Interstellar war.
That terrifying phrase lingered in everyone's ears like a nightmare they could not shake off.
"We just barely survived one war, and now a new one is about to begin?"
"What exactly happened, Loki?"
Bant helped Loki to his feet. Loki first shot a wary glance at Steve, confirmed that Steve wasn't holding the hammer, then let out a breath of relief.
Still, his steps edged slightly closer to Bant.
He paused, as if gathering his thoughts, then spoke.
"It's the Chitauri."
"The Chitauri war lords have bent the knee to Thanos. They detected the energy signal from the Cosmic Cube and are leading an armada to invade Earth."
"War is coming!"
Loki's voice wavered with panic.
"Calm down!" Bant steadied him. "How did you find out?"
"I ran into them on my way to Earth." Loki looked shaken. "They're like locusts, attacking every moving object. I escaped by the skin of my teeth, all thanks to Luma's ship engines being tough enough…"
Bant wasn't surprised by this.
The Chitauri worshipped war.
That much was obvious from their leader's title: War Lord.
The real key issue was something else.
"Their march speed can't compare to a ship fitted with a Tachomancer star engine," Bant folded his arms. "Where did you encounter them?"
Loki thought back and gave a set of coordinates.
Then he himself breathed a sigh of relief, a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, I overreacted. By that calculation, it'll take the Chitauri forces roughly a year to reach Earth."
"Overreacted? More like scared out of your wits."
Tony did not give him any face.
He turned his head and said, "Looks like we still have plenty of time to prepare for this war."
About a year was enough to do a great deal.
Captain America felt even more exhausted. At that moment, he utterly hated Nick Fury.
"What can we do?"
Bant lowered his head and started to think.
In the original movie scenarios, the Chitauri invasion had started right in New York.
The Cosmic Cube was a door. It could be opened from this side, and from the other side as well.
But in truth, not just anyone could pull that off. If it were that easy, Thanos wouldn't have had such a hard time looking for the Cube.
Back then, Loki had joined Thanos's forces and helped the Chitauri open a portal. Now that Loki was on their side, the Chitauri would have to invade from the sky.
Once they could confirm the enemy's approach route, things became much easier.
"Looks like we'll have to build a protective barrier that can envelop the entire Earth," Bant thought for a moment and said.
"Can we do that?"
Steve's eyes lit up at once.
He had already experienced firsthand just how sturdy Pulmoss's energy barrier was.
The only problem was that expanding it to cover the whole planet seemed a bit too far into science fiction territory.
If Bant knew what he was thinking, he would have laughed his head off.
Science fiction?
Your Marvel world already jumped straight into mythic fantasy!
"What about the energy supply problem?"
Tony asked.
"We happen to have an infinitely energetic cube right here." Bant pulled out the Cube. Loki's gaze flickered, and he instinctively reached for it.
Tony was quick-eyed and quick-handed, slapping his hand away.
"Hold on, isn't this…"
"No, we fished this one out of the ocean." He interrupted Loki mid-spell.
Originally, he had agreed with Bant's plan to let Loki send the Cube to Skywatch for safekeeping, but clearly that was not possible now.
Without the Cube, where would they find another infinite energy source to power a planetary energy barrier?
So, the Cosmic Cube had, from ancient times, been Earth's rightful property!
Loki rolled his eyes.
He couldn't recognize his own household's item?
"By the time you figure out how to harness the Cube, the Chitauri army will already have swept through like locusts."
"Then we'll let Loki participate in the research as well."
Norman made the decision.
He didn't trust Loki, but he trusted Bant.
"Aside from the Cube, is there anything else we need to prepare?"
"I'll need at least four satellites to serve as relay stations."
Bant sketched a simple diagram. On the picture, Earth sat in the center, with four satellites positioned in different locations, linked together like a regular tetrahedron wrapping around the planet.
"Don't worry, the Security Council will foot the bill." Norman smiled.
Things that could be solved with money weren't real problems.
Especially when it was someone else's money.
Seeing that, Bant immediately embraced the idea that only a fool wouldn't take advantage of a good deal and said,
"Then I also want a space station."
He planned to get Skywatch's space station built.
Norman: "Done!"
Bant: "The space station's materials need to be top grade, so I'll need vibranium."
Norman: "Done!"
Bant: "I also want Antarctic mining rights."
Norman: "Done!"
Tony: "Stop, stop, stop! I seriously suspect you're abusing your position for personal gain! What does a space station have to do with the energy barrier? And what does it have to do with Antarctic mining rights?"
Hill sighed and said, "You still need to suspect it?"
"None of your business."
