The future, 2023.
The time has just arrived.
Iron Man Tony Stark has developed a quantum time shuttle and intends to travel through time to find the Infinity Stones.
Tony Stark, Captain America Steve Rogers, Dr. Bruce Banner, and Ant-Man Scott Lang stand on the quantum time shuttle, wearing Ant-Man's quantum suits. They nod to each other.
"Hey, cheer up, everyone. Because when we travel to the past, some accidents might happen. Such as... dinosaurs ruling the earth, mutants ruling the world, etc..."
Tony Stark stands in front of the shuttle, glances at everyone, and speaks seriously, but when he sees their stiff expressions, he shrugs helplessly.
"Fine, what I said won't happen. But everyone, remember—once you get the Tesseract and the Mind Stone, return immediately to avoid accidents."
"After all, those who play with time get played by time. Maybe we've already opened Pandora's box."
Tony's eyes turn serious. Even he has no real certainty about traveling through quantum time, because quantum space is chaotic by nature, and once you travel through time in such a state, countless parallel universes might appear.
"Tony is right. And this time, we need to find Doctor Strange. We need the Eye of Agamotto."
Dr. Banner, in his Hulk form, stands tall—over three meters in height—making everyone look tiny by comparison.
His eyes are filled with worry. Clearly, Banner is uneasy about time travel. It's not traveling to the past he resists… but seeing his past self.
"Okay, guys, we're going."
Captain America Rogers' eyes become firm. He doesn't understand quantum theory at all, but he knows one thing—he must save the world and bring back the people erased by the snap.
"OK, starting the countdown."
Tony Stark raises his right hand. A high-tech control panel is projected across the back of his hand. Tony quickly sets the time, then begins the countdown.
"Three, two, one."
When the countdown ends, their bodies shrink rapidly, and then all four vanish into the quantum machine, entering the quantum space channel.
It is Tony's first time witnessing the bizarre quantum realm. His mind races with inspiration as he immediately starts thinking about how to integrate quantum-shuttle tech into his armor.
Swish.
The four only feel a flash of light, and then Tony and the others appear in New York City, 2012. But the moment they arrive, everyone freezes.
"Hey, Tony… did you actually set the date to 2012?"
Captain Rogers looks confused and turns to Tony.
"Holy shit. We really opened Pandora's box."
Tony ignores Rogers' question and pushes his high-tech glasses up his nose, his mature face filled with surprise.
"Isn't 2012 supposed to be New York during the invasion? Where are the Chitauri? Loki? The Avengers?"
Dr. Banner looks completely lost. Even though he researched quantum time travel, he understands far less than Tony.
"Hey… New York is really peaceful right now."
Ant-Man Scott looks around helplessly.
He doesn't know what to say. Although he never participated in the Battle of New York, he knows how horrible it was—people screaming, buildings collapsing. But now? It's calm. He even sees normal New Yorkers walking around freely.
Not only are the Chitauri and Loki missing, but even the usual homeless and street gangs seem to have vanished.
"It looks like some unknown change happened in the past. Tony, your big mouth finally cursed us. Now we're in trouble."
Captain Rogers is the first to react. He exchanges a glance with Tony and complains helplessly.
"Yeah, I wish I was only joking. Veronica, find J.A.R.V.I.S. We need information."
Tony taps the side of his glasses. A virtual female avatar appears, and streams of data flood Tony's HUD.
"I'm very sorry, sir. J.A.R.V.I.S. has denied access."
A minute later, Veronica's flat, emotionless voice sounds, leaving Tony stunned.
"Didn't you already infiltrate J.A.R.V.I.S.'s data core? Didn't I insert the main access key into your system?"
Tony looks bewildered. Long before the time travel, he had integrated J.A.R.V.I.S.'s master key into Veronica. With that key, she should bypass all permissions and invade J.A.R.V.I.S.'s database at will.
"Key recognition error. Access denied by J.A.R.V.I.S."
Veronica's cold voice makes Tony's expression darken. As the inventor of both A.I. systems, Tony knows exactly what a key-recognition error implies.
"Veronica, hack into New York's main data hub. We need to know what happened."
There's no time to puzzle over J.A.R.V.I.S. A deviation happened in the timeline—he needs intel immediately.
"Connecting to the Internet… connection successful. Beginning keyword search."
Countless data streams appear in Tony's glasses. Virtual pages open one by one, information scrolling rapidly.
At the same time, across New York, the air in front of a building begins to distort. A figure steps out.
"Very good… this is 2012."
"The Battle of New York hasn't begun. Thor's arrival is slower than J.A.R.V.I.S. predicted."
"But it's coming soon. And right about now… Tony Stark and the others should be returning from the future."
A khaki diamond-shaped crystal sits embedded in the man's forehead. His jet-black pupils gleam with endless depth.
It is Allens—arriving through time.
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