Coulson had just approached the crater that contained the settled Mjolnir with a crowd of locals trying to pull it out of the ground. He pulled out a cell phone and dialled a number before bringing it to his ear and saying, “Coulson here. I found the crash site. I’ll have a team secure the object.”

“Affirmative. You are reminded to make sure the Iron Man stays unaware of this event. The council wants a complete digital blackout. Is that clear?” came the cold voice from down the phone.

Phil closed his eyes in annoyance before saying. “Yes, sir.”

…

Once I was in New Mexico, I basically decided to just sit back and wait since I wanted the plot of the movie to take place up until the point where Thor decides to sacrifice himself. Instead, I used the Iron Legion to start putting up an absolute shitton of sensors over the place because I wanted to study the bi-frost as much as possible before it was destroyed.

“Sir, the Bi-frost has opened again, just outside of the town,” said Jarvis as I stared at the terabytes of data streaming in with glee on my face. I started to position my VANGUARD drones around the town, but not exactly near it since I didn't want SHIELD to get antsy.

That firing of the bi-frost should be Sif and the warriors three. The next one should be the destroyer. As the second firing occurred, I made my move. The town of Puente Antigua has a population of two thousand, but only about two hundred are actually in the town.

I immediately sent the half-dozen drones I have here straight into town. Thor seems to ignore their presence as he sees his friends injured, and knowing that no one here is strong enough to defeat the construct, he decides to sacrifice himself in the vain hope Loki will stop his rampage with him.

As he tries to walk forward, Joragg tries to grab his arm, but he says, “Don't worry, my friends. I have a plan.”

The two warriors reluctantly grab their fallen friend and drag him away from the battlefield. After they go, Thor turns back to the destroyer, then tosses Sif's shield, which he has in hand, aside. He strides down the street towards the behemoth, completely defenceless.

He then cries out, “Brother, for whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am sorry. But these people have done nothing to you. They are innocents.” As he continues towards the destroyer.

“Take my life, and know I will never return to Asgard.” Thor reaches the destroyer and extends his arms. The destroyer hesitates, sizing up the defenceless Thor, then swats him with its enormous arm. I hear a sickening crack of breaking bones as Thor goes flying and lands in a crumpled building. The scientists and wounded Asgardians watch helplessly from down the street, a look of horror on their faces. Jane tries to rush out to Thor's aid, but Selvig holds her back.

Thor's eyes close, his last breath leaving his lips. The destroyer stood over Thor's body, lowering its head towards him. It opens its faceplate and locks it in place, ready to unleash its fiery blast. Inside the crater, twenty miles to the east, the runes of the side of Mjolnir reappear, burning bright. Electricity starts to crackle across the hammer's surface. Scientists beside it take notice as it vibrates, and a rumble of thunder comes from overhead. They look up as clouds form in the sky above. Just then, with a loud crack and flash of lightning, Mjolnir flies straight up into the air like a rocket.

The destroyer unleashes its blast at Thor's body when a blinding bolt of lightning strikes down from above, colliding with the destroyer's blast. The explosion is massive, causing several nearby buildings to collapse as the destroyer is hurled backwards, a cloud of dust enveloping the street. As the smoke clears, I can clearly see Thor, now fully garbed in his armour.

I decide now is my moment and charge. Before Thor can even react, the destroyer is back on its feet, preparing to fire another beam of destruction, when it's hit with several muon beams from the various Vanguard drones I had around the town, which send it tumbling backwards and down the main road of the town.

I frown after noticing they did nothing but scratch it as I land the MkV next to Thor. “Thor Odinson.”

“Weird Metal Man.” Thor replied in a mixture of amusement and confusion.

I look at him and say, “Can I take a crack at it before you?”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Before he can even answer, I shoot towards the destroyer, which is being pelted by the vanguard drones. Out of the six I have, three have already been completely disintegrated, but they have done their job of getting it out of the town.

My feet shifted into their booster form as I instantly broke the sound barrier. All the servers locked for a split second as I hit the destroyer, and together we went flying. With a crash, in which I used the destroyer as a cushion, we impacted the side of the valley we were in and came to an abrupt halt.

I was still dealing with the whiplash of that idiotic move I had just done when Jarvis dodged for me as a beam of energy tried to melt off my face.

