"For the past five years, I've been working towards one thing, and that's this moment!"
On the screen.
Black Widow, under Hawkeye Barton's gaze, spoke in a low voice, "Everything is for this moment, to bring everyone back!"
"No, don't try to be so noble now!" Hawkeye Barton said, looking into Black Widow's eyes.
"What, you think I want to do this? I'm trying to save your life! You idiot!"
"But I don't want you to save me, understand? Natasha, you know what I've done, you know what I've become!"
"I won't judge a person by their worst mistake."
"Maybe you should!"
"But you didn't back then!"
Hawkeye Barton and Black Widow engaged in a "battle of words," and in the end, Hawkeye chose to "yield."
"You're really annoying, you know that?" Hawkeye's eyes were glistening with tears. "You win!"
But as soon as he said that, Hawkeye suddenly attacked, knocking Black Widow to the ground: "Tell my family I love them!"
It was clear that Hawkeye had decided to sacrifice himself!
"You tell them yourself!" Black Widow wasn't one to be outdone; she quickly countered, knocking Hawkeye to the ground.
It also shot a "small ring" at Hawkeye, which immediately burst with arcs of electricity, shocking him.
Black Widow took advantage of this and quickly ran towards the cliff.
It looked like she intended to jump off the cliff, sacrificing herself.
At that critical moment, Hawkeye got up from the ground again and shot an arrow into the ground beside Black Widow.
Boom! The arrow exploded directly, and the violent shockwave blew Black Widow to the ground.
Hawkeye threw the bow in his hand to the ground and charged forward without hesitation, instantly jumping off the cliff!
Just as Hawkeye was about to fall, a figure suddenly appeared and grabbed him.
It was Black Widow.
Black Widow hissed as she shot out a grappling hook, which embedded itself in the cliff face, securing the other end to Hawkeye Barton.
Hawkeye was now dangling from the cliff.
But he was quick, grabbing Black Widow's arm.
The two of them were now "linked together" in the air by a single grappling hook.
"Wait, no, Natasha!" Hawkeye Barton shouted at Black Widow.
"Let go!" Black Widow said to Barton, as if facing certain death.
"No, please, Natasha."
"It's okay!"
After saying goodbye to Hawkeye, Black Widow kicked off the rock face with her feet, breaking free from Hawkeye's grip.
She plummeted towards the bottom of the ten-thousand-fathom cliff!
Everyone at the scene couldn't help but be moved. They all looked at Black Widow and Hawkeye with admiration.
They were impressed by the sincere and profound feelings between the two, who had both "gone to great lengths" to sacrifice themselves for the other's sake.
This was not something just anyone could do.
Earlier, Tony Stark had said that none of them could prove they weren't Hydra agents, but at this moment, Tony Stark felt certain that Black Widow and Hawkeye were not Hydra.
How could Hydra have such sincere people?
Buzz!
After Black Widow fell to her death, layers of blue energy began to ripple in the air above the cliff.
It was as if the Soul Gem had responded, receiving Black Widow's soul.
As if agreeing to the trade.
The next moment.
The scene shifted, and for some unknown reason, Hawkeye, Barton, was suddenly lying in the water.
However, it was expected, a change caused by Black Widow sacrificing herself.
Then, Hawkeye, Barton, woke up. He first looked around, a bit bewildered, but quickly understood what had happened.
He suddenly opened his hand and, sure enough, found a yellow, shimmering gem in his palm.
It was the gem that Black Widow had exchanged her life for!
Hawkeye, Barton, knelt in the water and wept.
The scene froze on Hawkeye Barton's desperate expression.
"Barton, Romanoff, you two are both excellent. You are both admirable warriors!" Thor immediately praised Barton and Black Widow, his face full of approval.
Captain America was equally admiring.
As an old soldier with somewhat "conservative" ideas, he most appreciated soldiers who were worthy of entrusting their lives to.
Black Widow and Hawkeye Barton were, it could be said, very much to Captain America's liking.
"Natasha, promise me, if something like this really happens again in the future, please, please don't do such a foolish thing again, okay?" Hawkeye Barton said, looking serious, to Black Widow.
"So, can you?" Black Widow glanced at Hawkeye Barton and asked slowly.
Hawkeye Barton just laughed. Of course, he wouldn't agree, so he knew that Black Widow couldn't agree either.
"Like I said, you're annoying, you know?" Hawkeye, Barton, chuckled.
"If you two are done with your 'family confessions,' can we summarize the footage?"
Tony Stark interrupted the two of them, completely killing the mood.
Mentioning this made the atmosphere in the room slightly somber. Through the previous footage, everyone had learned a terrifying and heartbreaking reality:
In the future, billions of people would die!
They didn't know the specific cause, but the extreme number still shocked everyone.
Earth only had about seven billion people! In other words, the total population of Earth was only "billions," yet billions would suddenly die in the future!
It was an indescribably tragic situation.
How could anyone remain calm?
"First of all, it's likely billions of people on Earth will die in the future. Who will kill them, and how will they die?" Captain America asked, his expression serious.
This question hit the nail on the head. It wasn't a few million or tens of millions, but billions of people. No war could possibly cause that many deaths!
Unless Earth launched a massive nuclear attack, that is.
Aside from that, they couldn't imagine how so many people could die all at once.
