The shard was in Odin's vault.
Of course it was.
Dean's enhanced mind had pieced it together in seconds—Loki's failed invasion, the shattered Tesseract, the one fragment too small for Thanos to bother with. Getting to Asgard was the problem.
Tony Stark, unsurprisingly, had opinions. "You're telling me," he said, flipping through Dean's hastily fabricated credentials, "that you're from some secret division of SHIELD, you know where an Infinity Stone is, and you just *happened* to save our asses?"
Dean didn't blink. "Yes."
Steve Rogers frowned. "And you want us to break into Asgard?"
Dean tossed the tablet onto the conference table. It flickered, projecting a holographic schematic of Odin's vault—every guard rotation, every enchanted barrier laid bare. **STATUS SCREEN** pulsed at the bottom:
**Current Objective: [Tesseract Fragment - Odin's Vault]**
**Estimated SP Reward: 3000**
**Secondary Objective: [Recruit Loki - 500 SP]**
Stark whistled. "Okay, either you're the world's best hacker, or you're not from around here."
"Both," Dean said. The NZT hummed in his veins, threading possibilities like spider silk. "Thanos is coming. You need every advantage you can get. This shard? It's a start."
Natasha's fingers drummed the table. "And Loki?"
Dean smirked. "He's the only one who's been inside that vault alive."
---
Rain sheeted down the bifrost's remnants like shattered glass. Loki lounged in his cell, idly spinning a dagger between his fingers. "So," he drawled, "Midgard sends a beggar to bargain with a king."
Dean didn't flinch. "A king in chains is still a prisoner." He tapped the tablet. The **STATUS SCREEN** updated:
**Loki's Bond: 12%**
**Recommended Approach: Provocation**
Dean leaned in. "Thanos broke you."
Loki's dagger embedded itself in the wall an inch from Dean's ear. The god's smile was venom. "Choose your next words carefully, mortal."
Dean grinned. "Or what? You'll fail *again*?"
The cell shook with Loki's roar.
---
The vault's defenses were a joke with Loki's codes. Dean moved like a ghost, the NZT calculating every footfall. The **STATUS SCREEN** blared warnings:
**Guard Patrol: 00:00:12**
**Enchanted Barrier: 89% Integrity**
Loki vaporized the barrier with a snap. "Hurry," he hissed.
The fragment glowed—a sliver of cosmic power humming in its cradle. Dean reached—
And the vault *screamed*.
Odin's voice boomed: **"THIEF."**
Loki grabbed Dean's arm. "Hold on!"
The world tore apart.
---
They landed in a desert. Sand burned underfoot. Dean's tablet fizzed, then stabilized:
**Current World: [Unknown - Temporal Rift Detected]**
**SP Reward: [Tesseract Fragment Acquired] +3000**
**New Objective: [Survive - 00:59:59]**
Loki wiped blood from his lip. "Congratulations. You've doomed us both."
Dean checked the gun. Three rounds left. "Where are we?"
The sky cracked open. A silhouette descended—cloaked, golden, wielding a sword that sang with stars.
The **STATUS SCREEN** flashed crimson:
**WARNING: [Eternity - Hostile]**
Loki laughed, wild and despairing. "Oh, this is *rich*."
Dean chambered a round.
Time to cheat harder.
---
The first bullet dissolved before it left the barrel. Eternity didn't blink. "You carry stolen power."
Dean's NZT short-circuited—too much data, too fast. He forced words through gritted teeth: "Borrowed. With interest."
Eternity raised the sword.
Loki grabbed Dean's wrist. "Ever been to Hell?"
The tablet screamed:
**WARNING: [Dimensional Breach Detected]**
Reality exploded.