Chapter 10

Clint drops Parker off near the edge of town and takes off to find a parking spot far enough away that no one will notice the unmarked car. Puente Antiguo is small enough that Parker finds the SUV she's looking for easily, parked outside a bar.

"Relax, I've got your back," Clint says into her comms unit when she hesitates at the door, debating whether to go in. Taking a deep breath, she pushes the door open and makes her way inside, finding Thor and Selvig at the bar downing pints of beer like water.

"Ah, good, I was wondering how long it would take for you to arrive," Thor says cheerfully when he spots her, waving her over. "A pint for the little one," he adds to the bartender, who frowns back at him.

"I'm pretty sure she's not legal, pal, even if she is the Avatar."

"I'm fifteen," Parker confirms as she hops up onto a barstool. She has to appreciate that the guy isn't giving her any special treatment aside from the brief double-take he had given her when she had first entered the bar.

"A growing child, then, good," Thor says, nodding approvingly. "Definitely a pint for the little one."

"Thor, no," Selvig admonishes, his words slurring together. Thor, to his credit, looks unaffected by however many drinks he's had since they had arrived at the bar.

"A Coke is fine by me," Parker reassures the bartender, who looks relieved as he slides a can over to her. She pops open the tab and takes a sip.

"I see you brought your bodyguard with you," Thor notes and Parker looks over her shoulder to see Clint slipping into the bar and taking a seat at a booth in the corner, waving briefly at him when she catches his eye and earning a small grin in return from the spy. "You have good friends," Thor adds, turning her attention back to him.

"I do," she agrees, taking another sip of her soda. "I wanted to ask you more about, well…that stuff we were talking about earlier." She casts a wary glance at Selvig, unsure how much she can say freely in front of him, but Thor follows her gaze and chuckles.

"Don't worry, he'll be asleep soon enough." He pats Selvig's back affectionately and sure enough, Selvig puts his head on his arms only moments later and starts snoring away on the bartop. "He holds his liquor well for a Midgardian, but no ale from this realm can hold up to Asgardian mead," Thor says wryly and Parker frowns.

"There you go with that Midgard stuff again. Asgard's a new one, though."

"Midgard is what we call this world, which I have been told you call Earth," he explains. "Asgard is where I hail from."

"So that Norse mythology stuff - you, Loki, Odin - all of it's true?" She stares at him. "You're actually a god. I'm sitting next to a god."

"Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration," he admits. "We visited the northern regions of your realm centuries ago, and the native people at the time assumed we were gods and began to worship us. One thing led to another, misinformation spread, and so here we are." He spreads his hands slightly in front of him and shrugs.

"So what are you, then, if you're not a god?" she asks and he wrinkles his nose thoughtfully.

"I suppose you could consider me an...alien? I believe that was the word Jane used."

"An alien," Parker echoes, her head spinning. "Aliens are a thing now."

"To be fair, they've always been a 'thing,' you just didn't know it," Thor points out helpfully and she imitates Selvig, dropping her forehead onto the cool bartop.

"This is too much for me."

Thor chuckles again warmly as he pats her on the back with a broad hand, right between her shoulder blades. If he hadn't been so gentle, she would have been jolted right off the barstool. "If this is too much for you, my friend, we have even further to go before your education about the universe is complete."

"So we're friends now?" She tilts her head to frown sideways at him curiously. "You barely know me. Also, I tried to fight you only a few hours ago."

"And I'm sure with further training, you will make a worthy sparring partner someday," he reassures her. "I don't hold it against you, you were only following orders."

"Oh." She considers that for a moment. "Okay. I'd like that. Friends, then." Thor holds out his hand and she shakes it briefly, marveling briefly at how easily her fingers are dwarfed by his. "So what brings you to Earth - er, Midgard?" she asks once she releases his hand, taking another sip of soda, and his relaxed expression shifts into a melancholy one.

"I've been exiled here. I had grown too arrogant to be worthy of the throne, and so my father banished me to Midgard to teach me a lesson."

"That's rough, buddy," she says, unsure how else to respond to that. "Is he ever going to let you go back home?"

