"The Prince of Asgard?"
Smart Hulk's shout naturally drew the attention of Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian, who had just arrived on the scene.
The sunset-drenched streets were eerily deserted, a sight that left everyone momentarily bewildered. However, with the enemy literally at their doorstep, there was no time for idle speculation.
Ebony Maw, tracking Hulk's gaze, spotted Thor standing nearby.
He stiffened, realizing almost instantly that something was off; the godhood radiating from this Thor was significantly weaker than the version they had spared only a short while ago.
"Seems I'm a bit of a celebrity," Thor remarked.
Having heard Smart Hulk's brief summary, he gathered that these two were Thanos's primary lackeys—the vultures who had preyed upon Asgard during its darkest hour.
The thought kindled a smoldering rage behind his eyes; he felt nothing but cold contempt for the pair.
Maw, however, didn't spare him a second thought.
With a casual flick of his wrist, a violent tremor rippled through the pavement, vibrating up through everyone's boots.
The screech of tearing asphalt echoed behind them as telekinetically uprooted chunks of concrete surged forward like a tidal wave.
Just as the Avengers prepared to dive for cover, Thor hoisted Mjolnir.
A violent crackle of lightning shattered the incoming debris into dust. He lowered the hammer, fixing Maw with a dangerous, predatory stare.
Something is wrong.
Ebony Maw's brow furrowed. It wasn't just Thor; the entire situation felt fractured. He noticed that within this small squad, there was a second, younger version of the Hulk.
Have we accidentally crossed into another universe?
Before his suspicions could take root, a shimmering portal—blooming like a golden flower—ignited behind him. Maw and Cull Obsidian spun around.
Bathed in backlighting, three silhouettes stepped through the gateway.
Though their faces remained obscured, the gleaming red-and-gold armor, pulsing with energy, gave away the leader's identity instantly.
"Is... is that me?" Tony stammered, caught off guard.
But Hawkeye and Thor, whose senses far outstripped the average human's, felt the hair on their necks stand up. Something was deeply, viscerally wrong.
Smart Hulk, still squinting through the glare, only saw the familiar shape of "Big Tony."
A wide, relieved grin broke across his face. "Tony?! Haha! You guys are dead meat now!" He didn't understand the flashy entrance, but seeing his long-lost comrade filled him with pure joy.
Sure, there was a Tony standing right next to him, but... he wasn't his Tony.
"Wait," Barton interrupted, his voice tight. "Something's not right here!"
"What?" Smart Hulk looked confused. He trusted Hawkeye implicitly—they were old teammates, after all—but he couldn't see the threat yet.
Tony snapped his helmet shut. As he stared at the trio across the street—specifically at the cadaverous, rotting face staring back from his own armor—his expression curdled into one of pure disgust.
"Madam Herta, is this the 'unique charm' of parallel worlds?"
[Hmm? Oh, I see. Looks like you've rolled a zombie theme over there, too.]
"Too?"
The group blinked, thrown off by her nonchalance.
Smart Hulk was the most baffled of all. "Who the hell are you guys talking to?"
His voice pulled their attention back. It occurred to them that while Smart Hulk had been busy explaining his world, they hadn't given him a single stitch of context.
"We're communicating with a real heavy hitter who's observing this place. She's the one who sent us here," Banner explained to his counterpart, keeping it as brief as possible.
"A 'heavy hitter'?" Smart Hulk hadn't expected that. "Can she help us?"
"That... well, maybe we are the help she sent?" Banner replied hesitantly.
Herta's voice didn't pause for their side-bar.
[I'm not just monitoring your location. In fact, I'm running 127 simultaneous simulations of this event right now. I was just checking on another branch—compared to that one, your situation is a walk in the park. That place is a chaotic nightmare.]
A chaotic nightmare?
Watching his undead double, Tony tried to steady his nerves. "I can't imagine anything more nightmarish than this."
As the zombified Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and a sorcerous version of the Black Order lunged forward, the rest of the Avengers finally realized why Tony looked so ill.
It's never a great day when you see a version of yourself turned into a walking corpse.
Even Thor, who had been the most furious, felt his anger turn into a knot of uneasy confusion.
On the bright side, he figured that being stuck in deep space at least meant he hadn't turned into one of those shriveled freaks.
But they didn't have long to ponder. These zombies weren't mindless, shambling monsters.
Zombie Tony was piloting his suit with lethal precision, and the two non-humans were already lashing out with whips of golden, eldritch energy.
Come to think of it, their arrival via a mystical portal wasn't exactly the standard "braindead zombie" behavior.
"What is even happening..." Banner muttered, his eye twitching.
Smart Hulk felt even worse. The others were interdimensional tourists, but this was his home. "What's the play? How do we fix this?"
The heroes traded glances. They were flying blind; you can't form a plan when you don't know the rules of the game. The best move was to retreat, regroup, and strategize.
[I just did a quick scan. This appears to be data originating from the Quantum Realm,]Herta's voice chimed in their ears again.
"Quantum data? Are you saying the virus comes from the Quantum Realm?" Even though Herta's explanation was cryptic, Tony's mind immediately bridged the gap.
[Precisely. This isn't just some run-of-the-mill biological pathogen.]
Knowing the source was a start, but it didn't change the fact that they were being hunted.
Tony felt a surge of frustration, but as he watched the zombie Iron Man fight, his eyes suddenly went wide.
"Is that suit... nanotechnology?"
A spark of inspiration hit him. "Guys, we need to get to Stark Tower. Or maybe my house."
No one argued. They weren't idiots; they knew exactly what this meant for Tony. This was the future.
To anyone else, it was a wasteland, but to Tony, it was a goldmine of advanced tech he could potentially bring back with him.
"What about them?" Smart Hulk pointed to the five figures locked in a fierce, supernatural brawl.
The group hesitated. Rogers looked toward Thor, seeking a tactical opinion.
Thor shook his head.
He was confident he could jump in, help flatten Maw and Obsidian, and get out—but that golden ring was a portal.
There was no guarantee they wouldn't get sucked in or pinned down. If they got stuck and had to kill these versions of their friends just to survive, it wasn't a risk worth taking.
Better to bet on the trio being able to hold their own for now.
The Avengers didn't want to kill Zombie Tony. Not if there was even a slim chance a cure existed in this timeline.
Seeing that even their heavy hitter wasn't willing to risk it, the others dropped the idea. Smart Hulk didn't press the issue; he couldn't ask these strangers to risk their lives for a ghost of a teammate.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.