Classic Loki looked at the Mjolnir handed to him, reached out hesitantly, then pulled his hand back.
"Forget it. I've tried countless times before. The result is always the same."
"What's so special about this hammer? Can I… can I try?" the tall woman asked curiously.
"Don't waste your energy. That's Thor's hammer. Only those deemed worthy can lift it," said Classic Loki.
Thor's hammer?
From Norse mythology? The weapon of the God of Thunder?
The tall woman's eyes lit up. She looked at the powerful and handsome young king with eagerness.
Fenris casually tossed Mjolnir to the ground.
"Let the show begin."
The tall woman spread her legs, gripped the hammer with both hands, and tried to lift it.
It didn't budge.
Not accepting defeat, she continued to exert more force. Though she was a woman, her strength from years of training was no less than a man's.
But no matter how hard she pulled, the hammer wouldn't move at all, as if it were fused with the earth.
She began to suspect that the king had done something to it. How else could a simple hammer refuse to move an inch?
"Heh…" Classic Loki laughed mischievously and took a few items from his satchel, handing them to Fenris.
A few stacks of US dollars, several gold rings, a gemstone necklace, and an electronic collar.
"This collar should be one of those used by the Time Variance Authority to control time offenders. Not sure if it still works."
Classic Loki had only managed to find the collar, not the handheld controller that went with it.
Previously, that palm-sized time controller, broken or possibly out of power, could also control this collar, assuming both devices still function.
In the main timeline of Loki's solo series, the collar toyed with him endlessly. No matter how far he tried to run, a simple twist of the controller would instantly pull him back to where he started.
Nearly every time offender captured by the TVA was fitted with one of these collars to prevent escape.
"What's her story?" Fenris asked as he looked at the woman who had now given up on trying to move the hammer.
The woman answered before Classic Loki could speak. "Your Majesty, I am Dottie Underwood."
Dottie Underwood. A somewhat obscure and unfamiliar name.
Fenris had seen Agent Carter and knew she was a Black Widow trained by the Red Room, a formidable villainess equal to Agent Peggy Carter, and her lifelong rival.
"What did you do?" Fenris wanted to know the event that caused her to be pruned.
Dottie Underwood shrugged. "I killed Peggy."
No wonder she was pruned.
The death of Agent Carter would directly impact the Sacred Timeline and derail the script that had been arranged for Steve Rogers.
As one of the first Black Widows, even without any super soldier serum, Dottie's skills and capabilities were more than enough. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been Peggy Carter's lifelong nemesis, and ultimately the one who killed her.
She was also the first person Fenris had encountered in the Void apart from Loki.
"From now on, you're mine. Any objections?"
The Time Variance Authority, the Void, and Alioth.
Dottie Underwood was well aware of the danger she was in. If not for Classic Loki saving her, she would already be dead.
No one wants to die if they can live.
As someone trained from childhood to have no self, only missions, everything she was had been erased with the TVA's trial and pruning.
But the beliefs and habits ingrained over years of training hadn't disappeared. The emptiness in her heart and the uncertainty about the future made her crave a new purpose.
She needed a goal. She needed someone to tell her what to do.
"It's my honor, Your Majesty," Dottie Underwood responded without hesitation.
To survive in such an unpredictable and dangerous place, to become the King of the Void, even if there was some luck involved, his strength was unquestionable.
And he had saved her. He was also willing to take her in.
There was no one more suited to be her new purpose, her new focus, her new master.
Fenris wasn't surprised by Dottie Underwood's loyalty.
The Red Room's method of training spies and agents produced Black Widows who, to a woman, were emotionally empty and mentally isolated.
Without orders, they had no value. Without value, their very existence felt meaningless.
That's why Natasha Romanoff left the Red Room only to join S.H.I.E.L.D., working under Nick Fury in a job that was basically the same as her old one.
Eventually, she joined the Avengers, treating them as her family and source of emotional purpose. That's when she rediscovered her sense of self-worth.
Her "sister," Yelena Belova, also trained in the Red Room, found herself lost and empty after the Red Room was destroyed and Natasha sacrificed herself for the Soul Stone. In that vulnerable moment, she believed the lies of the Hydra-affiliated Madame Hydra, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and set out to kill Hawkeye in revenge.
In simple terms, every Black Widow has psychological issues. They can't be true leaders, because they can't even lead themselves.
But they are outstanding followers and executors. If they have a master, they obey. If they don't, they find one.
Obedience and execution are their way of surviving.