Fried Egg Bomb

Thor, the God of Thunder, was not actually dead. After being locked in a special S.H.I.E.L.D. prison by his brother Loki and dropped from a great height, he managed to escape just as the prison hit the ground! This was the effect of the protagonist's immortality—as long as you're the protagonist, you can't die!

Look at it now: while in S.H.I.E.L.D., the special glass of the prison that Thor couldn't even break with Mjolnir was shattered by him on impact. That's the protagonist effect at work—you have to accept it!

The upheaval in New York naturally didn't escape Thor's perception, so he had arrived long ago. Originally, he planned to go down and help the others, but after seeing Annie take action, he first went to the rooftop to find his brother, the God of Mischief, Loki.

"Loki! Shut down the portal now. Stop while you still can! I'll plead for you before Father!" Atop Stark Tower, Thor was battling his brother, the God of Mischief, Loki.

He slammed his hammer heavily into Loki's scepter, forcing him back, then tried to use words and brotherly bonds to persuade him, hoping Loki would come to his senses and shut down the portal himself to avoid even more severe, irreversible mistakes.

Things had already reached this point—no matter the outcome, after he captured Loki and brought him back to Asgard, harsh punishment for Loki's crimes was inevitable! Thor only wished that he would wake up sooner, reduce his sins, rather than keep making mistake after mistake.

However, Thor's good intentions were not accepted by his brother Loki! Instead, Loki used the force of Thor's hammer strike to leap backward onto a higher platform atop the tower, then looked down at Thor with a sinister smile: "Too late, my brother? It can't be shut down anymore!"

Whether it truly couldn't be shut down, perhaps only Loki himself knew! Or maybe he simply didn't want to shut it down at all?

For Loki, who dreamed of being king all day, the kingdom of Asgard was certainly hopeless. Odin, that stubborn old fool, would never give him the slightest chance. So he had to settle for the next best thing and chose Earth.

Now, after all his effort to open the space gate and allow his Chitauri army to descend, when he believed victory was within his grasp, when he was about to reap the fruits of his success—how could he give up because of a few words from Thor?

The desire for power had long blinded Loki. All he could see now was the supreme authority about to fall into his hands. With the Chitauri army as his backing, he would soon rule over Earth, becoming the sole king of all humanity! He would reign here forever, countless humans groveling at his feet, and he, Loki, would become a true god!

"Stop this, Loki!" Seeing Loki still unrepentant, Thor grew anxious and leaped straight at him! But he didn't notice the smirk of a successful scheme on Loki's lips as he stood at the platform's edge.

"Fall, my dear brother!" When Thor charged recklessly at him with Mjolnir, Loki didn't panic. Instead, he feigned a block, but at the moment of contact, he sidestepped, using his scepter to guide the hammer and Thor over the platform's edge, then kicked Thor squarely in the lower back, sending him plummeting off Stark Tower.

"Ahhh~!!"

Thor lost his balance and fell from the top of Stark Tower. While such a height wouldn't be fatal for a powerful Asgardian like him, it would still leave him dizzy and sore for a while. Maybe even a minor injury?

"Now no one will bother me anymore."

Loki gloated as he watched his brother Thor fall! Just a little longer, until the portal expanded enough for the Chitauri mothership to pass through, and when tens of millions or even billions of Chitauri troops arrived on Earth, final victory would belong to him: the God of Mischief, Loki!

"That's not necessarily true!"

"Who?!"

Hearing a crisp little girl's voice behind him, Loki quickly turned to be on guard, only to find a small girl floating not far behind him, surrounded by a fiery red lava shield. This was naturally little Annie.

"Are you... a mage?" Loki was somewhat shocked. The intense magical fluctuations from the little girl told him she was a powerful sorcerer! When did Earth have such a strong mage? Why had he never heard of her?

He had just been focused on fighting his brother Thor, and the energy reaction from the Space Stone above was too strong, so he hadn't noticed when this little girl had sneaked up.

"Flame! Shatterfire!" Annie didn't give him time to think.

Annie knew that this Loki was also a mage. Although from the battle footage she'd seen last time, he didn't act much like a proper mage, striking first was always the right move! Mom had said the best way to deal with a mage was to hit them so hard they couldn't cast any spells! Only a mage who couldn't cast spells was easy to handle.

So Annie hurled several Shatterfire bolts at him, and before the fireballs reached him, she opened her palm toward him, channeling a surge of magical power that spewed fierce flames following the fireballs, sweeping toward Loki!

"Incinerate!"

These were two of Annie's signature moves. The compressed energy of powerful magical flames could burn everything ahead to ashes. She believed that after two strikes, he should be pretty much scorched, right? Then she could safely go grab that Space Stone?

"Huh? No effect..."

"Damn! That was close." As the flames dissipated, Loki knelt on one knee, gripping his scepter with both hands. A blue, translucent, circular shield emanated from the scepter, protecting him firmly.

Even though the surrounding steel-reinforced concrete walls and floor had been melted into crystallized slag by Annie's flames, he remained completely unharmed! For Loki, that had been truly dangerous. If his scepter hadn't activated the shield in time, he might have been burned to ashes.

"Now! My turn to counterattack!" Standing up, Loki squinted at Annie, then thrust his scepter forward. A dozen blue arcane energy bolts shot out, exploding around her, and the violent blue magical energy instantly engulfed Annie.

