Seeing that Ethan looked ready to explode, Tony immediately raised both hands in surrender. His tone shifted to something far more cautious as he said, "Alright, alright. I'll shut up. Pepper's in Los Angeles right now. Why, do you need something from her?"
"It's nothing serious," Ethan replied casually. "It's about Wanda and Pietro. Pepper sent them a gift a few days ago, and I just wanted to thank her."
As long as Pepper wasn't in New York, that was good enough for him.
"Hey, I gave them gifts too," Tony complained with exaggerated offense. "Why don't I get a thank-you?"
Even though he grumbled, Tony clearly didn't care that much. After a moment he shifted back to the real issue and asked, "By the way, what's going on this time? I heard Phil say the Tesseract was stolen, but I doubt it's that simple. Did you see anything unusual?"
"We'll talk about it later," Natasha Romanoff said from beside them. "The Director and the others are already waiting. You two are the last ones."
Without giving them more time to chat, Natasha led the two of them deeper into the Helicarrier.
Inside the meeting room, only a small group had gathered.
Nick Fury stood at the head of the room. Phil Coulson was nearby, along with Captain America, Hawkeye, and Bruce Banner. Including Ethan, Natasha, and Tony who had just entered, there were only eight people in total.
Aside from Thor, the rest of the original Avengers were already present.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Nick Fury began the meeting immediately.
"Coulson has already briefed everyone on the situation," Fury said. "Now I want to hear your opinions."
"Can I speak first?" Banner asked cautiously while raising his hand.
When he noticed everyone staring at him with strange expressions, he awkwardly lowered his hand again.
Nick Fury nodded slightly. "Go ahead, Dr. Banner."
Banner adjusted his glasses before speaking. "Sir, you said that aliens stole the Tesseract. If they're aliens, then they may have already returned to wherever they came from. Even if they haven't yet, they probably will soon. So… how exactly are we supposed to find them?"
He paused for a moment before continuing carefully.
"And even if we do find them, the Tesseract is extremely dangerous. If they take it away from Earth… maybe that's not such a bad outcome."
Nick Fury's expression immediately darkened.
"The Tesseract belongs to us," Fury said bluntly. "Why should we hand it over to them? Besides, the situation isn't as simple as you think, Doctor. If all they wanted was the Tesseract, there would have been no reason to abduct Dr. Selvig."
Ethan resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
What kind of logic was that?
When exactly had the Tesseract become Fury's property? The cube had originally been placed on Earth by Odin. If Odin's son came to retrieve it, that would technically count as inheritance. Compared to that, Fury's claim seemed far less legitimate.
Wait.
They?
Ethan suddenly noticed the wording Fury had used.
"Hold on," Ethan said suddenly. "You said they. Besides Loki, someone else came through the portal?"
Nick Fury gave him a suspicious look.
"You don't know?" Fury asked slowly. "There was another person with Loki."
When Fury had visited Ethan the day before, he had been thrown off by Ethan's confident tone. He had assumed Ethan already knew the details and therefore hadn't explained further.
Ethan suppressed the urge to sigh.
If you never told me, how was I supposed to know?
Instead, he simply said, "Tell me exactly what happened that day. Try to repeat their conversation as accurately as possible."
Nick Fury nodded and began recounting the events at the research facility.
Once Fury finished, Ethan immediately focused on one specific detail.
"Are you sure the hooded figure used the word 'master'?" Ethan asked.
"Yes," Fury replied firmly. "Twice."
Master.
If someone was referring to their master in that context, the answer was obvious.
That master could only be Thanos.
And someone who called Thanos their master…
Eighty percent chance it was one of the five members of the Black Order.
Ethan began analyzing the possibilities quickly.
If the figure's body size was similar to Loki's, then Black Dwarf could be ruled out immediately. Black Dwarf was enormous and impossible to mistake.
Corvus Glaive was also unlikely. That guy was brutally aggressive. If Corvus had been present, Loki would never have been the one leading the conversation.
That left three possibilities.
Proxima Midnight.
Ebony Maw.
Or Supergiant.
Ethan glanced briefly at Fury and couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.
The man couldn't identify the face, couldn't remember the voice clearly, and had almost no useful details. That made narrowing things down far harder than it should have been.
Seeing Ethan lost in thought, Fury spoke again.
"I know you're aware of more than you're saying," Fury said calmly. "And I hope you're willing to share that information."
His single eye stared directly at Ethan.
The implication was obvious.
You already took something from me. You can't just walk away without contributing something in return.
Ethan had no real intention of hiding the information anyway.
"I'm not completely certain who the hooded person was," he said, "but I do have a guess. Whoever it was, their identity is almost certainly one of the Black Order—the five generals serving the Dark Order."
Natasha frowned immediately.
"Can you explain that in terms normal people understand?" she said.
Ethan glanced around the room.
Every single person looked confused.
Fair enough.
"Let's start with Loki," Ethan said. "His goal should be to conquer Earth and rule it."
"The guy you tossed around like a rag doll in New Mexico?" Natasha said skeptically. "I don't see how he could pull that off."
"He definitely couldn't do it alone," Ethan agreed calmly. "But what if he has help?"
"Help?" Coulson asked. "You mean the hooded man? Is he stronger than you?"
"I don't know who the hooded man is yet, so I can't answer that," Ethan replied. "And he's not the help I'm talking about anyway."
Ethan paused briefly before continuing.
"Don't forget. Loki left with the Tesseract—and Dr. Selvig."
"With Selvig's knowledge of the Tesseract, combined with Loki's resources, building a stable portal isn't difficult. Once they have that, Loki's real allies can arrive."
As his words sank in, the atmosphere in the room instantly turned heavy.
Everyone's expressions darkened.
Just moments ago they believed the situation involved only Loki and possibly one mysterious accomplice. Now they were being told they might be facing a full-scale alien invasion.
That realization was not comforting.
Only Nick Fury seemed slightly calmer than the others.
Unlike the rest of them, Fury had already been preparing for that possibility.
Natasha suddenly remembered something and turned back toward Ethan.
"Ethan," she said, "I remember you mentioning before that Asgard protects Earth from alien invasions. If aliens really attack… will Asgard intervene?"
"Under normal circumstances, yes," Ethan replied.
For a brief moment, hope appeared on several faces.
Then Ethan continued speaking.
"Unfortunately, Thor destroyed the Bifrost two years ago. Even if Asgard wanted to send help, they wouldn't be able to deploy a full force. At best, Odin might find a way to send Thor alone."
The brief moment of optimism vanished instantly.
Nick Fury spoke again.
"What about the other organization you mentioned before? Kamar-Taj."
"Kamar-Taj's responsibility is defending Earth from invasions by other dimensions," Ethan explained calmly. "Notice the wording—Earth, not humanity."
He paused before continuing.
"That said, they probably wouldn't sit back and watch humanity go extinct. But unless the situation becomes catastrophic—like a third of the world falling—they're unlikely to intervene directly. At that point, the Sorcerer Supreme might step in."
It was another bucket of cold water poured over the room.
"So," Captain America finally said, his voice steady despite the tension, "the best thing we can do right now is find Loki and recover the Tesseract."
....
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