Kings Do Not Meet
"It seems your brother isn't as kind as you say. Given the chance, he'll still hang out with his bad friends instead of asking you for help," Nick Fury said to Thor.
Thor wanted to defend his brother, but he didn't know what to say.
"The World Security Council has granted S.H.I.E.L.D.. temporary authority to allow countries around the world to disclose the locations of their new energy development bases?" Wei Xiuming asked Nick Fury. "Countries have all explored the development of special energy sources. Activating the Tesseract and stabilizing the space portal requires a large amount of energy. If they all disclose those locations, we can greatly narrow down our search."
"These locations can be ruled out. Even S.H.I.E.L.D.. can't pinpoint the locations of those new energy development bases, so our adversaries certainly can't either." Nick Fury dismissed Wei Xiuming's guess, then turned his gaze to Young Master Stark: "Unless someone openly declares they have mastered a mature new energy source and brazenly announces its location."
Noticing Nick Fury's gaze, Tony Stark suddenly realized something. "Then there's only one place in the world that fits this requirement: Stark Tower."
After attracting everyone's attention, Tony Stark pulled out his phone and shouted somewhat frantically, "J.A.R.V.I.S., activate Stark- 2 satellite, lock onto Stark Tower... then call Pepper Potts."
J.A.R.V.I.S. faithfully carried out the orders, but the satellite's turning and scanning would take some time. Before the results came out, Tony Stark was able to make a phone call to his former secretary. Fortunately, Pepper Potts had a business deal to discuss today and was no longer in New York.
Then Tony Stark gave the order for all personnel at Stark Tower to evacuate as quickly as possible, as far away from New York as possible.
After doing what they could, the satellite's scan and analysis results came back: Stark Tower was normal, with no unusual objects emitting gamma rays and no abnormal energy flow.
Nick Fury knew, of course, that the Tesseract and the Supergiant were not currently at Stark Tower. Loki's location was displayed on his personal terminal, indicating a considerable distance from Stark Tower. Although he possessed the Tesseract and could teleport there at any time, there was no indication that he would necessarily go there.
However, Dr. Selvig, the key figure, was already waiting there, having already adjusted the equipment. He was just waiting for the crucial props, the Tesseract and the iridium that would provide stability, to arrive so that the space device could be activated immediately.
As for why Nick Fury was able to pinpoint their location, there's a story behind it. The instant coffee Loki drank contained some nano-location devices. The location signals were all emitted by these devices. With S.H.I.E.L.D.. spending millions of dollars on coffee every year, how could they not be willing to treat Loki to a decent cup of coffee? They relied entirely on the poor taste of instant coffee to mask the nano-location devices.
Dr. Selvig, on the other hand, had a positioning device implanted under his skin long ago, a fact he himself was unaware of. It was a benefit S.H.I.E.L.D.., implanted during routine blood tests for employee health checkups.
"Need any help?" Wei Xiuming took out a teleportation gun from his waist, inserted an energy bottle, and said to Tony Stark, "I can take you to Stark Tower right away."
"I'll go put on my suit right away." Tony Stark immediately ran towards the garage.
Nick Fury said to Wei Xiuming, "I'll have Natasha take Dr. Banner with her. Dr. Selvig will definitely have someone protecting him, most likely Agent Clint. Natasha knows him quite well and is familiar with the methods he's used."
"I'll go help too."
Captain America stepped forward and spoke righteously, as if a glimmer of humanity shone through him.
Thor, not to be outdone, also stood up. After thinking for a while, he found a reason for his actions. "Protecting the safety of the Nine Realms, including Midgard, is Asgard's inescapable responsibility. As the heir of Asgard, it is my duty to do my part to stop Loki."
There's a tradition in kung fu film productions of "two kung fu stars never appearing together," meaning two kung fu stars absolutely cannot be in the same movie unless the director or investors can control both of them; otherwise, there will be a lot of trouble.
Because kung fu movie stars don't make movies alone; they have a large team behind them. Action design, martial arts direction, and stunt work are all done by them. So, when two teams come together, conflicts are bound to arise.
The same principle applies to superheroes. Tony Stark, with three solo films under his belt, was a key figure in Marvel's turnaround and is undoubtedly the number one in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The character himself is the talented Iron Man, a billionaire. How could he possibly be subordinate to anyone else?
Captain America is a superhero born from patriotism, even using the country's name as his nickname. As a World War II veteran, his deeds inspired people during the war, and the scene of his rampaging mustache was printed directly on the cover of the first issue.
Then there's Thor, the mighty First Prince of Asgard. On a life level, he's not even the same species as humans. His normal interactions with humans are sustained by his pride as a god. He's a veteran of countless battles with rich combat experience. How could he possibly take orders from someone whose lifespan isn't even a fraction of his own?
None of the Avengers: Infinity War are insignificant figures.
However, now facing a formidable enemy and sharing a common goal, these superheroes put aside their previous differences and eagerly wanted to contribute their respective strengths, much like the US and the Soviet Union, who later fought tooth and nail, also had a honeymoon period during World War II.
The original Avengers members, except for Hawkeye Clint was temporarily acting as a double agent, were teleported to the rooftop balcony of Stark Tower. Wei Xiuming changed his appearance, his expression hidden by a gas mask, but Black Eggplant could still sense that something was wrong.
"When did you peek at my research materials?" Wei Xiuming looked down at Nick Fury and said, "Iridium isotopes—these things are valuable, but they don't have many uses. When did you buy them?"
Nick Fury stated that he had not looked at Wei Xiuming's research materials. The importance of Iridium was one of the pieces of intelligence left by Coulson in the parallel world. He had purchased it through various channels and stored it in S.H.I.E.L.D..'s vault. With all sorts of things happening, he had almost forgotten about it, and Loki and Supergiant took advantage of the situation.
However, since things had come to this point, Nick Fury didn't want to explain anything, nor did he want to reveal anything about Coulson in the parallel universe.