Lu Mingfei doesn't want to be a superhero

"The Tesseract has the ability to travel through space. After I got my hands on it, I used its power to teleport it to a place that only I know about." Loki lied without batting an eye, and even a lie detector couldn't detect anything amiss.

But Tony and Fury, though keeping a straight face, almost burst out laughing.

“Hand over the Rubik’s Cube and we might consider letting you go; otherwise, you’ll be locked up here forever,” Fury said coldly. “Don’t even think about escaping; there are plenty of traps in here.”

“Hmph…” Loki snorted in response.

Tony and Fury turned and left.

Loki sat down in the cell and closed his eyes in deep thought—with the Tesseract in hand, he wasn't worried about escaping. After all, once he figured out how to use the Tesseract, a mere cell wouldn't be able to hold him.

He wondered why Thor hadn't taken him back to Asgard.

Logically speaking, given Thor's personality, he should never tolerate being imprisoned and humiliated by Earthlings! Why hasn't he come to take him back to Asgard yet!

Logically speaking, not having to return to Asgard should actually be good news for Loki, as the weak and backward Earth is much safer than Asgard.

But for some reason, Loki just couldn't feel happy.

Why hasn't Thor come to find me yet? What is he thinking?! Loki scratched his hair hard.

……

Half a day later, Loki, who was sitting on the metal floor, suddenly looked up and stared at the transparent wall: "Come out."

A man in a suit and tie walked out, looking astonished: "How did you find me?"

"How can mortals comprehend the power of gods!" Loki sneered.

The man in the suit twitched, thinking to himself that this guy was just as annoying as the information described.

“Mr. Loki, I’m here on behalf of our organization to discuss cooperation with you,” the man in the suit smiled slightly. “If you agree, we can help you leave this prison immediately and even provide you with more assistance.”

"How dare a mortal cooperate with a god!" Loki wanted to say, but after studying the Tesseract for so long, he still hadn't learned how to travel through space. In other words, if he didn't agree, he probably didn't know when he would be able to leave this prison.

So Loki shamelessly nodded: "Okay, I agree."

"Aren't you going to ask us what we need?" The man in the suit was taken aback, feeling that Loki had agreed far too readily.

"After I rule the Earth, I will grant you titles!" Loki waved his hand.

The man in the suit's eye twitched violently—this guy is so annoying!

Loki took in the man in the suit's reaction and sneered inwardly—no matter what your purpose is, as long as I open the portal and summon the Chitauri army, this planet will be mine. Whatever you crave won't affect me!

The man in the suit sneered inwardly. Hydra wasn't a charity organization, so they weren't there to offer Loki any help. They had their own reasons—Loki's quick action in snatching the Tesseract meant he knew a lot about it, but he obviously didn't know the Tesseract in his hand was a fake. In that case, Hydra could pretend to help Loki, extract information about the Tesseract from him, and then apply it to the real Tesseract.

As for whether Hydra can control such a powerful individual who survived being thrown by Hulk... their Deadpool army is already taking shape, and they could easily overwhelm Loki with sheer numbers!

“Mr. Loki, you can come out now,” the man in the suit said with a smile.

“No, I need to stay here for a few more days. Please prepare what I need.” Loki shook his head.

"What do you need?" the man in the suit asked.

“My scepter, and an astronomer,” Loki said with a confident smile.

Chapter 160 The Power of the Phoenix

In Tony's home, in the conference room.

Unlike before when everyone was present, this time only Lu Mingfei and Tony were at the conference table.

"The Cosmic Cube can travel through space? And even open a passage to the multiverse?" Lu Mingfei rubbed his chin. "This thing sounds pretty amazing."

“Currently, the level of technology on Earth is not even enough to prove the existence of the multiverse,” Tony said. “No wonder Hydra studied it for so long but never discovered the true power of the Tesseract; they only used it to research superweapons.”

“Wait, I have a question,” Lu Mingfei frowned, “why would something so powerful appear on Earth?”

