Hong Fei had always known Steve would agree, but until it was settled, there was always room for things to go sideways. Now that Steve was willing to take on the task, it was undeniably a good outcome.
What Hong Fei had told him wasn't entirely false—in fact, it could be said to be completely true. But his personal motives weren't nearly as noble as they seemed.
Revenge, perhaps, or more accurately, stirring up trouble. Call it different paths leading to the same destination.
Turning back into the room, Hong Fei approached Loki. Thor immediately kicked him.
"Stand up!"
Loki rose to his feet, and Hong Fei looked at his smirk before breaking into a laugh himself.
"You seem to have something to say?"
Loki's lips curled. "I think you have more to say."
Hong Fei's smile widened. "Shall we chat, then?"
"Sure," Loki replied smoothly.
Hong Fei glanced at Thor. "Interested in coming to my place for a seat?"
"Alright," Thor agreed readily.
At that moment, Rumlow and Sitwell, having received their orders, led their team back in. Their only task was to retrieve the Mind Stone.
Faced with the assembled heroes, and especially Hong Fei's piercing gaze, Rumlow kept his head down and stayed silent. He stepped forward, placed the scepter into a case, picked it up, and left without a word.
Steve leaned in beside Hong Fei, whispering, "Do you think they're HYDRA?"
Hong Fei shook his head. "Hard to say."
Afterward, Steve and the others stayed behind at Stark Tower to clean up the mess, while Hong Fei, Frank, and the rest took Thor and Loki back to the manor. They couldn't return to the house in Queens for now—some people might not be getting up anytime soon.
......
Back at the manor, after settling everyone in, Zero began preparing a meal while Hong Fei escorted Loki to the underground room. The all-metal chamber caught Loki's interest immediately. He smiled faintly.
"I think you and I might be the same kind of person."
Hong Fei shook his head. "You're wrong. I'm nothing like you."
"Oh?"
"I'm stronger than you."
Loki's smile vanished.
Hong Fei continued, "I have more self-awareness than you. At least I never thought about borrowing an army from someone I couldn't possibly compare to, trying to expand my territory that way."
Loki's face turned icy.
Hong Fei took a step forward, locking eyes with him. "Am I wrong?"
After a tense silence, Loki suddenly burst into laughter. "You are indeed clever. I never controlled you from the start."
Hong Fei remained silent.
Loki circled him with growing excitement, his eyes scanning the room as he spoke. "You pretended to be controlled by me, fought alongside those who trusted you, intentionally disrupted their plans, and hindered their actions according to the methods I told you—buying me time to open the portal. So, you're the real mastermind behind the scenes."
When Hong Fei didn't respond, Loki seemed to grow even more animated. He paced around him, his voice quickening.
"You were the one who took the Tesseract from S.H.I.E.L.D. Did you know I'd come? No, that's not possible—no one could've known. So you simply stole it. But you didn't seem shocked when I arrived. You targeted me to lower my guard, then played along, pretending to be controlled, using my name to accomplish your goals. Yet later, you fought the Chitauri yourself and helped Thor close the portal, ending the war."
Loki paused, his eyes gleaming. "I've seen your records at S.H.I.E.L.D. You're a through-and-through villain, even occasionally acting mad. Did you do this because you went insane?"
Hong Fei's gaze followed Loki as he circled, but he refused to speak.
Loki tilted his head, a sly smile forming. "Or are you trying to use this incident to whitewash yourself, gain a normal identity, and build a reputation?"
After a pause, he shook his head: "No, it's not that simple. You definitely have other plans. On one hand, you let me open the portal and bring the Chitauri army, and on the other hand, you personally stopped my plan, making everyone believe you are the great hero of this war. Tsk tsk, your scheme is indeed very good. Except for me, I'm afraid no one knows your true face. I guess what you want might not be smaller than what I want, right?"
"Finished?"
Hong Fei suddenly spoke.
Loki maintained his smile and said: "Are you really not going to say anything?"
"Then what do you think I should say?"
"Why not tell me exactly why you did this? If it's appropriate, maybe we can reach a cooperation, so I won't have to tell Thor and the others about your business."
"Are you threatening me?"
"You could say that, but I feel like you threatened me first. I understood your look before, so I didn't speak then. Now, shouldn't you repay me?"
Hong Fei smacked his lips: "What you say seems to make some sense."
Loki continued in a low, beguiling voice: "Speak, let me see how clever you are as a Midgardian..."
Bang!
Suddenly, a dull thud echoed through the metal room.
Hong Fei kicked out without warning, his inner foot making intimate contact with Loki's cheek in an instant, and Loki's body slammed violently onto the ground. Then, Hong Fei sat astride Loki, punching his head repeatedly. Even though Loki held his chain-bound hands over his head to block, Hong Fei disregarded it and punched frantically.
"So you're the clever one!"
"So you're the one with the brain!"
"So you're the fucking one who can talk!"
Muttering under his breath, his fists didn't slow down at all, and the sound of cracking and popping filled the entire room.
