Chapter 133: The Theft of Iridium

As the Quinjet slowly touched down on the Helicarrier, the brawny Thor regained consciousness. For an ordinary person, sleeping for half a day would hardly be surprising, but Black Widow knew the potency of Luke’s technique—the little guy seemed to have a unique knack for knocking people out.

Loki was escorted onto the ship. His submissive demeanor made the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel deeply suspicious, though no one could fathom what he was actually planning. He was locked inside the reinforced glass cell originally designed for the Hulk. Nick Fury interrogated him sternly about the location of the Tesseract, but Loki merely offered a wicked, enigmatic smile, spouting aimless and inconsequential nonsense.

Fury knew Loki was stalling for time. Whatever was coming, it was imminent. He ordered everyone to find any lead on the Tesseract and tasked Black Widow with extracting information from Loki. Interrogation was her specialty; her methods were so varied and unpredictable that they were impossible to guard against.

In the lab, Captain America and Tony Stark were locked in a heated argument, both critical of the other’s style and attitude. Cap thought Tony was undisciplined, selfish, and lacked a sense of the bigger picture. Tony dismissed Cap as old-fashioned, likable to a monkey in a circus costume. Bruce Banner remained calm, staying out of the fray, completely detached.

Luke shook his head, thinking that this was exactly why he never intended to get involved in the Avengers' mess from the start. None of these guys were easy to deal with; they could start a fight even with a major threat looming over them. Looking at it now, his choice to stay aloof was correct. "The 'Short-Leg League'—no, wait, the Hero League—is much more harmonious..."

Luke couldn't be bothered with the three grown men; he focused his attention on Loki’s scepter sitting on the lab table. The room was equipped with every high-end instrument imaginable, with detailed readings listed on the screens, but he didn't care about any of that. He only wanted to figure out how to pry this thing open and retrieve the Mind Stone inside. At this moment, he felt like a monkey trying to crack open a coconut.

The people present had no idea of the true value of the scepter. Banner was studying it too, but he only saw it as an alien weapon; the limitations of his information blinded the doctor. Even Loki himself had no idea what kind of astonishing treasure was hidden within the staff he carried. Luke figured that in this entire world, only two beings knew this secret: Thanos, and a super-handsome guy named Luke.

Luke stood on his tiptoes, leaning over the table to inspect the scepter at close range, his eyes unblinking. *Stare!* The tip of the scepter continued to emit a faint, ghostly blue light. "This seems to be the power of the Tesseract. Is Thanos using it to mask the presence of the Mind Stone? But why would he do that? It seems like none of the movies ever explained this point. Thanos is playing a very long game..."

Luke muttered to himself, a strong desire rising within him to pick up the staff. "As expected, there’s something wrong with it. Is it leaking mental influence? It’s tempting me..." His little face was full of vigilance. He cautiously extended a tiny finger and gently touched a part of the staff. Nothing happened. He then touched the blue crystal at the tip.

The moment his finger made contact with the blue crystal, the two bickering men and Dr. Banner all looked his way. "Hey, kid, don't touch that. One gamma radiation burst would be enough to kill everyone on this ship; we might all end up turning into big green monsters," Tony said, gesturing to the scepter.

Banner looked at Tony with a silent, exasperated expression. "No offense," Tony added, raising his hands.

"There was a peak surge in the gamma readings just now. What influenced it? I’m running a wavelength and phase analysis; maybe I’ll find something..." Dr. Banner said, looking surprised at the instrument readings and typing away at the keyboard. Captain America remained silent, though he secretly wished they would just speak plain English.

Luke withdrew his small hand, unbothered. During that brief touch, he had clearly seen a ripple like blue water appear at the tip of the staff, mixed with a faint, almost imperceptible hint of soft yellow light. This confirmed his suspicion: the Mind Stone was inside! It wouldn't be discovered by the Avengers for several years, yet it had been hidden in this staff all along. In *Avengers: Age of Ultron*, Tony and Banner would use that very stone to power Ultron’s vibranium body, creating Vision. That pale yellow gem on Vision's forehead was the Mind Stone.

But the problem remained: while he knew the stone was inside, he couldn't get it out. Unless he completely destroyed the scepter and smashed it to pieces, the stone wouldn't come free. That was a last resort. Luke didn't want to do that unless absolutely necessary; the scepter still had a major use. Without it, the portal opened by the Tesseract couldn't be closed, as only the scepter, which also contained the power of the Space Stone, could pierce the protective barrier around the Tesseract.

He couldn't break it, yet he needed to find a way to quietly extract the Mind Stone. It seemed like a tall order, especially with three pairs of eyes watching him. He didn't want anyone else to know what he was doing. To the others in the lab, Luke was just a curious child poking at the scepter, with no real transgressions. And there was no gamma burst like Tony had predicted—that was just a bluff to scare the kid. The instruments showed the object was very stable; neither he nor Banner could figure out what it was, as it was far beyond current Earth technology.

Just as Luke was racking his brain, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. He immediately pulled it out and his expression shifted. Christina had sent an alert: the laboratory had been invaded again. The iridium had been stolen.

This time, it was a forceful raid. S.H.I.E.L.D. had already dispatched multiple teams to guard the facility after they left, yet a woman had still managed to take the items. Yes, a woman, and she was alone.

Christina had recorded the scene. Luke narrowed his eyes as he watched the video. The thief had come from nowhere, appearing suddenly on the street. She was a woman wielding a spear, using projectiles to kill her opponents. Curiously, every time she threw the spear, it transformed into three heavy black beams of light in mid-air. These beams could lock onto targets, tracking them regardless of their attempts to dodge, piercing and killing them.

The only close-up in the video revealed the woman’s appearance. She was clad in black armor, with blue skin and a pair of demonic horns on either side of her forehead. She was clearly not human.

"A Draenei heifer?" Luke’s expression turned solemn. It seemed things had gone wrong after all. His Spider-Sense had been right. "Who is this woman? She’s clearly a product that has deviated from the established plot. This person definitely didn't appear in *The Avengers*... but this look, it seems somewhat familiar..."