The morning for me began with preparing gifts for the beautiful blonde Goddess. Ororo had heroically waited for and met a group of drunk men with one small child the day before, after which she no less heroically shoved them all into their bedrooms with the possible help of Sarah and Yuriko. Only Sarah had waited for Laura first and took her into her hands, rushing to wash, comb, feed and, in general, correct the harmful influence of the company of vulgar boors who "probably didn't think to buy the girl anything other than chips and ice cream." The boors, in Logan and me, didn't exactly admit what was incriminated, but they weren't in a hurry to object, because they were wise, experienced, and in general - you can't undermine a mother's authority in the eyes of a child by arguing with her in front of those very eyes. Yuriko, although she helped in pushing the men into the rooms, showed no initiative in commanding those grown-up blockheads, and she tried not to catch Stark's eye at all, although she knew for sure that he had nothing to do with her past, it was just that some things left too strong a mark on the soul. In general, Storm had to answer for everyone. And even though I was a good boy, but, as a man, I still felt the need to reward the lady for her feat, and at the same time - to suck up. Because beautiful dark-skinned beauties are more than worthy of being done nicely.
Anyway, I made breakfast in bed, and then took it to her... although now it's more like our apartment. After that incident at the party, it just happened somehow.
- Mmm, Loki, - the blonde mulatto opened her eyes, smelling the aroma of aromatic relaxing coffee (half water, half milk, two spoons of sugar), - I told you yesterday that you shouldn't try to appease me - a massage and a goodnight kiss were more than enough, - she chided me, stretching sweetly and letting out a smile on her face that contradicted what she had said. And yes, she really did say something like that, but I was too busy stroking the perfect back of the beauty who was trustingly snuggling up to me and already falling asleep, to pay attention to "all sorts of unconvincing half-asleep babble".
"Well, I'm not trying to appease you," I say with a smile in response to the slander, "I'm putting into action a very insidious and selfish plan!"
"Hm?" Ororo sat up in bed, letting the blanket fall onto her lap, and blinked at me questioningly.
"My cunning plan is," I elegantly lower the tray onto the girl's lap, "to admire you while you're dressed as Eva, and to make the most of this moment by eating breakfast, which you can't put off to get dressed!"
- Vulgar! - they playfully threw a pillow at me, but didn't cover themselves, allowing me to continue enjoying all the details above the waist.
- It's all Tony! He taught me bad things yesterday! - I catch the pillow, no less playfully launching into justifications. - But I'm ready to re-educate myself and return to the true path!
"Let's not make jokes about the teacher and the docile student!" they warned me with a finger.
- Jokes? My intentions are very serious!
In response, the second pillow from the bed flew at me, and Ororo's cheeks darkened a little. From indignation, no doubt.
"Okay then," I stack the pillows one on top of the other behind the girl's back so that she can sit more comfortably, "bon appetit," and I kiss the mulatto on the ear.
- Where are you going now? - Storm immediately realized that I intended to leave her to eat breakfast in peace.
- To Cap, Logan and Tony - we need to finish the formalities and root Stark out of the lab before he comes up with a couple of new types of weapons. Then we'll most likely go to San Francisco for a while, but I'll leave the illusion. Anyway, eat and don't rush anywhere.
"Okay," the dark-skinned girl smiled. "And thank you," the last word referred to the tray.
"You're welcome," without denying myself the pleasure of kissing the girl again, this time on her very willingly offered lips, I left the bedroom and went on my exploits.
As I expected, as soon as he got to the estate, Tony was not deceived by the conservative style of the environment, and literally his first question after the obligatory part with introducing the people who met me was about where my lab was. Like, "You live here, you are my God, so there must be a cool, fancy lab here. Most likely, in the basement! Show me! You already climbed into mine, now it's my turn!" The story does not need details about how the God of Magic literally tore his High Priest away from the atomic forge, which he clung to and screamed that he "will stay to live here", it is important that Tony should be intercepted now before he starts trying to break in. And he will definitely start, especially since no hangover will slow him down.
In general, none of yesterday's alcoholics, loafers and hooligans who broke into the school after midnight, despite heavy drinking, could suffer from a hangover. I did so because of my nature, which allowed me to calmly endure real months-long drinking bouts of Asgard. Tony cheated due to constant access to the Living Light - all types of poisoning with simple and non-magical poisons, which included alcohol, could only slightly harm his body, to the level of "slightly tipsy", and such an effect quickly wore off, there was no need to talk about the consequences of intoxication, that is, a hangover. Logan, being a regenerator, got rid of the effects of alcohol even faster. Well, and Cap, although he was only a prototype and a budget version of the Astartes, could really swim away only from a good barrel of cognac with one sting and without a snack. And even though yesterday he reached approximately this level, completely unnoticed by himself, by the morning the powerful organism should have already overcome all the consequences. In short, no "stale zombies" awaited me - everyone should have been cheerful, happy and in the best mood.
