"Although I'd like to deny it, yes, we really are looking for that guy," Shin said with a helpless expression to the others.
"Hey, Mr. Thor, there are four people here looking for you," the security guard announced as he opened the door to reveal a now-disheveled Thor.
"My brothers? You're finally... wait, who are you?"
Thor had assumed the mention of four people meant his loyal followers had arrived. But stepping out and seeing three men and one woman he didn't recognize at all, his excitement instantly faded.
"That's him. Take him away," Shin said with a nod.
"Take me away!? Who are you people? What's your conspiracy!?"
Before Thor could finish shouting, the security guard walked in, calmly pulling out an electric baton with practiced ease.
"Wait! Hold on! Put that thing—"
Zzzzzap!
Thor was immediately electrocuted, twitching violently as he struck several awkward, almost dance-like poses before collapsing to the floor.
...
"Is this guy really Thor? I can't believe it. The thunder god?" Pietro muttered in disbelief.
Tony Stark was crouched beside Thor, pressing against his muscles thoughtfully. "He doesn't feel any different than a normal person. Didn't you say the body density of Asgardians is supposed to be three times that of a human?"
"Thor had all his powers stripped by Odin. Right now, he's just like any other guy," Shin explained.
"That doesn't make sense. Energy is energy, and body density is body density. Losing his energy shouldn't affect his physical makeup," Tony argued, frowning.
Shin rolled his eyes. "Then go ask Odin, the King of the Gods! How would I know?"
Tony went quiet. In recent days, he'd encountered too many things beyond his understanding, reality-warping mutants, actual gods, and the confirmed existence of sorcerers.
His old worldview, built on science and logic, had been shattered again and again. Or more accurately, his science hadn't yet evolved enough to explain the magical and superpowered.
Still, Tony had already made up his mind. When he got back, he was going to dive into mutant genetics and gather all the information he could on sorcerers.
As for gods... he glanced at the rear of the car, where Thor had just been stuffed into the trunk by Shin after being electrocuted.
He sighed. There was a real, live god right in front of him but unfortunately, not in a condition fit for research.
...
"Uh, uh, um…"
Cold. Shivering. Surrounded by darkness.
Thor slowly opened his eyes.
Curled tightly into a ball, he struggled to sit up only to hit his head against an iron panel with a thud.
"I think he's awake," Tony said from the passenger seat.
Shin nodded, pulled the car over, and opened the trunk.
It was an off-road vehicle, and even with a large cargo space, Thor had barely fit. His tall frame had been squashed into a twisted, crumpled heap. No ropes were needed; he looked like a giant caterpillar entirely immobilized.
After flailing for a few moments, Thor gave up. He glared at Shin, who was clearly enjoying the sight and growled, "Alright. Who are you? Where are you taking me?"
Shin stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You say you're Thor? Funny, because there's no ID record for you anywhere."
"And when you showed up, we found a very unusual hammer..."
"That's my hammer!" Thor exclaimed. "Where is it? Where?!"
"Speaking of which, what really is the difference between gods and humans?" Shin asked with a sly smile. "Maybe we can find out... on the dissection table."
Gulp.
Thor swallowed hard.
He'd been on Earth for nearly two months now. Even though he'd spent most of that time in a mental hospital, there had been a TV in the common room. He'd learned a fair amount about the world.
"Hey, you're not serious, right? Thor? That was just a joke!"
"Come on, what kind of Thor gets knocked out by a stun baton?"
Faced with the horror of an operating table, Thor's mind kicked into high gear. All sense of divine pride and dignity vanished. Even self-deprecation was on the table.
As it turned out, Thor did have a functioning brain it was just usually clogged up with muscle and lightning.
Now that he'd lost the power he was once so proud of, he finally understood what it meant to be vulnerable.
"So you're not Thor after all," Shin said with a nod. "In that case, I guess I can't give this hammer back to you."
With that, Shin extended his hand—and the Mjolnir materialized from his palm, glowing with crackling lightning.
Thor's eyes went bloodshot. Suddenly, with a burst of adrenaline, he exploded out of the trunk. The car's frame bent under the pressure as he forced his way out.
"Mjolnir! How—Odin's beard!"
Thor stared in shock as Shin casually swung the hammer, lightning dancing around him. Even though he didn't wear the traditional Asgardian armor, the raw power was unmistakable.
It was his hammer. And it responded to someone else.
Thor's mind spiraled into chaos. "Why? Why is this happening?!"
...
Thor sat slumped in the backseat, completely spiritless. He hadn't moved since that last emotional outburst.
"He really doesn't look like a god at all," Tony said, arms crossed.
"By the way, how did you lift that thing? We tried everything but we couldn't even budge it."
Shin shrugged and placed the hammer on the ground. Using the power of the Munch-Munch Fruit, he severed the magical connection. "I used my ability to bypass the enchantment on it. Basically, I turned myself into Mjolnir's accessory."
"Wow, that's a pretty big accessory," Tony quipped, then leaned down and tried to lift the hammer again.
Of course, it didn't move an inch.
Aside from rare exceptions or powers that could forcibly override its enchantment, Mjolnir could only be lifted by someone with the right moral character or if Odin allowed it.
Tony Stark's personal ethics might be passable, but his personality clearly didn't align with the hammer's requirements.
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