Dr. Richards

Dr. Selvig asked in astonishment, "You’re Thor’s brother, Loki?"

Loki glanced at Dr. Selvig and said, "I’ve seen you before. You helped Thor!"

Dr. Selvig smiled awkwardly. "I barely helped at all. By the way, what happened after Thor returned to Asgard?"

Everyone was deeply interested and turned to look at Loki. Unable to resist, Loki recalled what had happened.

Back then, Loki lured Laufey into Odin’s bedroom, then ambushed him with a dagger when he wasn’t paying attention! Asgard’s greatest enemy for thousands of years had died at the hands of his own biological son. Unfortunately, before Loki could claim credit, Thor returned and exposed everything before their mother! Faced with his mother’s confusion, Loki offered no explanation. He rushed to the Bifrost and gathered energy to bombard Jotunheim!

As long as Jotunheim was destroyed, everyone would know that he, Loki, was the prince best suited to inherit Asgard! But what Loki had not expected was that Thor, who had once hated the Frost Giants to the bone, would desperately stop him in order to save Jotunheim, even willing to sacrifice the Bifrost! In the end, the Bifrost shattered. Loki fell through the broken bridge because of the explosion, and Thor jumped down to grab his hand in an attempt to save him. The two of them would have fallen to their deaths together, but Odin appeared in time and grabbed Thor’s ankle.

Looking at the awakened Odin, Loki suddenly understood everything. He fell into despair, released Thor’s hand, and dropped into the endless starry void! That was the full story. Loki had survived because a terrifying being had saved him, and that being had saved him so Loki could help conquer Earth! And so, Loki came! Loki shook his head, casting those unpleasant memories from his mind. Then he raised both hands and arrogantly shouted, "Since you know I am a god, why aren’t you kneeling and submitting already?"

"Tch!"

Everyone snorted in disdain. What era was this? Who still pulled that nonsense? Forget you—even if your brother and father came, we still wouldn’t submit! Seeing everyone look down on him, Loki’s face flushed red with rage. Just as he was about to explode, Coulson suddenly asked, "Um, do gods go bald too?"

Loki was stunned. "Huh? What did you say?"

"Your hairline is so high. You’ll go bald sooner or later!"

Coulson touched his own hair and said, "In the movie Thor, the actor who played you had a particularly high hairline. I thought it was just the actor’s problem, but now it seems they faithfully recreated your hairstyle."

Coulson sighed. "I never thought even gods had to worry about going bald. It really is a cosmic-scale problem!"

Everyone looked at Coulson speechlessly. At a time this serious, he was actually discussing baldness? Director Fury even rubbed his own head and decided to dock Coulson’s pay.

"I’ll go bald sooner or later? Impossible! No one in Odin’s family is bald. That old man Odin has ridiculously thick hair!"

Loki froze for a moment before shouting. Then he thought of his heritage, and his entire body went stiff—Frost Giants had no hair! In other words, he, Loki, the most handsome man in the Nine Realms, would go bald sooner or later? Loki fell into despair. He felt as if his life had turned completely gray! Seeing how deeply shaken Loki was, everyone became even more speechless. That was it?

"I’ll kill all of you!"

Loki finally snapped. He raised the Mind Scepter and pointed it forward. An energy blast struck a guard in the chest, sending him flying backward. The guard hit the ground and lay still!

"Open fire!"

Director Fury immediately shouted. A dense barrage of bullets flew toward Loki, yet they could not even tear his clothes. Loki swung his scepter and fired blast after blast, killing the guards one by one!

Hawkeye raised his gun and fired at Loki. Loki sent out an energy blast, instantly annihilating the bullet. The remaining energy continued toward Hawkeye without slowing.

Hawkeye hurriedly leaped aside. Loki took the opportunity to rush in front of him and pressed the tip of the Mind Scepter against his chest!

Hawkeye’s eyes immediately turned blue. He nodded at Loki, then got up and began shooting the other guards!

Everyone was shocked. Hawkeye had actually betrayed them? Under the combined assault of Hawkeye and Loki, the guards were quickly routed. Seeing the situation turn bad, Director Fury stepped forward, placed the Tesseract into a case, and prepared to leave. At that moment, Loki’s voice sounded behind him. "If I were you, I wouldn’t do that!"

Director Fury turned around and found that all the guards had fallen. Only Dr. Selvig and Coulson, who had a scepter pointed at him by Loki, remained unharmed. He asked coldly, "Loki, are you trying to start a war between Earth and Asgard?"

"I no longer have anything to do with Asgard!"

