The Deviant leader simply raised its arm and slapped Thor, sending the god flying more than ten meters. Its eyes, gleaming with an eerie light, seemed to be "thinking," as if pondering why this so-called god was so weak.
Too weak. The gains from absorbing him didn't seem worth it.
The Deviant leader strode over to Thor.
Thor staggered to his feet, looking down at the gaping wound across his chest. He drew in a sharp breath. "Very well. You dared to attack the son of Odin. You have successfully angered me!!"
He swung his fist at the Deviant, only for it to block with a claw and squeeze. Thor's hand was crushed instantly.
Crushed. For real.
Thor's eyes turned bloodshot. At his will, the clear sky darkened with heavy clouds. Terrifying thunder rumbled faintly, but in the end, no lightning fell.
Mjolnir remained completely unresponsive.
Thor refused to back down. Even knowing his chances were slim, he glared with crimson eyes and roared, swinging at the creature with his other hand.
Smack!
The Deviant hurled Thor's entire body away. After confirming this was the limit of the god's ability, it finally relaxed. Several fleshy tendrils extended from its body, ready to properly absorb him.
What kind of evolution would come from absorbing a god?
The tendrils were about to reach Thor. The son of Odin, freshly arrived on Earth and not even having touched his hammer yet, was about to die a humiliating death as nothing more than nutrients.
The dark clouds in the sky grew thicker, hanging like a deep black curtain.
"Come on! The son of Odin never yields!!" Thor roared furiously.
Even as an inner voice told him clearly that he was about to die... right here on Midgard.
"Father, Mother, Brother… I may already…" The thought flashed through Thor's mind. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he watched the Deviant's tendrils draw closer and closer.
The life energy inside his body was already slipping away uncontrollably.
"Seriously, I wanted to see what a powerless Thor would do. I didn't expect brute force, but I like the style."
A voice rang out. At the same time, an incredibly muscular figure leaped in from hundreds of meters away, crashing down from above and slamming the Deviant leader into the ground.
That was only the beginning. A massive hand clamped around the Deviant's neck, yanked it out of the crater, and hurled it into the distance. The figure exploded forward with another leap and drove a heavy punch straight into its face.
The flurry of attacks in that brief moment was as swift and ferocious as a storm.
Thor clutched his ruined hand, enduring the agony, and stared in astonishment at the creature that looked strikingly similar to the Deviants as it grappled fiercely with the leader.
"No need to worry. Though the enemy is strong, the warrior I sent won't lose in the short term. Let it enjoy this chance to cut loose. Otherwise, it's always stuck by my side with no real opportunity to go all out."
Adam walked over, carrying an absurdly large backpack. His casual demeanor made it look more like he was on vacation than heading into battle. "It really is hot around here. Quite unpleasant. What do you think, son of Odin? You're sweating."
Thor was completely stunned. This was the first time he had encountered someone who charged in during a life-or-death crisis and then started talking about something completely unrelated to the fight... the weather. Was this some kind of Midgardian custom for making conversation?
Thor steadied himself, feeling the weakness spreading through his body. After a moment of silence, he looked away stubbornly toward his hammer.
No matter who came to kill him or help him, as long as he could reclaim Mjolnir, he would still be the God of Thunder!
But as Thor began staggering forward, Adam moved first. He stood before the hammer, reached out, and placed his hand on it. There was no resistance or discomfort. Everything seemed perfectly natural.
Thor froze.
Coulson, watching through the cameras, and Hawkeye, who had been a fraction of a second from loosing his arrow at the Deviant, both fell silent.
"Director?"
"Stand down. Keep watching. See if Adam can lift it," Coulson ordered after a brief hesitation.
"My hammer…"
Thor opened his mouth, his face flushing red. "That is my hammer!"
"What's the problem with me touching it? It's not like I'm touching your woman. I just want to try."
Adam sounded annoyed. I just saved your life... though I don't know if Odin and the others would have stepped in at the critical moment... and I actually took action. So what if I touch your hammer?
The Deviant leader grabbed the Abomination Xenomorph by the legs, flipped it over, and scrambled back on all fours. Sure enough, Thor still drew it more strongly.
Its charge was powerful and heavy, but just as it closed the final two meters, the Abomination arrived right on time. It seized the Deviant leader from behind by the shoulders and hammered its fist repeatedly into the creature's head.
Each blow was more explosive than a missile detonation, sending out shockwaves that rippled visibly through the air.
Any ordinary person caught in that environment would at best suffer ruptured eardrums and internal injuries.
The two monsters launched into another ferocious melee. Every punch landed solidly, shaking the ground and sending dust flying.
The Deviant leader was clearly shocked by the Abomination's arrival. During the hand-to-hand struggle, it kept extending tendrils to try absorbing the Abomination's life force and genetics, but each attempt was swiftly detected and smashed apart by a fist.
Yet even with the battle raging so close, Thor's tension was focused entirely on Adam... and on the hammer Adam had grabbed.
Boom!
A bolt of lightning tore across the darkened sky, followed by deafening thunder. It sounded like the anger of the gods... or perhaps a reaction to what was about to happen.
Thor held his breath. This man had saved his life and seemed strangely familiar with both him and Mjolnir. Could he really…
Adam's gaze sharpened. He gripped the hammer and pulled upward with sudden force!
Thor's heart skipped a beat. Then, in horror, he saw…
Nothing happened.
The hammer remained rooted to the earth, completely unmoved.
Adam tried again, confirming he truly lacked the "worthiness" to lift it. He released the hammer, straightened up, and clicked his tongue.
"Am I not righteous enough? I was literally thinking about rounding up all the world's vampires to feed my Xenomorphs. Isn't that a noble ideal and aspiration? Doesn't that show my greatness?"
This useless hammer wouldn't recognize him? Fine. Trash hammer. Who needs it?
Still, it might be worth letting the Xenomorphs try... though Adam wasn't sure whether his swarm would receive the hammer's own recognition.
Not being able to lift it was fine. He had briefly considered how awkward it would be for Odin and Thor if some bizarre Thunder God Xenomorph appeared.
No need to worry about that now.
^^^
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