DOTM: Chapter 200/201

Chapter 200: The Unexpected Situation

"So? Did it ruin your plan?"

After Ethan obtained the scepter, he had been testing and experimenting with it. Aside from thinking about how to break the seal on the Mind Stone, he also discovered that he could perceive the status of certain individuals through the scepter.

He didn't need to think hard to know that the people he sensed through the scepter were the unfortunate ones previously controlled by Loki using it.

One of the signals was rapidly approaching. Connecting it with the original plot, it was easy to deduce that Hawkeye was leading the recruited mercenaries toward the Helicarrier, preparing to launch a surprise attack.

According to the plan, Loki would use his words and the power of the scepter to create internal division among several top-level combatants. Hawkeye would lead the assault to destroy the Helicarrier, attempting to cripple S.H.I.E.L.D.'s command system in one strike and plunge it into chaos.

However, Loki hadn't anticipated that his scepter would fall into the hands of another mage. Not only did he lose control over it, but he was also mocked in person for failing to discover the true treasure hidden within it.

The well-planned raid had also been easily neutralized by the other party. At this moment, Loki noticed Diana in her armor. His vision surpassed that of ordinary mortals. While Fury and the others were merely curious about Diana's appearance, Loki could perceive the true value of her gear—another opponent worth noting.

He watched as Diana dropped Hawkeye on the ground and began talking to Ethan about what had just happened.

"You said to bring back the one with the bow alive. Is this the guy?"

Ethan's earlier communication with Diana through Spiritual Link hadn't drawn anyone's attention. He had simply reminded her not to kill the one with the bow. The rest could be dealt with however she wanted. So Diana brought back the only person she had knocked out with a bow. The others never even got close to the Helicarrier—they were reduced to massive fireworks along with their plane.

Natasha Romanoff bent down to examine him and found that Hawkeye wasn't injured, just unconscious.

Fury remained calm. When he saw Black Widow nod at him, he stopped paying attention to Hawkeye's condition. He didn't fully trust what Ethan and Diana had said, but Natasha's judgment was reliable.

"You said you needed to see him yourself to be sure. Shouldn't you be able to now?"

Ethan nodded. He was more than capable now—he could even easily dispel the control spell Loki had used before.

The Mind Scepter's power of control all originated from the Mind Gem in his hand. As one of the universe's top treasures, the Mind Gem, like the other Infinity Stones, wasn't something ordinary people could wield freely. Even just touching it might cause them to be torn apart by its immense energy.

However, there were differences between the stones. For example, the Power Stone was more violent—ordinary people couldn't even touch it. The Mind Gem was relatively gentle. As long as a person didn't try to manipulate its energy, it usually didn't affect them.

Ethan, as a mage, possessed precise control over various types of energy, far beyond that of average mages. While he couldn't fully control the Mind Gem, borrowing a small portion of its power wasn't difficult.

A sweep of yellow light passed over Hawkeye's body, and Ethan nodded to Fury.

"His problem is solved."

"Solved?" Fury hadn't expected the ambiguous situation he mentioned earlier to be resolved so easily. "Just like that?"

"It would've been more troublesome without this gem." Ethan raised his hand, emphasizing the weight of the item he was holding. "Loki used the gem's energy to control Clint. Now, with the help of the gem, I can easily take back that portion of power."

"I see."

It wasn't hard to understand. Ethan's explanation was simple and clear, and everyone quickly got it.

"When Clint wakes up, have him lead you to rescue Dr. Selvig and the others." Aside from Hawkeye, the most critical person still under Loki's control was Dr. Erik Selvig in Egypt. The remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were just lackeys and didn't require much attention.

"Selvig?" Thor knew Dr. Selvig but hadn't expected him to be involved. Since it was his brother's doing, he volunteered to go, promising to bring them back unharmed.

With Thor going, there was almost no suspense. The only concern was whether the God of Thunder could control his strength and not accidentally turn someone into a vegetable.

After resolving the current matters, Ethan turned back to Loki.

