Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
As soon as Tony left.
Thor spun his hammer and landed at the manor entrance.
Upon hearing news about his beloved brother.
He hurriedly came to Earth.
On the way, he even had a fight with Iron Man and Captain America.
After clearing up the misunderstanding.
Thor didn't forget to visit the brave little girl, Mathilda, and also brought her the Asgardian weapon he promised.
Since he had shattered the Bifrost himself, traveling to the Dwarven Realm became troublesome, so he simply picked a weapon from Odin's vault.
Uh... it was a sword.
It could change its size according to the user.
Thor thought it suited Mathilda well, so he brought it.
Upon hearing Loki's news, he hurried to Midgard with the sword, but he hadn't tested its abilities yet.
"Asgardian Thor visits!"
Thor shouted toward the manor, "Is Mathilda here?"
This was the address he got from Coulson, so it should be correct.
A moment later.
Silver Sable arrived at the entrance with a few subordinates, sizing up the muscular man, "Thor? There's no record of your invitation."
Boom.
Boom....
At that moment.
Heavy footsteps made the ground tremble.
The Destroyer armor was walking over.
And Mathilda was riding on its head.
"Weird uncle, it's you."
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Mathilda! It's dangerous!"
Seeing the lively Destroyer, Thor hurriedly waved his hammer, "That cunning brother of mine even got the Destroyer back!?"
"Huh? Little Destroyer is very obedient now."
Mathilda patted the Destroyer's metallic head.
"Little Destroyer, come, greet the weird uncle."
Clang—
The Destroyer raised a metal arm and... gave Thor the middle finger...
Thor: ???
What's going on?
He was completely confused...
"Eh?"
Mathilda bent her finger and knocked on the Destroyer's "smart" head, "Wrong, not this one."
Clang—
The Destroyer raised its other metal arm and showed Thor two middle fingers...
Is there a problem?
No problem.
Because in the instructions Ye Li gave it, this was the greeting gesture.
How could the Destroyer have any bad intentions~
"..."
But Thor felt something was off...
He turned to Silver Sable and asked.
"What does this gesture mean? Is this how you Earthlings greet each other?"
"We Earthlings?"
Silver Sable glanced at Thor strangely.
Seeing that he genuinely didn't understand.
In her beautiful silver eyes.
A trace of...
Mischief~
"Ah... Hmm! That's right."
She deceived Thor.
"This is a very good way to greet people. Earthlings love to use it, especially Americans."
As the saying goes, 'Those close to ink turn black'...
Ahem... 'Those close to cinnabar turn red'!
Under Ye Li's charismatic influence, even the cold Silver Sable had become a little devious...
Sssssip~ Sssssip~
"Ha~"
Barbara held a white cloth, carefully wiping her beloved bear-patterned ceramic coffee cup, occasionally blowing a warm breath on it.
Ye Li couldn't help but glance at her twice: 'Their base is about to be taken down, yet she still looks so relaxed...'
Shouldn't it be 'S.H.I.E.L.D. is in trouble, return immediately!'?
Meanwhile.
Barbara noticed Ye Li glancing at her and felt a bit pleased.
Looks like I still have some charm~
This bad guy is finally paying attention to me~
Whenever she thought about... being overtaken by her colleague, she felt uncomfortable—
Clearly, whether it was undercover contact or intimate interactions, she was first...
Why did Natasha get ahead of her?
A strange sense of competitiveness.
She put down her bear-patterned cup, switched to a glass, poured herself a drink, and walked over to Ye Li.
"What's wrong~ Drinking alone here?"
Seeing that it was just the two of them, Barbara intimately leaned against him.
"Where are your little girlfriends?"
'Drinking alone?'
Ye Li looked at the juice in his hand: ?
'This isn't right, is it?'
As for why he was alone.
Gwen, Jessica, and Felicia had just finished rehearsing a performance, then had another 'session' with him, and were now exhausted, resting...
'Looks like Barbara misunderstood.'
However.
No need to explain.
Ye Li raised his glass and clinked it with hers.
