Your Armor Is Nice. It'll Be Mine Next Second

"Rumble—!!"

The night sky over New Mexico, which had only just calmed down, was torn apart once more by a massive pillar of rainbow light.

A violent energy whirlwind swept up sand across the desert, blowing away the S.H.I.E.L.D. fencing that had just been repaired.

When the light faded, a three-meter-tall steel giant stood silently at the edge of the crater. Its entire body was forged from an unknown silver metal, and its featureless face held nothing but a dark slit.

Destroyer.

Asgard's ultimate guardian, Odin's divine weapon.

"Mr. Stark?"

Coulson poked his head out from behind cover and looked at the imposing metal giant. "Is this another secret weapon from your company?"

"No."

Tony Stark kicked aside a crate on the ground and stepped onto the red portable armor—the Mark V prototype. Mechanical plates instantly covered his entire body.

"My design style isn't this... retro. Besides, this thing has no circuit activity. It's entirely powered by—"

"Magic."

Jiang Li, who had already reverted to human form, held an empty soda can as he watched the Destroyer. "Looks like you really pissed off your brother, Thor."

Thor, kneeling on the ground, abruptly raised his head, hope flashing through his eyes. "Loki? No, he's here to take me home! Brother! I'm here!"

Thor staggered toward the Destroyer, spreading his arms with a foolish grin on his face.

"Brother! I know I was wrong! Take me back to see Father!"

But what answered him was not an embrace.

The Destroyer's pitch-black faceplate suddenly opened, revealing the blazing orange fires of Hell within.

"Sizzle—boom!!"

A destructive beam mercilessly blasted the car beside Thor!

The massive shockwave sent the powerless Thor flying more than ten meters before he crashed hard into the mud, utterly disheveled.

"Looks like he isn't here to pick you up. He's here to send you off," Jiang Li said blandly.

"Open fire!!"

Coulson immediately gave the order. The automatic rifles in the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' hands roared wildly, bullets raining down on the Destroyer.

"Clang, clang, clang."

The bullets struck the Uru metal without leaving so much as a white mark. The Destroyer marched forward with heavy steps, ignoring every attack. Its faceplate opened again, and terrifying heat rays swept across the field, instantly turning half the base into an inferno.

"Damn it! JARVIS, crank the output to maximum!"

Tony could no longer stand by. Though this portable armor's defenses were mediocre, he still charged forward, firing his palm cannons in rapid succession.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two Pulse Cannon blasts struck the Destroyer precisely in the head, but only made it tilt its head slightly.

The Destroyer turned around, its hollow mask seeming to mock Tony. It raised a hand and backhanded him.

"Clang—!"

Tony spun through the air three times like a tennis ball that had been swatted away, then plunged headfirst into a sand dune.

Warning! Armor damage at 40%! Magical energy is corroding the armor plating!

Tony crawled back up, covered in dust and grime, cursing under his breath. "Okay, I don't like magic. Jiang! Stop watching the show! Use that big guy, Way Big, and stomp it to death!"

"Stomping it to death would be such a waste."

Jiang Li watched the rampaging Destroyer, a glint flashing in his eyes.

"Tony, haven't you noticed? Though this thing is a magical weapon, its essence..."

Jiang Li pointed at the Destroyer's hollow shell.

"It's armor. A suit of armor made from unknown metal, hollow inside, controlled through remote commands."

At that moment, Thor climbed out of the mud again. Looking at the injured agents and the fallen Tony, resolve flashed through his eyes.

He walked toward the Destroyer one step at a time.

"Brother, no matter what I did to you that made you hate me this much... kill me, and spare these innocent people!"

The Destroyer stopped. Its faceplate opened, and the orange light gathered to its limit—the kind of energy that could instantly vaporize Thor.

At that critical moment—

"Want to be a hero? Get in line."

A lazy voice sounded beside Thor's ear.

Jiang Li pressed his left hand on the Omnitrix, rapidly turned the dial, and locked onto the black-and-green circuit icon.

Against mindless metal constructs driven purely by commands, whether technological or magical, Galvanic Mechamorphs were the perfect hosts.

"It's Hero Time!"

Black-and-green data light erupted once again.

Jiang Li's body instantly liquefied, transforming into a mass of black metallic fluid streaked with glowing green circuitry.

"Galvanic Mechamorph—Upgrade!"

"Cover me!"

Jiang Li became a streak of black light and slid rapidly across the ground. One microsecond before the Destroyer fired its beam, he suddenly launched himself upward and splattered directly onto its back!

"Roar!!"

The Destroyer let out a beastlike growl. Magical energy churned frantically within it, trying to shake off the foreign substance clinging to its body.

"Stop struggling, big guy."

Jiang Li's voice echoed directly within the Destroyer's metal shell.

The black liquid metal rapidly seeped into every gap in the Uru metal, forcibly covering those ancient magical runes!

[System Prompt: High-density Uru metal construct detected.]

[Analyzing operating logic... identified as "Odin Rune Command."]

[Translating... converting "magic" into "bioelectric signals"... translation successful!]

Upgrade might not understand magic, but he could control the host!

As long as he controlled this armor's joints and blocked its energy vents, no matter how powerful the magic was, it couldn't be released!

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—"

Before everyone's stunned eyes—

The Destroyer's originally silver body was visibly being wrapped in black fluid, while countless green circuit patterns crawled over it like veins.

Asgard, upon the throne.

Loki, who was controlling the Destroyer with Gungnir in hand, suddenly felt the connection sever. It was like having his internet cable yanked out in the middle of a game.

"What's going on?" Loki frowned tightly and desperately channeled his divine power. "Move! Move! I am the King of Asgard!"

Earth, New Mexico.

The Destroyer's face, which had been spewing orange hellfire, suddenly went dark.

One second later—

"Hum—"

Green light ignited once more!

The circular single eye that had once represented destruction became a huge hourglass symbol glowing with an eerie green radiance.

It was no longer Odin's Destroyer.

Now, it was Jiang Li's magical mech armor.

"Clack, clack, clack."

The "corrupted" Destroyer rolled its neck, producing a series of mechanical grinding sounds.

Controlling this body with godlike defensive power, Jiang Li turned and looked toward the dumbfounded Thor and Tony in the distance.

"Feels pretty good."

A huge synthesized electronic voice came from within the Destroyer. "Much tougher than your Mark Armor, Tony."

Tony's mouth fell open. "You... you hacked it? You can hack magical equipment too?"

"As long as it's an empty shell, I can get inside."

Jiang Li controlled the Destroyer and slowly raised his head toward the boundless starry sky.

He knew that, at the end of the Bifrost, a pair of eyes was watching this place.

Jiang Li raised his right hand, covered in black liquid metal, toward the sky and slowly gave a thumbs-up.

Then he turned it downward.

"Did you hear that, Loki?"

"Your delivery has been received. As a return gift, I'll take good care of this armor for you."