By now, Loki's face was darker than Fury's. He hadn't expected Ethan to truly dismantle his plan. He was now in an awkward position. While he had follow-up plans, he was trapped here and couldn't escape.

"You were probably thinking that you'd escape when the Chitauri army attacked."

Loki didn't respond. Although he had confidence in the Chitauri's combat power, the current situation was grim. If his plan failed and the portal couldn't be opened, the Chitauri would be useless no matter how powerful they were.

If they couldn't teleport to Earth, the Chitauri would need to travel a long distance to attack. Along the way, they would inevitably be intercepted by Asgard's army, which was responsible for protecting Earth.

Regardless of whether the Chitauri could defeat Asgard's forces, even if they succeeded, they wouldn't have the strength left to occupy the planet.

"I have to admit, you really did ruin my plan."

Ethan's right fingers tapped rhythmically, and the yellow Infinity Stone floated up and down in his palm with each movement. Each pulse caused the energy surrounding it to expand and contract. The sight made Loki's eyelids twitch. He instinctively took a few steps back, trying to distance himself from Ethan.

He suspected Ethan didn't understand just how dangerous the Infinity Stones were. For most beings in the universe, controlling the massive energy within an Infinity Stone was extremely difficult. Most lacked the qualifications to wield such power.

More importantly, the most terrifying aspect of the Infinity Stones wasn't their energy, but the cosmic laws hidden within. What Ethan was doing now clearly involved tapping into the laws.

"You probably don't know what you're doing."

"No, I know exactly what I'm doing."

"Know what you're doing? As a mage, you should be aware of the potential consequences of your actions. Don't tell me you're planning to destroy this planet?"

Sowing discord had become instinctual for Loki. He had long noticed that Ethan hadn't earned the full trust of the others. Especially the one-eyed director—his gaze toward Ethan was always filled with suspicion. If internal conflict broke out, he might get a chance to escape.

"Ethan?"

Fury knew Loki was provoking them, but he still couldn't ignore his words. The Infinity Stone in Ethan's hand continued bouncing up and down. Even as an ordinary person, he could feel the unsettling power from it.

"Relax. I wouldn't do something like that. I have no intention of blowing myself up," Ethan said, continuing his movements. However, everyone could see that the light from the Mind Stone was dimming. "The power of the Infinity Stones is immense. If I really unleashed that kind of force, I wouldn't survive it myself."

"In movies and novels, mages often don't care about dying if they can gain great power."

Some scientists are like that too. But Ethan wasn't a scientist.

Ethan turned to glance at Maria Hill. Fury's deputy lacked trust in all 'superheroes', and Ethan, a mage from another world, topped her distrust list.

"Most mages are actually terrified of death. The main reason many mages die is that they mistakenly believe they're not going to die."

Ethan clearly wasn't one of those people. His fingers stopped moving, and the Mind Stone also ceased its previous bouncing and flashing. It returned to its earlier state, glowing with a gentle yellow light as it floated above Ethan's palm.

During that short period of contact, Ethan had come to understand the Mind Gem more deeply.

As he had previously suspected, the Infinity Stones contained immense energy—nearly infinite. At least, with his current strength, Ethan couldn't detect a limit.

At the same time, each Infinity Stone carried a certain law of the universe, though this law acted more like a switch, rather than the law itself.

"Using the Infinity Stones means accessing a specific law of the universe." This was the biggest secret of the Infinity Stones, and it was also what Ethan least wanted to see. It meant the stone's greatest power only existed within this universe. Once outside, its value would drop significantly.

"It's not exactly unexpected." Ethan closed his right hand around the Mind Gem. Now that he had touched it directly, he could feel its energy even more clearly. "Not to mention, from my current standpoint, laws are still too far off. It's more practical to analyze the nature of the energy inside."

This was also why Ethan wanted the Tesseract. He hoped to analyze its spatial energy and deepen his understanding of space.

If possible, he even wanted to open a channel inside the Tesseract to connect to other universes. This way, even if he couldn't use the hidden law power, he could at least draw from its near-endless energy for use across various worlds.