"Cheers~"
Ye Li took a sip of juice, "So, do you have something special planned for me?"
"Not really."
Barbara quickly changed her mind and invited him.
"If you're free, how about joining me for some yoga?"
"Yoga?"
Ye Li maintained a smile.
"I'll pass, I'm not interested in men's yoga, but I can help you practice."
"Then I'll leave it to you~"
Barbara hooked her slender leg around Ye Li's foot, her hand holding the wine glass slipping through his arm as she intimately drank with him~
Ye Li drank juice, while she sipped strong alcohol.
Very quickly, she became more and more proactive...
"Mmm...."
Barbara pulled away, her soft lips parting as she murmured, slightly drunk, "I think I like you..."
"Remove the 'think' part."
Ye Li took a sip of juice to wash away the taste of her alcohol, then took her glass away.
"Weren't we supposed to do yoga? If you drink more, you'll actually get drunk."
"Oh... that's true..."
Barbara lightly shook her head, sobering up a bit.
She still had her yoga plan.
Getting drunk wouldn't be a good idea.
"Alright then, let me take you to a great place for yoga~"
Barbara pulled Ye Li up and led him away from the bar area.
"Whoa, Ghost-Spider's handiwork."
Nick Fury looked at Loki, who was trapped in webbing inside a cage, feeling both pleased and concerned.
The good news was—
The club was indeed a professional hero organization; their efficiency was impressive—they captured Loki so quickly.
The concern was—
The mind-controlling scepter was taken by Ghost-Spider, and he wasn't sure if the club would be willing to hand it over.
Inside the cage.
Loki's expression was somewhat gloomy.
Because.
His plan had gone off track. The spell he placed on the scepter suddenly lost its energy source.
Though the energy source returned shortly after, it had weakened significantly.
That wasn't the worst part.
After all, with his current abilities, he could only tap into a small fraction of the Mind Stone's power, so the impact wasn't huge.
The key issue was—
The person who took the scepter, and the person who captured him, were not the same people!
This made things really difficult.....
"You don't look too happy."
Fury decided to vent his frustration on Loki first.
"Didn't you say humans were weak and pathetic?
And now? You've been defeated by humans and are tied up in this humiliating state."
"Tch... So what?"
"You want the power of the Tesseract?"
Even though Loki was tied up in webs and looked rather comical, that didn't stop him from sneering and mocking the bald man in front of him.
"Wu—~
"That feeling of failing at the last moment must be frustrating, huh? You were so close to gaining the Tesseract's power."
Nick Fury furrowed his brows, staring at Loki.
If it weren't for Thor being around, he would have definitely given Loki a harsh interrogation!
[Director, Mr. Stark has retrieved the scepter. It has been delivered to the research lab.]
Hearing the report in his earpiece.
Fury's expression relaxed.
This was good news.
He glanced at Loki before turning to leave, intending to inspect the scepter first.
After Nick Fury left.
Loki lowered his head, revealing a cold smirk.....
This was good news.....
The Ghost-Spider Club had expanded significantly.
As a result, Barbara now had a spacious, private yoga room.
At this moment.
Barbara had changed into a form-fitting yoga outfit and was lying on a yoga mat, practicing.
Ye Li pulled up a chair and sat to the side, watching, with no interest in joining the yoga session himself.
"How's this pose?"
Barbara wanted to show off her figure and flexibility in front of Ye Li.
She placed her forearms on the ground, bent deeply backward, and positioned her toes on her head, striking a Scorpion Pose.
"Impressive, right? You've definitely never seen this before~"
"Impressive, yeah...."
Ye Li stroked his chin and commented, "But Gwen is really skilled at this one..."
"Hmm?"
Barbara switched to another yoga pose, a Plow Pose variation where her knees pressed against her ears, "What about this one?"
"Uh... she just practiced this one yesterday..."
"..."
Barbara refused to believe it and switched to another pose—this time, her specialty, the Elbow Wheel Pose.
"She couldn't have practiced this one too, right?"
"This pose...."
Ye Li didn't want to discourage Barbara, but he believed in honesty, so he told the truth.
