This is the fakest bullshit I've ever seen.
Mario stared at the Destroyer lying motionless in the crater, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Thor's hammer strike had been powerful. But he knew that kind of damage was nothing to something that could regenerate automatically.
The real problem? The Destroyer was just lying there playing dead, willingly cooperating with Thor's hero moment.
Thor didn't even glance at it in the crater. Instead, he walked toward Jane with the confidence of a man who knew he looked damn good doing it.
Jane gazed at him. Her jeans felt uncomfortably damp as she cautiously reached out to touch his armor.
"Is this what you normally wear?"
Thor smiled. "More or less."
"It's pretty hot."
Thor was about to continue flirting when reality crashed back in. Loki had just tried to kill him. That was unforgivable. He needed to return to Asgard.
Plus, his father was still unconscious.
Mario quickly walked over to the crater and looked down at the supposedly "dead" Destroyer. He pulled out a diamond pickaxe from his inventory.
TING.
"That won't work. You need to sever the armor's connection with Asgard first. Otherwise, with Odin's divine power still linked to it, you won't be able to gain control. He's just old, not dead."
Mario immediately turned toward the person who'd been standing next to Coulson.
Sever its connection to Asgard? I'd have to know how to do that first. Maybe if I moved it to the Nether?
But compared to trying to drag the Destroyer through a portal to another dimension, he suddenly realized there was a much more convenient solution standing right in front of him.
He looked at the woman in the yellow robes with his most innocent expression.
"When did you get here?"
The Ancient One looked at Mario's smiling face and immediately understood what he was thinking.
"When I sent you Thor's hammer..."
Mario's eyes went wide.
"So... you watched me nearly get crushed to death?"
The Ancient One kept smiling and nodded.
"You failed to catch the gift I sent you. Can't blame me for that. I know what you're thinking. Odin went too far this time. You can keep the armor."
As she spoke, the surrounding space began to warp like glass, folding over itself. The location remained the same, but the distant figures vanished completely.
They were in the Mirror Dimension.
Meanwhile, in Asgard's royal palace, Odin lay on his bed when he suddenly felt his connection to the Destroyer armor severed. His eyes snapped open, a flash of anger passing through them before he forced himself to calm down.
"Ancient One..."
He let out a long sigh and closed his eyes again. This time, he admitted he was in the wrong. He didn't want to create a new enemy for Asgard in his final days.
After all, it was just a replica.
If this had been during his prime, even a replica would have been worth traveling to Midgard to have words with the Ancient One. But now? He was too old, and too close to the Odinsleep.
Looks like that young sorcerer is the one she's chosen.
He set the thought aside. Through his remaining senses, he could feel Loki approaching, and he wasn't alone. The Frost Giants were coming.
---
Inside the Mirror Dimension, Mario reached out curiously and touched the surface of the warped space.
I want to learn this! he thought, then immediately remembered his last attempt at learning portal magic.
Yeah, maybe not.
A complex, dazzling magic circle appeared in the Ancient One's hand as she began suppressing the armor's own consciousness.
"You can check on it now."
Mario was shocked. Is the Ancient One really this powerful? She just cut off Odin's connection like snipping a thread?
He raised his pickaxe and tapped the Destroyer's armor. The health bar above it had already vanished. With just that light tap, the entire construct dissolved into loot that dropped to the ground.
He immediately stored it into his inventory, finally feeling completely at ease. Then he turned toward the Ancient One, who was watching him with her usual calm smile.
"Thank you."
He knew the Ancient One had her own agenda, she always did, but the benefits he'd gained were very real, and he appreciated it.
The Ancient One's expression shifted slightly. "You're collecting the Infinity Stones, aren't you?"
Mario didn't bother hiding it. He simply nodded, then asked, "Did I succeed? In the future, I mean?"
A faint smile appeared on her face. "Although I can't see your personal future, in fact, even the timelines I can perceive now are already diverging from what I knew, I have a feeling you will succeed. You will collect all the Stones. Including my Time Stone."
Mario's eyes instinctively went to the faint green glow emanating from the Eye of Agamotto hanging on her chest. Inside it was one of the Stones he needed most.
