[Headquarters]
The surveillance personnel at the border of Old Bridge City watched as the three warriors of Asgard and Sif swaggered down the street and reported: "We have spotted the warriors... Princess Xina... Jackie Chan... and Robin Hood..."
"Found you, Thor!"
The bearded Volstagg shouted.
But when he saw the handcuffs on Thor's wrists, he was stunned.
"Who locked you up?"
The swordsman Fandral drew his sword and pointed it at Mathilda.
"Hey! Why do you have Thor's hammer in your hand!?"
Thor quickly responded.
"Hey, hey, calm down! This little girl is a good person."
Sif pressed down Fandral's sword-holding hand.
"Don't point a weapon at a little girl, Fandral."
The last of the Warriors Three, Hogun, used a dagger to break Thor's handcuffs.
"What happened?"
"Drop your weapons!"
Several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on guard pulled out their guns and aimed at the Asgardians.
"Who are you people?"
Barbara looked down from the balcony at the two opposing groups and spoke to Ye Li.
"There's trouble down there. Shouldn't we go take a look?"
"This is not trouble, Barbara."
"That over there is trouble..."
Ye Li's gaze didn't leave the clouds.
The next second—
A vortex of light reappeared.
The Bifrost opened once again—
The Destroyer had arrived.
"I'm going out for a walk."
Ye Li gently pushed away Darcy, who was attentively serving him, straightened his clothes, and walked downstairs.
Barbara and Darcy looked at each other...
[Mr. Ye, can you contact Stark? There's a large humanoid armor here. Is it his?]
[Coulson, I think you'd better leave there.]
[Boom!]
A loud explosion came through the communication.
Ye Li lightly tapped the black ring on his wrist.
After passing through a glass door, he had already transformed into his Black Spider outfit.
'Destroyer armor?'
'Since it's here, it's mine now.'
A few minutes later—
"Everyone, run!"
"Get out! Use the back door!"
"Move! You can eat later!"
Jane, Darcy, Dr. Selvig, and Thor hurried to evacuate the crowd—
The Destroyer had already arrived at the city limits in search of Thor.
Sif led the Warriors Three to stop the Destroyer from recklessly firing its destructive beams.
But...
Bang—!
Volstagg: "Ah—!"
Bang—!
Fandral: "Oh—!"
Bang—!
Hogun: "Ugh—!"
After just a few exchanges, the Warriors Three couldn't hold out any longer.
They were swatted into the storefronts by the Destroyer's powerful blows...
The remaining goddess, Sif, looked at the Destroyer's glowing, fiery-orange energy with a bit of hesitation…
Barbara pulled out two short batons, ready to jump in and help.
"These gods don't seem to be holding up..."
Mathilda held Barbara back. With the enhancement of the serum and the power of Thor's hammer, she couldn't resist Mathilda's strength.
"What do you think you're doing?"
Barbara spoke quickly.
"I can't just watch! Mathilda, go help evacuate the residents. You have the hammer; you're faster than Darcy and the others."
Even though Mathilda had Mjolnir, Barbara didn't want the little girl to take the risk of fighting that metal monster.
"You're just a bodyguard, Barbara."
Mathilda looked at the Destroyer, swinging the hammer's strap in her hand, her expression serious.
"Let me handle this..."
"Hey, you're just a little girl too..."
Barbara was about to argue—
But Mathilda had already flown toward the Destroyer—
Clang!
The girl struck the Destroyer on the head just as it was about to fire a heat beam at Sif, causing the energy to flicker out…
Crack, crack, crack.
Its head twisted a full 360 degrees, followed by its entire body rotating, and in the blink of an eye, it was facing Mathilda again—
With a single punch, it struck!
Bang!
Mathilda, with little combat experience, was caught off guard by the Destroyer's unnatural movement.
She barely managed to raise Mjolnir in front of her but was still hit and staggered back onto the ground.
Woooh—!!!
A blazing orange-white beam immediately followed, carving deep trenches in the ground as it shot toward the girl.
"Child!"
Sif hurled her spear at the Destroyer while shouting to warn Mathilda.
"Watch out!"
Boom!
The spear was easily swatted aside by the energy beam and didn't slow the Destroyer down at all.
Zzzt... Zzzt zzt...
Mjolnir crackled with blue lightning, which grew stronger and formed a massive lightning bolt.
"Haah!"
Boom!!— Crackle!
Mathilda tried to counter the beam with lightning, but she was losing ground.
The orange light gradually overpowered the lightning...
Though she could wield Mjolnir, she was not as strong as Thor.
