The Tesseract, or rather, the Space Stone, is naturally a good thing. But what Hong Fei values more is whether he can extract the skills he needs from it, or obtain spatial power in a more direct way.
As for the method of gaining mastery over spatial power through insight and comprehension, Hong Fei cannot do it now, and he believes few people can, otherwise the Infinity Stones would surely be even more sought after throughout the Universe. The Tesseract or the Stone itself is not particularly meaningful.
This is the difference between something belonging entirely to oneself and merely having the right to use it. Something that truly belongs to you cannot be snatched away by others; if one relies on a Stone to use related abilities, then Hong Fei would have to consider the consequences of losing the Stone or the Stone failing.
Just like Dragon Power; although he has obtained it, strictly speaking, he cannot yet say he is its Master, which is why Hong Fei has been working hard. In summary, Hong Fei has never had the intention of completely pocketing the Tesseract.
The reason he had Dr. Erik Selvig conduct research on it was, naturally, to better welcome the little Princess of Asgard. This saves him from having to waste time for no reason when the time comes. Once she arrives, there is no need to be polite—let's get straight to work!
Hong Fei also had Dr. Erik Selvig monitor the energy fluctuations of the Tesseract at all times; if any continuous abnormal situation occurred, Hong Fei would immediately take it and Dr. Erik Selvig and leave this place.
......
Washington D.C.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The low, powerful sound of impact echoed beneath the empty boxing ring. A spotlight shone down on Steve, the light outlining his well-defined muscles and the crystal-clear beads of sweat.
With a click, all the lights in the room turned on at once.
"Captain, are you rested?" Fury asked, walking toward Steve.
Steve didn't even turn his head, continuing to hit the punching bag as he said, "You know I've been resting for a long time."
After getting closer and seeing him looking so full of energy, Fury couldn't help but say, "You've recovered very quickly. Tony is still lying in bed; although he keeps making a fuss about getting up, the Doctor's assessment still won't allow him to get out of bed."
In the last battle, Tony and Steve were undoubtedly the main forces on the S.H.I.E.L.D. side. Unfortunately, the combination of Master Hong and Dragon Power beat them until they had almost no power to fight back, and the final burst even took Steve and Tony out together. They both passed out at that moment.
Steve lived up to the name of Super Soldier. Just as Hong Fei left, he woke up immediately, though at that time his whole body was sore, as if every bone had been hammered.
Compared to him, Tony Stark was not so lucky. Tony remained unconscious until he was carried back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Moreover, he had to undergo surgery after waking up.
Although the shock-resistance of his armor was ridiculously strong, the power Hong Fei unleashed this time was even more ferocious. Not only was the outer armor shattered and knocked off, but the chest part of his inner armor also cracked, which indirectly affected the reactor embedded in his chest. If the armor had been any weaker, Tony might have already died.
However, the surgery only helped him adjust the position of the reactor and did not remove the dangerous shrapnel inside his body. This was a step that even when Hong Fei had someone perform surgery on him initially, it was not completed. But for Steve, it didn't make much difference. It was still a loss.
He wasn't the type of person to dwell on winning or losing, and besides, in his eyes, Master Hong was a genuine good person. Moreover, his current performance was not because he was venting emotions from losing, but because he just wanted to get moving.
Although being frozen for decades hardly affected his body, psychologically, he felt he needed to awaken more vitality in his body through activity as soon as possible. Secondly, it was naturally to let the people at S.H.I.E.L.D. see, especially the one currently chattering in his ear.
"His strength is indeed stronger than last time. The most obvious thing is that he had never displayed that unknown golden energy before, nor that sound that sounded like a dragon. I think during the time he disappeared before, he must have done some things we don't know about. Captain, interested in having a chat?"
Steve punched the bag until it burst, turned around, and said, "Alright."
A moment later, the two sat down.
Steve wiped his sweat and said, "Go ahead."
In fact, Steve had long known that Fury would come to talk to him, and the timing should have been even earlier. Fury clearly had a prepared draft; hearing this, he asked directly, "I want to know, did he find you?"
"It should be." Fury looked at him with suspicion.
Steve: "When I was found, I had already been frozen. It wasn't until a long time later that I woke up. Because of this, the me you see now is the me from over sixty years ago. It's not that I don't age, but that I simply didn't grow during those sixty-plus years."
Fury wasn't too surprised. Although Steve hadn't said these things before, S.H.I.E.L.D. already had theories after conducting physical examinations.
"Then where did you wake up?"
"Sokovia."
"His castle?"
"Yes."
In fact, he woke up on the Sky Base, but since S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't know Hong Fei had this thing, he didn't voluntarily expose it.
Fury continued asking almost without hesitation, "What conflict did you have?"
