Facing the surging lightning beneath the vault of the sky, Heisenberg charged upward against the streaks of thunder.
Boom!!!
A burst of incomparably brilliant lightning struck both Heisenberg and Thor at once.
Thor's injuries improved slightly, because lightning was his power.
As for Heisenberg...
"Hissss!"
The pain made him grit his teeth on instinct.
Thor's lightning was no ordinary lightning, especially after he had regained his own power and forged Stormbreaker.
The thunder coursing through him was already filled with the primordial divine power that had been passed down through Asgard since ancient times.
Every bolt of it was primal thunder capable of igniting steel itself.
In only a brief moment, the nano spacetime traversal suit on Heisenberg's body began melting at high speed, while his own bio-force field gradually started to fall into disorder under the invasion of that primal thunder.
"Your lightning really packs a punch!"
Heisenberg clenched his teeth and let out a cold laugh, then directly shoved the God of Thunder and charged all the way toward the ground in the distance.
Boom!!!
Heisenberg slammed Thor into the earth, and the impact instantly shattered the ground across a radius of more than five hundred meters.
The violent tremor sent broken soil and stone flying into the air, while Heisenberg's bio-force field, constantly active but now growing increasingly unstable, caused countless grains of sand and chunks of rock to whirl around them like they had been caught in a tornado.
A colossal sand twister rose from earth to sky, vast and violent, and in the blink of an eye looked ready to destroy everything in its path.
At the very center of that sandstorm, Heisenberg began stomping on Thor's head again and again.
Bang!
Bang!
One kick after another!
Thor had absolutely no chance to dodge!
Why?
Because Heisenberg was faster than him!
Every time Thor tried to make any move at all, what greeted him was an unrelenting foot, without exception!
With every stomp, terrifying shockwaves rippled outward, and all across New York, countless buildings began to collapse.
As for the ground centered around Heisenberg, it had already turned into a ruined battlefield like the crater left by a meteor.
He stomped down a full forty-seven times, expanding the damage from a radius of five hundred meters to a shattered zone more than three thousand meters across before he finally stopped.
The people of New York were grief-stricken. In an instant, this day had transformed from what should have been a celebrated Day of Resurrection into the greatest disaster day to strike America since the Thanos incident five years ago.
Among the Avengers, the moment Heisenberg took Thor and charged out, Captain America had already called in rescue personnel and begun preparing for the relief effort they were bound to need.
As for the Avengers strong enough to intervene, like Iron Man and the Hulk, they had already rushed toward Heisenberg.
Unfortunately, they were too slow. In less than five seconds, Heisenberg had already finished the fight. In the end, they had not made it in time to stop him!
From the moment Thor launched his sneak attack to the moment he was stomped unconscious, the entire battle had lasted no more than seven seconds!
And those seven seconds alone left nearly everyone watching utterly dumbfounded.
The little raccoon, or rather our cosmic red panda Rocket, stood there with his mouth hanging open.
"I really never imagined the one lying there would be Thor..."
"I sure as hell didn't imagine it either, but we have to do something!" Rhodes said as he suited up in armor and flew straight toward Heisenberg in the distance.
Just before Rhodes fully took off, the little raccoon quickly climbed onto his shoulder.
He pulled out the huge gun hidden at his waist and cursed viciously.
"I want to see whether this fight is more exciting, or if the battle against Thanos was even better!"
But when the two of them flew in front of Heisenberg, what they saw was not Tony and Banner fighting him.
Instead, Tony and Banner were simply standing in front of Heisenberg, seemingly talking to him about something.
When Rhodes and Rocket drew near, Tony even took the initiative to wave at Rhodes, signaling him not to act rashly.
Rhodes suppressed the tension and anger in his heart and landed beside Tony.
Only then did they hear the conversation between Tony and Heisenberg.
All they heard was Heisenberg speaking in a helpless tone.
"What the hell is going on, guys? Why did you welcome me like this the moment I got here?
What's this kind of move called again? A show of force?"
"No. It isn't that. We don't know what the hell got into Thor either!" Tony explained through gritted teeth.
The moment he heard Tony's words, Rhodes flew into a rage and roared at him.
"Are you out of your damn mind? Why are you saying that to him? He nearly destroyed New York! God knows how many people died in this..."
"Shut up, Rhodes!!!"
Tony cut him off sharply.
"No matter what happened, no matter how much was lost, today still won't be worse than what happened five years ago!
And more importantly, no matter what happened, all of this started because of Thor!
Put down your anger and look at everything that just happened from the perspective of a bystander. Are we seriously supposed to blame Heisenberg for being suddenly attacked by Thor?"
"Dammit, are you even still Tony? That was Thor! The one beaten half to death is our friend and teammate!
And yet you're making excuses for some random stranger, you...!!!"
Bang!
Before Rhodes could finish speaking, Heisenberg had already rushed in front of him. With his left hand, he seized Rhodes by the neck through the armor and lifted him straight into the air!
The armor around Rhodes's neck caved in instantly, making it harder and harder for him to breathe.
At the same time, Heisenberg's right hand crushed the large gun in Rocket's grasp.
As for the little raccoon himself, Heisenberg lifted him up by the neck as well.
