Tony Stark's seaside villa.
"Director Fury, what is it this time?" Tony asked as he lounged back on the sofa, raising the glass of liquor in his hand.
Nick Fury took out a file. "There's something I want you to take a look at."
Tony set the glass down, sat up straight, and glanced at the contents on the file's cover."An evaluation report on me? A report written by Agent Natasha?
That actually does pique my interest.
But you should know—I don't like taking things handed to me by others."
"Fair enough." Nick shrugged and placed the file on the table.
Tony flipped through the report."The observations and evaluation of me are fairly accurate.
So what exactly is this 'Avengers Initiative' mentioned at the end?"
Nick shook his head. "I don't think you're ready yet. For now, we only plan to hire you as a consultant to S.H.I.E.L.D."
"A consultant?" Tony spoke with mild displeasure. "Can you even afford me?"
"Tony, you know very well that all kinds of supernatural incidents are appearing more and more frequently.
Including the Bugster virus, and all sorts of strange phenomena—these things are bound to cause greater and greater harm.
S.H.I.E.L.D. exists specifically to deal with such supernatural events. We need a consultant reliable enough."
......
New Mexico.
Coulson looked at the hammer lying in the massive crater in the desert before him and contacted Nick Fury.
"Director, we've found it. It's a hammer."
"A hammer?" Nick replied. "Whatever it is, secure and isolate it first. Conduct thorough research and testing."
"Yes, Director."
That hammer was naturally the hammer that Odin, the All-Father of Asgard, had thrown to Earth along with Thor—the hammer of the God of Thunder.
Thor's coronation ceremony had been interrupted by Frost Giants who secretly infiltrated Asgard. Enraged, Thor wanted to declare war on the Frost Giant race of Jotunheim.
Although Odin stopped him, under Loki's subtle provocation and encouragement, Thor took several of his comrades along with Loki and went directly to Jotunheim. When they were surrounded and trapped, Odin brought them back to Asgard.
Odin truly could no longer tolerate Thor's recklessness. The power of Asgard, drawn from the World Tree, was growing stronger and stronger, and Odin himself did not have much time left.
Yet seeing how immature Thor still was, waiting for him to gain true self-understanding, awaken the power of laws, become a true god, and inherit the power of Asgard—who knew how long that would take?
Odin could no longer simply wait and let things take their course. He made a hard decision: sealing all of Thor's divine power and exiling him, together with Mjolnir, to the relatively safer Earth for a trial.
He hoped that through this trial, Thor would reflect on himself and change.
If Thor could take a single decisive step—achieve self-realization, cast off his reliance on Mjolnir, and awaken his own laws—then that would of course be the best possible outcome, a perfect score for the trial.
Odin could then retire smoothly and enjoy his old age.
Even if Thor couldn't directly become a true god, as long as he adjusted his mindset and regained the qualification to wield Mjolnir through his own efforts, that would still count as a passing grade.
......
"Mjolnir, the Destroyer armor—both are good things," Dan said in a deep, thoughtful tone.
However, at this moment, Mjolnir absolutely had emergency safeguards left behind by Odin. When Thor encountered danger, it would certainly respond.
Even if Earth was relatively safe, no matter how carefree Odin might seem, it was impossible for him to exile Thor without any protective measures at all.
After all, this was meant to be a trial for his son—it wasn't possible that Odin would truly allow Thor to die during the trial.
There had to be preventative measures, like the safety rope used when rock climbing.
And those measures could almost certainly be embedded in Mjolnir.
Perhaps at other times, those who were qualified to lift Mjolnir could use its power freely, like Captain Steve Rogers.
But right now, that was probably not possible.
"And strictly speaking, Mjolnir isn't even Asgard's true top-tier divine artifact.
It's merely a tool used to assist Thor in wielding the power of thunder before he awakens his own law-based power.
On the other hand, the Destroyer is an armor forged by Odin to combat the Celestials.
It carries blessings and protections from the gods of Earth's various pantheons, including quite a few true gods who have mastered laws.
If it were possible to collect and analyze some of that power, we could certainly decipher quite a number of laws."
"Why not just snatch both of them outright?" Azu said with a devilish grin.
"Using force should be the last resort. Making enemies for no reason isn't a wise choice," Izu shook her head.
"Indeed, there's no need to turn Asgard directly into an enemy. I still want to obtain a star map from Asgard," Dan said with a faint smile.
Once he obtained the Space Stone and analyzed the laws of space, he would naturally be able to freely traverse space and travel the universe.
But the universe was vast beyond measure—one couldn't just teleport at will, or who knew where they might end up.
Thus, a detailed star map was required as a reference to accurately teleport to the desired destination and complete one's plans.
Such as seizing the Power Stone, helping Star-Lord dispose of his father Ego's remains, or even searching for other treasures and powerful beings—like Galactus.
Accurate star charts were something only relatively powerful interstellar civilizations possessed.
Asgard, which had once conquered the Nine Realms and struck fear across the stars, was naturally the most suitable target for contact at present.
......
"Mr. Pierce, the other leaders in the organization seem very interested in Ivan Vanko. Do we need to plan an operation to snatch Ivan from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands?" asked one of Pierce's subordinates, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent loyal to him, inside Pierce's office.
Pierce narrowed his eyes slightly and shook his head.
"Ivan is being watched very closely by Nick. If we take a risky action, there's a high chance Nick will notice our existence. The losses would outweigh the gains.
I think it's better to wait and see. After all, we have people everywhere inside S.H.I.E.L.D. If Nick really does obtain Ivan's technology, we'll have plenty of ways to get our hands on it.
There's no need to take unnecessary risks."
After all, Pierce wasn't stupid. Rescuing Ivan and handing him over to Hydra would, for Pierce himself, amount to nothing more than switching something from his left hand to his right—and the results would be shared by all of Hydra.
If the other Hydra leaders wanted the technology, they would have to come to him and pay a price.
"Investigate who that guy just now was sent by. Keep a close eye on him in the future," Pierce said coldly after the agent left, taking out a communicator to give the order.
"Yes."
"By the way, what's the situation with Sitwell?"
"Agent Coulson has found a hammer that fell from the sky in New Mexico.
The material is extremely unusual.
It's suspected not to be of Earthly origin. At present, the relevant researchers haven't reached any useful conclusions," came the reply through the communicator.
"Tell Sitwell to keep observing. If Coulson makes any progress, report it immediately," Pierce nodded.
(End of chapter)