Marvel: A New God’s Reign

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"Sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all."

― Lawrence Hill, (Someone Knows My Name)

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<(Atem POV)> 

"So, you are saying that my hammer is in there? Guarded by those serious-looking humans?" Thor asked with a happy grin on his face as he looked at the makeshift Shield campsite teeming with armed Shield agents and mean-looking soldiers.

"Okay, maybe this was a bad idea. When I said I wanted to see a magic hammer, I didn't mean that I wanted it to be the last thing I ever saw. Because those men look like they mean serious business, and I don't want to be any part of their business. I am neither a god nor a bulletproof superhero. So, if you guys are thinking of sneaking into a heavily fortified military base filled with suspicious government secret agents, be my guest. But I am not going." Darcy shook her head while taking a few steps back to get her point across. 

We were currently standing near the site where Thor's hammer had previously landed after being thrown away by the All-father. Much like in the movie version, the spot where Mjolnir had landed had been completely sealed off by Shield to keep civilians away so that they could continue to do their tests on the magical weapon. Right now, the area almost looked like a heavily fortified military base rather than part of an uninhabitable desert. 

"My friends, you should wait here. I will retrieve my hammer myself. I am sure I can take on a few humans without any difficulty." Thor remarked with a confident smile on his face as he started to walk towards the camp. 

"Wait, those guys aren't pushovers, Thor. They are well-trained soldiers permitted to kill anyone who tries to interfere with their job. They possess weapons that can kill even the strongest of ordinary humans and as far as I am aware, you aren't too far off from being a mortal right now. You are stronger than most peak humans due to your Asgardian heritage and even have thicker skin than can probably protect you from melee weapons like knives or maybe even some handguns, but you aren't completely bulletproof, and if they decide to use the more dangerous weapons in their arsenal, you are still going to end up dead." I advised with a calm face as I analyzed his physique with my senses.

Despite being stripped of all his godly powers and his weapon, it seemed that Thor still had his Asgardian physique that all average Asgardians possessed from birth which easily put him close to or even superior to an average super soldier. In fact, it almost felt like his royal Asgardian bloodline was being suppressed by some spell rather than being completely absent. My guess was whatever Odin did, it didn't take away his powers but just simply locked them up with the help of some spell that could only be broken when Thor lifted his hammer... At least that was the conclusion I was able to reach from my observations. 

"But I am a mighty Asgardian warrior and the crown prince of Asgard. You underestimate me too much, my friend. I will be called a coward if I can't even fight them." Thor pleaded as he put on his brave and honorable warrior act. 

"And that's exactly why, you can't just go up and fight them. You are the prince of Asgard. If you somehow die at the hands of these Midgardian warriors, it WILL trigger a war between Asgard and Midgard. Also, did you forget what we talked about? You will give me a tour of Asgard and give me an audience with the All-Father in exchange for me taking you to your hammer and opening a portal for you to Asgard." I reminded him. "How are you going to do that while being dead or worse, amputated?"

I wasn't just trying to scare Thor for no reason. I was genuinely worried that some random trigger-happy agent could kill Thor just because he felt threatened by him. No doubt, Thor was an amazing warrior and all but even the greatest of warriors were akin to helpless birds in front of a .450 caliber bullet. Also, if Thor were to die somehow, I wasn't so sure that I could bring him back. I had never tried using my revival ability on Asgardians before. There was a chance that it wouldn't work on them since they had their own heaven and hell called Valhalla and Nifheim as well as their own unique reincarnation system which worked on the concept of Ragnarok.

But just as I hoped, my words seemed to convince Thor to stop his blatant march toward the military base as he pondered the reasoning behind my statement with a thoughtful look on his face.

"So, you have a better solution where he does not get shot by some shady government agents?" This time it was Jane Foster who spoke up as she tried to survey the place through her binoculars

"Yep, I do. I am actually friends with one of these shady government agents... well, calling us friends would be a stretch. You can say that he owes me for something. He is a chill dude; so, we can ask for his help." I stated as I used my telepathy to establish a connection with Phil Coulson inside the camp.

"Of course, you do. See, this is called having connections and playing it smart. Finally, I have an actual intelligent person in my group... by the way, Mr. Atem. I never properly introduced myself, but I am Dr. Erik Selvig, an astrophysicist and author as well as a Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at Culver University." Erik introduced himself before releasing a small cough and continued, "There are rumors that you are connected with an organization that funds scientific research, irrespective of the budget as long as they are unique enough. Maybe we could have a discussion about that once we are done here. You see I am currently involved in very interesting research concerning..." Erik started to explain, revealing the real reason why he even bothered to follow us all the way here despite not being interested in helping Thor or being involved in this adventure at all.

"Not now, Erik. You can beg for funds later. I doubt Atem is interested in hearing about your research right now. We all want to see Goldilocks here lifting a magical hammer, so let us focus on that. God, you really have to learn the right time to bring up boring topics like this." Darcy interrupted with a disappointed shake of her head before taking out a piece of gum from her jacket and throwing it inside her mouth.

