The boundless starry sky should have been as calm as Selvig observed years ago.
But today, that calm was destined to be broken…
…
Joint Dark Energy Operations, West Division.
Project Pegasus.
NASA Space Radiation Center.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Accelerator Control Center.
In short, this was a secret base of S.H.I.E.L.D.
They called it a secret base, but in truth, it was not secret at all.
A plan involving thousands of researchers was underway here, covering an area of 892892 acres.
How could a base of this scale possibly stay secret?
And yet it was a "secret base" for one reason only: to all of America, to the entire world, even to all of humanity.
What was happening inside this base would remain a secret to those people forever.
Thinking that, Nick Fury took a deep breath.
In the end, he still made a move on the dangerous yet dazzling Tesseract.
Many years ago, the Tesseract had ended up in his hands after changing owners again and again.
To obtain it, Nick Fury had paid an extremely painful price.
He absolutely refused to admit that price was one eye, and that what he "paid" was raising an orange cat that could never be tamed!
He, Nick "Loves Small Animals" Fury, how could he possibly be blinded by his own cat?
All illusions!
That cat only injured him by accident, and out of guilt, it handed the Tesseract to him.
(Or rather, vomited it onto his desk.)
In any case, after that, out of caution toward power, Fury kept the Tesseract hidden away.
He once thought he would bury it for life.
But he never expected that only a few decades later, he would take it out of the safe and begin using and researching it, just like Hydra's leader Red Skull once did.
In the empty office, Fury's brows were tightly furrowed. Seeing this, Commander Hill beside him shook her head.
"Nick, are you really going to use the Tesseract? I've got a bad feeling."
"We don't have any other way, Hill. Earth needs its own trump card, like those two nuclear bombs back then. A trump card against those aliens sitting up high!"
Faced with Hill's doubts, Fury was unshakably firm.
As he spoke, memories from a few months ago surfaced in his mind.
In the past, Earth had powerful freaks like the Hulk, but that was still an Earth-born product, and more importantly, just a single individual.
But a few months ago, that damned alien prince made Fury understand clearly that the threat from outer space was right at his doorstep.
This threat was not even something his friend, Captain Marvel, could handle.
That's right. Fury did have a friend like Captain Marvel, but Marvel would only stop enemies who tried to invade Earth.
Those damned Asgardians though…
In ancient times, Earth had actually been their territory!
If you followed the universe's common rules, Earth, Midgard, had always been one of the Nine Realms, one of Asgard's inherent territories.
Captain Marvel, as someone from the cosmos, had to follow those rules. And Asgard truly had blocked countless enemies for Earth, always fulfilling the identity and responsibility of Midgard's lord.
But Nick Fury, who considered himself Earth's representative, refused to accept that Earth belonged to Asgard.
Even more than that, he did not believe Earth needed Asgard's protection!
Asgard could be Earth's ally, but only an ally.
In fact, Earth should have the right to hold the initiative in that alliance.
To do that, Earth needed its own trump card.
The Tesseract.
With that thought, Fury lightly flexed his fingers, then stood and left his office.
Walking toward the research center, Fury saw Professor Selvig approaching.
A great astrophysics expert, an absolute benchmark in cosmic radiation and dark matter research.
Selvig looked surprised when he saw Fury.
"Director, I was just about to look for you. Please come with me, quickly."
"What is it?" Fury asked quietly, following Selvig toward the facility's largest observation platform.
As Selvig began operating the astronomical telescope standing at the platform's center, he explained to Fury.
"Tonight's sky is different from usual. I detected a strange meteor with no prior warning signs. The trajectory of that ultra-small meteor seems to be heading straight for Manhattan, New York!"
"MOTHERFUCKER!!!"
The instant Selvig finished, Fury cursed. He understood exactly what Selvig meant.
"Like that so-called Thor back then, something else is falling into our country again? Damn it!"
"That's right." Selvig nodded, enlarging the telescope's image and displaying it on the central screen for Fury. "I have to admit, the meteor's shape resembles a human body. From the outside, it looks like a person wrapped in ice, at least it appears that way."
"How long until impact?"
"About 3333 minutes. The impact point should be near the center of Manhattan, around the New York Stock Exchange."
"Huh? This time an alien prince is here to crash our stock market?"
Fury cracked an annoyed joke, then turned and walked off. As he moved, he issued orders into his earpiece.
"Special operation. Coulson leads. Natasha accompanies. Location: Manhattan. Target: the one from the sky. Wait for landing. After the object impacts, execute emergency response based on the on-site situation!"
"Copy!"
Coulson, who had been drinking coffee with a cellist, wore a helpless expression.
He waved apologetically to the woman across from him.
"Sorry. Please allow me the rudeness, but I have something I must handle."
"But…"
The cellist did not even get to finish. Coulson, always extremely responsible about missions, did not wait for her answer. He left the coffee shop directly.
