After thinking it over later, Ben felt he really hadn't handled things well.
X-Superman, as an entity transcending dimensions, time, space, and everything else, was not just mindless genetic material inside the little watch. She was a real, living existence.
He had subconsciously treated them like tools for his own use. It was no wonder Enala and Oyana were angry.
In fact, it wasn't just X-Superman.
The other aliens within the Omnitrix also possessed their own consciousness and emotions. Treating them as tools was the gravest mistake, and the very thing Azmuth least wanted to see.
"I need to find a time to apologize."
He mulled it over and decided he'd go apologize after a few days.
Enala and Oyana were both still furious right now. There was no telling if they'd even accept his apology. And besides…
"The main thing is, I really don't have that much time to accompany them slowly through all those debates."
After setting the X-Superman matter aside for the time being, Ben realized there was nothing else particularly urgent on his plate.
So he slipped back into ordinary life.
Going to school, spending time with Felicia or Mary Jane, heading back to Queens…
Compared to Peter, who was constantly swamped, Ben was the picture of relaxed ease.
He did notice, though, that Felicia and Mary Jane seemed to be hiding something from him. When he asked, both women would instantly play dumb.
Ben didn't dwell on it too much.
Women, especially close friends, always had their little secrets.
Anyone who's had a girlfriend knows that the thing a man most fears being exposed is his browser history, and the thing a woman most fears being exposed is her chat history with her best friend.
At that very moment, Felicia and Mary Jane were hiding from Ben, their heads pressed together, one red, one golden, whispering conspiratorially.
"When do you think Ben plans on telling us his secret as the Hacker Spider-Man?" Felicia asked.
"Maybe never?" Mary Jane replied, shaking her head uncertainly. "I think he's not telling us to protect us."
"Remember, last time that criminal grabbed Peter just because he kept taking photos of Spider-Man."
"I don't want to always be the one being protected," Felicia sighed. "I want to protect him too, or at least stand by his side."
Mary Jane agreed with Felicia, but neither of them had any superpowers to speak of.
"I don't want to turn into a lizard," she said. "It might be a bit offensive, but if my face ended up like Dr. Connors', with a mouth full of pointy teeth every time I opened it, I'd break down."
"I don't want that either," Felicia sighed.
"Can't Dr. Octavius invent some kind of serum?" Mary Jane asked.
"Of course not. Dr. Octavius is a physicist. How can you not even tell the difference?" Felicia could only shake her head at Mary Jane's abysmal academic performance.
"Besides, my mom already fired him."
Because of what happened before, Octavius's actions had greatly displeased Mrs. Hardy.
Even though it was eventually proven he hadn't done anything wrong, Mrs. Hardy still forced him to leave behind all his research data before kicking him out of the Hardy Foundation.
Ben knew about this, and so did Felicia.
It was Dr. Connors who first told Ben.
Ben had a great deal of respect for a brilliant scientist like Octavius.
So, without even a moment of disgrace, the moment Octavius was thrown out of the Hardy Foundation, he was seamlessly invited to Primus.
None of the research data he had been working on mattered anymore, not when an advanced nuclear reactor far beyond his dreams was placed right before his eyes.
Its core radiated a bluish-white cold light, just like an O-type star, far surpassing anything Octavius had ever pursued.
At the time, he felt utterly humbled, lowered his head in self-deprecation, and asked, "Then what could I possibly do for you now?"
Ben told him, "Doctor, humanity has the strength to move forward. Artificial suns, reactors, these are your pursuits, but they shouldn't be your only pursuits. Just like you once told me: don't waste your talent. Keep striving."
After Ben poured him a bowl of motivational chicken soup, Octavius rallied as if he'd been given a powerful shot of adrenaline.
But instead of starting a brand-new research project, he began studying Ben's reactor first.
The fundamental technology behind the reactor was actually in Tony's hands. What Ben possessed was the new element, the energy source itself.
So, Dr. Octavius's previous research wasn't entirely useless after all.
It wasn't just Dr. Octavius; Banner had also stayed at Primus.
Back to the present.
Felicia and Mary Jane were lamenting their inability to obtain superpowers.
But they weren't the only ones craving superpowers.
Hell's Kitchen.
Kingpin clasped his hands behind his back, gazing out over the underground criminal empire he ruled.
A while back, because he crossed Spider-Man and the Hacker, he had suffered heavy losses.
Honestly, it was mainly the Hacker.
