Your Hammer's Out of Charge. Want Me to Recharge It?

Night fell, and rain poured down in torrents.

Thunder rumbled over the deserts of New Mexico, as if answering the wrath of some god.

The barbed-wire fence around the temporary S.H.I.E.L.D. base was violently torn apart. A burly man with long blond hair and a mud-caked T-shirt charged through the agents like an enraged beast.

"Stop him! Hurry!"

The agents shouted one after another, but although the burly man had lost his divine power, he still possessed the formidable physique and combat skills of an Asgardian. Shoulder throws, elbow strikes, charges—the well-trained agents were like toddlers who had only just learned to walk before him.

Standing on high ground and watching, Tony Stark took off his sunglasses and whistled.

"Whoa, who's this guy? A WWE champion? Those muscles are only a little worse than mine."

"That's Thor."

Jiang Li leaned against the railing with a can of cola in hand, watching the man roaring in the mud. "Or rather, the former God of Thunder."

"Thor?" Tony snorted. "The one from Norse mythology? Come on, Jiang, we're scientists, not fairy-tale readers."

As they spoke, Thor had already knocked down the last agent standing in his way.

He was soaked to the bone, his face covered in mud, but fanatical hope burned in his blue eyes.

He saw the hammer.

That was his Mjolnir. That was the power his father had left him.

"I am... Thor!!"

Thor roared and rushed into the crater, grabbing the hammer's handle.

At that moment, everyone held their breath.

Coulson's finger rested on the trigger, Hawkeye drew his bow to its limit atop the control tower, and Tony's mechanical arm had already finished charging.

Thor smiled confidently.

As long as I lift it, I can become Thor again. I can return to Asgard!

"Up!"

He pulled with all his strength.

One second passed.

Two seconds passed.

Rainwater streamed from Thor's blond hair into his eyes, but the smile on his face froze.

It did not move an inch.

The hammer seemed as though it had grown from the ground.

"No... that's impossible..."

Thor panicked. He gripped the handle with both hands and used every ounce of strength in his body. The mud beneath his feet was churned to pulp, veins bulged on his neck, and a beastlike growl rumbled from his throat.

"AAAAAHHH!!"

The hammer remained coldly where it was, offering no response at all. Not even a spark emerged to comfort its former master.

"Father..."

Thor's strength gave out. He let go in despair and collapsed into the mud, looking up at the thunderstorm-filled sky as he let out a desperate howl.

"Why... why have you abandoned me?!"

At that moment, a god's pride was utterly shattered.

"That's rough."

Tony shook his head, the amusement gone from his eyes. "Looks like he really is just a lunatic. Coulson, have someone cuff him."

"Wait."

Jiang Li crushed the empty cola can in his hand and casually tossed it into a trash bin. "The show's only just begun. Tony, do me a favor—tell the agents not to move. I'm going to have a chat with him."

"A chat? With a lunatic?"

"No, with a power bank that lost its battery."

Jiang Li adjusted his collar and walked down the slope into the crater.

Thor was kneeling in the mud, his eyes lifeless, like an empty shell that had lost its soul. Even when Jiang Li came up beside him, he showed no reaction.

"Hey, buddy."

Jiang Li crouched down and looked at the legendary hammer of Thor. "This your precious thing? Doesn't seem very obedient."

Thor raised his head, his gaze hollow. "Mortal... you don't understand. I am unworthy... I am no longer worthy to possess it."

"Whether you're worthy or not is for your dad to decide."

Jiang Li stood up and pressed his left hand against the Omnitrix on his chest. "But the energy field around this hammer seems a little too strong. Maybe its charge overloaded, so it locked itself?"

"What?" Thor did not understand.

"Watch closely, blondie."

A wild smile curled across Jiang Li's lips. His fingers spun the dial rapidly, locking onto the brand-new icon he had just unlocked.

"Since you can't pull it out, I'll help it... blow off some steam!"

"It's hero time!" Black light erupted in an instant. This time, the transformation effect was no longer green or red, but an incomparably deep black streaked with flickering golden arcs of electricity."

