"Chitauri?"
"You just said… Chitauri?"
Loki's brows furrowed slightly, and his voice carried a hint of incredulity.
A Midgardian… actually knew about the Chitauri?
This shouldn't be possible!
Even before those creatures had approached him, Loki himself had never heard of the Chitauri.
And yet, this seemingly backward, ignorant mortal… knew?
Not only that, he had brought up the Chitauri at this very moment, with implications in his words as clear as day.
It was almost as if he knew the extent of Loki's connection to the Chitauri.
Impossible!
"Surprised already?"
Nick Fury paced slowly in front of Loki, keeping the rhythm of the negotiation firmly in his hands.
"What if I told you… I also know that you stole the Tesseract just to open a portal and summon the Chitauri here?"
Whish!
Immediately, Loki began to descend into utter confusion.
Even the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.
Shock, disbelief, stupefaction, surprise…
A parade of expressions flashed across his face, each more spectacular than the last.
"How… how do you know all of this?"
Several long seconds passed before Loki finally managed to ask, disbelief written across every feature.
For heaven's sake, Loki's mind was a storm of chaos.
He could not remain calm.
From his perspective, such a thing was impossible!
His secret plot with the Chitauri hadn't even truly begun, yet the enemy already knew everything.
What on earth had gone wrong?
Loki was certain nothing had gone wrong on his side, and there was no way the Chitauri had betrayed him or leaked information to Midgardians!
Even the God of Mischief could feel utterly at a loss in this moment.
"How I know is not important," Fury said.
"What matters is… I know far more than you can imagine."
"So… are we going to keep playing spy games, or should we stop wasting time and actually solve this problem?"
Fury unconsciously clasped his hands behind his back, exuding confidence and authority.
"The scepter!"
"The scepter is right here!"
Yet, what Fury could not have foreseen…
While he was confidently facing Loki, the future Ant-Man had already infiltrated the heavily guarded vault and stood before the scepter.
"Good news, everyone! I found the scepter—it's right in front of me!"
Future Ant-Man excitedly relayed this good news over the comms to the other members of the future Avengers.
Nearby, Future Tony, Future Captain America, and Future Banner exchanged glances, each feeling a surge of excitement.
The first Infinity Stone had been located.
"Scott, can you get the scepter out?"
Future Tony asked impatiently.
"I'm not sure. The security level here isn't a problem for me, but guys… this is an Infinity Stone."
"I've never shrunk an Infinity Stone before—I don't know if it'll work."
Future Ant-Man voiced his concerns.
If he couldn't shrink the scepter, he wouldn't be able to take it undetected, and that could raise alarms.
"Scott, don't act rashly," Future Captain America cautioned, his usual steady demeanor shining through. "Your task is to confirm the stone's location—not to take it yet."
"What a shame," Future Tony muttered, shaking his head. "The base's defenses aren't a problem for us. Even if Scott can't shrink the scepter, I can still take it."
"And then what?"
Future Captain America continued with reasoned caution. "If we act now, we risk alerting SHIELD. Taking the Tesseract won't be so easy afterward."
"Tony, I think we really should play it safe," Future Banner added.
Future Tony, though a little less sharp-edged than his present-day self, understood teamwork. He didn't act rashly but listened to his teammates. And they were right—caution was justified.
Without further delay, Future Tony connected to the SHIELD base's network and instructed FRIDAY to locate the Tesseract.
For FRIDAY, this task was simple.
Soon, the system pinpointed the location and relayed the information back to Future Tony.
"Alright, cricket boy," he said, passing the info to Future Ant-Man. "Nick Fury recently moved a 'briefcase' into another vault. I suspect it's the Tesseract."
He then provided the location of the second vault.
"Got it! I'll go check it out now!"
Future Ant-Man responded immediately, easily accessing the vault Tony had mentioned and spotting the case.
"Okay, everyone, I found the case. Next, I'll enter it and confirm if it's the Tesseract."
He shrank again, slipped through a gap, and saw a massive blue cube before him.
"Jackpot, guys!" Future Ant-Man shouted with delight.
The future Avengers were equally thrilled.
Initially, arriving in this alternate timeline had weighed heavily on them. But things had gone more smoothly than expected—two Infinity Stones located so quickly.
"Got it, Scott. Pull back!"
