Cooling Ember
Under the unforgiving sun, the duo composed of the towering blonde and the one-armed elderly raised more than a single eyebrow, but while they never encountered a single mortal enforcer, almost as if tìbecause of some magic they managed to choose the path that allowed them to walk freely, the random human concerned about the appearance of the two hesitated when it came to actually intervene.
There was something, in the air, no, in the way the two walked, in the way their stony expressions didn't even consider the existence of the people around them, a veneer of restrained hostility, of a bomb about to go off... something that spoke to the atrophied survival sense of the humans, something that whispered at the corner of their primal mind: "Do not be seen. Avoid the Predator. Run. Hide."
A tense silence seemed to both precede and follow the two, and once they turned an angle, only then, heavy sighs of relief could be heard, with cold sweat rolling off temples, parched mouths gulping as if to seek water to wash away the foreboding feeling that almost cracked their beings.
"Your weapon is too far for your body to handle the travel." Yamamoto spoke calmly as the two walked.
"How would you..." Thor started to object, only to relent when he felt the shift in the elder's expression. No, his face hadn't moved in the slightest, remaining the blank, stony wall that it had always been, but the God of Thunder felt clear that the man's patience was at an end. In the same way, the mortals felt wary at the scarred man, he knew that protesting or speaking against the bald man's opinion would have meant nothing good.
"Once we succeed, old man, I'll let your eyes feast on the magnificence of my home!" Thor boasted to the vaguely interested God of Death, who kept walking with his eyes closed, relying on his other senses to navigate, since he preferred to not shatter the mortals around them unduly.
His thoughts on the powerful blonde at his side wavered between exasperation and wistfulness. He was very much like another student Yamamoto once had, spontaneous, boisterous, powerful. But where the General Commander had beaten the carelessness out of the whelp, Thor looked like a child far too used to power. One that acted carelessly, with a single-track mind, and a general, unknowing disregard of the consequences.
Foolish child. The God of Death wanted to express his disappointment, but it was neither the time nor the place.
The duo of estranged gods walked out in the park of the hospital
"Blue sky... one sun... This must be the realm of Midgard, I wasn't sure." Thor spoke thoughtfully once he had an actual chance to take in the sky over their heads.
"How many realms?" Yamamoto's voice questioned him, making the de-powered god of thunder frown at the ignorance of what he had assumed was an extremely wise and knowledgeable entity.
"Where must you come from, if you know nothing of the Nine? The Universe is vast, that is true, but gods tend to orbit around Yggdrasyl... be they Asgardian or not." Thor answered his question while posing another, only to receive silence in turn.
"How do you travel between realms?"
"Well, the Bifrost..." Thor started to answer, looking around curiously even as the old man kept his pace towards the
"Hey!" a female voice cut in their conversation, accompanied by the squealing of tires on the hot concrete and the groaning of brakes pulled too hard, "Hey you!"
The duo turned towards the mortal so lacking in survival instinct that she breezed through the general menacing feeling that Yamamoto was giving off.
"I have some questions for..." Jane started to talk while she left her van, only then noticing the hospital garments that the two were still wearing: "Oh my god, did you escape the hospital?!"
Her observation, which was pretty much correct, nevertheless presented an obstacle from the retrieval of Mjolnir, and Yamamoto was about to crush the woman on the ground when his line of sight was blocked by the back of Thor, whose first instinct was to answer general friendliness with overbearing joy: "Mortal! We indeed escaped the restraints of that evil place! But how do you know of us? Are you perhaps here to offer transportation to Mjolnir? It is my understanding that it is too far for my mortal form to reach on its own."
Jane's expression became pained as she heard the madman talk, only to snap into focus with her previous night's discoveries. The anomaly that had let her take a picture of stars that were not the ones that she should have witnessed, along with the human shapes on the images, her theory of a wormhole...
"We'd better get you off the street."
Yamamoto was a very patient man, and once he understood that the woman speaking the local tongue meant to help, he had acquiesced to her request of joining her, it wasn't like such a woman could present a threat. And beyond that, the words of Ywach were thundering in his ears once more: "You just didn't want to depend on a human."
The General Commander was many things, prideful among them, but a fool he was not. And more than anything, the Shinigami was one that learned from his mistakes, both in swordsmanship and in life. Once already he had refused out of pride resources that could have meant a massive boon later on. This woman wasn't promising to give him back his arm, but his last defeat at the hands of the ancient enemy left him reeling. He had been aware that he refused the help of those that didn't belong to the Corps he had founded, it would have denied the importance of the Corps in the first place.
