2088: Photo, Passing the Buck

Photo, Passing the Buck

Thor instantly got mad and grabbed his brother's collar. "Now? You lost Father. Does Asgard not have money? Did you have to dump him in this rundown nursing home?"

"Relax, we can look for him." 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.

"Luke, do we really not need to ask for their permission to take a photo?" A little girl's voice rang out not far away.

"It's fine. We're all old acquaintances. They'll give us face," a man replied in a gentle voice.

Swoosh!

While the brothers were still in a 'love-hate' 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 'framed' between her hands.

Click! Click! The super loud sound effect of the latest Titanium phone model rang out.

The brothers couldn't help but turn their heads, and they looked into the camera.

"Perfect!" Luke said with a smile, before he put down the phone.

Looking at the brothers' expressions, he nodded. "Long time no see, Thor. Hm, and your adopted brother, he actually hasn't been beaten to death yet?"

"Ah, hello, you are…" 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 wasn't familiar with Thor, he would secretly use a spell on him later.

Also, this little girl wasn't anything good; she actually dared to turn the second prince of Asgard into a background image.

Sensing Loki's mood and his ill will toward Cindy, Luke instantly put a mental cross next to Loki's name.

You couldn't indulge this guy! Odin probably didn't 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 Thor's personality, the chance of him finding out was basically zero.

Heart full of ill will, Luke's smile didn't waver. "It's 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."

Realization dawned on the brothers' faces.

Enlightened, Thor smiled. "Ah, it's you. That guy… Hm, you did a good barbecue."

Loki didn't say anything, but those dark eyes stared daggers at Luke. He didn't forget to mutter to himself, So, it's this small fry! I really should've blown you up with one shot back then.

Luke put another mental cross next to Loki's name.

On the other hand, he was very happy that Thor still remembered his barbecue skills.

As a foodie and a chef, he wouldn't glare at people who appreciated his cooking.

After chatting with Thor for a while, he tactfully said goodbye.

The two brothers wouldn't be hanging around here unless it was something important. Luke had come over mainly to satisfy Cindy's 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 wouldn't 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, "Where's your brother? Did he slip away again?"

This was undoubtedly the biggest possibility. After all, Thor wasn't as smart as Loki.

"Bruce, you came at the right time." Thor was relieved to see him. "A portal suddenly appeared on the ground just now. Loki fell in and disappeared, leaving this behind."

"Can I take a look?" Luke gestured and asked, "What kind of portal?"

Thor gave him the card and said, "It was just a spinning ring of sparks… Hm, that sounds familiar."

Luke's heart jumped. Looking at the card, which only had an address on it, he couldn't help but shake his head. "I know who it is. Let's go. I'll take you there, and give you the item while I'm at it."

Thor nodded. "That's great. Hm, what are you giving me?"

Luke walked to a side street, and an SUV soon drove over.

They got into the vehicle, and Luke gave the driver the address. "177a Bleecker Street."

The car started up, and Luke gave Thor a small box he was carrying. "The Mind Stone. Take it back to Asgard, like we agreed before."

Thor was enlightened. "I've been busy recently. I forgot for a bit."

It's not just 'a bit' – you didn't remember at all. Luke roasted him inwardly as he placed the box in Thor's hands.

Whether Thor remembered or not, it was fine as long as Luke could pass on the buck.

Thanos's operation probably wouldn't change much.

When Scott first arrived, he had revealed where all the Stones were at this time.

Luke hadn't 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 wouldn't 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 'main plot.'

Especially when it came to Thanos obtaining the Stones, he had to do his best to make sure things didn't turn out too different.

Of course, this was just the rough aim.

Luke couldn't let Thanos snap his fingers.

Real life wasn't 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.

Luke's grandpa, Robert, Catherine, and his siblings made up six people.0

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 didn't 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.

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