{A/N:
[So, if you guys have no more Power Stones, you can always drop positive reviews.
Get me some reviews and I'll drop the other half of the chapter tonight.
If not, when I upload tomorrow, it's gonna be crazy with half a chapter mixed with half of tomorrow's chapter. Please don't.]
You guys had Power Stones! You only needed a reminder. I can't believe this!
Anyways, thanks for the reviews and the Power Stones!}
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This work is a piece of fiction. While inspired by real events, cultures, and practices in human history, the story blends factual history with fictional characters, dramatizations, and creative interpretation.
It is not intended to promote, glorify, or encourage any illegal activities, substance use, or harmful behavior. All depictions of sensitive topics are included solely for narrative and historical context.
For the effects of the story, all characters are to be considered above the majority age.
Reader discretion is advised.
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╔═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╗
Earth-199999, Malibu, Stark House.
~14 BE (Before Emergence) ~ 2009 CE (Current Era).
Stark stood still, wary of the stranger, concerned about the uninvited draconic guest.
"Abner, I thank you for apprehending this home invader," Stark said with eloquence that belied his waryness. "I didn't know I had the bragging rights of owning the most terrifying guard dog on the planet, though."
"You're the dog," Aragorn said with a flat expression.
"No, you see, that can't be right, because if you're not guarding my house, then that makes you a home invader, like the trench-coated pirate over there," Stark said while moving slowly to the side to put Aragorn between him and Fury.
"How can I invade my property?" Aragorn said with an amused smirk.
"Please, for the love of your dragon lady, don't smile at me," Stark spoke after shuddering visibly. "I'll take your expressionlessness any day over your facial expressions."
"How rude," Aragorn said with no heat to his words, his face returning to his usual deadpan.
"Thank you, and what did you mean by your property?" Stark felt safe after arriving next to Aragorn.
"I sold this realm a few centuries ago, but I retained the right to own wherever I am," Aragorn said.
"... Okay," Stark said. Sure, he wanted to ask, sure he had a lot to say, sure he was concerned, sure he felt that excuse was absolute bullshit, but so what? He was not about to touch that can of worms.
"What do you mean you sold the planet? No, back the fuck up a little before answering that! What do you mean you'll leave the world by 2023?" Fury, on the other hand, due to his job and the responsibilities it entailed, could not pretend not to have heard.
"Wait, what?!" Now that last statement was too much for even Stark to ignore.
"I arrived at this planet millions of years ago, chronologically speaking, because I sought many resources offered by Earth," Aragorn said. "Additionally, there was a problem I was tasked with fixing that demanded my presence here. I've collected my desired resources, and I'll deal with the aforementioned problem in 2023. Hence, my departure from the planet is timed at that date."
"That's... That will spell the doom of society as we know it!" Fury avowed.
"I can't believe I'm siding with Pirate Mr. Home Invader here, but society is not ready for your departure," Stark added, equally as shocked.
"Not much would change," Aragorn shrugged. "The Isthmus would disappear, splitting America into two continents officially. The public floors of the Obelisks will remain, but the restricted upper and underground levels will disappear. The Halo will be gone with us, and the outer faces of the Scales will be left behind, but I'll open a sea entrance somewhere at their bases in case you want to build a port. That's about it."
"No, no, no, that's not about it!" Stark exclaimed. "What would happen with the Libralisk? Who would manage the floors of the Obelisks left behind? What about the numerous alliances that exist because you acted as their guarantor?"
"And what of the religious impact? You're the last apostle of the Abrahamic religions, and you form part of the myth of any other faith. Your presence acts as a deterrent to all extraplanetary forces—"
"Excuse me, what?!" Stark interjected.
"—80% of the world's banking system is backed by the vaults in your Obelisks, 92% of the world's museums exist within your Obelisks, 37% of yearly medical advances come from the Sages, 87% of knowledge expansion and deepening comes from the Libralisk. How do you expect all of this to continue in place without you?" Fury protested.
"I'll leave for later the confirmation of alien invaders and add that 46% of deep space signals bounce through the Halo. All those deep space probes and rovers on Mars communicate with Earth through your ringworld," Stark added.
