Chapter 65: Not Very Safe

"No matter whether this is truly Midgard or not, we still need to go to those mountains to investigate," Steve said, cutting through the group's drifting speculations.
After a brief discussion, they agreed to set the argument aside for now. The star chart Natasha had collected would be handed to Tony once they returned, and he would analyze it to determine the connection between this strange space and the outside.

The four of them continued toward the mountain range and soon reached its foothill.
“Tony, we’ve reached the base of the mountains and are preparing to climb up and investigate. How are things on your end?” Steve asked through his wireless earpiece.
Although their contact with the outside had been severed, the earpieces still worked normally within this realm. Tony had also boosted their signal beforehand as a precaution.
“It’s not looking good,” Tony replied. “We suspect that someone had to activate that mechanism to trigger the spatial fluctuation.” He removed a projector from his suit, and this allowed Dr. Banner to stand by and help with calculations.
“Fine. Then you keep looking for a way through. We’re going up,” said Steve. Though he didn’t understand the physics of space, it was obvious to him that they had all activated that mechanism before entering; they likely needed to do it again.

The communication ended. Steve looked up at the tall, brooding mountain and felt a pang of concern for the scientists waiting somewhere up there. So far, they still did not know what this mysterious space truly was—perhaps an ancient civilization’s ruin after all.
Inwardly he thought: Best not to get tangled up with aliens. To him, anything linked to extraterrestrials rarely ended well.

The four pressed on through wind and snow, climbing. For some reason, the wind seemed to rise as they went, though it never reached a level that hindered their movement.
After an hour of climbing, Barton, whose eyesight was exceptional, immediately reported, “There’s what looks like a cave over there.”
Following his pointing finger, the others made out a dark gray shape on the slope and altered course toward it.

At the entrance they found a body lying on the ground. They rushed forward to check.
Natasha quickly performed a basic assessment and spoke gravely. “He’s been dead for some time. Most likely from severe blood loss.”

She shifted the corpse and pointed to a pool of blood beneath it, already long hardened, then examined the wounds.
The other three went pale. A single dead scientist meant the others were likely in grave danger too. It meant this strange space was not as peaceful as it seemed.

“He was impaled in the abdomen by some unknown thing, then struggled his way here,” Natasha summarized after looking at the trail of blood behind the body.

“I remember all those scientists carried cameras. Can we see what happened?” Barton said, already an archer at the ready and prepared to shoot at any threat. This place had now proven unsafe, and as an archer he preferred to be prepared.
Natasha removed the broken camera from the scientist’s gear and addressed the others: “His camera was destroyed. Stark might be able to repair it, but the real question is whether we still need to search for other scientists. That could be dangerous.”
Steve removed his shield and said firmly, “We can’t abandon any possible survivor. As for the danger, weren’t we prepared for this before we even arrived?”

“Exactly, Captain,” Natasha said, tucking the shattered camera away and drawing her pistol to stand guard. “What do we do with this body?”

“I can freeze him over to prevent any further damage,” Qu Yizhi said, raising her hand to gather crystalline ice. “I’ll take him when we leave.”
Steve glanced around the cave mouth and nodded. “Then I leave that to you, Miss Qu.”
Natasha stepped back, and together they lowered the body to the ground again.

Qu Yizhi gave a faint smile. White ice spread over the fallen scientist and quickly formed into an ice-crystal coffin, which she set upright beside the cave.

The others blinked at the sudden sight, half amused and half awed. “Dear Qu,” Natasha said with a grin, tapping the coffin with her fingers, “how solid is that thing, really?”
Qu Yizhi considered for a moment. “I’m not completely sure. It should be pretty solid—at least normal firearms can’t break through. I tested something like this in Mr. Stark’s training room.”
She formed another chunk of ice and handed it to Natasha. “Maybe you want to try.”

Natasha laughed and nodded. She fired several quick shots. The specially reinforced firearms, built by SHIELD, were small pistols, but they could easily punch through Chitauri armor.

This one, however, could not easily penetrate the ice Qu had formed. The bullets stuck fast in the surface. Natasha arched a brow, pleased.
“Excellent, dear Qu. We now have another sturdy shield,” she said, patting Qu on the shoulder. Her delight was easy to understand: Captain America’s shield could only cover a small span, while Qu could shape ice over a wide area, enough to absorb enemy fire.

Natasha quietly exhaled in relief. Qu’s earlier crystal coffin had been truly unbreakable. This secondary form of ice was powerful, yes, but it wasn’t the kind that demanded Captain America’s shield to shatter.
If Qu could summon ice as durable as a vibranium shield at will, then almost nothing in Midgard could threaten her—making that grievous magic sword that once wounded her impossible to gauge in severity.

Qu had no idea how many thoughts had flashed through Natasha’s mind in the span of moments. She only smiled and did not object to the teasing.

While the two of them tested the ice, Steve called Tony again.
“Tony, we found a victim in a cave. Natasha says the wounds came from an unknown weapon. You should stay on your guard.”
“Another dead one?” Tony stopped whatever he was doing and sounded uneasy. “Is his footage still intact?”
“The recording unit was destroyed, and Natasha kept the remains. We’re going into the cave to see for ourselves, but we can’t guarantee that dangerous thing is still inside,” Steve replied.

“Understood. Once you get back, I’ll repair the footage. I’ve already found a bit of an anomaly here, and I think we can make it back by the same route before long,” Tony said, his tone turning serious. Before they entered this area, he had already ordered SHIELD and Jarvis to keep anyone else out of that underground chamber.

That’s why Jarvis probably used the robot to touch the switch directly. Though it didn’t open the passage, it caught Tony a trace of fluctuation—and that was the key to getting them home.