Outside New York…
No, there was no "outside" anymore.
The Avengers' current temporary camp was situated on the southwestern rim of the New York crater…
Anyway…
The core members of the Avengers sat in their chairs, silently watching the virtual feed before them.
Thanks to the Veronica satellite's formidable tracking and recording capabilities, the footage they obtained was far clearer than anything Nick Fury had seen.
Moreover, since Veronica had been specially outfitted by Tony with an automatic tracking system designed to capture anomalous biological phenomena in outer space,
the moment Heisenberg and Marvel appeared in space, Veronica had already locked onto them!
They watched as Heisenberg quickly dragged Marvel off toward Venus, and then, an hour later, he returned with her lifeless body in tow…
The Avengers exchanged uneasy glances.
After a long pause, Captain America took a deep breath and spoke.
"This kind of method… it's too…"
"Okay, Cap, we don't need you to say it!"
Iron Man cut him off sharply. He knew exactly what Steve was about to say.
"Carol Danvers, my savior. Right now, my feelings are far more conflicted than yours!
But can we afford another war?
Or let me rephrase: even if we wanted to do something about this, do we even have the power?"
With that, Tony shook his head helplessly.
"We successfully brought back four billion people to Earth, but the price was the complete disappearance of New York City. And none of us can deny…"
He took a deep breath.
"Considering he might have super… you know, hearing capable of tracking certain keywords, from now on, our conversation will not include any…"
Tony stopped speaking and swiped a few times in the air. Immediately, several words appeared before everyone.
"Superman." "Super." "Heisenberg." "Heat Vision." "Frost Breath." "Bio Field." "Lois Lane." "Clark Kent." "Krypton."
And even…
"Batman!"
In short, Tony had flagged a slew of words as sensitive, which made their subsequent discussion considerably more cumbersome.
Tony cleared his throat lightly and continued.
"None of us can deny his contributions during the war. It's fair to say that without him, we might have succeeded eventually, but our losses would have been far greater than what we've endured now!"
"Merits and faults aside, none of that excuses Carol's death!" Steve shook his head.
But as soon as Steve finished, Barton scoffed dismissively.
"Cap, I don't think Carol meant much to begin with. Even before I was dusted by the Snap, I never liked her!"
"Agreed." Natasha nodded in support. "Over the past five years, she offered almost no help to Earth. She was always drifting around the cosmos.
The impression she gave me was that of a superior being who looked down on this planet."
Stepping forward to a more prominent spot, Natasha placed both hands on the table.
"I think we can just drop this subject. Whatever happened between him and Carol seems like a personal grudge…
In any case, I'm not a fan of how Carol treated people from other worlds.
As for her trying to claim the Infinity Stones…
Sigh. Let's not even go there.
Besides, he did dismantle a human trafficking ring in Los Angeles and rescued two girls who had just been sold.
His methods are certainly direct and brutal, but his heart leans toward justice. And someone like me feels that kind of justice more deeply than most."
"A heart for justice doesn't excuse those ruthless killings."
Hearing Natasha's words, Steve shook his head in disagreement.
"When I fought the Nazis, the thing that stuck with me most was how they first came for the Jews, then the homosexuals, then countless others.
His methods aren't much different. They're the methods of a tyrant. So could Carol just be the beginning?
I think we need to recall our main forces. Relying on Bruce alone won't be enough to stop him if he makes another wrong move."
"I agree with that part!"
Tony nodded, adding to Steve's point.
"Even though I have a decent impression of him, I have to admit, he and Carol aren't fundamentally different. Both of them are just visitors to our Earth.
So even if we don't plan on actively pursuing him for this crime, we need to have some means of countering his power!
Right now, based on his energy readings, Thor is still two days away from healing.
And Wanda, after leaving, seems to have gone back to her starting point: Westview.
I need to accelerate Thor's energy infusion to bring forward his recovery and wake him up, and we also need to recall Wanda."
"Wait!"
At that moment, Banner raised his large hand.
"I don't think any of that is necessary!"
He frowned, rejecting their suggestions, and then explained bluntly.
"He has no intention of staying in our universe. So shouldn't our top priority be accelerating the development of the Quantum Tunnel and sending him back to his own universe along with the Infinity Stones?
To speed that up, we need to cooperate with the original Ant Man, Hank Pym. After all, he's back from the Snap, isn't he?"
…
Banner's words finally aligned everyone's opinions. Scott Lang looked around left and right, then shrugged helplessly.
"Okay, it's on me again. I just knew no one wanted to chat with that stubborn old geezer. Ha.
Leave it to me!"
Ant Man quickly departed, and after he left, the Avengers fell back into silence.
By now, the video feed had reached the final act of Heisenberg's display.
