Two weeks after the end of the Arctic War.
The defeated Loki was imprisoned in S.H.I.E.L.D..'s highest-security prison, where the escape rate had been zero for decades.
Loki was interrogated twenty-seven times.
The result was nothing.
Fury stood behind the one-way glass, looking at Loki in the interrogation room, his face darker than usual.
The agents in charge of the interrogations have been changed six times.
Some tried to extract information, some tried to threaten, and others produced a 300-page psychological analysis report.
But Loki only needed three sentences to make the last psychologist so angry that he slammed the door and left.
"Your so-called trial is nothing more than letting a group of mortals, who don't even know if their own wives are faithful, test a god?"
Loki leaned back in his chair, the restraint ring around his neck flashing red, his expression still arrogant.
" Fury, you'd better send some smarter people, at least not that idiot again. He's incredibly stupid."
Fury pushed open the door to the interrogation room and sat down opposite him.
"It's been half a month. No superpowers, no reinforcements, no way out. Loki, how long do you think you can remain arrogant?"
Loki smiled, but his fingers slowly tightened under the table.
Of course he was anxious.
With the Casket of Ancient Winters stolen and his magic completely sealed by an unknown force, if he remained imprisoned, Asgard would eventually discover the disappearance of the acting God-King. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was fleeting, and Thor would not remain trapped in this state indefinitely.
But it is precisely at times like these that he must not show weakness.
"Mortals have such short lifespans, yet they always like to worry about the time that immortal gods would take."
Loki raised his chin. "You'll regret not kneeling down today once I leave here."
Fury stared at him for a few seconds, then got up and left.
Outside the interrogation room, Steve had been waiting for a long time.
"Chief, I need to reactivate the extreme physical enhancement plan."
Fury stopped in his tracks. "Do you know why that project was shelved?"
"Know."
Steve looked at Loki behind the glass. "But what I know even more clearly is that on the Arctic battlefield, which will determine the fate of the Earth, I can't even get close to them."
He didn't want to experience that feeling of helplessness a second time.
Fury paused for a moment, then led him into a closed laboratory.
In the center of the metal platform, there was a pale gold potion, and next to it was an unfinished black combat suit.
"This is a new solution developed from the energy technology provided by Stark, your blood sample, and S.H.I.E.L.D..'s inventory."
Fury looked at Steve: "The success rate is only 62 percent."
When can we begin?
"You didn't even ask about the side effects?"
Steve said seriously, "Tell me after I lie down."
Fury suddenly felt that the headache he had just gotten from being angered by Loki had gotten a little worse.
On the other side.
Thor is doing quite well lately.
He has learned to take the subway, to use a microwave oven, and even to fight with a group of middle-aged women for the last two boxes of beef during supermarket sales.
The only thing I haven't learned is how to control my food intake.
" Thor, this is your fourth steak today."
Erin sat across the table, her expression somewhat helpless.
Thor put down his knife and fork and corrected him earnestly, "In Asgard, this is merely an appetizer."
"But this is New York, and I'm the one paying."
Thor fell silent.
A few seconds later, he pushed the menu back in front of Erin, a somewhat guilty smile on his face.
"Then I'll have another bread."
Erin looked at the silly-looking Thor and couldn't help but laugh.
"Idiot, just eat it! Consider it a reward for you."
These days, she goes out to interview during the day, while Thor stays home researching lifestyles on Earth. In the evenings, the two eat together, and she listens to Thor tell those stories of the Asgard that are hard to distinguish between true and false.
The room light was broken, and Thor changed it by standing on a chair.
When someone downstairs caused trouble, it was Thor went out to resolve it.
Although he eventually removed the other person's car door, at least his intentions were good.
Across the street.
The Ancient One stood in the mezzanine space, watching the two people in the restaurant who were deeply in love, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
This is too uneventful; it shouldn't be like this. There should be some danger at times like this to awaken Thor's potential.
Is it because the timeline is completely messed up?
