"Okay I guess it's round two," Mark said before getting up and going to smash the dumb robots head in, but before he could a massive energy beam hit him from above, sucking him upward in a vortex of light and wind that threw him around like a leaf in a storm. Mark cursed as he tumbled through the beam, the world blurring around him until he hit the ground hard on his back, the impact jarring but not damaging as he pushed up and looked around, realizing he was on a cold, icy planet blanketed in snow and jagged blue crystals under a stormy sky.
"Shit..."
Mark stood up slowly, brushing ice from his torn suit as he looked around the barren landscape of jagged blue crystals and swirling snow, he glanced up at the sky and noticed the constellations were unfamiliar. "Damn it," he muttered, realizing he really was on another planet.
He floated upward a few feet, scanning the frozen horizon before calling out. "Hello? Anyone here? I don't mean any harm, I just need to get back to Earth."
Shadows stirred in the distance, and figures emerged from behind the crystal spires—tall, pale-skinned beings with glowing blue eyes and armored forms that blended into the ice, their expressions hardening into hostility as they approached in growing numbers.
One stepped forward. "You are not welcome here, outsider... leave this realm before we force you."
Mark landed gently, raising his hands in peace. "I'd leave if I could, if you don't mind helping me figure out how, I'll be gone in a minute."
The leader snarled, drawing a jagged ice blade. "The only way to leave is the way you came... through the bifrost that spat you out."
"Ah shit," Mark said again, frustration creeping in as the group closed in tighter. "What are you doing?" Mark asked warily, stepping back as they lunged without warning, blades swinging and ice shards hurling toward him like frozen spears.
They attacked in a swarm, dozens piling on with coordinated strikes that aimed to overwhelm, but Mark fought back, dodging a swing and delivering a palm strike to one's chest that sent him flying into the snow unconscious, then spinning to sweep another's legs out from under him while shouting, "Stop! I don't want to hurt you!" He grabbed a third by the arm, twisting it behind his back and chopping his neck before blocking a barrage of ice projectiles with his forearms, the cold stinging but not piercing his skin.
"Who's in charge here?" Mark demanded mid-fight, flying over a charging group and landing a series of quick taps to their necks that left them slumped in the frost.
"Laufey is gone," one growled before swinging a massive club that Mark caught one-handed, yanking it free and tossing the giant aside. Mark cursed under his breath, frustration mounting as he continued to fight, weaving through their ranks with punches and chops that knocked them out.
The battle raged until a massive energy beam lanced down from the sky, slamming into the planet's surface with a deafening roar that shook the ground and sent cracks spiderwebbing through the ice.
"What the fuck is that?" Mark shouted over the fight, grabbing a retreating giant by the shoulder.
The frost giant twisted free but paused long enough to explain in a panicked voice. "The Bifrost, it has been left open purposely, the energy building without end; soon the whole planet will be destroyed, shattered into dust!"
"The whole planet would be destroyed," Mark echoed, his face hardening as he let the giant go and shot off without another word, rocketing toward the beam of swirling light.
He dived straight into it, yelling out in pain as the energy tore at his body like a thousand razors, whipping him around in its vortex while he prepared himself internally. "Okay Markey, you know what to do; let's see just how much I can take."
In the aftermath of the Marriott incident, where the cosmic radiation wave had struck him along with the five others; while they had been altered Mark found that he too had been altered. Mark had discovered his new ability to absorb energy to a degree, though most forms he took in could not be expelled the same way and often lingered inside him. He hadn't experimented much with it as he hadn't had time, but now seemed the perfect time to try and use it.
Activating it now inside the Bifrost, all of his cells opened up like sponges, soaking in the raw power that surged through the beam, his body becoming a conduit that drew the energy away from the planet. Mark screamed in pain, every nerve on fire as he started to push the beam upward, forcing it back toward the sky with sheer will and strength while the strain built inside him like an overfilled balloon.
