The perspective shifts back to Earth in 2013, where the assembly of scientists, including Peter, is researching a new subject. Instead of using the shell of the Cosmic Cube to directly oppose Kang, they are investigating whether the device can be fashioned into a communication apparatus—something akin to a telephone—to establish contact with the Cosmic Cube residing within Kang's body.
Compared to a head-on collision with Kang, it might be simpler and more certain to call out Korvac.
"How can we ensure that the Cosmic Cube has already developed self-awareness?"
Pym was the first to raise this question, but Peter was quick to answer: "If the Cosmic Cube had no self-awareness, it wouldn't have helped me fulfill the wish to make 'the whole world forget Spider-Man.'"
Several of them looked at Spider-Man. Indeed, none of them remembered who Spider-Man was. However, judging by Spider-Man's familiarity with them, it was impossible for them to have had no connection. Having grasped this point, everyone turned their eyes toward Mar-Vell; after all, the Kree had conducted very deep research into Cosmic Cubes.
Mar-Vell did not hesitate. On one hand, this wasn't some military secret; the Kree only had a history of opposing Cosmic Cubes, not creating them. On the other hand, Mar-Vell was a pacifist, and he by no means believed that Kang's actions were right.
"Very well. I don't know much, but according to the records preserved by the Supreme Intelligence, it once communicated with the Shaper of Worlds—the Skrull Cosmic Cube. The awakening of that entity also occurred under hazy circumstances."
"According to the records, at the very moment of its birth, a Cosmic Cube seems to possess a basic self-awareness and continuously enriches itself. However, they are like being in a dream; they need to be awakened."
"Fine, at least we have some basic knowledge." Tony sighed helplessly, rubbing his forehead as he spoke: "Could you please get to the point? How do you wake up a thing that can reshape the entire universe?"
"Contact. Sufficient contact of thought and consciousness. The Cosmic Cube itself is too vast; there must be a strong enough and numerous enough contact of consciousness to wake it. This process includes the consciousnesses of those killed or modified by the Cosmic Cube." At this point, Mar-Vell spoke with some confusion: "Logically speaking, Kang has modified so much of reality and killed so many enemies that the Cosmic Cube's awakening should be imminent, yet I see no signs of it."
"Perhaps for an artifact that only awakened after destroying two-thirds of an interstellar empire, Earth is still too weak."
Tony felt even more speechless. Wasn't that their entire goal? To wake Korvac ahead of schedule? Otherwise, if they really waited for Korvac to wake up on his own, it might take forever.
But this...
"Cerebro."
Upon hearing those words, Peter immediately realized how to solve the problem. He looked at Beast, who had been listening in and reviewing various experimental data: "Dr. McCoy, can we connect this device to Cerebro?"
"If you mean as a power source, that's very easy. But if you mean as a receiving device for Cerebro..."
Beast understood Peter's meaning. Powerful mental contact could awaken the Cosmic Cube, and here, whose mind was powerful enough? Unquestionably, it was Professor Xavier, who had been resurrected during Kang's modification of reality. Moreover, it wasn't just the Professor's individual mental capacity that was formidable; he could completely connect to the minds of everyone across the globe through Cerebro to accelerate Korvac's awakening.
However, the Professor's telepathy acts on the human brain. The Cosmic Cube doesn't have a human brain, so how could it wake up?
"It can be done."
Answering this was Ant-Man: "I remember... when Spider-Man fought the AI Green Goblin before, the AI Green Goblin tried to enter a human brain to fight Norman Osborn for control of the body, and it had contact with the White Queen. This proves that a super AI can design a data transmission method compatible with brainwaves. As long as I fine-tune Ultron's algorithms, I can achieve this."
At this point, Pym sighed with a bit of desolation: "In the future, Ultron will trigger a terrible disaster. I originally thought I could avoid this by modifying Ultron's underlying logic, but it seems it wasn't that simple. I will destroy Ultron, but before that, let it complete its final task."
"Alright, it looks like this job only requires two people to solve."
As Tony spoke, he picked up his helmet and put it on: "We'll go buy you two some time. Good luck, the two Hanks."
"Avengers—or whoever else—let's go!"
Kang spent a few minutes annihilating the entire army brought by the Age of Ultron and his own variant that had been modified by Ultron. After destroying the opposition, he used the Time Stone to completely seal the time tunnel.
Then, he used the Cosmic Cube and the Time Stone to scrutinize what exactly had happened and why these incidents were occurring one after another. Finally, in this witness, he saw him—Spider-Man.
A very dangerous fellow whom he should not have forgotten.
At that critical moment, Spider-Man's instantaneous contact with the Cosmic Cube had set all of this in motion. Otherwise, a rebellion of this level should have been suppressed long ago. Whether it was Ultron, Doom, or anyone else, they should have been defeated by him already.
Thus, Kang descended from the sky once more, watching the superheroes struggling against the vast swarm of self-repairing robots, and chose to annihilate them completely. The flagship's massive cannon fired once again in an instant. This time, the one who bore the brunt of the strike was Strange. The Sorcerer Supreme, having recovered significantly, blocked the move. At that very moment, Doom ambushed Kang from the rear, his hand reaching for the Cosmic Cube on Kang's chest.
Kang grabbed Doom by the neck and released intense green laser beams from his eyes, blasting Doom's head to pieces. However, the expected smell of burning flesh did not follow; instead, wires shimmering with magical radiance appeared at the neck.
???
Even Doom's Doombots could use magic now?
In an instant, the Doombot exploded. Kang urgently used the Time Stone to escape the disaster. This Doombot had clearly been specially modified; the power of its self-destruction was actually enough to wound him even with the Cosmic Cube.
Kang looked up and saw Doom flying above him, looking down with disdain.
"You dare defy me, the wielder of the Cosmic Cube?!"
"You were never the master of our world, Kang!"
It wasn't Doom who answered Kang, but another voice.
As Magneto descended from the sky, Kang's sword-shaped flagship began to twist, turning into a giant firework that exploded over New York.
"It is time for you to crawl back to your own world."