Fortunately, he was already in New York. In less than 4040 seconds, he had contacted Black Widow Natasha and the other seven action teams under his command.
As if by unspoken agreement, more than twenty black Hummers assembled below the New York Stock Exchange.
By the time they arrived, nearby police were already evacuating civilians.
Coulson stepped out of the Hummer. Natasha was already waiting about ten-plus meters away.
"Wow, you're really fast," Coulson said with a smile.
"Heh. I was buying Stark Industries stock," Natasha replied without expression. "Ever since he admitted he's Iron Man, their stock has been rising nonstop. Exploding upward."
Coulson smiled and continued chatting.
"Ha. I bought a little too, but it's way too expensive. My salary can't swallow that mu…"
He stopped mid-sentence. His eyes narrowed as he carefully looked up into the night sky.
Near the brightest evening star, a meteor with a faint trail of fire had already appeared.
"Damn, that was quick. Lock the meteor's trajectory. Confirm the impact point. Speed up civilian evacuation. Where's that damned Iron Man? We need help. We have to slow that thing down!"
Coulson fired off rapid orders. All S.H.I.E.L.D. field agents moved in unison.
Natasha shook out her hands.
"This is a pain. Hopefully it's a dumbass like Thor."
"Hopefully, but people that simple are rare. Stay alert."
"Mm."
The two exchanged no further words, silently waiting for the meteor's descent. Then, just over twenty seconds later, another streak of light tore through the sky and landed precisely beside Coulson.
"Wow, wow, wow. What a spectacular night. Do you know how I felt when I was chatting with tonight's Oscar-winning actress and suddenly realized a meteor was heading for my tower?"
As he spoke, Iron Man's faceplate lifted, revealing a grin full of wild confidence.
Tony Stark raised a hand and patted Coulson on the shoulder.
"Why is it that the moment I become Iron Man, I have to deal with so much crap? Before, all I needed was drinking and women, plus tinkering with little inventions. Now I'm dealing with alien objects and meteors, and I have to try to save the world!"
"That's because you fly higher, so you see farther, Tony," Coulson said, deadly serious.
"No time for small talk. We have to slow it down. We can't let it hit the center of Manhattan at meteor speed!"
He warned urgently, but Tony only waved a hand.
"Don't worry, buddy. That thing is already slowing down."
As he spoke, Tony pointed at the meteor, now becoming clearer in the sky.
"Actually, what worries me is that it's slowing down. That means it has intelligence. Take a guess what it is. Another Asgardian prince? Or this time, some secret bastard from Olympus?"
"Stop joking, Tony. It's about to land," Coulson said, ignoring Tony's teasing, still watching the meteor with tense caution.
But he also let out a breath inside. He trusted Tony's judgment. At the very least, this falling meteor would not bring a massive disaster to New York the instant it hit.
…
Meanwhile, inside the spacetime material, Heisenberg was enduring the stimulation of plunging from outer space into Earth's atmosphere while taking in the system's "gifts" as fast as he could.
[Due to the sudden nature of this mission, please receive the newbie gift pack as soon as possible.]
[Gift pack contents: Multiverse language pack, multiverse customs and habits summary, mission requirements for the work universe, and special work content for this operation.]
[The world you are about to descend into is Marvel Universe Earth 19999. Calling it the Marvel Cinematic Universe might be more familiar to you.]
[Era of descent: Three months before Avengers 1.]
[Work content: Ensure Earth 19999 continues normal operation.]
[Work compensation: For every year you ensure Earth 19999 continues normal operation, you will obtain five minutes of absolute invincibility.]
[Bonus reward: For each day you spend in the work universe, you will obtain a certain amount of Origin Matter. You may exchange it for anything you need.]
[Special reward: The more people in the work universe whose life trajectories you influence, the more additional Origin Matter you will gain. Please expand your influence within the work universe.]
[PS: You are an important component of the Multiverse Operations Agency. Your actions within the multiverse are not restricted in any way. As long as you ensure the universe continues to operate, you may do anything you want.]
[Please, new Order-Keeper, enter work mode immediately. Landing countdown: ten, nine, eight…]
"Alright, alright, alright. I really don't understand what I'm supposed to do!"
After reading the system prompts, Heisenberg was completely baffled.
Ensure the universe operates normally?
What the hell did that even mean?
Even if he never came, wouldn't this universe keep running anyway?
But in the end, Heisenberg did not need to tangle himself in that.
He only needed to know one thing.
He was landing!
Boom!!!
As the spacetime material decelerated, Heisenberg and the spacetime crystal wrapped around him landed lightly on the ground.
In that instant, the spacetime material on his body melted away at high speed.
And in the next instant, a completely naked Heisenberg appeared right in front of every S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and in front of Natasha, who looked faintly surprised.