IRON MAN: BROTHER DON'T CAUSE TROUBLE

Because of John's presence, everyone was slightly alert, anticipating any unforeseen event. Bruce, on the other hand, had already recognized John. However, if the other person wanted to hide his identity, it wasn't Bruce's place to reveal it, so he remained silent.

As for Tony, when he first saw John in the wizard suit he had designed, he couldn't have been prouder. Although, he felt a twinge of jealousy at John's grand entrance.

When the hall settled down a bit, Fury cleared his throat and addressed the current issue. Fixing John with a sharp gaze, Fury asked, "Do you have a name, sir?"

John was momentarily stunned and began thinking quickly. Shit, I didn't think about this. What should I tell him? A wizard? No, that's too plain. John ran through multiple names in a second before settling on one he liked.

"Arcanist... You can call me Arcanist," John replied.

"Arcanist... Alright, Mr. Arcanist. Can you tell me how exactly you knew about this place and how you are aware that something is about to happen? And can you really help us with our problem?" Fury asked, firing off multiple questions in one breath.

"I have my means. As for your problem, I think you've misunderstood something here. This problem is not something your S.H.I.E.L.D. can handle. Now, it's the whole world's problem. And that's why I'm here," John replied slowly but sharply. Everyone present could tell he was speaking the truth, so no one dared argue.

Just as Fury was about to ask another question, Maria Hill informed him, "We're at lock, sir."

"Good. Let's vanish," Fury said as he watched the Helicarrier rise high into the heavens. Suddenly, the entire ship was covered in reflective mirrors, camouflaging it in the sky.

Ignoring John for the moment, Fury walked over to Banner and extended his hand. Banner reluctantly shook it.

"Doctor, thank you for coming. By the way, you hide very well; even my agents couldn't locate you," Fury said.

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh... how long am I staying?" Banner asked, glancing at John for a second.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear," Fury replied.

"Oh yeah? Where are you with that?" Banner inquired.

Fury turned to Agent Coulson for an explanation, while Natasha crouched down, examining an image of Clint Barton on a computer screen. She swiped left, revealing more data.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet—cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us," Coulson explained.

"That's still not going to find them in time," Natasha said, worried.

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Banner asked.

"How many do you need?" Fury responded.

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we can rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?" Banner offered.

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please?" Fury directed.

Natasha nodded and led Banner down the hall. "You're gonna love it, Doc. We've got all the toys," she said.

"Really? Do you have a Commodore 64?" Banner joked.

On the other side, Tony approached John. "You look good, Mr... Arcanist. And the name's good too. But not as good as mine," Tony quipped.

John was speechless. Did you come here just to make fun of me? he thought, rolling his eyes before turning and leaving without a word. John didn't want to draw too much attention to himself. He just needed to wait for events to unfold, just like in the movie. Once the aliens arrived, that would be the best time to go all out.

"Hey, that's rude, you know. At least say something," Tony called after him, but John didn't even turn around.

Seeing John ignore Tony, the others wore mocking expressions. Captain, in particular, felt a small sense of satisfaction. He had just had a brief conversation with Tony and found him to be arrogant, making his first impression of Tony extremely poor.

A few hours later, an agent suddenly cried out, "We've got a hit! Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, cross-match, seventy-nine percent."

"Location?" Coulson asked.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Königstrasse. He's not exactly hiding," the agent responded.

"Captain, you're up," Fury said.

Steve nodded and left.

---

Meanwhile, inside the gala, Loki descended from above the museum, approaching the head doctor. As he neared the stage, he flipped his cane. A guard noticed him and pulled out his gun, but Loki swiftly knocked him unconscious. Chaos erupted as guests fled the museum. Loki grabbed the doctor and slammed him onto a marble table depicting mythological creatures. He pulled out an optical torture device and plunged it into the doctor's eye, causing him to writhe in pain. Guests screamed and ran as Loki smiled.

Outside, from Barton's instrument, a holographic image of the doctor's eye appeared, unlocking the facility doors. Barton entered and retrieved a glass thermos containing a cylinder of iridium.

Loki emerged from the museum, materializing in his gold armor and helmet. The police arrived, but Loki blasted the cars, flipping them over.

"Kneel before me!" Loki commanded.

The crowd hesitated, trying to flee, so three more Lokis appeared, blocking their escape.

"I said KNEEL!" Loki roared.

The crowd obeyed, kneeling in fear. Loki spread his arms wide, smiling triumphantly.

"Is this not simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity: you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

As his words echoed, an elderly German man stood defiantly.

"Not to men like you," the man declared.

"There are no men like me," Loki replied.

"There are always men like you," the elder retorted.

"Look to your elder, people. Let him be an example," Loki sneered, raising his scepter to execute the man. Just as the energy beam shot out, Captain America arrived, blocking the blast with his shield and knocking Loki down.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everyone else, we ended up disagreeing," Steve remarked.

Loki stood, facing the soldier. "The soldier. A man out of time."