A Nascent Kaleidoscope.-Chapter 596:

"So…" I look at Thor.

"Yes."

"You got arrested again."

"Yes." He said again rather monotonously.

I had pulled up a chair and was sitting opposite the cell he was in as he leaned against the stone wall in the back, breathing calmly as if nothing was wrong. He had a black eye, funny enough. But he was most certainly not the loser of the fight.

Credit to that Wakandan spy; he did get a lucky hit in on someone of Thor's caliber. Granted, when I was watching, I did notice that Thor's fighting was a bit awkward; he's most certainly not used to fighting as a mortal. However, he's also a big, towering chunk of muscle with an absurd amount of fighting skills, so he can normally just bulldoze through anyone he wants.

"And you got tased again."

"....yes."

"That's kind of ironic."

"The irony is not lost on me."

I took out an apple again before taking a moment, and I took out a second and tossed it to him through the bars. He caught it without a second thought and joined me for a morning snack.

Really, I do love these Skyrim apples; they're stupidly delicious.

It's weird; I don't actually know what the Wakanda spy was up to. Shouldn't he have made his presence less noticeable? But he so blatantly stood outside the building as if to challenge me.

So, either two reasons off the top of my head for that.

One, he was trying to bait me. Maybe get me in the same position as Thor at the moment for whatever reason. Maybe they were intimidated enough by the presence of the Shield people not too far away that they couldn't just act as arrogantly as they did at the border before. So, the plan is to get me a bit more away from prying eyes so they can 'apprehend' me or whatever bullshit they would justify their actions with.

Second, it was a power play. Like, 'We know where you are, and we're watching you,' and it was an effort to get me to go back to them to get it to stop. Like maybe, if it were a normal person, if they were constantly stalked and watched, they would get paranoid and scared and want to 'talk things out.'

Or maybe I could be utterly wrong. Maybe he was just utterly incompetent in his job.

Either way, Thor beat him up.

And I don't actually know what happened to him. In the chaos when the police came, he sort of managed to slip away after giving a statement.

And to be honest, I didn't really care. They can play their games all they want as long as they don't actually bother me.

Though, I did wonder if they managed to take down the…art I left behind. It'll be a bit awkward if the government people roll in before they have the chance and swarm the place so they're stuck for good.

Well, awkward for them.

Can I declare it a national park and protected land?

I might be able to swing that with a bit more bribery.

Though, that's not really relevant right now.

There was a buzzing sound, and the cell door opened. A moment later, Jane came stomping into the room as Thor got up to meet her. "Lady Jane!"

Though, Jane wasn't looking too excited to see him. "Alright, they said that you're free to go after I paid your bail. Since the other guy ran off, they can't really press charges, but you're still going to have to go in front of the town's judge next week and show them that you're not some lunatic that attacks people at random."

"I knew I could count on you, Lady Jane!" Thor smiled brightly.

"Y-yeah." She sighed.

I eyed her suspiciously. "If they're not pressing charges, why does he have to appear in front of a judge?"

She let out another sigh after the first. "It's a tiny town with like 500 people; they're not going to do the whole T.V. show courtroom thing. The judge is literally down the road right now doing his second job as a butcher. The sheriff just said it's to give him a scolding and whatever."

Huh.

Yeah, I could see that. In a small town this size, the jail is probably mostly used for when a few idiots get a bit too drunk.

Rather than make a big deal of it, they're probably content to make sure Thor isn't actually someone dangerous and give him a bit of a verbal lashing and whatnot.

I suppose the bail was more of the punishment in this case rather than wasting time going through proper procedures and issuing a fine that would take a bunch of paperwork and court time. Though, normally bail is refunded; it's more of a threat to keep the person from doing a runner. I wouldn't be surprised if it was just settled like this.

Small towns usually handle things their own way.

But, what do I know? It's not like I'm an expert in this sort of thing.

"Wonderful, everything has been settled." Thor smiled brightly. "What shall we do now?" He looked between us.

I nudged him in the side, forcing him to make a sound of discomfort. "Ask her what she meant by 'paying bail,' you moron."

Thor blinked, seemingly noticing Jane's face now. "Lady Jane, what does he speak of? What is this 'Bail' and what payment was forced upon you?"

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "It's basically a price to get someone out from jail and used as leverage to keep them from running. It's usually refunded after all the court stuff is dealt with. Which, the sheriff said, they usually process in like 2-3 weeks."

Thor looked between her and me. "This is good news; nothing is lost, yes?"

"How are the bills until then?" It was the end of the month soon.

