Liu A'dou had finished off all the guards and strolled over behind Thor, clearly noticing that the situation still hadn't been resolved.
"Thor, they haven't come to a decision yet?" Liu A'dou asked.
"I don't know what they're thinking. They've been quiet for a while now," Thor replied.
Loki curiously sized up the strange man who had just walked in. Jedi Knight? He'd never heard of such a thing. He figured this was just another one of Thor's oddball friends. "That weapon of yours looks pretty unique."
Liu A'dou glanced at Loki's handcuffs. "Your shackles look pretty unique too."
Loki thought, 'This guy's weird.' "I've never heard of Jedi Knights, let alone met someone like you."
"Then you need to broaden your horizons."
"Tch." Loki was starting to get annoyed with him.
"Thor, we have a few questions for your Jedi friend," one of the officials said.
Thor looked at Liu A'dou. He nodded. "Go ahead."
"Thor said your Jedi Order are guardians of order. Can't you help protect Earth too?" They were clearly trying to find a new protector to cling to—but unfortunately for them, Liu A'dou was only pretending to be one.
"Not at the moment. We no longer have enough Jedi stationed in this corner of the galaxy. Darkness is spreading across the universe, and the balance of the Force has been broken. We must restore it before the dark side takes full control. May the Force be with you."
The officials were mentally collapsing. They had just asked if Earth could have some backup, and now they were being served a pile of incomprehensible lore. And what did that last line even mean? What the heck was the Force?
"Are you saying there's absolutely nothing you can do to help us?" The female official was still trying to stay diplomatic.
"You've already got help. Hasn't the Kryptonian been helping you this whole time?" Liu A'dou said. "The universe is balanced. Where there is power, there is resistance. Following the Force is the path of the cosmos."
…Seriously, what is the Force?!
"Can't you leave the Tesseract here and just send someone to guard it?" The officials were still trying to negotiate.
"No. The Tesseract must be removed from Earth. No exceptions," Liu A'dou said firmly. "The Tesseract doesn't belong to humanity. Keeping it will only bring you more harm. I already tested the general combat capabilities of your people just now—absolutely terrible. Forget resisting the dark side of the Force, even I could take the Tesseract from you without effort. Please assess the situation clearly and make the right choice. You have five minutes to decide. May the Force be with you."
...
In the end, the officials made the right choice. They agreed to let Loki and the Tesseract leave Earth. After all the alien encounters recently, they were starting to believe there were too many unknown and powerful threats out there, beyond anything humanity could handle. Keeping the Tesseract on Earth would only invite disaster.
But Liu A'dou wasn't thinking about it that generously. He didn't care about Earth in general—he just didn't trust the Tesseract staying in the hands of the United States. If America's cheat-code-tier scientists ever managed to crack it, then it wouldn't just be unsafe for the U.S.—it would be a threat to the entire planet.
So from the start, his position had been simple: the Tesseract couldn't stay in America. And since the superheroes weren't about to let it go to any other country either, the cleanest option was to send it off-world entirely. Problem solved.
"You've made the right choice," Thor said. He felt a bit more at ease now. Earth still had good people after all. Though he had been frustrated with human arrogance at first, the result was acceptable.
With the invasion incident winding down, S.H.I.E.L.D. turned its attention to the top-level decision to nuke New York. Now that the higher-ups were exposed, they were forced to back off and reinstate everyone. Ada's time as acting director had only lasted a few days—but she had certainly made an impression.
The Avengers finally regrouped again, but this time it was for a farewell. Banner was heading off with Tony to keep researching gamma rays. Now that he'd met a rich guy with both funding and equipment, he wanted to take the opportunity to find a way to cure himself. Thor was leaving Earth. As for Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Captain America, they were still sticking with S.H.I.E.L.D. as usual.
Together, then apart. Among comrades, no big speeches were needed. A glance or an expression said it all.
As the Bifrost descended, Thor suddenly caught a familiar silhouette standing under a tree in the distance. Leaning casually against the trunk, the figure raised a hand and waved, like how Vegeta once waved his son off into the future.
Thor recognized him. It was Liu A'dou, quietly seeing him off. Thor smiled and, with Loki at his side, ascended into the sky.
"Well then, let's head out too," said Tony, his sports car parked nearby. Banner followed, only to find a stranger already sitting in the passenger seat.
"Mr. Stark, we meet again," said Liu A'dou, who had sprinted from that cool tree-leaning pose to the car in record time.
"You?"
"Yep, it's me. Mr. Stark, I need your help this time." Liu A'dou had no shame. "It's really important. I'll drive."
Banner, clearly unfamiliar with this guy, looked to Stark curiously. "Who's this?"
"I'm Liu A'dou. A filmmaker," Liu A'dou said cheerfully. "Don't worry, Mr. Stark, I'm an excellent driver."
"What do you want, exactly?" Tony wasn't known for his patience.
"To keep it short, I'm planning to shoot an alien-themed movie later this year. I need to generate a ton of special effects, so I'm hoping your AI can help."
"..." Tony was speechless. How could someone be this shameless? "I already repaid what I owed Kaitou Kid. I don't owe you anything. Get out of here before I call security."
"Don't say that. This new film of mine will definitely rival Frozen, and it's about aliens. It's set to hit theaters by the end of the year and will be a guaranteed blockbuster. I'll even feature Stark Industries product placement—it'll help out Miss Potts too. She's been working so hard for your company."
?
"How about this—you take a look at the script. Let me ride along and explain it on the way. If you're still not interested by the time we arrive, I'll leave you alone," Liu A'dou offered. "Just give me a shot."
Banner looked at Tony, waiting to see what he'd decide.
"Get in," Tony finally said, giving Liu A'dou a chance—mostly for Pepper's sake.
Tony took the passenger seat, so Banner had to squeeze into the back. On the way, Liu A'dou launched into his pitch, starting with the AllSpark and weaving in silicon-based lifeforms and Jedi Knights. The story was packed with epic battles, and he explained he needed an AI to create all the visual effects.
"Impressive imagination," Banner said. "I almost believed there really are robot aliens out there that turn into cars."
But Tony was more skeptical. How did Liu A'dou know about Jedi Knights? And how did he know about humans discovering the AllSpark? It sounded an awful lot like S.H.I.E.L.D. discovering the Tesseract. "Where did you hear about the Jedi?" he asked. Jedi had only just shown up in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reports a few days ago. How would a filmmaker know?
Then again, Tony remembered—Liu A'dou was the guy with that mystical artifact. Clearly, he wasn't ordinary.
"Don't you know I'm friends with Thor?" Liu A'dou said smoothly. "I came today just to see him off. I've picked up a lot of secrets from Asgard. Even Director Fury knows that technically, I'm part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. family. Let's say I'm half a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent."
He played the angle well and managed to win Tony over.
Neither Tony nor Banner had expected that. But if A'dou really was Thor's friend, that was good enough. Thor was a straight shooter, a big kid who said what he meant. If he liked A'dou, then A'dou couldn't be all that bad.