I accidentally post two chapters previously so just fixing them. I will post another.
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I skidded back behind a melted barricade, ducked a flying rim that bounced off the wall behind me, and slammed both fists on the pavement.
'System, give me some info.'
[System]: Mmm~ you want the naughty little breakdown, sugar? Because what you are humping right now with your fists is called the Destroyer. God-forged armor. Odin's temper tantrum in metal form.
[System]: That thing is packed with more overkill than your search history. Just pure divine spite hammered into armor and juiced up by a spirit. Sometimes Loki. Sometimes worse.
[System]: Strength? Beyond 100 tons. And that is without the angry ghost inside throwing a tantrum. Odin once stuffed it full of every Asgardian soul but Thor's and called it therapy. Spoiler: it broke the scales.
[System]: Speed? For something that weighs more than your porn folder in high school, it moves like a pissed-off sprinter. Can outpace any human athlete.
[System]: Stamina? Infinite. The thing does not even breathe. It just destroys.
[System]: Invulnerability? Tougher than adamantium. Laughs at heat, bullets, magic, gods, gravity, you name it. It once took a blast from a Celestial and still needed a formal burial.
I rolled behind a flipped car and peeked out. The Destroyer stomped through the compound like it was at a demolition-themed rave.
[System]: Reflexes? Enhanced to the level of divine dodgeball. Flight? Oh sugar, Mach 32. Fast enough to outrun guilt and daddy issues.
"Cool. So it is basically a giant 'fuck you' in armor."
[System]: And that is just foreplay.
[System]: The visor beam? It disintegrates anything it looks at. Uru. Flesh. Pride. One blink and boom... existential erasure. It is building up heat now, baby. That glow in its chest? Yeah. That is your cue to dodge or vaporize.
I vaulted up, landed on a roof ledge, and launched two webs at its helmet. Tried swinging around the back of its head and planting another charge. Still nothing. The magnetic node sparked like it was trying to get signal in a Faraday cage.
[System]: It is immune to matter manipulation too, sugar. It can turn lead to gold, make your boxers disappear, transmute your face into abstract art... pick a threat.
"And its weaknesses?"
[System]: Weaknesses? Aww, that is adorable.
[System]: The spirit inside eventually loses control. Gets more violent. More unstable. If the user isn't powerful enough, the armor takes over. Burns them out. Chews through spirits like you chew through fries.
"Then how do I stop it?"
[System]: You don't. You either outsmart the spirit inside or distract it long enough to implode. Or... you give someone else the hammer.
I turned, eyes locking onto Thor. He was still just standing there, dumb and hammerless, watching the chaos unfold like someone watching reruns of their own failure.
"He is the key."
[System]: Mmm~ baby, if that man reaches the hammer and gets his powers back, you get thunder thighs, lightning abs, and a magical hammer bro who can actually crack this can open.
I fired a webline and zipped toward Thor. Landed beside him just as the Destroyer's next blast split the sky and roasted a surveillance tower.
"Hey, princess," I barked, smacking his chest with the back of my hand. "You want to stop sulking and pick up your sparkly hammer now?"
Thor's eyes locked on me. "I cannot. I have been stripped of my power."
"Yeah? Well, so have my ribs, and I am still out here playing dodgeball with Satan's blender. So suck it up."
He glanced toward the crater where Mjolnir sat like it was waiting for a prom date.
Sif yelled from across the lot, blade raised, "Thor! Now!"
Volstagg was still breathing like a dying walrus and Fandral was… actually doing nothing. So typical.
"Look, big guy," I snapped. "This thing isn't going to wait. You are either the god of thunder or a beefcake lawn ornament. Which one are you?"
Thor took one step forward. The Destroyer noticed. It stopped.
The helmet opened. The beam began to build.
[System]: Oh baby. That thing sees him. You have got seconds. Make it count or enjoy the front-row seat to divine cremation.
I launched a webline and yanked Thor toward the hammer.
He stumbled, then stopped. "If I am not worthy…"
"If you aren't," I snarled, "then we all die."
Thor looked at Mjolnir. Then he reached.
Nothing. Not even a little. Fuck this shit.
"Bro," I said, stepping in front of Thor, hand raised like I was about to slap sense into his divine DNA. "What does it mean to be worthy of something? It isn't some crown. It isn't a badge. It isn't about being the golden boy with a sad backstory and shiny pecs."
Thor stared at me, breathing heavy, dirt smudged across his chest like he got into a fistfight with a barbecue grill.
"It is a state of mind," I continued. "Think why you want this power. Not because you had it. Not because your dad gave it to you like a Christmas sweater. Think about why you actually want it now. Who you want to protect. What it would mean to hold that hammer again."
