The moment the two stepped out of the portal, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents immediately reacted, drawing their guns and aiming, ready to attack.
Nick Fury first raised his hand, stopping the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents from attacking.
Then, looking at the two aliens before him, one tall and mighty, the other slender and elegant, he questioned, "Who are you?"
The slender and elegant one bowed slightly and introduced himself, "I am Ebony Maw, son of Thanos, Master of the Dark Order."
After introducing himself, Ebony Maw pointed to the tall, mighty, and ferocious-looking individual. "Cull Obsidian."
Seeing that the aliens in front of him could communicate, Nick Fury continued to ask, "What is your purpose in coming to Earth?"
Ebony Maw smiled elegantly. "Representing the Mad Titan, to save you."
Nick Fury frowned and refused, "We don't need saving."
Ebony Maw shook his head and slowly walked towards Nick Fury and the others. He raised his hand, and powerful telekinesis moved with it.
The next second, various objects on the ground trembled slightly, then floated up, shooting towards Nick Fury and the others.
Nick Fury and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents quickly dropped to the ground, rolling to dodge, and firing their weapons in return.
Then...
Click... Click...
The triggers were pulled, but the firearms in their hands showed no reaction. Unbeknownst to them, the gun safeties had been re-engaged.
Clint quickly drew his bow and arrow, firing an arrow directly at Ebony Maw's face. However, Ebony Maw waved his hand, and his telekinesis easily swatted the arrow away.
This was an unequal battle, with two generals of the Dark Order fighting against S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
Before long, all the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel in the base were knocked down, losing their combat capability.
And Ebony Maw, also adhering to Thanos's principle, randomly, without personal bias, with absolute fairness, regardless of status, killed half the people in the base.
Coulson, who survived the massacre, called a meeting of the Avengers.
There were a total of six Avengers:
Iron Man Tony Stark, Captain America Steve Rogers, Hawkeye Clint Barton, Black Widow Natasha Romanoff, Hulk Bruce Banner, and Blade.
Clint was very lucky, he was also among the surviving half.
As for Steve, he had only recently awakened and just completed his rehabilitation training.
In addition, Thor participated as an external aid, and Jane Foster participated as Erik's assistant.
"So, two aliens claiming to be from the Dark Order took the Tesseract and killed half the people in the base."
After listening to Coulson's statement, Tony stroked his chin, summarizing.
Clint, Coulson, and Jane Foster nodded with grave expressions.
Natasha, confused, asked, "What is the Dark Order? And what is the Tesseract?"
Thor explained to everyone, "The Dark Order is a powerful evil force in the Universe. For millennia, they have attacked Planets, randomly killing half of the population on each Planet."
"The Tesseract is a divine artifact with infinite energy."
Tony stood up and looked at the three. "I'm very curious, why are you researching the Tesseract?"
"For energy? Stark Industries already has that."
Tony had a premonition that the three had not told the whole truth.
Coulson's expression shifted slightly, and he fell silent.
"The Tesseract can be used to create various high-tech weapons."
Steve suddenly stood up, also looking at the three. "HYDRA back then used the Tesseract to create weapons, attempting to subvert the world."
Coulson's expression changed.
Steve's implication was to question whether S.H.I.E.L.D. intended to emulate HYDRA, using the Tesseract to research weapons and subvert the world. More importantly, there really was HYDRA within S.H.I.E.L.D.
S.H.I.E.L.D. could not bear this accusation.
Coulson quickly began to explain, "This project has already been approved by the World Security Council."
"Our purpose in researching weapons is not to subvert the world, but to protect the world."
Tony looked at Coulson, scoffing, "S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to develop weapons of mass destruction to protect the world?"
"Protect the world from whom? Lucas?"
As intelligent as Tony was, he instantly understood the reason why the Council had agreed to S.H.I.E.L.D. using the Tesseract to develop weapons.
The incident on Japan, Lucas and Thor's performance, had frightened them.
Coulson was silent for a moment, then looked at Thor and slowly explained, "Not just Lucas, but Thor as well."
"Lucas revealed the existence of numerous pantheons on Earth to the world. Since then, the probability and intensity of supernatural events around the globe have been rapidly increasing."
"Governments worldwide urgently need more powerful weapons to maintain order."
"Thor and Loki's appearance made us realize the existence of other life in the Universe. To protect Earthlings from invasion by other alien civilizations, we need more powerful weapons."
Thor didn't want to take the blame for the Dark Order's invasion of Earth, so he retorted, "Earth is one of the Nine Realms, Asgard will protect Earth from invasion."
"On the contrary, it is precisely because you researched the Tesseract and sent coordinates to the Universe that you attracted the Dark Order."
Facing Thor's accusation, Coulson remained silent.
His superior, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury, had been unlucky and unfortunately perished in that massacre. Leading the overall situation alone, he still lacked some ability.
At this moment, Steve stepped forward to mediate, "The most urgent task is to figure out the purpose of those two Dark Order members and to find a way to locate them and retrieve the Tesseract."
Initially, he revealed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s purpose in researching the Tesseract because he suspected S.H.I.E.L.D. of harboring ill intentions, aiming to emulate HYDRA and subvert the world. But since that wasn't the case, he had no objections.
Coulson nodded gratefully to Steve, then began to assign tasks, "Dr. Banner, you are more knowledgeable about gamma rays. I hope you can help detect the Tesseract's energy fluctuations."
"Stark, S.H.I.E.L.D. has taken over global cameras. We hope Jarvis can help monitor, and once those two aliens are found, immediately sound the alarm."
Bruce and Tony nodded, agreeing.
"Also..."
Coulson's tone was a bit embarrassed, but he continued, "Stark, I hope you can help notify Lucas. In critical moments, he might be needed."
"Hmm? Coulson, what are you saying?" Tony's words carried intense sarcasm.
"You researched the Tesseract and built weapons to deal with Lucas. Now that you've caused trouble, you expect Lucas to help solve it?"
The other attendees at the meeting also couldn't help but look at Coulson.
This was indeed too shameless.
Coulson's face flushed. His skin, after all, was not as thick as his deceased superior, Nick Fury.
At this moment, Thor said with a strange expression, "You probably won't be able to contact Lucas for a while, he's not on Earth. He's in the Universe, causing trouble for the Dark Order."