. The creature did not hit Kal once and repeat that simple action, no the Sun-Eater instead battered him in an almost elegant display, one of its tendrils sending him flying into another waiting one, which again battered him to another one.

From the outside the Sun-Eater had formed a massive swirling ball in space with Kal in its centre, hammering away at what it perceived as either food or an aggressor, or possibly both due to Kal's solar nature. He wasn't sure how many times he had been hit or how long the Sun-Eaters attack had been going on for, but after about what he guessed was the 50th hit in about 5 minutes Kal was officially over being nice.

He needed to get back to Asgard to help stop Loki, and although he felt for the Sun-Eater being an innocent creature used by Loki to merely distract him and Thor, its attempts to first eat him and now batter him had made him lose his patience. Kal used what little energy he had left to unleash a massive burst of energy from his eyes that would easily reduce anything it hit to ash.

Except it didn't, the blinding red light unleashed from his eyes did not go out as intended instead it spiralled strangely in the area and headed straight into the gaping maw which was the Sun-Eaters mouth. Kal was about to curse but didn't really have the time as he suddenly felt himself get knocked from behind with such force that he wasn't able to prevent him from flying into the Sun-Eaters mouth.

Kal's world went from a sea of infinite stars and battering tentacles to one of utter blackness as he felt the Sun-Eaters 'mouth' for want of a better word, close before him.

'Well, that it is just perfect! Kal son of Odin, eaten alive, Thor is never going to let me live this one down' Kal sighed to himself as he repositioned himself in the air.

He could feel a massive pull like a singular point of gravity trying to force him further into the darkness, which he guessed that if he succumbed to would result in him being consumed. However, despite the battle draining him, Kal was still able to keep himself from getting pulled further in, and even managed to move back towards the creature's 'mouth'.

As he reached out with his hand and felt the barrier that separated him from freedom, Kal reared back his right hand and was about to strike a blow to release himself and continue trying to get rid of the Sun-Eater, when he suddenly felt a violent shift. The Sun-Eater was writhing and spinning uncontrollably for some reason, its 'mouth' opening up ejecting Kal back into space, in a jagged uncontrolled spin of his own.

As he was thrown out, he searched for whatever was attacking the Sun-Eater and found that the answer was all around him. The very space around him was fracking, colliding, and sparking, as the trans-dimensional, power of the Bifrost ripped itself apart all around him, as he turned to look in every direction all he could see was a massive storm-like event occurring in the space around Midgard.

Kal corrected himself in space but suddenly found that he was dodging, what he could describe as jagged pieces of the shattered Bifrost that was hurtling all around him. The great cosmic bridge of Yggdrasil was shattering before his eyes, it was both incredible and terrifying as he dodged shattered pieces of reality itself hurtle through space before dissipating, as he did so he caught glimpses of worlds and reality far different from his own.

Whilst he was able to nimble dodge the worse of it due to his size and speed, the Sun-Eater was not so fortunate, the shattering of the Cosmic bridge was tearing the poor creature apart. With an inaudible roar, Kal watched as the Sun-Eater flung itself forward at speeds even Kal could not match, pushing itself through the collapsing bridge to escape the confines of Midgard's system. The Sun-Eater although it suffered greatly for its effort did manage to escape, hurtling itself off into the void to escape the pain it had just felt.

Kal however had little time to waste on the creature focusing on navigating the perils of a collapsing cosmic phenomenon, he twisted and bent, in a series of jagged and insane manoeuvres until suddenly everything stopped. The collapsing Bifrost disappeared as quickly as it came, Kal turned his vision first towards Midgard and thanked the Norns that the planet was untouched, his vision showed him that whilst whatever happened had wreaked havoc around Midgard it had not touched the planet.

However, what was concerning to Kal was when he focused his great vision on the space around him, to see what was wrong with the Bifrost, he discovered that it was no longer there. The great roaring fire that had bound the far-flung realms of Yggdrasil was gone, only a small smouldering trace of embers left in its wake.

Kal had no idea what had happened, but he knew two things for certain, one, someone had destroyed the Bifrost and two, without it there was no way he could get back to Asgard, that wouldn't take years.

(Midgard/Earth – Several Miles outside Puente Antiguo - New Mexico – 2010)

Jane was stood in the centre of strange runes that had been left in the Bifrost's wake looking at the now clear skies, something strange had occurred and whilst she had no idea exactly what she suddenly had a feeling that Thor wasn't going to be able to keep his promise. It was a difficult feeling to describe but Jane knew that Thor was okay, but also at the same time knew something had gone terribly wrong.

"Dr Foster, we really need to leave now, I need to get you back to base so that I can debrief you." Agent Coulson called out from behind her.

