Homelander made a direct promise.
"Starting from next month, your salary will be increased by thirty percent. Furthermore, regarding future promotional work, you can make decisions on your own without needing to consult me for every little thing."
Upon hearing this, Ashley was both surprised and delighted.
A thirty percent raise! And independent decision-making power!
This was simply the highest recognition of her work ability.
Her face flushed with excitement, and her fingers were trembling slightly.
Homelander was absolutely the best boss she had ever met in her life!
Ashley secretly swore in her heart that even if she died, she would die at her workstation at Vought!
"Thank you! Thank you, boss! I will go implement this immediately!" Ashley turned and left, full of motivation.
...
The edge of the Universe, Sakaar.
A blue radiance flashed and vanished.
Thor's figure appeared on the chaotic surface.
He curiously surveyed the surrounding environment.
What met his eyes were boundless mountains of piled-up trash.
Abandoned spaceship hulls, broken mechanical gears, and various unknown scraps of junk formed continuous mountain ranges, stretching across the horizon.
In the sky, a massive spatial wormhole hung in the center of the firmament like a giant anus, emitting an eerie orange-red halo.
Surrounding it were countless flickering smaller wormholes.
From time to time, huge wrecks of discarded spaceships fell from those wormholes, crashing onto the mountains of trash in the distance.
"Heimdall was right, the name 'Anus of the Universe' is not undeserved at all."
Thor frowned and brushed the dust off his cape.
Before he could even confirm his direction.
"Boom, boom, boom—"
The roar of engines came from not far away.
Thor turned his head to look and saw a shabby-looking spaceship with obvious signs of being pieced together flying over at low altitude, landing on an open space not far from Thor.
The hatch opened.
A group of people dressed in strange costumes walked down.
They wore various masks on their faces, their armor was clearly assembled from parts dismantled from different species and machines, and the weapons in their hands were also a motley assortment.
After this group, who looked like scavengers, got off the spaceship, they walked towards Thor with a clear target.
The leading humanoid creature sized Thor up and asked:
"Are you food, or a warrior?"
Thor said casually: "I'm just passing through. If you are willing to answer some simple questions for me, Asgard will be grateful to you."
After listening, the leader coldly said: "Then that means food. Kneel."
"What does that mean?"
Thor was confused and didn't understand.
As the dignified Thor of Asgard, he was respected everywhere; how could he be shouted at by a bunch of trash-pickers and treated as food today?
Seeing Thor standing still, the leader tilted his head.
Two scavengers immediately raised their weapons and walked forward aggressively, trying to subdue Thor from the left and right.
Thor's eyes sharpened, his body leaned slightly to the side, dodging the reaching arms.
Immediately, he raised his leg.
"Bang!"
That scavenger was like a kicked soccer ball, sent flying towards the distant horizon and disappeared.
Immediately after, Thor slid to dodge a spear thrust from the front, then delivered a crisp, clean front kick to the other scavenger's chest.
This scavenger, like a cannonball, smashed heavily into the mountain of trash behind him, life or death unknown.
Seeing this, the leader immediately raised a uniquely shaped capture gun and pulled the trigger at Thor.
A huge capture net woven from high-strength alloy wire covered Thor head-on.
Thor snorted coldly, exerted force in his right arm, and swung the Stormbreaker in his hand casually.
The sharp axe blade cut through the air, and the tough capture net was instantly split in two, scattering onto the ground.
Seeing that the target was tough, the scavengers immediately let out strange cries, brandishing various weapons and swarmed up.
Thor was finally getting angry now.
He was already irritable because Loki had been kidnapped, and now he was being incessantly provoked by these flies.
"What the Fu*k are on about?!" Thor shouted angrily.
Violent electric light surged from within his body, and lightning, like a spirit snake, coiled around the blade of the axe.
Thor took a step and twisted his waist, throwing the axe in his hand.
"Rumble—"
The Stormbreaker, carrying roaring lightning, flew rapidly in a spiral pattern with Thor as the center.
Thunder exploded.
The screams only lasted a few seconds.
The axe flew back into Thor's hand.
The surrounding twenty-something scavengers had all turned into charred remains scattered on the ground, lying in the trash heap.
Thor looked around; except for the charred debris all over the ground, there wasn't a single living person left.
He suddenly realized a problem.
"Oh! Shit!"
Thor slapped his forehead, his face full of regret.
"Forgot to leave a live one to ask for directions!"
This damn place didn't even have a road sign; where was he supposed to go to find Loki?
Thor helplessly shouldered the Stormbreaker, preparing to wander around blindly and try his luck.
But not long after.
The sound of engines came from the sky again.
A spaceship with a more advanced design than the previous one wobbled over and landed on the nearby ruins.
The hatch opened.
This time only one person appeared.
A woman wearing a dark gray tight-fitting combat suit.
Her skin was wheat-colored, her face painted with white war markings, and she held a large bottle of liquor in her hand, walking unsteadily, wobbling down.
Thor's heart was overjoyed; now finally there was someone he could ask for directions.
He strode up to meet her and took the initiative to greet her.
"Hey! Hello, miss. Excuse me, may I ask..."
The woman seemed not to have heard his words at all, walking forward with drunken, hazy eyes.
Just as Thor approached, she tripped and actually fell forward headlong.
Thor was quick-eyed and fast-handed, immediately stepping forward and wrapping his arm around her waist to steady her.
"Watch out, are you okay?" Thor asked with concern.
The woman used Thor's strength to stand steady, shook her heavy head, let out a hiccup, but said nothing.
Just as Thor was about to continue asking.
"Snap."
The woman very naturally slapped a small metal disc onto Thor's neck.
The small disc took root against his skin, and tiny probes popped out from the edges, digging tightly into Thor's skin.
"Ow, what the fuck, what did you do?!"
Thor cried out in pain, pushed the woman away, and reached out to touch the foreign object on his neck.
However, the woman didn't give him any chance at all.
She pulled out a small remote control and pressed the switch without hesitation.
"Zzzzz—"
Amidst the sound of electric current, Thor felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
"Ah— ugh, ugh, ugh—!"
Thor's body trembled violently, his pupils rolled upward, and his muscles spasmed all over.
With a "clang" sound.
This Thor of Asgard, who had once shaken the Nine Realms, just like that, collapsed straight to the ground, losing consciousness.
The Stormbreaker and the Tesseract in his hands also fell to the side.
***************************
Thoughts on where the plot is heading? Let me know in the comments! If you're enjoying the ride, please leave a quick review and toss a few Power Stones my way. Every bit of support means the world! 🙌