Chapter 1817

Inside the Star-Swallowing Engine, Thor was gulping down wine while asking Stark: "Where are we headed? What's special about that parallel universe?"

"How would I know? Nick set the route." Tony also took a swig of wine, saying: "You believe it or not, those three definitely didn't do anything good again, and we're definitely working for free again."

Thor laughed heartily and said: "It's not the first or second time, anyway we can't refuse it, so we might as well enjoy it."

"Actually, I'm also quite curious about other parallel universes. Sometimes I can hear about their situations from many Lokis lingering in Asgard, but you know Loki is a liar, true and false indistinguishable. I'd actually like to go see for myself."

Natasha leaned against the bar with a graceful posture, using her fingers to tousle the red hair at her temple, looking at Tony and saying: "Someone's angry we didn't bring them along last time we went out to play, but it's definitely not some world's richest person, am I right?"

Stark slammed his wine cup down on the table with a "clang," turned his head to look at Natasha, and said: "What's fun about ice fishing on a frozen lake in freezing weather? I'd count myself lucky in my dreams that I didn't go with you guys back then."

"Oh, is that so? I don't know who made Pepper buy a bunch of expensive fishing gear, only to find out she couldn't even handle a fishing rod, so she had to secretly ask Dr. Otto for fishing tips."

"You damn agent, can't you give me some privacy?" Stark glared at Natasha and said.

"Nobody told you ice fishing doesn't require fishing skills?" Captain America walked over and said: "Fish exchange air through ice holes. If you're bold enough, you can even grab them straight up with your hands. You're not avoiding us because you can't fish, are you?"

"I can fish!" Tony raised his voice to emphasize, then added: "It's because Shiler never told me at all—he never wanted to take me!"

"Come on, you're an adult now." Shiler rolled his eyes and said: "I know I told you what the consequences would be—you'd first refuse, then make excuses, finally give in reluctantly, then once on site you'd nitpick, if you couldn't catch fish you'd send your mech to buy fish at the market, if you treat everything like a competition, nobody wants to play with you."

Stark was left speechless by the remarks, and Steve placed a hand on his shoulder, saying: "I have to admit, Shiler's description of the scene is too vivid—just thinking about it gives me a headache. If you really did that, I'd absolutely not bring you next time."

"Alright, alright." Stark stood up from the bar stool, extended two fingers toward the sky, and said: "The great Stark is willing to compromise a little for you guys, but just a little. This time I'll try to say as little as possible, empty my mind, and look forward to filling it with your foolish talk."

T'Challa stood behind the bar smiling, handed Stark another cup of wine, and said: "The point of playing is to play, Tony—not to gain anything, not to please anyone. Just relax a bit."

"I'm really afraid that when we reach that universe, it'll already been destroyed." Stark lowered his arm, sighed, glanced at Nick, Shiler, and Loki, and said: "Your past behavior makes me think even the worst plans aren't excessive."

"Outdated, genius Stark." Nick snapped his fingers and said: "Take a look at this."

He pulled something from his pocket, shoved it into Stark's hand. Stark took it, looked, and found it was actually the Time Variance Authority's commonly used timeline control device.

Nick extended a finger and said: "In many parallel universes, unexpected tragedies have occurred. A tiny change might trigger a chain reaction."

"But since we said this trip is just travel, we won't adopt such a heavy-handed, desperate approach. Instead, we'll jump back to before the tragedies happened and reverse them. Loading this function into the car shouldn't be hard, right?"

Stark kept retracting his chin until he squeezed out wrinkles beneath it. He furrowed his brow, fiddled with the little gadget in his hand, then said: "Need some time to experiment. You two, come with me."

Stark flicked his head at Banner and Peter, and the three walked into the lab together.

"At least give us a target? What happened in the parallel universe we're headed to next?" Thor asked curiously.

"A complete and utter tragedy." Nick shrugged and said, then looked at Natasha and asked: "You should still remember when I first wanted to recruit superheroes to form the Avengers, right?"

Natasha took a sip of wine, recalled, nodded, and said: "Back then you did indeed propose this idea. I remember it was on the drive back to S. H. I. E. L. D. headquarters, you said we should organize the superheroes, form a stronger force to cope with possible impending disasters."

Nick leaned against the bar, asked T'Challa for a drink, nodded, and said: "Back then the first person I wanted to recruit was Iron Man. At that time, the public didn't know who Iron Man was, but I did know Tony's father Howard and I were old friends, so him joining the organization S. H. I. E. L. D. established made perfect sense."

Nick turned around, holding his wine cup, spread his hands, and said: "The Nick Fury in the parallel universe we're headed to thought the same way—except when he brought Natasha to meet Tony, Natasha gave him a shot, and Tony died."

"Ah?"

Everyone present froze.

Thor, somewhat disbelieving, used his finger to dig in his ear and said: "What did you say? Tony Stark got stabbed to death by Natasha?!"

"Of course the truth isn't like that, but the official investigation and test conclusion is exactly that." Nick shrugged and said: "That universe's Tony couldn't handle his palladium poisoning on his own, claimed poor health as an excuse, refused Nick's recruitment, and Natasha stabbed him in the neck with a syringe of life-force enhancing serum. The next second, Iron Man was dead."

