My name is Red Skull, the guide of Vormir, the guardian of the Soul Stone.
I have a nemesis named Steve Rogers. The reason I ended up here is because of my struggle with my nemesis over the Tesseract during World War II. The Tesseract sent me to Vormir, where I took over from the previous, long-dead guide and became a slave to the Soul Stone. "Guide" is just a fancier term for it.
My job is to screen out those with a weak will for the Soul Stone. For all these years, I've done my job brilliantly. There has never been a single incident.
Then, I met a completely unreasonable simpleton. This simpleton had no reverence for power, let alone any respect for the Soul Stone. I told him it was simple to get the Soul Stone; he just needed to sacrifice the person he loved most. One life for one stone. It was a fair trade.
Then this simpleton said that I was the person he loved most...
Oh god...
Before this, I had never imagined anyone would say that to me. The way his mind worked was completely bizarre. And then, he kicked me off the cliff. He kicked me without any hesitation, and my landing was very graceful. My limbs were just shattered and my head was cracked. It wasn't a huge problem.
"...Woz?"
At the edge of the cliff, Lothar, in his black, loose-fitting combat suit, frowned. The mist below the cliff was composed of some unknown elements; even with his vision, he couldn't see through it.
"The mist contains a large number of Infinity Stone isotopes. Woz is unable to scan it," Woz gave an answer that made Lothar raise an eyebrow.
Infinity Stone isotopes? That could only be the Soul Stone's doing, right? It could do this?!
Standing beside Lothar, Hela re-examined the oddity that was Lothar. If this was possible, did that mean the Soul Stone had been deceiving its visitors for thousands of years?
Holding a sense of disbelief, Hela stayed with Lothar at the edge of the cliff for over an hour, enduring the wind. Snow began to accumulate on her shoulders, but the Soul Stone still didn't appear. Hela's eyes grew more and more amused, while Lothar's expression became increasingly grim. The passing of time brought about two completely different psychological journeys for them.
"I told you, the Soul Stone has its own wisdom and rules. These are the rules it set. You can't cheat them," Hela said, enjoying the changes in Lothar's expression. She wondered if it was because she'd been sealed away for so long without seeing anyone, but she was starting to think Lothar's face wasn't so bad after all.
Lothar quietly raised his right hand, and a golden glow surged from his body. The brilliant light seemed to radiate a scorching heat, and the snowflakes falling over the Vormir cliff were instantly vaporized.
"Wait, Lothar, what are you doing?!" Hela's amusement vanished.
"Destroying Vormir."
An immense amount of energy gathered in Lothar's right palm. An energy orb, about the size of the Red Skull's head, spun in his hand. The energy was still gathering, but it hadn't been unleashed. The energy orb's size wasn't changing, but its contained power made even Hela tremble. The terrifying aura emanating from it would be difficult for even her, now that her divine power was restored, to resist.
"If it won't come out, I'll smash its home."
"When its hiding place is gone, it will have nowhere to hide."
It was as if he was explaining his plan, or perhaps speaking to the Soul Stone hidden somewhere on Vormir. The internal intensity of the energy orb in Lothar's hand grew more and more terrifying as time passed, but he still seemed to think it wasn't enough and continued to gather more energy.
The mist below the cliff grew thicker...
"Destroy Vormir, and you will forever be unable to obtain my power."
The "Red Skull," who should have been dead, slowly rose from the mist below the cliff. The black flames flickering in his eyes made the corner of Lothar's mouth curl into a mocking smile. "You're afraid."
If he was only uncertain before, Lothar was now 100% sure.
"I am not capable of feeling fear."
The "Red Skull" shook his head. "Since my birth, I have only pursued one thing, and that is fairness."
"To exchange the life of a loved one for immense power is a fair choice."
"To gain power, you must pay a price."
"I never force anyone into a transaction with me, because the final choice is not in my hands."
"Son of Thanos, do you understand?"
The black flames in the "Red Skull's" eye sockets vanished instantly after he gave his final warning. The Red Skull's body once again fell into the mist below. His second death was just as gruesome.
As the mist containing the Soul Stone isotopes dissipated, the Red Skull's head was separated from his body by the fall. Lothar dismissed the energy orb he had been holding for so long, turned around, and walked away without hesitation.
"Woz, convert the map of Midgard into a digital version, then have that Midgardian artificial intelligence search for it."
"Understood, Your Highness Lothar."
Woz bowed respectfully from the ship's control panel, then used the backdoor he had left in J.A.R.V.I.S.'s system to slip inside. For Woz, who was personally created by Thanos and had access to all the high-tech databases of the Black Quadrant, it was easy to make J.A.R.V.I.S. turncoat, and leaving a backdoor was even simpler.
No matter how advanced J.A.R.V.I.S. was, he was still an artificial intelligence from Earth, while Woz had already become an artificial life-form, a sentient being with a physical body.
....
Earth, USA, Washington, Tony Stark's mansion.
Because of the reconstruction work in New York City, the billionaire Tony Stark had no choice but to move into a luxurious villa in Washington to continue his research. His research on Lothar.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., any results from the analysis of the ancient Egyptian documents?"
The sound of a hammer striking metal echoed in the lab. Wearing only a tank top, Tony Stark was still experimenting with and modifying his Iron Man suit. Each swing of the hammer represented a loss of millions of dollars. But the filthy-rich Tony Stark wasn't short on money. He had been tinkering at home for two days straight.
"The information is vague. Ancient Egyptian civilization has been broken for a long time, and all the available data on the internet is insufficient to support your analysis of Lothar's power."
J.A.R.V.I.S. gave Tony Stark a disappointing answer.
"However, there is some good news."
"Oh? What is it?"
"I was able to track their movements by following the signal left in my system by the artificial intelligence that was with Lothar."
As soon as J.A.R.V.I.S. finished speaking, an image of the planet Vormir appeared in front of Tony Stark. On the side of the screen, a route map that J.A.R.V.I.S. had back-traced was also displayed.
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