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Soon, Kai and Tony notified everyone and received confirmation that they were on their way back to the manor.
After seeing the responses, Kai finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as he turned to discuss the details with Tony and Steve, both he and Tony received notifications from Gear and Jarvis.
"According to the detectors, someone is flying toward the manor at high speed," Jarvis reported.
Kai immediately knew who it was. "Looks like Thor is coming. I'll go meet him—he should be here any second."
Steve and Tony both stood up. "Let's go together," Steve suggested.
"Yeah," Tony added. "Thor's been on Earth for a while now, and he hasn't even bothered to visit us!"
Kai smirked. "He's probably been too busy with Jane. Happier than you look, Tony."
Tony laughed. "Well, I just hope he has at least half his strength left!"
Before anyone could respond—
Boom!
A figure landed with a crash, cape billowing and hammer in hand.
"What do you mean, half left?" Thor asked, narrowing his eyes at Tony.
Tony froze. He hadn't expected Thor to hear that part. Without his suit, there was no way he could fight Thor, and even with it… well, the odds weren't in his favor.
"Uh…" Tony hesitated, unsure how to respond.
Kai, unbothered, grinned and said, "We were just discussing your power."
"My power?" Thor raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong? Weren't we going to fight some snake?"
Kai burst out laughing. "Tony was saying that you've been living shamelessly with Jane for so long without visiting us, so he's questioning how much fighting power you have left."
Kai added, "He thinks you're only at fifty percent strength now."
Ignoring Tony's glare, Kai stepped back to watch the show.
Thor, rather than getting angry, simply walked up to Tony and clapped a firm hand on his shoulder—before slowly increasing his grip.
"Hiss—!" Tony sucked in a breath through his teeth. The pressure was starting to hurt.
"So, Tony," Thor said with a grin. "Care for a spar? I can personally show you how much strength I have left."
Tony rolled his eyes. His shoulders were in Thor's hands—what was he supposed to do?
"Alright, no need for a spar. I believe you," Tony said, quickly wriggling out of Thor's grasp.
He rolled his shoulder and winced. It still hurt.
Tony shot a resentful glare at Kai, who finally sighed and used magic to heal his shoulder.
Once Tony confirmed everything felt normal again, he nodded. "Alright, Thor's here. Let's head inside and talk."
Everyone moved into the living room.
Steve spoke first. "It'll take two days for Coulson and Natasha to return. We should use this time to finalize the action plan and make sure we're ready."
Steve was determined to wipe Hydra out completely. He didn't want a single one of them escaping.
Kai, Tony, and the others turned their focus back to planning.
Thor, however, simply leaned back and said, "You guys figure it out. I'll follow along when the time comes."
Classic Thor—never one for strategy.
Just as the group was deep in discussion, a glowing portal suddenly opened in the middle of the living room.
Yinsen stepped through.
Before anyone else could react, Nick Fury's voice rang out.
"Gift Crab!" Fury blurted in shock, staring at the swirling yellow portal.
Then he turned to Kai. "Kai, what the hell? Since when does someone else have control over space like this?"
Kai didn't even bother answering. He had no intention of telling Fury about Kamar-Taj.
If Fury found out, he'd immediately try to register every sorcerer and turn them into SHIELD assets.
Yinsen glanced at Kai, silently asking if he should respond.
Kai simply shook his head—don't bother with him.
Taking the hint, Yinsen completely ignored Fury and walked over to Tony instead.
Lowering his voice, he asked, "Tony, what's going on?"
Tony quickly filled him in.
After hearing the plan, Yinsen turned to Steve. "I support taking down Hydra completely. Just tell me what you need."
Steve was genuinely moved by Yinsen's firm support. "Thank you, Yinsen. Tony and I have worked out a plan. We'll execute it when the time comes."
Yinsen nodded and settled onto the sofa, listening as Kai and the others refined the strategy.
Meanwhile, Banner had also arrived, having been summoned by Kai to help with the planning.
The battle against Hydra was about to begin.
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