Another You? You Little Thief Who Stole My Armor!

Mojave Desert, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Project Pegasus base.

A piercing alarm echoed dozens of meters underground. Countless agents ran through the corridors as an emergency evacuation got underway.

"Sir, the Tesseract's behavior is completely uncontrollable."

Behind the blastproof glass of the underground laboratory, Dr. Eric Selvig stared at the screen, drenched in sweat. "It's emitting increasingly powerful low-frequency gamma rays... It's actively trying to open a 'door.'"

"Who's on the other side?" Nick Fury strode into the laboratory, his black leather trench coat bringing in a gust of cold air.

Behind him followed Jiang Li, looking like he had not woken up yet.

He still held a half-eaten sandwich, clearly an "outside consultant" Fury had forcibly dragged away from a party at Stark Tower.

"Who's on the other side isn't important, Nick."

Jiang Li swallowed the bacon in his mouth and looked at the humming cube glowing with an eerie blue light. "What matters is, whoever's on the other side doesn't want to knock. He plans to blow the wall down."

The moment the words left his mouth.

"Bzzzt—!!"

The Tesseract suddenly erupted with blinding blue light, and the formerly stable energy beam instantly went wild.

Space began to warp as a pitch-black wormhole tore open in the center of the equipment. Its shriek shattered every glass instrument around it.

The light faded.

A figure in green Asgardian robes knelt on one knee atop the platform. He held a scepter embedded with the Mind Stone, and greasy long hair hung around his face as a sinister smile curved his lips.

Loki, the God of Mischief.

"Sir, please put down your spear." Fury's hand quietly moved toward the gun at his waist, though he knew it would be useless.

Loki slowly rose to his feet and glanced at the tense agents around him, his gaze as contemptuous as though he were looking at a swarm of ants.

"I am Loki, from Asgard. I bear a glorious purpose..."

"Pfft."

An ill-timed laugh interrupted Loki's speech.

Loki abruptly turned, his cold eyes locking onto Jiang Li behind Fury.

In that instant, Loki's pupils constricted sharply.

That presence... the same presence that had controlled The Destroyer and flipped him off!

"It's you!!"

Loki's elegant fake smile instantly vanished, replaced by teeth-gritting rage. Even the hand clutching his scepter trembled.

"You Earth rat who stole my armor!!"

"Hey, reindeer baby."

Jiang Li wiped the bread crumbs from the corner of his mouth and pointed at the two exaggerated long horns on Loki's helmet. "That new look is pretty distinctive. Getting ready for Christmas?"

"I'll tear you to pieces!!"

Loki was completely enraged. Old grudges and new hatred surged into his mind as he sharply raised the Mind Scepter in his hand, the gem at its tip blazing brightly.

"Bzzzt—!"

A brilliant blue energy beam, powerful enough to pierce a main battle tank's armor, shot straight at Jiang Li's face!

"Watch out!" Fury shouted.

But Jiang Li advanced instead of retreating.

"Energy attacks? Then you've picked the wrong target."

Jiang Li slammed his left hand onto the Omnitrix on his chest and turned it to a new icon marked with a dangerous radiation warning.

"It's Hero Time!"

A heavy dark-red flash burst forth, accompanied by the frantic crackling of a Geiger counter going off the charts.

Clang!!

Loki's beam did not pierce Jiang Li. Instead, it struck a heavy metal object and rang out with a crisp impact.

The smoke dispersed.

A bulky dark-red metal humanoid, resembling an old-fashioned boiler, appeared before everyone. He wore thick nuclear protective armor, and scorching red radiation light shone through the three grilles on his helmet.

"Prypiatosian-B—NRG!"

"Hm?"

NRG let out a deep, muffled sound with a heavy Russian accent and lowered his head to look at the slightly reddened armor plate on his chest.

"This little bit of energy? It's not even enough to heat up my breakfast."

"What?" Loki froze.

Before he could react, NRG began marching forward with heavy steps, each one leaving a melted footprint in the floor.

"Since you like playing with fire so much, let me treat you to a sauna!"

The grilles on NRG's helmet suddenly lit up.

"Thermal Ray!"

A crimson beam of high-energy radiation shot from his eyes! This was no ordinary flame, but pure fusion energy!

