"You don't need to worry about me," Daniel said.
The scythe in his hand spun in a continuous arc, intercepting every bolt of lightning coming off Mjolnir, darkness eating each strike before it could land, the clash between the two weapons throwing light and shadow in equal measure across the ruined street.
Then from Daniel's shadow, jaws emerged — massive, dark, the mouth of something ancient and hungry opening wide beneath Thor, trying to swallow him whole.
Thor reacted instantly, spinning Mjolnir and launching himself upward out of reach.
"Come down, God of hammers," Daniel said quietly.
The Mark of Nexus on his left hand pulsed once.
Thor reappeared on the ground, yanked back into the present moment like time itself had reached up and grabbed him, confusion crossing his face for the half second he had before Daniel's scythe was already moving.
Mjolnir hit the ground.
Thor's head followed a moment later.
Daniel flicked the scythe clean and looked quite proud of himself.
"Wow," Luke said, genuinely. "You are good, I have to say. You are actually good."
"This weapon became part of me a long time ago," Daniel said, resting the scythe across his shoulder. "Used it enough that it stopped feeling like a weapon and started feeling like a hand."
"Oh," said Luke.
Then he moved toward Mjolnir.
The scythe swung around instantly and stopped an inch from his chest.
"What are you doing, uncle?" Daniel asked, smiling.
"Obviously I'm going to see if I'm worthy," Luke said, completely unbothered by the blade at his chest.
"I defeated him, I should test it first," Daniel said.
What followed was not a serious fight. It was two grown men slapping each other's hands away, pushing faces, elbowing for position, both trying to get closer to the hammer while actively blocking the other from doing the same.
"Listen," Luke said, pushing Daniel's face sideways with an open palm, "as your elder I should check it first."
Daniel shoved his hand off. "Fuck your elder. You are three years older than me, that doesn't make you my elder."
"It does by the family tree. I'm your uncle, nephews listen to their uncles."
"By that logic, why didn't you ever listen to grandfather?"
"No," he scoffed. "Why the hell would I listen to that old man?"
"Same energy uncle, same exact energy."
Luke opened his mouth to respond and found he had absolutely nothing to say to that, which was its own kind of annoying.
Daniel used the half second of silence to lunge for Mjolnir and Luke grabbed his collar before he got there, which sent them both off balance, and then they were on the ground, rolling across the ruined street with both hands stretched toward the hammer, neither willing to concede a single inch of progress toward it.
"Let go of me," Daniel said, trying to pry Luke's hand off his collar while simultaneously crawling forward.
"You let go first," Luke said, which was not a mature response but was the one that came out.
"I killed him, the hammer is mine to test first," Daniel said, getting one hand closer before Luke pulled him back by the ankle.
"I softened the entire battlefield while you were handling Thor, that contribution counts for something," Luke said, fully aware of how that sounded.
"That doesn't count for hammer testing rights and you know it," Daniel said.
And the five who had just finished dealing with zombie Hawkeye and Falcon looked over at the scene and genuinely didn't know what to say.
Two people who had just effortlessly dismantled a zombie Thor and Captain Marvel were now rolling around on the cracked ground of a destroyed city fighting over a dead god's hammer like neither of them had a single functioning brain cell between them, completely unbothered by the bodies around them, the ruined skyline above them, or the fact that they were still in the middle of a zombie apocalypse universe.
The five of them stood there in complete silence for a moment, watching Luke grab Daniel's ankle and Daniel slap his hand away while both of them argued about who contributed more to a fight that had ended thirty seconds ago.
"Yep," Tony said finally. "This is definitely Luke's family. No further confirmation needed."
Natasha looked at the two of them on the ground, then at Tony, then back at the two of them.
Steve just exhaled slowly through his nose, the expression of a man who had seen many things and was still somehow unprepared for this specific one.
Wanda watched Daniel elbow Luke in the ribs over a hammer and quietly decided she had no comment.
"Let's do it old school," Daniel said.
Luke paused and then nodded, both of them sitting up from the ground with what little dignity remained, settling cross legged across from each other like two kids in a schoolyard.
Rock. Paper. Scissors.
No powers. No system. No divine weapons or lightning lances or scythes that ate through gods.
Just hands.
They stared at each other with the intensity of two people deciding the fate of something that genuinely mattered to them.
The five watching said nothing.
Tony looked at Steve.
Steve looked at Tony.
Neither of them had words for this.
"One," Luke said.
"Two," Daniel said.
"Three."
Daniel threw rock.
Luke threw scissors.
The silence that followed lasted exactly one second.
"You lose, uncle," Daniel said, already moving toward Mjolnir with the satisfaction of someone who had won something deeply important.
Luke stared at his own hand for a moment, then at Daniel's, then at the hammer, with the expression of a man processing a loss he had no one to blame for but himself.
*****
A/N: If you'd like to read ahead of the Webnovel release schedule, you can join my Patreon!
The Patreon version is 50 chapters ahead.
👉 patreon.com/Universal_Peace