"What's wrong? Why are you suddenly dragging me off in such a hurry?"
Pulled along by Tohka, Miku Izayoi asked in confusion. She didn't understand why Tohka was reacting this strongly. So, what if some trickster god had escaped—was it really worth getting this worked up?
"Hurry up—this could be about to turn into a war." This wasn't just Tohka exaggerating. That guy had seen her too, and there was a good chance he'd just open a portal and unleash the Chitauri army. After all, if she rushed over there herself, he might never get the chance to summon them.
"Just that one guy could start a war?" Hearing Tohka's words, Miku Izayoi sounded skeptical. Sure, she could believe a single person could start a big fight—like the Hulk had—but to call it a war seemed a bit over the top.
"Do you really think he's just one guy? If that were the case, do you think Nick Fury would have bothered mobilizing so many people? Don't ask about the details—I can't explain them all either."
Pulling Miku Izayoi along, Tohka boosted her speed to the maximum. She didn't give Miku any time to argue and flew full tilt toward Stark Tower in New York.
Fortunately, the Helicarrier wasn't far from Stark Tower, and soon Tohka saw the New York coastline and the familiar Stark Tower itself—their destination.
"Huh? There's nothing here." But when she arrived with Miku in tow, she saw that everything looked totally normal.
That puzzled her. Had Loki abandoned the tower? But if so, it would be hard for them to find another place with the energy supply needed.
"There's nothing at all—was this the 'war' you were talking about?"
Once they landed, Miku shook out her arms and looked around uncertainly. It was exactly the same as when they'd left. Inside, she also felt a little stunned.
Just now, she'd realized how big the gap between her and Tohka really was. With Tohka dragging her, she hadn't been able to resist at all, and Tohka's speed was at least twice her own.
"This doesn't make sense. His target should have been here. Did they move to a nuclear power plant or a military base instead?" Tohka looked around uncertainly. Once they activated the Tesseract, there should have been a massive magical energy surge. But she didn't sense anything, so she wasn't sure what to think.
"But why does something feel off…? I don't know what exactly it is." She started pacing the roof of the tower, staring around with a frown. For some reason, everything here felt unreal, but she couldn't say why.
"Wa hahaha!" Just as she was searching for the source of that feeling, Loki's huge face suddenly appeared right in front of her.
Bang. Before he could even gloat for a full second, Tohka punched him square in the face, sending him crashing into a wall and leaving a human-shaped crater. Then, the entire environment around them began to distort.
It was as if the illusion shattered, revealing the true scene underneath. Tohka finally saw the Tesseract, as well as Dr. Selvig operating the machinery.
"Hey, Loki—what the hell are you doing?"
Looking around at the now-exposed setup, Tohka let out a sigh of relief. But she still didn't understand what Loki had been thinking, creating an illusion just to startle her.
If she remembered correctly, that guy was the definition of "can't stay smug for three seconds"—every time he tried to look cool, he immediately got humiliated.
"Well, Miss Tohka, do you have any interest in joining me as the ruler of this world?"
Calmly hopping down from the wall, Loki launched into what he thought was a grand, passionate speech. Although he'd only been on Earth a few days, when the Destroyer had come down, he'd been very impressed by Tohka. Over the past day or two, he'd also gathered some intel on her and discovered that, publicly, she was considered Earth's strongest.
Plus, she and Miku Izayoi both radiated that spiritual energy—well, "divine power" in his eyes. So, he automatically assumed Tohka must be some sort of divine being as well. And in his mind, that made her qualified to join him.
"Are you stupid? Do you really think your little army is enough to conquer Earth? Even if you were Thanos himself, you wouldn't necessarily be able to do anything here."
That wasn't just Tohka boasting—maybe in the movies that was true, but in the comics, countless cosmic deities had died on Earth. In her eyes, even Thanos with the full Infinity Gauntlet could end up getting wrecked if he wasn't careful.
"So, you refuse?" Narrowing his eyes dangerously, Loki gave Tohka a look that clearly said he'd attack if she said one more word. Behind him, he didn't even bother acknowledging Miku Izayoi—he honestly didn't know what she could do.
"Yeah, so what? What are you gonna do—fight me? Who's afraid of who?" Meeting his stare, Tohka casually hefted her giant sword. If it came to a fight, she wasn't worried—she wouldn't even be scared of Odin himself.
"Tohka—look out!" Just then, Miku Izayoi shouted a warning. At the same time, the machine on the balcony suddenly began to release a massive surge of energy.
"Huh?"
Hearing Miku's shout, Tohka instinctively turned to look—and saw another Loki in armor standing behind her. He didn't give her any time to react. He thrust the tip of his scepter into her chest. The next instant, everything went dark.
"Wa hahaha—even if you won't join me willingly, in the end you'll still end up as my pawn. Wa hahaha—how does it feel, Tohka? Not so bad, is it?" Loki laughed triumphantly, staring at Tohka with a smug grin.
"Yeah—it feels pretty good. And there's even a prize."
"Huh?"
Bang. A figure flew out of Stark Tower, smashed into the building across the street, blasted clean through it, and kept going, crashing through several more floors before finally slamming into the ground.
Lying there among the scattering crowds, Loki ignored everything as he silently contemplated life.