"This shouldn't be a fake, right?"
Artoria placed her hand in front of the massive golden gauntlet. Compared to the left-handed Infinity Gauntlet used by Thanos, this was clearly for the right hand. According to the setting, the Infinity Gauntlet was merely a controller made to manage and more effectively use the power of the Infinity Stones; it possessed no strange power of its own. This was clearly a right-handed Infinity Gauntlet. By using the Noble Phantasm 'A Knight Does Not Die with Bare Hands,' Artoria understood its internal structure. Those precise and complex internal components didn't look like a fake at all. Why would Hela say this was a fake in the movie? There were only two possibilities: Hela had only heard of it and had never seen an Infinity Gauntlet inlaid with all six Infinity Stones; thus, seeing one without the stones, she assumed it was a fake.
The second possibility was that Hela was overconfident in her own power. As long as Asgard existed and she stood upon it, her power would continue to grow without limit. Thus, she had almost no need for the Infinity Stones and didn't care for their power. Of course, this was all Artoria's speculation for now.
"Do you like this? But isn't the size a bit too large?"
Thor stood to the side, watching Artoria as she touched the giant gauntlet, unable to move on. Although he found it strange that Artoria would be interested in such a massive glove, Thor decided to give it to her. After all, the item was of no use, and using it to make up for the earlier rudeness was a good choice.
"That's because you don't understand the use of this thing."
Hearing Thor's words, Artoria spoke with certainty without even turning her head. Having just used her Noble Phantasm to understand everything about the gauntlet, Artoria reached out and tapped a spot on its side. Like a Transformer, the parts of the gauntlet began to move and contract. Artoria placed the still-transforming gauntlet onto her right hand. The Infinity Gauntlet fit snugly against her hand, shrinking to the exact size of her right hand. She moved it slightly and felt no sense of restraint, yet it clung tightly to her hand. This made Artoria marvel at the incredible craftsmanship of the Dwarves.
"So it can do that. But it's still useless."
Although the gauntlet's transformation was a novelty to Thor, compared to the dozen or so Destroyers standing nearby, he felt the gauntlet wasn't nearly as cool. If his Father hadn't forbidden it, he really would have wanted the Destroyer to turn into Armor Mode so he could wear it and show off in front of Loki. Unfortunately, Loki was still imprisoned, and his Father's whereabouts were always unknown; even if he wore the Destroyer, he had nowhere to show it off.
"I'll take this item then. Thank you."
Fiddling with the Infinity Gauntlet on her right hand, Artoria knew what this item was thinking. But if it were the original plot where Thanos collected the six stones, Artoria was curious about what kind of emotions he would have when looking at this 'useless' version of the Infinity Gauntlet. He would likely be deeply impressed and unable to forget it for a lifetime.
"Alright! Let's head further inside; that's where the Cosmic Cube is placed."
Thor didn't have any particular thoughts about it—people in the world have many hobbies! For instance, Loki liked pranks, so someone liking gauntlets wasn't particularly strange, as long as they didn't cause trouble for others. Thor continued leading Artoria deeper into the Vault. They still had a distance to travel. This wasn't like the movie world where there were only a few items; having lived for so many years and fought across the north and south, how could Odin's Vault have so little? There were plenty of good things and various collections. The movies only showed a fraction due to time constraints and lack of props. As Artoria followed Thor into the Vault, she discovered many treasures.
"Okay."
Still wearing the Infinity Gauntlet (right-hand version), Artoria quietly followed behind Thor. This place was a treasure Vault, and who knew what traps might be inside? It was definitely right to follow Odin's son. Even if something went wrong, she could use Thor as a shield. Thor, completely unaware that he was being treated as a shield by Artoria, continued leading the way. If he knew, he would probably feel helpless! But as a god with a one-track mind, he was quite willing to take a blow for a lady; after all, he called himself the strongest Avenger!
"Finally found it. Dr. Zola was actually hiding in this place. As expected, the most dangerous place is the safest place."
After a great deal of effort, Howard finally used the cyborgs to find Zola's hiding place. Not just on the computer, but even within the displays, he used the cyborgs to search through data in several old warehouses. Eventually, he found the location of Zola's last activity: a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. Base in New Jersey. This Base was very small but very hidden, and it had eventually been abandoned because it was too far from civilization. At that time, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s transportation wasn't very convenient, so they chose to abandon this low-investment Base. But no one would have thought that Zola would actually choose to hide here.
"If you're hiding like that old relic, then don't appear before humans again, you ungrateful wolf."
Now that the location was confirmed, Howard no longer held back. A group of cyborgss began to infiltrate the hidden Base. Each cyborgs was loaded with high-explosive ordnance. Howard controlled them remotely and had his artificial butler block the entire state's network; he was going to thoroughly eliminate this ungrateful wolf this time.
Howard, fueled by the fires of rage, manipulated the cyborgss to attack the secret Base. During this time, he had put all his effort into searching for Dr. Zola's tracks and hadn't noticed at all that Artoria had already left Earth. If he saw that, something irreversible would likely happen. Fortunately, Dr. Zola's matter occupied his attention. If he knew his precious daughter had been taken away by an unidentified alien boy, this Father would go crazy, and Dr. Zola's business wouldn't be a big deal anymore, allowing Zola to 'live a few more days.' What a pity! With Zola's matter coming first and Howard going all out, Zola might really be 'done for' this time. It was clear how much Howard hated Zola.
"These past two days... is it an illusion?"
Morgan, currently in Britain, had been feeling very strange lately. She felt like something was about to happen, and something big at that. Especially her blonde hair recently—no matter how she groomed it, it felt as if a layer of green paint had been brushed over it. But there was no one in this world with the ability to pull off such a prank on her without her noticing. This truly left Morgan feeling perplexed.
"I must be too tired."
She smoothed her long hair in front of her. Looking at the golden strands, it was clearly her own hair. But when Morgan looked at herself in the mirror, for some reason, she could see a trace of green lingering on her head. Even if she pulled out a strand and held it before her eyes, it looked golden, not green at all. Sometimes Morgan wondered if something was wrong with her eyes, but after checking herself with magic, she found no issues. This was very strange—so strange that Morgan couldn't even continue her meditation lately.
She constantly felt as if something important had been lost. Sometimes Morgan wondered if something had gone wrong with her sister's reincarnation, but thinking of Ancient One's formidable power, she dismissed the thought. The Sorcerer Supreme was such a powerful person, and it seemed Sorcerer Ancient One had a very good relationship with her sister's reincarnation. If there was an enemy even the Sorcerer Supreme couldn't handle, then her going there wouldn't make any difference. She believed the Sorcerer Supreme would protect her sister, but what was with this uneasy agitation in her heart?
---------------------------------
I hope you're enjoying the fanfiction so far! If the story has you hooked and you can't wait to see what happens next, you can unlock 30 chapters in advance over on my Patreon: patreon.com/TLHimejima1
Every bit of support means the world to me so if you're loving the ride, don't forget to drop a Power Stone and let me know.