Chapter 34) – The Time Is Now

With Mjolnir returned to our hand, and Lady Sif alongside the Warrior's 3 distracting the Destroyer - as the Asgardian's called it - we spoke to Thor, "Feeling worthy yet? Even if you haven't physically done anything, it seems Molly here can sense things beyond our comprehension. So, provided you have the right mentality, it should work… We think. To be honest we have no idea. What do you say Molly, are we along the right lines?"

Receiving a humming pulse in response to our question, we inferred that we were indeed correct in our assumption.

Surprised at the name his precious partner was being called, Thor questioned, "Molly?"

Nodding in affirmation of his question, we replied, "Yup. We feel like we've become considerably close to this mystical weapon during our battle with the Destroyer-suit-thing. We suppose a life and death battle does that. Anyway, we feel like it warrants a nickname like we do with all of our other friends. Since she seems to identify as female, we decided on Molly since it's similar to her full name, Mjolnir. Don't you go touching her inappropriately now you know she's female!"

Shaking his head in vehement denial, Thor retorted, "A proud warrior such as I would never do something so shameful! I am glad that you have built a strong repertoire with my partner, but I believe I am worthy enough to take her back now. Your words and actions to protect all the innocent lives through fighting a perilous duel with a foe such as the Destroyer, are an inspiration and standard I hope to rise to match."

Shrugging our shoulders, we answered, "Thanks we guess, but that's enough talking. Those 4 seem to be having a little difficulty, so get to work blondie."

Just before we tossed Mjolnir over to Thor, the god of thunder stopped us, "You might want to stand back. It will probably get a little heated."

Not needing to be told twice, we created a few metres of space between us and Thor.

Kissing the head of the hammer, we muttered, "It's been fun, Molly. Let's play again soon."

Once more receiving a gentle hum as a reply, we held Mjolnir by the head and pointed the handle towards the blonde Asgardian who held out his hand to summon the mystical weapon.

We could have just tossed him the hammer like we initially planned, but we realised there was still a chance Thor wasn't worthy and we would need to think up another plan preferably without a crushed Thor.

It seemed like our caution was well placed as even after 5 solid seconds of trying to summon the weapon, Mjolnir was still within our grasp. Unbudging.

Re-focusing on the Destroyer fight, 2 out of the Warrior's 3 were already on the ground and Lady Sif was trying to pull out her spear, which she had penetrated into the Destroyer's rib section.

Unfortunately for her, it appeared that the suit had grabbed a hold of the spear with the metal segments of its form - refusing to release the weapon.

Knowing that time was running out fast, and Thor had still not convinced Mjolnir with his resolve, we decided that we needed to re-join the battle.

Flipping Mjolnir around to grasp the shaft, we stated, "Sorry Thor, we're out of time. With the other Asgardian's we have a good chance of killing that thing, but if they die, and you still can't wield Molly, then it's going to be infinitely harder for us to defeat that chrome dome."

Pulling back the hammer we threw her towards the metallic suit that was duelling the only Warrior of the Warrior's 3 still standing.

Rather than watch Mjolnir fly towards the Destroyer, like we were expecting, the hammer flew on target for a second before it did nearly a 180-degree turn and headed straight for the god of thunder.

Catching the weapon in his outstretched hand, a lightning bolt thicker than his entire body struck him from above.

With the lightning coating Thor's body, armour magically appeared beginning with his wrists, travelling up his arms and within only a handful of seconds had covered his entire body in a suit of battle armour accompanied by a standout red cape.

Once the lightning had died down, we spoke towards the now battle-ready Asgardian, "About damn time. You deal with shiny, and we'll get the others out of the way so you can fight without worrying for their safety."

Not waiting for a response, we sprinted towards the downed warriors to get them clear of the impending fight.

Travelling in the same direction as us, Mjolnir came flying past our face - evidently heading towards the Destroyer.

Grabbing the closest Warrior to the Destroyer, we slung the blonde-haired man over our shoulder before jumping away towards Lady Sif to sling her over our other shoulder.

Linking our hair tendrils together into 4 thick masses, we hopped over to the remaining 2 warriors, that were close to each other, and coiled them up in the tendrils for transport.

Almost exactly as we had secured all of the Asgardian's, Thor landed behind us and threw Mjolnir at the Destroyer which had, at some point, redirected its focus onto us and fired a beam of fire aimed towards us.

Nodding at Thor in thanks, we jumped away with significant strength to watch the battle from afar as the god of thunder recalled Mjolnir and resumed his battle, but this time had no obstructions.

Thankfully Asgardian's appeared to be very resilient as the 4 we carried away from the conflict had mostly recovered in the short time that Thor was battling the Destroyer alone.

Probably to be expected, it was the large and loud Asgardian that was the first to speak once he had recovered, "By the Allfather, Thor has regained his powers!"

The man had only spoken twice, but both times he had shouted.

Even with our sonic immunity, it didn't prevent his bellows from being annoying to listen to, "Do you have to shout all the time? Everyone is here, who are you even shouting to?"

Lady Sif was the 1 that replied to our questions, "We apologize on behalf of our friend, Red Crown. He tends to express himself rather raucously, but he means well."

