Jane Foster regretted it less than three kilometers after driving the car.
She stared at the receding barbed wire and searchlights in the rearview mirror, unable to get over the hurdle in her heart. That man who called himself Thor, whether he was really Thor or not, at least hadn't done anything bad. During those few days in Puente Antiguo, apart from his irritating way of talking, eating like a starving ghost, and breaking the antenna off his weather van that he had painstakingly repaired, he hadn't hurt anyone.
He jumped out of the car and drove into the S.H.I.E.L.D. restricted area, then stepped on the gas and sped away.
Jane bit her lower lip, her fingers tightening on the steering wheel. "I came here to check the atmospheric data, now it's time to turn back. Anyway, I've been passing by, so..."
"I'll just go back and take a look, just one look, and then I'll leave. I absolutely won't meddle in other people's business."
The car turned around and headed back the way it came. Jane drove very slowly, trying not to make too much noise. She went far around the main gate of the S.H.I.E.L.D.. temporary settlement and took a dirt road used for transporting goods from the side.
As she turned past an abandoned junkyard, she saw two figures.
To be precise, it was the big guy who forcibly pulled Thor along, heading deeper into the desert. Thor was clearly unwilling, his steps heavy and slow, his shoulders constantly trying to break free, but the big guy only had one hand on his shoulder, like an iron clamp, and no matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't budge an inch. The two of them, one pushing and the other walking, looked like two drunken cowboys arguing under the moonlight.
Jane's headlights swept across and shone directly on the two of them.
The big man turned around, his hand still on Thor's shoulder, and grinned at her. The light swept across his face, and a picture snapped into Jane's mind: Asian, with strong features, a high nose bridge, high brow bones, and a row of teeth so white they could be in a toothpaste commercial when he smiled.
Jian slammed on the brakes and quickly drove away from the spot.
Jane's mind was a jumbled mess. Her first thought: S.H.I.E.L.D.. now only hire people based on their looks? Her second thought: Jane, what are you thinking? He's an agent. What you should be thinking about right now is where they're going.
Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes as he watched the car drive away, then turned his head and asked, "Do you know the woman who was driving?"
Thor stared at Lin Xiao warily. "Why are you asking this? Don't think that just because you beat me, I'll tell you everything. I'm only following you out of necessity."
"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous," Lin Xiao shrugged, his tone like he was coaxing a child. "I was just asking casually. You have no relatives or friends in the Midgard, and that woman was clearly after you. She came back to check on you because she was worried about you. People who are good to you are worth your attention."
Thor fell silent. He lowered his eyes, his lips moved, and after a long pause, he said in a muffled voice, "Jane is a good person. She took me in and gave me food. I shouldn't have dragged her into this."
"Don't worry, whether you get involved or not isn't something you can control." Lin Xiao glanced towards the desert highway, which was deserted except for tumbleweeds running along the sand. "I know a place with good wine. Hawkeye once hosted a welcome banquet there for me and Coulson. The food was pretty good. Want to grab a drink?"
Thor frowned. "Walk there?"
Lin Xiao thought about it and agreed.
"Fine, I'll give you a ride."
Thor was about to ask Jane if there was any car left after she drove it away, but the next second Lin Xiao suddenly floated up, hovering steadily in mid-air. Thor's mouth gaped open, his eyes wide, as if he had seen some monster. He instinctively took a step back, pointing at Lin Xiao's nose. "You can fly! Are you a mage from Midgard? Or do you know some kind of witchcraft?"
"It's just some high-tech stuff from Midgard," Lin Xiao replied casually, flicking his finger to send a blue vine emerging from his palm and wrapping around Thor's waist.
"You're talking nonsense!" Thor raised an eyebrow, pointing at the vine that had wrapped around him, his voice trembling. "Where's the technology? This is clearly witchcraft! Midgardian!"
Lin Xiao, too lazy to waste words, moved his mind, and several more strands of Blue Silver Grass wrapped around Thor's arms and legs, suspending him securely in mid-air. Thor was completely constricted, but he still cursed, "Despicable Midgardian! You shouldn't treat me like this! I am Prince of Asgard! I command you to put me down!"
In response, a thinner vine precisely wrapped around his mouth, wrapped three times, and tied a pretty bow.
"Shut up." Lin Xiao grabbed the vines like a bag of potatoes, and with a leap, flew towards the road.
