TW: Glad to hear it. Can you really blame her.
Gallifrey 22.3: Gonna have to disagree with you there. The only reason Carol and Fury believed the Skrulls were good was because they were being kept prisoner by the Kree. Not to mention it missed the whole point of the Kree/Skrull war.
Ellie Bishop: Indeed. Wanda actually won't be going to the Bartons until after Lagos. The stupidest thing Ross could ever do is go after someone Clint cares about. As Endgame showed, Clint is dangerous when not held back. Everything always is easier said than done. While that is one reason Thor wants the Skrull, it's not the only one. No she will not.
Guest: Glad to hear it. Indeed. Overall, I find the Peter/Mary-Jane relationship extremely overrated and the fact they have to kill Gwen just to make it happen is extremely irritating. While I have my issues with Peter/MJ, its far more bearable than pretty much any other version.
Traveling Guest: Indeed. Glad to hear it.
Asgard
Afternoon
Thor sat in the throne room, deep in thought, mentally going over the events of the last few days.
The morning following his coronation, Thor's first act as king was to send Asgard's armies out to stabilize some of the more chaotic parts of the Nine Realms. Despite protests from the Warrior Three, Thor had sent both Loki and Valkyrie with them. Thor knew his brother would need to earn the forgiveness of their people and Valkyrie was a great warrior, she would do better on the battlefield, stabilizing the realm than she would here, drinking herself to death.
Currently, Thor was going over the next part of his plan. If things went as they should on earth, Sif should return with the Skrull soon enough. And he needed to be ready for that.
Which was why he had summoned Heimdall, Thor mused as the man in questioned entered the throne room.
"You summoned me my king?" Heimdall inquired as he stopped in front of Thor's throne.
"Indeed my friend. Once more, I must ask you to watch over Asgard in my stead. I must go to Nidavellir and speak with Eitri. He has something I will need in the days to come," Thor said, thinking of Stormbreaker.
Earth, New York
Later that afternoon
At a police station, Gwen sat in her father's office, giving her statement.
"He was just coming up behind me and someone threw a trashcan lid at him. I didn't even realize he was there until I saw the knife he was holding. Two guys jumped on him then," Gwen explained to her father and George nodded.
"Well, let's just thank whoever threw that lid. We've identified the man who tried to attack you as Flint Marko. We've been after him for months, he's a serial killer. His MO is to grab girls off the street in a crowd, put a knife to their throats and get them to his truck before anyone even notices they're gone. He doesn't have a home address, making it impossible to pin him down. Looks like you were his next target," George said, taking his daughter in his arms as he closed his eyes.
George Stacy didn't believe in a God, but at that moment, he was thanking whatever divine power was out there that his little girl hadn't been another victim of Marko.
Gwen, on the other hand, wasn't thinking of Marko. Wasn't exactly her first time being in the crosshair of a mad man, she'd been on the street with her father driving home from school when Loki had attacked New York. After seeing that as a little girl, it took a lot to scare her.
Rather, she was thinking about the boy she had seen fleeing the scene. He had been the one to save her by throwing the trash can lid, she knew it. She just didn't know how he did it when he was standing so far away or why he left so quickly. It was something that was plaguing her mind.
Nidavellir
Same time
Eitri and the other Dwarfs were hard at work when the familiar sound of the Bifrost pierced the air. They all turned to see Thor emerge from the Bifrost, dressed in his typical armor.
"Prince Thor," one of them greeted.
"It's king now actually," Thor corrected.
"My apologies my king. We had not heard of the All-Father's passing," Eitri quickly apologized.
"Oh he's not dead, not yet. But that's another story. Eitri, I need to speak with you, privately," Thor told him.
"That's quite a story," Eitri said once Thor had finished explaining about his trip through time.
"Indeed my friend. And I need your help. I am going to face some of my biggest challenges soon and I need Stormbreaker. I would not ask but-" Thor started.
"I will do it. We Dwarfs have long served Asgard and giving you Stormbreaker early will help all of us. Given me some time to prep the others," Eitri promised.
"Thank you my friend. I will make sure Thanos is dealt with before he even considers touching Nidavellir," Thor promised.
Earth, Queens
Same time
"You're quiet tonight Peter," May noticed as she and Peter had dinner.
