Loki's Manipulation

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Steve said, "An army? An alien army?"

Then he looked at Kai and said, "Kai, you were right. It really is an alien invasion."

At this time, Banner raised a question: "Since it's an entire outer space army, they obviously need to build a teleportation array. This is why Loki kidnapped Erik Selvig."

"Selvig?" Thor repeated the name, but Banner thought he didn't know who Selvig was, so he explained: "He's an astrophysicist."

Thor replied, "Oh, I know him."

Then Kai said, "Loki used the Mind Scepter to control him and forced him to help build the teleportation portal device."

Banner thought for a moment and asked, "Then why did he steal the iridium?"

Tony answered, "Iridium acts as a stabilizer to prevent the portal from collapsing on itself, just like what happened at SHIELD before. It also lets Loki expand the teleportation array at will and keep it open for a long time. Barton can easily get the other raw materials, except for one."

"Which one?"

"The only thing he lacks is energy—some kind of high-density energy source to activate the Tesseract."

After saying this, Tony looked proud, expecting praise, but instead, he only heard Steve's question:

"Does Loki require any specific energy source?"

Banner explained, "No, But he needs large amount of engery before it can be activated."

After discussing this, Banner and Tony decided to start their research with Loki's scepter.

Kai took the opportunity to pass the scepter over, then activated his system's power and copied the Mind Scepter.

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for obtaining a replica of the Mind Scepter. It has now been placed in the system warehouse. Please check it."

After hearing the system's voice, Kai breathed a sigh of relief. He had been in Marvel for years and had finally obtained a second gem weapon.

While everyone was busy, Kai decided to check on Loki. As for the scepter, he would wait until no one was around before taking it out.

So, he called Yinsen and prepared to go together.

On the way to Loki's room, Yinsen asked, "Kai, is there really going to be a war? A battle between Earth and aliens?"

Kai replied, "Yeah, it looks like war is inevitable now. We have to prepare early to minimize the damage."

Kai patted Yinsen's shoulder and said, "I know you hate war, but the enemy is already at our doorstep. We don't have a choice but to fight. But don't worry—we won't lose."

By then, they had reached the door. Just as Kai was about to continue talking, he sensed something was wrong inside. He signaled Yinsen that there was a problem.

Yinsen immediately understood and cautiously opened a small hole in the mirror space to check, but Loki was nowhere to be seen.

They stepped inside and searched carefully, eventually finding a man-made gap.

Realizing the situation, Yinsen hurried back to the living room to report Loki's escape.

But Kai wasn't convinced that Loki had truly escaped.

Sure enough, Kai concentrated and sensed Loki's presence. Pretending to check around, he slowly approached a specific spot. Then, in a swift motion, he reached out and grabbed an invisible figure.

"Loki, I've already seen through your trick once. Did you really think it would work again?"

Loki, who was caught by the neck, hadn't expected Kai to see through his illusion again. His escape plan had failed.

Meanwhile, Yinsen had informed the others that Loki had escaped, causing everyone to blame him for the mistake. Soon, the argument escalated, fueled by the unseen influence of the Mind Scepter resting on the table.

While they were arguing, Kai entered the living room, dragging Loki along.

When the others saw Loki in his grip, they stopped arguing for a moment—only to start blaming Yinsen again for not checking properly.

Kai, seeing the growing tension, cast a spell to purify their minds, canceling most of the Mind Scepter's influence.

The researchers, led by Tony, were the first to snap out of it. Looking at each other, they were shocked by their previous behavior. Tony then asked Kai, "Kai, what just happened?"

The rest of the group also turned to him.

Kai explained, "Yinsen and I went to check on Loki, but we found that he was missing. Yinsen came back to tell you, while I stayed behind for a closer look. That's when I realized it was one of Loki's tricks—he never actually escaped, just used magic to hide himself."

Everyone finally understood why Kai had walked in with Loki after Yinsen had claimed he was gone.

"Then you all started arguing over trivial things. I noticed something was wrong and snapped you out of it."

Kai then walked over to the scepter and continued, "And the cause of all this? Probably this."

Tony frowned. "What? You mean the scepter? But no one even picked it up."

Kai explained, "This scepter can influence minds even without being held. It's part of Loki's plan—to create chaos among us so we'd be distracted when his forces attack."

Loki was stunned. He hadn't expected Kai to see through his plan so easily. For the first time, he felt like an Earthling had completely outmaneuvered him.

Just as Kai finished speaking, an aircraft appeared in the sky, heading straight for the villa.

Then, Jarvis' voice rang out:

"Sir, the villa has been targeted by an incoming attack. They are about to launch missiles. Five, four, three..."

Upon hearing this, both Tony and Kai sprang into action.

Tony suited up, while Kai rushed outside to face the incoming fighter jets.

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