In the living room of the Seaside Villa, several people dressed in casual beachwear had gathered. Aside from Coulson and Melinda, they were all members of the Avengers Squad, including Thor, who had recently returned to Earth from Asgard. It seemed he'd chased a fugitive all the way to Earth and then joined the Avengers.
Oh, no! They were still missing one member—the guy called Hawkeye!
Word was, not long ago, an alien named Loki had lured him away... You read that right! He'd been seduced by a man. The bromance was off the charts!
Black Widow could testify to that! Hawkeye had even turned on her and attacked her back then. She could never believe that her longtime partner Hawkeye would hit her for a man! Their friendship had sunk without a trace, never to be salvaged!
That evil god calling himself Loki hadn't just come to Earth and stolen the Tesseract, which the black-faced director had been overseeing research on. He'd also killed and injured people, and abducted a whole bunch of them—including Hawkeye, of course! Most of them were the director's trusted subordinates, too—the ones vetted by that ring!
That move had dealt Director Nick Fury a critical blow! His plan to eliminate Hydra, which he'd been preparing to carry out now that he'd assembled the Avengers Squad, had been ruined before it could even begin! The furious director had been forced to put that plan on hold and deal with Loki, the evil god causing trouble on Earth, first.
That was why Thor had joined the Avengers so readily. You had to understand, he'd come to Earth to drag Loki back! Of course, he also had to visit his girlfriend on Earth while he was at it. Maybe that had actually been the main reason?
Thor hadn't been too confident at first. After all, he was on his own, and Loki wasn't going to sit still and wait to be captured! Just as Thor was at his wit's end, someone had handed him exactly what he needed. A bunch of idiots calling themselves S.H.I.E.L.D. had actually invited him to join the Avengers!
It couldn't have worked out better! After asking a few questions, Thor had agreed on the spot. They had a lot of people, and they weren't weak, either! That guy called Iron Man had fought him for ages! And Captain America, who used a little shield as a weapon, wasn't half bad! Now he had a whole crew of powerful lackeys to help him deal with Loki. It was perfect! Only an idiot would turn them down!
As for the obligations that came with joining, Thor thumped his chest and declared that wouldn't be a problem at all! But he wanted to make one thing clear: once Loki was caught, he'd be taking him straight back to Asgard. If S.H.I.E.L.D. needed him to come help out with any muscle work, they'd have to call him! Oh, right. There wasn't any phone service between Earth and Asgard!
Then they'd just have to wait until Earth invented a way to communicate across the stars. Thor still had a few thousand years to live, after all. He could wait! Whether S.H.I.E.L.D. would still exist in a few thousand years was none of his concern.
In the living room, Thor held Mjolnir and watched Annie with a furrowed brow. He still didn't know who she really was, and the feeling was hard to believe! He'd discovered that the power within this little girl was no weaker than his father's.
That was absurd!
Since when had Earth had such a powerful native sorcerer? If he remembered correctly, the last time he'd come to Earth, its people had only just learned to make fire by drilling wood! How had they reached this level in the blink of an eye? Did short-lived races really climb the tech tree that fast?
And the most important thing was, the girl was so young! By Earth's reckoning, she was only eight, right? An eight-year-old demigod? What a joke! Just imagine what she'd be like when she grew up!
Thor decided that perhaps, once he returned home, he should ask his father to reconsider his attitude toward Earth!
"Ha! You're Annie, right? The little girl who chased me around in that red Quinjet?"
Tony Stark watched Annie alongside Thor for a while, and it brought back some unpleasant memories. So this was the culprit who'd made him look like such a mess! Sure, he wasn't going to hold a grudge against a little girl, but since he'd finally run into her, Tony still felt like grabbing those rosy cheeks and giving them a good twist to let off some steam!
"You're Tony, right? I'm really interested in your research. Come on, let's have a chat!"
Hulk—oh! He was supposed to be called Bruce Banner now!—kindly stepped in front of Tony and put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from going over to bully Annie.
