With his decision already made, Loki carried the Mind Scepter and walked all the way to a point about ten meters in front of Thanos before stopping.
He planted the scepter into the ground, then knelt on one knee toward Thanos.
"Thank you for your gift, Lord Thanos. I will never disappoint you!"
"Hm. I believe in Asgard, and I believe in its prince.
Ebony Maw, take him to the Chitauri fleet."
"Yes!"
At Thanos's order, Ebony Maw nodded respectfully. Then he led Loki to the landing bay of the Sanctuary II mothership and entered a small spacecraft with him.
After boarding, Loki smiled and sat down in the co-pilot's seat. Compared to him, Ebony Maw's expression did not look particularly pleasant.
The craft lifted off quickly and jumped straight to the Chitauri gathering point.
The moment the jump ended, Ebony Maw could not help speaking to Loki, whose smile looked wickedly charming and unruly.
"His Majesty never trusts someone easily, yet you have gained his trust. But I know your heart is full of deceit and pride. I hope your pride will not disappoint His Majesty!"
"Heh heh, Lord Ebony Maw!" Loki answered with confident ease. "Now that I've obtained Lord Thanos's support, do you really think I still have any chance of failing?"
"Indeed."
Ebony Maw considered it, then shook his head seriously. He clasped his hands behind his back and stood beside Loki like a statue.
Only when the craft arrived did Ebony Maw move again, continuing to lead Loki into the Chitauri flagship.
The Chitauri flagship looked like two U-shaped magnets stuck back-to-back.
Or rather, it looked more like a gigantic letter H.
All around it, countless dragon-like landing carriers, flesh fused with machinery, circled and prowled around the hull.
Ebony Maw and Loki's craft flew all the way toward the flagship's center, the middle section of the H-shaped vessel.
The sealed flagship opened its gates at once for Ebony Maw's craft.
After the two entered, Ebony Maw led Loki out of the small spacecraft and into the flagship's command center.
As they walked, Ebony Maw explained to Loki.
"The Chitauri will be the most suitable troops for you, because this force has no commanders.
You only need to input your genetic signature into the Chitauri command brain, and you will gain full command authority over this biomechanical army.
They can enter hibernation at any time to avoid wasting energy. They have no consciousness and do not tire. All you need to do is issue orders, and they will fight to the death without retreat.
Even among His Majesty's seven top-tier forces, the Chitauri are not ranked at the bottom."
As he spoke, Ebony Maw lightly flicked his right hand. A sharp pain exploded across Loki's forehead.
"Damn it!"
Loki roared on instinct.
In that instant of pain, a long, narrow cut appeared at the center of his forehead!
Just a flick of a hand, and it injured the body Loki took pride in?
This was the body of Asgard's greatest assassin's...
The body of its greatest mage!
Loki's face turned dark on the spot.
Ebony Maw acted as if he could not see Loki's displeasure. With another gentle motion of his right hand, a small lump of flesh floated toward the command brain container.
Ignoring Loki's anger completely, he finished the step of inputting the genetic information.
"Flesh closest to the brain is more effective. The Chitauri command brain likes the taste of intelligence. You are rather foolish, but at least you have a bit of cleverness!"
As he spoke, Ebony Maw continued waving his hand at Loki.
That right hand of his was like the hand of a god that could control everything. Countless mysterious devices piled inside the Chitauri flagship's command room immediately rose into the air.
Those components combined again and again, and in the end formed an apparatus that looked somewhat like a trampoline.
After the assembly was complete, Ebony Maw clasped his hands behind his back and explained to Loki.
"This is the transfer array His Majesty used back then to search for and harness the Space Stone's energy. You can use it to exert some influence over the Space Stone.
However, that influence is not particularly strong. If you plan to rely on the array to remotely manipulate the Stone and send you and your forces to Earth..."
Ebony Maw shook his head lightly.
"Then that is basically impossible!"
"So, Lord Ebony Maw, you must have a way, right?" Loki did not look panicked at all. He believed Thanos's subordinates would definitely solve his problem.
As for why he believed that...
Because in today's universe, there was almost nothing Thanos could not solve.
What followed proved Loki's guess correct.
"Indeed!"
Ebony Maw explained unhurriedly.
"We do not need to send all your forces into Midgard. So the first to arrive in Midgard will only be you.
You understand what I mean."
Loki nodded at once, understanding.
"The old-fashioned way. I go to Midgard personally and open the gate, right?"
"Correct!" Ebony Maw confirmed.
"Remember, you have fewer than five chances to teleport. The reason we can use the array to control the Space Stone is because five thousand years ago, the array made contact with it and retained a small portion of the Stone's energy.
After you activate the array, that energy will continuously dissipate into the universe. So you must quickly grasp the Stone's fluctuation pattern and open the portal at the right moment.
That moment will be extremely brief. Calling it the span of a blink would be appropriate.
So you do not have many chances to practice. Study it, become familiar with it, master it, do everything you can, Prince of Asgard.
I look forward to your success!"
