"Goodbye, Brother Nolan!"
Thor, waving Mjolnir once more, sliced through the gradually thinning rain. He soared into the night sky with a hearty laugh, rushing toward the depths of the gloomy, heavy clouds.
Nolan, carrying the intimidating C'tan Phase Sword, tilted his neck slightly. His cyan wolf eyes tracked the direction of Thor's departure. A faint smile flashed across his mouth.
A few dozen seconds later, Nolan turned to David, who had just stepped forward, and said with a smile, "David, help me clean up the spoils."
"This is the ultimate weapon from Asgard. Even if it is destroyed, the metal material on it is extremely precious... Maybe it can be utilized when creating the new power armor."
"Understood, my lord."
David, blue light flashing in his eyes, gave a fractional shake of his metal head. He stepped through the mud and water and walked efficiently toward the massive, mangled metal wreckage of the Destroyer.
Nolan took a deep breath of the fresh, rain-washed air. He looked around at the unfamiliar, dim environment one last time. He turned and walked toward the Valkyrie transport plane. On the way, he also retrieved the Gauss Blaster that had been thrown into the muddy water. Although it had proved ineffective against the Destroyer's Asgardian runes, it was still one of the most potent weapons in Nolan's arsenal.
A few minutes later, David easily dragged the two halves of the huge metal wreckage back to the cabin. Nolan, who was busy sorting out his weapons and equipment, immediately stood up. He helped secure the massive metal pieces within the transport. Then, he returned to his seat and closed his eyes to rest.
Boom boom boom...
Accompanied by the deep, consistent roar of the engines, the Valkyrie transport plane, bearing visible traces of damage on one wing, took off again. It slowly climbed into the depths of the still gloomy and heavy clouds.
However, not long after, the loud sound of tearing air resounded through the night sky again.
Thor's figure sliced through the fine rain once more, landing heavily on the muddy ground where the battle had just occurred.
Holding Mjolnir, Thor kept blinking his blue eyes rapidly. At this moment, his brows were tightly furrowed, and a look of deep worry appeared on his face, causing his golden beard to tremble. Especially when he realized that Nolan and his flying vehicle were gone, the anxiety in his eyes intensified.
Thor took a deep breath. He muttered to himself, "Heimdall did not respond to my call, and Asgard must have had other significant changes... Damn! Without the Rainbow Bridge, how can I go back?"
"Oh, I gone too fast just now. I really need the help of Brother Nolan now... Which direction did his vehicle fly away?"
"Oh, right... over there!"
Thor, thinking quickly and decisively, identified a direction. He waved Mjolnir again. His whole person rocketed into the dark night sky.
Unfortunately, the direction Thor ultimately chose was slightly off the actual flight path of the Valkyrie...
A few hours later.
Reditus, who was engrossed in trying to modify the computer configuration in the lobby of the base, subconsciously ignored the shouts from behind.
Then, it was grabbed mid-air by the expressionless Nolan.
"Ah! Lord Primarch, spare my life!"
Before it could even finish its rehearsed words of begging for mercy, Nolan issued his orders: repair the Valkyrie transport and immediately begin inspecting the metal wreckage of the Destroyer.
Reditus was instantly relieved, its fear replaced by manic enthusiasm. It immediately entered a state of Tech-Priest fanaticism. Even the red light in its eye sockets began to flicker non-stop. The anti-gravity engine kept humming, and its two mechanical clamps stretched and twitched. The servo-skull, chanting low technological prayers, rushed toward the underground hangar at maximum speed.
Nolan stared at its gradually receding back. He shook his head slightly. He took off the Hunting Lord armor.
Just when he was about to turn and walk back to the lounge, he remembered an important task.
Nolan found Jessica, who was diligently performing shooting training, and asked her to stop what she was doing temporarily.
"Jessica, go to the medical room and keep a close eye on the unconscious man. If he wakes up, come find me immediately."
Nolan stared at Jessica, his cyan wolf eyes blinking, and said slowly, "By the way, if the other party tries to resist, beat him. Just make sure you don't beat him to death."
Hearing Nolan's casual order, Jessica, holding two laser pistols, nodded in slight confusion.
"No problem, boss."
Nolan turned and left with a satisfied expression. He returned to the lounge, quickly washed off the grime and sweat from the fight, and lay down on the cold metal bed. He gradually drifted into sleep.
When Nolan opened his eyes again, loud, chaotic noises coming from outside the lounge made him frown subconsciously in annoyance.
Nolan took a deep breath. He jumped up from the metal bed with an irritated expression and walked toward the noise.
He pushed open the metal door of the lounge.
He was met with the sight of Bucky, the Winter Soldier, being swung back and forth like a rag doll by Jessica's arm.
At the same time, the giggling Servo-Skull Reditus kept circling rapidly above their heads, bouncing and jumping. Its harsh mechanical voice seemed to be full of undeniable gloating.
"Young man, just hand over your arm and let me study it, and I will let her let you go... okay?"
Unfortunately, Bucky, the Winter Soldier, who had fallen into a fresh coma again, could not answer any of the servo-skull's persistent questions.
At that moment, the sharp-eyed Jessica saw the expressionless Nolan. She quickly let go of the metal arm in her hand. Poor Bucky was thrown heavily onto the metal floor with a painful thud.
Nolan, slowly rolling his wrist, stepped forward. He first lowered his head to check Bucky's condition. After finding that the other party had just fallen back into a coma, Nolan's cyan wolf eyes focused on Jessica, and he asked softly,
"Tell me, what exactly is going on?"
Jessica, who had subconsciously clasped her hands together behind her back, blinked rapidly. She swallowed nervously and said carefully,
"Boss, he wanted to escape right after waking up, but I caught up with him. Didn't you say I could beat him? So I did it... Reditus happened to pass by, and he took a fancy to this guy's arm right away..."
"Boss! I really didn't bully him on purpose, it was the damn Reditus who fanned the flames!"
As soon as the words fell, Nolan narrowed his eyes slightly. He listened carefully to Jessica's rapidly beating heart with his keen hearing.
Then, Nolan nodded to Jessica and said, "Okay, there's nothing for you to do here. Go and continue your training plan."
Jessica nodded quickly. She shot a quick, hard glare at Reditus, floating smugly in the air, then turned and ran toward the training ground.
Nolan raised his chin slightly. He stared at the servo-skull that was trying to fly away secretly, grinning, his fangs showing prominently.
"If you cannot come up with a complete set of blueprints for a Copycat Terminator within one day, I will melt you down with the Necrons' Gauss Blaster! Do you understand?"
"Waaaaah—"
The next moment, the Servo-Skull Reditus suddenly let out a long, theatrical wail. But knowing that it was entirely in the wrong, it did not attempt to bargain. It just rushed toward the metal round table at top speed, presumably to begin working.
Nolan stared at the back of its retreating head. The tip of his tongue subconsciously licked his fangs. Then, he bent down, picked up the unconscious Bucky, and walked toward the infirmary.
After Bucky was gently placed back onto the multi-functional medical bed, Nolan dragged a metal chair over and sat next to it. He planned to wait for Bucky to wake up in person, to finally see if they could establish communication.
However, a few minutes later, Nolan, who had forgotten to bring his phone and felt a little bored, began to shake his foot impatiently.
He hesitated for a moment, but still opened the simulator page. Nolan planned to find something productive to do while he waited.