Trident Wing Building.
Nick Fury's office.
Nick stood there expressionlessly. In front of him were the five council members in charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. and some powerful figures in the military.
"We can't hand over the Tesseract and Loki," Congressman Rockwell said angrily. "For this heinous invasion, I believe the Asgardians need to give us an explanation and compensation!"
"Mr. Congressman, the warriors from Asgard are visiting S.H.I.E.L.D. Do you want to discuss the issue of compensation with them in detail?" Nick looked up at Congressman Rockwell and spoke.
"What do you mean? Shouldn't SHIELD, which you are in charge of, discuss this matter? Aren't these the matters that SHIELD and you are responsible for? We were invaded, and the top leaders were almost wiped out. Now the whole country is in chaos..." Senator Rockwell looked at Nick angrily.
"Excuse me, Mr. Senator, but Asgard is not the mastermind behind this invasion. On the contrary, they are on our side in this invasion. Asgard's first heir, Prince Thor Odinson, has made great contributions in this invasion protection war. It will be difficult for you to ask Asgard to give an explanation or compensation." Nick shook his head.
"But the main culprit, Loki, is their second prince!" Rockwell roared.
"As Thor said, Loki was adopted. From a racial perspective, he is not an Asgardian. If you want to find Loki's elders to take responsibility, you should find the king of Jotunheim, one of the Nine Realms." Nick corrected considerately.
"Then find that guy from Jotunheim." Rockwell was going crazy.
"That's great! They'd probably be happy to come and beat us up, and then take some local specialties back from us." Nick told a joke that wasn't funny at all in front of everyone.
"Then what's the point of you and SHIELD? What's the point of us allocating astronomical amounts of funds to you every year? You are seriously derelict in your duty, Nick Fury! If you are not capable, we will replace you with a more decisive head of SHIELD." Rockwell threatened Nick with a cold face who had contradicted him today.
"You mean, let a hardliner come up and start a war with Asgard? Start a war with a war group that has been famous in the universe for at least tens of thousands of years? Do you know the strength of the other side? Do you know how powerful the other side's army is? That is a race that calls themselves gods! The key is that they are not our enemies, and they are even willing to establish certain trade relations with us. And the honorable Senator Rockwell, are you planning to point your gun at an extremely powerful alien civilization that has been at peace with us?" Nick asked tit for tat.
"It sounds like you know a lot about Asgard. Did Prince Thor tell you all this? How can you be sure he's not deceiving you?" a general asked before Senator Rockwell could.
"I have my own channels for obtaining intelligence and my own methods for verifying it. My opinion is that we shouldn't have any conflict with Asgard right now. The Asgardians are not the culprits behind all this. Even if we were to go to war forcefully, putting aside the disparity in strength between us, could we find Asgard? Could our weapons reach Asgard? Could our soldiers and weapons of war reach their homeland?
We can't! But they can! They possess a rainbow bridge capable of transporting soldiers and any weapon to most of the universe, even to any corner of the Nine Realms. If war breaks out, they only need to activate the rainbow bridge, and our command will have nowhere to escape." Nick spread his hands: "So I suggest that all members of the Senate remain calm."
"You need to disclose more information to us." said the general who spoke.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. and the military are two departments that do not communicate with each other. You have no right to ask S.H.I.E.L.D. to disclose some confidential information to you." Nick rejected the general's request.
"What about the Cosmic Cube? It belongs to us." The general was obviously very interested in the Cosmic Cube that could open a wormhole.
"Please note, General. Strictly speaking, the Tesseract is the treasure of Odin, the King of Asgard. Odin is its true master. It's simply that for some reason the Tesseract ended up on Earth, and then in our hands," Nick said. He certainly wasn't willing to part with the Tesseract, but after learning from Thor that the Tesseract was a thorny problem, as well as information about it and its ownership, he had to consider the situation and decided to give it up.
"But it's in our hands," the General pointed out.
"Yes, you can tell this to the Asgardians. Also, let me remind you that the Rubik's Cube is a big trouble. The reason for this invasion is that there is a powerful force in the universe searching for its whereabouts. If it is still in our hands, then the next time we will face a stronger invader." Nick replied.
"Maybe I should call you the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Asgard?" Senator Rockwell sarcastically said to Nick with a cold face.
Nick remained silent.
"There is no need to doubt Director Fury's stance and alignment; he is trustworthy. As he said, this is not an invasion of Asgard. Loki was instructed by a powerful figure in the universe. After returning to Asgard, he will also face a long prison sentence. As for the Cosmic Cube, since we cannot protect it, we will return it to its original owner. What I'm interested in is, is Asgard willing to establish a trade relationship with us?" A S.H.I.E.L.D. member changed the subject, and this statement cheered up the faces of the members except Rockwell.
"Yes, we've had discussions before, but there's been no progress until recently." Nick breathed a sigh of relief. With this big bite of cake, everything should be settled.
Nick knew full well that today's meeting would produce no results. The senators' minds, the military's, and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s minds were all at odds. Given the current level of disarray at the top, everyone was busy jockeying for power and vying for vacant positions. Nick didn't want to get involved, but he needed to prevent some from targeting Asgard for publicity and slogans.
He knew the power of Asgard better than anyone present. Although this planet also had its guardian, the Sorcerer Supreme, it was obvious that the other party had a deeper friendship with Odin than himself. Moreover, given the other party's unwillingness to manage worldly affairs, even if a war really broke out with Asgard, it was hard to say whether the other party would help.
Furthermore, he and S.H.I.E.L.D. had only just managed to establish a three-way relationship with the authorities, having invested a tremendous amount of time and resources upfront, yet they hadn't seen any return on their efforts. Even if they wanted to confront Asgard, they had to arm themselves first.
