Darcy looked up. "You survived?"
"Of course," I said. "I was hiding behind a hot dog cart the whole time."
Jane blinked. "You saw it too?"
"The walking death metal fashion statement? Yeah. Kinda hard to miss when it is melting traffic."
Darcy pointed at the sky. "There were lightning bolts. I saw a guy flying."
"Wow," I said, deadpan. "Must have been Superman. Totally not trademarked."
Jane didn't smile. Figures. She looked back at the remains of the SHIELD setup, then narrowed her eyes at me.
"Cafe is gone," she said.
I turned to look. The place where I had just sat with Darcy and Jane, where I stole cheesecake like a broke Casanova, was now a smoldering skeleton of glass and burnt chairs. Black smoke curled from the windows. That waiter that forced me to pay? Pulled him out two minutes before it blew. Of course, I took my money back. No point funding an establishment that cannot survive a tantrum from Asgard's favorite killbot.
"Yeah, I was lucky," I said, shrugging. "Though I have no intention to get interrogated and have my pockets turned inside out by those discount Men in Black again. "So you wanna stay," I asked, "or ditch before someone with a clipboard decides we were witnesses?"
Darcy looked torn. Not emotionally. Just logistically. Like her brain wanted to see more alien shit but her knees remembered what running from plasma felt like.
Jane answered first. "We are leaving. Now."
Darcy gave her a quick side-eye, then sighed. "Fine. But if something else explodes, I am blaming you."
They turned and started walking. I followed, slipping back into the flow of pedestrians like I had just finished filming a scene instead of surviving one. A few sirens blared down the road, SHIELD vans weaving through traffic with the grace of drunk rhinos. Agents in black were already setting up barriers, yelling things like "civilian zone" and "get back" and "we have this under control," which was a fun way of admitting they very much didn't.
A kid with a camera phone pointed it at the wreckage and whispered, "Holy shit, is that Iron Man?"
Someone woman said, "No, I think that hammer guy is new. A hot one."
"Do you think they will cover it up?" Darcy asked, glancing back.
Jane scoffed. "They will try. They always try. But people filmed it. It is already online."
Darcy stopped, turned her phone around. "Yup. Trending. 'Metal Death Attacks Brooklyn.' And, wow. They gave it a hashtag. #HotHeroSavesCity."
I smirked. "Internet works fast."
She scrolled a bit, then squinted at the screen. "Wow, Spider was there too. I missed it," Darcy said, sounding genuinely disappointed. "Though it seems like he was not very useful. People say the new hot hero stole the day."
Jane looked over. "Let me guess. They are dying for him."
"Yup," Darcy replied, flipping her phone around. The screen showed a blurry photo of Thor mid-flight, cloak flaring behind him, lightning dancing across his chest like the gods hired a special effects crew. "Seriously, he is like a living thirst trap. Internet is already simping hard."
I leaned over, pretending to peek. "You girls always this quick to switch sides? One pretty face and suddenly Spider is trash?"
Darcy laughed. "No. I still like Spider. But let's be honest, Thor is like... sculpted. Built. Made to be worshipped."
Jane raised an eyebrow. "That is a little dramatic."
"I would climb him like a jungle gym," Darcy said, straight-faced.
Jane sighed. "You are the reason the internet should not exist."
Darcy scrolled more, muttering, "Spider barely got one action shot. No clear face, of course. Just webs and blur. People are already debating if he is neighborhood level."
That stung. Hard.
'System, I am too weak. This was an ego check.'
[System]: Aww, baby... welcome to the internet. One second they are drooling over your flips, the next they are calling you a small time hero.. Want me to hack their phones and make them all subscribe to your OnlyWebs?
'Just boost my Charisma and let me sulk with dignity.'
[System]: Consider your Charisma enhanced and your sulking very, very sexy.
Darcy kept scrolling, her thumb flicking like she was trying to summon more validation from the feed. Jane stood nearby, arms crossed.
"Look at this," Darcy said, holding up her phone. "Some guy edited a video where the hot guy strikes down the metal thingy and added anime music. It is already at eighty thousand likes."
I leaned slightly to peek. "Which anime?"
"Some dramatic one with sword fights. All glowy and loud."
Jane adjusted her coat. "That is how they spin it. Reduce real danger to trending background music."
"I mean, the danger looked cool," Darcy added. "That beam explosion? Peak cinema."
[System]: You could sneak in one more line to Sif. She is already checking out Thor's hammer. Might as well redirect her attention to yours.
'Hard pass. She looks like she would gut me if I flirt wrong.'
"We should leave before they lock this whole area down." Jane said, walking ahead.
Darcy looked disappointed. "You sure? We are finally in the middle of something big and we are just... walking away?"