This was evident since she remained in her regular clothes rather than donning Thor's armor.
Clang...
In the end, Mathilda was struck down, and Mjolnir was flung aside.
"Mathilda!"
Barbara rushed over and helped the girl up.
"How do you feel?"
"I'm fine..."
Mathilda didn't have any visible injuries and rubbed her forehead.
"Just a bit dizzy..."
She had only been hit by the shockwave from the beam hitting Mjolnir, so she wasn't seriously hurt.
"I'm sorry, Barbara. I tried my best..."
"It's okay, you did great..."
"Everyone is evacuated."
Thor smiled, looking at the now-empty streets.
"Thanks to that girl for holding off the Destroyer. Maybe Mjolnir chose her for a reason..."
But before he could be happy for long—
A large, muscular Duroc pig trotted back and forth in front of the Destroyer.
It even grunted at the massive metal giant as if taunting it.
"Oink oink~! Oink oink~!"
Thor: "…..."
Brother Pig, you are truly something else...
Loki, who was controlling the Destroyer from Asgard, noticed the taunting pig and naturally redirected the faceplate of the Destroyer towards it—
The orange-white glow intensified once again.
"No! Buddy, get out of there!"
Seeing that the pig was about to become roast pork, Thor instinctively activated his latent power and charged forward!
At the same time—
Whirrr—!!
Mjolnir vibrated intensely!
In the next moment—
Smack!
Mjolnir landed in Thor's hand, and he immediately hurled it, striking the Destroyer's head off its aim.
Boom!
Lightning surged from the sky, enveloping him entirely.
As the light faded—
Thor had fully regained his Godly form as the God of Thunder.
"Mjolnir!"
Thor looked at the hammer in his hand, overjoyed beyond words.
"You're back!"
The feeling of recovering his lost treasure filled him with immense joy.
No one could blame him for being so happy.
But before Thor could even begin to show off—
A black-clad figure landed in front of the Destroyer first.
The people around instantly recognized him.
"That guy looks like..."
Dr. Selvig: "It's the Black Spider."
Darcy: "I saw him on the news! He's a superhero! I didn't know he was in New Mexico!"
Barbara, however, had a different thought.
"There he is again… So Black Spider really is connected to him..."
The clues and evidence all pointed to Ye Li being Black Spider.
But Barbara only assumed that Ye Li and Black Spider were close—
She never made the direct connection.
This was because of a high-dimensional information blockade preventing such thoughts.
With the system suit's information concealment feature, as long as Ye Li didn't openly reveal his identity, almost no one could figure out that he was Black Spider.
This protection allowed him to act freely as Black Spider, doing things he couldn't as Ye Li.
Woooh—!!!
The Destroyer, showing no mercy, immediately fired a heat beam at the sudden intruder!
'Heh~'
Ye Li didn't panic. His suit's eye lenses glowed intensely—
This was the enhanced Pig Talismans!
The Pig Talismans ability hadn't changed much, except that its laser vision was now just a tiny bit stronger...
At that moment—
"Oink oink~"
The pig wandered over to Ye Li's feet.
Seeing this, Ye Li's glowing eyes suddenly dimmed.
He had a better idea...
"Come on, Pig Hero."
He placed his hand on the pig's head.
The Pig Talismans's power—
Channeled through the Duroc pig's eyes—
Clashed head-on with the Destroyer's heat beam!
Wen—!!
Wen——
Buzzz—Buzzz—Buzzz—Buzzz...
A dazzling burst of energy—
Whoosh～
And when the light faded—
The Destroyer lay silent on the ground…
Far away in Asgard—
Loki was utterly dumbfounded.
"I... was defeated... by a pig?"
"Are you kidding me?"
"Hey! You're really strong!"
Thor saw that the Destroyer had been taken down before he could even do anything.
Curious, he tried to strike up a conversation with this mysterious warrior.
"Who are you? Thank you for your help. You have earned Asgard's friendship and recognition. Maybe we can be friends!"
But no matter how much Thor called out—
The black-clad figure ignored him completely.
Ye Li suddenly teleported in front of the Destroyer—
And then, in another flash, he vanished with it.
Buzz~——~
The gaps in the Destroyer's armor faintly glowed as it struggled to rise, clearly not fully subdued yet...
This performance is much stronger than in the movie version.
"As expected of the Destroyer Armor."
Ye Li placed his left hand in his coat pocket and slowly extended the index finger of his right hand. "But this is the end of the line."
Crack crack crack...
The Destroyer was instantly engulfed in ice, including its growing glow, frozen in this very moment...
"Now."
