Disclaimer: Nothing in the Marvel universe belongs to me. I really do get quite tired of writing this same thing over and over in different words… But seriously, I don't claim ownership of any Marvel character and I'd appreciate, you know, not getting sued or whatever.

Chapter 3

For a moment, the three young men stood still – none of them felt quite sure enough about anything to react. Jamie shifted, still on top of Maria, to see what this new person might have in store. David had his flask in hand again, his first response tonight to anything being to drink. Bing, whose face had started to tic visibly, flung a beer bottle at the man with the hammer. He dodged it easily and took another step forward.

"The lot of you, stand away," commanded Thor, lightning beginning to crackle round his hammer. "Do this immediately and I shan't kill you as you so deserve!"

They had almost expected his voice to come out as a roar, but he remained deathly calm. His entire being seemed to spark and crack with lightning. Rain poured in torrents from the sky, almost as if propelled by the deafening thunder. The three young men looked at each other… then at Maria… and finally at the man threatening them.

Maria looked up, unable to really see much. She knew she was bleeding – couldn't really be sure where all from. Every part of her body hurt, and she was tired. At no point in her life could she remember being so very, very tired; her muscles screamed at the thought of movement. Even her brain seemed to have temporarily gone into standby mode.

It couldn't be real, she figured. It had to be just a policeman… or one of the bouncers. She only wished she were seeing the god of old whom she had, um, visited that one night. He was the strongest being she could ever remember encountering, short of that elephant that one time. And she wished it could be him coming to help her instead of just some policeman. What she needed was someone who cared…

"Look man…" David seemed to have found his voice.

But Thor would not have it.

"Be silent, boy!" he barked, drawing himself up to his full and most impressive height. Even Jamie, the tallest at 6'2, quailed at the sight. "I am not a man – I am a god and you shall hold your tongue!"

Thunder crashed, sounding so close that Bing put his hands over his ears to try and protect himself. Thor stepped forward and the femme young man broke immediately, mumbling nonsensically to himself as he stumbled from the alley. A coward once would be a coward always, thought Thor. David still stood beside Maria and Jamie had still not moved from atop her.

"Did you not hear me, you wastes of flesh!" he thundered, lightning shooting into the ground from his hammer. "I did command you to stand away from her and, if you do not, I shall not hesitate to make you!"

David took a few shuffling steps back. Jamie seemed to want to shrink into the ground. Both of them looked paralyzed with fear. But at the moment, no consideration or mitigating factors entered the god's mind. They were in direct non-compliance with his command. He took two long strides forward and bent down to one knee. Jamie yelled as Thor's giant hand landed solidly on the back of his neck, picking him up as easily as an old towel.

Thor stood up again, dangling the boy helplessly from his outstretched hand.

"Where I come from, the penalty for what you men have done is death," the god growled, his blue eyes shining with a hate like none seen on earth. He very much considered simply snapping the bastard's neck and being done with it. "But… This is not my world nor is it my place to dispense justice here."

Jamie went limp in the larger man's grip, sighing with relief.

"Justice… and vengeance, however," continued Thor, his grip tightening on Jamie's neck, causing the boy to turn red. "… are two very different things."

David's knee's shook, watching as his friend and bandmate was certainly about to be killed. Jamie's red face had white splotched across it from fear. His brown eyes were wide. He tried to bring his hands up to wrap around the thick wrist, but Thor shook him just enough to make them drop. The god indicated Maria with his outstretched hammer.

"This mortal woman, Maria, is under my personal protection." His voice had dropped into his chest, a combination of aggression and tenderness. "So it is, therefore, my place to wreak vengeance for her misfortune tonight."

He reeled the arm bearing Jamie's weight back and flung the boy straight at one of the green dumpsters. There came a sickening crash, and the crunch of warping metal. Jamie's body dropped to the cement, near one of Bing's broken beer bottles. Was he alive? Maybe – nobody really cared to check at the moment. Then Thor turned his attention on David, the drunken aggressor who had started this whole mess.

"You," snarled Thor, advancing on David in the most predatory manner possible. "I cannot truly decide which of you three is the worst of the lot. The coward who would kick a woman when she is down? Notice how fast he ran!"

He reached out and, before David could move, seized him by the front of his shirt.

"The opportunist who would go after her when she has been weakened, but not yet downed?" He yanked David clear off his feet and thrust his arm in the direction of where Jamie had been flung. "You see what has happened to him!"

David struggled and kicked, his shirt threatening to rip.

"Hey! You can't… fuck… do this! Put me down!" he shouted, trying to kick Thor in the chest. "You don't know who you're messin' with, ass!"

Thor considered smashing the boy's skull into the concrete so he could never speak blasphemy to a god again… but then he remembered Odin's words.

