While Monica was anxiously rushing over, the members of the Ultimate Team were still discussing the pair of gloves laid out before them.
"Susan investigated the Infinity Stones through science, while I consulted the history of Asgard. There are indeed legends about these dark and powerful materials, though I had thought they were mere fairy tales," Thor explained to the others, sharing the results of his investigation.
Hawkeye glanced at the Infinity Gauntlet before them and smirked.
"Well, if even Thor is spooked, then we're definitely in for a good time."
"Hawkeye, enough with the sarcasm," said Captain America. Hearing that, Hawkeye raised both hands in surrender, signaling he wouldn't say anything further. Captain America then shifted his gaze to Susan.
"Have you tried interstellar communication?"
"I've already contacted Mar-Vell and sent a signal to the Silver Surfer. But... I think you all need to see this for yourselves."
As Susan spoke, she put on one of the gloves and stretched out her hand.
"If you concentrate, the Infinity Gauntlet can transmute, transform, and teleport matter. In fact, all these processes seem to happen simultaneously, twisting the laws of physics far beyond even what we understand about Negative Space. It's completely outside our realm of knowledge. Also, one more thing—three of the Infinity Stones are still missing."
As Susan moved her hand, a sundae suddenly appeared on the empty table.
Stark picked up the sundae, looking puzzled.
"I have two questions: why ice cream?"
Susan replied, "I just wanted to create something harmless."
"Looks like someone hasn't watched Ghostbusters. Also, what happens when you gather all the stones?"
Before Susan could answer Tony Stark's question, Monica arrived, her voice urgent.
"Emergency evacuation from floors 1 to 10! Summon the Helicarrier, units 2, 5, and 18! Ultimate Team, prepare for combat. Over."
The Ultimate Team stared at Monica, full of curiosity—they still didn't know what had happened.
"Hulk's escaped. He was trapped in the basement, so he shouldn't have gotten far. You guys need to bring him in. Ultimate Team—" Monica hadn't even finished speaking when they heard a thunderous rumbling—clearly, Hulk had already broken through the basement and was charging upward.
In the next second, Susan quickly erected a protective force field around everyone.
"BOOM!!!"
The Three Feathers Tower exploded in an instant. If not for Susan's force field, they would have been nothing more than part of the debris.
"Oh my God! I feel like my brain's about to explode!"
Suddenly erecting such a large force field and withstanding the power of the explosion caused Susan to bleed from her nose almost immediately.
The strain on her was simply too great.
"This is Commander Monica. All stations within Three Feathers, report!"
"Susan, are you okay?" Captain America ignored Monica's command for now, instead kneeling by Susan, who was collapsed on the lawn, checking on her condition.
"Uh, Cap, we've got another problem," Tony Stark said, glancing nervously behind them.
At the same time, Susan weakly added, "The Infinity Gauntlet... it's gone."
Before Captain America could even comfort Susan, a furious roar came from behind them.
"All these years—you abused, tortured, and imprisoned me, forcing me to hunt down the monsters you feared. Now it's time for revenge!"
It was Hulk, now wearing the Infinity Gauntlet, roaring at the Ultimate Team.
"You bastards are totally screwed!!!"
Time rewinds to when Bruce and the woman in the purple-green outfit released Hulk.
They immediately rushed toward S.H.I.E.L.D.'s superhuman containment device—the Cube Prison.
"Don't you think I might be tricking you?" the woman asked. She seemed a little uneasy about how easily Bruce trusted her.
After all, in her universe, she had never met Bruce and naturally didn't know what kind of person he was.
Bruce didn't answer her question. He simply glanced at her.
That glance told her everything—this man had absolute confidence, the kind that could overturn any situation.
She didn't know exactly how, but she trusted her instincts: she had never misjudged anyone before.
They both stepped into the Cube Prison.
"Reed Richards, it's time," the woman said directly to the Creator, who had been stretched thin by the machines until he resembled a human pancake.
"Are you sure this will work?" The Creator didn't seem surprised by the woman's arrival, but his expression changed slightly when he noticed Bruce by her side.
Although he wasn't sure how this woman had managed to recruit the bat, he had heard enough about Bruce's exploits to know: with Bruce's help, their plan had a much better chance of success.
Bruce stood silently nearby, like a statue, scrutinizing the two of them.
"Where's your courage, Creator?" the woman mocked Reed.
The Creator didn't seem offended. Instead, he continued speaking calmly.
"I've committed unspeakable sins. But if it was all for the sake of creating a better world, if that's the price of saving humanity..."
"Since you entered Negative Space, the fate of the universe was sealed. But the Infinity Stones will correct your mistakes."
The woman stepped aside and deactivated the machine controlling the Creator.
"Nothing can truly make up for my sins. Is the other stone on its way?"
The Creator looked at his restored limbs without much joy—only resignation—and asked the woman.
"Yes. Pietro will soon retrieve it from your fallen city," the woman said confidently.
"You trust him?"
"I'd stake my life on it. With just two more Infinity Stones, you'll be nearly unstoppable."
"Let's hope it'll be enough to complete my plan."
"You'll get what you want. I've seen the ending. It's time."
Bruce simply watched silently as the two exchanged lines, simultaneously gathering all available information on the Infinity Stones.
