章 183: Chapter 178
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"Is this the method of a god?"
"Kinda flashy."
Underneath the Iron Man armor, Tony Stark gave a dismissive evaluation after a brief moment of surprise.
Tony still didn't believe that Loki could conjure up so many copies of himself. Those extra Lokis had to be illusions, right? Mere tricks of the eye!
"Hahaha!"
The sinister laughter continued to echo in his ears.
The group of Lokis started to move, simultaneously attacking Tony and Captain America. Captain America quickly noticed a Loki swinging a scepter at him. Instinctively, he raised his shield to block and counter.
But when the shield and the scepter collided, Captain America realized something was off. There was no impact at all.
"It's fake!"
The scepter was an illusion!
"Not good!" An ominous feeling surged through Captain America's mind. He knew he had been deceived.
Bam!
At that same moment, the real Loki's scepter swept in from another direction, hitting Captain America and knocking him to the ground.
As for Tony?
"Jarvis, scan for heat signatures!" Tony, still calm inside his Iron Man suit, gave the order to Jarvis.
Jarvis faithfully executed the command. Tony's vision switched to the heat signature scan, revealing that all the extra Lokis had vanished except for one—the real Loki.
"I knew it!"
A satisfied smile curled up at the corner of Tony's mouth. No matter how wild Loki roared before him, Tony remained unfazed, and attacked the real Loki.
"Zzz... Bam!"
When Loki's scepter struck Tony, he retaliated with a palm repulsor blast. The next moment, Loki's scepter phased through Tony, causing Loki to grunt in pain as he was knocked to the ground.
As Loki fell, all the fake Lokis disappeared as well, leaving only the real one.
"You can see through a god's magic?" Loki's face was filled with suppressed astonishment, he looked at Tony with newfound respect. Last time, when Iron Man fought the Destroyer in his armor, Loki was somewhat impressed but Captain America had caught more of his attention back then—since Captain America was Thor!
But this time, Captain America didn't have Thor's hammer, so Loki thought he had the upper hand. Now he realized he might have underestimated the tin man.
"Honestly, I didn't expect a god's magic to be so crude." Tony mocked Loki mercilessly as he charged at him. Captain America did the same.
A fierce battle between the three erupted once more. Together, Tony and Captain America managed to pin Loki down.
The situation on the battleground looked promising.
"Sir, there's bad news. The portal is about to explode, and the whole base will be leveled."
"Everyone needs to evacuate immediately."
Loki's first remotely opened portal was very unstable, blowing the entire dark energy base to ruins. That's why Loki had to steal the iridium metal in Stuttgart in the movie, to stabilize the portal.
Though Jarvis's message started with "sir," it was loud enough for everyone present to hear. Nick Fury, Captain America, and the SHIELD agents exchanged worried glances.
"Stark, hold Loki off for now."
"Captain, get the Tesseract!"
"Everyone, evacuate!" Nick Fury immediately commanded.
"Can you handle it, Stark?" Captain America blocked a hit from Loki with his shield, asking Tony for confirmation.
"Remember who floored Loki. Get the Tesseract and go!" Tony replied confidently.
Without further ado, Captain America acknowledged Tony's assurance, quickly made his way toward the Tesseract.
"No one is taking my Tesseract!" Loki raised his scepter, aiming to strike Captain America.
Bam!
But Tony blasted Loki with a repulsor, sending him tumbling to the ground.
"Going somewhere? You haven't shown me the might of a god yet!" Tony taunted as he charged Loki.
"Out of my way, you annoying pest!" Loki was furious now, genuinely furious, unleashing his full power on Tony.
Unfortunately, though Loki was powerful, Tony's Iron Man suit was not easy to handle, making it difficult for Loki to break through Tony's defense.
Ping! Bam! Bam!
In the midst of their intense battle, Captain America successfully retrieved the Tesseract and, along with Nick Fury and the others, evacuated swiftly.
In the blink of an eye, only Tony and Loki remained.
"Tin man, you ruined my plan! You enraged a god! That's the worst mistake you made!"
Loki declared ferociously while intensifying his attacks on Tony.
"Yeah, I get it, you're mad," Tony shot back, though he remained highly focused. After all, he recognized Loki's formidable power from Asgard.
If he faced Loki alone, it would be a close fight, with any mistake potentially leading to disaster.
Tony's nerves were taut.
"Sir, the Tesseract has been secured. You can evacuate anytime."
