CELESTIAL | THOR ODINSON

ii. Strange Dealings

"Sorry, Izzy. Little accident," Jane said as she kneeled down to collect the broken pieces.

Shocked, Leila asked, "Uh, what was that?"

"It was delicious. I wanted another." Thor answered.

"You could've just said so."

"I just did." The man seemed genuinely confused.

Leila sighed. "Look, just... no more smashing things. You want something, just ask for it. Deal?"

Thor nodded. "I meant no disrespect."

"It's okay, big guy." Darcy patted him on the shoulder, holding on for a while at the end. She locked eyes with Leila, and mouthed weird... but hot. She winked and Leila suppressed a laugh.

Two men sat at the bar, chatting excitedly. "I'll have my usual, Izzy," one of them said.

"You missed the excitement out in the crater," said the other, "they're saying some kind of satellite landed in the desert."

"Yeah, we were having a good time 'til the feds showed up."

"I'm sorry did you say a satellite crashed out in the desert?" Interjected Jane.

"Yep." "Yeah." Both of them agreed.

"What did it look like?" Asked Erik.

"Well, I don't know much about satellites, but it was heavy. Nobody could lift it." The man took a drink. "They said it was radioactive. I had my hands all over it."

Thor got up and walked over to the bar. He touched one of the men on the shoulder. "Which way?"

"About fifty miles west of here."

He hurried out of the cafe, while one of the men said something about the army showing up. Jane, Erik, Leila and Darcy ran after him, quickly catching up as he was walking straight through traffic.

"Where are you going?" Asked Erik.

"Fifty miles west of here. I'm going to retrieve what is mine." Thor answered.

"So what, you own a satellite now?" Leila snorted.

"It's not what they say it is."

"Whatever it is, it's government property now. So you're just going to what, walk in there and take it?" Leila walked at a fast pace to keep up with Thor, who was nearly a foot taller than her.

"Yes. If you take me there now, I'll tell you everything you need to know. Once I get Mjolnir." Jane, Leila, and Erik exchanged a glance.

"A word," Erik pulled Jane and Leila to the side, Darcy following. "Please don't do this."

"We have to find out what's in that crater." Objected Jane.

"Come on, look at him. He's delusional." He glanced at Thor. "He seems to think children's myths are his life."

"Listen, I don't trust him any more than you do. But this is our only shot at figuring out what's going on here," Leila pointed out.

"He's dangerous."

"And we've got plenty of pepper spray to go around!"

"Leila."

The two stared at eachother, then finally Leila sighed, admitting defeat.

The group walked back to Thor. Leila said, "I'm sorry, but we can't take you."

"Well, then this is where we say goodbye." He picked up her hand and brought it up to his lips to place a kiss on the back of her fingers. Leila blushed a deep red before she mustered a small smile and stepped back.

"Jane Foster, Erik Selvig, Leila Dayne, Darcy Lewis. Farewell." He gave a friendly smile.

"Back to work, then." Erik led the group as they began walking back to Jane's office.

A truck passed them, loaded up with supplies from the office. Jane gasped. "Hey! That's my stuff!"

They hurried the rest of the way to find men and women in suits loading up the rest of her equipment.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jane asked.

"Miss Foster, I'm agent Coulson with S.H.I.E.L.D." Said a distinguished-looking man who seemed to be overseeing the others.

"That supposed to mean something to us?" Scoffed Leila, crossing her arms.

"Oh," breathed Erik, "this is a lot more serious than you realize. We've got to let this go."

"Let it go? This is our life's work!" Jane threw off the arm Erik had put on her shoulder.

"We're investigating a security threat. We need to appropriate your records and atmospheric data." Agent Coulson said, following Jane to a car full of her equipment.

"By 'appropriate' you mean steal," she had raised her voice, clenching her hands into fists at her sides.

"Here. This should be a fair compensation."

"I can't just buy replacements at radio shack! I made most of this myself."

"Then I'm sure you could do it again."

"And I'm sure I could sue you for violating my constitutional rights!"

"I'm sorry, but we're the good guys."

"So are we! And we're on the verge of discovering extraordinary! Everything I know about this phenomenon is in this equipment- hey!" She exclaimed as an agent grabbed the journal she'd been holding up.

Leila bit her lip, attempting to crush down the anger rising within her, as she felt warmth spreading from her fingertips to her elbows. She took a deep breath and the warmth disappeared.

"Thank you for your cooperation," said Agent Coulson as the last of the equipment was loaded up.

Jane, Leila, Erik, and Darcy all stood frozen in shock as the trucks drove away with their life's work.

Later, they all sat on the roof of the near-empty building.

"Years of research, gone." Jane said.

"They even took my iPod." Sighed Darcy.

"What about the backups?" Erik asked.

"They took those. And the backups of the backups." Leila adjusted her sitting position and kneaded her temples. "Who are these people?"

"I knew this scientist. The pioneer in gamma radiation. These people showed up, and well... he was never heard from again." Erik spoke.

"We won't end up like him. I'm going to get everything back." Jane said.

"Let me contact one of my colleagues. He's had some dealings with these people before. I'll email him, see if he can help."

It was silent for a few moments, until Darcy spoke. "They took your laptop, you know."

-

Thanks for reading!!