Protection and Extremism

Harvey melded directly into the void around the fighter jet, quietly observing everything.

When he saw this classic scene, he felt both speechless and amused.

But thinking of his past life, he remembered that Loki had been willing to die for Thor. Even if Loki was unwilling to admit it now, he truly had deep feelings for Thor.

"Of course. If there’s a next time, you don’t need to hold back."

Thor nodded seriously upon hearing Tony’s words.

Although Tony could not do much to him, Loki was, at most, merely a relatively durable opponent before Tony.

Facing Tony at full strength, Loki probably would not last long.

That was because even after consulting countless books, he could not find the exact origin of the deep, dangerous purple energy Tony possessed.

So Thor guessed that the mysterious power Tony had mastered came from Harvey.

With a portion of Harvey’s power and the support of powerful technology, Tony could hold his own even in the universe.

Loki’s gaze flickered as he listened to the conversation between his brother and Tony Stark.

If this attempt failed, he would never again be able to cause trouble on Earth. Even if he wanted to make trouble, he would have to do it in other worlds.

"Then it’s settled."

"You haven’t come to Earth in so long. Were you delayed by something?"

Seeing Thor yield on this matter, Tony did not pursue Loki’s invasion any further and casually asked.

"The Bifrost was destroyed, so Asgard currently cannot freely travel down to the lower realms."

"We need the Tesseract to repair the Bifrost before we can reconnect the bridges to the Nine Realms."

Thor briefly explained the reason.

"The Bifrost was built using the Tesseract’s power?"

Tony asked in surprise.

"Yes. According to my father, the Tesseract was originally one of the treasures in Asgard’s vault, but it was later lost in Norway on Earth."

"But all these years, Asgard’s Bifrost remained intact, and the Tesseract also stayed on Earth without falling beyond the Nine Realms."

"So my father never made a special effort to retrieve it."

Thor nodded and spoke.

Tony had originally found it strange that a special artifact like the Tesseract, which could connect places throughout the universe and enable spatial travel, had appeared on Earth.

But now he understood. It was one of God King Odin’s treasures, so everything made sense.

"The Tesseract has spatial-jump technology."

"When the time is right, could you lend it to me for research?"

Tony asked directly.

Although the space fighter possessed wormhole-jump technology and he would certainly research that field in the future—

if he could directly establish a stable spatial-transit point, that would undoubtedly be even better.

"I still owe you a favor."

"If you can promise me you won’t abuse it, then it’s not impossible."

Thor replied.

Natasha watched as the Tesseract, which the Avengers Initiative had assembled to reclaim, was casually treated by the two of them as their own possession as they discussed whether it could be lent out.

She had plenty she wanted to say, but faced with their overwhelming strength, she could not say anything.

Steve also understood that the unusual artifact he had encountered years ago, the Tesseract, seemed to have come from an alien world, and that its owner was Thor.

Returning it to its rightful owner was only natural. Besides, if it remained on Earth, it would only keep drawing one problem after another.

Hadn’t Hydra’s series of mad actions back then begun precisely because it had obtained the Tesseract?

If it could be returned to Thor, taken away from Earth, and properly safeguarded, that truly would be a good thing.

Natasha was unhappy but did not dare say so, while Steve felt that returning it to its rightful owner was understandable. However, one person present was displeased—Loki.

"The Tesseract is still in my hands."

Loki spoke as he watched Thor and Tony converse among themselves.

"If you still want to keep your life, I suggest you shut up and behave."

"Your brother Thor cares about your bond as brothers and does not want to kill you."

"I also promised not to kill you this time and to let him take you back."

"But if you want to provoke me into attacking, so your brother will protect you and the two of us can fight, giving you a chance to escape—"

"Then you can try it."

"Let’s see whether you can run faster, or whether I can catch up and kill you first."

"If I had wanted to kill you just now, I would already have twisted your head off."

Tony had been catching up with Thor, but upon hearing Loki’s words, he turned to look at him and spoke coldly.

He would not even need the Vibranium armor. With his current Iron Man armor, he could kill Loki directly.

"Loki, stop causing trouble for me."

"Once this matter is dealt with, I’ll take you back."

"Mother misses you very much."

Sensing Tony’s anger, Thor looked at Loki and spoke.

"You said it yourself—I’m adopted. And now you’re saying this to me?"

Loki said disdainfully as he looked at Thor’s expression of concern.

"Even if you were adopted, Mother still raised you for fifteen hundred years."

"Don’t forget that Mother taught you magic as well. She never treated you poorly."

"The grace of raising someone outweighs the grace of giving birth. Both you and I learned that saying."

"So take back the disrespectful words you just said about Mother."

"If you are so heartless that you truly disregard the kindness of fifteen hundred years of upbringing—"

"Then even if Father told me to look after you if I encountered you in another world—"

"I will never care about you again. Whether you live or die will be none of my concern."

Seeing that Loki was still stubbornly refusing to come to his senses, Thor could no longer endure it. He rushed forward, seized Loki by the collar, and spoke angrily as he looked at him.

He had been trying wholeheartedly to save Loki and soothe Tony’s killing intent, yet Loki kept causing him trouble.

Although he had not interacted much with Tony, he could tell that Tony was definitely not an indecisive man.

For Earth’s safety, Tony really might kill Loki and eliminate the threat once and for all.

After all, in less than a year, Earth had already encountered trouble because of Loki.

"I take back what I said…"

Loki saw that Thor was truly angry, and he could also see the killing intent in Thor’s eyes. No matter how twisted he felt inside, he could not help obeying Thor and speaking.

"Hand over the Tesseract."

Tony did not comment on this scene, which outsiders would find difficult to judge. Instead, he spoke directly.

"It isn’t with me right now."

Loki had become much more honest as he replied.

"Of course I know it isn’t with you. I want you to take us to get it."

Tony replied.