Chapter 60: Chapter: 60
Chapter: 60
"Welcome to the secret base that's not so secret!" I exclaimed as I emerged from inside Jane's van, where we were all comically piled in. We had just arrived at the makeshift SHIELD base that was put up around Thor's hammer to study it. The agents guarding the gates were giving us all weird looks, but they did recognize me. No surprise there, really.
"Agent Coulson has been notified of your arrival. You all can go through." The barricade lifted, and we drove on through.
"Are these the guys who stole all my research notes and equipment?" Jane asked. "That's the only reason I agreed to even drive you all here..." She had claimed that she had had enough of the Supernatural for a while and initially refused to go. That was until I told her where all of her stuff had been taken.
"This place is pretty high tech." Noted Azazel, who was riding in the back of the van. And wasn't that a comical sight. The leader of our faction was delegated to the backseat. I had called shotgun before we all got in...
"Indeed," Penemue added. "The technology on Earth Marvel appears to be more advanced than Earth Dxd." She said using our agreed-upon names for the two Earths. The difference in technology probably came from Alien influence, to be honest. Dxd was completely cut off from more advanced extraplanetary civilizations, while Earth Marvel has been visited by aliens numerous times. I mean, there's an alien sitting in the van right now.
Jane drove us a bit further into the compound before we saw Agent Coulson standing off to the side of the dirt road. I had to hand it to Jane; she picked a really comfortable ride. I looked up her van, and it ran upwards of 100K USD. She pulled over, and we all piled out.
"Hello again, Agent Coulson!" I said cheerfully.
"Hello again, Layla... and company." He said, eyeing our group.
Jane marched up to him, looking ticked off. "You there! I want my research equipment back! Right now!" She demanded. Jane had had quite the trying day...
Coulson looked like he was about to argue something before he sighed and relented. He called another agent over to escort her to her equipment and help her load it all back into her van. "So who might the rest of your entourage be?" he said, eyeing Penemue especially. It wasn't because of her beauty – well, it might have been a little. It was mostly because he could obviously see the resemblance between her and myself.
"Allow me to introduce everyone. This is Thor, Prince of Asgard."
"Yes... it's nice to meet you too, 'Prince Thor.'" Coulson said before he shot me a look. "You know, a few YouTube videos just surfaced a few hours ago starring everyone's new favorite Angel and an apparent alien god. Once again, you've completely taken over all media as you've exposed aliens to the world." Coulson said, deadpanning at me.
Woops... well, at this point, how much more can people even freak out about? It might just be me, but I feel like people would be more freaked out about the existence of heaven and hell over aliens. On the upside, average crime has apparently been WAY down since my big park reveal. Churches have also been packed every Sunday as well... I don't know how long that will really last though. People tend to be... forgetful.
"Nice to meet you, Son of Coul. On the way here, Layla told us you were one of the most trustworthy agents of the spy organization known as SHIELD. I know the importance of spies, as my father employs them to monitor the nine realms." Thor said cheerfully as he walked over to Coulson and clapped the man on the shoulder in greeting.
"Well... that little tidbit about Odin wasn't ominous at all..." I muttered. "Moving on, to the right of me is my beautiful older sister, Penemue, and to the left is Azazel, the leader of the Fallen Angels."
"T-the leader?" Coulson stuttered out. "...And a name mentioned from the Bible as well..." He took a second to steady himself from an introduction he was not ready for. "N-nice to meet you both and welcome back to Earth?"
"Thank you, it's good to be back." Azazel said as the two men shook hands. "Wasn't sure I'd ever see the larger universe again, but here we are. This Earth has a few problems I can sense, but I'm sure it'll all work itself out once the two halves reconnect." Azazel added with an unusually serious tone. Coulson didn't like the sound of that, but I could see he chose not to comment. I wondered what Azazel was sensing that caused him to momentarily lose his carefree demeanor?
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Penemue, and it's my job to keep our leader from embarrassing our faction on the regular." She said as Azazel shot her a betrayed look while I snickered.
