Asgardian Twilight

A Hostile Welcome

As he was ripped out of the Bifrost, Thor could feel himself being violently pulled through darkness as lights rushed by in trembling streaks. In this rush, he felt a force pulling him. His eyes barely caught sight of the wormhole before he was pulled through it and sent flying across a sallow-colored sky. He braced for impact, landing harshly in what he soon discovered to be a massive landfill. His body tore through piles of discard and when his movement finally came to stillness, he looked up at the cloud of dust that rose up from around him. He drew a deep breath and stood to his feet, spinning in a slow circle and taking in his new surroundings.

Before he could familiarize himself, the sound of debris pouring down from above seized his attention. He looked up to see it raining down from various wormholes, all of it rushing to fall upon him. One piece was a particularly large hunk of metal. He rolled aside and it smashed the place he'd been standing. He picked up the pace, running across the landfill and toward a dune. No longer needing to run, he looked out into a beach strewn with waste.

"What is this place?" he murmured to himself as he looked from the beach to a particularly horrific-looking wormhole that hung in the distance- a massive column of whirling smoke and localized storms.

A noise drew his attention and he spun around to see a strange aircraft approaching him. As it approached, a fleet of masked humanoid shapes appeared. One of them hopped down from the open door. "Are you a fighter of are you a food?" it asked in a strange voice.

Thor tilted his head in confusion. "I'm passing through," he began.

"It is a food," the creature declared. "On your knees, food!"

Thor reached his hand out and felt the sting of remembrance. Mjolnir was no more. The creature raised its rifle and fired it at him. A solid metallic projectile erupted from the barrel and Thor was thrown onto his back. Before he could recover, more of the creatures leaped from the craft and began to fire at him, locking him in a perpetually stunned state as several more approached and threw a net over him.

Thor reached for the net and began to tear it apart when a second, larger ship landed nearby. The creatures ceased the harassment and turned their focus upon it. Thor sat up and watched alongside them as the ship opened and a ramp appeared. From it, the figure of a woman appeared. She was dark-skinned and dangerously beautiful. Her eyes held the glint of unmistakable danger, and her face was adorned in painted white designs. She wore a suit of dark leather, the sleeves revealing smooth and powerful arms. A cape flowed behind her and she moved forward, causing the creatures to take several steps back in fear.

"He's mine," the woman slurred, and Thor suddenly noticed the bottle of liquor in her hand. She chugged the remains before tossing it aside. She began to stumble forward and fell from the ramp and into the trash below.

The creatures sighed with relief and resumed their attempt to capture Thor when the woman shot up from the trash and approached more steadily. "I said he's mine. You want him? You'll have to go through me."

"But we have him already," one of the creatures barked as it raised its weapon.

The woman laughed. "Very well. I'll go through you."

Suddenly two large gun barrels popped out of her ship and a rain of gunfire tore through the creatures, obliterating them.

Thor sighed and ripped the net off completely as he stood and moved to meet her. "Thank you for that," he said.

The woman smirked and drew a small glowing disc from her belt. She tossed it at him and it lodged into his neck before she tapped a button on a small remote. Intense electrical shocks flooded him and he fell to the ground. Still conscious, but incapacitated, Thor could only watch as the mysterious woman dragged him toward her ship.