Spider-Man was, in the end, just one man, and an indecisive one at that. Even if he busted his deals every day, he couldn't stop much.
Kingpin could easily set up one deal as a decoy while hiding the real deal deeper.
Spider-Man would stretch himself too thin.
The real problems were the Hacker and the Green Goblin.
The last time, those two had struck with such ferocity that Kingpin lost several of his top lieutenants. Even Bullseye was dead.
He had figured it out by now. Since the Hacker was so strong and the Green Goblin's position was so high, he'd just steer clear of them.
Don't provoke them. Stay out of their way!
But having lost so many top enforcers, his standing in Hell's Kitchen, and even within the League of Villains, had become a bit awkward.
Now, more than ever, he urgently needed exceptional talent.
Not just one or two, but a whole lot of them!
He had heard of someone.
The Phantom Cat, the great thief.
Legend had it that the Phantom Cat might be the only person alive in this world who knew the formula for the Super Soldier Serum.
And he was locked up in one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s prisons.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone now. H.A.M.M.E.R. has taken over, and every single day Hydra agents are being arrested. This is our best chance to infiltrate and find the Phantom Cat."
Standing before Kingpin was a man who looked like an albino version of the Red Skull.
Dmitri.
Also known as the Chameleon.
He was Kraven's brother. After Kraven died, Kingpin had recruited him.
"Can you find the Phantom Cat, Chameleon?" Kingpin asked coldly.
"Of course."
"Good. Don't disappoint me." Kingpin was satisfied.
He had suffered far too many defeats lately. Of course, Kingpin could afford to lose; those losses meant little to him.
But losing constantly did put him in a foul mood.
Kingpin gave the Chameleon the order to move out.
The Chameleon's ability was to take on the appearance of other people. Infiltrating H.A.M.M.E.R. for a short time would be no problem for him.
The real challenge was actually locating where the Phantom Cat was being held.
In various Marvel continuities, S.H.I.E.L.D. had four very well-known prisons: the Raft, the Cube, the Vault, and the Big House.
In this universe, when Ben and Norman first took over S.H.I.E.L.D., there weren't that many prisons yet.
That was hardly surprising.
After all, no mutants had really appeared in this universe yet, and the number of superheroes and supervillains wasn't that high at the moment.
There were some mutate individuals, but most remained hidden.
Ben and Norman did have plans to build a supermax prison for holding those criminals.
"The prison is nearly overflowing now. We need to find a new place to dump all this Hydra trash."
The number of Hydra spies was simply staggering.
Those tycoons, officials, and some gang members in Hell's Kitchen; Hydra was everywhere.
Norman could kill a batch of the high-ranking ones, but he couldn't kill them all. At least, not openly.
It wasn't that Norman was merciful. As the director of H.A.M.M.E.R., he had to play along with the public's fake show of mercy.
So they had no choice but to cram them into prison.
But that raised a problem. Prisons had capacity limits. What happened when they were full?
Actually, with Hydra it wasn't so hard. They could openly imprison them while secretly executing them.
But some villains really didn't deserve the death penalty. Yet if they didn't kill them, there was always the worry they'd break out time and time again.
So Ben had a second idea: why not just build a prison specifically for superpowered individuals?
The prison issue wasn't pressing just yet.
There was another troublesome matter at hand: Steve and the others had found out about the Tesseract.
Aboard the H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier.
Norman and Ben sat together. Also taking part in the discussion were a few select Avengers.
Like Captain America and Iron Man.
Steve Rogers looked at the glowing cube on the table, his expression filled with weary resignation.
"You never should have dredged it up."
Recently, Steve had been helping sort through the files left behind by the old S.H.I.E.L.D. and accidentally stumbled upon research matters related to the Cosmic Cube.
So he went to Hill to ask about what happened and the Cube's whereabouts.
Then Hill repeated the exact same thing Ben had told her at the time.
And that's how things escalated to the current situation.
With the lives of half the universe at stake, Tony also came over to see what the fuss was about.
"It wasn't us who dredged it up, Captain. It was Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.," Norman immediately deflected the blame. Well, it wasn't really deflecting; it was just the truth. "Especially Fury, who used it to build weapons."
Hill could offer no rebuttal.
"So this is the Infinity Stone you mentioned, the one that could kill half of us in an instant?" Tony asked, looking at Ben.
"If he wants to, wiping out every single person is just a thought away."
Steve said, "If this thing is that dangerous, then we should just destroy it."
