Banner thought for a moment.
"I have," he said, his tone calm.
"For the first two years, I regretted it every day. I regretted why I went to the lab that day, why I didn't double-check the equipment, and why I was so confident that I could control the Gamma Ray."
He picked up his orange juice and took a sip.
"But now... I don't regret it as much."
"Why?"
Banner's gaze fell on the sparkling Pacific Ocean outside the window.
"Because Hulk showed me something," he said.
"That time with Bronski, that is, Abomination, that was the first time I actively chose to transform into Hulk. In that situation, Dr. Bruce Banner was helpless..."
"In that moment, I was suddenly a bit grateful that I still had Hulk, that I could do my part at such a time. This made me start to wonder, should I consider... accepting my own power?"
He turned back and looked at Tony.
"Tony, just like you right now, isn't it? Iron Man... that name, that armor, those responsibilities..."
"You could have continued being a playboy and an arms tycoon, ignoring everything, but you chose a different path."
Tony was silent.
Then he raised his glass.
"Well said. To us two unlucky scientists."
Banner smiled and raised his orange juice.
"Cheers!"
The glasses clinked together softly, making a crisp sound.
Mavuika sat at the other end of the dining table, holding a wine glass in his hand, a faint smile on his lips.
Although he hadn't participated in their conversation or the toast, Mavuika was actually the one who had drunk the most.
In his past life in Teyvat, Mavuika was famous for his capacity for alcohol, and now it was no different; Tony and Banner, two humans, were no match for him.
He watched Tony and Banner, watching these two men with vastly different personalities and backgrounds, who had come together because of their respective "accidents."
One flamboyant and outgoing, the other reserved and deep.
But they sat together, talking about science, life, and things that only they could understand.
Just like old friends.
Mavuika enjoyed this relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. He leaned back against the chair, lifted his teacup, and was about to take a sip—then he stopped.
His body reacted faster than his consciousness.
He suddenly sat up straight.
Those amber eyes looked sharply out the window, toward a distant direction that the naked eye could not reach.
Tony noticed his change.
"Mavuika?" He put down his glass, frowning as he looked at him: "What's wrong?"
Mavuika did not answer.
His perception was extending outward at a speed faster than light, piercing through the walls of Tony's Villa, through the night sky of Malibu, through the atmosphere, and through the layers of spatial barriers—
Then he caught that fluctuation.
That fluctuation he was all too familiar with.
Colorful, dazzling, and reaching every corner of the Nine Realms across the endless sea of stars—the Bifrost Bridge.
Mavuika's hand paused in mid-air.
Bifrost Bridge?
And it was heading towards Earth?
He closed his eyes, carefully sensing the specific location of the fluctuation. It was no illusion, no hallucination. It was a real, ongoing Bifrost Bridge teleportation, and the direction was—the south. The southwestern United States. The area around New Mexico.
Mavuika opened his eyes.
His heart skipped a beat.
Someone from Asgard was here?
Was it Father? Coming to Earth to see him? Or Mother? Or...
Countless thoughts flooded his mind in an instant.
It had been hundreds of years.
Since their last meeting in the Middle Ages, he hadn't seen any of his Asgardian relatives for hundreds of years.
He knew they were all doing well. Thor would occasionally send him a message via the Bifrost Bridge, Loki would sometimes contact him using a magic mirror, and Odin and Frigga would often send messages through others.
But hundreds of years, while not too long for an Asgardian, was long enough for longing.
Mavuika stood up.
Both Tony and Banner looked at him.
"Mavuika?" Tony called out again, this time with obvious confusion in his tone.
"What is wrong with you?"
Mavuika placed the teacup on the table and turned to look at them.
His face wore an expression Tony had never seen before, a mixture of surprise, anticipation, and a hint of irrepressible joy.
"Tony, Banner..." he said, "I have something to attend to suddenly, I'm leaving!"
Tony was stunned.
"What's so urgent? It's night time, you just finished eating, why don't you—"
But before he could finish his sentence, Mavuika had already turned and walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window. He pushed open the glass door and walked onto the balcony.
Golden-red flames rose from beneath his feet. Tony and Banner followed to the edge of the floor-to-ceiling window, watching his back.
"Hey—" Tony shouted, "You're just leaving like this? At least explain what's going on!"
A golden-red stream of light cut through the night sky, like a meteor traveling in reverse, speeding toward the south.
Tony stood where he was, head tilted back, watching that light grow smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared into the night. He was stunned for a few seconds, then turned to look at Banner.
"What's so urgent?" Banner shrugged. "How would I know."
Tony pursed his lips.
"Forget it, never mind him." He turned and walked back to the dining room, picking up his glass of whiskey again.
"Let's continue! Where were we? Right, practical applications of Gamma Ray... how did that research on your inhibitor serum turn out?"
Banner looked at him, then glanced at the night sky outside the window, which had already returned to calm, finally withdrawing his gaze and sitting back down at the dining table.
"Later..." Their voices gradually lowered, drowned out by the warm light in the dining room and the sound of the Pacific night tide outside the window.
Mavuika was flying.
His speed was astonishing, faster than when he was traveling normally.
Golden-red flames dragged a long tail behind him, the air was torn apart with the roar of a sonic boom, and the cities and mountains below retreated rapidly like a flowing picture.
Los Angeles.
San Diego.
The Arizona desert.
The horizon of New Mexico appeared in the distance.
Mavuika accelerated; he could feel the landing point of the Bifrost Bridge getting closer...
It was about fifty kilometers ahead, in a remote and sparsely populated valley. The energy fluctuation of the Bifrost Bridge had already disappeared.
Only faint traces remained, like the residual heat after a flame had been extinguished. A moment later, he arrived at the destination.
It was a desolate plain, surrounded by rolling hills and sparse shrubs, with a few low peaks visible in the distance.
On the ground, there was a distinct scorch mark. It was the mark left by the landing of the Bifrost Bridge, a circular pattern, several meters in diameter, resembling a magic circle. The ground had been melted by high temperatures and then rapidly cooled, forming a glassy, iridescent thin shell.
In the center of the pattern, there were some complex lines; these were the traces of the Bifrost Bridge's residual energy, like some kind of ancient rune.