2088 Photo, Passing the Buck
Thor instantly got mad and grabbed his brotherâs collar. âNow? You lost Father. Does Asgard not have money? Did you have to dump him in this rundown nursing home?â
âRelax, we can look for him.â Loki instantly turned meek, afraid that this muscle-brained idiot would punch him in the face.
This was the age of the Internet, and the streets were full of onlookers. If things went wrong, there might be videos of them for people to admire forever.
âLuke, do we really not need to ask for their permission to take a photo?â A little girlâs voice rang out not far away.
âItâs fine. Weâre all old acquaintances. Theyâll give us face,â a man replied in a gentle voice.
!!
Swoosh!
While the brothers were still in a âlove-hateâ pose, a small figure scuttled over to them.
With her back to the Asgardian brothers, she half-crouched on the ground and gave the V sign with both hands.
On camera, the brothers were âframedâ between her hands.
Click! Click! The super loud sound effect of the latest Titanium phone model rang out.
The brothers couldnât help but turn their heads, and they looked into the camera.
âPerfect!â Luke said with a smile, before he put down the phone.
Looking at the brothersâ expressions, he nodded. âLong time no see, Thor. Hm, and your adopted brother, he actually hasnât been beaten to death yet?â
âAh, hello, you areâŠâ Thor looked a little confused.
Loki wanted to turn his face away, but Thor was gripping his collar. This guy in front of him seemed to know his violent brother. It was better to endure it.
Of course, if the man wasnât familiar with Thor, he would secretly use a spell on him later.
Also, this little girl wasnât anything good; she actually dared to turn the second prince of Asgard into a background image.
Sensing Lokiâs mood and his ill will toward Cindy, Luke instantly put a mental cross next to Lokiâs name.
You couldnât indulge this guy! Odin probably didnât have many years left to live. There was no need for Luke to worry about being investigated if he found an opportunity to kill this adopted son somewhere out in the galaxy.
In any case, given Thorâs personality, the chance of him finding out was basically zero.
Heart full of ill will, Lukeâs smile didnât waver. âItâs probably been about ten years. Back in Texas, this b*stard brother of yours wanted to kill people; he dropped a huge robot and blew up half of my house.â
Realization dawned on the brothersâ faces.
Enlightened, Thor smiled. âAh, itâs you. That guy⊠Hm, you did a good barbecue.â
Loki didnât say anything, but those dark eyes stared daggers at Luke. He didnât forget to mutter to himself, So, itâs this small fry! I really shouldâve blown you up with one shot back then.
Luke put another mental cross next to Lokiâs name.
On the other hand, he was very happy that Thor still remembered his barbecue skills.
As a foodie and a chef, he wouldnât glare at people who appreciated his cooking.
After chatting with Thor for a while, he tactfully said goodbye.
The two brothers wouldnât be hanging around here unless it was something important. Luke had come over mainly to satisfy Cindyâs wish to take a photo.
After just a few words, Thor was happy to take another photo with Cindy.
In addition, Luke could buy time and get the Knight clone to bring the Mind Stone over.
It wouldnât take more than 20 seconds for the clone to appear.
But Loki disappeared in that short period of time.
From the surveillance feed, after Loki suddenly disappeared, Thor looked at the ground in a daze, then carefully poked at the name card which lay there with the umbrella that he was holding.
Luke, who had just landed on a roof not far away, sighed before he walked over.
He asked Thor, who was examining the card, âWhereâs your brother? Did he slip away again?â
This was undoubtedly the biggest possibility. After all, Thor wasnât as smart as Loki.
âBruce, you came at the right time.â Thor was relieved to see him. âA portal suddenly appeared on the ground just now. Loki fell in and disappeared, leaving this behind.â
âCan I take a look?â Luke gestured and asked, âWhat kind of portal?â
Thor gave him the card and said, âIt was just a spinning ring of sparks⊠Hm, that sounds familiar.â
Lukeâs heart jumped. Looking at the card, which only had an address on it, he couldnât help but shake his head. âI know who it is. Letâs go. Iâll take you there, and give you the item while Iâm at it.â
Thor nodded. âThatâs great. Hm, what are you giving me?â
Luke walked to a side street, and an SUV soon drove over.
They got into the vehicle, and Luke gave the driver the address. â177a Bleecker Street.â
The car started up, and Luke gave Thor a small box he was carrying. âThe Mind Stone. Take it back to Asgard, like we agreed before.â
Thor was enlightened. âIâve been busy recently. I forgot for a bit.â
Itâs not just âa bitâ â you didnât remember at all. Luke roasted him inwardly as he placed the box in Thorâs hands.
Whether Thor remembered or not, it was fine as long as Luke could pass on the buck.
Thanosâs operation probably wouldnât change much.
When Scott first arrived, he had revealed where all the Stones were at this time.
Luke hadnât known about the backlash of time travel back then, so he had asked a lot of questions.
It was hard for Scott to hide anything, given the sort of person that he was.
Luke had been conflicted for a time. What could he do that wouldnât be considered as messing with the timeline, in order to avoid a backlash?
In the end, he could only decide not to make a mess of the âmain plot.â
Especially when it came to Thanos obtaining the Stones, he had to do his best to make sure things didnât turn out too different.
Of course, this was just the rough aim.
Luke couldnât let Thanos snap his fingers.
Real life wasnât a movie; who the hell knew if he and his family would be part of the half of civilization that was turned to dust.
Scott, that unlucky b*stard, had complained about it; not only had his girlfriend, Hope, his future father-in-law, Dr. Pym, and his future mother-in-law, Janet, all turned to dust, even his ex-wife and current husband had turned to dust. Only his precious daughter had been spared.
Of six family members, only one was left.
Lukeâs grandpa, Robert, Catherine, and his siblings made up six people.
What if only one of them was spared?
Even if this world could reverse the outcome of the Snap in the end, those who were left behind would have already suffered a huge mental blow.
Thor in 2023 had turned into a shut-in because of guilt.
More importantly⊠what if they didnât succeed?
Strange in 2023 had said that their only chance of success was one out of 14 million.
If the probability was just a little lower, there was practically no chance at all.
At that time, those who had turned to dust would never return.