He had arrived a short while ago, after securing what was left of the town, and had been pressing her to come back with him to the Shield base so that he could debrief her and get the whole situation wrapped up. However, he had had little luck, Jane was in a world of her own and had yet to move from the spot he had found her in, he had even called in to bring Dr Eric Selvig to the site to talk to her but even that had failed.

He really didn't want to drag off to the base but he was fast running out, as Jane just seemed to ignore anything he said and when Dr Selvig had tried she had politely declined his help, simply stating that she wanted to wait. However, nearly half a day had passed, and the sun was starting to set in the distance, and apart from a massive spike in strange energy readings coming just past orbit, that had quickly dissipated there was no sign of Donald Blake or should he say Thor, nor of his brother Kal.

"Jane we really need to go, I'm sorry but I don't think he is coming back." Eric pressed again moving forward to stand closer to her.

This time however Jane responded with a sigh her shoulders slumping as she finally looked down from the sky, turning to face both Eric and Agent Coulson a very reluctant look upon her face. She didn't say anything as she just walked up to Eric who wrapped her in a very gentle and warm hug which she returned briefly, before pushing on back towards her van.

"I'm sorry Dr Foster, do you want one of my men to drive you to the site," Coulson offered genuinely concerned for the young woman.

"No, I'll be fine thank you," Jane responded her voice was a little monotone and detached which was understandable, as she walked past him to her van.

Coulson just turned to Dr Selvig who let out a sigh and gave a small nod to the Shield agent "I'll go with her make sure she is okay."

It was only a short drive back to the Shield Base which was starting to be disassembled with Mjolnir gone and the debris from the fight at Puente Antiguo already collected and, on its way, back to HQ for analysis there was little need to stick around. As he pulled up he could see the young Agent Olson waiting for him in the doorway of the command building.

"Olson, I need the conference room to debrief Dr Foster, it shouldn't take too long, I don't really want to keep her any longer than needed. Have we packed up the last of her equipment?" Coulson asked as he got out of the vehicle walking straight up to the young agent.

"Uh, yes I think so sir. Um, but there are two things you might want to deal with first." Olson asked looking over his shoulder constantly causing Coulson to wonder what was distracting the rookie.

"What is it, rookie?" Coulson asked however as he stepped up the last step into the Command Centre, it was clear what had been distracting Olson.

Standing in the middle of the command centre was a tall blonde woman wearing an open white two-piece suit along with a black shirt. Coulson examined her, she was fairly attractive but was possibly too much on the muscular side for most men's liking, as she had musculature that her suit tried its best to hide, her hair was fairly long but was tied back into a professional style ponytail. In all the woman reminded him of Romanoff, albeit a watered-down version.

"Olson who is this woman?" Coulson turned his head to whisper to the young agent, but it was the woman who responded.

"Mercy Graves, Agent Coulson, I work for-" The woman answered offering a polite smile, her hearing impressed Coulson as she was a good ten feet away and his voice was barely above a whisper.

"I recognise the name and know who you work for Miss Graves, what can I help you with?" Coulson asked cutting her off, very aware of whom the woman was by reputation.

"Ah I see skipping pleasantries, well then my employ wants all the samples and logs, along with anything else of note from your time here." Mercy Graves gave a smile that was fake as they came.

"Well, Mr Graves I don't have to tell you that Shield doesn't work for your employer despite what he might think and in fact you're trespassing on government property. So, I think it's best if you leave." Coulson responded his voice diplomatic, but his posture was clear that he just wanted her gone.

The ever clam Mercy Graves however just responded by crossing her arms and giving Coulson a wide smirk, clearly knowing something that he did not.

"Um sir, sorry that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about," Olson responded stepping hesitantly in next to his superior clearly uncomfortable being in the middle of whatever was going on. "Agent Sitwell got a call whilst you were out, from Secretary Peirce, we are to hand over a copy of all our logs and samples to Miss Graves here."

"Does the director know?" Coulson turned his head to Olson his voice back into its neutral tone.

"Yeah, Sitwell called him, he wasn't happy but said to comply," Olson replied eyeing Mercy Graves from the corner of his eye.

Coulson released a sigh, not liking that he had been outflanked whilst he was gone. "Very well, see that Miss Graves has everything she needs and is then escorted off my base."

"Thank you, I'll be in my car, be a dear and just hand everything to one of my men, they'll see to it that it's stored." Marcy Graves gave a triumphal nod and walked out of the command centre.

After she was gone Coulson saw Olson visibly relax, he hadn't noticed how tense the young man had been until the woman had left.

"You alright Rookie?" Coulson asked lifting an eyebrow up as he appraised the young Shield agent.

"OH yes sir, she was just very bossy and intimidating," Olson replied fixing a grin on his face to show he was alright.