"Were it my place to dispense justice here on Earth, I would have killed you on sight," he informed the boy, his voice now dangerously calm and low. "But since my purpose in tonight is vengeance, I shall leave you alive…"

It seemed that only a blink passed in the time it took Thor to throw David to the cement, breaking several ribs, and take the mighty hammer to both his knees. Splinters of bone littered the concrete on either side of the boy's mostly-destroyed body – but he would live. His ribs made it difficult to breathe and he seemed to be going into shock from the pain of his shattered knees. Not to mention the tops of his tibia and fibula… and the bottom of each femur…

Then Thor turned away – for as much as he might want to revel in his enemy's defeat, he had another priority. He had been called here because Maria needed help. She still lay on the ground, had not moved since he had pulled Jamie off her. Her eyes, black with makeup and swollen from being hit, were jammed closed, and she bit down on her lip to keep her jaws shut. Surely she could feel Thor's boots approaching. For when he neared to where she lay, her body curled up into itself seemingly of its own accord.

Thor's gaze softened and he knelt beside her. Something deep within his heart twisted. To his mind, she was still as beautiful as the night they had met, only now the same vestigial beauty as a dead bird. Even at her most vulnerable on that night, she had never looked so delicate. A gust of wind might break her now… The night calmed: lightning went dim, thunder faded to a whisper… but the rain continued as it had earlier.

"Please, please… please don't touch me… Please don't hurt me," Maria stammered in a quiet voice, so low he almost couldn't hear her. "Please go away… Please! Please, leave me alone!"

He did refrain from touching her.

"But I cannot leave you alone," he insisted in his most soothing voice. "I did promise you protection and you called to me."

Maria would not open her eyes. Soaking wet, bleeding from both knees, and curled up on the dirty, waterlogged cement, she couldn't move. This absolutely wasn't real, she decided. If she just stayed here for a little while, not moving, it would all go away. That's how it worked, right?

"Open your eyes," said a once-familiar voice. She shook her head, not really caring what got on her face as a result. But the voice continued, "There is no one who will harm you now."

She opened her eyes just enough that she could see out from under her eyelashes. Thor watched her curiously, restraining his urge to reach for her – she had specifically asked not to be touched at the moment. He fixed his hammer back to his waistband. Seeing that the movement beside her wasn't going away, Maria opened her eyes fully. Then her jaw dropped.

"Let me up…" she sputtered in a mix of surprise and fear and something Thor could not place. "Just… let me get up, okay!"

What the hell! Her thoughts turned frantic. Okay, had she hit her head? There was no way he was really here… She was majorly just projecting this image onto a policeman. But obviously it was time to get the fuck off the ground. Shifting gingerly – damn, every time she moved, she got glass in her skin – she tried it. Gritting her teeth together, her hands met solid ground and she pushed herself up to a crouching position.

Thor wanted to help her, but her eyes flashed at him. With great effort, several swear words, and a few more scratches, Maria drew herself up. For the first time, he realized, the god saw her standing at her full height. He almost had to laugh – she was tiny! She couldn't have been 5'3 – more than a foot shorter than him.

He looked her up and down. Indeed, she had not cut her hair; long, wet strands hung down from a pinned-up style that simulated a bob. Her short gown was stained in several places and soaked clean through. From what he had seen in the portal earlier, it had looked good on her… Her stockings were ripped, run, and snagged; showing bloody knees and cuts on her legs. But even in her disheveled, painful state, Maria held her head high.

"It's been a while," she deadpanned, her voice raspy. A bruise had already formed on her left cheek bone. "I think I should thank you…"

Thor shook his head.

"There is no need," he told her, his smile reaching his eyes. "You called to me."

The rain, which had lightened a bit, started to pour again and she looked at him suspiciously. He grinned as if to say "No, that's not me…" Maria took a step towards him, shaking so violently he thought she might fall. But still, at the look on her face, he knew not to reach for her.

"So how've you been?" Maria offered lamely, folding her arms across herself as if she might double over and not looking at him.

Thor shook his head.

"Now is not the time," he said in a low voice.

She nodded back, swiping blood off her lip with the back of her hand.

"Okay, granted." It pained him to hear how her voice seemed to catch in her throat with every breath. "I hate to ask but… can you maybe, I dunno… get me out of here?"

Now, Thor held out his hand. Swallowing hard, Maria took it gratefully, still holding her head up. She refused to let him see her as weak, though anyone who looked could see her struggling to walk. As her heart fluttered in her throat and arms, she felt herself going into shock. Her entire body felt cold, even in the warm summer rain. At any moment, she might throw up. Keeping one hand on hers, Thor wrapped an arm round her shoulders. Taking it slowly, he guided her from the alley.

