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The entire conference room descended into chaos. It took quite a while for everyone to finally calm down.
Arthur clapped his hands lightly and asked, "How are you all feeling now?"
"It feels like I just had a dream," Banner said, shaking his head. "I dreamed that I was in a relationship with Natasha. My God, that's terrifying!"
Arthur was a little speechless. Was that really terrifying?
"What's even more terrifying," Banner continued, "is that I ended up stranded alone on an alien planet and became a gladiator in an arena!"
"The scariest part was that I was deep inside my own mind while the Hulk was outside. Sure, that's not unheard of, but it still felt strange!"
Arthur looked at the others as well. After asking around, he found that their answers were largely similar.
Each of them felt varying degrees of confusion. Arthur knew this was exactly what they were supposed to experience in a timeline where he never appeared.
Had the Soul Stone presented all of this to them in the form of dreams?
Then the question arose:
Why did the Soul Stone know all of this?
"So what about you?" Banner asked after regaining his composure. "What did you experience? What exactly happened to all of us?"
Arthur let out a soft breath and gave a rough account of everything, including his astonishing "Talk-no-Jutsu: Persuade-the-Stone Technique."
Everyone listened with their mouths hanging open. It sounded mysterious, surreal, and utterly unbelievable.
"That doesn't make sense," Banner said, rubbing his face. "If the Soul Stone is really that obedient, then what exactly were we all experiencing just now? Was it some kind of playful prank before the meeting?"
"There must be something we don't know," Mordo said heavily. "More importantly, I feel certain that what I experienced wasn't a dream, but something that truly happened to us in a specific spacetime."
His gaze swept across everyone present.
Then Wanda spoke up. "No… no… that's impossible!"
"Why is it impossible?" Mordo asked eagerly. More than anything, he hoped that what he had seen… no matter the dimension… could never actually happen.
"Because I dreamed that I fell in love with a robot!"
Wanda said with a dark expression, "No matter how unwanted I might be, I wouldn't end up dating a robot! I'd rather just buy an electric toy! What's horrifying is that I loved it desperately!"
Arthur's expression twitched. He slapped the table lightly and said, "Alright, everyone, calm down."
All eyes turned to Arthur.
"Everything that happened in those dreams, whether or not it occurred in some other dimension, has nothing to do with who we are now."
Arthur carefully chose his words. After glancing at Mordo, he continued, "The situation before us right now is simple: Red Skull has been captured by me, and the Soul Stone is now in my possession. So next, we should be leaving. But…"
"But… who can guarantee," Banner finished the sentence Arthur hadn't yet spoken, "that what we're saying and seeing right now isn't just another dream?"
"A dream built upon certain foundations?"
Arthur's pupils suddenly contracted.
This was not an impossible scenario!
Everything each of them had experienced in their dreams existed entirely within their own minds.
Those events had never actually occurred in this universe. So even the Soul Stone shouldn't have known about them—let alone projected them into everyone's dreams.
Then… could all of this be yet another dream?
A dream that belonged only to him, yet dragged everyone else into it?
Arthur instinctively began to doubt himself, to question everything.
But when he closed his eyes and focused inward, carefully sensing his surroundings, wrapped in cosmic energy, everything was perfectly clear.
This was not a dream!
Red Skull was obediently confined within the Disassemble Space. The Soul Stone in his hand continued to emit a tranquil, far-reaching orange glow, without the slightest hint of abnormality!
Opening his eyes, Arthur said, "We're heading back."
Heading back!
If they were still trapped within the Soul Stone's dream snare, then over the course of the long return journey, they would surely uncover more clues.
And if everything remained normal, without the slightest irregularity, then that would prove they had already broken free of the dream long ago—and everything before their eyes was real.
If it was real, then Red Skull had been captured, the Soul Stone was in hand, and this matter could finally come to an end!
Everyone nodded in agreement. But when Arthur's gaze fell on Loki, he added, "Before we leave, there's one more thing that needs to be dealt with."
…
…
"Damn, it's cold!"
Standing atop the mountain, Loki rubbed his hands together and said, "So you're telling me that for the next few years, I'll have to wait here? Disguised as someone else, enduring cold, pain, hunger, and loneliness? Is our grudge really that deep?"
Not just Loki, even Thor felt a chill run down his spine at the sight of it all.
When he looked at Loki, there was a trace of brotherly pity in his eyes, though it was the kind of pity mixed with a bit of amausment.
Arthur nodded seriously. "That's exactly right."
"..." Loki said helplessly. "Do we have any other options?"
"Yes," Arthur replied. "I can throw you back into Asgard's prison and have someone else do this instead."
Loki fell silent for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. I agree."
"Really?" Arthur looked at him with some suspicion. With this guy… promises were hard to trust. When Loki agreed, it was unreliable, and when he didn't agree, it was even worse.
There was always this feeling that when he was telling the truth, it sounded like a lie, and when he was lying, it still sounded like a lie.
"…I've already agreed. I'm being very serious!" Loki gritted his teeth.
"Swear it in Mother's name," Thor suddenly said.
Loki shot Thor a glare, bared his teeth slightly, then said, "Fine. I swear in Mother's name."
Arthur finally relaxed and nodded to Thor. "You go back first. I want to have a few words with Loki."
Thor glanced at Loki, nodded silently, swung his hammer, and was carried away as it flew off.
Arthur looked at Loki and asked, "What did you see in the dream?"
(End of Chapter)