As Loki spoke, he pressed the Mind Scepter against Coulson’s chest. Coulson’s eyes quickly turned blue.

Loki said bitterly, "You weren’t qualified to serve me in the first place, but I’d be very unhappy if I didn’t capture you and give you a proper beating!"

Coulson smiled. "Is it because of your hair? I was only telling the truth. By the way, I know a few ways to prevent hair loss. Interested?"

"I do, uh, you’re still bringing that up?"

Loki was about to nod before he came to his senses and roared. At that moment, Hawkeye glanced at the energy continuously gathering overhead, walked over, and said, "Loki, this place is about to explode!"

Loki looked up, then used the Mind Scepter to turn Dr. Selvig into a puppet as well. Dr. Selvig nodded. "Hawkeye is right. This place will collapse in another five minutes!"

"Fine, we leave immediately!"

Loki nodded and ordered Hawkeye, "Kill him. Take the Tesseract!"

Bang! Hawkeye did not waste a word. He fired a shot into Director Fury’s chest, then picked up the case and left with Loki and the others!

Of course, Director Fury was not so easily killed. He was wearing a bulletproof vest. After Loki and the others left, he clutched his chest and shouted into his radio at Hill, "Stop Hawkeye and Coulson. They’ve been controlled!"

Hill hurriedly led people to intercept Loki’s group, but she failed. Five minutes later, the remaining energy exploded, and the entire base collapsed with a thunderous crash. S.H.I.E.L.D. suffered devastating casualties.

Nick Fury, who had narrowly survived, stood at the edge of the ruins with an extremely grim expression. He picked up his radio and ordered Hill, "This is a Level Seven incident. Assemble the Avengers Team!"

Meanwhile, Iron Man Tony Stark was installing an Arc Reactor in Stark Tower, turning it into a landmark of clean, self-sustaining energy!

As for Wang Bert, he was working overtime to meet with two men.

Inside the office, Wang Bert extended his hand and said, "Dr. Richards, Mr. Grimm, welcome!"

"Mr. Wang, sorry to disturb you!"

Reed Richards said with flattered surprise. He had never expected the chairman of Osborn Corporation to personally receive him, and immediately after receiving his request for a meeting!

This made Reed feel hopeful. Since Mr. Wang thought so highly of him, he would probably invest in him, right?

Reed was overthinking it. Wang Bert had met him immediately partly because he happened to have no date that evening, and partly because he wanted to see what Marvel’s smartest man was like!

Reed Richards, leader of the Fantastic Four, was undeniably Marvel’s smartest man. Even Tony could not compare to him!

Wang Bert walked over to the bar and asked, "No need to be so formal. Want a drink?"

"Just a little!"

Reed and Ben Grimm, the future Thing, both nodded. Once everyone was seated, Wang Bert asked, "Dr. Richards, do you believe in fate?"

Reed answered tactfully, "Fate? Mr. Wang, I’m a scientist!"

"You don’t believe in it, but I do!"

Wang Bert said, "There are people who are born with terrible luck in business. Anything they invest in fails, anyone who invests in them loses money, and some even go bankrupt."

Reed laughed. "Wouldn’t that person be unbelievably unlucky?"

Ben gave Reed a speechless look and asked, "Don’t you think that person sounds a lot like you?"

Reed was stunned. "Like me?"

"Yeah. Your career has never gone smoothly, and now you’re nearly bankrupt. Besides, none of your investment plans have succeeded!"

Ben said, "Forget the distant past. Last year, you invested in Lehman Brothers, and Lehman Brothers immediately filed for bankruptcy!"

"That was an accident!"

Reed said unhappily, "I just invested in Stark Industries not long ago. Are you saying Stark Industries will go bankrupt too?"

Looks like it’s time to sell off the rest of my Stark Industries shares!

Wang Bert’s eyes flickered as he smiled at Reed. "Maybe. Tony has started fooling around again lately, and whenever he starts fooling around, something happens!"

"Stark Tower is shining brightly right now!"

Reed asked Wang Bert with some displeasure, "Mr. Wang, did you invite me here just to make me quit business so I don’t harm myself and others?"

"I invited you here because I wanted to meet you. I admire you very much!"

Wang Bert smiled. "Besides, while I can’t invest in you, I can tell you something!"

Reed asked with some disappointment, "What is it?"

Wang Bert said, "NASA rejected you because someone named Victor Doom has been sabotaging you behind the scenes!"

"Victor Doom?"

Reed and Ben were both shocked. This man had been Reed’s university classmate, a true genius. After graduating, he founded Doom Corporation, which had grown enormous. It even had a Space Station above Earth! "That’s right!"