All of the frost giants below looked up at the man in awe, the outsider they had just tried to kill now straining against the heavens to save their world, his figure silhouetted against the beam as lightning crackled around him.
His suit began to tear at the seams, blood leaking from his nose and eyes as the pressure mounted, feeling like he was about to burst from the inside out, but he looked down at the fleeing figures below and roared with renewed effort, pushing harder as hard as he could until the Bifrost flickered and died down, the beam retracting into the void.
Mark then fell, plummeting back to the planet like a comet, but one of the frost giants ran forward and leaped high, catching him in massive arms before crashing to the snow in a controlled slide.
Mark groaned on the ground, his entire body twitching uncontrollably as residual energy sparked across his skin. He eventually calmed, sitting up slowly with a grimace. "I feel sick," he said, then turned to the frost giant with a weak smile. "Thank you for saving me."
The frost giant stared in surprise. "You saved our planet... after we attacked you... why?"
"Because you needed help," Mark replied as he stood up unsteadily, then doubled over dizzy and vomited up blood that steamed on the ice.
The frost giant steadied him with a careful hand. "The Bifrost's energy has poisoned you, if you wish to survive, you need the help of Asgard; their healers can purge it."
Mark sighed, wiping his mouth. "How would I even get to Asgard?"
As the word "Asgard" left his lips, the Bifrost summoned in a swirl of light, enveloping him in its pull and teleporting him away from the planet in an instant. Mark cursed and screamed as he tumbled through the beam again, the energy whipping him around until he hit the ground hard on his back, the impact jarring but not breaking him as he pushed up and realized he was on a rainbow bridge in Asgard, the golden city sprawling before him under a vast, starry sky.
Mark groaned as he pushed himself up from the gleaming surface of the rainbow bridge, the impact still ringing through his bones despite his durability, his vision blurring for a second before sharpening on the golden spires of Asgard rising in the distance under a swirling aurora sky.
"Mark the Mighty!" a familiar voice shouted, booming with surprise and relief.
Mark turned, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, and saw Thor striding toward him alongside an older man with a flowing white beard and an eyepatch.
"Thor!" Mark said with a weak smile, but the words barely left his lips before he doubled over, vomiting up another stream of blood that splattered darkly on the iridescent bridge. "Is everyone back home okay?" He said while wiping his mouth.
Thor reached him in an instant, his face etched with concern as he knelt and gripped Mark's shoulder. "Do not worry my friend I defeated the destroyer. But what about you? What ails you, my friend? You look as though Hel herself has claimed half your strength!"
The older man stepped forward, his single eye narrowing as he assessed Mark with a piercing gaze. "His body has been poisoned by the Bifrost's energy; it courses through him like venom in the veins."
"I had to absorb it," Mark said breathlessly, clutching his side as another wave of nausea hit him.
Odin's brow furrowed deeper, his tone a mix of stern curiosity and authority. "What would possess you to do such a foolish thing, boy? The Bifrost's power is not meant for mortal frames to contain."
Mark met his gaze, forcing himself upright despite the pain. "The Bifrost... would've... destroyed their planet; I couldn't let that happen."
Odin's features softened then, the hard lines of his face easing into something akin to respect, a faint nod acknowledging the sacrifice as he placed a hand on Mark's other shoulder. "Then we must take him to the healers at once, draw out the excess energy before it consumes him entirely."
Thor nodded urgently, his concern turning to action. "At once, Father."
...
After several days in Asgard, Mark had finally stabilized from the Bifrost's poisoning. The healers, had drawn out the excess energy from his body in a ritual that left him drained but alive, siphoning the raw power into crystalline vessels that pulsed like captured stars. Odin himself had overseen the final stages, his single eye assessing Mark with a mix of curiosity and approval, before declaring that while most of the energy was purged, a residual amount lingered in his veins. "It links you to the nine realms now," the Allfather explained. "You may travel freely between them by willing it so, drawing on the Bifrost's echo within you, but the energy is finite, it will fade over time, and once depleted, the bridge will close to you forever."
