The Avengers returned to New York in disgrace

The aircraft carrier tilted more than 20 degrees quickly, and thick smoke billowed as it fell downwards.

Fighter jets, ammunition, refueling trucks, trailers, and other miscellaneous items plummeted downwards at an even faster speed, among which were many screaming soldiers and special agents.

Looking at his masterpiece, Loki laughed triumphantly, "Hahaha!"

Watching Iron Man Stark fly around in vain trying to pick people up, he laughed even harder.

The play he directed was indeed very brilliant.

A few minutes later, as Loki realized the land was becoming clearer, his smile vanished, "Where's the plane? Where's the plane that's supposed to pick me up?"

"Wait, that guy named Barton doesn't seem to have escaped—"

Loki:".

"Damn it! It's all Thor's fault. Seeing him made me stupid; I could even ignore someone so important."

"It's all the shills' fault!!"

Boom!

Whether it was good luck or bad luck, Loki somehow ended up on a small sandbar in the sea.

He fell from a height of several thousand meters, crashing into the ground and creating a crater, raising clouds of dust. Poor Loki lay at the bottom of the pit, clutching his Mind Scepter, most of his body buried in sand.

"Cough, cough----"

He coughed, exhaling a cloud of dust, his hoarse voice sounding as if he had sand in it, and mumbled, "It's all... Thor's... fault... cough cough!"

Loki and Thor are gods, true gods with divine authority and divine status.

Falling from a height of several thousand meters will only cause them excruciating pain, but it won't kill them, and they won't even bleed.

But the human soldiers and agents on the Flying Aircraft Carrier are different.

Iron Man Stark is incredibly powerful; his armor has undergone numerous iterations, surpassing the technological limits of his time. However, he ultimately has his limits.

He can save one or two people, but when dozens or hundreds fall at the same time, how many can Stark save even if he tries his best?

Moreover, there's a vast ocean below, and even getting them to the surface doesn't guarantee their safety. We'd also need to prepare life jackets, life rafts, and other supplies, which would take even longer.

In the end, Stark only managed to save eight people, watching helplessly as hundreds of other Bad Luck were smashed to pieces in the sea right before his eyes.

Stark's compassionate heart was dealt a severe blow, tearing a large wound in its veins.

But he couldn't wallow in his grief, because there were still more than 2,400 people on the fallen Flying Aircraft Carrier, and if he didn't save them, they would surely die.

Iron Man Stark suppressed his grief and flew towards the billowing smoke and dust of the flying aircraft carrier. He knew that to save more than 2,400 people, he had to rely on the carrier's own engines to support this massive steel behemoth weighing hundreds of thousands of tons.

The engine that Loki attacked is beyond saving, as it has been completely destroyed.

On the contrary, the third engine, which was the first to be attacked, was still emitting thick smoke, but at least it had not yet burst into flames, so there was still room for salvage.

Stark grumbled, "Damn it, I knew Avengers was an ominous name."

Without looking back, he rushed into the No. 3 engine, and three seconds later he emerged into the darkness, followed by raging flames.

Damn it, damn it!

"Where's the fire extinguisher? A fire extinguisher!! A tap! Anything will do!"

Captain America rushed over, dragging a long fire hose, and the two of them worked together to spray a large amount of Utakata onto the engine, which also contained lubricant.

After the fire was brought under control, Stark disregarded his own safety and rushed back into the engine to begin dangerous hot-engine repairs.

Two hours later, off the East Blue of United States, the Flying Sky aircraft carrier was sailing westward at a speed of 25 knots.

At this moment, the positions of engines number three and two on the ship were empty. The fire in engine number three had been completely extinguished, but it was still emitting wisps of light smoke that dissipated with the sea breeze.

Because the original command center was destroyed in the battle, the Avengers had nowhere to go and had to convert the mothership's dining room into a temporary meeting room.

Nick Fury surveyed the Avengers and elite agents, his exhaustion barely concealed, and said, "The Tesseract is missing. Dr. Banner discovered a lead, but it was interrupted by an attack. We can only confirm it's near the East Blue."