Wang Bert nodded. "I investigated Doom Corporation’s information. If I’m not mistaken, he has done all this because he wants to get his hands on your project!"

"No chance. Everything Doom Corporation works on is low-level science!"

Reed repeatedly shook his head. Ben rubbed his chin and said, "It might not be a bad idea. After all, everyone who invests in you ends up badly!"

"Ben!"

Reed shouted in dissatisfaction.

"Whether you want to or not is your own choice!"

Wang Bert smiled. "Dr. Richards, Mr. Grimm, let’s have a drink, chat, and enjoy the lights of Stark Tower while we’re at it!"

"Thank you, Mr. Wang!"

Though somewhat disappointed, Reed did not lose his composure. After chatting with Wang Bert for a while, he took his leave.

Reed secretly sighed. Since Osborn Corporation isn’t willing, I can only ask other companies. Why is it so hard to make a contribution to humanity?

After seeing Reed and Ben off, Wang Bert frowned. There were only two Fantastic Four movies, not counting the remake. The first one was nothing much, merely a fight against a weakened Doctor Doom. But the second was deadly—they fought Galactus! Worse still, its solution was completely impossible to draw from: Galactus’s servant, Silver Surfer, fell for Invisible Woman Susan. In the end, he was moved by the Fantastic Four and perished together with Galactus!

The screenwriter who came up with that solution must have had a brain clot for years. It could never happen in reality. There was a reason Fantastic Four 2 bombed at the box office!

"Uncle Galactus!"

Wang Bert shook his head, then smiled. "Luckily, Master Ancient One is still around."

At a Safe House somewhere in America, after hearing Loki’s explanation, Dr. Selvig said, "I should be able to make a giant portal, but I’ll need enough manpower and materials, as well as the precious metal iridium!"

Loki looked at Hawkeye. Hawkeye said, "Leave it to me. I’ll find enough people and materials!"

"Very good!"

Loki nodded in satisfaction, then turned toward Coulson, intending to give him a proper beating. To his surprise, Coulson suddenly said, "Loki, your plan won’t work!"

Loki asked, "The Tesseract is already in my hands. Why won’t it work?"

"Because someone will stop you. For example, the Blood God, who can take on a thousand by himself, and the War Abomination, who fought the Destroyer evenly!"

Coulson said, "Loki, Earth is not as weak as you think!"

Loki’s expression darkened somewhat, but he did not deny Coulson’s words. He asked, "Then what do you think we should do?"

"It’s simple. First, drive a wedge between the Blood Clan and S.H.I.E.L.D., make the Blood God and Director Fury turn against each other, then give up on New York and open the portal somewhere else!"

Coulson said excitedly, "That way, the Blood God won’t step in to stop you. As for the other Super Heroes, we can defeat them one by one. I know their files well. They all have weaknesses!"

Loki glanced at Coulson and asked, "You seem very excited?"

Coulson nodded. "Yes, I am. Thank you, Loki. I like how I am now—unrestrained, able to do whatever I want."

"That’s right. Thank you, Loki!"

Dr. Selvig and Hawkeye said the same. Loki was somewhat alarmed by the power of the Mind Scepter. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "How long would it take to drive a wedge between the Blood God and S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"One or two months."

Coulson said, "The Blood God and Director Fury are both smart men. One or two incidents won’t be enough to turn them against each other!"

"We don’t have that much time. The portal must be opened within seven days."

Loki shook his head. That being had not given him much time! Loki added, "Also, the portal can only be opened in New York. It is Earth’s spatial node!"

Dr. Selvig also said, "Coulson, I need the Arc Reactor at Stark Tower to activate the portal!"

"That does make things troublesome, but it’s not completely impossible."

After thinking for a moment, Coulson said, "We can lure the Blood God and War Abomination away from New York, then find a way to wipe out S.H.I.E.L.D. and those Super Heroes in one stroke. That way, no one will be able to stop us from opening the portal."

"As long as there’s a way, I’ll leave it all to you!"

Seeing how useful Coulson was, Loki temporarily gave up on the idea of beating him. Whatever happened could wait until after they succeeded! Coulson said confidently, "Leave it to me. I know Director Fury well. I know exactly what he’ll do next!"

Loki spread his arms and declared arrogantly, "Once the portal opens, Earth will belong to me. I, Loki, was born to be king!"

Coulson silently glanced at Loki’s hairline. So what if he was born to be king? He would still lose his hair.

Loki noticed Coulson’s gaze and nearly went mad. He wanted to beat this guy up so badly!