Loki had already obtained the eyeball Hawkeye needed well before they arrived.
But to attract attention and buy Dr. Selvig and Hawkeye some time, Loki made a grand entrance, just like in the movie, summoning his ornate Asgardian armor and cloak, complete with the large, curved horns on his helmet. His scepter transformed from a short staff into a tall, majestic spear.
Loki created three replicas of himself, surrounding the fleeing guests and pedestrians on the street from all sides.
"Kneel!"
The real Loki and his three clones simultaneously shot beams from their scepters toward the ground, forcing the terrified crowd to retreat, watching as they gradually knelt at his feet.
At that moment, Loki felt he finally looked like a true king.
Perhaps the Chitauri elder was right—Loki's ambitions may have seemed naive to others. Yet, he couldn't deny the thrill of this feeling of superiority.
At first, his intent was just to stall, but now, seeing the crowd kneeling in submission, Loki started to savor the experience.
"Yes, this is exactly how it should be. Kneel, cast aside your delusions of freedom and dignity. This is what you humans should be like. You need a strong hand to conquer you, to enslave you. Only then will you find peace within yourselves!"
A smug smile spread slowly across Loki's face.
"Look at that. This is the servility hidden deep within your hearts. Give up resisting, and I—"
"Sorry, but you're just intimidating us with weapons. No one will accept your so-called enslavement!"
An elderly man, his hair grayed, stood up, looking Loki directly in the eyes without fear.
"I take back what I said; there will always be some who resist for freedom, even if it seems futile. A little blood might be necessary to suppress that."
With no mercy, Loki raised his scepter toward the elderly man.
A beam of light shot out, but even faster than that was a figure descending from above.
Captain America, with his shield, arrived just in time, blocking Loki's energy blast.
Unlike the early, fractured Avengers team seen in the movie, Blake's arrival had brought this team together much earlier. They had already known each other for some time, building not only trust but also a significant amount of teamwork.
Captain America deflected the beam, striking Loki and sending him flying. The surrounding crowd, no longer held down, began to rise and scatter.
As Loki was getting back on his feet, a golden-red figure swooped down from the sky with a hum. Iron Man appeared right in front of him, firing a laser blast that sent Loki flying several meters again.
"Damn it!"
Loki, having just enjoyed the pinnacle of his life, was now feeling frustrated.
Kneeling on one knee, he used his scepter to support himself but hadn't fully stood up when another sound whistled through the air. Loki turned his head quickly, only to find Blake right behind him, delivering a punch aimed squarely at his just-raised head.
Originally, Blake's punch was aimed at the back of Loki's head, but as Loki turned, it struck his left temple instead, sending him into a low-spin before he crashed heavily to the ground.
Raising his armored right foot, Blake stomped down on Loki's head.
With a loud bang, Loki's face smashed into the ground, leaving a crack. If not for his helmet, his nose would probably be a mini fountain right now.
"Your father told me you're just an immature child. I think you're just asking for a beating!"
As Loki's head slightly lifted, Blake showed no mercy and landed another kick.
"Odin and Frigga are thousands of years old, yet they have to worry about you every day, you damned fool!"
Bang!
"Your brother may be a bit dense, but at least he knows what he should and shouldn't do. Look at you!"
*Bang!*
"Others covet the Tesseract, yet you foolishly act as their pawn. Did you even think about why they didn't dare come themselves? Truly a disgrace to Asgard!"
*Bang!*
With each scolding, Blake gave Loki a swift kick. The poor Loki, who had barely had a minute to flaunt his power, hadn't even gotten a good look at Blake's face after being knocked down. His head had already smashed a hole dozens of centimeters deep into the ground.
Given Blake's current strength, if not for Loki's Asgardian power and his frost giant heritage, any other species with similar physical resilience would've been stomped to death under these blows.
After mercilessly stomping Loki's head, Blake's eyes fell on Loki's helmet horns. Loki was now face-down on the ground, barely conscious, with the large curved horns pointing into the ground and a high arch at the top.
"I don't know why, but seeing these horns just irritates me!"
Blake took another unrelenting kick right at the base of the horn.
*Crack!* Loki's helmet wasn't some indestructible relic. It was simply tougher than Earth's metals but not nearly strong enough to withstand Blake's kick. The horn snapped off at the base, leaving the helmet bald.
Satisfied, Blake nodded, grabbed Loki's cloak, and hoisted him up like a beaten dog.
Seeing the stunned expressions of Captain America and Tony, Blake pointed at Loki's bruised and battered face and said, "Odin told me this: if the kid doesn't behave, just beat him thoroughly!"
Noticing Loki's gaze slowly refocusing, Blake muttered, "Damn, he's pretty resilient!"
Looking around for a handy weapon, Blake found none, so he grabbed Captain America's vibranium shield. Holding the shield in his left hand and Loki's head in his right, he slammed them together with full force.
*Duang!*
Loki's neck went limp as he completely lost consciousness.
Everything had gone so smoothly that, on the way back on the plane, Captain America and Tony were wondering why Loki had made such a flashy appearance in Germany.
Glancing at the still-unconscious Loki, Captain America couldn't help but grumble that Blake had hit him too hard, saying they should've kept him conscious to question him.
Blake waved it off casually, saying, "No worries, Asgardians wake up quickly. When he comes to, we'll question him thoroughly. If he doesn't talk… Captain, let me borrow the shield again!"
But before Loki regained consciousness, thunder and lightning began to rumble in the sky. Blake looked up and said to Natasha, who was piloting, "Open the hatch; his brother's here!"
As the hatch opened, Thor flew in, hammer in hand. He had come to take Loki back, but upon entering and seeing Blake, Thor's intimidating presence faltered. Instead, he shouted angrily at Loki, "You came to Earth to steal the Tesseract? Do you even realize… oh my god! Loki? Who beat my brother like this?"
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