"Besides contacting S.H.I.E.L.D.. and other Intelligence Department around the world, I'm out of options. Do you have any good ideas?"

No one answered Nick Fury's question; instead, Steve asked, "Where are we going now?"

Fury replied, "Now we're going to New York. It's the largest city within the possible range of the Tesseract, and transportation is convenient."

"Furthermore, Pier No. 6 in New York has been expanded and renovated to handle the maintenance of super-large warships."

--

Stark was taken aback. "Pier No. 6, isn't that Shazo Dawson's territory? Will he allow you in?"

Nick Fury scoffed, "The whole world is in turmoil. How could Shazo refuse my aircraft carrier entry? Besides, it's not like I'm refusing to pay for repairs. If he can make money, why would he refuse?"

Stark scoffed, "Fury, I suggest you give them a heads-up first. It would be truly embarrassing if we all arrived only to find we couldn't get into the port."

Who is Nick Fury? Would he listen to Stark's advice?

He waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about that. Our priority now is to find Loki and the Tesseract as soon as possible!"

The Superhero looked at each other in disbelief. As the top figures in their respective fields, they had gathered together with great confidence, believing they would be invincible. Little did they know that they would be manipulated by Loki.

To this day, they still don't know how Loki instigated them. It seems that Loki did nothing wrong, yet they found themselves in a state of mutual distrust and fighting each other.

It's important to understand that while Hawkeye is known as the "strongest agent," he's no match for Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk —they're just a matter of one punch.

Captain Steve has proven that with one punch and eight big bulges.

They simply didn't want to stay together, and after splitting up, they wandered around the huge aircraft carrier like headless flies.

In the end, Loki tricked Thor into the Jail, threw him into the sea, and killed Coulson and so many military agents—a complete defeat.

The Avengers' current predicament proves that if a powerful alliance cannot form a cohesive organization, it's not a case of one plus one equaling two, but rather less than one, or even potentially resulting in a negative number.

Especially since they had already guessed that Loki's main target was Dr. Banner. If he really awakened the Hulk and it went on a rampage on the aircraft carrier, there would be hardly any survivors on the ship today.

Luck, Hulk had largely returned to normal, his emotions were incredibly stable, and he was completely unaffected by Loki, which is why he escaped unscathed.

The dejected Avengers stared at the area diagram drawn by Dr. Banner, their faces etched with worry, and fell into absolute silence.

Finally, Nick Fury, the convener of the Avengers, broke the silence. "Barton, do you have any objections?"

Upon hearing Fury's question, everyone looked at Hawkeye, who had been brought back to his senses by the eight big guys, and a glimmer of hope appeared in their eyes.

He spent some time with Loki and likely knows some clues.

Hawkeye slowly shook his head and said, "Loki is an extremely cautious god. His vigilance is unbelievably strong. Even though he controlled me, he only let me know about the plans I had to participate in."

"The location of the Tesseract is probably only known to Dr. Erik, who is in charge of the research."

"Well!"

The Avengers sighed in disappointment. Nick Fury even closed his eyes, rubbed his Taiyang, and considered whether to ask the Skrulls.

After more than forty minutes of silence, the aircraft carrier arrived at Pier 6 in New York, where they were stopped by the Coast Guard.

No matter what Nick Fury said, those fifth-class bastards wouldn't let him pass, infuriating Nick Fury so much that he had to leave the temporary meeting room and try to find connections to smooth things over.

After all, he had no direct communication with Shazo.

After Nick Fury left, the Avengers became even more active.

Don't underestimate this Nick Fury. The First Avengers were gathered by Fury. He used various methods to gain control and was indeed able to keep things in order, bringing together the disorganized Avengers.

But during brainstorming sessions, his presence becomes the biggest obstacle.

It was Steve, the most senior member, who spoke first, trying to get the ball rolling. "Perhaps we can use the process of elimination, which is most common in the military. For example, does activating the Tesseract require a large enough space?"

Dr. Banner shook his head and said, "No, activating the Tesseract doesn't require much space, just a large and stable amount of energy."

