One more powerful backer

"Why are you here?" Because a certain one-eyed man had refused to reimburse his travel expenses, Coulson had driven his own car all the way here from Tony's house.

He had crossed mountains to get here, yet someone who had left over a day later had somehow reached the destination before him.

"Relax, Coulson. Catch!" Wearing beach shorts and a tank top, Luke lounged leisurely in a deck chair. He pulled a bottle of Coke from the cooler beside him and tossed it to Coulson.

"It'd be a shame not to have an ice-cold Coke in this heat."

Coulson sighed, but he still took a blissful sip of the cold Coke.

"So, did the director send you?" Coulson let out a satisfied burp, feeling a little more refreshed.

"No. Until I join that alliance or whatever, Fury would rather keep absolutely everything from me."

Because of a certain someone's status as a "returnee from overseas," Fury feared he might learn some of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets and wished he could send Luke as far from S.H.I.E.L.D. as possible.

Unfortunately, Luke had his own "sources of intelligence," leaving Fury rather helpless.

"So, is there something unusual here? Something that drew you all the way out here?"

Coulson glanced at the crowd holding a beer party nearby, then at the cold Cokes in his and Luke's hands. He felt they did not fit in at all.

"Look at that!" Luke suddenly sat up, watching the scene nearby with interest.

An old man drove up in a pickup, took a rope into the crater, tied it around the strange meteorite, and happily ran back to his truck.

The pickup's engine roared to life. Its wheels spun and scraped hard against the ground, but it never moved an inch forward.

After a stretch of stalemate, the pickup's bed came clean off, much to everyone's disappointment.

"What kind of meteorite is this?" Coulson walked up curiously, intending to take a good look.

Luke, however, stared straight at the old man driving the pickup.

"Hey, say cheese!"

Luke snapped a picture with his camera, only to discover that the person flashing a peace sign in the photo was someone else.

Luke looked up. The mischievous old man was gone, replaced by the person in the photograph, who was looking his way with a peace sign raised.

"Sly old fox!" Luke put down his camera, lay back down, and happily drank his cold Coke.

After finishing the bottle, Luke got up to grab another, only to discover that one of his cold Cokes was missing and a photograph lay beside them.

Luke picked up the photograph and saw the old man standing behind him, flashing a peace sign as they posed together.

"Not bad. Made me look pretty handsome." Luke gave his satisfied assessment as Coulson approached with a grave expression.

"Do you know what that hammer is?" Coulson recalled the meteorite he had seen in the crater. Hard as it was to believe, he was certain it was a hammer!

The assignment had originally come about because a meteorite recovery organization had reported a meteorite they could not transport. Seeing how long Coulson had been working overtime, Fury had simply handed the matter to him, letting him take a vacation along the way.

But Luke's appearance and the meteorite's strange shape both made Coulson feel there was more to this.

"A meteorite, obviously. What else could it be? Thor's hammer? Why don't you take a look at this photo instead?"

Naturally, Coulson ignored Luke's "nonsense." He leaned over to glance at the photograph in Luke's hand. "Why is it completely blank behind you? Does the meteorite have some strange magnetic field that's affecting your camera?"

Now Coulson could no longer remain calm. If the hammer had a strange magnetic field, could it affect the human body?

Coulson hurriedly called Fury to report everything. Fury immediately made a decision, sending Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. straight over once he heard Luke was there.

After making his report, Coulson returned to the edge of the crater. Watching the burly men competing to pull out the hammer gave him a headache.

Why were these guys trying to pull this thing out when they had nothing better to do? Did they think it was some sword in the lake, and whoever pulled it out would inherit a throne?

Afraid the hammer might have some strange effect on the human body, Coulson hurried to get them to leave. But the burly men refused, and one clearly drunken fellow even pulled out a gun.

Coulson could only move out of the agitated man's sight. What else could he do? Kill them all?

"Could you have your ninjas chase these people away? It could be bad if the hammer affects the human body."