"I am not getting detained for internet points," Jane said, already moving.
As we walked further from the chaos, away from thunder gods and blown-up storefronts, we ducked into another cafe.
We slid into a booth near the window. Darcy flopped beside me, tossing her coat onto the seat, like her whole body had just remembered it had bones. Jane followed, still in scientist mode, still thinking.
Darcy leaned her elbow on the table and said, "I cannot believe that crazy dude was telling the truth. Erik is going to be pissed. All that time mocking the guy in the cell, and it turns out he really was a god."
Jane scoffed, arms crossed. "You don't actually believe that."
Darcy held up one finger. "Tall blond guy? Check." Then a second. "Magic hammer? Check." Third finger. "Lightning from the sky? Triple check. He literally flew using a hammer like it was a damn boomerang. If that guy isn't Thor, then someone is committing to the most elaborate LARP scam in history."
Jane tapped the table, eyes narrowed. "So the cosmic wormhole readings were connected to Norse mythology?"
Darcy blinked. "You make that sound like it is weird. What, you never read mythology as a kid?"
Jane gave her a flat look. "I read actual science."
"I read both. One gave me nightmares, the other gave me fanfics."
I grabbed the menu and pretended to care about the sad selection of overpriced sandwiches. Not because I was hungry, but because that was the easiest way to avoid saying anything.
Darcy turned to me. "What do you think? That was a god, right?"
I kept flipping pages. "I think someone with a metal death cannon got smacked by a guy with better hair than me."
Darcy jabbed her finger at me. "That sounds like agreement."
Jane shook her head. "We need more data. A few tricks don't make someone a deity."
"He stopped the Death Machine," Darcy said. "You saw it. That thing was built like a vending machine possessed by Satan. Nothing Spider did mattered. And then Thor shows up, lifts his hammer, and boom. Instant shutdown."
Jane sighed. "Correlation isn't confirmation."
"Cool. Then let us correlate this," Darcy said, waving her phone. "Trending across four platforms. Hashtag HammerGod. Half the internet is already drawing fanart. Some of it is very inappropriate."
I raised a brow. "Already?"
Darcy nodded. "The moment you save a city shirtless, someone starts sketching your abs."
I leaned back in the booth, still pretending the food mattered. My ribs still hurt. Not enough to complain. Just enough to remind me I was not built like Thor. And definitely not drawn like the fanart.
Darcy flipped her notebook open again, ignoring her coffee entirely. "Okay. So. Cosmic readings spiked two days ago. Same day our hammer boy fell out of space jail. Erik dismissed it as background noise. Now? Pretty sure that was the signal."
Jane frowned. "And you think he came through the wormhole?"
"Not just him. That Death Machine thing too. Probably from the same place. Maybe even sent to drag him back."
"Or sent to kill him," I added.
Darcy paused. "Or that. Yeah. Mood killer."
Jane tilted her head slightly. "So, assuming this is true, we are dealing with a world where ancient mythology isn't just metaphor. It is literal."
Darcy grinned. "Welcome to the club. Population: confused but hot."
I grabbed a napkin and wiped my hand. "So what now? You planning to write a thesis on space Vikings?"
Darcy shrugged. "Maybe. Or I will just tell Erik I believe him now. That should mess with his ego."
Jane pulled a small tablet out of her bag and tapped a few keys. "If this becomes public knowledge, everything changes. Science, religion, history. This could alter the way we understand reality itself."
Darcy made a vague circle with her hand. "Or, you know, we just get more flying people who punch things."
Jane narrowed her eyes. "You aren't taking this seriously."
"I am. I am just not letting it ruin my muffin."
She took a bite of the muffin the waitress just delivered. Immediately regretted it. "This is horrible."
I grinned, "And expensive too. Should have guessed since I didn't steal a bite."
Darcy pointed at her half-chewed muffin like it had committed a war crime. "Honestly, it tastes like regret and dust."
Jane sipped her coffee, not bothering to look up. "Then stop eating it."
Darcy shrugged and shoved the muffin aside.
I got up stretching, then immediately regretted it. My ribs barked a reminder that slamming into a van and wrestling a god weaponized trash can was not free of charge. I rubbed my side, groaning. "I am going home. You got your answers. And dragged me against my wishes."
Darcy blinked at me like butter would not melt on her sarcasm. "We didn't. An alien robot did."
I leaned in and flicked her forehead. "You chose the place. Your fault. And made me pay the bill."
She snorted, "What a gentleman."
I stepped out of the booth, and as I scooped past her, I made sure my crotch passed close enough her face. She didn't flinch. She just tilted her head and grinned like the suggestion was mutual.
I waved her off and walked out, 'What is my reward?'
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You can read up to Chapter 98...
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