Shaking our head, we responded, "Haah, you don't have to apologise. We're just a little irritable at the moment, so our fuse is shorter than normal. Once that shiny and chrome thing has been seen off, we'll have to introduce ourselves properly. Hopefully sparkles over there can finish the job soon and we can relax."

All of the Asgardian warriors nodded in affirmation, but it was the blonde man we first grabbed that spoke, "And don't forget about the revelries. A hard-earned victory must be celebrated."

Already planning ahead to the party, the large warrior was practically drooling as he said, "Wild boar, beef, pheasant, wine, ale, mmmm all of the delicacies to eat and drink."

Slapping his fellow warrior on the shoulder, the only member of the Warrior's 3 that had yet to speak - the man with slicked back, black, hair that was tied into a spiky ponytail - was the 1 that burst his friend's bubble, "Don't get ahead of yourself Volstagg. We still have to deal with Loki once we return."

Looking like she had eaten something disgusting, Lady Sif practically spat, "Loki that treacherous snake. He not only betrayed Asgard but also his own brother. He is unworthy of a warrior's death."

Preventing any further discussion on the matter, the battle between Thor and the Destroyer was reaching its crescendo.

Throwing Mjolnir at the Destroyer's face, Thor prevented a beam of fire from being released at him.

By using the slight stun that the hammer caused from the impact, Thor summoned Mjolnir back to his hand and moved into grappling range of the chrome suit.

Practically ramming Mjolnir into the Destroyer's face holes – where the fire beams came from – Thor blocked off the suit's ability to release its beams.

The suit might have been able to release the flames from elsewhere on its body, but, considering it had only fired them from the face holes, it was a reasonable assumption to make that they could only be shot from there.

Whether Thor knew about the potential weakness, or flaw, prior to the battle or not was irrelevant.

What was relevant, was that the Destroyer attempted to launch its fire beam at Thor as the man held Mjolnir down the suit's throat. However, since its exhaust port was blocked, the flames built up internally until it imploded after only a short build-up.

With the headless chrome body falling to its knees, and then continuing down so that the entire body was lying on the ground, the fire within the suit visually calmed down but it didn't completely die out as embers stayed lit – contained within the metal frame.

Since the battle appeared to be over, alongside the Asgardian's, we made our way towards the victorious god of thunder.

Looking down at the chrome corpse, we held our foot near it to check the temperature and were surprised that even though the animated suit was dead, its temperature was still rather hot, "The fuck kinda fire does this thing use? Is it some kind of magic? Even when it's dead we wouldn't be able to interact with its corpse for long without taking a break."

Although we didn't really expect an answer, Thor took it upon himself to do so, "Odinforce. In actuality it is a type of energy that resembles fire, rather than fire itself. That is not to say it does not have similar properties. You did well to avoid the Destroyer's attacks as the energy can quite easily vaporize lesser beings or beings with a weakness to such high temperatures, like you appear to have. Only entities of incredible power can withstand the blasts."

Stepping away from the magic oven, we commented on Thor's answer, "Sounds like bullshit magic to us. Judging from the name, we assume your old man created the suit with his energy? Remind us not to piss him off - if we ever meet him."

Nodding at our response, Thor turned to the spiky haired Asgardian, "Hogan, you took the hardest hit. Will you be able to fight when we return to Asgard?"

Breaking into a smile, the Asgardian known as Hogan replied, "Of course. Loki needs to pay for his treachery."

Hurrying along the group, the blond third of the Warrior's 3 spoke up, "Thor we must hurry and return to the Bifrost site. Allfather knows what Loki is up to in Asgard with free reign."

Bobbing his head, the god of thunder agreed with the other blonde Asgardian, "You are right Fandral. We must make haste."

Turning to face us, Thor said, "Thank you, Red Crown. I know not if I would have regained my right to wield Mjolnir so soon if it were not for your assistance. Your act of battling the Destroyer alone to prevent any unnecessary casualties, even at such perilous risk to yourself, is the epitome of a noble warrior. Should our paths cross again, you can count me as your ally and a friend - if it so pleases you."

Pleased with the resolution, we affirmed the man's words, "It does, friend. But less talking, more returning to your world. There'll be plenty of time to talk after you've finished resolving your problem."

Rather than start another conversation, Lady Sif agreed with us and pushed the other Asgardians along, "Red Crown is right. We need to hurry back."

As such, all of us ran back towards the Bifrost site that the Warrior's 3 and Lady Sif arrived at when they came to Earth.

The journey itself was rather short as the Destroyer was only pushed a few miles away from the site through our initial throw of Mjolnir, that carried it quite a distance, and the ground that was covered during the combat itself.

As we stood around the markings on the ground, Black cars could be seen in the distance heading towards us from the nearby town.

Clearly Coulson and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were returning after presumably noticing that the flashes and sounds from the battle had ceased.

Ignoring the incoming personnel, Thor walked into the centre of the circular ground markings and looked at the sky as he spoke out, "Heimdall. We need you to open the Bifrost."

