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“Thor, you could have hurt someone,” The phrase was uttered and followed by a disapproving scowl as Captain America came off the Quinjet, already trying to assess the damage within the surrounding area.
“My apologies, Captain,” was Thor’s automatic reply, “I merely wish to aid a fellow warrior. I did not realize the effects would be so adverse.” And he was being genuine, as was made clear by the worry etched across his face. What had seemed like good fun at the time had definitely proved to be a bad idea, and Thor hoped the worst of the damage was the now destroyed car.
“Yeah, Fabio, we’ve talked about this whole electricity thing,” Tony replied as he removed his helmet, having landed between the Quinjet and Thor. “Now that everything’s either flammable or prone to short circuiting, you can’t go waving it around.”
Clint sided up next to Tony and put his hand on the suit’s shoulder and Tony tucked the helmet under his arm. “Yeah,” he agreed, “Especially since Stark pitches a hissy fit every time you break his new baby.” Tony turned to drop Clint’s hand and give him a piece of his mind, but already Clint was being removed, dragged away by the scruff of his collar by a very serious looking Natasha.
“We’ve got perimeter,” she called to Steve, and he nodded gratefully. Before Tony could even respond to Clint, the two had disappeared down the block to try to prevent too much attention to the scene. By this time, the young girl had removed her helmet and wig and was looking fearfully to where her parents were coming out of the house, eyes darting from their destroyed car to the Avengers standing just at the end of the driveway. The small girl had not yet seen the group of superheroes standing beyond her site behind the charred remains of the vehicle, and she dropped the hammer as her parents moved forward.
“My friends!” Thor called, face still apologetic as he approached the family, Tony and Steve following reluctantly. “My sincerest apologies for this misunderstanding!” To which Tony immediately began muttering about suburbs and misunderstandings and always him.
“Thor?” the little girl asked suddenly, and her eyes were wide with astonishment as she looked up to Thor, who immediately turned to smile down at her.
“Let the grownups talk, big guy, you and your mini-me can work battle plans or something,” Tony called as he and Steve passed, approaching the girl’s parents as Thor sunk to one knee in front of her.
“That was a most wonderful attack,” he told her quietly, gesturing to the hammer she had left on the ground. The girl, who didn’t even come to Thor’s shoulders while he was kneeling, took up the ends of her cape and worried it between her fingers as she looked up at him. She was clearly torn about whether or not she should be afraid both for the car and for the Asgardian standing in front of her, but there was also a wonder in her eyes that made Thor’s smile broaden. “How have you come to be such a mighty warrior?” he pressed on, and slowly the cape fell from her fingers as she smiled up at him as well.
“I saw you on the TV,” she explained, her face lighting up as she realized she was speaking to the real deal superhero. Even her pigtails bounced as she shook with excitement. “And mommy bought me your cape and your hammer so I could smash stuff too!”
“Of course,” Thor replied, taking her by the broadened shoulders of her armor, “And you have come to wield your hammer like a true fighter of Asgard. Perhaps one day you might even wield the mighty Mjolnir with that force.”
He glanced up as there was a noise of protest behind her, but it was only a reaction to something Tony had said. Tony was currently looking down at his phone, pressing buttons with lightening speed while Steve stood calmly next to him. Both of the girl’s parents were shaking their heads and waving their arms, but Tony waved them both off.
“Don’t be ridiculous, this is going to come out of my paycheck anyway, right Cap?” he was asking, to which Steve nodded with a chuckle and a pat on the armor’s shoulder. The couple continued to look horrified, but both heroes ignored them. “Besides, you’re from R&D, right? Been meaning to write bonuses out since the last project didn’t actually need any correcting.”
Thor looked back to the girl, who was still staring in wonder. “What is your name, little one?” he asked her, taking the small foam hammer and pressing it back into her hands, “So that I may herald tales to my fellow warriors when I return to Asgard.”
“Emma,” she replied hastily, accepting the hammer and slowly curling her other hand into a fist.
“Then Lady Emma it shall be!” Thor boomed in response, and he stood to raise his arms in mock triumph. Mjolnir stood high and proud in his grip, and Emma stared up at him with renewed wonder and determination. “Whose courage rivals that of the Lady Sif and whose worthiness rivals that of Thor himself!”
All four remaining adults looked up as Thor stood, smiling fondly as Emma also reached towards the sky and let out as loud a roar as her small body would let her. She was smiling more broadly than Thor now, and the two were almost giggling in their unadulterated glee.
Very slowly, the two lowered their arms and ceased their laughing, Mjolnir returned to its place at Thor’s hip just as Clint and Natasha reappeared with brief nods to their teammates. The Avengers gathered together back at the end of the driveway with only the briefest nods to the family whose lives they had interrupted, and disappeared in a whirl of suits and jets and hammers. Emma continued to watch from beside her parents’ destroyed vehicle, looking back to her bewildered parents only after the Quinjet had long since disappeared from view.