Chapter 87: Loki

With the scepter in hand, Loki moved forward with his plans. His ambitions in Asgard had failed, but now he had found new collaborators—powerful ones he could use to his advantage.

Yes, he was the one using Thanos, not the other way around. Once he reached Earth and obtained the Tesseract, he believed he would wield ultimate control over everything. With the Tesseract's power and the Mind Stone embedded in his scepter, Loki's confidence grew, though he didn't realize how the stone subtly fueled the darker corners of his mind.

From the depths of the universe, a commanding voice echoed.

"The Tesseract has awakened and is located in a small, human world."

"These humans wish to use its energy, but only we can truly wield it. They're fools to think otherwise."

"He will lead the vanguard, and the Chitauri army will follow."

"Let him claim Earth. The universe belongs to us."

"Humanity cannot resist; their fate is sealed."

Thanos turned his gaze toward Earth, calculating. The Tesseract—the Space Stone—was essential to his plans, second only to the Power Stone. With the Space Stone, he could move effortlessly across the galaxy; with the Power Stone, he would be unstoppable.

Meanwhile, Thor felt an uneasy sensation. His gaze drifted toward the sky as an involuntary twitch pulled at his eyelid. It was a familiar feeling—a warrior's intuition—that warned him of looming trouble in the universe. He sensed the arrival of an advance force, likely the Chitauri army led by none other than Loki. Yet Thor decided not to intervene immediately.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Jane asked, noticing Thor's tense expression.

After waking from her coma, Jane had lost the strong connection with Mjolnir she'd experienced during the Destroyer battle. Thor had asked the Ancient One to examine her, and she confirmed that Jane's body was instinctively shielding itself; she was simply not ready to handle such power yet.

This experience had deepened Jane's sense of destiny, and her relationship with Thor had grown rapidly. That same day, at Thor's suggestion, she agreed to stay at Trudheim Manor.

"It's nothing," Thor replied. "Just that there's a crisis approaching—an invasion by a hostile alien force."

Jane blinked, surprised. "Aren't you going to warn anyone?"

Thor waved dismissively. "Forget it. To those power-hungry politicians in Washington, I'm already a threat. If I say anything, they'll probably assume I have some ulterior motive. Let them deal with it themselves. The cause of this crisis is the same as seventy years ago—people trying to control forces that aren't theirs to wield."

His opinion of Washington was hardly favorable. From his view, the government wanted obedient soldiers they could control, preferably ones with a metaphorical—or even literal—bomb collar. Anyone who refused to submit to their control was seen as a liability.

The more he interacted with the bureaucrats, the more he understood why the Ancient One, as the Sorcerer Supreme, avoided meddling in most human affairs. To her, much of humanity's strife stemmed from their own reckless choices.

"Can't you at least tell Natasha?" Jane asked.

"I trust her," Thor replied, "but I don't want to put her in a difficult position. She's still tied to S.H.I.E.L.D., after all. For now, you should focus on training and learning to control your power. When the time comes, you'll need to be ready."

After the Destroyer battle, Thor had tested Jane's potential and found her to be surprisingly gifted. Even by Asgardian standards, she would have been considered exceptional. A thousand years ago, she might have been revered as a saint—or, more likely, condemned as a witch.

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