He looked at Rhodes with open displeasure and asked coldly,
"I am the Heisenberg from the universe you traveled to, the collector of the Mind Stone, and a traveler who personally came to your universe to help you.
And what did I get in return?
A completely senseless attack, and then senseless insults from the two of you?"
Thud!
Heisenberg tossed the two of them to the ground. Rhodes's armor shattered on impact, though Heisenberg had held back enough to leave him only badly injured and unable to get up.
Rocket was the same, though he could still barely struggle to his feet. As he patted the dirt off himself, he kept muttering under his breath.
"Finally, someone who didn't mistake me for an animal at first glance. The way he cursed at me actually made me kind of happy.
He called me one of you guys. He called us two guys, not one person and one raccoon, haha!!"
Rocket's outrageous reaction made even Rhodes, who was full of hatred, unable to keep a straight face, let alone Heisenberg.
Heisenberg strolled over to Rocket and rubbed his head.
"You're pretty interesting, buddy. What's your name?"
"Ha, awesome. That's right, call me buddy, not raccoon!
I'm Rocket. That's my friend Thor. Wait!"
Rocket finally remembered the important part, so he quickly slapped Heisenberg's hand away.
"Don't think you can butter me up, Heisenberg. I know exactly what you did!"
The moment he finished speaking, Banner frowned and asked him,
"Rocket, I'm also very confused about why Thor suddenly attacked Heisenberg!
Didn't the two of you go to Asgard in 2013 to retrieve the Reality Stone together?
Then why did Thor launch an attack on Heisenberg the moment you got back?"
At that question, everyone turned to look at Rocket Raccoon. Rocket's ears immediately drooped as he spoke helplessly to the crowd.
"Thor and I got the Reality Stone, but the process wasn't exactly pleasant. Thor said the past we returned to was completely different from the past he remembered.
In that past we went back to, Thor's father died in battle against Heisenberg, and Asgard's throne was inherited by Thor's sister, Hela.
Also, Thor's mother wasn't very happy. She wouldn't let us mention Heisenberg's name in front of her.
I figured that was because he killed her husband, but Thor thought it had to be because Heisenberg..."
At this point, Rocket cautiously glanced at Heisenberg.
"Thor thinks that since Heisenberg was the victor, he must have humiliated the family of the loser, so the reason his mother was unhappy must have been because Heisenberg insulted her.
As for his sister, Thor thinks someone as cruel as her could never possibly remain in a friendly alliance with Heisenberg after their father was killed by him. Friendly enough that the two of us saw them on the throne... ahem.
So Heisenberg must have used something to control his sister, and then used her to control Asgard...
Especially Thor's brother. He's been gone for over five years, so he was probably exiled too.
And then there was the Thor of that past. He had already turned into a fat shut-in by 2013!
As for the reason, well, it was his hammer. This was all the hammer's fault.
Because in the past we went to, Heisenberg had left finger marks in the hammer by squeezing it...
And all of that made the Thor of that past lose his fighting spirit, and made the current Thor... completely explode?!!"
In the shortest time possible, Rocket summarized what he and Thor had gone through for everyone.
But even in that compressed version, Tony, Banner, and the others all clenched their jaws at the same time.
"For a bullshit reason like that, the fight he started nearly destroyed all of New York, and almost ruined our one chance to set everything right. What the actual hell?!!"
Tony swore fiercely. Hearing that, Rocket rubbed his head helplessly.
A moment later, Rocket quietly retorted,
"Don't say it like that. He really did kill Thor's father, at least!"
The moment those words fell, Heisenberg suddenly laughed.
He pointed at Thor in the distance and said to the others,
"I suddenly have an idea. Once I get back to 2008, I'll kill this bastard's father immediately!"
The instant those words were spoken, everyone's heart tightened. At once, countless theories about closed time loops flashed through their minds.
And in the next moment, the way they looked at Thor became filled with pity.
If things were really that twisted, then it was entirely possible that Thor's father would one day die precisely because of Thor's attack on Heisenberg today!
After a brief moment of stunned silence, Rocket suddenly bellowed,
"Holy shit, I just remembered, where the hell did you even pop out from?!"
"I invited Heisen to this universe. He brought us the Mind Stone and the Time Stone we need!" Iron Man answered from the side, while also making Heisenberg's reason for coming sound much nicer.
His explanation left Rhodes and Rocket astonished. A moment later, Rhodes let out a long, bitter sigh.
"So all of this was something Thor brought on himself?"
"You brought it on yourself too," Heisenberg replied to Rhodes with a cheerful grin. At the same time, he took out the necklace around his neck and then drew the scepter slung across his back.
"If I were you guys, I'd hurry up and bring back the half of the people you lost.
As for the damage New York just took...
If you've got these Infinity Stones, you can revive half the universe, so why can't you bring them back too while you're at it, right?"
After saying that, Heisenberg did not care whether they accepted his suggestion or not. He rose into the air at once and flew off with effortless flair toward Avengers Tower in the distance.
Behind him, Tony and the other three looked at one another.
Tony helplessly took Rhodes and Rocket and followed after Heisenberg.
Banner, meanwhile, let out a sigh and walked over to Thor with his mind full of thoughts, then hoisted the big guy onto his shoulder.
Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about Thor's hammer and axe. Those would have to stay where they were for now.
After all, no one else could lift them.
/-\
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