Marvel : Super Soldier at the Start

Blake didn't know what exactly the Ancient One had discussed with Odin, but it was undoubtedly related to the Dark Elves and the Aether. The plan seemed simple—retrieve the Aether and everything would remain peaceful.

However, the frustrating part was that even Odin didn't know where the Aether was buried.

His father had only told him that the Aether hadn't been destroyed, but never revealed its hiding place. Odin's father had hidden it to prevent future generations from recklessly pursuing power. Both the current Asgard and Odin's father's generation shared a common belief:

The Infinity Stones only brought disaster, and it was better to keep them far away. That's why, in the movies, Odin initially hid the Space Stone on Earth and later gave the Reality Stone (the Aether) to the Collector after obtaining it.

Of course, that was Odin's mindset in his later years. When he was younger, who's to say he wouldn't have gathered all six Infinity Stones to dominate the universe?

Since he didn't know the location of the Reality Stone, Blake decided to find Jane Foster, the person in the movies who had been infected by the Aether.

Thor made a call to Jane, and she told them she was planning to head to London the next day.

The timing worked out perfectly. They could spend a day in Asgard, soaking in the exotic atmosphere, before taking care of business.

---

London, at an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city.

Jane drove to the site, accompanied by Darcy and Ian, a new intern working under Darcy. The three of them followed spatial fluctuations detected by Jane's equipment to locate the place.

"Grab the phase meter, intern, and follow us inside!" Darcy said nonchalantly as she and Jane exited the car.

"My name is Ian. Ian!" Ian called out loudly, clutching the equipment as he trailed behind.

Jane, walking ahead, turned to Darcy and said, "You should remember his name. Don't tell me you're still hung up on that guy. He's been cozying up to that female agent. Honestly, Natasha's a nice person—beautiful and a superhero to boot. Let's face it, I don't think you stand a chance."

"Come on, you know my goal is to become a great astrophysicist—at least as good as you. Men are like ice cream to me. It's nice to have a taste once in a while, but they're definitely not a necessity. Whether it's that rookie intern or that superhero, they're all the same to me," Darcy replied nonchalantly.

Just as she finished speaking, a dazzling beam of multicolored light, about three meters in diameter, descended about ten meters ahead of them.

Jane and Darcy immediately recognized it—it was the Bifrost from Asgard.

When the light faded, two figures appeared.

One was Thor, as expected, and the other was Blake.

Darcy let out an excited scream, tossed her car keys aside, and joyfully threw herself into Blake's arms.

Burying her face into his chest, she took several deep breaths.

"Damn it, I love the way you smell. For God's sake, you need to make more time to visit me. How long has it been? Two years? Three?"

Before Blake could answer, she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a deep, passionate French kiss on him, nearly leaving herself breathless.

When she finally let go, she turned to Jane, who was staring at her with a look of disdain.

"It's been way too long since I've had ice cream. You know how it is—you start to miss it a little, don't you?" Darcy said with a grin.

Then she turned to Ian, who stood behind them, completely stunned.

"Better forget everything you saw here, or I'll mark your internship report as 'failed.' Got it?"

Ian gulped hard and nodded repeatedly.

For a student fresh out of school, seeing not one but two Avengers appear out of nowhere was utterly overwhelming—especially with such a dramatic entrance.

"Um... h-hello, Mr. Blake, Your Highness Thor. My name is Ian. I'm Darcy's intern. I... I mean, it's an honor to meet you. I saw the Wakanda battle online—it was incredible! I'm... I'm a huge fan. Could I... maybe get a picture with you later?"

"No problem, Intern Ian. A group photo is $500. After all, we're Avengers, right? Of course, Thor only charges $100."

Blake grinned as he teased the intern.

"Uh... what?"

Ian's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"Just kidding! Come on, let's go inside. Once we're done with the serious stuff, you can take all the pictures you want—just don't make me do any shirtless poses!"

Blake chuckled, patting Ian on the shoulder before wrapping an arm around Darcy and heading into the factory.

Jane sighed as she watched her best friend clinging to Blake's arm, looking every bit like a giddy, love-struck girl. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed Thor and followed them inside.

---

Inside the factory, just as in the movie, a group of children was playing around.

When Jane asked them if anything strange had been happening, a little boy led the group to an abandoned truck. He gently grabbed a protruding part of the truck's hood and gave it a light tug upward.

The massive truck lifted off the ground and began to spin in midair, hovering about a meter above the floor.

"Gravity here has completely lost meaning, and the spatial fluctuations are off the charts!" Jane exclaimed, staring at the readings on her instrument.

"You mentioned this is the Convergence—when the Nine Realms align and their spatial boundaries compress. My God, Erik's research was right! He predicted all of this and even designed a device that could neutralize the harmful effects of the Convergence on Earth caused by the other eight realms."

"Where is Dr. Selvig now?" Blake asked Darcy.

"Um... he's at Stonehenge testing a gravity meter. But, uh... he ended up running around naked and got arrested by the police. I think it was because he got overheated running back and forth with the equipment."

Darcy covered half her face with her hand, clearly embarrassed. Although Dr. Selvig was her mentor, admitting such a thing was mortifying.

"Alright, we'll check this place out first, then bail him out of jail later," Blake said, striding forward.

He grabbed the truck's front bumper and, with a small amount of effort, tossed it out of the gravity-deficient area. The truck landed with a loud crash on the ground nearby.

"Kids, this is really dangerous. If gravity suddenly comes back while you're playing, bam! You'll end up as a pancake. Got it?"

After dealing with the floating truck, the children led the group to an atrium inside one of the factory's buildings.

Standing on opposite staircases surrounding the atrium, the kids pulled out a can of soda and dropped it down into the open space below. The soda can vanished into thin air as it fell, only to reappear out of nowhere from above and fall again.

It was like Blake had opened two portals—one above and one below—creating an infinite loop of falling.

However, unlike portals, this phenomenon was highly unstable. The spatial fluctuations here weren't steady, and the connection to Earth's point could change locations at any moment.

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