Tony's Questioning

Just as Tony and Loki locked eyes, Thor, who was in the next cell and had overheard their conversation, suddenly became even more agitated.

"Hey! Midgardian! No matter what Loki has done, he is an Asgardian! You have no right to do anything to him! Otherwise, your entire Midgard will suffer the wrath of Asgard!"

Hearing this, Tony had absolutely no intention of paying Thor any mind.

Keeping Thor locked up here was simply to prevent him from causing trouble.

Earth didn't need the superhero Thor; having Tony himself was more than enough to handle this crisis.

He had spent over a month studying artifact refining at the Chen family, but he hadn't just learned about refining; he had picked up quite a few other things as well.

For example, the armor he currently possessed not only incorporated the most cutting-edge technology he had mastered, but it was also inscribed with a massive number of fourth-tier array formations.

In the cultivation world, fourth-tier array formations required a Nascent Soul cultivator to inscribe.

Yet, with his late-stage Qi Condensation cultivation base, he had easily achieved all this with the help of technological means.

If it weren't for the fact that Chen Changsheng's collection didn't include any fifth-tier array formations, he would even be able to inscribe those right now.

This was the source of his immense confidence.

For people in the cultivation world, simply inscribing array formations might not be very useful, as their magical power wouldn't support such an endeavor.

But for Tony, who could already convert arc reactor energy into magical power, as long as he didn't mind the hassle, he could casually inscribe countless fourth-tier array formations.

"Sir, Nick Fury and the others have arrived. They are currently outside the prison."

Jarvis's voice suddenly rang out, and a holographic screen appeared before Tony's eyes.

On the screen, Nick Fury, Coulson, Natasha, Steve, and even Banner were standing outside the prison.

Coulson seemed to notice the camera turning toward them and even smiled and waved.

Seeing this, Tony thought for a moment before giving the order.

"Jarvis, let them in."

Although he somewhat looked down on Nick Fury, he was very interested in the others. He had already decided in his heart that once this incident was over, he would invite them to join his own initiative.

Thus, the group outside proceeded unimpeded and arrived in front of Tony.

"Tony Stark! You shouldn't have done this!"

As soon as Nick Fury saw Tony, he began to reprimand him.

However, Tony merely shot him a glance.

"Whose mess do you think I'm cleaning up here?"

After saying that, he ignored the speechless Nick Fury and looked at Steve.

"Capsicle, do you really understand the situation? Or did that Egghead next to you tell you absolutely nothing?"

Hearing this, Steve looked at Nick Fury beside him with a bewildered expression before turning back to Tony.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Heh, what do I mean? Isn't the cause of all this the fact that the guy next to you was secretly researching the Tesseract, which led to Reindeer Games coming to Earth? And he even brought an alien army with him, an army that's currently waiting to invade Earth."

Tony's words shocked everyone who was kept in the dark, and that even included Nick Fury.

Meanwhile, Loki, who was behind Tony, furrowed his brows, a sudden bad premonition rising in his heart.

But Tony was no longer paying attention to him, because Nick Fury had started to make excuses.

"Everything I did was to protect Earth!"

As he spoke, he pointed at Thor, who was gripping the iron bars.

"All of this is because of him!"

Thor: "Huh? Because of me? What does this have to do with me?"

"Half a year ago! You suddenly appeared in a small town in California, and while fighting a monster, you easily destroyed more than half the town. That was when I realized how terrifying you aliens are. That's why I secretly researched the Tesseract, so that Earth could have its own power to fight against unstable factors like you."

It had to be said that Nick Fury was very good at shifting the blame. Hearing this, even Thor almost believed it was truly his own fault.

Among the crowd, Steve's expression softened a bit. Natasha and Coulson were already SHIELD agents, so naturally, they wouldn't question Nick Fury.

Only Dr. Banner felt that something was a bit off, but not knowing the specific duties of SHIELD, he also felt that Nick Fury wasn't wrong to do so.

