June 1st, 2010 – SHIELD Containment Site, New Mexico
Alarms blared across the compound.
Arthur watched from his perch on a distant ridge as chaos erupted below. Floodlights swept back and forth across the facility. Agents scrambled into position. Radio chatter filled the night air with urgent commands and panicked reports.
An intruder had breached the perimeter.
Arthur smiled. The show had begun.
He Apparated directly into the command center.
The space was cramped and busy - a temporary command center filled with monitors, communication equipment, and stressed personnel. Screens displayed feeds from cameras positioned throughout the facility, each one showing a different angle of the unfolding disaster.
On the central monitor, Thor was carving through SHIELD's defenses like a hot knife through butter.
Thor had been stripped of his divine powers, yes. But he was still an Asgardian who had trained in combat for over a millennium. His mortal body retained peak human strength and reflexes honed by centuries of warfare. The guards rushing to stop him might as well have been children attacking a seasoned champion.
One agent swung a baton. Thor caught his wrist, twisted, and sent the man flying into two of his colleagues.
Another attempted a tackle. Thor sidestepped, seized him by the collar, and hurled him ten feet through the air.
A third raised a taser. Thor closed the distance before he could fire and delivered a palm strike to his chest that dropped him instantly.
All without breaking stride.
Things were going far more smoothly than Arthur remembered. This was the difference between a movie and reality.
"He's in Section C!" someone shouted.
"Cut him off at the junction!"
"Team Four, converge on—"
"Team Four is down!"
Phil Coulson stood before the monitors, his face a mask of professional calm that barely concealed his mounting concern. On the screens, a single man was tearing through his highly trained agents like wet tissue paper.
"Sir," an agent shouted from the comms station. "We can't hold him! He's heading straight for the artifact!"
Coulson's jaw tightened as he watched another squad go down. His options were running out.
"Barton," he said into his radio. "Status."
A voice crackled back, dry and unhurried despite the circumstances. "In position. I've got a clear shot whenever he reaches the hammer."
Coulson watched the monitor. The intruder was clearing the last line of defense.
"Wait," Coulson said, hesitation creeping in. "I want to see what he does."
"He's almost there, sir. If he gets that weapon..."
Thor dropped another guard with a spinning backfist and sprinted into the crater.
Coulson's finger hovered over the transmit button. Protocol dictated he neutralize the threat immediately. "Barton..."
"Don't."
The voice came from directly behind him.
Coulson spun, his hand instinctively reaching for his sidearm. Every agent in the command center turned, weapons drawn.
Arthur Hayes stood in the center of the secure trailer, arms crossed, leaning casually against a server rack as though he'd been there for hours.
"Mr. Hayes." Coulson lowered his weapon slowly, signaling his team to stand down. "You have a bad habit of appearing in secure locations."
"And you have a bad habit of trying to shoot interesting people," Arthur replied with a faint smile. "I'm here to watch a show, Phil. I suggest you let it play out."
"You know that man?" Coulson pointed at the screen where Thor was approaching the hammer.
"I met him for the first time this morning," Arthur admitted. "But I know more about him than your entire intelligence division combined."
"Care to share?"
"Later." Arthur's gaze fixed on the monitor. "The show is about to begin. Tell Agent Barton to stand down. Trust me on this."
Coulson studied Arthur for a long moment. Then he keyed his radio.
"Stand down, Barton. Let him proceed."
"Copy that."
On the screen, Thor approached Mjolnir with reverence. He laughed, a sound of relief and triumph, and wrapped his hand around the leather grip. He braced himself, expecting the familiar surge of power.
He pulled.
Nothing happened.
Thor frowned. He planted his feet and gripped the handle with both hands. He pulled again, straining with every ounce of his peak-human strength. Muscles bulged in his arms and back. He grunted. He roared. He screamed at the sky.
The hammer didn't budge.
Arthur watched the realization dawn on Thor's face. Confusion first - this couldn't be happening, there must be some mistake. Then denial - he just needed to try harder, put more strength into it. Then desperation, as pull after pull yielded the same result.
Mjolnir remained rooted to the earth, immovable as a mountain.
Thor released the handle and staggered back. Rain had begun to fall—when had that started?—and water streamed down his face, mingling with something that might have been tears.
He looked up at the sky.
"FATHER!"
The scream tore from his throat, raw and broken. It was the sound of a man whose entire identity had just shattered. The golden prince who had never known true failure, confronted with undeniable proof that he was no longer worthy of his own weapon.
The command center fell silent. Even Coulson seemed affected by the display.
Arthur felt an unexpected pang of sympathy. He had known this moment was coming—had been waiting for it, even. But watching it unfold was different from anticipating it. Thor's pain was genuine, and it struck something in Arthur that he hadn't expected.
Growth required suffering. He knew that better than most. But knowing didn't make it easier to witness.
