Call Me Superwoman

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Alex had never been to Oklahoma, and from what she could see, the was a reason for this: miles and miles of drab. And the town itself was barely worthy of the name. Even if the people who lives in Broxton, Oklahoma, hadn't fled with Asgard when the alien kingdom suddenly appeared in the sky over the town, it fit the description of "one stop light". But now it was a ghost town.

Alex stopped in mid-air, eight feet above the prone and – seemingly – unconscious Tony Stark. Alex could hear he was awake, though. He was desperately trying to get the suit's AI to reponded to verbal commands and not doing a very good job of it. Alex was no engineer, but she could see how many of the suit's circuits were melted, and how much of its wiring was burnt to ash.

Thor barely gave her a second glance. He was too busy pouing shouting Norwegian profanities at Stark. Din jævla arrogante mus! hvordan våger du å skamme meg slik, din drittsekk! With that Thor casually raised his hammer again.

"All right, he'd had enough. Stand down!"

Thor glanced up at Alex, his hammer still held over his head. Alex could see the precise moment Thor dismissed her. The god of thunder began bringing the hammer down, but immediately Alex was there. She grabbed Thor's wrist in an uncompromising grip that was stronger than steel, halting Mjolnir's descent.

Thor stared at his fist, still holding his hammer, and the woman's hand holding it in place, as if wondering what just happened. As if he concept of anyone being able to stop him in such a way was inconceivable.

"I said "Stand Down", Thor. That means stop. Try that again, and you're going to have a bigger problem than you could ever believe."

"You would dare speak to the King of Asgard such a way."

"King? You're the King of Asgard now?" Alex looked thoughtful. "Sorry to hear about your father, but congratu-OOF!"

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Thor took advantage of Alex's distraction by driving his right fist into her sternum. The impact knocked her away from the thunder god and across the empty street, where she imbedded in a wall. He turned to strike at Stark again, but was halted by the sound of giggling.

He turned back to the woman, who was climbing out of the wall, she glanced up at Thor, gave herself a quick shoulders-to-knees brush off, and staightened.

"Okay, I guess we're doing this" was all she said. Before Thor could blink, the woman was behind him somehow. She planted one hand on his shoulder, and the other in the small of his back and pushed. The same wall Thor had knocked the woman into rushed toward him face-first. Then, abruptly, he was pulled away from the wall, spun so he facee back toward the woman, and then pushed into the wall again, cratering it.

"Look, I know Stark can be an asshole, but I just cannot let you kill him, no matter how shiny a hat you're wearing now." The woman's hand moved from his chest to his neck, and Thor suddenly found himself being lifted. His throat was slowly closing due to the pressure on his neck, and the light was beginning to get dim.

He could hear her, as if from a distance, "Maybe when you're done with your nap, we can..."

In desperation, Thor lashed out with his right fist, the one without Mjolnir in it. This action did succeed in releasing his neck from the crushing grip she had it in, but resulted in both of hands captures and unable to be used. He tugged on his own arms a second before conceding she had him, but then launched a headbutt at her.

To his astonishment, the women didn't even blink as their skull's impacted. Instead, she pivoted to her left, then rammed him with her full body, shoulder first. The force of the blow was enough to knock him back a good twenty feet, and he almost fell to the ground off-balance. He took a split second to regain his balance, and as he did. He started swinging Mjolnir in a circle. Faster and faster until finally, in a loud burst of static electricity, he let go, launching it straignt at his opponent. The women didn't flinch. Not for a moment. Instead, she casually shifted herself to the right and as it the hammer rushed past her, she woman reached out, and plucked Mjolnir out of the air by its handle.

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Silence. The Alex didn't make a noise; Thor was equally silent. So was Tony Stark, who'd managed to painfully work his way to a sitting position.

The moment was broken finally when Alex, her eyes as wide as cereal bowls, muttered a quiet, nearly whispered, "Holy fuck! I really wasn't sue that would work."

Alex stared at the hsmmer in her left hand. She glanced at Thor and it looked like the Thunder God was doing the same thing. Stark, still partially trapped in his suit, said, "Jesus Christ... did I really just see you catch Thor's hammer like it was a line drive?"

"Yeah." Alex straightened, shrugged, then casually tossed Mjolnir over her shoulder. "Do you want to keep this up, Thor, or do you want to let calmer heads emerge and we can talk this out."

"Who are you, women?" Thor asked, gob-smacked.

"Me? Call me Superwoman, and I am an Avenger."