Chapter 1068: Morning Chat at the New York Radio Station (Part 2) (Patreon)

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Thor dashed over like lightning, blocking Loki's attempt to pull the door open as he stood by the entrance.

Loki, on the other side of the door, flashed a sweet smile at Thor, while forcefully pulling the door open. "Dear elder brother, how have you been lately? I've been missing you a bit," he said.

With all his might, Thor held onto the door frame, gritting his teeth. "What trouble have you caused this time?!"

"You truly break my heart!" Loki covered his face with one hand, letting his eyebrows and the corners of his eyes droop, creating a deeply sorrowful expression. Then he added, "I haven't caused any trouble. Can't I come to chat with you? You know, Christmas is just around the corner, a time for family reunions..."

"Who have you deceived this time? How much money did you cheat out of them? When are they coming after you?" Thor fired off questions in quick succession.

Loki pursed his lips, locking eyes with Thor in sadness. "Elder brother, am I nothing more than a swindler in your eyes?"

"Yes," Thor replied without hesitation. Loki's eyes began to redden, but Thor remained unfazed. He held onto the doorframe tightly, preventing Loki from opening it. Pointing a finger, he continued, "In the past few weeks, I've been receiving over 60 calls every day, all related to your unauthorized sales, contract fraud, and straightforward innocent scams! Every single one came my way, none missed!"

Thor's hand began to tremble. He extended a finger, pointing at Loki's forehead. "Do you know how much effort it took for me to intercept every single one of those calls?!" he gritted his teeth. "Do you know that if those calls had reached All-Father and the Queen, you would have been beaten to a pulp and bedridden right now? Even if Sif had found out, you wouldn't have dared to show your face for the next few centuries!"

Loki extended his arm over his head against the doorframe. "Thank you very much, my esteemed royal brother, the great Asgard God-King. Would you mind, amidst the 60 or so calls each day, adding one more inconspicuous, harmless, and non-threatening call from within the Nine Realms?"

Staring at Loki's smile, Thor exclaimed, "Who have you deceived this time? The internal calls within the Nine Realms... by the gods, it couldn't be..."

Thor glanced at the people outside, then said, "There are too many people here. Let's talk about this back in Asgard..."

Intentionally pursing his lips, Loki raised the corners of his mouth high, locking eyes with Thor. Thor had a bad feeling about this, and as expected, his mobile phone on the table soon rang.

Without loosening his grip on the doorframe, Thor gestured to Peter, who picked up the ringing mobile phone and tossed it to Thor. Thor caught it and answered, hearing the voice of Strange on the other end.

"Hello, Your Majesty Thor Odinson. This is the Sanctum Sanctorum of the Nine Kingdoms. I am Stephen Strange, and I need to talk to you about your younger brother Loki's theft of the Time Stone..."

Thor immediately widened his eyes and looked at Loki, who was holding a green gem and flashing a sly smile at him.

"Wait, Stephen!" Thor firmly held onto the doorframe and said, "Before lending him the gem, didn't you prepare any security measures? I thought you were confident it wouldn't be swapped, which is why you lent it to him!"

"I did prepare security measures, they just didn't work. Your younger brother is truly worthy of being the first mage of the Nine Realms; he's an exceptionally skilled God," Strange smoothly replied. "So, how do you view the economic losses caused to the Sanctum Sanctorum by your younger brother?"

"Wait! Stephen! Can we discuss the term 'theft'? Um, Loki is a prince of Asgard, and the Sanctum Sanctorum has connections with various powers in the Nine Realms. If this matter gets out, it could tarnish Asgard's reputation..."

Strange cleared his throat. "I also have a second term to propose, which is 'rental agreement,' although the terms regarding rent might be slightly stringent..."

"We will compensate!" Thor decisively said through gritted teeth. "As long as you don't mention Loki's name, the price is open for negotiation!"

After hanging up the phone, Loki shrugged. "It's a trap. We've fallen for it."

Looking at the Eye of Agamotto in his hand, Loki explained, "When Stephen lent it to me, I did swap it, but after multiple time travels, it has run out of power."

"Ican't use it anymore, but I still have to pay the rent. I never expected Stephen to be so despicable and unscrupulous, just like Schiller!"

"Why did you steal it in the first place?!" Thor raised his voice. "If you hadn't swapped it, none of this would have happened, right?!"

Somewhat angrily, he let go of the door and walked inside, leaving Loki outside. Smiling, Loki opened the glass door and attempted to enter, oblivious to a small figure swiftly flying towards him from the distant sky.

"Bang!!!"

Stark looked at his hand armor back in his possession and the armor pieces that had swiftly flown and hit Loki on the back of his head, causing him to collapse on the ground. He shook his head. "That's a typical item the automatic retrieval system fails to recognize—a weak god."

Eddie reclined on the sofa, crossing his legs and lighting a cigarette. After taking a drag, he said, "I've thought of a great name for your combat suit—'Justice Enforcer.' What do you think?"

Loki, still on the ground, propped himself up for a moment but then relaxed, letting himself fall back down. He then said, "Tony Stark, if you don't come over to help me in the next thirty seconds, just you wait..."

