Chapter 270: S.H.I.E.L.D. Wiped Out Again
Pierce's face darkened as he stared at the man calling himself Loki, completely at a loss for why these two had appeared here of all places.
S.H.I.E.L.D., after all, was essentially Pierce's own personal kingdom these days — his own turf, run entirely on his word.
For Loki and his companion to simply materialize here without warning felt like strangers walking into the middle of a private family gathering.
That Pierce hadn't already ordered his men to open fire was, frankly, a testament to unusual restraint on his part.
Hearing the man claim to hail from "Asgard," though, Pierce couldn't help a flicker of curiosity. What exactly was Asgard?
Strange — as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he'd never once heard the name before. And yet... something about it did feel oddly familiar.
He couldn't quite place it, though, no matter how hard he tried.
While Pierce turned it over in his mind, Reed spoke up unprompted, asking Loki directly whether he knew someone called Thor. Reed recalled a man who'd once introduced himself as "the God of Thunder" — a man who had, notably, since vanished from Earth entirely.
Reed suspected Loki and this "Thor" might share an origin.
At the mention of Thor's name, nothing shifted visibly in Loki's expression. He answered flatly, cold. "That fool. My brother, yes."
Something flickered deep in his eyes as he said it, though — a faint, buried trace of resentment and jealousy. Subtle as it was, it didn't escape Reed's sharp attention, and it gave him something to work with.
Loki's answer, it turned out, was only the opening move.
Without warning, he raised his scepter high, and a surge of blue energy blasted from its tip, tearing straight toward Reed. Reed reacted with blinding speed, his body stretching and shifting out of the way just in time to dodge the killing blow.
Pierce, standing nearby, wasn't fast enough. Luckily, Crossbones reacted in time — he lunged, wrapped Pierce up bodily, and rolled them both sideways just in time to escape the attack.
Where they'd been standing a moment earlier, a massive crater now gaped in the floor. Loki's strike had punched clean through solid reinforced flooring and triggered a chain of secondary explosions. Everything nearby had been reduced to debris, thick smoke pouring upward.
The whole facility's atmosphere shifted instantly — tense, suffocating. Everyone present understood, in that moment, that these two intruders were nothing like ordinary threats. Their strength was on a level that defied normal comprehension.
Loki's opening strike was, effectively, a declaration of war against S.H.I.E.L.D. itself. And while S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents deferred to Pierce with obedient silence, their actual combat capability wasn't anything to underestimate.
Every one of them was a rigorously trained, battle-hardened elite, selected and refined through brutal standards.
Facing Loki's assault, they moved fast — weapons out, unloading everything they had at him in a coordinated barrage.
It didn't take long, though, for them to realize Earth's weapons were a joke to him.
No matter how much lead they threw, not a single round did anything to him.
Loki, in turn, moved through the room like a sorcerer holding total command of the battlefield — a single casual gesture sent several agents crashing to the floor, wounded, some dropping dead on the spot.
His speed was extraordinary, and layered with illusion magic that made him nearly impossible to track or predict.
As for Kaito Kumon, he'd already retreated a safe distance away, content to watch the show unfold from the sidelines.
Loki, for all his reputation as a schemer and manipulator, had once come within a hair's breadth of Asgard's throne. His combat ability was nothing to scoff at either — illusion magic and assassination were his true specialties. Being called the greatest sorcerer across the Nine Realms wasn't a title he'd given himself.
His speed, combined with his illusions, meant it took him barely the time it takes to finish a cup of tea to completely wipe out the entire room of ordinary agents.
The only ones left standing by the end were people worth naming individually.
Watching all this unfold, Pierce immediately recognized the same category of threat he'd encountered before, in that man called Thor.
Privately, a dark thought crossed his mind: Did Ethan figure out our plans and send Loki here as payback? That damn Hell's Kitchen. That damn Ethan!
Fury and helplessness churned together in Pierce's chest — he was starting to fully grasp just how meaningless sheer numbers of agents were against opponents like this.
Still, Pierce wasn't ready to give up the fight entirely.
He knew there was exactly one option left that might actually save him: calling in Tsukasa.
While Loki was still occupied mopping up agents, Pierce quietly reached for a hidden phone under the table — his dedicated emergency line for reaching Tsukasa.
The call went nowhere, though — unbeknownst to Pierce, Tsukasa didn't even have that phone on him right now. He was out somewhere entirely different, magenta camera in hand, hunting down random strangers to photograph.
At almost the same moment, Crossbones spotted his own opening. He crept up quietly behind Loki, readying an ambush.
Unfortunately for him — Loki was the one who ambushed people. Nobody got to ambush him.
If it came down to sneak attacks, Loki practically invented the concept.
He'd already clocked Crossbones sneaking up from behind long before the man made his move.
The instant Crossbones struck, Loki moved faster than thought and had him by the throat.
Crossbones never even had time to register what had happened.
Loki studied him coldly, a mocking smirk curling at the corner of his mouth.
"You look like you're worth a bit more than the trash lying around you."
Watching Crossbones still struggling futilely in his grip, Loki gave his scepter a light flick. A strange, invasive energy poured out of it and surged straight into Crossbones's body.
Crossbones let out an agonized scream, his whole body seizing and shuddering violently, as if fighting some invisible war within himself.
Loki watched, cold and patient, waiting for the resistance to break.
About ten seconds later, the screaming finally stopped. His body went still. His eyes turned completely, uniformly black.
Crossbones was, now, fully under Loki's control.
Loki studied him with genuine interest, mildly surprised — he hadn't expected this one to hold out even that briefly against him. Apparently there was some real substance to whoever this was.
Once fully subdued, Crossbones settled quietly into place behind Loki, standing there like an utterly loyal hound. Whatever anger or defiance had been in his eyes before was gone now — replaced entirely by servile devotion and awe toward Loki.
Watching all of this unfold, Pierce felt genuine terror settle into his chest.
He now understood — this "Loki" character could apparently just seize control of people outright. That was terrifying on an entirely different level. He silently cursed to himself: Son of a bitch. Where the hell is Tsukasa?! If he doesn't get here soon, we're finished!
At this point, Pierce was essentially certain that wherever Loki's homeworld was, it clearly had access to genuine magic — and that this man was very likely working with Ethan somehow.
Just as Loki turned his attention toward finishing off Pierce for good, Reed spoke up quickly. "Your Excellency. We could work together."
Loki paused, studying Reed with sudden interest. "Work together? And what makes you think I'd bother collaborating with a mortal like you?"
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