"As long as you promise to protect Earth from invasions by the Dark Dimension and other hostile realms, I will personally give you the Time Stone when the time comes."
Mario froze, his mouth hanging slightly open. He hadn't expected her to have such high expectations for him. That was a massive responsibility.
"Um... isn't that Strange's job? The whole Sorcerer Supreme thing?"
The Ancient One chuckled softly. "He is the future Sorcerer Supreme. He will inherit my duties defending Earth through mystical means. That doesn't conflict with this. Besides, you're different from him. He is reactive, he waits for threats to come to him and then responds. You're proactive. You seek them out."
Mario nodded slowly. It was true. As long as he had the ability, he would never just sit around while threats from other dimensions loomed overhead.
The best defense is a good offense. My nonno used to say that all the time.
"I don't know what the future holds. But for now, I can agree to your terms. I'll do my best to protect Earth."
He paused, then added hopefully, "Oh, by the way, about that table from last time, do you still have... Hey, wait!"
A portal opened in front of the Ancient One. Without hesitation, she stepped through it. At the same time, the sound of shattering glass echoed around Mario.
The Mirror Dimension collapsed.
---
Mario found himself back in the regular world, exactly where he'd been standing before. The only difference was that the Destroyer armor had completely disappeared from the crater.
He'd spent several minutes talking with the Ancient One inside the Mirror Dimension, yet outside, no time had passed at all.
"Time was paused," he muttered, noticing the fading green glow from the Eye of Agamotto as the Ancient One's portal closed. "That's one hell of a trick."
He quietly picked up the sword lying on the ground and stored it in his inventory, then looked up at Thor walking toward him.
"I need to return to Asgard and stop Loki." Thor puffed out his chest proudly. "By the way, your body's too weak. You need to train more. Build some muscle."
Mario's eye twitched. "Don't forget our agreement. Asgardian technology and materials, plus whatever's left of the Destroyer. If you forget, I'll come collect personally."
Thor smiled and nodded, then walked toward the spot where the Destroyer had originally descended. He raised Mjolnir to the sky.
"Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!"
At that moment, a series of electronic notification tones chimed in Mario's mind.
[TINKERS' CONSTRUCT MOD LOADING...]
[TINKERS' TOOL LEVELING MOD LOADING...]
[TAIGA MOD LOADING...]
[CONSTRUCT'S ARMORY MOD LOADING...]
[PAM'S HARVESTCRAFT MOD LOADING...]
[CULINARY GENERATORS MOD LOADING...]
[SPICE OF LIFE: CARROT EDITION MOD LOADING...]
[TELEPORT CAKES MOD LOADING...]
[ALL LOADS COMPLETE]
A satisfied smile spread across Mario's face. Worried I won't be able to smelt down the Destroyer? Well, problem solved.
TAIGA contained formulas for incredibly rare materials, more than enough to completely solve Ivan's armor material upgrade problems. Among them were Vibranium, Uru metal, and even the explosive Tiberium ore.
A seven-colored beam of light descended from the sky. Thor and the other Asgardians disappeared into it.
Coulson walked over, seeing Mario lost in thought. He waved a hand in front of his face.
Mario snapped back to reality. "Oh, we done here? Let's head back."
Coulson didn't look happy. Thor's arrival and the Destroyer's attack had made him feel a deep sense of crisis. That armor's power wasn't something any ordinary supervillain or even enhanced individual could match.
Even Steve couldn't handle that thing. Conventional weapons had been completely ineffective.
Most importantly, the arrival of those beings proved that Earth wasn't alone in the universe. And he wasn't sure humanity could survive a full-scale alien invasion.
He glanced at the crater left by the Destroyer's impact. "You took that armor, didn't you?"
Mario immediately looked wary. "That's my loot. Fair and square."
Coulson pinched the bridge of his nose. Could you not be quite so defensive?
"I just want to take it back to S.H.I.E.L.D. for analysis. See if we can develop countermeasures for future threats."
Mario shook his head. "That thing isn't something your current tech level can figure out. But you can send some scientists to my company, we can study it together."