Meanwhile, outside, Hulk—wearing the Infinity Gauntlet—was already crushing the Ultimate Team.
Now that Hulk had the Infinity Stones, these few heroes were no match for him.
The only one who might still pose a threat was Thor.
Susan could only maintain a protective field around herself and Monica to shield them from the destruction.
As for Captain America and the others, they were desperately trying to figure out how to retrieve the Infinity Gauntlet from Hulk—
—while also subduing him.
They had already tried countless methods against Hulk, but he was no longer the same brute they had known. Every attack now was like scratching an itch to him; even if they blasted him into chunks, he simply reformed himself.
Stark had no choice but to mentally summon Anthony, the AI tumor in his head, to mobilize all of his spare armors.
Monica, however, made an even more drastic decision.
"All survivors, evacuate immediately. Bombers will arrive in five minutes."
At that moment, Thor suddenly leaped forward.
"To hell with all of you!!!"
Thor raised his battle axe, aiming to cleave Hulk's head with a single blow. But at that moment, a beam of energy struck, completely subduing Thor.
"Hold on."
"Friends, let's stop speaking in riddles. This childish brawling seriously damages our dignity. I apologize for my tactics, but to ensure everything goes perfectly, I need some time to prepare," said the Creator, spreading his arms wide. A single Infinity Gauntlet was already secured on his hand.
"Now then, let the real show begin."
Bruce had yet to make an appearance. He simply stood quietly beside the woman, watching everything unfold.
"I skimmed through some information about you just now. Honestly, someone like you agreeing to my plan?" The woman clearly found it hard to believe that Bruce would really agree to join their mission.
"I know you're telling the truth," Bruce replied, not looking at her but instead keeping his eyes on the battle between the Creator, the Ultimate Team, and the others.
"Oh?"
The woman recalled her first encounter with Reed Richards — even he had been reluctant to believe her. Yet now, the man standing by her side trusted her so easily.
"Don't think you're the only one who's seen the end," Bruce finally turned to glance at the woman beside him.
The woman looked at Bruce again upon hearing this.
"If I had met you first, perhaps I would never have fallen in love with anyone else," she said before slowly walking toward the battlefield.
Bruce simply watched all of this unfold calmly.
The situation on the field was now quite clear. After Pietro brought over the Infinity Stone, Reed's power had grown nearly invincible.
Reed and Hulk's combined strength was overwhelming. Even the Ultimate Team couldn't stand against them.
All Captain America could do was buy time, allowing Thor to evacuate the others.
Hulk knocked Captain America unconscious with a single punch, but didn't kill him outright.
"Why are we letting them go?" Hulk asked, clearly confused. They obviously had the power to capture everyone, yet most had been allowed to escape, leaving behind only a defeated Captain America.
"We're saving the universe," the Creator answered — a response completely unrelated to Hulk's question.
"With two Infinity Gauntlets in hand, we can reshape the universe as we please. Once we find the remaining two Infinity Stones, it'll be complete. Now that Captain America is in our hands, they won't abandon him."
The woman stepped carefully across the floating ruins, slowly making her way toward them.
"I know everything. Listen to me: things will unfold exactly as they should. The Ultimate Team will play their part, and then fall one by one."
She spoke with absolute certainty to the Creator and Hulk.
Meanwhile, Pietro's gaze was fixed on Bruce, who was emerging from the thick smoke.
From Bruce, he sensed an extreme and deadly threat.
"The end of the universe is near. We are its last hope. Heaven, lend me strength."
"Kang the Conqueror will not let this world perish."
It was only now that the woman revealed her true identity.
Bruce too walked slowly toward them. Although Pietro sensed fatal danger from Bruce, at least for now, this "Bat" was on their side.
"I never thought you would stand with us," said the Creator. Although he had never fought Bruce before, the database compiled during the urban operations included information on almost every hero — including this "Bat."
According to the records, the Bat was the quintessential superhero.
By all logic, he shouldn't be doing something like this.
No matter how you looked at it, the ones who had just defeated the Ultimate Team seemed more like villains than heroes.
"It's just to protect this universe," Bruce said, leaving those words behind as he disappeared into the dense smoke, not caring at all how they viewed him.
"I want to smash him," Hulk said bluntly. In his eyes, Bruce's demeanor was the epitome of arrogance.
When faced with someone like that, the best solution was a good few punches — after that, they could no longer act high and mighty.
"There's no need, my friend. Besides, for now, he's our ally," the Creator said, stopping Hulk, before turning to look at Kang the Conqueror.
"Are you sure he'll help us?"
Kang watched Bruce's slowly disappearing figure and nodded. She understood very well that, in Bruce's eyes, protecting the universe was the highest priority.
Still, she needed to have a proper talk with the Bat to lay out the next steps.
"I'll have a good talk with him."
Leaving those words behind, Kang vanished from the Creator's side.
Even Pietro hadn't caught how Kang disappeared. It had to be either technological or magical — definitely not something a mutant like him could replicate.
"Alright. Now, what we need to do is reshape the entire world into the one we envision."
The Creator stretched out his arms, as if trying to embrace the whole world.
"A perfect, sinless world is about to be born!"
(End of Chapter)
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