Skye hadn't been able to close her mouth properly since she'd watched the beautiful vampire sprout fangs and Mario use a pickaxe to turn her car into what looked like a die-cast toy model.
Everyone talks big until reality slaps them in the face. Before she'd learned what the world was really like, she had been obsessed with supernatural events, hunting for proof of powers and conspiracies. But after following Mario into Washington D.C.'s vampire territory and watching him butcher several bloodsuckers with that axe, her entire worldview had shifted.
The blonde vampire trailing behind them was shaking like a leaf, terrified by Mario's brutality.
He noticed Skye's expression and asked, "You okay? Freaking out on me?"
Skye bit her lip. Her expression were complicated as she looked at him. "Why did you kill them? Just because they're vampires?"
Sweet, naive Skye, who didn't understand the truth yet, felt uncomfortable about Mario's actions. After all, vampires looked exactly like regular people, they only burst into flames when they died, leaving nothing but ash to blow away in the wind.
Mario chuckled when he saw her expression. He wasn't angry. Pretty girls, or rather, good-hearted girls, got certain privileges. So he patiently pulled out his phone, opened his photo album, and handed it to Skye.
"This is one of the vampires' 'food processing plants.' After you see it, you'll understand why I do what I do."
Skye took the phone, puzzled, and found herself staring at images of humans sealed in clear bags with tubes stuck into their bodies.
Mario leaned in beside her to look at the photos, pointing at the screen as he explained. "These are all people. Humans that vampires gathered by whatever means, criminals, homeless people, missing persons, or folks who pissed them off."
"But now they've all become sources of food. They're alive, but they'll never wake up again. They've been turned into the vampires' blood-producing machines. I almost became one of them once. I was lucky... I crawled back out of hell."
"If you were me, what would you do? Live peacefully alongside them as food?"
Hearing Mario's words and looking at the photographic evidence, the color drained from Skye's face until she looked almost as terrified as the vampire beside her.
She felt a chill run through her entire body, and couldn't help being afraid. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to be one of those people.
"How... how is this possible? Doesn't the government know? Why—"
She looked completely shaken.
Mario knew how to comfort people. While she was still frightened, he reached out and ruffled her smooth hair with a smile.
"The government? Of course they know. But the temptation of immortality isn't something ordinary people can resist. There are plenty of traitors among humans, they're in all kinds of positions, very influential. Even the government had to compromise."
"Besides, to the government, those vagrants and criminals aren't considered people at all."
He shrugged. "But this isn't really my problem. I'm simple, I just want to take out any vampire I encounter."
Thinking over what Mario had just said, doubt rose in her mind. She turned to the vampire behind them and asked, "Why didn't you kill her? Because she's pretty?"
Mario looked indifferent, glanced at the beautiful vampire, and said calmly, "That's not it. I've put down maybe eight or ten who looked like her. She's just different, similar to Pearl. She also hasn't actively fed on humans."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a faint sound came from the sky. He looked up and saw two bats flying over.
A smile spread across his face. "Speak of the devil. Can't say his name without him showing up. Some friends are here. Let me introduce you."
Skye scanned the empty street around them. "Where?"
Before she could finish, she heard the flutter of wings. She looked up and nearly fainted at the sight of Blade and Pearl swooping down.
"Ah! Such huge bats!" she screamed.
"Don't be afraid, they're my friends."
Cautiously, Skye lifted her head and watched wide-eyed as Blade transformed from a bat into a black man in a long coat.
"When did you get here?" Blade asked, glancing at Skye and at the vampire who looked like she was about to pass out from fear. Poor girl had only wanted to sunbathe by moonlight and instead ran into Mario. Three hours later, she'd bumped into Blade.
"What's the situation with this vampire?"
Hearing Blade's question, Mario smiled and explained, "She doesn't seem to have actively harmed humans. Like Pearl, she survives on blood bags."
Pearl, still flapping in the air, perked up when he heard his name. As a vampire himself, he knew how hard it was to resist the urge to feed directly from humans. If he weren't too fat to move easily, he'd have gone hunting long ago.
Flying down beside the female vampire, he pressed close and sniffed her. After a moment he said excitedly, "She really hasn't hurt humans. Her scent is very faint. If she'd bitten someone directly, it wouldn't smell like this."
Mario nodded in agreement and said directly to the female vampire, "From now on, you'll stay with Pearl. He'll teach you some things. But don't ever betray us, consider that friendly advice."
He tossed Pearl a vampire fang as payment.
Then he turned to Blade. "When you have time during the day, I need you to train Skye. A hacker who can't fight hand-to-hand isn't much use to me."
---
Asgard.
The Rainbow Bridge control room.
"Now, I will strip you of your power."
The All-Father Odin looked at the tearful Thor. As his words fell, the golden armor covering Thor's body began to crack and fall away.
But Odin's punishment was far from over. Reaching out his hand, he summoned Mjolnir back to his grip and continued sternly, "In the name of my father and his father before, I, Odin Allfather, cast you out!"
"HAH!"
With a powerful shout, Odin raised Mjolnir high. A surge of divine power shot out, blasting Thor into the spatial tunnel of the Rainbow Bridge.
Thor's face was filled with disbelief. Before he could even react, his entire body disappeared into the swirling vortex.
Odin then lifted the hammer to his lips and whispered softly, "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."
Then, with a firm throw, he sent Mjolnir hurtling into the tunnel after his son.
---
Earth.
Kamar-Taj.
