When the Warriors Three and Sif arrived at the royal court, Loki was already seated upon the throne.
He was now the King of Asgard.
Those who shared a deep bond with Thor pleaded with the new king to end Thor's exile and allow him to return to Asgard.
But Loki rejected them with harsh words, "My very first decree as king cannot go against Father's final command."
This led them to consider finding Thor on their own.
The four soon found Heimdall.
Heimdall said he would not disobey the king's orders, yet somehow "forgot" to take away the key to activating the Bifrost, the Uru sword.
Before long, they followed Thor's coordinates and vanished in a blaze of light.
The Warriors of Asgard had defied the king's command and acted on their own, which enraged Loki.
"One by one... what exactly makes Thor better than me?"
He decided to no longer dwell on old ties.
Loki struck the ground with the royal scepter, and in the next moment, the Destroyer armor answered the call and appeared.
As one of Asgard's heavy weapons, Loki immediately issued it an order to hunt down and kill Thor, the God of Thunder.
But there was still one extremely crucial step: persuading Heimdall to open the Bifrost.
As Asgard's "gatekeeper," Heimdall was an all-seeing, all-hearing observer.
His eyes could see through the Nine Realms, his hearing covered the universe, he could even hear grass growing, and his combat power was not to be underestimated.
The meticulous Heimdall had long suspected that the Frost Giants' invasion was Loki's doing.
He followed Loki's presence as it headed toward Jotunheim, yet found that he could see nothing at all.
It was exactly the same as when the Frost Giants had slipped into Asgard right under his nose.
Knowing he was no match for Heimdall, Loki used the Casket of Ancient Winters he had prepared long ago to freeze Heimdall in ice.
From that moment on, control of the Bifrost fell into Loki's hands. He turned his gaze toward the slowly approaching Destroyer, a trace of triumphant satisfaction flashing in his eyes.
———
[Near Puente Antiguo, New Mexico]
This was a desert region in the southwestern United States. Compared to the scorching daytime heat, the nights were much cooler.
Jane had finally brought Thor to the vicinity of where the hammer had landed, what was now S.H.I.E.L.D.'s temporary Site 084.
The base was made up of rapidly deployable military tents, container modules, and temporary fencing, with the meteor crater where the hammer fell at its center.
Around the perimeter were guard towers, searchlights, and armed patrols to keep outsiders away.
"It definitely wasn't a satellite crash. Otherwise, why wouldn't they clear the wreckage? Instead they built a fortress around it."
On a nearby hillside, Jane lay prone on the ground, watching the structures through binoculars and offering her guess.
The night breeze was cool. Beside her, Thor took off his jacket and thoughtfully draped it over Jane's shoulders.
"When I get Mjolnir back, I'll help you take back your stuff. How about it?"
"Not how about it!"
Jane stared at Thor in disbelief, unable to understand where he got the confidence to plan on breaking into such a heavily guarded military base all by himself.
"You really think you can get in there, grab your thing, and come back out safely?"
"No. I'll fly out."
Under Jane's incredulous gaze, Thor lifted his leg and walked off.
———
Inside Site 084, the staff were still working hard to study the hammer's properties. They had discovered that the hammer was constantly emitting some kind of interference, causing nearby electronic equipment to malfunction from time to time.
Not only that, even signals from satellites overhead were being disrupted, unable to penetrate the cloud cover.
Two bolts of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by thunder that seemed to be welcoming something.
At that moment, the staff reported that a passenger plane was about to pass over the base, Southwest Airlines Flight 5434.
Agent Jasper Sitwell casually issued an order, "Have it change course."
Sitwell was only a Level 6 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, yet he had the authority to verbally order a civilian airliner to alter its route at any time.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s power was plain to see.
Suddenly, the computer showed an anomaly on the west side of the fence, and Sitwell decisively dispatched personnel.
When the guards arrived, they found a breach at the bottom of the barbed-wire fence.
As they shined their flashlights to investigate, a figure suddenly appeared beside their patrol vehicle.
A few swift moves from a pair of thick arms knocked the guards down. It was Thor, who had infiltrated the base.
A light rain began to fall from the sky.
Thor casually threw on a dark raincoat and hid in the shadows, trying to move closer to the center of the base. His hammer had to be there.
———
Corin had just sat down not far from the hammer. One minute earlier, he had once again failed to lift it.
This had already become a frequent occurrence over the past few days.
Corin had privately tried using magnetic control on the hammer, attempting to move Mjolnir remotely. After all, it was just a big metal hammer.
But the hammer's complete lack of response, along with that faint yet persistent sense of powerlessness, made Corin realize this method wouldn't work either.
"How do I make it move?"
At that moment, Agent Coulson's radio crackled with a guard's report, "Agent down. We have an intruder!"
Shrill alarms suddenly rang out inside and outside the base, while glaring red lights flashed in every corner.
All guards and agents immediately tensed up, returning to their posts and raising their alertness.
On the hillside, Jane saw that Thor actually dared to cause such a huge commotion. She panicked, ducked into the shadows, and dialed her mentor Erik.
She had snuck out on impulse to come here, never having thought about the consequences at all.
On the phone, she said she had come to the big crater area, and that if she didn't get a response within an hour, he should come to the crater to look for her.
She also apologized for not listening to Erik's advice.
At this moment, Thor had already approached the tented passageway surrounding the crater.
From afar, he looked at the familiar hammer handle, then lifted his head to glance at the sky, where the lightning had clearly grown more frequent.
'Baby, you've been waiting for me a long time, haven't you?'
A happy smile spread across Thor's face.
He then nimbly slipped into the tent passage and efficiently took down a guard.
"Target spotted in the eastern passage."
Agent Coulson immediately gave the order, "Get to the high ground. Bring a gun…"
The scene shifted to a wall covered with weapons of various models.
A pair of strong hands paused briefly over a sniper rifle, then decisively chose one weapon instead, a compound bow.
The figure holding the bow leapt swiftly into a crane's lift basket and rose rapidly into the air.
Corin looked at Agent Coulson beside him, whose expression was grim as if facing a formidable enemy, and comforted him, "Relax, Coulson."
Coulson was highly experienced in handling emergencies and didn't think much of the base being breached. He was just curious about who would dare to provoke S.H.I.E.L.D.
With his free hand, he unconsciously straightened his tie. Hearing Corin's words, his stern expression softened with a hint of reassurance.
Feeling much more at ease, Coulson assumed Corin was comforting him because he planned to deal with the intruder on his behalf.
'Mr. Cockroach really isn't a bad guy…'
If Corin knew what Coulson was thinking at that moment, he would definitely laugh at his imagination.
What he had accepted was clearly an investigative commission.
As for beating someone up, that was a different price altogether.
Corin spoke up to remind Coulson because he knew exactly who was coming. It was Thor, the God of Thunder who had lost his divine power.
Right now, Thor was just an ordinary person, at most a bit stronger and better-looking. But breaking through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s encirclement? That would be truly strange.
So what Corin meant was, 'You can handle this yourselves. No need to panic.'
———
Thor ran into a big guy, even taller and bulkier than himself, blocking his path.
Although he had lost his divine power, his combat skills and fearless will remained.
Even when he was knocked into a messy roll outside, ending up covered in mud, it didn't stop Thor from continuing to gain the upper hand.
A voice came through Coulson's radio, "Give the order, Coulson. I'm almost becoming his fan."
Hawkeye, Clint Barton, had already drawn his bow and taken aim long ago.
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