At this moment, Loki, the subject of everyone's discussion, was hiding cautiously in a dark, damp underground laboratory.
The room was dimly lit, the lights flickering unsteadily, with all sorts of strange instruments filling the space around it.
Loki wore a black robe and his iconic horned helmet.
He paced back and forth across the room, looking anxious as he muttered curses under his breath:
"Those idiots must be searching everywhere for me."
"But as long as I successfully open the portal and bring in the Chitauri army, the whole Earth will be under my control."
Not far away, Professor Erik's eyes seemed shrouded in a layer of blue mist. Completely under Loki's mental control, he was fiddling with the equipment.
Loki walked over to Professor Erik and urged him:
"Professor, how much longer will your device take to complete?"
Under the influence of the mind control, Erik seemed to have cast aside all notions of good, evil, and morality.
Yet his longing and passion for science burned like a flame that had been ignited, fiercer than ever before.
At that moment, he looked even more impatient than Loki. While frantically operating the instruments, he replied:
"Almost, almost. We're just about done. All we're missing now is a large energy source. Once we have it, we can use the device to activate the portal directly. But where are we supposed to find an energy source to power it?"
Loki froze slightly, then paused before saying:
"Uh... no rush. I've already found the place, but now isn't the time yet. We need to wait."
Erik's face filled with confusion and dissatisfaction as he demanded loudly:
"What are we waiting for? My great, era-defining technology is about to become a reality. Why are we wasting time?"
Hearing that near-accusatory tone, an inexplicable