And charge you consulting fees. Win-win.
Thinking of all the new materials available in the Tinker's Construct mod, Mario's grin grew wider. Coulson immediately felt alarm bells going off in his head.
"Ivan! Get the suits over here!"
Ivan, who'd been watching from a hidden position, immediately controlled his battle armor to walk over and stand behind Mario, awaiting orders.
Coulson stared at the suits. The ten sets of armor Mario had given S.H.I.E.L.D. earlier couldn't compare to these, but even those had been devastating against Hydra remnants.
Mario walked to one of the armors and patted its thigh plating. "So? You saw their combat performance yourself. These are my company's latest Mark VII models. Given our relationship, I'll sell you the whole batch at cost."
Well, cost plus thirty percent. But that's practically charity in the defense contractor world.
With the new materials from Tinker's Construct, his company would soon develop even more advanced armor. These "top-tier" models would be obsolete within months. S.H.I.E.L.D. was the perfect customer to dump them on.
The Insight Project was dead, and Fury had a massive secret budget with nowhere to spend it. If he didn't buy armor, what else was he going to waste money on?
Coulson narrowed his eyes. He'd known about Mario's sales strategy for a while now. Everyone in the intelligence community did. Only two companies in the world could produce combat-ready powered armor: Mario's company and Stark Industries.
But Stark Industries didn't sell to outsiders. Mario, on the other hand, not only sold his suits but offered excellent quality at reasonable prices. Even second-hand models were hugely popular. And once other organizations had samples, they could reverse-engineer and modify them.
"You know the money's not in my hands. But I can file a report to Director Fury when we get back. I don't think it'll be a problem."
He deliberately avoided mentioning the Destroyer armor again. Deep down, he hadn't given up on persuading Fury to accelerate the Avengers Initiative.
Thor, who had just left, was an ideal candidate. After spending the day together, Coulson had grown familiar with him, and he could tell Thor had developed affection for Earth.
"Deal's done. Let's head back." Mario glanced over at Selvig, Jane, and Darcy, who were still examining the Bifrost burn marks. He walked over to them.
"Dr. Selvig, I'd like to sponsor your research." Mario offered his most trustworthy smile. "But I hope we can have a detailed discussion when you're free."
Selvig was a key figure in studying the Space Stone. Best to get involved before the story went too far off the rails. When the time came, he could trick Loki into showing up and "recover" the Mind Stone from him.
Two Stones down. Four to go.
Though I'm going to need a spaceship eventually. Can't exactly drive to Morag or Vormir.
Selvig excitedly grasped Mario's hand. "Of course! As long as you're willing to fund my project, you can contact me anytime you need help."
Generous sponsors like Mario didn't come along often. Astrophysics sounded impressive, but in reality, it burned through money at every stage. Telescopes, spectrometers, computing clusters... none of it was cheap.
Mario nodded with a friendly smile. "I'll be in touch. My people will contact you about the paperwork."
He left Selvig examining the Bifrost marks and headed back to the camp.
Back at the vehicles, Mario stored Ivan's battle armors into his inventory one by one. Then he followed Coulson toward an empty area of desert about a hundred meters away.
If you looked closely, the air there was slightly distorted.
As they approached, a Quinjet disengaged its cloaking technology and revealed itself.
Inside the jet's small lounge, Mario, Ivan, Coulson, and Steve sat around a table. Given the limited space on board, having a dedicated rest area was already impressive.
---
After some casual conversation about the battle and Thor's exit, the Quinjet lifted off and began the flight back to New York.
In just two days, the entire Thor situation had been resolved. They'd lost Mjolnir, temporarily, at least, but gained the Destroyer armor, plus the promise of Asgardian materials and technology.
To Mario, that was an excellent trade.
The workshop was still bustling when they returned. Following Ivan into the "garage," a dedicated area for storing and maintaining battle armor, Mario unpacked the suits and placed them in their designated repair bays.
He looked over at Ivan, who was already preparing diagnostic equipment. "Get ready. Once you've checked these over, we're going out to gather materials for the next generation of armor."