In the end, Mario had to let Ivan go, shaking his head in disappointment.
"That was a perfect opportunity to build mental fortitude. I handed you a chance on a silver platter and you just walked away from it."
He turned away with a sigh and headed toward the Nether portal. He needed to visit the Twilight Forest dimension to mine some tin ore and uranium, both essential materials for crafting quantum solar panels. The resource grind never ended.
Meanwhile, on the ruins of Titan, a world already consumed by catastrophe...
The Chitauri leader knelt before a massive purple figure seated on a throne of carved stone.
"Lord Thanos, the power of the Tesseract has been activated."
His voice carried the reverence of a priest addressing his god.
"It is in a weak world. A human world," Thanos spoke, without a trace of emotion in his gaze.
"Retrieve the Tesseract."
The Chitauri leader bowed even deeper, his forehead nearly touching the ground.
"Yes, my lord. Those pathetic humans are unworthy of wielding such power. Only you possess the vision to use it properly."
He rose and approached Thanos' side, lifting the scepter embedded with the Mind Stone.
His gaze shifted to the man standing nearby, Loki. Ever since the trickster god had fallen from the Bifrost and been... redirected... to Thanos' territory, he'd managed to secure a position within the army through a combination of silver-tongued manipulation and crafted lies.
The Chitauri leader walked up to Loki, fixing him with a penetrating stare.
"Do not forget your promise. The Chitauri army waits in the void for your summons. Once you secure the Tesseract, you will become master of the human world."
Loki had witnessed Thanos' military might firsthand. He'd seen the legions that stretched across star systems. Even if Earth had a few enhanced individuals, they would be nothing against the overwhelming numbers of the Chitauri fleet.
Thinking of Midgard made him think of Thor.
"I will obtain the Tesseract, open the space portal, and lead the Chitauri army to Midgard."
He reached out and accepted the scepter from the Chitauri leader. The moment his fingers touched it, power thrummed through his veins.
Loki turned and walked away with the scepter. He needed to use its power to tap into the Space Stone's energy and teleport himself to the Tesseract's location.
As the scepter's gem flickered to life, his form was suddenly enveloped in a sphere of crackling blue energy. When the light faded, he had vanished.
Thanos remained seated on his throne. One hand supported his chin as he spoke to the air.
"Keep close surveillance on him. His heart is filled with deception and lies."
The Chitauri leader bowed once more. "Yes, my lord."
---
Loki felt a wave of disorientation wash over him, then found himself standing in a brightly lit facility.
He frowned as he looked around at the numerous robots moving. Though he knew little about Midgardian technology, he was certain it couldn't possibly possess machinery this advanced.
"Where am I?"
A voice came from behind him. "Who are you?"
He instinctively spun around. Before he could respond, the speaker suddenly shouted his name, "LOKI!"
An elderly man in a white lab coat stood before him, gray hair slightly disheveled. Behind him sat the device emanating blue light, the Tesseract itself.
Clearly, this was the person who had activated it.
"You recognize me?"
A wicked smile spread across Loki's face as he began walking forward, the scepter held in one hand.
"Interested in working for me? I can give you anything you desire, wealth, power, even strength beyond your wildest dreams."
But the gray-haired man showed no trace of panic. Instead, his eyes held pure, undiluted amazement.
Loki hated that expression. He continued advancing, preparing to use the scepter to dominate the man's mind, extract information about his location, and then use the Tesseract to open a space tunnel for the Chitauri army.
I will become king of Midgard.
Just then, a piercing alarm shattered the moment.
His frown deepened. He was about to rush forward and deal with the old man when the scientist spoke.
"Loki, I've been waiting for you for over a year. And now, you've finally arrived."
"Remember my name, Erik. I'm an astrophysicist."
The moment the words left his mouth, Erik's body was instantly covered by a sleek nano-suit. As the head of Mario's transportation division, he was considered core personnel, of course he had access to nanotech armor.
Not just one suit, either. All his previous models were stored nearby as backup.