"Rent's fine." She said, but looked away a little embarrassed. "Just going to have to eat some instant ramen for a few weeks…."

Oof

Thor looked confused. "What is this ramen? Why does it elicit such a look?"

"Some of the cheapest and easiest-to-make food you can get. The stuff you eat when you don't have any money." I said offhandedly.

Realization seemed to dawn on him and what the results of his actions were.

"Then I will work." Thor declared.

"Will you now?" I shot him a look. "How are you going to do that?" Because he has no ID and no real workplace skills.

"Point me in the direction of the local tavern or blacksmith." Thor spaced rather confidently. "I have spent a few days in my youth exploring both; I am sure I can pick up a craft to earn the coin needed."

"It's not that simple, Thor. You can't just walk up to someone—Jane blinked. "Actually, I could probably ask old man Jenson. He hires kids and…unregistered workers that need help every now and then to help on the ranch outside of town. I fixed his computer last week; he'd probably help if I asked."

"Perfect, I love horses; I'm great with horses!" Thor's eyes lit up.

I had the distinct impression that he was going to be rather disappointed later.

(Line Break)

I hummed to myself as I walked through the halls of Kamar-Taj.

I had no real desire to help Thor sort out his…situation. And I did have something I was interested in.

Asking for directions, I found the library. And, I can say I'm impressed. It wasn't comparable to, say, the College of Winterhold, but it was a pretty vast library.

Strangely, there were specific books chained up in the center.

Some of them felt ominous.

Though, the whole ambiance was thrown off because there was a laptop sitting at a nearby table.

Way to ruin my immersion.

"Can I help you?" One of the sorcerers looked up from a book.

"Are you the librarian?"

"I am." He said rather plainly. "I am Wong. The Ancient One gave you unrestricted access to the library; however, if I see you breaking any rules, I will expel you myself." He gave a firm warning.

"I have a great respect for books." I said it with full sincerity.

He gave a hesitant nod. "Is there anything specific you're looking for? If you want one of the...sealed tomes, I will need a reason." His tone was filled with suspicion.

"Actually, I was wondering if you had archives on the Norse gods."

He blinked, looking surprised. "Fiction or non-fiction?"

"Non-fiction, please." I was guessing they probably kept copies of the mythological stories and legends along with actual verified records. You never know when those things will come in handy.

The librarian waved his hand, and a shimmering orange light appeared, like a guiding arrow. "Follow that and you should find what you're looking for." He once more said with a rather plain and direct, no-nonsense tone.

I could respect it.

I shrugged and went on my merry way. Funny enough, the library wasn't as mundane as it seemed. Well, as mundane as one would call a magical library.

As I turned a few rows, the shelves and walls shifted and twisted, bending as if to move out of my way, and more space appeared, filled with many more books and such.

The light ended at a particular bookshelf, and I began to peruse.

'Accolades of the Asgardians.'

'Firsthand accounts of the Norse gods, translated.'

'Tales of Thor.'

'Invasion of the Frost Giants.'

None of them were in English, but I paused on that last one as it caught my attention. I quickly pulled it off the shelf and began to skim over it, picking up the bits that interested me.

Apparently, Frost Giants invaded Midgard some thousands of years ago or so and attempted to turn the world into a frozen wasteland with some kind of ancient artifact. Odin led the fight against them, appearing in their time of need along with the forces of Asgard.

How interesting.

It vaguely mentions some ancient agreements and how technically Midgard is under the protection of Asgard in regards to other forces.

Not much to go on with that, so I shelved it—quite literally—for now.

I skimmed through the books until I found one in particular. 'The History of the Asgardians.'

I opened it up and found that there were pages ripped out, and it clearly wasn't done recently. Ignoring the ripped pages, it basically started iterating on the history of the Aesir and Vanir tribes as they began to reconcile after a period of warring.

Unsurprisingly, they didn't have a lot. Mostly, what they did here on Earth, not what happened anywhere else. Which makes sense considering the Sorcerers basically only care about Earth.

I grabbed the torn book and the Tales of Thor and walked back to the front. "Am I allowed to bring books out of here?"

The librarian looked up from his own book to see what I had. "We have copies of those in the London Sanctum. Don't damage them, or you will be paying a fee to repair or replace. Bring them back in a week or extend the duration with me personally."

Very professional, basically like a normal library.

I like it.

"Thank you." I said politely before heading out, hopping back over to New Mexico.

(Line Break)

I popped right back into the lab in New Mexico. I had some questions to ask Thor about the history of his family.

