Multiverse Share: 36 Worlds at the Same Time

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Before long, rescue teams from all sides arrived...

Phew!

Tony stretched lazily and said, "What a fight, huh? I'm starving. How about we all go grab something to eat? I know a great place!"

"Oh? Sure!"

"No objections here!"

"Whatever works."

No one had any complaints about that.

But of course, they couldn't just leave yet—there were still a few things to handle first. Namely, Loki... and the two Infinity Stones.

S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly dispatched agents to collect the Mind Scepter and the Space Stone.

Naturally, a bit of a tug-of-war broke out over those two stones—especially between Thor and Nick Fury.

"The Tesseract doesn't belong on Earth," Thor said bluntly. "If it stays here, it'll only bring more disaster. I need to take it with me."

He wasn't speaking out of pure self-interest.

Yes, Asgard did need the Space Stone to help repair the Bifrost. But that wasn't the whole story.

Keeping two Infinity Stones on Earth would be like lighting a beacon in the dark. Countless threats from across the galaxy would come running.

It was only a matter of time before trouble arrived—again.

"No way!" Nick Fury snapped. "The Tesseract belongs to Earth. I'm not letting you take it."

Thor's expression instantly darkened. "You have no idea what you're doing. Haven't you learned anything from what just happened?"

"One Infinity Stone was enough to draw in the Chitauri army. Do you have any idea what will happen when the rest of the universe finds out Earth has two?"

"Are you ready for an interstellar war?"

"And for the record, the Tesseract was left on Earth by my father! I have every right to take it back. Believe me—this is for your own good."

Thor's words hung heavy in the air. No one answered right away.

Then Tony shrugged and said, "Honestly, I think Thor's got a point. That thing's a walking disaster. Let Asgard deal with it."

"Tony." Nick Fury gave him a sharp look.

"What? Am I wrong?" Tony didn't back down. "Let's be real—this whole mess started because you guys at S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't leave the damn cube alone."

"You clearly can't handle it. No one on Earth can."

"It's a ticking time bomb."

"You yourself gave us the intel—this thing can be activated from the other side of the universe. That's how Loki got here in the first place!"

"You really think that won't happen again? That next time it won't be someone even worse?"

What more proof did they need?

Tony still hadn't calmed down. In fact, he was more unsettled than ever.

Because he'd felt something during this whole crisis—fear.

Earth was too weak.

Compared to the civilizations out there in the universe, they were like ants. One flick, and they'd be gone.

Tony knew this incident had already placed Earth under the watchful eye of the stars. More cosmic threats were bound to come.

Still... this could be an opportunity.

He'd already secretly ordered J.A.R.V.I.S. to recover as much tech and wreckage from the Chitauri as possible—ships, weapons, even alien corpses. He was determined to reverse-engineer it all.

If he was lucky, this could be a major leap forward in his tech.

And he was also really curious about Renzo. That guy had said some big things earlier... and if even half of it was true, then great. Better to have someone like that on their side.

"I'm in favor of giving the Tesseract to Thor," Steve said firmly. "I've said it from the start—it's nothing but trouble."

"We should've left it in the ocean after Red Skull. Then none of this would've happened. The Chitauri, Loki... all of it."

"I agree," said Hawkeye quietly.

Fury glanced at him in surprise.

Hawkeye just gave a silent nod.

The ordeal had clearly left its mark. He'd had enough of this kind of madness. Truth be told, he was even considering retirement.

Fury looked around and realized even Natasha wasn't voicing any objections. That just made things worse.

And then his gaze fell on Renzo, who'd been quietly watching the whole time like it was a movie.

Fury's eyes lit up a bit. "Mr. Renzo, what do you think? Do you have any way of helping us control the Tesseract?"

After all, Renzo was powerful. And mysterious. And he had spatial abilities of his own. Maybe... just maybe...

"Haha!" Renzo chuckled, seeing right through Fury's little scheme.

"Nice try. But no—I say give it to Thor. That cube was Odin's to begin with. You guys can't keep it safe."

