"Then what are we waiting for?"
Corin had assumed that by the time he arrived, Darcy and the others had already gotten Erik out, but he hadn't expected these two honest souls to just stand there dumbly waiting for him.
———
[Flashback]
Before coming over, Corin opened the upgrade interface for the Sling Ring portal.
[Sling Ring Portal Lv2 (Planetary Teleportation) → 13.5 billion USD]
[Sling Ring Portal Lv3 (Interstellar Teleportation) → 600 billion USD]
[Sling Ring Portal Lv4 (Parallel Dimension Teleportation) → 2.35 trillion USD]
"Upgrade!"
[-13.5 billion USD! Talent upgrade successful! Account balance: 58.6 billion USD]
After the upgrade, the portal could connect through mental sensing of a location or a person, allowing him to directly open a passage there.
From studying the talent description, Corin also learned that continuing to upgrade the portal would allow him to cross interstellar distances and even break through the barriers of parallel dimensions.
But Corin didn't have enough money, and for the time being he didn't need to upgrade this ability to such an outrageous level.
This was where the value of Marvel's number one mage became apparent.
After Ned accidentally mastered portal magic, he was actually able to summon two other Peter Parkers from parallel universes.
But that's a story for later.
———
[Present]
This time, when teleporting, Corin simply imagined Darcy's appearance while opening the portal, and it worked unexpectedly well, bringing him directly to Darcy.
The only problem was the money taking the hit.
When he appeared in front of the police station wearing the classic outfit and mask, all the officers looked at him as if he were nothing, some even wearing expressions of disdain.
"Oh come on, another brainless Silver Duke fan!"
After the Battle of New York ended, crowds had taken to the streets celebrating, and among all the Avengers looks, Corin's outfit was the easiest to recreate.
So if you looked at ten Avengers cosplayers, at least five of them were Crimson Silver Dukes, tall, short, fat, thin, men and women alike.
"But to be fair, this impersonator's got something going on. The figure and vibe are pretty good. If he's an influencer, I'd definitely vote for him in a cosplay contest."
A passing detective saw Corin leaning calmly against the wall as if waiting for someone and thought this to himself.
Corin, meanwhile, was perfectly happy to enjoy the peace and quiet. When he first walked in, he had actually been a little worried that enthusiastic police officers would crowd around him, but now it seemed he had overthought things.
"You're here to pick up your father, Selvig, right?"
The officer responsible for handing over personal belongings looked at the intern standing in front of him with an awkward expression.
"No wonder. If I had a dad who ran around naked, I'd be embarrassed too."
Little did he know, the intern's current embarrassment fit perfectly with the role he was supposed to be playing. It matched perfectly.
The officer took out a shirt, a pile of medicine, and two pieces of equipment, asking the intern to sign the claim forms.
At that moment Erik walked over from the other end of the hallway wearing only shorts, looking rather slow-witted.
It turned out that when the detectives detained him, they thought he was mentally unstable and forced a bunch of sedative medication down his throat, leaving Erik still unable to tell whether he was awake or dreaming.
Then he saw Corin, and his pupils suddenly shrank.
His body shook, and his eyes instantly regained clarity.
During the Battle of New York, Erik had been on the rooftop of Stark Tower and had witnessed Corin's fierce performance from start to finish.
He had even clearly seen how Corin stripped Loki naked.
Erik immediately recognized the man in front of him as the real Silver Duke, a genuine ruthless figure. The flood of memories instantly snapped his mind back into full awareness.
Although he didn't know why Mr. Silver Duke had personally come to pick him up, after witnessing his abilities it was hard to behave impolitely in front of him.
"Mr. Silver Duke, you actually came! What an honor."
Erik wiped his hands hurriedly on his shirt and extended one toward Corin, adopting the posture he used at receptions when seeking research funding, his smile proper, his manners polished.
But paired with his messy hair, exhausted face, and wrinkled shorts, he didn't look very gentlemanly.
Seeing this, Corin smiled slightly and shook Erik's hand.
"My friend seems to have gotten into trouble. I can't just sit back and ignore it…"
Erik suddenly understood.
"That's right. When Thor first arrived, Corin didn't make things difficult for him and even helped him. Not to mention the Battle of New York later on. If these two were friends before, they should be brothers now."
"Your arrival puts us completely at ease."
After exchanging a few polite words, the group walked toward the exit of the police station.
"Dr. Selvig, your instrument is going crazy!"
The intern followed behind carrying the energy detection device. After only a few steps, the machine began emitting a sharp alarm.
"It's started! Earlier than I calculated…"
Erik realized that abnormal spatial fluctuations had already begun affecting reality.
"Wait, what started?", Darcy asked, completely confused.
Walking outside and looking at the large flocks of birds flying across the darkening sky, the group felt an oppressive sense of an approaching storm.
Suddenly, the birds vanished in midair.
"Where did they go?", Darcy asked instinctively.
Then, all of a sudden, hundreds of birds burst upward from beneath their feet, flapping wildly into the sky.
Corin narrowed his eyes and spotted the invisible portal in the air.
At this moment, portals connecting to random spaces were appearing here from time to time.
This was precisely the effect caused by the energy of the Reality Stone.
'So Malekith has already successfully obtained the Aether.'
Corin thought to himself.
"Ah! What's going on? And why are you laughing?"
Darcy was startled by the sudden flock of birds appearing beneath her feet and noticed Erik wearing a grin that looked almost insane.
"This is so reassuring… the world is even crazier than I am."
All the police officers in the station were drawn to the unbelievable scene. One called another over, and they all crowded at the windows watching the strangely behaving birds.
Erik now felt completely certain that he was not mentally ill. He walked over to a trash can and tossed the large bag of medicine in his hand into it.
"Take me to Jane's lab!"
At that moment, Corin waved his hand and opened a portal.
A circle of sparks expanded larger and larger, appearing before everyone.
The intern continued shouting in amazement, Darcy had already gone numb to it, while Erik looked at Corin with pure astonishment.
"Let's go. This will be faster."
Corin motioned for them to pass through the portal. On the other side was Jane's laboratory.
When the visually explosive portal vanished in front of the police officers, they instantly became even noisier than the flock of birds that had just flown past.
"Holy crap! That was the real one!"
"Who?"
"Silver Duke! Crimson Silver Duke! The guy standing in the hallway just now!"
"Wasn't that just a crazy fan?"
"Have you ever seen a crazy fan with that kind of power?"
"What the hell?? I actually ignored Mr. Silver Duke?"
"I knew he looked too real! I was even thinking of voting for him… God, forgive me…"
The officer who had earlier thought Corin was an influencer now felt waves crashing inside his mind.
He never would have imagined that in such a remote police station he would encounter a real superhero.
———
Thor was determined to avenge his mother.
He wanted to take the Aether deep into the Dark World to lure Malekith out, but Odin opposed the idea.
Because they could not bear the consequences if that terrifying weapon fell into the hands of the Dark Elves.
As long as Jane remained in Asgard, the Dark Elves would inevitably return. Even if it meant exhausting the strength of the last Einherjar warrior, Odin would keep the Aether on this land.
Odin's attitude was firm, but it did not shake Thor's determination for revenge.
After holding a solemn memorial ceremony for Goddess Frigga and the warriors who had fallen in the war, Thor went to the Asgardian prison.
Loki had never imagined that a casual sentence from him would lead to his mother's tragic death.
Looking back over the thousands of years of his life as a god, the only person he had ever truly loved was his mother.
Avenging her had now become his greatest obsession.
And Thor's appearance seemed to light a faint glimmer of hope for him.
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