Mario reached out and clapped Thor on the shoulder. "I need to head back to Earth for a bit. Bring some people over here to look at all this tech."
"Mind using the Tesseract to send me there?"
He couldn't activate the Space Stone himself, that required either divine power or sophisticated machinery. But someone like Thor could easily channel enough energy to trigger its transportation abilities.
Thor hesitated. "I've already handed the Tesseract over to Asgard's craftsmen. You're leaving so soon?"
"I want to bring my engineers here to study these ships. The sooner we start reverse-engineering this tech, the sooner I can build my own starship."
Mario considered his options "How long until the Bifrost is operational again?"
Thor scratched his head. "The craftsmen said it would take at least a few days to fully repair."
"A few days?" Mario grimaced. That was too long to wait around doing nothing. "Could you borrow the Tesseract from the craftsmen for like five minutes? You've got the authority to do that, right?"
"Wait here."
Thor launched into the air, Mjolnir spinning as he flew toward the palace. Fifteen minutes later, he returned with the glowing blue cube tucked under one arm.
"The craftsmen weren't happy about the interruption," he admitted with a grin. "But I told them it was urgent."
"Thanks."
Thor gripped the Tesseract with both hands. The cube responded to his divine power, glowing brighter and brighter until Mario had to shield his eyes.
"Where exactly on Midgard do you need to go?" Thor shouted over the building energy.
"New York! Central Park!" Mario yelled back. "Near the—"
The world ripped open. A swirling portal of blue energy materialized in front of them, offering a window view of familiar greenery and skyscrapers.
"Thanks, Thor! I'll be back in a couple days with my team."
"Take your time!" Thor was already closing the portal.
Mario stepped through just as the portal began to collapse. The sensation was like being pulled through ice-cold water, and then he was stumbling onto familiar grass.
He took a moment to orient himself, then headed straight for his underground base.
---
In the underground base beneath Central Park, Mario stepped through a Nether portal. His trip to Asgard had been far more rewarding than expected. Just the sheer number of wrecked starships was enough to catapult his company's technological capabilities forward by decades, maybe centuries.
Can't stay in America much longer. I'm not afraid of the politicians, but they're annoying. Need to find somewhere else to set up shop.
Maybe the Moon? But the Inhumans are up there somewhere...
And there's the worker shortage to consider.
Counting on Ivan alone to reverse-engineer alien spacecraft was pure fantasy. This wasn't like building armor, a dozen people couldn't handle this kind of project. He needed manpower, lots of it.
After some thought, he decided the Moon actually sounded pretty good. Worst case scenario, he could borrow some sorcerers from the Ancient One. As for workers... a bold idea was starting to form in his mind.
He climbed into a minecart and rode it through his makeshift Nether transport system. It wasn't particularly fast, but it beat walking through kilometers of tunnel.
Stepping through the portal into his office, he was surprised to find Skye, Anna, and unexpectedly, Natasha waiting for him.
Seeing them chatting together like old friends, he blinked in surprise. He'd never imagined these particular women would end up in the same room voluntarily.
"Pretty sure this is my office..."
Anna stood first, smiling professionally. "We couldn't reach you for the past couple days. They came here to wait."
"Blade wants to know if you can help level up some of the other hunters when you have time," Skye said. "They've already gathered plenty of vampire materials."
Mario sat in his chair. "I'll handle things here first. I'll go see him tomorrow."
Then he turned his attention to the last person in the room. "So, Ms. Romanoff, what brings you here personally?"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters has been completely reorganized. Director Fury hopes you can come by and help us identify the remaining Hydra agents still embedded in the organization."
Mario stood up eagerly. "Right now? And those Hydra members, can I have them? I'm running short on manpower for some projects."
As for whether the Hydra operatives would cooperate, he had already decided to send them to develop extraterrestrial territories. If they managed to make it back alive, that would just prove their competence.
Natasha hesitated. The danger posed by Hydra members was obvious. "You'll need to discuss that with Director Fury directly."
Mario nodded. He was confident that with his "reasoning" and "persuasion," the director would fully understand his good intentions.
"Anna, go get Ivan and Anton. I've got new assignments for them."
"Of course." Anna smiled and left the office.
Mario looked at Natasha. "How are the other Hydra branches doing lately?"
Natasha's smile faded. She sat across from him and shook her head. "There are more Hydra members than we imagined, and many are deeply hidden. If that weren't the case, Director Fury wouldn't have sent me to find you personally. Can I ask, how exactly do you identify who's Hydra?"
"Simple. First, you sense who has hostile intent toward you."
Natasha rolled her eyes. If I could do that, I wouldn't need you.
"Second, you sense the organization backing them. Then just repeat step one."
Over time, Mario had figured out some hidden features of his mini-map ability. The red dots didn't just indicate people with hostile intent, it was more like his subconscious classified certain groups as enemies.
