"Whoosh."
The time travel was complete.
Rory stared in utter astonishment at the circle of superheroes surrounding him.
Tony waved. "Hey kid, fancy meeting you again."
"How is that possible??? I clearly..."
Tony chuckled. "Are you going to say you set it for a different time, so why did you end up in our timeline?"
Rory nodded. Though completely bewildered, he desperately wanted to know how things had turned out this way.
Tony explained, "You set the time correctly, but you forgot—I designed this bracelet. I can override the programming on it anytime through the network."
"Fine, I admit you're not an idiot. A bit old, sure, but you're still smart enough."
"Pfft."
"I like this kid, he's funny," a furry raccoon chattered with a giggle.
The towering Hulk, the greasy-haired and potbellied Thor, James Rhodes in his War Machine armor—everyone was staring at the stranger, Rory.
Tony walked over, took all the Pym Particles, and smiled faintly. "Alright, let's just keep him at the base for now. We'll deal with him later. Right now, what we need to do is get the Infinity Stones and bring everyone back. Hey, where's Natasha?"
Hawkeye Clint Barton spoke with difficulty, "Natasha... she's not coming back..."
***
Though Rory could move freely, he wasn't allowed to leave the Avengers Compound.
Because of Natasha's sacrifice, all the superheroes were plunged into grief, and nobody paid any attention to Rory at all, which actually made things much easier for him.
"FRIDAY, what is that kid doing?"
Tony, currently busy crafting the Infinity Stone gauntlet, suddenly remembered Rory and casually asked the AI.
"Boss, he isn't doing anything."
"Pull up the feed."
Tony took off his work gloves and looked at the holographic panel, only to find that Rory was just wandering around doing nothing in particular.
In the hologram, Rory strolled lazily into the kitchen.
Seeing Dr. Banner in there, he casually greeted him, "Hey, Dr. Banner, are you making tacos?"
"Sure am. Want one?"
Having made peace with himself, Bruce Banner still wore the body of the Hulk, but he looked completely easygoing; in a jacket, he lost a bit of his wildness and gained a touch of gentleness.
Dr. Banner casually handed Rory a taco, but Rory waved his hands repeatedly. "I can't get used to eating this. Um, where are the ingredients? I'd like to make something I actually like."
"The walk-in cooler is over there. Just about everything you could want is inside."
Dr. Banner pointed toward the cold storage at the back of the kitchen.
Half an hour later, Rory had whipped up a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, a plate of garlic broccoli, and a bowl of braised beef brisket, with hand-rolled noodles in an egg-and-meat sauce as the staple.
It looked, smelled, and tasted so good that Dr. Banner instantly lost all interest in the taco in his hand.
"Care for some?"
Rory laid out the food and extended an invitation to Dr. Banner.
Banner asked shyly, "Can I?"
"Of course. But you're a big guy, just make sure you don't swallow it all in one bite."
On the other side, watching the holographic feed, Tony's stomach let out a loud rumble. He gritted his teeth, shut off the projection, and went back to work.
A few days later, the testing of the Tony-version Infinity Gauntlet was finally complete, looking magnificent with six differently glowing stones embedded in the metal gauntlet.
Seeing the group of thrilled superheroes, Rory straight-up decided to bail.
This building was going to be flattened in a moment, and he had no intention of staying here to wait for death.
Just as he bolted out of the lab, he ran into Nebula, who was also sneaking out. Rory blinked and gave an awkward wave. "Uh, I've got a bad stomach, heading to the restroom..."
Nebula glanced coldly at Rory, as if looking at a dead man.
"Thank goodness... Amitabha..."
Rory ran like mad out of the base building, figured out his bearings, and plunged headfirst into a small patch of woods.
.
"The gauntlet is ready, but who's going to snap that damn thing?"
"Let me do it!" Thor didn't even hesitate, stepping forward unhesitatingly toward the gauntlet holding the stones.
"Hey, hey, hey, hold on. Wait a second."
Tony and Captain America blocked Thor simultaneously.
"Listen, I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility has to fall on me."
"Maybe you're right, but this isn't about responsibility."
The few of them argued back and forth over who should use the gauntlet.
"I want to ask you guys, what do you think is flowing through my veins right now?!"
"Cheese dip."
Thor couldn't be bothered with Rhodes's sharp tongue.
He turned back to Tony and said, "Lightning! Lightning!"
"Doesn't matter if you've got lightning flowing through you, I'll do it." Banner, who had been deep in thought, stepped forward. "You all saw what happened to Thanos—it nearly killed him, none of you can handle it."
"How are you so sure you can?"
"Not sure. But the primary radiation from this thing is gamma, like it was made specifically for me."
Meanwhile, Rory felt like he still hadn't run far enough.
He kept his head down and accelerated deeper into the woods.
Looking back, he saw that the Avengers Compound had activated its defense protocols, sealing all doors and windows with thick steel plates.
"It's starting."
"BOOM!!!"
A deafening crash suddenly echoed from the hangar area, and Thanos's Sanctuary II made a flashy entrance.
Rory's jaw nearly hit the ground in utter shock.
It didn't look like much on TV, but experiencing it in person gave him a much more direct appreciation of the crushing pressure Sanctuary II brought—it was no exaggeration to say it blocked out the sky.
A shadow fell over Rory's head, cutting off all light from the sun.
Whoosh~
Whoosh~
Whoosh~
Rumble!
The missiles fired by Sanctuary II rained down on the Avengers Compound like a downpour. The earth shook and shockwaves surged, sending Rory flying from the blast wave spreading through the woods.
When he opened his eyes again, the Avengers Compound had been reduced to ruins.
Clouds of dust and smoke turned day into night.
Rory climbed up with difficulty, just as a bolt of lightning struck from the sky, and the sound of fighting drifted faintly up from a deep crater.
Cautiously approaching the edge of the pit, he saw Captain America get knocked flying by a single slash from Thanos, looking no less battered than Rory.
"Holy crap, they're already fighting?"
Dozens of spire structures detached from the main body of Sanctuary II and crashed to the ground, and countless Outriders roared as they swarmed out of the spires.
A beam of blue light shone from Sanctuary II to the ground, and the Black Order appeared at the very front of the Outrider army.
Beaten to a pulp, Captain America climbed back to his feet, radiating the indomitable spirit of facing tens of thousands alone.
"Sigh, Thanos is getting too cocky. If he didn't talk so much trash, he might actually have a chance of winning."
As a descendant of the Eternals, Thanos was genuinely powerful. Fighting the superhero team all by himself, though a bit battered, didn't mean he was truly defeated.
If not for Tony Stark snapping his fingers at the very last moment, it was hard to say how many Avengers would have survived in the end.
"Here they come!"
Countless portals lit up behind Captain America as reinforcement troops prepared to enter the battlefield.
The Wakanda faction, the Kamar-Taj sorcerer faction, the Ravager faction, and the Asgardian refugee faction that had drifted to Earth—massive armies, tanks, and starships poured out of the portals.
Ant-Man, having grown to giant size, burst up from the ground, bringing Dr. Banner and the raccoon back with him.
The war cries of the Avengers faction resounded across the earth.
Even Rory, hiding off to the side just to watch the show, felt his blood race, itching to run down and join the grand army.
"Avengers... Assemble!"
With those classic words, the ultimate battle officially began.