Stark casually crossed his legs, adding nonchalantly, "Well, to be precise, what's needed is a massive amount of electricity."

Captain America asked again, "A massive amount of electricity—just how much electricity?"

Dr. Banner replied, "It would require at least a third of Manhattan's electricity consumption, which is a huge amount of electricity—"

As he spoke, Banner seemed to remember something. He lunged at the map on the table and quickly drew several power transmission lines and major power generation facilities.

A few minutes later, he excitedly said, "Activating the Tesseract requires a huge amount of energy, and there aren't many places on the East Blue that meet this requirement."

Stark sat up straight. "Not just the power plants and transmission lines, but also my Stark Tower!"

"My building contains Arc Reactor, which is essentially a large power plant."

Dr. Banner sighed and said, "If we take the Arc Reactor into account, things get complicated."

"In recent years, you've sold far too many Arc Reactor, as well as numerous independently constructed fission reactor buildings and sites that meet the standards."

Natasha shook her head, saying, "The East Blue is the most developed region, with too many facilities that are independent and clandestine energy centers, all linked to the military or super-corporations. There are too many involvements; it's impossible to investigate them all."

Hawkeye also shook his head. S.H.I.E.L.D.. is just a secret service agency. Not to mention Nick Fury, even if the president and the World Security Council joined forces, they would not allow all the secret facilities to be opened up and exposed to others for inspection.

"Okay, then forget I said anything."

Steve was getting dizzy from listening, and helplessly spread his hands, indicating that he had to give up.

"No, your idea is correct, but the conditions for elimination aren't enough," Stark continued. "Based on the intelligence we have so far, Loki is indeed a qualified God of Mischief."

"But Loki and Thor are unqualified as gods because their human traits are too prominent. Not only are they both megalomaniacs, but Loki is also vain and loves vanity."

"This kind of person craves flowers and applause, wants everyone to witness their victory—"

He needs an audience, and incidentally, to elevate his name to a higher level—

The Avengers exchanged bewildered glances, then looked Tony Stark up and down, wondering why he was being so blunt about himself.

Natasha bluntly stated, "Mr. Stark, now is not the time to talk about your bad character; these things are unimportant."

"No, this is very important." Stark jumped to his feet and paced back and forth in the room. "Guys, what do you think of Stark Tower?"

"It's terrible," Captain America said bluntly.

Ever since being rescued from the Arctic by S.H.I.E.L.D.., he has been exercising near Hell's Kitchen every day, and each time he is uncomfortable from the glittering, light-polluting Stark Tower.

Thinking of this, he emphasized his assessment. "Completely rotten."

Banner laughed and commented, "Worst than ever before."

He had been working there for over a year and harbored deep resentment towards the building.

What working person doesn't hate their workplace?

Natasha scoffed, "It couldn't be worse."

At this moment, the hot-tempered Stark seemed not to hear what the others were saying, muttering to himself, "Stark Tower was a design I personally selected. Not just on the East Blue, but all over the world, there's nowhere more flamboyant than Stark Tower— "

Suddenly, he leaped to his feet, cursing, "Loki, you son of a bitch!"

After saying that, he immediately rushed out of the conference room, presumably to find his Iron Man Armor.

Stark nearly collided with Nick Fury as he rushed out. He had already obtained Shazo's permission through Rockefeller's connections to enter the maintenance dock at Pier Six.

Upon entering, he asked Dr. Banner what had happened, then immediately opened his Communicator and loudly commanded, "Activate the satellites immediately! I need to see Stark Tower!"

Two minutes later, everyone arrived at the second operations command center and crowded together to look at the large screen inside. The screen showed the top of Stark Tower.

Then they immediately spotted Dr. Erik in the ultra-high-definition footage, rapidly setting up a strangely shaped device on the rooftop platform of the building.

The instrument emitted a blue light.

Nick Fury, who was particularly focused on his own possessions, immediately recognized the source of the blue light as the Tesseract. He excitedly exclaimed, "Finally found it!"