The worst off was Loki's side. The Hulk's sheer might had blown past Loki's highest estimate; now he was barely holding on behind the Destroyer, and the few sneak attacks he'd managed had amounted to little. The fight could only be called downright ugly. By Asgardian values, though, Loki refused to call for help.
"The public's started to panic a little. Are you going to deploy your method now?" Baldy knew Daisy planned to broadcast adult films to ease the public's "tension." He neither supported nor opposed the idea.
Daisy flipped through the battle feeds. There was panic, sure, but it was all localized—nothing that had caused any real upheaval.
The truth was, whether it was the Hulk, Blonsky, Juggernaut, or the Thing, their methods of attack were all monotonous. In ancient times, warriors like these were unstoppable by ten thousand men, storming fortresses and chilling enemies to the bone. But in modern society—where ordinary people know the age of nukes and thermobaric bombs—tearing down a building barehanded really wasn't that terrifying.
"Wait a bit longer. It's not time yet."
A little panic wasn't worth deploying her big gun. Besides, she had to give the World Serpent a small taste of success first, so he'd jump out into the open. If he stayed lurking in the shadows, that would be the real headache.
...
Daisy had been busy since the election vote, fought the Juggernaut in the small hours, then thrown herself into coordinating every kind of logistics. In all the chaos she'd forgotten one small thing—Thor's hammer was still sitting in her villa...
Having recognized his own true heart, Thor had resolved to become a hero. He felt it was his responsibility to protect the Earth—not because he was so full of universal love, but because of Uncle Ben's line: with great power comes great responsibility.
But the prerequisite for being a hero was getting his hammer back. Following the address Daisy had left him, it took Thor some doing to make his way from Manhattan all the way out to Long Island.
It was no short trip. Luckily his physique was formidable, and with motivation on top of that, he wasn't too worn out. The one snag was that New Yorkers weren't very friendly; faced with his requests for directions, plenty of people kept their guard up. Then again, dressed like a vagrant and opening with questions about how to reach the rich part of town—that was bound to raise a few suspicions.
Fortunately, folks around here kept to themselves—no nosy neighbors phoning in tips on a scruffy stranger—and the clueless Thor made his way from Upper Manhattan, through Brooklyn, and along the main road out to Long Island.
"Hey, buddy, do you know where this house is?" Thor stopped a passerby—a man holding a "stick," wearing dark glasses, a faint, harmless-looking smile at the corner of his mouth. After the cold shoulder from New Yorkers, Thor found this man's manner downright kindly, so he held out the card and asked for directions.
Behind his dark glasses, Matt Murdock—who'd been secretly watching Daisy's villa—froze for a beat. In his perception, Thor was incredibly strong; he assumed he'd been made and was about to bolt. He hadn't expected someone simply asking for directions. Were New Yorkers really this physically gifted now?
"Me? Sorry, I can't see. I'm blind." Matt's reply was very gentle.
Thor gasped. Asgard had no people with physical disabilities, but during his time on Earth he'd seen plenty, and, brimming with compassion, he apologized again and again.
"It's all right. Where are you trying to go? Maybe I can point the way." Matt only asked offhand—but when Thor spoke Daisy's address, his expression shifted.
He knew that address all too well. While Daisy was away learning her craft, Elektra had helped him scout it twice—but Danger's defenses were airtight, and Stick had sent orders forbidding Elektra from acting rashly, so the two of them had let it drop.
Now, asked by a passerby, Matt's instinct said there was a scheme afoot. Yet after his thoughts turned over a few times, he still pointed the dim-witted, oafish Thor in the right direction.
Even as a god, Thor had been a slow sort; now turned mortal, he was a perfect illustration of "all brawn, no brains."
He didn't notice anything off about Matt at all; his gratitude was so utterly sincere that it made Matt a little embarrassed. After thanking the "passerby" and marveling that New York still had good people, Thor ambled off toward Daisy's villa as directed.
The "good man" Matt followed at a distance. He wanted to "see" what this big guy was up to at Daisy's villa.
Thor really wanted to push open the front door honorably, introduce himself, and then take the hammer. Unfortunately he'd failed three times before, which left him a touch discouraged, so this time he didn't plan to alert anyone.
Skipping the main road, he took a long way around, circling from the woods out front to the side of the villa.
Back against a big tree, Thor shaded his eyes with a hand and looked toward the villa, working out where the hammer might be.
Suddenly he sensed something off nearby. He turned to look—and found a lion mimicking his pose, peering out too.
The lion's expression was remarkably human. It glanced a couple of times at the distant villa, then turned its head back with a questioning look, as if to ask: What're you staring at?
Thor laughed heartily a couple of times. He'd seen lions before; this one was a bit chubby and looked harmless. But mid-laugh, the muscles in his face went stiff.
Back when he had the power of the God of Thunder, of course he hadn't feared beasts like tigers and lions. The problem was, he didn't have it now! Odin had stripped away all his divine power; the present Thor had nothing but a brawny, sturdy frame.
Realizing his predicament, he kept the smile on his face while his feet began to inch backward.
The little lion watched him, puzzled. It had never smelled this person's scent before—clearly a stranger.
Thinking of guarding its territory, it let out a mighty roar.
Well-fed on rich meals day in and day out, it had plenty of lung power, and that one roar sent Thor spinning on his heel to flee.
Seeing its quarry run, the little lion's instincts kicked in, and without a second thought it gave chase.
Thor took two strides and knew he was in trouble. Strictly speaking, the lion behind him wasn't actually fast—but he was even slower.
With danger bearing down, Thor wasted no words and scrambled up a big tree at the roadside, then, using both hands and feet, hauled himself onto a branch more than 5 m (16 ft) off the ground.
Only then did Thor look down, his heart still pounding.
The little lion could have made it up there with a bit of effort, but, having picked up a certain someone's habits, it was lazy now too. It circled the tree twice, then simply flopped down at the base to wait.
Thor cursed under his breath. Anxious to get the hammer, he didn't want to waste time here—but the lion wouldn't leave, and he didn't dare climb down.
"Hey, get out of here!"
"I've got things to do—the humans are waiting for me to save them!"
"Hey, are you even asleep or not?!"
Thor kept shouting down at it, first hoping the lion would leave him alone, then, seeing it seemed to have dozed off, testing the waters in a softer voice.
The little lion thought Thor was playing with it. Seeing Thor wave, it waved a paw back, signaling that no, it wasn't asleep...
Man and lion sank into a standoff. The tailing Matt was utterly baffled. He was tucked away so far off that not even the lion's nose had caught him.
Matt couldn't figure out what this big guy had come to the villa to do. Burglary? Robbery? Or some other crime entirely?