"Mr. Voss, your proposal is excellent, and we will certainly consider it carefully."
One of the council members—a bald white man—spoke calmly through the video screen.
"However, this matter is extremely important. We must make our decision cautiously."
"Of course," Ethan replied with a polite nod. "You should take the time to think about it carefully."
Another council member, a woman, spoke next.
"Mr. Voss, we noticed something during the battle."
Her tone was measured and cautious.
"Members of your Justice League used a special kind of portal during combat."
She paused slightly.
"It appears they used it to capture a large number of enemy soldiers."
Ethan smiled faintly.
"Oh, that one," he said casually. "That portal is called the Exile Portal."
He shrugged.
"I didn't capture any Chitauri soldiers."
"They were simply exiled into the endless void."
His smile widened slightly.
"They probably won't be coming back."
The woman narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Is that so?"
"Of course," Ethan replied lightly. "If you don't believe me, you're welcome to verify it yourselves."
The smile on his face carried a faint hint of mockery.
The council member fell silent.
After the meeting ended and the video feed disconnected, Ethan spat quietly under his breath.
"A bunch of cowardly parasites."
In the original timeline, those same council members had been the ones who ordered a nuclear strike on New York.
Idiots.
Fortunately, Ethan had already discussed matters privately with the President beforehand.
Otherwise, the situation might have become absurd.
Imagine fighting desperately on the battlefield while the people in charge had already surrendered.
Who could tolerate something like that?
After ending the call, Ethan stepped outside.
The superheroes had already gathered together nearby.
"Everyone," Ethan said, looking around the group.
"This battle has come to an end."
A relaxed smile appeared on his face.
"It was a pleasure fighting alongside all of you."
He looked at each of them in turn.
"You're all exceptional commanders, warriors, and protectors."
"It's an honor to know you."
He paused slightly.
"Soon we'll be going our separate ways."
"But I look forward to working together again someday."
Ethan spread his hands casually.
"The doors of the Justice League will always remain open."
As he spoke, his gaze shifted subtly toward two specific people.
Juggernaut.
And Gambit.
Those words were clearly directed at them.
Juggernaut didn't hesitate for long.
The towering brute scratched his chin before asking bluntly.
"Between you and Nick Fury…"
"Who has the stronger backing?"
Ethan laughed.
"Where is Nick Fury right now?"
Juggernaut paused.
Then he nodded silently.
Ethan looked directly at him.
"I'll tell you something Nick Fury would never say."
His voice grew colder.
"What he doesn't dare say, I dare to say."
"What he doesn't dare to do, I dare to do."
"What he doesn't dare to kill…"
Ethan's eyes hardened.
"I dare to kill."
He snorted.
"S.H.I.E.L.D. is weak. Corrupt. Completely useless."
"Everything Nick Fury promised you…"
"I can deliver."
"And more."
Natasha immediately stepped forward.
"That's not true," she said quickly. "S.H.I.E.L.D. is an organization dedicated to—"
Ethan cut her off calmly.
"Natasha."
He looked directly at her.
"Didn't I just do you a huge favor that S.H.I.E.L.D. was never able to help you with?"
The moment he said that, the entire group fell silent.
Natasha's face turned bright red.
The Red Room incident involved sensitive details about her past and her loyalty to S.H.I.E.L.D.
If that information became public, the consequences would be unpredictable.
She immediately muted her microphone.
Now the only remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. representative present was Hawkeye.
Unfortunately, Clint Barton was not particularly skilled at persuasion.
He stood there silently for several seconds, clearly struggling to find the right words.
In the end, he simply said nothing.
Juggernaut looked around briefly.
Then he shrugged.
"Alright," he said simply.
"I'll follow you."
Gambit—Remy LeBeau—remained where he was.
The smooth-talking strategist glanced left and right, clearly hesitating.
His reasons for joining the Avengers had never been particularly noble.
Saving the world?
Defending justice?
Those things had never mattered much to him.
What Remy loved most were money and romance.
And right now, his eyes kept drifting toward Natasha.
Ethan noticed the glance immediately.
He snorted quietly.
So that's how it is.
A simple honey trap.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Come work for me," Ethan said.
"I'll double whatever you're currently getting."
He paused.
"And I can guarantee one more thing."
His smile widened slightly.
"From now on, Victoria will have no secrets from you."
Remy froze.
Then he inhaled sharply.
"Wait… hold on."
His eyes widened.
