After Loki and the hooded figure left the base, Nick Fury slowly struggled to his feet from the ground.
He looked around at the bodies scattered across the laboratory floor, his expression turning extremely grim.
If he hadn't been wearing his usual seven-layer Kevlar body armor, he would already be dead.
His gaze shifted toward the empty containment platform where the Tesseract had been stored. The portal that had appeared moments ago was already collapsing in on itself.
Fury clenched his teeth.
There was nothing more he could do here.
Reluctantly, he turned and ordered the remaining personnel to evacuate.
A few minutes later, the portal fully collapsed.
A violent surge of energy exploded outward from the center of the collapsing gateway. The shockwave spread across the facility, and every building within several hundred meters was instantly reduced to ruins.
...
Early the next morning.
When Ethan Blake opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Wanda.
She was leaning on her hands beside him, staring quietly at his face.
Ethan smiled lazily.
"What's wrong? Didn't get enough last night? If that's the case, tonight we can—"
Before he could finish the sentence, Wanda's face instantly turned bright red.
"Ah—don't say it!" she exclaimed in embarrassment. "Don't say it! Ethan, what do you want for breakfast? I'll make it for you."
She hurriedly tried to climb out of bed to get dressed.
But Ethan reached out and pulled her back.
"Breakfast can wait," he said with a grin. "Let's eat something else first."
...
Two hours later, the three of them were finally sitting around the dining table.
Pietro stared at Wanda and Ethan with a deeply resentful expression.
The two of them were acting so affectionate that it felt like dog food was being thrown directly in his face.
"Should I just move out?" Pietro muttered.
The moment he said that, Wanda immediately nodded enthusiastically.
"You should have moved out a long time ago," she said. "When are you leaving? Today? I can help you carry your luggage."
Pietro stared at her in disbelief.
"…You're my sister."
"Wanda," Ethan said helplessly.
He turned to Pietro.
"Why move out? This is your home too. Just stay here."
Pietro hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.
"I think it's better if I move," he said awkwardly. "Watching you two every day is already painful enough. And recently… I met a girl I like. If I keep living here, some things will be… inconvenient."
By the end of the sentence, he looked slightly embarrassed.
Ethan thought about it for a moment before nodding.
"Alright. Then move into our previous villa."
Two years earlier, after making a fortune shorting Stark Industries stock, Ethan had upgraded to a new residence.
The new villa was also located on Long Island and was worth nearly eighty million dollars. Their previous villa still belonged to them and sat just a short distance away.
"You can stay there," Ethan continued. "But come here for dinner every night."
"Okay," Pietro agreed with a nod.
Wanda leaned forward curiously.
"What does the girl you like look like? Do you have a photo? You've never dated anyone before. I was starting to think you liked boys."
Pietro nearly choked on his food.
Every day he had to complete thousands of practice papers under Wanda's supervision.
Where was he supposed to find time to look for a girlfriend?
At that moment, the front door opened.
A certain bald, dark-skinned man walked straight into the villa and stood at the entrance, staring at Ethan.
Ethan glanced toward Nick Fury.
"Next time you walk into my house without knocking," Ethan said coldly, "don't blame me if I throw you out."
With that, he left the dining table and walked into the living room.
He sat down on the sofa and looked at Fury calmly.
"I warned you a long time ago that the Tesseract wasn't something you should be messing with. You should have handed it over to me. Now look what happened."
After Thor left Earth, Ethan had once approached Fury and asked for the Tesseract.
Fury had refused.
Ethan had warned him at the time.
Clearly, Fury hadn't taken the warning seriously.
"You knew this would happen?" Fury asked, a hint of anger in his voice. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Ethan looked at him indifferently.
"Why should I?"
He continued calmly.
"And even if I told you, would you have stopped researching the Tesseract? As long as you kept studying it, this outcome was inevitable. I already warned you."
Fury fell silent.
It was true.
Ethan had warned him before.
At the time, however, Fury had assumed it was just another attempt to pressure him into handing over the Tesseract.
"What happens next?" Fury finally asked.
Ethan leaned back on the sofa.
"Imagine a child who just learned how to walk wandering through the street while holding a diamond in his hand," he said casually. "What do you think will happen next? Haven't you heard the saying about guilt attracting disaster?"
Fury remained silent again.
After a moment, he finally spoke.
"Earth needs you."
Ethan stared at him as if he had just heard something ridiculous.
"You're kidding me," he said flatly. "You created this disaster yourself, and now you want me to clean it up? You're dreaming."
"If Earth is invaded by an alien civilization, no one will be spared," Fury said.
Ethan smiled faintly.
"Sorry. I'm not included in the 'everyone' you're talking about. Even if three interstellar empires came to invade Earth, they wouldn't dare provoke me. They would treat me as an honored guest instead."
He paused briefly.
"And even if Earth were destroyed entirely, I could still live quite comfortably on another planet."
Ethan waved a hand dismissively.
"If you came here just to say those things, you can leave now."
Fury made no move to leave.
Instead, he stared at Ethan with his single eye for several seconds.
Finally, he spoke slowly.
"What do you want?"
A smile appeared on Ethan's face.
Of course he intended to participate in the upcoming Battle of New York.
The Chitauri were infamous across the galaxy. Fighting them would definitely generate a huge amount of summoning energy.
But if he could extract something valuable from Fury first, why not?
"Infinite Formula," Ethan said calmly.
The formula discovered by Isaac Newton that could extend human life indefinitely had always tempted him.
Although the summoning system might eventually grant him something even better, he hadn't summoned it yet.
It was safer to obtain the Infinite Formula first.
"Impossible," Fury said immediately. "I can give you information about the Super Soldier Serum."
Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"Oh right. There's also the Super Soldier Serum," he said. "Thanks for reminding me. Then I'll take both."
He leaned forward slightly.
"The Infinite Formula and the Super Soldier Serum."
Fury's expression darkened.
"You're not in a position to bargain with me," Ethan continued calmly. "The choice is yours. If you agree, we can keep talking. If not, you can leave."
Ethan wasn't worried in the slightest that Fury would refuse his terms.
....
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