Seeing Shin set down the hammer, the most excited person was naturally Thor himself.
Especially after hearing Shin admit he only used special abilities to lift the hammer, Thor's excitement only grew.
Thor, who had been dazed and absent-minded, suddenly sprang up. "Sure enough, Mjolnir! You didn't abandon me!"
With that, he lunged at the hammer like a starving dog diving into a feast, startling Wanda and Pietro, who had been about to test their luck lifting it themselves. They both quickly stepped back.
However, the hammer didn't so much as tremble.
Shin estimated that Mjolnir's moral requirements probably aligned with Asgardian values or more accurately Odin's personal values.
And clearly, Thor, who managed to provoke Odin daily, didn't qualify for those standards.
In fact, Shin suspected Odin himself might not meet the conditions he laid out.
Thor's hammer had once been Odin's weapon in his youth, back when Odin had Thor's temper, Loki's mind, and Hela's ruthlessness, definitely not the traits of a virtuous saint.
To believe that such a person became a wise guardian of the Nine Realms in old age? Shin wasn't buying it.
Still, not qualifying to lift Mjolnir wasn't necessarily a deal-breaker. As a creation of Asgard, the hammer ultimately obeyed Odin's will.
If Odin chose to grant someone the authority, even a random cat or dog could lift it with ease.
But since Odin had just stripped Thor of his authority, it was clear he wasn't about to reverse that decision so quickly.
In the movies, there were at least storm clouds and lightning flashes to dramatize the moment. Now, Mjolnir didn't even twitch.
Thor's face went from exhilarated to shocked, then disappointed, and finally blank with despair.
Letting go of the handle, his eyes dulled. "Father..." he muttered, then slumped onto the ground, a picture of dejection.
Wanda and Pietro exchanged glances. Pietro raised his eyebrows and motioned toward the hammer, but Wanda just shook her head.
Pietro shrugged. He wasn't sure if she couldn't lift it or just didn't want to try.
Shin reached out, summoned a wisp of black mist, and sealed Mjolnir back into the dark space. Thor, still in a daze, didn't react at all.
...
"Are we really just going to leave him like this?" Wanda asked, glancing at Thor with a touch of concern.
She didn't know the full details of the Sorcerer Supreme's mission, but she had a guess, it was likely to help Thor regain his former self. But in his current state, he didn't resemble a god of thunder in the slightest.
"Hmm..." Shin stroked his chin thoughtfully. From what he recalled of Thor in the comics and movies, the guy wasn't exactly easy to manage.
The comic version was a reckless brute and the movie version...
Well, while technically one of the Avengers' strongest fighters, Shin had always thought of both Thor and Loki as comic relief.
But then, glancing at Scarlet Witch, a plan started to form in his mind.
Some ideas never get old as long as they work. With her reality-warping powers and his own genjutsu, they could force Thor to relive the entire redemption arc from the films if needed.
'I don't know what's keeping Loki, the Destroyer, or the Warriors Three from showing up. If they were around, I wouldn't even have to fake it,' Shin thought.
...
Thor, still in a fog, suddenly snapped back to awareness.
"Loki?" he murmured, looking at the illusion playing out before him in confusion.
"Thor, my brother..." came the voice.
The next sequence followed the movie's script. The Trickster God Loki tricked Thor, claiming their father had died due to Thor's recklessness, and that he'd been permanently exiled.
Then Thor's four companions appeared and told him it was all a scheme by Loki.
Finally, the Destroyer arrived, and wreaked havoc, and Thor nearly gave his life to protect innocent bystanders.
But at this point, the illusion broke down.
Why? Because Mjolnir didn't react. There was no awakening of Thor's powers. No triumphant return.
'I knew it! The only reason Mjolnir flew to Thor in the movie was because of Odin's intervention,' Shin cursed inwardly.
He'd extracted the images of Loki and the four Asgardian warriors from Thor's memories using illusion, and Wanda had stabilized them into temporary reality. Everything matched the film's progression. The only thing that didn't was that Thor hadn't actually been hurt, just tricked by Shin's illusion.
So Thor's big awakening and dramatic power-up? That had been Odin's doing all along.
Maybe Odin had remained semi-conscious during his Odinsleep and controlled Mjolnir behind the scenes. Or maybe the enchantment on the hammer included a failsafe that triggered when Thor was mortally wounded.
Either way, even if Thor had matured and changed, it wasn't enough for him to pass Mjolnir's moral check without Odin's help.
Then again, maybe Odin, seeing that Thor now had others to support him, hoped he'd grow even stronger perhaps even awaken the full power of the thunder god without needing Mjolnir at all.
In that case, Shin thought, they'd just have to keep the act going.
Gritting his teeth, Shin decided to skip ahead and stage the events of Thor: Ragnarok.
That film told the story of Odin's death, the release of Hela from her seal in Hel, and her conquest of Asgard. Thor and Loki had to join forces to stop her from turning the Nine Realms into a kingdom of the dead.
But this time, it wouldn't be so simple. There were too many unknown characters from Thor: Ragnarok, and neither Shin nor Thor had met most of them.
In fact, Shin didn't even know what Hela looked like in this version of reality. After all, this wasn't the actual Marvel Cinematic Universe people's appearances were likely different.
Still, that wasn't the real problem. Thor had never met his older sister anyway.
The real concern was whether Wanda could maintain such an elaborate illusion on such a massive scale.
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