From Earth's perspective, Tony Stark might stand with them to resist alien invasions.
But if the conflict were between them and Karl, Tony would not hesitate to stand on Karl's side.
Even if the opponent were Steve Rogers, the man his father had admired so deeply.
Thor was the same.
When Thor had lost his powers and been exiled to Earth, Karl had helped him more than anyone else.
Karl had even given him guidance.
More importantly, Karl was Thor's friend.
If someone attacked Karl, Thor would not hesitate to strike back.
"No, no, no! We have no intention of attacking you!"
Natasha immediately stepped forward when she saw the tension escalating.
"Everyone calm down!"
She raised her hands slightly.
Hawkeye, standing beside her, looked noticeably nervous.
He had already clashed with Karl's group twice before.
The first time, he had been beaten badly.
The second time, he had lost his weapon entirely.
He knew very well that he was no match for them.
Karl glanced at Natasha calmly.
Then he spoke to Thor.
"Alright."
"I'll take Loki with me for now."
"You can go see Jane."
Then Karl turned to Tony.
"Give Thor a communicator so he can contact us later."
"We're leaving."
Karl raised his hand.
With a wave of telekinetic power, a portal opened.
He dragged Loki through it and stepped inside.
Before leaving, he reminded Tony again to give Thor a communicator.
The portal then closed.
Steve Rogers watched Karl disappear.
He remained silent, seemingly deep in thought.
Natasha then contacted Nick Fury, explaining the situation about Karl taking the Tesseract and Loki's scepter.
After that, the group gradually left Stark Tower.
Several days later—
Tony and the others had become world-famous superheroes.
Their battle against the alien invasion had spread across every news channel.
No one knew who the mysterious figure was that had redirected the nuclear missile into the portal.
Karl had deliberately controlled online discussion about himself.
Any major mention of his role gradually disappeared from public discourse.
Meanwhile, New York City began rebuilding.
Destroyed roads were repaired.
Damaged buildings were reconstructed.
Life slowly began returning to normal.
However, protests soon appeared near the White House.
Large demonstrations frequently occurred in New York.
Many news outlets began discussing responsibility for the disaster.
Some people claimed the superheroes were responsible for the destruction, the casualties, and the enormous economic losses.
Of course, these voices were only a minority.
Most people were grateful to Tony Stark and the others for saving New York—and possibly the entire world.
While the world focused on the Avengers—
Karl quietly entered the Shadow World.
He took out the Ruyi Jingu Bang from his system space.
Then he retrieved both the Tesseract and Loki's scepter.
With a burst of telekinetic force, Karl shattered the scepter.
Inside it—
A yellow gem appeared.
The Mind Stone.
Karl suspended the Mind Stone and the Tesseract beside the Ruyi Jingu Bang.
Then he began channeling their power.
Using his own energy as a medium, he guided the power of the Space Stone and the Mind Stone into the sealed weapon.
As the energy flowed in—
The Ruyi Jingu Bang began transforming.
Starting from one end, the originally dark metal surface turned brilliant gold.
The golden light slowly spread across the entire staff.
Three hours passed.
Suddenly—
A massive surge of power erupted inside the Shadow World.
Blinding golden light illuminated the entire dimension.
Karl stepped forward and grasped the Golden Cudgel.
Golden energy surged through his body.
Karl could clearly feel the increase in his strength.
With the Ruyi Jingu Bang in his hand, his power had reached at least the level of a sub-Celestial entity.
If he combined it with the Sagittarius Gold Cloth, his strength could even reach the Celestial level.
That meant—
Karl no longer needed to fear Captain Marvel.
Previously, when Karl pushed his freezing power to absolute zero, his strength had already approached the sub-Celestial tier.
Now, with the Golden Cudgel amplifying his power, he had truly stepped into that realm.
And with the additional amplification of the Gold Cloth, he could temporarily reach the Celestial tier.
After familiarizing himself with his new power for a while, Karl placed the Golden Cudgel, the Tesseract, and the Mind Stone back into his system space.
Then he left the Shadow World and returned to his manor.
Loki was still being guarded by Speed.
Speed had wrapped Loki tightly in vibranium chains, binding him almost completely.
There was even a shock device attached to Loki's neck.
If Loki moved away from his position, the device would immediately release a powerful electric current.
Even with the Frost Giant physique, Loki would be stunned.
This was because Karl had casually mentioned earlier that Loki was extremely good at escaping.
Speed took that warning very seriously.
In fact, Speed wished it could wrap Loki entirely in vibranium like a dumpling.
And so—
This situation appeared.
Loki stared at the towering mechanical figure in front of him with a look of complete despair.
Meanwhile—
At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
Nick Fury had a very bad feeling when he learned that Karl had taken both the Tesseract and Loki's scepter.
The bald agent who had confronted Karl had died shortly after being taken back to S.H.I.E.L.D. by Natasha.
The investigation went nowhere.
Fury could no longer determine how many Hydra agents still existed inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
Hydra itself was also shocked.
They never expected Karl to casually expose one of their agents.
Alexander Pierce was furious.
He swore that Karl would eventually pay for this humiliation.
That night—
Nick Fury held Captain Marvel's pager in his hand.
He hesitated.
Should he call her back to Earth?
Karl was already powerful enough.
Now he also possessed the Tesseract and the Mind Stone.
Almost no one on Earth could stop him.
Nick Fury returned to the hidden base beneath his secret facility.
Inside—
Numerous arc reactors were scattered everywhere.
They were palladium reactors, not Tony's new element.
Around them stood many unfinished Iron-type combat robots.
Fury had built them himself.
Using the reactor blueprints left by Howard Stark.
Originally, these machines had been designed as a countermeasure against Karl.
But after witnessing Karl's battle with the Destroyer, Fury realized something terrifying.
The gap in power was enormous.
After thinking for a long time—
Nick Fury finally pressed the pager.
To him, Karl had become an uncontrollable variable.
And Fury hated variables.
Anything he could not control, restrain, or threaten automatically became a threat in his eyes.
Fury also began contacting other powerful individuals.
Even Bruce Banner was on his list.
If the price were high enough, Fury believed Hulk might be willing to fight Karl.
However—
When Fury attempted to contact the Xavier Institute, they refused outright.
The X-Men had no intention of getting involved in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s affairs.
Far out in space—
Carol Danvers was flying through the stars.
Her body radiated cosmic energy.
Suddenly—
The pager she had once given to Nick Fury began transmitting a signal.
Carol immediately changed course.
She flew directly toward Earth.
Nick Fury was not the type of person to activate that pager unless the situation was extremely serious.
Many cosmic observers noticed Carol's movement toward Earth.
But Karl remained unaware.
He did not know that taking the Tesseract and the Mind Stone had prompted Fury to summon Captain Marvel.
And even if he had known—
Karl probably wouldn't have cared.
...
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