Chapter 1
Thor crashed to earth, a roaring clap of thunder masking the boom of his landing. For a moment he hesitated, kneeling in the rain as he collected his thoughts for the task ahead.
23 Raven Way, Thor reminded himself, that's where the scientist lives.
Thor straightened up slowly and looked around him. He stood in the middle of a pair of crossing dirt roads, quaint little cottages lining the streets neatly. Behind him was a small church, with a vast courtyard filled with gravestones. His keen blue eyes searched for a street sign, and soon found it: Raven Way. His hand tightened around his hammer as he strode down the uneven cobbled pathway to his right, scanning the door fronts for the number 23.
The rain poured down hard, making everything seem even darker than it should be. Thor knew he could stop it if he wanted to and that most Asgardians in his position wouldn't hesitate to do so. But Thor was always sensitive to the mortals of this world, having had to defend them so in the past. He didn't want to frighten them. Besides, the rain was good cover for him to go unnoticed.
Well, as unnoticed as a towering man in a stark red cape and armour, with jaw dropping good looks and a hammer the size of a car tire could be.
By the time Thor had reached the end of the street his blonde hair was glued to his face and neck, and he still hadn't found number 23. Brow creasing, he turned on the spot. It had to be here, he assured himself, peering through the darkness.
The path led off into another street to his left, and to his right the road seemed to veer off into nothingness. There had to be something, he continued to will.
A mighty clap of thunder sounded overhead – and then Thor saw it. A small way off the road to the right was a tiny house, now illuminated in the white glow of lightning. In a flash it was gone, but not before Thor was already stumbling towards it.
The closer he got, the more he could outline some of its features. The house looked older and more fragile than the rest, its double floored body seeming to bend slightly as if it were tired. The windows and door looked battered and uncared for, yet strong and durable, rocking slightly from the force of the wind but still keeping their place.
Thor liked it. It had spirit. Stepping up to the door, his eyes caught the flash of wet silver: 23.
He smiled a sigh of relief, then remembered why he was here and pounded his spare fist on the door. There was a clanging fumbling from within the house before the door cracked timidly open.
A pair of round brown eyes blinked up at him through the small gap. They widened when they glanced down at his attire, the white fingers around the frame twitching.
Before the door could be closed on him, Thor's hand shot out – a little too forcefully – and the door flung fully open, the little figure behind it leaping clear. Thor cursed his lack of care as the girl stood wide eyed and shaking just inside the house, her chest heaving with rapid breaths.
"Are you from S.H.I.E.L.D?" she gasped before Thor could think of what to say.
His brow furrowed again. "No."
The guarded edge in her eyes told Thor she didn't believe him. "Then who are you?"
"I am Thor Odinson of Asgard." The proud boom was automatic, but he mentally snarled at it as the girl trembled more violently. He linked bright blue eyes solemnly with hers and lowered his voice. "I assure you, I mean you no harm."
He meant it. He knew he meant it. Question was would she know he meant it? Gazes locked together, Thor could practically read what she was thinking. She was afraid. Deeply afraid, even if her eyes were as hard as marbles. Her lips parted slightly, drawing in great gulps of oxygen.
"I'm here to help." Spilled unintentionally from his lips.
The girl seemed to stop breathing entirely at that. Suddenly, her body was stone still, but her eyes flickered glisteningly up at his, breaking at last. "H-help?"
Thor could see her mind whirring in her head, working out if he was a threat or not, if he was who he said he was. For a moment, his heart stopped in his chest, worried about what he might have to do if she denied him entry.
He watched her closely.
Finally, she gulped. And nodded.
XXX
Thor eyed the trail of water he'd brought into the house with guilt, trying to avoid the girl who was hanging his cape up to dry, flinging towels along to floor to soak up the moisture and sparing one for him, left on the table for him to use.
He scooped it up with one hand and ran it over his wet face, fluffing his hair.
"You said your name was Thor?"
Thor glanced up, and found the girl's still slightly wide eyes by the front door. She doesn't trust me enough to be near me yet, he observed in his head.
She'd placed him at the tiny table in the miniscule kitchen space just inside the door. The house really was small. Thor could see the living room on the other side of the floor, cramped with a sofa, a small box television and a piano facing out from the wall along the side.
He leaned back in the small chair. "Yes." He affirmed. "I have come in search of the scientist Timothy Sorin."
The girl's tense shoulders dropped instantly. The fear had gone; suddenly her eyes looked vacant. "I'm sorry, he's dead." she gulped. "You're ten years too late."
Cold flooded through Thor's system. "Dead?"
She nodded.
Thor's gaze drifted away, falling to rest on the empty kitchen sink. "Then I must tell my father." His eyes flickered back to her. "His research – is it lost?"
"I don't know." The girl's head jerked. "S.H.I.E.L.D took most of it."
"When did this happen?"
"A week before he died."
Thor looked back to the kitchen sink. Odin had to know this.
"When you say Thor," the girl gulped, reclaiming his attention. "Do you mean the Norse God Thor? God of Lightning and such?"
A grin tugged at Thor's lips automatically. "You know of me?"
The girl shrugged. "My father told me about you. He said it'd be important one day." Her arms wound up to hug her narrow body. "But is it true? As in… are you real? The truth behind the legend, I mean?"
"You do not think me real?"
A small smile graced the girl's lips, and she ghosted her eyes away briefly, searching for the right words.
Thor studied her as she did so. She was young to him, twenty years old or so, though her innocent looks made her seem younger. Her hair fell in loose fair brown waves over her shoulder, her entire frame so slight and slim it bordered on thin. Her face was sweet as a child's, with her big brown eyes and small features. She was small in height, Thor thought. Her head would barely come to his chest.
