"Indeed, bad guys do live longer. Congratulations, Tony, you've officially made it onto God's blacklist! Though for me, that's bad news—I've had my eye on the cars in your garage for quite some time."
It was satisfying to think that his small butterfly effect had helped Tony overcome his palladium poisoning earlier than in the original timeline. However, he wasn't sure if this change would still allow Rhodey to get his hands on a suit of armor and become War Machine.
"You're a complete jerk. Sharing good news with you was a mistake. When are you coming back? Are you waiting for this hammer business to wrap up?"
After bantering with Tony for a bit, Blake suddenly seemed to remember something. He walked over to a secluded spot and, with an air of secrecy, said to Tony, "I need to ask you something, Tony. You're the only one who can help me!"
"You look so sneaky, it reminds me of a thief. Did you catch some kind of…man problem? If so, I can't help you there, buddy! After all, I'm in excellent health, very strong. You should probably ask Banner, though—he took some medical courses, I think."
Tony looked at Blake's secretive demeanor with disdain.
"Shut up, you perverted scoundrel. I'm in perfect health, thank you very much. I just went to Mexico, you know, and I brought back a lot of money from those drug lords. I opened an account at a Swiss bank."
"I set it up in one of their houses. You know, Zurich has a lot of banks. I wanted to ask you which one is the safest. I'm thinking of moving the money."
Blake glanced around to make sure no one was listening, then whispered into the phone.
"That's it?"
Tony looked disappointed, as if he was expecting some big secret.
"Watch your attitude, Tony. I'm a billionaire now, too—three billion dollars, three billion! Good lord, I don't even know what to buy first. A mansion? A yacht? Do you have any good suggestions?"
On the screen, Tony Stark looked at Blake with a mix of disdain and condescension.
"I thought you had done something big. Three billion dollars, and you're making a fuss? UBS. It's the Union Bank of Switzerland, a merger of two major banks. As long as you see those three letters on the bank's website, it's reliable. Anything else?"
Tony didn't say it outright, but Blake could almost hear the word "pauper" in his tone.
"Tony, I admit you're incredibly rich, but three billion dollars is no small amount anywhere. I think you should respect me a bit more. Do you even understand what three billion dollars means?"
Blake was riding high, having solved his financial problems in this world permanently. With a fortune in his pocket, he was feeling proud and defiant—he couldn't tolerate Tony's condescending attitude.
"I'm not sure, my friend. Three billion dollars—it could be the value of a Stark Industries contract with the Department of Defense, or just a minor fluctuation in stock prices. I'm not really sure. You know, I don't really pay attention to the numbers in my bank account."
"Motherf—!"
Blake angrily hung up the phone. This was the pinnacle of humblebragging. There are levels to being a billionaire, and he'd have to be crazy to bring up money in front of Tony Stark again.
"Excuse me, is everything alright?"
"Am I not okay? Do you need something?"
Someone nearby spoke, and Blake instinctively responded irritably.
He turned his head to see a scruffy old man—it was none other than the genius astrophysicist Erik Selvig. This guy had a pretty high appearance rate throughout the Avengers series: Thor 1 and 2, and Avengers 1 and 2.
In the first Avengers movie, he was the one controlled by Loki to develop a device that used the vast energy of Stark Tower to scientifically stabilize the Tesseract, opening a portal that allowed the Chitauri army to flood into New York.
Blake's attitude startled the old man, who nervously replied in a small voice, "I have a friend... he's a bit... you know... not quite right in the head. He went missing yesterday, and I heard he came here. I wanted to ask if you've captured him. If you're with them..."
Dr. Erik Selvig pointed to the sign over the large tented camp behind him.
"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. Bit of a mouthful, isn't it? Yeah, that's us. And if your friend is the one who's been going around claiming to be the God of Thunder and the son of Odin, then you've got the right guy."
Erik Selvig quickly nodded in agreement. He was only here because Jane Foster had begged him to come and get Thor; otherwise, who in their right mind would want to deal with a mysterious intelligence agency?
"Alright, your friend seems pretty unwell. Don't forget to take him to a doctor when you leave. Hey, you!"
Blake called over a guard.
"Go notify Agent Coulson that the friend of that crazy guy from yesterday is here to pick him up. He'll know what I mean."
He pulled Erik Selvig aside to wait and made some small talk, but quickly lost interest. These genius scientists were often awkward in conversation, slow to respond unless the topic was their specialty. People like Tony Stark, who were both extraordinarily brilliant and genuinely fun to be around, were rare indeed.
After a short while, Coulson arrived, flanked by two guards escorting Thor. Ever since failing to lift the hammer last night, Thor had been in a daze, not speaking, just staring blankly.
"Thor, are you okay? Jane asked me to bring you home."
Whether it was the familiar voice of Dr. Selvig or just hearing Jane's name, something seemed to awaken in Thor. He looked up, and a spark of life returned to his eyes.
"Did you come to take me away?"
"Yes, Jane is waiting for you outside. I'm here to take you back!"
Thanks to Blake's heads-up, Coulson didn't ask Dr. Selvig for any ID and simply let them go. It made the fake IDs they had stayed up all night creating a complete waste of effort.
However, after Dr. Selvig left with Thor, Coulson discreetly ordered an agent to follow them.
*******************************************
You can get access to early chapters on patr*on.
If you like my work and you want to support me then you can become my patron on patre*n.
My patr*on account is S_Pandey_0170
Having Coulson send someone to follow them and then take Erik Selvig and Jane Foster's research materials was Blake's way of compensating for the changes his arrival had caused. He wanted to ensure that Erik Selvig would catch the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. and start studying the Tesseract, thus keeping the storyline of the first Avengers movie on track.
