Just as Loki's Fingers were about to touch the switch, a voice came from nearby. "Please step away from there."
Loki's hand froze in midair. He turned toward the source of the voice.
At the entrance to this area stood Coulson, both hands gripping something that looked like a gun, though it was an extremely unusual-looking one.
It was several times larger than an ordinary submachine gun, with a barrel as thick as a small rocket launcher. Its body was covered in intricate cooling fins and energy conduits, making it look more like a prop weapon from a science fiction movie.
Coulson raised the gun slightly. His expression was calm, as was his voice. "Like it? After you sent the Destroyer here, we started developing this. I still don't know what it can do. Want to find out?"
As he spoke, Coulson pressed a button on the gun. A deep hum sounded from inside the barrel, followed by a faint orange glow. The light began at the base of the barrel, traveled through the weapon's internal energy channels, and finally converged at the muzzle.
Throughout the process, the weapon trembled slightly, as though heralding its tremendous power.
Coulson had not lied to Loki. He truly did not know what the gun could do. It was a prototype weapon developed using the Tesseract as its foundation and had never been used in actual combat.
Today might be its first time.
Loki stood before the control console, watching the firearm in Coulson's hands charge. The casual expression on his face did not change in the slightest.
That was because Loki's real body had already left the console the moment Coulson spoke. He had even had time to stop by the laboratory and retrieve the Mind Scepter that had been left on the