Spoils of War

Shimizu had thought that as long as they dealt with the Chitauri quickly enough, the Nuclear Bomb would never come.

Yet it still came.

It seemed Hydra was in quite a hurry to eliminate them.

But that raised a problem. Now that the portal had been closed, how were they supposed to deal with that Nuclear Bomb?

"Fury, can I send that Nuclear Bomb to Washington?"

"If you’re willing to give up the status and nearly ten billion dollars in wealth you possess in this country."

"Fine."

Shimizu sighed, then turned his gaze toward the portal device Selvig had made nearby.

This thing should still work, right?

"Stark, Thor, I need you to follow my command. We need to dispose of that nuclear warhead safely, with no casualties if possible."

Some unknown corner of the universe.

"My apologies, my great Lord Thanos. The portal Loki opened lasted less than a minute before it was closed. Only part of our advance force made it through, and we failed to retrieve the Tesseract for you."

Aboard the Chitauri Mothership, the Chitauri leader Lial knelt on one knee and lowered his head before the realistic holographic projection in front of him.

"So the Tesseract and the scepter have both fallen onto that planet."

"I cannot be certain, Lord Thanos. The Asgardians were involved as well, but I have heard that planet is also territory under Odin’s rule."

"You failed to complete my task. Tell me, how should I punish you?"

Thanos sat upon a floating stone throne, expressionlessly watching the Chitauri kneeling before him.

"No! Lord Thanos, it was Loki! His mistake was what caused our people to… Wait! The portal has opened again!"

Lial lifted his head in delight and looked toward the display screen in front of the ship.

Thanos silently turned his head.

In the pitch-black void, a portal opened right beside the Chitauri Mothership, and an iron man towing a missile flew out.

He released the missile and quickly flew back toward the portal, even giving a flamboyant blown kiss before leaving.

"That was… an Earthling? Everyone, chase him!"

Thanos let out a soft sigh.

He should not have placed his hopes on Loki and the Chitauri.

But there were still two troublesome individuals on Earth. Even for him, reclaiming the Stones in a short time would be difficult.

Earth.

The moment he saw Tony fly out of the wormhole, Shimizu immediately swept the Tesseract down with the scepter.

The wormhole closed at once, and Tony landed atop Stark Tower.

"How was it? How much power do you have left? I was just thinking, if your armor suddenly ran out of power, would you fall into outer space?"

Shimizu snapped his fingers, dismissing the Electric Light Armor, and asked Tony.

"Obviously not. I still have thirty-seven percent power left. If I were really about to run out, I don’t think I’d have had the courage to send the Nuclear Bomb in. Of course, even as it was, I took a huge risk, so calling me the MVP wouldn’t be an exaggeration."

Tony Stark spread his hands and strutted over from the platform.

Mechanical arms rose from the floor one after another, removing his armor for him.

"I think you would’ve done it anyway, even if you had run out of power."

Shimizu shrugged.

"Oh, you think very highly of me. Maybe I really do have a heroic side, but unless this battle lasted another two or three hours, that wouldn’t have happened, because I’ve got a new set."

Tony walked to the table, picked up a watch, put it on, and pressed the button.

A few seconds later, a metal object resembling a backpack flew out from the inner room and rapidly fitted itself onto Tony.

"Honestly, Thor says you’re a wizard, and I also think that watch of yours, the one that summons armor like something out of a childhood cartoon, looks a lot like magic. But I came up with a similar temporary solution too. Mine will definitely be better than yours later. Want a drink? French Burgundy, this year’s limited edition."

Like a bartender, Tony pulled a bottle of expensive red wine from the cabinet behind him.

"I’ll have a glass, then."

No reason not to drink.

Some of the liquor Stark had here might be impossible even for him to get.

This Battle of New York had ended in less than ten minutes due to his influence, so Stark’s armor had not used much power.

"Gentlemen, could you stop talking about wine? We found Loki!"

Natasha’s helpless voice came through the earpiece.

In an alley in Manhattan.

Loki held an ornate metal dagger in one hand, his eyes warily scanning his surroundings.

Captain America and Black Widow blocked the exits from either end. On the balcony of a nearby residence, Hawkeye drew an arrow from the quiver on his back, nocked it to his longbow, and aimed at Loki.

"You three mortals think you can stop me?"

Loki looked calm, but inwardly he was panicking.

If Thor and those two tin men showed up, he really would have no chance of escape.

"Of course it’s not just us."

Black Widow tilted her head and stepped aside.

At the entrance to the alley behind her, a frail-looking middle-aged white man was slowly riding over on a small electric scooter.

"Uh… I heard things were pretty much over? We don’t need to let Hulk out to smash things, right?"

Dr. Banner got off the electric scooter and asked Natasha.

"No need!"

Thor’s voice came from the sky. He then descended from above, grabbed Loki, pulled out something that looked as if it were made of gold and distinctly Asgardian from behind his back, and clamped it over Loki’s face, sealing his mouth.

Two chains extended from the lower end, automatically binding Loki’s hands.

"I heard you talking about wine just now? After the battle, we must drink heartily to celebrate."

A guileless expression appeared on Thor’s face.

Loki rolled his eyes, silently shifted a step away, and made his disgust unmistakably clear.

Stark Tower.

"Thor wants to throw a victory party. How about we use your wine and my venue? I bought Nine Orchards in the Lower East Side last month."

Shimizu took off his earpiece and turned it off as he spoke to Stark, subtly pointing at his.

Stark’s gaze flickered. He too removed his earpiece and turned it off.

"Fine. J.A.R.V.I.S., block all signal connections on this floor."

"Yes, sir."

J.A.R.V.I.S.’s voice sounded from the speaker on the bar counter.

"You want to talk about the Nuclear Bomb?"

"Not just the Nuclear Bomb, Tony. The Tesseract too, and this spoil of war of mine."

Shimizu shook the scepter in his hand.

"Of course. As for the people who launched a Nuclear Bomb to kill me, I only have one way of dealing with them: make them die."