Fast—far too fast!
From the moment Thanos appeared to the instant he was sliced in half, the whole sequence was as smooth as a bar of soap slipping out of your hands in the shower.
Many players and spectators were left gaping in shock, hands propping up their chins in disbelief.
Although the earlier question had already hinted at this outcome, seeing it happen for real still stunned Tony and countless others familiar with Thanos.
After all, they had all witnessed Thanos's brutality and power firsthand. His reputation as the ruler of the universe was built atop mountains of corpses and rivers of blood.
And Ultron? He was merely the artificial creation of Iron Man, Tony Stark. Even with a Mind Stone embedded in his head, he was facing Thanos wielding five Infinity Stones.
Five versus one—yet Thanos was defeated in a single blow?
Was this some kind of joke?
Tony stared in disbelief.
"Don't tell me this Thanos was just out delivering packages."
Natasha's brow furrowed.
"This is bad. If this really is the future of my world, then it's either about to happen—or it's already happening."
Meanwhile, in Ultron's world—
Ultron's gaze shifted from the floating light screen back to the space behind him, locking eyes with the purple-skinned titan who had just stepped through a portal.
This time, Ultron didn't say, "Interesting." Instead, he simply said:
"Thank you."
Then, a blazing beam of light swept forth. Having just seen his future self sliced in two, the "purple sweet potato" was once again split neatly down the middle…
In the Eternal Space, Natasha and Tony exchanged a silent look, both at a loss for words.
Erik frowned.
"So Ultron basically ambushed Thanos and killed him, correct? In my opinion, Thanos underestimated his opponent far too much. Even a lion uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit—let alone when facing a human wielding such power. Yes, there was some luck involved, but Thanos didn't lose unjustly."
Tony Stark shook his head.
"You don't understand, Thanos… Forget it. Even I can't figure out what's going on here."
Turning to Natasha, he said seriously:
"Your world is dangerous. Honestly, I'm worried about the rest of the Defenders. I hope they don't recklessly charge into your reality."
According to Natasha, when she was chosen by the quiz game and brought to the Eternal Space, Earth in her world had already been destroyed by Ultron. Judging from the timeline shown in the video, Thanos was probably dead by now.
Dead Thanos was one thing—but he'd practically delivered Ultron a gift package. With all six Infinity Stones in Ultron's possession, the situation was far worse.
Just as Tony and Natasha were deep in thought, new text appeared on the light screen:
[The next video will now be played. Please watch carefully. A related question will be asked afterward]
The words faded, and a new scene began—still in the animated style, clearly set in the same continuity as the Ultron footage.
On screen, Nick Fury was driving a car, with red-haired Natasha Romanoff in the passenger seat.
As Fury drove, he spoke of his plan to form the Avengers, intending to invite Tony Stark to join.
Natasha, however, was unimpressed with the idea, believing Stark was too much of a troublemaker.
Off-screen, Tony smirked at the real Natasha beside him.
"Well, the whole world knows you didn't like me, Natasha."
Natasha, however, stared at the screen, her expression softening with nostalgia.
"I remember this. Nick was proposing the Avengers Initiative to deal with increasingly complex security threats. I really wasn't fond of you then, Tony. At that point, you were poisoning yourself with palladium, spiraling into self-destructive behavior. That arrogance of yours was especially infuriating. I still remember when Nick and I found you at that restaurant—you acted like you didn't care about anything, until I injected you with a shot to ease the palladium poisoning. Only then did you start taking things seriously."
Tony shrugged.
"Sorry to disappoint, but thanks to this quiz game, my world's future never got that far—and it never will. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing how it would've played out."
As they spoke, the video showed Fury finding Stark sitting in a giant doughnut sculpture, eating an actual doughnut while wearing his Iron Man armor.
Fury called him into a diner to discuss the Avengers Initiative.
Just as Natasha had described, this version of Tony was apathetic and dismissive, too caught up in his own decline to care about a so-called "Avengers."
Fury hinted at Tony's palladium poisoning, then called over to Natasha:
"Do it."
Without hesitation, Natasha pulled out a syringe and jabbed it into Stark's neck.
"It's lithium dioxide," she explained. "It won't cure you, but it will ease the pain."
Off-screen, Tony guessed:
"Let me guess—what really convinced me was the technology my father left behind, right?"
Natasha nodded.
"Looks like you do know this story."
"Mm-hmm. Seen a glimpse of that future before."
But on-screen events suddenly took an unexpected turn.
Moments after the injection, Tony's expression twisted in pain. He collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud.
"Tony!" Fury and Natasha rushed over, shocked.
Natasha rolled him over, revealing pale lips and closed eyes. She checked his pulse, then froze.
"He's… dead!"
The video cut to black.
Off-screen, Tony threw up his hands.
"Whoa, whoa—what the hell? Natasha, you killed me?!"
Natasha looked just as baffled.
"Wait—no! That's not how I remember it! In my world, you were alive and well—otherwise you wouldn't have created Ultron!"
Tony exhaled sharply.
"Guess it's just another weird parallel universe. Damn it, I swear—animated universes always come with bizarre problems!"
First, the corrupted Doctor Strange from the previous quiz. Then Ultron's shocking victory over Thanos. And now a suddenly dead Iron Man.
Three strange worlds—all animated, all from parallel universes. It was hard not to wonder if there was some deeper conspiracy behind it all.
_____
T/N:
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