"He cannot. He died shortly after he banished me. My brother Loki visited me while I was imprisoned in your base and informed me that I'm to remain in exile, as our mother has requested." Thor takes a large gulp of beer before staring morosely into the amber liquid left at the bottom of the pint.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Parker offers tentatively and he lifts his head again, managing a tiny smile at her.

"Thank you. It isn't so bad in this realm. The people of this town are welcoming, even though I've only been here a few days. Jane, especially. She found me after I was sent here. Actually, she hit me with her car. But then she brought me to her home and has treated me with kindness since then."

"Ooh," Parker sing-songs teasingly and Thor huffs a chuckle, elbowing her lightly.

"Stop that," he scolds, although she can still see the fond smile tugging at his lips at just the mention of whoever this Jane is. She must have made a large impact on him, and Parker wonders if he's already changed in the short time he's been here. "You didn't come all this way just to hear my tale, did you?" he asks as he folds his arms on the bartop, watching her consideringly. "No, you came to ask about the Avatar State."

She feels a sudden thrill of excitement at the thought of learning more about her abilities, sitting up slightly. "I did, yeah. I have books, journals that my past life wrote out for me, but there's so much she never told me about myself. She never told me I could bend mud, for one, until I found out I could one day when it rained. Same with things like sand, and the water in plant roots."

Thor nods thoughtfully. "Yes, it stands to reason you could bend many things that rely on the base elements. I have heard, for example, that the Avatar is capable of bending lightning, given the right training." Parker wonders just how she can be trained to bend lightning and if she ever will be able to someday. "What I was going to tell you earlier is that the Avatar State is a state of being that you enter where you tap into the deepest energy within yourself. Your eyes glow white and you can bend all four elements at once. All of your past lives culminate and lend you immeasurable strength. With that sort of power, you could probably tear this whole realm apart if you don't exercise control over it."

Parker considers that, chewing her lip and taking another sip of soda to give herself something to do. It explains a lot about why so many people seem nervous around her, like General Ross and the journalists at the press conference had. "How would I go into the Avatar State?" She wonders if Rachel had ever gone into the Avatar State herself, or had even known about it.

Thor shakes his head. "I wouldn't know." They're both distracted from their conversation when Parker's phone rings in her pocket, disrupting the quiet atmosphere of the bar. She tugs the phone out to see Tony's name on the screen, but doesn't want to stop talking to Thor, so she silences the call and decides to explain to Tony later. "Was that important?" Thor asks curiously, watching her tuck her phone back into her pocket.

"No, it was just my dad," she answers. Belatedly, she realizes how insensitive that must sound.

Sure enough, Thor's answering smile is tinged with sadness. "You never know how little time you've had with your family until it is too late. There is plenty of time for us to talk, but your time with your father is precious. Treasure it."

"I do," she reassures him. "Every day. He's my whole world." Even as she says it, she realizes just how true it is; if she had lost Tony to palladium poisoning as she had feared she would only a couple days earlier, she doesn't know how she would have handled it.

"And what of your mother?" The question draws her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, I don't have one." Thor looks horrified and she quickly reassures him, "Not like that! I was adopted by my dad two years ago. I've never met my biological parents." She hesitates before admitting, "Truth is, I was born in this town, and I was hoping by coming here that I'd find out who they were. I guess I thought knowing them might help me figure out who I am. But I couldn't find anything."

Thor relaxes a little at the explanation, although she can still see the furrow in his eyebrows as he drains his beer. "Blood is important," he allows as he sets the empty pint down, "But I've often found that what truly shapes the person you are is the family you choose, not necessarily the one you were born into."

"Couldn't agree more," Clint says suddenly over Parker's shoulder, making her jump and nearly spill her half-full can of soda. He grins at the glare she aims at him, squeezing her shoulder apologetically. "Sorry, kid, didn't mean to sneak up on you," he says, although she has a feeling he had definitely meant to sneak up on her. "Gotta steal her for a while," he adds to Thor. "We're needed back on base. But I'll bring her by again in the morning."

