POV Rio
I am usually not a fan of torture and don't like inflicting prolonged pain and suffering on others. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't do so if the need arose. Shaw was one such situation. The man was possibly the most twisted and foul soul I had ever had the displeasure of meeting. He was a psychopath straight out of the womb; his first strong memory was of killing a puppy by drowning it in 1763, and he quickly devolved from there. He took immense pleasure from having control over others, and things got far worse once he developed his mutation, which he did during his execution for the murder of at least 3 people they knew about, but he really killed well over 3 dozen by that point.
But it was all over now. Normal means of injury don't work on Shaw, but you see every mutation has limitations; in Shaw's case, he can't absorb magic very effectively, similar to Captain Marvel. But I didn't use magic, as there was an energy source that he cannot absorb at all. The Force. The Force operates as a very strange energy source. It is like a combination of psionic and magic energy, which makes it really effective against others since resistance to it is very rare. Shaw is not very good against magic but is defenceless against psychic attacks, so he can't resist or absorb Force attacks.
Thus I decided to use Force Lightning on him. Now I admit I had spent an uncomfortable amount of time figuring out how to use the technique, but let's be honest: who didn't want to shoot lightning from their hands like Palpatine at least once in their life? It helped that there was a light side version of Force Lightning called Electric Judgement that Nahdar was somewhat familiar with, so I had something to build it off. Another neat feature was that I wasn't restricted to using the Light or Dark Side of the Force; sure, my template knew light-side techniques and knew more about that, but it didn't stop me from using the Dark Side. They're all just sides of the same coin after all.
Was Force Lightning a bit overkill? Maybe. Was it worth the investment? Probably. Did Shaw suffer? Most definitely.
Eventually, Shaw couldn't withstand the lightning and died. With his body then being incinerated as per Erik's request. While I agreed he had some value as a research subject, I felt it was better to let this scum bag be erased from everything possible. The sooner he is forgotten, the better. Though I did also make sure Shaw's soul wouldn't get to move on quite yet. No, instead I gifted his soul to Ghost Rider, who was practically drooling over getting such a sinful soul. Of course, I'm pretty sure he can't actually salivate given his lack of flesh, but then again, he is a very odd existence, so who can say if it is impossible.
Once Shaw was dealt with, I left the last bits of the clean up to either my magic clones or the other Guardians. Especially Tony, seeing as Pepper was getting annoyed that Tony was spending most of his time in the lab. The man practically lived on the Watchtower, and the number of times a fellow Guardian had to remove him from the lab forcibly was far from acceptable. I had half a mind to let Pepper aboard the Watchtower just to help get Tony out without our intervention.
But that was fine for now; I didn't even know what would happen if I revealed Project Harmony to him. I'm a bit scared he might have an aneurysm from sheer excitement. But that could wait for now, as I was making fine progress in that direction without anyone seeing the whole picture. Several people have seen parts of the puzzle, but none of them have brought it all together.
For now, I had bigger fish to fry. Specifically, it seems a certain royal family has come to Earth for their scuffle over the throne. I know because the Watchtower detected a massive energy surge, indicating something similar to the Teleportation Relay we use. And the energy surge landed in New Mexico. Speaking of that state, just to be safe, I checked for Los Pollos Hermanos or anything else that might indicate the Breaking Bad series existed in this reality, but there was nothing there. That's not to say there wasn't a large drug-running business in the state, but that was effectively cleared up thanks to the Guardians' efforts. Illicit substances were a high priority for the Guardians after organized crime fell apart so effectively.
The first spot the Bifrost hit was very clearly where Thor had landed, as I had tracked signs of a car collision to a local hospital. It was there that I found Thor as he was asleep. The second spot was Mjolnir in the crater. Thus, I could say for certain that I was now in the events of the first Thor movie.
However, a few things were drastically changed from the movie, as things couldn't work the same. For starters, the population of the town and surrounding areas is drastically lower than in the movie, as the resource shortage caused a mass exodus from areas that can't be lived in without modern amenities. Power wasn't the issue; it was food and water. Water could be pumped from farther away, but food, food had to be shipped in, often on trucks, but with no gas or gas being so prohibitively expensive, that wasn't feasible. As such, many places had to be evacuated for safety. But on the bright side, housing wasn't much of an issue, as the government stepped in to construct temporary housing, and Wayne Enterprises also helped.
