Parker Robbins had originally planned to break into Typhoon Tower again and again if necessary.
Seven times if that was what it took.
But the Battle of New York changed everything.
The memory of that war still made his spine go cold.
He sat alone in his small apartment, staring blankly at the wall.
Wait a second…
The person his mysterious boss wanted him to assassinate…
Could it possibly be Theodore Vane—the leader of the Justice League?
Parker rubbed his face anxiously.
Do I look like someone who's tired of living?
The thought alone made him uneasy.
But the thing that bothered him even more was the silence from his employer.
His mysterious boss had not contacted him for a long time.
Parker had tried sleeping in more than a dozen different positions.
But no matter how he tried, he could not see the person he desperately hoped would appear in his dreams.
After days of frustration, he finally came up with a brilliant idea.
Outsource the job.
Being afraid was perfectly normal.
In fact, fear was usually a sign of intelligence.
And when someone accepted an outsourced assassination contract, that usually meant they weren't particularly intelligent.
Parker leaned back and began organizing his thoughts.
Recently, a bold idea had begun forming in his mind.
If someone like Theodore Vane could establish something like the Justice League…
Why couldn't someone else create the opposite?
An Injustice League.
He had been hearing more and more rumors from the criminal underworld.
With the rise of superheroes, a new wave of criminals with strange powers had also begun to appear.
And right now, there was no unified organization bringing them together.
That meant opportunity.
A completely untapped market.
A blue ocean.
If Parker played his cards right, he might build something big.
Really big.
Recently he had started visiting a bar known as the Black Market Club.
It was a gathering place for criminals, smugglers, and all sorts of shady figures.
Through those connections, Parker had learned about several individuals with unusual abilities.
He had already chosen two potential recruits.
The first was a French chemist named Paul-Pierre Duval.
During a laboratory accident, Duval had been splashed with an unknown chemical compound.
Instead of dying, his body had mutated.
Now he possessed the ability to transform his entire body into living stone.
When transformed, his strength and endurance increased dramatically.
Yet his mobility remained almost unchanged.
Even more dangerous was his right hand.
Anything he touched with it—objects or people—could be turned into stone for nearly an hour.
The second candidate was a man named Alexei Sytsevich.
Unlike Duval, Alexei had volunteered for experimentation.
Tempted by money and power, he had allowed himself to become the subject of a dangerous project.
After undergoing chemical enhancement and radiation treatments, Alexei gained enormous physical strength.
He also possessed a heavy armored suit shaped like a rhinoceros.
The result was a monstrous brute with terrifying power.
If Parker could recruit both of them successfully, his mysterious boss would probably be satisfied.
And once his criminal alliance grew stronger…
The assassination of Theodore Vane might finally become possible.
…
While Parker Robbins was dreaming about building a villain organization, Ethan Voss' empire was expanding rapidly.
Ever since the Battle of New York ended, nearly every aspect of his operations had advanced dramatically.
The reconstruction project for Hell's Kitchen had officially begun.
Unfortunately, during the alien invasion, Hell's Kitchen had been "accidentally" devastated.
That made the mayor's redevelopment plan incredibly easy to push forward.
At the same time, the White House quietly released a small piece of news.
It barely attracted attention.
According to the announcement, the stolen weapons from Hammer Industries had been successfully recovered.
The White House, the New York City government, and Typhoon Group had completed a three-party transaction.
Hammer Industries was officially sold.
The New York government received compensation.
The situation appeared completely resolved.
But the people behind the scenes knew the truth.
The White House had spent billions of dollars to reclaim those weapons.
They had secretly purchased them from so-called Middle Eastern arms dealers in order to maintain the security of American bases in the "graveyard of empires."
In return for Ethan's cooperation, the White House had also paid a large portion of the compensation owed for damages during the Battle of New York.
The money was disguised as disaster recovery funds.
Through this arrangement, Ethan acquired Hammer Industries effortlessly.
His plan for the company was simple.
He intended to hand its management over to Ivan Vanko.
More specifically, he hoped Ivan and his father could transform Hammer's factories into production lines for robotic armor.
At the same time, to maintain stable cash flow, the factories would produce other products as well.
Advanced mechanical prosthetic limbs.
Highly realistic robotic companions.
Domestic service robots.
Household automation systems.
It was time to bring robotics into everyday life.
In other words, Ethan was planning to accomplish something Tony Stark had never attempted.
Change the world.
There was only one problem.
