"Thor, we reviewed the report you submitted regarding the deaths of two Thors. They both succumbed to the final type of fine wire trap. Did they not see it, or was there no way to avoid it?"
Main Universe Thor thought carefully for a moment, tilted his head, and said into the microphone, "A bit of both. They hadn't encountered such traps before and underestimated their lethality. This likely led to poor tactical decisions during their advance. Simply put, they thought crashing into it wouldn't result in severe consequences. So, during the fight, they didn't purposely avoid it. Ultimately, this led to their deaths."
"Were there opportunities to offer assistance while they were in peril?"
Main Universe Thor gestured for a moment. He turned to communicate with the other Thors and exchanged a glance with Loki, then shook his head and said, "I'm afraid not. In addition to those fine wires, we also faced attacks from their heroes. The intensity of the frontline was high, leaving us unable to assist others, nor should anyone be expected to abandon their tactical objectives to save those unlikely to be rescued. Of course, this is my understanding. To you, it may seem lacking in humanitarian spirit, but this is the general consensus in Asgard."
"Alright. Next question." Captain America looked at Loki and asked, "Why did you choose to enter at that time?"
"Because we had already confirmed the mages were out of combat strength." Loki sat in the front row, leaning close to the microphone, and said, "The essence of a counter-encirclement plan is internal and external coordination. If there is no internal pressure pushing outward, external pressure alone cannot prevail. When the external pressure reaches its limit, it's naturally the moment for the center to blossom. I believe my chosen timing was correct."
Captain America didn't offer any comment, just nodded, then looked at Charles and asked, "Why did you decide to retreat at that time?"
"Because I believed we could no longer afford more casualties." Charles answered. But Erik nudged his elbow lightly, prompting Charles to add, "Of course, the battle results were also sufficient. Continuing to fight would exponentially increase the consumption without much gain. It would be better to stop here, at least we could maintain an advantage."
Captain America nodded again. There wasn't much else to ask about the participants in the battle, as they indeed had no issues, even performing exceptionally well.
Thor and the Asgardians fought valiantly, consistently pressing the opposition. Loki's entry timing was very apt, leading to the success of the counter-encirclement plan. Charles's chosen retreat time was also not bad; continuing would have meant more kills, but their casualties would have abruptly increased. Though somewhat conservative, it wasn't wrong.
Now the biggest issue of the whole battle remained — Doctor Strange.
Before Captain America could ask, Main Universe Doctor Strange cleared his throat, tested the mic, and said, "I can tell you why I asked the other Doctors Strange not to retreat. This is not about shirking responsibility, I just want you to understand my reasoning and why I think this way."
"Firstly, as the initiator of this war, at least being a crucial part of the combat force, when you were formulating this strategy to change bases, you didn't inform me at all. I wasn't involved in decision-making, nor had any channel to express my opinions. Although mentioning this after such significant losses seems like shifting blame, I still feel it's a huge problem that needs to be addressed."
"First of all, people from the Central Universe cannot judge all universes by your universe's standards, assuming our circumstances and thoughts are identical to yours, then use this assumption to devise strategies, and expect others to follow perfectly. I think you also know this is impossible."
"Even if I don't say it, you know that your universe's situation is an exception in the multiverse, not the norm. Most universes have much worse situations than yours. The suspicion and isolationism we have embraced are learned from repeated painful lessons. We cannot become enthusiastic, friendly, and open in just one day. This transformation takes time."
"Now, regarding the retreat. After you devised the plan to relocate the base, we were informed. However, for most of the Doctors Strange, Asgard isn't trustworthy, and Loki is even less so. I believe that even with such high casualties, the Doctors Strange present would still agree with me."
"Because no matter how good Asgard is in this universe, it has never presented anything that could earn our trust. I fully understand the urgency; you might not have had time to convince us through actions, but you didn't even try with words. Not only that, you let us know Loki was the logistics head of the base, which only deepens our mistrust. Revealing such information without considering the situation is incredibly foolish if you had indeed considered it."
"We weren't refusing to withdraw from the outpost but were unwilling to head to the Asgard Base. Even this decision hadn't been finalized yet. We were merely discussing what to do next, but you prematurely abandoned communication and decided to use us as bait in a counter-encirclement battle."
