4 The fate of the seventh gem

"After a great struggle between various members of both universes, the being who held the six gems also acquired the seventh. However, when they used them together, the divided being returned to life." said Logan.

Logan noticed by the faces around him that they had many questions, so he decided to elaborate a bit more on the Infinity Stones.

"The six gems that existed in one of the universes, probably due to the collisions during the big bang, assumed different characteristics, which reflected in the power they contained. Time, space, reality, mind, soul, and power." Logan said.

"Here they are known as the Infinity Stones. So, all the stones attempt to reunite, but why doesn't any of them do that actively?" Sif asked.

Logan, visibly excited, replied, "That's where the story gets really interesting, and it directly relates to the stone that went alone to the other universe. The seventh stone would later be known as the ego gem."

"So, this stone contained the conscious part, memories, emotions, and feelings that define the original being's personality." Jemma said.

"Exactly. So, when this gem joined the others, the being managed to rebuild its body, mind, and soul with the original personality. The problem came shortly after when this being analyzed the sentient life forms that existed, became extremely disappointed, and realized that the only way to have sentient life forms that met what this being wanted was to control everyone and mold them in its image." Logan explained.

"I imagine the beings from both universes didn't agree," Sif remarked.

"Exactly, Lady Sif. They didn't agree and tried to fight against this being. However, the being seemed to have infinite power, and all attempts to kill it failed. Due to necessity, both universes worked together to once again divide the essence of this being back into the gems. With much effort and sacrifice, they succeeded, and the seventh gem returned with its inhabitants to their original universe." Logan continued.

Logan sighed and went on, "The story would have a happy ending if it ended there, right?"

Everyone in the room realized the story wasn't over, and from that point on, it wouldn't be as pleasant to hear.

"After the situation stabilized in both universes, a question began to circulate among the smartest people in the universe: how to ensure that a madman or a fool would not try to gather the seven gems again and revive this being." Logan said.

Logan sighed again and continued, "But destroying one of the gems would be enough? If so, which one? And how to ensure that somehow it wouldn't be recreated or modified?" Logan asked.

"The ego stone would be the most logical choice." Jemma suggested.

"Exactly, Jemma. The ego gem was the one that held the consciousness of the being, so it was also the most obvious choice. The problem was that one of the universes would have to give up its only gem, how to convince the beings of that universe to give it up?" Logan explained.

"An exchange with the universe that has six of them would be fairer." Jemma proposed.

"And it's the safest choice since the other six stones had already reunited without any problem." Coulson added.

Logan let them analyze the scenario before continuing. Sif, noticing that Logan had stopped the explanation and analyzed the situation in a military manner, she widened her eyes in surprise at how simple it would be from that point of view.

Everyone, noticing Sif's gaze, looked at her and waited to know what had caused such surprise.

"But why exchange or ask when you can simply take?" Sif asked.

"But that would cause a war." Coulson said.

"A quick war since one universe is six times stronger than the other." Sif replied.

Everyone then realized that the universe with the six stones was theoretically much stronger than the universe with only one.

Logan, realizing they had arrived at the simplest answer, continued the explanation.

"And what if I told you they came to the same conclusion, and once they realized this, they came up with a rather drastic solution on how to deal with the seventh gem." Logan said.

Everyone was now quite apprehensive about how the solution used could be more drastic than a war.

"The solution they arrived at was that the only way to destroy the seventh gem was by using the power of the other six to implode the seventh, causing its own energy to destroy itself until it was completely wiped from existence." Logan explained.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Skye said.

"It isn't, but during the simulations, the chain reaction generated by the implosion of the gem would also implode an entire universe." Logan added.

Everyone in the room then realized what would follow.

"So, instead of consulting their people about what would be done, the strongest people in the universe put the plan into action without even trying to evacuate the other universe or warning them what would happen. They simply started the chain reaction that would lead to the implosion of the gem and returned to their universe." Logan said.

