Disclaimer: THOR is not mine.

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Stopping his pacing, he turned to Aella who had just noticed the strange patterns that the funnel cloud had burned into the earth, and demanded:

"What realm is this? Alfheim? Nornheim"

Completely confused, Aella replied, deadpan: "Uh, say again?"

The blonde looked at her as if she was retarded, but seemed willing to explain when suddenly his attention shifted to a spot behind her, and realizing that he saw someone else, Aella spun around, leveling her flashlight at the newcomer and suppressing a flash of fear and rage as the light glinted off a gun that was in his partially-raised hand.

The fear ebbed away instantly as she realized this was no professional, just a petty thief with inclinations toward violence who thought she was an easy mark. Aella could see how someone would get that first impression about her, but not the tall muscular blonde who had stepped to her side. Then she realized, oh yeah, our wannabe robber probably thinks he's crazy – or drop-dead drunk.

Speaking of drunk, the robber probably was a few sheets to the wind himself as he bawled out – in a tone that might have been commanding if not for the slurring of his words:

"Hand it over, wench and nobody's goanna get hurt."

Clearly, he was referring to Aella's emergency pack – which she was not about to give up, but she never got the chance to reply because the blonde answered first:

"That is no way to speak to a maiden. Apologize for your behavior at once!"

Aella's brows went even higher than before. Sure she had wanted to break the man's jaw for insulting her, but the bigger problem here was that the guy had a gun, and she suspected that he was more likely to use it than sit and have a lengthy discussion about his behavior towards a "maiden" – and who used that term anymore anyway?

Not surprisingly the robber's face contorted into a manic grin and he stepped closer. What was surprising was that the blonde quickly pulled Aella behind him as he stepped forward to stand between the robber and her. From there everything quickly fell apart.

Aella tensed to move as she heard the gun cocking and knew it had been leveled at her would-be protector, but judging from the confidence with which he stepped in front of her, she assumed he knew he could handle the situation. His next words, odd as they were seemed to confirm her assumption, as well as the indignation in his voice:

"You dare threaten me, Thor, with so puny a weapon!"

This time she actually smiled at his words – what exactly would have been a dangerous enough weapon for his tastes, a tank? because as far as she was concerned, guns were plenty deadly enough. Then a wave of horror washed over he as she realized that the blonde did not realize how much danger he was in. He was standing like a wall in front of her, protecting her from the obvious danger of being beat up by the robber, and not planning to move at all any time soon.

It was almost a second too late when action caught up with thought and she dropped the flashlight and sidestepped, throwing herself into the blonde's side with as much force as she could in the same instant that the robber pulled the trigger. It almost was not enough, and Aella felt pain tear though her upper right arm, but there was no time to stop and consider, instead she rolled forward, slamming a heel as hard as possible into the robber's knee snapping it like a twig, and then followed up with a kick to the head as he pitched forward, all before he had the time to fire another shot.

Taking a deep calming breath she got to her knees and retrieved the flashlight, setting it to radiate dim light from the handle, then turned to make sure her attempted protector had not been harmed.

To her relief, he was apparently unharmed, now sitting up and regarding her with a new appreciation. Frustration and bafflement took over relief when he smiled at her and said in a tone of genuine appreciation:

"You are truly a fierce warrior, fair maiden."

Ugh, back with the fair maiden – seriously who talked like that in the 21st century? – and then there was that whole issue with the "puny weapon".

Her arm was throbbing now, and though she realized the bullet had only grazed her, it still hurt. It was immature, she knew but anger won over confusion and she snapped back:

"Stop with the fair maiden crap, will you!"

He seemed genuinely confused by her reaction, and a little hurt, replying: "I meant no disrespect."

From his tone it was clear to Aella that he was only behaving as he felt was proper, not being cynical or flattering, but she was on a roll now, and the action of digging up the rope and duck-tape from the bottom of her pack was becoming painful, so she pressed on, still angry:

"puny weapon.. PUNY weapon? what were you thinking?"

Whatever his response might have been it was cut off when he noticed the slight hiss of pain at the end of her rant, and instantly he was kneeling by her side, concern lacing his voice as he took her hands in his own and asked:

"You have been injured. How severe is it? Do you require the assistance of a healer?"

His tone was urgent, concerned, and through the contact with him – though she was not trying to read it, Aella could feel his concern. It was one of the most genuine emotions she had ever felt from another person, and suddenly it was impossible to be angry at him. Knowing she should answer, she replied, tone gentle now:

"It's just a graze, very minor really."