(To be continued.)

Chapter 201: Concessions

Ethan's method wasn't without hidden risks. His behavior was akin to secretly messing with the power switch at a neighbor's house and wiring a connection to siphon off electricity for personal use.

But to a certain extent, nearly all mages had done similar things, such as the Ancient One frequently drawing power from the Dark Dimension for her own use.

By comparison, what Ethan was doing was nothing at all—just occasionally "charging his phone using the neighbor's electricity." Compared to the vast energy contained in a universe, what he intended to do was on that level.

Holding the Mind Stone in his hand, Ethan looked at everyone present.

After he explained his actions and stopped causing any further abnormal changes in the Mind Stone, everyone there breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Fury was still a bit uneasy, but he didn't have a good way to handle Ethan. He could only keep a close eye on him and hope he wouldn't do anything that could endanger the world.

"What do you plan to do with this Infinity Stone?"

Ethan hadn't thought too deeply about that question. After trying to make contact with the Mind Stone and learning its secrets, he had already concluded that the most useful one for him was the Space Stone. The others didn't serve much purpose.

The Mind Stone might be able to enhance his mental power, but he didn't know if there would be any side effects. Would it imprint this universe's mark on his spirit? None of this could be confirmed, so he didn't dare to use the Mind Stone to strengthen himself casually.

As for the Power Stone, he couldn't use it at all. With his current physical constitution, merely coming into contact with the Power Stone would likely cause the immense energy within it to obliterate him, leaving not even a soul behind.

The Time Stone was in the hands of the mages of Kamar-Taj. Even though he had a good relationship with the Ancient One, it wouldn't matter if he didn't—he couldn't beat her anyway, so there was no way he could get it.

The Reality Stone was sealed away. He knew that in about a year, the Nine Realms would enter a phase of spatial convergence, and several space rifts would appear on Earth, allowing travel to other realms. The seemingly unattended Reality Stone would then become accessible.

Whether he'd be as lucky as Jane Foster in encountering it was uncertain. Even if he did obtain it, he wasn't sure how to extract the Reality Stone from the Aether.

Compared to the Mind Stone sealed in the scepter, the situation with the Aether was much more troublesome, and he wasn't confident he could control it.

As for the remaining Soul Stone, he currently had no way to acquire it. His only option was to wait until Thanos tried to take it in the future.

All in all, only the Space Stone had significant use for him. In its Cosmic Cube form, it had the most stable energy and could be used with relative ease.

So, he had no reason to hold on to the Mind Stone.

"Give it to Thor and let him take it back to Asgard. I think the God-King Odin can properly safeguard the Mind Stone."

In this world, Odin had yet to reveal his true power, and Ethan didn't know just how strong the All-Father really was. However, there were some clues: Thanos didn't make any moves against Asgard or Earth until both Odin and the Ancient One had passed away.

Even when he knew where the Stones were, he never acted. At most, he recruited Loki and used him as a pawn to try to obtain them indirectly.

Although it couldn't be said for certain that Thanos was afraid of the two of them, he clearly had some concerns. Perhaps he feared that even if he defeated them, he would suffer too much loss, which would negatively affect his larger plans. So, he avoided direct confrontation and waited patiently for the right time.

"You're planning to hand it over to Thor and let him bring it back to Asgard?" Fury was a bit surprised by Ethan's decision.

"What? Is that so strange?"

"No, I'm just curious that you don't want to keep it?" Fury pointed to the Mind Stone in Ethan's hand. "From what I just saw, it didn't look like you weren't interested in this thing."

Ethan looked at the fist holding the Infinity Stone and replied honestly, "This gem doesn't help me much. I want the Cosmic Cube more."

In the past, Ethan had hinted several times that he wanted the Cosmic Cube, but this was the first time he clearly stated his true goal.

When he said it directly, everyone present had different reactions.

Maria Hill, deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D., was the first to object, but just as she was about to speak, Fury raised his hand and stopped her. He had already figured out what he needed to say.

"If you can help Earth resolve this crisis, we can hand over the Cosmic Cube to you."

