"A military Base in the western suburbs of New York City, a sinkhole appeared?"
The next day, in Wakanda, looking at the information collected through domestic secret channels on the holographic projection, Ron's eyes flashed with surprise.
This seemed to be a prelude to Loki leading the Chitauri invasion of Earth?
In the original plot, when Thor had no choice but to destroy the Bifrost Bridge, Loki fell into the resulting void wormhole and was somehow captured by Thanos and the Chitauri.
"Loki was taken back to Asgard by Odin for custody, and the Bifrost Bridge didn't need to be destroyed, yet this plotline still happened?"
But thinking about it, Thanos didn't look for anyone else, but sought out Loki to attack Earth for him, which might have been premeditated.
"A thought to test Earth's strength while also instigating a conflict between Ancient One and Odin?"
If Loki successfully led the Chitauri to slaughter and occupy Earth, Ancient One would not stand idly by and not act against Loki, and Odin would certainly protect his son.
In that case, it's not impossible for a friction to occur between the two.
Even if imprisoned in Asgard, with Loki's cunning, there was a good chance he could escape Asgard.
And as long as Loki appeared outside Asgard, he would almost certainly be captured by Thanos to do this.
He had no intention of guessing Thanos's thoughts.
No matter what Thanos thought, he only knew one thing.
"The Director of the Universal Family Planning Office won't be able to collect all six Infinity Stones and snap his fingers to randomly eliminate half the population of the Universe."
Ron gently shook his head.
The immense power of the six Infinity Stones was something he currently found difficult to resist, so this must not happen.
"Mind Stone, Space Stone."
His gaze was deep, and he mumbled to himself.
Loki came to Earth again through the Space Stone, signifying the convergence of the Mind Stone and the Tesseract.
Two of the six Infinity Stones had appeared in the hands of a weakling.
"Legend says that when the six Infinity Stones gather, one can change the Universe and everything according to their will, but I wonder if there's some trick to it."
Odin had once collected the Infinity Stones and even made the Infinity Gauntlet for them, but he gave up halfway.
Did he get stuck at the Soul Stone, or did he learn something?
Ron was more inclined to believe it wasn't a simple snag.
"Odin later almost avoided the Infinity Stones like the plague; the Tesseract, which originally belonged to Asgard, was left on Earth."
Odin also had the chance after the Battle of New York to have Thor bring back Loki's Mind Stone, but he didn't.
Later, he even sent the Aether Particle, which was also the Reality Stone and originally a spoil of war for Asgard, far away, entrusting it to The Collector for safekeeping.
But later, the Avengers still successfully gathered all six Stones and snapped their fingers, and nothing terrifying happened.
What secret was hidden within?
"In the comics, the Infinity Stones have a unique protective measure; those who possess the Stones automatically ignore their true power, set by someone to prevent anyone from gathering them and affecting the Universe.
Thanos, with the help of Death, one of the four cosmic deities, saw the Well of Eternity and comprehended ancient cosmic mysteries, becoming a bug that bypassed this measure, able to know the truth of the Stones and gather them."
Such important and terrifying power, the four cosmic entities that govern and rule the Universe, and even higher existences, could not possibly have no measures in place.
At least Eternity, as the embodiment of the Universe, probably wouldn't want someone to arbitrarily reshape his body into whatever they desired.
But in the MCU Universe, there was no such measure; everyone could perceive the Stones' uniqueness. Was there some other measure instead?
Ron was unsure, but he planned to collect the Stones first and see.
"If I succeed, then in this Universe, few will be able to threaten me in the future."
He got up and walked to the window, looking out at the sky, the faint moon in the clear blue firmament.
"The plan to go to the moon seems to be temporarily put on hold."
…
The person controlled by Loki using the Mind Stone turned out to be Nick Fury.
Things immediately became simpler; Loki no longer needed to personally search for materials to build a long-range large wormhole facility, as in the original plot.
Nick Fury, using some underground channels, quickly and easily arranged everything for him; people and supplies were soon all in place.