"Well, if you think she is bad wait till you meet her boss, certificated genius and makes Tony Stark look like Mother Teresa, by comparison." Coulson joked giving the rookie a kind smile. "So, anything else I need to deal with?"

"Well sir, we also have a visitor, he showed up before Miss Graves, so she didn't see him. I've placed him in the conference room, you might want to go see him first. Just so you know, I've made sure that no one knows he's here." Olson gave a small incline of his head towards a set of doors.

Coulson narrowed his eyes wondering why Olson was being so cagey, so elected to go straight to the doors, opening them up he was greeted by a very tall black-haired man wearing armour with an S on his chest standing in the centre of the room. Coulson moved quickly to enter the room and closed the door tightly behind him, understanding now why Olson had been so cagey, having an alien prince on site was not something you wanted to advertise even to fellow Shield Agents.

"Hi, I don't think we've been introduced. I am -" Coulson moved forward electing to stretch out his hand in greeting hoping he didn't seem threatening.

"Phil Coul-Son you are a member of the Shield," Kal said saying Coulson's surname strangely clearly not used to human or at least American naming conventions.

"Uh yes, Phil Coulson Agent of Shield, and I understand that you are Kal Odinson, PRINCE Kal Odinson," Coulson said, retracting his hand after Kal stared at the outstretched appendage "I guess I owe you thanks for saving my life."

"That is not necessary, but if you wish to repay me, I need to get in contact with one of your brethren within the Shield, a man named Fury." Kal requested trying to sound as non-threatening as possible, which was hard as stood almost a foot taller than Coulson.

"Okay, I can contact Fury for you, but I have do have a few questions first if you don't mind, chief amongst them is why are still on Earth I thought you were going to head back to, Asgard was it?" Coulson asked, wanting to have the best picture possible before contacting the Director.

"Very well son of Coul, I will answer your questions and once I do you will understand my need to speak to Fury," Kal stated, as he went on to explain everything that had happened only stopping to answer Coulson's occasional question.

After he was finished, Coulson simply sat there absorbing the information as best as he could, his usual quiet stoic looks on his face, which impressed Kal few mortals would be taking such information so well. Coulson however internally at least was somewhere between a massive migraine and ready to ask for extended leave. He was not sure which was worse that Earth was apparently a prime target in the Cosmos and was being protected by a race of Viking Esque alien gods or that said Viking Esque alien gods were now apparently cut off after their magic space had collapsed.

Coulson looked at Kal, his Shield training told him what he should do was lock down the base call in an advanced tactical team and get Kal in a secure facility whilst they did every test, they could to understand him. However, his gut told him that he shouldn't do anything until he spoke directly to Fury and that it might be best if they kept the alien superpowered space Prince, off the books for the moment, or else deal with the top brass doing something stupid like try to put Kal in a lab.

"Wait here, I need to make a call," Coulson said but as he stood up clarified what he meant to the alien in the room. "Uh I'm going to contact Fury, just stay here, I'll send someone to keep you company."

Kal merely nodded as Coulson got up and left the room, accepting the man's words as he stayed seated on the rather uncomfortable Midgardian chair. As Coulson closed the door behind him he saw Olson standing nearby at one of the command terminals, his eyes glancing towards the doors, prompting Coulson to go over to him.

"Sir, Dr Foster and the others are still here do you still want to talk to them?" Olson asked glancing at the door again like he felt he was about to get into trouble.

"I'll get Agent Sitwell to do the debrief, I need to call Fury. Is Barton still on site?" Coulson looked around seeing that much of the site was already being packed up.

"I think so sir," Olson asked a little unsure of his answer.

"Good, I need you to stand in front of that door and let no one in except me or Barton understood?" Coulson ordered looking directly into the young agents' eyes, causing Olson to straighten up slightly.

It didn't take Coulson long for the infamous Agent Barton to come to Coulson once he radioed in, jumping down from the guard towers roof he had been cooped up on to watch over the site. As he approached he was met by Coulson on a secure line waiting patiently for however he was calling to get back to him.

"What do you need Coulson?" Barton asked brushing off some of the dry dust and sand that floated across the New Mexico desert.

"We have a special visitor waiting in the conference room, he is from out-of-town way out of town." Coulson gestured to the conference room door. "I need you to keep him company whilst I call Fury?"

Barton blinked a few times before he nodded and headed for the door, his Shield training had kicked him resulting in him obeying the orders and trusting Coulson's judgement but a part of him was a little warry. As when it came down to it, aliens with superpowers and large metal men tearing a town apart, was a little outside his ability to handle with just a bow and arrow.