Main Universe Doctor Strange swept the room with a sharp gaze, then said, "If you want to lead the multiverse, you must unite everyone, whether they cooperate or not, you must exert every effort to win them over, because you have no right to choose. Either rescue everyone or rescue no one."
"If you choose to directly abandon and sacrifice them because of distrust, or decide not to protect or save them because they are weak, then the Multi-universe Human Alliance has no reason to exist. I believe everyone here understands this better than I do."
"Therefore, on the surface, this heavy loss seems to have resulted from the wrong decisions made by me and my counterparts due to distrust, but in reality, it is because you did not handle personnel issues well and, after the outbreak of conflicts, chose the simplest and most violent solution, ultimately leading to the tragedy."
"In the process of establishing the Multiverse Alliance, the one with the biggest fists is the boss, because only with sufficient hard power can one strike hard when facing strong enemies. However, if you cannot foresee the different situations in each individual universe and respond accordingly, instead of crudely imposing your methods onto everyone and demanding that they conform to your ideas, this alliance will eventually collapse, and the universes may turn against each other due to conflicts, resulting in a situation worse than it is now."
"Doctor Strange does not trust Asgard, but don't you also have people you don't trust? Currently, if the command center asks you to go to Thanos' Dark Quadrant and use it as a new base, will you go without any reservations?"
"Even if this universe's Thanos might be friendly, without explaining this order and gaining the trust of the majority, eventually more than just one or two will disobey, and today's tragedy will happen again. Isn't that so?"
After these words, there was a long silence in the conference room. It can only be said that electoral politics indeed has its merits, at least it has cultivated many speakers. Doctor Strange often does not act like a politician, but when he very much wants to do something, the side of him that belongs to the American elite comes out—smart, passionate, and extremely persuasive.
These words are not entirely misleading. Shiller thought that the command center indeed mishandled the base relocation issue. However, it still brings up a classic question: why can others comply, but not you?
Speaking of which, when Thor was thrown to Earth by Odin, it was S.H.I.E.L.D. who handled it; when Loki caused trouble on Earth, it was mainly the Avengers who dealt with it. If there is distrust towards Asgard, this group should top the list.
Yet even Iron Man, who has a lot to say at times, did not say much about the base relocation and obediently followed the retreat.
The essence of the issue is that Doctor Strange relies on his magic, thinking that staying in the cosmos longer is no big deal, and knowing his importance, he believes he can leverage his strength against the command center, essentially wanting to be coaxed.
More seriously, they are not aware of the seriousness of the front-line battlefield. This is not Congress, it's not a place where you can stand safely at your seat and haggle repetitively with chips in hand, but a place where orders must be followed, otherwise lives can be lost at any time.
Captain America is an old soldier and can easily realize this, so even if he has opinions, he waits until they withdraw to the base to express them. Iron Man, although a post-war generation, knows his body inside the battle armor is very fragile and has a sense of reverence. So even if he doesn't want to go, he has to for his own life.
Simply put, one understands the brutality of hot war, and the other lacks leverage, so both made the right choices.
Only Doctor Strange, who has not personally experienced the brutality of war, fails to realize that an extremely small error in a hot war can lead to major sacrifices, still viewing the issue through the mainstream "post-Cold War" worldview of the Western world, believing that only by holding out and leveraging his own chips repeatedly to gain an advantage can he achieve victory. And because he does indeed hold certain chips, he acts in such a manner.
Regarding his statement of "save everyone or save none," in theory, it's not wrong, but practically he himself hasn't done it, and surely doesn't plan to in the future. It's just the sort of promise often seen in political speeches. The only one who would likely put such words into practice might be Batman.
However, this also made Shiller realize that the main reason Doctor Strange cannot be easily defeated is not that he can quickly recognize his mistakes, reflect, and adjust after setbacks. Instead, it's his strong conviction that he is absolutely right.
This kind of personality might be very unpleasant for others, but for him, he will never exhaust himself because of failure, as he believes he hasn't failed. The reason he doesn't collapse is that he has never felt abandoned by God, nor trapped in a predicament, but consistently feels good about himself.
And one can't help but wonder if all universes choosing Strange isn't due to this very trait. Shiller thought perhaps it's because such a personality is almost impossible to be manipulated by others, as madness and genius are twin brothers, and on the other side of stubbornness is unimaginable determination. At least, he isn't lying on a hospital bed lamenting fate, but rather standing here asserting himself despite illness, which indeed makes him a fighter.