Considering nothing happened, we turned to Lady Sif who was standing closest to us, "We take it something is meant to happen when he speaks into the sky like that?"

While Thor continued to speak into the sky in order to reach Heimdall, Lady Sif answered our question, "Indeed. Heimdall is the protector of the 9 realms as well as the gatekeeper of Asgard. He alone controls the Bifrost. Without him, I fear we may be unable to return to our home."

As the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles got closer to the site, we continued our conversation with Lady Sif, "That seems a bit problematic. Surely relying on 1 person for entrance and exit to an entire world or realm could create such a problem as you're facing now? Is there no other entrance, like a back door or something?"

Shaking her head, the Asgardian replied, "Heimdall is gifted with absolute senses. He can hear and see all that transpires within the entire 9 realms. Since none can escape his senses, having him as the sole guardian of the realm poses no problems. There are also no alternate entrances that myself or the Warrior's 3 are aware of."

By that point, Thor had stopped calling out into the sky for Heimdall, and was instead discussing the situation with the Warrior's 3.

Still carrying on with the conversation we were having with Lady Sif, we stated, "Well clearly someone can get around Heimdall's omniscient senses or else Thor wouldn't have to shout into the sky multiple times without receiving so much as a semblance of a reply."

Preventing Lady Sif from providing a counter point, or responding to us at all, was the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicles coming to a quick stop in a large encirclement around the Bifrost markings.

Exiting the vehicle that was at the head of the convoy were the scientist friends of Thor; Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, and Darcy Lewis, accompanied by Coulson.

As Coulson made his way over to us, the scientists made their way over to Thor before they spotted us and stopped in their tracks – wide-eyed.

Beginning to enjoy how humans reacted when they saw us, we put on our best face-splitting smile and used some hair tendrils to wave at the group.

The woman Mara identified as Darcy quickly averted her eyes and ran over to Thor. Jane visibly shivered before copying her friend and Erik's eyes changed from that of shock to intrigue - which was new for us – but even he swiftly re-focused his attention on the god of thunder.

When Coulson was within speaking distance, he did so, "What's the situation Red Crown? Where's the walking, fire breathing, suit of armor?"

Unfortunately for the mission lead, it appeared that Heimdall had finally responded to Thor's request as thick clouds began to gather overhead which started the return timer.

Nevertheless, we replied to the agent in charge of the 0-8-4 assignment, "The walking furnace has been dealt with by our resident god of thunder over there. It's body, if it can even be called that, is a few miles in that direction. Thor, Lady Sif, and the Warrior's 3 are waiting on their gatekeeper Heimdall to use something called a Bifrost to summon them back home so that they can resolve the issues they've got there. With the clouds gathering overhead, like when the Destroyer was delivered, we think it's safe to say their call has been answered."

The Warrior's 3 and Lady Sif walked towards the centre of the markings on the ground while Thor was saying his goodbyes to his recently made Earth friends.

Realising that time was running out if he wanted to speak with Thor again, Coulson tried to close out our conversation, "Thanks for the run-down of the situation. We'll go into deeper detail during the debrief. Good work today. I need to speak with the man with the hammer before he disappears, so if you'll excuse me."

Just nodding at Coulson in response, we watched as he headed over to do exactly as he had said.

Left alone with our thoughts, we couldn't help but think about what we wanted to do.

In our suit form we were 1 being. Our thoughts were fused together and as such we didn't need to telepathically discuss like we usually did.

My thoughts were Mara's thoughts, and vice versa.

As such, we decided that we weren't done yet.

Not until we had repaid the stress and fear that we experienced at the hands of the mastermind.

Stepping forwards, we joined the other 4 Asgardian's within the circular floor markings as the centre of the cloud vortex began to decend in its tunnel shape.

The large Asgardian, Volstagg, wondered aloud and brought attention to us, "Red Crown?"

Responding to the questioning tone, we answered, "The fight's not over. Not until the cretin that caused this mess is under our foot, at our mercy, and begging for us to not castrate him."

Naturally, Coulson attempted to stop us when the Asgardians, including Thor, approved of our tagging along by simply smiling and nodding, "Red Crown, your job is done. You've protected Earth from the threat, but it's not your battle from here."

May, who had appeared at some point during all of the conversations, stood behind Coulson and echoed his words, "Coulson is right. You've done all that was required of you, and then some, but this isn't your battle. We were dragged into it, but that doesn't mean you should willingly get involved if it can be avoided." 

With the rainbow-coloured tunnel seconds away from touching down, Thor walked into the circular marking as we gave the 2 agents our reply, "Loki made it our battle when he sent his Destroyer here to vaporise anyone and everyone that got in its way. We need to teach everyone a lesson that they can't just start a fight on our planet and walk away unscathed. We need to send the message that Earth shouldn't be fucked with. Besides, Coulson gave us free reign, so we don't have to follow orders currently. Plus, it seems like this'll be more fun than joining the clean-up crew. We'll be back after the mission is complete."

Punctuating the end of our sentence, and thus preventing Coulson or May from giving a counter argument to our points, was the touchdown of the rainbow Bifrost tunnel that sucked us, and the Asgardian's, up its length towards their home realm of Asgard.