"Thank you for bringing this up to me. Those are all very real concerns..." Aragorn said.
Their pulse began to settle.
Stark began to see Fury in a light other than that of a home invader.
Fury believed he might have rushed his judgment about calling Stark a manchild.
Yet, Aragorn continued with a shit-eating grin. "... For humanity."
"..."
"..."
"You gotta be kidding me!" Stark exploded.
"Oh, this crazy fucker!" Fury matched Stark's mood.
"As they say in Hinomoto, ganbatte!" Aragorn said with disinterest. "You've got 14 years to find or create replacements for me and mine in human society. That's plenty of time."
"As if!" Stark objected.
"There's no stopping this," Aragorn affirmed.
"... Motherfucker!" Fury exclaimed and walked to the exit. He needed some air. On the way to the door, he ransacked the minibar at the side of the room.
"By all means," Stark quipped. "Make yourself at home at my home." He rubbed his temples and felt a migraine building up. He turned to Aragorn and asked, "Was that the reason for your visit?"
"I came to add one of your armors to my collection," Aragorn declared.
"... Can you wait until I build another few?" Stark decided to roll with it instead of fighting the inevitable.
"I'm not in a rush, I want the Mark III, include the depleted arc reactor too. Name your price," Aragorn said.
"A bazillion," Stark retorted.
"I can literally give you enough money to crash the economy of the entire planet, be serious," Aragorn chided.
"Then..." Stark thought hard for a second. "Before you go, build an armor and reactor for me."
"That's smart," Aragorn praised. "I agree. I'll give you a benchmark to overcome before I leave the planet."
"... How about you don't leave instead?" Stark said.
"I'll be seeing you," Aragorn waved his hand in goodbye. "By the way, you should look into your father's notes about the arc reactor. You don't want to die long before you even get to see what type of armor I can make, do you?"
Stark flinched at that while Aragorn disappeared.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
Rocinha, Brazil.
Bruce Banner meditated shirtless at the sound of a metronome. His breathing pace increased by the second, his eyes shut closed, as if afraid of opening and discovering he was still trapped in the nightmare.
His heartbeat quickened as flashes of the start of his unending torment polluted his mind.
He saw how he hurt Betty Ross and left her intubated, he saw how he hurt her father, General Ross, a man he admired back then, and he saw the subsequent escape from the US Military. The bullets they shot. The missiles he tore through.
His breathing turned ragged, and his heartbeat pulsed rapidly with anger. Anger, wrath, rage, fury, ire, it was all the same. And then, he stopped his meditation and the metronome.
He turned toward the figure floating in a lotus position, supported only by his tail in front of him, with a deadpan that showed how tired he was of this figure, Aragorn.
"... Boo?" Aragorn voiced out. It was clear he was not compromising with the scare attempt.
"Day by day, I grow certain you're my outer demon," Banner said.
"Would that make Hulk your inner demon, then?" Aragorn asked.
"I find no more fitting description than that." Banner went through breathing exercises to try to slow his heartbeat.
"I believe I'm not a demanding dragon," Aragorn said. "I only ask that you let my friend out to play with me. It's been almost five months since you last let us hang out. There's Duskari in the SPHERE asking about the whereabouts of Hulk, you know?"
"Why is it that I can never know if you're joking or being serious?" Banner asked.
"I'm being serious," Aragorn retorted.
"Then why do you sound like a child asking his friend's mother for permission to play with her son?" Banner said. "Hulk is a walking disaster, not a child!"
Aragorn stared in silence at him for a moment before saying, "If you say so."
Sigh. "What are you doing here?" Banner asked after a long sigh.
"That incident in the bottling plant, the one with your blood," Aragorn drawled.
"What about it?! Did someone die?" Banner's breathing picked up, and his heartbeat spiked.
Aragorn recalled the 'death' of the persona that the One Above All was playing, and he realized that technically no one died.
"No, no one died," Aragorn said.
"... Fuck!" Banner exclaimed. He immediately picked up where he left off in his breathing exercises. "Are you trying to get a rise out of me? Is that it? Are you trying to get him to come out?" Banner glared.
"... Do you think so?" Aragorn asked after a moment of silence.
