Thor Odinson sat on the edge of a cheap motel bed, his head in his hands.
The memories of his banishment played on a loop.
"You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy!"
"And you are an old man and a fool!"
He remembered the look in Odin's eye. Not anger. Defeat.
Thor didn't know the truth. He didn't know that Odin and Hela had conquered the Nine Realms with fire and blood. He didn't know that Asgard's peace was built on a foundation of corpses. He didn't know that the Valkyries had been slaughtered to stop Hela.
He thought Asgard was strong because it was righteous. He thought war was glorious because he had never seen a losing one.
He wanted to be like his father. But his father had spent millennia trying not to be like himself.
"You are unworthy!"
The words cut deeper than any blade.
Thor looked at his hands. Mortal hands. Weak hands.
He was stuck on Midgard. Powerless. Exiled.
Suddenly, a book appeared on the bed next to him.
It didn't fall. It didn't materialize with a flash of light. It was just... there.
Thor blinked. He reached out, his warrior instincts screaming Trap! But he felt no magic. No illusion. No trickery from Loki.
[Lucas's Diary]
Thor frowned. He picked it up.
"What sorcery is this?" he grumbled. "Is this a jest? A test from the All-Father?"
He opened the first page.
[Weather is nice today. Waiting for Tony Stark to get kidnapped. Day 1.]
[Day 2. Still waiting.]
[Day 3. Is Obadiah Stane slacking off?]
"Tony Stark?" Thor muttered. "Who is this Stark? And why does this Lucas wish him ill?"
He flipped through the pages, his confusion growing.
Then, he saw a name he recognized.
[The Ancient One.]
Thor froze.
"The Ancient One," he whispered reverently.
He remembered asking his father once why they didn't visit Midgard more often. Why Asgard, the supposed protectors of the Nine Realms, left Earth to fend for itself.
Odin had taken him to a balcony overlooking the cosmos.
"Midgard is protected, my son," Odin had said. "By a sorcerer supreme. Her name is the Ancient One. Do not cross her."
Thor had seen her once. A bald woman in yellow robes, drinking tea with Odin in the royal palace. They spoke as equals.
Thor was arrogant, yes. But he wasn't suicidal. He knew that if the All-Father respected someone, that someone was dangerous.
"This mortal knows of the Ancient One," Thor realized, his grip on the diary tightening. "This is no ordinary book."
He continued reading.
[Odin held on for a few extra years just to teach his son a lesson.]
[The God of Hammers is about to make his entrance.]
[If Hawkeye kills him with an arrow... that would be embarrassing.]
"God of Hammers?!" Thor roared, standing up and nearly hitting his head on the low ceiling. "I am the God of Thunder!"
"And who is this Hawkeye? And how dare he think he can kill me with an arrow!"
Thor paced the small room, his mortal body trembling with indignation.
"This Lucas..." Thor narrowed his eyes. "He mocks me. He mocks Asgard. He calls Loki 'Third Princess'?"
Thor paused. A smile tugged at his lips.
"Third Princess," he chuckled. "That... is actually quite fitting. Loki always did enjoy the drama."
But then the text turned serious.
[Asgard is weak. Without Odin, it's nothing. Hela is coming.]
"Hela?" Thor frowned. "Who is Hela?"
He had never heard the name. But the diary spoke of her with fear. A fear greater than Thanos. Greater than Loki.
"This book contains secrets," Thor realized. "Secrets of the past. And secrets of the future."
"And it says... I die?"
He flipped to the video page. He watched himself die in the mud, shot by an archer.
Thor stared at the screen, horrified.
"Is this my fate?" he whispered. "To die in the dirt, powerless and alone?"
"No," Thor slammed the book shut. "I am Thor Odinson. I am not a tragedy. I am a warrior."
"I will find Mjolnir. I will regain my power. And I will find this Lucas."
"And I will have words with him."