No one knew that Anton was currently locked in his room, staring at himself in the mirror with a peculiar expression.
Don't misunderstand—the reflection still showed a man.
He was giving himself a pep talk.
"The movie did great. A female superhero with long legs and a large chest has attracted plenty of male fans. Wonder Woman fan count has exceeded 30 million and can be redeemed at any moment…"
Anton mused, yet he hesitated to confirm the redemption.
He just couldn't bring himself to do it.
It wasn't about wearing women clothing.
Creating a female superhero persona wouldn't mean cross-dressing—it would mean a full-on gender transformation, turning him from a man into a woman.
Changing one gender was an unprecedentedly novel experience for anyone.
It was like those transformation stories he'd read in his previous life, where a guy wakes up as a girl and immediately thinks about checking themselves out in the bathroom...
Right now, Anton was already in the bathroom.
"Forget it. Sooner or later, this day would come," he muttered, taking a deep breath and steeling himself to confirm the exchange.
Ring, ring, ring!
The sudden ringing of his phone interrupted his thoughts, breaking his focus.
Anton picked up his phone and glanced at the caller ID, his expression shifting to one of surprise.
"Hello, this is Anton."
"Coulson? Whenever I get a call from you, I always feel like I'm about to be dragged into some trouble," he quipped.
"Anton, S.H.I.E.L.D. needs your help," Coulson voice said on the other end of the line.
That sentence didn't surprise Anton at all.
The next day.
A private jet landed at Albuquerque International Sunport in New Mexico.
Anton stepped off the plane and spotted Coulson waiting by a helicopter nearby.
Coulson waved him over, and Anton boarded the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter.
Whirrrrr!
The rotor blades spun rapidly, lifting the helicopter into the air as it headed toward Puente Antiguo.
Inside, the noise of the helicopter was loud, and Anton and Coulson exchanged only a few words before waiting until they reached the site to talk in detail.
"Up ahead is our base. Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor, is at the center of the crater," Coulson explained as they approached.
Leading Anton to the edge of the crater, he pointed to the hammer and continued,
"This hammer is made of an unknown material, but we've confirmed it not of Earthly origin.
Through our research, we've identified it as Mjolnir, the weapon of Thor from Norse mythology—or as some might say, Zeus."
"Looks like you've been busy," Anton replied with a calm demeanor, his face and gaze as still as a tranquil lake, betraying no surprise.
Coulson instincts flared.
It was clear Anton wasn't caught off guard—he had anticipated this. Perhaps, as Coulson suspected, Anton had foreseen this exact situation.
As Batman representative, Anton was full of secrets.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had no way to uncover these mysteries and could only let the Justice League operate as it wished.
As long as they didn't cross certain lines or break established rules, S.H.I.E.L.D. had no authority to interfere.
The Justice League, having gained favor with the U.S. military through the Transformers incident, had struck agreements with key figures like Secretary of Defense John Keller.
They had entered the upper echelons of the U.S. government and gained a level of official recognition, bypassing the need for U.N. approval.
From this perspective, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Justice League were now operating on the same tier within U.S. borders.
Neither could command the other.
"In addition to Mjolnir, we encountered someone who claimed to be Thor, the God of Thunder—or, in Greek mythology, Zeus," Coulson added.
"Hm?"
Anton composed expression finally cracked.
Thor was Thor—how did he suddenly become Zeus?
He was baffled. Was there another random movie messing with this world logic?
"Based on our assessment, the Norse God of Thunder, Thor, might actually be the same as Zeus from Greek mythology,"
Coulson explained, noting Anton reaction and silently savoring the rare moment of Anton appearing out of the loop.
He continued, "The man claiming to be Thor admitted as much. While we're still skeptical of his identity, we're fairly certain he has a connection to Mjolnir."
"There no need to doubt it," Anton said after a moment of thought. "I can confirm the man you've detained is indeed Thor, the God of Thunder."
"How can you be so sure?" Coulson asked.
"You've spent days on this. Surely, you've gathered plenty of information and intelligence without needing me to spell it all out, right?"
Anton gave Coulson a faint, knowing smile.
Coulson fell silent.
Anton was right—S.H.I.E.L.D. had combed through their records and gathered significant intel by now.
Following Thor trail, they had traced him to a research team investigating weather and astronomical phenomena.
The team included Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, and Darcy Lewis.
Darcy was, without question, the least remarkable—a classic sidekick.
