Lock randomly chose a direction to fly and adjusted his divine power to his five senses. As long as Loki was within his sensing range, he absolutely could not hide.
Although Loki's invisibility technique was magical, it still had fluctuations in divine power. Loki's cold, slippery divine power characteristics were straightforward to identify.
Many Chitauri soldiers fired at Lock. He turned his palm lightly, and countless rays of divine power shot out in all directions.
Wherever they passed, Chitauri soldiers fell one after another, like moths crashing into a lamp. The streets were quickly covered with corpses.
Seeing how powerful Lock was, the Chitauri immediately mobilized two mechanical dragons along with countless soldiers to attack together.
Seeing this, Tianqi stopped spreading his divine power and waited. When one mechanical dragon pounced, he met it head-on with a punch.
"Ten times the Hulk's power!"
"Boom——!"
The giant mechanical beast, weighing thousands of tons, froze in the air as though nailed in place. Then, starting from its head, metal fragments burst apart in a chain reaction, exploding all the way down to its tail.
The Chitauri soldiers riding on it were torn to pieces by the storm of metal shards, falling with the metallic rain.
The other mechanical dragon, clearly under direct command, quickly turned to retreat.
Now that it was here, how could Lock let it slip away? He accelerated instantly, appearing at its tail.
With both hands, he tore into the alien metal as if it were paper soaked in water. His fingers locked on the core spine of the beast. He spun three times midair, swinging the monster with godlike force.
"Roooar——!"
Under that momentum, the dragon lost all control, flung straight toward the blue energy column.
The colossal body hit the energy pillar, and wherever it touched, the alien metal instantly melted into nothingness. The dragon shattered into pieces.
Lock shook his head. It seemed nothing could forcibly block the energy pillar. But he hadn't expected success anyway—since the creature had been handed to him, he just tried.
Suddenly, he sensed something strange.
He turned sharply and flew toward a remote street.
The place had been cleared—no civilians, no Chitauri. Looking down, he saw four familiar figures.
Hulk. Iron Man. Captain America. And—Ant-Man.
The Hulk looked the same, but calmer, without his perpetual fury, and strangely—wearing pants.
Iron Man's face was different, more aged.
Captain America had lost the old-fashioned hood, showing a neat, handsome haircut.
Ant-Man wore a dark red battle suit—exactly as remembered, but this was Tianqi's first time seeing him directly.
Lock realized at once. They were from Avengers 4. Time travelers.
Didn't he change the future? Impossible. Thanos should not have been that difficult with him in play.
He descended, appearing suddenly before them. "Where am I?" he asked.
The four flinched, then relaxed when they recognized him.
Ant-Man said, "Hey, Don, didn't think we'd bump into you here."
Iron Man smiled bitterly. "I knew it. Of course, you'd notice we're not from this time."
Only someone who asked "Where am I?" was either a fool or a prophet. Clearly, Tianqi was the latter.
Hulk Banner explained: "Don, time travel isn't going back to change the past. It's traveling through alternate timelines. Telling you about ours won't affect your reality."
Lock frowned. A new fork in the sacred timeline? In this branch, he didn't defeat Thanos? But where did the change occur?
Iron Man added cautiously, "Don, best if you keep your distance. Too much contact, too much information—new branches may spawn. We can't predict what future we'd end up with."
Lock didn't fully understand timelines, but from the original plot, he knew: the past wasn't changed, only new timelines were created. There was only one line, then even a butterfly flapping its wings would change the future, like in The Butterfly Effect.
Better not interfere. He trusted Stark's caution.
"Well, I wish you success. Do you need anything from me?"
Ant-Man said, "If you had Pym Particles, that would help. We're low. Stuck."
Lock had none. After thinking, he scraped his finger against the roof of a nearby car, carving numbers. "I don't have them. But I believe you'll find your way."
Then he flew off.
Ant-Man shrugged. "Always so damn mysterious."
But Captain America frowned, stepping closer. Everyone looked. On the car roof were the numbers:
1970.
In the original plot, when they failed to obtain the gem in New York, they had only two choices: quit, or risk traveling back to 1970, when Dr. Pym still had fresh samples.
Lock didn't know which branch these four belonged to, but he gave them the hint.
Above, the wormhole widened further. If not closed soon, the whole warships would flood in.
Then—Hulk's roar shook the streets:
"Ha—ha—ha—! Little reptile… I see you! Ha—ha—ha—!"
Lock rushed to look.
Loki was running frantically, Hulk smashing after him. Loki darted, weaving illusions and going invisible, but Hulk seemed to sense his real body, always charging the right way.
"Is this their destined fate?" Lock wondered.
Loki panicked. He had come to torment the Hulk, but instead was being chased like prey.
Desperate, he spotted a Chitauri airship. "Down! Take me up!"
The ship swooped. Loki feinted, dodged Hulk, and leapt aboard.
"Rooaar——!"
Hulk launched upward, but fell short.
Loki smirked in triumph—until with a thunderous bang, the ship jolted as if it had hit something invisible. It spiraled down. Loki's neck was suddenly seized.
Lock held him high in one hand.
"Where is the Soul Stone?" Tianqi demanded.
Loki's face twisted into a feral grin. "Hahahaha! I'll never tell you! The wormhole won't close! The Earth will be destroyed! Hahahaha!"
Lock's eyes darkened. "Don't think I won't kill you just because Thor is here."
A sly smile crept at Loki's lips. "You don't need to kill me. I'll die for you."
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