"I'd like that," Thor agrees, holding his hand out, and Clint grasps it briefly, shaking it, before ushering Parker off her barstool. She obediently hops down once she digs out a couple dollars to pay for her soda and places it on the bartop, giving Thor one last wave before Clint leads her out of the bar and out into the quiet, humid night.

"So did you get the answers you needed?" he asks as he ushers her into the car.

"Some of them," she admits as she buckles herself in and they begin driving back to the compound. Honestly, she has more questions than answers now, and she has no idea where to begin the next time she sees Thor.

"Sorry for ignoring your call earlier, but you would not believe the night I've had," Parker says the moment Tony picks up the call, her phone cradled against her ear as she leans back against the headboard of the bed in her single bunk. To her relief, Phil hadn't bothered to scold her for attempting to sneak off, deciding she had learned her lesson once she had been caught by Clint and just sending her off to get some sleep.

"Oh my God, are you hurt?" Pepper gasps from somewhere behind Tony and Parker can't help but laugh, despite how bad she feels for making Pepper worry.

"No, I'm okay, Pepper. A few bumps and bruises, but that's all," she admits once she takes a moment to assess herself, only feeling soreness in her shoulder where she had landed on the ground when Thor had shoved her. "Someone broke into the SHIELD compound."

"Oh my God," Pepper repeats faintly.

"She said she was fine, Pep," Tony reminds her.

"He turned out to be Thor. Literally the Thor," Parker blurts out, unable to help herself.

"Wait, you're saying that the Norse god of thunder is a real person?" Tony says, sounding bewildered.

"Yep," she confirms. "Well, technically, he's more like an alien than a god, but still, holy shit, right?"

"Language," Pepper admonishes.

"Holy shit," Tony says at the same time and Parker hears Pepper swat at his shoulder. "Ow! Why?" he complains.

"You're a bad influence," she scolds.

"Rude," he grumbles in response.

"He knows about the Avatar," Parker says to get their attention again. "He told me stuff about myself that I never knew. Did you know I could bend lightning? 'Cause I sure didn't."

"Huh." She can imagine Tony's nose wrinkling thoughtfully as he ponders that. "Well, lightning is basically plasma. Must be an advanced form of firebending. I don't think Rachel ever knew about it. I always wondered if she could bend metal, too. Metal is just refined earth. We ought to try that when you get back home, it would make lab work so much easier."

"Have you ever heard of the Avatar State?" she asks.

"Is that what that glow-y thing Rachel could do was?" he says, surprised. "She only ever managed it a few times, from what my dad told me, and she usually blacked out afterwards. She could never remember how she did it, even though my dad wanted to study it."

"Oh." Parker frowns, wishing she can get at least a little more information on how to go into the Avatar State.

"I'll see if I can dig through her journals, see if she ever mentioned it," Tony promises, clearly sensing her disappointment.

"They're in my nightstand, bottom drawer," she informs him, relieved. "Let me know what you find. Thanks."

"Anytime. Stay safe and keep in touch, okay?"

"I will," she agrees. Remembering her conversation with Thor, she adds, "I love you."

Something in her tone catches Tony's attention. "Are you sure you're okay, Park?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just-" She swallows against the sudden lump in her throat. "I love you both a lot."

"We love you, too," Pepper reassures her warmly. "Get some sleep, sweetheart. We'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. 'Night." Parker hangs up, but the lump in her throat doesn't quite go away and she wonders if this is what feeling homesick is like.

True to his word, Clint takes Parker back into town the next morning and drops her off at the small garage where the astrophysicists live before setting up for surveillance on the opposite roof. Parker knocks on the metal shutter door and a pretty brown-haired woman opens it, blinking in surprise at the sight of Parker standing there.

"Um, can I help you?"

"Yeah, is Thor here?" Parker wonders if this is Jane and gets her answer when Thor appears over the woman's shoulder, his hand resting on the small of her back.

"Jane, this is Avatar Parker. I mentioned that I had met her last night, if you recall," he explains, his voice surprisingly tender, before glancing up at Parker to give her a warm smile. "It's good to see you again, my friend."

"You, too," Parker answers, returning his smile, and Jane relaxes marginally.