"You mean the Victoria I'm thinking about?"
"Not some random person named Victoria?"
Ethan burst out laughing.
"Yes."
"I mean exactly the Victoria you're thinking about."
Remy's expression shifted several times.
Shock.
Excitement.
Agony.
Finally, he sighed deeply.
He slowly walked over to Natasha.
"Darling," he said sadly.
"It seems I won't be able to stay by your side anymore."
He placed a hand dramatically over his chest.
"Please take care of yourself."
Natasha blinked in confusion.
"…What?"
It seemed men truly were unreliable creatures.
After exchanging a few final words, the gathering gradually dispersed.
Tony Stark left separately.
According to him, the Avengers had become a joke.
The organization didn't deserve someone of his level.
Nick Fury talked a lot but produced very little.
And frankly, he didn't have many reliable teammates.
Before leaving, Stark even mentioned that he might challenge Ethan to a duel someday.
It seemed the idea of building his own superhero team had already begun forming in his mind.
Of course, Tony also admitted that dealing with people was exhausting.
Machines were much easier to work with.
The Justice League members returned to Typhoon Manor.
Juggernaut and Gambit went with them.
Loki, meanwhile, was temporarily imprisoned inside the divine kingdom.
Originally, Thor had been planning to take Loki—and the Tesseract—back to Asgard immediately.
Unfortunately, Thor's romantic nature interfered.
Jane Foster was currently in Europe.
And Thor decided that seeing her was far more important.
So he postponed his father's orders and left to spend a few days with her.
Ethan didn't mind.
In fact, the delay gave him the perfect opportunity to review his gains from the battle.
He entered the divine kingdom.
The first things visible in the sky were the captured Leviathans.
Fifty or sixty enormous creatures drifted through the air like living warships.
Two of them belonged to Johnny and Carter, hovering separately nearby as their personal mounts.
There were also hundreds of Chitauri flying chariots.
Five or six hundred in total.
Many of them were damaged.
That was unavoidable.
Unlike Leviathans, the smaller vehicles were extremely agile.
They had to be heavily damaged before Ethan's forces could capture them and drag them into the divine realm.
The largest group consisted of Chitauri soldiers.
Tens of thousands of them.
However, because Ethan had not captured the Chitauri command mothership that linked them all together, these bio-engineered soldiers had fallen completely dormant.
The divine kingdom possessed the capability to eventually build devices that could control them.
But for now, there was no need.
They could wait.
Then there was Black Dwarf.
The massive alien warrior had also been captured.
He was undoubtedly a powerful combat asset.
Unfortunately, he was far too large.
And far too ugly.
Unless absolutely necessary, Ethan had no intention of releasing him to scare the public.
But the most valuable gains from this battle were not the soldiers.
They were the two Infinity Stones.
The Tesseract.
And the Mind Stone.
Those two artifacts would play critical roles in the future.
Which also meant they could not remain in Ethan's possession forever.
The Tesseract had originally belonged to Odin.
Now that it was in Ethan's hands, however, returning it was impossible.
At best, he might allow Asgard to borrow it temporarily to repair the Bifrost.
Of course, Odin would have to pay an appropriate price.
Ethan planned to have a very serious discussion with the All-Father about that exchange.
As for the Mind Stone, its role was even more interesting.
It was deeply connected to the origin of Wanda Maximoff and her brother Pietro.
And for the sake of the beautiful Wanda—whom Ethan had admired for a long time—he would eventually need to let Baron Strucker obtain it.
Unfortunately, Strucker possessed nothing valuable enough to trade.
Pierce, on the other hand, did.
So Ethan intended to arrange the transaction through him.
Trading with Pierce would be much simpler.
Before any of that, however, Ethan wanted to measure exactly how much power the two Infinity Stones could contribute to his divine kingdom.
Under his instructions, two experimental machines were quickly constructed.
They operated with a repeating piston-like motion.
The machines were installed beside the portal.
The gems were secured in place.
Then the system was activated.
Almost immediately, Ethan felt thin strands of energy being extracted from the stones and transferred into the divine kingdom.
He observed the process carefully.
At the current efficiency, both gems combined could produce roughly the equivalent of seventy or eighty Wolverines worth of power per day.
That was… disappointing.
Far too little.
But the problem wasn't the stones themselves.
It was the machines.
The temporary devices were far too slow.
If their speed could be increased tenfold…
The results would be incredible.
.....
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