This was the first time Ethan had come to the Avengers base.
Unlike the original plot, this time the Avengers, from the moment of their inception, were a semi-official organization.
Steve Rogers, already a military man, became the representative of the official figures within the Avengers. His military status also made it easier for those in Washington D.C. to accept him as the commander of the Avengers.
Although Tony didn't particularly like the old-fashioned and rigid Captain America, due to Howard's resurrection and the fact that Tony's destiny had been steered onto another unknown path by Ethan, while he still didn't much care for Captain America, the two could at least get along as pure colleagues.
So, when Tony arrived, he also took the opportunity to greet Steve, who was stationed there permanently.
Steve, seeing Ethan again, also warmly welcomed him.
"This place is quite large. Do you want me to show you around?"
"Let me get my things first, then we can take our time looking around this place."
After a period of construction and operation, this base had complete living and training facilities. The funding, of course, was entirely provided by Stark Industries. Externally, it was certainly not advertised this way. After all, this was a relatively formal semi-official organization, or in the eyes of ordinary people, the Avengers were a completely official organization.
The current members, aside from Iron Man Tony Stark, were basically from some special government agencies or the military. Although Ant-Man Scott Lang's public identity was that of a talent recruited from the civilian sector, a little digging would reveal that his father-in-law was a former high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. official, so in a sense, Ant-Man was not civilian at all.
Steve heard that Ethan was here to pick something up and immediately remembered that there was a complete factory under the base where a spaceship had been undergoing modifications, and it seemed that spaceship was being modified specifically for Ethan.
"The spaceship under the base?"
For an old-timer like Captain America, born and living over seventy years ago, space was a very distant concept, and he hadn't expected to come into such close contact with space technology right here in the place where he lived and worked.
"Yes, Tony said if it stayed here any longer, I might not be able to get my ship back, so I came to pick it up immediately after the modifications were completed."
Steve smiled. As the commander of the Avengers, he was certainly aware of this situation. It wasn't just Dr. Hank who had an eye on that spaceship. Most people working at this base were curious about it.
Even Nick Fury, who was now an advisor with a leisurely position, would often come over to look at the spaceship.
If Tony hadn't repeatedly emphasized the ownership of this spaceship, it's hard to say what Nick Fury might have done.
"I heard from Happy, and I should thank you for helping out during this time."
As the commander of the Avengers, this base was nominally under Steve's command, meaning everything here was under his jurisdiction.
Ethan's spaceship was being modified in this place, and as the commander, Steve also had the authority to intervene. Nick Fury had once tried to go through Steve to request permission to send some official scientists to study it, which was actually to secretly learn and copy some technology.
However, all requests were rejected by Steve. Steve believed that the spaceship belonged to Ethan. Although Stark had put the spaceship at the Avengers base for modification, it was essentially a private item, and he had no right to make decisions on behalf of someone else.
If Nick Fury wanted to visit or request space technology, he should go directly to Ethan or Tony.
With that said, there was no need to continue the topic. Nick Fury knew Steve's personality and knew he would not compromise on this matter.
Moreover, he didn't need to risk offending the entire Avengers to do this. The current main composition of the Avengers was Steve's fans and Iron Man's friends. If he forcibly took the ship, he would directly offend both factions, and he probably wouldn't be able to walk through the front door here ever again.
Considering that Maria Hill had been adventuring with Ethan, he knew that technology like that in this spaceship would eventually be available to him.
Thinking of the advanced technology and the miraculous training method that Maria Hill had brought back several times, he felt that he had made the right choice back then. Cooperating with Ethan was much better than turning against him.
So, let's continue to cooperate well.
While chatting about recent events, Ethan asked about Steve's progress and understanding of the Holy Light. The result surprised Ethan. Steve actually didn't quite understand what was going on with the power he had mastered. He simply followed the training method Ethan had left behind, and then naturally mastered this power.
The Holy Light had also performed another round of reinforcement on his body, not only stimulating the potential in his body that hadn't been fully utilized but also significantly improving his physical fitness once again, and even healing some old injuries in his body.
