In the days following Nick Fury's retrieval from Skrull territory, Peter didn't get involved in any other major crises. Instead, he channeled all his energy into properly bidding farewell to his beloved "wings."
This cosmic voyage would take anywhere from a month or two at minimum to half a year or more at most.
Given that this was Peter's very first long-distance journey away from Earth, he naturally had to comfort and appease his lovely ladies well in advance.
To ensure everything was handled thoroughly, he put in painstaking work day and night. Although the Horse Talisman guaranteed his physical body suffered zero exhaustion or underlying strain, the sheer intensity of the "workout" still caused his scale weight to drop by a noticeable few pounds.
A few days later, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The Chitauri Leviathan cruiser—previously taken over by Peter's Stand, Wheel of Fortune—had undergone a total, ground-up transformation.
Its original, grotesque biological outer hull was entirely replaced with a sleek, dark-gold streamlined armor plating. The ship's chassis was outfitted with arrays of energy cannons and heavy weaponry, radiating a breathtaking aesthetic where futuristic sci-fi met raw esoteric art.
Peter officially christened this refurbished warship The Destiny. It served as his personal interstellar flagship—and down the line, the premier cosmic flagship for S.H.I.E.L.D.
Currently, outside the main gates of the launch facility, the superheroes of the Avengers had gathered in full force to send Peter off.
"Man, are you sure you can't bring me along?" Tony stared up at The Destiny, his mouth practically watering on the spot.
It wasn't just the sheer urge to pilot a cosmic starship he had never flown before; deep space exploration was a lifelong dream he had fantasized about for years without ever getting the chance to realize.
"Next time!" Peter chuckled, clapping him warmly on the shoulder. "Your top priority right now is upgrading JARVIS and accelerating our 'Automated Space Defense Initiative.' As for exploring the cosmos—I'll definitely bring you along on the next run!"
After brushing Tony off, Peter bade farewell to the rest of the superheroes one by one.
Finally, turning toward Sif—who had traded her civilian attire back for her combat-ready Asgardian armor—he extended an open hand with a grin: "Ready to go, my beautiful lady guide?"
A soft flush surfaced across Sif's cheeks, but she quickly raised her right fist, giving her defined pectoral armor a light, heroic tap: "An Asgardian warrior is always ready!"
For this cosmic expedition, Peter had only brought Sif along. This wasn't merely because Sif had recently joined his inner circle of "king's wings"—more importantly, out of everyone on Earth, she was the sole individual with actual experience navigating interstellar space.
Although Sif had displayed a rather ditzy, unreliable streak in the past, with Peter present to take the wheel, her presence was more than enough to supply basic astronomical common sense.
Furthermore, even if they encountered an utterly unsolvable crisis, she could always call upon Heimdall to step in and lend a hand, ensuring the situation never deteriorated too drastically.
Thus, under the watchful eyes of the team, Peter and Sif boarded The Destiny hand in hand.
With a deep, thunderous vibration, the massive starship ascended smoothly into the sky, transforming into a streak of dark-golden light before vanishing silently into the vast blue horizon.
The boundless expanse of space was both breathtakingly magnificent and absolute in its silence. Countless celestial bodies drifted outside the viewport, painting a vibrant, colorful masterpiece across the dark void.
Inside the captain's quarters of The Destiny, Peter and Sif reclined together on a lavish, oversized bed, quietly admiring the gorgeous star maps projected across the overhead glass canopy.
Ever since their previous sparring session—which had shattered that final layer of emotional distance—their relationship had progressed at breakneck speed.
The Asgardian Valkyrie had completely stripped away her external mantle of warrior pride, gradually revealing the tender warmth reserved exclusively for the man beside her.
Currently, Sif rested her head gently against Peter's chest, allowing his fingers to play with her silky black hair.
"This is nice..." Looking up at the view, Sif suddenly let out a soft, dreamy sigh.
"What's nice?" Peter looked down at her with an amused smile. He pointed a finger up toward the star canopy first: "Is this nice?"
Then he tapped his own chest: "Or is this nice?"
Finally, sliding his hand further down: "Or... is this the best part?"
The abrupt leap in conversational speed caught Sif completely off guard!
If it were Gwen or Felicia, they would have undoubtedly poked fun at Peter's shameless narcissism through various witty comebacks. But Sif was fundamentally different—her affection was always straightforward and unfiltered.
When presented with options A, B, and C, she decisively recalled Peter's golden testing advice: When in doubt on a multiple-choice question, always choose C!
"Then it's definitely this part that's the absolute best!" Sif declared softly. "I honestly never imagined there could be something in this world far more physically and mentally enjoyable than battle."
Peter burst into a merry laugh at her sheer honesty. Sensing the romantic atmosphere rapidly heating up, he was just about to roll up his sleeves for another hard round of "strenuous labor" to do justice to the moment when—
HUMMM—!
The Destiny jolted violently! A piercing, screeching alarm blared across the quarters in an instant!
[WARNING! WARNING! HULL RIGHT-WING SUSTAINING UNIDENTIFIED ENERGY IMPACT!]
[WARNING! HIGH-ENERGY READINGS DETECTED CLOSING IN AT EXTREME VELOCITY!]
Peter's expression darkened in a split second.
Son of a bitch! Ruining my momentum right at the climax?!
I'm holding in a huge fire right now!
Activating his Byakugan without a moment's delay, his vision instantly pierced through The Destiny's physical and organic armor, cutting straight into the pitch-black void of deep space.
There, several dozen bright blips were flanking their position at blinding speeds. It was a well-trained, organized space fleet!
Since you bastards dared to initiate an unprovoked strike on me... then don't even think about walking away whole!
With a single thought, the smooth, dark-gold armor plates along both flanks of The Destiny rapidly flipped and restructured, revealing dense arrays of heavy artillery muzzles hidden beneath!
At the core of these gun barrels, golden flames identical to the ones in Peter's eyes flickered with intense power—energy weaponry heavily upgraded and amplified by Wheel of Fortune.
Immediately after, two energy conduits extended from the base of the bed. Peter grabbed both conduits with his hands as dazzling, golden-scripted lightning erupted across his body!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
In an instant, hundreds of golden energy torrents tore through the pitch-black cosmic void, raining down relentlessly upon the incoming fleet!
The attackers clearly hadn't anticipated their target was packing such terrifying, overwhelming firepower.
Taken completely off guard, the lead squad of light interceptors didn't even have time to take evasive action before being swallowed whole by the golden energy storm, detonating into a series of brilliant space fireworks!
"Brilliant shot!" Sif couldn't help but cheer out loud.
However, Peter's face bore zero signs of relief.
Through the maximum range of his Byakugan, he noticed that after taking the initial heavy blow, the enemy fleet didn't scatter or retreat. Instead, they rapidly shifted formations, locking into an even tighter perimeter and charging forward with total disregard for their own lives.
Even worse, further out at the edge of his vision, more and more war vessels were swarming in like an endless, rising tide.
Did I just kick an entire hornet's nest?
Seeing that raw martial deterrence had failed and sheer acceleration wasn't going to shake them off, Peter let out a cold, sharp sneer.
Turning his head toward Sif, he said calmly: "Get your armor strapped back on. I'm taking you over to sit down in their flagship."
"Since these fools are actively seeking their own funeral, we might as well make them drop to their knees and sing submission today!"
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