Neither Ivan Vanko nor his father were experts in artificial intelligence.
Their wearable armor technology was impressive.
But when it came to AI systems, their knowledge was limited.
After all, not everyone could become a genius polymath like Tony Stark.
Ethan would need to solve that problem eventually.
Meanwhile, he had also made an enormous fortune.
During the Battle of New York, Typhoon Tower had suffered the heaviest damage.
But Ethan had paid extremely high insurance premiums beforehand.
The result was catastrophic for the insurance industry.
It wasn't just Typhoon Tower.
Thousands of insurance claims poured in from across the city.
Personal insurance.
Property insurance.
Business insurance.
All of it had to be paid.
The alien invasion had ended.
The companies responsible for covering the damages had collapsed.
The compensation alone reached tens of billions of dollars.
For many companies, the average payout exceeded two billion dollars.
Under normal circumstances, they could have handled it.
But in this situation, paying those claims would bankrupt them immediately.
Facing Ethan's aggressive legal pressure, the insurance companies had only one option left.
Sell themselves.
After a series of acquisitions, Ethan suddenly found himself in a completely new position.
He had become an insurance magnate.
He did not own large controlling shares in any single company.
But he owned pieces of all of them.
And Ethan was confident about making those purchases.
Because he knew the U.S. government would never allow the entire insurance industry to collapse.
In a crisis, the White House would step in and rescue them.
Which meant Ethan would profit either way.
Meanwhile, Thor had finally finished his romantic vacation.
After spending several days with Jane Foster in Europe, he reluctantly returned to his responsibilities.
He took Loki and the Tesseract with him.
And together with Ethan, he traveled to Asgard.
Although Ethan possessed portals that could reach the realm directly, he had not visited Asgard since his previous trip.
When they arrived, Loki was greeted immediately.
His mother rushed forward with tears in her eyes.
His father stood silently nearby, his expression cold and severe.
Unfortunately for Loki, Frigga's tears could not soften Odin's judgment.
The punishment remained unchanged.
Loki was imprisoned again.
Soon afterward, Ethan and Odin began their negotiations.
The Tesseract possessed the power required to repair the Bifrost.
But at the moment, the artifact was in Ethan's possession.
Odin sat upon his throne.
"So," he said calmly.
"What do you want?"
Ethan answered without hesitation.
"I want the Eternal Flame."
Odin responded instantly.
"Impossible."
The blunt refusal surprised Ethan slightly.
"Why?" he asked.
Odin did not answer.
Ethan frowned slightly.
"Does it have something to do with Ragnarok?"
Odin remained silent.
Ethan rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Alright," he said finally.
"I don't need all of it."
He raised a hand.
"How about half?"
Odin frowned.
After a long pause, he replied.
"Twenty percent."
"That's too little," Ethan said immediately.
"You need to give me at least forty percent."
Odin's gaze sharpened slightly.
"Thirty percent."
Ethan shook his head.
"Thirty-five."
"That's my final offer."
"If you don't agree, I'm leaving."
After a long silence, Odin finally nodded.
The deal was made.
The Eternal Flame was one of the most precious treasures stored inside Odin's vault.
In the distant future, when Hela returned to Asgard, Thor would use the Eternal Flame to resurrect the fire giant Surtur.
That act would ultimately destroy Asgard itself.
Ethan wanted the Eternal Flame for one reason.
Power.
After obtaining the Void Devouring Flame earlier, he had transferred its devouring property into his own blue flame.
Now he wanted to enhance it further.
If he could merge the Eternal Flame's immortal and indestructible nature into his blue flame…
The result would be terrifying.
It would be like turning himself into an ultimate version of Wolverine.
After the agreement was completed, Odin took the Tesseract to repair the Bifrost.
Ethan returned to his divine kingdom with the Eternal Flame.
Inside the divine realm, he carefully examined the fragment he had obtained.
According to the realm's analysis, thirty-five percent of the Eternal Flame contained enormous power.
The raw energy alone was equivalent to thousands of Wolverines.
But that wasn't the most important part.
What truly mattered was the essence hidden within the flame.
The quality known as eternity.
It was something that could not be measured purely in terms of raw strength.
Ethan stared at the blazing fragment thoughtfully.
For a moment, he almost fused the Eternal Flame directly into the divine kingdom itself.
But in the end, he restrained himself.
The essence of eternity was simply too precious.
Instead, Ethan made his decision.
He transformed into his Blue Flame Spirit.
And began merging with the Eternal Flame.
.....
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