"Tsk!" Banner clicked his tongue in frustration. He hated it when Aragorn went all mysterious and started to answer with questions. He was used to it, after having met him at least once a month ever since Hulk left the Isthmus, but he still hated it.
Aragorn turned to look around the room and paused on the English<->Portuguese dictionary. "How is it going with the Portuguese?"
Banner sighed again. He knew better than to allow him to get under his skin. "I'm making progress."
Aragorn nodded and stood up. He walked to the door of the room and opened it for Banner's dog to walk in.
The door smelled Aragorn and wagged its tail happily. Aragon mimicked it and wagged his tail. He patted his thighs and ordered, "Up." The dog, as if trained, obeyed and stood on his hind legs with his front paws on Aragorn's thighs. Aragorn smiled and petted the dog.
"Are you staying, or you gonna disappear like usual after petting my dog?" Banner asked after putting on a shirt.
"I'm staying for dinner." Aragorn's answer gave him pause.
"Well... Don't expect anything fancy... Is there even anything that could fancy your taste? Don't the Imperium have some strange magical food?" Banner asked.
"I brought pizza from that place you used to visit with your paramour," Aragorn said. He waved his hand, and three boxes of pizza appeared and floated to the kitchen counter.
"Is that Stanley's pizza?" Banner asked with excitement in his voice. He scurried over to the topmost box and opened it. He took a deep whiff and closed his eyes with memories. He awkwardly turned to Aragorn and said, "Thank you."
"Don't mention it, but only one box is for you. One for me and the other for this good boy," Aragorn smiled at the dog.
They shared dinner, and afterward, Banner went to sleep after Aragorn had seemingly disappeared.
In the middle of the night, Banner's dog alerted him of something amiss, and he knew it was time to escape. He tied a rope around the kitchen faucet and rappelled down the window.
Not a second after, a team of trained operatives in black and with tranquilizer weapons blasted the front door.
They searched the room and, after taking a few shots at the decoy he left behind on his bed, they realized he had bolted out.
"Target's on the move," Emil Blonsky reported through the comms. Then he shot the barking dog and tranked him.
"He is on the ground! Let's go!" Emil Blonsky commanded.
The operatives rushed out of the house and went after Banner.
Aragorn appeared in front of the sleeping dog and scooped him up.
"These savages," Aragorn muttered.
He pulled out a sofa from storage and sat comfortably with the dog on his lap. His eyes ignored distance and tracked Banner's escape attempt.
He almost managed to escape a few times, but whether due to bad luck or a skill issue, he was cornered into the bottling plant by a group of local thugs and the trained operatives.
"Ah, my friend is about to come out to play," Aragorn commented.
He softly petted the sleeping dog, his eye never leaving Banner until he transformed into Hulk.
"Did he grow out of the suit?" Aragorn observed. Hulk was no longer in a three-piece suit; he now wore tactical dark purple pants and black boots with no shirt.
After trashing the operatives and ending the thugs, Hulk jumped and left.
Even then, Aragorn didn't leave yet. He had vindication to claim.
He waited, and not long after, General Ross, Emil Blonsky, and a female technician entered the room.
The three stiffened.
Aragorn slowly evaluated them one by one until his eyes locked on Emil Blonsky.
"!" Emil Blonsky gulped.
Aragorn then gazed down at the dog on his lap, Ross, Blonsky, and the technician followed his gaze, and then back up to Blonsky.
"This was a good boy, why did you trank him?" Aragorn asked with eerie stillness. "He was barking at you, the intruders, that's what a good boy does."
Blonsky felt like cursing his life. He was in denial about losing his life because he shot at a noisy dog because its barking didn't let him think.
"Mr. Abner, my men were following orders to capture a US fugitive," Ross interjected.
"It's okay," Aragorn reassured them. "I'm just pissed, but I won't kill Emil Blonsky for shooting this good boy."
Somehow, his reassurance only unsettled them.
"I must thank you, Thaddeus Ross," Aragorn switched targets. "I've been pestering Banner to let Hulk out for months, but he stubbornly refused. For months, he had been doing his best not to put people in danger, if it were not for you and your obsession, I fear he might have worked out a permanent solution to Hulk. Thank you, truly."