I wasn't going to just blindly trust Hela, so I was going to investigate a little bit.

And Jeanne still wasn't back, so I didn't have much else to do. She'd been gone, what, two days now? I wasn't worried, but I also didn't want to rush her, so I resisted the urge to 'check in.'

"Having fun?" I called out to Darcy.

She nearly jumped out of the seat she was sitting in; the castle of cards she had stacked up came tumbling down as she hadn't noticed me popping over. "Jesus Christ!"

"Technically, he's my many-times uncle."

"Look, it's way too early for you to give me a religious crisis." She grumbled.

"Did you know that Hell has a pretty amazing amusement park?"

"...you're messing with me."

"It's called Lucifer Land."

"Oh my god, I can't tell if you're messing with me or not."

"Do you want to see a picture of an Angel?" I offered.

"Stooooooooooop."

Okay, I should stop messing with her; it looked like she was ready to have a mini panic attack. "Where's everyone else?"

"They're busy or something; I don't know. Wait, wasn't the door locked? How did you get in?"

"What about Thor?" I skillfully ignored her question.

"Jane dropped him off at a ranch or something outside town. Apparently, he's shoveling horse shit for some cash."

And just like that, every thought of mine came to a screeching halt. "Come again?"

"Yeah, Jane got him a job or something. He's shoveling horse shit at the ranch outside of town." She didn't add much else.

I could feel myself smiling very widely. "Where is this ranch, exactly?"

"South?" She shrugged. "I think I wasn't really paying much attention. If it's not the work stuff, I'm not filling in my paperwork for my credits, so I don't care."

Well, that's all I needed to hear.

I was out the door quicker than you could say Shunpo.

At a cursory glance, I didn't see any Wakandans, so many Thor scared them off.

Regardless, I moved at nearly my fastest speed to the point where I nearly ran into a cactus. And I realized that Darcy's directions were a bit off. If it weren't for my good eyesight, I wouldn't have been able to glimpse a fence that was several miles off to the east.

More southeast rather than just south.

But I found it easy enough; the desert is pretty flat, and I could move faster than a car.

I assumed I was at the right place when I saw the entrance to A Ranch. How many ranches are there in this place? It couldn't be a lot.

"Can I help you, son?"

I had barely taken a few steps inside as a man climbed down from a tractor he had been working on.

"Perhaps, I'm looking for a friend. I heard he was hired to shovel the…stables?" I think that's probably what he's doing.

The old man walked up and looked me over, his back slightly hunched, skin sun-tanned from years of work, and some well-worn cowboy boots. "Show me your hands."

I blinked, confused as to why he asked, but I did. He grabbed my hands, pulling open my fingers and looking at them properly. "We get a lot of them rich folk who want to try playing cowboy out here." He spat it out with a clear bit of disdain.

"I'm sure I probably look the part." I chuckled, realizing I was still wearing my normal attire.

"These aren't the hands of a man who hasn't sweat blood." He let go. "Your friend is over in the stables if you wan' go give him a hard time." He waved off, walking away. "If anyone stops you, just tell'um that old man Jenson gave ya permission."

Did I just pass some sort of test? I guess if I was what he described, he'd have told me to pound sand.

Regardless, I could find the stables easily enough. The big barn-like building was a rather big giveaway, not to mention the smell when I got closer.

That and the cursing I could hear coming from inside, it was distinctly Old Norse.

I walked in to see Thor, shovel in hand, and quite literally covered in shit.

Yup, I'm glad I came.

"I am the Prince of Asgard!" He grumbled, flinging some of it away. "I am Thor, God of Thunder! Why must I do something so pathetic!!" He continued to work.

"Was that talk about living as a human all fake then?" I leaned up against the nearby fence, watching him.

Thor twitched, jerking his body to see me standing there. "You understood my words? Of course, a demon." He muttered under his breath. "Have you come to mock me? The Great Thor, reduced to…this." He enunciated it by flicking a shovel of horse poop away.

"You definitely talked a big game before." I snorted, knowing it was mostly just empty talk. It's like someone hyping themselves up to start dieting or working out, telling themselves they're going to do this and that. And when it finally comes time, they resist it to the end. "But yes, I came to mock you."

He scowled, silently shoveling another load of horse dung to the side.

"That was a joke." I rolled my eyes. "To be honest, while hilarious, I do respect you for putting your pride aside to do something like this."

"I do not need your pity, demon." Thor grunted. "You know not what it is like. I had everything; I was going to be king. I would have ruled, and the universe would have come to pay their respects. Now….I am covered in filth, a mortal, and even now I must work for scraps."