On the highway, Jane kept looking back as she drove, when suddenly she saw two people fly past her headlights, startling her so much that she dropped her water bottle onto the floor mat.
Jane watched Thor struggle desperately, bound like a dumpling, and gritted her teeth. That big guy could fly? A miniature jetpack? But what was he planning to do with Thor tied up like that? No, I have to go see.
Jane slammed on the gas pedal, and the car bounced wildly on the dirt road. She didn't care if there were potholes ahead; her eyes were fixed on the two dark shadows in the sky.
Half an hour later, Lin Xiao landed in front of an abandoned gas station on the desert highway. Blue Silver Grass gradually loosened its grip, putting Thor down. Thor slumped onto the asphalt roadside, his arms propped behind him, panting heavily, his face flushed red. He turned to look at Lin Xiao, his eyes burning with anger, but he didn't even have the strength to curse.
Lin Xiao stood by the roadside, hands in his pockets, looking in the direction he had come from, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Jane's modified Colorado finally appeared at the end of the road, stopping about five meters away from them. The driver's side window rolled down, and Jane leaned out, looking at Lin Xiao warily. "Who exactly are you? What was that vine? Was he just being dangled by it? What's your purpose in leading me here?"
Lin Xiao shrugged. "What a huge misunderstanding. I meant to invite him for a drink, but I was too slow on foot, so I flew away. As for bringing you here, that's just your imagination."
Jane ignored him, walked up to Thor, and bent down to examine him closely. Thor looked up, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something to save face, but in the end he only managed to squeeze out, "He knows witchcraft, I was careless for a moment..."
"You got tied up and sent flying because of a moment of carelessness? You call yourself Thor? How can you be so easily tied up?" Jane retorted irritably.
"I really am Thor!" Thor's face turned even redder.
Jane had already knelt down in front of Thor. She hesitated for a moment, then reached out and patted the sand off his face.
Lin Xiao watched from the side, took out a milk candy from his pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth, crunching away. His expression as he watched this scene resembled someone watching a cheesy yet addictive prime-time soap opera.
"Speak, what exactly do you want?" Jane stood up, hands on her hips, looking at Lin Xiao. "You're a S.H.I.E.L.D.. agent, why did you kidnap Thor?"
"Wait, you've got two things wrong." Lin Xiao held up two fingers. "First, I didn't kidnap him. We reached an agreement after a friendly sparring match. He lost, so he's coming with me for a while. I'll provide him with meals, that's all. Second, I have no intention of doing anything to him. If I really wanted to, he would have been a bag of fertilizer long ago."
Thor snorted but didn't argue. The memory of that punch was still etched into his bones; his entire arm was still tingling.
"Third," Lin Xiao held up another finger, this time pointing to Jian, "He's my guest. I was just about to go to town for a drink when you showed up. Since you're here, why don't we come together? It's better than standing on the desert highway drinking the northwest wind."
Jane didn't immediately refuse. She looked at Thor, then at Lin Xiao, and then at the dark desert in the distance. Her reason told her that this Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was a liar, and eight out of ten of his words were unreliable. The best thing she could do now was to get on the bus, turn around, and go home.
But her feet didn't move.
"Where should we drink?" Jane asked.
Lin Xiao laughed, a smile that, in the corner of the car headlights, was both irritating and reassuring. He gestured towards the car with his lip. "Twenty kilometers west of Puente Antiguo, there's a highway bar called ' Red Nose,' it's still open at this hour. I know the way, but it's too far to walk there, so..."
Lin Xiao opened the back door, lifted Thor from the ground, and shoved him into the back seat without a word. Then he went around to the passenger side and knocked on the window. "You drive, let's chat. Don't worry, I'm with S.H.I.E.L.D.., I'm officially employed and have proper credentials. I'm on a mission tonight, I won't do anything to you. Besides, if I really wanted to, you wouldn't be able to escape now, right?"
Jane stared at him for three seconds, then reached out and opened the car door again, sitting back in the driver's seat.
"Fasten your seatbelt." She ignored Lin Xiao's words and said in a commanding tone, "There are snakes on the desert highway at night."
"Snakes are great, let's catch a couple and roast them." Lin Xiao climbed into the passenger seat, adjusted the seat to squeeze his legs in, then turned to look at Thor in the back seat, "Do you eat snakes?"
