(no subject)

The next hour is frantic, desperately rushing to check no one's been left behind, that there's no one in anywhere. In other words, making sure Puente Antiguo becomes a ghost town. As this metal humanoid, walks down the street, the only people left, are the Warriors Three, Sif, Erik, Jane, Darcy and Thor. A short demonstration of the whatever the weapon systems are on this thing, immediately explains why the Asgardians insisted everyone else left. No one else would stand a chance.

The next few minutes pass as a blur. The four of them (Erik, Thor, Jane and Darcy) keep dodging away from the line of fire.

Right until Thor breaks away from them towards the thing. At that point, as they all regroup towards the (currently untouched) laboratory, Thor walks straight towards the thing and what, begins pleading with it? begging it for something. Talking to it as his brother. The seven of them turn to watch, entranced.

The thing turns away, seemingly accepting whatever offer Thor has made. Before lashing out with a brutal backhand, the crunch of which they feel, half way down the street. And before Erik can stop her, before he's even had time to think, Jane is off, darting down the street to Thor's side. To a man gasping his last. The rest of them are frozen in horror, as this thing, this Destroyer walks off. And Jane, Jane is out there, shuddering and weeping over what must surely now be a body. Erik wants to go to her, but at the same time, knows it would be futile, there's nothing he can say to comfort her. Not right now.

But then. Then something on the horizon flies up into the air. Towards them. The group of them standing there see the shockwave as it passes through the cloud layers. Jane doesn't. She hears it a moment later, turning to look as comprehension dawns on Erik. This is Mjölnir, recognising something, returning to Thor's hand.

"JANE!" Erik cries, as he races towards her and Thor's body.

When he gets there, he grabs her, insisting that she come with him, but before he's got her ten yards up the road, Mjölnir comes down, and a hand flies up to meet it. The two of them turn, to see a man standing in a blaze of light, Mjölnir in his right hand, as lightning falls from the skies.

"Oh. My. God." Jane exclaims.

Yes, Jane, Oh my God. Erik thinks, though he's too dumbfounded to actually say anything at the moment.

Thor nails the destroyer with a mighty blow, before flying off into the suddenly swirling winds that force Human and Asgardian alike to find shelter before they get blown off their feet.

Whatever happens next happens very fast. And before Erik even has time to realise quite what's happened, the clouds are vanishing again, and Thor (and he really is Thor, in all his armour and honour, now) is walking back out of the dust cloud, cars falling to the ground around him.

"So, is this how you normally look?" asks an understandably awestruck Jane.

"More or less," Thor replies.

Erik's face cracks into a smile. Jane is smiling equally broadly, "It's a good look."

Thor takes the compliment in his stride, but already, he has his mind on other, larger things and looking over Jane, to the Warriors Three and Sif, declaring, "We must go to the bifrost site. I would have words with my brother."

Erik didn't hear the car arriving, but when Agent Coulson calls out to Thor, it's not altogether unexpected. Mjolnir did have to leave the SHIELD compound, after all, and it would have been easy for them to locate where it came down.

Or maybe they were following the Destroyer's trail of destruction?

Musing on these thoughts, Erik loses track of the conversation, until he hears Jane's name as Thor makes certain expectations clear.

"Stolen." Jane's accusation seems impertinent and unnecessary to Erik, though he wasn't following the thread of the conversation.

"Borrowed," Agent Coulson replies, before continuing, "Of course you can have your equipment back. You're going to need it to continue your research."

Wait.

What?

SHIELD actually wants them to continue their research?

This is most unexpected. Pleasant, because, just maybe, if they can gather enough data, Jane's really rather wonderful theorem, will be accepted by the scientific community.

And then Thor makes an offer that, lets be frank, none of them was going to refuse, Jane least of all.

As the two of them take off, Erik runs for the van, Darcy jumping into the drivers seat. There's no equipment left in the van, so it's going to have to be eyewitness observations of this phenomena only, for now. He calls out to the Warriors Three and Lady Sif. As the equipment has been stripped out of the van, there's room for all of them. Behind them, the SHIELD agents jump in their car to follow.