"Well, you're welcome to stay for breakfast, if you're hungry."

"I'd love to, if it's not too much trouble," Parker agrees. She had been too nervous to eat much more than a granola bar that morning and her stomach has decided that now is the perfect time to remind her how empty it is.

"Not at all. Come on in." Jane ushers her inside, leading her to a small breakfast table where Selvig and a dark-haired girl with glasses are sitting.

"Avatar Parker!" Selvig says in surprise, clearly more sober than he had been the previous night, and Parker waves shyly.

"Just Parker's fine. Hi again, Dr. Selvig."

"Dude, you're the Avatar?" The girl with glasses squints at Parker. "But you're so little!"

Parker bristles, insulted. "You're not that much taller," she retorts before she can stop herself and the other girl laughs.

"Never mind, she's sassy. I like her."

"Don't bully her, Darcy," Jane warns as she scoops some scrambled eggs and a few slices of toast onto a plate and passes it to Thor, who places the plate in front of Parker on the table. "She could probably burn this whole place down if she wanted to. Coffee or orange juice, Parker?"

"I mean, I don't plan on burning anything down, but I appreciate the sentiment," Parker answers dryly before adding to Jane, "Juice is fine, thank you." Thor takes a seat opposite her with a mug of coffee and a plate of eggs and Jane joins them moments later with her own plate, sitting beside Thor once she sets a glass of orange juice in front of Parker.

Darcy continues to stare at Parker like she's just as much an alien as Thor is. "Did you seriously face the Hulk when you were only thirteen?" she blurts out and then jolts as Jane kicks her under the table.

"Uh, yeah," Parker says, bewildered. "Although he was kinda nice to me." She takes a gulp of orange juice.

"I knew Banner before the incident. He was doing gamma particle research in this town about fifteen years ago along with his girlfriend at the time, Elizabeth Ross. Banner was somewhere in the middle of his PhD programs at the time," Selvig says and Parker turns her attention to him to find him studying her intently.

"Programs?" she echoes as what he had just said registers. "As in multiple?"

Selvig shrugs. "The guy's a genius. He's got about seven PhDs, if I remember right." Parker feels a little daunted, but makes a mental note to look up Bruce Banner's research sometime. "He's a good man. Sure, he's always had a temper, but he'd never hurt a fly if he was in control of himself." Selvig swallows a forkful of eggs before adding, "You reminded me a lot of him when I first saw you on television. You know, at the press conference when you went public."

Parker feels her face heat up, remembering her disastrous first press conference two years earlier. "Can we just pretend that press conference never happened?" she requests plaintively.

"That clip of you saying 'hi' to that one reporter went viral. You were so nervous, it was adorable," Darcy snickers. "And you told the whole room to shut up." Thor looks amused by how mortified Parker clearly is, but doesn't do anything to stop Darcy.

"Leave her alone, Darce, you can see she's embarrassed by it," Jane scolds before giving Parker a sympathetic smile. "Sorry about her, she has no brain-to-mouth filter."

"It's okay, my dad's like that sometimes, too," Parker reassures her.

"Your dad's Tony Stark, though," Darcy points out, sounding a little awed. "That must be so cool."

"It's pretty cool, yeah," Parker agrees. "I like his lab a lot. And his robots."

"Robots?" Thor repeats the word as if it's foreign, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Machines that are built to perform tasks for us," Jane explains, "Some have artificial intelligence built in so that they learn as they go." Thor's expression clears as he nods in understanding.

"Kid, I hate to break up whatever it is you're all talking about in there, but there's apparently a Renaissance faire in town and they're headed your way," Clint's voice suddenly crackles over her comms unit and she sits up in her seat, suddenly alert.

"You wanna elaborate on that, Barton?" she requests as she presses her earpiece. Everyone at the table turns to her, startled.

"Give it a second, you'll see soon enough," Clint answers cryptically, but she can hear the suppressed amusement in his voice. Sure enough, only moments later, someone raps loudly on the glass window and they look up to see four people dressed in medieval armor standing there.

