Tony nodded slowly, lowering the tablet. "Yeah… I get it. Just don't forget about your friendly neighborhood genius when it comes time to poke at that thing. Let me study it—off the books, obviously."
Alex glanced at him. "You sure you want to mess with it again? Last time someone did, we nearly had a planetary apocalypse."
Tony gave a small, half-smile. "Yeah, well, I've got a better lab now. And better instincts… sometimes."
Alex considered for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. But this stays between us."
Tony smirked. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
The two shared a quiet look—mutual trust buried beneath layers of secrecy.
In truth, Tony already knew more than he let on. During the battle, when the Leviathan blast tore through the sky and cameras went dead across several blocks, he had noticed something strange. The cube didn't vanish in the chaos—it was taken. And Tony had helped make that possible.
When Alex had moved toward the rubble near Stark Tower, Tony had remotely triggered a cascade of electromagnetic pulses—enough to fry every recording device within a mile radius. No satellites, no drones, no SHIELD eyes saw what happened next.
Under the smokescreen of dust and energy, Alex had reached into the wreckage where the Tesseract fell—its glow still unstable, warping the air around it. For a moment, its energy surged, threatening to consume everything nearby.
But Alex extended his hand calmly, his aura swallowing the wild energy as though the cube itself recognized him. The light dimmed, folding into stillness, and he slipped it into a containment field before anyone could see.
Tony's voice had come through the comms, low and clipped. "You got it?"
Alex had simply replied, "Handled."
Then Tony detonated the last wave of pulse charges, erasing all trace of what had just happened.
Now, in the hangar, Tony spoke again, his tone quieter. "You know, I didn't cover your tracks just for fun. I want to make sure we understand what that thing really is before someone else decides to take another swing at Earth."
Alex gave a faint smile. "You'll get your chance. But for now, the less people who know it's even here, the better."
Tony nodded, exhaling. "Yeah. Guess secrets are kind of our thing now."
Alex turned, walking toward the Abyss Carrier as its black hull shimmered faintly in the dim light. "Secrets," he said over his shoulder, "keep the world alive."
As Tony watched him step aboard, he muttered under his breath, "Or destroy it… depending on who's holding them."
Inside the Abyss Carrier, behind layers of dark shielding and silent machinery, the Tesseract pulsed faintly—its light now harmonizing with the ship's core, resonating in rhythm with Alex's own energy.
Back on the Helicarrier, Tony and Alex boarded the Abyss Carrier while Hill watched them suspiciously from the deck below.
"Why are you weaponizing that already weaponized pirate ship?" she asked, crossing her arms as she noticed the crates of high-grade military equipment being loaded aboard.
Tony looked up, adjusting his sunglasses. "We came to a conclusion—every superhero team needs a base of operations. This one's ours."
Hawkeye raised a brow. "Wait, hold on—when did that decision get made? No one ran it by me."
Alex turned slightly, his tone calm but firm. "Because it's my ship. Tony just modified it. Its defenses and systems are keyed only to us. If anyone else tries to touch it, the ship will reset and seal itself."
Tony shrugged with a grin. "Hey, you'd be surprised how fast people try to 'borrow' stuff like this. Better safe than sorry."
Hill narrowed her eyes. "You two are hiding something."
Alex gave a faint, knowing smile. "Maybe. Or maybe we're just preparing for what's coming next."
Hill frowned. "And what exactly is coming next?"
Tony's smirk faded slightly. "Let's just say… something that doesn't care about SHIELD, borders, or hero politics." He turned toward the ramp as drones lifted the last crate aboard. "The kind of thing that makes you wish you had a flying fortress."
"You better not be starting the Chitauri invasion again," Hill said sharply.
"Ma'am, we'd need the Tesseract for that," Tony replied dryly. "My tech isn't advanced enough to open a wormhole without that alien cube. Trust me, I've tried."
Hill sighed. "I'll take your word for it. But, Alex—what did you mean earlier when you said it was alive? Please tell me we're not flying around in some kind of living demon."
Hawkeye raised an eyebrow. "Wait—what? We're living inside a demon now?"
Alex shook his head calmly. "Not exactly. It's more like Captain Aegis—a demonic armor made of dark steel and dimensional alloy. It's forged from a sentient shell, yes—but there's no consciousness left. It's a construct, not a living being."
Tony added while checking a diagnostic display, "Think of it as a bio-mechanical fortress. It has regenerative metal plating and self-repair systems. Alex basically fused alien tech with my reactor designs. It's not alive—it just reacts."
Hawkeye leaned back in his chair, unconvinced. "Yeah, great. So we're flying around in a ghost ship with a heartbeat. Totally normal."
"Get used to it," Alex replied with a faint smirk. "If the Tesseract's gone, we're going to need something that can fight back against whatever took it."
Tony nodded, his expression finally serious. "Agreed. The readings I got before the cube vanished—it wasn't random teleportation. Something pulled it out of this dimension."
Hill frowned from the comm feed. "Pulled it? By what—another wormhole?"
Alex looked at Tony, then back at the screen. "No. By someone. The energy signature wasn't cosmic… it was conscious."
Hill's eyes widened. "You mean something intelligent took it?"
"Yeah, obviously," Alex replied dryly, rolling his eyes. "Or do you think the cube suddenly developed depression and ran away on its own?"
Tony nearly snorted, covering it with a cough. Hill gave them both a long, unimpressed stare.
"Cute," she said flatly. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again—or Fury will have both your heads mounted on the Helicarrier wall."
"Relax," Tony said, flashing his trademark grin. "We're professionals."
Alex nodded in mock seriousness. "The best kind—professional liars."
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