The deathly silence in the conference room didn't last long.
Peter Parker was still nodding blankly, not yet recovered from the overwhelming scene he had just witnessed, when ripples appeared in the space around him once again.
Buzz--
A familiar, circular portal, sparkling with golden sparks, opened out of thin air.
Tony Stark was the first to emerge from inside. His nanotech armor had been deactivated from combat mode, but several obvious signs of energy burns were still visible.
He took off his helmet, revealing a face that was exhausted yet also showed a hint of relief.
Following closely behind were Strange and Wanda.
Doctor Strange's dark circles looked like they were welded to his face, and he exuded an aura of "Don't mess with me, I'm about to die from exhaustion."
Wanda, on the other hand, fared somewhat better. Her scarlet Sorcerer Supreme robes made her look powerful and mysterious, though a hint of weariness could not be hidden between her brows.
Before anyone in the conference room could ask any questions, another portal opened beside them.
Thump!
With a muffled thud, a giant warhammer, taller than a person and with a rugged and ferocious appearance, was slammed into the ground, causing the floor to tremble three times.
The burly, Fat Thor strode out, carrying his warhammer, followed by Mighty Thor Jane wielding her pink Mjolnir.
Following closely behind, Vision, Black Widow Natasha), and War Machine Rhodey) returned one after another through their respective channels, making the previously spacious top-floor conference room feel somewhat crowded.
Tony Stark, who had just returned, immediately spotted Thor standing there calmly.
He walked straight over and stood in front of Thor. His face, which always wore a mocking and arrogant expression, now revealed a complex emotion.
"Thanks," Tony said, his voice a little hoarse. He looked at Thor and said, word by word, "I really like the gift you gave me."
Upon hearing this, Thor instinctively took two steps back, a look of disgust on his face.
No, I don't need your approval.
He certainly knew what Tony was talking about.
When he casually resurrected Wanda's parents last time, he also pulled Howard Stark and his wife back from the brink of death, since Tony was somewhat agreeable to them.
For Thor, it was a simple favor, but for Tony, it meant something entirely different.
Thor, not wanting to get bogged down in this, glanced at the Avengers present, then looked directly at Tony and asked:
"What's going on with your universe? How come we always run into these bizarre things? First, there was Thanos, who doesn't play by the rules, then there was Kang the Conqueror, and now nanobots and demons have gotten involved."
Mentioning this, Tony Stark's expression, which had just eased somewhat, immediately turned serious again.
He lowered his voice and asked, "How much do you know about Valeria's godfather?"
Thor paused for a moment, then realized, "What does this have to do with Doctor Doom?"
"This is extremely important!" Tony gritted his teeth.
"That genius girl confessed that the portal that sent that damned sea serpent monster to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean was opened by her bastard godfather, Victor von Doom!"
Demonic Phantoms, nanobots, Doctor Doom...
These keywords instantly connected in Thor's mind.
He immediately thought of an evil organization notorious throughout the multiverse that took pleasure in Carnage heroes from various universes.
Masters of Evil League.
A terrifying League consisting of Doom Supreme, Ghost Green Goblin, Black Skull, King Killmonger, Black Phoenix Mystique, and a teenage Thanos.
Each member of that group, taken individually, is a ruthless individual capable of destroying a planet.
Behind them lies an even more terrifying entity— the Red Council, composed of 615 Mephisto from different dimensions.
Thor's face darkened; he hadn't expected these flies to have their eyes on this universe so quickly.
He succinctly shared the information he knew. "An organization called ' The Masters of Evil,' whose members are all corrupted versions of top villains from other universes. Their superiors are the ' Red Council,' a collection of Mephisto. In short, they've turned your universe into their hunting ground."
"Fuck you!" Tony couldn't help but curse, his face turning extremely ugly. "A bunch of lunatics!"
Thor continued:
"But strangely, given their modus operandi, if testing them with that sea serpent failed, they should have continued their covert maneuvers; they wouldn't have retreated so quickly. Those Demonic Phantoms and nanobots earlier seemed more like another kind of test."
He always felt there was something else going on behind this incident.
Just then, Dr. Banner, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.
He adjusted his glasses and said in his gentle yet rational voice, " Thor, you said they find pleasure in hunting heroes and annihilating universes... Is it possible that while probing this universe, they discovered another... easier universe to bully?"
Banner's words were like a bolt of lightning, instantly cleaving through the fog in Thor's mind.
yes!
A hunter has discovered two hunting grounds: one with tough prey, and the other with seemingly weak and vulnerable prey. Which one will he choose?
Thor's expression changed drastically.
The next second, he closed his eyes, and his unimaginably vast spiritual power instantly traversed space, descending directly to the seabed of the Atlantic Ocean.
He precisely detected the extremely faint magical traces left behind by the closed portal, and then followed these traces backward!
His perception pierced through countless crystalline galaxies, swept across countless bizarre and wondrous worlds, and finally locked onto a coordinate.
However, the moment Thor sensed the specifics of that universe, his brow furrowed sharply.
Because that universe was none other than the universe he himself had existed in during his first incarnation!
He clearly remembered how, before he acquired the cheat code of Heaven-Defying Comprehension, he had used his life to grind down Hela, the colossal serpent Jormungandr, the Surtur, the Fire Giant, and countless Frost Giants in Ragnarok on that land... until he finally died from exhaustion.
Then, for some unknown reason, he was thrown into the Knowhere by the Time Variance Authority, where he began a new life.
He had planned before, when he was in the DC Universe, that once he finished his current business, he would go back to his own universe to take a look.
Unexpectedly, these Masters of Evil actually dared to set their sights on his universe!
" Thor?" Captain America Steve Rogers noticed the dramatic shift in his Shang-Chi and asked with concern, "What happened?"
Thor opened his eyes, a cold glint in the depths of his gaze that no one else could comprehend.
He looked at Steve, his tone flat as if he were talking about something trivial.
"There's a minor issue with my universe, nothing serious."
The moment he finished speaking, his figure vanished without a trace, leaving not even a ripple in space.
All that was left was a room full of Avengers staring at each other, their faces filled with astonishment and confusion.
His... universe?!