Chapter 141: Iron Man, You Must Have Secretly Practiced That Combo for a Long Time, Right?
It all happened too fast.
From Nebula's decisive move to manipulate the time machine to the arrival of Sanctuary II and its immediate, intense bombardment of the Avengers' base.
All of this made it nearly impossible for the Avengers present to mount an effective defense, leaving them to scramble for survival.
After everything quieted down, they struggled to their feet amidst the ruins.
"Tony?"
"Don't worry, I have the mechanical gauntlet. The Infinity Stones are also in our hands; they weren't taken by the enemy."
"Nebula connected to a point in the past and summoned those vicious bastards. We need to use the power of the Infinity Stones to take them out immediately. Quick, give me the gauntlet! I'm the strongest Avenger. I have absolute confidence I can use four Infinity Stones!"
"No, this gauntlet is just a prototype—the very first version. It hasn't undergone any precise calibration. Making it bear the power of multiple Infinity Stones is too dangerous. It could kill you in an instant."
"But we don't need the gauntlet to bear the power of all six stones, only four!"
Thor, who said this, was incredibly impatient. Through the heavy ruins above, his powerful senses could already feel that Thanos had landed outside. He was watching menacingly, waiting for them to emerge.
It felt like history was repeating itself, a familiar scene playing out once more.
This time, Thor would absolutely not allow himself to give Thanos another opportunity. He had to kill this past Thanos with all his might—a Thanos who was younger, stronger, and full of fighting spirit and ambition compared to the crippled one whose head he had lopped off.
Now, the Avengers had four Infinity Stones, plus a half-finished mechanical gauntlet. There was no need to fear the Thanos from the past.
"I've gotten stronger, and I have Stormbreaker!" Thor roared, extremely agitated.
But Banner tossed aside a large chunk of concrete and said coldly, "But you're not the same person you were five years ago. Do you still have that same strength and drive? Can you really say you're stronger now than you were then? You once nearly killed a Thanos who wielded six Infinity Stones. And now? If you fought him one-on-one, how long could you last?"
"Then before the fight starts, we can find a way to hide the Infinity Stones. Four stones aren't enough to do the Snap, much less bring back the half of the population that died."
"Yes, that's the best approach right now. None of us has experience using even one Infinity Stone—Strange and his people are gone, and we can't afford to make a mistake. So, we'll use the four Infinity Stones as a backup weapon. As long as we kill this Thanos, we'll have plenty of time and opportunity to get the Time Stone and the Space Stone," Banner said in a deep voice.
Everyone was anxious. Thanos was lying in wait outside, ready to cut them all down, one by one.
"Banner, you take the Infinity Stones and the gauntlet. Adapt to their power as quickly as you can, and whatever you do, don't show yourself. You're our most important insurance policy." There was a hidden meaning in Tony's words.
Thor still didn't understand. If they were going to try, why not just take out one or two Infinity Stones and test them while fighting Thanos?
He did ask, but Tony just responded harshly, telling the God of Thunder to shut up. "How can you guarantee that the one or two Infinity Stones you try to wield in front of Thanos won't end up in his hands after a few rounds? He doesn't have any Infinity Stones, so we still have a chance. But if he gets his hands on even one, how are we supposed to fight? It's better to buy Banner some time and let him try! He has a massive amount of gamma rays in his body, making him the most suitable person to come into contact with the Infinity Stones!"
Banner nodded heavily. He understood the deep meaning in Tony's words. Feeling a throb in his chest, he nodded in silence.
Those who hadn't been to that stable yet terrifying parallel universe couldn't understand the meaning behind Tony's words.
They were no longer their true selves; they had a new reason for existence. If the situation in this world, which that man had defined as Universe 199999, were to collapse—even if Thanos took all four Infinity Stones—they would still have a backup plan. They wouldn't be as utterly defeated as they were five years ago.
When Tony, Thor, and Steve stood upon the ruins, formally confronting Thanos, Thanos slowly rose to his feet. But he didn't attack immediately, nor did he voice his inner fury.
Instead, his confused gaze lingered on Tony and Steve. Clearly, this butcher with his keen senses had noticed something was off about these two.
However, Thanos didn't pay it too much mind, as this was the first time he had met them.
"I heard from Nebula that you failed to obtain all six Infinity Stones. How unfortunate. I had originally thought you would have performed the Snap before I arrived to seize the stones, bringing back the half of humanity killed by the me of this timeline."
Looking at these people who couldn't even gather all the stones, Thanos lost interest in talking. He couldn't be bothered to discuss their ideological differences and simply grabbed his Tyrant's Blade and charged.
The Avengers' Big Three also went all out, beginning their assault against Thanos.
One could only say that while the Big Three's fighting style was brilliant and flashy, facing a Thanos with overwhelming power and combat experience, all their attacks were blocked and countered.
After just a few exchanges, Thanos precisely exploited their weaknesses and struck down the Big Three one by one.
"Thanos, you will absolutely not succeed this time!"
"The me of this world succeeded, so I can do the same. You will all die soon. I will use your equipment and technology to return to the past and obtain the two stones you failed to get," Thanos said coldly. "I don't care if you intentionally hid those two stones in the past or if you truly failed because of some resistance."
Thanos watched as Thor swung his axe in a horizontal slash while simultaneously commanding Mjolnir to smash down from above. His expression didn't change. In his eyes, the fat man before him looked fierce, but his movements were too sluggish, riddled with openings.
He was like a once-precise, massive machine that hadn't received proper maintenance in years and was now covered in rust.
What a waste of such a powerful, divine axe.
Thanos first kicked Thor in the knee, making him stagger. He then blocked Stormbreaker with his Tyrant's Blade, used his free hand to grab Thor's other wrist, and knocked Mjolnir away. Then, he grabbed Thor and slammed him violently into a small hill.