"The hammer does affect the human body, but you have to pick it up first. You can give it a try too. It's a beneficial effect." Luke could not be bothered to chase anyone away. He tried putting the photograph into the Shadow World and found that it was not assimilated. Reassured, he put it away, raised his Coke in a toast to the empty air, and only then answered Coulson lazily. He rather hoped someone would surprise him by picking up the hammer.

Coulson felt rather helpless, but he relaxed after learning that the hammer would not have any real effect on the human body.

Half an hour later, several helicopters flew over. A group of agents spent over ten minutes announcing through megaphones that the meteorite was radioactive before finally driving away the beer-festival crowd.

Coulson breathed a sigh of relief and had the agents try transporting the hammer by helicopter, but even that failed. Digging away the earth beneath it did not work either. Whatever power the hammer possessed had made the soil supporting its weight harder than brick and stone.

Coulson could only direct the agents to establish a base on the spot and set up a perimeter.

Luke was astonished to see the agents build a respectable-looking base in just half an hour. Then he had his ninjas lift him up, chair and all, and set him down in a good spot inside the base.

"You're practically riding in a grand eight-bearer sedan chair." After sending the newly arrived researchers to examine the hammer, Coulson came over to Luke.

Luke shook his head. "How is this an eight-bearer sedan chair? There are clearly only four of them!"

Unable to be bothered with Luke's peculiar viewpoint, Coulson went off to assign tasks to the newly arrived Hawkeye.

Watching the fellow with the bow use his equipment to fly up to a high vantage point, Luke quietly snapped a photo.

Seeing this, Coulson told Luke, "You can't post his photograph online. It'll make future missions difficult for him."

"Don't worry. I'll 'pixelate' it." Luke took several more pictures of the hammer, completely ignoring Coulson's hesitant expression.

Setting down the camera, Luke rose from his deck chair, stretched his limbs, and walked up to the hammer.

"Please move aside." Pushing past the researchers, who dared not voice their anger, Luke grasped the hammer with one hand and tried to lift it, but a force secretly resisted him.

"Interesting." Luke gathered dark energy and suppressed that force, then tried to lift the hammer. All he managed to do was collapse the soil beneath it, leaving the hammer held in midair.

I should be able to try a little more. Luke glanced at the stunned Coulson beside him. His dark energy penetrated Mjolnir and completely suppressed the strange energies inside, and then he raised Mjolnir.

Instantly, the sky darkened. Streams of lightning gathered overhead, occasionally sending a bolt crashing down around the base.

Before Luke could celebrate, the energy he had suppressed suddenly erupted, destroying his dark energy. Unfortunately, Luke still did not have enough dark energy to keep up with the consumption, and Mjolnir broke free of his control.

"Damn it!" Luke felt Mjolnir's weight surge. His feet sank straight into the ground, leaving him no choice but to put the hammer down.

"Whew, that was exhausting." Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but when he opened them, he found himself in a golden space. Before him floated an old man, one eye covered by an eyepatch and the other tightly shut, as though asleep.

"Uh-oh."

Sensing that things were not looking good, Luke tried to enter the Shadow World. But the surrounding energy enclosed him, annihilating his dark energy the moment it appeared.

"Sorry, boss. I was wrong. Next time I'll... never do it again."

Luke instantly surrendered to his instincts. In truth, slipping into the Shadow World would not have helped. The old man before him was on the same level as Ancient One. With a wave of his hand... no, a single punch, he could still destroy Luke.

At least I've grown from an ant into a caterpillar.

But what do I do now?

Luke watched Odin. Odin's eyelid trembled twice before finally opening.

"How dare you!..." Odin abruptly stopped speaking and stared in shock at... something behind Luke.

"It's been a while, God King Odin."

Ancient One's voice came from behind Luke. He looked back and, sure enough, saw a figure in yellow.

"Ancient One, what brings you here?" Odin laughed heartily, as though greeting an old friend.

This humble monk...

"I came for this little fellow."

Ancient One glanced at Luke as she spoke.

Well, that's fine, then. Compared to these two big shots, my age isn't even a fraction of theirs. Luke quietly shrank into a corner, afraid Odin might notice him. Yet at Ancient One's words, Odin frowned and looked straight at him.

