The break came to an abrupt end.

The battle on the field unfolded without any unexpected twists. After taking a beating, Thor decisively unleashed the power of the God of Thunder and obliterated the Destroyer armor with a single hammer blow.

With the Destroyer armor shattered, Thor’s trial had effectively come to an end, and Jos extended an invitation to him at just the right moment.

What followed was relatively uneventful. Thor was completely immersed in his romance with Jane and had no intention of returning to Asgard for the time being. On top of that, Jos had earned a considerable amount of goodwill at a crucial moment, so joining the Avengers was only natural.

That said, Jos could not help feeling somewhat disgruntled as he looked at the Friendship Face-Breaking Gauntlet in his hand. Ever since he had obtained it, he had never had the opportunity to try it out, leaving him with the nagging sense that something was missing.

Even so, everything on this side had been resolved perfectly. Apart from the incident involving the Venom family, nothing unexpected had happened at all. It had been the easiest operation Jos had undertaken in a long time.

Though ninety percent of the credit probably belonged to the system for not stirring up trouble.

Jos had even worried that it might suddenly assign him a mission requiring him to fight the Destroyer armor alone. After all, that thing was a product of Asgardian technology. Asking him to take on a creation of the Asgardian gods single-handedly would have been truly unreasonable. Fortunately, nothing of the sort had occurred.

Although this operation had ended without danger, Jos still had a thorn named Loki lodged in his heart. He had no way to remove it, yet neither did he have any idea how to deal with Loki.

Of course, that state of mind lasted only until Jos returned home, at which point the system immediately slapped him right in the face.

…

“In conclusion, I intend to use that space gate.”

Jos brought his palm down on Nick Fury’s desk, his expression so solemn that he left no room for evasion.

“Uh… so what exactly are you trying to say? What does ‘in conclusion’ even mean? You just got back, didn’t you?” Nick Fury narrowed his eyes at Jos.

“Tsk. You’re the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., aren’t you? How can you know nothing?” Jos looked at him with undisguised contempt.

Nick Fury nearly lost his temper. This guy had appeared out of nowhere and immediately started spouting nonsense. How was he supposed to know what Jos was talking about?

“You should still remember what I told you before, right? This city—and indeed, the entire world—is about to face a tremendous disaster. Thor’s appearance is merely the omen of what is to come.”

At a time like this, Jos simply brought out the same fortune-teller act about foreseeing the future that he had used before.

“As I said previously, monsters from outer space will invade Earth. They will possess weapons far beyond ordinary human technology, as well as whale-like behemoths as huge as mountains. And all we have is a group of superheroes whose opponents have always been human beings.”

Given Nick Fury’s intelligence, he immediately understood the advantages and disadvantages concealed in Jos’s words.

It was not that the Avengers were weak. In fact, compared with certain beings, they truly were not powerful enough, but under normal circumstances, they could successfully resolve most incidents.

That assessment, however, was based on the assumption that their opponents were human.

If their enemies really were gigantic monsters—or even gods from Asgard—then the people represented by S.H.I.E.L.D. would be utterly powerless.

This was not a matter of belittling themselves while exaggerating the strength of their enemies. It was simply a realistic consideration.

Among humanity’s conventional weapons, missiles, firearms, and even more advanced laser weaponry had all been designed with human targets in mind.

A weapon capable of blasting a bowl-sized hole through a human body would be no more than a tickle against a gigantic beast dozens or even hundreds of meters long.

In such a battle, the only ones they could truly rely on would be genuine powerhouses.

For example, the Bruce Banner Jos had mentioned—or rather…

The Hulk.

“How can you be so certain that Professor Banner will become one of us? Or that his power is truly as formidable as you claim?” Nick Fury frowned slightly as he asked the two questions that concerned him most.

“I saw it in a movie! No, wait… I’ve had some contact with Doctor Banner before, and I’ve also seen him transform. So you can rest assured on both counts.”

Seeing how serious Jos looked, Nick Fury did not pursue the matter any further. Instead, he turned to another question. “So you mean… you want to use that space gate?”

“Exactly. Through a special channel, I obtained Doctor Banner’s spatial coordinates over the past few days. He’s in a place extremely far from Earth. The only way I can get there is through the space gate.”

The channel Jos referred to was naturally the system’s hero-finding service. After paying a thousand points, he had successfully obtained the Hulk’s location.

As expected, it was the interstellar gladiatorial arena established by the Grandmaster.

The Hulk, who should originally have fallen into a wormhole during the battle with Ultron, had instead arrived there ahead of schedule due to an unexpected incident. Unless something unforeseen happened, this universe’s Avengers might not see the Hulk for a very long time.

Unfortunately, Jos himself was that unforeseen incident.

“I understand everything you’ve said… But if you go through the space gate, how will you get back… Oh. I see.”

Nick Fury had originally been concerned. Even without being a specialist, he knew that once someone passed through a space gate, returning would be impossible. From every angle, Jos looked as though he was heading there to die.

Before he could finish speaking, however, Nick Fury remembered Jos’s uncanny teleportation ability. Although it was subject to certain restrictions, it was undeniably an extremely powerful gift.

“But even if the place is so far away that you need a space gate just to reach it, you can still teleport there?”

Nick Fury’s assessment of Jos rose another notch. Naturally, he had no objections to the operation and simply nodded before beginning to arrange the relevant preparations.

The space gate was being kept at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, but reversing its function—from summoning someone to transporting a person to a designated target—could only be entrusted to the genius Tony Stark.

By now, Tony had developed considerable goodwill toward Jos, a powerful figure who supplied him with advanced technological data every few days. The moment he received the news, he set aside his work and devoted himself to solving the problem of modifying the space gate.

After making all the arrangements, Jos glanced at the mission displayed on the system panel and let out a long, anguished sigh.

[Side Mission—An Avenger Without a Green Member Is an Unqualified Avenger]