Loki's expression changed drastically. As an Asgardian, he instinctively sensed the terror of that energy. He hurriedly raised the Mind Scepter to block it.

Boom—!!

The massive explosion sent Loki flying, slamming him hard into the laboratory wall. The specially reinforced blastproof wall instantly melted into a huge hole under the extreme heat, while nearby metal equipment began softening like candles.

"Warning! High-energy radiation leak detected!" the base's AI blared in a shrill alarm.

Fury and the agents had no choice but to retreat. Even from several meters away, they felt as if their skin were burning.

"Damn it... why do these mortals have so many tricks?"

Loki scrambled to his feet in a sorry state, a large section of his robe scorched black. He realized that in such a cramped space, he could gain no advantage by fighting this "nuclear boiler" head-on.

He was the God of Mischief, not a berserker.

Loki's eyes shifted toward Hawkeye, Clint Barton, who was hiding behind cover.

"Serve me."

Loki's body instantly became an afterimage, dodging NRG's cumbersome attack as the Mind Scepter touched Hawkeye's chest.

His black pupils instantly dilated.

Hawkeye drew an arrow and fired—not at Jiang Li, but at Fury!

"Director!"

Jiang Li wanted to intervene, but his current NRG form was far too cumbersome.

At the same time, the controlled Dr. Selvig had already placed the Tesseract into a suitcase.

"Energy overload!" the doctor shouted. "The gateway is collapsing! The entire base will be sucked in!"

At that moment, the entire underground base began shaking violently. The rock layers overhead started collapsing as countless massive boulders crashed down. The Tesseract's residual energy went berserk, forming a blue void that devoured everything.

"Take the Tesseract and go!" Loki ordered Hawkeye. He jumped into a jeep, not forgetting to turn back and flash Jiang Li a mocking smile.

"Trying to run?"

Jiang Li was about to give chase when a multi-ton concrete slab came whistling down toward the injured Fury and Agent Hill, who were sprawled on the ground.

Chase Loki, and Fury would die.

Save Fury, and Loki would escape.

"Tch. What a pain."

Jiang Li had no choice but to abandon the pursuit. In an instant, he slapped the badge on his chest again.

"Switch!"

Bzzzt—crack!

A flash of red light.

The bulky nuclear-powered humanoid vanished.

In his place stood a brawny alien covered in yellow armor, with enormous mechanical drills for hands.

"Talpaedan—Armodrillo!"

"Break... apart!!"

The hydraulic pistons on Armodrillo's arms vibrated frantically, producing a teeth-grinding hum. He did not try to catch the massive boulder. Instead, he drove both fists forward!

"Shockwave!"

Boom—!!

High-frequency vibrations instantly traveled into the falling concrete slab.

The multi-ton boulder shattered into a storm of dust and broken stones the instant it touched the drills!

Fury and Hill only felt as though a sandstorm had erupted above their heads, but neither suffered any real injury.

"Fury! Move! This place is about to blow!"

Using Armodrillo's vibration abilities, Jiang Li shattered all the fallen rocks blocking the way and forcibly opened up an escape route.

Fury climbed onto the helicopter in a sorry state, turning back to look at the yellow figure holding out alone amid the collapsing ruins.

"Jiang! Get out of there!"

"Forget about me! I can dig my way out faster than you can!"

Jiang Li's arm drills spun wildly as he plunged them into the ground.

"Burrow Mode!"

One second before the entire dark energy base was completely swallowed by blue light and reduced to ashes, Jiang Li drilled deep underground like a gopher, avoiding the center of the explosion.

Ten minutes later.

On the other side of the desert.

A small mound suddenly rose from the ground.

"Pfft!"

Jiang Li crawled out, covered in dust and dirt, and spat out a mouthful of sand.

"Pfft, pfft... this is why I hate deserts."

He looked at the enormous sinkhole in the distance and the helicopter disappearing into the night—the direction Loki had fled. His eyes gradually turned cold.

At that moment, Fury's extremely suppressed roar came through the communicator. The king of spies had clearly been completely enraged as well:

"This is a declaration of war."

"Bring them together."

"Now."

Jiang Li dusted himself off and looked at the cold moon hanging in the sky.

"Is it finally starting? The Battle of New York."

He touched the watch on his wrist.

"Perfect. I still have several alien friends who haven't come out for some fresh air yet."