Future Captain America called him back.
The future Avengers regrouped to plan their next moves.
Meanwhile, Nick Fury remained in the SHIELD base, verbally sparring with Loki, trying to convince him to abandon his impossible plan to invade New York, while also extracting intelligence.
What intelligence?
Naturally… about the Purple Man.
As the diary had clearly stated, Loki invaded New York because of the Purple Man's manipulation.
And also… about Black Widow being mind-controlled by Loki.
This wasn't just a matter concerning Black Widow alone.
Without clarifying this, Fury couldn't confirm the trustworthiness of the other Avengers.
This issue was extremely important to him.
But Loki? The God of Mischief!
Even if Fury initially caught him off guard with extraordinary intelligence, could he truly manipulate Loki?
Compared to the crafty old fox Fury, Loki was an even older, more experienced fox.
In short, their verbal duel was spectacular.
"If you want to pass time reading a newspaper, I can accommodate. After all, you are a god—privileges apply," Fury said, then left expressionless.
Although Fury hadn't achieved all his goals, he had gained some useful information.
Some clues about the Purple Man were important, though not urgent.
The most pressing matter? Black Widow.
Through intelligence exchange, Fury obtained vital information from Loki.
According to Loki, freeing Black Widow from mind control was simple—just touch her with the scepter.
Given Fury's suspicious nature, facing Loki, he naturally wouldn't take this at face value.
But that didn't stop him from making a bold decision:
Test the scepter on another SHIELD agent first.
From the latest diary spoilers, Fury deduced an important fact:
The scepter almost certainly contained the Mind Stone.
It seemed Loki controlled Black Widow through the scepter.
Subsequent tests confirmed Fury's analysis.
Touching the scepter to a SHIELD agent, Fury found he could control or release the mind at will.
In that moment, Fury knew Loki had told the truth.
The scepter could indeed free Black Widow from mind control.
Subsequent tests confirmed this. Fury could manipulate the "test subject" agent freely—control minds, release control—whatever he wished.
Everything was smooth, effortless, precise.
Fury was genuinely surprised—not by Loki's honesty, which was easy to verify, but by the fact that he could freely wield Loki's artifact.
Unlike Thor's hammer, which required worthiness, Loki's scepter had no such restrictions.
In fact, during the time-travel mission, the future Avengers had already used it. In "What If," Black Widow even controlled Loki directly with it.
But now… all that was secondary. First, they had to free Black Widow.
Fury pressed the scepter to Black Widow's chest, instinctively controlling it, and freed her from Loki's control.
She immediately regained her senses.
"I was in the bathroom… washing my hands… when suddenly I saw Loki in the mirror…"
Black Widow recounted everything.
Fury now had a clear understanding.
From her account, Loki had only controlled Black Widow and the special agents she recruited—not the other Avengers.
In other words:
Tony, Steve, the Red Guardian—they were still trustworthy.
With the scepter in Fury's hands, they had confidence.
Naturally, the next step was clear.
Fury gathered all the Avengers again and tested everyone with the scepter, confirming no one else was under Loki's control.
Finally, they could relax.
"So… what do we do with Loki?"
"And his scepter?"
The Avengers debated intensely.
Though Loki was captured, he wasn't ordinary—an Asgardian, Thor's brother, no less.
Ordinary crime procedures didn't apply.
After discussion, they decided that aside from tightly imprisoning Loki temporarily, no better option existed.
And the Tesseract and scepter?
They were unsafe at the temporary base. They needed to be transferred quickly to more secure facilities.
With Loki's previous theft as a warning—even captured, no one could guarantee he wouldn't escape.
Plus, the diary had revealed that future Avengers would come through time to seize these items.
Fury assigned a highly capable team, with Avengers personally overseeing the transfers, to two of SHIELD's most secure bases.
Though the process went smoothly, Fury remained cautious.
Each base had extreme defenses, supplemented by Stark technology.
No precaution was excessive.
Yet Fury didn't anticipate that trouble would strike…
Just three days later.
Tony Stark, in his luxurious villa, received a warning from J.A.R.V.I.S.:
"Sir, the Delaware base system has been breached. A higher-level algorithm is rewriting its programs!"
"The entire surveillance system was controlled within three seconds!"
-----------------------
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