"..."
Just as Nick was prepared for massive casualties, the Captain arrived first to stop Loki's actions and managed to fight him to a draw, stalling him. After Tony rushed over and fired a few energy blasts, there was no 'after'—Loki surrendered. That's right, he surrendered quite frankly. Not only was Nick dumbfounded, but the Captain and Tony were also stunned. Why did he stop fighting just like that? What exactly was this guy planning?
"Withdraw. Don't stay exposed in front of the public for too long."
With a sigh, Nick started having people 'escort' Loki to the Helicarrier. Some Special Agents came forward to calculate losses, casualties, and missing items.
"Loki is being a bit too straightforward, isn't he? He should have caused more of a scene!"
Through nearby surveillance, Artoria had been watching Loki's performance. Artoria had intended for the other party to cause more trouble so she could go and scavenge more things; that way, she would have more preparations for the future. Purple... Master's combat techniques—Artoria didn't have that high a talent and hadn't grasped much, especially that God-Slaying Spear strike. With her current self, she couldn't release it at all and could only use'Saint's Possession' to borrow Master's body to release the Noble Phantasm.
Her mastery of the Primordial Runes series of magecraft was also not great, incomparable to C-Dog, which was a bit embarrassing to Master. Now, calculating Artoria's combat power including the Naruto system, 'Super Strength Punch' plus the Eight Inner Gates could fight the Hulk to a draw, or even suppress the Hulk in the early stages. Adding the Noble Phantasm, she could even suppress the Hulk in a fight. But in the end, she was still no match for Thanos, who crushed Thor upon his appearance and rubbed the Thor who had just finished fighting his sister into the ground.
She couldn't fully release the power of the holy lance rhongomyniad, not even managing to completely undo the seals on it. It was a headache; she could only use it basically. Coupled with 'A Knight Does Not Die with Bare Hands', she could exert a bit of the holy lance rhongomyniad's power. If only it were the unsealed Holy Sword; with its simple and direct power, she could fire five or six Excalibur blasts without losing breath. This was Artoria's confidence.
"Keep it up, Loki. Stall them for a bit longer; your sacrifice won't be in vain."
Watching Loki being taken away, Artoria cheered him on without any expression. Her gains were already not small; the Kree corpses were in hand, along with a small spaceship. The harvest was already good. Even if the most important Space Stone wasn't in her hands, it didn't affect Artoria's good mood.
"Second Fatty, have you been eating a bit too much lately?"
In a very good mood, Artoria toyed with the little orange fellow whose small head poked out from between her soft breasts. Artoria's naming sense was quite eccentric; just by seeing its orange color, she decided this thing would definitely grow up to be a big fatty, so she named it Second Fatty. Naturally, the highly intelligent Little guy was very dissatisfied, but no matter how it waved its little claws, it couldn't even scratch Artoria's skin, leaving not even a white mark. This made the Little guy quite depressed.
"Meow~~!"
The Little guy, having lost all Hope in life, just let Artoria toy with it.
"Da-da-da!"
The cheerful sound of little hooves rang out. Recently, Dongfang felt as if a formidable rival had arrived; this orange furry ball had stolen all of its Master's attention. It was very unhappy and displeased, its large eyes with long eyelashes staring fixedly at Second Fatty. That used to be its exclusive spot, and although it had grown up, that didn't mean someone else could occupy its territory.
"Dongfang is growing so fast! Will it be ready to ride soon?"
Artoria looked at Dongfang, who was now nearly as tall as her shoulder. Sitting down, she looked at this Little guy that used to be only palm-sized but had now grown large. She used to think that a Phantasmal Beast species like this wouldn't grow up for hundreds or thousands of years, but she was wrong. With her mana supply and the best fodder, the Little guy had grown up very quickly.
"Go on, go play together. I'm busy."
After receiving Saturday's report via computer, Artoria liberated Second Fatty from her cleavage and let the two cute fellows go play on their own. She got up and hurried to the lab; there was some news regarding the Kree blood. After Artoria left, Second Fatty tilted its head to size up Dongfang, who was several times its size, its eyes fearless. Dongfang's large eyes also stared fixedly at Second Fatty, and the atmosphere between the two became a bit tense.
"Meow..."
"Hiss~!"
No one knew what was happening here. Artoria was currently staring curiously at the data before her. This blue blood sample, even though the Kree had been dead for a long time, the cells inside still remained active. It was a formidable race. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s research on these guys had reached a bottleneck, and Artoria was also having a headache over it. This was something that couldn't see the light of day; she needed to find a trustworthy scientist to study it, and they had to be capable. As for her brother, Artoria didn't really want him involved in her secrets.
Maya had been quite busy lately. Susan wasn't cut out for this, and then there were Hope, Helen Cho, and Gwen—none of them were experts in the field of biology. So, selecting someone was a real hassle.
"I can't let this go to waste. Before we can fly out of here, every drop used is a drop less."
Having obtained a mountain of data but with no way to start, Artoria had Saturday store the materials away. Perhaps a new powerful figure would be added in the future who could analyze them. However, a portion still needed to be used for research. Artoria planned to start a new project: seeing if she could increase the success rate of that 50% Sentinel Serum to 90%. This stuff should play a key role; Artoria had a feeling it was a perfect match for the Sentinel.
Maya, don't even think about resting lately. Get up and work overtime for Father! I'm exhausted, yet you can still slack off? No way, absolutely not.
Also, she needed to move house quickly and start transferring her core valuables in New York to the secret Base. Reducing losses as much as possible was key. Artoria began tackling this now; it was the biggest issue. When the time came and all of New York was affected, her belongings would inevitably suffer significant damage.
Knowing there was a risk and not acting would mean something was wrong with her head.
"Right, Saturday! Activate the S.H.I.E.L.D. virus. From today on, record audio twenty-four hours a day. I want to film a magnificent movie."
"Yes, master."
The cameras were all installed. This was no joke. How could Artoria let those guys who threw 'mushroom' bombs around so casually have it easy? She had to let them understand what public indignation meant.
Thinking of this, Artoria revealed a malicious smile.
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