Chapter 271: Pierce Takes the Fall for Ethan!
At the mention of that name, something twitched at the corner of Loki's mouth — contempt, mostly. But underneath it, buried deep, something flickered too. Something close to fear.
He forced his composure. "Never heard of him. Why would I bother remembering some mortal's name?" Loki's dismissiveness was clear, but Reed caught the hesitation in his tone and the flicker in his eyes anyway.
Something clicked. Reed pressed further, testing the waters. "You may not know Ethan personally, Your Excellency — but I believe your brother has a deep connection with him. And we, for our part, are hardly on the same side as Ethan. Which means there may be room for us to reach some kind of arrangement." Reed spoke with total confidence, certain his read on the situation was correct.
He'd already worked out that Loki and Ethan were, without question, adversaries — not allies.
Loki, though, showed no real interest in Reed's proposal.
He shot Reed a cold, dismissive glance, already raising his weapon to finish the job. Whatever answer he'd just gotten clearly hadn't been enough. "Cooperation? What makes you think you've earned the right to work with me at all? You think I bother making deals with ants?" Loki sneered.
Reed didn't rise to the bait. He answered calmly. "Enough ants together can bring down an elephant, though. We may not match your strength, but we're not entirely defenseless either. And I believe we share a common goal — and a common enemy."
That gave Loki pause. His brow furrowed slightly.
He was, genuinely, curious what shared goal and shared enemy Reed meant.
But he didn't answer right away — instead, he kept his scepter raised, still moving to strike Reed down.
Right then, Kaito Kumon suddenly stepped in and blocked the attack.
He deflected Loki's blast of magic effortlessly, like the whole thing had been exactly what he'd expected.
"What's this — betraying me now?" Loki asked, genuinely surprised to find his own strike blocked.
Kaito just shook his head, casual as ever. "Not at all. I just think leaving these two alive makes things more interesting, that's all. A show with no rival left standing is boring, don't you think?"
Something about that answer irritated Loki, though he couldn't quite name why.
He hated the feeling of being managed by someone else. But he also knew — now wasn't the moment to break with Kaito.
The sudden shift left both Pierce and Reed thoroughly confused, though mostly, they just felt relief.
They both understood — for the moment, at least, they were safe.
"Sir, thank you for the intervention," Reed said, deferential, already trying to work an angle to bring this unpredictable stranger onto their side.
Reed couldn't get a solid read on this man's actual power level — but casually deflecting an attack from Loki like it was nothing meant he was clearly no ordinary player. And judging by the dynamic between the two of them, this man wasn't some subordinate of Loki's — the relationship looked much closer to equals.
Kaito ignored Reed entirely. Instead, he turned to Loki. "There's no trace of the treasure's presence here. Where's this treasure you were talking about?"
Loki closed his eyes at that, went still for a moment, then opened them again, muttering to himself. "That's strange. I can clearly sense the Space Stone's energy signature here."
"Space Stone?" Something clicked for Reed the second he heard the term. He had no idea what it actually did, but instinct told him this was something enormously significant.
"Your Excellency," Reed said quickly, voice practically vibrating with anticipation, "I don't know exactly what a Space Stone is, but I know something was once taken from S.H.I.E.L.D. — an artifact called the Tesseract. I wonder if that might be what you're referring to."
The moment "Tesseract" left Reed's mouth, Loki's eyes lit up.
He fixed Reed with an intense stare, as if trying to confirm the truth of what he'd just heard.
"Yes. The Tesseract is exactly the Space Stone," Loki confirmed. "And you're telling me it's currently in Ethan's possession?"
Loki's brow furrowed, already turning over strategy in his head.
He understood the implications immediately — if the Space Stone really was in Ethan's hands, retrieving it just became significantly harder. Loki was powerful, no question, but going up against someone like Ethan carried real risk.
"That's correct — the Space Stone is with Ethan," Reed confirmed, voice firm and certain.
Hearing that, Loki fell silent for a moment. He understood he couldn't afford to act rashly here. On his own, his strength genuinely wasn't enough to take on Ethan directly.
Not enough on his own. Looked like he'd need to track down Thanos after all.
The thought settled, and his gaze shifted toward Kaito.
Kaito had just betrayed him moments earlier, technically — but Loki didn't hold it against him. Honestly, there wasn't much he could do about it even if he wanted to.
The two of them were, after all, roughly matched in power. And right now, Loki genuinely needed Kaito's cooperation.
They'd been using each other from the very start — which meant "betrayal" wasn't really the right word for either of them. If it ever benefited Loki more, he'd turn on Kaito just as fast, without hesitation.
Besides — having Kaito around meant more confidence going up against Thanos, if it came to that.
And without Kaito's Dimensional Gate, they'd be stuck leaving the old-fashioned way.
"Let's go," Loki said flatly, something sharp and calculating glinting in his eyes.
Kaito, reading the room, didn't say anything more either. He opened the Dimensional Gate, and neither of them brought up the brief clash between them moments earlier — a silent, mutual agreement to let it go.
Loki left S.H.I.E.L.D. with Crossbones in tow.
Their figures vanished into the rift, leaving nothing behind but silence and wreckage.
Once they were gone, Pierce let out a long breath of relief.
He knew — this time, they'd narrowly dodged disaster.
That relief curdled fast, though, into something darker.
The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. — HIM — had nearly died inside his own headquarters!
Unacceptable.
Absolutely humiliating!
Damn Ethan. Damn that Loki, Pierce cursed silently.
He finally understood what had actually happened here.
Loki had come specifically hunting some kind "Space Stone" — tracked here by lingering traces of its energy signature.
Which meant, essentially, Pierce had just taken a beating meant for Ethan.
This entire disaster, every bit of it, had happened purely because of Ethan. Fury and bitter resentment boiled up in Pierce's chest.
He swore to himself, right then, that Ethan — and this so-called "Loki" — would both pay for what they'd just put him through.
. . .
"AH-CHOO! Which son of a bitch is talking about me right now?" Ethan cursed, sneezing hard.
"Please, continue, Master Splinter," Ethan said, gesturing politely at the very human-looking rat sitting across from him.
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