Pain and humiliation were two completely different things.
Loki could tolerate injury.
He could not tolerate being slapped across the face by a mortal.
Rage exploded across his expression as he roared:
"Midgardian! You dare?!"
Loki Laufeyson carried the blood of Frost Giant royalty within him.
The heritage he despised most had also granted him terrifying gifts.
Beyond his monstrous affinity for magic, his body possessed strength and speed that surpassed the overwhelming majority of species in the universe.
Whether in close combat or sorcery, Loki was deadly.
And Ben Grimm had underestimated him badly.
To Ben, Loki looked like a skinny spellcaster. A ranged fighter. Soone weak in direct combat.
That mistake cost him instantly.
BOOM!
Everyone watched in disbelief as Loki swung the scepter and launched the Thing backward like a missile.
Ben smashed through a parked car hard enough to crumple the entire vehicle around him.
What the hell just happened?
Ben Grimm's body mass had beco increasingly absurd over ti.
At this point, the Thing weighed close to fifty tons.
And Loki had just knocked him flying with one arm.
The visual alone felt wrong.
Then the wrecked car exploded apart.
Ben stord out furiously.
The pavent cracked beneath his footsteps as he charged Loki head-on and threw a massive punch.
THUD!
The impact sounded like a sledgehamr hitting reinforced steel.
Loki felt his face twist violently from the blow as brutal force detonated across his skull.
His vision blurred instantly.
The montum ripped through his entire body before he could react.
Then he was airborne.
Loki crashed more than ten ters away and slamd through a decorative stone sculpture in the plaza, disappearing beneath a shower of rubble.
CRASH!
Broken stone scattered everywhere.
Several seconds later, Loki slowly rose from the debris, leaning on his scepter while shaking his head.
His cheek had swollen badly.
Half his face felt numb.
Then sothing strange rolled around inside his mouth.
Loki spat reflexively.
A bloody tooth landed in his palm.
He stared at it blankly.
Then his expression exploded with fury.
"My brother has never hit this hard!"
Loki swung the scepter viciously toward Ben again, intending to blast him away.
Instead, Ben grabbed the weapon mid-swing.
Then drove a brutal elbow directly into Loki's shoulder.
The sheer force shattered the air with a cannon-like shockwave that carved visible grooves across the pavent.
Loki barely managed a scream before the attack smashed him straight into the ground.
BOOM!
A crater erupted beneath him.
Even with Frost Giant durability, Loki felt the breath driven out of his body.
His horned helt flew off sowhere across the plaza.
When he climbed back up, mud clung to his hair and clothing, completely ruining the elegant image he'd maintained monts earlier.
The injuries weren't serious.
But the humiliation was unbearable.
After firing an energy blast to force Ben backward temporarily, Loki finally snapped.
"Enough!"
He glared murderously at Ben Grimm.
"Midgardian… you have angered a god."
Truthfully, Loki could kill Ben if he abandoned the plan and fought seriously.
He had countless magical thods available.
Though physically, he still couldn't match the evolved Thing head-on.
"There's no such thing as gods," Ben corrected flatly, sounding more like a scientist than a superhero.
Loki's eyes darkened.
"The honor of Asgard will not be insulted by mortals."
The swelling on his face had already begun fading rapidly, leaving behind only faint bruising.
Then loud rock music suddenly blasted across the plaza.
A streak of fire tore through the sky.
Tony Stark arrived dramatically in full armor.
Two repulsor beams slamd directly into Loki's chest.
The impact forced Loki backward several ters, his scepter digging into the ground as he resisted the blast.
Tony descended smoothly and spread both arms outward.
chanical clicks echoed everywhere as dozens of weapon systems locked onto Loki simultaneously.
"Well, look at that," Tony said cheerfully. "It's Space Reindeer Hitler."
"Did you like Uncle Stark's welco gift? No?"
He tilted his helt slightly.
"That's okay. Move one more inch and I'll upgrade the package to lethal."
Ben Grimm and Iron Man positioned themselves on opposite sides of Loki, cutting off every obvious escape route.
Loki inhaled slowly.
Twice.
Then forced his rage back down.
Golden light shimred around him as his Asgardian armor dissolved away, leaving him in an elegant black suit.
Finally, he raised both hands.
"Smart choice," Tony said. "And don't try anything clever."
He retracted part of the weapons system but kept the armor combat-ready.
Natasha frowned from nearby.
"He surrendered?"
"Pretty obviously," Tony replied imdiately.
His faceplate folded open, revealing an expression that practically demanded praise.
Natasha ignored him completely.
Soon afterward, the group escorted Loki aboard the Quinjet.
The engines roared to life as the aircraft lifted into the night sky and headed toward the S.W.O.R.D. Helicarrier.
Inside the cabin, Loki sat silently in the corner.
Too silently.
Too cooperatively.
Natasha Romanoff felt increasingly uneasy the longer she watched him.
Either Loki possessed terrifying self-control…
Or this entire situation was part of a larger plan.
Probably both.
Originally, Steve Rogers would've been the first person suspicious of Loki's behavior.
But in this tiline, Steve belonged to the Burning Legion and had beco a battleship-level superhuman instead of joining S.W.O.R.D.
So Natasha was relying entirely on instinct.
And honestly?
In the Marvel universe, Black Widow consistently proved herself one of the most reliable heroes alive.
After Thanos's snap in the future, Thor would drown himself in alcohol and video gas until he beca overweight and broken.
Hawkeye would wander Japan slaughtering gangsters while spiraling ntally.
Tony Stark would withdraw from the world.
Bruce Banner would lose himself too.
While countless powerful n collapsed emotionally, Natasha would still be one of the few people desperately trying to keep civilization functioning.
So when her instincts scread that sothing was wrong…
They were usually right.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," she said quietly.
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"What, because Rockstar Voldemort surrendered too easily?"
"This doesn't make sense," Natasha replied. "He's powerful. Soone like that doesn't fold this quickly unless there's another angle."
Nearby, Loki listened silently.
Then smiled faintly to himself.
Strong fortresses usually collapsed from within.
And this one looked especially fragile.
Suddenly, thunder exploded outside.
BOOOOOOM!
The previously clear night sky vanished beneath thick storm clouds and violent lightning.
Natasha frowned imdiately.
"That's not normal."
The Quinjet was flying above the cloud layer.
There shouldn't have been lightning anywhere near them.
"Guys," Natasha warned, "sothing's wrong with this storm."
At the sound of thunder, Loki shifted slightly in his seat.
Tony noticed instantly.
"What's the matter?" he asked. "Scared of lightning?"
Loki's face darkened.
"It's not the lightning," he muttered.
"I just hate the person who usually arrives with it."
The instant he finished speaking—
BANG!
Sothing massive landed on top of the Quinjet hard enough to shake the entire aircraft violently.
Loki closed his eyes briefly.
"…Wonderful. He's here."
Tony didn't hesitate.
The symbiote armor surged across his face instantly as he prepared for combat.
For all his arrogance and constant grandstanding, Tony Stark never backed down when things actually mattered.
The rear hatch burst open.
Lightning flooded the cabin.
Then Thor descended from the storm itself, crimson cape whipping wildly behind him.
He stepped forward angrily, clearly ready to confront Loki—
Then stopped.
Thor noticed the bruises still visible on Loki's face.
Imdiately, his expression changed.
His tone softened on the spot.
"Brother…"
Thor stared at the swelling with genuine concern.
"Who hit you?"
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