"Just…a lot on my mind," Peter said lamely.
"Like what?" May inquired and Peter was silent for a long moment, trying to put his thoughts together.
"Stuff Uncle Ben told me before he died," Peter said honestly and saw May stiffen. "Sorry. Just forget it."
"No, no. It's…painful for me to talk about, but I know it's painful for you to. We can't make him a memory we never talk about because it hurts, he deserves more than that," May said firmly, reaching across the table to take Peter's hand. "What kind of things?"
"With great power comes great responsibility. That was one of the last things he said to me, but I really wasn't listening. I've just been…trying to figure out what he meant. I wish I had asked before…" Peter trialed off guiltily and a silence descended on the room.
"Peter, your Uncle Ben believed that if something wrong was happening in front of you, you had a responsibility to do something about it. That it was a moral obligation to do so. That if people could look after each other, they should. I think that's what he meant. Am I making sense?" May asked gently and Peter was silent for a long moment.
"Yeah. Yeah, I think you are," Peter said softly, mulling her words over in his head.
Just like that night had given him his true purpose as Spider-Man, May and Ben's words had given him clarify about his role in the fight against The Accords and Thanos.
People were going to get hurt, innocent people. He wasn't strong enough to stop that. But he could try his best; leave the big fighting to people like Cap and Tony while he tried to protect the everyday people. People like his Uncle Ben.
For perhaps the first time since he had returned to the present, Peter felt certain in his role in the battles to come.
Nidavellir
Same time
Thor watched as Eitri melted down the metal components that would make up Stormbreaker before pouring the steaming liquid into the mold, where some other Dwarfs immediately began forging it into its proper form. It took less than a minute, but Stormbreaker was ready.
Thor walked over as the dwarfs finished. The weapon was presented to him and Thor picked up the axe, examining it. It was exactly as it looked in the recordings, except now it had a strong, metal handle instead of a wooden one. Thor could feel the power running through him as he picked it up. This was a king's weapon.
"I hope it is up to your standards my king," one of the dwarfs said humbly.
"It is up to more than that. Thank you, all of you," Thor said as he looked around at all the dwarfs. "And you have my word as King of Asgard that Nidavellir will always be under our protection."
Earth, New York
Night
After May had gone to bed, Peter was in his room, doing some homework when he heard a nearby police siren. Peter looked out his window, seeing a police cruiser drive by. His eyes hardening, Peter put down his pencil and got to his feet.
Moments later, Peter, dressed in the new Spider-Man suit he had made, emerged from the window and jumped, shooting off a stream of webbing and swinging after the police.
At her house, Gwen was in her room, sketching. She'd tried to sketch something else but her mind had wandered and, before she knew it, she had sketched a picture of the boy who had thrown the trash can lid. She threw down her pencil in frustration, staring at the sketch.
"Who are you?" Gwen wondered out loud.
In his holding cell, Flint Marko was leaning back against the wall when he heard footsteps. He didn't as much as look up until he heard the steps stop in front of his cell.
"Well, a fine mess you've gotten yourself into."
Flint looked up and was stunned to see who was standing outside his cell.
"What's the Secretary of Defense doing here?" he asked and Ross chuckled.
"I'm here to see you," Ross said, surprising Flint. "I'm here to offer you a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Flint asked wearily.
"Well, you've been caught. The police have more than enough evidence to put you away for life, if the District Attorney doesn't go for the Death Penalty. Best case scenario, you go away for life and maybe live out the rest of your life in a maximum security prison, if you don't die in a prison riot or something. Or, you can come work for me. As far as anyone knows, you'd be transferred to a secure holding facility until you await trial. So, what do you say?" Ross finally asked.
Flint was silent for a moment but he knew Ross was right, he didn't have many options. And he could hear the thinly veiled implication when Ross talked about him being killed in a prison riot. So, he got to his feet and looked Ross in the eye.
"Tell me about this job."
Not a very exciting chapter I know, but necessary to move the plot along.
Ross is up to his old tricks and I'm sure a lot of you can guess what this 'job' is.
Flint would be played by Tom Hardy. Thank you to Aragorn II Elessar for the suggestion.
And next chapter we will get Lagos, at long last.