Bant pushed him aside. "Now is the moment for us to unite as one. This kind of talk that's bad for unity, I don't want to hear it again."
"Besides, building the Skywatch space station is also to fight the Chitauri armada. We can't just hide inside the barrier forever like cowardly turtles, tricking ourselves into thinking the world is at peace. Just like your armor is meant to protect your body, but the weapons on it are meant to destroy the enemy."
Bant's words struck a chord deep in Tony and everyone else's hearts.
As for the ownership of the space station, that was none of your business.
"Fine, fine, fine."
Tony nodded hard. Nice "none of your business."
Since Bant had already said it like that, what else could he do?
In fact, that last part gave him a reminder.
Passively taking a beating was never his style. The Chitauri wanted war, then they would get war!
With a rough preliminary plan in place, the various sides started moving.
Since the Cube could not be sent to Sakaar for now, Bant put it away again, storing it inside his absolutely safe shoulder pack.
Then Norman swiftly set up a tech task force dedicated to creating massive satellites capable of handling the Cube's energy.
The satellites' primary function was to be enlarged super energy barrier initiators, powerful enough to envelop the whole Earth.
After that, he ran off to the Security Council to secure funding.
Norman realized that his position as director of the Thunderbolt Bureau didn't feel like a director's job at all. He was more like an outreach liaison, spending his days either securing funding or on his way to secure funding.
"It used to be that other people came to scam me for funding. Now it's the other way around." He shook his head and chuckled.
Hill said, "I'm thinking next time we put some sponsor ads on the outside of the helicarrier… How about Yili?"
"The fake milk company? Let's not."
Everyone went off to handle their own matters.
Steve watched everyone disperse. He was clueless about all this technical stuff and could only charge forward with his shield. Right now, he couldn't be of much help.
After thinking it over, he decided to visit Bucky at the Pulmoss sanatorium.
Bucky had recently made a friend.
Another patient in the sanatorium who also had some memory loss, a fellow patient named Flash.
Actually, "friend" might be too strong a word. They were just two patients sharing the same plight, able to speak a few words to each other in the lonely, boring ward.
Flash had been recovering well lately.
Though he couldn't remember many things, quite a few of his classmates had visited him here, which slowly helped him grow familiar with some of their faces.
The one who visited the most often was naturally Bant.
Next was Peter.
Peter usually came after school got out, but sometimes he would also visit Flash while wearing his Spider-Man suit.
Even though he had lost his memory, Flash had not forgotten that he was a Spider-Man fan.
In fact, he felt like this lifetime was already worth it.
"Hey, Iron Hand."
He greeted the taciturn Winter Soldier and said, "I'm about to be discharged."
"Has your memory recovered?"
The Winter Soldier wasn't surprised that Flash was leaving.
He had initially thought Flash was the same as him, another Winter Soldier brainwashed by Hydra. Only later did he find out the other guy was just a high schooler who got injured while protecting his classmates.
"No, but that's okay."
Flash exhaled a breath and said, "People have to look forward. Old memories just can't be recalled, it's not like the person is dead. There'll be new memories."
"You're lucky, you have a good friend." Flash said.
He meant Steve Rogers.
"I remember him, Captain America. He's an Avenger, just like Spider-Man. Do you know about the Avengers?"
"I don't deserve to be his friend. I've done a lot of terrible things."
Bucky pursed his lips and lowered his head.
"But he treats you like a friend." Seeing how dejected Bucky looked, Flash continued, "Listen, Iron Hand buddy, I've done bad things too. Among those classmates who came to see me, some said I used to like bullying people."
"Mistakes don't just disappear, so we should work to make up for them, to atone for the wrongs we've committed."
Flash said.
"I plan to learn from Spider-Man, to help those I can help. Do community service, apologize to everyone I ever bullied, do everything I can, even if it's just small things."
Bucky looked at him, feeling like Flash was genuinely shining like a flash of lightning.
"You can do it too."
"Can I really?"
"Of course you can." Flash nodded earnestly. "As long as you're willing. You know what Spider-Man said when he visited me?"
"He said, with great power comes great responsibility. That's why he's always done good deeds."
Hearing that, Bucky asked again, "What if others never forgive you?"
"I hurt people. No matter how much I do, I have no right to demand that they must forgive me. But I can't give up just because of that. Spending the rest of my life doing good deeds and helping others is much better than wallowing in self-pity."
"Making others forgive me isn't the goal. Atonement and making amends are."
"And besides, even if I'd never done anything wrong, I should still do good deeds."
Flash smiled slightly.
"Because Spider-Man would do it!"
/-\
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