"They destroyed an entire universe and went on with their lives like nothing happened? How could they do that, no one tried to stop it? Wasn't there S.H.I.E.L.D or the Avengers in this world?" Skye asked indignantly.

"It was the Avengers of this world who carried out the mission, and it was S.H.I.E.L.D who covered everything up. You have to understand that this didn't change much in the lives of those who lived in that universe; in fact, it made it safer. Most people didn't even know about the existence of the gems." Logan replied.

Skye furrowed her brow as if she were bothered, Sif kept a neutral face understanding the unfolding of the story, Jemma compartmentalized the information to focus on the scientific part behind the explanation, and Coulson kept a neutral face, but the question of what he would do if he were in control of S.H.I.E.L.D in that world and what he would do if a similar situation occurred in this universe lingered in his head.

"And was it your universe that did this? How do you know this story if S.H.I.E.L.D covered it up?" Sif asked.

Everyone then realized the hole in the story told and turned their focus back to Logan.

"No, actually, my universe never even had contact with that universe; it was quite peaceful. We had villains, tragedies, wars, and everything else, but we were always quite effective in combating them. It was as if every step taken to solve the problems that arose caused the most positive long-term impacts." Logan said.

Everyone in the room and watching noticed the nostalgia in Logan's voice.

"So, a little after the year 2000, groups of people started appearing out of nowhere in our world. At first, no one understood how they ended up there until other versions of our heroes began to appear, so it was explained to the public that they were refugees from another universe. Apparently, they were fleeing because they couldn't defeat a universe conqueror named Kang and fled to another universe, ending up in ours." Logan explained.

Logan's voice then began to show apprehension.

"The refugees were so amazed by our universe that they called it a utopia and brought more people to our universe. However, as more people arrived, stranger things began to happen: objects disappeared and then reappeared, energy began to fail not only the electrical grid but all types of energy, and then earthquakes began. So, Earth's wizards decided to appear and tell what was happening: Earth was suffering an incursion." Logan said.

Logan changed position in his chair and continued to explain.

"The wizards said that another universe was colliding with ours, and there could be three different outcomes: in the first and least likely, the universes would stabilize, and everything would return to normal; in the second, one of the universes would swallow the other; and in the third and most likely, both universes would destroy each other." Logan said.

Everyone realized the risk of an incursion, and Logan's tone became increasingly serious.

"It didn't take long to trace the cause of the incursion back to the newcomers from another universe. The wizards suggested sending them back, but their universe had been subjugated by Kang, and the only possible fate for them there was slavery. They resisted with all their might not to return, even knowing that both universes would be destroyed because of it. So, it was done what was necessary, and the refugees were killed." Logan said.

"You couldn't have tried another way?" Sif asked, and with sorrow in his voice, Logan replied.

"The simplest way would have been to return them to their original universe, and to swallow their universe, they would have to die anyway. Since they preferred death to being slaves, the decision was made that would save more lives, so they were killed, and the universes would return to their original course. The decision made saved both universes, but it was made too late even with the universes back, Kang noticed the existence of our universe, and the conqueror did what he does." Logan said.

Seeing Logan's discouragement with the story, Skye encouraged him to continue.

"So, what happened next?" Skye asked.

"Everything returned to normal until the wizards came again to warn that changes had been made in history by someone. After much investigation, it was discovered that the one who had made the modifications was someone known as Kang, and that's how we found out how he conquers universes: he travels through time and alters history until the universe is ready to be subjugated." Logan said.

He took a deep breath and continued.

"During the battle against him, we discovered various information about the multiverse, including information about the beginning of time and what happened after the seventh gem was destroyed. It turns out that the rest of the gems still tried to recreate the original being. However, with one gem missing, the stones, trying to fix the absence of the gem, created several copies of the universe, always changing something as if it were a computer running possibilities for the solution to a problem. And thus, the multiverse in which we live was created." Logan concluded.