Chapter 26: This Avengers Must Be Opening in the Wrong Way

In a seaside villa, several people dressed in casual beachwear were gathered in Annie's living room. Aside from Coulson and Melinda, the rest were members of the Avengers, including Thor, the God of Thunder, who had recently returned to Earth from Asgard. He seemed to have come to Earth chasing a fugitive and had subsequently joined the Avengers.

Oh, wait! There was one member missing here—a fellow named Hawkeye!

Supposedly, this guy had been seduced away by an alien man named Loki not long ago... You read that right! He was seduced by a man; it was pure bromance!

Black Widow could testify to this! At the time, Hawkeye had even turned on her and attacked her. She could never believe that her long-time partner, Hawkeye, would actually hit her for the sake of a man! The small boat of their friendship had officially sunk, beyond any hope of salvage!

That self-proclaimed evil god, Loki, had not only come to Earth to steal the Tesseract that Director Fury was researching, but he had also killed, injured, and kidnapped a whole bunch of people—and of course, that included Hawkeye! Furthermore, most of these people were the Director's direct subordinates! And they had all been vetted by the rings!

This move by the enemy was a massive critical hit to Director Nick Fury! It forced his original plan to eliminate Hydra once the Avengers were assembled to fall apart prematurely. The furious Director had to abort the plan and instead focus on dealing with the chaotic evil god, Loki.

This was also why Thor had joined the Avengers so readily. You see, his reason for coming to Earth was to catch Loki! Of course, visiting his Earth girlfriend along the way was a necessity—perhaps that was even his primary objective?

Initially, Thor wasn't entirely confident, as he was alone and Loki wouldn't just surrender himself to be caught. Just as he was at his wits' end, it seemed like someone had delivered a pillow right when he was feeling sleepy. A group of fools calling themselves S.H.I.E.L.D. actually invited him to join the Avengers!

This was wonderful! After clarifying the details, Thor agreed on the spot. In his view, they had many people and their strength wasn't weak! That guy called Iron Man had fought him for quite a while! And that Captain America with the small shield wasn't bad either! Now, having such a group of powerful lackeys to help him deal with Loki was simply fantastic! Only a fool wouldn't join!

As for the issue of obligations after joining, Thor patted his chest and declared it wasn't a problem at all! However, he made one thing clear: once Loki was caught, he must be escorted back to Asgard immediately. If S.H.I.E.L.D. needed him to step in for any "muscle" duties, they would just have to call him. Oh, right! There was no phone signal between Earth and Asgard!

That would have to wait until Earth developed interstellar communication methods. Regardless, Thor had several thousand years of life left; he could afford to wait! As for whether S.H.I.E.L.D. would still exist in a few thousand years, that was none of his business.

In the living room, Thor held his Mjolnir, staring at Annie with a furrowed brow. He didn't know Annie's true identity yet, so he felt a sense of disbelief. He had discovered that the power contained within this little girl was not inferior to that of his father, the King!

It was simply absurd!

Since when did Earth have such powerful native mages? If he remembered correctly, the last time he came to Earth, humans had only just learned how to make fire by rubbing sticks together. How had they reached this level in the blink of an eye? Were short-lived races always this efficient at climbing the technological tree?

And most crucially: this little girl was so young! According to Earth's calculations, she was only eight years old, right? An eight-year-old demigod-level powerhouse? What a joke! What would happen when she reached adulthood?!

Thor felt that perhaps, upon his return, he should suggest that his father re-evaluate his attitude toward Earth!

"Aha! So you're Annie?! The little girl in the red Quinjet who wouldn't stop chasing me?"

Tony Stark joined Thor in staring at Annie for a while, which brought back some unpleasant memories. This was the culprit who had made him look so pathetic! While he wasn't about to pick a fight with a little girl, since he had finally run into her, Tony was prepared to step forward and give her rosy cheeks a good, hard twist to vent his frustration!

"You're Tony, right? I'm very interested in your research. Come, come, let's have a good chat!"

The Hulk—oh, he should be called Bruce Banner now! He kindly stepped forward to stop Tony, grabbing him by the shoulders to prevent him from bullying Annie.