"I don't eat the reptiles from Midgard," Thor said in a muffled voice.
"That's a pity, snake meat is very tender."
Jane started the car. In the rearview mirror, Thor in the back seat was secretly wiping the sand off his forehead with his sleeve, glancing at the driver's seat every now and then. Jane saw this, and her ears burned slightly.
"Why is your face still red?" Lin Xiao suddenly leaned over and stood between her and the rearview mirror.
"It's the wind." Jane casually pushed him back. "Sit still and don't move."
Lin Xiao didn't press the matter and sat up straight. He took out a bag of sunflower seeds from his pocket and asked Jian, "Want some? These are original Dragon Country seeds, very fragrant."
Jane glanced at the brightly colored bag with a giant sunflower printed on it. "You take this with you when you go out on a mission?"
"Of course, have some sunflower seeds when you're free, otherwise your mouth will get lonely." Lin Xiao tore open the packaging and handed them to Jane and Thor. Thor grunted and turned his head away. Jane curiously tried a few, and they tasted pretty good.
Jane couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips upwards. She turned her head and glanced at Lin Xiao out of the corner of her eye. He was quite handsome, but he exuded a "not-so-serious" aura.
"Why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?" Lin Xiao suddenly leaned closer and smiled at Jian, as if he had Telepathy with her.
Jane's body visibly stiffened. She turned sharply around, straightening her back ramrod straight. "Don't talk nonsense, I'm watching where I'm going."
Lin Xiao stopped teasing the young woman and focused on eating his sunflower seeds.
Thor remained silent in the back seat. He rested his head against the window, gazing at the dark desert outside, looking somewhat weary. Jane saw him in the rearview mirror and suddenly felt a pang of unease. When this man first appeared, he was covered in wounds, collapsed in front of her car, and his first words upon waking weren't "thank you," but rather, "Mortal, this is what you should do." At that moment, she thought he was mentally unstable, but after spending a few days with him, she found him to be a decent person.
But now, seeing him huddled in the back seat, his blond hair hanging messily in front of his eyes like a lion drenched in rain, Jane suddenly felt that he might have really been through something.
" Thor," Jane suddenly spoke.
Thor in the back seat paused for a moment, then looked up.
Are you alright?
"I'm fine," Thor replied quickly, his voice much lower than before, almost drowned out by the wind outside the car. "I'm perfectly fine."
Jane didn't press further. Lin Xiao, however, sighed softly, "People always have to go through hardships to grow."
After Lin Xiao finished speaking, Jane and Thor both rolled their eyes.
Jane parked her car in front of the " Red Nose " highway bar.
This pub was a typical New Mexico highway bar, with a row of pickup trucks and motorcycles covered in sand parked outside. The neon sign was missing half a letter, and the wind chimes hanging on the door frame jingled as you pushed the door open. There weren't many people inside; just a few middle-aged men in work clothes sitting in a corner playing cards, and an old man with a gray beard standing behind the bar.
Lin Xiao led the two to a booth by the window and ordered three beers and two plates of tortilla chips. Thor looked starving; the moment the tortilla chips were served, he grabbed a handful and stuffed them into his mouth. Jane frowned, trying not to appear ignorant. She only took a small sip of beer, her gaze sweeping around the bar before settling back on Lin Xiao.
"So Thor is really a god?" she asked in a low voice.
Lin Xiao glanced at Thor, who was frantically devouring corn chips. "No doubt about it, just a god who has temporarily lost his divine power."
"This is completely contrary to my area of expertise."
"You meteorologists observe inexplicable things every day, don't you?" Lin Xiao picked up a corn chip, patted it on the back of Thor's outstretched hand, dipped it in sauce, and popped it into his mouth. "Besides, did you believe him when he said he was Thor?"
"I don't believe it," Jane said.
"Then why did you turn back?"
Jane was stumped. She paused for several seconds, then turned to look at Thor. Thor was coughing from the hot sauce, his face flushed red, and he was still chugging beer into his mouth.
"Because... he doesn't look bad," Jane finally said.
Lin Xiao smiled, picked up his beer glass, and raised it towards Jian: "That's enough."
