"Are we too late?"
Spider-Man—Peter Parker—and Hope van Dyne, the Wasp, followed the red levitating cloak all the way to the Sanctum.
Looking down at the cracked pavement, clearly scarred by a recent struggle, Peter's voice was laced with worry. "Oh no. You don't think something happened to Mr. Banner, do you?"
"I doubt it," Hope replied, her tone more grounded. "The Hulk isn't exactly easy to infect. But still..."
If he hadn't been turned, the commotion here seemed a bit too quiet for someone like the Hulk.
"Wait! What are those?" Just as Hope was lost in thought, Peter spotted two figures on the ground that were distinctly non-human zombies.
While the virus certainly stripped away a person's humanity, these two—one tall and gaunt, the other's silhouette equally strange—stood out like sore thumbs.
Who were they? Were these the threats Banner had run into? And if so, how had they ended up as zombies themselves?
The two heroes were baffled.
However, Peter's enhanced vision soon picked up figures on a distant rooftop. Before he could make them out clearly, his eyes were glued to a streak of gold and red cutting through the air.
"Hold on... is that!?"
--+--
For the Avengers, parkouring from the rooftops across the city to Stark Tower wasn't a difficult feat.
With the New York skies currently free of Chitauri invaders, they didn't have to worry much about their safety mid-leap.
Any zombies they encountered along the way were handled easily through practiced teamwork. Even when they hit a gap too wide to jump, Thor and Tony served as aerial transports.
Aside from the two Dr. Banners, the journey was effectively a smooth ride.
Halfway there, however, Tony and Thor noticed something off. Why were two figures and an unidentified flying object heading straight for them? They immediately shared the intel with the rest of the team.
"A 'baby in pajamas' swinging on spider-webs, a lady in a bodysuit with wings, and a flying red cloak?" The older Banner shook his head, looking utterly perplexed. "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell. Maybe they joined later? I was off-world for a pretty long time, after all."
Hearing this, the group didn't immediately drop into a defensive stance. Instead, they waited for the trio to close the distance.
Before anyone could get a word out, Peter landed right in front of Tony.
He ripped off his mask, his face a mask of pure shock and joy. "Mr. Stark? Is that really you? Happy and I thought you were... and... Cap? Hawkeye? Black Widow? You're all okay!?"
"I'm Stark, but I'm probably not the one you know. Though, you seem pretty tight with the other me," Tony remarked. Seeing that the 'pajama kid' was just a student, he retracted his faceplate.
"Not the one I know... wait, like the Butterfly Effect! You're the Mr. Stark from the past!"
Peter froze for a second, but looking at the armor and the face, he quickly put the pieces together.
"Close enough," Tony said, keeping it brief. He could tell the kid admired and trusted 'Tony Stark' deeply, but that wasn't him.
"Alright, take a breath. If you want autographs or an interview, you can talk to the other guy later. Right now, we're heading to Stark Tower. What about you?"
He addressed Peter, but his gaze shifted toward Hope. It was clear that between a teenager with a student's mindset and a visibly mature woman, he preferred to talk to Hope.
Peter knew that look and attitude all too well. Being dismissed as a kid again stung, but he knew that unless he showed some real maturity and responsibility, Tony wouldn't take him seriously.
Opening his mouth now would only make him look more like a child.
"We wanted to see why the Avengers, who were supposed to be zombies, have suddenly recovered," Hope explained.
"That's it?" Tony's brow furrowed slightly.
"What exactly happened here?" Natasha asked.
At the question, Hope's expression darkened instantly. It wasn't hostility, but the look of someone haunted by a memory.
The group couldn't tell exactly what she was thinking, but in a world like this, such a look was only natural. It was the same for Tony; he didn't even dare to think about where Pepper might be.
Even knowing Happy was okay, he didn't have the heart to ask. It was the same for Thor—his girlfriend on Earth was currently missing, her fate unknown.
Hope's expression cast a pall over everyone, and the atmosphere turned stagnant.
Noticing the shift, Peter quickly jumped in to change the subject. "A couple of days ago, a virus leaked out of nowhere. In less than twenty-four hours, the entire Pacific Northwest was infected."
"The Avengers went in to contain it, but they were compromised one by one. There's basically nowhere safe left in the world."
Peter looked at Tony, his eyes bright with hope. "But we're still here! And you guys are here! Things aren't at the point of no return yet. If we can find a cure for the virus, everyone can be saved!"
The sheer trust in his voice gave Tony pause, his expression becoming increasingly complicated.
It wasn't just him. None of the Avengers expected that a simple test run of the Simulated Universe would suddenly turn into a mission to save the world.
"Is this... is this really just a simulation?" Banner muttered to himself.
[Of course it is just a simulation. Though, such a universe does truly exist—otherwise, there would be no basis for the simulation to begin with.] Madam Herta's voice rang out.
"That's just..." Rogers felt a wave of futility wash over him. No matter how hard they worked here, they couldn't actually change that real, suffering universe.
The weight of responsibility suddenly vanished, and while they would still give it their all—especially since Madam Herta mentioned a scoring system and rewards—they felt as if something vital was missing.
"Cap?" Peter asked, confused by their sudden silence.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you, son," Rogers said with a faint, forced smile. "We were just talking to the people who sent us here. Only we can hear them."
"The people who sent you through time?" Peter couldn't even begin to wrap his head around such an entity.
"Regardless, we need to move," Natasha interrupted. "We'll have plenty of time to chat later."
"Good point. Speaking of which, whose cloak is that?" Tony pointed to the levitating fabric nearby. "Does it take passengers? Like a magic carpet?"
"Uh, I think so?" Peter wasn't entirely sure where the cloak had come from, but it had been a constant help.
Before anyone could analyze it further, the cloak gave a very human-like nod and draped itself over Natasha's shoulders.
"Perfect. That's one passenger each," Tony said, counting heads. "Let's fly straight to the roof of Stark Tower."
--+--
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.