Although Earth already has the Ancient One, a sorcerer capable of resisting the invasion of the multiverse, the Tesseract seems to have nothing to do with sorcerers. In other words, this thing is another existence independent of the sorcerer system, which can touch upon the concept of the multiverse.

In addition, there's that little devil on him who can travel through the multiverse...

The earth is far too lively.

“Who knows? Perhaps only the extinct Hydra would have enough knowledge about the Tesseract, after all, they were the ones who discovered it,” Tony said. “But I guess the Tesseract came from outside Earth. For an object that can travel through space, it’s not surprising that it appears anywhere.”

“Indeed, it seems even Loki doesn’t know much about the Tesseract, otherwise he wouldn’t have run away with a fake one,” Lu Mingfei remarked.

“That’s a good thing. Although I don’t know what he wants the Tesseract for, it’s certainly not for something like cosmic peace,” Tony said.

“In any case, Loki has been imprisoned. In a few days, Thor will come with magical metal ore to ransom him, and we can send this trouble to Asgard,” Lu Mingfei said. “At that time, whether Odin banishes him again or imprisons him, it will be none of Earth’s business.”

“It’s a shame about the Tesseract I made. I have to make another one now, but because Loki caused such a ruckus, the crew will have to take a few days off and keep the news under wraps, so there’s no rush to make a new Tesseract,” Tony laughed. “Whatever Loki’s purpose may be, I hope he will like the Tesseract I made.”

……

"what happened!"

In the temporary research base provided by Hydra, Loki, gripping his scepter, looked at an old man with a face full of annoyance: "Selvig, why, after all this time, can't you even activate the Tesseract? At this rate, when will we be able to expand the portal?"

After reaching an agreement with the mysterious organization, the organization completed Loki's request with great efficiency. First, they helped him retrieve the scepter, then they provided him with information on several astronomers for him to choose from, and incidentally, they also provided him with a secluded research base in the outskirts of New York.

Coincidentally, Loki knew one of the astronomers provided by the mysterious organization—after Thor was exiled to Earth by Odin, he made several mortal friends, one of whom was this astronomer, Selvig.

So Loki didn't hesitate to choose Selvig, making Thor's friend his subordinate to help him conquer Earth. Thor's expression at that time will surely be quite interesting.

After the mysterious organization captured Selvig, Loki used half of his divine power to leave an incredibly realistic phantom in the cell, and then used the power of his scepter in conjunction with magic to control Professor Selvig, bringing him to this experimental base to study the Tesseract.

But now Loki feels that his initial choice was a bit too influenced by personal feelings—because even with the information and knowledge he provided, Selvig spent several days trying to activate the Tesseract, let alone open a massive portal capable of transporting an army.

The old man, known as Dr. Selvig, stood in front of a huge instrument, turned around, and scratched his head: "Boss, there seems to be something wrong with this Cosmic Cube."

"Is there a problem?" Loki frowned.

The man in the suit standing to the side suppressed a smile that threatened to curl at any moment—isn't there something wrong with that? What you got is just a movie prop, you stupid and arrogant alien!

Although they cooperate with Loki, they cannot completely let Loki act freely. He is there to monitor Loki and Selvig. To prevent him from being controlled by the scepter like Selvig, there are people and machines monitoring this place in the shadows, all around, and far away. If anything is amiss, it will be reported to the higher-ups immediately.

"What's wrong with the Tesseract?" Loki strode over and stared at the Tesseract, which was fixed in a device on the test table.

“I’ve tried activating it using the method you gave me, and I’ve adjusted the parameters many times, but it’s all useless. I haven’t found any ability in this Cosmic Cube to influence space; it’s just that the energy inside is indeed enormous,” Selvig said. “Boss, is this Cosmic Cube really a treasure that can travel through space, as you say? Forgive me for being frank, but it feels a bit like something man-made to me.”

“Of course! Are you questioning me?” Loki frowned. “Perhaps you’re not as talented as I think, Mr. Selvig. Maybe I should find someone else to take over.”

Serge looked helpless.

The man in the suit standing to the side was already laughing hysterically to himself.

