Only a moment after Tony finished speaking, Natasha nodded without hesitation.
"Deal. Ms. Pepper, as long as Tony gives me an answer I find satisfactory, you're free to leave!"
As she spoke, Natasha moved naturally to Tony's side and pressed her pistol against his ribs.
"There aren't many minds in this world worth trusting, but yours is one of them. So, tell me your solution!"
At that, Tony simply spread his hands.
"There are actually plenty of solutions. For example, your boss could surrender to Heisenberg, and then Heisenberg would definitely..."
Before he could finish, the cold barrel of the gun was already shoved into Tony's mouth.
It nearly smashed his teeth.
When the gun was pulled back out, Tony immediately spat in disgust.
"Fuck, there's still blood from that woman on your gun. Damn it, let's hope she didn't have any diseases!"
"Shut up, Tony. You'd better give me your answer now!"
"Okay, okay!"
Staring at the gun hovering in front of his forehead, Tony nodded helplessly.
"I know who your boss is. He said he came from Asgard, and I just so happened to have read Thor's file, so he's Thor Odinson's brother, Loki!
And considering why Thor came to Earth not long ago, the usual royal succession drama, it's obvious your boss lost the competition.
If that's the case, why not use the things he never truly had as bargaining chips with Heisenberg?"
At that point, Tony made a show of rubbing his forehead while lightly nudging Natasha's gun aside.
"Given Heisenberg's personality, your boss's biggest mistake was telling Heisenberg to kneel. That was an insult, and now he's in deep trouble!
But he still has a lot he could trade for his life!
Some precious treasure from Asgard?
A suit of divine armor that can hide itself and equip automatically like theirs?
Or he could just promise to hand Asgard over to Heisenberg!
After all, Loki never had Asgard in the first place, so giving it away wouldn't hurt his own interests!"
"Pah!" Natasha cursed immediately. "Is your intelligence really this shallow? Even I can think of a plan like that. Do you think my boss wouldn't have thought of it too?"
"Yes, yes, you're all brilliant. Which is exactly why you still need me, sweetheart!"
Tony dropped his earlier playful grin and seriously pointed at his own face.
"Heisenberg doesn't have many friends on Earth. To be precise, other than his subordinates, I'm the only one he's actually spoken with more than once. You agree with that, right?"
"That's true. I just hope you're as useful as you claim. That's the only reason I'm willing to trust you."
As Natasha spoke, she could not help glancing at the wreckage left behind from when Loki had been sent flying.
"In any case, Heisenberg is definitely going to beat my boss half to death. I just hope that after he's had enough, he'll spare me and my boss for the sake of your half-friendship with him!"
At that, she directly called out to Pepper.
"Pepper Potts, congratulations. You've just won your precious freedom!"
The moment the words left her mouth, before Pepper could even respond, countless important figures started shouting over each other.
"Tony, you can't do this! Our families go way back! You can't just save your woman and leave us behind!"
"Tell her to let us go too! I'm badly hurt, please!"
"Aren't you Iron Man? Then save us first, damn it!"
"I own stock in your company! I'm a shareholder, Tony! Let your wife take me with her!"
Hearing the increasingly chaotic shouting around him, Tony expressionlessly turned his back.
He was just about to pretend he had heard nothing when Natasha yanked him hard, shattering his cool pose.
She fired two shots into the ceiling, then dragged Tony through the crowd and headed straight for the side door of the banquet hall.
The important people around them were still trapped in fear and panic. They had no idea what Natasha intended to do.
It was only after Natasha reached Pepper's side that she told them.
"Congratulations, you idiots. The only thing I need is someone who can keep my boss alive after he's been driven into a corner. So if you can run, then what are you still waiting for?"
The instant she said that, the crowd erupted into an uproar.
Countless so-called important people rushed toward every exit like lunatics.
Even the families of the dead, who had been cursing just moments ago, no longer had the time to keep hating.
They sprinted after the crowd, not even caring that they were trampling through pools of blood, and ran out of the Ehrenberg Restaurant as fast as they could.
In less than a minute and a half, aside from the injured who could no longer get up and the dead who had no future left to speak of, only Natasha, Tony, and Pepper remained in the banquet hall.
At that point, Tony shook his head helplessly and gave a mocking laugh.
"You never really planned to use them as hostages. You just wanted to kill them and use their deaths to prove to Heisenberg that you're capable of doing something even worse!
Next, you'll probably claim you've got something like a nuclear weapon up your sleeve.
Or maybe you've got some other way to drag New York, or somewhere else in the world, down with you."
"Heh. You're very smart. You can enjoy the applause now. You saved them, didn't you?"
Natasha asked with a smile.
Her smile should have looked as enchanting as ever.
But at that moment, paired with her pitch-black eyes, it was unbelievably unsettling.
Tony shivered involuntarily.
He was absolutely not scared!
It was just that he could not stand seeing a woman smile like that.
Put a hulking giant in front of him, and even if the guy transformed into some Lovecraftian nightmare on the spot, Tony's sanity would not drop that fast.
But when a woman looked like this, especially a beautiful woman, he just could not take it.
So Tony quickly turned around and wrapped Pepper in a fierce hug, using her to cleanse his eyes.
"Go. I'll be fine. Heisenberg and I are friends. He admitted it himself!"
