— Outskirts of New York City, Rhodes Island Industrial Research Center
"Hoo Okay… Alright, let's take a moment to break this down."
Tony Stark sat in his chair, staring incredulously at Kagura.
"So you're telling me that a phenomenon called the 'Convergence of Celestial Bodies' has caused a dimensional overlap across the Nine Realms governed by Asgard, Thor's homeland?"
"That's right," Kagura nodded.
"It's a rare cosmic event that randomly merges time and space across different civilizations. That's how I ended up bouncing between planets in other realms."
"A whole chain of events unfolded from there… It all happened in an instant, even faster than Asgard's Bifrost."
"The whole thing is basically a supernatural phenomenon, virtually impossible to replicate."
"Huh…" Tony rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully.
"I did detect some gravitational anomalies and spatial fluctuations recently… but I didn't think they could cause quantum tunneling on a light-year scale."
"Honestly? I was just as shocked." Kagura gave a weary nod.
"One second I was in a pitch-black cosmic temple, the next I was in that weirdly stylized Vanaheim, then back to Asgard, and then somehow—bam! I was back on Earth."
"It felt like a dream!"
"Considering this only happens once every five thousand years, it's no surprise human history doesn't have much documentation on it." Tony replied, crossing his arms.
"Five thousand years ago, human civilization was still stuck in the mythological age."
"According to Thor, the 'Convergence' doesn't pose any real threat, unless someone takes advantage of the chaos to unleash a power strong enough to affect all Nine Realms."
Kagura shifted the conversation, placing a hand over her chest.
"And that kind of power… happens to be right here, inside me."
"Aether. The ancient superweapon created by the Dark Elves." Tony's tone turned serious.
"It drains life force to stay active and can convert matter into dark matter. Honestly, it sounds like pure magic."
"If you hadn't brought real evidence, I'd think you were running a fever."
"I'm not running a fever!" Kagura pouted.
"Anyway, the real issue now is figuring out how to extract the Aether from my body and sever its connection to Malekith, the Dark Elf King."
"Speaking of that, are you okay?" Tony's eyes softened, his concern showing.
"You said the Aether constantly drains the host's life. It's been inside you for quite a while now—are you feeling alright?"
Seeing Tony's worried expression, Kagura smiled faintly.
"I'm fine. I've been through rigorous military training, remember?"
Tony threw up his hands. "You're still using that excuse to brush me off?"
"Well, time's ticking," he added, tone turning serious again. "Even if you're holding it together now, we don't know when the Aether might suddenly weaken you or worse."
"Yeah, you're right. We need to act fast." Kagura nodded and walked toward a coffin-shaped machine. "As for extracting the Aether… I think I might have an idea."
"Let's hear it. Just so we're clear, I'm not planning to carve a hole in your chest or anything." Tony waved his hand, summoning a floating holographic display.
"Still, are you sure you don't want me to scan your internal state? It'd help if I could see what's going on in your body."
"CT scans, MRIs—they're just diagnostic images, nothing invasive. Do you really need to be so uptight?"
"No—way." Kagura replied firmly. "My body is my business! Stop trying to peek, you perv!"
"Alright, alright," Tony sighed, throwing up his hands in surrender. "Forget I asked. So, what's your plan to extract the Aether?"
"I had Cortana analyze the link between the Aether and Malekith," Kagura began, "and I found that their connection is similar to quantum-encrypted communication."
"Quantum encryption?" Tony shifted in his seat, intrigued. "So we're dealing with some kind of quantum-entangled pairing across space-time?"
"Exactly. The energy signature is even similar to the gamma rays emitted by the Tesseract back then." As she spoke, Kagura lay down inside the coffin-like device.
"So if we generate a similar energy fluctuation, we can interfere with the Aether's quantum link and sever its connection to Malekith."
"Sounds… plausible," Tony said, eyeing the controls as a new hologram popped up beside him. "Wait, what is this machine?"
"It's called the 'Cradle of Life.'" Kagura explained, her voice echoing slightly from inside the chamber.
"It uses nanomaterials to generate various electromagnetic fields and can even manipulate matter and energy. It's perfect for disrupting the Aether's bond."
"Whoa, now that looks high-tech."
"Of course it is, this is nanotech we're talking about." Kagura replied proudly.
"Mr. Stark, nanotechnology is the future! Your old-fashioned Iron Man suits are about to become obsolete!"
"I'm aware. Everything is going according to plan." Tony Stark waved it off, unfazed.
"Alright then, tell me how to run this thing. I promise I won't let anything happen to my dear little Kagura. You're in safe hands."
Kagura's plan had three phases, all requiring Tony's assistance to operate the Cradle of Life from the outside.
First, she would use an energy extraction device to reduce her core power levels below 20%, thereby deactivating the containment field keeping the Aether sealed.
Second, the Cradle of Life would emit a high-intensity interference field, mimicking the radiation pattern of an arc reactor.
This would disrupt the quantum link between the Aether and Malekith.
Since the exact frequency of that quantum connection was unknown, they needed someone with the most expertise in arc reactor energy manipulation.
And of course, that person could only be Tony Stark.
Finally, once the link was severed, the Aether would be captured by a specialized energy field generated within the cradle.
It would then be extracted from Kagura's body and, if all went well, reverted to its original form, the Reality Stone.
"Are you ready, Mr. Stark?" Once everything was set, Kagura spoke through the comm system.
"I'm putting my life in your hands."
"You've got nothing to worry about." Tony nodded firmly. "Hitomi, you're one of the people I care about most in this world. I swear on my life, I'll keep you safe."
"Now that's the kind of promise a girl likes to hear." Kagura smiled. "Engaging energy drain. Aether separation protocol, activate."
Let's sever the Aether—once and for all.
———————————————————————
—In the depths of space—
"My king, why have we abandoned the assault on Asgard? Their defenses were crumbling! We were on the verge of destroying their entire realm!"
Masked Dark Elf warriors knelt respectfully, questioning their sovereign, Malekith, with awe and confusion.
Malekith gazed up at the star-speckled void.
"No… the Aether is no longer in Asgard. Because of the Convergence, it was transported to Midgard—Earth."
"Without the Aether, we cannot defeat the Asgardians. We cannot return the universe to darkness."
"So… we're en route to Midgard now?"
"Exactly. Humans are weak. That primitive world may look unthreatening, but… for some reason, my cursed warrior appears to have died there."
"These so-called primitive beings may not be as helpless as they seem."
"They killed the Cursed Warrior?" The Dark Elves were stunned.
"That's impossible!"
"I didn't believe it either," Malekith replied, eyes narrowing.
"The Cursed Warrior should've been invincible. That's why we must go and see for ourselves."
"We will descend upon Midgard with overwhelming force reclaim the Aether and crush their feeble civilization once and for all!"
Malekith raised his dual weapons to the sky. "The cosmos belongs to the Dark Elves. Any who dare to stand in our way will die."
"All hail the Dark Elves! All hail Malekith!"