With a loud thud, Thor crashed into the prison cell.
Loki stood outside, a smirk playing on his face as he said, "This trick really works wonders on you, doesn't it?"
Thor, seething with rage, began to hammer at the glass walls of the cell with his mighty hammer. Unfortunately, the impact only caused minor cracks to appear in the glass, and the cell barely trembled.
Seeing Thor's futile efforts, Loki initially felt a twinge of fear that Thor might break through, but that fear soon turned into amusement.
After laughing for a moment, Loki decided to play a different game. "Humans on Earth think of us as immortal gods. Want to see if that's true?"
He moved to the control panel for the cell and prepared to lower it from the nearly ten thousand meters of height.
At that moment, a muffled groan echoed through the space, and one of Loki's controlled agents collapsed on the ground.
Syd, along with the others, turned to see what had happened.
There stood Agent Coulson, wielding a high-energy laser weapon that looked formidable.
"Step aside," Coulson said, raising the weapon. "Do you like this? We developed it after we sent the Destroyer to you. I don't know what it can do, but would you like to find out?"
Syd shook his head, thinking Coulson had vastly underestimated Loki. Even if Loki's title as the Sorcerer Supreme of the Nine Realms was somewhat exaggerated, he was still proficient in illusion magic.
True to form, Loki's true self appeared behind Coulson with a soft puff. With the Mind Scepter that he had obtained somehow, Loki used its sharp end to stab Coulson from behind.
Coulson screamed in agony, collapsing to the floor.
"No!" Thor shouted in despair.
After dealing with Coulson, Loki, still smiling under Thor's furious gaze, moved to the control panel for the cell.
He pressed a button, and an opening appeared at the bottom of the glass cell, from which fierce winds began to gush out.
It was clear that the opening led to the open air from ten thousand meters up.
Eventually, Loki pressed the critical button, causing both Thor and the glass cell to plummet from the ship.
Syd took a brief glance but didn't pay much attention.
Given the Asgardian's physiology, falling from such a height would not harm Thor, just as the Hulk could survive a similar fall without issue.
Syd even suspected that, with his own god-like physique at Level 4, he could survive a jump from that height without any protection or powers.
Observing Coulson's critical state, Syd turned his attention back to the dying agent. "You've lost."
"I've lost?" Loki replied, puzzled.
"It's destiny. You won't win," Coulson murmured.
Loki found this amusing. "Your heroes are scattered, and your fortress is about to fall. What do I have to worry about?"
"You lack conviction," Coulson replied weakly.
"But I don't see it that way," Loki retorted dismissively.
Just then, a yellow energy beam as wide as a wrist appeared and struck Loki, sending him flying and crashing through a wall.
Syd observed with a hint of amusement. Coulson had just been deceived, and now Loki faced the same fate. It was quite a spectacle.
"So that's what it's used for," Coulson murmured, his voice fading.
It wasn't long before Syd saw Loki, who had been thrown, getting back up. Evidently, human weapons struggled to damage his formidable physique.
Ignoring the near-death Coulson, Loki walked away.
Moments later, Director Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrived at the cell to find Coulson on the verge of death.
"I'm sorry, boss. I let that pest get away," Coulson said weakly.
Fury, looking at Coulson with sadness, said, "Stay with me. You'll be fine."
"No, I need to rest," Coulson said with a faint smile.
Fury insisted firmly, "You can't rest!"
"I'm fine, boss. They'll never unite without a little push."
Coulson was referring to the Avengers.
With those final words, Coulson fell into unconsciousness.
Syd, hidden in the shadows, took one last look before floating silently towards the open hole.
The next moment, he descended through the opening.
Coulson, just on the edge of consciousness, saw the mysterious figure and recognized him from descriptions by Tony and others.
He had been observing everything from the shadows, and now, this figure appeared? What was his purpose? Was Loki connected to him? Could he be the mastermind?
As Coulson's vision faded, his mind raced with questions and conspiracy theories. He struggled to say something with his remaining strength.
"Boss… that… person…"
His eyes were locked on the open hole, trying to alert Nick Fury.
"What person?"
Fury, momentarily confused, was about to ask further but saw Coulson stop speaking and slip into unconsciousness.
Fury turned around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
In the end, Fury never learned what Coulson had seen before he died, leaving him puzzled and troubled.
End of Chapter