But Jane Foster, a young astrophysicist, and Erik Selvig, an experienced physicist and astronomer, were of a different caliber.
Both had the credentials to join S.H.I.E.L.D. as part of their external advisory team.
Especially Selvig.
Through S.H.I.E.L.D. investigation, they discovered that Erik Selvig once had a close friend named Bruce Banner.
After Banner went missing, Selvig left his research institute job and transitioned to a quieter life as a university professor.
Questioning the trio of researchers—Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, and Darcy Lewis—revealed key details Thor had appeared during a storm, seemingly emerging from it and crashing down in front of their car, leading them to initially think they had hit him.
Their evidence included meteorological monitoring equipment mounted on their car and astronomical images they captured.
While chasing the storm across the barren landscape, they unexpectedly encountered Thor.
They even managed to photograph Thor standing amidst the storm.
The captured moment showed the night sky transforming—displaying constellations seemingly from an entirely different universe.
Coulson was deeply familiar with this phenomenon.
Having witnessed the teleportation technology during the alien incursion in New York, he suspected Thor might have been transported to Earth through some form of advanced technology—or perhaps even magic.
This seemed to be… exile?
When Coulson broached the idea of exile with Thor, it struck a nerve. Thor flew into a rage, refusing to communicate further.
From this reaction, S.H.I.E.L.D. deduced why Thor had come to Earth.
Despite reaching these conclusions, S.H.I.E.L.D. still felt compelled to involve Anton due to lingering concerns about Mjolnir and Thor brother, Loki.
The fact that Loki, the God of Mischief, had easily infiltrated their base made Coulson uneasy.
The main cause of their unease stemmed from Wonder Woman, Anton movie.
S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't help but correlate the Godkiller weapon with Mjolnir and associate the God of War, Ares, with Loki—similar to how Thor corresponded to Zeus.
If Loki harbored hostility toward this world, he would pose an enormous threat.
From every angle, trusting Thor was a gamble.
S.H.I.E.L.D. trusted themselves more.
Anton, as a member of the Justice League, maintained a tenuous connection to S.H.I.E.L.D. While not entirely one of their own, he was far more reliable than the so-called gods.
This was why S.H.I.E.L.D. had brought Anton to Puente Antiguo.
Anton, however, wasn't interested in these details.
He had come to Puente Antiguo solely because of what he knew was coming: the Destroyer.
The Destroyer was a superweapon—an indestructible suit of armor forged by Odin himself using the mystical metal Uru.
It could annihilate any known material and operated autonomously or under external control.
But for Anton, that wasn't the key point.
According to the storyline, Loki would send the Destroyer to Earth to kill Thor.
At that critical moment, Thor would regain his powers and defeat the Destroyer.
Anton had no intention of letting Thor have that opportunity.
Or rather, it didn't matter whether Thor regained his powers.
What was the Destroyer to Anton?
A massive source of Justice Points!
Defeating the Destroyer—an ultimate weapon crafted by Odin—would yield an incredible amount of Justice Points.
Just imagining it made Anton feel like he'd hit the jackpot.
Initially, Anton hadn't planned on interfering with the original storyline. But now, with the Destroyer in the equation, things were different.
But it wasn't until Anton received S.H.I.E.L.D. invitation and gave it some thought that he realized: why let an opportunity go to waste?
This wasn't about him deliberately interfering with the storyline.
It was more like they were practically begging for his help.
"We've indeed confirmed Thor identity," Coulson said with a nod.
"Since you trust our intelligence, I won't hold back. Anton, we brought you here to ask: what does the God of War, Ares, represent in your Wonder Woman movie?"
"…What?"
Anton froze, utterly confused.
"I mean," Coulson patiently repeated, "if the Godkiller weapon represents the hammer in the crater, then what does the God of War, Ares, represent?"
"The God of War… Ares…"
Anton mind spun. He realized that Coulson seemed to have overanalyzed things to the point where even he, the creator of the movie, felt lost.
Had he accidentally misled S.H.I.E.L.D. into a completely different direction?
"Thor enemy is…"
Anton thought for a moment and decided to steer the conversation back to the actual storyline while subtly shifting the concept.
"His enemy would be Loki, the God of Mischief, Loki."
To Anton surprise, Coulson wasn't shocked by this revelation. Instead, he wore an expression of grim understanding, as if this had been his suspicion all along.
"Of course… That makes sense…"
Coulson face grew serious as he contemplated this further. "Anton, we may not have much time left!"
"Huh?"
Anton was dumbfounded. "What now?"