"What a Loki."
Heisenberg stood there, caught between laughter and exasperation.
It was as if he could already see countless people standing in front of him, pointing fingers and roasting him nonstop.
"You Kryptonian, you're trash!"
"You really got played!"
"I knocked the Hulk senseless in three punches!"
"And you still got played by Loki!"
"I punched the Earth into a perfect middle part!"
"And you still got played by Loki!"
"I even swung Loki around like a sack of rice!"
"Yeah, and then he still played you!"
...
At that moment, the corners of Heisenberg's mouth were practically drooping to the floor.
Truly worthy of the title God of Mischief.
The guy really had something to him.
But so what?
Whoosh!
Heisenberg shot into the sky in an instant.
There was no way he was just going to let Loki escape like that.
In the blink of an eye, he soared high into the air and pushed all of his senses to their absolute limit.
His sight, his hearing, his sense of smell, every one of them spread to the maximum range he could search!
New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington!
Countless cities flooded into Heisenberg's information network.
Every single person in every single city, so long as they were not wrapped head to toe in lead, was visible to him in every word and every action!
And just like that, his range kept expanding, until in a blink he had taken in half of America!
Nothing?!!
Unfortunately, Heisenberg had only spent around three months under the sun.
That was nowhere near enough for him to directly cover the entire globe with his senses, otherwise he would not have failed to find Loki.
But even without that kind of range, he still had other methods.
Heisenberg immediately began sweeping across the United States.
Loki had not been to many places on Earth, and teleportation required an anchor point in your mind.
So if Loki was not in this half of America around New York, then he was probably in the other half!
In an instant, Heisenberg knew where Loki was.
He sped straight toward New Mexico.
And the moment his senses covered the whole state, Loki's voice appeared by his ear.
At that moment, Loki was panting and muttering to himself.
"...So I really came to the place where you were exiled, brother. Is this our fate...?"
Since Heisenberg had only just tuned in, the words sounded a little disconnected.
But he did not care about the content.
He instantly accelerated to ten thousand times the speed of sound, effortlessly shaking off the satellites trying their hardest to track him, then vanished in the blink of an eye!
A few seconds later, Heisenberg appeared soundlessly in an abandoned gas station in a small town.
He glanced at the road sign two kilometers away.
Puente Antiguo.
His superhuman brain instantly recalled that this was the exact place in the first Thor movie where Thor had originally been exiled, then picked up by Jane Foster, Selvig, and the others.
But because of Thor's battle with the Destroyer armor, the town had been completely abandoned.
To begin with, this place had never been an economic center. It was just a small settlement on the fringes.
After it was ruined, S.H.I.E.L.D. had relocated all the residents so they could collect samples from the battle between Thor and the Destroyer.
And after S.H.I.E.L.D. finished its work, the town had remained deserted ever since.
Usually, only stray coyotes came here to raise hell.
But today...
Loki had come.
Heisenberg walked toward the collapsed gas station and saw Loki right there in the middle of the ruins.
Loki was leaning against a broken gas pump, smiling bitterly to himself.
"So it's you. You came fast. Almost as if you have the Bifrost too!"
He greeted him casually, then extended his right hand and tossed the scepter aside.
"This is the Mind Stone.
It's yours now.
I no longer have the strength to keep it."
After saying that, he raised his left hand. His fingers rubbed lightly together, and the blue Tesseract appeared out of thin air between them.
"This is the Space Stone.
It's yours too.
But once you possess them, one of the overlords of the universe will set his eyes on you. Stay alert."
He tossed the Tesseract aside as well, then immediately coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood.
His chest turned a deep blue at once.
Proof that he was not Asgardian.
Seeing that, Heisenberg walked over and sat down beside Loki.
Looking at the now calm Heisenberg, Loki smiled faintly.
"I thought you would kill me immediately. Your style, cough cough, your style is very direct!"
"Haha!"
Loki's words made Heisenberg laugh outright.
He smiled as he explained,
"That's because he wants me reckless. Otherwise, I'd make them uneasy."
Hearing that, Loki looked especially surprised.
"Wow. I knew you were not the sort of man with no ambition. If you possess power, then you should naturally possess the status to match it, right?"
"That kind of status is never simply given. If you want it, you seize it yourself."
"Yes. I wanted to seize it too. I even prepared an army before that damned Stone, one worthy of conquering the Nine Realms!"
"But you don't have that chance anymore..."
Heisenberg lightly patted Loki on the shoulder.
The two of them fell silent.
A moment later, Heisenberg asked,
"You do not even have enough strength left to activate the Tesseract?"
"No. Because using power comes with a price, especially the Tesseract!
It's completely unreasonable. Every time I use it to teleport, the energy involved is enough to destroy this planet at least once over. For me, that burden is utterly terrifying!"
Loki slowly spread his hands and lay there smiling at Heisenberg.
"Back then, that idiot Thor died here once.
He stood before me as a mortal and begged me to stop slaughtering mortals, because it would bring me no glory!
So I only killed him instead!"
He looked at Heisenberg with complete ease.
"And today, I am no mortal. Killing me will be your first glory, new god of Midgard!"
