The Tesseract Stolen, Eve of War

S.H.I.E.L.D. temporary research base.

The wail of alarms echoed through every corner, while red warning lights cast the cold metal corridors in a glow like the entrance to hell. The air reeked of gunpowder and scorched circuitry.

The base was already in ruins. Automated defense turrets had been precisely destroyed, belching black smoke. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in tactical gear lay sprawled across the floor, most unconscious. A few stared blankly ahead, turning their guns on their former comrades like puppets on strings—they had been controlled by the Mind Scepter.

"Hold the line! Stop them!" Nick Fury's roar came through the comms, but he himself was pinned behind the command bunker by overwhelming firepower, unable to break out.

There were only two intruders—no, one man and one puppet.

Loki moved elegantly through the chaotic battlefield as though attending a grand feast. He did not even need to act personally. With a light tap of the Mind Scepter against the floor, a dim yellow glow flashed, and more agents fell into a daze before joining his puppet army.

The one clearing his path and removing every obstacle before him was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s former ace agent, Hawkeye Clint Barton. Barton's gaze was icy, but his movements were even more precise and lethal than before. Every arrow was like an invitation from the Reaper, accurately crippling the base's defenses and resistance forces. He knew this place far too well.

"Left-wing corridor cleared."

"Energy core destroyed."

"Guard squad converted."

Barton reported without emotion, like the most perfect killing machine.

Loki smiled in satisfaction and headed straight for the isolation chamber deep within the base, where the Tesseract's energy signature was strongest.

"No! Stop him!" Dr. Selvig was retreating under the protection of two agents. Seeing Loki's direction, he cried out in terror. He was one of the few key researchers who had temporarily escaped control because he had previously been in the monitoring room.

But all resistance seemed pitifully powerless before Loki, who possessed both the Mind Scepter and a top-tier assassin.

The isolation chamber's reinforced alloy doors were forcibly blasted open by one of Barton's explosive arrows.

Inside, the Tesseract floated at the center of a complex mechanical apparatus. Its azure light flickered violently, seemingly growing unusually excited at Loki's and the scepter's approach. The immense spatial energy warped even the air itself.

"Finally..." Greed and desire filled Loki's eyes as he reached out. The Mind Scepter touched the Tesseract's containment field first.

Bzzzz—!

The two energies, both belonging to the Infinity Stones, resonated violently! The force field shattered in an instant!

Loki seized the Tesseract in one hand. Its boundless spatial power made him let out a satisfied sigh.

"Retreat," he ordered blandly.

Without hesitation, Barton fired several smoke bombs and concussion grenades in succession, covering Loki's rapid withdrawal along their original route.

By the time Fury finally led his people through the obstacles and reached the isolation chamber, all he saw was the empty apparatus and utter devastation.

"The Tesseract... was taken..." Dr. Selvig collapsed to the floor, his face ashen.

Fury slammed a fist into the console, his one eye filled with rage and helplessness. The thing he had feared most had happened after all.

Queens, safe house.

The holographic projection in the living room displayed the chaos inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. base in real time. The signal was intermittent, but Remy had captured and reconstructed all the critical portions.

"Loki got it." Lin Ye's tone was calm, as if he were watching a movie that had nothing to do with him.

"Based on the energy trajectory, the target is heading toward downtown New York City. The range of mind control and the number of affected individuals are increasing." Remy delivered her analysis calmly. "S.H.I.E.L.D. has activated its highest emergency response level. Nick Fury is attempting to activate the Avengers Initiative."

"The Avengers..." Lin Ye smiled. "A ragtag team forced together at a time like this—how much fighting strength could they possibly have?"

He walked to the other side of the room. The door to the virtual laboratory opened, and Dr. Banner emerged, looking exhausted yet excited.

"Mr. Lin, the energy model you provided is incredible! I think I may have found a clue to suppressing... no, to 'communicating with' that angry emotion..." Halfway through, he noticed the grim atmosphere in the living room and the scene on the holographic projection. "What... happened?"

"Nothing much. Just a guy claiming to be a god stole an energy source capable of opening an interstellar gate, and now he's coming to New York to let an alien army in." Lin Ye delivered the most terrifying words in the flattest tone.

Dr. Banner's face instantly turned pale again, and his body began trembling instinctively. "An... an alien army? Like... like the Chitauri?" He had clearly seen fragments of information about them in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files.

"Relax, Doctor." Lin Ye patted his shoulder, and a faint current flowed subtly through him, helping stabilize his emotions. "When the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up."

"Are... are you going to intervene?" Banner looked at Lin Ye, his eyes carrying a complicated mixture of hope and fear. He had witnessed Lin Ye's power.

"Of course." Lin Ye looked out the window. New York's night remained prosperous and peaceful, but in his eyes, invisible spatial coordinates were already being rapidly established somewhere high above.

"This is my stage, isn't it?"

He instructed Remy, "Lock onto the energy fluctuations on the top floor of Stark Tower. Loki will definitely choose that place as the portal's anchor point. It's conspicuous enough, and the energy supply is sufficient."

"Locked on. Energy levels are rising sharply."

Top floor of Stark Tower.

Loki placed the Tesseract onto an energy-guidance device Dr. Selvig had hastily assembled. Barton stood guard nearby with his bow, loyal as ever. Below them were controlled employees, along with some people who had been beguiled by promises of order and power.

The Tesseract's light grew ever brighter. A pillar of azure energy shot into the sky, forming a continuously rotating, expanding energy vortex high above!

Beyond the vortex, the cold, black expanse of space was faintly visible, along with... countless savage Chitauri motherships resembling metallic whales, and densely packed single-pilot craft swarming like locusts!

The interstellar portal was opening!

The people of New York City finally noticed the shocking phenomenon. Panic began to spread, with screams and car horns rising one after another.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier finally emerged from the clouds.

On the bridge, Fury watched the image of Stark Tower on the screen, his expression livid.

"All units, attention! Maximum threat! I repeat, maximum threat! An unknown spatial passage has appeared above New York. Suspected alien invasion!"

"Have we contacted Stark? Where are Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff? And Thor?!" he nearly roared.

War had arrived.

Inside the safe house.

Lin Ye took a deep breath, sensing the panic spreading throughout the city, as well as the countless cold, bloodthirsty alien presences emanating from beyond the spatial gate.

Rather than fear, he felt a long-forgotten excitement and fighting spirit rise within him.

"Remy, activate full-spectrum recording. Dr. Banner, stay here. Do not go outside under any circumstances. No matter what you hear or see, do not get agitated. Trust me."

He walked to the center of the living room. Brilliant blue-white arcs of electricity began dancing around his body, crackling loudly. The powerful energy fluctuations ionized the air itself.

"Y-yes. Please be careful." Dr. Banner nodded nervously and unconsciously stepped back several paces.

Lin Ye smiled without looking back.

The next instant, his entire body transformed into an incomparably thick, dazzling bolt of lightning. Like thunder racing against its course, he violently blasted through the safe house ceiling and shot toward the New York sky, which was beginning to be stained by war, with unstoppable force!

"Hunting time has arrived."

His voice echoed across the heavens alongside the thunder.