"How bad is the situation?"
Nick Fury met up with Coulson and asked about the situation with a grave expression.
"The worst part is, we don't know the situation at all, sir," Coulson replied with an equally heavy tone, taking off his sunglasses.
Then, the group began to enter the base. As they walked, Coulson reported the situation to Nick Fury.
"Four hours ago, Dr. Selvig detected an energy surge from the Tesseract."
"NASA didn't authorize him to conduct tests."
"He wasn't conducting tests! He wasn't even in the room; the Tesseract triggered itself!"
Although their conversation was brief, it still revealed some key information.
That is, S.H.I.E.L.D. was researching the Cosmic Cube!
Iron Man couldn't help but glance at Nick Fury, full of warning: "Nick Fury, it's very dangerous to research something you can't understand on your own!"
"Stark, do you think I, as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., don't know what I should and shouldn't do better than you?"
"You're just a scientist, and a scientist with huge character flaws at that. I understand how this world works better than you! I'm also more proficient in the rules of this world than you are!"
"So don't tell me what to do. If I do something, it means I have a reason for it!"
Nick Fury retorted mercilessly.
"Oh really? What if it brings danger to Earth? How can you ensure that won't happen?" Iron Man was equally unyielding.
"Boys, can you quiet down? This isn't the time for arguing," Black Widow said leisurely from the side.
"Every second counts now. Don't miss important information!" She reminded them, her eyes fixed on the image on the screen.
Nick Fury and Iron Man both closed their mouths and refocused all their attention on the image.
"Dr. Selvig?" Nick Fury silently noted the name.
He knew nothing about this name now; he had never heard of it, but from the image, it was clear that his future self had found this person to research the Tesseract.
Since his future self chose him, it meant this person must have some skills.
Perhaps he could make contact with such a talent in advance.
On the screen, the scene continued.
"What's the energy level now?"
Nick Fury continued to ask Coulson about the situation.
"It's continuously rising! After confirming that the doctor couldn't shut it down, we began ordering an evacuation," Coulson replied.
"How long will it take to evacuate everyone?"
"It should be cleared in about half an hour."
"Hurry up!"
"Understood!"
After Coulson acknowledged, he took the order and went to execute it.
Nick Fury, along with Agent Hill, walked down the long corridor towards the basement.
"Sir, evacuation might be useless."
As they walked, Agent Hill expressed her concerns, "If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, I don't think hiding anywhere will help."
"I want you to ensure the Phase Two prototype can be safely transferred!" Nick Fury said.
"Nick Fury, don't you have anything to say?" Iron Man couldn't help but accuse Nick Fury again, with a look of ridicule.
"I never expected that, besides those aliens, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is also one of the threats to destroy the world! How wonderful!"
Nick Fury was speechless this time, having been rebuked by Iron Man.
Because in the future, his research on the Tesseract indeed brought a crisis to all humanity.
Agent Hill had made it very clear: if the Tesseract's energy couldn't be controlled, "hiding anywhere would be useless."
Isn't that a global crisis?
"Sir, Stark is right," Black Widow also said in a deep voice to Nick Fury.
"I believe your intentions were good, and I believe you didn't intend to harm Earth when you decided to research the Tesseract."
"But now that we know there's such a risk in researching the Tesseract, why not stop before it's too late?"
"Both of you!" Nick Fury raised his hands, "None of this has happened yet, so please don't sound like you're judging me, okay?"
"Now that I know the risks of doing this, do you think I'd be foolish enough to let it actually happen?"
"Who knows," Iron Man wasn't buying it.
As for Nick Fury intending to abandon his research on the Tesseract, Iron Man simply didn't believe it; only a fool would believe an intelligence chief.
Iron Man secretly made a decision in his heart: once he returned, he would put all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret research bases under full surveillance.
He had to ensure everything was under his control.
That way, when any hint of risk appeared, he could take action immediately.
"Doctor, what's going on? Tell me exactly what the situation is now."
On the screen, Nick Fury arrived at the underground base and walked up to a person who was clearly a scientist.
Undoubtedly, it was Dr. Selvig, mentioned earlier.
"The Tesseract is acting up," Dr. Selvig said.
"Don't joke with me."
"I'm not joking. The Tesseract is not only active, but… it's doing whatever it wants!"
"Didn't you try unplugging it?"
"It's a power source in itself. We shut down the power, and it turned itself back on. If the energy reaches its peak…"
"Isn't that our goal? To absorb energy from the cosmos!"
"We're not ready yet! My calculations still need some time…"
This conversation between Nick Fury and Dr. Selvig was also full of information, and the people present keenly grasped a key point.
"Absorbing energy from the cosmos"!
"Found it! The reason for the Chitauri invasion of Earth has been found!"
Iron Man stated emphatically, "Nick Fury tried to use the Tesseract to absorb cosmic energy, but in the process, he accidentally released some kind of signal from the Tesseract into space, which was then detected by the Chitauri!"
"It must be!"
"Stark, that's just your theory," Nick Fury said with a dark face, but his confidence wasn't as strong.
"But it's very logical, isn't it?" Iron Man said with a righteous expression.
"It's logical, so what do you want me to do, apologize to you?" Nick Fury snorted, "Stark, grow up, don't act like a child! Our job isn't to argue about who's right or wrong, but to solve the problem!"