Give Me a Favor

Lightning flashed across the wilderness, and dark clouds blanketed the night sky. With a gust of cold wind, heavy rain suddenly began to pour down.

The alarm sounded throughout the temporary base, and the armed personnel stationed within sprang into action.

Coulson frowned, took out his communicator, and connected to the surveillance room. "What happened?"

The person in charge immediately replied, "Sir. We just discovered that a hole had been torn through a corner of the protective fence on the south side of the base, which had not yet been powered on. A blond, powerfully built man over six feet tall forcibly entered the temporary base. He knocked out two guards and is heading toward the research room at the center of the base."

Coulson remained calm as he said coldly, "I understand. Have the guards maintain patrol order. Leave the intruder to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."

"Yes!"

After ending the call, Coulson dialed a private line. A detached yet magnetic male voice answered almost immediately. "I’m here."

"The items in this temporary research room are extremely important. It would be safer if you handled this personally," Coulson informed him.

"Alright."

On the other end of the line.

Inside the first-floor warehouse of the temporary base, a black-haired agent in uniform opened the armory door. His eagle-sharp gaze swept across the metal racks displaying firearms of every model.

The black-haired agent picked up a modern sniper rifle, weighed it in his hand, then quickly put it back. Without hesitation, he took a specially made compound bow from the top rack, along with a quiver full of unusual arrows.

Then he rushed out of the armory, hurried up the stairwell, and upon reaching the rooftop on the third floor, nimbly climbed toward the temporary platform atop the base dome.

At that moment.

Inside the research facility, Thor ran down the corridor, panting heavily. Just as he was about to reach the corner, a burly Black agent built like a bear blocked his path.

"Mortal, do not stand in my way!" Listening to the thunder outside, Thor clenched his fists and threatened the agent, who stood half a head taller than him.

Something had happened in Asgard. He did not want to waste any more time here!

"If you want to pass, knock me down first." The Black agent sneered, flexing his sandbag-sized fists until his knuckles cracked loudly.

Words were pointless. They just had to fight!

Thor let out a roaring growl and charged forward like a brute, grappling with the Black agent barehanded.

A moment later, the two became tangled together, smashed through the wall of the temporary research facility, and tumbled into the open meteor crater outside.

Because of the torrential rain, the crater had already turned into a muddy bog.

The two towering men fell into it and were instantly covered in mud from head to toe. Ignoring everything else, they traded punches and kicks, fighting so fiercely that neither could gain the upper hand.

Naturally, this scene was clearly visible to Coulson on the second floor and the black-haired agent who had climbed onto the rooftop platform.

Standing alone on the narrow platform, the black-haired agent drew a specially made steel arrow and nocked it against the thin string of his compound bow. Squinting one eye, he pulled the bow into a crescent arc and aimed at the back of Thor’s head in the crater below.

No matter how close Thor and the Black agent came to each other, or how constantly they shifted positions in battle, the sharp, chilling arrowhead continually adjusted to track its target.

"I’m in position. Do you require the intruder to be eliminated?" the black-haired agent asked expressionlessly.

Hearing the voice through the communicator, Coulson pondered for a moment. Seeing that the intruder was about to knock the Black agent down, he finally nodded and gave the order. "Kill him."

"Understood."

The black-haired agent’s gaze deepened. Holding his breath, he remained unaffected by the heavy rain, his hands on the bow as steady as machinery.

Below in the crater, Thor knocked the Black agent to the ground with a punch. He shook his wet shoulder-length hair and, exhausted, stepped toward the silver hammer at the center of the crater, completely unaware of the fatal danger coming from above and to the side.

"It’s over," the black-haired agent murmured. Just as he was about to release the bowstring and send the specialized arrow through Thor’s head, a hand suddenly reached from behind and pressed down on the arrowhead, shifting its aim downward.

"W-Who are you?" The black-haired agent shuddered and spun around in shock, only to find a handsome young man with silver hair standing right behind him.

"Using a specially made bow and arrows… You must be Clint Barton, the ‘Hawkeye’ Natasha often mentions, right?"

Kyle smiled, looked down at Thor in the crater, and said in a calm yet commanding tone, "The man below is my friend. Give me a favor and don’t shoot him."

"Just who are you?" Hawkeye was still in extreme shock. As a master marksman, what he feared most was an enemy getting close, especially from behind when he was undefended.

Yet from the moment this man appeared until he stopped him, Hawkeye’s heightened senses had failed to detect even the slightest anomaly.

The other man had appeared out of thin air. If he had truly been an enemy, Hawkeye would have died countless times over by now!

Kyle did not answer. If Hawkeye could not even figure out his identity, it would be a disgrace to the hero name Hawkeye.

"You mentioned Natasha just now. Silver hair, far too young…" Hawkeye froze for half a second before realizing who he was. He put away his bow, clasped his hands, and bowed respectfully. "Mr. Kyle."

"You’ve got some eyesight after all." Kyle nodded, told him to be quiet, and continued looking down at the crater.

"So he came here too?"

Faintly hearing the conversation through the communicator, Coulson was briefly stunned. Then his expression turned solemn as his questioning gaze fell upon Thor in the crater as well. "For him?"

Inside the rain-washed crater.

The mud on Thor’s body gradually washed away. After calming his breathing, he stopped beside the silver hammer.

Joy filled his face as he bent down and gripped the hammer’s handle with his dominant right hand, intending to raise it high as he always had.

But no matter how hard he tried, the hammer did not move an inch.

Thor’s smile froze on his face, and the air became thick with awkwardness.

Unwilling to accept it, he used both hands and exerted every ounce of strength he had, but the fact that he could not lift the hammer remained unchanged.

Thor let go in despair. At that moment, he suddenly understood his situation.

Father King Odin had banished him. Mjolnir no longer recognized him. All his strength, divine power, honor, and pride were gone. He truly was inferior even to a mortal now.

Thud!

Thor dropped to his knees in the mud beside the hammer. Looking up at the endless night sky like a wounded beast, he let out a heart-wrenching roar amid the rain.

"As expected."

Kyle, who had long known the outcome, was not surprised. He patted Hawkeye on the shoulder and said, "Knock him out with a tranquilizer and lock him up. An astronomer will come for him later. Let him go when that happens."

"Alright."

Hawkeye did not understand Kyle’s intentions, but he obeyed instinctively.

From the moment Kyle appeared here, the highest authority had shifted away from Coulson.