Ross tightened his fists.
"Anyway, even though I won't kill you." Aragorn's attention returned to Blonsky, making him tense up. "I must express my dissatisfaction."
THUD
Blonsky fell to the ground unconscious.
"He'll experience some vivid nightmares as a chew toy, but that's all," Aragorn said to Ross. "Better than death, is it not?"
He disappeared with the dog and the sofa.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
Aragorn, dog in hand, appeared beside a fleeting Hulk. Hulk noticd him but he wasn't in the mood for talks and kept jumping forward, clearing kilometers (miles) in a single leap.
Aragorn shrugged and followed after him.
It was only when they made it to Honduras that Hulk finally stopped jumping through South and Central America.
"BANNER ANNOYING!" Hulk roared, and the birds in the jungle escaped in a hurry.
"You tell me," Aragorn jested.
Hulk and Aragorn, and the dog, walked to Guatemala, through the jungle, where Hulk decided to give back control to Banner after Aragorn said that he had to go and pick up the armor he was due.
Aragorn and the dog appeared in Stark's house.
"Hiek!" Virginia "Pepper" Potts yelped in surprise at their sudden arrival. "Oh, God!" She covered her mouth.
"I'm no god," Aragorn calmly shook his head.
"Hey, why are you bringing a dog to my house?" Stark shouted from a distance. He was in a ring sparring with his bodyguard.
"I saw you on the news. It was an entertaining hearing," Aragorn said. "I figured you must have built another suit by now."
"Tony, you know Mr. Abner?" Potts asked.
"Uhm, yes, I've had the... pleasure to have met him before," Stark replied evasively.
"I'm not in a rush, finish your thing," Aragorn said dismissively and pulled out a sofa for him and the dog.
He patted the sofa, and the dog happily climbed over it.
"Tony, I think this is something that you should have mentioned before," Happy Hogan said.
"Ah, ehm, forgive me if I didn't randomly mention that I have met the oldest fossil alive," Stark quipped.
"Tony! Don't be rude!" Popps chided. She turned to Aragorn and said, "I apologize for Mr. Stark's words."
"I don't mind his facetiousness," Aragorn waved it off. "It's part of his personality. Besides, I do enjoy annoying him from time to time."
"I heard that!" Stark shouted from the ring.
"Would you like something to drink, Mr. Abner?" Potts offered.
"It's alright, I have everything I need in storage," Aragorn said. "I don't want to impose. I can tell working for him is already hard enough, there's no need to complicate your life."
"Hey! I heard that, too!" Stark shouted.
Potts did her best to act as if she didn't hear anything. Yes, it is hard, she wanted to say, but she didn't dare. She wanted to keep some of her pride in front of Aragorn. Why risk it?
Luckily for her, her new assistant came in to switch topics.
Aragorn turned to the redhead and, as was usual, she froze for a moment. Though credit where it's due, she managed to gather herself and approach Potts.
"Congratulations on your promotion, Virginia Potts," Aragorn said.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Abner," Potts replied, trying to keep a smile from showing.
Aragorn turned back to the assistant, Natalie Rushman, and nodded in greeting.
"It's an honor, Mr. Abner," Black Widow said with a demure demeanor.
"Stark, if you're done cheating against your bodyguard and have the time to oogle this lady, then give me my armor," Aragorn said.
"You come and go like you own this place. Why don't you go downstairs and grab it yourself!" Stark groaned.
"~Heh," Aragorn smiled. Stark and Happy, on the receiving end of the smile, shivered. "Say no more."
Aragorn disappeared, dog in hand, leaving behind the sofa.
"SHIT!" Stark jumped out of the ring and rushed downstairs to his lab.
"Jarvis, open up!" He shouted from a distance. He didn't have the time to push open the glass door.
"No, no, no, no!" Even from the other side of the glass wall, he could see the sad truth.
He rushed in and looked around with senseless hope.
Aragorn took the Mark III as he had informed him he would, but he also took all his collection of cars.
Happy Hogan steps announced his arrival a moment after Stark. Potts and Black Widow came behind.