In a quiet meditation chamber, the Ancient One's eyes suddenly snapped open. For an instant, they were deep and fathomless, seeing across dimensions and timelines. She lifted her head toward the sky, and a smile appeared on her face.
"Mjolnir. So, Odin, you're finally grooming your successor. But things have changed... Someone beyond the normal flow of time has appeared. The future is no longer within your control, or mine."
A portal of golden sparks appeared beneath her. In the blink of an eye, she vanished from the chamber.
---
Mexico.
At a remote desert highway, the Ancient One's figure materialized near a parked car. Above, the sky was covered in heavy, dark clouds that promised an incoming storm.
"I was just scared! This isn't my fault!" A woman holding a taser was nervously explaining to her two companions.
An elderly man with white hair sighed helplessly. "Come on, let's get him in the car first."
The Ancient One didn't intervene. She simply stood at a distance, watching calmly as the unconscious Thor was loaded into the vehicle.
As the car drove off, a section of the dark clouds suddenly grew bright. She tilted her head upward, watching as Mjolnir streaked through the sky like a falling star.
With a gentle wave of her hands, a portal opened directly in the hammer's path.
"I hope that greedy young man will appreciate the gift I'm sending him."
---
New York.
Having wandered around the city with no results, Mario returned to Central Park, walking slowly toward his underground base.
"Did those bloodsuckers organize a mass exodus or something? Why can't I find a single one?"
Beside him, Skye rubbed her temples. After spending time with him, she'd gotten to know him pretty well. Normally he was fine, but whenever vampires or Hydra were involved, his only thought was how to kill them more efficiently.
"The way you hunt vampires... of course they'd run."
She paused, then added, "Oh, by the way, I found some information about myself in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database. But key parts were redacted."
Her hacking skills had improved rapidly, but infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure systems alone was still beyond her capabilities. Fortunately, thanks to Mario providing her with enhanced equipment, Fury had granted her limited database access.
Mario just chuckled.
"You've got nothing better to do lately anyway. Take your time digging. But I'll give you a useful tip, and just to be clear, I'm not insulting you."
"You're not human."
Skye froze. He'd literally pointed at her and said that. How was that not an insult?
But it didn't take long for her to realize what he meant, not human as in not a normal human being.
Mario stopped walking, watching her curiously to see how she'd react.
Suddenly, fear flickered in Skye's eyes as she looked past him.
"Watch out!"
Mario instinctively turned his head, but it was too late to fully dodge. A hammer the size of a sledgehammer was plummeting from the sky directly toward him.
"Oh, SHIT!"
His expression changed drastically. In an instant, a shield appeared in his hand.
CRACK!
The shield's durability hit zero immediately, shattering into pixels. At the same time, he finally got a good look at what had fallen from the sky.
Mjolnir.
The thought had barely formed when a spark of lightning burst from the hammer, swallowing him whole.
But right before the impact finished, his hand flashed, an ender pearl slipped from his inventory and vanished into the air.
The hammer struck the ground with a loud boom, carving a crater into the dirt. Skye was thrown backward, her ears ringing, eyes wide in shock.
For a long second, nothing moved, except the hammer, still humming with residual lightning. There was no sign of Mario.
---
Roughly fifty meters away, deep within the dense trees on the other side of Central Park, a flash of purple light tore through the air. Mario tumbled out of thin space, hitting the grass and rolling before he finally came to a stop beside a duck pond.
"Mamma Mia..." he muttered, clutching his chest. His armor was scorched, smoke rising from it.
"Was that really Mjolnir just now? The timing doesn't match up... and neither does the location. Wasn't the hammer supposed to land in Mexico?"
If a treasure like that literally fell from the sky and he didn't claim it, that would be a crime against the universe itself. Thor? If he didn't come looking for it, great.
---
Back at the impact site, Skye collapsed to the ground in shock, staring at the crater and the hammer.
"Mario!"
Although they'd only known each other for a little over a month, she could tell he cared about her. Whatever equipment she wanted, he found a way to get it. He'd given her opportunities, trusted her with important work, treated her like she mattered.
And now, that man had just been struck down by a hammer from the sky, right in front of her.
Her eyes turned red as tears welled up. She felt herself coming apart inside.
Am I... really cursed?
With shaking hands, she pulled out her phone and called Blade.
After two rings, the call connected. In the background, she could hear crackling fire and screams, Blade was clearly working.
"What's wrong, Skye?"
The moment she heard his voice, her tears broke free, streaming down her face. "Blade..."
Hearing the distress in her voice, Blade immediately sheathed his sword and drew his handgun. Without caring about proper loot drops, he aimed at the remaining vampires in the room and opened fire.
BANG BANG BANG!
The gunfire caught Pearl's attention. He drained the vampire he'd been feeding on, transformed into a bat, and flew over. Seeing Blade's serious expression as he held the phone, he asked nervously, "What happened?"
Blade ignored him, finished off the vampires, then asked again, "Are you okay? What happened?"
Skye steadied her breathing, still choking back sobs. "Mario... Mario is gone!"
The moment those words came through the phone, Pearl reacted the most violently. "That's impossible! What happened? Tell us now!"
"He was... He was crushed by a hammer that fell from the sky!"
A hammer... from the sky?
Blade, however, was calmer. He asked the most crucial question.
"Is his body at the scene?"
"No! He just... disappeared!"
Blade and Pearl exchanged a glance, then relaxed slightly, speaking almost at the same time:
"Oh. Then he should be fine. Just stay where you are and wait."