For Blake, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the system was key to his growth in strength. And being familiar with most of the plotlines was his greatest advantage.
When he crossed over, the third phase of the MCU had concluded, but the fourth phase hadn't started yet. He only knew from some upcoming movie and TV show trailers that the fourth phase might fully explore the parallel multiverse. This also implied that the power levels of both superheroes and villains would rise to new heights.
So, while Blake could change certain things, he wouldn't tamper with the main storyline. If anything, he would slightly maintain it to avoid provoking unknown and hidden entities, like the rumored Eternals movie that was about to begin production or the Time Variance Authority from the Loki series.
Of course, with someone like Blake joining this world, especially at the core of the early superhero stages with Tony and Black Widow, changes were inevitable. He could only aim to maintain and control these changes within a foreseeable future, using the system to grow stronger as quickly as possible.
That said, some minor changes were acceptable—like meddling a bit in Thor's path to transformation.
When Blake arrived, Jane Foster was having a meal with Thor at a restaurant. Who knew what Jane had said to comfort him, but while he had left looking like a dead fish, now he was full of life, even flirting with Jane as they ate. This sight made Blake fume.
Here he was, having spent so much time in this world, just now starting to make some progress with Black Widow, while this punk Thor had barely been on Earth for a few days and already had a beautiful woman flirting with him, providing food and shelter. Is this what they call dumb luck? Infuriating!
This was true main character treatment—look at how easily Thor was thriving! Even with a system, Blake felt like he was falling short.
But then he thought about Thor's tragic fate later on: his entire family dead, Asgard destroyed, even Jane dumping him, leaving him a fat, depressed slob. The more fortune he enjoyed now, the harsher his suffering would be later.
With that thought, Blake felt much better. Adjusting his mood, he walked over to them with a smile. He pulled out a chair and sat down beside them uninvited. As soon as Thor saw him, he jumped up and positioned Jane protectively behind him.
Pointing at Blake, Thor shouted, "I recognize you! You insulted me, and you insulted my Mjölnir. Yesterday, you even knocked me out. I may not be a match for you now, but don't think you can harm my friends!"
Look at that! Who says Thor is dumb? This guy's sharp as a tack. It's true Blake knocked him out yesterday, but he didn't imprison or beat him, and today, he even let him go. It was clear there was no real hostility, so why was Thor acting all protective? For Jane's benefit, of course.
As expected, after Thor's little speech, Jane Foster's eyes were practically sparkling with hearts. In her view, all these Strategic Homeland whatever-whatever agents were the worst kind of government thugs. First, they released Thor, only to come back later and seize all their equipment and research materials. It was pure robbery.
And now, even though Thor had been captured the day before, he was bravely standing in front of her, unafraid of these robbers—talk about boyfriend material!
So, with the spirit of a heroine, Jane Foster took a bold step forward and positioned herself protectively in front of Thor. She stared at Blake, her face tense.
"You thieves! Your people have already taken everything from us. Don't think you can take my friend from me!"
Great. Not only was Blake treated as the bad guy the moment he sat down, but before he even opened his mouth, he got a face full of dog food. How utterly annoying!
Feeling a bit awkward, Blake touched his nose and spoke in frustration.
"Don't get all worked up. I'm not here to take anyone away or to steal anything from you. Look, it's just me, and there's no one else outside."
Jane glanced outside a few times, and sure enough, it was only Blake. Her expression relaxed slightly, but she still spoke warily.
"Then what do you want? We have nothing to discuss with you. Don't disturb our meal, or I'll call the police!"
"Can you at least sit down first? I'm just here to have a quick word with him. Please, sit down. Everyone's watching us."
"I'll give you five minutes. Say what you have to say and then leave!"
Jane looked outside several more times before cautiously sitting back down with Thor.
"First of all, let me clarify something: I don't have any ill intentions toward you. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let him leave today."
"Secondly, I'm not part of that whatever-defense-bureau. I'm just a consultant, okay? So, there's no need to be so tense." Blake tried to ease their hostility a bit.
"But you insulted my Mjölnir yesterday and knocked me out!"
Thor, like a child, couldn't let go of the fact that Blake had insulted his hammer.
"I knocked you out because you were too worked up yesterday, Thor. I insulted your hammer because you're too attached to it. You're the God of Thunder, not the God of Hammers. Are you really nothing without it?" Blake casually addressed Thor.
"Mjolnir is my battle companion, the source of my strength. You wouldn't understand—you're just an ordinary mortal!"
This guy clearly hadn't learned his lesson, as his Asgardian arrogance was showing again after just a few sentences.
"That's exactly why your father sent you to Earth. You're nothing without your hammer and still don't understand how to respect the humans of this planet."
Blake lazily snapped his fingers.
"Wait… do you actually believe he's really Thor, the God of Thunder from Asgard?"
Jane interrupted their conversation. While she had shown some belief in Thor's claims, she had always been somewhat skeptical. Hearing Blake speak so matter-of-factly surprised her.
Thor's reaction was even more intense.
"You know why my father banished me to Earth?"
Seeing the fish take the bait, Blake couldn't help but smile.
"Of course, I know. Not only do I know why you're here, but I also know how you can lift your hammer again and regain the power of Thor!"
*******************************************
You can get access to early chapters on patr*on.
If you like my work and you want to support me then you can become my patron on patre*n.
My patr*on account is S_Pandey_0170
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