But now there was no Seiretei to protect, no army to shape through example, no politics with the Central 46 to balance.
After a short trip in the van, Yamamoto and Thor were led into a building, and then in a back room where many instruments beeped and whirred.
Yamamoto was given strange garments that he nevertheless wore, turning from a murderous-hobo into a respectable cripple: a couple of safety boots of his measure hid his feet, the edge of the black tracksuit trousers he was given was tucked into them, while a white shirt was stretched on his torso
Thor, now shirtless and wearing jeans, was still looking around for a t-shirt. Jane and Darcy, standing in the lab, couldn't help but notice the duo's forms. Darcy eyed the powerful builds, rippling biceps for Thor and a constellation of steely, scarred skin on the older man.
"You know, for a crazy homeless guy, he's pretty cut." Darcy spoke while blatantly ogling Thor, only to add in a whisper: "And Methuselah looks like he could punch his way through a mountain range, seriously, where the heck do they come from?"
Jane turned away with heat rising to her cheeks, while Thor finally managed to take hold of a t-shirt.
The ditzy intern kept talking, this time directly engaging Thor: "Hey, sorry I tased you!"
The blond warrior blinked in confusion, frowning thoughtfully: "You have a mighty weapon, mortal, take care to use it wisely."
The flabbergasted woman made to answer, only to be interrupted when the elderly man barked something to Thor... was that Japanese?
"They can understand me because I still talk the Allspeak." the blonde explained, "You hear me in your native tongue."
Jane had just returned to the room, dragging a very contrary Selvig behind her, only to stop at the explanation Thor gave, her eyes shining with unasked questions. Just as she was about to get started on her intensive questioning, the blonde warrior's stomach rumbled like thunder, and it was quickly decided to have a late lunch.
It wasn't like Jane couldn't see the usefulness of keeping her science experiment happy while she grilled them.
The small cafè had a very basic kitchen, so while the menu was rather simplistic, the food was genuine, cheap, and came in reasonable quantities.
Yamamoto wasn't a very imposing man, but between the rippling muscles clearly visible under his white shirt, his missing arm, and stern expression, he wasn't approachable. And that was without considering the fact that he spoke only Japanese. And that Thor could understand him perfectly, which was still mind blogging for the mortals that were sharing the meal with.
With his eyes closed, Yamamoto distractedly perceived the inane chatter and meaningless people roaming in the small establishment.
"Than you for bringing us here!" Thor loudly talked to Jane, who seemed a bit flustered by the distracted and apparently unknowing way in which the blonde answered to her questions without explaining anything.
"You're welcome." she replied while pulling out a photo of the Bifrost, "Now tell me, what were you doing, in that?"
Thor studied the frame-grabs with interest. only to turn dismissively back to his full plate: "What does anyone do in the Bifrost?"
Everyone stared at him, while Selvig seemed to recognize the word. Jane opened immediately her notebook, quickly writing the word down. That seemed to attract the attention of the blond warrior, who hunched over, still munching, eyeing the notations and drawings within the book, curious.
"The Bifrost..." Selvig repeated skeptically, his eyes briefly glancing at the one-armed man sitting at the table, who had still to touch his food.
Once Jane became uncomfortable with Thor standing so close to her, looking over her notations, she quickly closed the book: "What exactly is the Bifrost?"
The span of attention of Thor was unfortunately short, and so he returned to his quickly emptying plate of steak and eggs.
"You could start by telling us exactly what happened to you last night." Jane spoke, "Or explaining with how you got inside that cloud."
"And how you could eat an entire box of Pop-Tarts and still be this hungry." Darcy butted in, earning herself a withering look.
Thor remained unbothered and downed a cup of coffee: "This drink. I like it."
"Yeah, it's great, isn't it?" Darcy eagerly engaged the blonde hunk, "Isabela makes the best coffee in town."
As an answer, Thor raised his empty mug with a quick motion, with the intention of throwing it at the ground, only to freeze mid-movement, his eyes darting at the old man seated next to him, whose grey eyes were open by a fraction. He didn't have to speak, he didn't even make a sound, he simply turned his bald and scarred head around, making a show of observing the other humans at the diner.
Thor mimicked his action, only then noticing that there was no sign whatsoever of broken mugs on the floor. The god of Thunder, apparently chastised, slowly brought the empty mug back on the cluttered table: "How do you ask for another?"