"Destroying the Stones doesn't mean much," Ben shook his head. "With the Time Stone in existence, no matter how many times you destroy the other stones, it's meaningless."
"Then let's destroy the Time Stone too."
"I'd love to, but the Time Stone is in the hands of a bald woman."
"Fury has a Time Stone?!" Hill exclaimed in shock.
"A different bald woman," Ben didn't elaborate further on the Ancient One.
"In any case, destroying the Stones isn't a realistic option at this stage. Besides, destroying an Infinity Stone isn't that simple."
The energy of an Infinity Stone is immense. To destroy one, you need power of an equivalent level to do it.
"My idea is, once Loki arrives on Earth, we let him take the Tesseract back to the Plumbers' headquarters and seal it away for safekeeping."
"Wait, Loki? Which Loki?" Steve asked, taken aback.
"The one you beat up in New Mexico. He's reformed and joined the Plumbers," Ben explained. "Before the Cosmic Cube fell to Earth, it was in Asgard. The Asgardians know how to use the Cube and how to put it to sleep."
At this point, Ben looked at Hill and elaborated:
"When an Infinity Stone enters an active phase, it emits a unique wavelength that resonates with the other stones. The moment Fury tried to awaken it, the Cube's presence exposed Earth's location."
"You mean Earth could face an attack from outer space?" Tony asked.
"Exactly. So the Cube itself isn't important. What matters is how we prepare for the coming war," Ben said.
At those words, everyone's faces turned dead serious.
Nick Fury had left behind a mess.
But to be honest, even without Nick Fury's research, the awakening of the Stones was inevitable.
As the axis of the multiverse, Earth had always been a very special place.
Tony's gaze flicked back and forth between Ben and Steve. Then, with a hint of indignation, he said, "Does someone want to explain to me what Asgard and this Mr. Loki are all about?"
"I've only heard of Alaska and Texas Hold'em. I gotta say, the dealers there are really something. I'll take you next time to try it out."
Tony patted Ben on the shoulder as he spoke.
He sounded generous enough, but his tone was more like an accusation: just how many shady characters had Ben and Cap gone off to meet without him?
"Actually, all of this is in the files," Steve said.
"Too lazy to read."
So Steve had no choice but to start explaining from the very beginning.
After hearing it all, Tony was just about to voice some opinion when an alarm cut him off.
The alarm wasn't from the H.A.M.M.E.R. Helicarrier but from the Plumbers' communicator on Ben.
Ben placed the communicator on the table.
In an instant, Loki's grim face was projected before them.
He looked somewhat tense, and he spoke at a rapid pace.
"Reporting in. This is Plumbers Security Officer Loki Odinson. I have now reached the Oort Cloud and begun decelerating. Estimated arrival above Midgard in thirty minutes."
"Understood," Ben replied, shutting off the communicator.
Then he said, "Speak of Loki, and Loki arrives."
Tony and the others, however, looked as if they'd just seen a ghost.
"Thirty minutes from the Oort Cloud to Earth?! Is he serious?"
Steve scratched his head. As the least educated person present, he didn't even know where the Oort Cloud was.
"Does a cloud on Earth actually have a specific name?"
"The Oort Cloud is at the edge of the solar system. It takes light a full year to travel from there to here," Tony lamented the burden of speaking with uncultured people. "You get it now? That alien ship is way faster than the speed of light!"
To this, Ben only rolled his eyes. What a fuss. That's the engine of the Tetramands, kid!
Knowing Loki was about to arrive, the group stopped their conversation.
Norman activated the Helicarrier's outer energy shield, and the group stepped out onto the flight deck to wait for Loki.
Thirty minutes later.
A damaged spaceship tore through the atmosphere, trailing thick smoke as it hurtled straight toward the carrier.
"Does his situation seem a little… not great?" Steve asked hesitantly.
"Astute observation. Much better than a blind man, Captain!" Tony rolled his eyes, as if to say, Do you even need to ask?
Then he turned to Ben. "Any ideas? At that speed, if it hits, at least one of them, the carrier or him, is done for."
Just as he spoke, Loki's ship began to slow down.
Norman opened a gap in the energy shield, and after the ship passed through, it slammed onto the deck.
"Now I can hit up the Security Council for money again," Norman remarked.
Loki opened the ship's hatch and crawled out, looking utterly disheveled. He was covered in dust and soot, gasping for air, and when his eyes met Ben's, there was terror written all over them.
"They're coming!"
"Who?"
"War!"
/-\
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