Several hours earlier, at a S.H.I.E.L.D. military base.
An armed helicopter descended slowly. Nick Fury strode out of the cabin and headed straight for the underground depths of the base at a brisk pace.
As he walked, he questioned Coulson, who had already been waiting there. "How bad is it?"
Coulson's expression was grave, his voice low and urgent. "Bad, sir. Worst of all, we don't know what happened."
Fury's brows knit tightly. He didn't waste words, only quickened his steps again.
Coulson and Hill followed close behind. The three of them entered an elevator and descended toward the core area deeper within the facility.
On the way, Coulson continued his report.
"Four hours ago, Dr. Selvig detected the Cube suddenly releasing a surge of energy. The problem is, the Space Agency never authorized him to run any tests.
"After we investigated, we confirmed he hadn't conducted any experiments at all—the Cube activated on its own!"
"It just… powered up?" Hill sounded doubtful. This had never happened before.
"Yes. As unbelievable as it is, that's exactly what happened," Coulson replied.
They passed through a maze of corridors, twisting and turning through the base. After layer upon layer of stringent security checks, the three finally arrived in the deepest, cavernous room.
At the far end of the room, a colossal machine dominated the center—a dense, intricate apparatus.
Its main body was forged from heavy metal of a special make. The cold silver-gray shell was etched with precise, complex patterns, and at its core was a strange, glowing crystal.
The Tesseract.
Beside the machine stood an elderly doctor, intently observing the Tesseract. If Thor were here, he would recognize him at once: Dr. Selvig, the mentor of Thor's girlfriend.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Dr. Selvig looked up. His gaze fixed on Fury with a heavy intensity. "You're finally here!"
Fury's face was severe as he asked, "Doctor, what's the situation?"
"It's troublesome. I can't shut the Tesseract down."
"Even if you pull the power?" Fury pressed.
"No." Dr. Selvig sighed. "The Tesseract itself is an energy source. It doesn't rely on external power at all, and—"
Suddenly, his expression changed drastically. He snapped his head toward the Tesseract. "Wait. It activated again!"
The next instant, dazzling light spilled from the Tesseract's space, rippling outward like waves.
A few breaths later, the Tesseract fired a beam of energy, forming a portal several dozen meters ahead.
Then a man in gold-and-green battle attire stepped out of it, appearing before everyone.
…
Several hours later—right now.
When Harry arrived at top speed with the Cloak of Levitation billowing behind him, the scene in front of him made him suck in a sharp breath.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with Nick Fury, Harry looked out over a massive crater several kilometers wide. The entire military base had been erased from the surface by some terrifying force.
Harry frowned, finding it hard to wrap his head around. "Wait—don't tell me you were really this useless.
"Even after borrowing from me, you still got a whole base flipped over by Loki alone?
"And then the portal formed by the Tesseract collapsed and the base got completely destroyed?"
Fury's expression was already dark, and now it sank even further.
Perhaps realizing how humiliating S.H.I.E.L.D.'s performance sounded, he couldn't refute it. He could only let out a helpless sigh.
"Harry, it's not what you think. Loki is strong—very strong.
"He not only has a staff with astonishing power that can fire devastating energy beams, he was also holding an ice-blue casket the whole time. The freezing force it releases can even freeze Coulson's magic solid!"
An ice-blue casket?
Wait—that was the Casket of Ancient Winters.
Wasn't that artifact kept in Odin's vault? Why was it in Loki's hands?
And what about the other staff—could that be another powerful artifact as well?
In Harry's eyes, that unfilial brat Loki had most likely snuck into Odin's vault to steal.
As Asgard's second princess, Loki naturally knew Odin's vault defenses inside and out. With Odin now fallen into the Odinsleep, it was entirely possible Loki had slipped in and walked off with a few divine relics.
Harry sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Alright. This one isn't on you. The casket in Loki's hand is called the Casket of Ancient Winters—an artifact of Jotunheim. If fully activated, it can freeze an entire planet with ease.
"As for the other staff, I don't know what it is, but it's probably a powerful magical construct too.
"From what you're saying, that staff can enhance mind-related abilities—that's how Loki was able to control Hawkeye, Crossbones, and Dr. Selvig."
"Two of them are your borrowers," Fury said, looking at Harry with expectation. "Do you have any way to pinpoint their location?"
