With Thor's involvement, the rescue operation was swift and efficient. It didn't take long. With the help of Hawkeye, Clint Barton, they quickly located Dr. Selvig, who was assembling the transmission equipment.
In Black Widow's report upon return, Fury learned that the situation had been extremely urgent. Had they been just a little slower, Selvig would have transported the device and taken over Stark Tower with a group of mercenaries, using the Ark Reactor in the tower to activate the Cosmic Cube and open a massive and stable portal.
"What? They wanted to take my Stark Tower!"
Tony instantly became agitated when he heard Loki's plan. He wanted to open the cell and storm in, unleashing all the weapons from his Iron Man armor to give Loki a full-range assault.
"That tower is a very nice place."
Tall and prominent, with a reactor inside—it not only met Loki's functional needs but also satisfied his vanity. After all, in some ways, Loki and Tony were quite similar.
Protected by the glass wall, Loki remained composed while facing Tony, completely unafraid that this guy would actually rush in. Tony wasn't foolish enough to fight an Asgardian god in close quarters inside a small cell. The result would be him getting beaten to a pulp.
"Is the situation resolved?"
Thor had rescued those under Loki's control, and Ethan had removed the control magic from them, ensuring there were no lingering threats.
The agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., who had been on high alert, realized that the crisis had been resolved quite easily. Fury even wondered whether he had overreacted. Maybe the situation hadn't been that dangerous after all.
Thor flew a few laps, Captain America had fought a bit, but that was the extent of it. There had been no real battle. The only threat came from when Hawkeye, under Loki's control, nearly infiltrated the Helicarrier with ease. If not for the mysterious Diana, S.H.I.E.L.D. might have suffered a serious loss during the attempted raid.
"When did this supposedly serious crisis turn into something so tame?"
Fury, a seasoned and sharp agent, quickly analyzed the entire situation and identified the key variable.
His method wasn't complex. He simply removed each element involved in the incident and analyzed how things would have progressed without them.
The result surprised him. Without Ethan's involvement, things could have gone terribly wrong.
As everyone gathered again, Selvig and Hawkeye each recounted Loki's plan. Fury now had a complete picture of the overall scheme.
Had it not been for Ethan's interference, Loki's plans would likely have succeeded. S.H.I.E.L.D., caught off guard and thrown into chaos, would not have been able to stop Loki from opening a massive and stable portal above New York, ushering in an endless army of Chitauri.
If that had happened, even if they ultimately repelled the invasion, the cost would have been catastrophic—something S.H.I.E.L.D. had always tried to avoid.
In fact, in the original timeline, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s performance had been a failure. The final victory had been achieved by the Avengers, not by S.H.I.E.L.D., which had even been slow to respond and ended up launching a nuke.
Ethan didn't know what people like Captain America and Iron Man thought of him. He only knew that if he were fighting on the front lines and someone on his side stabbed him in the back, he would never forgive them.
The fools on the World Security Council should be glad the nuke didn't hit the Avengers. They had attacked the heir to the throne of Asgard from behind. If that had happened, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
"It's a shame I won't get to see that."
With the matter unexpectedly resolved, the next step was to discuss the follow-up arrangements.
Although Loki was undeniably the mastermind, since his plans had been largely thwarted and hadn't caused much actual damage to Earth, S.H.I.E.L.D. had no objections to Thor taking him back to Asgard.
As for the two Infinity Stones, Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. had no authority. When Thor took the Mind Stone back, he clearly stated that it couldn't remain on Earth. It wasn't even a negotiation. It was more like a straightforward notification to Fury.
Fury had no objections. With Thor's simple nature, he wouldn't have come up with that on his own. It had been Ethan, using spiritual link, who reminded his friend that "something like the Cosmic Cube isn't suitable to stay on Earth." Only then had Thor remembered to take it with him.
This magical communication method was undetectable to Fury and simply represented Asgard's position. Now, he even hoped that Ethan would be the one to keep one of the Stones.
