"What?" Stark turned back and asked, "The Soul Gem has been found? Where is it now?!"
"In a special dimension," said an employee of The Sanctum, "It appears to be a void with no rules. The only rift entrance is near Cygnus. However, the Batmen might have received the news too."
"How do you know?" Stark asked again.
"The Collector's treasury is near Cygnus," said Shiller, "He's a local there, and this clue was possibly discovered by him. Previously, when Doctor Strange raided his vault, he wasn't going to let it go easily; he might have already chosen to collaborate with Batman."
Stark frowned and said, "We're fighting on our home turf, yet all the locals are helping the other side. What's the point of having home advantage?"
"Just because we're fighting locally doesn't mean the locals have to help us. The Cosmic Elders are inherently immortal and aren't worried about our retaliation. Naturally, they'll want to vent their anger first."
"Has Batman already sent someone?" Stark looked at the employee again and asked.
"We've discovered abnormal energy fluctuations there, and ultimately found out that Batman left many probes in that area. Following the trajectory of those probes, we found the rift,"
"So you followed the clues left by Batman and found the rift?"
"Yes, but we're not sure if he's already sent someone to investigate," the employee shook his head and said.
"If he had already found the rift and was confident he could retrieve the Soul Gem from it, he would have acted right away. Since he hasn't, it probably means he's not sure. It must be perilous inside."
At this time, news arrived at the command center, summoning The Avengers for assembly, obviously targeting the Soul Gem as well.
Actually, Marvel doesn't need to search for the Infinity Gems, or rather, having just one is enough. This way, the other side cannot complete the Infinity Gauntlet, and even if they gather the other five, it won't matter.
But the problematic part is, the two Gems they have are in Asgard, which is being besieged by two great Empires. Asgard seems to be facing imminent collapse, and those two Gems might not be kept safe.
Under ordinary circumstances, the Gems could still be retrieved for Humans to safeguard them. But currently, one Gem is set in a crown and the other in a scepter. It's truly unscrupulous to take away someone's crown and weapon at such a critical moment.
Moreover, strategic confidence is very important. If Humans make this request, it's outright admitting they don't believe Asgard can win. The deeper implication is that Humans won't exert themselves to help Asgard but instead will watch them perish.
This is akin to the principle of evacuation. As long as there is some hope for the opposing government, evacuation isn't urgent. Not evacuating itself is supporting them, meaning "I believe in you, you can win, so I'm comfortable leaving my citizens here."
Once evacuation occurs, the underlying message is basically, "Stop struggling, buddy; die and be reborn soon."
Considering the relations between Humans and Asgard, we are far from evacuation time. Even if everyone in Asgard were to die, those two Gems would still be buried with them instead of being taken back.
However, the two great Empires are too strong. Asgard's chances of winning front-line battles against them are truly slim, so those two Gems are highly at risk, even possibly considered to be taken by the opposing side.
Thus, the primary task for Humans now is to find their own Gem, which is the only way to stop the other side from completing the Infinity Gauntlet.
Indeed, when they arrived at the meeting room, the atmosphere was already quite excited. The employees of The Sanctum sat in the front rows, quietly discussing and verifying documents. Several Captain Americas stood at the podium, talking with several Generals. The other superheroes scattered across different corners of the room, and upon approaching, one could hear them whispering about Mutants.
The Mutants have truly embarrassed themselves this time. Previously, even if the losses were enormous, they were caused by the enemy. This time, it's purely the fault of their own kind.
Of course, even without this loss, there were already grievances against Mutants. But before, they knew Professor X could listen to the hearts of the whole cosmos, so they dared not speak. Now, without Cerebro, they can finally speak out loudly.
Once everyone from the Central Universe gathered, the meeting finally commenced. A member of The Sanctum moved to the front and began explaining, mostly releasing their investigation of the dimensions beyond the rift, and then started arranging mission operations.
They're not stupid. Since even Batman didn't delve into the rift, it means there's something tricky about it. They couldn't just charge in recklessly, they must send someone to probe first.
However, the people sent for reconnaissance were carefully chosen. First, they needed sharp spatial awareness to bring back valuable data; second, they needed some combat ability, just in case there was a Monster inside they could handle; and then they had to beware of Batman's tricks, needing strategic thinking and rich combat experience.
Looking at it this way, there's almost no one suitable. The Avengers' heroes just don't fit: Captain America lacks Energy sensing; Iron Man is good at collecting data, but his body is too fragile, and his Mecha's Energy is limited, too easily destroyed; Ant-Man is balanced in every aspect but can't outplay Batman's tricks.