I caught Stark about where I expected - on the first floor of the estate, literally a few steps from the elevator down. However, contrary to expectations, the billionaire was not cosplaying as a Cossack scout, trying to secretly penetrate where it was forbidden, but with a very thoughtful and even, perhaps, close to religious awe look staring at something in the living room.
Frankly, I had quite a few ideas right away, and not all of them were decent. Well, simply because Jubilee and Kitty Pryde live here, and they are girls who are a bit like that... inclined to bisexuality and outrageousness, although they carefully disguise the first point, but here the main thing is the presence. In general, I approached, anticipating a certain spectacle that could so captivate Tony Stark himself, however... I didn't get it. In the living room there was only Jack - a guy from the younger group who always sits there.
- Tony? - I indicate my presence, expecting some explanation.
"He can control electronics with his mind?" Stark continued to stare at the little boy in front of the TV.
- Hm?.. - I glanced at the young mutant again, belatedly realizing what was going on. He was really sitting, not even thinking about reaching for the remote control that was lying right next to the screen, while perfectly switching channels. - Yes. His mutation is expressed in technopathy, it's like telepathy, only with a focus on technology, - the boy also had a slightly unusual brain structure, due to which he was physically unable to sleep, but describing something like that was not quite appropriate.
- Um... ah... If anything, Stark Industries provides an excellent social package to its employees and is ready to arrange an internship starting from middle school age! - Ironman turned to me very animatedly and businesslike.
- Tony, are you seriously considering recruiting a ten-year-old kid who was too lazy to reach for the TV remote as your minion?
- Loki, you don't understand! - the billionaire's gaze was filled with something feverish and greedy. - Now, in the age of growing automation, I offer great prospects to a potential chief engineer of my company. Or a leading IT specialist, as he decides!
"And you are not at all embarrassed by its nature, Mr. Stark?" a new voice broke into our conversation. "Good morning, and welcome, by the way."
"What's the problem?" Tony blinked, turning to Xavier as he approached from the other side of the hallway. "And oh, hello... um... respectable older gentleman."
- Oh, right, - the leader of the mutants smiled, - allow me to introduce myself, Professor Charles Xavier. The director of this school, - it was obvious that the prof... no, he hadn't read my priest's thoughts, but his emotions and mood - quite well, and therefore his smile in response to the engineer's bewilderment was understandable. The mutant was pleased by the fact that his interlocutor did not see mutants as a problem, nor any difference from other people. Actually, with all his eccentricity and carelessness, Tony Stark was exactly the kind of person (in general terms) that the prof would like to see.
- Oh! - the engineer raised his index finger and "hung". - I've woken up in many places in my life after a good drinking session, but never in elementary school! And... I think I remember you... Right! We met a couple of times in Congress, I think.
"Very fleetingly," Xavier smiled. "And we don't just have a primary school, but rather a full boarding school from kindergarten to university level."
- Yeah, where God teaches history and Captain America is the gym teacher. Harvard and Oxford nervously smoke on the sidelines and turn green with envy...
"I try to give my students the best education," Charles smiled again.
- What about subsequent employment? - Tony was very interested. - I just had a couple of interesting offers! I wasn't kidding. I don't know about anyone else, but I fully approve of using your talents for personal gain, if it doesn't violate the law, of course. So if any of your students with suitable talents want to try themselves in the field of high technology, here are my contacts, - the billionaire deftly pulled a business card out of his inside pocket.
- And what if their talents lie outside of working with technology? - the telepath looked at his interlocutor with a squint.
- If their level of education is appropriate, then why not? - the magnate shrugged. - But people with special talents are especially interesting to me - you can always find a use for a special talent! I recently read about how the powers of one of your friends work, and now I'm absolutely delighted! I almost figured out how to build an antigrav!
"That's impressive," Charles put the card away. "However, I suppose you haven't had breakfast yet? Would you mind keeping me company? I imagine our potential gym teacher, who hasn't yet given his consent, will be there too, and you wouldn't mind finishing your business with him."
- Oh, right, I still have to give him the shield and take measurements for the armor... - nodded Tony, watching as Kitty, who had appeared at the end of the corridor, did not fit into the turn. True, this did not bother her, and she simply went right through this very turn, but still. - And nothing is wrong here, it's fun...
"We're trying," I nodded to my friend. "And did I understand correctly that you want to create armor for Captain America?"
"That was the plan," Tony nodded. "It may be bulletproof, but the times and calibers are different these days. Besides, Rogers is probably the only military man I'm willing to trust with my armor."
