"Alright, let’s do everything we can to establish contact! Otherwise, we will have no choice but to go for mutual destruction..."
With one strike from Hulk, even though Tony had already deployed the Magic Shield in front, it shattered along with the shield and sent him flying away.
"Ugh, he hits hard. I need to design armor specifically for fighting him!"
Tony managed to stabilize himself with the jet propulsion, albeit in an awkward manner.
At this point, although the Ziritans were almost completely cleared out, both the Iron Armor units and the Winter Soldiers had also been mostly dealt with.
Now, the fighting power on their side was almost depleted as well.
Captain America was still holding his shield and occasionally deflecting blows, while Eagle Eye had been completely mind-controlled, hiding in the shadows and relentlessly launching arrows for ambush attacks.
Back home, he seemed useless; but as soon as he switched sides, he became , leaving Tony no choice but to grumble powerlessly.
However, at this moment, something seemed to simultaneously activate above both the mind-controlled Hulk and Eagle Eye, as if time was reversing. Rewinding portals reappeared, starting to pull them back.
"Hmm? The Time Stone? Luck is really on our side."
Blackout’s eyes lit up slightly, sensing something.
Beside him, Loki gritted his teeth and said,
"It’s him! It’s him! He’s the one who knocked me off the Rainbow Bridge! That bastard doesn’t even dare show his face and confront me!"
While Loki was saying this, he kept glancing at the Mind Scepter held by Blackout, infuriated—how the hell did it end up in this guy’s hands? This was truly the worst outcome.
"Seems like you know him well, then we should have a good talk."
Blackout glanced at the vast Ziritans army already visible in Earth’s atmosphere, taking advantage of the satellite signal previously hijacked by Loki to deliver his own announcement.
"Greetings, everyone. First time meeting, and I bring you good news...
"Originally, our mission has always included eliminating half the population. This is part of Lord Thanos’s grand plan. However, there is something on your Earth that we need. If someone can present it, we may be able to make exceptions..."
Blackout’s words, delivered amidst the aftermath of defeating the Avengers, carried significant weight.
Paired with the visibly meteoric-like invasions landing within the atmosphere, the oppressive feeling was overwhelming.
Blackout didn’t keep them guessing for long. He extended two fingers directly.
"We seek two items, two Cosmic Original Stones..."
As he spoke, Blackout materialized visual representations of the gemstones and their functions using magic.
Yet at this moment, he raised an eyebrow, noticing that someone hijacked one of the satellites they had taken and sent over a signal claiming they knew the location of one of the stones...
Upon receiving this message, a slight smile appeared on Blackout’s face.
Having followed Thanos into countless wars across the cosmos, he had seen it all—including traitors willing to betray their own kind, of which there were no shortage.
Even as someone with a dark personality himself, Blackout viewed such people with disdain.
But he couldn’t deny their usefulness when needed—like now!
Blackout made no effort to conceal this, immediately switching the satellite broadcast live feed.
"Excellent, your side has pragmatists who recognize the situation. There is already a lead to the location of the first Original Stone."
With a gesture from Blackout, the live screen revealed the identity of the person making contact.
A middle-aged man with a gloomy expression but presenting himself meticulously—Baron Strucker from Hydra.
Strucker was initially connecting with the Ziritans to show his sincerity, but being abruptly exposed caught him somewhat off guard.
However, Strucker had always kept himself out of the limelight; even with this exposure, he showed no signs of panic. Having made his decision, he saw no need to overthink things.
"I believe you may already suspect my origin. It was your actions that pushed us to this point—you can’t blame us for this..."
With a trace of satisfaction and vengeance in his voice, he continued, turning to Blackout directly,
"Honored Sir, we actually share history. Previously, we captured the powerless Thor and nearly killed him. Unfortunately, we miscalculated by a hair’s width in the end."
First, Strucker established common ground for everyone.
Loki has a feud with Thor, correct? They even deceived him before.
For those accustomed to playing with conspiracies, it was easy to imagine a power struggle between princes.
So surely, Loki would find himself highly aligned with this viewpoint!
Indeed, Loki interjected at Blackout’s side,
"Wow, so it was you all. What a pity—a tiny misstep."
Loki’s expression was casual, seemingly appreciative. He nodded with a grin, even offering applause.
This infuriated the group just teleported back onto the Space Airship after gaining control of Hulk and locking him up in a cage.
Especially Hogan, who glared furiously,
"They dare show themselves again!"
Only Nick Fury’s heart sank, sensing trouble,
"Damn, Hydra knows a lot about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s intel. Even though I’ve purged much of it, the information prior to the purge is impossible to hide. They know about the Cosmic Cube!"