"Found you!" the large man with a voluminous red beard says cheerfully, his voice muffled by the glass, and the dark-haired woman beside him waves at Thor. Jane, who had been getting to her feet, drops her empty plate in shock and it shatters on the ground.

"My friends!" Thor exclaims happily, hurrying to open the garage door for them.

"Thank God, you know them," Jane says faintly.

"Of course, these are my dearest friends from Asgard," Thor confirms as he ushers the oddly-dressed group inside. "Lady Sif-" He gestures to the dark-haired woman, who bows briefly. "-and the Warriors Three, Volstagg-" The red-haired man smiles broadly. "-Fandral-" The blonde man beside him who looks like Robin Hood bows with a flourish. "-and Hogun." The last man inclines his head politely, but doesn't smile.

"Please tell me Thor knows them," Clint requests over Parker's comms unit.

"Yeah, he does," she answers as she presses her earpiece. "You can stand down."

"Never much liked spies," Volstagg says, eyeing her suspiciously. "Was that your friend on the rooftop?"

"He noticed me?" Clint says, sounding surprised.

"He's just watching my back," Parker reassures Volstagg.

"She's the Avatar," Thor adds, placing a hand on Parker's shoulder. "You can understand why she has a guard." Volstagg relaxes at the explanation. "My friends, I have never been happier to see you all." Thor's expression becomes sorrowful. "But you should not have come."

"We came to take you home," Fandral protests and out of the corner of her eye, Parker sees Jane bite her lip hard, as if fighting an outburst.

"You know I can't return home," Thor retorts. "My father is dead because of me and I am to remain in exile."

The Warriors Three and Sif exchange confused glances. "Thor, your father still lives," Sif says quietly and Thor takes a step back, stunned. He opens his mouth to respond, but then Parker's comms unit crackles loudly enough with static that she has to yank it out of her ear hurriedly. Everyone turns to stare at the source of the high-pitched whine as she tosses the earpiece onto the breakfast table.

"Does that thing always make that sound? How do you bear it?" Fandral asks politely, puzzled, and Parker massages her ear to make the painful ringing stop.

"No, that's not normal. Something must be interfering with the signal." She glances outside to try and catch sight of Clint, but then her attention is drawn to the desert beyond the town, where she can see a large storm brewing in the distance as sand and wind spin in a giant dust cloud. "What is that?" she asks, but before anyone can respond, a brilliant beam of rainbow light explodes from the sky, impacting the ground hard.

"Are we expecting anyone else through the Bifrost?" Thor says dryly, glancing at his friends, who all shake their heads in unison.

"Loki must have known we'd come here," Sif answers, her lips pursed as she stares at the large figure emerging from the cloud of sand and smoke in the distance. "He's sent the Destroyer after us."

"No, he's sent it after me," Thor corrects her grimly, leading the way outside as the others follow after him.

Townspeople flood the streets to gape at the giant creature in the distance, made entirely of metal plates with a gaping hole where its face should be. The creature turns to take in its surroundings, its attention on a group of suited men in the distance, and Parker feels a cold rush of fear when she recognizes Phil's distinctive red convertible against the dull beige of the desert sand.

"Coulson can handle it." Clint's hand grabs her shoulder before she can break into a run in the direction of the desert. "And I'm going in for backup," he adds when she throws him a glare for stopping her. "Stay here in town, don't engage with whatever that thing is. We're gonna try and contain it to the desert."

"But-" she tries, but the grave expression on his face stops her from protesting.

"Keep the kid safe, do not let her follow me," he says to Thor, who nods solemnly, before making his way to the black car parked on the other side of the street. Before Parker can so much as blink, he's behind the wheel of the car, driving towards the desert to give Phil and the other SHIELD agents backup.

"Anyone wanna tell me why that thing's called the Destroyer?" she asks plaintively, looking up at Thor, but then her question is answered for her when the metal creature rears back and then a blast of fiery energy shoots out of its face like a jet, erupting against the sand and sending it flying as a plume of smoke follows in its wake. "Oh." Her voice comes out tiny despite herself.

"You must leave this town now," Thor says to Jane urgently. "Get yourself and your friends to safety, and take Parker with you."

