Thor, thoroughly taken in, left Asgard with the Captain and the others to search for Hela.
Tony stayed behind, waiting for Loki to crack the Asgard Vault.
As time passed, Loki's painstaking efforts soon began to ease the Asgard Vault open.
A flicker of delight crossed Tony's face. He was in no particular hurry, but the prolonged lack of results had still left him a little irritated.
Fortunately, everything was finally coming together.
Just as he prepared to enter, a figure suddenly stepped out of space and stood beside him.
Hela looked at Tony with the commanding air of a mature woman, a faint smile playing on her lips. "Well? Mind if I join you?"
Tony rolled his eyes at her words and answered bluntly, "I do."
"You want a free ride? Dream on."
He spoke without a shred of courtesy, completely forgetting that he was a freeloader himself.
Hela did not get angry at Tony's words. Her arrogance only surfaced in front of the weak.
In front of the strong, she was perfectly capable of having a calm conversation.
"At your current pace, you'll still need some time to open the vault doors."
"With my help, you could open them very soon."
A faint smile curled Hela's lips as she spoke slowly, her tone utterly composed.
"Oh?"
Tony glanced at her and asked in puzzlement, "Then you could go in yourself. Why bother joining me?"
"I want to work with you against the gods of Asgard. Helping you open the vault would be a gesture of goodwill. What do you say?"
An alliance? Interesting.
An amused smile appeared on Tony's face.
"Those guys don't seem to be a match for you. Wouldn't an alliance be unnecessary?"
"They're nothing special, but there's one troublesome old man I'm not sure I