The Avenger's Soul

The Well

May and I gave each other a worried look.

There was a fire on the street. The fire was in the form of letters and they spelled out "We are Gods".

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"Jakob Nystrom, 30. Girlfriend, Petra Larson. Leaders of a Norse Paganist hate group," Ward filled us in after he, Coulson, Simmons, and Fitz had rejoined May and I on The Bus.

"And their numbers are growing thanks to what happened in Greenwich and thanks to the internet. Yay, internet," I said sarcastically.

"Norse Paganist?" Simmons asked.

"Obsessed with anything derived from Norse mythology, stories of Asgard," I explained.

Ward picked up the 3-D model of the rod that Fitz printed out.

"And now a weapon," he commented.

"The scan accounted for only one side. Too much damage to the tree for a complete reproduction," Fitz said.

"But, see here, it's clearly broken on both ends," Simmons pointed out.

"So there are more pieces?" asked Ward.

"Yeah, two at least," Fitz answered.

"Which means Sid and Nancy may be looking for a complete set," I said.

"The markings?" Ward asked as Coulson and May entered the lab.

"Asgardian symbolism. Hard to translate with our limited knowledge," Coulson told us, taking the rod and checking it out.

"You should give your buddy the God of Thunder a shout. He gets his powers from his hammer, right? What if this is his nail to the hammer?" I said.

"I already did. Director Fury told me he's off the grid. And if he has a cellphone, we don't have the number."

"Shied's investigations are on the trail of Nystrom and his followers," May chipped in.

"We're charged with identifying the object and finding any other pieces before they do," declared Coulson. "They seem to have some advantage. They found this thing in 150 square kilometers of Norwegian forest," he added as an afterthought.

"Guys, what if it called to them with magic?" I suggested with raised brows, my eyes large and excited.

May gave me a "be real" look in response.

"We know it's Asgardian, so the rules are a little bendy here!" I continued. I knew more than anyone on this plane that it wasn't such a crazy idea!

Everyone seemed uncomfortable with the notion of it being magic though.

"Just because we don't understand something yet doesn't mean we should regress back to the dark ages, talking of magic and fairy tales," Simmons said as Fitz scoffed his agreement. I caught his eyes for a brief moment as he glanced over at me. I winced, wishing that there weren't so many people out there who knew the truth about me now. If Hydra was ever ableto get their hands on Fitz or the others, I was doomed.

"Actually, that's exactly what we're going to do!" Coulson stated.

"Really?" I looked at him in surprise.

"When we first found the hammer in New Mexico, I consulted one of the world's leading experts on Norse mythology. Elliot Randolph, a professor at a University in Seville. We'll leave immediately. Maybe he can tell us more about these markings."

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"Now, based on these runes, I'd say I'm looking at a piece of the Berserker Staff," I heard Randolph tell Coulson. I was using my earpiece to eavesdrop on their conversation.