Their high-profile arrival did not go unnoticed. Within a minute, a swarm of S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel surrounded them, led by Agent Coulson, whose hairline seemed to have retreated even further since their last encounter.
"Hello, Mr. Optimus Prime, Mr. Stark, Bumblebee, and... Leon? Leon, why are you here?" Coulson greeted each of them, but his professional demeanor broke when he saw Leon, exclaiming in surprise. He hadn't recognized him at first; although Leon's skin color had mostly recovered, his hair was now a fluffy, singed afro.
"Hey, Coulson, long time no see!" Leon greeted him cheerfully. "Your hairline's making a strategic withdrawal, huh? That one-eyed tyrant must be working you to the bone again. I told you, you can't be nice to a guy like that; he'll just exploit you more!"
Coulson coughed, trying to regain control of the situation. "Leon, please don't say such things, especially in a public setting."
"So what?" Leon said with a shrug. "I've got a new job. I'm a superhero now. That one-eyed tyrant can't control me anymore!"
Coulson's eyelid twitched. Deciding to ignore Leon, he turned to Tony Stark. "Mr. Stark, what brings you here? This location is quite far from New York."
Tony didn't answer Coulson directly, instead remarking to himself, "You S.H.I.E.L.D. guys are quick on the uptake. You actually got here before us." With that, he strolled past Coulson and into the heart of the base.
Coulson quickly moved to intercept him. "Wait, Mr. Stark, this is a S.H.I.E.L.D. base. Unauthorized personnel are not permitted!" Before he could say more, an arm clamped down on his shoulder.
Leon leaned in with a grin. "Come on, Coulson, we're all friends here! It's just a base. Don't be so rigid."
Coulson considered his options. He knew Tony's personality; trying to stop him was pointless. Furthermore, with Optimus Prime present, taking any kind of forceful action was out of the question. Most importantly, he didn't want a conflict with this group. He sighed and began to brief them.
"Early this morning, our instruments detected an unusual energy reaction near New Mexico. When I arrived, this is what I found." Coulson gestured toward a large crater in the center of the base.
"Oh, you found a meteorite or a crashed satellite," Tony quipped.
Optimus Prime gazed into the pit. "Tony, if I am not mistaken, that is neither a meteorite nor a satellite. Let's take a closer look."
Arriving at the crater's edge, Tony looked down at the hammer resting at the bottom. "You're quite cautious," he said to Coulson. "Building a whole base just to prevent damage to the scene."
"It's not that we wanted to build a base," Coulson said, a hint of embarrassment in his voice. "It's that we can't move the hammer."
"Is there an alien virus on it? Or is it fragile?" Tony's curiosity was piqued.
"Neither," Coulson said, a playful tone entering his voice as he patted the hammer's handle. "You can try to lift it."
He's practically begging me to try, Tony thought. If I break something, that's on him. He stepped out of his suit, placed his hand on the hammer's handle, and pulled. "Hmm?" Nothing happened. He calmly let go, waved his hand, and the armor reassembled around him. The suit's armored hand grasped the handle. With a creak of straining metal, the hammer remained motionless. Unwilling to accept defeat, Tony activated the suit's arm-mounted repulsors. With a high-pitched whine of energy, the armor groaned under the strain, but the hammer didn't budge an inch.
"There's something strange about this hammer," Tony conceded. "Is it attached to something massive?" He gave up and began studying the ground around it, looking for a flaw in the setup.
"Let me try!" Leon strode forward excitedly, rolled up his sleeves, and gripped the handle. "Whoa, this is heavy," he exclaimed, straining. "It's like trying to pull a streetlight out of the concrete."
A sudden chill ran down Coulson's spine, a familiar feeling of impending doom. He glanced around but saw nothing out of the ordinary. How strange, he thought. The last time I felt this was a few months ago, and I had a week of terrible luck after. Is it happening again? He secretly braced himself.
"Forget it, I can't lift it either," Leon said, letting go. He had tried to siphon a bit of Coulson's luck to give himself a boost, but even that wasn't enough. As soon as Leon let go, Coulson felt the sense of dread vanish.
He turned to the curious Bumblebee standing nearby. "Bumblebee, you give it a try. Maybe you can lift it."
"Okay, I'll try!" Bumblebee rubbed his hands together like an excited fly and gripped the hammer. With a mechanical groan of exertion, the ground beneath his feet began to crack, but the hammer remained unshaken. Bumblebee gave up.
Optimus Prime did not immediately try. Instead, he observed the intricate patterns on the hammer's surface. "These are runes," he explained, "a form of magic mastered by Odin, the All-Father. Legend says King Odin sought the Fountain of Wisdom. To gain its knowledge, he sacrificed one of his eyes, then hung himself from the World Tree for nine days and nine nights. Only then did he comprehend the power of the runes." He shifted his position, continuing his observation. "There is an inscription here: 'Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.' It is an enchantment."
Tony and Coulson were both stunned. Tony had heard of Asgard from Optimus, but Coulson was floored. He had never imagined the figures of myth could be real. "Are you talking about Odin from Norse mythology?" he asked in disbelief. "And is this hammer the weapon of Thor?"
"Based on the information here, your understanding is correct, Agent Coulson."
"So that's the catch," Tony interrupted. "Optimus, are you saying that whoever lifts this hammer becomes Thor?"
"That is what the inscription implies," Optimus replied. "I cannot guarantee it."
"This reminds me of King Arthur's Sword in the Stone," Tony mused. "Could it be the same deal? Lift the hammer, get the power, and also become the King of Asgard?"
"I am not Odin. I cannot give you that answer," Optimus said. He then stepped forward and grasped the handle of Thor's hammer, his body sinking slightly as he braced himself. Learning from the others' failed attempts, he chose to gather his full strength before pulling.
As Optimus Prime began to lift, the sky above them suddenly darkened. A jagged bolt of lightning fell from the churning clouds, striking Thor's hammer with a deafening crack of thunder.
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