Aboard the Chitauri flagship, in the command room, near the teleportation device.
Loki, bewildered, felt the power of the Space Stone.
This damn thing was extremely active half an hour ago—how did it suddenly lose its energy?
Of course, the energy hadn't completely vanished; it was just weakening at a steady rate.
But even weakening was problematic, since he hadn't successfully communicated with the Space Stone at all.
Even if the Space Stone's activity increased, remote manipulation would be difficult.
Let alone now!
After all, it was an Infinity Stone—there were only a handful of people in the universe who could directly harness its power.
Most could only use it indirectly through special containers, like Loki's Scepter, embedding the Stone in a tool.
Even Thanos could only use one Infinity Stone at a time.
Without the Infinity Gauntlet, he couldn't wield the unified power of all six Stones with his bare hands.
Remote manipulation was even harder, obviously.
But what could Loki do? He had no other choice but to keep trying to communicate.
He had no way out.
…
Meanwhile, at SHIELD's temporary Pegasus Project base on Earth.
Hill was leading Coulson to relocate all items from the Pegasus base.
Banner stood cautiously beside the centrifuge, carefully removing the Tesseract embedded in it.
Even as it was placed into the sealed container, the Tesseract's surface still pulsed with slightly chaotic energy.
Fortunately, the turbulence soon subsided.
"It's done!"
Banner closed the container and said to Hill,
"At the current rate, as long as we seal it properly, it'll take at least forty years to reach the critical point again.
We have enough time to formulate a plan."
"Great, thank you for your contribution to SHIELD, Dr. Banner!"
Hill softly thanked Banner.
Seeming unaccustomed to being thanked, Banner's face stiffened slightly, and he nervously shook his head.
"No need to thank me. Besides, even though the Avengers Initiative ended with Nick's death, I'm still a SHIELD advisor. It's my duty!"
"Yeah, Nick's passing took so much with it. I truly regret and mourn for him…"
Unlike others who didn't know the truth about Nick's death, Hill genuinely regretted it.
Because she knew the real Nick Fury—not the hero others believed him to be, sacrificing himself to protect SHIELD cadets.
The real Nick Fury, true to his nature of lurking in the shadows, died in his own schemes.
But there was something she didn't say. No matter how much she regretted, she would never pursue Heisenberg, the one who truly took Nick down.
First, because she lacked the ability, and second, she should even be grateful to Heisenberg in some ways.
After serving as SHIELD's director for two full months, she was no longer the same person.
She no longer wanted to return to her old life as an assistant.
…
Near New York's Central Plaza, in the Columbus Circle Theater, Heisenberg lounged in the backyard, soaking up the sun.
Beside him, Little Billy continued reporting on recent developments.
"Boss, about thirty percent of New York's police force has joined us. Maybe we can start collecting protection money from the police stations!"
"No, not yet. I want to completely crush the police system first, then seize their rightful authority and money.
Take their salaries and illicit earnings, then use that money to provide them with a massive gang stipend.
It's just leveraging New York's tax revenue, but it'll make those blue-uniformed officials fall in love with us."
Heisenberg chuckled, his words leaving Little Billy in awe.
His boss's thinking was truly out of this world!
His former boss, Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of American crime, only bribed officials.
But Heisenberg…
Billy began to pity New York's City Hall.
"Keep going. What else needs my attention?"
Noticing Billy's pause, Heisenberg asked softly.
Billy jolted and continued,
"New York's mayor has invited you to a charity gala at Ehrenburg Restaurant this Saturday. Your thoughts?"
"I'll go take a look. After being here for over two months, it's time I showed my face in public." Heisenberg pondered.
"Next, Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries, has sent you an invitation to his wedding next Friday!"
"Cough, cough, cough…!!!"
This time, Heisenberg was genuinely stunned, even coughing lightly.
Then, incredulously, he asked Little Billy,
"Next Friday?!
A wedding?!
Are you sure it's Stark himself getting married?!"
"Of course, Boss. Stark is an indispensable part of New York's elite. I've been keeping tabs on his every move. He's indeed getting married next Friday and has invited you.
I also think that if you attend his wedding, it'll greatly boost public opinion. Everyone loves superheroes, and everyone wants to be Iron Man.
So they'll be thrilled to see you interacting with Iron Man."