The Ancient One picked up her teacup again, took a sip, and turned her gaze to Mario.
"Your arrival has caused time to fall into chaos. The future has become uncontrollable—"
"Wait, hold up."
Mario suddenly felt like he'd heard this speech before. Despite how rude it was to interrupt, he couldn't help himself.
"Are you about to tell me you're leaving soon, so you're not gonna deal with me? Just gonna let Strange handle my situation after he takes over? What is it with you people? Do all the Ancient Ones just want to bail as fast as possible?"
He had a strong suspicion that the Ancient One from the movie universe wasn't exactly reliable. He was even starting to think maybe all the Ancient Ones had secretly coordinated with each other while observing the multiverse.
The Ancient One smiled. "It seems the version of me from your universe made the same choice I'm about to make."
Mario's expression soured. "Are you really sure that once Strange takes over, he'll be able to handle me?"
Never mind that it would still be several years before Strange officially assumed the position. Even if he took over tomorrow, Mario wasn't worried. Worst case scenario? Strange would banish him to some alternate dimension.
For a Minecraft player, survival is survival no matter where they are. He'll just hide out for a few years, grind some powerful mods, and come back stronger.
Hearing Mario's words, the Ancient One replied, "That's not my problem to worry about."
Mario deflated instantly. The Ancient One now had the energy of an employee who was retiring tomorrow. Even if she screwed up, nobody would care anymore. Her replacement was already lined up.
After a moment of hesitation, he asked doubtfully, "How did you even know about me through magic?"
In his own universe, Universe Number One, the Ancient One had explicitly told him that no matter what magic or Infinity Stones were used, they couldn't detect his existence. Yet this universe's Ancient One had come straight to his door.
She shook her head and explained, "Odin told me his son encountered some trouble here and asked me to investigate. When I saw you, I immediately knew you were the one I was looking for."
Mario's expression cleared. Right, he and Kaecilius could hide from powerful beings thanks to their abilities, but Thor couldn't. Especially not after he had deployed the ultimate technique: calling for parental backup.
"Then... can you send me back? To my own universe?"
In this Universe Number Two, Mario just didn't feel comfortable. Without realizing it, he'd already formed deep bonds back in Universe Number One. This place felt wrong.
"I cannot."
The Ancient One's expression didn't change at all. She rejected him flat out.
"Since Odin's son has already left, I'll be returning as well. If nothing urgent comes up, there's no need to seek me out. And if something does happen... Well, I'm confident you can handle it."
With that, a portal opened behind her. She didn't even move, the portal swept forward through her body, and in an instant, the Ancient One vanished from the underground chamber.
Mario stared at the teacup on the table. He opened his mouth but didn't know what to say.
"So basically she's telling me to stay away from Kamar-Taj. What's that supposed to mean? Don't tell me the two Ancient Ones really are in contact with each other."
He sighed helplessly and began tapping his fingers on the table.
"Whatever. If the furniture set's missing a chair, it's missing a chair."
He stood up and turned to Kaecilius, who was deep in thought. "Go ahead and return the borrowed table and teacup. Leave some money, consider it a rental fee."
Kaecilius snapped out of his thoughts, nodded, and opened a portal directly beneath the table. The entire setup was sent back to the restaurant, placed right where it had originally been borrowed from.
"Let's check in on Loki and see how he's doing. By now, he should be waking up."
Kaecilius nodded and waved his hand slightly. The wall immediately began projecting a view from inside the Helicarrier.
Loki lay on a medical bed, covered in monitoring devices while numerous machines tracked his vital signs. Around him, medical personnel in white uniforms worked busily, checking readouts and adjusting equipment.
Thor sat at Loki's bedside. He reached out and gripped his brother's hand.
At that moment, Natasha entered the medical bay and looked at a nearby technician. "What's his status?"
"There's been no change," the tech replied, studying his instruments. "His body shows no physical damage or trauma to the brain. But..."