"What? No!" Parker protests.

Jane shakes her head violently as well. "What about you?"

"I will stay and fight," Thor says solemnly. "I am still a warrior."

"You are but a mortal now," Volstagg argues. "If you fight, you'll be killed."

"Or one of us, trying to protect you," Fandral adds dryly.

"What you can do is get the mortals to safety," Sif insists, "And leave the fighting to us."

Thor exhales heavily, dropping his gaze to the sidewalk. "You're right." His friends look surprised even as he turns to Parker, Jane, Selvig, and Darcy. "Help me clear the streets. I'll let none of these people die on this day." Together, they begin to usher people off the streets and back indoors as the Warriors Three and Sif head to the edge of town to stand guard against the Destroyer as it steadily makes its way towards the town despite SHIELD's best efforts to hold it at bay.

"Do you really think they can hold that thing off?" Parker asks Thor as they usher the last of the bystanders indoors.

"My friends fight bravely, but they won't be able to hold it back for long," he admits, his eyebrows furrowed in concern as he watches the Warriors Three launch themselves at the massive metal creature in an attack.

"For Asgard!" Volstagg bellows as he smashes into the Destroyer, making it stumble briefly, but it holds its ground as it grabs him by the collar. He shrugs sheepishly, but then it lobs him back at the other two warriors, who stumble under his weight and collapse to the ground.

Sif takes advantage of the Destroyer's distraction, leaping off a rooftop and driving her spear down through its helmet. For a moment, it looks as if it works as the Destroyer whines and powers down. Sif smirks, but then the Destroyer's helmet spins around on its shoulders to face her as a blast of fiery energy shoots out. Sif rolls off just in time and drops to the street as her spear slips through the metal plates of the creature and clatters onto the asphalt. Before she and the Warriors Three can regroup, the Destroyer unleashes another fiery blast, sending them flying in different directions.

"Shit," Parker swears under her breath when the Destroyer looks up at her and Thor next, barely reacting in time as it rears back to fire again and bringing up her hands as she shuts her eyes instinctively, preparing to be hit by intense heat. She opens her eyes after a brief moment where nothing happens, stunned to find that she's stopped the blast of fire in its tracks several feet away. The jet hovers in the air, as if uncertain where to go.

The Destroyer is frozen in its tracks, seemingly as startled as she is, and Thor urges, "Turn it around, Parker!" With effort, Parker turns the fire blast around and sends it back just as strongly at the Destroyer. The blast hits the creature directly in the torso and it stumbles before collapsing onto its back. She drops her arms, feeling like she's just lifted a ton of heavy bricks. "We don't have long, you only stunned it," Thor explains, "But you did well." He hurries to his injured friends, kneeling beside Sif and helping her sit up against an overturned car. "You must go while you can," he urges and Sif shakes her head, which is bleeding rather badly.

"The others," she protests, sounding dazed.

"You cannot help them now," Thor says, although his tone is gentle, "Your job is to survive."

"No," she argues fiercely, "I will die a warrior's death. Stories will be told of this day."

"Live, and tell those stories yourself," he insists, waving Parker over as he speaks, and she closes the space between them. "Get her to safety," he instructs her. "Make sure our friends are out of harm's way as well."

"Got it." Parker grasps Sif's hand to help her to her feet. "What about the others?" She glances at Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun, who are just barely starting to return to consciousness.

"I'll get them to safety." Thor looks over his shoulder at the Destroyer as it begins to stir and clamber to its feet again.

"And that thing?" Parker points out worriedly. "It was all I could do just to hold back one of its attacks."

"Don't worry, my friend, I have a plan." He claps her shoulder briefly before hurrying towards the Warriors Three.

"Come on." Parker lets Sif lean on her side as she guides the warrior back to where Jane, Selvig, and Darcy are huddled together in the shelter of the garage. The other warriors join them only moments later, stumbling as they make their way into the garage.

Once Parker makes sure everyone is safe, she turns, half-expecting Thor to be fighting the giant creature, but instead, she finds him approaching it slowly instead, his hands spread out in a peaceful gesture. She can't hear what he's saying with how far away he is, but whatever he says makes the Destroyer pause, considering him silently for a moment, before it turns away to begin lumbering back out towards the desert.