"Your tricks aren't bad, and your weapon is excellent." Thanos grabbed Stormbreaker and began to press it down on Thor's chest, bit by bit.
It looked as though Thor was about to be killed by his own weapon.
Captain America watched this happen, his eyes wide with fury. He knew he had to do something to turn the tide.
The next second, Mjolnir flew into the air. The hammer, said to be liftable only by those with a righteous heart, shot away from Thor's control, instantly knocking Thanos aside before flying back into the hands of its new master.
Thor spat out a mouthful of blood and laughed loudly. "I knew it... Wait, why isn't Steve the one who lifted the hammer?"
BOOM!
Thanos paid it no mind. He kicked Thor, sending him tumbling, then turned with a grim expression to look at Tony Stark, the one who had caused this new development.
"You actually..."
Captain America, lying on the ground, also wore a look of utter disbelief. He was completely stunned, staring blankly at the Iron Man before him—clad in steel armor, wielding Mjolnir, and bathed in endless lightning.
The development was unexpected, but it was a good one. This change could alter the course of the battle. But Captain America still felt that something wasn't quite right.
"Captain, I saw you raise your hand just now, too. You were clearly making the right attempt, but for some reason, the hammer chose me in the end."
Tony himself was dazed. His instinct and reason both told him that this scene was wrong, very wrong.
After all, Captain America, a man with a righteous heart, had made Mjolnir budge slightly in front of everyone during the Age of Ultron incident a few years ago.
If, at this critical moment, Captain America had firmed up his will, had a great epiphany, and called for Mjolnir with the determination to die, successfully lifting it, everyone would have been surprised but not overly shocked and confused.
But now, Tony, the one at the center of it all, was incredibly confused and even more bewildered. At most, during that critical moment, he had just used his super-brain to instantly conceive of countless possible solutions to the crisis. The vast majority were meaningless hypotheticals. One of them was wondering if he could use the unattended Mjolnir to solve the problem.
But it was just a passing thought, one insignificant idea among countless others. Yet, it was as if he had correctly guessed the password to a nuclear bomb, causing Mjolnir to fly over with incomparable excitement, afraid of being even a nanosecond late.
Yes, excited.
Tony gripped the hammer in his hand. Even through the layer of his nanotech gauntlet, he could clearly feel a kind of primal agitation coming from it.
Tony felt an endless stream of divine power, which he could easily control.
Tony poured all of Mjolnir's divine power into his armor, causing shining, lightning-like patterns to appear on it.
Even the genuine God of Thunder, Thor, who had been beaten dizzy, managed to pry open his swollen eyes for a look. He felt that the man before him looked more like the God of Thunder than he did.
A God of Thunder named Tony Odinson, clad in armor and wielding Mjolnir.
This was completely outrageous. A guy like Tony Stark could actually lift Mjolnir?
Tony had no time to investigate the reason for this, nor did he want to think about it. He charged forward to face Thanos one-on-one again.
He even raised his hand and drew Captain America's shield to his left arm.
With the shield in his left hand and Mjolnir in his right, he battled Thanos.
Tony first threw the shield. After it was knocked away by Thanos's blade, he immediately used Mjolnir to summon lightning to strike Thanos.
While Thanos was reeling, Tony revealed the Arc Reactor on his chest and unleashed a full-power energy cannon blast, sending Thanos flying dozens of meters away.
The combination of moves flowed seamlessly, perfectly utilizing the skills of the Avengers' Big Three to their fullest extent in a very short time.
"Have you been practicing in secret? Or were you just faking it that time you tried to lift Mjolnir?" Thor mumbled indistinctly as he got to his feet. He should have been happy about Tony's power, but for some reason, he wasn't.
"I just thought of these moves on the spot. It's as if they were carved into my bones. I can instantly utilize all the tools at my disposal to their maximum potential, mastering a vast number of combat techniques without needing Friday's assistance," Tony said.
Of course, Thor didn't believe him.
But Captain America, at his side, immediately realized the reason. His expression was complicated because he had a similar feeling.
He hadn't expected the Xenomorph inside their bodies to have this kind of effect, directly granting its host powerful combat instincts.
Thanos got up, looking a little battered. He was surprised by Tony's move, but that was all.
Thanos stripped off his damaged armor and swung his Tyrant's Blade viciously at Tony. But Tony's combat prowess, especially his terrifying battle sense, made Thanos frown.
"There's something wrong with your body. Your battle sense is off, too. You've suffered the curse of knowledge, not the curse of battle."
As Thanos spoke, he braved the risk of being hit by Mjolnir and brought his blade down on Tony's shoulder.
Even with the nanotech armor's protection, half of Tony's shoulder should have been gone.
But that wasn't what happened. After the nanotech armor shattered, the Tyrant's Blade sank deep into Tony's shoulder, and Thanos clearly felt resistance. Furthermore, the highly corrosive blood that splattered from the wound made his expression change.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Thanos watched as green smoke rose from Tony's wound, which was rapidly healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
This was not a healing ability that a human from Earth could possess.
Thanos thought again of the two Infinity Stones he had failed to acquire and concluded that something special must have happened.
"No matter what happened, I will return to the past and see your experiences for myself." Thanos flicked his weapon, flinging the strange blood onto the ground. A look of shock appeared on his face as he watched a large patch of ground instantly corrode away.
Tony clutched his chest, feeling the bizarre changes in the Xenomorph larva inside him. An expression uglier than crying appeared on his face. "I think... you won't need to do that. You'll be able to see it very soon."
"Hm?"
Thanos could feel a strange aura rapidly expanding from Tony's body.
(end of chapter)