"But what?"
"It's as if he's lost something. He doesn't respond to any external stimuli whatsoever."
Thor had known Loki's condition for a while. The anger he'd felt initially had faded, replaced by guilt.
"This is my fault. I didn't protect him properly. If he hadn't fallen from the Bifrost, this never would have happened. Maybe I should have come to Earth sooner..."
Natasha sighed softly and patted Thor on the shoulder. There wasn't much else she could say, an alien army waited in space, ready to strike, and Thor was one of their primary defenders against that threat.
"You can't blame yourself. Nobody could have predicted this."
Thor remained immersed in his grief, not responding to her words. Just then, Loki's body suddenly convulsed. He shot upright and began gasping for air like a drowning man breaking the surface.
Startled, Thor recovered quickly. He grabbed his brother. "Loki! You're finally okay!"
Loki nearly got hurled away by Thor's enthusiastic grip. He struggled free and looked at him.
"Let go of me!"
Then he noticed Natasha standing nearby. "Is that man one of yours? Where is he?"
The moment Loki regained consciousness, Natasha had drawn her pistol and called for backup over her comms.
"We don't know that man."
Loki frowned. He didn't care about the gun in her hand.
"Is my scepter in your hands?" Though deep down he already suspected the answer and didn't want to admit it.
"Your scepter was taken by that man. You have no leverage now. Hand over the Tesseract. He'll go after it next, and you know it."
Loki's face darkened. He'd already lost his scepter. Even if he managed to conquer Earth somehow, Thanos wouldn't let him off easily for failing to deliver both Infinity Stones.
He leapt from the medical bed and stormed toward the exit.
"Reindeer Games, I strongly suggest you don't make any sudden moves."
Tony arrived first, repulsor aimed directly at Loki's chest. The others followed quickly, Rogers held a new shield, its material unknown but clearly functional.
Thor reacted instinctively, grabbing Loki by the arm. "You can't take on whoever that man is. You're safest here with us."
On the entire Helicarrier, aside from Thor, nobody trusted Loki. Just as Loki trusted none of them. Loki broke free from Thor's grasp and looked at him.
"You're still so naive. It's too late for everything now."
BOOM.
Loki had no choice, the plan was already in motion.
Even though the scepter had been taken, Hawkeye was still operating under the influence of the Mind Stone's power.
A piercing alarm blared throughout the Helicarrier, and Hawkeye, following the original plan, launched his attack.
Thor steadied himself and immediately lunged for Loki, but grasped only empty air.
"LOKI!"
The entire carrier tilted as explosions rocked its superstructure.
Sitting within the mirror dimension atop Stark Tower, Mario watched the projected image and said, "I really don't know what Fury was thinking. This aircraft carrier is a complete engineering failure. It took off and crashed in just two days."
"The weaknesses are way too obvious. Even with cloaking technology, it's still a giant target."
Kaecilius didn't respond to that observation. His gaze remained fixed on Selvig, who was busily installing the wormhole generator outside their mirror dimension.
"Shouldn't we grab the Tesseract before those superheroes show up?"
Glancing at Selvig, Mario shrugged. "Yeah, might as well. No point waiting around for the Avengers to interrupt us."
Stepping out from the mirror dimension startled Selvig. Though he was under the Mind Stone's control, he had no intention of fighting Mario or Kaecilius, he was a scientist, not a berserker.
"Who are—"
Before he could finish speaking, Kaecilius' magic whip materialized and bound him. Mario pulled out a bottle of milk and poured it down Selvig's throat.
The glow in Selvig's eyes immediately faded, returning to normal clarity.
At first, Selvig looked dazed. Then his expression shifted to horror as his memories came flooding back.
Mario smiled warmly. "Hello, Dr. Selvig. How are you feeling now?"
Selvig raised his head.
"I'm... all right now. Thank you. Otherwise, I would have made a terrible mistake."