"Well, now that introductions are out of the way, what brings you all here?" Coulson asked.
"We are here for my hammer!" Thor declared. "I can sense Mjolnir nearby. It's waiting for me to reclaim it! Let us go to it post haste." Thor said as he marched towards the center of the facility. If he was able to sense his hammer's power, I figured that was a good sign. Maybe he was close to being worthy again.
As the rest of us followed behind the excited blond Asgardian, Coulson turned to me in question. "So did you take care of the 'cannibal' problem plaguing the town?"
"Yes... it was a stray devil, sent here by my foolish brother who didn't know any better." I said, turning to Azazel and leveling a glare at him. Coulson looked confused until Azazel spoke.
"I apologize. In order to locate the dimension my wayward younger sister had ended up in, I used a bunch of captured stray devils as test subjects for my artificial spacetime sacred gear. I never really thought about what those devils could do if they ended up in locations full of people." Azazel said, and he truly looked ashamed. "Needless to say, I will make restitution to the families of the victims."
"As soon as we once again have access to our resources, we will be donating 100 million USD to each family who lost someone." Penemue added, and I whistled at the number. Azazel did kind of mess up bad there. Nine people were dead because of him.
What I wondered about was what happened to the other few dozen strays he had sent out before he finally found the correct dimension. Did they end up on alternate Earths?
"Mjolnir!" My pondering was interrupted by a jubilant Thor as he ran up to his hammer in glee. "It's only been a short while, but I have missed you!" He spoke to the hammer like it was sentient. I wasn't really sure whether it actually was or not. The sky above started to rumble as Thor approached the hammer. Lightning started flashing in storm clouds that formed out of nowhere. Thor grasped the handle of his hammer and pulled...
...it actually moved, but only a teensy bit sadly. He wasn't fully worthy yet. I didn't think he was, to be honest.
"No!" He wailed in sadness as it started dramatically raining. I conjured an umbrella made of light above us all to stop from getting soaked.
"I see your light manipulation has definitely improved since you've been gone. Well done, Layla." Penemue praised me.
"Thank you!" I preened.
"So what do we do about him?" Coulson asked as we looked upon the sobbing Thor, who was grasping his unmoving hammer and now soaking wet and covered in mud.
I let out a sigh. "I guess I'll handle this." I told them all before I walked over to the depressed god of thunder. "Come on, Thor, it's not that big of a deal. So you're not worthy right now. No big deal. Your hammer budged a little bit when you first grasped it. That must mean you're really close to being worthy again. I guarantee a few more days of reformation and you'll be calling down thunderbolts in no time." I said to him as I gave him an encouraging smile.
Thor took his eyes off his weapon and looked at me. "You're right… I suppose I have no reason to rush anyway. It's not like Asgard will fall apart without me. Father and brother are still there holding the realm together."
"If only that were true, brother." A voice came out of nowhere, causing us all to jump. I spun around and saw Loki, dressed in his iconic green and gold armor, standing nearby. Well, it wasn't really him but a projection. I didn't sense any magical power from the Loki in front of us, and Azazel and Penemue didn't appear to be on guard at all.
"Loki, it's good to see you again, brother!" Thor exclaimed. "Good news, Mjolnir has almost found me worthy again. My exile shouldn't last much longer, as soon I'll have my powers restored. Tell mother not to worry about me as I'm here among new friends."
I could see an incredibly quick moment of surprise and realization dawning upon Loki's face at Thor's proclamation. It appeared he didn't expect Thor to be going back to Asgard so soon. "Is that so, brother? Well then, I await your return with bated breath. I'm sure mother and... father will as well." Loki finished before his projection abruptly faded away. He had completely gone off script and never mentioned anything about Odin being dead at all. That must have been because of Thor's proclamation. I wondered what Loki would do now.
[Probably sick The Destroyer on you all immediately before Thor gets his powers back…]
Yeah… that's probably gonna happen isn't it?
XXX
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