"Someone poisoned him?" Loki narrowed his eyes and said: "Was the syringe swapped or was there poison on the needle tip?"

"Nobody knows." Nick shook his head and said: "So now we're heading back to that time point, and then our Black Widow will investigate what exactly happened and reverse this chain of tragedies."

Natasha wrapped one arm around the other's upper arm, lifted it overhead in a stretch, meanwhile moving her neck and shoulders. After lowering her arms, she fanned herself near her ear and said: "I knew I was destined to toil. Did you bring our universe's healing potion?"

Nick pulled a vial from his jacket pocket, handed it to Natasha, and said: "This is S. H. I. E. L. D.'s standard serum, so its appearance should match that universe's exactly. But our syringe uses molten gold, and the special energy attached to this material can neutralize all toxins."

"Besides, the syringe is completely sealed. To open and replace the serum requires signatures from two or more project leads. This one is brand new, sealed, and the serum's activity is intact—it can to some extent improve Tony's physical condition."

"I've only ever swapped other people's stuff." Natasha raised an eyebrow, full of confidence, and said: "Trying to take the serum from my hand won't be easy, but I think this isn't so simple—I'll choose another method."

Not long after, Stark came out of the lab and said: "Done. Actually, the Star-Swallowing Engine itself can time-travel—it's the immense power brought by the divine body. The time control device just makes it more stable. I've also input a certain amount of energy; we can depart anytime."

"Then let's go now." Nick nodded and said: "Our Black Widow lady is already rolling up her sleeves."

As Nick finished speaking, white light flashed around the Star-Swallowing Engine. After the light lightly flickered, the massive engine vanished into the universe.

Suddenly, the Star-Swallowing Engine reappeared in the familiar starry sky—but not the familiar time. They had returned to the past of this parallel universe and were now heading toward Earth.

Nick's timing was perfect. Nick and Natasha's car was parked at a gas station beside a highway in New Jersey. From outside, they looked like they were buying things in the station's small convenience store.

Natasha, having disembarked from the Star-Swallowing Engine, landed not far from the gas station. After observing the surroundings for a while, she walked unhurriedly toward the inside.

Soon she saw another Natasha walking toward the restroom, so she stepped into a toilet stall one step ahead.

The moment the other Natasha passed that stall, Natasha burst out, wrapped her arms around her from behind, and choked her unconscious.

Loki, who had arrived via teleportation, caught the other Natasha, gave Natasha an OK hand signal, and teleported back with her to the Star-Swallowing Engine.

Meanwhile, Natasha tidied her clothes slightly, lingered a bit longer in the restroom, then slowly walked out to wash her hair, still combing it in front of the mirror.

Nick poked his head in from outside the restroom door and said: "You done? We're meeting Tony at 4 p. m. If we're late, it'll be a big hassle!"

"Got it." Natasha said impatiently: "I already said we should've taken a plane, but you insisted on driving—I feel like my back's about to be shaken apart by you."

Soon she walked out, got back into Nick's car, pulled out a lighter, lit a cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, then said: "I thought about it, and I still think we can't be so hasty."

"What do you mean?"

Natasha held out two fingers pinning a cigarette and said: "I don't oppose S. H. I. E. L. D. recruiting Tony Stark, but I always thought directly stabbing him with a needle was a bit risky."

"How so?" Nick asked while steering the car around a bend.

"Before I even came to the States, I'd dealt with quite a few scientists—I know their annoying habits all too well."

"I know your purpose in stabbing him was to show Tony that S. H. I. E. L. D. has fairly advanced tech, can solve his urgent problem, and earn his favor through kindness."

"But judging by Stark's arrogant personality, if you show off your tech strength, he'll just think you're a frog in a well—he could do better. If you try to improve his condition, he'll think you're pitying him, giving him charity, and in anger he'll turn and walk away."

The people inside the Star-Swallowing Engine overheard this conversation via Natasha's monitor, so their gazes all shifted to Stark.

Stark covered his mouth with his hand and coughed twice, saying: "You guys have no idea how angry I was when I first met Shiler."

"On one hand, I thought Pepper actually believed she could solve my unsolvable problems, and her method was to hire a psychologist—this is outright absurd, using what method could compare to Stark's tech?"

"On the other hand, I know Pepper saw me suffering and wanted to help ease this pain, but the more I suffered, the more I felt others' good intentions were just pity—charity, really. They can't truly feel my pain, so what's the point of solving it? It's just tossing out some pity to satisfy their lofty benevolence—I hate that."

"And then you became the only one among us who doesn't oppose psychological evaluation." Steve accurately exposed Stark.

Stark was like a cat that had its tail stepped on, shouting loudly, "That's because I pay him three hundred million dollars in medical expenses per quarter! Next quarter it's going up another twenty percent!"

"Pretend I didn't say anything. If it were me, I'd sit in a therapist's office twenty-four hours a day to get my money's worth."

On Earth, Natasha had already taken it upon herself to throw the serum back to Nick and said, "Trust me, Nick, I have a better way to test Stark; we don't have to take this kind of risk."

"If you had a good method, why didn't you say so earlier?"

Natasha smiled faintly without speaking; she merely thought to herself, "The other me never learned how to fish."