Right, he sounded oh so mature and heroic when the girl was nearby, didn't he?

"Oh boohoo." I rolled my eyes at this point. "How long are you going to throw a pity party for yourself?" Though, despite his words, he was still doing the work. "How about, instead of—"

Something wet and slimy smacked against my face and across the front of my body.

And it smelled.

Slowly, I wiped the horse crap off my face and looked at Thor.

"My hand slipped." He said with the shovel extended towards me.

Musū Tengai, I need you.

[I'm here.] My Zanpakuto spirit replied.

Since you're basically the manifestation of my soul and living inside my soul, can you shatter my own aura from within me?

[.....this is the most egregious question I believe you've ever asked me. I'm not even going to ask you why, for I fear you'll give me an answer that makes me want to hit my head against the wall.

Shatter my aura and pull all my Reiatsu inward and use it to press down on my own soul so it's as debilitating as possible. Pull everything in as much as you can.

Just fuck all my shit up as best as you can.

Musū Tengai let out a sigh, and then I felt it.

The rebound and physical shock at having my Aura shattered nearly knocked me on my ass, and I stumbled slightly, blood dripping out of my nose and down the corners of my eyes.

My Reiatsu rampaged within my own body at the ushering of Musū Tengai, and I felt everything thrown completely out of whack, and I intentionally didn't do anything to fix it.

I wiped away the blood with my hand. "Perfect." I growled, jumping over the fence and tackling Thor.

He seemed surprised but welcomed it all the same. "You want to try me? Very well, Demon!" He bellowed and threw me off of him.

At this point, I felt so utterly weak from my own intentional, albeit temporary, mystical mutilations, I wouldn't be surprised if I could count as almost human for the moment.

He threw a quick jab that I blocked and kneed him in the stomach. I hadn't even been hit yet, but I was dizzy as fuck and barely saw his own fist follow up, landing on my cheek.

I think my body moved on its own as I grabbed his head and rammed him into the side of the wooden wall. But the world flipped upside down, and I realized he had lifted me up and tossed me at one of the horse pen gates, bursting through it and hitting a particularly large mound of horse poop and sliding across the ground.

I climbed to my feet; my dizziness hadn't subsided yet, but that wasn't going to stop me, even if I had trouble standing straight properly.

This time, Thor at me with a roar, attempting to tackle me. As he grabbed me, I elbowed him in the back, kicked his leg, and slammed him into the ground after he lost his momentum and footing.

I took a particular amount of glee as I pushed his face into the shit this time. I think he shouted about how it got into his mouth, but I was too caught up to notice.

I lost my grip on him, and he managed to get back up. I quickly followed, and it was just a flurry of fists we kept throwing at one another.

At this point, neither of us even tried to block or dodge; we were just taking turns punching each other until the other fell.

And eventually, Thor hit the ground.

He groaned on the ground, trying to push himself back up, but he slipped, and his face fell into the horse poop again.

I admit, I couldn't help but laugh and fell over myself, finding a sturdy wooden column to slide down against before I hit my butt.

"Is this my new life, Demon?" Thor asked, merely rolling over onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. "Have I been reduced to this, truly?"

"You know, there's a saying around here."

"What's that?"

"When you dig a hole as far as it can go, the only way left to go is up." I was paraphrasing.

"Aye." Thor took my meaning. "I don't think there is anywhere further to fall than being covered in shit and blood."

Right, covered in horse crap and bleeding and bruised, this is a low point even for me, and I wasn't even depressed or going through some sort of emotional journey.

I relaxed, letting my body try to start healing properly and settling everything back.

Was it stupid? Most assuredly.

Did it feel good to punch Thor on equal terms? Without a doubt.

I let out a sigh, annoyed at my own bleeding heart. I tossed a healing potion his way.

"Ow?" He cried out as it hit his stomach and bounced off. "Why would you throw something at me? That is very dishonorable; we have stopped fighting."

"It's a healing potion, you dumbass; drink it."

He uncorked it and poured it down his throat without a second thought. The fact that he was 'mortal' now, well, his wounds began to heal rather visibly. Well, the black eye, the bruises, and the bloody nose—they disappeared at least.

"It doesn't heal emotional damage, just a heads up." I made sure to specify.

He threw the bottle back at me, narrowly missing me.

"Thank you, Demon." He said rather genuinely. "This kindness when I am reduced to such a state, I will not forget it."

"So, you'll repay me when you're a god and prince again, hmm?"

