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*****
Even after his breakdown, Fini could still read the lingering incomprehension, doubt, and sheer bewilderment plastered across Helen Cho's face. He let out a soft sigh and gave up on the spatial analogies. "Just roll with the idea that I took them somewhere else entirely."
"Oh!"
Helen Cho suddenly felt incredibly self-conscious. For a fleeting second, she genuinely began to question whether the multiple doctorate degrees she held had been completely a waste of time.
"I'll leave the two of them in your hands for now. If any issues pop up, don't hesitate to call and notify me right away," Fini instructed. He then paused, shifting his focus. "Where is the scepter right now?"
"It's still in the primary laboratory."
The mere mention of the Mind Scepter instantly reignited Helen Cho's professional enthusiasm. She launched into an animated, unbroken explanation detailing the numerous technological breakthroughs she and Shuri had successfully developed by analyzing the artifact over the past few weeks.
Watching Helen Cho's ecstatic and deeply thrilled demeanor, Fini found it a bit amusing, but he was also genuinely surprised by the sheer scale of their progress.
Going by her breakdown, these newly developed technologies were already sophisticated enough to sweep multiple global scientific awards. If they were to publish their findings, it would undoubtedly send a massive shockwave running through the entire industry.
In other words, the laboratory was technically sitting on a literal goldmine and was fully capable of generating massive profits right now. However, because they weren't entirely sure where Fini stood on commercializing their findings, they had intentionally kept these breakthroughs under wraps. This secrecy had left the regular research staff—who had also participated in the project—feeling completely mystified by the sudden halt.
But now that Fini was finally back, she no longer had to constantly agonize over this dilemma.
Listening to Helen Cho's breakdown, Fini fell into a quiet contemplation. These two young women—Shuri and Helen Cho—were absolute powerhouses in their respective fields. One was the literal princess of a nation that possessed the most advanced, cutting-edge technology on the entire planet, while the other was a brilliantly beautiful doctorate-level prodigy specializing in genetic biomedicine.
Furthermore, the subject of their research was one of the six Infinity Stones—cosmic artifacts harboring terrifying primordial power that were considered the rarest treasures in the entire universe. It would honestly be a miracle if they hadn't managed to produce significant results under those conditions.
"What do you think we should do?"
Fini didn't make a reckless, rushed decision. Instead, he chose to gauge Helen Cho's personal perspective on the matter first.
Helen Cho blinked, clearly caught off guard by the fact that Fini was actively deferring to her judgment. After a brief hesitation, she said rather tentatively, "The laboratory's current funding is still incredibly abundant, so we don't strictly need to commercialize these technologies just to generate revenue. Besides, publishing this kind of data openly would likely invite a tremendous amount of external trouble."
"But at the same time... these technologies genuinely possess the potential to save countless lives. I honestly don't know what the right call is here."
Seeing how deeply conflicted Helen Cho was, Fini felt a small pang of surprise. After mulling over the pros and cons for a moment, he made a definitive executive decision. "Let's shelve the issue and revisit it in a while. I'll arrange to inject a fresh round of funding into your accounts in a few days. For now, you two just focus entirely on doing what you do best: running your research."
Fini didn't particularly care about how many lives these breakthroughs could theoretically save. He had never possessed a deeply tragic, self-sacrificing personality. If he were that kind of bleeding-heart hero, he wouldn't have dropped a massive 'Explosion Magic' spell in Vanaheim without a single shred of hesitation, obliterating a small army of invading aliens in the blink of an eye.
Compared to playing a grand savior, he harbored a profound aversion to unnecessary complications. He already had a mountain of massive, impending crises to deal with in the near future; there was absolutely no reason to actively invite more headaches into his life.
Hearing his decision, Helen Cho nodded in agreement, though a fleeting trace of disappointment naturally flickered in her eyes. As a dedicated medical professional and researcher, her core desire would always be to see the fruits of her labor put to practical use, helping and saving people in the real world.
Fini, who had been studying her expressions closely, picked up on that look. After a brief moment of consideration, he decided to soften his stance.
"How about this? In a few days, I'll introduce you to the CEO of Stark Industries. No, not that Tony Stark—his girlfriend, Pepper Potts. When the time comes, you can sit down with her and work out a viable strategy on how to handle the rollout."
Fini reasoned that with the massive corporate backing of Stark Industries and Pepper handles the logistics, any potential blowback would be significantly minimized. And even if they did run into a brand of trouble that the corporate machine couldn't handle, worst-case scenario, he could always just step in and solve it personally.
He had almost finished beating his way through the strongest entities across the entire Nine Realms at this point. There was no way he was going to let his own people get pushed around on his home turf.
"Once that meeting happens, you can handle all the decision-making yourself. There's no need to run everything by me anymore. Also, I'm going to be taking the scepter with me today. Leaving it sitting exposed in this facility is honestly far too dangerous for you guys."