On the screen, Thor sank to his knees in the mud, rain pouring down around him.
Coulson cleared his throat. "Barton, move in. Take him down. Non-lethal."
"Copy."
Arthur didn't object. The show was over.
For now.
—
Twenty Minutes Later – Interrogation Room
Thor sat in a metal chair, hands cuffed to the table before him. He didn't struggle. He didn't speak. He simply stared at the floor, a broken man.
Arthur observed from behind the one-way glass as Coulson conducted his interrogation.
The agent was good. Patient, methodical, probing for weaknesses. He tried multiple approaches—friendly concern, professional detachment, veiled threats, appeals to reason. He asked about Thor's identity, his purpose, his connection to the hammer.
Thor said nothing.
He barely seemed to register Coulson's presence at all. The fire that had driven him through SHIELD's defenses was gone, replaced by hollow emptiness. A man confronting the rubble of everything he'd believed about himself.
Coulson tried a few more questions, received a few more silences, and finally gave up. His beeper chirped—some other crisis demanding attention—and he stepped out of the interrogation room.
The moment the door closed, Arthur felt something shift.
The air inside the cell rippled. Reality seemed to fold in on itself, creating a pocket of altered perception. An illusion, and a skilled one at that.
Arthur's lips curved slightly. Loki had arrived.
He could have intervened. He could have shattered the illusion and exposed the God of Mischief right there.
But he held back. This was part of Thor's journey. The lies Loki was about to tell, that Odin was dead, that Thor could never return home, would drive the prince to his lowest point. And from that lowest point, true change could finally begin.
Arthur turned and left, already planning his next move.
—
Coulson found him in the corridor.
"You're still here."
"Just about to leave, actually."
"Can you at least give me something?" Coulson asked. "A hint about what we're dealing with?"
Arthur considered. "Has Carol told Fury anything about Asgard?"
Coulson paused. "The Director doesn't share that kind of information with me."
"Then I suggest you ask him." Arthur pushed off from the wall. "Your guest hails from there."
He started toward the exit.
"From Asgard?" Coulson called after him. "As in Norse mythology?"
"The old stories had to come from somewhere, Agent Coulson. You might want to start updating your worldview."
Arthur continued walking. He had someone else to meet.
—
The rain had stopped by the time Arthur reached the structure housing Mjolnir.
The ground was muddy, the air thick with petrichor. Guards remained posted around the perimeter, but they parted for Arthur without question. Coulson must have given orders.
Arthur walked through the plastic flaps of the tent, his eyes locking onto the figure standing over the hammer.
Loki was dressed in a sharp suit, looking every bit the modern gentleman, save for the intense longing on his face as he stared at Mjolnir.
Arthur leaned against a crate, staying silent as Loki reached out. The Trickster God gripped the handle. He pulled.
Mjolnir remained immovable.
Loki snarled, his face twisting in frustration.
Loki spun around. He stared at Arthur with calculating green eyes, surprise giving way to cold assessment.
"You. I sensed you earlier." Loki's voice was silk over steel. "The mortal with the peculiar energy. You are more than you appear."
"Arthur Hayes," he introduced himself. "And you are far from home, Prince Loki."
"I am no mere prince." Loki drew himself up to his full height. "I am King of Asgard. I go where I please."
"King?" Arthur chuckled. "Is that what you call it? Usurping the throne while your father sleeps in the Odinsleep? Lying to your brother about his death?"
Loki stiffened. "You know much for a mortal. Too much."
"I know a great deal, Loki Odinson." Arthur stepped closer. "Or should I say... Loki Laufeyson?"
Loki flinched as if struck. The color drained from his face, replaced by a flash of something cold and blue beneath the surface.
"It is Odinson!" The composure cracked, revealing something raw underneath. "Do not speak that name!"
"As you wish. Odinson it is." Arthur's tone was dismissive. "You have every right to choose whom you call father. But ask yourself this: will your father approve of what you did just now? Or what you've done these past few days out of jealousy?"
"I speak to a child throwing a tantrum because he believes his father loves his brother more." Arthur's voice went cold. "A true king does not need to steal his throne. A true king earns it."
"You presume to lecture me?" Loki's hands blazed with emerald light, magic gathering for a strike. "Perhaps you require a lesson in respecting your betters."
But Arthur didn't move. He simply flicked his wrist.
Sparks of golden energy swirled into existence beneath Loki's feet.
"What—" Loki's eyes went wide. He tried to leap aside, but the portal was already forming. "What manner of sorcery is this? Some feeble Midgardian trick—"
The floor vanished.
Loki fell.
He dropped through a golden portal that opened directly into a pocket dimension of Arthur's design—a seamless, infinite loop of falling.
"I have been wanting to do that for years," Arthur muttered, watching the portal snap shut.