As he stepped into the conference room being let in by a very nervous rookie agent, Barton felt his wariness completely justified, as he was standing before what he could only describe as one of the tallest and prefect men he had ever seen. The man was large, was brawny with a wide chest and powerful shoulders yet still was slender, which somehow made him seem taller than he already was not that he needed it the help, and the man looked like he had been sculpted, Barton was straight but even he had to admit the man was equal parts handsome and beautiful.

"Apologise I broke the chair," Kal apologised to the newcomer gesturing to the table where a pile of twisted metal was placed, that clearly had once been a conference room chair.

"That's okay," Barton found himself saying awkwardly. "Do you want something to eat or drink?"

"I am fine, thank you," Kal replied giving the newcomer a friendly smile.

"Okay, I'm Agent Barton by the way," Barton offered his own smile in return.

"I am Kal Son of Odin," Kal replied offering a short bow of his head.

After introducing each other, the room fell silent again with Kal merely standing at one end of the room whilst Barton stood at the other, both men examining the other but neither saying anything. Kal's observation was that this 'Agent Barton' was clearly a warrior and a skilled one too. His body was lithe and his musculature was impressive whilst his hands were rough, especially the tips of his fingers an archer of some sort Kal guessed, and his body position told him that although he appeared at ease he was ready to spring into action the moment Kal did anything.

Barton's observation of Kal however was a troubling one, everything about the man screamed training and power, the look in his eye told Barton that Kal was assessing him, however, whilst he was ready to move at a moment's notice, this 'Kal' guy wasn't which was troubling. It meant that Kal felt completely safe, and given the fact that he was in a strange room, with a man he knew was ready to fight, it only meant one thing, Kal was certain that Barton was no threat to him. In fact, Kal's whole demeanour was one of little concern, his mind was clearly occupied given Kal's occasional and unconscious tapping of his hand on his arm, but apart from that Kal whole body language screamed he was unconcerned with any potential danger around him.

It was a few moments later when the door finally opened, Coulson walking into the room giving Kal and Barton, a smile each to try and keep everything friendly.

"Just talked to Fury he wants to meet you in a private location off the books, you're coming to Barton, Fury's orders were to keep this under wraps until ordered otherwise," Coulson told Barton, who just nodded at the order.

"Very well, when do we depart?" Kal stood up ready to leave the confines of this small room behind.

"As soon as you change, sorry but the armour is a bit of give away and we want to keep your presence here private." Coulson apologised, gesturing to Kal's golden, blue and red armour along with its large cape.

He was about to offer the very limited selection of clothing they had in Kal's size, when he was saved the trouble by Kal lifting his hand in a strange flick like motion causing a shimmering light to pass over him. Suddenly the armour was gone and Kal was standing in a three-piece blue suit that looked perfectly tailored to his large frame.

"Will this do?" Kal asked adjusting the jacket with a tug to make it sit better on his shoulders.

"Uh yes, that will work." Coulson responded and then gestured out the door for Kal to follow him.

(One Hour Late – Somewhere over the Mid-West – Shield Transport Aircraft)

Kal was seated on the strange Midgardian craft greatly resisting the urge to stand up and demand to know where they were going so that he could fly there first, as the speed of this craft was dreadfully slow. However, Kal resisted the urge, as he needed to keep on good term with the Midgardians as without the Bifrost he was currently stuck on this world, and he greatly needed to speak to the only Midgardian he knew that still dwelt on this world, Fury.

If Carol was closer, he would have contacted her, but the last time he had seen her was just a few years ago when he had been searching for answers about his heritage and that had been just past the Shi'ar Galaxy, meaning she was a little too far for him to call just to get help to settle on Midgard, whilst he figured things out.

However, there was another reason why Kal needed to speak to Fury, with the Bifrost destroyed Midgard was in serious danger, without the protection of Asgard it wouldn't be long before nearby forces moved in to take the middle realm for themselves. Even with the Bifrost gone, Midgard held a strategic position in this position of the galaxy and had much too tempted would-be conquerors, mainly its large population with limited technology.

Currently, as Midgard stood now, with the Lady Carol a few galaxies away and currently engaged in other matters as far as he knew, all that was potentially stopping such a calamity was Kal, and even with all he could do, he would still need help.

He was about to turn to talk to the Son of Coul when the aircraft's lights started flickering and he could feel something strange in the air like ancient and calming power. Kal turned his head to search for the source when suddenly the room went dark, causing Kal to spring up from his seat.

As the lights turned back on Kal was immediately greeted by a strange sight, it was a massive dark-skinned man with a large bald head and glowing eyes, wearing elegant blue robes that followed around him.

The strange entity waved his hand and the world around Kal fell into darkness, leaving Kal alone as the entity disappeared, its voice however echoed all around him.

"Kal, Last son of Kryptonian and God of Justice, you have been chosen."