"And Asgard's Bifrost is busted right now. They need the Tesseract to fix it."

"Trust me—you don't want Odin showing up personally to take it back. That'd be a whole other mess, and your faces won't look too good when that happens!"

Heh. Trying to use him as a pawn?

Keep dreaming.

"…Fine," Nick Fury muttered in defeat.

What else could he say at this point? He had no choice but to agree.

Thor also requested to take Loki back to Asgard to be judged under their own laws.

Fury, being Fury, instinctively said no.

But again, he ended up compromising. Because honestly, Asgard was not someone you wanted to piss off.

Even if it left a bad taste in his mouth, Fury had to swallow his pride.

Renzo, for his part, hadn't planned on getting involved at all. He'd been content to sit back and watch the drama unfold.

But stepping in here served a purpose—it helped minimize the damage to Earth and gave him a chance to show off just a bit. It was all part of setting the stage for his future plans.

Because Renzo had no intention of staying in the shadows any longer.

He was planning to establish a corporation, launch a few products, and rake in some serious cash. Maybe even gain a bit of social status while he was at it.

In America, money talks. And with enough of it, a lot of problems just... go away.

— — —

Later, at a certain barbecue joint—

"Tony! Are you serious right now? This is the amazing barbecue you hyped up so much?" Steve spit out the meat he'd just bitten into and looked at Tony with a face full of disappointment. "Are you sure this is even food? Or do you just have horrible taste?"

Yeah... it was that bad.

And he wasn't just being picky—it was genuinely awful. Which sucked, because he'd actually been looking forward to it.

"This stuff is disgusting," Thor said bluntly, tossing his skewer back onto the table with a scowl. "We don't even have food this bad in Asgard."

Hawkeye: "Gross. +1."

Natasha: "Make that +2."

Renzo: "+3."

"You didn't even eat it!" Tony protested, glaring at Renzo.

"Well, I didn't have to," Renzo replied, shrugging. "I could tell just by the smell."

Truth be told, Tony hadn't eaten here before either—someone else had recommended the place. He hadn't expected it to be such a letdown.

"Damn it! We got scammed! That's it, I'm never coming back here again," Tony grumbled. "Let's go somewhere else. I think there's a decent place on the next block over—"

"Hold it."

Renzo raised a hand to stop him. "Let's just go back to Stark Tower. Dinner's on me. I'll treat everyone to something actually good."

Honestly, he hadn't tried to make food before—but there was a chef Renzo in the crew anyway.

"Oh?" Tony and the others raised their eyebrows, clearly intrigued.

Renzo was such a mysterious guy—now they were genuinely curious to see what kind of food he thought was worth sharing.

And wait… they were going back to Stark Tower? What was he gonna do—magically summon dinner?

"Let's go," Renzo said simply.

He had Tony pay the bill (because of course he would), then casually waved his hand—and the whole group vanished from the restaurant, teleporting back to Stark Tower in an instant.

Tony quickly found a floor in the building that hadn't been damaged during the battle.

"Alright, we're here! Now show us what this 'amazing' food of yours looks like."

"Yeah, I'm starving."

"Renzo, are you going to use magic or something?"

Natasha and the others were all visibly curious.

Renzo smiled slightly. "Something like that."

Then, with a wave of his hand—bam!—two massive tables appeared in front of them, overflowing with hundreds of beautifully plated dishes.

"Oh damn—!" Tony's eyes widened.

The mouthwatering aroma hit them instantly.

"Wow… there's everything here—Japanese, British, even some Middle Eastern food?" Steve said, his eyes lighting up. "It smells amazing!"

"It looks incredible!"

"I think I'm already hungry again."

"Can we eat now?!"

Everyone was staring at the feast with anticipation.

Pop!

Thor had already popped the seal off a large jug of wine. He took a deep sniff, his eyes practically rolling back in delight. "Hoo hoo! The smell of this wine!"

Gulp gulp gulp—

He took several massive swigs straight from the jug, then let out a satisfied breath and gave Renzo a big thumbs-up.

"Fantastic wine!"

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