Absurd beyond belief

At the sight of the blonde woman before him, Mercer stood stunned for a long moment before speaking.

"You know me?"

Realizing that he actually knew her name, Thor nodded. The strange look on his face left her puzzled.

This world is beyond absurd!

Mercer ranted inwardly. Thor, the God of Thunder in this world, was actually a woman!

And a very beautiful woman at that. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, with her hair falling loosely over her shoulders. Her Norse mythological attire accentuated every curve of her figure.

Mercer had already prepared himself for the possibility that this world's Thor might be a temperamental man, but he had never imagined that she would actually be a woman.

Still, with Carter being Captain America as a precedent, Mercer did not remain shocked for long. After a short while, he came back to his senses.

"I'm a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., stationed here specifically to guard this hammer," Mercer said evenly. "Your brother stopped by not long ago."

"Loki? Why would he come here? Are you all right?"

Concern appeared on Thor's face, and she hurried over to look Mercer up and down.

As she approached, a fragrant breeze drifted over. It did not smell like any perfume from Earth; it was probably something from Asgard.

Her concern made Mercer uncomfortable enough to retreat a few steps. After all, the change from a burly Norse man to a beautiful Norse woman was still a little hard for him to accept.

Carter was a character who already existed. She had merely taken Steve Rogers's place as Captain America, so Mercer had not found that particularly difficult to accept.

But Thor was different. This was an outright gender swap, from Thor to Mighty Thor, and... she had turned out quite beautiful.

Originally, the only woman in Marvel whom Mercer had considered particularly beautiful was Wanda, the Scarlet Witch. Now, though, the most beautiful woman had to be the female Thor standing before him.

A thousand years of warfare had sculpted Thor's body, leaving her full where she should be full and slender where she should be slender.

A stunning beauty like her would go viral on social media within a day of appearing in the mortal world. Even Victoria's Secret models paled in comparison.

"I'm fine. Nothing important happened. He's already gone back to Asgard, though."

As he spoke, Mercer raised both hands in a stopping gesture, signaling for Thor not to come any closer.

His behavior struck the two women who had accompanied Thor, the astronomer Jane and her friend and assistant Daisy, as rather odd.

Even they had marveled at how stunningly sexy Thor was, yet the young man before them seemed completely uninterested.

"Jane, this guy is really handsome," Daisy whispered, nudging Jane with her shoulder.

"I can see that, but we're not here to pick up young guys. Business first."

Despite saying that, Jane could not help letting her gaze linger on Mercer's face.

Even with his Asian features, Mercer's looks easily ranked among the finest of men. He turned quite a few heads.

"You didn't come here to interrogate me about my life, did you? Why don't you try lifting the hammer first?"

Seeing that Thor wanted to ask him something else, Mercer brought them back to the matter at hand.

"Oh," she said with a nod, then walked toward the hammer in the middle of the tent and grabbed it with one hand, giving it a tug.

It did not budge.

Thor's expression suddenly darkened. She added her other hand, her face twisting slightly with effort.

But no matter how hard she pulled, the hammer did not move an inch.

After several attempts, Thor stood off to the side, looking dejected. "I really have lost my Divine Power..." she sighed.

"Is it really that hard to lift? Let me try!"

Watching Thor strain without managing to pull it up had already left Daisy itching to try.

The moment Thor stepped aside, Daisy eagerly approached, turning to give her a questioning look.

Thor gave her a rueful smile and shrugged. Go ahead.

Daisy excitedly stepped forward, gripped the handle with both hands, and pulled hard.

"Can this thing actually be lifted?!"

Her voice rang out in astonishment. The hammer felt as though it was one with the ground, not a separate object at all, as if it had been attached to the earth from the very beginning.

Thor sighed. "This is the seal my father placed on it. Anyone without a special divine spark can't lift it. And because I can't lift it, I no longer have the power of Thor."

"Then why don't we dig up this patch of ground and take it with us?" Daisy asked.

Jane agreed with her idea. She thought it was a good one, too.

Even if they could not lift it right now, they could at least move it somewhere safer. Leaving it out in this godforsaken place was hardly ideal.

Thor shook her head. "The seal doesn't mean that an inanimate object can simply carry it.

"As long as a living being consciously tries to pick it up, the seal will stop them, no matter what they use.

"It doesn't actually weigh very much. You can even hang it on a coat rack. But if you try to lift the hammer indirectly by carrying the coat rack, you won't be able to lift the rack, either."

Daisy listened in bewilderment before exclaiming admiringly, "That's an otherworldly object for you. Mysterious beyond belief."

Mercer, who had remained silent at the side, spoke up. "Then what are you going to do next? Loki already knows where the hammer is, and he knows you're bound to come here. Do you two... get along?"

Thor sighed and shook her head. She understood what Mercer meant by the question.

If they got along, the first thing Loki would have done upon arriving in this world would have been to find her, then work with her to regain the right to lift Mjolnir.

But that was not how things had played out. He had simply come alone in secret, then slunk away after getting beaten up. He did not seem interested in helping Thor at all.

"My little brother has attacked me before. Once, for example, he turned into my favorite snake. Then, while I was happily playing with it, he suddenly changed back and stabbed me in the stomach. He even looked like he was giving me a surprise and said, 'Bet you didn't see that coming!'"

Mercer, Jane, and Daisy: ...

"I had a divine spark before, so a few stabs from him didn't really hurt me. Now I'm just a mortal. If he stabs me even once, I'll definitely die," Thor said.

"You two really have a peculiar sibling relationship..." Jane said weakly.

Would any normal person do something like that? He had actually disguised himself as his sister's favorite thing, then jumped out and stabbed her.

That astonishing family dynamic left everyone speechless.

A while later, Mercer suddenly rose from where he had been sitting and looked toward the sky, his expression grave.

"What's wrong...?"

Before Thor could finish speaking, a tremendous noise struck her ears.

BOOM!

The sound, like the tolling of an ancient bell, rang harshly through the night. All four hurried out of the tent and stared in shock at two multicolored pillars of light shooting down from the sky.

As the light faded, two steel figures appeared before them.

At the sight of the newcomers, Thor's expression darkened.

"Those are... Destroyers!"