Hearing Clark's words, Diana couldn't help but step forward to take a closer look at the culprit that had brought her here. It was only because she hadn't known what had happened—and was worried about the battle between Batman and Superman—that she had left the base without paying much attention to it.
Now, after careful observation, Diana realized that the Tesseract was no ordinary object. As a divine being, she could sense the boundless ocean of energy hidden within it.
"You must be Diana!"
Erik looked at Diana and sighed inwardly. The past six months had completely shattered his worldview—first Thor from mythology, then Wonder Woman from the comics, and now this Wonder Woman was someone seemingly created by the very cube he was researching.
However, when Erik discovered that the Tesseract could not only build an Einstein-Rosen Bridge from nothing but also open portals to other worlds, he grew even more excited. He was eager to study the Tesseract's operating principles and figure out how to build stable space-time channels.
But reality is harsh. In his ten days at S.H.I.E.L.D., even thinking about the problem was enough to make his hair thin. All he'd managed to do was explore how to stimulate the Tesseract's open-close mechanism using external energy.
So when he learned that Diana might be someone who could activate the cube on her own, Erik suggested to Nick Fury that they let her see it—just to observe whether anything unusual happened.
After all, he had only seen video footage and heard second-hand explanations. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect in person.
"Yes, I'm Diana. May I ask how to activate this cube?" Diana looked at the inactive Tesseract. Truth be told, she had no idea how to use it to return to her own world. She was only here to give it a try, hoping it might work. After all, she knew next to nothing about space-time technology.
"Step back. I need to start it up first." But before proceeding, Erik looked at Nick Fury—because every experiment involving the Tesseract required the director's approval. Without it, nothing could move forward.
Nick Fury nodded at Erik. Even though today's activity was mostly procedural, protocol had to be followed.
Buzz.
As Erik activated the energy source, a wave of blue energy began to pulse from the center of the Tesseract.
Erik and Fury turned toward the cube, watching to see if Diana's presence would trigger any reaction.
For a few moments, nothing happened. The Tesseract remained still, as if Diana's presence didn't matter at all.
But Clark, standing behind Diana, sensed something unusual. When the cube activated, his energy suit began to stir.
To be precise, Clark didn't consciously prepare to act—he just felt that his energy suit seemed to crave the Tesseract's power.
Yes, Clark could feel it—his suit wanted to absorb the Tesseract's energy.
However, unlike solar energy, the Tesseract's power didn't dissipate. On the contrary, the cube continuously absorbed energy from the vastness of space itself.
Clark didn't know this. All he felt was that the energy suit wrapped around his body wanted to absorb the Tesseract's power.
Since its appearance, Clark had assumed the energy suit had only two functions: self-destruction and solar energy storage. But with the Tesseract now present, the suit began to hunger.
Clark didn't know if the suit was specifically reacting to the Tesseract or if it was drawn to all Infinity Stone–level energy. But as he felt the suit's desire, one thought crept into his mind: Should I try it?
"Increase the energy input," Erik instructed his assistant after observing that the cube still showed no special reaction.
He wanted to see whether increasing the intensity of the stimulation would trigger anything unusual.
As the assistant turned up the power, the cube's energy emissions grew stronger.
Boom! Boom!
With the rising energy, even Nick Fury—standing at a distance—could feel faint shockwaves hitting him.
"Doctor, gamma radiation is appearing," a technician reported from a nearby monitoring station.
As the cube's energy output spiked, Clark felt his energy suit start to collide with the cube's energy stream. A force unlike solar power was now being absorbed into the suit.
As the suit took in the power, it circulated the energy for a moment—then transferred it directly into Clark's body.
"Mercy?"
Clark felt something different enter him. But the amount of energy was too small to identify—it was more like a fleeting sensation, something he could almost grasp, but that slipped away at the last second.
He couldn't tell if it was painful or not. The sensation was just… oppressive.
So Clark made up his mind—and intensified the energy absorption.
Boom!
As Clark ramped up the absorption, a massive energy pulse burst from the Tesseract.
"Doctor, we need to stop this," Fury said, recognizing that something was off and quickly ordering Erik to end the experiment.
"Shut down all power! Terminate the experiment!" Erik didn't need prompting—he, too, felt something was wrong. He had never seen the Tesseract emit energy at this level before.
"Doctor, power has been cut," an operator reported nervously, staring at the still-glowing cube. Despite the power-down, it hadn't stopped. A bad feeling crept over him.
"What's happening?" Fury asked, clearly alarmed.
"It's not obeying," Erik answered.
"Didn't you say we could shut it down using external power?" Fury recalled Erik explaining they could stimulate the cube's open/close function using outside energy—so why wasn't it working now?
"It is a power source in itself," Erik replied. "Before, I was just using external energy to send it activation signals. But now… it clearly didn't receive the shutdown command."
Watching the Tesseract's energy readings spike higher and higher, Erik broke into a cold sweat.
He hadn't worked with the Tesseract long, but he already understood: the cube hadn't even come close to its full potential yet. And if its energy output continued to rise unchecked, it could very well destroy the entire secret base.
After hearing Erik and Fury's exchange, Clark realized that his own actions had likely caused the current situation. So he prepared to halt the energy absorption and let the cube calm down.
But he remained deeply interested in the Tesseract's power. If it were just about messing with Loki later, Clark thought it might be worth taking the cube and studying it properly.
However, while Clark could stop absorbing energy—the Tesseract wasn't pleased. Oh, you want me when you need me, and toss me aside when you don't?
So the moment Clark severed the energy link, a massive energy shockwave surged inside the Tesseract—and blasted straight at Clark.
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