"Felicia has been using this one for training lately..."
Bang~
Barbara flopped onto the yoga mat like a defeated fish, feeling disheartened.
"What kind of extraordinary girls are they...?"
Ye Li shrugged...
In fact, he was holding back.
With Gwen and Felicia's level of flexibility.
They had even invented several yoga poses that normal humans couldn't possibly achieve.
Barbara was already a top-tier flexibility expert, but compared to superhumans, she was still outmatched.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, Helicarrier.
Main control room.
Black Widow Natasha, Captain America Steve, and Dr. Bruce Banner—the three Avengers Initiative members—sat around a table discussing matters.
Of course.
It was mainly Dr. Banner speaking, while the other two listened.
Because among the three, only he understood some of the theoretical aspects.
"I think his plan involves machinery."
Dr. Banner pondered aloud.
"He had Barton steal iridium metal, but what do they need iridium for...?"
"It can be used as a stabilizer."
Tony Stark walked in from the corridor, providing an answer to Banner, then turned to look at Maria Hill, who was directing agents.
"I've brought the scepter and placed it in the control room. Fury should be thanking me."
Hill nodded.
"Mr. Stark, thank you for your help."
"No need for verbal gratitude. Just have S.H.I.E.L.D. stop hacking into my tower's system."
Stark waved his hand dismissively.
"You have no idea—when I was having a beautiful moment with Pepper, Coulson's nearly bald head suddenly appeared in front of me. Do you know how that feels?"
"....It's 'our' S.H.I.E.L.D., Mr. Stark."
Hill corrected him.
"I'll report this to the Director. Right now, we should focus on working together."
"I am being cooperative, or else I'd be on a date with Pepper or playing cards with Ye Li instead of being here."
As soon as Tony appeared, he took control of the conversation.
He sat directly on the table and said.
"Let's get back to the main topic. With iridium metal as a stabilizer, the new portal won't collapse like the one at the research base did."
"Additionally, according to Loki's needs, this portal can be made larger and sustain itself for a longer duration."
"Exactly!"
At that moment.
Thor, having delivered his gift, walked in.
"My brother wants to use this portal to lead the Chitauri army to invade Earth!"
Steve: "Chitauri?"
Thor explained, "They are not from Asgard, nor do they belong to any planet."
"They're from deep space?"
Tony greeted Thor.
"Hey, big guy. Good fight. Your hammer's pretty powerful."
Hearing Tony praise his hammer, Thor, in return, raised his middle finger in greeting, "Hello."
Tony: ??
Thor, unaware of their expressions, turned his middle finger toward Steve, "Hello, good fight."
Steve: ???
Seeing both of them looking utterly dumbfounded.
Thor smiled contentedly to himself, thinking: 'Looks like they're all surprised by my courtesy. This greeting was worth learning.'
Feeling proud, he turned and aimed his middle finger at Hill, "Hello, la—"
Slap!!
Hill raised her hand and delivered a loud slap!
Thor: ????
Though it didn't hurt.
But he was completely dumbfounded.....
Clap clap~
Tony clapped his hands and nodded, "Nice hit."
"Hey! I usually don't hit women."
Thor said to Hill, feeling wronged, "You need to explain this to me."
Hill rolled her eyes and couldn't be bothered to respond.
It was Captain America who was more understanding. He hesitated before asking, "Thor... did you misunderstand something?"
…..
"Li."
Just as Ye Li was reminiscing about Gwen and the others practicing their graceful yoga poses.
A golden-haired beauty raised her elegant long leg and playfully poked him with her delicate foot.
"Didn't you say you'd help me practice yoga~"
"No problem, I'm a professional at this."
Ye Li didn't refuse—it was something he had agreed to.
Barbara cheered herself on internally: 'Come on, Barbara~'
Even if she had been outdone, she wouldn't give up.
With Natasha as an example.
Barbara chose to face her true feelings, realizing that she genuinely liked Ye Li, not just for a mission.
She wanted to fight for her own love. After all, it wasn't unheard of for agents to end up with their mission targets.