Once cleared by the healers, Mark joined Thor and the Warriors Threel for a grand feast in the great hall, the had tables literally groaning under the weight of platters of roasted meats, fruits from distant realms, and flagons of mead that flowed like rivers. The alcohol in Asgard hit differently, brewed from enchanted grains that even Mark's enhanced physiology couldn't fully resist, and after a few rounds, he felt the warmth spread through him, loosening his limbs and clouding his thoughts in a pleasant buzz he hadn't experienced since his pre-power days.
The night escalated quickly, with Volstagg challenging everyone to arm wrestling matches on a massive oaken table, his booming laugh echoing as he slammed Fandral's hand down in seconds. Mark, feeling the mead's effects, joined in with a grin, starting with Hogun, whose stoic face remained impassive even as Mark pinned his arm after a tense struggle that cracked the wood beneath them.
Fandral went next, his dashing smile turning to a grimace as Mark overpowered him, quipping mid-strain, "By the realms, you're no mortal yield, I say!"
Volstagg roared with delight when it was his turn, their locked hands trembling the table for minutes until Mark finally forced his down, earning a back-slapping hug from the burly warrior who declared him "a true Asgardian at heart!"
The night continued to be one of the best he had ever had, Mark, tried juggling enchanted goblets that refilled themselves mid-air, only for one to overflow and drench Hogun, who glared silently while the others howled; later, he arm-wrestled Sif, who nearly bested him with her until he turned the tide, prompting her to laugh. "Do you share this prowess in the bedchambers," she said with a fierce grin. Mark could only chuckle nervously though he wouldn't lie that he was interested.
The pinnacle came when Odin himself entered the hall, drawn by the uproar, and accepted Mark's half-joking challenge, his l strength proved unyielding as he pinned Mark's arm effortlessly, the Allfather's chuckle rumbling like thunder. "You fight well, mortal, but I did not become the allfather by being weak."
The feast devolved into more antics, like Volstagg challenging Mark to an eating contest that ended with both sprawled on the floor groaning, and Fandral teaching Mark a bawdy Asgardian song that had the hall in stitches when Mark mangled the lyrics. As the revelry wound down and Mark prepared to leave, he stood on the rainbow bridge with Thor under the eternal stars of Asgard.
"I am sad to see you go, my friend," Thor said, clasping Mark's forearm firmly.
Mark smiled, returning the grip. "I'm sure we will see each other again," he said, punching Thor's shoulder lightly.
"Aye, that we will," Thor replied with a nod.
Mark's gaze fell to the hammer at Thor's side. "Looks like you got your hammer back."
Thor smiled, lifting Mjolnir proudly. "Yes, I finally proved myself worthy."
Mark shook his head. "You were always worthy, Thor—it just took you a while to realize what was already here," he said, pointing to Thor's heart.
Thor thanked Mark earnestly for everything, from the wisdom shared to the battles fought, then hesitated before asking, "If you would not mind telling Jane that I look forward to seeing her again... tell her my heart remains with her."
Mark nodded. "I can always bring you to her, you know."
Thor shook his head. "My duty is to Asgard for now—there is much that needs to be fixed, and much I need to learn—but know I will come for her when the time is right."
"I'll tell her," Mark said.
They clasped wrists one last time, and Mark smiled. "Midgard."
The Bifrost activated in a swirl of light, teleporting him away in an instant.
(AN: This is it fellas, this is the end of Part 2 or what I know as part 2. There will be no more story until I finish part 3. I've done about 13k words of part 3 already they're up on my Patreon and I'll be updating that 10k words at a time until it's done, they'll be exploring X-men and Fantastic 4, a little spoiler is I'm going to be doing my own sort of version of the x-men movie but crossed with the Ultimatum comic event. Plus sex because if you think characters like Susan Storm and Rogue can just show up looking like that... you got another thing coming buddy.)
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