In the blink of an eye, it was already noon.
Dr. Banner, who had been busy all through the night, finally woke up. However, as soon as he stepped into the laboratory, he saw a peculiar sight.
The two people in front of him—one large and one small—were "fighting."
In Banner's impression, Tony was often a bit unconventional, but seeing him get into a physical scuffle with a child in the lab was something he never expected.
Well... perhaps the word "scuffle" wasn't quite accurate. It looked more like Tony was unilaterally "receiving a beating."
On the lab table, the usually arrogant Tony Stark was currently having his left arm held in a grappling lock by an exultant Luca. Tony was non-stop making "Ouch, ouch!" sounds.
On the other hand, the "Cannonball Thor" Haro, who had been so impressive the night before, was currently being held firmly by its "head" by a mechanical arm fixed to the workbench. It could only wave its short little arms in a desperate, futile struggle.
"Aren't you supposed to be smart? What's 1000 minus 7?"
Luca, using his mechanical arm to pin Tony down, had a face full of triumph.
"Doctor's here! Doctor's here!"
Haro was the first to notice Dr. Banner standing awkwardly at the entrance and immediately called out. Judging by the little thing's tone, it didn't seem to be warning the two of them so much as asking Bruce Banner to help it escape.
The shout alerted both of them. Luca quickly let go, pretending as if nothing had happened. Tony, upon standing up, instinctively started whistling and looked at the ceiling, as if there were something deeply scientific worth studying on that familiar surface.
Only Haro, who had been the first to cry for help, remained trapped and immobile under the mechanical arm.
"Ahem~ what exactly are you two doing?"
Seeing that neither of them intended to speak first, Dr. Banner asked awkwardly.
"Studying blueprints!"
"Giving this kid some design pointers!"
Both spoke simultaneously, then glanced at each other before turning their heads away.
"Cough, this kid's basic theory is okay, but his studies are a bit messy and his hands-on ability is lacking. I was just helping him refine the robot he designed," Tony rubbed his nose and added an awkward explanation.
Refining blueprints to the point of a wrestling match? Dr. Banner looked at them with a head full of question marks.
Seeing that neither seemed inclined to elaborate, he decisively skipped the topic. His expression turned serious as he asked:
"Has there been any change in the spatial fluctuation detection?"
At the mention of official business, Tony's expression turned solemn. He straightened his sleeves and spoke:
"Nothing new for now. Since last night, it seems all the new added fluctuations have completely vanished."
Dr. Banner's face changed slightly. "Could it be that the fluctuation frequency shifted, making the original program unable to detect them?"
Tony replied, "I suspect so too, but don't worry. This morning I had JARVIS use the original waveband as a reference to constantly cycle through detection frequencies. The satellites are searching at full power. If anything new is found, we'll get an alert."
Hearing this, Dr. Banner breathed a small sigh of relief. However, the fact that their primary search method had failed kept him from relaxing completely.
Luca, meanwhile, looked at Tony Stark with some surprise. He hadn't expected Tony to still be in the mood to calmly guide his design improvements under such circumstances.
"That's good. Oh, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the move too. Though they haven't found any trace of the people who evacuated from Kingpin's lab yet. If they find them first..."
As Banner spoke, he caught Tony's strange look. He stumbled over his words, unsure how to continue.
"Did Nick Fury contact you?"
"No, Natasha told me..."
Both spoke at once. Now, Dr. Banner looked even more embarrassed.
Fortunately, Thor saved him from the awkwardness by rushing into the room.
"Yo~ isn't this our former God of Thunder?"
Tony, who had been ready to dig into the gossip between Dr. Banner and Black Widow Natasha, immediately shifted targets when he saw Thor enter.
However, a somber Thor ignored the teasing and spoke with a heavy tone:
"Heimdall just contacted me. Rebellions have broken out simultaneously in five of the Nine Realms!!"
The room fell silent.
"Rebellions?!"
"Yes. Muspelheim, Vanaheim, Alfheim..."
"Stop, stop, stop!" Seeing Thor about to list them one by one, Tony interrupted. "Does this mean you're heading back to Asgard to suppress the rebels? Your Highness?"
It was a standard question, but coming from Tony, it carried a hint of sarcasm. In truth, Tony didn't intend to stop Thor if he wanted to return home to end a war. Even though the one causing trouble on Earth was Thor's brother, Tony understood the weight of an unexploded crisis versus an ongoing war with mass casualties.
However, Thor shook his head slightly and explained:
"No."
"The root cause of these rebellions is the destruction of the Bifrost. Asgard has lost its primary means of enforcing authority over its territories."
"My father has personally led the armies to quell the unrest, but even with the power of Odin All-Father, transporting an entire army across the Nine Realms frequently is unrealistic. As soon as the suppressing forces leave, the rebellions break out again."
Banner asked curiously, "Aside from the Bifrost, doesn't Asgard have spaceships or other troop transport methods?"
Thor shook his head helplessly.
"The Nine Realms are not just ordinary planets in space. They are nine independent worlds linked by the World Tree, Yggdrasil. Their distances in physical space are vast. If we relied solely on spaceship travel, we couldn't handle so many locations at once."
What Thor didn't mention was that Asgard followed an elite soldier doctrine. While everyone was a warrior, their population wasn't massive. Without the rapid transport of the Bifrost, relying on long-distance ship travel would leave Asgard vulnerable to other alien forces. Asgard had many enemies from its years of maintaining neutrality and occupying the Nine Realms.
"The only current solution is to find the Tesseract as soon as possible to repair the Bifrost. Only then can true peace return to the Nine Realms!"