"???"
Although Captain America wasn't exactly sure what was going on, he knew that Batman must be watching him right now.
Or rather, he had already entered this place.
As a battle-hardened veteran, Captain America knew exactly what he should do in this situation.
Who knew if the people outside were monitoring him?
He continued sitting obediently where he was, without the slightest intention of moving.
It was as if he was already used to situations like this.
The Herbitron robot also didn't linger too long in front of Captain America's cage before moving on, as if it had just been checking his physical condition.
Bruce, who had turned back, encountered Kang the Conqueror on the way.
She was leisurely walking towards him, carrying a completely unconscious Hawkeye.
"What, not going to wander around a bit more?"
Floating in the air, Kang the Conqueror asked Bruce with a slight smile.
She didn't care at all about Hawkeye in her hand, seemingly more concerned about Bruce's current state.
"It's already the end of the road."
Bruce didn't even glance at Hawkeye, keeping his gaze fixed on Kang the Conqueror's eyes.
Showing no fear in meeting her gaze head-on.
The two simply stared at each other without saying a word.
Just staring.
"Are we playing a game of whoever blinks first loses?"
Eventually, it was Kang the Conqueror who gave up, turning her eyes away first.
"It's not like I'd mind continuing this game with you,"
Bruce said, without moving his gaze, still staring into Kang the Conqueror's eyes.
Even though she was no longer looking back at him.
Kang the Conqueror said nothing, simply floating past Bruce.
She no longer wanted to speak to him, nor did she want to say anything more.
Perhaps she was afraid of something.
Her departing figure even seemed a little blurry.
After Kang the Conqueror left, Bruce also departed.
But as far as Kang was concerned, Bruce's silhouette had always been the same.
Dark, lonely, untouchable.
It was as if he was meant to be alone.
Of course, that might just be how others saw Bruce.
At present, Bruce was going about his business. He had already taken care of what he needed to do.
Now, all he had to do was wait for events to unfold.
However, it was clear that some people wouldn't let Bruce carry out his plan on Alpha-1 so easily.
"Oh hey, my ally, would you like to take a walk with me?" The Creator suddenly appeared in front of Bruce.
Wearing a smile, although Bruce clearly remembered that the Creator was supposed to be managing operations in his control room — it was hard to imagine why he would return at a time like this.
It had to be said, the Creator and his team had indeed accomplished incredible things, but it came with enormous risks — they had to constantly monitor changes in the global situation, and even the slightest misstep could plunge them into an abyss.
Bruce said nothing, simply walking to the Creator's side.
The Creator casually threw an arm around Bruce's shoulder. Even though his height and reach technically shouldn't have allowed for such a gesture, the abilities he possessed made it easy.
"You know, ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of becoming Tony Stark, or maybe that guy Justin Hammer," the Creator said, chatting nonstop into Bruce's ear while keeping his arm around him.
"You know, those guys had resources that crushed 99.99% of humanity, but what did they bring to the world? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If you really had to say, maybe only slaughter."
"At the time, I thought: if I were in their position, I could do everything they did — and even better."
"But unfortunately, that was impossible. Even when I eventually owned my own skyscraper, my own company, my own lover."
"I still couldn't catch up to them, because they had already monopolized all the viable resources."
"Even I couldn't scrape together leftovers from their hands, let alone the ordinary people."
"And now look what I've done — I've made it so people all around the world can enjoy peaceful lives."
By now, the Creator had led Bruce to the gates of Mount Yi. As the massive doors slowly opened, two figures appeared before them.
"Oh, I've brought the gem back."
Quicksilver patted Tony Stark, who was now thoroughly restrained on an operating table.
However, next to Stark, a screen was playing footage of Invisible Woman Susan and Thing Ben fighting the Creator.
Naturally, Bruce noticed the screen, but he said nothing, simply following the Creator step by step inside.
"Seriously, you really should've let me have a little fun," Quicksilver shrugged, clearly displeased with how the Stark capture operation had gone. After all, he could've easily tormented Stark within an inch of his life — yet the Creator had insisted he bring Stark back intact.
Well, not entirely intact. Just to make sure the Infinity Stone was still inside Stark's head, Quicksilver had made a small incision to take a peek at the gem.
As one of the smartest people in the world, Tony Stark, even in his current miserable state, managed to maintain his rational mind. When he saw the Creator, he wasn't too surprised — but when he saw Bruce, deep disbelief flooded those blue eyes of his.
"Batman?"
Stark only uttered that one word, then didn't know what else to say.
Batman now stood directly across from them, and judging by what Stark knew about Batman's methods, it was likely that any backup plans Stark had prepared were doomed to fail.
"Look at that! Now this room has the two smartest men on this planet!" the Creator said, clapping his hands excitedly.
It was as if they were at a technology expo, where everyone had gathered simply for a knowledge exchange.
But everyone understood — in a situation like this, someone was bound to die.
Bruce slowly approached Stark, carefully examining his bloodied face.
"Oh! Look at me, almost forgot — let me introduce you. This is Tony Stark, the great Iron Man!" The Creator clearly knew they were already acquainted and aware of each other's relationship, but he had other things he wanted to reveal to Bruce.
"You probably don't know — but our great Mr. Stark here has an Infinity Stone inside his head."