Ever since learning about Loki's existence and his own potential mind-control from Mario, Erik had been waiting patiently for this exact moment.
Loki was completely dumbfounded.
Before he could process what was happening, Erik raised his arm and fired a repulsor blast. The energy beam caught Loki in the chest, sending him flying backward.
With his Asgardian physiology, the hit wasn't much worse than a solid punch from a mortal. But being struck by a human was enough to ignite his fury.
He quickly recovered and regained his footing.
"Do you have any idea who I am?!"
Perhaps because he'd been waiting so long and was in an unusually good mood, Erik replied with dry sarcasm, "That's not a question for me. You should ask your mother."
Thunk.
Loki felt as if a knife had been driven straight into his heart.
He had always been sensitive about his identity, his true parentage. Erik's words were salt on an open wound.
"You've made a grave mistake, mortal."
Without another word, he activated his illusion magic, his physical form shimmered and vanished.
But at that moment, a squadron of Iron Man suits appeared behind Erik, forming his personal defense fleet.
Loki had no idea that Mario had already exposed all his tricks beforehand. So while the trickster god was grandstanding, Erik had already noticed something wrong. Combining that knowledge with Loki's known abilities, he immediately realized Loki had gone invisible for a backstab attempt.
Flamethrowers ignited with a roar, and torrents of fire blasted forward. Loki burst out of the flames in a panic, his clothes singed and smoking. Before he could retaliate, multiple energy blasts struck him from different angles.
Pain exploded through his body from every direction simultaneously.
His grip loosened, and the scepter slipped from his hand, clattering across the floor. Erik immediately ordered one of his suits to retrieve the Mind Scepter. Without a word, the suit grabbed the weapon and rocketed away into the distance.
Just as Erik was preparing to move in and restrain Loki, a figure suddenly burst out from a nearby building, running toward them while bellowing:
"ENEMY. FIGHTING!"
---
"Ugh..."
Loki let out a pained groan as he slowly opened his eyes, adjusting to the light around him.
Where... am I?
A figure stood with her back to him. Even though he had never been particularly interested in women, the curve of her silhouette made him look twice.
She was speaking to a young man. Her voice was pleasant, though her tone carried a hint of irritation.
"Mortal... where is this place?"
Even as a prisoner, he had no intention of showing submission. His last memory was of being knocked down by Erik's strange armored assault. He'd just stood up and hadn't even had time to cast a spell before hearing a bizarre roar. The final image burned into his memory was an enormous green hand reaching for him, and then he'd woken up here.
The two people turned at the sound of his voice.
When the woman looked back, he felt as if lightning had struck him.
It wasn't that she was extraordinarily beautiful, it was that she felt impossibly familiar. Yet he swore he had never seen this woman before in his life.
"You're awake?"
She walked toward him, a smile playing across her features and delight shining in her eyes.
"How are you feeling? Hulk was really too rough with you."
Loki stared directly into her eyes, trying to pierce through whatever deception she was using. He had no mental bandwidth to pay attention to the other man in the room, and completely missed the amused expression on his face.
"Who are you? Where am I?"
Perhaps the shock she'd given him was too great, Loki had even forgotten to call her "mortal."
Hearing his question, the woman paused for a moment, then her smile grew even brighter.
"You can't even recognize me?"
She spun in place so Loki could take a better look.
"Look carefully."
Loki felt overwhelming familiarity, yet couldn't place it. Confusion filled his eyes, an experience he'd never had before.
At that moment, the other person in the room walked forward, looking Loki up and down.
Loki turned to him.
"Mortal, I remember you. You were with Thor before."
The man in the room was indeed Mario. After returning from his mining expedition to the Twilight Forest, he'd learned about Loki's intrusion and rushed back immediately.
He nodded.
"Good memory."
"Loki, let me introduce myself. I'm Mario, and I'll be your new employer."
At the word "employer," Loki puffed up.
