Chapter Three: The Salvation of Paradise

[The Mighty Thor]

For reasons that were completely mysterious to him, in another little corner of reality somewhere far from our heroes, Wade Wilson felt a sort of psychic slap, and he liked it. “Your welcome, Pale Rider,” was all he said as the sensation faded just as quickly as it had come.

Back in Landsbystyv, Victoria shifted her attention away from the manic mercenary that threatened to plague her even across the span of the multiverse and back to the situation at hand. She was about to muddle in the mind of a god, and if Dr. Strange had been there, he definitely would have advised against it. But he was not, so she reached out and in the time between moments she began to feel for the edges of the much larger man’s consciousness. If the Phoenix had wanted to, it could have easily aided Victoria in her endeavor, and split the Asgardian’s mind wide. But the cosmic entity was being less than cooperative lately, and instead it felt to Victoria as if she had just slammed her head into a brick wall. Apparently the mind of this being was going to be more difficult to coerce than any of them would have guessed. That or something, or someone had taken measures to ward against such intrusions.

Victoria was already shaking off the effects of the mental wards that guarded Hogun’s thoughts as Barry was racing to intercept the mortal security forces. It was nothing for a man of Barry’s speed to quickly relieve the men of their weapons, leaving the speedster standing triumphantly with all manners of bladed implements in hand watching as the guards toppled over under Logan’s telekinetic assault. Try as they might, the security men could not regain their footing either, as Logan easily pinned them to the ground.

Inside the book shop, Abby took a small device from her satchel. It was an instrument that would have seemed out of place in this world, but she knew it was necessary. Quickly and as discreetly as possible she snapped it open and began to scan the pages into the gadget’s memory. But before she could scan more than a few pages, she noticed a local quietly approaching her. Slipping the scanner away from the inquisitive eyes of the man, she looked up with as pleasant a smile as she could muster as the man began to speak, “I do not know you, young one. I have never seen you before. Be you with the rest of the travelers that visit Landsbystyv this day?”

Noticing the immobilized guards down the street, Hogun and his partner Yarsug decided that the time for talk had passed some time ago. No longer willing to believe a word spoken by this lot, they prepared to take this situation to a higher authority. Knowing that the pale skinned woman, and more precisely the blade that was slung at her hip would interest their master to no end, Hogun grabbed Victoria by the forearm and drug her along. Yarsug took hold of the quiet Alex with his left hand, and with is right motioned for Iron Fist to come along. The second Asgardian snarled to the blonde haired man, “Come along now. We shall take you to the reconditioning center and allow Master Loki to sort this out.” And down the street, with Victoria in tow still a bit dazed by the mental probe gone wrong, Hogun came face to face with Logan and bellowed. “Stand ye down mortal. Your presence here is in violation of Asgardian law, and ye shall answer for thyselves.”