While saying this, the Creator kept a close eye on Bruce's expression, but Bruce didn't show the surprise he was expecting. Instead, he seriously examined Stark's head.
As if he really wanted to crack open Stark's skull and take a look.
"Seems like you're interested in him too, just like me,"the Creator said, leaning in closer, his arm resting casually on the device restraining Stark, grinning at Bruce.
"I'm only interested in the Infinity Stone inside his brain."
Hearing this, Stark stared at Bruce in shock, then glanced over at the faceless Creator standing beside him.
"Hahaha!!"
The Creator suddenly burst out laughing.
"I knew it. I knew it — we are the same kind of people. We're both madmen, the kind who would abandon their humanity for everything."The Creator retracted his form and immediately appeared in front of Bruce, grabbing his shoulders and shouting excitedly.
"You were defeated."
Bruce pointed at the screen and said this to the Creator.
Of course, the Creator knew Bruce wasn't referring to himself, but to the version of him on the screen, who had been completely reduced to a puddle of liquid by Ben and Susan.
"My dear friend does indeed have some skills,"the Creator commented, surprisingly, on the energy that had killed his other self.
Looking at Reed Richards, who had turned into a pool of liquid, Ben the Thing looked a bit downcast.
"I... I didn't mean to hurt him."
"He left us no choice, Ben," Susan comforted him.
But her words didn't bring much relief to Ben, who remained visibly disheartened.
"I know, Sue. It's just... that fool had no idea what he was doing."
On this point, Susan and Ben held completely different beliefs.
"Believe me, he knew exactly what he was doing. From beginning to end."
Perhaps seeing that Ben still hadn't calmed down, Susan stepped forward, grabbed his massive hand, then cupped his face and kissed him.This scene was clearly seen by the Creator and Bruce.
"Do you think it would ruin the mood if I told them right now that the one they defeated was just one of my clones?"The Creator turned to look at the Bat beside him.But when he looked, he saw that the Bat had already begun to cut into Iron Man.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
The Creator was clearly furious at the Bat's method of directly using a blade, because, in his eyes, Tony Stark had always been his prey.
But unfortunately, he reacted too late. Bruce had already removed the gem from Tony Stark's head.
"My hands are steady."
Bruce casually extracted the Infinity Stone and placed it on a nearby tray.
The shining Infinity Stone left the Creator momentarily speechless.
Should he now explain that the reason he had brought Tony Stark here, instead of letting Quicksilver simply snatch the stone, was because he wanted to personally torture the Iron Man?
But Bruce had already taken the Infinity Stone for him.
However, in taking the Infinity Stone, Bruce had also completely ended Tony Stark's life.
Even with life-support technology far beyond modern standards, it was impossible to prevent Iron Man's death.
The Creator carefully observed the device recording Tony Stark's vital signs.
He was now certain: Tony Stark was truly dead, with no chance of resurrection.
"What a pity. I had so much I wanted to tell him, things that would have shattered all the arrogant beliefs of this so-called genius.Such a shame. Now I'll never get the chance."
The Creator quickly suppressed his anger and even managed to joke lightly with Bruce.
"But next time, I think you should ask me first."
"After all, I am the Creator."
The Creator stopped paying attention to Tony Stark's body and turned instead to Quicksilver.
"Quicksilver, let's go find my ex-girlfriend and ex-best friend. We have much to discuss."
Before leaving, the Creator turned back to say something to Bruce:
"You know what we're doing now is saving the world, right?"
"I know,"Bruce replied firmly.With Bruce's confirmation, the Creator said no more and vanished from the scene.
Quicksilver gave Bruce a long look and then left as well.
At that moment, Bruce placed his hand back onto Stark's body.
Something flowed along Stark's ruptured blood vessels and returned to Bruce's armor.
In the next second, the previously lifeless Tony Stark suddenly began to breathe again.
"I've isolated this place. There won't be any issues,"Bruce said calmly to Stark as he began to reseal the cut-open skull.
With the help of nanomachines, Stark's injuries were quickly stabilized.
"So, what the hell just happened?"Stark still didn't understand why Bruce had saved him, or why Bruce would take such a huge risk to pull off something like this at a time like this.
But these questions could wait.
Right now, what he most wanted to know was:what had driven Reed so insane that even Bruce had stood by his side?
"The multiverse is collapsing," Bruce explained, "and according to the Creator's calculations, the collapse of all universes centers on Earth."
Hearing Bruce's explanation, Stark immediately understood what they were trying to do.
"You're planning to use the Infinity Stones to save the universe? Like white blood cells fighting off an infection?"
"Sometimes, even white blood cells can't escape death,"Bruce said, shaking his head.As perfect as Reed's plan seemed, there was still an undeniable truth — the multiverse.
Was there really no one else in the destroyed universes as smart as Reed Richards?Had none of them thought of using the Infinity Stones to save their own universes?
And yet, without exception, they had all failed.
The cost of failure: the complete destruction of their universes.
"If you plan to act, I suggest you move quickly,"Bruce said, releasing nanomachines into Stark's brain, allowing him to connect to the armor legion back at Stark Tower.
Meanwhile, in the brain prison, Barry Allen was curled up in his cell, trembling.
"So disgusting. I'm never doing anything like that again."
(End of Chapter)
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