In the underground base, the black crystal condensed from Dormammu's dark energy floated silently in midair.
Levi stared at it like a man facing an unsolvable Rubik's Cube.
He wanted to understand the energy of a cosmic overlord.
He failed.
Neither the Superpower Copier nor the laws he currently wielded could fully analyze it.
He tried pouring his own cosmic energy into it, testing whether the two would react.
The result was like dumping a bucket of water into the Sahara.
No reaction. No ripple.
If anything, the crystal grew darker. Denser.
"Annoying," Levi muttered, withdrawing his hand.
Just then, the satellite phone Fury had specially provided began ringing. Encrypted. Untraceable.
The caller ID displayed a low-resolution one-eyed avatar.
"Fury," Levi answered lazily.
"Chen," Fury's voice was heavy, engine noise rumbling behind him. "Need a favor."
"I'm retired. Enjoying life. Do not disturb."
"You said that last time too. The next day you were in Harlem wrestling a giant green rage monster." Fury didn't waste time. "Stark's in trouble."
He summarized quickly. Since New York, Tony hadn't been the same. Insomnia. Nightmares. Locked in his workshop building armor obsessively. The latest model was already Mark 42.
"He's about to break himself. Pepper's about to lose it too," Fury said flatly. "An unstable Iron Man is worse than ten Lokis. He's your major shareholder. Barely qualifies as your friend. You talking to him will work better than ten therapists."
Levi leaned back, silent.
Tony Stark was an important piece on his future board. And one of the few interesting people in this era.
That piece couldn't break.
"Fine," Levi said at last. "Payment."
"Name it."
"Fifty grams of vibranium powder. 99.9% purity. And ten milligrams of ultra-pure californium-252."
Silence.
When Fury spoke again, his tone was glacial.
"You're robbing me, Chen. Do you know what those materials together can do? They could erase half of New York."
"Then don't pay," Levi replied mildly. "And wait for a billionaire with a mental breakdown to deploy forty armored suits and host a fireworks show over a random city."
"…Deal. Three days. Fix Stark."
The line went dead.
Levi smiled faintly and tossed the phone aside.
The air around him rippled—
—and he vanished.
---
Malibu, California
Tony's workshop looked like a hurricane had passed through.
Energy drink cans. Half-eaten pizza boxes. Discarded circuitry everywhere.
Tony Stark hunched over a massive holographic interface, eyes bloodshot, hair wild. Frenzied. Exhausted.
On the display: a detailed neural and circulatory system model. A miniature arc reactor hovered beside the heart.
He was sketching the prototype of Extremis—attempting to merge arc reactor tech with bioengineering. Turning the human body into a living power core.
"Looks terminal."
Levi's voice echoed casually through the room.
Tony jolted upright like a cat electrocuted. A robotic arm snapped forward, weapon module primed.
"Jesus! Ever heard of doors?!" Tony barked, then relaxed when he recognized him. He waved the arm down.
"Doors are slow." Levi dragged over a chair and sat. He pointed at the projection. "Turning yourself into a biological bomb? Creative. Useless."
"The hell do you know?" Tony snapped, shutting down the hologram. "I'm preparing. Next time aliens fall from the sky, I need more power."
He paused.
"Next time, I don't want to watch you fly into space alone."
Levi looked at him.
"You don't lack power, Tony. You lack security."
Tony froze.
"New York opened your eyes. Gods. Monsters. Endless alien armies. In that world, your tin suit felt like paper."
Levi's tone remained calm.
"You were scared. For the first time, you realized you're not the apex predator. You're afraid you can't protect Pepper. Or the world. Or even yourself. So you build more suits. You think quantity solves quality. But deep down you know—even if you build a hundred—when something beyond imagination shows up, you'll still kneel."
Tony's breathing quickened.
He wanted to snap back. Make a joke. Deflect.
He couldn't.
Because it was true.
"What am I supposed to do?" he muttered, collapsing into his chair. "I'm just a man."
"So am I," Levi replied.
Tony stared at him like he'd gone insane.
"I've seen you," Tony said quietly. "You tear space open. Tank nukes. Punch gods."
"And I'm still afraid," Levi said evenly. "Because I know the universe is bigger—and worse—than either of us imagine. Above me, there are stronger beings. What we've seen is the tip of an iceberg."
He stepped forward and clapped Tony's shoulder firmly.
"Security doesn't come from numbers. It comes from knowing your limits—and improving your fundamentals. Stop stacking suits. Upgrade the material."
Tony's eyes sharpened slightly. "Material?"
"Your armor's impressive. But the base metal? Trash." Levi shrugged. "There's an extraterrestrial metal. Most stable molecular structure in the known universe. That's armor."
Tony leaned forward. "Name."
"Vibranium."
Tony's mind ignited instantly.
"Ask your one-eyed friend," Levi added. "Though what he has probably isn't enough for more than a cooking pot."
That gave Tony a direction.
But Levi wasn't done.
Pepper entered, coffee in hand. She nearly dropped it when she saw him.
"Relax, Ms. Potts," Levi smiled faintly. "Consider this a year-end bonus."
Before either could respond, he lifted his hand and tapped the air twice.
A speck of golden light appeared at his fingertip, splitting into two glowing motes. They drifted lazily—one into Tony's chest, one into Pepper's.
Gone.
Both instinctively touched their chests.
"What was that?" Tony demanded. "JARVIS, scan me."
"No foreign objects or abnormal energy signatures detected, sir," JARVIS replied, confused.
"A charm," Levi said. "Magic. When you're about to die, it triggers a spatial shield. Five seconds. One-time use."
Tony's brain stalled.
Quantum physics? Sure.
Astrophysics? Fine.
But magic emergency shields?
He couldn't analyze it. Couldn't replicate it.
That lack of control bothered him deeply.
He opened his mouth to interrogate the impossible physics—
Levi's expression changed.
He tilted his head slightly, listening.
A distant voice—urgent, powerful, thunder-laced—pierced through space and dimensions directly into his mind.
Familiar.
"Odin's thunder…" Levi murmured.
The voice boomed again—
"Levi—Asgard needs your aid!"
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