"I am Loki, future King of Asgard! How—"
Before Mario could respond, the woman beside him spoke, "You have no chance at that throne. I am the King of Asgard now."
Mario laughed. "You want me to hand him over to you? Or should I keep him?"
"Give him to me. If I let you handle it, you'd just create another potential enemy for me down the line."
She reached out and touched Loki's face. Whether stunned or bewitched, he didn't even try to avoid her touch.
Her fingers brushed across his cheek, leaving behind a cool, lingering sensation.
"Loki, let me introduce myself as well."
"I am the future Queen of Asgard. Coincidentally... my name is also Loki."
---
Mario walked out of the room where Loki was being held, and the moment he stepped outside, he couldn't help shivering.
Holy shit. Female Loki is way too powerful. If I didn't have strong willpower, I might've fallen under her spell too. Did she reallocate all her illusion skill points into charm or something?
He sniffed the faint fragrance lingering in the air. Just a whiff made his mind feel clearer, with a cool, refreshing sensation washing over his thoughts.
Probably her Frost Giant bloodline. But other female Frost Giants shouldn't have this ability, right? Could it be that she was born with special talents?
He shook his head and picked up his pace. He needed to leave, staying any longer might cause problems he didn't want to deal with. When he had time, he should send female Loki back to Asgard. As for whether Thor could maintain his composure afterward... that wasn't his concern.
As he walked toward the research building, his imagination ran wild:
If Loki and Thor had a kid, would it inherit Thor's warrior talents and Loki's magical abilities? Hmm... that child would be perfect material for a battlemage. Maybe I should suggest it?
Nah, better not. That's a whole different kind of drama I don't need.
When he entered the laboratory building, he immediately spotted Hulk looking thoroughly disgruntled. The big green giant was sitting on the floor, surrounded by mountains of food, stuffing his face in frustration.
"What's wrong?"
Without even lifting his head, Hulk grumbled around a mouthful of food, "Too weak... not fun..."
So it really was because of Loki. Mario had already reviewed the surveillance footage on his way back. Hulk had charged in, tackled Loki to the ground, and proceeded to pound him into the floor. If Hulk hadn't learned basic communication by now, Loki would probably be a red smear on the concrete.
Still, the fact that Hulk could manage a three-word sentence made Mario pleased. Progress was progress.
He walked over and patted Hulk's bulging bicep with a smile.
"Loki is a bit weak, but don't worry, I'm going to build you your own arena. I guarantee you'll never run out of opponents to fight."
Hulk didn't understand most of that, but he definitely understood "never run out of opponents to fight." He shoved more food into his mouth and said, "Fight... Hulk fight!"
"Yeah, fighting. But don't get too worked up yet. Eat your food, then go rest. I need to talk to Banner for a bit."
He didn't have anything urgent to discuss, he just didn't want Hulk getting too excited and accidentally demolishing the lab building. Sure, he had money, but some equipment and materials couldn't be easily replaced.
Like the mutant blood samples. If those got destroyed, he'd have to visit the X-Men universe again and draw fresh samples one by one. Not exactly a fun afternoon.
Hulk didn't resist. He flashed a grin at Mario, then closed his eyes as his body began shrinking. Within seconds, the massive green form had transformed back into Banner.
Unlike in the original timeline, Banner wasn't unconscious after transforming back. He was completely awake, and looking at Mario with a distinctly unimpressed expression.
"Hulk wants to fight, so you build an arena... but I don't want to fight."
Then he looked down at the custom indestructible shorts Mario had designed for him.
"Can you... maybe give me a full set of clothes that can stretch and shrink? I lose an entire outfit every time I transform."
Mario chuckled and shook his head.
"Forget the full wardrobe, be grateful you get to keep the shorts. Hulk needs to vent his aggression. If you keep suppressing him, something bad will eventually happen. Don't worry, I'll move your lab right next to the arena. Hulk can fight when he needs to, and when he's done, you can go right back to your research. Win-win."
At that moment, his mind was already filled with countless plans for maximizing Banner's productivity.