Thor drops his hands, a relieved expression spreading across his face, but then the Destroyer turns around again sharply, backhanding him across the face hard enough that Parker hears a sickening crack. Thor flies backwards, skidding to a stop on the pavement, and is deathly still.

"No!" Jane shrieks as she breaks into a run across the street to collapse to her knees at Thor's side, clutching at his hand desperately

Parker feels her own mouth fall open in horror, but no sound comes out. Her shock is quickly replaced by white-hot anger surging up from the pit of her stomach, flames on her fists and sparks on her tongue as she shouts, "Hey!" Everyone still alive turns to face her, bewildered. Even the Destroyer turns around at the sound of her voice, its tilted head the only indicator of its curiosity. "That was my friend, you jerk!" She throws a punch as hard as she can and a fireball flies out, slamming directly into the Destroyer's chest and making it stumble back.

Deciding to draw its retaliating fire away from the rest of the people gathered behind her, Parker takes off at a run, ducking underneath the Destroyer's outstretched metal arm and sliding around to slam a projectile of asphalt from the road into the small of its broad back. It stumbles forward this time, but catches itself and turns around sharply to face her, its faceplates opening up as another fire blast begins to charge up. The openings between the metal plates begin to glow orange and Parker braces herself for impact, wishing she had some water to bend directly into the Destroyer's face.

Suddenly, a loud clang echoes down the street and the Destroyer topples forward, slamming into the ground at Parker's feet before it's able to unleash its attack. A massive sledgehammer flies past Parker, the force making her hair whip around her face, before ricocheting like a boomerang directly into Thor's waiting hand. To Parker's amazement, he's on his feet and seemingly healed completely. He's no longer wearing the T-shirt he had been wearing earlier, but instead a full suit of armor with a long, flowing red cape.

"Oh. My. God," Jane says faintly as she stares at Thor's back.

"You're telling me," Parker adds as she stumbles around the Destroyer's prone body back to Thor's side, feeling just as stunned as Jane looks. "I thought that thing had killed you!"

Thor claps her shoulder, making her knees buckle slightly. "It takes a lot more than that to kill me, I assure you. Now, get our friends to safety while I take care of the Destroyer for good."

Numbly, Parker nods as she and Jane help Darcy, Selvig, Sif, and the Warriors Three to the safety of the garage behind them. She watches as Thor begins to spin the hammer in his hand - Mjolnir, she finally recalls - faster and faster until a tornado begins to form, the force of the swirling dust and debris lifting the Destroyer into the air. Thor leaps off the ground into the tornado after the Destroyer and disappears into the dark vortex.

Parker is just about to run in after Thor to see what she can do to help when her phone rings in her pocket, making her jump. She scrambles to pull it out and answers the call when she sees Tony's name on the screen.

"What the hell is going on?" he demands the moment the call connects. "There are cellphone videos all over the Internet of you fighting some giant metal monster. Pepper and I are watching a live feed now of you standing near a tornado."

"Oh my God, is she hurt? Please tell me she's not hurt," Parker hears Pepper say frantically from somewhere behind Tony.

"Oh, yeah, the big metal monster is a thing that's happening," Parker says, attempting to sound as casual as possible as she looks around for any sign of a recording cellphone and finds Darcy with her phone out. "Dude, my parents are watching that and freaking out, turn it off," she scolds as she covers her phone's receiver with one hand to keep Tony from hearing her.

Darcy huffs, but puts her phone away. "That was the number one trending feed on Twitter. Rude."

"Hey, the feed cut off," Tony complains, but then his voice becomes serious. "Park, listen, I can put on the suit and be there in no time, just say the word."