"Director!"

Maria Hill didn't expect Fury to agree to give Ethan the Cube so easily. She thought the decision was too rash. Not to mention, the Cube was an object far too complicated for S.H.I.E.L.D. to casually give away.

Fury felt the sting too. Did he not know that? He knew all too well. He even had a feeling that once Ethan took the Cube, he'd be "punished" by the Council.

But what choice did he have? None. He had already seen Ethan's determination to acquire the Cube, and he didn't believe S.H.I.E.L.D. had the ability to stop him.

Besides, in a way, the Cosmic Cube wasn't even in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s possession anymore. Ethan had retrieved it from Loki. The Cube was his prize. What right did S.H.I.E.L.D. have to demand anything?

Was the Cube originally from S.H.I.E.L.D.? That was an even bigger joke. Such claims might fool ordinary people, but anyone truly in the know understood what the Cosmic Cube really was. Ethan had revealed its nature repeatedly to make it clear to those who might oppose him: the Cube wasn't something of Earth, and it didn't belong to them.

Even Thor had more legitimacy to demand the Cube from Ethan than S.H.I.E.L.D. did. It was never S.H.I.E.L.D.'s call to make.

Considering that Thor had taken the initiative to go with Hawkeye to "rescue" Selvig, Fury could already see that the Cube would end up in Thor's hands anyway. He wouldn't be able to get it back, so he might as well make it easier.

As for how Ethan and Thor negotiated the Cube's ownership, that wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D.'s concern. Maybe they had a good relationship, and a few words would settle it.

From the perspective of Earth's interests, Fury preferred that Ethan held the Cube. He didn't care whether Ethan recognized the favor. What mattered was not letting Asgard get hold of both Infinity Stones. That was a slightly better outcome for Earth.

Perhaps the ancients had worshipped the Asgardians as gods, but modern people certainly didn't want a group of real gods lording over them.

Some people present could guess what Fury was thinking, such as Ethan.

Some didn't understand at all, but still agreed with Ethan taking the Cube—like Captain America, Steve Rogers. He felt that a dangerous item like the Cosmic Cube would only bring endless trouble to Earth.

There were those who agreed, and naturally, those who didn't. For example, Tony Stark, Iron Man, didn't want the Cube taken away. He didn't care about helping S.H.I.E.L.D. research it.

He had already discovered that the Arc Reactor he had improved based on his father's work was actually a result of studying the Cube. Tony Stark really wanted to study the Cube himself and see how powerful it truly was.

Ethan's response to him was simple: he gave him a promise that "you'll have your chance to experiment slowly." And just like that, the only outspoken objector was bought off.

Banner continued pretending to be invisible. Whether the Cube stayed or left, it had nothing to do with him. Even if he was curious and wanted to study the Cube, he felt he already had enough problems. It was better to stay out of it.

The only ones not present were Black Widow and Thor. As an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Natasha wouldn't go against Fury's decision in public.

As for Thor, who might have posed an obstacle, Ethan wasn't worried at all.

Because he knew Odin didn't want two Infinity Stones kept too close together. In the original plot, after securing both the Tesseract and the Aether, Odin had the Aether sent to the Collector for safekeeping.

It was precisely because of this that Ethan decided to hand over the Mind Stone to Asgard, and then fight for the right to keep the Tesseract.

"As a traveler who knows the plot, I should use it to my advantage!"

He didn't feel there was anything wrong with that. He hadn't harmed anyone. In fact, what he had done was beneficial for the world.

If nothing else, at least Loki had been trapped by him. As long as Thor and Black Widow moved fast enough, Selvig wouldn't open the portal, and New York wouldn't become a battlefield for the Chitauri. How many lives would be saved?

He didn't believe that the actual battle would be like in the movie—epic destruction with not a single civilian death shown. Even if it wasn't explicitly depicted, later plotlines revealed that the Battle of New York caused serious casualties.

That loss wouldn't happen now, and Ethan taking something as a reward was perfectly reasonable.

(To be continued.)