For example, if Loki wanted to kill him, Loki would appear as a red dot. But that didn't mean Thor or the rest of Asgard shared that hostility, so they wouldn't show up as red dots. Of course, anyone who truly had malicious intent toward him would still register as red.
Natasha believed him. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s analysis of his abilities had also suggested he possessed some degree of psychic awareness.
They'd confirmed he couldn't actually read minds, only distinguish allegiances. That conclusion had been reached after Fury had internally cursed Mario countless times without any reaction.
"What you're describing... we can't do any of that," she said flatly.
Mario shrugged. "Then there's nothing I can do to help you learn it. But wait a bit. Once I finish giving orders here, I'll head to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters with you and sort everything out."
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
The door opened and Anna entered, followed by another figure. Mario froze for a moment, then looked at Ivan. "Why is Tony here?"
Ivan sighed helplessly, glancing at Tony. "He came to test his new armor."
Mario's eyes narrowed. This guy's here to cause trouble.
Tony noticed the unfriendly look and quickly raised both hands defensively. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I'm just here to show him my new Mark suit. This one's a real breakthrough!"
Ever since learning that Mario had resurrection abilities, he had been paranoid that Mario wanted to test whether it worked on other people.
Mario saw right through him but didn't comment. He figured Tony had really come to show off in front of Ivan , to prove his technological superiority. Though it was equally possible he just wanted to see what new features Ivan had added to his armor so he could incorporate them into his own designs.
What Mario didn't realize was that deep down, Tony sometimes felt lonely. He'd occasionally wondered whether he and Ivan could have been childhood friends if Anton hadn't been exiled by Howard.
"Fine. I won't get into technical details," Mario said calmly. "Ivan, you should communicate with Tony more often from now on."
He didn't care that Tony could freely enter his company's core research labs. With Tony's intellect, Ivan would probably benefit more from the exchange anyway.
"Ivan and I have some technical matters to discuss. Why don't you go rest somewhere else for a bit?"
Natasha, Anna, and Skye all sensibly stood up and left the office, closing the door behind them.
Tony turned to follow them, but Mario's voice stopped him. "Mr. Stark, you don't need to leave."
Tony looked puzzled. "There's something involving me?"
Mario smiled slightly and turned to Ivan. "Make some arrangements. I've managed to acquire several spaceships and space warships. They're outdated models by cosmic standards, but I think they'll be invaluable for your research."
Ivan, having met Thor before, knew about aliens and wasn't particularly shocked. But the others definitely were.
"Spaceships?!" Tony stared at Mario, unable to process what he'd heard. If he didn't see Mario's resurrection powers, he would've thought this was a prank.
"Can I join the project? I think I can provide significant assistance."
Mario laughed internally. The reason he'd mentioned this in front of Tony was precisely to hook him. After all, the gap between people really was enormous. If only Ivan and his father tried to reverse-engineer alien spacecraft, who knew how many years it would take?
"Of course you can. Otherwise I wouldn't have asked you to stay. But I have one condition. Once I find a habitable planet, you need to come help me with upgrades and modifications."
"You can travel to other planets?!"
Tony's expression turned serious as the full scope of Mario's capabilities became clear. He'd assumed Mario was referring to alien ships that had crashed on Earth, but clearly, that wasn't the case at all.
A moment ago, he had been thinking that if Mario let him study alien tech, he'd give him Stark Industries shares as thanks. But now his calculations had completely changed.
"Mario," Tony said, straightening his posture. "Does your company happen to need a great technical consultant?"
---
"Number seven."
"Number thirty-eight."
Mario stood on the second-floor balcony overlooking S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters' main hall, rattling off numbers while Natasha took notes beside him.
Fury stood on his other side. A few minutes later, the damage assessment was complete, and he looked like he'd aged a few years.
"Not bad at all," Mario said cheerfully. "Out of roughly two hundred people working at headquarters, only sixteen turned out to be Hydra plants. That's actually pretty impressive cleanup work."
He meant it sincerely. Compared to the old "S.H.I.E.L.D. = Hydra" days, this was a massive improvement. But judging from Fury's expression, the director felt like he was getting his ass kicked repeatedly by the universe.
The only consolation was that all sixteen infiltrators were recent transfers from other departments. None of them held sensitive positions within headquarters itself.
"I appreciate you coming down here personally. We couldn't have done this without you."
Mario waved off the thanks with a grin. "No trouble at all. So, I can take these people off your hands now, right? I've got some projects that could use the manpower."
Fury leaned against the railing, looking down below. After a long moment, he shook his head. "I'm afraid not. These operatives need to be sent back to their original departments. The agencies that sent them need to see firsthand what kind of threat Hydra represents."
"Fair enough." Mario understood the political angle, even if it disappointed him. "But if you ever need bodies for labor-intensive work, I can help you round up some candidates. S.H.I.E.L.D. still has plenty of criminals in custody, after all."