He'd seen the movies. Doctor Strange's method of dealing with Loki had always struck him as both elegant and deeply satisfying.
Arthur walked outside, leaving the empty tent behind.
—
Dr. Erik Selvig was at the compound's entrance, engaged in animated conversation with Coulson.
"He's one of my researchers," Selvig insisted. "Dr. Donald Blake. He's had some... episodes before. The pressure of fieldwork, you understand. But he's harmless."
Coulson, who had heard Arthur's claims about the visitor being extraordinary, didn't believe a word of it. "Your researcher broke into a federal facility, incapacitated fifteen of my agents, and attempted to steal a classified artifact."
"He thought it belonged to him. It's... complicated."
"I'm beginning to gather that."
Arthur approached, and both men turned.
Selvig's eyes went wide. "You!"
"Hello again, Dr. Selvig."
"How did you—you just vanished earlier—and now you're here—" Selvig sputtered, looking between Arthur and Coulson. "Are you with them? Are you S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"No," Arthur said simply. "I'm just friends with the director."
Coulson made a sound that might have been a cough. "Director Fury might have some issues with that characterization."
"Nick always has issues. It's part of his charm." Arthur waved a hand. "He'll get over it."
Selvig looked like his brain was attempting to process far too many impossible things at once. Coulson, meanwhile, wore the expression of a man who had long since accepted that his life would never be normal.
"Let him go," Arthur said, nodding toward the compound.
Coulson raised an eyebrow. "Just like that?"
"Just like that. You can't hold him."
Something in Arthur's tone carried weight, because Coulson considered for a long moment before nodding slowly.
"Fine. But I want answers eventually, Mr. Hayes. Real ones."
"You'll have them. Soon."
—
Thor emerged from the containment area looking like a man walking to his own funeral.
The arrogant prince who had smashed coffee mugs and bragged about recovering Jane's equipment was gone. In his place was someone smaller, quieter. Broken in ways that went beyond physical exhaustion.
Loki's lies had done their work. Thor believed his father was dead, killed by the shock of his son's banishment. He believed he could never return home. He believed he had destroyed everything he loved through his own arrogance.
All of it false. But Thor didn't know that.
He paused when he saw Arthur.
"You were right," Thor said quietly. His voice was hoarse, stripped of its earlier bravado. "I was not ready."
Arthur studied him for a moment. "Knowing that is the first step toward becoming ready."
Thor let out a hollow laugh. "It matters not. My father is dead. Because of me. There is nothing left to be ready for."
He walked past Arthur, allowing Selvig to guide him toward the waiting car.
"Dr. Selvig," Arthur said quietly. "Take him somewhere safe. He needs rest. Time to process."
Selvig nodded, clearly bewildered by the night's events but unwilling to abandon his responsibility. "Come on, son. Let's get you out of here."
Thor followed without protest, a far cry from the boisterous warrior of that morning.
Arthur watched them go.
"Anything I should be concerned about?" Coulson asked, coming up beside him.
Arthur turned to the agent. His expression was serious now.
"If I were you," he said finally, "I would evacuate the nearby town first thing tomorrow morning."
Coulson's expression sharpened. "Why?"
"Because if I'm right, there's going to be a battle. And your guns won't be enough to stop what's coming."
Before Coulson could ask more questions, Arthur vanished.
—
Empty Desert – Outside the Compound
Arthur apparated to a stretch of desert far from prying eyes.
Then he opened a portal and released Loki.
The God of Mischief tumbled out in a heap, looking considerably less divine than he had an hour ago. His hair was wild, his suit disheveled, and his expression murderous.
"You—" Loki snarled, climbing to his feet. "You dare—"
Daggers appeared in his hands again. He took a step forward.
"You really want to experience that again?" Arthur asked mildly. "I can keep you falling for days if necessary. Weeks, even."
Loki hesitated.
"Besides," Arthur continued, "don't you have more important things to do? A throne to sit on, a sleeping father to monitor, a realm to mismanage?"
The barb struck home. Loki's eyes flashed with anger, but beneath it was calculation. He was weighing his options, assessing the threat Arthur posed.
Smart. That was good. Arthur could work with smart.
"This is not over, mortal," Loki said finally. The daggers vanished. "You have made a powerful enemy this day."
"I certainly hope it isn't over. We have so much more to discuss." Arthur smiled. "Give my regards to your father. Whichever one you choose."
Loki's lip curled with barely contained rage. But he turned his face upward.
"Heimdall. Open the Bifrost."
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the sky exploded with rainbow light.
Arthur watched as the beam descended, enveloping Loki in radiance. The God of Mischief shot one final glare in his direction—a promise of future retribution—and then he was gone, pulled back to Asgard in a pillar of cosmic energy.
The Bifrost faded, leaving behind only a scorched pattern in the sand.
"Phase one complete," he murmured. "Now for the main event."