- Are you ready to trust her yet? - I gesture to start moving in the right direction.
– Let's just say that I don't really like doing everything alone anymore, and besides, I'm married now…
***
Having survived breakfast at the school for mutant children quite well and not even having a row with anyone about their sense of humor (Tony) and being out of touch with reality (Cap), the guests had a rather long conversation with Charles, in which Professor X laid out practically the same theses to them as he had to us, Logan and Rogue when we had just arrived at this place. Then there was a tour, a closer acquaintance with the team and a visual demonstration of why such institutions as the Xavier Institute are really necessary and why you can't let the situation slide or trust government officials. Both adults and far from stupid men, who themselves had managed to become natural world-class superheroes, caught the topic in half a word, perfectly understanding what would happen if they gave Fury the opportunity to recruit teenagers who were capable of throwing fireballs or walking through walls as his agents. And the moment of criminal circles was not cancelled, and, as is known, in any capitalist government the connections with crime are extremely close and neighborly, because "nothing personal - just business" and "money has no smell", so there was no hope that the authorities would protect mutant children from the encroachments of the shadow world, in fact, the exact opposite. In a word, the guests felt the seriousness of the issue.
- So how many mutants are there in the world now? - Stark asked, already sitting in Xavier's office and sipping orange juice from a glass . Very serious and collected after all the revelations. Or maybe it was the image of Charles that had such an effect on him, who by his very presence even made me moderate my ardor and foolishness. - I mean, in percentage terms?
"In the US, mutant genes are carried by about eighty percent of the population," I answer, lazily swirling the cocoa in my glass with a circular motion. "In other multinational countries with a high degree of population mobility, it should be about the same. If we take the countries of Africa and Asia, where the influx of migrants and their interbreeding with the local population is complicated by cultural, economic or political reasons, then there are already thirty to forty percent, or even less."
"But if there are so many of them, how do you manage to hide from society?" Steve Rogers asked from his chair, puzzled.
- The authorities of all countries of the world have been well aware of the existence of mutants since about the fifties, - Charles joined the conversation. - And this information is not something particularly secret, regularly appearing in the press and even discussed in public hearings. But, fortunately for us, mutants who have already awakened their powers are really few, and the average citizen has practically no chance of meeting them in everyday life or witnessing their activities, so we have managed to successfully maintain the image of an urban legend so far. Although, of course, excesses happen.
"And, as I understand it, you settle them yourself?" Stark asked, taking a sip of juice.
"That's right," Xavier closed his eyes. "We have to do this to prevent the conflict from escalating."
"Sorry, I don't quite understand…" Steve admitted, wincing slightly. He had really been overwhelmed with too many new impressions lately.
- If we entrust the elimination of excesses involving mutants to official authorities, this will inevitably give rise to the creation of special services, the main goal of which will be to confront mutants. And these services will begin to provoke conflict, seeing mutants as their enemies and a target for hunting.
"And also a way to get additional funding and bonuses for yourself," I added my two cents.
- Unfortunately, - Charles nodded at my words. - Even without these special services, attempts have already been made to force mutants to work for the government, as well as to arrange for their mandatory registration. Therefore, I and those who share my views try to resolve conflict situations ourselves, without bringing the matter to the stage where it can develop into racial confrontation.
"But you said that in America almost the entire population is mutants, so what kind of racial confrontation can we talk about?" Tony asked again.
- Stupid and idiotic, as always, - I shrug. - The point is that mutant genes, of course, are present in many, but for them to move from a recessive to a dominant state, another five generations are needed, and in reality - even more, because people select partners based on love, and not a genetic map, in order to pass on to them the best amount of heredity. Therefore, for those who do not have Asgardian equipment for research, the situation looks like mutants exist only a fraction of a percent of the total population of the planet.
"But over the years the numbers must increase, and with them the volume of voices of those who adhere to the racial theory?" Rogers guessed.
- That's right. The real fun will start in about fifteen to twenty years. According to my calculations, in that generation the number of people with awakened abilities will reach five percent of the total population, and it really won't be possible to hide it.
- Ah, - Stark sighed with deep spiritual heaviness, - and SHIELD is still in the dark... But, okay, I get the big picture! - the man perked up. - For the record! - he raised his finger, looking at the professor. - All my offers are still valid! If you need any help, call. Iron Man is against racism, civil wars and killing children!
"I agree," Captain America nodded briefly and succinctly. "I would say something like that too, but I don't have my own phone number to leave yet," the guy tried to joke, twisting his lips into a guilty smile.
- Oh, right, - Tony remembered, - I have a satellite somewhere in the trunk of my car that can receive signals from anywhere on the planet. I brought it especially for you.
"Oh…" Cap didn't seem to know what to answer.
