'It's this!'
'It's this!'
The moment Max saw the Arc Reactor, a voice inside him shouted.
The energy source that can change my fate, it's this.
'As long as I have it, I'll become stronger.'
'Even if I return to my original universe, Spider-Man won't be able to kill me.'
'I will become the king of the new world!'
Max's eyes immediately burned with desire.
Obviously, no one noticed the change taking place inside the Black man.
Peter Parker had already started operating the "Replicator," "We can start with Doctor Octavius. His problem should be easier to solve."
"I'll help," Osborn walked over, "Tell me how to operate it."
The two of them began working.
Although Homelander hadn't entered the room, he knew exactly what was happening inside.
He smiled slightly and relaxed, after all, the real show was happening tonight.
Just as Homelander was being taken to the apartment by Spider-Man, a streak of light quickly flew away over New York.
This scene appeared in one of the grids in Staro's field of vision.
"Has Captain Marvel finally given up?"
"Great, that means I don't have to keep hiding anymore."
"I need to make some preparations. Tonight, I have to stop the Green Goblin from killing May."
"As long as May survives, the probability of Peter Parker falling into darkness is only 1.204%."
Staro was only monitoring the entirety of New York, so he had no idea where that streak of light had gone.
Captain Marvel had gone to the Avengers base.
It was already morning.
Colonel Rhodes got up early and had the AI play some soft music. Holding a cup of coffee, he first glanced at the room where Homelander was imprisoned.
Seeing that Homelander was still inside, he returned to the main hall with peace of mind.
"I need help."
A voice suddenly sounded behind him.
Colonel Rhodes jumped, and the coffee in his hand nearly spilled onto the floor.
He turned around.
He saw Captain Marvel, Carol.
"Ma'am, could you not talk behind me next time?"
"I don't have a heart condition, but that was pretty scary."
Carol shrugged, "I didn't mean to scare you."
"So, is that guy still here?"
Colonel Rhodes nodded, "Where could he go?"
"He can't go anywhere."
"Besides, what can I help you with?"
Carol said, "I told you last night that I was going to track down another guy."
"The guy who made me cross more than half the galaxy."
Colonel Rhodes took a sip of coffee, "Looks like things didn't go well for you."
Carol nodded, "Originally, I used the visual signal he sent me as a basis. After analyzing it, I determined where the signal originated."
"But when I got there…"
She shrugged.
Colonel Rhodes smiled, "Not surprising. As long as he isn't an idiot, he wouldn't stay there and let you catch him."
"Exactly."
"After that, I pulled up surveillance footage from the area and found a suspect."
"But when I used facial recognition to track him, that guy's image was practically everywhere."
"He even appeared in different places at the same time."
"Obviously, he exploited some loopholes or used some kind of information technology I don't understand."
"Anyway, I need the Avengers' support."
Colonel Rhodes rubbed his chin and thought for a moment, "If you need firepower, War Machine can leave at any time."
"But when it comes to this kind of information technology, Stark should be better at it."
"Unfortunately, he's gone."
Carol frowned, "Don't you have any other technical people?"
"For example, that guy who can turn into an ant?"
Colonel Rhodes shook his head, "No. Ant-Man specializes in the quantum field."
"If you were going to look for someone in the quantum field, he could probably help."
"But for the current situation, let me think."
"Probably, maybe, possibly, you only have one choice."
Carol thought for a moment, "You mean that green guy?"
"He's not called the green guy. You can call him the Hulk, or you can call him Doctor Banner."
Colonel Rhodes nodded, "Yes. He's the only person I can think of who could help."
"After all, years ago, he helped S.H.I.E.L.D. find Loki, so I think he should have a way."
Colonel Rhodes said regretfully, "Originally, we could have asked Wakanda for help too, but recently, I heard that King T'Challa died of a heart condition."
"So I'm afraid they won't be in the mood for that right now."
Carol nodded, "I understand. Then you must know that green guy, I mean Doctor Banner. You must know where he is, right?"
Colonel Rhodes nodded, "He went to Africa."
———
[Somewhere in Africa]
It was evening.
In an uninhabited forest, a clearing had been made.
A house had been built there.
A satellite signal receiver was mounted on top of the house.
At this moment, in the clearing in front of the house, the Hulk, Banner, was sitting cross-legged on a huge rock with his eyes closed, meditating.
Underneath that huge rock wasn't the ground, but a much smaller rock.
From this, it was clear that Banner had an extremely good sense of balance and stability.
Otherwise, he would have rolled off the rock long ago.
But just then, a dull sound of something breaking the air came from above.
Then an extremely dazzling light descended from the sky and slammed into the clearing.
The violent impact "woke" Banner. The Hulk let out a soft cry, lost his balance, and the rock beneath him immediately fell to the ground.
Banner landed on the ground and said in frustration, "Oh, no."
"I'd just found the feeling."
He picked up the rock and threw it away with force.
Only after venting did he turn around and look at a blonde woman.
"It's you."
"The woman who smashed through Thanos's flagship."
"I remember your name was Carol?"
Captain Marvel nodded with a smile, "It's me. Sorry, I seem to have interrupted you."
"Not 'seem.'"
Banner spread his hands, "You came to find me. You obviously aren't here to learn meditation from me."
"Meditation?"
Carol shook her head, "I don't like that kind of thing."
"I'm here to ask you for a favor."
Banner walked toward the house, "You're not going to ask me to solve another time-travel problem or something, are you?"
Carol followed behind him, "No. I want to find someone."
After entering the house, Carol told Banner about the problem she had encountered.
Banner picked up the glasses on the table and put them on, "If you want to find someone, you should ask the police for help."
"Okay, just kidding."