In all fairness, if it hadn't been for Jasper Sitwell—his highly efficient double-agent mole—working behind the scenes to scrub the logistics data, it would have been nearly impossible for Fini to keep the Mind Scepter securely hidden from the world for this long.
A look of professional regret washed over Helen Cho's face. However, after spending so much time dissecting the artifact, she had developed a profound understanding of the gem embedded within the scepter. She knew precisely what kind of incomprehensibly massive energy reservoir was locked inside it.
Walking over to the central examination table, Fini extended his hand and smoothly stowed the Mind Scepter away using his Item Storage magic. The seamless vanishing act caused Helen Cho's mouth to drop open in astonishment once again. She asked, completely captivated, "Where on earth did you just put it?"
"Another pocket space. It's a bit of Asgardian magic," Fini explained casually.
He then glanced through the reinforced glass window, noting that the sky outside had turned completely pitch black. There was a massive time zone difference between Seoul and New York, meaning it was already well into the dead of night locally.
"You should head back and get some early rest as well. I'll be taking my leave now. If you hit any roadblocks, feel free to contact me immediately."
After giving Helen Cho a few final words of reassurance, Fini walked back into the private office, manifested a shimmering sling ring portal, and stepped through, leaving the laboratory behind.
---
When he returned to his apartment, Skye was still nowhere to be found. Fini pulled out his phone and made a quick call, only to discover that she wasn't even in New York at the moment—she was currently staying with his parents.
The moment she received the news that he was finally back from his cosmic travels, Skye grew incredibly excited and immediately expressed her desire to pack her bags and head home. However, because Fini was deeply concerned that Nick Fury's imminent operations against Hydra might trigger widespread chaos and instability across the globe, he gently talked her out of it. He convinced her to stay put for the time being to ensure his parents' safety.
Hanging up the phone, Fini did a quick mental calculation of the current time back at Kamar-Taj. Realizing it was likely the middle of the night over there as well, he decided to swing by Tony's place first. He wanted to check up on how the spaceship research was coming along and hand over the star charts he had secured.
After calling ahead to verify Tony's exact coordinates, Fini conjured a portal and stepped directly into the billionaire's luxury estate in Los Angeles.
Naturally, when Fini stepped out of the swirling orange sparks, he wasn't greeted by the sight of a disheveled, hyper-fixated Tony Stark pulling an exhausting all-nighter at a workbench. Instead, he found Tony lounging comfortably, casually sipping a refreshing beverage while watching a television program.
"Is the spaceship already built?"
Staring at Tony's utterly relaxed and leisurely posture, Fini couldn't resist throwing a sarcastic question his way.
"You can't seriously think I'm capable of manufacturing an entire interstellar spacecraft inside my living room, right?"
Tony shot Fini a look that clearly implied he was dealing with an absolute idiot. "The blueprints and core engineering designs are practically completed. A while back, I had Pepper quietly acquire a few specialized manufacturing plants, and we're currently in the middle of procuring the necessary raw materials."
"What about you? Did you actually manage to get your hands on the goods? Because let me make one thing perfectly clear: if we don't have exact cosmic coordinates and established jump points, I have absolutely zero intention of drifting aimlessly through the void of space with you like a couple of lost castaways."
Even though he found it a bit annoying that Tony had seized the immediate opportunity to mock him, Fini still reached into his Item Storage, retrieved the comprehensive star charts that Asgard had painstakingly compiled for him, and tossed them straight over.
"Asgard put an incredible amount of effort into tracking these down. They should more than satisfy your strict requirements."
Being the absolute pinnacle of a tech-side genius, Tony didn't require a single word of instruction from Fini. He effortlessly figured out the operational mechanics of the Asgardian star chart on his own. Within seconds, a look of genuine surprise washed over him as he analyzed the highly advanced data structures embedded within the device.
"Not bad at all."
For someone like Tony Stark to offer that specific brand of praise was a clear indication that he was exceptionally satisfied with the sheer depth of the data Asgard had provided.
After spending a few minutes deeply engrossed in analyzing the data streams, Tony finally deactivated the star chart and looked up at Fini with an inquisitive gaze. "So, what's the story with Asgard? Have you literally just been lounging around up there the entire time you were gone?"
"Not quite. I actually took the opportunity to tour several other realms while I was at it."
Fini pulled out his phone and casually transferred over a selection of high-resolution photographs he had snapped during his journeys, giving Tony a firsthand look at the diverse, alien landscapes spanning the Nine Realms.
"The architectural design of this palace is an absolute aesthetic disaster..."
The moment Tony's eyes landed on the gleaming, solid-gold spires of the Royal Palace of Asgard, he couldn't resist launching into a harsh critique. Yet, despite the verbal jabs, Fini could easily catch the unmistakable glimmer of intense curiosity and profound fascination reflecting in his eyes.
After all, to a man of pure science, the chance to unravel and study the secrets of a highly advanced extraterrestrial civilization was an allure that was practically impossible to resist.
(End of Chapter)