Tesseract

Alex lay in the glass room, watching Zola work busily for two days as a strange-looking machine gradually took shape. It seemed to be the device meant to convert the Tesseract's energy. At this point, Alex was no longer in a hurry. He waited for Red Skull to appear with the Tesseract.

On the third day, Red Skull appeared in the laboratory on schedule. By then, only Zola remained in the lab; all the other scientists had been dismissed.

Red Skull placed the wooden box in his hand to one side and looked at Zola, who was adjusting the machine. He asked anxiously, "Is it ready, Dr. Zola?"

"This instrument requires extremely precise calibration." After a slight pause, Zola continued, "Please forgive me, but I must ensure nothing goes wrong."

Red Skull idly flipped through the materials on the lab table, then turned to glance at Zola and asked with some concern, "Are you sure those soldiers can withstand such a surge of energy? Can they accept such a transformation?"

"Before this device, I cannot be sure of anything." Zola walked around the main body of the machine to stand in front of it, speaking with some regret. "I am even worried that it might not work at all!"

Alex leaned casually against the glass wall of the enclosure, leisurely watching the tense-faced Zola and Red Skull. He kept calculating in his mind, intending to strike the two amid the chaos and then use the Tesseract's power to escape.

At that moment, Red Skull opened the wooden box. Dazzling blue light burst forth, brilliant and captivating. This was the legendary Tesseract, the supreme treasure Odin, lord of Asgard, had left behind on Earth.

Red Skull used tongs to grip the ever-glowing Tesseract and placed it into the receptacle at the rear of the machine. Then he turned to Zola with an expectant expression.

Zola instantly snapped out of his daze, put on a ridiculous pair of goggles, and carefully turned the dials on the instrument. "Twenty percent... forty percent... sixty percent... stabilizing at seventy percent."

Zola wanted to stop, but the aggressive Red Skull was unwilling. He strode forward, shoved Zola aside, and quickly turned the dial with his right hand. "I did not go through all this trouble for safety, Doctor!"

Suddenly, the Tesseract erupted with even fiercer light. Streams of blue radiance flowed along the wires and spread throughout the laboratory. In an instant, the entire lab was shrouded in blue light. Red Skull and Zola were stunned by the sight before them, utterly dumbfounded.

"Now!" Alex muttered. Teleportation activated at once, and he suddenly appeared behind Red Skull. He grabbed an iron sledgehammer from nearby and swung it at Red Skull's head with all his strength. In the movie, Red Skull had fought Captain America evenly and was immensely powerful. Alex wanted to finish it with one blow.

But to Alex's horror, although the hammer blow made Red Skull stagger, he did not fall. He quickly turned around, and the skin on his face seemed to collapse and peel away, revealing the crimson face beneath.

"Kid, you're courting death!" Red Skull roared as he lunged forward like a tiger.

Alex had never learned martial arts in either of his lives. How could he possibly be Red Skull's match? Seeing Red Skull charge at him, he hurriedly threw away the hammer and turned to run.

After witnessing Red Skull's strength, Alex felt nothing but fear. In his panic, he actually ran to the Tesseract's receptacle. He lowered his head to look at the Tesseract, then glanced at the rapidly approaching Red Skull. Left with no choice, Alex grabbed the Tesseract with both hands.

Alex remembered that besides possessing limitless energy, the Tesseract also held the power of space and could open portals. At the end of the movie "Captain America," Red Skull had been teleported away by the Tesseract. In "Avengers," Loki had used the Tesseract to open a portal and summon the Chitauri.

Alex did not know whether he could open the Tesseract's portal, nor did he know where it would send him after it opened. But in such circumstances, he could only take the risk.

Rainbow-like light suddenly shot out from the Tesseract, completely enveloping Alex. Moments later, the rainbow light vanished, and Alex vanished with it. The Tesseract suddenly dimmed and fell from midair, melting a pit of the same size into the floor in an instant.

Red Skull and Zola froze. Only after standing there in a daze for a long while did they recover. One hurriedly picked up the Tesseract, while the other cautiously edged close to Red Skull and asked in a low voice, "What just happened? How did he suddenly disappear? That was not teleportation, I know that much!"

After putting away the Tesseract again, Red Skull turned to Zola. Just as he was about to speak, he noticed a block of blue energy that had suddenly appeared on the other side of the machine. It looked extremely similar to the Tesseract.

"I must congratulate you, Arnim!" Red Skull excitedly grabbed Zola and pointed at the blue energy block in the distance. "Your design did not disappoint me!" He looked around and added, "Though it still needs a little reinforcement."

Zola was equally excited. He stared fixedly at the blue energy block, unable to hide his pride. "The conversion process was extremely stable!"

"It is incredible! This energy source you spoke of has made all my designs a reality!" Zola said as he excitedly removed his goggles. "This will change the war!"

"Dr. Zola, this will change the entire world!" Red Skull declared with great force, making no effort to conceal his ambition.

While Red Skull and Zola were thrilled by the successful energy conversion, Alex felt as though he had had a dream. When he woke, he found himself lying on the bed in his Brooklyn apartment.

After staring blankly for a long time, Alex finally came to his senses. Looking down at the leather clothes he was wearing, he finally confirmed that he was not dreaming. He had truly returned from the European Continent to New York in an instant, crossing more than six thousand kilometers in the blink of an eye!

"Was it the Tesseract?" Startled, Alex attributed it all to the Tesseract. "Perhaps my Teleportation also played a part." He remembered that when he grabbed the Tesseract, he had happened to be thinking of home.

"No matter what, it is good to be back!" Alex shook his head, casting all the jumbled thoughts from his mind. With a soft laugh, he comforted himself. "Perhaps I should let them know I am safe."

As soon as he said it, Alex suddenly realized something. He had abruptly returned to the United States from Europe, which was rather terrifying. He needed to come up with an explanation. After thinking it over and over, he could not find any acceptable reason and could not help complaining aloud, "It would have been better if it had sent me to the United Kingdom. It would have saved me all this trouble."

The moment he finished speaking, Alex discovered that he was no longer in his Brooklyn apartment. Instead, he stood on a broad street beneath thick, overcast clouds that looked ready to rain at any moment. Even the air was damp.

"Is this London?" Alex stared blankly at the unfamiliar yet familiar street scene around him. It seemed to be the very street he had walked down when he first came to London. "How did I get here?"

After standing there in a daze for a moment, Alex suddenly thought of a possibility. "Has my Teleportation recovered?"

With a single thought, he could cross a thousand miles in an instant!

As Brooklyn apartment appeared in his mind once more, Alex immediately vanished from the streets of London and returned to his Brooklyn apartment in an instant!

"It really recovered!" Alex could not stop himself from jumping up in excitement. He shouted to vent the boundless joy in his heart, "Tesseract, I love you to death!"

P.S. Yesterday's second update is only being posted now. I am truly sorry!