As soon as they passed the dumpsters, her knees gave out and he had to catch her before she hit the ground.

"I'm gonna be sick…" she groaned.

The next second, Thor stepped away as Maria doubled over and threw up spectacularly behind the dumpster.

"Sorry…"

She looked up at him with pleading eyes, begging him not to somehow hold this against her. Without a word, he took hold of her shoulders and helped her right herself once more. A shaky smile… and she pulled herself straight, holding her body up as a queen might. Thor guided her back out to the main street. A few people glanced at them strangely – guys with armor weren't normal, even here. But unsurprisingly, no one bothered them.

"My car's over this way," Maria volunteered – thankfully, she had kept her purse locked in the back, her keys in her bra.

Thor nodded, now feeling slightly ill himself – he did not have fond memories of being in any vehicle here. And when he saw the car she meant… for the first time, he felt himself wanting to turn around and run! The whole of the vehicle might have been silver at one point. Under the layer of… heaven-knows-what… he couldn't be quite sure. One of the back doors looked more banged up than the others – and it was green. Then, when he stepped round to help Maria in, he saw the gaping hole in the side of the car.

"I kicked that," Maria informed him with a note of pride in her voice.

"Ah."

And he helped her gingerly into the car. She leaned across and swore, poking the 'unlock' button with the end of a pen. The driver's side one had been broken for a while. Thor could barely fit his body into the cramped car's space. It didn't help that the bottom was full of soda cans and bottles. Curled oddly, he tried to continue offering comfort.

"Do you have somewhere safe to go?" he asked her.

"Yeah…"

And anything she might have said after that got lost as she cranked the car and slammed into reverse. Thor wasn't sure if it was possible for a god to become ill in this sort of situation, but it certainly unnerved him! She threw the thing into drive and they rocketed forward out of the parking lot. In the back of her mind, she kept the thought that she could call the lounge in the morning. They were nice, they'd keep hold of the band's stuff. She didn't flick on the air conditioner – it was probably broken anyway, but she did roll the windows down.

"Driving relaxes me," she informed him, trying to relax into her seat.

It didn't quite work with all the glass in the back of her dress. She just wanted to get somewhere and take a shower. After that, curling up and hiding from the world for a while seemed like the thing to do. Past any of this, she had no desire to think about it. She took a hard corner, heading to the interstate.

Thor had never been on a ride quite like this one. Even hurtling through this planet's atmosphere in a little glass-and-metal box… This girl drove like she had no sense of space-reckoning! Hurtling around other cars and peeling around corners, she continued to push forward in traffic. They came to an exit. She cut across three lanes, miraculously clear of traffic.

"There's a place up here," Maria told the rather shaken god, slowing down only a little before slamming on her brakes at the exit's end. She pointed at a Best Western up the street. "Yeah, that's it there."

She gave no warning before smacking the gas pedal and thrusting the car forward into a hard right turn. Thor felt the plastic handle above the side window come away in his hand. He clenched his teeth, fully expecting the car to make sudden contact with a stationary object. But it didn't, shockingly enough… She turned again, this time a bit more carefully so as not to hit an SUV. They had somehow made it into the Best Western's parking lot with no catastrophe.

Maria tried to keep her wincing and hissing to a minimum as she shoved the car door open. Thor took a minute to work out the levers and whatnot, but finally tumbled out of the car. He felt like he had been inside a tin can. Maria hoisted her giant purse over her shoulder, growling at the glass in her clothes. The god followed closely, eager to be away from that… car.

The lady behind the front desk's eyes widened, seeing the pair of them walk in. Maria did her best to stand tall – not letting on that anything might be amiss, despite being dripping wet and sporting still-bleeding cuts and scrapes. Thor had to duck his head to make it in the doorway, one hand on his hammer. Wiping her glasses off, the lady stared determinedly at the computer screen in front of her. No such luck, Maria thought grimly – she marched up and set her purse on the front desk.

"Excuse me, ma'am," she tried to say politely, but her raspy voice made her sound somewhat threatening. "I need a room for tonight, non-smoking please?"

"I can do that." The lady seemed to suppose it was better to just let this one go – of course she'd seen weirder. She looked over Maria's shoulder at Thor. "King bed or two queens?"

Maria shrugged, pulling a piece of glass out of her hair and flicking it away.

"Doesn't really matter," she said, scratching the back of her head. Her voice still gave the sound of a mild threat. "I'm sorry to be like this, but I just really need a shower and a bed, ma'am…"

The lady nodded in understanding, still eyeing Thor beadily.

"I'll need to see identification and a valid credit card, please ma'am."