A week after the despair of failure, a strange new variable entered the picture: the Asgardian appetite.
Jane had been eating, of course, but as the first month approached, the hunger became monstrous.
"Darcy, are there any leftovers from that roast Selvig made last month?" Jane asked mid-morning.
"Yes, in the freezer, but it's for—"
Before Darcy could finish, Jane had already plunged her head into the freezer, pulling out a bag containing a piece of frozen meat.
"Jane, you can't just eat that like that, it's as hard as a rock," Darcy warned.
"I'll warm it up," Jane replied, biting into a piece of the frozen roast with an audible crunch.
¡CRACK!
"I need protein. And... ice."
Darcy stared at her, horrified: "You just chewed on a block of ice and meat at 0 degrees. What the hell?"
"It's a necessity," Jane explained, chewing thoughtfully_ "It's like my body suddenly needs the energy of a herd of mammoths, and I'm frozen solid."
Darcy could only watch her college friend eat and chew raw, frozen meat, licking and chewing it like candy.
After that came the specific cravings, which defied all human dietary logic:
"Jane, this isn't normal," Darcy said, waving a handful of peanuts_ "You're eating enough for two or four—five people… and one of them is the size of a pickup truck, and look at this!"
Darcy showed her her arm. "You've been eating all this, and I'm the one who has to alter my clothes because I'm gaining sympathy weight, and you… are you getting stronger? You look like you can open jars with one finger!"
Jane looked at her hands. It was true. She not only felt ravenous hunger but also a surge of physical strength. The backaches a pregnant woman should have were absent; instead, she felt a robust, almost indestructible energy.
"The Asgardian factor is kicking in," Jane sighed, taking another bite of a saltine popsicle. "The baby needs a warrior's diet. Or a troll's stomach" I don't know what's worse."
Then the meals increased, and seeing Jane, a whole table of hamburgers and pizzas.
Darcy: "J-Jane," she said, one eye trembling in disbelief and surprise. "T-this is food for a family of eight."
But under the watchful eyes of Darcy and the professor, they saw their friend and student calmly eat everything, leaving the table empty of cardboard boxes and other food packaging, and Jane drinking ten mugs of beer.
The secret was becoming untenable. Jane's physical changes and her large food demands were about to set off alarm bells in the trailer, and if Darcy noticed, it was only a matter of time before S.H.I.E.L.D. found out.
Then an unwelcome visit put them under pressure. Approximately two to four months had passed, and Jane's belly grew normally, but with stretch marks that looked like lightning bolts, surprising Darcy and the professor. After the cravings, came the S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance, which intensified. Darcy noticed it because the same unmarked car had driven past the trailer three times in two hours.
"They're close, Jane," Darcy whispered, looking out the window. "They smell the panic and the burnt flesh from your latest 'experiment.'"
At that precise moment, there was a firm knock on the door.
"This is Agent Cale from Internal Affairs. I want to inspect the equipment," a dry voice announced from the other side.
Jane, who at that moment was fighting the urge to bite a handful of dirt from the garden, stood up, straightening her blouse and large sweater.
"Remember the plan," Darcy hissed. "We're frustrated scientists who just want to publish our data, and Dr. Foster is having a 'vitamin imbalance' due to stress. Zero mention of gods or babies, got it?"
Jane opened the door to find a woman wearing an oversized sweater to conceal her pregnancy, looking impeccably dressed, staring at Agent Cale, who wasn't smiling.
"Dr. Foster. I understand that attempts to 'replicate' the anomaly have consistently failed," the agent said, eyeing the exposed wiring with disapproval.
"We were close," Jane countered firmly. "Yes, energy is fleeting, we lack the catalyst, but what did you expect? We're just scientists with homemade generators, Agent Cale. We don't have the power to tear the fabric of spacetime."
The Moment of the Test of Strength
Agent Cale began pacing the trailer, pausing by Jane's whiteboard covered in calculations, and then toward the refrigerator.
"So, how do you cope with the stress of this monumental scientific failure?" Cale asked, her tone implying that the failure was also a moral failing, as she opened the refrigerator.
Inside, besides Erik's sandwiches, was a large glass jar that Jane had filled with chunks of raw red meat and crushed ice.
"What is this, Dr. Foster?" Cale raised the jar with a raised eyebrow.
"Ah, that," Darcy interjected smoothly, giving Jane a warning look. "It's for Dr. Selvig's thesis project. He believes certain minerals and proteins react better to quantum resonance if kept in a state of extreme freezing. It's for an experiment... simulating a prehistoric diet?" Darcy looked at Erik for support.
Erik, who was about to make a scientific remark about isotopes, nodded vigorously. "Yes. Quantum nutrition. Very specialized."
Jane felt her hunger intensify as she saw the jar in the agent's hands. She wanted to take it but resisted.
As Agent Cale held it, the jar slipped slightly from her grasp. For a moment of panic, Jane acted purely on instinct, without considering her strength.
She reached out and grabbed the jar, but instead of simply stopping its fall, Jane's palm slammed into the base of the jar with too much force.
A sound of shattering glass filled the room. The thick glass bottle didn't break, but Agent Cale and Erik looked closer. The bottle had bent slightly, leaving a subtle, convex dent right where Jane had applied pressure with her thumb.
Agent Cale stared at the mark on the jar. Jane gently withdrew her hand, her heart pounding like an Asgardian war drum.
"Well, Dr. Foster," Cale said, a note of skepticism in her voice. "Weight training?"
Jane smiled, forcing a calm expression. "Oh, no, it's just stress. I channel it at the gym—a lot of anger about losing my subject of study," she said, glancing at the jar, frightened by her own power.
She took the jar in both hands (this time carefully) and placed it back in the refrigerator, closing the door.
"As you can see, Agent," Jane continued, returning to her scientific composure. "It's just frustration and a bit of malnutrition. We're nowhere near reopening the wormhole. We've failed. We'll just send the data and start packing."
Jane's cool head and logic, combined with Darcy's quick and absurd explanation, seemed to convince Agent Cale.
"Very well, Dr. Foster, your reports are consistent with the lack of seismic activity. Keep us informed if... the stress leads to any kind of breakthrough," Agent Cale said. She left, her gaze lingering briefly on Jane's back before closing the door.
The team waited a minute in silence until the sound of the car faded.
"We did it!" Darcy exclaimed quietly, then turned to Jane with a mixture of terror and pride. "But you dented a glass jar! And you lied about the gym! You're the strongest pregnant woman in history! And to prove it, maybe we need to get you some adamantium boxing gloves!"
Jane felt a wave of nausea mixed with the thrill of victory and slid into a chair.
"No, Darcy, we need more than gloves. We need... a solution so my child isn't born in a S.H.I.E.L.D. cage." Jane touched her belly. "And I need a salt lollipop, immediately."