Chapter 126: Miscalculation

"Damn it! What did you do to Coulson!"

Tony, whose relationship with Coulson was perhaps second only to Oaks's, stood up in anger.

"I warn you, let him go!"

"Oh... no problem."

Loki made an exaggerated gesture of releasing his grip, and Coulson naturally stood in front of Loki.

"Sir, you go ahead."

"Well... please do~ make some more effort!"

"Pfft!"

The tip of the Mind Stone pierced through Coulson's chest!

"Loki!!"

Everyone rushed forward in anger, but Loki's illusion left behind a few words before disappearing.

"Hehehe... How united you are. So, will you save him or not?"

"Lok... i...!!!"

The deep roar made even the mighty Thor's heart skip a beat.

A burst of emerald green light erupted behind the crowd, and flowers bloomed instantly on the steel floor of the Helicarrier. Oaks's figure appeared from the light.

He ripped off his blood-stained shirt, revealing a muscular upper body that was not particularly wide but obviously contained immense power—

The injuries that had almost crushed his entire kidney, leaving almost no scars, had miraculously healed!

In the next moment, the Forest Heart Battle Robe appeared on him.

His face was filled with nearly tangible anger as he took powerful strides toward the fallen Coulson. His potent combination of Nature's Swiftness and Healing Touch fell upon Coulson, who was already hanging by a thread.

Due to being under mind control, Coulson couldn't even maintain consciousness at the moment.

"Ugh..."

Coulson's complexion seemed to regain some color.

Everyone knew about Oaks's formidable healing abilities, but Coulson's injuries were too severe—his heart had been pierced!

"Healing the injuries is not a problem, but there's no way to deal with the internal bleeding. He won't wake up for a while. He needs surgery!"

Oaks's expression relaxed slightly. As long as Coulson wasn't dead, it was fine.

Despite all the calculations and efforts to prevent Coulson's sacrifice and unite the Avengers, this poor guy still couldn't avoid getting hurt.

"Loki had already broken free from my restraints, but he had been disguising himself. I was just too confident..."

Oaks glanced at the relieved Thor and sighed bitterly.

"No wonder it's Asgard. I'm far inferior when it comes to the precise application of magic."

"Sorry, it was my lack of vigilance..."

Thor clenched his hammer handle tightly.

"Coulson is one of my few friends on Earth. If he dies, I... don't know how to face you all."

The medical team, under Nick Fury's command, had quickly arrived and took Coulson away for urgent treatment to alleviate the internal bleeding. However, it seemed that they would have to reopen the already healed wound...

"We all let our guard down. This incident is a severe lesson."

Steve clenched his fists and looked at Tony, who had slumped into a chair, and Bruce, who was gasping for breath.

"But Loki has escaped now. Can we start analyzing the location of the Tesseract again? Is there still time?"

The unauthorized takeoff alarm had already resounded through the command center. Loki had regained the Mind Stone, and controlling a pilot was as simple as can be.

"It's difficult..."

Bruce let out a sigh. The consecutive perilous situations with Oaks and Coulson had almost frightened him into transforming.

"We just don't know how much time we have left."

"No... I always feel like we're overlooking something."

Tony had calmed down now, reassured by Oaks's powerful healing abilities. He quickly got back into the groove.

"We need to think carefully..."

"No need to think."

Oaks turned around and walked back to the table, looking at everyone.

"Although Loki has escaped, it doesn't mean we haven't gained anything."

"Loki needs a powerful energy source to activate the Tesseract. There are many potential targets in the world that meet this condition, but most of these places are either remote wilderness or heavily fortified military sites."

He paused and pointed to the chair where Loki had been sitting.

"You've seen his style. No matter when, he can't let go of his desire to showcase his personality as superior, to indulge in his nasty hobby of appearing holy in front of others..."

"He doesn't want his victory to go unnoticed. He wants an audience. He wants to play his trump card to the fullest..."

"That's right, he wants flowers, applause, and to stand at the pinnacle of the world with his name in lights..."

Tony stood up suddenly, wide-eyed.

"Stark Tower!"

"...Yes, the only place that can satisfy his twisted tastes and has a sufficiently powerful energy source is Stark Tower in Manhattan, New York—the location of the most advanced Arc Reactor!"

Then it's easy to handle.

Oaks was the fastest, and since communication was cut off, no one had a cell phone signal.

He flew back and forth at twenty times the speed of sound, showing everyone the images captured on his phone—

On the screen, there was Dr. Selvig, who had been knocked out by Oaks, and a bunch of equipment located at the top of Stark Tower.

The Tesseract was on one of the devices!

"Shit!"

Tony put on the newly repaired Mark VI armor.

"Jarvis, shut down the Arc Reactor immediately!"

Jarvis: "Arc Reactor shutdown in progress, power output decreasing... Sir, the total power has not decreased."

"What?!"

"It's too late. The machine has entered self-stabilization mode!"

Bruce noticed the problem.

"The Tesseract is an infinite power source. Now that it has been activated, it doesn't need external power anymore!"

"Jarvis, accelerate the assembly of Mark VII and remove all non-essential parts!"

"Understood."

"The devices are protected by a massive energy shield and can't be destroyed."

Oaks put away his phone and looked at everyone, who were now fully equipped.

"Then I'll go ahead. Tony, Thor, catch up quickly. Steve, S.H.I.E.L.D's fighter jets should be able to make it in time."

"I can fly the plane."

Clint appeared fully armed, with Natasha following behind.

"Maybe I can sleep a little better if I personally shoot out Loki's eyes."

Thor moved his lips but didn't say anything.

"Very well, let's go!"

...

When Oaks appeared on the rooftop of Stark Tower again, he found Loki standing on the terrace, holding the Scepter in his hand.

"Sigh... Damn it, all I needed to do was to wake Dr. Selvig up, and we could have closed the portal with the Scepter at any time."

Oaks glanced at the now unconscious Dr. Selvig next to him and silently reflected.

Originally, Oaks could have kept the invasion of the Chitauri under control and stopped it whenever he wanted.

But closing the portal directly wasn't an option either. Now that the Tesseract had been exposed, this battle was necessary to deter extraterrestrial forces.

If Earth's formidable fighting power wasn't demonstrated, various forces in the universe would continue to invade Earth like sharks smelling blood.

"I was too full of myself with my foresight... I thought I had calculated everything, but in the end, I was ruthlessly slapped in the face. It's a painful lesson."

Thinking he could control the scale of the war, Oaks had overlooked the fact that this wasn't a jigsaw puzzle game—reality had countless unexpected occurrences.

"Well then, let's have a good fight!"

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