The elevator ride felt like it took forever. We were dropping deep underground, straight into the centre of Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. When the metal doors finally slid open, the buzz of fluorescent lights hit us immediately. The corridors were swarming with scientists in lab coats and SHIELD agents in full tactical gear.
Fury walked point. Selvig was practically tripping over his own feet, trying to look at everything at once. I just kept my hands in my pockets and followed them down the hall.
"Legend tells us one thing," Fury said, not bothering to look back. "History tells us another. But every now and then, we stumble onto something that belongs to both."
We stopped at a large vault door. Two guards stepped aside, and the door hissed open. The room inside was dead quiet.
In the center sat a metal table. On it was a heavy-duty briefcase wired into a bunch of monitors.
Selvig edged closer. "What exactly is this place?"
"It's a facility focused on the future," Fury said. He popped the latches on the case.
A bright odd blue light washed over the room, casting weird long shadows on the walls. Inside the padding sat a glowing, perfect cube.
Selvig stared. "My god."
I hung back by the door. The second that case opened, the air pressure in the room tanked making my ears popped. It wasn't just energy.
The Space Stone.
"The Tesseract," Fury said, watching Selvig's reaction. "Howard Stark fished it out of the ocean. It was the crown jewel of Odin's vault. We've been poking at it for decades."
Selvig couldn't take his eyes off it. "What does it do?"
"Power," Fury answered. "Unlimited, sustainable energy. But we need someone who actually understands the theoretical physics to tap it. Someone who's seen the edge of the map."
He meant the Bifrost. Selvig was already hooked.
"Well... I suppose that's worth a look," the scientist said.
I looked at Fury. He honestly thought he was holding the ultimate battery.
"You should close the box, Nick," I said.
Fury glanced at me, his good eye narrowing. "Got a bad feeling, Adrian?"
"It's not a battery," I told him, keeping my voice calm. "It's a door. And the doors can be open from both sides."
Fury crossed his arms. "We've got the smartest people on the planet putting safeguards on this thing. We control the output."
"You control nothing," I said simply. "You're ringing a bell in the dark, and the void is listening."
Fury's expression hardened. He didn't like pushback, but he hadn't forgotten the giant fire-breathing robot in New Mexico either. He reached out and closed the lid shut. The room went back to normal.
"We'll take our chances," Fury said. "Dr. Selvig, you start Monday."
Fury stepped out into the hall to grab a technician, leaving Selvig and me alone with the case.
Selvig was still staring at the metal box. He looked a little out of it.
I watched his reflection in the steel wall. The air around him felt wrong. From the look of itm Loki was already digging in from across space, anchoring his magic to Selvig's curiosity.
Selvig rubbed his temple, wincing a little. "Fascinating," he muttered to himself. "The energy signature... it's unlike anything in our models."
Those weren't entirely his words. The trickster was already whispering in his ear.
If I break the connection right now, the invasion wouldn't happen. Earth would dodge a bullet today, but it would be completely unprepared when Thanos inevitably showed up. The timeline needed this fight.
But Selvig didn't deserve to have his brain scrambled in the process. Prolonged exposure to the Mind Stone would fry his nervous system and leave him paranoid for years.
I walked over to him.
"Dr. Selvig," I said.
He blinked, turning to look at me. The invisible pressure around his head was spiking. "Yes?"
"Hold still a second."
I reached out and pressed two fingers lightly against his temple.
Selvig flinched. "What are you...."
I didn't push. I just slipped a microscopic drop of my own energy into his subconscious. I didn't try to sever Loki's connection that would alert him. I just built a wall behind it. I wrapped Selvig's core identity and sanity in an unbreakable lockbox.
Loki could still drive the car, but he wouldn't be able to total the engine. When the mind control eventually broke, Selvig would change back to normal, completely whole.
I dropped my hand. The whole thing took maybe two seconds.
Selvig shook his head, looking totally confused. "Did you just... touch my head?"
"You had some dirt on you," I said smoothly. "And now It's gone."
Selvig rubbed his temple. He didn't argue. He actually looked relieved, the sudden warmth in his chest had completely chased away the cold feeling he didn't even know he was feeling.
"Oh. Thanks," he said awkwardly.
The door hissed open again. Fury walked back in holding a datapad.
"Alright, Doctor," Fury said, all business. "Let's get you a security badge. You've got a lot of reading to catch up on."
Selvig nodded and followed Fury out into the bustling hallway.
I stayed in the vault for a second longer. I looked at the metal briefcase. Even closed, the cosmic energy leak was still there, along up with the faint, dirty feeling of Loki's magic.
"I see you, little prince," I said to the empty room. "Make your move."
I turned and walked out, letting the vault door slide shut behind me.