141. The New Toy Gundam, the Liaison Officer’s Wife

The expeditionary force setting out for Asgard was no casual decision made on a whim, nor something that could be undertaken with mere bravado.

Asgard was an alien environment unfamiliar to everyone. The oxygen concentration, gravity, duration of daylight, magnetic fields—how all these factors might affect human physiology was uncertain.

Moreover, the expedition wasn’t just headed to Asgard; their mission was to assist Thor in pacifying the Nine Realms.

The Nine Realms, steeped in mythology, are described as nine worlds growing on the branches of the World Tree. From a modern perspective, they were nine habitable, life-bearing planets within the same star system.

Each planet’s environment differed, so all those variables needed careful consideration in advance.

Of course, with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner leading the scientific teams, alongside Dr. Fox from Su Ye’s side, the superheroes themselves didn’t have to worry about these technical issues. They only needed to eat, drink, sleep, train, chat, and spar as usual.

More than half a month had passed since the Shadow Organization abandoned their operation, yet the battle between Kakkigaki and the Abomination showed no sign of abating. In fact, with an influx of superheroes, the conflict escalated into something akin to a chaotic free-for-all brawl.

Almost every male superhero had joined the fray.

Su Ye stayed out of it.

At Mount Myoboku, Su Ye’s training in the mystical arts was nearly complete, with only the task of deploying a shadow clone to continuously absorb natural energy remaining. When needed, he would recall the clone, activate Sage Mode, and unleash his full power.

Meanwhile, Su Ye’s original body returned to the Great Wall Guardians headquarters in Los Angeles to prepare alongside Tony and the others for the forthcoming journey to the Nine Realms.

This was Earth’s first large-scale interstellar operation; no amount of preparation could be deemed excessive.

“My idea is to equip everyone temporarily with an Iron Man suit,” Tony said seriously from his seat.

He had come to terms with the reality that Earth was too vast for him alone to protect, let alone the universe. Now was not the time to be possessive; whether the Guardians wore Iron Man suits was one thing, but he had to prepare in advance.

Su Ye nodded. “No problem. Our upgraded Kun-class fighters can carry over twenty Iron Man suits each—enough for everyone.”

Dr. Fox suddenly smiled and looked at Su Ye. “Only the Kun-class fighters?”

Tony and Banner immediately turned toward her, sensing a hidden meaning in her words.

Su Ye’s eyes brightened. “Doctor, do you mean that thing is ready?”

“That thing?” Tony snapped, incredulous. “In Los Angeles, under J.A.R.V.I.S.’s watch, something was developed without my knowledge?”

After receiving Fox’s confirmation, Su Ye smiled and offered an explanation.

“A self-regulating, universally integrated system with one-way distributed neural connections!”

Dr. Fox added with a grin, “An unrestricted, nuclear-powered, next-generation assault module complex.”

Tony grew more bewildered. “What on earth is it?”

Banner chimed in, “An all-domain, universally applicable, continuously enhanced mobile weapon system?”

At that moment, Mr. Stark felt utterly forsaken by the world.

“Can someone explain to me what this thing actually is?”

Seeing that Su Ye and Dr. Fox were reluctant to elaborate, Banner took over as the narrator.

“This was a request from Uncle Su. Based on his concept, we used technology from the Iron Tyrant suit and Hulkbuster armor to create a new type of Iron Man suit—well, it’s no longer just a suit. It should be called an Iron Warrior.”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Why wasn’t I informed about something this big?”

Banner shrugged. “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to know anything about Batman?”

“I…” Tony was speechless. Indeed, he had told Banner that himself, and J.A.R.V.I.S. could confirm.

“Dr. Banner is right, sir,” J.A.R.V.I.S. chimed in. “Those were your exact words.”

Tony had to concede.

“Alright, this so-called ‘universal,’ ‘unrestricted,’ ‘all-domain’ thing—what exactly is it?”

The three exchanged looks before Su Ye finally spoke.

“Like S.H.I.E.L.D., we gave it a shorthand: .n..m.”

“You can also call it Gundam!”

Tony snorted. “Gundam? How tall is it?”

His largest Iron Man suit, the Hulkbuster, stood only about 3.35 meters tall. Could this Gundam be five meters?

Su Ye held up a scroll about sixty or seventy meters long and a dozen centimeters thick.

“Not that big. It fits inside here.”

Tony chuckled skeptically but Su Ye didn’t elaborate further.

Soon, everyone was fully geared up aboard the Kun-class fighters.

Thor, the Thunder God of Asgard, served as the guide. Loki remained confined in the Ancient One’s mirror dimension.

Before departure, Thor had visited him and reported that Loki was much improved—his bitterness greatly diminished, with a calm expression, and even his tears were more sincere.

Thor said that seeing Loki bettered gave him peace of mind, proving that the Ancient One’s mirror dimension was more effective than Odin’s previous strict discipline.

Others, however, wondered whether they should warn Thor that Loki might be close to breaking down, and that continuing like this could mean losing his brother.

But then again, losing that brother might not be so bad, so they decided to let it be.

Nearly the entire Great Wall Guardians force was mobilized, including Wolverine and the reserve H-Warriors.

Once they left, only J.A.R.V.I.S. remained to maintain daily operations at the base.

The full deployment of superheroes served to show sincerity towards Asgard and also to give Joker and Aldrich Killian a free hand.

With the superheroes gone, Los Angeles was their playground—go wild!

No matter what problems arose, even if Los Angeles was reduced to rubble, it would have nothing to do with the Great Wall Guardians.

The U.S. side had refused their assistance.

The Kun-class fighters, upgraded by Tony and Dr. Fox, featured a power system driven by an Arc Reactor nuclear core, greatly enhancing endurance and engine output.

