After saying that, Ethan waved casually at Fury as if saying goodbye to an acquaintance. Then he took Jean's hand, and in the next moment the two of them vanished from sight.
Nick Fury stood where he was, his face so dark it looked like storm clouds about to burst.
The sarcasm Ethan had just thrown at him still echoed in his ears, yet Fury hadn't dared respond. The leadership in Washington had already commissioned multiple think tanks to analyze Ethan's personality and behavior patterns. Their final conclusion had been brutally simple.
Ethan Cole was a completely extralegal fanatic.
He didn't care about laws, regulations, or authority. None of the systems that governed ordinary society meant anything to him. He acted according to his own will and nothing else.
In short, he simply did whatever he pleased.
Nick Fury understood that reality very clearly. If he had let his temper flare up and said something reckless just now, there was a real possibility Ethan would have killed him on the spot.
If that had happened, it would have been a truly humiliating way to die.
The moment Ethan and Jean disappeared, Fury's suppressed anger finally exploded.
He violently hurled the metal box still in his hand onto the concrete floor. The container skidded across the parking lot before slamming into the distance with a loud metallic crash.
Fury stood there breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling as he roared with rage.
"Damn it! I won't let you get away with this!"
Nick Fury was the king of agents, the cold-faced director who stood at the very top of S.H.I.E.L.D. In many ways, the entire organization existed because of him. His career had turned him into a living legend within the intelligence world.
Yet even someone like him felt completely powerless when facing Ethan.
The agents who had remained nearby slowly lowered their weapons. Only now did they realize how tense they had been moments ago.
They all knew Ethan's name.
They had heard the reports about him.
But none of them truly understood the extent of his power. Even so, every instinct in their bodies had been screaming the same warning.
If they had opened fire earlier, they would already be dead.
One of the agents stepped forward carefully.
"Director… what should we do now?"
"Transfer," Fury said coldly.
He turned immediately and walked toward the waiting car.
As for the metal box he had thrown away earlier, one of the agents quickly retrieved it and carried it back. Moments later, the entire group climbed into their vehicles and sped away from the facility.
Inside the car, Nick Fury was already speaking through a secure communication channel.
"Raise Ethan Cole's threat classification to the highest red level," he ordered. "Establish a dedicated emergency response team focused solely on him."
His voice remained calm, but the tension underneath was unmistakable.
"He has already obtained the Cosmic Cube. With that object in his possession, it will inevitably become the source of future global instability."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"And one more thing."
His tone lowered slightly, as if the next words carried far greater weight.
"Inform the senior members of Congress," Fury said slowly, taking a deep breath. "The time has come to prepare for war."
—
Meanwhile, Ethan had already returned to one of his most secret facilities.
The laboratory was hidden deep beneath Manhattan, concealed far below the surface of the city. Ethan had spent more than six billion dollars constructing it, sparing absolutely no expense in the process.
Every piece of equipment inside was state-of-the-art.
Compared to his other laboratories, this one stood above the rest in every category. Whether it involved advanced weapons research, biological experimentation, or other specialized scientific projects, the facility could support them all.
It was the most perfect laboratory under Ethan's control.
Inside one of the experimental halls stood a raised platform roughly seventy centimeters high.
Above the platform was a large upright ring formed by interconnected metal structures and energy conduits. Numerous pipes and conductive plates wrapped around the ring's surface, feeding power into the massive device.
At the base of the platform was a square recess.
Ethan and Jean appeared inside the chamber in a flash of distorted space.
Ethan glanced around the room calmly.
Every piece of equipment had already been activated. Soft mechanical hums filled the hall as energy flowed through the machinery.
This entire system had been prepared two years earlier.
Its sole purpose was to enable ultra-long-distance spatial teleportation.
"After all this preparation," Ethan said quietly, "it can finally be used."
Electric currents began flowing visibly along the metal ring. Small strands of excess energy occasionally leaked into the air, producing faint humming sounds.
Ethan stepped onto the circular platform.
Taking a slow breath, he carefully placed the Cosmic Cube into the square recess in front of him. The dimensions matched perfectly, the artifact settling into place as if the entire machine had been built specifically for it.
The moment the Cube locked into position—
"Hmm—"
A soft vibration spread through the air.
The Cosmic Cube immediately began radiating light. A pale blue glow spread across the massive ring, covering its entire surface like liquid energy.
In front of Ethan, a faint circular field of blue light slowly formed.
Inside the glowing ring, strange currents of energy surged like waves of water. The light rippled and twisted continuously, as though space itself had become fluid.
Ethan lightly tapped the floor with his foot.
A hidden console rose from the platform beside him.
He began operating the controls immediately.
First, he input a set of spatial coordinates—coordinates belonging to Asgard.
Using the enormous energy contained within the Cosmic Cube, he initiated a powerful spatial capture process. The Cube's energy searched through the vast structure of space until it located the exact coordinates Ethan wanted.
Then the connection was established.
It functioned almost like linking two points on an orbital path. Through the Cube's power, Ethan directly connected his portal system to the location of the Rainbow Bridge.
In simpler terms, he was bypassing the normal system entirely.
Normally, attempting something like this would be nearly impossible. Heimdall, the guardian of Asgard, monitored the Bifrost with absolute vigilance.
Sneaking past him should have been extremely difficult.
But with the Cosmic Cube involved, the process became surprisingly easy.
After all, the Cube possessed the ability to travel freely across the entire universe. That power existed on the level of universal rules themselves, far beyond the spatial magic used by Asgard.
No defense Heimdall possessed could truly block it.
The Cube didn't fight against obstacles. It simply bypassed them at the most fundamental level of reality.
"Space anchor complete," Ethan murmured while watching the console. "Now all that's left is to fully activate the Cube's energy and construct the portal."
He continued adjusting the controls.
Moments later, the ring erupted with an even brighter glow. The blue light became so intense it was almost dazzling to look at.
Inside the ring, the swirling energy now resembled a living aurora.
"Hummm—"
Suddenly the glowing field began to condense.
The chaotic energy stabilized and gradually turned transparent. Within the center of the ring, a vague image slowly appeared.
At first it was blurry.
But as the seconds passed, the image grew clearer and clearer.
Eventually it solidified into a real scene.
Ethan stared at the portal with calm eyes.
Through the opening, he could see a vast golden structure.
Standing inside that hall was a tall figure clad in golden armor, his eyes closed as if standing guard in eternal vigilance.
"The entrance to the Rainbow Bridge," Ethan said softly.
"And Heimdall."
.....
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