Thor grunted, pushing himself up off the ground and finding the shovel from before. "I know not if that will ever happen, but I will do what I can to repay this debt regardless."

Wow, that almost felt like it came from the heart. Maybe the reality of his situation was finally beginning to set in.

"So, what job were you hired to do?" I asked him.

"I am to shovel the stables, and if I finish today, I will be paid." Thor spoke, as if repeating words verbatim.

"The…entire stables?" I looked around, and the stables were big enough to house probably forty horses.

"...aye." He nodded darkly. "Tell Lady Jane that I will return later tonight."

But despite that, he forced a smile.

And it reminded me far too much of Thorum's big goofy smile.

I let out a sigh, getting to my feet. I began to unbutton my vest and my shirt, tossing them to the side.

Updat𝓮d from frёewebnoѵēl.com.

"What are you doing?" He asked suspiciously.

"I want to get naked around you; what does it look like I'm doing?" I snorted. "Get me a shovel; we'll knock this out in a few hours together."

(Line Break)

When was the last time I did manual labor like this?

I've fought and trained until my body felt like it was going to fall apart. I can honestly say I much prefer that to shoveling horse shit for the entire afternoon.

Well, the only good thing is that I'm not scrunching my nose at the smell anymore. Maybe that's because I'm still completely covered in it.

With everything that happened, I forgot to ask Thor about the books. Well, I can do that later; I'm kind of tired now.

I let out a tired sigh as he finished talking to the owner of the ranch and came back towards me with a big grin on his face.

"It was successful; I have acquired the money for Lady Jane." He said proudly.

"...Out of curiosity, how much did you make?"

"This much." He showed me, and I sort of slowly shifted through it with my fingers.

"A hundred and eighty dollars."

"Is it a lot?" Thor asked. "Will it help, Lady Jane?"

"...Yeah, it'll help." It would alleviate a little bit of the damage. At the very least, they could afford some groceries with that.

"Half of it is yours." Thor suddenly spoke.

"Pardon?" I was caught off guard.

"You assisted; half of it is yours by right." He said rather firmly.

"Really? After all the trouble, lowering yourself to shovel shit for a day, you're willing to give up half your earnings to me?" I looked at him with genuine surprise.

"It is right." He said again. "I will not accept refusal."

"Thor."

"Yes?"

"The clothes of mine that you splattered shit all over. You would have to do this every day for months to just cover the cost of those." I told him, pushing the money back towards him.

"...Oh." He seemed taken aback by that.

"Yup."

".....I will return tomorrow and begin repayment." The funny thing was, I think he was being fully serious.

"Thor."

"Yes?"

I kicked him lightly on the butt. "Let's get going."

"I was told I should call for Lady Jane? Shall I do that now?" He asked.

"Do you have a phone?" I would be shocked if he adapted that quickly.

"No, what is that?"

…right.

"Come along." I grabbed his sleeve and dragged him towards the exit.

"Are we walking? It's quite the hike, my friend. And the heat is harsh even for a former god such as myself."

"Just until we get out of view, and I'll use magic to take us back."

"Marvellous." Thor's eyes brightened as we got some distance down the road. "Could you use magic to wash me?"

I held my hand up, forming the Magic Circle right in front of him, and it turned into a geyser of water, knocking him off his feet and tumbling down, forcing him to roll a few times before coming to a stop.

He stood up, dripping a bit, and gave me a really unamused look. "Was that for—"

"Yes, that was for throwing shit at me." I snorted, flicking my hand and producing a portal. Thor marveled at it for a moment before stepping through without my ushering.

We popped out near the lab, a block or so down and behind a building. Thor dusted himself off and wiped his face, pushing his hair back.

"I do like that Midgard has the hot showers so readily available. I will partake when we return." Thor idly stated as we walked him back to his 'home.' "Do you believe—" Thor stopped.

I stopped next to him.

Outside and in front of the building, there were a bunch of black SUVs and a lot of agents that looked reminiscent of the ones from before.

Though, more eye-catching were the group of people wearing armor and weapons. One woman and three different men of varying sizes. However, for me, the one who grabbed my attention the most was Jeanne, standing there with them, but she was wearing a gorgeous dress and had a tiara on her head.

"Will!" Jeanne shouted, waving at me from down the road.

And then my eyes landed on Agent Coulson.

He lowered his sunglasses, meeting my gaze.

And he had the most smug smile on his face.

...What a shitty day.

(Line Break)

A/N

Just some good ol fashion male bonding.

If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone

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Wakanda has entered the Find out stage over here if you're interested.