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"I'm not doing any back-alley surgeries!" Tony Stark pouted again.
"That's what you said last time too," Lionel said with a chuckle.
Tony Stark disagreed: "Accurately speaking, it should be the future. According to you, our current conversation is half an hour earlier than in your memory."
Lionel shrugged: "Alright, you make a good point."
Tony Stark glanced at his phone, then said: "I've notified Happy, my driver. He's already downstairs. Come with me; maybe we can detect some special fluctuations."
"Are you going to ride in a car wearing that thing?"
Lionel pointed at the iron suit displayed in the room.
The torture Tony Stark suffered from taking off the Suit last time led him to optimize its wear. Once assembled, it no longer required the assistance of a mechanical platform. The Suit's surface could automatically open to reveal the internal operating space, greatly facilitating Tony Stark's donning.
The Suit was currently open. Hearing Lionel's question, Tony Stark approached the Suit, turned, and backed into it. Mechanical clicking sounds rang out as Tony Stark completed donning the Suit.
"The car is for you two. Of course, I'm flying straight back. Once we reach the destination, Happy will take you to me. I'm heading down now."
With that, he walked downstairs.
"Let's go."
Lionel and Makima also walked downstairs. If anything unexpected happened, Lionel felt more at ease with Makima by his side.
"This is my bodyguard and driver, Happy."
Tony Stark's driver, Happy Hogan, was a plump man. He used to be Tony Stark's bodyguard, but after Tony Stark announced he was Iron Man, the bodyguard job lost its practical meaning, so Tony Stark assigned him to be a driver.
Happy greeted them: "Mr. Lionel, Miss Makima."
"Hello, Happy."
"Happy, take them to my lab. I need to make some preparations first. I hope you won't get stuck in traffic."
After giving his instructions, Tony Stark, piloting the iron suit, instantly ascended into the sky, and soon even the iron suit's afterburners disappeared above the city.
It was somewhat quiet in the car. Happy casually turned on the car radio.
"Broadway Avenue is currently blocked by the Military. Numerous soldiers and armored vehicles are rushing to Broadway Avenue. According to reports from frontline reporters, a terrifying humanoid monster has appeared within the blocked area. The monster is yellow, three to four meters tall, and looks like a demon crawled out of hell.
This situation reminds me of an incident that occurred at Fisk Tower, where a demon-like black monster also appeared. It's worth pondering whether there's a connection between the two.
Oh! This station has just received news from a frontline reporter: Vought's Homelander has also rushed over. Is he going to eliminate the monster and protect the citizens once again?"
The content on the radio caught Lionel's attention. If there was no mistake, that monster should be Abomination. Homelander's presence was somewhat unexpected, but on second thought, it was normal.
Vought had been heavily promoting Homelander recently, practically wanting to stage a few crime incidents for Homelander to handle. Fortunately, New York's crime rate was always high, so they didn't need to stage anything; there was more than enough for Homelander to deal with. After all, as the saying goes, "Free America, gunfights every day."
But could Homelander defeat Abomination and Hulk?
Lionel had his doubts. Although Homelander looked like a knock-off Superman, and in reality was a knock-off Superman, this knock-off was a knock-off plus neutered plus neutered. His strength seemed to be only around a hundred tons, a value that was only decent among superhumans, just enough to be considered formidable.
But a hundred tons was just the starting point for Hulk; a little anger could double his strength, potentially reaching thousands or even tens of thousands of tons. Homelander's only advantage was his relatively comprehensive abilities.
Flight, Iron Body? Heat vision, X-ray vision, and superhuman hearing. Hmm, flight meant Homelander could at least run away if he couldn't win. Lionel even doubted if Homelander's super hearing was stronger than Daredevil Matt's.
As he was thinking this, Happy's phone suddenly rang. Happy quickly answered; it was Tony Stark.
"Hello, sir, any instructions?"
"Put it on speaker. Maybe you won't even need to turn it on for that guy to hear. I have something to tell Lionel."
Happy complied, turning on the speaker.
Tony Stark's voice, full of static, came through the phone, indicating he was still flying:
"Time Traveler, I think you'll have to wait a bit longer for your check-up. There's an ugly monster on Broadway, and Iron Man needs to go deal with it. You two wait at the Villa for a bit; I'll resolve this quickly. Happy, take good care of our two guests."
