Heisenberg could not be bothered with a bunch of rich people trembling in fear. He walked straight toward a figure who genuinely surprised him.
Just like that, he arrived beside Tony Stark and Pepper.
"Ah, so you actually came to this kind of banquet. I've got to say, I'm impressed."
Heisenberg casually slapped Tony on the shoulder, making Tony curl his lips in annoyance.
"Don't act all familiar with me. We're not friends yet!"
"Tsk tsk, still got that rotten mouth, huh? Are you sure that's what you really think?
Or did you already forget the wedding invitation you sent me?"
As Heisenberg teased him, he took a glass of champagne from a waiter's tray.
Normally, at formal banquets like this, the reception wine would be low in alcohol, easy to drink, and suitable for both men and women.
Otherwise, if someone got drunk while talking business...
That would be awkward.
After taking his drink, Heisenberg raised his glass toward Tony and Pepper.
But when Tony lifted his own glass as well, Heisenberg deliberately avoided him and clinked only with Pepper.
"Very glad to see you, Ms. Pepper. I must congratulate you!"
The words had barely left his mouth when Tony cut in unhappily before Pepper could answer.
"Darling, we don't drink with rude people like him."
"Tsk tsk tsk. While congratulating you, I also have to express my pity that you found yourself such a jealous husband. Hahaha!" Heisenberg fired right back without the slightest politeness.
Tony immediately clenched his teeth.
This bastard really was his natural enemy!
"The wise never waste words on people who think with muscles instead of brains!" Tony launched his counterattack.
"Mm-hm. Are you sure about that? Considering my brain contains countless Kryptonian technologies, all of them ahead of Earth by merely a few hundred thousand years. Want to learn, do you?" Heisenberg pressed forward.
"So you possess knowledge and still choose not to use it? You're actually proud of that kind of stupidity?" Tony refused to back down.
"I'm a Kryptonian. Why should I drag Earth into a technological leap? That sort of thing should be left to Earthlings themselves. Can you handle it?" Heisenberg pursued relentlessly.
"But facts are facts. A so-called higher intelligence like yours is still playing house with people tens of thousands of years behind you!" Tony chose mutual destruction.
"Are you talking about our last fight? If so, then yes, our last fight really was child's play. Glad you finally got something right." Heisenberg pressed the advantage.
"Look at that, putting your fists on display again. A man with brains like me doesn't enjoy talking to people who think with their fists!" Tony struggled on at death's door.
"That's your way of mocking me for not having a brain. But are you really sure you want me to apply all my intelligence to the Earth as it is now?
Are you sure?"
Heisenberg grinned.
Tony finally shut up.
Compared with the current Heisenberg, who was freely running wild across New York on brute power alone, Tony truly did not want Heisenberg evolving into some grand scientist.
Because the destructive power of a scientist far ahead of the times was vastly greater than that of someone relying only on physical strength.
If Heisenberg had arrived on Earth and immediately begun pushing science forward, crazily driving Earth's technology upward...
Sorry, but the moment every country in the world confirmed he would not work for them, he would instantly become the enemy of the entire planet.
And that was precisely the main reason Heisenberg had no intention of taking the scientific path.
Believe him, it definitely was not because he was lazy.
At the same time, seeing Tony stop talking in frustration, Pepper at his side smiled helplessly as well.
She lifted the arm wrapped around Tony's lightly and raised her chin, speaking up for her husband.
"By the way, Mr. Heisenberg, where is your date? I don't see her anywhere."
...
Heisenberg stared blankly at Pepper for a second.
"You win!"
He said it outright.
"So this is your lover. Just as sharp-tongued as you are!"
"And this is my lover. Just as resourceful as I am!"
Heisenberg and Tony spoke almost the exact same line at nearly the same time.
The moment the words fell, both of them froze.
"Don't copy me!"
"Don't copy me!"
...
"You win. People who are about to get married really are different!"
"You win. People who stay single really are different!"
...
"Fuck!"
Heisenberg cursed with a laugh, then gave Tony a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"You know, sometimes you really are pretty interesting. I can accept you as my friend now."
"No, I can't accept that!" Tony insisted, shaking his head.
Heisenberg looked puzzled. "What, are you still hung up over me beating you up?"
"Fuck, and you're bringing that up again? What the hell was wrong with me? Why did I even come to this banquet?"
"Who knows. Sit down and talk. This is the first time I've ever been invited by the leader of a city on Earth. Feels kind of fresh."
After a bit of small talk from Heisenberg, the three of them found seats and sat down. They chatted leisurely, and none of them took the mayor's words seriously in the slightest.
After all, the words of a politician like a mayor always sounded completely worthless.
...
At this very moment, no one on Earth had any idea.
Far away on the other side of the galaxy, aboard the Chitauri flagship, Loki was desperately trying to communicate with the ever-less-active Tesseract!
"Fuck fuck fuck!!!"
He sat cross-legged atop the transfer array, and every now and then a string of curses would burst out of his mouth.
Because he had been sitting like this for over seventy hours straight!
Do not ask him how he was measuring time. Asgard's concept of time was pretty much the same as Earth's.
For example, when they spoke of Odin, everyone knew he had lived for over five thousand years, while Thor was over two thousand, simply because that was the common timekeeping method used across the Nine Realms.
Wait, Thor was actually over two thousand years old?
You really could not tell...
Ahem.
Loki stood up helplessly and racked his brain, trying to figure out how things had ended up like this!
He had clearly planted a mental suggestion in that Midgardian scholar overseeing the Tesseract, a suggestion that would force the Cube to become more and more active.
