"Diana, she'll be staying with me for a while."After saying this, Clark noticed a change in the look in Mary's eyes.
"It's fine, your father and I will head home and check on our house. We won't bother you for now."With that, Mary pulled Jonathan Kent along and left.
"Looks like Clark doesn't need to worry about us anymore," Mary said to Jonathan once they stepped outside.
Jonathan nodded, glancing back. "Let's go see if our house is still intact. If not, we'll need to talk to the insurance company."
"Sorry about that," Clark smiled awkwardly at Diana after his parents left. "That must've been a little embarrassing."
"You have a great relationship with them," Diana said, clearly touched. She was a bit envious watching the bond Clark shared with his parents. While her mother, Hippolyta, had been very good to her, it was a different kind of kindness—one shaped by duty and responsibility. Ever since leaving Themyscira, Diana had never returned.
So seeing Clark's warmth with his family stirred something deep in her heart.
"Yeah, they really have been great to me," Clark replied with a soft smile as he thought of the Kents.
A few days later, while watching the news with Diana, Clark received a call from Coulson.
"Clark, Thor's heading back."
Clark paused for a second. After all, if Thor wanted to leave, he could've just gone—why the call? But then he remembered: the key to Loki's vibranium handcuffs was still with him.
He realized Thor's departure meant he'd probably need to go see him off.
"When? Now?"
"Thor wants to leave soon. He's escorting Loki back to Asgard for trial."
"Got it. We'll head out shortly."
After hanging up, Clark looked at Diana."Thor's leaving. He wants to get Loki back as soon as possible—probably because of all the chaos Loki caused here. Thor's worried he might do something else if they delay. Let's go see them off. Besides, I still have the key to Loki's cuffs."
"Merciful."
Bethesda Terrace in Central Park is one of the first parks in New York designed entirely with landscape principles in mind. Fortunately, during the Chitauri invasion, Central Park—located at the heart of Manhattan—wasn't damaged.
Though the battle involved many people, the actual combat zone was small, mostly centered around Stark Tower. The Chitauri weren't trying to slaughter all humans, just to capture the Tesseract.
So neither the Avengers nor the invaders expanded the battleground, otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible for just Clark and Tony to keep nearly ten Chitauri confined to such a narrow area.
Aside from Clark, Banner, Tony, and Thor, it's unclear if the others even managed to kill hundreds of Chitauri. After all, normal Earth firearms couldn't pierce their armor.
The police and military were no match—most ended up slaughtered. And the political and military leadership hesitated to send real troops into New York. It was obvious to anyone that Earth's forces weren't on par with the aliens.
As a result, during the early stages of the New York battle, only Clark and the Avengers were resisting, while military leaders were busy shifting blame—and even trying to profit off the crisis.
Thankfully, Clark didn't know any of that. Otherwise, the U.S. might've had to elect a new president.
So when Clark drove Diana through the city, what he saw was deep gratitude from the people toward the Avengers—especially in Manhattan.
In this half-ruined city, spontaneous civic actions and tributes had sprung up. People were mimicking their heroes—combing their hair like Cap, trimming beards like Tony, or growing it out like Thor.
Clark even saw many kids wearing Superman costumes or Iron Man helmets, running joyfully through the streets. Some women even dressed like Diana, wearing replicas of her cool outfit.
"Look good?"Diana asked as she noticed Clark's eyes lingering on a few stylish girls dressed like her.
"Yeah."Then Clark quickly caught himself and turned to her. "But not as good as you."
Diana didn't look at Clark but turned to gaze out the window. From Clark's angle, he couldn't see the soft, happy smile spreading across her face.
When they arrived at Bethesda Terrace, they found most of the others already there. One corner of the park was completely cordoned off by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
But Clark's car wasn't stopped—probably because they recognized his license plate.
"Clark, Diana, you made it," Banner said as he walked over to them.
"Clark, do you have a moment? I need a favor."
"What's up, Banner?"
"After everything you said last time—and after the Battle of New York—I think I've started to establish a bit of a connection with the 'other guy.' So I want to try talking to him. But… if it goes wrong and Hulk comes out again, I might need someone to stop him."
Despite the recent improvements, Banner could tell the Hulk was still like a rebellious child—unruly and dangerous.
He didn't know what would happen if he tried to communicate with Hulk. Would he lose control? Would he be able to regain it? No one knew. So, as a precaution, Banner wanted someone strong enough to stop him if needed.
Clark was the obvious choice. He didn't trust anyone else with it. After all, Banner could feel that the Hulk had become stronger than the one from two years ago.
"Sure, no problem."Clark thought it was a good idea—and surprisingly minor. So he agreed without hesitation.
While Clark was talking with Banner, Tony pulled a suitcase from his car and handed it to Thor.
"This is yours now. It's too dangerous to leave on Earth."
Tony had been keeping the Tesseract safe these past couple of days—there was no way he'd just ignore something so valuable.
But after studying it for a bit, Tony discovered something fascinating: the energy waves emitted by the Tesseract were almost identical to those from the new arc reactor embedded in his chest.
After realizing this, Tony immediately understood what had happened—he'd have been an idiot not to.
In fact, Tony's father, Howard Stark, had studied the Tesseract's energy signature decades ago and had even figured out a way to recreate it.
But due to the limitations of his time—or perhaps some special reason—Howard had hidden his discovery. He'd hoped that someday Tony would uncover it and bring it to life again. As for that special reason, Tony suspected he might've found a few clues.
go to "patreon.com/Hussain678" for more chapter