Actually, Doctor Destruction was a good choice, but unfortunately, after the battle on the Centaurus assembly planet, they've already lost quite a few scientists: Spider Man's main army was destroyed, the Fantastic Four had three teams killed, and Iron Man also lost several members. Now, the scientists rely on Doctor Destruction to hold the line, without them, the machines guarding the base wouldn't work properly, so they couldn't afford to lose more.
So the command center finally decided that it was best to let the Mutants go, since they can sense Energy, have decent long-term combat capability, and include cunning players like Magneto.
More importantly, though these guys are unstable, they're incredibly strong. It's exactly because they're unstable that to make them perform strongly, they need to be coaxed.
The Mutants recently lost quite a bit of face, so they needed a chance to redeem themselves, to demonstrate their abilities properly, so as to ease their irritation, paving the way for better performance later on.
Main Universe Magneto received the mission order and gathered the Mutants in a meeting room. Though there weren't many people from each universe, the room was packed. The terrorist base was less artistically expressive, and the nuclear warhead storage was a bit less flamboyant; this scene could make anyone feel uneasy.
"Ahem." Main Universe Magneto cleared his throat and said, "Our first mission has arrived, we need to investigate a potential dimensional rift entrance for the Soul Gem. This mission affects the status of the Mutant group in the Multiverse, so we can only succeed, not fail. I won't say more, now go stand with your counterparts, I need to check the head count..."
The Mutants lined up for quite a while before they finally stood together with their counterparts. Main Universe Magneto surveyed the room, noting that the main forces were still the Brotherhood of Mutants and the X-Men, while other organizations and independents were sparse and not well-organized.
"This mission will be led by me," Main Universe Magneto continued, "Scarlet Witch will go with me, along with Cyclops from the X-Men, Mastermind from the Brotherhood of Mutants, and Sebastian from the Hellfire Club, that's all."
Main Universe Magneto had his own reasons for choosing these individuals. Combat ability was a given — not only did they belong to the Main Universe, but they generally had three to four counterparts each, adding up to a formidable force.
But the primary consideration was the issue of member-position and personality: Scarlet Witch is his own daughter, even if she's not a daughter in every universe, she's been in the Brotherhood of Mutants for a while, and even if later disagreements led to her departure, it didn't reach the point of hostility, so naturally, they could collaborate.
Cyclops is Professor X's student. Although he often causes trouble for the Brotherhood of Mutants, he's a good person with a big picture perspective. He won't deliberately create trouble during cooperative missions, and his emotions are relatively stable, not letting past grievances disturb the team.
Mastermind needs no introduction, a standing member of the Brotherhood of Mutants with few others having seniority over him, making it easy for Magneto to work with him.
As for Sebastian, he's included for fairness, to prevent perceptions that this is merely a show run by the X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants, not giving others opportunities; and also because Sebastian's capabilities are decent, useful in situations where his skills apply.
Sebastian can absorb and release all kinds of Energy. While the destructive power isn't great after release, the ability to absorb a lot makes them handle energy impacts more calmly, belonging to a type of defensive player who is a last resort.
Other Mutants, like Iceman, while not weak, are not helpful in exploring spatial rifts since you can't just freeze one; and if there are Monsters, it's faster to kill them with Scarlet power than freezing them.
"Sorry, I need to take leave," said the Scarlet Witch from the Central Universe to the Main Universe's Scarlet Witch, "You know, those four little Demons I can't take my eyes off for a second, lest something big goes wrong, so I really can't leave."
"You better not go," agreed the Main Universe's Scarlet Witch, "Make sure to keep them well managed. If they run into the enemy base like last time, it's no joke."
The Scarlet Witch from the Central Universe smiled and said, "Sometimes I do envy that you can still get out for some fresh air. Anyway, I think Thomas might be hungry, so I better head back."
The Main Universe's Scarlet Witch watched her leave, breathing a sigh of relief. It wasn't just her, even Magneto felt relieved. They've been taking turns babysitting these days, just like athletes walking dogs, and they are the ones being exhausted, not the dogs. These days have been utterly exhausting.
And besides, who still thinks Mutants are unstable should just try babysitting for a few days to understand the most unstable thing in the world is raising four kids at once. They've lasted this long without collapsing or experiencing power eruptions from nannying stress, proving there's little in the cosmos more stable than them.
Even though there are technically only five names noted down, each is bringing two or three counterparts, adding up to more than a dozen people. Main Universe Magneto tallied the numbers and proceeded toward the direction indicated by the Holy Sanctuary.
Meanwhile, in the Holy Sanctuary, an ordinary-looking employee pushed up his glasses, a flash of cunning in his eyes.