- And about the nearest plans, - turning to Steve, I decide to return to one of the central topics that had somehow gotten chatty. - I understand that I may give the impression of a not entirely adequate character, but I wasn't joking about working as a teacher. You need time to rehabilitate and get to grips with the situation anyway, and turning to government officials about this is not the best option, and we have cocoa! - I salute with my cup.
- I... - Captain America measured my charm with his gaze (by the way, I had improved the transformation formula, and now my drink was no worse than the highest quality brewed varieties!) and, it seemed, did not believe that this was a really strong argument - to be honest, he was still completely perplexed by all this. I would like to help in the fight against Hydra - exchanging glances with Stark - but I understand that I will be of little use now. So... - he shrugged, turning to Xavier, - basically, I have nowhere to go, and I don't know anyone in this time anyway, except James, so if I don't bother you and can be useful, then I am ready to help.
- Don't worry about Hydra, - Tony chimed in, finishing his juice, - if there's a hot case coming up, I'll give you a call. But Loki's right - it's great here, it's just that it's almost lunchtime, I still have a lot of things to do and my wife is worried, and I still have to recruit your Magneto for the position of scarecrow of world state terrorism. So if there are no questions for me, then we should go our separate ways, because I know myself - you can hang out with smart people for a long time, and then you won't even understand what it was.
"Of course," Prof nodded with a soft half-smile.
Towards evening. San Francisco.
"How are you, already getting your bearings?" I ask Tony, passively maintaining the stability of the spell cast on him.
"Yes," the engineer's illusion answered me, "but at this time it's better not to move your normal body too much, otherwise your brain starts to jam as if I haven't had a drink for three days."
- Alas, the computational resources of the brain are a finite thing, so there is nothing to be done about it, it is difficult to parallelize consciousness. Oh well, we can talk about the magical and biological nuances of autonomous illusion later, but now - let's go recruit our future director.
"Let's go," he sighed, starting to look around, whereas before he had been looking mostly at his feet, as if he had just started learning to walk, and he moved in about the same way.
- We're not far anymore. Over there, do you see that building?
- "The Lansher Fund?" - the engineer read the name. - It seems to be some kind of charity for helping veterans, or the disabled, or orphans... Pepper even donated something to them a couple of times from our charity evenings, - the man strained his memory.
- Yeah. That's exactly what they do. Shall we go?
- Of course. It wasn't for nothing that I endured this brain-twisting… thing!
Finding Magneto wasn't hard, nor was getting to his office - just keep a low profile and stomp. Just five minutes and we were there. The elderly mutant was working on papers, not paying attention to his surroundings. His office was furnished with taste and quite well. Office chairs with iron frames, a couple of sharp fountain pens with metal rods, all sorts of cool bronze and steel figurines on the shelves...
- Not bad, cozy, - Tony nodded, making the mutant twitch and tense up. A worried look slid over the uninvited guests in our face, and... the old man's pupils dilated slightly - he clearly recognized me. The tension in his pose increased.
- Good afternoon, Mr. Lansher.
- Good day, Mister... Loki? - the leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants asked with a fair amount of skepticism.
"At your service," I salute with an invisible hat.
- So, since no one is hitting me on the head right now, I dare to hope that you came with at least non-hostile intentions.
"I didn't have any hostile intentions towards you before, I just didn't want to witness big mistakes and bloodshed," I shrug, twirling the illusion of a cane between my fingers. Or rather, I twirled the real Gungnir, but… In general, it's already become a habit, yes.
"I can't say that you have reassured me," Magneto replied with an interesting mixture of irony and sarcasm, seasoned with a drop of bile.
- Ah, excuse me. I actually came here not wanting to hurt you or anything like that, on the contrary, I have a very advantageous offer, first of all, for you. By the way, allow me to introduce you to each other: Tony Stark, aka Ironman, - I nod at the billionaire, - Eric Lansher, aka Magneto. This is fate, comrades! I feel that this is it!
"Nice to meet you," Lansher said politely. "Although you're not here, are you? Or is this some kind of telepathic trick?" His eyes slid to the silver shaft of my cane.
- Pure illusion and no fraud. But let's get down to business, so we can dot the i's and cross the t's right away. Mr. Lansher, even though our acquaintance did not start out on friendly terms, you are a normal person with completely normal and logical goals. And I like your methods, although not all of them, but I can understand even those that I don't really like. I would even apologize for Sabretooth, but there was a fight there, and I was protecting a child... In short, we are offering you to lead S.H.I.E.L.D.
– We guarantee medical insurance, social package and state benefits! – Tony picked up.
"Is this… a joke?" the mutant raised an eyebrow.
"If only…" my priest rolled his eyes.
- Shut up! - I snorted at him. - This is, as they say, an offer you can't refuse. In general, our situation is this...