He also informed Loki about the internal situation of S.H.I.E.L.D. and potential obstacles.
Based on the information received, Loki and the 'King of Agents' who had become his subordinate quickly formulated plans to deal with various situations.
In just two consecutive days, S.H.I.E.L.D., led by Hill, successively gathered a group of extraordinary individuals and formed an Avengers that was slightly different from the original.
They had an extraordinary team, full of energy and always ready, but they had no clue about Loki's whereabouts and purpose.
"Last time Loki came to Earth, he brought a large army to conquer Earth; this time, he stole the infinitely powerful Tesseract. He can't possibly be here for sightseeing."
Inside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier, Maria Hill, acting as Director, said with a determined frown.
Across from her, several people sat around a table.
"According to what you said, that Lok… Lok-what was it again?"
Luke Cage, with his strong body, sat in a chair wearing a black tank top, arms crossed. He wanted to say something but suddenly got stuck halfway, unable to recall Loki's name.
"Loki."
Tony Stark, wearing a suit and light-colored sunglasses, reminded him.
"Didn't you take a mythology elective in college?"
Then, with a serious yet slightly flippant tone, he asked everyone, "By the way, does anyone know where I can still buy indulgences?
I heard the environment in Hell is a bit harsh, and I've always disliked hot weather."
The World had suddenly become incomprehensible to him; even gods from mythology had appeared. By analogy, would Hell and Heaven also exist?
This was bad news for him, who had sold countless weapons. Although he wasn't religious, if God truly was supreme, he wouldn't mind believing.
Hearing this, Hawkeye and Black Widow, both Agents with blood on their hands, fell silent for a moment.
"Thanks, I didn't go to college."
To Iron Man's reminder, Luke Cage, who had been on the streets since his teens, said with a dark face before continuing his opinion: "Loki created a wormhole and left. What if he's no longer on Earth?"
Anyway, from his perspective, the Universe was so vast, and Earth was probably just a backwater. Perhaps the other party had found a new target and looked down on Earth.
"We can't rule out that possibility."
Captain America analyzed with a serious expression.
"I've seen the video of Odin's last appearance. Ron mentioned the Nine Realms, and Earth seems to be just one of them."
"By the way, speaking of Ron, why haven't I seen Ron?"
Tony Stark raised an eyebrow and said.
"According to what you said, the last Earth crisis caused by Loki was almost entirely resolved by Ron alone."
Shouldn't such a potential World crisis call for a Superman-like powerful being to be present?
At least it could boost their sense of security. Although he had a somewhat arrogant personality, he wasn't so arrogant as to neglect life-saving measures.
"Excuse me, is the wormhole you're talking about like this?"
The last member of the Avengers assembled by Hill, a man in a red and blue Spider-Man suit, whose face wasn't visible, anxiously slid a phone in his hand and held it up for everyone to see.
In the sky above a city of tall buildings, an enormous, deep blue wormhole.
"That's exactly it."
Captain America, who had seen it with his own eyes, nodded. He suddenly felt something was wrong.
"Wait a minute, where is this?"
"Live video, Manhattan, New York City." Peter Parker glanced at Tony Stark and cautiously reminded him, "To be precise, it's above Stark Tower."
"What?"
Stark lost his composure, ripping off his sunglasses to reveal dark circles under his eyes from working tirelessly for days without sleep. His eyes widened in anger: "I'm going to teach that alien a good lesson!"
In the center of New York, atop a high-rise building, beneath the facility assisting in controlling the Tesseract's power, a massive, stable inter-galactic wormhole opened in the sky above New York.
"How beautiful, the door to the Universe is open."
Loki, wearing a golden horned helmet and holding the Mind Stone, looked at the terrified, ant-like crowds below and laughed loudly.
With the starry sky as the backdrop, from the hundreds of meters wide wormhole above, the Chitauri army, riding hovercrafts, swarmed down like locusts, followed by Leviathan, giant biological weapons ten times larger than whales, floating and surging forward.
"From now on, Earth is mine."