Natasha Romanoff, Hawkeye, and Captain America soon gathered together in the observation room. Each of them had come out of curiosity, their attention fixed on the large surveillance monitors showing the temporary research camp outside. At the center of the screen stood a tall blond man slowly approaching the crater where Mjolnir rested.
They were all curious about Thor.
Hawkeye leaned slightly forward, studying the man on the screen with a skeptical expression. After a moment he crossed his arms and shook his head faintly. "So that's Thor?" he said. "Honestly, he doesn't look that different from us. Maybe a little stronger, sure, but that's about it. If that's what a god looks like, I've got to admit… I'm a little disappointed."
"Disappointed?" Ethan Blake glanced at Hawkeye before responding, his tone casual but informative. "The people of Asgard have bodies with three times the density of humans from Earth. Their skin is naturally resistant to ordinary levels of radiation, and they can even survive in outer space for short periods of time. On top of that, their average lifespan is around five thousand years, and the guy currently disappointing you has already lived for about fifteen hundred of those."
Hawkeye blinked in surprise as he absorbed that information. The confident smirk on his face quickly disappeared, replaced by an awkward expression. "Uh… yeah, okay," he said after a moment. "I'm going to go ahead and take back what I just said."
Outside, Thor continued walking toward the camp. As he approached the crater, the sky that had been perfectly clear moments earlier suddenly rumbled with distant thunder. Dark clouds gathered quickly, and within seconds a light rain began to fall across the desert landscape.
With the help of several agents cautiously guiding him forward, Thor finally reached the crater where Mjolnir rested. When he saw the hammer lying there in the mud, his entire face lit up with excitement and relief.
Thinking back on the miserable experience of the past few days made the moment feel even more significant. He had never been so weak before in his entire life. Every step without his power had been humiliating and frustrating.
But now everything was about to return to normal.
"Old friend," Thor muttered to himself as he approached the hammer. "We haven't seen each other for a few days. Did you miss me?" His expression grew confident as he reached down toward the handle. "Now… it's time for Thor to return."
He wrapped his hand around the handle and lifted lightly.
Mjolnir had been his weapon for hundreds of years. The amount of strength required to lift it was something etched deeply into his muscle memory. It was an instinct so familiar that he didn't even have to think about it.
However…
Thor suddenly stumbled forward, his footing slipping as if something had gone terribly wrong. He barely managed to catch himself before falling flat on his face.
"Okay?" he muttered in confusion.
Mjolnir remained completely motionless.
Thor frowned slightly and looked down at the hammer in disbelief. "Hey… come on, don't joke with me," he said, his voice beginning to show a hint of unease. "We should be leaving."
This time he grabbed the handle with both hands and pulled upward with all his strength.
The hammer did not move.
Not even a fraction.
"This… this is impossible!!" Thor shouted.
He refused to accept the reality unfolding before his eyes. Again and again he tried to lift the hammer, exerting more force each time, but the result never changed. Mjolnir remained fixed firmly in place as if it had become part of the ground itself.
Finally, Thor threw his head back and screamed toward the sky.
"No!!! Father, you can't do this to me!!!"
After the cry left his throat, it felt as if all the strength had drained from his body. His shoulders sagged, and he slowly collapsed onto his knees in the mud, completely exhausted and broken.
Far away in Asgard, Heimdall stood at his post beside the Bifrost observatory. Through his all-seeing vision he had witnessed the entire scene. His golden eyes flickered slightly before he let out a quiet sigh, saying nothing more.
Back in the observation room, the expressions of the people watching the surveillance footage had become rather strange.
"Chu… are you sure you're not mistaken?" Captain America asked cautiously. He hesitated before finishing his sentence, clearly unsure how to phrase it politely. "This guy seems a lot less like a god and more like…"
"Mentally unstable," Natasha Romanoff finished calmly.
Ethan shrugged slightly. "Didn't I already explain?" he said. "His father stripped him of his divine power and exiled him to Earth. The power taken away by the King of Gods isn't something he can just casually reclaim."
In reality, Ethan knew it wouldn't take long for Thor to regain his strength. When all the calculations were considered, Thor's power would remain sealed for less than a week.
But Ethan obviously couldn't say that out loud.
Odin could hear everything happening around Mjolnir. The All-Father probably wouldn't appreciate someone casually revealing the details of his plan, and Ethan had absolutely no desire to attract the attention of a being at Odin's level.
"Alright," Ethan said after a moment. "You can go ahead and arrest him now."
Thor offered no resistance whatsoever. The agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly surrounded him and escorted him away, though the process looked less like a violent arrest and more like a reluctant escort.
Natasha watched the scene with mild disbelief. "Are we really arresting a god right now?" she asked.
Ethan rolled his eyes and chose not to respond. Asgardians liked to call themselves gods, but in truth they were something else entirely. They possessed no divine authority, no sacred domains, and no true godhood.
They were simply an incredibly powerful race known as the Aesir.
Some individuals among them—like Odin—were even more formidable than certain genuine gods from other mythologies, but that still didn't technically make them divine beings.
"Alright," Ethan said after a moment. "Let's go meet this Thor ourselves."
Because S.H.I.E.L.D. already understood Thor's background, his treatment wasn't particularly harsh. Aside from being confined to the interrogation room and prevented from leaving, there were no additional restrictions placed on him.
The guards had even been instructed to accommodate his basic requests whenever possible.
But at the moment, Thor had no interest in making any requests. His head hung low, his mind still struggling to accept what had happened. He simply couldn't believe that his father had truly stripped him of the power and title of Thor.
Even when Ethan walked into the room, Thor didn't bother to look up.
Only when Ethan spoke did Thor finally react.
"Thor of Asgard, son of Odin," Ethan said calmly. "Hello, and welcome to Midgard. It's nice to meet you. My name is Ethan Blake."
Thor paused in surprise before slowly raising his head.
"You know me?" he asked.
A bitter smile soon appeared on his face as he leaned back slightly in his chair. "Don't call me Thor anymore," he said quietly. "I couldn't even lift Mjolnir just now. What kind of Thor fails to pick up his own hammer?"
Seeing Thor in such a defeated state, Ethan raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Oh?" he said. "Are you the God of Hammers or something?"
Thor frowned immediately at the remark.
He stood up and stared at Ethan with visible irritation. "I am Thor, not the God of Hammers," he said firmly. "Even if I've lost my divine power, that doesn't give a mortal like you the right to insult me."
"I'm not insulting you," Ethan replied calmly. "I'm just pointing something out. If you're truly Thor and not some god of hammers, why can't you use your power without Mjolnir?"
While speaking, Ethan quietly used psychokinesis to pull out a single strand of Thor's hair before slipping it away into the golden space of his system.
Thor, meanwhile, had been completely stunned by Ethan's words. He didn't even notice the strand of hair being removed.
He had never considered the idea before.
Yes…
I am Thor, not the God of Hammers.
So why can't I use my power without Mjolnir?
Thor fell silent, his mind sinking deeply into thought.
"Take your time and think about it," Ethan said as he casually patted Thor on the shoulder.
To be honest, Ethan actually felt a bit of sympathy for him.
Among all the superheroes in the Marvel universe, Thor might have one of the most miserable lives. First he would face betrayal from his own brother, then the death of his mother. After that he would lose his father, discover he had a sister who immediately destroyed his hammer, lose one of his eyes, watch his home be destroyed, and eventually see half his people slaughtered by Thanos.
But right now, Ethan didn't have the luxury of dwelling on sympathy.
Thor's hair was already in his possession.
And that meant it was time to craft his wand.
....
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