"Tony, should I report the theft?" Potts asked. She had to cover her smile with a hand.
"You," Stark turned to Potts. "I'm taking away your CEO seat."
"No, you're not," Potts shook her head with a smile.
"Then I'm docking your salary," Stark quipped.
"I've been in charge of my salary for years," Potts said with a barely concealed smile.
"Maybe, if you ask nicely the next time you meet, he might return your cars," Hogan added.
"This was a security breach, I'm docking your salary," Stark informed.
"Ms. Potts has been in charge of my salary for years," Happy replied.
"..." Stark, searching for an island, turned to Natalie Rushman.
"The legal team of Stark Industries pays my salary," she said without the need for the question.
"Which, I'm in charge of," Potts interjected before Stark could make a fool of himself.
"How did I surround myself with this many turncoats without seeing it coming?" Stark lamented dramatically.
Life went on for the millionaire, and after an arduous journey, Banner made it to the USA. While these two geniuses faced their hurdles, one living in borrowed time, and the other, while nigh-immortal, seeking to return to mortalhood, in New Mexico, a very not-mortal was about to face his own challenges.
Aragorn appeared in front of Mjølnir in a crater about 50 miles (~80km) west of Puente Antiguo.
"Hey, Heimdall," Aragorn spoke while he crouched in front of the hammer to study it. "Has Odin been losing IQ as he aged? 'Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor'? What is the definition of 'power' in the runic inscription?"
Aragorn wrapped his tail around the handle of Mjølnir and brought it to his face while standing up.
"Because it could be the power of Thor as the second prince of Asgard, and that, beyond his divinity, could be quite problematic, couldn't it?" Aragorn turned to look above.
His eyesight ignored the distance between realms and met the eyes of a discomfited Heimdall.
"My Lord—"
"Your Prince," Aragorn corrected.
"—... My Prince," Heimdall experienced physical pain in saying those words. His cultivation shook. "It's nothing but a test for the young prince."
"Which young prince? Because, as of this moment, there's no young prince in Asgard," Aragorn said. "There's Loki, who should take the throne now that Odin suffers dementia, making him the king, and there's me, but I'm not young. I hope you're not talking about that Donald Blake mortal, are you?"
"... I'm but a humble custodian of the Bifrost," Heimdall said.
"Hahaha, okay, okay," Aragorn relented. "I won't mess with you anymore, but I'll take the freedom to study Mjølnir after I discovered it unattended."
"As is your right," Heimdall asserted.
Aragorn set the hammer back into its crater and sat down on his tail before beginning his study and observation.
A few hours later, a local man arrived at the edge of the crater. Like any common human, he was shocked, panicked a little, and then crossed himself, before the novelty died down enough for him to approach Aragorn.
"Mr. Abner," the man greeted.
"Don't mind me, I'm just studying this hammer that fell from a godly realm," Aragorn said without taking his eyes from the hammer.
The man looked at Mjølnir with the same wide eyes he used on Aragorn.
"C-Could I take a closer look?" the man asked.
"Go ahead, try to lift it," Aragorn encouraged.
He tried, and he failed before turning to Aragorn with a questioning look.
"It has divine magic on it, it's a test," Aragorn explained.
"A test strength?" the man asked.
"No, you have to be recognized by the hammer, and if you do..." Aragorn drawled.
"And if I do?" the man asked while leaning forward in interest.
"You'll become immortal, gain the divine power of thunder, and become the prince of the godly realm of its origin," Aragorn said like a shady dealer.
"..." The man looked down again at Mjølnir, and then at Aragorn with a questioning look. Aragorn nodded and pointed at the hammer to encourage him to try again.
He tried, and he failed again.
"That means you fail," Aragorn shrugged. "However, while you failed, maybe someone else out there could be the next prince of thunder. Wouldn't that prince reward the mortal who brought him to his destiny greatly? I'm picturing riches, a harem of goddesses at your beck and call, and, maybe, extended lifespan."
And picture it he did. Soon, the abrasive scrabble of the wheels sounded as he made a rushed return to the closest town.
