Something felt off. Liu A'dou sensed it the moment he saw Max. This loyal agent, whose family had served S.H.I.E.L.D. for three generations, was now running errands in a luxury sports car, earning extra hourly pay, while S.H.I.E.L.D. was facing its greatest crisis. He felt like he was betraying his duty.
Max knew S.H.I.E.L.D. had issued a yellow alert, but that had nothing to do with him. He still had to follow Liu A'dou's orders, though his expression was more serious than usual.
That day, Liu A'dou suddenly received a telepathic message from Professor X. Liu A'dou didn't bother complaining about why the professor couldn't just make a phone call instead of showing off his powers.
"Max, the last batch of dolls is finished. Today, you're in charge of quality checking and delivering them to the expo site. Also, check if the concert setup is ready. Only a few days left, we can't afford any mistakes."
Poor Max could only continue running errands, completely unwilling. What he really wanted was to return to S.H.I.E.L.D. and stand with his colleagues in the face of danger.
When Liu A'dou arrived at the school, he found out the professor had dreamed about a major battle happening in New York. The enemies were from outer space. So the professor wanted Liu A'dou's help to protect the school.
If there really was an alien invasion in New York, the X-Men wouldn't have enough manpower to assist elsewhere. Just defending the school and students would already stretch them thin.
But Liu A'dou turned him down. "Professor, I can't abandon everything just because of a dream. If aliens do attack the school, I'll come immediately. That's all I can promise."
That was the best he could offer. He was seriously busy. It was already June 1st, and the concert was in just two days. This was a massive event with ten thousand attendees. It had to go perfectly. Even though he knew aliens were coming, he figured they'd show up after the concert.
For Liu A'dou to make that kind of promise was already a big deal. Since the invasion hadn't started yet, the professor accepted it.
Walking under blue skies and white clouds, Liu A'dou could sense the storm coming. He figured Earth's top powers had already picked up on the approaching threat. Standing on solid ground, you could almost smell the blood in the air. The heavy atmosphere brought pressure, but ordinary people were unaffected. They were still busy with their everyday lives.
Especially fans from all over the world who had gathered in New York for Elsa's concert.
On the night of June 3rd, Loki—who had vanished for days—suddenly appeared in Berlin, Germany. He attacked a banquet and stole a rare piece of iridium.
Captain America and Black Widow were sent to stop him, but it was tough since their opponent was a god. Luckily, Iron Man—complete with his own BGM—showed up just in time to help capture Loki. None of them knew it was all part of Loki's plan.
"So you're Captain America? First time meeting. Nice to meet you." Inside the plane, Iron Man sat face-to-face with Captain America. Loki, tied up, was tossed in the corner.
"I knew your father, Howard Stark."
"I know. My dad made equipment for you." Tony knew a lot about his father.
"We were friends once." Captain America felt weird seeing his friend's son looking older than he was. Still, with Tony's flashy personality, he just couldn't warm up to him.
Back in Cap's era, there was no rock music or hippie culture. He couldn't relate to the whole decadent generation. And Tony himself was informal and cocky—totally opposite of a man from the 1940s.
So after they finished talking about the people they both knew, there wasn't much else to say. Captain America didn't care about celebrity gossip, fine wine, or rock music. Tony didn't know anything about banding together to fight fascists.
When Loki showed up in Germany and donned his Asgardian armor in front of civilians, it immediately drew attention from Asgard. Thor arrived on Earth right away. Over the past few months, he'd been doing a lot on behalf of Asgard.
After the Frost Giants' invasion, the evil forces from the Nine Realms also came out, trying to take advantage of the chaos. Thor had to travel across the realms with the Einherjar to help the common people and restore order. But once he heard Loki had surfaced, he dropped everything and came straight to Earth. That showed how much he valued their bond as brothers.
Thunderclouds and lightning caught up with the plane. Without warning, the hatch was ripped open. Thor showed up and took Loki, right in front of Iron Man and Captain America.
They were both stunned. That was not how this was supposed to go.
"Damn it!" Iron Man had never been ignored like that.
"We need a plan of attack," Captain America said, stopping the furious Tony.
But Tony wasn't having it. "I do have a plan: attack!" And he took off after Thor.
Cap could only sigh, grab a parachute, and follow.
Black Widow, piloting the plane, was speechless. No one ever included her in anything. But fine—she didn't want to go face gods head-on anyway. At least she knew her limits.
"Thor, my dear brother, how touching of you to come so far to rescue me." Loki smiled as they landed.
"Hand over the Tesseract, Loki, and come home with me." Thor spoke with the patience of an older brother scolding a runaway sibling.
But to Loki, Thor's words only dripped with superiority. Because Thor was stronger. "I don't know where the Tesseract is."
"How could you not know?" Thor grabbed his collar, not buying it.
"The Tesseract isn't in my hands. They've been moving it around. I don't know where it is now."
"Enough, Loki!" Thor was losing his temper. "What are you trying to do? Just stop. Everything you're doing is only making you more enemies. It won't get you anything else."
Loki laughed, mocking Thor for being so shortsighted. "When I was cast out, I saw true power. He gave me the chance to rule Earth. All I had to do was give him the Tesseract. Why wouldn't I take that deal?"
"You?!" Thor couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Loki, give up your evil plans and come back with me."
"I lost everything. So now I'm going to take it all back. Earth, Asgard, the throne—they should all be mine." Loki narrowed his eyes. "Thor, one day, I'll make you kneel before me."
It was clear that threats weren't going to work. Thor sighed. He still didn't understand why Loki held such a deep grudge. Thor didn't know what it was like to be constantly overshadowed by a biased father. Even though they both had talent, Odin only praised Thor. Over time, that planted resentment deep in Loki's heart.
"Loki, just listen to me—" Before Thor could finish, Iron Man tackled him and they flew off.
Loki pretended to listen, hands cupped to his ears. "Go on, brother, I'm listening."
Thor and Iron Man weren't fighting to the death or anything. It was more like turn-based combat—one hammer swing, one repulsor blast. Both had top-tier defense, so neither could gain the upper hand.
Captain America arrived just in time to break it up. There was no point in fighting—they were all after the same goal.
Thor ended up going with them to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s flying aircraft carrier.