Chapter 25:
The KFC manager nearly had a heart attack when the Quinjet landed right outside the restaurant.
Everyone inside – staff, customers, the whole lot – stared in disbelief as a bunch of suited-up agents with sunglasses marched off the jet. They burst through the doors with serious expressions.
"Um... sir..." the manager stammered, his mind racing. He wondered if one of his employees was secretly hiding a nuclear bomb in the fryer. "Is there... anything... uh... I can help you with?"
"Do you have something called 'Crazy Thursday' here?" one of the agents asked.
"..."
The Quinjet took off and headed back to the desert, leaving behind a very relieved manager and a bunch of customers who'd just gotten a free show.
"Here's your chicken," Fury said, handing Mark the bag with a frown. "Care to explain what's going on now?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. works fast," Mark said, grabbing the bag and sitting cross-legged on the gold block. He munched on a drumstick. "Remember to get me that meteorite. I need that."
"Agent Barton already located it. Should be here in half an hour," Fury said, trying not to explode.
"Good," Mark said. He saw Fury getting impatient and decided to throw him a bone. "I did go back to my world, by the way. Didn't do anything shady. As for that hammer... you might want to ask Odin about that."
"Wait..." Fury couldn't hold back anymore. "Who did you say?"
"Odin," Mark said, chewing on a chicken wing.
"..." Fury stared at Mark for a long moment, then took a deep breath. "If you don't want to tell me, just say so..."
"I'm serious!" Mark said. "Odin dropped that hammer. You know, Mjolnir, Thor's hammer? Made of uru metal, used by the god of thunder..."
"What are you trying to say?" Fury asked, his voice rising. "Are you saying those myths are real? That those gods actually exist?"
"What else would I be saying?" Mark spread his hands. "Where do you think I got that Golden Apple?"
"Huh?" Fury was taken aback.
"Come on, man, you've seen crazier stuff. Captain Marvel, for example. You can't be surprised by this." Mark continued. "You should know by now, Earth isn't alone. Think of it this way: those Norse gods are actually aliens who visited Earth a long time ago. Get it?"
"You mean..." Fury's eyes widened.
"Bingo. Aliens are here," Mark said with a grin, taking another bite of chicken. "Let's see how you handle this."
"What do they want?" Fury felt a chill. "Are they going to invade? What are they capable of?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
Mark kept eating his chicken, ignoring Fury.
"..."
Fury was fuming. Aliens were about to invade, and Mark was just sitting there eating KFC. Had he lost his mind?
But he held his tongue. That gold block was a powerful motivator. Plus, he needed a favor. He took a deep breath, turned to an agent, and gave him an order.
A few minutes later, the agent returned with a glass of ice-cold cola.
"Here," Fury said, handing the cola to Mark with a forced smile. He gritted his teeth. "Goes well with fried chicken, right?"
"Huh?" Mark was surprised. He looked up at Fury's expression and burst out laughing. "Do you need some blood pressure meds? Your veins are bulging... Aren't you going to drop an 'oh my goddamn motherf***er'?"
"Has anyone ever told you you're really good at pushing people's buttons?" Fury glared at him.
"I've mastered the art of making people die of anger," Mark said.
"You..."
"Okay, okay, I'll stop." Mark took a long sip of cola. "Don't worry too much about this. The gods have their own problems to deal with. It won't affect us much."
"But that hammer..."
"If you know anything about Norse mythology, you know Earth is the center of the Nine Realms. Midgard," Mark said. "It's basically Asgard's living room. When families fight, they might break a vase or the TV. Nobody throws a nuke in their own living room during an argument."
"That's a...childish analogy," Fury frowned, not disagreeing. "How do you know all this? Some kind of prophecy? Is that why you needed Captain America's shield?"
"It's a transcendent prophecy," Mark shrugged, playing it up. "Like the Eye of Fate. I can see what's happening in other worlds and timelines. But you're a Muggle, so you wouldn't understand."
"So what do we do?" Fury was still skeptical, but he couldn't find any flaws in Mark's logic. "Just let these gods do whatever they want?"
"What do you want me to do? Stop you?" Mark retorted. "I'm here to fund S.H.I.E.L.D., not clean up your messes... Besides, even if I told you what to do, would you believe me? Is the great Nick Fury the type to rely on prophecies?"
"You have a point," Fury said, nodding. He seemed to have come to a decision.
"First things first, let's seal off this area." Fury was a man of action. He barked out orders, and soon, the crater was swarming with government personnel. A team of scientists rushed in to study the hammer.
Just then, a man with a bow and arrow approached.
"Sir, we found the meteorite."