Black light erupted in an instant!

This time, the transformation effect was no longer green or red, but an incomparably deep black streaked with flickering golden arcs of electricity.

When the light faded.

A slender black alien stood in the rain.

He had a single enormous green eye, two long plug-like antennae sticking up from his head, metal plugs at the tips of his fingers, and a cable-like tail behind him.

"Feedback!"

"What the hell is that now?" Tony stared blankly from the platform. "A lightning rod with a tail? Or an electrical outlet that came to life?"

Jiang Li, now Feedback, flexed his fingers, producing a crackling burst of electricity.

He could feel it.

The hammer before him contained an immense energy so vast it was suffocating. It was the Odinforce, the law of thunder, one of the purest sources of energy in the universe!

"Delicious..."

Jiang Li extended both hands, pressing the plugs at his fingertips directly onto Mjolnir's surface.

"I'll drain you dry!!"

BOOM—!!

The instant they made contact, the previously silent hammer of Thor suddenly began to tremble violently!

It sensed a threat!

Dazzling blue lightning burst from the hammer, trying to blast this intruder away. But that was exactly what Feedback wanted!

"Perfect!"

Madness flashed in Jiang Li's lone eye.

Feedback's ability was to absorb any form of energy in the entire universe and convert it into his own power! He could even catch the Big Bang, so what was this little bit of Thor's power?

"Bzzzt bzzzt—!!"

Terrifying lightning surged wildly through Jiang Li's fingers and into his body.

The two antennae on his head shone to their brightest, while the tail behind him lashed through the air like a whip, throwing sparks with every strike.

"AAAAAHHH!!"

Jiang Li let out a long, blissful howl.

It was too immense! This energy was purer than any electricity he had ever absorbed before!

Beside him, Thor, whose heart had been utterly crushed, was completely dumbfounded.

What was he seeing?

A black monster was actually... violating Mjolnir's lightning?

"Stop! That's my hammer!!" Thor tried to pounce forward, only to be blasted away by the escaping current.

"It's my power bank now!"

Jiang Li increased the suction.

The hammer of Thor, once gleaming silver and constantly radiating pressure, now had its runes beginning to dim. Its former lofty divine radiance was being violently drained away!

[System Notification: Absorbing high-dimensional energy (Odinforce fragment).]

[Energy Reserve: 200% (Overload State)!]

"Burp—"

Three minutes later.

Jiang Li suddenly released his hands and let out a belch that crackled with sparks.

He felt like a balloon about to explode. Every cell in his body was spitting out lightning.

As for the hammer on the ground, although it was undamaged, its surface had turned dull and gray, like a scrap of useless metal thrown by the roadside. It no longer possessed any of its former splendor.

"Whew... that really packs a punch."

Jiang Li glanced at Thor, who was staring in stunned silence, then grinned, revealing sharp teeth flickering with electrical arcs.

"Buddy, your hammer's out of charge. Try again now. Maybe it'll be lighter?"

After saying that, Jiang Li raised a hand and pointed one finger at the sky.

"Thanks for the meal. Now, I'll give it back to you!"

RUMBLE!!!

An unimaginably thick pillar of lightning, mixed with gold and blue, shot from Jiang Li's fingertip. It pierced straight through the heavy rain clouds and blasted into outer space!

In that instant, the night sky over all of New Mexico was illuminated as brightly as day!

Asgard, Golden Palace.

Although Odin was asleep, Loki, temporarily occupying the throne, sat upon it with Gungnir in hand, observing Earth.

When he saw that pillar of lightning shooting into the heavens, along with the black alien that had sucked Mjolnir dry into "scrap metal," the usual wicked smile on Loki's face froze instantly.

"What kind of monster is that?"

Loki tightened his grip on Gungnir, a hint of wariness and killing intent flashing through his eyes.

"No mortal can wield such power... It will threaten my plan."

He turned to look toward the end of the Bifrost.

"Destroyer," Loki ordered softly. "Go to Earth. Kill Thor. And while you're there... crush that black bug for me."