"No." Harry looked at Fury with open disdain. "Something is cutting off the connection between me and them. Other than stopping the flow of magic to them, there's nothing else I can do."
Then he added, "Trying to test me again? I'm not like you agents who don't honor the rules. Even I have to abide by the terms of a magic contract—otherwise, how am I supposed to build trust and keep growing my borrowers?"
Fury chuckled awkwardly and changed the subject. "In that case, we'll need another approach.
"The Tesseract is constantly emitting gamma radiation. Maybe we can have Tony and Dr. Banner calculate its position."
Harry didn't reject him outright, but he didn't agree easily either.
Arms crossed, he gave Fury a half-smile. "S.H.I.E.L.D. really knows how to stir up disasters. I can have Tony and Banner come help, but… I have one condition."
"What condition?" Fury's eyes narrowed slightly, a thread of wariness in his tone.
Harry stated what he'd prepared. "I'm very interested in the Tesseract. After I wrap up this incident, I need to study cosmic magic for a while."
If Harry's guess was right, the Tesseract was the shell of the Space Stone.
As one of the Infinity Stones, studying its energy structure would be a huge help in improving Harry's own space magic.
"This…" Fury hesitated briefly, then agreed at once. "Fine. Deal."
Without Harry's help, the Tesseract could very well be lost, and S.H.I.E.L.D. would suffer an even greater loss.
Fury knew exactly what choice to make.
Harry opened a portal and brought Fury into the Helicarrier. Then he found a chair, dropped into it, and began to think.
Truth be told, besides the Tesseract, Harry was also very interested in the staff in Loki's hand.
After all, his research in mental magic was still somewhat lacking.
If he could fill that gap, his combat capabilities would become far more well-rounded—absolutely not because he wanted to try out some "revenge hypnosis" trick!
Abilities from those rule-based worlds might offer a lot to learn from, but they were absolutely not something to adopt!
That would be far too immoral!
After that, Coulson arrived. He opened a portal and summoned Steve Rogers over from another military base.
Then Harry raised a hand and opened another portal, preparing to notify Tony.
However, during the attempt to contact Tony, a small "accident" occurred.
Out of respect for Tony's privacy, Harry deliberately set the portal exit to Tony's living room.
But when the portal opened, what he saw on the other side made Harry freeze in place—along with a soft, breathy murmur that drifted to his ears.
There was Tony, holding a Hollywood actress who frequently appeared on TV, helping her "stretch."
They were doing yoga in the living room. Was that really appropriate?
Tony's living room was surrounded by transparent glass on all sides, with almost no walls blocking the view. What was the difference between that and doing yoga outdoors?
That aside—after getting to know Tony, Harry wasn't surprised.
In relationships, Tony had always been a scumbag. Everybody knew it.
But even Harry hadn't expected Tony to be this outrageous.
Because right there to the side—Pepper was watching with a cold gaze.
The poor Pepper even picked up a wineglass, pouring Tony a drink.
Even more ridiculous, as if sensing someone watching, Tony not only showed no shame—he got even more excited.
So this is what you're like, Tony!
How is this any different from doing NTR right in front of someone?!
At that moment, the actress doing yoga with Tony noticed the portal behind him. Her face went blank with shock, and she immediately let out a piercing scream.
"Aaaah!"
Hearing that shriek up close, Tony jolted so hard his whole body twitched—and all his momentum evaporated in an instant.
He had no energy left for yoga. He collapsed onto the mat, breathing hard.
After a long moment, he finally recovered and pointed at the still-panicked actress with an unquestionable tone. "Alright. Out."
The actress didn't dare resist. She scrambled away and bolted out.
Tony then turned back and glared through the portal at Harry. His face was black enough to rival Fury's.
"Alright," Tony said. "Let me guess why our Sorcerer Supreme is suddenly looking for me. Don't tell me you just wanted to scare me and nearly make me go limp."
Harry couldn't hold back the grin on his face. He teased, "Who knew you play this wild? I didn't mean to interrupt—you've just got a new situation on your hands."
After using a healing spell on himself, Tony fully recovered.
Hearing Harry's words, his gaze sharpened and his voice dropped. "What happened?"
"The green moose is here," Harry said. "And he took the Tesseract. That thing is a massive headache."
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