And I told him about Hydra, the incompetence of Fury, Stryker, Rice, the project to create a virus against mutants, my research regarding its device for forced mutation, the X-gene and the real statistics of its presence in the population. I also promised to renew his body so that it could handle the load. After all, whatever you say, with all his talents, Eric is no longer a young man and without rejuvenating procedures he will not last long in such a position, unless he also starts, like Tony, to carry the ARK reactor around without taking it off, but it was easier for me to use this reactor to immediately fix the old man, at the same time running him through the Crucible of Souls and studying him to my heart's content, so to speak, combining business with pleasure.
The conversation dragged on until the evening, and Magneto actually called Charles to confirm. Of course, he didn't give in to our persuasion so easily and simply after that, but after thinking for a while, he came to a logical conclusion: it was too complicated for a setup, especially from those who were able to get within striking distance of him unnoticed. However, Eric wouldn't be himself if he didn't try to knock out some additional benefits, of course, not for himself, but for mutants in general, but then the scythe found a stone in the person of Mr. Stark, who almost brought the conversation to the topic that it would be nice for the head of the Brotherhood of Mutants to pay extra for the opportunity to control the controllers and keep his finger on the pulse of events. Well, and to receive dirt on everyone and everything on an almost legal basis.
"Psss, Tony..." I distracted my priest from the negotiations.
- What? I almost finished him!
- No, don't get me wrong, I fully approve, but... how can I tell you... - I played with the illusory wine goblet - we are recruiting Magneto to be his minions, and he is not trying to buy us for information about all sorts of bad things. This information, in theory, is provided free of charge...
- Ahem... - the billionaire looked a little embarrassed, to the point that he even apologized to Eric: - I apologize, reflexes...
"I understand," the mutant nodded politely. "But now I understand what Charles meant. Well, I'll agree to your proposal."
- Excellent! - Stark threw up his hands. - Well, we'll sign all the crap like contracts and stuff later. How long will it take you to settle things with your foundation? After all, it'll take a lot of time to get acquainted with the affairs at first.
- In a few days, I will need to hand over the main affairs to my assistant.
- Mystic? - I became curious.
- No, I would prefer that she go with me. Raymond will handle the business.
- Hm?
"You may know him better as Toad," Magneto explained. "Did I mention that this universe is home to the most epic Toad possible? I double that claim.
At this point, the issue could be called resolved. Of course, there were still plenty of technical details and nuances, but this was a matter of working out at the level of the "HR department", and not the "holder of a key shareholding" and future "CEO" of S.H.I.E.L.D. So we exchanged business cards (Tony was unhappy that his illusion could not give out a business card, he had to transmute it from thin air, and this is more difficult than turning the same air into an explosive gas) and agreed to meet in New York. After which our illusions were safely dispelled.
"Phew," the engineer sighed with relief on the couch in his laboratory, immediately reaching for the bottle of whiskey on the table by his left hand, "the experience is certainly interesting, but the sensations are somehow so-so…"
"It's a matter of habit, to some extent," I say, throwing up my hands.
"Are you done yet?" Pepper, who was in the same room, asked, looking up from the laptop she had been working on the entire time we were working on Magneto.
- Oh yeah! - Tony answered, having already poured himself some amber liquid. - Finally, I can return to my favorite work with hardware, and all this spy hassle will be taken on by someone who is really interested in it!
– When you flew off to New York with that wild idea of appointing Captain America as head of S.H.I.E.L.D., I thought it was impossible to come up with anything wilder, but now all I can do is sympathize with Agent Coulson. God knows he doesn't deserve this.
- I object! - I also did not deny myself the opportunity to fill a glass with the beautiful liquid, I intervened in the family conversation. - God in my person can responsibly testify that everything that is happening is, first of all, the merit of Agent Coulson. If it were not for his gangster habits of a representative of the authorities, insolent from permissiveness, I would not have joked about Hydra, and none of this would have happened.
"Joke… about Hydra?" Tony asked, very politely.
- Didn't I tell you? - I innocently blink my eyes at the slowly stretching faces of people with bad suspicions. - Anyway, this is how it happened! My moron brother screwed up again and was banished by Odin to Earth to gain some brains in a powerless state. And so, when I came to pick him up, two black cars drove towards us, from which aggressive little men with machine guns poured out, and this Coulson of yours, all pathos, demands that we get down on our knees and put our hands behind our heads...
Later
Is it difficult to get a top-secret artifact of the Gods from the storerooms of a top-secret office, the existence of which they encrypt even from their direct management and ninety-nine percent of their own organization? Not at all! Because "according to the documents" it was only a power source of unknown origin, and after all the recent events, Fury, who did not yet know that they were going to replace him, but clearly guessed something, had no time for a modest suitcase in an inconspicuous safe, which no one goes to, because they do not even know about its existence.
