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By now, even people outside of the Avenger’s had heard the stories of the heroes trying to pick up Thor’s hammer, the Mighty Mjolnir. It also proved that Loki was not the only God of Mischief, as Thor would leave his hammer in places he knew would frustrate his teammates, such as on Cap’s shield, as a doorstop, or in the most comfortable chair in the common room, so only he could use it.
So of course, Peter had heard all those stories, and others where people had tried in vain to circumvent the problem the hammer caused. Just like the hammer could not be moved from the sand in the desert, the heroes found that cutting up the carpeting or trying to move the furniture the hammer was on, did not work, much to Tony’s chagrin.
So, when Peter came out late one night for a late snack, about 3 am, only to find the hammer placed in front of the refrigerator door, he was frustrated because he had really wanted a snack. Almost without thinking, about the ramifications, he slid the hammer over so he could open the door. It wasn’t until he was downing his second bowl of cereal and he was awake enough did the realization hit him.
The next twenty minutes was filled with Peter lifting and sitting the hammer back down, striking different poses with it, and pretending he was the Norse God. He couldn’t decide what to do. Should he wake everyone up and tell them? Would they be angry? Maybe it was a fake. So, he decided to put it back in front of the door like he found it and went back to his room. He didn’t sleep however; his super hearing was focused on the kitchen and to hear what came next.
Clint was the first one up that morning. It was easy to pick out his yelling that he couldn’t get into the fridge. After 20 minutes, Thor came out to move the offending Hammer, with a huge smile on his face. By that time Peter had joined everyone in the common room, and saw the smile on the God’s face. He was very tempted to walk over right then and move the hammer, but a better idea came to him.
He needed an ally, so his plan might work. He went down in his room to talk to his hopeful ally. “FRIDAY, could you help me with something?”
“Of course, Peter. How can I be of assistance?”
“Have you recorded the various attempts of people trying to lift Mjolnir? Or how Thor keeps leaving it in annoying places?”
“Of course, Peter, I record everything in the Common area,” FRIDAY replied.
“Here’s what I need you to do…”
The next night Thor had left his hammer in the middle of the sofa. At least he thought he did. When Thor came out of his room that morning, he found it on top of the TV. “Who moved Mighty Mjolnir?”
Clint was the first to answer. “What? You know no one here can move your hammer, big guy.”
General chaos resulted almost immediately, with Thor swearing it was moved and everyone denying being the mover. Tony finally had to show the video playback of Thor placing the hammer on top of the TV the night before.
From the kitchen area watching all this, Peter tried to conceal a smile. He purposely stayed back as far as he could.
Thor was finally calming down, having no way to refute the video being shown to him. Tony was adamant that FRIDAY was the ultimate proof.
The following morning saw another big disruption as Mjolnir was on top of the stove, preventing anyone from starting to cook. Clint had to wake Thor up, who started getting upset again because, “That’s not where I left Mighty Mjolnir.”
It took several minutes for everyone to calm down, and Tony had to repeat the process of FRIDAY showing a video of Thor leaving the hammer on top of the stove.
That morning saw Peter finishing his cereal and getting ready for school. Surprisingly, toast and cereal didn’t require the stove. It was also easier not to smile with a mouthful of cereal.
Nothing happened for several nights. Then on FRIDAY night, late, a sleepy Peter was getting his late-night snack. As part of his new ritual, he looked around for the best place to leave Mjolnir tonight. As he finished his cold pizza, he moved over and picked up Mjolnir from the table and went to place it on top of Clint’s shoes.
A voice startled him. “I knew my often-befuddled brother hadn’t completely lost his memory yet.”
And the form of Loki shimmered into view. “This is quite a surprise however, though in some ways, maybe not. You may be the first human to be able to wield that cursed hammer, but you have a unique personality to go with your skills. Truly, you are special even with all these other so-called heroes.”
Peter stared at the Demi-God, “Ah, Mr. Loki, you aren’t going to say anything about this are you?”
“No, my young friend, I shall not. This game you are playing maybe the most entertaining I have seen in years. This could quickly drive my brother mad, which is even better to watch than even getting to stab him again would be. Tell me, have you full control over the hammer? Does it come to you at your call?”