"... These people are weird, almost as weird as the ones I generally hang out with," Lorna commented offhandedly, her attention still focused on the temporary Shield base.

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<(Omniscient POV)>

"Oh my!" Phil Coulson who was giving orders to the various Shield agents about their expected responsibilities on the site, suddenly "cursed" with a surprised look on his face. 

"What happened, Phil? Are you feeling unwell? If you still haven't recovered from what happened in your last couple of missions, then you should take a rest for a while. I'll cover for you. I don't think this mission would be very complicated anyway." A middle-aged man wearing a tight purple costume with a bow and a quiver full of arrows on his back responded while trying to pull a strange-looking hammer from the ground.

"Complicated? You have no idea how complicated this just became, Hawkeye. You remember that... God, I told you about? The being that saved Queens from the iron droids and Harlem from the Abomination as well as the one who saved me from an explosion? He is here... He just used some sort of telepathy to contact me and said that he wanted to discuss something. Normally, this would have been great since we could have tried to recruit him or make sure that he is not against humanity, however, if he is here all the way in New Mexico, then it means that whatever he wants to discuss with me must be about this hammer." Agent Coulson explained with a tired sigh.

"Okay, that is slightly concerning." Clint Barton, aka, Hawkeye admitted as he stopped trying to lift the hammer. "But we can't say no, can we? I am pretty sure that Atem is higher on Fury's list of priorities than this hammer that we can't even seem to lift no matter how hard we try. So, even if he wants this, it will still be profitable for us as long as he agrees to ally with us or at least reassures us that he isn't our enemy." Hawkeye deduced. 

"Yes, exactly. However, it would have been better if we could have done some more tests on the hammer to gauge what this thing exactly is and what it can really do... Anyway, he is going to be opening a portal here in a few minutes. He warned me of his arrival in advance because he wanted to appear friendly." Phil replied as he signaled all the guards there to take their positions although he himself had no idea why. After all, they had no hope of stopping Atem even if he turned out to be doing something they didn't approve of. 

"Natasha should have warned us that he is going to be coming here. She is working undercover as a secretary in his company, isn't she?" Hawkeye muttered as he climbed up one of the watchtowers nearby to get to the high ground if a confrontation were to occur. He was confident that he would not be absolutely useless in a fight against Atem. All things considered, he might not have any arrows that could hurt or stop the self-acclaimed god, but he sure did have some that could be used as a distraction if the situation truly came to that. 

Soon, a red portal silently opened, resembling a tear in reality itself, right in front of Phil Coulson, who was calmly standing next to where the hammer had crashed. He just watched with a small smile as Atem and his 5 other companions emerged from the portal with curious looks on their faces.

"That was a lot different than the Bifrost. I didn't feel anything from that trip. Normally, one always gets nauseous the first time one uses the Bifrost. But this was just like walking through a tunnel. It is quite impressive magic especially if one can use this to traverse the nine realms, my friend. I am sure my mother or even my brother would love to meet you and discuss more about this magic if they ever hear of you. They are quite impressive sorcerers themselves." Thor exclaimed with an amused voice before noticing Coulson staring at them with a smile on his face.

But Thor just ignored him as soon as he noticed his hammer beside Agent Coulson, his dear Mjolnir. He had never thought that he would be able to see it ever again after he was banished by his father, but it seemed that he was wrong. The All-Father wasn't that cruel. 

"Aah, my dear Mjolnir. Oh, I had thought that I had lost you. But you haven't abandoned me, have you?" Thor muttered like an obsessive lover as he slowly walked toward the hammer, while lightning thundered above like war drums, the sky gradually darkening, trying to hide a raging storm.

"Am I the only one seeing him flirt with a hammer?" Darcy mumbled to herself with a questioning face.

Agent Coulson on the other hand was mostly quiet as he just tried to make sense of what was happening. The look on my face told him all that he needed to know, and he was content to just observe and mentally note the new pieces of information he was gathering. 

"You were right, Atem... I can lift that hammer with my power. I can feel the metal in it. If I focus enough, I can control it just like any other metal. However, I do not feel any other magical powers or abilities in the weapon, nor do I think I can change the shape of the metal as I normally can. Otherwise, it just feels like any other hammer made of an exceptionally strong metal." Lorna whispered in my ears, validating my hypothesis. 

"Good... very good. This will make the next battle much easier." I smiled before focusing my attention back on Thor. 

Once Thor had reached the magical weapon, he slowly bent down as his hands neared the legendary hammer. "Come to me, my dear Mjolnir. You belong with me for I am the only one WORTHY OF YOU" His words coincided with a heavy and loud lightning strike in the sky like it was daring him to touch the weapon as the God of Thunder grasped the hammer and tried to pull it out towards him with as much strength as he had. 

"... What? W-why wouldn't it move...?" But unfortunately for him, the hammer refused to budge even a single inch from its place.

"All that thunder and lightning for nothing. It seems that his dear weapon is an avid attention seeker." I mumbled to myself with a snicker.

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