The blue cube greeted me with mysterious glare and radiance, inspiring thoughts of omnipresence and invulnerability, as it should be for a True God. And these thoughts were... very enticing, if I hadn't suspected the artifact of being able to drip onto brains, I could have easily decided that these were my own thoughts. But I expected a set-up, and therefore I was only convinced that no mind protection was an obstacle for this thing.
And yet, no matter how much I still feared getting involved with it, leaving it on Earth was an extremely bad idea. After all, three Infinity Stones for one planet is too many and too much of a hint at a scenario where, having found one, Thanos would pick up the other two. Do I need it? I don't need it! Besides, the Tesseract is truly the most dangerous of the boulders of scripted impotence, as I call them. If purple Wrinklebeard got it, he would collect the rest very quickly, simply due to the speed of movement. So it had to be hidden somewhere where the security would be more reliable.
- So, man, - I carefully touch the blue surface, tuning in to communicate with the artifact, - I don't like you, you don't like me either, so… - my thought was interrupted by a new surge of, as it were, "my" thoughts and emotions about receiving great power and opportunities. The intensity of anticipation of how cool I could burn and how awesome I would become with this cube in my hands, for a moment even made me feel like Gungnir, in the sense that of the two of us, it is usually he who dreams of such matters. - So! What do you mean, you like me?!" I was outraged at the sound of my voice, deciphering the message of the stone in such a way that it expects that I will now become its new owner and a fun movement will begin. - No-no-no-no-no! I know what you are all trying to achieve! But I will not entertain you!
Having fallen silent, I listen to myself. The inspiration and thoughts about the prospects that possession of one of the Infinity Stones opens up for me have not gone anywhere, and if I had not been firmly determined in advance that I would not give a damn about these boulders, I would not have felt any hints of a catch. In fact, the further I went, the less sure I was that these emotions and thoughts were not mine, after all, the limited mobility really oppressed me, and dreams of how I would teleport wherever I wanted visited me.
"Okay," I sighed.
In any case, it was worth sticking to the plan. Besides, it's unlikely that this thing is actually fully intelligent from my point of view, because the presence of will and desires does not mean the presence of intelligence, so trying to communicate with it was pointless, especially since the artifact itself did not imply the corresponding functionality, giving only the ability to controllably direct the power of the stone - nothing more. And so we joked a little, relieved the stress - and that's enough, let's go hide the nuclear bomb in a more secure place than the dungeons of the "top-secret organization" of the local natives. And-and ... perhaps we will refrain from using it even for transportation, because I don't like these flashes of ideas and enthusiasm. Put aside ideas about how to embed a blue cube into armor, I said! Adamantium armor with fastenings for rhinestones of plot degradation is also a bad idea! No better than a glamorous golden glove! A-a-put aside, I said! Ugh, bad Tesseract, get out of my head!
"Hello, Heimdall," I nodded tiredly to the Afro-Asgardian when the interdimensional tunnel of Bifrost pushed me onto the transition platform.
- My Tsar, - hmm-m-m, did it seem to me or did he turn a little pale? And in general, he looks sad. Although yes... he still has to collect intelligence information to organize a raid of ice giants behind enemy lines... Hmm, did a feeling of compassion stir in me? No, it seemed so. But the thought that the Rainbow Bridge is for weaklings, and I have a cool blue cube that can do the same thing, only better, packed up and went to hell!
– Are there any difficulties in finding Thanos' worlds or the inhabitants of Jotunheim?
"None, my King," the guardian of Asgard continued to pretend to be just an advanced golem.
"Well, great, keep up the good work," I sighed and trudged towards the exit.
"It will be done..." – here the brave warrior could not resist and glanced sideways at the solid-looking black case in my hand.
- Uh-huh, - I followed his gaze, - this is the Tesseract that my father hid in Midgard. It was found more than half a century ago by local aborigines and they began to attempt to study it... I think you understand how such attempts could end for Midgard, and even all the Nine Worlds.
- Yes... - Heimdall responded laconically, continuing to drill my load with his gaze. Okay, so be it, let's spare his sense of pride and not ask where this big-eyed guy was looking at that moment. But in general, I have more and more complaints about his work, and the Afro-Asgardian's efficiency is almost like Cerberus - sometimes he lets strangers into the territory under his control, sometimes he just disappears somewhere, and recently he even started drinking on duty...
- Well, that's great. Then I'll go visit my mother and throw this thing into the treasury, anyway, see you later, - with these words I left the guard alone and left the room, setting out on the path to the Golden City... At the sight of which thoughts again began to spin in my head about how long it would take to walk here, to wait for the Sky Boat, then to fly, and I had such a cool blue cube, with which I could make fun of Thor, appearing right in the throne room...
