Hearing Natasha's self-deprecation, Thor secretly resolved to beg his father for a top-tier defensive warship.
He seriously doubted if this "fragile" space base could even take a single hit from his hammer.
For Jane's safety, he would swallow his pride and beg for a ship.
The Quinjet entered the docking bay of the space base.
The outer doors hissed shut.
Pshhh!
The internal pressure stabilized.
The rear ramp of the Quinjet lowered.
Thor leaped off the craft impatiently, seeing Steve and his other comrades waiting to welcome him.
At the very front of the crowd was a familiar figure.
"Jane! It's so good to see you!"
The moment he saw his girlfriend, Thor grinned like a complete idiot, rushing forward to pull her into a tight hug, shouting his greetings.
Jane was nearly crushed by the hug, shedding tears while complaining: "You idiot, you're going to snap my waist!"
Thor let go awkwardly. "Sorry. I was just so excited to see you."
Steve called out: "Welcome back. Let's head to the briefing room for some coffee and we can talk properly."
"By the way, did Clint not come back with you?"
Natasha took the lead, walking down the gantry toward the briefing room. "He has his own mission to complete."
"Right." Steve led Thor toward the room.
Ten minutes later.
Aside from Dr. Banner and Tony Stark, who were still researching spatial tech, and Clint, who was away...
Nick Fury, Natasha, Hill, the resurrected Coulson, Colonel Rhodes, Steve, and Thor were all gathered.
Thor looked at the back-from-the-dead Coulson with curiosity. "Do you know a substitution magic as well?"
Coulson, missing many memories, instinctively avoided the topic.
"That's in the past. What matters now is how we save the rest of humanity."
Spatial transport tech couldn't be mastered quickly, but there were still over two billion humans struggling on Earth.
The Avengers wanted to save as many as possible.
Nick Fury had been coordinating the collection of materials and transporting them to Stark's starship manufacturing bases.
He then had Carol act as a "space transport soldier," manually pushing newly built, crude escape pods into orbit every day.
This "manual" transport saved fuel for the pods, so Carol had to do the heavy lifting to save lives.
The faces of everyone in the room were heavy.
One ship could hold a hundred thousand people.
There were currently two hundred crude ships in orbit, lacks even basic thrusters.
But even with all their efforts, they had only saved about twenty million people.
Compared to the two billion survivors on Earth, their efficiency was far too slow.
Nick Fury asked: "Thor, can Asgard take in some refugees?"
"If we could use the Bifrost to move them to Asgard or another habitable world, we wouldn't even have to worry about the Cybertron problem!"
It had to be said—though the Black Egghead often did shady things, this suggestion was highly practical.
Every eye turned to Thor.
Being stared at with such hope, Thor wanted to agree, but the facts were against him.
"I'm sorry. I am currently in exile. I have no right to ask my father for such help."
Nick Fury wasn't disappointed, merely adding with some regret: "It seems humanity must rely on itself."
"By the way, Thor, I hear you have intel on the Cybertronians?"
Thor nodded and began to brief them: "The Omniscient Library in Asgard has files on the powerful civilizations of the Milky Way."
"The Cybertronians were thought to have gone extinct twenty thousand years ago due to civil war."
"From what I know, there are two factions. The Decepticons, who use stellar energy regardless of whether it harms innocent life."
"And the Autobots, who refuse to use star systems with life, like the Solar System, as fuel."
Colonel Rhodes let his sharp tongue fly with a few remarks.
"So the Autobots are like an Animal Protection Society for humans? How ironic."
Nick Fury tapped his fingers unconsciously on the table. "Perhaps we can find a way to seek the Autobots' help."
"If we have Cybertronian assistance, our research into spatial transport would accelerate significantly."
The Black Egghead spoke well, but they couldn't even find the Decepticon that had escaped.
Let alone find the Autobots to save the world.
Steve asked calmly: "Thor, do you have any way to help us find the missing Decepticon robot?"
Thor shook his head again. "I'm not skilled at tracking. If Heimdall were still here, I could seek his aid."
"But in the chaos of a sudden war, Heimdall fell in glory. His successor, Skurge, lacks the sight to watch over the Nine Realms..."
As Thor spoke, the curiosity of the group regarding Asgard grew, and they all listened with rapt attention.
Until Agent Hill's watch vibrated, snapping them back to reality.
"Everyone, I have bad news. Pierce has dispatched a tactical squad via air-transports to land in Australia."
"Hydra's actions this time are overt. They are likely forming a deep partnership with the Brotherhood. A major move is coming."
Nick Fury ordered: "Task our military satellites to watch Australia 24/7. We cannot let Hydra break our stride."
"For now, keep the Hydra and Brotherhood movements under observation only."
"Our primary mission remains saving as many humans as possible."
Agent Hill replied, "Understood."
The silence returned to the briefing room.
"Wait, what is Hydra?" Thor asked, confused.
No one wanted to explain the headache of Hydra.
Only Steve was patient enough to give Thor the rundown on Hydra and the Brotherhood.
Once he understood that Hydra was an evil organization, Thor grabbed his hammer and volunteered.
"I'll go wipe them out. Tell me: where is their headquarters?"
The brute God of Thunder requested to join the fray.
Nick Fury initially wanted to say it wasn't necessary, but Thor was idle anyway. It might be better to let him try and disrupt Hydra's schemes.
What if he succeeded?
Even if he didn't, causing interference would be fine.
So, Nick Fury gave Thor the answer he wanted.
"According to current intelligence, Hydra's headquarters is in Berlin, Europe. Pierce may be there as well."
With the location secured, Thor left behind a confident "Wait for my good news," and walked out of the room.