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"Anyway, let's save that 'other project' talk for later."
"For now, your mission is to uncover everything hidden in this body."
"In short—Professor Connors, this lab is yours now. Just make sure no one else gets in. If anyone tries to force their way in, yell for me."
Peter was dead serious—this lab clearly meant a lot to him.
"Oh, and if you need any gear, materials, whatever—just let me know. Heck, if you want the Statue of Liberty, I'll go grab it for you."
With that, Peter walked over to the metal door, pushed it open effortlessly with one hand, but this time left it ajar. Connors would still need to come and go, after all.
"Unbelievable. Me, Tony Stark—a billionaire genius—and now I'm stuck here doing this crap?"
As soon as Peter opened the door, he heard Tony grumbling while sweeping up with some makeshift tools.
Peter didn't bother responding. He left Connors behind and started rising slowly off the ground, ready to fly away.
"Hey! That guy actually left the door open!"
Tony kept sweeping, but kept stealing glances at the frozen monster inside.
"Tony Stark. Make sure everyone knows—no one goes near that lab except Professor Connors. If they do, they'll face the consequences."
Peter's warning thundered through the air just as Tony was secretly plotting to sneak in later when no one was around.
Bang!
The next moment, the metal door of the ice chamber slammed shut again, and a faint sonic boom echoed in.
"What the hell is this guy having Connors work on? Some shady top-secret experiment?"
Tony couldn't help but get more curious as he watched Connors setting up all kinds of lab equipment like it was just another regular day for him.
"Huh? Someone's watching me?"
Peter, who was speeding through the air toward home, suddenly felt like someone—or something—had their eyes on him.
He immediately stopped flying, using his super vision to scan the surroundings. Then, he looked up into the sky.
"It's not a satellite… then what is it?"
Within seconds, Peter ruled out the possibility of humans using tech to spy on him.
"Wait… could it be… that bald lady?"
All of a sudden, a certain powerful being on Earth—with that signature bald-head look—popped into his mind.
"But why would she be watching me? Even if I did mess up the sacred timeline or whatever, it should be the TVA coming after me, not her."
"Ah well, even if it is her, so what? I'm not some Kryptonian knockoff who gets taken down by a couple of magic tricks."
As Superman without any weaknesses, Peter now had resistance to magic that was just as insane as his resistance to physical attacks.
With that thought, he shrugged it off and rocketed forward at full speed.
Peter zipped through the sky in a wide arc, crossing several countries along the way. After all that, the feeling of being watched was completely gone.
Meanwhile, in Asgard—one of the Nine Realms just like Earth.
Heimdall, the guardian of the Bifrost, quickly pulled back his cosmic gaze that could see all across the Nine Realms.
"This human… such overwhelming perception… When did Midgard get someone that powerful?"
His already serious face grew even more grim.
"Heimdall… my friend, are you there? Hurry, open the Bifrost for me!"
Just as Heimdall was deep in thought about this powerful new being on Earth, a familiar voice rang in his ears, snapping him out of it.
Without a moment's hesitation, Heimdall shoved his silver sword into the Bifrost's control pedestal.
In an instant, silver lightning sparked from the mechanism.
The Bifrost lit up with a burst of brilliant light, colorful energy swirling through it like a vibrant rainbow river stretching across the galaxy, all rushing toward the far end of the bridge.
Then came a powerful blast of energy from the bird-beak-shaped end of the Bifrost, shooting out as a multicolored beam that streaked across the vast expanse of the Nine Realms.
Boom!
As the Bifrost connected, several figures appeared in Asgard, bathed in its radiant glow—along with the massive corpse of some monstrous beast they'd clearly defeated.
"Haha! Asgard's warriors are unstoppable!"
The moment they arrived, the group raised their bloodstained weapons and cheered like maniacs.
And that giant creature? Yeah, it was their trophy.
Among the group stood a huge man with flowing golden hair, silver armor, and a winged battle helmet.
He walked over to Heimdall, clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder, and asked with a puzzled look, "Heimdall, you hesitated just now. Why?"
"I saw someone… a powerful new god… on Midgard."
Faced with the son of Odin—Asgard's future king and the mighty God of Thunder, Thor (and also Heimdall's best friend)—Heimdall didn't hold anything back.
"A powerful new god in Midgard? You're kidding, right? I was just there a few hundred years ago—humans were weak as hell back then."
"Even the younger version of me could've wiped the floor with hundreds of them!"
Thor, cocky as always, clearly didn't buy what Heimdall was saying.
"And back then, those clueless mortals actually worshipped me like I was some great Thunder God. Even now, I bet some of them still do!"
Holding his silver hammer, Mjölnir, Thor snorted at the idea.
It wasn't that he hated humans or anything, but let's be honest—they were way too weak compared to Asgardian warriors.
To humans, Asgardians were like literal gods who could do anything.
"Thor, it's been hundreds of years since All-Father Odin forbade us from casually stepping foot in Midgard."
"In that time, humans have completely transformed their world. They've rapidly advanced their tech and developed weapons capable of massive destruction."
"They don't worship gods anymore. Hell, they don't even need our protection."
Heimdall had been keeping watch all this time, and he'd seen firsthand how fast humanity had grown.
"More importantly, lately… a being has emerged among them—someone insanely powerful. The humans are calling him the 'God Among Men.'"
Heimdall's tone was heavy, and he still hadn't mentioned one crucial thing: that this human gave off a power that was comparable to even All-Father Odin himself.
"God Among Men, huh?"
Thor repeated the words, a fire lighting up in his eyes—he looked like he was itching for a fight.
"....."