The Night Sky Sword hit a wall of rules; the abandoned filing cabinet struck back
The sword fell silently.
Hela's sword strike was not a test in the slightest. The Night Sky Sword slashed down along the keyhole of the Archive Cabinet, and where the blade passed, even the air was torn apart with a thin, long black line.
Main Control Room, Gwen Stacy's pupils suddenly contracted.
Hela--
She only had time to utter two words.
The moment the sword touched the cabinet, a sudden change occurred.
On the dusty metal cabinet wall, a layer of dark blue lines suddenly lit up. The lines were fine and intricate, spreading outwards from the keyhole and covering the entire Archive Cabinet in the blink of an eye.
Wanda's expression changed.
"Time Stasis Runes," she whispered, "Something from the bottom layer of TVA."
The blade of the Night Sky Sword stopped three inches away from the surface of the cabinet.
It wasn't Hela withdrawing her power.
It's impossible to cut it off.
Between the blade and the cabinet wall, in those three inches, time seemed to freeze. The Death Force emanating from the sword vanished without a trace, like a mud ox sinking into the sea. Hela tightened her wrist, adding more force, and the sword hummed, its Runes shining even brighter as it swallowed the power capable of Oblivion stars, inch by inch.
Hela's gaze turned cold.
She traversed the Nine Realms, slaying countless beings. She tore open Odin's seal and crushed Surtur's Crown. A mere iron cabinet could not stop her.
But this cabinet blocked the way.
"This isn't a physical lock." Jean Grey stared at the Runes, her voice flat. "It refuses to be severed at the level of rules. The stronger your sword, the more it devours."
Hela did not answer.
She slowly withdrew her sword.
The moment the blade detached from the Runes, a very faint, crisp sound came from inside the cabinet.
Click.
On the front of the Archive Cabinet, below the bronze nameplate, a line of dark red numbers silently lit up.
[00:59]
[00:58]
[00:57]
Gwen Stacy rushed forward, connected the Data Pad to the detection port on the side of the cabinet, and her fingertips quickly swiped across the screen. After only two glances, her face darkened.
"Self-destruct program." She looked up. "Irreversible. That sword strike just now triggered the underlying Defense Protocol."
"How long?" Natasha asked.
"Sixty seconds. Three seconds have passed now." Gwen Stacy's voice was steady, but her pace had quickened. "The countdown has reached zero. The cabinet, along with everything inside, will be erased from the Timeline. Not burned, wiped out. Not even ashes will remain."
There was a moment of silence in the Main Control Room.
All eyes were on Hela.
Hela stood there, sword in hand, expressionless.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she said casually. "Just a cabinet."
"A cabinet you can't break," Wanda said, her tone light and clear, "And you even wound it up."
Hela's gaze swept over them.
"Would you like to give it a try?"
"I don't want to try." Wanda stepped forward, staring at the fluctuating numbers. "I just want to remind the Director of the Stability Maintenance Office that this isn't an execution ground in Asgard. If your sword had gone in a third deeper, we wouldn't even have a chance to count down now."
[00:51]
[00:50]
The numbers jumped at a steady pace.
Hela's knuckles tightened slightly on the sword hilt, then loosened. She knew better than anyone that Wanda was telling the truth. The moment the Runes lit up, she had already tried— the Death Force couldn't sever time. It wasn't a matter of strength; it was a matter of technique. Trying to cut water with a knife won't cut the water; it will only get the knife wet.
She couldn't swallow this insult, but she had no choice but to.
"Have you had enough?" Gwen Stacy didn't even look up, her fingers flying across the Data Pad. "Fifty seconds. The Runes is the underlying architecture of TVA; the Stasis Field and the self-destruct program are linked. Forcibly dismantling it is equivalent to accelerating it."
"Then dismantle the Runes." Wanda raised her hand, a line of Scarlet forming at her fingertips.
"Can you dismantle it?" Hela sneered. "When Chaos Magic clashes with time stasis, it's not certain who will devour whom."
"It's better than just standing by and watching it go down to zero."
That's enough.
Gwen Stacy looked up abruptly, her voice not loud, but it froze both of them in place.
She held up the Data Pad; the screen displayed a newly generated structural diagram.
"The Runes have three layers. The Stasis Layer, the Self-Destruct Layer, and the innermost layer—" She paused, her gaze sweeping over everyone present, "... the Recognition Layer. This cabinet isn't for preventing thieves. It's waiting for a specific person to open it."