A few hours later, a convoy of off-road pick-up trucks parked at the edge of the crater. Smartphones rolled out, and people began to record; however, they soon noticed that Aragorn was not appearing in their media.
Aragorn didn't want to blow the event out of proportion. Hence, he was removing himself from their pictures and videos. In times like these, it was hard to prove something without photographic evidence.
Still, Aragorn was in a festive mood, so:
"Can you bring a grill? I have some auroch ribs that go perfectly with some charcoal?" he asked.
"..." It took a moment for the locals to process his words, but just a moment. "YOU HEARD THE DRAGON! SOMEONE BRING A GRILL AND SOME BEER!"
Seconds later, because apparently one of them was prepared, Aragorn, with his eyes still on Mjølnir, was grilling auroch ribs with his telekinesis.
"Good lord, what type of beef is this?!" A woman asked with sparkles in her eyes.
"Auroch, the ancestors of modern Bovinae," Aragorn replied while eating his portion.
"A-Are we allowed to eat this?"
"Isn't this like eating a mammoth or something, like those guys in Russia did?"
"Mammoth ribs are not that good," Aragorn said.
"..." They look at each other before erupting in laughter.
Watching them find the absurdity funny, Aragorn chuckled softly. He brought out a dozen cold beer barrels. "Share this among you, it's made of fruits that predate dinosaurs, with honey from early Cretaceous bees."
"..." They shared looks once more. Half of them didn't know what the Cretaceous was, half of them did, and they hesitated to serve themselves a pint; however, the festive mood overcame all reservations and concerns.
Inebriation came within half an hour. It was the type of beer that packed a punch, similar to European beer. Moreover, the taste was so irresistible that even while stuffing themselves on auroch ribs, they couldn't outpace the ethanol.
"So, SO, teLL me!" one of the drunks half shouted, half whispered. "Helen, HOW... What vas it?"
"How big she had them tiddies?" A 'helpful' drunk assisted the first.
"Yah! How big was he burp?!" Another added. "Wait, not burp, the bump... no that's not it wither... the dump trunk!"
"While she didn't have the largest 'dump trunk' nor the biggest 'tiddies', she remains the second most attractive mortal woman I've seen," Aragorn replied with a chuckle.
"But, like... like how big? Tell me when to stop!" A drunk made a cupping gesture over his chest and slowly drew his hands out.
Aragorn chuckled and projected an illusion of Helen for the curious drunks.
"Marry me!" A woman shouted.
"What will you dickless bitch do with her? No, she'd better marry me!"
"You wish! With that pot belly of yours sticking out?!"
"Hey! This is the peak male physique!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
"There was another beautiful woman I met you've probably heard about," Aragorn added. "In fact, I can bring her out to play."
"Ehh?"
"A mummy?"
"A fossil! It's got to be a fossil!"
"No, she might be a ghost!"
"A wraith!"
Aragorn smiled at the drunks and summoned Medusa. Initially, she was resting in his heart, awaiting the judgment of Poseidon and Athena. However, a few years later, she realized she didn't care anymore. She had outgrown them.
Centuries had gone by, and she had never thought of them again; that's how she knew she no longer cared. Back then, Aragorn had offered to reincarnate her in the Imperium, but she said she didn't want to experience mortality again.
It was already too late to turn her into a deity, so Aragorn turned her into a divine beast. Different from deities, she had access to pure divinity but no concept, and if she ever wanted to become a deity, she would have to start with no advantage due to her divine beast status.
She kept her gorgon form as her beast form, and used her original self as the mold for her humanoid form, except that her eyes and hair became dark green.
Aragorn made a hugging motion with his arms, and Medusa appeared in his lap. She wrapped her arms instinctively around Aragorn's neck and observed her surrounding crowd.
"Eh? Hello?" She said to the starstruck drunks.
"Hey, Stan, do you think he can teach us that trick?"
"Which trick, Mark?"
"Making a pretty thing like her appear with a gesture," Mark, drunkenly, said while imitating Aragorn's hugging motion.
"Don't hug me, you drunk!"
"No u!"
"She's got this... I'm-gonna-step-on-you-and-you're-going-to-ask-for-more vibe."
"That's a total babe!"
"I feel like I want her to constrict me."