“Boss, I’m not trying to excuse myself. No matter who you bring in, it won’t work. No one can make an object without spatial properties suddenly have the ability to interfere with space,” Selvig said while operating the equipment. “Even if you try this countless times, it’s impossible to open a spatial passage…”

As the instrument was activated, the Cosmic Cube placed in the center emitted an unprecedentedly intense light, flickering on and off as if breathing. Meanwhile, in a place unseen by anyone, the real Cosmic Cube, carefully stored and preserved by Fury, also suddenly began to flicker on and off.

An invisible resonance exists between the real Rubik's Cube and its replica.

In a research base in the desolate suburbs of New York, a blue beam of energy shot out from a replica of the Cosmic Cube. The beam spread out in the empty space in front of it, turning into a cloud of dark blue smoke that looked like it was flashing with lightning.

"It's a wormhole!" Loki's eyes lit up.

Serge looked bewildered, glancing at the parameters on the instrument and then at his own hand: "This...this doesn't make sense..."

The man in the suit gaped in disbelief—what the hell! Wasn't that a fake Rubik's Cube in the alien's hand? How could it open a wormhole?

Hiss... Could it be that the real Tesseract is in his hands, but he's been feigning madness to fool everyone? That's incredibly cunning!

But the wormhole opened by the Cosmic Cube only lasted for a moment before closing, and everything returned to calm.

"What's going on?" Loki asked Selvig.

Selvig lowered his head to examine the instruments, cold sweat beading on his forehead: "It's... very strange. Although a wormhole has been opened, all the parameters are extremely abnormal, and the wormhole is also extremely distorted. It's impossible to determine where it appeared, let alone use it for teleportation. The wormhole it opened is simply an indestructible spatial meat grinder; anything that goes in will be completely crushed."

“Then there’s a problem with your research,” Loki said in a flash, his expression turning amiable. “It’s alright, Dr. Selvig. You’ve already proven your abilities. All you need to do now is spend some time stabilizing the wormhole.”

Stability? What do I have to offer for stability? I don't even know why this is happening!

Selville looked pained.

The man in the suit put his hands in his trouser pockets, pressed the communicator, and sent out the highest level of emergency signal—the real Cosmic Cube is in the hands of aliens, we've been fooled!

Just as Dr. Selvig was struggling with his decision, Loki suddenly turned his head and looked out the window at a beam of light descending from the sky in the far distance: "That's... the Rainbow Bridge? The Rainbow Bridge has descended?!"

Oh no! It's Asgard sending people to capture me!

The thought popped into Loki's mind, his expression changed slightly, and he grabbed Selvig by the collar: "Quick! Research! Open the wormhole!"

If Asgard captures them, everything will be over.

“No…it’s impossible…” Selvig shook his head. “We lack the data and technology…”

"Then increase the energy input! Let the wormhole exist for a long time!" Loki shouted.

"Yes." Selvig wiped away his cold sweat and resumed operating the instrument.

The light emitted by the Cosmic Cube this time was almost like a small blue sun. A thick, twisted beam of energy was projected into the open space, and a portal of similar size to the previous one, but filled with black cracks, appeared.

“Very good, now let’s find a way to stabilize it!” Loki said.

A sliver of fiery light shone through the cracks in the pitch-black space.

Then, faint flame-shaped ribbons extended out, stretching the crack wider and wider until, in the blink of an eye, the spatial crack disappeared in the blinding flames.

As the flames died down, a girl with red hair and fiery eyes stood on the empty ground, looking completely bewildered.

……

Almost simultaneously, in a room in Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One, who was drinking tea, paused and nearly spat it out.

"The Phoenix Force?! Why would the Phoenix Force appear in this universe?!"

The usually composed Ancient One, who had remained calm for hundreds of years, was filled with astonishment and doubt.

P.S.: The next chapter should be before daytime.

162. Chapter 161: Repatriation of the Phoenix Force?

At Tony's home.

The light from the Rainbow Bridge fell, piercing through the ceiling, and Thor emerged from it.

“My ceiling!” Tony exclaimed, his eyes wide.