After speaking, Ebony Maw nodded to Loki, then turned and left decisively.
Watching Ebony Maw's back grow farther and farther away, Loki had to admit he felt envy.
He was truly jealous of the insane confidence of Thanos's people.
Look at them. He had only made a suggestion, just a suggestion!
He himself had not even planned to succeed. He only wanted to secure a position under Thanos.
And the result?
Thanos gave him the Mind Stone. He gave him the Chitauri fleet.
And after giving him all that, they did not demand anything of him. They simply let him handle everything in whatever way he wanted!
All that mattered was that he fulfilled his promise.
That level of confidence was practically criminal.
Thanos and his subordinates were basically certain that no matter whether Loki succeeded in taking Earth, no matter where Loki fled, no matter what power he gained in the future...
If you break your agreement with Thanos, then no matter how far you are from him, Thanos will find you and make you pay a price great enough!
That invisible pressure made Loki shake his head instinctively. He did not like the sensation of being shackled.
So he strode to the transfer array and examined it carefully.
After a long while...
"Hm. Unbelievable. The scientific style from five thousand years ago was actually extremely minimalistic," he said helplessly as he looked at the array, which did not have a single visible control button.
"So minimalistic I can't even find the switch!"
With that, Loki simply stepped onto the array.
"Then let's think about it differently. Maybe the array is always working."
As he spoke, he spread his arms on the platform, repeatedly trying to sense the Space Stone's power.
A moment later.
"Haha, just as I thought. I can feel it, that power being constantly suppressed, waiting for its final eruption.
Midgard's way of using the Space Stone is far too crude. They only extract the power inside it, compress it, store it, then release it.
It's like obtaining the finest pegasus, and instead of taking it to war, you force it to breed endlessly just to produce offspring.
I have always believed these miracle-like Stones have souls. Midgard's methods are nothing but humiliation to the Stone.
So I am the destiny the Space Stone has brought to Midgard.
The destiny that will judge them, and then govern them!"
As his words fell, Loki attempted, for the first time, to communicate with and utilize the Space Stone's energy.
In an instant, layers of blue fluorescent light enveloped Loki's body.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon lasted only two seconds before vanishing.
"Hm. This tearing sensation from space feels completely different from the Bifrost.
The Bifrost is like sailing a boat downstream on a river.
But this makes me feel like I've fallen straight into a deep cavern, and the end of the fall is the place I'm going!"
After that, Loki kept thinking about why he failed, and that contemplation went on for quite some time.
...
Midgard, which is to say, our beautiful Earth.
Inside the very un-beautiful Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. base, over two thousand S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and elite scholars were evacuating in an orderly manner, like ants moving house.
They had just received a high-level order transmitted directly from the Helicarrier!
"Evacuate all staff involved in Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Halt research on the Tesseract!"
Inside the command center, Hill spoke helplessly to Banner and Dr. Selvig.
"I've followed your suggestion and ordered an evacuation for everyone. So will the risk you mentioned still exist?"
After speaking, she looked at the two of them wearily, silently waiting for their answer.
At Hill's question, Dr. Selvig immediately shook his head.
"The risk always exists. The Tesseract's activity level is higher than it was two days ago. I cannot guarantee what you want."
The instant he finished, Banner followed up at once.
"That's far too conservative. Let me put it simply for you, Director.
The Tesseract has long since lost its former balance and dormancy. It's like a sleeping volcano gradually waking. It is brewing its energy, and once that brewing is complete, it will erupt."
"Erupt?!" Hill pressed her lips together. "To what extent?"
"It will produce a wormhole, and it may even evolve into a black hole!!!"
"Fuck!"
Banner's answer made Hill curse out loud. It was a result she absolutely could not accept.
What the hell was a black hole? Hawking told us long ago. Earth could not afford the cost of a black hole appearing!
Fortunately, Dr. Selvig continued quickly.
"But we have a way to deal with it, Director Hill. We simply must not stop stimulating the Tesseract. We let it continue accumulating energy, while using instruments and preparing to isolate the Tesseract's energy at any moment!"
"What exactly do you mean?" Hill asked, confused.
Selvig explained directly.
"It means we proactively accelerate the Tesseract's energy activity, so the wormhole is born early, before it accumulates enough strength.
At the same time, we isolate the Tesseract's energy immediately, preventing the wormhole from growing into a black hole.
Then the wormhole will collapse violently. There will still be danger, but by my calculations, the impact will not exceed a medium hydrogen bomb!"
The moment he finished, Banner roared in dissatisfaction.
"Selvig!"
Banner looked furious.
"That is not a good solution. We can't determine the scale of the wormhole, and what it releases could be a black hole right away. I discussed this with you long ago. Do not treat proactively unleashing danger as a solution, especially when we cannot be one hundred percent sure of the danger level!
You promised me you would end the stimulation of the Tesseract's energy and bury it in a barren place where no one goes, completely extending the time before the Tesseract goes out of control. So why are you bringing up this radical plan again now?
Are you dissatisfied with me?"
/-\
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