This invisible pressure slowly spread throughout the entire room.
Steve Rogers immediately stepped in front of Vision to shield him, while Tony Stark didn't react much at all.
When it came to who should hold the Mind Stone last, Tony Stark leaned toward Ronan.
After all, that day, he'd witnessed Ronan's insane strength firsthand.
But even with that kind of power, Ronan still wasn't confident he could take on this future enemy called "Thanos."
Imagine how strong that guy must be.
If they left the Mind Stone out in such an obvious spot, wouldn't it just be a grab-and-go for anyone?
So yeah, Tony Stark was Team Ronan on this one.
"Ronan, I get how crucial this stone is, but I still think keeping it with Vision would be more useful."
"If we yank that Mind Stone out, Vision's only outcome is death."
Steve Rogers was still trying to talk Ronan down.
He was terrified the next second would turn into a full-on brawl.
"Steve, I don't wanna argue with you about who gets the Mind Stone."
"We already settled this before."
"If Thor takes it, I'll head to Asgard, track down Odin the All-Father, and bring the stone back."
Ronan gave a silent smirk, keeping the pressure on Steve Rogers and Vision.
Steve Rogers opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Because this was one of their "secret agreements" from before.
The stone was supposed to go with Ronan, stashed somewhere on Earth, and they wouldn't know where.
The reason was simple.
Thanos wanted all six Infinity Stones, and their fighting power? It'd be tough to match him head-on.
If they got caught, Thanos had plenty of ways to pry the Mind Stone's location out of them.
But if they didn't know, Thanos would be stuck.
As for Ronan?
Good luck even finding him.
Back then, everyone was on board with the plan—Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, they all gave it the thumbs-up.
It was the safest bet for Earth's security.
Now, though, Steve Rogers wanting to keep the Mind Stone with Vision was basically throwing that plan out the window.
In Steve's mind, Vision was a living, breathing person.
He could talk, interact, even think for himself.
If that's not human, what is?
"Can I say something?"
After Steve Rogers went quiet, Vision piped up.
Ronan raised an eyebrow, gesturing for him to go on.
After all, they were debating Vision's life or death here—not letting him speak would be messed up.
"If I'm being rational, your plan's hands-down the safest."
"The fewer people who know about something important, the better. I totally agree with that."
"But if I look at it from a human angle, deep down, I can't get behind it."
Vision locked eyes with Ronan, starting to see things more human-like.
Any normal person wouldn't wanna sacrifice themselves for someone else.
Of course, there were exceptions.
And one of those exceptions was sitting right there with them.
"Ronan, I know this might put Earth in danger."
"But why do we have to be so pessimistic about it?"
"When Thanos shows up, we band together and take him down—problem solved, right?"
"Why do we have to—"
Steve Rogers didn't finish, but Ronan got the gist.
Team up, push through the crisis together.
The idea wasn't wrong, but the flaw was Steve Rogers couldn't properly gauge Thanos' strength.
"Can we talk alone?"
"Just me and him."
Ronan didn't answer Steve Rogers, instead turning to Vision.
Everyone but Vision blinked in surprise.
Especially Steve Rogers—he had a bad feeling Ronan was about to make a move.
"Relax, in my current state, I can't take him out just yet."
"Even if he can't beat me, he can still run."
Ronan clocked Steve Rogers' worry and grinned.
Vision nodded, signaling he could handle himself.
With Vision's okay, Tony Stark got up first and headed off in another direction.
Steve Rogers hesitated for a sec, then stood too.
"Ronan, we can still talk this out."
With that, he nodded at Ronan and walked off.
His message was clear: don't get too worked up.
Once they were both out of sight, Ronan smirked and flicked his left hand.
A shimmering space barrier, like shards of glass, instantly cocooned the two of them.
The mirror dimension cut them off from the real world.
Vision curiously eyed the uneven "walls" around them, even reaching out to touch one.
"This is another dimension?"
Vision figured it out in one glance.
"You're sharper than those two—they were speechless the first time they saw it."
Ronan grinned, dropping the aggressive vibe from before.
"I could tell you were putting on an act for them earlier."
"But I wanna know why?"
Vision studied Ronan, intrigued. Ronan's performance had been flawless, but Vision still saw through it.
That kind of insight wasn't exactly human.
"A gift from the Mind Stone, huh?"
"Or are you the Mind Stone itself?"
Ronan didn't beat around the bush—he went straight for what he really wanted to know.
He'd always wondered how Vision came to be.
Ultron's origin was already a cosmic head-scratcher.
Back then, Tony Stark found the Mind Stone's insides were like a giant computer—or a brain.
So he decided to fuse Jarvis with it, creating a new AI to protect Earth.
But Ultron went full "destroy humanity" instead.
So what about Vision?