Pulling her hands away, she moved the light closer so he could see the injury, and apparently he agreed with her assessment of it not being serious enough to require a "healer", but still felt regretful that she had received it at all.

Regret laced his tone as he said, his voice now quiet:

"I'm sorry…. I did not realize… What I said provoked him, and if that had hit you elsewhere, it could have killed you."

Aella was shocked yet again. Obviously the man had no idea what a gun was, but was educated enough to have figured out already how the weapon operated – however that was possible. She still managed to reply in what approximated a conversational tone:

"Or you… Either way, don't blame yourself, I was not about to comply with his demands, and he likely would have shot at me no matter what. Apparently he's no dove."

Apparently that last statement was taken literally, because Aella could see the gears turning in his head as he looked at the unconscious robber for a few puzzled seconds and then looked back at her, saying in a tone so serious it was downright comical:

"A dove he most certainly is not."

At that Aella could not help it any longer, and she burst out laughing harder than she had in years, finally managing to choke out between laughs:

"It's an expression."

Her companion simply shrugged, and then added in a tone that was far from humorous:

"I still am sorry that you are injured…if only I had a healing stone."

Aella's laughter died abruptly as she asked, certain she must have misheard: "A healing stone?"

Noticing his expression, she added quickly:

"Uh, never mind."

It was at that time that the robber decided to join the world of the conscious again, but did not stay in it for long since as soon as he managed a twitch, Aella's left fist came down on his head.

Ignoring her highly amused companion, Aella set to work with rope and duck tape tying up the robber securely – and his unloaded gun, along with a note to the local police informing them anonymously of the crime he had attempted to commit, and her suspicion that he might have done similar a town away, as well as a recommendation to check ballistics evidence from those victims against his gun.

It was somewhere in the course of the ensuing repetitive taping that everything clicked together. Back before her life had been destroyed, when she had just discovered her inborn ability, she had turned to reading the myths of the world to try to explain what science could not, and modern religion dismissed as impossible or plain evil. Her new companion said his name was THOR – just like the Thor of Norse mythology, and now remembering that connection she recognized words like Bifrost and Heimdall. Of course that led to the more problematic realization that this Thor seemed to think they were real, which led to the even more problematic realization that the hammer he was calling for might very well be Thor's Hammer in Norse Mythology – ah yes, it was called Mjolnir – which could very possibly mean that this man sitting next to her believed that he was that Thor – the God of Lightning and Thunder…. Or more likely he was pulling the world's most ill-conceived con.

But that was not really the more likely was it? In his emotions she had detected no trace of deceit – an absence which was decidedly not normal human psychology. Of course she could have simply missed it as she was not really trying to read him, but it seemed unlikely.

Unable to find any answers herself, and extremely unsettled by the fact that uncharacteristically she did not know what to do, she instead sifted through the memory of those readings for an answer to a question he asked earlier, breaking the silence with a flat statement of fact:

"You are on Midgard – Earth as we call it now."

Thor only sighed, and Aella pressed on:

"But who are you.. And why use mythological terms?"

It seemed like Thor would have answered, but then thought better of it and only replied, resignation in his tone:

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."

Aella concluded with a statement, not a question:

"You are not human."

Thor only nodded in response, and a chill ran down Aella's spine. She wanted to trust him – everything about him engendered trust, but it only made the cautious part of her mind more wary. Her trust in a human had almost gotten her killed, her trust had been repaid with betrayal and torture. And if this Thor was not human, either he was much better , and exactly as guileless as he appeared– or much much worse, and a psychological weapon designed to earn her trust and then betray her….

None of this even covered the possibility that he was human – or something created by humans who sought to harm her again… and though her instincts were to take a leap of faith and trust him…. after what had happened the last time she had trusted someone, she was permanently out of faith.

Reaching into her satchel again, she moved to crouch beside Thor who was still kneeling, and said to him, her voice transitioning from honesty to bitterness:

"My instinct says to trust you. My life has taught me that trust is a fatal flaw…. and I have learned never to take chances. I'm sorry."

Realization washed over Thor, as both sympathy for her burden and wariness crossed his features, but before he had the chance to tell her that he meant no harm, she moved the hand that was concealed within her bag, and a burning pain ripped though his chest.