Steve glanced at him: "What do you think?"
Fury was very composed and asked again, "Did he invite you to join his team?"
"That's right. At first, I said I would consider it, but later I discovered that he and I are not on the same path, and he is very crazy. I couldn't join him, and I even firmly oppose everything he has done in the past."
Hearing this, although there was no fluctuation on Fury's face, he deeply agreed in his heart, because in his view, Captain America should be like this; he could never tolerate Hong Fei's past actions.
"Although you weren't by his side for long, I still want to ask, do you know what he actually wants to do?"
This was the biggest doubt in Fury's heart, and also a conclusion that S.H.I.E.L.D. could not reach after countless investigation results and deductions. In their eyes, the things Hong Fei did were completely scattered and erratic, with no trace to follow.
The incidents at Tokyo Bay and the Rand Building were still connected, but what about Liberty Island? Was it for Ivan or to target Tony, or both? And there was the kidnapping and backstabbing of Tony; he had plenty of opportunities to strike at Tony, yet he didn't seem to take action on a daily basis.
All of these things left him with deep doubts. What exactly does Hong Fei want to do?
Steve: Of course, it is to more thoroughly eradicate the notorious HYDRA!
Steve basically does not trust S.H.I.E.L.D. now, and is even filled with deep resentment toward the true members of S.H.I.E.L.D. Even though his first love was a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D. If it weren't for that "Operation Paperclip," would HYDRA have been allowed to resurface right under the noses of those who defeated him?
Hong Fei was right. Those people only care about the so-called improvement of technological levels and only focus on status competition with opponents. They don't care at all about who should take responsibility for their past mistakes, they don't care about the victims full of pain, and they certainly don't care about those who sacrificed to win the war, including him, the "Captain" America.
Steve met Fury's single-eyed gaze with unwavering intensity. "I don't know what he's planning," he said, his voice firm, "but I know it won't be anything good. Just like HYDRA back then—some people are destined to be enemies from the start."
Meanwhile, Tony lay sprawled on his couch at home, staring blankly at the ceiling. He'd lost count of how many times he'd found himself in this exact position.
If he really wanted to trace it back, it all started with that damn kidnapping. That should have been his first official encounter with Hong Fei, though he'd been unconscious from his own missile blast at the time. He never got a proper look at the man.
Come to think of it, that was probably when Hong Fei had someone perform emergency surgery on him. Crude methods, sure, but effective enough to keep him alive. Afterward, Tony had dismissed Hong Fei as just another kidnapped tourist.
Their first real meeting? Hong Fei must have known his first-gen Iron Man armor inside out. He'd practically watched the man hammer those iron plates into shape himself.
After returning to New York post-kidnapping, Tony had his suspicions about Hong Fei, but they faded quickly. The masked figure who appeared later bore no resemblance to the man he'd met, and the data didn't match either. Tony, ever the man of science, trusted the numbers and moved on.
Of course, Tony Stark always had a backup plan. He'd gifted Hong Fei an Iron Man action figure packed with surveillance tech. Turned out Hong Fei had passed it off to some kid instead. What Tony ended up with was a feed of a child chattering away to the camera.
If it weren't for the fact that the kid idolized both Tony Stark and Iron Man, he'd have retrieved the toy long ago. Back to Hong Fei—from the initial backstabbing to suddenly solving Tony's palladium poisoning problem, Tony's feelings about the man had become... complicated.
Hong Fei's kidnapping had indirectly saved his life, and he'd helped take down Obadiah Stane. Sure, it all came with a price tag, but compared to Tony's life? Cheap at twice the cost. The new element clue had literally been a lifesaver.
But that complexity didn't last. Their next meeting saw Hong Fei stab him—literally—without hesitation. Tony felt like some naive girl who'd just discovered love, only to get burned by her first romance. That push-pull dynamic? Way too familiar.
Anger was inevitable—he'd been stabbed, for God's sake. Defeat after defeat, betrayal after betrayal, ending up knocked out in his armor. This last time was the worst yet—his outer armor blown to pieces, inner armor cracked. A string of losses unlike anything he'd experienced before.
He wasn't about to let himself be completely defeated, but right now? Rest was non-negotiable.
After lying there for what felt like hours, Tony waved his hand. A holographic screen flickered to life, displaying a familiar face.
"Hi, Iron Man. It's Peter. Peter Parker. Do you remember my name?"
"It'd be great if you could talk—wait, if you could talk, you'd know all those little secrets I've been telling you."
The kid rambled on, "Oh! And at school today, I saw this really cool thing where..."
Tony couldn't help but smile at the image before him.
Over this past period, listening to this child whisper secrets every day had gradually become an essential happy moment for him every day.