After that, Steve practiced routinely every day, handled official duties for the Avengers, and occasionally went out to fight Hydra or other threats. His life was very simple, and his strength was steadily increasing.
The current Steve could already be called a quite powerful Paladin. Even if he didn't wear armor or use a warhammer, he still used his round shield with its unscientific trajectory more often in combat, but the dense Holy Light within him could almost turn Steve into a pure energy life form at any moment.
"You'd better stop for a while."
Stepping onto a relatively secluded elevator heading toward the underground factory, Ethan took this opportunity to explain his current situation to Steve.
"I didn't expect you to progress so quickly back then, so many situations weren't written in that manual."
If Steve continued training like this, his life form would definitely transform.
However, continuing to retain his flesh and blood body like Ethan, or directly abandoning his flesh and blood body, were completely different paths.
"Something like that exists?"
Even Tony didn't know this point. Would he have to face such a choice in the future?
"You don't need to worry about this. Just continue on your current path. It's just that Steve's situation is quite special right now."
His affinity with the Holy Light was too high, and although his physical fitness had improved under the baptism of the Holy Light, it still couldn't keep up with the speed of the Holy Light's progress. If this continued, he might unknowingly transform into a Holy Light creature.
"Thank you for your warning."
Steve also understood. He hadn't expected his talent in this area to be so good, so good that he felt a little flustered himself. This didn't seem like a good thing, did it?
Transforming into a pure energy life form? He had no concept of that.
"Actually, you don't need to worry too much. As long as you can hold onto your original intention, the change in external form won't affect your thoughts. It's just that a change in life form will cause some changes in living habits, and perhaps over time, your thoughts might change."
Ethan thought of Imperius and Tyrael, whom he had encountered not long ago. These angels were also a type of energy life form. If Steve transformed into that appearance, there would be nothing outwardly wrong with it.
Furthermore, in the DC universe, there was a Dr. Manhattan who, by chance, also became a special energy life form and was terrifyingly powerful.
However, Ethan still introduced various possibilities and then let Steve choose for himself. He had originally let Steve train the Holy Light out of kindness, not because he wanted to turn Captain America into an angel.
"I think it's better to be a human."
On many levels, Steve could no longer be considered an ordinary human, but as long as he was willing, there was nothing wrong with insisting on his human identity.
Just like Ethan, he was even more not human than Captain America. The improvement in his life realm was real, and the gap between him and humans was all-encompassing, but this didn't prevent him from eating and sleeping like an ordinary person. As long as he was willing, he could be a person.
After instructing Steve on what to pay attention to next, the elevator also stopped.
When the three of them walked out of the elevator and arrived at the vast underground factory, the first thing they saw was the Prometheus spacecraft.
"It really looks like there's no change."
Tony rolled his eyes.
"Isn't that what you asked for?"
Because Ethan valued the appearance of the Prometheus, Tony tried his best to retain its original look. Even though the interior had been greatly changed, and even the external armor had been replaced, the overall appearance remained unchanged.
"Have all the modifications been completed?"
"You can go up and take a look."
Led by Tony, Ethan inspected every corner of the Prometheus, and at the same time, it was Steve's first time getting a detailed look at this spaceship.
After once again marveling at the immense changes in the world, he also realized that the complexity of this world far exceeded his imagination.
As the commander of the Avengers, he naturally knew that Earth was not the only civilization in the universe.
Even without mentioning Asgard, a cosmic power that was relatively friendly to Earth, there were many other powerful forces in the galaxy. They had more advanced civilizations or weapons than Earth, and their temperaments were far from benevolent, capable of launching devastating wars against Earth at any time.
"Is this spaceship considered excellent in our universe?"
Ethan turned to look at Tony. He couldn't be sure about this question. Only Tony, who had studied a vast amount of advanced cosmic technology, could give a clear answer.
"This ship is only considered a decent spaceship in the galaxy. It's fine for adventuring and traveling, but for cosmic warfare, it's far from enough."
Any main battleship of the Kree Empire is not something this small ship can contend with.
"So for a long time, Earth will still need the Avengers to protect it."
(To be continued.)
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