"This hammer was mine. I should be able to lift it…"
"Not anymore. Odin has denied you the right to wield it," Adam interrupted.
Thor's face turned ashen. He said nothing, looking like he had lost his soul.
"My offer still stands. If you truly want to regain power at any cost, you can come to me."
Adam's tone grew heavier. "However, the power I would give you is not the same as the divine strength you once held, though the two wouldn't conflict. Perhaps one day you'll lift this hammer again and reclaim your godly power. Then you could possess both."
He spoke with complete sincerity. If Thor nodded, he would genuinely select one of his finest facehuggers and present it to the god.
Of course, afterward, Thor would have to follow his commands.
Thor in this era lacked any trace of humility. He was consumed by endless rage and a worship of violence.
Adam turned his attention to the Deviant leader, which was being swarmed and forced into a frantic defense. "See? If you had waited a few more minutes and struck while he no longer wanted to live, you would have had a much better chance. You were too impatient."
That casual, conversational tone completely infuriated the Deviant leader.
It grew even more frenzied. Countless fleshy tendrils sprouted across its body as its sharp claws tore wildly in every direction. One Xenomorph failed to dodge in time and was ripped open on the spot.
Whoosh!
Several tendrils shot forward and absorbed the creature alive.
But that was the extent of what it could manage. The Xenomorphs coordinated too tightly, always keeping it overwhelmed. It could handle one threat only to be blindsided by another. Even when it tried to focus on killing a single Xenomorph, the Abomination would deliver a brutal strike at the critical moment, violently disrupting its attack.
After all this time, it had only managed to eliminate one Xenomorph.
"How does eating your own kind taste?" Adam asked.
Thud!
The Deviant leader's eyes widened as the Abomination's fist smashed into its head, leaving it dazed.
"The abilities it gained from the Crimson Dynamo are truly impressive. Even attacks like that can't really hurt it. In that case…" Adam's expression shifted slightly. At this point, he had a solid measure of the leader's strength.
At his mental command, the surrounding Xenomorphs deliberately allowed a few Deviants to slip through.
"Adam, I'm organizing agents for support. Let's work together to eliminate these Deviants," Coulson's voice boomed through a loudspeaker.
"If you had said that before the Deviants reached this rundown camp, I might have believed your sincerity."
Adam gave Coulson no face at all. Coulson, for his part, didn't need any. He watched the multiple screens with a calm expression.
Some feeds had gone dark, destroyed during the fighting, but the remaining cameras gave him a clear enough view of the situation.
He focused especially on the battles outside the camp. Once again, he observed the Xenomorphs in silence.
The scene was brutal, yet he couldn't help feeling a strong sense of awe.
Coulson even found himself imagining S.H.I.E.L.D. controlling these creatures. With such power at their disposal, they could accomplish so much.
"Clint, organize our agents. Use the camp structures for cover and open fire on the Deviants. Capture a few alive if possible," Coulson ordered.
Adam was at least an ally. These Deviants were something else entirely.
Coulson wanted to capture them. So did Adam.
In that short time, four Deviants had broken into the camp. Gunfire rang out as agents fell to them one after another.
Whoosh!
Hawkeye drew and loosed an arrow at high speed, striking a Deviant in all four limbs before detonating the explosive tips.
A series of explosions erupted. He thought he had taken one down, but when the smoke cleared, he was stunned to see the creature already trying to regenerate its severed limbs.
"Everyone, focus fire! Do not give the enemy a chance to heal!" Hawkeye shouted over comms.
Despite their efforts, two more Deviants broke through and reached their leader's side.
"Does Adam really lack the ability to stop these things?" Coulson muttered, puzzled. Based on what he knew of Adam, the man wouldn't leave such an opening... especially with a numerical advantage among the Xenomorphs stationed around the camp's perimeter.
The Deviant leader extended its tendrils, stabbing them into the two newcomers and transferring a large amount of energy to strengthen its subordinates.
The two ordinary Deviants visibly swelled in size, their bodies rapidly growing denser and stronger.
"That's more like it," Adam thought with satisfaction.
As their leader, it had the ability to share its power with subordinates. But doing so naturally weakened itself.
Using relentless pressure and the Abomination's precise strikes to force the leader to expend energy empowering its minions... that was the temporary tactic Adam had devised.
There was no other choice. Otherwise, despite all his efforts, he couldn't break through its defenses, let alone create an opening to send in facehuggers for parasitism.
The weaker the leader became, the greater Adam's opportunity.
"Only letting two through still feels a bit risky, but if I let two more…"
Adam calculated quickly. Through his mental link with every Xenomorph, he maintained perfect oversight and precise micro-management of the battlefield.
One reinforced Deviant, now possessing formidable defenses, locked onto Adam and charged.
Its gaping maw aimed to crush his neck.
Adam glanced at Thor beside him. Seeing the despondent god had no intention of dodging, lost in despair, he took action himself. He turned his head to evade the attack, then thrust two fingers forward, digging them straight into the creature's eye socket and gouging the eye out.
"Some people always assume I'm weak. I'm not a summoner who relies on pets to fight for me."
Adam shook the gore from his hand, dropped the oversized backpack he had been carrying, and decided to join the fight personally.
While Adam moved, elsewhere on a seemingly ordinary patch of open ground…
Loki watched the battle in silence.
When he saw Thor in danger, he had nearly intervened, but managed to hold back.
"So this Midgardian is the one who defeated that Celestial? Not entirely worthless, but that still doesn't explain why Father is so concerned about the Celestials."
Loki was deeply puzzled. He refused to believe the All-Father would concern himself with trivial matters. There had to be a reason he didn't yet know.
As for Adam…
"Since he saved my idiot brother and commands such an effective fighting force, I'll spare his life."
Loki eyed the Deviant leader warily, then studied the Abomination Xenomorph. The corners of his mouth curved into a wicked, charming smile once more.
The second greatest sorcerer of the Nine Realms was always brimming with confidence in himself.
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