If Zhou Cheng, Nick Fury, or the Avengers were here, they would all recognize or find the ghostly, suddenly appearing people very familiar.
Because these people were none other than Tony Stark, Captain America, and Hulk Banner.
Of course, there was also Ant-Man, whom only Zhou Cheng knew.
Among them, Tony's face looked much older, and even his hair had turned somewhat gray.
Undoubtedly, these people must be the Avengers who traveled from the future.
"It's so quiet," Future Ant-Man subconsciously turned his head to survey his surroundings, a look of surprise and strangeness appearing on his face. "Of course, it's not the absolute quiet of no movement at all, but considering the background of an alien invasion, isn't it a bit too quiet?"
"Something's not right." Future Captain America's brows also furrowed. "Why are there no Chitauri?"
Future Captain America was a main combatant in the great battle against the Chitauri, so he was extremely familiar with the situation on the battlefield.
Loki had opened a space portal on top of Stark Tower, which made the area near Stark Tower the core of the battlefield.
And they were not far from Stark Tower now; there was no way they shouldn't see the Chitauri.
Something was truly not right.
"There are no Chitauri because they never came!" Future Tony's voice simultaneously rang out.
Future Tony stood slightly to the left, where Stark Tower could be clearly seen.
The sky above Stark Tower was empty; the space portal that Loki should have opened simply didn't exist!
The other Future Avengers saw Future Tony's actions and also shifted their positions.
They also saw what Future Tony saw.
Each of them was somewhat stunned.
"Yes, there are no Chitauri at all!" Future Banner nodded heavily, then quickly raised his wrist to check the time-travel watch on it. "Did we set the time wrong?"
Although Future Banner understood that for something as significant as time travel, everyone would be extremely cautious, and such a low-level error was impossible.
But the calm and peaceful city before them truly told them that they had indeed come to the wrong place!
However, after a careful check, the result was undoubtedly that everyone's time was set correctly.
This was indeed the day the New York Battle took place.
But everything before them was undeniable: the New York Battle had not happened!
Or rather, it had already happened!
"What's going on?"
"Why is this happening? Did the time machine malfunction?"
Future Ant-Man was truly bewildered. He scratched his head, completely stumped.
"Friday?" Future Tony also began to confirm with Friday.
"Sir, the time machine operated normally throughout the entire process. I did not detect any abnormal signals."
But Friday gave such an answer.
This answer made the Future Avengers even more confused.
If the time machine was fine and the time settings were fine, then what was the problem?
"There's only one answer." After some deliberation, Future Tony gave this answer: "It's this World's problem."
"Tony, what do you mean?" Future Captain America couldn't help but turn his head, looking at Future Tony with some confusion.
"Banner told everyone before that traveling back to the past cannot change the future, remember?" Future Tony suddenly brought up this theory.
Although they didn't know what Tony meant, Banner had indeed told them these words.
This was also a major reason why they couldn't kill young Thanos to stop Thanos.
"I'm not sure how Banner explained it to you, but now, all of this confirms an idea of mine."
"When we travel back to the past, we can't truly travel to our own past. We merely travel back to a parallel World."
"So no matter what we do in this World, it won't affect our future, it won't change our future."
"Because they are fundamentally two different Worlds."
Parallel Worlds?
The Future Avengers present all fell into deep thought.
Although this was just a theory from Future Tony, the ironclad facts were already before them, leaving them no choice but to believe.
"The grandfather paradox, isn't this the grandfather paradox?" Future Ant-Man's voice rang out, and he began to rapidly elaborate and discuss, "If someone travels back in time to kill his grandmother, he simply cannot do it."
"Because if he killed his grandmother, he wouldn't be born, so how could he travel back in time?"
"But if you really plunge a knife into your grandmother's heart, how could she not die?"
"Parallel Universes! This perfectly explains this paradox! Because when you travel back to kill your grandmother, you are only killing the grandmother of a parallel Universe!"
"I can't believe this is true!"
"Thanks for the explanation, Scott, that's very helpful." Future Captain America shrugged helplessly at Future Ant-Man, his expression becoming somewhat troubled. "So, what exactly is going on with this World?"
"I think that should be what we need to figure out next," Future Banner said to the Future Avengers with a serious expression.
"Friday." Future Tony wasted no words and immediately issued this command to his AI: "Scan this World to find out what's going on, but be careful not to alarm your 'brother'."
The "brother" of Friday that Future Tony referred to was undoubtedly Jarvis.
Friday was originally a replacement version of Jarvis, so Future Tony's way of addressing her was perfectly fine.
"Understood, sir!" Friday responded and immediately began the relevant operations, and soon had an answer.
"Sir, this World is very different from ours. In this World, you are no longer Iron Man, but Destroyer."
"After you were kidnapped by the Ten Rings Gang, you didn't build your own armor to escape; instead, you were rescued by mercenaries hired by Stark Group."
"Stan didn't have a war with you, and Ivan Vanko didn't either…"
"Thor's mjolnir did fall in New Mexico, but Destroyer didn't descend upon New Mexico, and Thor and Destroyer didn't have a major battle in New Mexico."
Friday reported some of the major directional anomalies to the Future Avengers.
The Avengers were stunned by what they heard.
The direction of this parallel World was indeed vastly different from their own World!