"Choke you, you mean?"
"No, constrict me, like one of those boas."
"Who are these perverts?" Medusa asked Aragorn.
"Some funny humans I met today, well, except that one," Aragorn pointed at Stan. "That one is the Aniki."
"Aniki? Isn't that like the big boss of the big bosses?" Medusa asked.
"I'm just an old man enjoying his work," the Aniki said and raised a mug of beer before downing it in one go.
"~Fufufufu," Medusa laughed. She leaned away, her hands resting on Aragorn's shoulders, and said, "None of you are normal, are you? Phoenix and the Madame are just as abnormal as you."
"I doubt a 'normal' being could do our jobs," Aragorn smiled. This time it wasn't an eldritch terror smile, but one he reserved for his family.
"That's a fair point," Medusa nodded. She turned to the still awestruck drunks and said, "What does a girl have to do around here to get herself a mug of beer?"
"Aye, you can have mine!"
"My mouth can be your cup!"
"Would you like a barrel?"
"You can have this one!"
"That's mine!"
The crowd soon turned into a brawl to determine who was worthy, not of wielding Mjølnir, but worthy of offering a cup to Medusa.
"Yes, they are funny," Medusa giggled. She tapped her P-Link, and a cup appeared. She extended the cup to Aragorn, and with a motion, it was filled to the brim.
The drunks brawled, they drank, they ate, and some shots were fired. It was a rural area in the desert in America, so it was not strange. Besides, what celebration could be considered one if no shots are fired, or if the cops don't arrive to shut it down?
Talking about cops...
"It's the feds, run!"
"Pedal to the metal!"
"Go, go, go, go!"
They dispersed like cockroaches when the lights are turned on.
"I don't think those guys should be driving," Medusa chuckled, amused.
"There were no children present, and the town is far away enough that they should be coming back to their senses by the time they make it there," Aragorn said.
With Medusa settled comfortably in his lap, he waved at the food left uneaten and made it disappear, then he returned to study the hammer.
"What's so special about the hammer?" Medusa asked.
"I'm more interested in its forging," Aragorn replied. "Sahara has developed divine forging greatly, but foreign methods of forging should still help her." {A/N: Madelyne's Yandere Imouto.}
"I thought you were studying the enchantment," Medusa said. She curiously observed the runes on the hammer.
"Do you want to try lifting it?" Aragorn said.
"Mmmmm, I doubt I can." Medusa reached for it and pulled. It didn't budge. "See? I'm not much of a people person. I doubt one with no leadership skills would even qualify."
"You're not wrong there," Aragorn nodded approvingly of her discernment.
"What about you? Can you pull it due to your bullshit or because it recognizes it?" Medusa asked.
"I don't know," Aagorn shrugged. "I'm so beyond its judgment that it doesn't even recognize me as someone lifting it. For all the hammer and the runes know, I'm not that different from the 'planet' carrying it through space."
"That's a shame," Medusa laughed. "Regardless, what do you think? Are you worthy?"
"Mmmm, for the leadership parameter, well I created an empire and pantheon greater than Asgard, but I do lack several virtues a king should possess. For example, I would without hesitation burn my kingdom if that meant the salvation of my family," Aragorn confessed.
"But you could argue that your kingdom is your family," Medusa countered.
"I guess that's true," Aragorn said pensively. "Still, I feel like even if the hammer could regard me as someone to judge, it would give me a free pass because of all my 'bullshit,' as you said."
"I guess we'll never know," Madusa shrugged with disinterest. She turned to the approaching agent and lazily stared at him.
"Mr. Abner, the director would like to have a word," the agent said.
"Phillip Coulson, you can tell Fury that he can come or wait until I'm done with this trinket," Aragorn replied.
Coulson looked at Mjølnir with curiosity and then at Medusa on his lap before he nodded and went away to the edge of the crater.
"Are you too busy?" Aragorn asked.
"The Great Moving has kept me busy, but things are settling down as we near the departure date," Medusa said.
"Then stay with me for today." Aragorn hugged her tighter.
"Clingy," she said with a warm smile.
Aragorn smiled before returning to the hammer's study.
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{A/N:
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