Tony knew the scene looked messy from every conceivable angle, but he wasn't about to just stand there like a spectator.
Before he could get a word out, however, Herta's gaze had already swept over him.
"Well? You aren't someone who actually calls the shots on this planet, are you?"
"I have some say, but whether they listen is another story." Her abrasive attitude immediately put Tony on the defensive.
Sensing a lecture coming on, he wasted no time distancing himself from the Council.
The truth was, he was a victim in this too.
"Go fetch the people who actually run this place." Having received her answer, Herta clearly had no interest in further small talk.
She casually tossed the Tesseract to the grey-haired girl and added, "Arlan, grab that and the scepter. Bring them both."
Without a second glance at the others, she turned and stepped into a shimmering mirror that had manifested before her.
Her sheer arrogance left Tony and Natasha exchanging a wary look.
The only extraterrestrial big shots they'd met so far were Asgardian princes—two of them, to be exact.
One protected Earth while the other tried to rule it, and their personalities were worlds apart. From the looks of it, Herta leaned much closer to the Loki end of the spectrum.
Arlan served as Asta's guard, but she was also an employee of Herta's.
Given that Asta was Herta's student, Arlan naturally followed the Madam's orders.
"I'm going to help Madam Herta deliver these items. I should be back soon."
Before disappearing into the mirror, the grey-haired girl shot Tony and Natasha a warning look—a cold, sharp gaze that didn't belong on a girl her age.
Realizing the atmosphere had soured, Asta spoke up. "Please, don't misunderstand Madam Herta. She doesn't bear you any ill will."
Tony and Natasha had already gathered as much; Asta was clearly the most reasonable one among the bunch.
"No misunderstanding here. If anything, we're sorry for dragging you into this mess."
Natasha, a veteran of a thousand aliases, was no stranger to the art of smooth-talking. She knew exactly how to play this.
Just then, Thor finally arrived at the top of Stark Tower, with Rogers in tow.
Everything that had just transpired had been relayed to the team via Tony and Natasha's comms. While Thor didn't have a headset, Rogers had been giving him a play-by-play.
"Forgive my earlier rudeness, Prince Thor. Thank you for saving our ship." Seeing Thor arrive, Asta offered the gratitude she hadn't managed to express before.
Thor gave a hearty laugh. "Think nothing of it. You were attacked within the borders of Asgard; I could hardly stand by and watch."
"...Right. So this really is Midgard?" Asta's expression turned somewhat unreadable. "That lady earlier said that this planet's... decision-makers... fired a weapon of mass destruction at this very spot."
First, they were denied permission to intervene, and then they were treated as collateral damage by the local leadership. Was the life of an Asgardian prince really that cheap?
She didn't say it outright, but the implication was loud and clear to everyone present.
Thor's expression darkened.
"Exactly! Because these mortals cannot fathom the majesty and dignity of a god!" At that moment, a familiar, grating voice drifted up from below. They looked down to see a bruised and battered Loki.
"They have no manners! No sense of awe or respect! They even dared to use brute force against a god like me!" Loki's face twisted.
Even though the Hulk wasn't currently in sight, the mere memory of the encounter made his bones ache as if they were still being rattled apart.
His expression grew even more venomous.
"Not only did they attack me, but they treated my royal brother—my elder brother, my very own sibling—as a disposable pawn to be sacrificed at whim!"
He turned a look of staged, pathetic longing toward Thor.
"Don't be stubborn, brother. Earth doesn't see you as a comrade; they don't care if you live or die. I may have done things to hurt you, but you shouldn't be standing against me. We are brothers!"
In reality, Loki had only just regained consciousness and had only heard the conversation starting from Natasha's apology.
But he was clever enough to fill in the blanks.
He figured some random aliens had been caught in the crossfire—hardly a new story.
This was a perfect opening, though. He hadn't expected Earth's leaders to be so foolish; they clearly didn't understand the power of Asgard if they were willing to drop a nuke on a prince's battlefield.
This was a grievous insult, a move bordering on high treason against the crown.
"Thor! It's not how he's making it sound! You know that!" Rogers shouted, looking at Thor.
They were brothers-in-arms, and Rogers trusted him.
That was why he hadn't interrupted Loki immediately; he believed in Thor's judgment. But he couldn't just stay silent, either—silence looked too much like agreement.
Thor knew.
He felt a twinge of pity seeing Loki in such a state, but then he remembered the trickery Loki had used to stab him earlier, and he swallowed that sympathy back down.
"Loki, enough with your silver-tongued lies. I won't listen to you," Thor said.
Loki merely smirked. Thor hadn't bought the act, but Loki could see the hesitation; his brother was definitely bothered by Earth's betrayal.
"Um... is this gentleman... Prince Loki?" Asta, who had been feeling like an outsider to the drama, finally couldn't help but ask. "He's the one who started this war?"
"War? No, no, no. This shouldn't be called a war." Loki waved off Asta's words.
In his eyes, Midgard was just the most backwater, desolate corner of Asgard's jurisdiction.
If Midgard was so disrespectful to a god, what was wrong with him stepping in to rule? Yet these people treated him like a madman instead of a king.
Loki went to speak again, but Tony cut him off. "Not a war? Have you looked at the scenery lately?"
Tony wasn't stupid.
Thor was acting remarkably cautious around Asta—or rather, the civilization she represented. Tony had never seen Thor this guarded, which meant her people were not to be trifled with.
Under these circumstances, he wasn't about to let Earth take the heat alone. Loki was going down with the ship. After all, Earth was a victim here too.
Loki, unaware of the power dynamics, assumed Tony was just trying to keep Thor on Earth's side.
"I prefer to call it... discipline. I never intended to destroy you, only to teach you a lesson. Thor, you've seen how these Earthlings treat us." He continued to pry at the crack in Thor's resolve.
As long as he kept harping on the fact that Earth had stabbed Thor in the back, he was bound to get under his thick-headed brother's skin.
But before he could say another word, a mirror rippled into existence near Asta.
"Miss Asta, Madam Herta has requested that you wrap things up here quickly. She needs your assistance with an experiment shortly." Arlan's voice drifted out from the mirror, and Loki caught a detail he couldn't ignore.
"Herta?"
Wait... how the hell did Herta get involved in this?
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T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.