The light bent around them as Bruce Banner—still in his Hulk form—and Itachi Uchiha stepped through the swirling vortex of time. With the Time GPS securely embedded in their suits, they emerged into the chaos of New York City in 2012, moments before the Chitauri invasion reached its peak.
The sky was aflame. Stark Tower loomed in the distance, a glowing beacon of the future colliding with the past. Explosions echoed through the air, and the cries of civilians were lost beneath the sounds of war. The Battle of New York had begun.
"We need to move quickly," Hulk grunted. "The Time Stone is with the Ancient One. The Tesseract's inside Stark Tower. We split up."
"Agreed," Itachi replied calmly, his Sharingan activating as he surveyed the chaos.
Hulk leapt high, vanishing into the skyline. Itachi vanished into a flicker of crows, gliding silently toward the Sanctum Sanctorum.
Inside the Sanctum, the Ancient One was already on alert, her staff in hand as she looked out across the city. A shimmer in the air caught her attention.
"You're not one of ours," she said without turning. "But you don't come with malice."
Itachi stepped forward from the shadows, his expression unreadable. "I need the Time Stone. Not for myself—but to restore what was broken."
"I know of your mission," she said. "But knowledge of the future doesn't grant access to it."
Without hesitation, Itachi dropped the Genjutsu illusion he had subtly cast. The entire Sanctum flickered as he revealed a vision of Thanos destroying half of all life—the pain, the loss, the silence that followed.
The Ancient One's eyes widened slightly. "You've seen more than I thought."
"I've lived through worse," Itachi whispered.
She studied him. "There's strength in you… and sorrow. But what makes you believe you're worthy of rewriting time?"
He answered with a single word. "Redemption."
A pause.
Then she handed him the Time Stone.
Meanwhile, Hulk was smashing his way through the lower levels of Stark Tower. Past versions of Iron Man and Thor were battling Loki upstairs. Hulk had to be careful—too much interference and the timeline would unravel.
He found the containment room. The Tesseract glowed inside.
"Alright, big guy," he muttered. "In and out."
But as he stepped forward, a sudden ripple of energy knocked him off balance. A pair of rogue S.H.I.E.L.D. agents—secret HYDRA operatives—emerged, aiming alien-enhanced weapons.
Before they could fire, the air shimmered with black crows. Itachi appeared, landing in silence beside Hulk.
"You're late," Hulk growled.
"You're loud," Itachi replied, his eyes flashing.
The HYDRA agents fired—but they hit nothing. A split second later, one fell screaming into a nightmare of his own making, while the other turned his weapon on himself under Itachi's Genjutsu. The fight was over before it began.
Hulk picked up the Tesseract. "Let's get out of here."
They activated the GPS. With the Time Stone and Space Stone secure, they vanished into the portal.