"Then there's only one last question left. What do we do about the Chitauri that Loki was supposed to summon?"
The Chitauri army remained a serious concern. Although the portal hadn't been opened, that didn't mean the Chitauri were no longer a threat. Now that these cosmic locusts had set their sights on Earth, if they weren't seriously dealt with, they would inevitably return to destroy it.
"Asgard will protect Earth from the Chitauri army."
Thor made his usual declaration, full of confidence in Asgard's military strength. He didn't believe the Chitauri could break through Asgard's defenses and reach Earth.
But this time, Ethan didn't agree with Thor's optimism. "If I remember correctly, there are actually several space rifts among the Nine Realms that could be used."
Everyone turned to look at Ethan. Thor didn't immediately understand why Ethan was bringing this up.
"This means that even without using the Cosmic Cube to teleport, they could still bypass Asgard's defenses." Ethan didn't like the feeling of being targeted, so he tried to help Fury think this through. He figured this top-tier agent wouldn't like being watched either. "Now that Earth is on the Chitauri's radar, who can guarantee they won't find another way to reach it after Loki's failure?"
"So…?"
"So I suggest we eliminate the threat entirely."
That proposal was very much to Fury's liking. Wiping out the threat completely would be ideal. But the problem was how to deal with the Chitauri army, when they didn't even know where in the universe they were.
No one present was a fool. Almost everyone had the same thought and turned their attention to the Cosmic Cube in Thor's hand.
They had all come up with the same plan: as long as Loki continued building the device designed by Dr. Selvig and used the Cube to open a portal, the Chitauri—who had been waiting on the other side—would appear right in front of them.
"Open the portal ourselves to lure the Chitauri here?"
Nick Fury began evaluating the feasibility of the plan. The advantage was clear: they could choose the battlefield in advance, deploy enough forces to ambush, and wait for the Chitauri army to walk right into the trap.
"Not just draw them in. We also need to plan for attacking through the portal and wiping them out from the other side. Only by truly defeating them can we ensure they won't come back."
There didn't seem to be any flaws in the plan. Most importantly, once they had control of the portal, they held the initiative in the war.
They could decide when to fight and when to shut it down. If things didn't go their way, they could simply close the portal.
They could even let a small batch through, close the gate, eliminate the vanguard, then reopen depending on the situation. But no one thought the Chitauri were so dumb they'd keep charging in like that. Still, as long as the portal could be closed when needed, their combat power would be significantly weakened, and they'd be deterred from trying again. That would count as a victory.
Completely wiping them out might be unrealistic. The key problem was that Earth lacked the ability to fight in space, and no one knew what was on the other side of the portal. If it was deep space, Earth's military would be helpless.
"I need to speak with the council."
Fury left right away. Maria Hill was already handling other tasks. S.H.I.E.L.D. had plenty of business to deal with, and now that the situation with Loki was resolved, Maria had to get back to the mountain of work awaiting her.
Only Thor, Steve, Tony, and Banner remained on site. Although Hawkeye was no longer under control, he had collapsed shortly after waking up. His condition wasn't good, so he went to rest.
Diana was also present. Thor was curiously observing Wonder Woman's armor. Like Loki, he could tell the set was extraordinary. He even had the sense that the strength of the woman before him might rival his own.
"Aren't you from Earth?"
"I'm from Paradise Island. I'm half Olympian." Diana never concealed her identity, though few truly understood what that meant.
But one person, who always enjoyed stirring things up, took it a bit more seriously. Tony Stark explained Diana's background. "Diana is the daughter of Zeus, king of Olympus. She's a god too. I wonder who's stronger between you two."
If it had been the old Thor, he would've immediately challenged Diana to a duel after hearing that. Not out of malice, but just to test each other.
But now, he wasn't so eager to fight someone he had just met, especially with more pressing matters at hand. Ethan had proposed a visit to Asgard, expressing his desire to meet Odin personally.
Of course, Ethan made this request to negotiate for the Cosmic Cube.
(To be continued.)
***
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