"I suggest you don't do that. Even I'm afraid of her when she gets physical," Bruce whispered into Tony's ear.

Under Coulson's introduction, the members of the Avengers exchanged a few words and nodded, acknowledging one another. As of now, the Avengers could finally be said to have been officially formed in this small villa. If this house still existed many years from now, perhaps it could be turned into a museum, where some unscrupulous businessman could charge a hefty entrance fee?

Watching Black Widow staring incessantly at Annie's teddy bear in the distance, and Tony wanting to take it apart for research, Thor curled his lip in disdain. Foolish Earthlings; even after two thousand years, they still couldn't see the essence of things.

Thor knew that a powerful shadow creature was sealed inside that teddy bear, but he was confident that Mjolnir was enough to handle it. Compared to that bear, the little girl named Annie was perhaps the object more worthy of attention.

"Greetings, Annie! I am Thor, from Asgard. It is a pleasure to meet you, powerful mage!"

Thor walked up to Annie, clenched his right fist against his chest, and gave her a solemn bow. A powerhouse! Especially a powerful mage, she was more than worthy of the respect of an Asgardian Prince!

"Huh? Oh! It's nice to meet you too!"

Annie was suddenly startled! Although she didn't know why this strange uncle was acting this way, she politely returned a standard lady-like curtsy.

"Alright, gentlemen and ladies!" Coulson clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"You all know why I gathered you here today. There is a man named Loki who has stolen the Tesseract and intends to carry out some sort of scheme. Therefore, I hope everyone stays vigilant and remains on standby!"

"I should remind you! Loki intends to use the Space Stone to open a portal and allow his army to occupy Earth!" Thor knew more about Loki's goals, as that was precisely why he had come to Earth.

"Wait! The Space Stone? What is that?" Coulson was confused by the term.

"Space Stone is how we say it in Asgard! I believe you call it the Tesseract? It's just a different name; they are actually the same thing! It possesses the power of space and near-infinite energy, and its primary use is to open portals!" Thor said nonchalantly.

Space Stone? Tesseract? Infinite energy? Primary use is opening portals?!

Hearing this, Annie's eyes immediately lit up. It sounded very impressive! She wondered if it could open a portal back to Valoran. If it could, she absolutely had to get her hands on it! Annie made a silent decision in her heart.

"Is that so? Then, where is that Loki?" Since the Space Stone was in the hands of that bad guy Loki, she just had to find him and snatch it! That was Annie's plan, anyway; she was quite skilled at taking things! Find him, let the little bear beat him up, and then steal his stuff!

"That is exactly what we want to know! For now, we might just have to wait for him to show himself," Coulson said helplessly, as S.H.I.E.L.D. had yet to find a single trace of him.

"Hey! Guys! What are we doing here? Waiting for a party? If there's nothing to do, I'm heading out!" Seeing there was nothing to do, Tony shouted, unwilling to waste his time.

Since the enemy hadn't appeared, what was the point of waiting around? In Tony's view, rather than wasting time here, he might as well go back and find some beautiful girls to roll in bed with! As for that evil god Loki who seduced men? He'd deal with him when he showed up! His Iron Man suit had been optimized several times and flew incredibly fast; he'd have plenty of time to depart then.

"You're right, I'm leaving too! I have a date in a bit! If you find him, just let me know!" Seeing Tony leave, Thor followed him out. He missed Jane Foster, the girlfriend he had met the last time he came to Earth to find his hammer! Since someone was helping him find Loki for free, there was no reason for him to stay. He was becoming increasingly impressed with his decision to join the Avengers—he could chase girls and hunt enemies at the same time! It was brilliant!

"Fine, I have nowhere else to go anyway, so I'll stay here for a while." Bruce didn't dare leave because he had just seen the expectant look in Annie's eyes. It seemed the little girl liked company and hoped he would stay, but... what was with her clutching that teddy bear?

Since he couldn't leave, he had no choice but to stay. He had a premonition that if he actually left, something bad would happen. So, he stayed against his better judgment. Since he could eat and drink for free and the environment was nice, he might as well stay! It would give him a chance to avoid work and focus peacefully on practicing his anger management methods. Yes, that was exactly it.

(End of Chapter)