When the team realized what purpose Carol's body was now serving, they felt a pang of sorrow, but more than that, they were utterly shaken!
"He's using Carol's corpse to intimidate any aliens who might threaten Earth?"
"That's just too cruel!"
"But it's going to be incredibly effective!"
"Not just Carol, but Thanos too. He put them both up there…"
"Incredible… the mindset of a god. Using fear to spread his message and claim this territory!"
"And the key point is: this is his territory now!"
Iron Man finally spoke, his voice tinged with helplessness. He clapped his hands together, releasing them from the tight fist they had unconsciously formed.
"I need to go talk to him. Bruce, please take charge of the R and D for the Quantum Tunnel and time machine."
"No problem. I estimate… five days at most. If Hank Pym joins us, we can cut that down to two."
"Make it as fast as you can."
Tony said, then walked out of the Avengers tent, his mind heavy with thoughts.
…
The next morning, Heisenberg woke up in a luxury villa provided by a certain "generous" benefactor. Gently pushing aside a certain actress, he got out of bed.
He took his usual shower, then wandered into the benefactor's walk in closet and picked out a stylish outfit.
Throwing on a long trench coat, looking entirely comfortable, Heisenberg made his way to the living room and finally untied the owner, who had been strung up all night.
"When you get yourself a new son, if he tries to make me a movie star again and so much as hints at any of those goddamn casting couch antics, you'll be dead too…"
Heisenberg patted the wealthy businessman on the shoulder as he spoke, then strolled right past the man's son, who was still embedded in the wall, and left the house.
As soon as he stepped out the front gate, he spotted an Audi parked by the curb. Sitting inside was none other than Iron Man.
He walked over and tapped on the window.
"Open up!"
He said to the startled Tony, then moved to the passenger side and climbed in through the door that had just been unlocked.
Once seated, Tony muttered groggily.
"I figured you'd just rip the door off and climb in."
"Tsk. Prejudice is like a mountain. Am I really that violent in your eyes?"
Heisenberg gestured casually toward the villa not far away.
"The actress from Transformers was in there. Last night, she and I… well, you get it.
Considering I saved the Earth and all, how about you spot me a few million to settle this little romantic debt?"
"That's easy enough."
Tony nodded without hesitation. If a few million could hire Heisenberg to save the world, he would gladly write a check for a billion upfront!
Seeing Tony agree, Heisenberg gave him a grin and made some small talk.
"Didn't expect you to be waiting out here for me. That's not like you, no matter which universe we're talking about. Why didn't you just come inside?"
"Because I didn't want to end up hung on the moon…"
"Overthinking it. You're not qualified to be hung up there, pal."
Heisenberg interrupted with a laugh, though his response only irritated Tony further.
If getting hung up there didn't require being dead, Tony might have argued the point just to prove he had the same kind of potential or status as Thanos and Marvel.
But now wasn't the time for that… or rather…
Tony decided not to pursue that line of conversation.
He looked at Heisenberg with a grave expression, swallowed nervously, and said firmly.
"About Captain Marvel…"
"Heh. I knew you guys would be spooked. Relax!"
Heisenberg shook his head dismissively. Since Tony was covering his romantic expenses, he decided to offer an explanation.
"You might question my reasons for taking her out, so I'll tell you.
Back at the club, she ruthlessly criticized my morals without showing a shred of concern for any of the lives inside that place.
And her attitude toward aliens compared to Earthlings just kept rubbing me the wrong way.
But the biggest thing was that condescending, holier than thou attitude of hers. She saw herself as benevolent and great, but what reason did I have to respect that?
Who the hell did she think she was?"
Leaning closer to Tony, Heisenberg patted him on the shoulder and spoke with an air of profound sincerity.
"But none of that was the real reason she had to die. Do you know what the real reason was?"
Without waiting for Tony's answer, Heisenberg leaned back and explained with a cold smirk.
"She actually thought about snapping those goddamn fingers right in front of me. Fingers that could have made me disappear along with everyone else! Especially after she'd already made it clear she had a problem with me!!!"
Settling back into his seat, Heisenberg let out a disdainful chuckle.
"I will never place my own safety in the hands of anyone but myself. Least of all someone who openly resents me.
And I was absolutely certain that she would never give up on the idea of taking the Infinity Stones from me. She's stubborn as hell!
At the same time, there was no way I was going to snap my fingers for her childish ideals.
See?
I couldn't change her mind, so I had to change her state of being!
Alive, she was bound to become my problem. But dead, she not only puts my mind at ease, she also serves as a deterrent against most of the cosmic beings eyeing this Earth.
So her death was inevitable. Makes perfect sense, right?"
/-\
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