"Send me the surveillance footage you obtained, along with the facial-recognition data."
"Maybe I can help you find him."
"Maybe."
He took out a laptop and began operating it.
For Banner, even though he had sacrificed some strength to maintain his balance and keep his strength and reason together, which meant his body wasn't nearly as exaggerated as the real Hulk's, the laptop still looked tiny in his hands, like a child's toy.
Carol looked at Banner's arm, "Is your hand okay?"
Banner raised the arm that had once snapped his fingers using the "Infinity Stones," "It's fine now."
"My recovery ability is pretty strong."
"It gets a little sore sometimes when it rains, but after a while, it should return to normal."
Carol nodded, then pointed at her own eyes, "Do you need glasses?"
"I mean, are you nearsighted?"
"No, of course not," Banner took off his glasses, "My eyesight is very good. I wear glasses because I want to look a little more like the way I used to."
Carol asked curiously, "Can't you turn back into your old self anymore?"
Banner looked helpless, "Ma'am, if you want me to work, could you be quiet for a moment?"
Carol immediately gave him a thumbs-up and made a zipping motion across her mouth.
"Maybe you can make us some coffee."
Banner pointed toward the kitchen, "There are coffee beans I grew myself in there. You can give them a try."
Carol nodded and walked into the kitchen.
A moment later, a loud sound came from the kitchen.
Banner looked over. His box of coffee beans had been smashed apart, and Carol was standing there looking apologetic.
"Forget it. Don't worry about the coffee."
His eyes returned to the computer, "I'd better finish the job quickly and get this lady out of here."
.
.
.
[Several Hours Later]
"Done."
Banner handed Carol a device, "I've written a new program into your device. It'll help you find the person you're looking for."
"Thank you."
"Thank you so much."
"You've helped me a lot."
"I have to go. There are other problems in the galaxy waiting for me to deal with."
"I can't stay on Earth for too long."
With that, Carol shot into the sky, smashing a huge hole through Banner's house.
"Sorry."
Carol's voice echoed from the sky. She herself had already flown away at high speed.
Inside the house, Banner helplessly spread his hands, "I actually have a front door. All right, looks like I've got some work to do tonight."
———
[New York]
It was already evening.
The setting sun was about to disappear below the horizon.
Staro came to the window, "Captain Marvel hasn't appeared for the entire afternoon. Looks like she's given up."
"Now I need to go to Happy's apartment."
"Tonight will be the decisive night. I can't afford any mistakes."
Just then, he suddenly stopped.
He turned around and his vision blurred.
A mass of light struck him.
His entire body was sent flying through the window.
Blue flames erupted from his back, creating thrust that brought him to a stop in midair.
Only then did he see that Captain Marvel had somehow appeared inside the house where he was hiding.
"Found you."
Captain Marvel charged at Staro again and grabbed the cloak on his body.
With a forceful pull, Staro was exposed to Carol's view.
This "Homelander" from another universe was somewhat similar to Cyborg. More than ninety percent of his body was mechanical.
Only a very small portion retained human, or rather, biological characteristics.
He looked at Carol and said in a flat, emotionless voice, "Captain Marvel, how did you find me?"
"According to my calculations, there was a 73% chance you would seek Doctor Banner's help."
"You went to find Banner?"
Carol frowned as she looked at Staro like this, "What are you?"
"A human? Or a machine?"
Staro had no vocal organs or vocal cords. His voice was electronically synthesized, "That depends on how you define humans and machines."
"If we're only looking at appearances, without a doubt, I lean more toward being a machine."
"But I possess a soul, or free will, that machines don't have. So essentially, I still consider myself human."
Carol shrugged, "An interesting philosophical question, but I'm not interested in discussing it right now."
"Come with me."
Staro shook his head, "Sorry, ma'am."
"I have something very important to accomplish tonight, so I can't go with you."
Carol raised an eyebrow, "Everyone says that. Whatever. I was just asking. I never expected you to cooperate willingly."
"So I'll just have to use force."
Staro said nothing, but suddenly blue beams shot out from between his eyes.
Carol's instincts told her that she shouldn't let those blue beams hit her. She immediately turned sideways, and the blue beams passed beside her and struck the television in the living room.
The television suddenly began shaking. Then it actually transformed and reassembled itself into a robot equipped with machine guns and cannons.
Carol stared in shock, "How did you do that?"
"Are you a magician?"
Staro's electronically synthesized voice sounded from inside his body, "To a certain extent, you can understand it that way."
"This is something I gained from traveling through a certain world."
"I obtained something called the AllSpark. It changed me and gave me a more perfect body."
"At the same time, it gave me the ability to mechanize all things."
"As long as they're hit by my [Transformation Ray], whether it's a living being or an electronic product, no matter what it is, it will become a mechanical life-form."
"And according to my will, it will become whatever I want it to be."
"Like that."
Staro pointed toward the robot that had transformed from the television.
The robot made some unintelligible noises, then began attacking Captain Marvel with the gun and cannon in its hands.
Of course, against this level of firepower, Carol couldn't even be bothered to dodge.
She immediately charged toward Staro.
But at this moment, blue light flickered in Staro's eyes.
Then two [Transformation Rays] burst from the electronic eyes on his face and shot straight toward Carol. But for Carol, who could travel between stars, dodging such rays was no difficult task.
However, this time, the two beams landed on a pickup truck parked on the street.
Electricity flowed through the pickup's body as if it had been electrified. Then it shook and transformed into a four-meter-tall robot.
The robot raised its arm. The arm transformed into a cannon, pointed at Carol, and fired.
As Staro continued firing his [Transformation Rays], Carol discovered that more and more robots were joining Staro's side.
Staro had actually built a robot army right on the spot.
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