Happy replied: "Yes, sir. Please be careful. I can't handle Miss Potts."
Lionel said into the phone: "Mr. Stank, this is the fourth or fifth nickname you've given me. The next time we meet, I'm going to call you Tin Can.
But I still have to remind you, the piss-yellow monster's strength and defense are beyond your imagination. I don't want the next trending news to be about Iron Man's heroic sacrifice, because then the value of my stocks would plummet."
"Time Traveler, are my company's stocks the most important thing to you? I, your boss, am truly delighted. You're in luck; the news of Iron Man saving New York is sure to explode. Your stocks will soar then, hahahaha!"
Tony Stark hung up the phone.
Makima, on the side, was using her phone to look up news about Broadway online. She pointed at an image online and said to Lionel:
"This ugly monster is the Abomination you mentioned, isn't it? It certainly looks ugly."
"Is it online already? Let me see."
Lionel leaned over, craning his neck to look at the picture in Makima's hand. It was a blurry photo taken with a phone, and the angle wasn't very good. It was likely taken by a panicked nearby citizen and then uploaded online.
But Lionel still recognized the Abomination, the monster created from Hulk's blood, in the center of the photo.
Just as Lionel was about to say something, the familiar sensation returned. The World paused again, then instantly returned to normal.
"Eh? What the f—!"
Although he had always been prepared for another transmigration, the environment after this transmigration was completely different from what he expected.
"Beep—"
A piercing car horn blared behind him. Lionel didn't think too much; he grabbed Makima, who for some reason had transmigrated with him, and dodged to the side of the road.
The car behind them sped past. Lionel breathed a sigh of relief; they had appeared directly in the middle of the road.
Inside Lionel's apartment, Tony Stark was full of questions. Makima, who had just been on the sofa opposite him, had suddenly vanished into thin air.
---
Chapter 68 Crossbones Rumlow finally realized
"Do you remember what happened before?" Lionel asked Makima, standing by the side of the road, wanting to confirm which point in time this Makima was from.
"The World suddenly froze, and then the environment changed. Checking the time, it was still the same time, but the time before the 'crossing' was less than ten minutes later than last time, and—"
Makima replied, pinching her chin. Her phone had also 'crossed' with her. The original web content disappeared after refreshing, showing "Content not found." The local time was 4:46 PM.
"And?"
"The condition to 'cross' with you should be your subjective contact. Before the 'crossing,' your hand was on me, so I 'followed' and 'crossed.' But that car didn't 'cross.' You can check if that evil spirit is also here; I think it is."
Lionel took out Annabelle and confirmed after asking that the evil spirit had indeed 'crossed' with him.
Having confirmed the situation, Lionel once again pondered the reason for the 'crossing.'
He hadn't done anything unusual, just sat quietly in the car, and then he was back an hour ago. His Entries had no abnormalities, neither more nor less. If he had traveled through time, such a special situation would definitely generate a related Entry, but it hadn't appeared now, which was very strange.
So, the current situation was more like the entire World's time had rewound, and he, because of the Entry [Outsider], had circumvented the effect of time reversal. As for Makima and the evil spirit Annabelle, who were also unaffected this time, they should have been judged as a whole by the Entry [Outsider], just like the clothes on his body.
Lionel knew of more than one entity capable of making the entire World rewind time. Considering the current timeline, the most likely candidate was a certain bald individual.
"Could it be that Ancient One is fighting a powerful enemy and used the Time Stone to rewind time? It's very possible."
Lionel believed his conjecture was highly probable, but he couldn't rule out other possibilities. After all, Marvel had too many strange abilities, and it might just be someone's superpower.
"This is a bit troublesome. If it were me who was 'crossing,' I could look for problems within myself, but now I haven't changed, and the World has a problem. How to solve it? Go find Ancient One? But I can't find her at all.
Or wait for the guy causing the time reversal to give up. Such a World-wide ability should consume a lot of energy; it probably can't loop many times."
Lionel had long tried to find Sorcerer Supreme Ancient One. He had been to 177A Bleecker Street several times. He had seen the New York Sanctum, but had never seen a single Sorcerer. He couldn't just force his way in. He couldn't possibly use the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception to slash and destroy the New York Sanctum's barrier, could he? That wouldn't be seeking help; it would be provocation.