They could easily fly tens of thousands of kilometers nonstop and undertake manned spaceflight.

Replacing the Arc Reactor was straightforward—just swap in a new reactor box—eliminating the need for refueling or resupply.

The airframe size had also increased significantly, easily accommodating a dozen people and twenty Iron Man suits.

“Seriously, what exactly is that Gundam?” Tony asked Banner as they traversed the rainbow bridge guided by Heimdall.

Banner’s reply was simply, “You’ll see.”

The passage through the bridge was swift—less than half a minute—and the Kun-class fighter emerged onto the waters surrounding Asgard.

“Hiss!”

Everyone gasped at the sight, even Tony had no time to ask about the Gundam.

“Th-this is the legendary Asgardian palace?”

In Norse mythology, the palace was the dwelling of Odin, the All-Father, and the realm of the Aesir gods.

The palace was vast, covering thousands of acres, with a main hall larger than any castle or palace on Earth—a sight that was truly awe-inspiring.

But as their gaze shifted from the main hall to the surroundings, they were struck by another surprise.

“The legendary Asgard is so small?”

Small was an understatement. From just a few hundred meters up, one could see its entirety.

Frankly, it was a mere speck.

Not only was the area tiny, but Asgard’s population was also minuscule.

The series "Loki" mentioned that Thanos intercepted an Asgardian ship in space, slaughtering over 9,000 inhabitants.

That number was nearly the total population that escaped with Thor at the end of "Thor: Ragnarok."

Add the soldiers and civilians killed by Hela, and the victims of the Dark Elves’ assault in "Thor: The Dark World."

At most, Asgard’s population at its peak was about 50,000.

On Earth, that was the size of a small town, yet the area was smaller than most towns.

And this tiny domain of barely 50,000 people had ruled the Nine Realms for thousands of years.

What did that imply?

It revealed that in the face of absolute individual power, numbers mattered little.

At their peak, Odin and Hela alone could conquer all Nine Realms; the remaining soldiers were merely spectators cheering on the spectacle.

Though small, Asgard had existed for untold eons and possessed advanced technology.

For example, the massive energy shield enveloping Asgard, the energy cannons on its walls, and the flying longships that needed no sails or oars to glide through the skies.

These technologies were beyond anything on Earth.

Those technological matters were left to Tony, Banner, and Dr. Fox; what could be brought back to Earth was not to be overlooked.

The rest, as combatants, prepared for the pacification of the Nine Realms.

In truth, the “pacification” didn’t mean conquering all nine planets.

Asgard and Earth required no intervention; that accounted for two.

Then there was Helheim, the realm of the dead and Hela’s prison, which was best left alone—any mission there was likely one-way.

Muspelheim, the fiery realm of the fire giant Surtur, could also be ignored until Thor decided to crush Surtur’s skull.

Vanaheim, the dark world of the dark elves, remained dormant in the cosmos.

Nidavellir, home to the dwarves, a race of master smiths, could be left alone before Thanos’ arrival.

That added four more realms to the no-go list.

Of the remaining three, one was Niflheim, the misty realm of cold and darkness, where the poison dragon Nidhogg gnawed at the roots of the World Tree.

This was the only world the Marvel films never mentioned; no one was certain of its true nature, and Thor had no plans to go there.

In the end, the expeditionary force needed to intervene in only two realms.

One was Jotunheim, the birthplace of Loki and home to the Frost Giants.

The other was Vanaheim, the homeland of the Vanaheim gods—Asgard’s ancient rivals—and the birthplace of Hogun, one of the Three Warriors of the palace.

The disturbances incited by the rainbow bridge incident originated precisely from these two realms.

With the expedition’s arrival, Asgard finally overcame its shortage of manpower and could split its forces.

One group, led by Thor and composed mainly of the Three Warriors and Asgardian soldiers, would journey to Vanaheim to confront Hogun’s kin and bring them peace.

This bluntly put might sound harsh, but it was the reality.

In character terms, Hogun was not much different from Shang-Chi—both were marginalized groups drawn to the so-called “mainstream world.” To gain its recognition, they defeated their own people and then took their abilities to serve the mainstream.

Is this why Hogun’s actor is also Asian? No one knew or dared say.

The other group, led by Su Ye and composed entirely of the expeditionary force, was headed for Jotunheim.

During Loki’s betrayal, Jotunheim had nearly been cleaved in two by the amplified power of the Eternal Spear passing through the rainbow bridge.

Odin had fought the Frost Giants for years; despite possessing the power to obliterate Jotunheim entirely, he instead chose to negotiate and even adopted the Frost Giant king’s son—a baffling move.

Perhaps he was playing a grander game, hoping to win by virtue and diplomacy.

Watching Odin and Thor, one might conclude that Loki was truly the most fitting heir—decisive and ruthless, embodying a certain commanding charisma.

If Loki allied with Hela, the entire Nine Realms—or perhaps the whole universe—would be thrown into upheaval.

Thor was not Odin and had no intention of finishing whatever mysterious game Odin had started.

Moreover, Jotunheim had nearly been destroyed by Loki; the Frost Giant king had died at Asgard’s hands, and their hatred was irreconcilable.

Thor himself had initially intended to crush Jotunheim but later changed his mind.

Since the troublemakers were intent on stirring chaos, the Great Wall Guardians would handle the situation.

Whatever the outcome, Thor was prepared to accept it.

Meanwhile, Thor sent a liaison to the Guardians—a warrior clad in battle armor named Sif.

Seeing her, Su Ye couldn’t help but wonder if Thor’s gesture held deeper meaning.

Was he sending Sif as a gift? A bride?