Jarvis's voice sounded once again, but Tony wasn't ready to leave yet.
"How much time until the explosion?"
"Approximately 30 seconds."
"Remind me when there are five seconds left."
Tony fired a few repulsor blasts at Loki while issuing a command to Jarvis.
As the most advanced artificial intelligence in the world, Jarvis immediately understood Tony's intention. He confirmed it with Tony.
"Are you certain, sir?"
"Isn't this a bit too risky?"
"Have you forgotten my style? Do first, worry later. Remind me in five seconds."
"Understood."
After swiftly instructing Jarvis, Tony fully engaged in his battle with Loki.
Bang! Boom!
The figures of Tony and Loki clashed intensely. Tony landed several powerful hits on Loki, and Loki retaliated just as fiercely.
"Sir, time's up."
Jarvis's voice rang in Tony's ears, immediately revitalizing him.
"Loki, this has been a delightful duel."
"I think I will miss it!"
"But today, it ends here!"
Whoosh!
Without hesitation, Tony flew away rapidly in his Iron Man suit, leaving those words to drift in the air.
Boom! Boom!
Two missiles fired from his shoulders, blasting a large hole in the wall ahead. Tony flew out through it, disappearing entirely.
Loki looked up at the portal overhead, noticing that its energy had reached a critical intensity.
Boom!
At that moment, the terrifying energy burst out. A tidal wave of energy shockwaves centered on the portal and expanded violently in all directions, sweeping and crushing everything in its path.
Rumble!
The intense earth-shaking force caused the entire base to collapse continuously within moments. The massive dark energy combined base turned into a wasteland in the blink of an eye.
Thick clouds of dust enveloped the entire base like a dark cloud, obscuring it from outside view.
Whoosh!
In the next moment, a flash of light emerged from the dust— a large red hunk of metal flew out.
It was none other than Tony Stark, the Iron Man.
Hovering in the air, Tony looked down at the ruins below and asked his loyal AI, "Jarvis, do you think Loki got buried underneath?"
"There isn't enough data to make a judgment, but even if Loki is buried, he should be fine."
"Good, otherwise I'd have a hard time facing Thor."
Tony shrugged, then quickly flew off to join Nick Fury and Captain America.
About forty minutes later, Nick Fury issued a series of urgent orders and dealt with numerous issues before transferring Captain America and Tony to a nearby SHIELD secret base.
Upon arrival, other Avengers like Red Guardian, Hawkeye, and Black Widow were already waiting, having received earlier orders.
Although they weren't entirely sure what had happened, the recent "earthquake" and Nick Fury's expressions suggested something significant had occurred.
"Nick, can you tell me what's going on now?" Captain America finally had the chance to question Nick Fury after their journey.
"Of course. That's why I gathered everyone here."
Facing Captain America and the other Avengers, Nick Fury briefly explained how Loki remotely activated the Tesseract to invade and steal it.
The Avengers' reactions varied. For those unaware of the relevant intel, like Red Guardian and Hawkeye, their responses were shock, concern, and anger.
Black Widow, who also had access to a diary, felt additional surprise: even though Thor had the diary, the battle still couldn't be avoided. What was Thor doing?
Captain America, who had previously doubted Nick Fury, now understood through Fury's explanation that he had been wrong. Although the Tesseract was stored in SHIELD, Nick Fury hadn't studied it like Red Skull. Its sudden activation and the resultant invasion had nothing to do with him.
Captain America then shifted his focus to the immediate problem. According to Stark's account, Loki was likely buried under the ruins of the base. Given the short five seconds, unless someone could fly like Stark, escaping was almost impossible.
But Loki was a god! No one could guarantee whether he was buried or not. Even if he was buried, he might be alright.
There was also a chance that Loki, after being hit and buried, might have actually died. But again, no one knew for sure.
The objectives were clear:
First, find Loki—alive or dead.
Second, ensure the Tesseract's safety.
After agreeing on this plan, Fury quickly set it into motion. He dispatched numerous agents to search the ruins for Loki and moved the Tesseract to a new base. The original Avengers guarded the base, and the Whip secret unit was discreetly repositioned around it for defense.
In short, the new base was impregnable. Given the strength Loki displayed against Tony and Captain America, he wouldn't cause much trouble now.
However, Loki was missing. SHIELD tore apart the ruins but found no trace of him.
Knowing Loki had escaped, both Nick Fury and Tony used their resources to search and investigate, but to no avail.
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