"Are you an arcane mage?" As the energy faded, Annie remained unharmed.

This level of attack couldn't hurt Annie—she still had a lava shield formed from dense flame energy wrapped around her! But to Annie, this Loki's magical energy seemed similar to the arcane energy she knew, yet also slightly different. So she asked.

"Hmph!" Loki didn't answer. He swept his hand, sending another barrage of arcane bolts, more energy projectiles flooding the spot where Annie stood.

He tried to break through her shield and quickly kill this suddenly appearing little mage girl. Otherwise, maybe soon his brother Thor would recover and climb back up, and then he, Loki, wouldn't be able to handle both Thor and a powerful fire mage alone.

"I'm over here! Take this!" After the arcane barrage ended, a small chunk of Stark Tower's top had been blasted away by Loki's magic, but Annie wasn't there—she wasn't stupid enough to stand still and take it!

Having blinked to another spot, Annie threw another fireball at Loki, but this one was much larger, at least five times the size of a normal Shatterfire! And she didn't stop at one—more giant fireballs were hurled continuously, engulfing the side of Stark Tower's top where Loki stood in flames...

Annie was never afraid of strong enemies. In her view, if one fireball couldn't solve the problem, use two; if two weren't enough, use five; if five still failed, the fireballs must not be big enough, so she needed bigger ones! A fireball the size of a washbasin hurled at your face—wouldn't you be scared?

"Huh! Still fine? How is that possible?" Annie stared at him in disbelief! Even though half the rooftop had been melted into lava by her magic, Loki still stood there with a sinister smile, his blue magical shield intact?

"Ha! I get it! It's because of your staff—there's something weird about it!!!"

Annie was initially shocked that her several attacks had no effect. This had never happened before! She knew that even the strongest shield had a limit, including her own lava shield. In her view, the attacks she'd just launched should have been impossible for him to withstand—he'd either have to run or be finished.

But now she found him unscathed after tanking her attacks! That was very strange! Annie was startled at first—if he really was that strong, she might have to think about running herself.

After sensing more carefully, she noticed something off... The shield itself wasn't that powerful; it was the staff generating it that was strong! It could continuously supply energy to the shield, so as long as the energy lasted, the shield wouldn't break. However, the shield also seemed to have a limitation: it couldn't move while in use!

Now that she'd found the cause, Annie had plenty of ways to deal with him. Right! He was just an arcane mage hiding in a turtle shell—she'd think of something! She needed to figure out how to have a bit more fun—she hadn't encountered such an interesting opponent in a long time! Lately, Annie had come up with several strange fire spells, and now she could test them on him!

"Annie! Nuke!!!" A familiar voice came from above the rooftop.

Annie was about to switch spells to deal with this troublesome Loki when she saw Coulson, who had secretly sneaked up to the space device to try to close the portal, shouting at her anxiously. He pointed at a small bright spot speeding toward Stark Tower in the sky. Iron Man Tony was following it, but from the speed, he seemed to be struggling, unsure if he could catch up in time.

"Egg? Fried egg?!" Annie wondered why Uncle Coulson was thinking about food at a time like this! She was seriously fighting an enemy! Couldn't he wait until they got back and have Aunt Melinda make him some fried eggs?

"Not fried egg, it's a nuke! Ah, no! A nuclear bomb! A big bomb! Over there!!!" Coulson was so flustered he was mixing up his words, continuing to point in the same direction, signaling Annie to look quickly.

It was a tactical nuclear missile forcibly ordered by the Security Council. From the start of the Chitauri attack until now, the military had been slow to react, while the Avengers were still putting up a fight, even making decent progress. Yet certain people suddenly jumped in, ignoring civilian casualties, and forcibly ordered a nuke to be dropped in the heart of New York City! The politics behind this were quite intriguing. Perhaps they wanted to wipe out the aliens in one go? And conveniently take out the Avengers along with them?

"Huh? Oh! So it's a fried-egg-flavored bomb..." Annie couldn't quite make out Coulson's words, but she got the gist of it.

Frowning at the missile flying closer and closer, she had no idea what a nuclear bomb was, but she understood bombs well enough. Still, why did bombs come in flavors? The Earthlings' world was so hard to understand!

And seeing Uncle Coulson shouting in such a panic, was this flavor of bomb especially dangerous? Fine! If that was the case, she'd just get rid of it. That should work, right?

Magic: Banishment!

Annie pointed at the missile, and the Banishment spell took effect, directly sending it into a Demiplane she was familiar with. In that place, there was no concept of time, and space itself was frozen—the missile was instantly locked in place the moment it entered!

These banishment-type spells were generally used to directly expel demons or other extraplanar monsters, and they were also especially effective against certain summoned creatures! They could banish things back to their original plane, or even send certain inanimate objects straight into random other planes or designated Demiplanes—some kind of gap between dimensions.

Alright! Done! After dealing with the bomb, Annie didn't hesitate for a second before using a Blink to shift positions, just as her original spot was flooded with a barrage of Arcane Barrage! That evil god Loki had actually tried to sneak attack her? No way! Now that she'd taken care of the fried egg, she could safely turn her attention back to him, hmph!

The sudden disappearance of the nuclear bomb caught Iron Man Tony completely off guard as he was carrying it, and he couldn't slow down in time before crashing straight into Stark Tower. Luckily, it was his own building, so he didn't have to worry about anyone demanding compensation—though he'd probably still have to foot the repair bill himself.