Lionel suddenly thought of something: "Right, Tony Stark should still be in the office, right? What would that guy's reaction be if you suddenly disappeared at this point in time?"
Makima replied, having already prepared: "Kuro is still in the apartment. I've already possessed Kuro through the Control connection and notified Tony Stark. He was just a bit surprised and displeased."
Lionel exclaimed: "That was quick! By the way, can you call Kuro over? We need to go to Bleecker Street, and we need him as a stepping stone."
"Do we need Kuro? Then I'll have him go directly to Bleecker Street."
After a brief thought, Lionel came up with a way to meet Ancient One, or more accurately, to meet a Kamar-Taj Sorcerer. This would require using Kuro's demon identity.
---
Time returns to the first loop, the culprit behind the cycle.
Crossbones Rumlow received a mission from his superiors: Bruce Banner, the Hulk pursued by the Military, had appeared in New York's Broadway. His mission was to capture Bruce Banner alive, or at least bring back Bruce Banner's blood for the organization's research.
In the black Chevrolet, Crossbones Rumlow distributed Bruce Banner's profile to the operatives.
"Hulk Bruce Banner, a terrifying monster, capable of destroying tanks with his bare hands, impervious to thermal weapons. Our mission is to capture him alive. Ha, that's a joke!"
The difficulty of capturing alive is not the same as the difficulty of killing.
Crossbones Rumlow almost laughed in anger after reading Bruce Banner's profile. Asking him to capture this monster alive was like asking him to duel a resurrected Captain America.
"So, our mission focuses on collecting Bruce Banner's blood. You were all personally trained by me. I don't want you to lose your lives over an absurd mission."
"Yes, Officer!"
Crossbones Rumlow nodded, wiped his beloved energy gun, and then strapped it to his waist.
The energy gun's power was too great; if he accidentally blew Hulk to smithereens, their mission couldn't be completed, so he wouldn't use it lightly.
Not long after, the black Chevrolet arrived at Broadway. Many Military personnel were already gathered there. Crossbones Rumlow had no interest in greeting the Military personnel and directly ordered his team to ignore them and drive in.
"Officer, the commotion ahead is very unusual, too loud. It seems the Military is fighting something."
An Agent reported to Crossbones Rumlow.
Crossbones Rumlow nodded, "I hear it too. Prepare for battle. Stop when we get a bit closer."
The car began to shake. It wasn't an earthquake; a hideous, shit-yellow monster was charging at them. It seemed unavoidable.
"Get out, prepare for battle!"
The well-trained S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA special operations team quickly jumped out of the Chevrolet, found their positions, and readied their weapons.
"The shit-yellow one shouldn't be Bruce Banner. Bruce Banner's Hulk form is green."
Abomination's speed was incredibly fast. As soon as Crossbones Rumlow made his judgment, he had already arrived near the special operations team, lifted the black Chevrolet they had driven in, and threw it directly at one of the special operations team members.
"Are you challenging me too? Call me Abomination! Tell me where Hulk is?"
One Agent didn't even have time to dodge and was directly crushed into a meat patty by the Chevrolet.
The Agents focused their fire on Abomination, but it had no effect. Abomination patted the spots where he was hit and began to slaughter the Agents, each casual grab taking a life.
Whoosh!
Blue energy struck Abomination. Abomination cried out in pain, stumbled back several steps, and a clear burn mark appeared where he was hit. It was his first injury since his mutation.
"Damn it, it didn't kill him directly!"
Looking at the dead Agent and the monster that even the energy gun couldn't kill.
Crossbones Rumlow then realized the gap between superhumans and ordinary Agents, not just in name and equipment.
He dodged while frantically pulling the trigger of his energy gun. Abomination had already noticed the human attacking him.
He, who had never dodged since his mutation, dodged for the first time. After getting close to Crossbones Rumlow, he withstood several attacks and grabbed him.
"Are you challenging me too!"
Crossbones Rumlow was crushed.
The World froze. When Crossbones Rumlow came to his senses, he was back in the Chevrolet destroyed by Abomination, and his teammates were all still there.
"Fu**ck!"