A moment later, Hong Fei stopped. Loki curled his upper body, holding his head.
Hong Fei reached out and pulled his arms away, seeing his face covered in bruises and blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. Looking into Loki's eyes, Hong Fei nodded: "It seems you're still not convinced!"
Loki hurriedly said: "No, don't hit me, I'm convinced! Ow..."
Hong Fei didn't listen to a word he said. His fists, wrapped in Dragon Power, rose and fell once more.
After several cycles, when Hong Fei stopped again, Loki said in a rush: "Stop hitting, stop hitting, I'm convinced, I won't tell anyone."
"Tell them what?"
"Tell them you... no, you really were controlled by me. That is an absolute fact. Everything was my plan and has nothing to do with you!"
Hong Fei stood up and then bent down to help Loki up.
After he was standing straight, Hong Fei said again: "You aren't thinking of telling Thor about this after you get back to Asgard, are you?"
"No, no, absolutely impossible!" Loki shook his head repeatedly. He now felt his head was a complete mess, like it had been stirred into a pile of mush.
Unexpectedly, upon hearing this, Hong Fei's expression turned solemn, and he shouted: "Why wouldn't you say it?!"
Loki was stunned, blinking innocently at Hong Fei.
Hong Fei: "You must tell Thor, and you must say it solemnly and as if it were a serious matter!"
"This..."
"Are you going to say it or not?"
Hong Fei raised his fist.
Loki: "I'll say it!"
Hong Fei lowered his arm and gently patted Loki's back, his tone suddenly becoming amiable: "Don't worry, you are Thor's brother, so you are my brother. There's no grudge between brothers that lasts overnight. So from now on, if you need help with anything, you can come to me. The Chitauri are a bunch of weaklings, but Thanos is not to be trifled with. Now you not only failed to get the Tesseract but also lost his Mind Stone. If he finds out about these things, I guess he will personally strangle you to death."
He spoke casually, but Loki felt his skin crawl as he listened.
"You..."
"How do I know these things? To tell you the truth, I know too much. You know you have no chance of becoming the King of Asgard, so you wanted to rule Earth and then stand on equal footing with Thor. You just don't want to be a step below him, right?"
Loki's eye twitched wildly, and he quickly lowered his head, obviously not wanting Hong Fei to see his emotional fluctuations.
Hong Fei continued: "There are many ways to stand on equal footing, but the problem is your strength has to keep up. I heard you're a mage, but why do you pull out daggers every time you fight me? Where is your magic? Have you only learned Beguile and Phantom Illusion in your entire life?"
Loki's head hung even lower.
Active skill card: Beguile (Blue) — Loki. "After using the skill, all your words will carry a beguiling effect. The success rate fluctuates with the target's mental strength."
Active skill card: Phantom Illusion (Blue) — Loki. "Use the skill to summon a tangible but unsubstantial phantom clone. Clones cannot be touched. You can have up to six clones at the same time."
Hong Fei followed with a heavy sigh: "Don't waste your talent. Aren't you a Frost Giant? Learn some frost magic—for example, Frozen World, Absolute Zero, or something like that. Then you'd have an ice sword in your left hand, an ice blade in your right, and ice spikes falling from the sky. Wouldn't that be more powerful than those two little daggers of yours?"
Loki was greatly shocked in his heart, but he still gritted his teeth and refused to make a sound. The shocks Hong Fei had brought him were too many; the things he just said about Loki were almost impossible for anyone on Midgard to know.
This was Master Hong's purpose: first to startle the snake, and then to make it wary of its own actions.
A mere beating was far from enough to make Loki fearful, let alone the fact that Hong Fei would not easily believe the promise of a God of Mischief. Thus, he could only make up for it from other aspects.
It seemed about enough now. As long as Loki didn't say anything in the near future, by the time he was taken back to Asgard by Thor, he wouldn't have the chance to tell any Earthlings.
By the time he returned to Earth, everything would already be too late.
When the two walked out of the underground room, Hong Fei was in front with a smile, and Loki followed politely behind. The injuries on his face had already disappeared, and the two looked extremely harmonious.
Thor was very gratified.
Big Head watched from the side and shook his head secretly: 'This guy's smile is so punchable. I swear on my own big head: he definitely got beaten up just now!'
......
At dusk, Hong Fei, the Seven, Thor, and Loki attended a grand banquet together. The ten of them enjoyed themselves, at least on the surface. In reality, only Loki was still preoccupied with heavy thoughts.
Thor was very happy, pulling Hong Fei and the others to drink until dawn the next day, until he fell into a deep sleep clutching a wine jar, completely intoxicated.
......
At the same time.
On this bright and sunny morning, the Federal Court also received an extremely unusual lawsuit. Setting aside the content of the lawsuit, the string of plaintiffs alone was enough to make one's heart skip a beat.
Plaintiffs: Captain America Steve Rogers, the New York City Government, and the families of many casualties from the Battle of New York.