Just then, Lin Xiao's phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID; it was Coulson. His lips immediately twitched, and he hung up. Less than ten seconds later, the phone rang again. This time, he didn't even look at it, simply shoving it back into his pocket and letting it vibrate.
"Aren't you going to answer?" Jane asked.
"I can't answer," Lin Xiao said seriously. "If I do, all I'll hear is ' Lin Xiao, where are you right now? Bring the target back immediately,' and I can't take orders."
Jane shook her head, somewhat amused and exasperated.
Lin Xiao handed Jian a plate of dipping sauce, gesturing for her to try it. Jian picked up a corn chip, dipped it in the sauce, and put it in her mouth; her eyes lit up. She found that as long as she didn't ask those superstitious questions, chatting with Lin Xiao was actually quite easy. He would talk about all sorts of things, listen attentively, and occasionally say something nonsensical that was hard to follow up on, but he never made anyone feel embarrassed.
"What do you do?" Lin Xiao suddenly asked. Actually, Lin Xiao had already seen the movie " Thor," but he wanted to find a topic to keep the conversation going.
"An astrophysicist," Jane wiped her fingers, "Specializing in atmospheric disturbances and interstellar phenomena. I came to New Mexico to do research, but I ran into him."
She pointed at Thor. Thor had already finished his plate of tortilla chips and was reaching for Lin Xiao's plate. Lin Xiao pushed the plate towards him, and Thor hesitated for a moment, then grabbed a handful and whispered, "Thanks."
"He saved you?" Lin Xiao asked again.
"No, he suddenly fell from the sky, and then my car hit him," Jane said. "Strictly speaking, he wasn't injured, he was just completely unconscious. A few of us carried him into the car and took him back to town."
"She took me in," Thor interjected, his tone much gentler than before. "She also told me a lot about Midgard."
Lin Xiao leaned back in his chair, looking at the two of them, his smile deepening. By this point in the meal, the atmosphere was no longer as tense as it had been at the beginning. Thor was no longer the crown prince, Jane was no longer an ordinary person, and Lin Xiao was no longer Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.. The three of them were just like any other customer in the pub, chatting about random things and drinking slightly bitter beer.
"I'm getting my hammer back," Thor said suddenly, as if announcing a momentous decision.
"Alright, come with me, I'll take you there again in a few days," Lin Xiao said without looking up.
Thor looked at him with some surprise. "Really?"
"Really." Lin Xiao nodded. "But first, tidy up your face and hair in the restroom of this tavern. Miss Jian is sitting right next to you; the mud and smell you're giving her will drive her away."
Jane couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Thor glanced at Jane, then down at his mud-stained T-shirt, a rare look of embarrassment crossing his face. He abruptly stood up and headed for the bathroom, but after a couple of steps, he turned back and said earnestly to Jane, "Jane, I'm so grateful you came back. And you, Lin... you're a good human being."
"Thank you." Jane suppressed a laugh and raised her beer glass. Lin Xiao sighed softly, raised his glass, and clinked it against Jane's.
After Thor had walked away, Jane suddenly whispered to Lin Xiao, "You said you were really going to have him get the hammer?"
"Of course let him go." Lin Xiao leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Whether he can lift it or not depends on him. But he's not ready yet."
Jane looked at his expression and felt that something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. This man's words were always shrouded in mystery; just when she thought she understood, he would say something that would confuse her again.
Meanwhile, in Asgard, deep within the palace of the Queen Frigga.
Frigga sat at the divination table inlaid with starlight patterns, a stack of cards made of World Tree spread out in front of her. Her fingers slowly slid along the back of the cards, finally stopping on one of them, and gently turned it over.
The card depicts a king holding a scepter, with lightning crackling around his throne.
This is Thor's destiny card. But right now, above that King card, lies a Joker card that doesn't belong in this deck.
Frigga's brows furrowed slowly.
She had never seen this Joker card before. It didn't belong to Asgard, Midgard, or any magical system she knew. It simply appeared in Thor's destiny like an incongruous joke.
She looked up at the Eternity starry sea outside the window. Just now, she seemed to have sensed a very light presence, with a hint of voyeurism, passing by the palace gate. But when she tried to sense it, the place was empty, and even the torches on the pillars hadn't had time to flicker.
Frigga lowered her head again and looked at the Joker card.
The clown on the card grinned at her, laughing heartlessly, as if to say: Your son's life is now in my hands.