Darcy took over, showing the blonde the ropes of being a civilized human being, while both Jane and Selvig's attention was turned to the elder man that had still to speak a single word since his question back at the lab.
"And... who are you?" Jane, once more walking all over her survival instinct, asked the scarred man, who proceeded to turn his head slightly towards Thor, who quickly enough picked up the need to answer.
"Yamamoto Shigekuni" the banished Asgarian spoke, "he's the one that rescued me from my constraints, and a powerful warrior."
"It's..." Jane and Selvig exchanged a worried glance, "it's a pleasure."
"You missed all the excitement out at the crater." a random man sitting at the bar spoke then, earning himself Jane's attention.
"What crater?" the woman behind the bar asked.
The man seemed to be enjoying his minute of glory: "They're saying some kind of satellite crashed in the desert. Wewere having a good time with it till the Feds showed up, chased us out. They said it was radioactive. And I had my hands all over it."
"Fucking feds." another man replied from the bar, earning himself a raised mug, as if in a mock-toast: "Well, you're probably sterile now! Ahahaha!"
"Fuck off Pete!" the first guy replied, but he laughed along: "Whenever they want something, they say it's radioactive to have us hones flok go away."
"What did the satellite look like?"
"I don't know anything about satellites.", the first man replied, "It looked more like a hammer than anything else. But it was heavy. Real heavy. Nobody could lift it."
That got Thor's attention, who turned his eyes questioningly at Yamamoto, who simply nodded.
"Where was this?" Thor asked as he rose from his seat, his patience finally growing to thin to hold him back.
"About twelve miles east of here." with that information, the God of Thunder grinned, his spirits soaring, and he quickly strode out of the diner, shortly followed by Yamamoto.
Once Jane, Darcy, and Selvig caught up to the unlikely duo after having paid their tab, the scientist ran in front of the blonde man, stopping him from walking further: "Where are you going?"
"Twelve miles east of here." He sidestepped Jane and resumed to stride determinedly down the street.
"Why?"
"To get what belongs to me."
"On foot? And mr. Yamamoto should walk 12 miles in the open desert? Are you insane? It would kill any sane man, never mind an elder! Besides, since when you own a satellite?"
Her comment about Yamamoto stole a peal o laughter from the banished Asgardian, who nevertheless kept walking: "It's not what they say it is. And I'm looking for a mean of transportation."
"Whatever it is, the government seems to think it's theirs. You intend to just walk in there and take it?"
The scientist was stumped when the blonde simply nodded, his strides never slowing even as he left behind Selvig and Darcy, Yamamoto quiet on his left: "If you take me there now, I'll tell you everything you wish to know."
"Everything?"
"All the answers you seek and more will be yours, once I reclaim Mjolnir." Thor stared heavily into the eyes of Jane, stopping for the first time since they left the diner.
She bit her lip, frowning in thought:"... let me get the van." she ran towards the vehicle.
"You could have probably just carried me there, couldn't you?" Thor asked Yamamoto while he looked at the retreating form of Jane, still trying to understand the reasons behind the God of Death's choice of not simply dropping the Asgardian where he needed to be.
"If you can't reclaim your own weapon, how can you be worthy of wielding it?" the old man stonily asked, "You must overcome the challenge yourself, foolish whelp, not have me hand you success."
Thor grimaced at the words he received, for an instant, he felt like he was being scolded again by Odin.
AN
This is a very broken chapter, but I had to show how Yamamoto could simply walk around, and the interactions were a must, I needed to give Yamamoto a way to observe Thor, as well as an excuse to introduce Allspeak.
I've tried a very ample 3rd person, not taking the Pov of any character in particular, preferring to blend them together a bit, how did it work? It doesn't flow so easily in my opinion. Let me know!
And I confirm that this is a divergent story, but it takes time for the presence of Yamamoto to cause relevant ripples. He can feel the general position of Mjolnir, but it is blatant that Thor has a mortal body now, so he immediately warns off the God of Thunder from pursuing with no plan.
And Thor, for all of his general idiocy, has a military mindset (of sorts). Yamamoto does resemble a lot a much more stern Odin, and the God of Thunder, freshly banished for having ignored the orders, this times decides to go with the wiser option.
As for why Yamamoto doesn't simply flash-step there with Thor in tow: for all of his need to reforge Ryujin Jakka, the old man is, among the other things, a teacher, and he sees a stupid version of Shunsui in this banished Asgardian. Handing him back anything isn't something that he's willing to do. His help for now is making sure that Thor doesn't dally too much and doesn't get killed.