"Destroyer? My counterpart in this World really has questionable taste." Future Tony couldn't help but quip, then got to the point, "What about the New York Battle?"
"No information related to the New York Battle was found." Friday gave this answer.
"Shit!" Future Ant-Man couldn't help but curse.
This was not good news for everyone.
After all, the New York Battle timeline was repeatedly discussed and carefully selected by everyone in the future.
Because at this timeline, there were three Infinity Stones!
The Time Stone at Kamar-Taj, and the Tesseract and Loki's staff from the core of the New York Battle.
If the New York Battle didn't happen, where would they find Loki's staff?
Didn't this mean that even if all other operations went smoothly, they were destined to have one fewer Infinity Stones than originally planned?
What was even more critical was that their Pym Particles were simply not enough, only enough to support one travel!
"I knew it, things wouldn't be that smooth. In fact, it's always been like this, hasn't it?" Future Tony, however, took it in stride, quickly adjusting his mindset. "But we always find a way to solve problems, and this time will be no different."
"You're always so arrogant, but at this moment, I think your arrogance is just right." Future Ant-Man nodded from the side.
"Everyone, it seems we have a lot of work to do next." Future Captain America said meaningfully to everyone.
The Future Avengers then began to discuss their next course of action.
And their next goals were very clear.
The first step was undoubtedly to gather basic intelligence.
After all, having arrived in such an extremely unfamiliar parallel World, the future foreknowledge advantage of the Future Avengers had vanished, and they needed to start from scratch.
The Future Avengers needed to re-investigate where the Tesseract was and confirm whether the Time Stone was in Kamar-Taj.
The second step, of course, goes without saying: find a way to obtain the Stones.
So what about Loki's staff?
Currently, the Future Avengers had no clue.
They would just have to figure it out slowly after obtaining the other two Infinity Stones.
Just as Tony said, they would always find a way.
"Alright everyone, let's get to it!"
"According to the plan!"
After a brief discussion, the Future Avengers reached an agreement.
Future Captain America clapped his hands and called out to everyone.
"Sir!" However, at this moment, Friday's voice rang in Future Tony's ear, "Loki has been found! He's on Earth!"
Future Tony's eyes immediately lit up; he was both surprised and delighted.
It must be said, this was indeed a pleasant surprise.
All along, the Future Avengers had been vexed about Loki's staff.
Who would have thought that without doing anything, the problem would be solved?
It turned out that even without the New York Battle, Loki was already on Earth!
"Where is he?" Future Tony immediately asked.
Swish!
Friday projected a relevant image in front of Future Tony.
The Future Avengers saw a disheveled Loki being escorted across the road by a group of heavily armed individuals.
"Those are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents." Future Captain America glanced at the screen and immediately made a judgment.
This made everyone even more surprised.
Wasn't the first time Loki was captured in Germany?
And he was captured by Captain America and Iron Man; he was never captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. at any point.
No matter what, Loki was a god, wasn't he!
Not to mention.
Loki in the video looked incredibly disheveled.
"This is the intersection of Baker Street and 79th Street, only three kilometers from here." Friday's voice rang out again, reporting to the Future Avengers.
"Friday, keep an eye on their every move." Future Tony immediately gave this order to Friday, then quickly moved with the other Future Avengers.
With the capabilities of the Future Avengers, even an organization of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s caliber was simply no match for them.
The entire process of tracking Loki was silent, alarming no one, not even Nick Fury.
Even the shrunken Ant-Man rode an ant and flew into the Base where Nick Fury was stationed.
Nick Fury remained completely unaware.
He merely stood imposingly at the entrance of the Base, staring coolly at Loki, who was being escorted by the Whiplash Squad.
"A guy who claims to be a god, high and mighty."
"Yet now, he's fallen to this state."
Nick Fury walked up to Loki and spoke mockingly.
Loki had no sense of being a loser; his lips still held his signature evil, charming smile.
"You're wrong. I am a god not because I claim to be one, but because I was born a god."
"Just as I was born a king!" Loki sneered.
"Those who usually think they are kings don't end well, believe me, I've seen plenty." Nick Fury said leisurely, then waved his hand at his Whiplash Squad.
The Whiplash Squad wasted no words and escorted Loki into the Base.
Nick Fury did the same.
He had many things to "discuss" with Loki next.
The rest goes without saying: Loki was locked in the highest security isolation room within the Base.
The staff was also taken over by S.H.I.E.L.D., placed in a high-security safe room.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.
Of course, besides that, there was Black Widow, who had been controlled by Loki using the staff.
She was also properly taken care of, which goes without saying.
But right now, Nick Fury couldn't spare a thought for Black Widow.
Or rather, Black Widow's problem ultimately lay with Loki.
Coupled with some other matters, Nick Fury still went to Loki first.
"I admit, I underestimated you before. I made a mistake."
"But you also made the same mistake as me; you underestimated a god!"
"You don't really think you've won, do you?"
"You'll never know what a god can truly do!"
Loki stood confidently inside the "glass door," speaking arrogantly to Nick Fury.
It seemed as if the one captured was not himself, but another unrelated person.
"If you're referring to the Chitauri, then I think I know."
But Nick Fury's next words made the confident smile on Loki's face instantly freeze.
Thanks to book friend 20200510022929734 for the reward! Thanks to book friend Lan Shan Zui Yi for the reward!