As he spoke, Tony leaned down and kissed Pepper by the ear, then continued persuading her.
"If you stay here, you'll only distract me, sweetheart. Go home and start preparing for our wedding."
"Okay!"
With no other choice, Pepper could only agree through tears.
She turned and left reluctantly, but when she reached the doorway, she still could not help turning back to look at Tony.
"Stop looking, or I won't be able to fit a woman like Natasha in my eyes when she's so much worse than you!
The mayor of New York died here, and a whole bunch of rich bastards got hurt too, so it has to be chaos outside right now!
Listen to me. Don't count on the police. Call Heisenberg's people and ask them to escort you home!
They're closer than the police anyway!"
"Fine. Be careful!"
After saying that one last time, Pepper finally ran off, looking back every few steps.
Tony, meanwhile, glanced helplessly at Natasha beside him.
"This is the first time I've realized just how troublesome it is to actually fall in love with someone.
You worry about them every second they're not by your side!"
"Mhm."
Natasha nodded indifferently, then pulled Tony toward an unused Aston Martin.
After checking the type of lock, she pulled a small dagger from inside her bodysuit and opened the door in just a few quick moves.
She shoved Tony inside, then took the driver's seat and started the car.
As she drove in the direction Loki had been sent flying, Natasha glanced at Tony.
"Thinking about it now, it's actually pretty ironic."
She spoke quietly.
"If it weren't for my boss, I'd probably still be trying to recruit you into the Avengers."
"Heh..." Tony scoffed. "Not a chance. The only thing I'd ever do for the organization my father helped build is serve as an advisor. I'm not joining your little good-kids club."
At that, Tony looked out the window at the chaotic crowds and the splashes of blood.
"But compared to this, I'd rather you still be the old you. Because right now, you're not you anymore."
"No, Tony. I'm still Natasha. I've just cast aside the boring emotions of mortals.
I'm infinitely grateful to my boss. He set me free, so I'm destined to devote myself to him and..."
Screech!!!
A violent sound of brakes suddenly rang out.
Natasha stared in disbelief at the crowd more than five hundred meters away.
Tony looked just as shocked.
Because from the distance came a steady, rhythmic sound.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom boom boom!!!
...
Heisenberg was swinging Loki around with a deeply satisfied expression.
Another one of Marvel's peak achievements had officially landed in his hands!
What kind of proper transmigrator came to Marvel without smashing around at least one of the two famous Asgardian rice sacks?
That would be downright criminal!
But after swinging him around for more than half a minute, Heisenberg figured it was enough.
He had already seen at least thirty of Loki's bones break!
If he kept going, he was genuinely worried he might kill Loki by accident, and that would delay his plans again.
So, still gripping Loki by the wrist, Heisenberg hauled the weak god into the air one last time, then smashed him viciously into the ground!
The violent shockwave made the paving stones of Central Plaza ripple like ocean waves.
The surge spread outward, and in the blink of an eye, more than a hundred trees and three statues collapsed with a thunderous crash.
At the same time, the bold spectators over two hundred meters away were sent flying by the impact wave!
Watching the crowd groan and cry out, Heisenberg frowned.
"Damn New Yorkers. When exactly are you going to get rid of this stupid habit of being bold and loving a good show? Consider this your punishment!"
He muttered under his breath.
The crowd clutched their chests and aching ears, retreating another eighty meters in a panic.
But even after backing off, they were still watching.
They were already injured, and they still refused to leave!
Heisenberg was genuinely helpless.
New Yorkers really were exhausting, just like those old grannies and grandpas back in the day who were obsessed with gathering in groups.
You could have just danced in the square, alright? But no, if the bus was crowded, the subway packed, the mall on sale, or the electronics store running discounts, you absolutely had to go join the excitement!
You're fit as hell, but you still make exhausted office workers stand up and give you their seats. What the hell are you doing?!!
Heisenberg instantly decided that when he got back, he absolutely had to make Bullseye crack down on public gatherings, especially protests. Those had to be crushed at the source!
And while he was still thinking about it, Loki, lying in the middle of the giant crater, finally moved.
He first struggled to sit up, but after realizing he could not do it, he gave up and simply lay there while speaking to Heisenberg.
"You win, Heisenberg. Midgard will shine because of your existence.
I have no way out anymore. Kill me!
But after you kill me, I hope you will go on to destroy Asgard, that ancient kingdom of gods.
My father never truly looked at me.
My brother only ever saw me as a sidekick.
Only my mother may have loved me, but her love only made me feel all the more clearly the disgust others had when they looked at me!
I want you, the one who defeated me, to defeat them as well, and tell them that I did not fail because I was weak, but because my enemy was too strong.
I want you to tell them that the child they hated most, even in death, was still a child of Asgard!"
At that point, he gathered every ounce of strength in his body and roared at Heisenberg unwillingly.
"I beg you, kill me...?!"
In the blink of an eye, blue light flashed.
The Loki who had been so righteously defiant just a second earlier vanished instantly.
Only Heisenberg was left standing there, completely dumbfounded.
This time, Heisenberg really had not seen it coming.
After all, Loki had just poured out all his resentment toward Asgard and all his grievances toward Odin!
So Heisenberg had believed him.
And the escape had happened so suddenly!
So he got played?!!
Motherfucker!!!
/-\
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