"Heh..."
Heisenberg smiled when he heard that.
He rose to his feet and stood before Loki. His eyes immediately lit with red.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Loki's scream was impossible to describe.
Combined with the abandoned town around them and the dim, murky night, New Mexico was probably about to gain another urban legend in the future.
After enduring that overwhelming pain, Loki curled up completely like a shrimp.
He clutched his chest with difficulty, but the only thing in his eyes when he looked at Heisenberg was confusion.
"Why... why?" Loki asked.
"Why what? You mean why I stopped the bleeding in your organs?"
Heisenberg smiled.
He sat down beside Loki again and casually lifted his right hand.
His force field immediately drew the Tesseract up into the air and placed it into his palm.
As Heisenberg toyed with it, he spoke to Loki.
"When it comes to someone cornered with nowhere left to go, I have only two ways of handling them. Want to hear them?"
"Kill them, free them?"
Loki clearly had no real interest in listening, so he answered directly.
But Heisenberg shook his head.
"No!"
He tossed the Tesseract lightly in his hand and said with a grin,
"Killing is indeed my favorite method. It makes everything clear.
If their family comes after me, kill them too.
If their enemies come after me, use them.
In short, it's the cleanest method!"
"And the other?" Loki asked.
At that moment, Heisenberg's smile became especially bright. He casually threw an arm over Loki's shoulder and said,
"The other...
is to make them great!"
His free hand suddenly pointed up at the heavens while he spoke softly to Loki.
"You've already been pushed into a dead end, Loki. If I so much as twitch a finger, you will die!
Your father in the sky clearly is not planning to save you, or he would have appeared before me already.
Death is right beside you. But the closer death is, the more you should think carefully.
Which is more terrifying, death, or failure?
Failure has run through your entire life. And because of your arrogance, even your final chance has nearly vanished.
And I...!
I choose to spare you, support you, make you great, and give you the one thing you want most!"
Heisenberg slammed a hand down on Loki's shoulder.
The impact made Loki's freshly closed internal wounds ache violently, but Heisenberg did not care in the slightest.
He continued,
"What do you want most?
A throne?
Recognition?
Love?
No!
What you need is opportunity!
The chance to show your father your strength!
The chance to prove to him with your own hands that you can defeat him!
And more than that, the chance to make him regret everything!"
Heisenberg pressed the Tesseract hard into Loki's hand.
"Now, I am giving you that chance!"
Before Loki could react, Heisenberg suddenly rose to his feet and looked down at him from above.
"Take the Space Stone. Summon your army. And here, on this ancient world, declare war on your father, your brother, and your kingdom of gods!"
The instant those words fell, Loki smiled in satisfaction.
Enduring the pain, he pushed himself up from the ground and stood with difficulty across from Heisenberg.
He held the Tesseract in his right hand, placed his left hand across his chest, and gave Heisenberg a slight bow.
"The only thing more terrifying than being used by others is having no value worth using. I'm glad I still possess value in your eyes."
After saying that, Loki pulled out a dagger and placed it directly across his own throat.
"But before that, I must confirm one thing!
Lord Heisenberg, no matter what you intend to do to Asgard, do not forget that it is my homeland, my kingdom, and the territory I once briefly possessed!
So tell me your purpose. Otherwise, even a chess piece has the right to destroy itself.
If your only goal is simply to harm Asgard, then I... emmm... I..."
Loki froze.
Because the Heisenberg standing before him was now holding the Mind Stone scepter in his hand.
Faced with Heisenberg's faintly mocking smile, and the dim, eerie light flashing from the scepter before his chest, Loki swallowed hard.
Then he lowered the dagger and smiled faintly.
"Then I shall lead the charge myself!"
"Excellent!"
Heisenberg nodded in satisfaction and withdrew the scepter.
"No matter what method you use, I need to see your forces and Asgard's armies confronting each other on Earth.
This country beneath our feet will be the main battlefield. I want the self-proclaimed masters of this planet to look up and see what true power really is!
But I have one condition. There must not be any flames of war anywhere near the city where I live. Understood?"
"No problem, Lord Heisenberg. But there are several things I must remind you of!"
Loki explained humbly.
"These two Stones belong to Thanos. He will be displeased by our actions, because according to the agreement between him and me, his army was not supposed to be used in a war against Asgard!
And then there is my father, Odin. He may be old, but he is still powerful. I cannot guarantee victory!"
When he finished, he looked at Heisenberg with a hint of expectation.
Who knew Heisenberg would simply slam a hand onto his shoulder again.
In an instant, sweat burst from Loki's body from the pain.
Then, immediately afterward, he heard Heisenberg say coldly,
"Do not mistake me for your blade, Loki!
Whether you fail or succeed, that is your problem to consider!
I am giving you the opportunity, but only you can make yourself great.
What I need is merely the birth of this war."
After saying that final sentence, Heisenberg grabbed the scepter and vanished straight into the sky, leaving Loki alone behind, teeth clenched tight.
Heisenberg's proposal was as poisonous as venom.
But Loki could not refuse it.
He needed that achievement.
/-\
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