And for the past two months, everything had indeed developed exactly as he had arranged.
But right on the eve of success, how had everything suddenly changed?!!
"I have no idea what happened on Midgard, but the Space Stone probably won't become active again. That means I need to change my approach. While its activity continues to weaken, I'll have to forcibly manipulate it and open a portal barely large enough for me to pass through!"
After a brief spell of annoyance, Loki regained his composure and began thinking seriously.
"I still have one advantage right now, the Mind Stone. But the Scepter alone isn't enough to give me the leverage I need!"
Without hesitation, Loki picked up the Scepter and placed his right hand over the Mind Stone set at its tip.
"I have to use the Mind Stone directly. Only then will I have a chance, under these circumstances, to gain the power to communicate with the Space Stone!"
As he spoke, he gritted his teeth and pried the Mind Stone out of the Scepter.
The instant that yellow gem fell into his right hand, an intense burning sensation exploded through his palm.
"Ugh... AAAAAAH, FUCK!!!"
Loki clenched the gem hard. Even as the veins on the back of his right hand turned the same yellow as the Mind Stone, he refused to let go.
Along with infinite pain, Loki felt infinite mental might as well. Even if the price of that power might be his death...
Loki loved it to death!
"Show yourself, you damned Space Stone!!!"
Loki let out a scream full of agony, while the mental force amplified countless times over spread outward.
In a mere instant, he pinpointed the Space Stone's location with perfect accuracy!
"Good. Link to it, seize it, control it. I need the power of space!!!"
As Loki's voice grew more and more pained, a blue glow suddenly appeared in the hand gripping the gem.
That blue light grew thicker and richer until, in the end, the Mind Stone that should have been yellow was entirely wrapped in blue radiance.
"It worked, hahaha... AAAARGH!!!"
Loki's excitement was instantly drowned by pain and a feeling of being torn apart. Summoning all his strength, he forced open his right hand.
"Get back in there!"
He desperately raised his arm and slammed the Mind Stone, now wrapped in the power of the Space Stone, back into the Scepter.
The Scepter, which originally gave off a yellow glow, immediately began releasing a ghostly blue light instead. And when he looked at the Mind Stone again, after being shrouded in blue radiance, it looked completely blue as well!
In the next second, completely disregarding his own pain, Loki slammed the Scepter heavily against the floor with a solemn expression.
Boom!!!
A dull shock rang out, and the entire Chitauri flagship trembled with it.
And in that instant, Loki vanished from the depths of space and arrived in distant Midgard.
...
At the same time, Asgard's eternal gatekeeper, Heimdall, bearer of the ancient Vanir runic divine eyes, suddenly froze.
"Loki appeared in Midgard?!!"
He muttered in confusion, then left the half-repaired Bifrost and went to find Thor, who was busy in a drinking match.
At this moment, Thor was drinking against Lady Sif.
And for some reason, ever since Thor had returned from Earth and told his good buddy Sif that he had found his true love...
Sif had become more and more eager to challenge him to drinking contests.
Thor, however, loved that sort of thing. Good friends were supposed to drink together all the time.
No matter how many times you challenge me, Sif, I, Thor, will never lose to you!
But today was clearly different. Thor, who was facing the palace gates while drinking, suddenly saw Heimdall!!!
That was absurd enough on its own. Heimdall had actually left the Bifrost?!!
"Pffft... cough cough cough cough..."
Thor sprayed his drink everywhere.
"Damn it, I finally won for once, you bastard! Weren't you bragging that you always win?"
When Sif saw Thor spit out his drink, she stopped drinking and smacked him on the back unhappily.
That one really had made him choke.
But Thor paid absolutely no attention to Sif's concern, because he had already thought of why Heimdall had come.
The Bifrost had to be fixed. That meant he could finally go see the beloved woman he had left behind in Midgard!
"Heimdall!!!"
Thor instantly shrugged off Sif, who had been patting his back, and rushed straight over.
He threw an arm around Heimdall's shoulder and whispered into his ear,
"You definitely came to see me. What's the good news?"
"Indeed. I found Loki's whereabouts!"
"Hahaha, of course, I'll head to Midgard right away to find Lo..."
At that point, Thor froze.
Wait, that was not right.
Wasn't he supposed to be seeing Jane Foster?!!
How did this suddenly become about Loki?!!
Hold on!
There was news of Loki...?
Well, alright then. Thor suddenly found this news even more irresistible than the one he had expected!
He could finally get his brother back!
And while his thoughts spun wildly, Heimdall, standing opposite him, was equally stunned.
"Thor! How did you know Loki was in Midgard? Or had you already known this all along?"
Heimdall suddenly felt he had misjudged Thor.
He had always believed Thor was a straightforward prince.
But now, when he realized Thor had apparently known Loki's whereabouts and still kept it hidden from everyone...
Sure enough, how could Odin's son possibly be a fool!
It had all been an illusion!
But after Thor heard Heimdall's shocked words...
Thor first stood there blankly for a moment, then turned wildly excited.
"By Odin, so Loki really is in Midgard? I'm going to have Father force the Bifrost open and send me there right now!!!"
The instant he said it, he did not pause for even a moment. He spun his hammer and flew off toward Odin's palace like a husky set loose.
How could he not be excited? He could get his brother back, and then go see his beloved. Was there any greater happiness in the world?
Watching Thor's departing figure, a darker shadow fell across Heimdall's face.
Judging by Thor's reaction, he clearly had not known anything about Loki at all. He had obviously just been thinking about that girlfriend of his on Earth.
And yet Heimdall had actually imagined Thor to be that clever.
Now this...
This was the real delusion.
/-\
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