He started walking toward the exit
"And if you ever need my services again, you know where to find me."
Natasha glanced at Fury, got a subtle nod, and quickly fell into step behind Mario.
Fury watched them leave before heading back to his office. For all of Mario's unpredictability, the man was proving to be a valuable ally. Even if working with him sometimes felt like juggling live grenades.
---
By the time Mario returned to his company offices, Tony had already left. The billionaire had responsibilities at Stark Industries to attend to, being CEO actually required showing up occasionally, no matter how much he preferred his workshop.
He walked into his office and found Skye waiting for him.
"Hey. How've things been? Any luck tracking down information about your family?"
Skye's smile faltered. She looked down at her hands, shoulders slumping. "Not really. I found some pieces, but nothing concrete. Although... There is this one guy who's been following me around. Blade caught him and locked him up in the Washington base."
"Following you?" Mario's eyes narrowed. "A vampire? And Blade didn't kill him?"
That seemed out of character. Blade wasn't exactly known for showing mercy to threats.
"He claims he's my father."
"Oh." Mario relaxed immediately. "Well, that's different then."
He remembered the details from the show, Skye's father Calvin, devoted but deeply unstable, and her mother Jiaying, powerful but absolutely ruthless. Unlike her, he loved his daughter, even if that love manifested in some seriously twisted ways. The man had eventually killed his own wife to protect Skye.
"Come on," he said, standing up. "Let's go meet him."
Calvin might be crazy, but he knew things. Lots of things about Inhumans, Afterlife, and Skye's heritage.
Skye looked anxious. "You think he's really my father? How can you be sure?"
"Have you talked to him yet?"
She shook her head. "No. He seemed... unstable. And Blade knocked him unconscious before I could say anything. That was two days ago. I haven't visited him since."
"Blade knocked him out cold for two straight days? That's fucking perfect."
Calvin wasn't exactly a model citizen. The man had slaughtered an entire village trying to rescue Jiaying.
He stepped forward. "Let's head back to my place first. I'll tell you all about your origins and the story of the Inhumans."
---
The next morning, Mario woke feeling refreshed and stretched leisurely. After getting up, he went to Skye's room and saw that she was still asleep, faint tear tracks still visible on her cheeks.
Last night, he'd explained everything about her parents, their powers, the Inhuman civilization... It had been a lot of information to dump on someone all at once, and she had taken it hard.
Even in sleep, she was still processing.
"No... stop... I don't want to hear it... It's too much..."
He chuckled softly.
"Skye! Rise and shine! We've got work to do!"
She stirred slowly, blinking awake. For a moment, she just sat there in bed, completely disoriented.
"Work? What work?"
"You wanted me to help upgrade Blade and the other hunters, remember? Time to get moving. And we can swing by to talk with your father while we're there."
That woke her up completely. "I completely forgot about the upgrades!"
Mario just smiled.
"I'll go grab what we need for the upgrades."
Skye knew that "upgrades" in Mario's world meant something beyond normal logic. But she still looked confused when Mario returned carrying the vampire hunter instructor slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"You can move him?!"
"Yep." Mario had discovered this ability by accident while grinding shield proficiency in the Nether. He'd accidentally pushed a zombified piglin once, and it had opened up a whole new world.
Monsters, animals, even NPCs, he could pick up and carry all of them. The only difference was that monsters dealt continuous damage while being carried, whereas animals and NPCs were perfectly docile.
With the instructor hoisted over his shoulder, he gestured toward the door. "Come on. We're taking the minecart express."
They descended into the Nether together. He stuffed the instructor into a minecart and pressed a nearby stone button to activate the powered rail beneath. The cart shot forward at high speed, carrying the NPC toward the distant portal.
Then he pulled another minecart out of his inventory and placed it on the tracks. In the game, each cart could only hold one person. But in reality, a little squeezing wasn't a problem.
He picked Skye up and set her in the cart first, then wedged himself in behind her. The powered rails kicked in, and they went rocketing through the Nether tunnel toward Washington.
BANG!
The two minecarts collided at the end of the line. Skye remained perfectly stable, the game physics protected actual "passengers" from impact damage. Mario, who was technically just cargo clinging to the cart, got launched through the air.
THUD.
He face-planted directly into the cart ahead of them, performing an impressive headfirst crash.
Completely unfazed, he pushed himself up, shook his head to clear it, and walked over to extract the vampire hunter instructor from the other cart. He knocked the cart loose, hoisted the NPC back onto his shoulder, and called out cheerfully.
"Let's move!"
Skye covered her mouth, trying not to laugh at the sight of Mario shrugging off the damage. She jumped out of her cart and followed him toward the glowing purple portal.
That familiar wave of disorientation hit as they stepped through. When Mario's vision cleared, he found himself standing in the underground space beneath Washington D.C.