He tried to move, but the magical restraints held him completely immobile. Looking up somewhat awkwardly, he said, "Could you... perhaps untie me first?"
"Hold on a second. I think you're mistaken about something." Mario walked over to the nearby equipment. "What made you think I'm one of the good guys?"
The Tesseract's energy hadn't been activated yet, so there was no protective barrier. He reached out, picked up the Tesseract, and examined it closely. It looked identical to the one from his own universe.
He tossed it into his inventory, then pulled out his diamond pickaxe and dismantled the device used to open the wormhole. Turning back to Selvig, he maintained his pleasant smile.
"I'm happy to inform you that you've just been kidnapped by me."
The faint smile on Selvig's face froze instantly. He stared at Mario in disbelief.
"You're not with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Take a wild guess."
Seeing Mario's cheerful grin, Selvig felt bewildered. Another faction? How many sides are even involved in this anymore?
Just then, a small dot appeared in the distant sky, flying straight toward Stark Tower at high speed.
Mario didn't even need to think about it. That enthusiastic and fast? It could only be Tony.
Glancing at Tony as he rapidly approached, Mario said to Selvig, "You're coming with us."
Kaecilius opened a portal. He flicked his wrist, and the tightly bound Selvig went flying straight through the gateway.
Tony, who had just arrived, landed on top of Stark Tower, only to see Mario standing within the portal, waving cheerfully at him.
As the portal quickly snapped shut, he growled through his helmet speakers.
"These people... not a single one has any manners. Coming into my building, and nobody even says hello to the host."
Scanning the scattered equipment and damaged devices on the rooftop, he connected to the team via his suit's communicator.
"Loki chose Stark Tower as ground zero. But we're too late, someone already took Dr. Selvig and the Tesseract."
The moment he finished speaking, a small aircraft overhead released its passenger. Loki jumped down and landed on the rooftop.
"You aliens really have zero sense of etiquette, don't you?"
Loki, however, wasn't paying attention to Tony. He looked around at the empty rooftop, and his expression fell into despair. He muttered to himself, "He has no idea what he's done. No idea at all."
Thinking of the Mad Titan, he couldn't suppress a shudder.
Tony saw Loki raise his hand and immediately aimed both repulsors at him.
"Reindeer Games, I strongly suggest you surrender immediately."
The Quinjet arrived moments later, engines screaming as it came to a hover. Thor leaped from the open ramp, landed with an impact, and strode toward his brother.
Reaching out, he grabbed Loki by the shoulder. This time, Loki didn't use any illusions. He came out of his thoughts and looked up at Thor.
"Thor... I miss Mother. Let's go home."
His mission had been to open the portal and lead the Chitauri army to conquer Earth. But now, both the scepter and the Tesseract were gone. The Chitauri could still reach Earth through spatial warping technology, but when they did arrive, Loki's fate would be grim indeed.
Thor's expression softened immediately.
"Of course. I'll take you back to see Father and Mother. However, Father expended massive amounts of energy sending me to Earth. He can't bring us back to Asgard right now. I was also sent here to retrieve the Tesseract. It must not remain on Earth under any circumstances."
Loki's expression went blank.
Great. So I can't even go home.
Tony couldn't resist commenting.
"After everything he's done, you seriously think I'm just going to let you walk away with him?"
Thor turned sharply toward Tony. "Mind your words. He is my brother."
Natasha, who had just disembarked from the Quinjet, caught the last part of Thor's sentence.
"Your brother," she said, "killed more than eighty people in the last two days."
Rogers cut in before the argument could escalate further.
"Now's not the time for this. The enemy took Dr. Selvig, clearly, they want to use the Tesseract for their own purposes."
He looked around at the assembled team. "What we need to do now is track unusual gamma radiation signatures and locate their position."
He turned toward Bruce Banner, who had emerged cautiously from the Quinjet.
"Dr. Banner, we're going to need your expertise on this one."