However, Loki's attack did not strike Nick Fury.
Instead, the blue energy beam smashed directly into the device that was stabilizing the Tesseract.
Sparks exploded everywhere.
At the same moment, Hawkeye reacted.
He drew his bow and fired an arrow straight at Loki.
Loki simply tilted his head slightly.
The arrow missed.
In the next instant, Loki appeared directly in front of Hawkeye.
He lightly touched Hawkeye's chest with the tip of his scepter.
Blue energy flowed into Hawkeye's body.
Hawkeye's expression instantly became dull.
Then he lowered his bow and stood beside Loki respectfully.
Loki used the same method to control Dr. Erik Selvig and several nearby S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.
After that, he made no effort to attack Nick Fury further.
With Hawkeye, Selvig, and the Tesseract, Loki calmly prepared to leave the base.
"You're starting a war!"
Nick Fury forced himself to stand and shouted toward Loki.
Although Loki's attack hadn't hit him directly, the explosion had thrown Fury to the ground.
He had only just managed to recover.
Loki paused.
He turned slightly.
"War?"
He smiled coldly.
"No."
"For you, it may be war."
"But for me…"
"It is dominion."
He stepped closer.
"The difference between you and me is like the difference between a shoe and an ant."
"Does a shoe need permission before crushing an ant?"
With that, Loki walked away.
After Loki left, Fury immediately activated his communicator.
"Maria Hill."
"Barton and the others have been compromised."
"Intercept them and recover the Tesseract."
At the same time, Fury rushed toward the upper levels of the base.
The energy released by the Tesseract had destabilized the entire facility.
The base was about to explode.
BOOM—!
The explosion erupted just as Fury jumped onto a waiting helicopter.
The helicopter lifted into the air immediately.
From above, Fury fired several shots at Loki's escaping vehicle.
But every shot missed.
Loki retaliated by firing a blast of blue energy from his scepter toward the helicopter.
That attack also missed.
However, Fury had no intention of continuing the chase.
The priority now was regrouping.
After returning to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Fury immediately began activating the Avengers Initiative.
At the same time, Natasha Romanoff returned from Karl's manor.
Whether she would report everything she saw there to Fury remained unknown.
Even if she did report it, the only result would be increasing Fury's caution toward Karl.
Fury also arranged several urgent tasks.
Steve Rogers was brought out of isolation.
Agent Coulson was sent to contact Tony Stark.
Natasha was assigned to find Bruce Banner, who was hiding in a Brazilian favela.
Meanwhile, Fury also checked a small pager.
If Earth truly faced destruction…
He would have no choice but to call Captain Marvel.
Meanwhile—
At Stark Tower.
Agent Coulson arrived and met Tony through Pepper Potts.
"Mr. Stark, I think you should look at this."
He handed Tony a file.
"This is not just another mission."
"This is a war."
"A threat from outer space."
"I hope you'll consider it."
Tony glanced at him coldly.
"I'm not interested in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s games."
"You can leave."
Coulson didn't argue.
He simply left the documents behind and walked away.
Even Pepper looked confused.
She had rarely seen Tony behave like this.
After seeing Coulson out, she noticed Tony quietly picking up the file and reading it.
She chose not to interrupt him.
Instead, she left for the company.
Tony studied the information.
Aliens.
Invasion.
The Tesseract.
He wasn't sure whether to believe it.
After a moment, he dialed Karl's number.
"What's wrong, Tony?"
Karl's voice came through the phone.
"You rarely call me at this hour."
Tony exhaled.
"Coulson from S.H.I.E.L.D. just came to see me."
"He showed me some data."
"I don't know if they contacted you."
"But according to the files…"
"Aliens are about to invade Earth."
"What do you think?"
Karl responded calmly.
"Relax."
"It's not exactly what you think."
"The army belongs to Thor's brother, Loki."
"They're called the Chitauri."
"You could say it's an alien invasion, but it's not Asgard invading Earth."
"After Thor returned to Asgard, he fought Loki."
"Loki fell into a spatial rift."
"So Thor will probably come down to Earth soon."
Karl continued.
"If you want to go help S.H.I.E.L.D., go ahead."
"I can handle this situation myself."
"But the real enemy isn't the Chitauri."
"It's the one behind them."
"Think about it."
"You're wearing a vibranium suit now."
"You won't die easily."
Karl didn't care whether Tony joined the Avengers or not.
Either way, the portal generator would eventually be built on Stark Tower.
Karl's real targets were the Space Stone and the Mind Stone.
Everything else was secondary.
Tony thought for a moment.
"Alright."
"I'll go take a look."
"If nothing else, I want to see what S.H.I.E.L.D. is planning."
"And I want to test my new suit."
"If things go badly…"
"I'll call you."
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellites quickly detected Loki's location.
Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers flew toward him in a Quinjet.
Meanwhile, Tony also located Loki's position.
His vibranium suit assembled around him instantly.
Then he launched into the sky.
It was worth mentioning that Tony's current armor had been massively upgraded.
The suit now contained five new arc reactors based on the new element Tony discovered.
This allowed the suit to easily exceed Mach 1.
And it was still accelerating.
In terms of performance, Tony's new armor had received an enormous upgrade.
Meanwhile—
In a public square.
Loki stood on a platform, forcing the crowd to kneel.
"Is this not simpler?"
"Is this not your natural state?"
He looked down at the kneeling crowd.
Suddenly—
An old man slowly stood up.
"Not to men like you."
Loki raised his scepter.
Blue energy gathered at its tip.
He fired directly at the old man.
BANG—!
A shield flew in and blocked the attack.
The shield then rebounded and slammed into Loki, knocking him to the ground.
It was Captain America.
At the same time, the Quinjet hovered above the square.
Natasha aimed its weapons directly at Loki.
Just then—
Music suddenly began blasting through the air.
BOOM—!
Tony Stark descended dramatically from the sky in his armor.
He landed and immediately punched Loki in the face.
Then he delivered his famous line.
"Put your hands up, you little Bambi."
"No… wait."
"Reindeer."
Natasha glanced at Tony with helpless amusement.
Tony then looked toward Steve Rogers and shook his head slightly.
So this was the man his father had admired so much?
Honestly, Tony thought Steve might have been better suited for the stage.
Soon after, Tony followed them into the Quinjet.
Steve Rogers looked at Tony thoughtfully.
This was the son of his old friend Howard Stark.
But he was very different from what Steve had imagined.
The gap between their eras was enormous.
Steve said nothing.
At that moment—
Thunder rumbled outside the Quinjet.
Lightning flashed across the clouds.
Loki's expression suddenly changed.
He looked… uneasy.
...
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