"Relax, Iron Man, we've got it taken care of," Parker reassures him. "Thor's fighting that thing now and SHIELD is out in the desert taking care of the mess it left behind. Tell Pepper I'm fine. Gotta go, see you when I get home. Love you!" Before Tony can protest, she hangs up quickly as a dark gray cloud forms above them, a bolt of lightning crashing down into the center of the tornado. A reddish-orange glow is the only brief warning she gets before the tornado itself explodes, bits of metal raining down on the street as Thor drops to the ground and walks toward them, smiling cheerfully and casually twirling Mjolnir in one hand. The storm cloud dissipates just as quickly as it had formed, leaving the sky a pale blue.

"Is this how you always look?" Jane asks as he approaches them, sounding somewhat dazed from what she's just witnessed.

"More or less," Thor confirms.

"It's a good look," Jane says appreciatively, looking him up and down.

"Ew, flirting, gross," Parker mutters almost instinctively as she shoves her phone back into her pocket. "So what now?" she asks as she looks up at Thor.

"Now my friends and I will return to Asgard," Thor says solemnly, his smile fading as he glances at the other Asgardians. "My brother must answer for what he has done."

"You're leaving?" Jane asks, her eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"I will return for you," Thor reassures her quickly, taking her hand and squeezing it. "You have my word, Jane."

"Hold on a moment." Parker hadn't even noticed Phil's car pulling up to them, but he's at her side in the next moment, his hand on her shoulder. "I don't think you've been completely honest with me, Donald," he says dryly to Thor as Clint climbs out of the passenger seat of the car to join them.

"If it makes you feel better, he's been pretty honest with me," Parker points out.

"Don't think you're off the hook for ignoring Barton's orders and engaging that thing," he answers with a light squeeze to her shoulder and she grimaces.

"Had a feeling you would, though," Clint reassures her, ruffling her hair lightly.

"Know this, son of Coul," Thor says, drawing their attention back to him. "We fight for the same cause, you and I and young Parker here - the protection of this world. From this day forth, count me as your ally." He holds out his hand and Phil goes to grasp it, but Thor quickly pulls it back. "If you return the items you've stolen from Jane Foster."

"Borrowed," Phil corrects quickly, but Jane scowls at him and he relents. "You'll get your equipment back. You'll need it to continue your research, which, after today, SHIELD would like to fully sponsor. If that's alright with you."

Jane's jaw drops and all she can do is muster a nod in response as Thor looks up at the sky. "Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!" Parker looks up, too, but only sees a few wispy clouds overhead. "Heimdall?" Thor calls again, sounding somewhat nervous.

"He'd open it if he could," Sif points out worriedly. "I fear the worst."

"We may be trapped here," Fandral agrees.

"Heimdall!" Thor shouts once more and apparently, the third time's the charm because a blast of energy explodes out of the sky into a rainbow pillar of light in front of them.

Parker gapes at the spectacle even as Phil and Barton both yank her back instinctively from it. She can barely hear anything over the sound of the rushing energy, like a roaring waterfall in her ears, but sees Thor take Jane's hand to kiss her knuckles gently before he and the other Asgardians step through and vanish into the light. The light vanishes almost instantly, leaving only a charred symbol vaguely resembling a Nordic rune burned into the asphalt beneath their feet. Jane blinks back tears as she's ushered back into the garage by Selvig and Darcy, leaving Parker standing in the street with Phil and Clint.

"Are 084 missions always this insane?" she asks, wishing she didn't sound as stunned as she did.

"Not always," Clint reassures her, sounding somewhat dazed himself.

"We'd better start wrapping up," Phil says, patting Parker's shoulder briefly before letting go and heading for the car. "Fury will want to hear all about this."

Still feeling somewhat like her legs are made of jelly after the events of the day, Parker follows him to the car and climbs into the backseat as Clint takes the passenger seat again. As they drive away from the town, Parker can't help but look back over her shoulder at the remnants of the Bifrost on the street behind them, wondering if she would ever encounter Thor again.

So. Uh. Writer's block is a thing that really whacked me over the head for the past year.

But my mom and I have been marathoning the MCU and it got me inspired to start writing again for this story, especially imagining how the later movies are going to play out with Parker present. I'm hoping to start writing more frequently, but life is definitely going to get in the way a lot thanks to some new responsibilities at work, including travel.

Hope you enjoy this chapter in the meantime!