Only Tony looked at Nick Fury's display with a face full of disdain.

"Heh, that sounds really nice, but do you have the authority? Did the United Nations grant you this authority, or did the Security Council grant you this authority? Or perhaps America granted you this authority?"

"No, they didn't. You didn't tell anyone. You researched it secretly on your own because you wanted to hold the power in your own hands."

"But have you ever considered one thing."

Tony stared fixedly at Nick Fury.

"Do you really have the right to do this?"

"You think the countries of the world can't be trusted! The top brass of those countries can't be trusted! Your direct superiors, the Security Council, can't be trusted! I can't be trusted! Only you yourself can be trusted! So, you arrogantly researched weapons capable of destruction! And you sugarcoated it by saying it was to deal with potential crises that might erupt in the world!"

"Heh..."

Hearing this, Nick Fury's face turned ashen, yet he still glared fixedly at Tony.

Steve and Banner also looked at Nick Fury with expressions of disbelief.

The atmosphere at the scene instantly plummeted to the freezing point.

Right at that moment, Jarvis's voice broke the icy silence.

"Sir, I believe I have found the Tesseract you mentioned."

"Where is it?"

"It's right at... your Stark Tower."

As Jarvis's words fell, a projection appeared before everyone's eyes.

It displayed the top floor of Stark Tower, Tony's exclusive personal space.

On the open-air balcony outside the top floor, several figures were rapidly assembling a massive device, and the Tesseract was impressively resting upon that machine.

Even though Tony had long known this moment would come, he couldn't help but frown.

Even if the defensive measures he had set up at Stark Tower hadn't been activated yet, with the tower's inherent defenses, it should have been absolutely impossible for these people to reach the top floor so easily.

"Jarvis, how did they get up there? What about the tower's security forces?"

"Sir, they went up in this fighter jet. This jet is capable of stealth and was not detected by the tower's security forces beforehand."

As Jarvis spoke, he brought up another projection. Just a bit higher above Stark Tower, a fighter jet that was incredibly familiar to everyone present was hovering in mid-air.

Seeing this, Tony looked at Nick Fury with immense displeasure.

"It's because of you people again!"

After saying that, he immediately donned his armor and flew out of the prison.

Inside the prison, Steve and the others looked at the SHIELD jet in the projection, then all cast a glance at Nick Fury.

Afterward, Steve immediately looked at the group.

"Everyone, put everything else aside for now. We have more important things to do at this moment."

After speaking, he looked into everyone's eyes one by one. Seeing that they all nodded, he then continued to speak.

"Who here knows how to fly the fighter jet outside? We need to hurry and back up Stark."

Obviously, Steve's opinion of Tony at this moment was quite favorable.

At the very least, compared to Nick Fury, he felt Tony was much more trustworthy.

The rest of the group had no objections and all followed him out, leaving only Nick Fury standing in place, completely motionless.

That is, until...

"Hey! Your name is Black Braised Egg, right? What a weird name."

"Black Braised Egg, hurry up and get me out of here. You guys need my help!"

Hearing this, Nick Fury turned to look at the rather excited Thor, but chose not to explain that his name wasn't actually Black Braised Egg. He prided himself on knowing how to prioritize, and he recognized the man in front of him. He knew that with this man's help, Earth's forces would gain a massive boost in combat power.

So, he walked up to the iron bars and asked.

"Do you know where the key is?"

"I have no idea, but can't you just find another way?"

Thor tossed the problem right back at Nick Fury.

Hearing this, Nick Fury could only turn around, preparing to search for a way to open the cell.

However, in the very next moment.

"I am sorry, sir, but you do not have the authorization to do this. I advise you to leave the prison immediately, or the automatic defense system will be activated."

Jarvis's voice echoed through the room. At the same time, panels opened up across the ceiling, and an array of heavy weapons aimed straight at Nick Fury.

Nick Fury: ...