“Sir, after analysis of the destroyer’s weapons, it’s burning at over 10,000 kelvin, and while I am confident the suit can survive the heat, an evening glancing blast will raise the internal temperature to above boiling point.” said Jarvis, as I relied on his predictions in my HUD to continue dodging.

“Duly Noted.” I responded, trying to figure out how to at least make a dent in the thing. With a backhand from the titan, I was sent flying and barely missed a mid-air beam, once again thanks to Jarvis firing one off my thrusters.

I looked at the destroyer and realised one truth. I was nowhere near strong enough to defeat the thing. Despite my best efforts, I was still a long way from being able to effectively counter the Asgardians and their technology.

Me and the two remaining drones continued to circle and pelt the destroyer while dodging its beams for several minutes. I had pretty much resigned myself to just playing with it while Jarvis collected as much data as possible, but that all came crashing down when, with a breathtaking display of mobility, it instantly sent itself flying straight at me.

It was travelling significantly faster than its own beam and crashed straight into me, and as soon as we were back on the ground, it pinned me down, and for a split second, the thought I might just die this instant crossed my mind as I saw the flash of the beam.

I was weirdly at peace with it. Not the fact that I was going to die, nor the fact that it would mean I couldn't achieve my goals or see pepper again.

But the fact is, I might die. The acceptance of it unnerved me.

I guess after someone has been forced to confront it dozens of times and actually fell to it twice, they get a different outlook on death.

I was thankfully saved from being cooked inside the can-thin shield that had formed in front of my face. It was a last-ditch attempt Jarvis had made to save my life for a little longer.

It was a prototype I had been messing with; it was nothing compared to the energy shields I knew existed but functioned by using magnets to manipulate finely ground adamantium into a thin dome-like structure around my head.

The adamantium started to glow and then turned to slag around me as the beam impacted. It only hit the shield for a split second before the destroyer went flying in a random direction due to Mjilnor impacting the side of its head with Thor being dragged behind it.

As I unsteadily stood up, I realised that even a tenth of a second more under the beam and I’d have been dead.

I, along with those inside the town, watched as Thor summoned a hurricane of swirling wind and lightning and dragged the destroyer into it. When the sky cleared, several battered pieces of the destroyer came crashing down over the desert.

I steadied myself as I flew back to the town and saw Thor talking with Jane, offering to show her the bridge they had talked about. As he saw me, he turned to me and said, “Mighty Warrior of Midguard. You have proven yourself worthy of a seat in Valhalla,” as he put an arm around my shoulder. Even in the suit, he slightly towered over me. The movies didn’t do him justice. Thor stood at seven feet and truly gave off an imposing aura.

He then turned back to the other people he was talking to, and I noticed Coulson looking at me with a conflicted expression on his face.

I just stood around awkwardly as the two remaining vanguard drones collected the pieces of the destroyer. As Thor and his fellow Asgardians continued to call the bifrost, I got them to begin scanning. After several minutes of Thor cussing at Heimdal, the bifrost dropped and picked them up.

Jane and Selvig were chatting animatedly about the possibilities, which I barely managed to keep up with due to the ringing travelling through my head. But I interrupted one of their comments and said, “I’m sorry, but from my readings, the Bifrost seemed to act more similar to a Visser wormhole than an Einstein-Rosen bridge.”

Dr. Foster’s eyes seemed to light up at my words, and she said, “You have actual readings from this; how much do you want for them?”

I chuckled at the glint in her eye and said, “I give it to you in exchange for your research so far. I’ve read your papers, and they are rather intriguing, but they only contain things you’ve proven and none of your conjectures.”

“Umm, that’d be fine. As soon as Mr. Government over here gives me back my research,” she said, brushing some hair on her face behind her ear.

I looked over at Coulson, and he seemed to sigh heavily before nodding his head, looking defeated.

I continued to talk with both her and Selvig, getting myself acquainted with both, knowing they would both be important in the future.

I left while nicking the destroyer's remains and spent the rest of the flight pondering over what had happened today. It had been a wake-up call. There was a huge difference between reality and the movies Andrew had seen. The sheer power displayed by Thor made me almost quake.

To be fair, up until this point, I was being a coward. There were countless things I could be doing to start hoarding power, but until now I had decided to take it slowly. No more.

Some might be terrified by the literal might of a god, but it only made me more impassioned. It would take a lot of work, but by the time Loki comes to New York with his army, Earth will be able to stand side by side with Asgard as equals.

I was done pulling my punches.