Natasha's brow twitched.
"A specific person?"
"Brainwaves, energy signatures, or something else." Gwen Stacy retrieved the Data Pad. "Anyway, it recognizes the key. None of the five of us."
[00:41]
[00:40]
Hela stared at the line of numbers, then suddenly laughed, a chilling laugh.
"Very good." She sheathed her sword, the black blade vanishing without a trace. "TVA has been dead for so many years, yet they still have this trick up their sleeve. An abandoned branch office, a cabinet that recognizes its inhabitants."
She turned around, her gaze sweeping across Wanda, Jean, and Natasha's faces before finally settling on the line of dancing red letters.
"What exactly is inside that warrants such protection?"
No one responded.
Because everyone has the same nameplate floating in their heart.
[Lynn - High-Risk Variant]
A cabinet that recognizes people, a drawer engraved with Lynn's name, and Time Lock that even the Goddess of Death cannot break.
Jean Grey slowly closed her eyes, her Psychic Power silently probing the cabinet. She only touched the edge of the Runes before being repelled by a layer of coldness. She opened her eyes, the gold in them darkening.
"I can't get Psychic Power either," she said. "In the Stasis Field, even thoughts are frozen."
"So we're just going to watch it get wiped out?" Wanda's voice was tinged with impatience.
[00:33]
[00:32]
Gwen Stacy didn't answer. She crouched down, turned the Data Pad's scanning power to maximum, and scanned the cabinet inch by inch. Natasha stood to her side and slightly behind, her gaze darting back and forth between the exits, her hands never leaving the equipment at her waist.
"Director Gwen Stacy," Hela suddenly spoke, her tone devoid of emotion, "You're the Director handpicked by the director. Now, the supplies are going to be lost. What do you suggest we do?"
The question was polite, but it carried considerable weight.
If the item is lost, who is responsible, and how will we explain it to Lynn when we get back? That's the clear issue. But if the item is opened by someone alone, who gets to see the secrets inside first? That's the unspoken issue. No one present is a fool.
Gwen Stacy paused for a moment.
"I'm looking for the power source for the Runes," she said. "The Stasis Field doesn't operate out of thin air; it has a source. Cutting off the source might not stop the countdown, but it can at least buy some time."
"How long?"
"Have no idea."
"I don't know?" Hela's voice turned cold.
"If the Director the Stability Maintenance Office has a better solution," Gwen Stacy stood up, turned around, and looked directly at her, "the Supervisory Group is willing to cooperate."
The two looked at each other.
One wielded a world-destroying sword, the other held a light, flimsy Data Pad. The sword couldn't cleave the cabinet, and the Data Pad might not be able to either. But in that instant, control in the Main Control Room silently shifted hands.
[00:25]
[00:24]
Wanda suddenly spoke up, "The power supply node is underground. I can feel the roots of the Runes embedded in the foundation of this branch office."
"Then dismantle the foundation," Hela said immediately.
"If you dismantle the foundation, the entire structure will collapse," Qin quickly added. "It's not just the ceiling that will collapse, but also the entire space covered by the Stasis Field. The cabinets will be pressed into the Time Rift; it's hardly cleaner than self-destruction."
"This won't do, that won't do." Hela glanced around at everyone, a sneer playing on her lips. "You are all pillars of the Management Committee. Now, pillars, come up with a set of rules."
[00:18]
[00:17]
No one spoke.
Scarlet magic flickered at Wanda's fingertips. Golden light rose and fell in Jean's eyes. Hela's hand hovered at her side, her black sword ready to be drawn again at any moment. Any one of these three forces, if unleashed, would be enough to level this ruin.
None of that can save this cabinet.
Gwen Stacy stared at the screen, then suddenly noticed something, and her fingertips froze.
"Wait." Her voice changed, "The countdown... isn't at a constant rate."
Everyone was taken aback.
"It's accelerating." Gwen Stacy stared at the fluctuating curve on the Data Pad, emphasizing each word, "Just now, each jump was a standard interval of one second. Now, the interval is shortening. Someone—or something—is urging it on."
[00:12]
The speed at which the numbers were changing increased visibly.
[00:10]
[00:08]
Natasha slowly raised her head, her gaze passing over the crowd and landing on the dark control array deep within the Main Control Room.
"Besides us," she said softly, "There are other things awake here."