Enough!
What pissed me off the most was that these thoughts were completely indistinguishable from mine - they were so harmoniously and easily woven into my consciousness that there was, naturally, no difference from when you yourself are fired up by some idea and enthusiastically spinning it around in your head. The only thing that kept me from making sure that these were really my thoughts and that there was no influence from the Infinity Stone was the fact that in all the past months I had never had such thoughts and such enthusiasm on this topic. But I had thought about the stones, including how they could be used, but so positively and with anticipation... Never at all! And most importantly, the ideas, in all likelihood, really were generated by me myself, and the Tesseract simply somehow provoked me to think in this direction and enjoy such thoughts. And now I understood well why Odin chose to hide the cube in the most remote corner of the Asgardian Empire - the further such temptation is from you, the better.
But alas, I myself could not bury it somewhere and forget about it. The reason was simple: in the story I knew, Thanos found out where it was. Sitting on the other side of the galaxy, not having a single agent on Earth, not even having the means of instant communication without transferring the scepter with the Mind Stone to Earth. But he still found out. That is, if I buried the Tesseract anywhere, he would find it just the same. Perhaps, by the way, thanks to that very Mind Stone, it doesn't matter. The important thing is that the cube needs protection, and Asgard, which is actively modernizing its defense systems, is the best option possible.
All that was left was to figure out how to wriggle out of it so that the presence of this faceted brain-pecker wouldn't make Asgard worse. It wasn't that I was afraid that a man accustomed to looking at all problems as nails and hitting them with a hammer would do something stupid under such influence, but... we're talking about Thor, after all. However, I had an idea, all that was left was a mere trifle - to start and do it.
The throne room greeted me with the same pomp, majestic beauty and einherjar frozen at their posts. But there was a difference: in addition to Thor on the throne, an illusion of Frigga and Sif with Fandrell were nearby. Judging from the fragments of phrases that reached me upon entering the hall, the people were discussing some kind of repulsed raid on Vanaheim.
- Loki, you're back! - the elderly Asinya was the first to smile at me, taking a step towards me.
- Yes, hello, Mom, - only the understanding that this was an illusion in front of me slowed down the urge to come up and hug her. The urge was light and completely free, without any feeling of internal struggle or discomfort. - True, not for long, now in Midgard quite interesting events are unfolding, and I do not want to leave my Goddess for long.
"You could have introduced her to my father and me," the queen complained a little grumpily.
- Hmm-m-m... - but in general, it's a good idea. And I'm not at all against such a development of events. - Okay, we'll try to pay you a visit in the near future.
- Loki! - the "awakened" Thor jumped up from the throne, and here it was impossible to do without hugs. Again these bear hugs, and in front of everyone...
- Yes, yes, hello, - I gently patted my brother on the back with my free hand, - I am also very glad to see you. Sif, Fandrell, - I also devote time to Thor's friends.
- Brother, what brought you here on this day? Something with Jane and her friends? - Thunderer began to look for something on my face with concern.
"With Jane?" I raised my eyebrows questioningly.
"Yes, they returned to Midgard a little over a week ago," Thor explained. "When I saw you, I thought something might have happened."
- Oh, no. We haven't crossed paths, I'm here on a different matter. Dad's still sleeping, right?
"As you can see, your brother was sitting on the throne," Frigga smiled softly in response.
"Excellent!" I was delighted, because, well… I was a little nervous.
"Loki..." Mother immediately changed her tone to one of authority.
- I mean, it's very unfortunate, of course, it's unfortunate, - I quickly reforged myself in flight. - Um... anyway, I brought the Tesseract, here! - lifting the suitcase and clicking the lock, I demonstrate the blue cube to those gathered.
"The Tesseract? The relic that was lost a thousand years ago?" Fandrell couldn't help but be amazed.
- Yes, it is. In fact, my father deliberately hid it in Midgard, but people found it and started poking it with a stick, often with consequences. Well, since we all know about Thanos here, I decided it would be better to let it lie in our treasury for now.
"Oh," Thor said thoughtfully. Sif remained silent until now.
"Now you are the King of Asgard, Loki, it is up to you to decide what to do with him," Frigga broke the silence, looking at me with maternal pride.
- Then I went to the treasury to take another dangerous toy, capable of destroying the universe, to the warehouse of other dangerous toys, capable of destroying the universe...
- Good luck, my son. And remember, you promised to bring your chosen one to us! - I'm not sure there was any promise there, but something, perhaps the instinct of self-preservation, told me not to argue with my mother about the exact wording...