"A feeble threat, isn't it?" Schiller chuckled, looking at Stark. Just as Stark was about to smile, Schiller added, "I'm already looking forward to tomorrow when Howard and Maria come looking for you in your room and find Lady Loki lying on your bed…"

Stark immediately stood up. Finally, Thor and Stark walked over to Loki, helping him up. Loki elegantly brushed the dust off his shoulder, smoothed his black hair, and said, "Thank you, doctor, only you understand me."

Afterwards, he sat down next to Schiller, and the sofa, chaise lounge, adjacent single sofa, and chairs were all filled with people. A group sat around the small living room tea table, turning on the television, which emitted the sound of a cereal commercial.

Eddie retrieved the Nordic candy Thor had brought from behind the sofa, opening the box that had already been disheveled. All the chocolates had been eaten by Venom, but no one seemed to mind. Schiller casually picked up a piece, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth before saying, "Have you heard? Nick plans to host a dance party this Christmas. After all, we've been busy in recent years and haven't had time to gather together."

Stark, holding a round candy between two fingers, frowned as he examined it from different angles, seemingly hesitant to put this unidentified item into his mouth. He clicked his tongue and then said, "The dance parties these old folks throw are all the same—wearing cliché formal wear, playing cliché music, and dancing cliché steps. In my opinion, it's better to rent a yacht and have a blast together."

"Then the next day's headline will read, 'Stark Industries joins S.H.I.E.L.D. in extravagant spending, where are the taxpayers' funds?'" Eddie fed a candy to Venom, who emerged from his shoulder, took a sip of beer, and said somewhat indistinctly.

"If your plan doesn't involve a beautiful female on a yacht, I might just have to inform Miss Pepper that your medical expenses need to increase," Schiller said with a friendly smile before adding, "You'll then need a Lady Loki to prove that you're not incompetent."

Stark suddenly turned to look at Loki, who flashed a sly smile at him and said, "It's a fee."

Stark let out a deep sigh, as if he couldn't stand these merchants who were always ready to conspire.

"Personally, I think we should hold a martial arts competition," Thor suggested as he grabbed a large bag of potato chips and started munching. "Aside from us, Matt has many youngsters who have received training for a while. And those mutants, bring them all over—we should really get to know these young heroes..."

Next to Thor, Loki quickly moved his chair away, pretending not to know him at all. He played with the Eye of Agamotto in his hand and said, "I think this year's celebration should be led by Asgard. After all, since Thor ascended, the Nine Realms haven't hosted any significant events."

"Or rather, when do you plan to hold your coronation ceremony?" Schiller asked Loki, who pursed his lips and glanced away. "Asgard doesn't even have a prince. You might as well ask when the God-King's wedding will be held."

Thor glanced at Loki's expression and said nothing. Then, he looked at Schiller and said, "You better not turn my wedding into a member gifts distribution event..."

Schiller smiled and shook his head. Peter looked around at them and said, "If we really have a dance party, whom do you plan to invite as your dance partner?"

As soon as the question was asked, Venom immediately opened his mouth wide and roared at Eddie, "Your first reaction wasn't me? You're in trouble!!!"

"Hey, don't be like that. Although my ex-girlfriend has already married, I can still find another girlfriend, right?" Eddie said with his hands spread out. "Rather than living with you, this parasite..."

"Apologize! Apologize quickly!!"

"I will probably come with Sif," Thor said as he unwrapped a candy. "She hasn't been to Earth much. The last time she came to see me, she mentioned liking Earth's music. Perhaps, for Christmas, I should give her a music box..."

"Pepper probably won't have time to come," Stark shook his head, seemingly unaware of the somber tone in his voice. "Obadiah isn't fit for work, Howard just returned and knows nothing, and now, the entire Stark Industries rests on Pepper's shoulders. She doesn't even have time for Christmas."

Thor patted Stark's shoulder as if to say everything was unsaid. Loki shook his head and said, "I won't go either. Originally, dance should be a ritual for you humans to pray to the gods, but in recent years, the trend in human dance development has even made the gods despair. I have no interest."

"Fastball needs a follow-up appointment," Schiller said as he leaned on the sofa. "He's not like you guys, he's in the golden period of recovery, and can't be left unattended. So, I'm afraid I won't have time this Christmas."

"Captain will surely be very sad," Peter murmured. "He really loves it when we all get together. This year,his old friends Bucky and Howard are back, he should be happy."

Having consumed several cans of beer, Stark was starting to feel a bit tipsy. He leaned back on the chair of the single sofa, gazed at the ceiling, and mumbled, "Children, this is how it is in the adult world—more partings, fewer reunions. To be able to chat here for a whole morning like this is truly rare."

Accompanying Stark's somewhat hoarse voice, the figures in front of the sofa gradually dispersed. The gentle orange sunlight cast a golden hue on the balcony railings tinged with rust.

Standing upstairs, looking down, the crowd scattered in all directions, leaving a trail of footprints in the snow.

After the figures had dispersed, the room gradually quieted down, leaving only the continuous sound of the advertisement on the television and the whistling wind outside. The wind stirred the bells on the Christmas tree branches, creating a crisp jingling sound.

I am a radio station that can rebroadcast other spaces.

These are not created by me.

I simply saw what really happened and broadcast it to you through the radio.

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, and thanks for the invaluable support!]

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 1069: The Quiet Daily Life Before Christmas (Part 1)