At this rate, Thor might not even understand the sacrifice after another two months of honeymoon, let alone pick up Mjolnir again to fulfill his duties as God of Thunder. This silly boy is already thinking about the two of them working together to buy a house in the future.
"We have to intervene."
He raised his hand, and a wisp of orange light shone from his fingertips.
By slightly altering the timeline, placing Erin in danger, and then forcing Thor to make a choice, things become much simpler.
The magic had just probed into the timeline when a hand suddenly reached out from the side and extinguished it.
" Chen Mo, what are you doing?" The Ancient One turned around and asked.
Chen Mo stood beside him, his expression not good. "Old man, shouldn't I be asking you that?"
"I'm just helping him complete the trials that were destined for him."
You call staging car accidents, kidnappings, and misunderstandings "training"?
The Ancient One calmly said, " Chen Mo, a relationship often needs conflict to reach its full potential."
"Sublimation my ass."
Chen Mo rolled his eyes. "Their relationship has just started to progress, and you have to come up with a melodramatic plot. What, Sorcerer Supreme also working part-time as a screenwriter for a prime-time drama on TV?"
" Chen Mo, you have to understand, a mundane life won't allow him to regain his divine power, and we need God of Thunder."
"I think we should listen to me and try a more direct approach."
Chen Mo gave the Ancient One the middle finger, then turned and disappeared.
The underground laboratory of Stark Tower.
Tony had been working for thirty-seven hours straight, staring at a piece of armor plate covered in frost.
" JARVIS, record the 587th test. The anti-magic coating held up well in the extreme cold..."
A hand suddenly grabbed his collar.
"Only lasted seventeen seconds! Failing grade, you can go home now."
Before Tony could even resist, Chen Mo dragged him out of the lab.
"Wait, Chen Mo! What are you doing? My experiment isn't over yet!"
"Please, Tony, we have more important things to do now."
"What? Don't tell me the Earth is going to be destroyed again!"
"Almost."
Chen Mo said seriously, "It's that big, silly alien prince who's going to confess his love today."
Tony paused for two seconds, then thought for a moment.
"You'd better give me an explanation as to why this is on par with the destruction of the Earth."
"Because the old master is planning to arrange a tragic drama for him, which might cause a lot of trouble."
That is indeed quite dangerous.
A few minutes later.
The door of a street-side restaurant was pushed open.
Chen Mo walked in front, with Tony following behind, and the two swaggered into the restaurant.
The diners glanced at Chen Mo first, then all looked at Tony.
"OMG!"
Someone put down their fork.
Someone immediately took out their phone.
The waiter by the window froze, nearly spilling coffee from his tray onto the customer's head.
"That's Tony Stark?"
"Why would Iron Man come to a place like this?"
"Is he here to buy out this restaurant?"
Amidst hushed whispers, Chen Mo and Tony walked straight to Thor's table.
Thor was holding Erin's hand, completely unaware of the noise in the restaurant.
He prepared for an entire night before finally deciding to speak his mind.
" Erin, actually I..."
Bang.
Chen Mo pulled out a chair and sat directly to Thor's left.
Tony pulled out another chair and sat down to Thor's right.
The two moved in unison, one on the left and one on the right, sandwiching Thor between them.
Thor stared at the two men in astonishment, his mouth agape, but he swallowed the rest of his words, his face quickly turning red.
Chen Mo looked at him. "Go on, we won't disturb you."
Tony picked up the menu from the table. "Yeah, just pretend we're not here. I haven't had dinner yet. How about this Hamburg?"
Thor looked to his left, then to his right.
At that moment, he suddenly felt that lifting Mjolnir again might be easier than speaking.
Erin, on the other side, was completely stunned.
She looked at Tony, who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and her professional instincts instantly overwhelmed any expectation that Thor would say something.
The next second, Erin frantically rummaged through her backpack, pulled out a voice recorder, and pressed the switch.
" Mr. Stark! I never expected this. May I ask what brings you here?"
Thor: "..."
His confession seems to have ended there?
God of Thunder began to carefully consider the possibility of summoning Mjolnir to kill those two bastards here.