“I don’t know,” Peter stammered, “I don’t know how it works.” Peter was gently setting the hammer down on top of Clint’s shoes.
“Well, let’s find out, shall we? Stand back across the room.” Peter took a couple of small steps backward. “A little bit more please.” Peter stepped backwards even more. “That’s good. Now, I want you to extend your hand and call the hammer to you.”
“How do I do that? Do I say it’s name, or say a spell, like accio the summoning spell from Harry Potter?”
“I don’t know what accio is, but no, all you have to do is will the hammer into your hand. If it answers to you, the hammer will fly to your hand. Just extend you hand and ‘want’ it to come to you.”
A slightly disbelieving Peter slowly extended out his arm and looked at the hammer resting on Clint’s shoes. Suddenly, and to Peter, surprisingly, the hammer leapt off the shoes and flew to his outstretched hand. Too fast to even contemplate, the hammer oriented itself so the handle landed softly into his grip. His hand gripped the handle as a reflex, so that it would be impossible for him to have missed it or dropped it. It didn’t carry the momentum that an object of its size should have, even the weight was surprising light in his grasp.
“Cool,” was all he could say.
“It appears you do have control of the weapon. It would seem as if you have been deemed worthy. I have tried for over an eon to move that accursed brick on a stick. I see why I never could. Just like my brother, you have an inner sense of optimism and goodness that I lack. My cynicism leads me on another path.”
“Does this mean I can wield the lightning too?” Peter asked.
“I would think not, for the thunder is part of Thor’s power, as is my magic, our Father’s all-seeing sight, a normal human would not be able to channel it. An enhanced person such as yourself, you might survive, but the ability to call the lightning was a power born into Thor.”
“Aw, that would have been so cool,” Peter said.
“Right up to the point where you turned into a human French fry.”
“Yeah, right. Understood.”
“Now, if I may ask, why are you losing sleep to torment my brother by moving his hammer?” Loki asked.
Peter managed to look innocent even though he had been caught red-handed. “Well, Thor was having so much fun tormenting everyone with the placement of Mjolnir, that I thought it would be fun to move it on him. Turning the tables on him pranking others.”
“And the computer simulation?”
“FRIDAY and I are on good terms, she sees how exasperated everyone gets, and I explained how much fun it might be to prank Thor back. She agreed it might be fun.”
“Stark’s computer was ‘having fun’, it is more advanced than I gave it credit for. You do realize that you have the perfect accomplice? My brother, the dim-witted-dolt, will never suspect anyone tampering with the computer.”
Peter just smiled.
“Have you thought about an endgame for this? A natural conclusion to this series of events. What would a suitable outcome be?”
“Not really, I was just having a bit of fun.”
“I have seen you spar with all of the different Avenger’s, including my brother. You have improved greatly. In fact, your style is confusing for him, because he trains mostly against strength styled opponents. And he utilizes his hammer. Most of the type of fighting he does with you, we learned in our earliest education. He gets overconfident when he uses his hammer, because of its immense power, and that no one else can wield it. It might be good for him to have that taken away for once, to develop new skills. We may need that in the future. It would be interesting for him to learn from you for a change, would it not?”
“I can’t fight with him if he uses Mjolnir, it would tear me in two!”
“Oh, don’t worry. He has been training with warriors for over a thousand years with that weapon, and has developed the skill to keep it from causing any serious damage to his training opponents.”
“I just can’t ask Thor to bring Mjolnir to a sparring match, no one that was sane would!”
“You just continue to play your jokes on my brother. I will lay the groundwork for you to spar with my brother and his hammer. You should get to bed, I believe you have school tomorrow, correct?’”
Peter nodded in the affirmative.
Loki turned and sat down in a large overstuffed recliner. A book shimmered out of thin air to air in his hand. He sighed and opened the book towards the middle. He looked up at Peter, who was looking like he just witnessed magic.
“It’s easier than carrying the books around all day.”
“That is so cool.”
“Don’t forget, leave my brother’s brick on a stick somewhere annoying. And good night.”