One way or another, I got to the treasury, and there I stayed for a little longer than it took to place the cube on the pedestal. Why? Because I thought that extra security couldn't be extra. After all, the Tesseract is just a storage artifact, an external interface that allows you to access some of the stone's functions relatively safely, like all the other receptacles of the Infinity Stones, no matter whether they are designed as a staff, a medallion, a sphere, or something else, the main thing is that they are all control equipment, and the Stones themselves are inside. But, in my opinion, since the Tesseract was created, its design has become morally obsolete, and therefore it would be nice to modify it a little. I had ideas before, and now they could be implemented. So the "cube" acquired adamantium facets, each of which was painted with the finest weaving of runes. This construction did exactly one thing: it shifted the storage from normal coordinates to a one hundred twenty-eight-dimensional space, which even the most frostbitten demon would not want to poke his nose into. Personally, I would not have been able to reach those depths either, but the stone allowed me to work with space in a way I had never dreamed of. It was almost physically painful to refuse such a wonderful tool, and... despite all the temptation, I did not leave loopholes for myself. There was an idea to use the principle of quantum entanglement and a small ring of adamantium - the same batch from which I "cast" the edges of the cube. Just a backdoor and an "emergency beacon", which no one except me needs to know about. But, in essence, this will be no different from the situation when the cube is simply lying in my subspace pocket, that is, good blackmail or torture will quite allow me to get it, I didn't really want to become a target of torture and blackmail, but guaranteeing the universe safety from a click on the spray was a very attractive idea, just exactly what would make sense, so... For everyone, the stone is in the treasury of Asgard, all so protected and impregnable, but in fact - it is not here, only a projection onto ordinary reality, provided by the power of the stone itself, and it is basically impossible to get it. Or rather, theoretically it is possible, but for this you need to sit over it for at least a couple of centuries. However, who will let you sit in the treasury of Asgard? That's why I brought it here. I would have simply thrown it on an uninhabited planet - and riders would have been found, and they would have even built a laboratory around it, but otherwise - figs.
For a moment I even wondered how Thanos, if he got here, would pull out the stone. Yeah... that would be a really good joke. Here it is, the object of your dreams, just come and take it, heh-heh. Having first poured all your strength and scientific potential into breaking through the defense. And then it turns out that you need the same amount of effort, but in a completely different direction. It's a shame, I guess. *(1)
Notes:
*(1)For those who did not quite understand what exactly Loki did. We exist in a three-dimensional space, that is, it has exactly three dimensions: height, length, width. In the case of the relationship between three-dimensional space and a plane - you see a three-dimensional cube and can draw its two-dimensional projection on a sheet of paper, this will be a "reflection of an object" on a space of a lower dimension.
In this case, since the Infinity Stone is the "ultimate shiny thing for working with space in this particular universe," all space, no matter how much of it there is, is available to it, and not just the 3 spatial dimensions that humans perceive - otherwise, how would it spin the laws of physics on its hexagonal penis, moving objects to any distance?
So it turns out that Loki "hid" the Tesseract in a 128-dimensional space, essentially "at the very top" of the universe - the stone is physically there, and everything that is now visible on the pedestal in the treasury is simply its projection "on a piece of paper." You can even pick it up, but for someone who does not understand the processes, it will be just a blue cube, a cult paperweight, nothing more.
Moreover, in order to get a real cube, and not its reflection, even understanding what happened and understanding these matters, it is necessary, relatively speaking, to completely come up with the manufacturing process of this "Rubik's cube" (in the sense of stuffing the Tesseract into a 128-dimensional space), the interaction of all its parts, the rules of speed assembly competitions, all the options for increasing the speed of assembly and mathematically prove the possibility of assembling it in 8 movements from any position. After which you need to learn how to do all this yourself and win the world championship.
And on the prize cup find and solve the puzzle that indicates the location of the cube.
The backdoor option that Loki didn't use in this analogy would be the organizer (who has a highly developed, but dark and unhealthy sense of humor) knowing where the cube is.
But that's not all! After all, the real cube is not just lying around somewhere, but "hidden in a chest", with which you need to do about the same amount of operations plus pick a master key. And only then, if you haven't screwed up anywhere and haven't gone crazy trying to find where exactly you screwed up in your calculations, you, perhaps with some probability, if you have enough strength, will be able to get it back into three-dimensional space.
And yes, theoretically, the problem can be solved more easily with other Infinity Stones. Probably! This is not certain! Because there are no indications in the canon that one Infinity Stone can dominate another and put it on its back according to its wishes, but there are many hints to the contrary, for example, no one tried to heal the dying Tony Stark with the Time Stone, and Thanos, already having the Space Stone in his hands, could not just take and transfer the same Time Stone to himself. Oh yeah, and in order to plan to use other stones, you must know what the trick is, and you will not know until you try to pick up the cube.
More chapters on my P@treon: https://patreon.com/OOOTEN