Steve Rogers finally saw past that cynical "playboy" exterior to the real Tony Stark hidden beneath—arrogant, yet kind, sensitive, and obsessively driven to shoulder the weight of everything.
Now that the misunderstanding was completely resolved, the two superheroes had finally reached a consensus.
They could no longer stay rooted to the spot like cowards, powerlessly mourning Makima.
Crying would change nothing, and it certainly wouldn't kill Loki's disgusting face.
They wanted revenge!
Steve quickly adjusted his state of mind, his tactical professionalism reassuming control.
With a furrowed brow, he began to calmly analyze Loki's true objective and... where he was right now.
"This isn't right. If Loki's goal was truly just to destroy us, he already had control over Thor and the Hulk back on the mothership. That was his moment of overwhelming advantage. If he wanted to, he could have caught everyone off guard and ordered those two monsters to kill everyone. Why didn't he?"
Hearing this, Tony's brain also began to whir at high speed.
"Because... he doesn't want the game to end so simply."
Tony narrowed his eyes, his gaze turning sharp. "Put yourself in the perspective of a god. If you achieved victory so easily without even a decent resistance, would you be happy? Of course not!"
Tony began to pace, rapidly performing a psychological profile just as Makima would have. "He wants a victory that is absolutely convincing... He doesn't just want to defeat us; he wants all mortals to watch with eyes wide open as he wins!"
Of course... there was one exception to this.
Loki didn't want to kill Tony and the others immediately, but he truly did want to kill Makima outright...
And he had done exactly that.
Tony didn't know why.
"He needs an audience," Steve added in a low voice.
"Exactly! An audience!"
Tony grew more animated as he spoke, gesturing with his hands as he fully immersed himself in Loki's perspective. "Loki is the protagonist of this play! He wants believers to offer him flowers, he wants to show off his divine power, he even needs a towering monument..."
"A landmark that draws the attention of the whole city, preferably with his name flashing on it, so the whole World looks up to him..."
Tony's rambling voice suddenly cut off halfway, like a rooster being strangled by the neck.
His expression turned strange in an instant, even showing a hint of stiffness.
Wait... why did this analysis feel more and more off the more he spoke? Why did it sound so familiar?!
Who was it that, after achieving a little success, couldn't wait to descend from the sky in a suit of armor?
Who had showily postured at the Stark Expo in such a high-profile manner?
And who was it that spent billions to build a towering skyscraper in the busiest downtown area of New York?
And even hung those glowing'STARK' letters so flamboyantly on the roof?!
The corners of Tony's mouth twitched violently twice.
How had his insults toward Loki turned into boomerangs hitting his own face...
Beside him, Steve didn't notice Tony's internal turmoil.
Hearing this, he nodded in deep agreement, showing high approval for Tony's psychological profiling of the villain.
This indeed fit the style of Loki, that god of Asgard.
But Steve waited for a couple of seconds and didn't hear Tony say anything else.
Steve turned his head in confusion, looking at Tony with clear, puzzled eyes, as if asking—
You were doing so well, why did you stop?
Tony stared at Steve's inquisitive face, took a deep breath, and squeezed out a curse through gritted teeth: "...Son of a bitch!"
What that bastard Loki had his eye on was his Stark Tower!
...
Stark Tower.
Having just flown to the rooftop terrace, Tony saw the mind-controlled Dr. Selvig standing before a complex device. At the core of the device was the Tesseract, emitting a faint blue glow.
"Shut it down, Dr.!"
The mind-controlled Selvig naturally wouldn't comply; he was currently like a brainwashed cultist. "It can't be stopped now!"
"She has something wonderful to show us, a new Universe!"
"Fine... whatever you say..."
Tony knew he couldn't wake those controlled by the Scepter with words alone. He didn't waste any more breath and raised his arm.
A Palm Repulsor fired directly at the Tesseract's activation device.
Boom—!
However, unexpectedly, a hemispherical shield composed of spatial energy had already formed around the Tesseract.
The moment the repulsor beam touched the shield, a powerful counter-shockwave of energy erupted!
The massive recoil didn't just violently throw Tony back through the air; even Dr. Selvig, who was standing by the control device, was knocked flying by the energy wave. His head slammed against the wall, and he blacked out on the spot...
Elderly people are so efficient...
Falling asleep the moment their head hits something...
Tsk, an energy barrier... this is going to be trouble."
Tony barely stabilized himself in mid-air. He looked down at the Mark 6 armor he was wearing. Not to mention the dwindling power reserves, expecting to deal with two gods, a Hulk, and an alien army in this suit was clearly a pipe dream.
Mark 6
To win this battle.
The only choice was to use the latest model that hadn't yet completed final testing, but possessed a qualitative leap in firepower and mobility—
Mark 7.
Tony piloted the armor and landed on the disassembly platform extending from the tower's exterior wall.
As the robotic arms methodically stripped the damaged armor from his body layer by layer, Tony took a deep breath and, feigning composure, stepped into his spacious and luxurious penthouse suite.
At the other end of the terrace, Loki, holding the Scepter, had already been waiting for a long time.
The two faced each other from a distance, walking slowly toward the center of the room.
It was like two top wrestlers in a WWE arena calling each other out before heading to the main stage.
It was as if they had already fought several rounds in a clash of gazes before even lifting a finger.
Loki's eyes were filled with the arrogance and contempt of a god looking down on an ant.
Tony's bloodshot eyes burned with the fire of revenge for Makima and this city.
The two entered the penthouse together...
But Tony had barely been inside for a few sentences—
Crash—!!!
The glass shattered instantly, and amidst the flying shards, Tony was thrown directly out by Loki.
Falling in a free fall from the top of the hundreds-of-meters-high Stark Tower!
Clearly, the conversation between Loki and Tony hadn't been very pleasant...
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