…
"This is something Odin gave you." In the Supreme Sorcerer's residence in the bitter snow, the portal dissipated in the air. Ancient One, who had returned from Asgard, observed the Cosmic Cube handed to her by Luke, and threw a thick and ancient book to Luke.
"What is this?" A pair of mechanical arms assembled from thin air and firmly grasped the book thrown by Gu Yi.
"Odin has invested a lot of money this time in the knowledge and technology about the Cosmic Cube. Guess what's inside?" Ancient One carefully used energy to analyze the Cosmic Cube bit by bit, and answered without raising his head.
"Could it be that they still have the technology to build the Rainbow Bridge?" Luke chuckled, and then he saw the strange smile on Ancient One's face after he raised his head.
"So generous?" Luke was genuinely surprised this time. While he might be able to build his own Rainbow Bridge after gaining the Rubik's Cube's knowledge of space and dimension, there was still a huge difference between building it himself and having the other party give it to him long beforehand.
Asgard's signature technology, the Bifrost is renowned throughout the Nine Realms! With the Bifrost, Asgard and Odin can strike whomever they please, whenever they please. If necessary, the Bifrost can even amplify its energy output, transforming it from a teleportation weapon into an ultra-long-range strike weapon. Its importance to Asgard is no less than that of nuclear technology to humanity today.
"That's a fox." Ancient One was surprised, but not shocked, that Odin was willing to use the Rainbow Bridge technology. "He's trying to build a relationship with you."
As for whether Luke's acquisition of the technology would threaten Asgard, given the prophecy's inevitability of Asgard's destruction and the inevitable arrival of Ragnarok, why would Odin care? If only his heirs were capable, he wouldn't have to resort to recruiting external aid or seeking out collaborators.
"Asgardian text?" A mechanical bookshelf placed the books in place, and two mechanical arms flexibly opened the thick and ancient cover of the book on Luke's behalf. Looking at the text on it, Luke sighed softly. It was nothing, just a matter of learning one more language.
"You can find Wang, he is a good teacher." Ancient One pointed out a candidate to Luke.
Luke nodded. He had a strong opinion of the Mage King, who held the title of "Tutor." After all, whether he and Mordo were cultivating Stephen's magical foundations, teaching other mages and apprentices about new energies, or providing other advanced knowledge, he had always been incredibly trustworthy and reliable.
"It's very strange. I never thought that the combination of the emotional energy you created and the energy of the Rubik's Cube would actually give birth to consciousness. It seems that our understanding and exploration of emotional energy is still too shallow. This is very good." Gu Yi took back the energy he used to detect and analyze the Rubik's Cube, his tone was a bit surprised and a bit happy.
The wonder lies in the transformation of the Rubik's Cube. The delight lies in the potential of emotional energy.
"So, I'm not hallucinating?" Luke was speechless.
"Yes, because you mobilized a large amount of emotional energy to merge with the energy of the Rubik's Cube, and your consciousness occupied an absolute dominant position, so it is obvious that the new consciousness of the Rubik's Cube regards you as its father. This is indeed the case. From the perspective of the birth relationship, it was indeed born because of you." Ancient One said affirmatively.
"Okay, okay, so what should I do? I mean, um, how do I deal with this?" Luke suddenly realized that his words could become clumsy at times.
"Are you going to erase her?" asked Gu Yi.
"Of course not. She was born because of me. I don't need to do such a thing." Luke took the Cosmic Cube and quickly received some kind of reassuring emotional message from it.
"Then let her appear in this world in the form you want. If you can't wait for her transformation, you can also use magic to create a magical body for her, or use your mechanical technology to create a mechanical body for her. Of course, biological gene modulation technology is also fine." Ancient One said, opening a portal for Luke.
…
Buildings are crumbling and cities are in ruins.
The flames were burning, and the ground was filled with dazzling and blazing fire.
The bodies of the Chitauri warriors fell to the ground, and the emerald green blood spread on the ground.
This is a devastated ruin after the war.
If you look at the starry sky from beyond Earth, the raging fire appears to have burned certain areas red. Like an ugly red spot. The parent star is burning.
Countless mechanical aircraft sprayed icy white mist, curbing the uncontrolled fire and cooling the burning city and planet. The Chitauri King, Other, stepped on the still-heated, cracked ground, his eyes gleaming with ferocity.
"Laitari!"
The name of Letari was spoken through gritted teeth from the corners of his dry and terrifying lips. The resentment in his heart had reached its peak at this moment. He had never hated anyone so much.
"Anger doesn't solve anything."
A gentle voice sounded from behind him. He turned around and saw an elegant, lean figure, like an ancient noble, slowly descending from the sky. Under his feet, it was as if an invisible force was holding him up.
"General Ebony Maw." Seeing the person coming, he lowered his head slightly to show respect.
"The master needs to know more detailed information." Ebony Maw's words carried a peculiar power, soothing the anger and heartache in the other's heart, while easily making the other who heard his words develop a strong desire to confide.
"According to the Master's instructions, I ordered Lika and Letari to lead an army of Chitauri motherships to help the Asgardian exile, the exiled Prince Loki, seize ownership of a planet. According to the deal, after the planet is conquered, he will become its king, and we will obtain the Tesseract he offered us.
The invasion went smoothly, but an unexpected incident occurred. Some of the Zetauri soldiers broke free from the control of the hive mind, liberated and perhaps even distorted. They turned their guns on their own people, leading to the failure of the invasion!
Lika sent out a distress signal, but by the time we got there, they were no longer there, but had arrived at their home planet." The Other answered Ebony Maw's question.
"It seems that only by finding that Letari can we find out what happened on Planet C-53." Ebony Maw narrowed his eyes slightly. He was also very interested in the matter that his master suddenly cared about.