"I'd advise you not to do that. Even I'm scared of her when she gets going," Bruce whispered in Tony's ear.
With Coulson introducing them, the Avengers exchanged a few words and nodded to show they'd met. The Avengers had finally been officially formed in this little villa. If the house was still around countless years later, maybe someone would turn it into a museum and charge tourists a fortune to get in?
Black Widow was watching Annie's teddy bear intently from a distance, while Tony looked like he wanted to take it apart and study it. Thor curled his lip in disdain! Foolish Earthlings. More than two thousand years had passed, and they still couldn't see things for what they were.
Thor knew, of course, that a powerful Shadow Creature was sealed inside that teddy bear. But he was confident that Mjolnir could handle it! Still, the little girl named Annie seemed even more worth paying attention to than the bear.
"Hello, Annie! My name is Thor. I come from Asgard. It's a pleasure to meet you, powerful sorcerer!"
Thor walked up to Annie, clenched his right hand into a fist, pressed it to his chest, and solemnly saluted her. A strong person—especially a powerful sorcerer—was certainly worthy of the respect of a prince of Asgard!
"Huh? Oh! I'm happy to meet you, too!"
Annie was startled. She didn't know why this strange uncle was acting like that, but she politely returned a proper curtsy.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen!" Coulson clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.
"You all know why I called you here today. A man named Loki stole the Tesseract and intends to carry out some kind of scheme. So I hope you'll all stay alert and be ready to act at a moment's notice!"
"I should warn you: Loki plans to use the Space Stone to open a portal and let his army invade Earth!" Thor knew Loki's plans well. That was exactly why he'd come to Earth.
"Wait! The Space Stone? What's that?" Coulson was confused by the term!
"The Space Stone is what we call it in Asgard. I think you call it the Tesseract? It's just a different name for the same thing! It has the power of space and almost unlimited energy. Its main purpose is to open a space gate!" Thor explained casually.
The Space Stone? The Tesseract? Unlimited energy? Its main purpose was to open a space gate?!
At that, Annie's eyes lit up. It sounded really powerful! She just didn't know if it could open a gate back to Valoran. If it could, she definitely had to get her hands on it! Annie secretly made up her mind.
"I see. So where's this Loki?" If the Space Stone was in the hands of that bad guy called Loki, all she had to do was find him and take it! That was Annie's plan, anyway. She was very good at stealing things! Find him, let Little Bear beat him up, then take his stuff!
"That's exactly what we're trying to find out! For now, we may have to wait for him to show himself," Coulson said helplessly. So far, S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't found the slightest trace of him.
"Hey, guys! What are we doing here? Waiting for a party to start? If there's nothing to do, I'm heading home!" Tony shouted, unwilling to waste his time here.
If the enemy hadn't shown up, what was the point of waiting around? As Tony saw it, he might as well go find some pretty girls to take to bed. As for that evil god named Loki who seduced men? They could deal with him when he showed up! Tony's Iron Man Suit had been upgraded several times and could fly like a bat out of hell. He could get moving then and still make it in time.
"Good point. I'll head out, too! I have a date later. Just let me know when you find him!" Seeing Tony leave, Thor followed him out! He missed Jane Foster, the girlfriend he'd met the last time he came to Earth looking for his hammer. Since someone was already helping him look for Loki, there was no reason for him to stay. He was more and more convinced that joining the Avengers had been the right decision. He could chase girls and hunt for Loki at the same time! It was fantastic!
"Fine. I don't have anywhere else to go, so I'll stay here for now." Bruce didn't dare leave, because he'd just seen the hopeful look in Annie's eyes! The little girl seemed to like having people around, so she wanted him to stay. But... what was she holding the teddy bear for?
Since he couldn't leave, he had no choice but to stay. He had a feeling that if he did leave, something bad would happen. So he reluctantly stayed. He could eat and stay here for free, and the place was nice, too. Why not? He could avoid having to work and focus on learning to control his anger. That was right! Exactly!
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