Even though the crisis had already passed, Nick still hesitated over whether to hand off the Tesseract. When he brought that treasure to Skyl, he had never intended to take it back anytime soon.
Skyl had no real desire for the Infinity Stones anyway. He already had the Genesis Pen in hand. If he truly wanted to gather the Stones, all he had to do was write the right stretch of story into existence.
The only thing stopping him from doing whatever he pleased was the ink.
Not every kind of ink was accepted by the Pen. It was a bit like the Krabby Patty secret formula, only Stan knew how to make it, and that guy had already vanished off to who knew where to enjoy his roleplaying hobby.
Nick could tell Skyl did not care much about the Tesseract, and that was exactly why he was hesitating.
"There's something I need to tell you. You might not know much about S.H.I.E.L.D. Its predecessor was the Strategic Scientific Reserve, founded during World War II to fight Hydra, the secret organization tied to the Third Reich. S.H.I.E.L.D. is supposed to protect world peace, but now I've realized there are traitors inside the organization."
Skyl arched a brow. "How did you figure that out?"
"Because of that vomiting spell." Nick rubbed his scalp. "I remember it clearly. Your magic made more than half of S.H.I.E.L.D. throw up. Most of them weren't even field agents. They had no reason to feel guilty unless they knew damn well they'd done something illegal."
"So you suspect they betrayed the organization. Is that what makes a top-level spy, being that insanely sensitive?"
"Better paranoid than dead. We're only human, after all. We don't have magic. We can't pick up godlike artifacts. The only things that get us through a crisis and help us beat evil are calm judgment, caution, and, when it matters, courage." Nick's voice sank lower and steadier, as though it had dropped underwater. He looked straight into Skyl's eyes. "Can I trust you, wizard?"
"You're worried the Tesseract will fall into the hands of a traitor and threaten the world, so you decided to hand it to a stranger you've only met a few times?" Skyl laughed. "That feels a little desperate, doesn't it?"
"Because you're strong enough, and because deep down, you're an honest man. If you keep the Tesseract, it won't end up in the hands of monsters."
Skyl appreciated that kind of nerve, the kind it took to cut off your own arm to save the body. If Nick did this, the responsibility would land squarely on his shoulders. He could even be removed from office over it.
"Since you're willing to entrust the Tesseract to me, I'll return the favor with a piece of information. It might help you clear out the traitors."
Nick's expression brightened. "You're going to do some wizard divination for me? Go on then, surprise me."
Skyl answered with a hint of guilt, "Yeah, sure, divination. I'm excellent at it. Back at Hogwarts, everyone called me a prophet. By the way, have you found Steve Rogers yet?"
"He's alive? Where is he?"
"That part doesn't matter. You'll probably find him soon enough, so there's no need for me to tell you. What I actually want to talk about is something else. Do you remember Operation Paperclip after World War II? The United States brought in a lot of Axis scientists, including Hydra members. They changed their names, buried their pasts, slipped into S.H.I.E.L.D., and took root there.
"If you compare Hydra to a tumor, then S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't have a tumor. It's more like Hydra grew first, and S.H.I.E.L.D. sprouted on top of it."
Nick cursed under his breath about American politicians, though he was one of them himself, which made it all the more vicious.
"Basically, Hydra has just about completely infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. If you want a place to start, look into Arnim Zola. He was one of the German scientists brought over back then."
"I've heard of him. He should be dead."
"His body is dead. His mind is not. He uploaded his consciousness into computers. The man pulled off machine ascension in the twentieth century. Marvel-level black tech really is ridiculous."
Skyl did not say anything else. He simply told Nick to follow that lead.
Nick left with a heavy heart. Before going, he asked one final question. "If things spin out of control, would you be willing to help?"
"Probably not in time. I'm leaving on a long trip soon, sightseeing all across the galaxy. My ship is almost finished."
The spaceship being overseen by Moonshadow was actually quite small. Under Earth gravity, the whole vessel weighed only about four thousand tons, basically yacht-class by spacefaring standards. That was exactly why it could be completed so quickly.
Small as it was, though, it still had everything it needed. It could make spatial jumps, deploy energy shields, and hit back if necessary. It could tank, fight, and run, and the cabins inside were comfortable too. As a travel ship, it was about as perfect as it got.
Now that Skyl had the Tesseract, the events of The Avengers would most likely never happen. New York would not be invaded by the Chitauri. Without really trying, he had erased a disaster before it ever arrived. That was a pretty serious good deed.
While waiting for the ship to be completed, Skyl stayed at Stan's place and studied the Tesseract.
The cube itself was not what mattered. What mattered was the Space Stone inside it. And after studying it for a while, Skyl realized the Space Stone was not the true point either. What mattered was the primal force the Stone was connected to.
All six Stones had to come from some single, shared existence, a great being that existed at the dawn of creation, before the Big Bang itself.
Now that being had become the soul of the universe, and the six Infinity Stones each represented one portion of its power.
No wonder the Infinity Stones only worked inside their own native timeline. They were like a credit card with no spending limit, but only if you swiped it at the right bank.
If someone gathered all six Infinity Stones, they could indirectly grasp the soul of the universe, perhaps even become its vessel. Inside that universe, they would be all but omnipotent.
The moment the subject turned toward something as lofty as the soul of the universe, Skyl became interested again.
Skyl: Infinity Stones really do hit different.
For all the magical theory he had mastered so far, anything touching on the level of the soul still amounted to only a drop in the ocean. He knew very little about the source of magic or the essence of spellcraft.
He had witnessed the soul of the universe more than once. He had created artificial life and tampered with timelines. But all he had ever managed was a glimpse through a crack in the door, like trying to understand an elephant by touching one part of it in the dark. He was still wandering outside the gates of truth.
The best proof of that was simple: Skyl still could not invent spells of his own. His words still could not interfere directly with reality, causality, or fate.
If he could gather all six Infinity Stones and spend enough time probing the soul of the universe, the insight he gained would be beyond words.
He had always been frustrated by his inability to generate divine power on his own. It left him as a wizard with a very shallow mana pool. The Eye of Magnus and Mora's Book could serve as divine-power batteries, but he understood perfectly well that anything you rely on can fail you, and anyone you lean on can walk away.
The only permanent answer was apotheosis. But Skyl had never wanted to be shackled by a divine realm or tied down by worshippers, so he had never been able to make up his mind.
Now, though, the Infinity Stones offered him hope. If he could master the mysteries of the soul of the universe, then he could become the universe itself, or, put another way, become the governing order behind reality. From then on, his divine power would never run dry, and he would endure forever.
To put it another way, if the universe were Hogwarts, then all mortal beings would be students. Gods who relied on faith for divine power would be something like professors. Once they lost the support of their followers, they could be stripped of their authority. A god aligned with the cosmic order would be more like the headmaster. As long as the castle still stood, that authority remained, so there was no need to depend on faith at all.
A creator god, on the other hand, would be on an entirely different level. Their very existence would be authority itself. They would be like the four founders of Hogwarts. They came first, and only afterward did the school exist, along with all the titles and positions inside it.
As one of Hogwarts' model students, Skyl would have no trouble staying on after graduation and teaching there. But he hated the feeling of living under someone else's roof. Just look at Professor McGonagall. She had worked tirelessly for decades and kept the school running flawlessly, and she was still only the deputy headmistress. Waiting for Dumbledore to die and leave the post behind would probably take a lifetime. She might reach the end of her natural life without ever seeing that day.
Skyl wanted to build something of his own.
And right in front of him, he had found the perfect chance.
He decided to collect the Infinity Stones.
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