The dagger slid another inch forward.
A faint sound came from the gap in the armor.
Above the Royal Palace, the golden markers representing the twelve Vanguard Ships all wavered almost simultaneously.
The Number One Assassin in the Nine Realms, Loki, was distracted.
The Queen seized the chance to twist her hand back and clamp down on Loki's wrist.
The feather blades spread behind the throne closed in together.
Loki immediately released the dagger and pulled back, his body skimming the blades. The Queen's feather blades crossed past her waist, slicing a corner off his green cloak, but he had already landed on the other side of the throne.
The dagger remained in the Queen's back.
Green Magic crept down its handle into her armor, then spread along the golden patterns beneath the throne.
"You thought one little knife could take my army away from me?"
"Of course not."
Loki raised his hand. The newly raised seat to the throne's left lit up green as well.
"So I also borrowed the mark you gave me."
The Queen closed her fingers.
The golden patterns inside the Royal Palace dimmed a degree. The twelve Vanguard Ships had already locked onto Midgard. Their cannons did not go dark; instead, their sterns lit up one after another.
Loki only managed to cut off the new commands.
But the command already sent was still being executed.
"Spider-Man."
Loki looked toward the lower corridor.
"You'd better hurry."
"You did all that prep work, then suddenly outsourced the final step?"
Chen Mo shot two strands of webbing overhead, attaching them to the golden shipping lane rising from beneath the Royal Palace.
"All right. The contractor requests a look at the instruction manual first."
The webbing had only just pulled taut when Angela vanished from in front of