But she was pretty. More than pretty, Thor thought silently, she's beautiful. For any woman, let alone a mortal.
"It's not something I can just believe." She finally said, though her gaze still lingered further within the house. "I mean, gods and things aren't exactly common here. My father said you were real and I trust him – plus, normal people don't go around wearing cloaks and armour like yours. But…" Finally her eyes met his again. "I guess I'll take more convincing."
Thor rose to his feet slowly.
The girl took a hesitant step back. "Albeit, you are pretty …intimidating, god or no god." She admitted with a flicker in the corner of her mouth.
Thor chuckled, though the sound seemed to rumble around the small house dangerously. The girl still wore a faint smile, but he could still catch the glimmer of alarm in her eyes, betraying that she wasn't entirely joking.
Thor stood, his height towering above her. He faced Mjolnir's head to the table and let his fingers unfurl from around the handle, his armour falling away to nothingness like petals of a metal flower, leaving behind his dark trousers and long sleeved black shirt. Less intimidating perhaps, he hoped.
The girl's mouth dropped. She recovered quickly though, clamping her jaw shut, averting her eyes and pressing a hand to her forehead. "Oh my." She breathed.
Thor fought the urge to laugh again. "What's your name?" he suddenly wondered aloud, eyes lingering over her curiously.
Her eyes flickered up nervously. "Maria. Maria Sorin."
What's she thinking?, he thought, trying – and failing – to read her doe eyed expression. "Are you afraid of me, Miss Maria?" he asked quietly.
Slowly, her head turned from side to side. "No," she choked, her eyes suddenly glistening. "My father told me about you. Thor, Prince of Asgard, God of Thunder." Her shoulders bobbed in a shaky shrug, before she glanced away sharply and pressed her palm by her forehead again. "Gordon Bennet, this isn't possible…"
"I'm afraid this is no fantasy."
Maria's hand lowered to loosely cover her mouth. "So the Tesseract's in enemy hands and they need the key?" she whispered through her fingers.
Thor froze, his brow furrowing slightly as he watched the small girl carefully. "How did you-"
"My father told me stories about it since I was a little girl." Her fingers curled and brought down to rest over her chest. "He told me about the Tesseract, about the Avengers… about you."
"Yet you still mistook me for a S.H.I.E.L.D agent?"
Maria shrugged. "You might have been. They'd sink to all kinds of levels. I thought they were the good guys too, until they murdered an innocent man for the sake of his research."
Thor watched as her eyes hardened, filled with the same guarded look he'd seen when he first met her at the door. So they killed her father, Thor realised in his head, and they took all of his research. No wonder she doesn't trust them…
Lightning cracked outside, illuminating the dark sky. Dark.
It is late, Thor realised. So late it was early. In a few hours the sun would rise. "You must be tired." He'd forgotten how often mortals needed rest. "Did I wake you?"
Maria's eyes finally settled, but on a blank space on the tiled floor. "No, I was awake already. I have trouble sleeping. Plus, I don't…" she glanced up sheepishly for a few moments, before ducking her head down again. "I don't... like thunder that much. I couldn't sleep if I wanted to."
Regardless, she looked tired. Thor hadn't noticed it before with the light being so dull, but if he looked, he could see darkness shadowing under her eyes.
"You should rest. My business here is done." He said firmly, reaching back to grasp Mjolnir. His armour flaked back into place around his body. He stepped forward and reached behind Maria, hooking his cloak from the wall and replacing the still damp material around his shoulders.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help."
Thor almost thought he'd imagined the words, her voice was so quiet. But having watched her lips move, and seeing the despairing look in her eyes, the way her hands clutched together tightly in front of her chest… he knew they were real.
An unexplainable sadness clutched him. "Miss Maria," she didn't look up. But when Thor's hand peeled one of hers from the other, she jerked her gaze to him sharply. "Thank you for your hospitality. You have been of great help to me." It wasn't very true, but Thor was determined to make the girl feel better.
Maria didn't look like she believed him for a second, a grim look back on her face again. Then Thor pressed her knuckles to his lips and her cheeks flushed.
Her lips parted in alarm as if to say something, but she closed them quickly, thinking better of it. Besides what could she say? Her mind was a daze as the god held his lips to her hand, his eyes glittering at her through his eye lashes. She gulped. And gulped again. Then she bit her lip, praying her heartbeat would settle again before she passed out.
Finally, her hand was released and it flew back to her chest, Maria's cheeks aflame.
Thor couldn't help but grin. Maria was alternating between biting her lip, glancing up at Thor shyly, and flushing deeper shades of red. He grew so amused he let out a short laugh, stifling it quickly so as not to embarrass her more.
"Farewell, Miss Maria." He boomed heartily, meeting her timid gaze as she pressed her lips together in a shy smile, cheeks glowing furiously. Thor opened the door and stepped back into the torrents of rain, smiling at Maria all the way.
She'll like this, the god thought. There was a reason he'd left the door wide open. For her to see. He turned his gaze to the heavens, Mjolnir soon following, and he whirled the hammer in slow circles. Maria stepped closer to the open doorway, her delicate hand resting on the frame as her eyes were drawn to the skies. She watched, amazed, as with each turn of Thor's hammer, the black clouds above swirled and swirled, until the rain ceased and stopped, and bright stars started to glitter down from above.
Her lips spread in a wide, dazzling smile as she laughed disbelievingly. "No way…" She glanced down to Thor – lowering his hammer – still wearing her enthralled smile.
"Have a peaceful night, Miss Maria." Thor wished, satisfied as he tuned away and walked back up the street he had came.
Maria watched him from the doorway with bright eyes until the last flicker of his red cape vanished from sight. She glanced back up at the sky, remembering what had clouded it just seconds before. "God of Thunder alright..."