The scene on the screen continued to play.
Nick Fury and Iron Man both withdrew their attention and refocused on the image.
Nick Fury had a brief, unproductive conversation with Dr. Selvig, and then called over his other trusted confidant, Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye.
Barton made a dramatic entrance, swinging down from a great height on a rope.
"Barton, your mission is observation and lookout!" Nick Fury said, a bit exasperated.
"Only from a high vantage point can you see far!" Barton replied nonchalantly.
"Did you see what activated the Tesseract?" Nick Fury then asked, his expression serious.
"No one entered or exited; Dr. Selvig is clean," Hawkeye Barton said with certainty, "If there's a problem, it's not on our end."
"Our end?" A hint of confusion appeared in Nick Fury's single eye.
"Yes, the Tesseract is a door to the other side of the universe, right? Since it's a door, it should be able to be opened from both sides."
Barton was speculating.
"The Tesseract is a door to the other side of the universe?"
At this point, Black Widow's expression shifted. "Could this door be the portal above Stark Tower?"
"That possibility can't be ruled out!" Nick Fury nodded, though his face was subtly grim.
By now, all signs indicated that the Tesseract was heavily "suspect" in the Chitauri invasion of New York.
Crack!
As they watched, the Tesseract suddenly emitted a burst of energy.
Everyone, both in front of and within the screen, was instantly captivated by the energy fluctuation, observing the Tesseract with a mix of tension and vigilance.
The energy on the Tesseract began to surge and converge, and then suddenly, it emitted a beam of energy.
At the end of the energy beam, a mass of energy began to churn and roll, and faintly, a portal was opened.
"It is the Tesseract!"
Iron Man and Black Widow exclaimed almost simultaneously.
The portal in the base was identical to the one above Stark Tower!
The only difference was one was large and the other was small.
"Are the Chitauri really invading Earth through the Tesseract?" Nick Fury murmured, his face grim, a hint of worry showing.
The thought of such a global time bomb hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D. gave the intelligence chief a massive headache.
However, no one blamed Nick Fury for it, as the footage clearly stated that the door was opened by people from "the other side."
The Tesseract was also self-activated.
It had nothing to do with Nick Fury.
Boom!
At this moment, the energy of the portal suddenly fluctuated violently, and a powerful burst of energy erupted.
A man, holding a spear-like weapon and with slicked-back hair, appeared before everyone.
"Is this the person from 'the other side'? Is this... a Chitauri?"
Black Widow said, somewhat surprised.
According to their previous speculation, the other side of the door was the Chitauri, so the one who walked out of the portal should also be a Chitauri.
Everyone was ready to witness the true appearance of the Chitauri.
But to their surprise, a human face emerged.
However, the human-faced individual was wearing a uniquely styled robe, as if attending a comic convention, so he clearly wasn't an ordinary Earthling.
Especially the spear-like weapon in his hand, with a faint blue glow at its tip, also looked far from simple.
It certainly didn't seem like a product of Earth civilization.
"Sir, please put down your spear!"
On screen, Nick Fury, with a wary expression, warned the "spear man."
But the spear man, with an evil and sinister smile, mercilessly swung the spear in his hand at Nick Fury and his agents.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Blue energy shockwaves were unleashed by the spear man, devastating the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on site.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
The agents on site also mercilessly pulled their triggers at the spear man, but the bullets striking his body only caused sparks to fly.
They caused no harm to the spear man whatsoever.
The two sides thus began their fierce battle.
"He can jump several meters in a single leap, kick someone several meters away with a casual strike, his strange weapon can emit energy shockwaves, and he's impervious to blades and bullets."
Black Widow summarized, "Either he's an alien with a human face, or he's a sorcerer."
"I rather hope he's a sorcerer," Nick Fury interjected.
If the spear man was truly just a sorcerer, it would mean all their previous conjectures were wrong.
The Tesseract and the Chitauri invasion were unrelated; at least, this incident shown in the footage had nothing to do with the Chitauri.
This would undoubtedly be a good thing.
Humans fighting among themselves is always better than an alien invasion, right?
"Ever heard of Murphy's Law?" Iron Man rubbed his forehead slightly. "Why do I have a bad feeling?"
Murphy's Law, as one of the three great discoveries of 20th-century Western culture, is quite well-known.
Highly trained senior agents like Nick Fury and Black Widow naturally knew about it.
This law can be summarized in a simple sentence: If anything can go wrong, it will, no matter how small the probability.
"Stark, you can choose to shut up at appropriate times," Black Widow said to Iron Man, a bit annoyed.
She hadn't felt anything before, but after Iron Man said that, Black Widow also felt an inexplicable unease.
Although Murphy's Law sounds rather mystical and lacks scientific backing, countless real-life cases truly conform to this law.
Otherwise, how could this law be so famous?
And what followed truly proved this point.
The spear man was incredibly strong, quickly routing the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Hawkeye Barton tried to resist, but the spear man thrust his spear into Barton's chest.
Barton's pupils turned black, and then... he was directly controlled by the spear man.
Not only Barton, but several other agents were also controlled by the spear man in the same way.