The second major change was the lack of Shield. Since it was disbanded and the MRA took its place, things have changed quite drastically. For starters, they have little to no presence outside of The Box and rarely appear outside of The Box. Then you have the crippling of the fledgling organization when I did my little breakout. As such, there was nobody to control the site of Mjolnir's landing. Not that there was much need to do so, as due to the lack of population nobody came to inspect the crater. Mind you, it wasn't just the lack of a population but also the lack of gas that prevented anyone from going into the desert in the middle of summer. Biofuel is great but still not produced in great enough numbers to meet demand. Only certain people can get their hands on enough for their vehicles, and fewer still will waste it on anything that isn't required.
Now the question became what to do.
'I could start the evacuation early, I suppose. But then again, those that remain here are the most stubborn people, refusing to leave so they may still choose to remain here.'
I consider my options while staring at Mjonir, as that too was a problem I might have to deal with. With the events of the Thor movie possibly going so far off the rails, it was possible Thor may remain on Earth much longer than anticipated.
'Can the Destroyer Armor allow Loki to pick up Mjolnir?'
It seemed like a ridiculous idea, but at the same time, if you consider that the armor is like a remote-controlled robot, it might not be impossible that it could bypass the enchantments. Though that brought up the question of the limitations of the enchantment entirely.
'Could I lift Mjonir? Can it even judge me?'
I didn't know how the enchantment worked, but with my knowledge of magic, I had a few theories. For one, it could rely on a divination spell to determine the alignment of the user. It could also be soul-based, as that is often a good way to tell if someone is a good person. It also brings up a valid question of what "worthy" means. Thor became worthy even after causing the deaths of untold people, many of which innocent. Steve could wield it, but then again, that makes sense to me; Captain America is pretty pure-hearted. But could Spider-Man wield Mjonir? He is even more pure-hearted than Steve, or at least that is what my Unicorn senses indicate.
All the theories distracted me for a while, but eventually I decided the best way to determine was to just try and lift it, so I approached the hammer. I did a quick walk around the hammer to see if I could see anything interesting. But after finding nothing of note, I grabbed the grip of the hammer and started to softly pull.
At first, nothing seemed to happen, and I was getting ready to let go, but I felt a subtle shift in the hammer; it at first became movable, then fell down again and seemed to constantly shift between movable and immovable. Then the hammer started to heat up and vibrated erratically. Rather than keep going, I let go and moved a distance away. I was pretty sure the enchantments were coming apart, and that was not a good thing, as that usually results in an explosion of both the magic making up the enchantment and the item that was enchanted. And I was not interested in finding out if Earth or I could survive that.
"Who goes there?" asks a voice from nearby.
I look over and see a ghostly apparition of an old man with a fancy set of armor.
"I cannot see who is present, but I ask you to stop messing with the enchantments of Mjolnir, or it could cause a catastrophe that this world may not survive," warns the man.
At first, I was confused as to who I was speaking to or why they couldn't see me, but I quickly put the puzzle pieces together and figured out a likely suspect of who I was speaking to.
"Am I speaking to Odin the Allfather?" I ask.
He looks in my direction but still seems unable to see me.
"Yes, am I speaking with a sorcerer of Kamar Taj?" Odin asks.
"No, I have no relation to them; I am Rio Pines," I answer.
"Pines... Pines, that sounds familiar," Odin says absent-mindedly.
I wait for him to finish his thought.
"Ah! The Pines family, then you are related to Gaia Everfree. May I ask what the Lady of the Woods is doing here so far from a forest of any kind?" Odin asks more politely.
"I'm pretty sure my mother doesn't even know I am here," I answer honestly, as I could see Odin's nature or soul, and I had a strong feeling he was far calmer than you might expect given his status.
"Mother? She had a son? It seems I haven't visited in far too long if something as monumental as a nature spirit's birth escaped my notice. But I must ask what you are doing here?" Odin asks.
"I am one of the protectors of Earth and was investigating the use of a long-range teleportation device on Earth. Given Earth's history of attracting the wrong kind of attention, I felt it prudent to investigate the dangers of the new visitors," I answer honestly.
"Guardian, ah, you must mean that team of Midgardians, the Guardians of the Globe. Yes, I can see why you came here. It seems I also underestimated the level of technology you possess. Now the question becomes: now that you understand the situation, what will you do?" Odin asks.
"I can allow Thor to remain on Earth in exile. However, you surely understand that if people learn of his presence, it may attract more attention to Earth, especially of the alien kind. Which means more work for us," I explain.
"I suppose you have a fair point. What do you want in exchange for not interfering in Thor's presence on Midgard?" Odin asks.
"Oh, you see, I think I have quite the offer for you," I say with a happy tone, as this was exactly what I was hoping for.