Inside the top-floor training room of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Triskelion headquarters, a shirtless and muscular Captain Steve Rogers pounded his fists against a heavy sandbag with relentless force.
Behind him stood Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. She watched quietly, her calm expression betraying the curiosity and concern hidden in her eyes.
"Captain Rogers, is it true? Is there really a major crisis coming in the future?"
After a moment of hesitation, Natasha finally spoke. Rogers stopped his assault on the sandbag, grabbed a towel, and wiped the sweat from his face. With a weary smile, he turned toward her.
"There are still many disasters waiting for New York," Rogers replied evenly. "But right now, the most important thing is that Thor of Asgard is coming to Earth soon."
His eyes shone with purpose.
If there was anyone Rogers valued the most, it was undoubtedly Thor. Not even Tony Stark commanded such focused attention.
The reason was simple — Rogers wanted to win the favor of Odin, the King of Asgard.
After all, during the Infinity War, Odin had fallen into the Odinsleep. If Rogers could prevent that, perhaps the future could be changed — maybe even the war's outcome reversed.
"Now that Allens is dead," Rogers continued, "our next mission is to ensure the timeline progresses smoothly."
His eyes gleamed with determination. In addition to Odin, Rogers also hoped to form an alliance with the Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One of Kamar-Taj.
Though Rogers had already learned a few magical techniques, his skills were still rudimentary compared to the masters of Kamar-Taj. He had only grasped the basics — the ability to tap into power from alternate dimensions — but hadn't yet mastered advanced spells like Mirror Dimension.
Thus, even if he had defeated an enemy by luck, Rogers knew it wasn't the end. Having come from the future, his second mission was clear: ensure that future unfolds as planned.
"Is there really such a thing as gods?"
Natasha's eyes flickered with disbelief. She couldn't bring herself to accept the idea of gods — Odin, Thor, Asgard — as real beings. For her, humanity had always been alone on Earth.
"They're more like powerful aliens than gods," a familiar voice said.
The door opened, and Nick Fury entered, his single eye sharp and serious. Behind him was a man with a neatly trimmed goatee — Tony Stark.
"Hey, so this is the Captain America from the future?" Tony said with his usual sarcasm. "You're not exactly what I imagined."
But this wasn't Tony Stark. It was Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, disguised as him using advanced nanotech armor and psychic mimicry.
As the master of telekinesis and illusion, Wanda could perfectly imitate Tony's voice, mannerisms, and even his trademark arrogance — in fact, her portrayal of Tony was so precise that it was nearly indistinguishable from the real one.
"Tony," Rogers said with a nostalgic grin, "it's really good to see you again. Still the same narcissistic guy, huh?"
Even Tony's snark, now coming from Wanda, brought a strange sense of comfort to Rogers.
"I don't believe in gods," 'Tony' replied with a shrug, "unless one shows up and makes me kneel."
The disguised Wanda played her role flawlessly, showing mild annoyance at Rogers' presence — just as the real Tony would.
"Anyway," Rogers said, turning toward Fury, "Thor will be arriving soon. Director Fury, you'd better start preparing."
Fury nodded, taking in the gravity of the statement. But while everyone's focus was on him, none of them noticed what "Tony Stark" was doing behind them.
Tiny devices, no larger than grains of rice, quietly detached from Wanda's right palm and attached themselves to various spots around the training room.
"Miss Wanda, the illusion devices are active," whispered J.A.R.V.I.S. in her ear through bone-conduction audio that only she could hear.
Meanwhile, in the Stark Tower office, a holographic display shimmered to life. Floating in the air was a live projection of Captain America, Fury, and the others inside the training room.
"Excellent," said Allens, watching the feed with a satisfied smile. "J.A.R.V.I.S., activate the Nine Realms Space-Time Detection Device."
Before him, a large, reactor-like mechanism began to hum. Strange vibrations pulsed from it — frequencies engineered by Allens himself — spreading across the planet to probe and map dimensional boundaries.
He had named the device the Nine Realms Detection Array, created during one of his bursts of genius. Its sole function: to locate Asgard across space and time.
Its principle was complex, yet its operation was simple — like a bat using echolocation. The device sent out special energy pulses that rippled through space, recording their resonance whenever they struck dimensional barriers.
"SIR, coordinates of the Nine Realms have been successfully detected," reported J.A.R.V.I.S.
Before Allens appeared a magnificent, luminous structure resembling a World Tree, each branch glowing with unique energy signatures. Nine radiant nodes pulsed along its length.
At the top stood Asgard. Beneath it lay Vanaheim, Alfheim, Nidavellir, Jotunheim, and in the center — Midgard, Earth itself. Below that: Svartalfheim, Helheim, and Muspelheim.
The Nine Realms coexisted, bound together by the roots and branches of Yggdrasil, the World Tree — the foundation of the universe itself.
But Allens wasn't interested in the tree or its balance. What fascinated him were the beings inhabiting these realms — the Aesir gods, Light Elves, Vanir, Frost Giants, Dark Elves, the Undead, and even the Fire Giants.
They were all potential targets.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., power up the Big Clock."
A cold smile crept onto Allens' lips.
In his Malibu beach house, the enormous golden clock began to spin violently. The clock hands rotated faster and faster until a brilliant beam of energy erupted from its core.
Whirr—
In an instant, the light engulfed Allens completely.
By merging the Big Clock's time-space shifting ability with his newly developed Quantum Bridge Transit Module, Allens had achieved a breakthrough — a teleportation system rivaling Asgard's Bifrost itself.
And now, he was ready to use it.
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