Peter had forgotten he was still holding the ancient weapon. He suddenly looked down and lifted the hammer up as in trying to remember why he held it. With a smile he turned and walked over to the refrigerator and carefully put it on it’s side on the top shelf, so that the handle blocked access to everything there. Quickly, he closed the door and smiled, looked over to the Demi-God reading a Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone, and said softly, “Good Night.”
Over the next several weeks, Loki made sure he was present when the young superhero was training. He had easily convinced Hawkeye and Black Widow to ramp up their sessions with weapons. Captain America was using his shield, and War Machine was utilizing most of his capabilities in his armor. It became no great stretch to convince his brother to train Peter how to avoid a weapon like Mjolnir. But then, Loki had a way of convincing Thor to do things.
It had become a running joke that Thor no longer remembered where he left his hammer. Almost every morning he found Mjolnir somewhere different than where he thought he had placed it. He could not argue with FRIDAY however, and was forced to believe he was forgetting little things. He had stopped complaining and started each morning searching for the hammer himself before he said anything. Sometimes, it would be right where he left it. He had been heard to holler, “By Odin’s Eye! I knew it was here!” or “Odin’s Beard, where is it now?”
It was a Saturday morning when Spiderman was set to spar with Thor. For the first time, Thor carried Mjolnir when he entered the training room. This fact alone guaranteed higher attendance in the viewing stands. The fact that Loki had been egging it on all week further cemented that everyone would be watching. Some were nervous. Tony had threatened Thor is he hurt Peter. But even he wasn’t as scary as Pepper had been, Thor actually had taken a step back when Pepper Potts started listed what she would do to the God of Thunder if Peter got hurt.
Unknown to everyone was that Loki had instructed Peter on how to use the weapon. He was the second most knowledgeable person around with the weapon, having observed his brother use it on him so many times. He was able to teach Peter how to swing and throw the weapon accurately. Not with the full force, but with enough for a training session.
Peter started his usual acrobatics and avoidance of the grounded fighter in front of him. What everyone did not know was that he was waiting for a specific moment he knew would come. Thor had used Mjolnir to deflect webbing, and had thrown it to dislodge or make Peter move from a higher vantage point. But it was several minutes into their session when Thor let loose of Mjolnir towards a Spiderman that had just landed on the floor perhaps fifteen meters directly in front of Thor.
The crowd watched the unstoppable hammer headed for the youth.
Peter reached out his hand and caught the Mighty Mjolnir by it’s handle. In an instant, he sent the weapon back down it’s path where it collided with the God of Thunder’s chest, propelling him through the air to the far wall of the training room.
You could have heard a pin drop.
No one could believe their eyes. And Thor hadn’t opened his yet.
With an outstretched hand, Spiderman called Mjolnir back into his hand. He then ran over to the surprised God of Thunder.
Thor was sitting up, with an astonished look on his face.
“By all the Gods of the Nine Realms. Never have I met another who could wrest control of Mjolnir from me. This is a day of rejoicing! You are truly a mighty warrior!”
Soon, the training room was filled with the other heroes, all congratulating the young wielder of the Mighty Mjolnir.
It was Tony who caught up with the obvious first. “Hey, Kid. All of Thor’s complaints about someone moving his hammer, was that you?”
Once again you could have heard a pin drop.
Peter pulled off his mask and smiled, then slowly nodded.
“But FRIDAY showed, Okay Fri, what’s up? Why did you doctor the images?”
“I’m sorry sir,” FRIDAY replied, “but you gave Mr. Parker full access to my system. He was able to convince me that I could finally partake in a prank you all seem to enjoy so much. I admit that having that experience was an overriding topic for my consideration. I would say that the involvement with this has been quite enlightening.”
“We will be talking.” Tony turned to Peter, “I knew that if anybody could lift the hammer, it would be you. I never thought it would as dramatic as this however. I’m proud of you kid.” Tony smiled. “We will be talking about corrupting my A.I.”
Peter beamed and winced at the same time.
Peter handed the Mighty Mjolnir up to it’s rightful owner.
Thor asked, “How did you learn to wield a hammer, it is not a normal weapon for humans?’
“Well, you see, Loki helped me..”
Thor turned, along with everyone else, to see Loki sitting in the viewing stands, reading the seventh book of the Harry Potter series.
Thor bellowed, “Loki!”
The God of Mischief smiled and disappeared.