Ye Li took out the Rat Talisman and pressed it against the Destroyer. "Welcome your new master."
The ice seal was lifted.
The Destroyer shook off the ice shards and stood up.
Then—
Bang...
It knelt on one knee.
…..
"He just left like that?"
Thor turned to Selvig and the others, asking, "Is he your Midgardian guardian?"
"Uh..."
Dr. Selvig hesitated. ".....I guess so."
"Oink oink~ oink oink~"
The Duroc pig rubbed against Thor, as if reminding him not to forget his promise of free food and drink.
"Oh, Duroc!"
Thor didn't know the pig's name, so he simply called it by its breed. "You're amazing!"
"Come on, I'll take you back to Asgard!"
He bent down and hugged Duroc. "I will ask my father and mother to bless you."
"And Matilda."
Thor looked at Matilda, who was being supported by Barbara. "Brave girl, thank you."
A slightly dazed Matilda gazed at Mjolnir reluctantly. "Meow meow..."
She had come to see the hammer as a friend. Though their time together was short, Mjolnir had even told her its name.
"I can't give you this one."
Thor smiled and reassured the girl, "But I can ask Eitri, the Dwarf King, to forge a weapon for you. You can choose a sword, spear, axe, or anything else you like, and I'll bring it for you next time I visit Midgard."
"Oh... thank you..."
Matilda nodded absentmindedly. She still preferred the meow-meow hammer...
…..
The hem of his coat fluttered slightly~
Ye Li reappeared on the balcony, gazing at the ruined streets and the departing Asgardians.
"Phew~ Time to head back. This trip was quite rewarding."
…..
Lower East Side, New York.
Honk honk honk~
Having had a great time on her trip, Vinica happily honked the horn as she returned to her small home.
The dark gray modified car reversed into the garage.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Matilda stared at her small palm... lost in thought.
"We're almost home, and you're still thinking about that hammer?"
Ye Li chuckled and placed a dark silver sphere into her hand. "Here~ Play with this."
The metallic sphere floated, spinning rapidly.
"This is..."
Matilda gazed at it, feeling a strange sense of familiarity. She gently stroked the sphere. ".....Is this Meow Meow?"
"Meow Meow?"
Ye Li grasped her small hand holding the sphere and teased with a smile, "Maybe you can call it Baa Baa~?"
"Pfft~"
Matilda giggled at her brother's joke, throwing herself into his arms. She showered him with kisses, whispering, "Thank you... Li... I love you~"
Feeling the damp kisses on his cheeks, lips, and neck, Ye Li assumed his little sister was just being playful. He ruffled her adorable short hair and replied, "I love you too, Matilda, but I don't plan on spending the night in the garage. We should get out of the car."
The girl responded softly, "Mmm..."
"Brother!—"
Jessica saw Ye Li return and excitedly pounced on him, just like Matilda earlier—
"Mwah~ Huh? Pfft pfft pfft!"
Ye Li couldn't help but laugh at his second sister spitting in disgust. "Haha, let me wash my face first."
As he walked past the couch, a soft, white fluffy tail wrapped around his knee—
Felicia smiled charmingly. "Master~ You came back just in time. Our graduation ceremony is in a few days."
"I'll be there."
Ye Li gently pinched her soft cheeks. "Little kitten, I'll come spoil you later~"
…..
Bathroom.
Rustle rustle rustle...
The man lowered his head, both hands resting on the sink.
The water from the faucet defied gravity, flowing upward to wash his face...
After washing up.
"A year has passed just like that~"
Ye Li flicked his bangs, lifting his hair as he gazed into the mirror at his unchanged face. He sighed slightly. "Gwen and the others are about to graduate and become adults... Time flies so fast."
"Wouldn't you agree?"
"Master Ancient One."
"Time is always unfathomable."
In the mirror.
Right behind Ye Li.
At some unknown point, a figure had appeared, the Eye of Agamotto on their chest glowing faintly with green light.
This time, the Ancient One was not wearing a yellow robe but a simpler white mage's attire. Yet, she still held her signature folding fan, half covering her face with that familiar enigmatic smile.
Ye Li turned around and looked at her. "You always hide behind that fan—makes you look like a shy little girl."
"Hmm, what do you need from me?"
The Ancient One closed her fan, revealing a gentle and intelligent young face, appearing no older than twenty or thirty.
Ye Li raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Aren't you able to see time? Shouldn't you already know everything?"
"To toy with time..."
The Ancient One gently shook her head. "One who plays with time will ultimately be played by time."
Ye Li: "..."
[.....Can you look in the mirror at that pretty face of yours and say that again....?]