"Why?"

Ancient One struck Luke with her palm, sending him flying. It did not hurt him, merely sent him far away, after which she began talking to Odin.

Luke did not dare eavesdrop, lest he hear some secret and get silenced.

After a while, the two big shots finished talking. Ancient One reached out and pulled Luke back over.

Only after returning did Luke notice that, at some point, Ancient One had revealed her dark energy mark. Unlike Dormammu's mark, however, it resembled a mask.

I have to say, that mask looks much better than Dormammu's mark.

Luke silently offered his commentary while standing obediently before the two big shots.

Odin paused for a while without speaking. He turned to glance at Ancient One, who helplessly said to Luke, "Starting today, you'll need to provide God King Odin with sufficient dark energy. Can you do that?"

What's this? A new powerful backer!

Luke hurriedly nodded. This way, the big shot would owe him a favor, making it easier to ask for help later.

After obediently signing an agreement with the big shot, Luke discovered that he had to provide him with nearly a thousand points of dark energy every second.

That was not hard to understand. After all, Odin was exceptionally long-lived even among the already long-lived Asgardian Gods. He frequently entered Odin's Sleep to regulate his energy, so consuming that much energy every second was normal.

Ancient One, on the other hand, had originally been an ordinary person, so he only needed an energy supply when fighting.

Luke breathed a sigh of relief after signing the contract. But then another thought suddenly struck him: Why does Thor's mother look younger than Odin?

Surely Odin didn't rob the cradle and find a stepmother for Thor and his brother, right?

So does that mean Thor's mother could outlive Odin if she didn't die at the hands of the Dark Elves?!!

There was too much beneath the surface here. Luke dared not pursue the thought.

After signing the contract, Odin closed his eye and sensed it for a moment. He opened it again with some pleasant surprise, smiled at Luke, then put on an imposing air and chased him out of the space.

Back in front of the hammer, Luke breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the big shot had let him off, and he should have gained another powerful backer.

Didn't see that coming, Purple Sweet Potato? I've got another big shot on my side.

If you dare come to Earth, I'll give you a taste of something good. What's so tasty about the fruit on your planet anyway?

"What's wrong, Luke?"

Coulson was puzzled as he watched Luke stand motionless with his eyes closed for ages. Why had this guy suddenly frozen? Hadn't he said picking up the hammer brought benefits?

Luke shook his head, then left with a smile.

"I'm going to the town over there for some burgers. Tony's burger chain has even reached this place! I haven't had one in ages. I'll go check it out."

Ignoring Coulson's strange look, Luke simply left.

"He looks happy. Could there really be some benefit?" Feeling puzzled, Coulson looked at the hammer, which had sunk even deeper, shook his head, and told the researchers to continue their examination.

Luke naturally did not care what they thought. He happily skipped into the nearby town. Looking at the small town, he figured that even if he could not defeat that suit of armor when the time came, he could lure it away.

Pah! Odin's on my side now. Why should I be afraid of his armor? I'll stand right in front of that thing and see if it dares to shoot!

Luke walked into the Stark burger chain with a smile, ordered two signature cheeseburgers, and happily dug in.

Meanwhile, within that space, an image hovered before Odin, showing Luke looking like an idiot.

"Is this fellow really reliable?"

"Don't worry. He's enough to stop Ragnarok. His dark energy is of a very high level. It can suppress your eldest daughter."

Ancient One nearly failed to maintain her expression as well. She felt that Luke was becoming increasingly uninhibited and had almost embarrassed her in front of her old friend.

"His energy is indeed very pure, but there's still too little of it. He can't even suppress my runic script."

"Yes, but he grows very quickly, provided he has coordinates for Dark Dimensions. I hope you'll find all the Dark Dimension coordinates you've collected over the next two days and give them to him then. He won't need too many. Afterward, he'll find a way to locate other Dark Dimensions."

Ancient One looked into Odin's single eye and spoke confidently.

"One who watches time must take care not to be controlled by it."

After saying this, Odin spoke no further.