With the Tesseract right in front of him, Finney Hellseg hesitated for a moment, worried that he might be tricked by the Space Stone again, like last time.
But after only a slight hesitation, Finney charged towards the Tesseract. Last time, he was caught off guard and teleported away directly; if it dared to come again, he was confident he had time to defend himself or retreat.
Loki reacted quickly, turning and attacking immediately upon seeing Finney's movement.
The Mind Scepter's energy required a slight charge, so he didn't attack with the scepter itself, but instead threw out several small, dart-like objects.
Finney didn't dodge, directly using 'Haunted Body' to withstand the attack. After a few clanging sounds, the darts didn't break through his defenses.
Finney finally reached the Tesseract. Just as he bent down to pick it up, Loki suddenly appeared in front of him, thrusting the scepter at him.
Finney could ignore the darts, but he dared not ignore the scepter containing the Mind Stone. Moreover, he couldn't guarantee that his "Possessed" status wouldn't affect him, or that he might be controlled by it!
So, without bothering to pick up the Tesseract, Finney hurriedly stood up and retreated, simultaneously unleashing an "Explosion" spell at Loki.
However, the "Explosion" spell didn't hit Loki; it passed right through him. Finney then realized it was a mirror image.
Finney admired Loki's mirror image spell; no wonder he dared to call himself the greatest sorcerer of the Nine Realms. Aside from his ignorance, he did indeed possess one or two signature skills.
Finney's retreat gave Loki an opportunity. With a roll, Loki snatched the Tesseract from Finney's face.
Although Loki looked slightly disheveled, he held the Mind Stone in his right hand and the Tesseract in his left, wielding two Infinity Stones with an exceptionally arrogant expression.
"You're different from them!"
Having received the item, Loki was clearly much more at ease and looked at Finney, ready to talk.
Having spent so long on Vormir, Finney hadn't spoken to anyone except Red Skull, so he wasn't in a hurry to attack. He asked Loki, "How are you different?"
"You have the qualifications to become a god!"
Loki looked at Finney and said in a seductive tone, "I am Loki, from Asgard, your god. I'm here on a mission you can't understand."
"Stop!"
Although Finney wanted to chat, he didn't want to hear Loki's nonsense and interrupted directly, "I understand Asgard, I know who you are, and I know what you want."
"So, listen to me, you won't succeed. Earth isn't as simple as you think, and our power isn't that weak. Leave the Tesseract and the scepter obediently, and your brother will come down and take you back in a while. That way, you won't suffer a beating or be traumatized."
Finney's words stunned Loki, and even Nick Fury beside him looked surprised.
Loki, however, clearly wouldn't abandon his goals based on Finney's few words. Moreover, during this time, he had clearly learned just how terrifying the person who sent him was.
"I thought you'd be different,"
Loki sighed, seemingly pitying Finney.
"I'll remind you again, even Thanos might not want to come to Earth personally, so listen to me, leave your things, and surrender!"
Finney had truly been lonely for too long. In the past, he wouldn't have wasted so much time on words; he'd defeat his enemies first and then talk.
Hearing the name Finney mentioned, Loki's expression instantly changed, his eyes filled with deep confusion. He didn't understand how Finney knew.
And speaking of which, why was Finney with him when they came out of the portal?!
Seeing Loki's expression, Nick Fury felt a deep sense of sympathy. He knew perfectly well that what Finney had said was true and had shocked Loki.
This reminded him of himself; finally, someone could understand his feelings.
"This alien 'god,' no matter where you come from, on Earth, you'd better abide by our rules!"
With Finney's backing, Nick Fury felt much more confident and spoke forcefully to Loki.
Although surprised by the information Finney knew, Loki wasn't about to surrender. He gave Nick Fury a mocking look and said, "I'm rescuing you!"
"Boom!"
The answer wasn't from Nick Fury, but from Finney's 'Explosion' magic.
Although Finney wanted to talk to someone, he didn't want to listen to Loki's endless ramblings, so he decided to finish him off quickly and go home to check on things.
Loki rolled away again, dodging the magic.
Loki wasn't entirely confident in subduing Finney, and having already obtained the item, he decided not to waste any more time. He planned to wait until he achieved his objective, then his army would arrive and wear Finney down.
Holding the Tesseract, Loki was far more familiar with it than with the Mind Staff.
He had learned about the Tesseract in the Asgardian library, and although he had never used it himself, it was still far better than the Mind Staff, which he knew almost nothing about.
"We'll meet again!"
So, just as Finney was preparing for a full-scale battle, Loki suddenly used the Tesseract to open a portal and escaped!
Staring at the portal that vanished instantly, Finney froze.
He hadn't expected Loki to escape like that, and the Tesseract's portal was different from Kamar-Taj's; he couldn't track him.
However, Finney wasn't too bothered. Loki couldn't escape Earth anyway; as long as he was on Earth, he'd find him sooner or later. As for the alien army, if it was unavoidable, then war would suffice.
Finney refused to believe that New York had won the battle even without him in the original storyline, and now that he had access to intelligence and was no weakling in combat, how could they possibly lose again?
"Where did he go?"
Seeing Loki disappear, Nick Fury quickly came to Finney's side, scanning the surroundings as he asked.
"How should I know!"
Finney glanced at the wary Nick Fury, looking at his familiar bald head and one eye, and sighed, "Long time no see, Chief Fury."
Nick Fury was taken aback, then put his gun away, looked at Finney who hadn't changed much since he left, and extended his hand, saying, "Long time no see, welcome back!"
Finney didn't rush to shake Nick Fury's hand, but stared at him for a while before suddenly saying, "Before we came, we seemed to agree on a million a day."
"It's been more than five months. I'll take a loss, so let's settle the bill for five months. Shall we settle the score first?"
Nick Fury silently withdrew his outstretched hand, glanced at Hawkeye Barton who was pretending not to see or hear anything, and replied, "We can talk about that later. We can talk about where you've been for so long without work!"
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(End of Chapter)