Ultron had uploaded like 90% of its consciousness into Vision's body.
By all logic, even after Thor juiced him up with lightning, that consciousness should've been mostly Ultron.
Yet Vision emerged.
Ultron and Vision were only really different in materials—and the Mind Stone.
The materials wouldn't create consciousness, so Vision's existence most likely came down to that stone.
Meaning Vision, right now, was the Mind Stone's doing.
Maybe when Ultron dumped its consciousness in, the stone swallowed it up through the power surge.
And that avoided a bigger mess?
Still, Ronan's big question was: Was Vision a fresh soul, or the Mind Stone made manifest?
"Why'd you ask that?"
Vision didn't answer—he flipped it back.
"Just curious."
"Answer if you want, or don't."
Ronan shook his head. Honestly, he was just nosy.
Though he did have one tiny side thought.
If Vision was the Mind Stone's manifestation, could the other stones do it too?
"I don't know."
"When I woke up, it was all a blank. First time touching the human world."
"Like a newborn, full of wonder about everything."
"Where I came from, why I'm here—I never thought about it."
Vision shook his head—he didn't know either.
Ronan narrowed his eyes.
He didn't comment on Vision's words, but he had a sliver of truth in his gut.
Maybe the Mind Stone never saw itself as just a rock?
And Vision was its human-like stand-in.
It wasn't some wild guess—there was evidence.
Wakanda's research on Vision found the stone in his head was tangled up with his body in crazy ways.
Their words? The stone could be removed.
It'd just take a long time.
So the Mind Stone had poured its "human" side into Vision.
Since it came from the stone, they were linked by a million threads.
"What if I said I could take that stone out of your forehead…"
"…but still keep you living like you are now?"
"Would you go for it?"
Ronan tossed out a new question.
Vision froze, but his CPU was way beyond human.
"You mean, remove the stone, and I'd still be me, alive?" Vision asked.
"Yeah, though you might lose some powers."
"Like blasting beams from your forehead, or other random stuff."
Ronan shrugged—he wasn't sure what'd happen.
But Vision's vibranium body and Ultron's built-in weapons would still keep him safe.
And he'd hardly be weak.
"If that's possible, I'm in."
"But if it's such a win-win, why not tell them?"
Vision asked, curious.
"That part, I'd keep from them."
"And after removing the stone, I'd hit you with a forgetting spell."
"You wouldn't remember this happened—or anything I've said."
Ronan squinted, wondering if his magic would even work on Vision.
Mental magic, specifically.
"For secrecy?"
Vision seemed to get Ronan's angle.
"How strong is this guy that you're this cautious?"
Vision pressed.
Ronan shook his head, waved it off—he was done answering.
"Don't tell them about today. Not anyone."
"Not even people who'll matter to you down the line."
"You good with that?"
Ronan's gaze was razor-sharp on Vision.
Vision met his eyes. He didn't know why Ronan was so insistent, but he nodded.
Hearing that, Ronan grinned and waved his hand.
The mirror dimension dissolved, dropping them back into reality.
No surprise—Tony Stark and Steve Rogers were already there, waiting.
They'd noticed the two vanish.
"Ronan, you guys—"
Steve Rogers stepped up first.
"Nothing big. Just showed him what you guys saw last time."
"Other than that, I tested if he's got what it takes to protect the stone."
Ronan brushed it off with a half-truth.
He didn't want—or couldn't—tell Steve Rogers the real deal.
"So, your call now?"
Steve Rogers calmed down a bit.
Since they'd both walked out of that space without a fight, there had to be a solution.
Time to hear Ronan's take.
"I've gotta say, these stones never belonged to anyone."
"So if you've decided to stick it with him, I won't argue."
"Just protect that Mind Stone."
"It's Earth's biggest shield."
Ronan eyed the three of them, his tone dead serious.
They all nodded back, just as solemn.
After that last scrap with Scarlet Witch, they'd gotten a rough idea: the future enemy was *nuts* strong.
Strong enough that even someone like Ronan was making moves this early.
You could bet the showdown would be brutal.
But beyond that, Ronan was thinking bigger.
With Strange and Scarlet Witch in the mix, their universe and 616 were barreling toward a cosmic bear hug.
Maybe it'd be years—decades, centuries even.
Or maybe days.
Ronan couldn't pin down when universes would collide.
He just had a bad feeling.
From this moment, their universe would start seeing more and more visitors from parallel worlds.
The cosmic door was open.
Thanos was coming—*this* universe's Thanos had the same goal.
Every universe had a Thanos, all with the same plan.
Some won, some lost, some—like 616—flipped the script.
The multiverse gate was wide open.
So when Thanos hit Earth, would he be solo?
Or, with history already shifting, would he bring backup from other universes?
No one could say.