"Everyone, do you remember that question about Director Fury?" Black Widow suddenly remembered something. She glanced at everyone, reminding them.
"Those billions of people might have turned to dust, just like Nick Fury and the others!" Thor immediately recalled, his eyes gleaming.
If Thor remembered, then Captain America and Tony Stark certainly did too; they reacted the same way.
And they all agreed.
Everyone saw it clearly back then. Many people on the street inexplicably turned to dust, even the pilots in the planes overhead.
But the footage never specified that this only happened on one street!
What if it happened in a city?
What if it happened on the entire Earth?
In that case, billions of people dying on Earth would be possible! Based on the information everyone has and their current understanding, besides the turning-to-dust scenario, no one could think of any other more reasonable or convincing explanation.
"What are you talking about? What turning to dust?" Dr. Banner asked, not knowing what was going on.
Captain America then explained the footage to Dr. Banner and Hawkeye, leaving them both stunned.
They were quite shocked.
"So, is Thanos behind this again?" Black Widow couldn't help but speculate.
Back then, the "Dusting" event happened during the "Battle of Wakanda." Everyone had good reason to suspect Thanos was the mastermind.
After Iron Man snapped his fingers in the final battle, Thanos's army vanished in the same way as Nick Fury and the others.
And before the gauntlet was taken, Thanos had tried to snap his fingers multiple times.
Although they stopped Thanos in that battle, who knew if he'd done it before?
Honestly, besides the Infinity Stones, they didn't think anything else could kill billions of people.
"Thanos! It's always Thanos!" Tony Stark said with some resentment.
How many incidents had Thanos as the suspected culprit? That guy was truly a persistent nightmare for them all.
"Romanoff said that obtaining the Soul Gem could save those billions of people. We don't know exactly how, but the Soul Gem's importance is undeniable."
Captain America said seriously to everyone, "Stark, can you use Jarvis to search globally for the location shown in the image?"
"Of course, that's no problem," Tony Stark shrugged. "But that place might not be on Earth, and this is something Nick Fury is better suited for. Doesn't he have the Clairvoyant?"
Tony Stark's suggestion was indeed reasonable, and Captain America didn't say anything more, nodding in agreement.
If Nick Fury could find Red Skull using the Clairvoyant, everything would be fine, and there would be no need to say more.
But if Nick Fury couldn't find Red Skull, it would mean that Red Skull wasn't on Earth.
Then, logically, the place shown in the image wouldn't be on Earth either.
"There's another very strange point, I believe you've all noticed it," Dr. Banner then raised another doubt. "How many Soul Gems are there in this world?"
"Agent Romanoff said Thanos already took the Soul Gem, so it shouldn't be there anymore."
"But Agent Barton still got the Soul Gem from there!"
Everyone looked at each other, unable to figure out the problem. There were simply too few clues.
"Maybe Thanos got the Soul Gem and then, for some reason, put it back?"
Tony Stark shrugged. "Maybe the Soul Gem flew back on its own! Who knows?"
They gathered together and talked for a while.
Although this question revealed some very important information, it was a pity that they couldn't prepare for anything.
Or rather, the only preparation they could make was to try and find the location of that mysterious cliff.
[Question: On the night of Nick Fury's assassination, he gave Captain America a USB drive. Who did Captain America seek help from, and ultimately, from a Hydra mole, forced out the secret within the USB drive?]
[A,Iron Man, Tony Stark]
[B,Falcon, Sam Wilson]
[C,Hawkeye, Clint Barton]
[D,Bucky Barnes]
[Friendly Reminder: Those who answer correctly will receive a Batmobile of any version as a reward; Those who answer incorrectly will have a random attribute deducted, including but not limited to knowledge, experience, skills, and possessions...]
Soon, a new question appeared, temporarily interrupting everyone's discussion.
Everyone temporarily shifted their attention to the latest question.
This question was about Captain America.
"The night Nick Fury was killed."
Black Widow immediately understood what the question referred to. "Captain, this is what you mentioned last time, when you were wanted by Director Pierce and escaped from S.H.I.E.L.D."
"That's right!" Captain America nodded.
He then briefly explained the events to Dr. Banner and Hawkeye Barton, who were unfamiliar with the situation.
The two of them now understood.
"The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was killed, and before he died, he told Captain not to trust anyone. Following that, Captain was wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D."
Hawkeye Barton shrugged. "But in this situation, Captain still chose to seek help from someone. Whoever that person is, they must be someone Captain trusts implicitly."
"Stark and Captain America are both Avengers in the future. Although there was a Civil War, we can see that Stark was genuinely considering Captain America's well-being during it."
"Before the Civil War, they should have been quite close comrades… Moreover, we don't know when the Civil War will break out."
"Sam Wilson? He chose to help Captain America during the Civil War and participated in the operation to destroy the Insight Project."
"Hawkeye, Clint Barton, like Sam Wilson, helped Captain America during the Civil War. They are not only S.H.I.E.L.D. agents but also Avengers."
"If we're talking about people Captain America trusts, these three are very likely candidates." Black Widow glanced at the several "candidates" in the options and began to speak to everyone.
"What about Bucky Barnes?" Hawkeye, Barton, asked from the side. "You said before that he's a Hydra-controlled assassin?"
-------------
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(End of Chapter)