His eyes flicked to the crater. Mjolnir sat there, unmoving. Like it was waiting to be impressed.
"Feel it in your chest. Not your pride. Not your ego. Feel it in your balls, man," I said. "Ask yourself, brov, are you still trying to earn your daddy's approval, or are you ready to stop this thing?"
Thor walked by me like he had his own theme music. Not the slow, emotional violin kind. No, the epic final episode kind. He stalked toward the crater like Mjölnir called him 'Daddy' and meant it.
He reached out.
Fingers wrapped around the handle.
Mjolnir sat there. A stubborn hunk of myth forged from ego and lightning. For a second, nothing moved. Then it did. The hammer ripped from the ground like it had just remembered who it belonged to. Lightning cracked from nowhere. Wind snapped around him, clothes shredding as the armor appeared mid-spin, gold and silver crawling across his chest like the universe was redressing him for war.
The sky rumbled.
[System]: Ohhh yes. He is back.
Thor stood there, transformed, cloak whipping behind him, hammer gripped like it had never left his hand. His eyes glowed, and the air around him sparked.
I gave him a thumbs up.
He launched. The hammer pulled him forward like it was dragging its favorite child back to school. He slammed straight into the Destroyer. Lightning exploded across the machine's chest. The impact knocked it three steps back. First time I had seen the thing flinch.
It raised its arm to fire again.
Thor swung.
Hammer met shoulder. The joint crumpled like soda can metal. The Destroyer spun from the force. Thor followed up with a second strike to the back. Another spark. This one louder. Its helmet twisted, beam charging again.
I fired a web at a loose beam overhead and swung to the far side, flanking it. Thor went high. I went low. His hammer crushed the chestplate. I wrapped both legs around its ankle and yanked with everything I had. Another web to chest.
Still barely moved.
But Thor, oh Thor was pissed now. His hammer glowed, and the third strike went straight through. Beam of energy shattered across the field like a solar flare.
The Destroyer paused.
Then collapsed.
Piece by piece, the armor dropped to the ground like someone yanked its power source. Thor floated down, hair wind-swept and glowing like the shampoo ad he was always destined to star in.
[System]: Mmm, he really is the moment. But not my type. I prefer chaotic nerds with trauma and bedroom potential.
The Asgardians gathered. Sif jogged up to Thor, expression neutral but her grip on her sword eased. Others were... there too. Thor stepped over the smoldering heap of Asgardian rage metal and offered me a nod.
"You fought well, mortal."
I grinned. "You too, cosplay Zeus."
Sif raised an eyebrow. "He is the son of Odin."
"Cool. I am the son of a woman who screamed when she saw a spider. We all have stories."
Thor chuckled. "You have courage. Perhaps we shall meet again."
"Maybe with less fire next time."
I ditched into the alley and activated Camouflage. Suit shimmered, then faded off me, clothes wrapped back on from the storage layer, hoodie, jeans, basic Midtown look. Nothing flashy. Nothing suspicious.
I walked out the other end of the block like I had been there the whole time, just another guy cutting through the city chaos while a Norse apocalypse smoldered a few streets behind.
Pulled out my phone, pretending to check messages. Really, I was scanning crowds, trying to find them. Darcy and Jane were not the type to stick around when laser beams started cooking pavement. They would run. Probably to the edge of the blast zone. Maybe further. Somewhere safe, but still dumb enough to keep watching.
'System,' I muttered inside my skull, 'Sif is a hottie, but too far gone for Thor. You tagged her as the secondary Target, but chances seem low.'
[System]: Mmm~ true. She is all honor and fight training and sword envy. Pretty, but not even glancing at the main course. You might crack her, but it will take more than a tight suit and witty trauma.
"Not worth it if I have to babysit her brotherhood complex every time she unsheathes that blade."
[System]: Unless you want to replace it. Preferably with something thicker.
I pretended to scroll my phone as I weaved through panicked crowds and confused onlookers. Sirens whined in the distance. Emergency crews were arriving now, all flares and too-late authority. Civilians were scattering from the wreckage site like rats from a flooded basement. SHIELD agents were doing their usual song and dance of locking down the scene while pretending they were in control.
I spotted Darcy and Jane near a news van. Darcy was leaning against the bumper, breathless and wide-eyed like she had just been on the worst rollercoaster ride of her life. Jane stood stiff, one arm across her chest, her phone in her other hand, but not really using it.
I walked over, no rush, sliding my hands into my hoodie pocket like I had just come from skipping class and not fighting a murder toaster.
Darcy looked up. "You survived?"
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You can read up to Chapter 95...
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