Tony kept circling the fat shut-in version of Thor. It was not because he had developed some strange habit, but because he was filming with his glasses.
Of course, he could not pass up such good material. Just like when Thor had been thoroughly tormented by Ethan using spatial magic back then, Tony had also filmed a lot of material, keeping a copy for himself and sharing it with his friends.
Thor did not mind this Tony's teasing. He had been through too much in this world, and ordinary provocations could no longer cause drastic emotional fluctuations. He was even in the mood to joke about himself. He grabbed the flesh on his belly, shook it twice, and said something to the younger Tony in front of him.
"I'm storing divine power!"
"Be careful not to store too much!"
Tony casually patted Thor's arm. Unlike the feeling of hitting a stone back then, this pat caused ripples of flesh, leaving everyone speechless.
"Let's get back to the main topic!"
Steve brought the conversation back on track. After the conversation, he knew what Clint had been through. Now, he just wanted to know whether there was a problem with that time machine.
"There shouldn't be a problem, but Clint was hijacked by Ethan to their timeline. There's no way to determine whether this test was a success or a failure."
What gave Banner and Ant-Man Scott an even bigger headache was that there were very few Pym Particles left. In this situation, they could not continue testing and could only risk starting the plan.
"Speaking of which, what exactly is your plan to save the world?"
Ethan had not spoken before, only asking now.
Although he already knew Steve and the others' plan, he was not the only one who wanted to know. Tony, who had come here with Ethan, also wanted to hear it.
"Our plan is to travel to parallel worlds, collect all the Infinity Stones, and then use the power of the Infinity Stones to bring back those who disappeared."
"Uh-huh!"
Ethan nodded. This plan was actually quite reliable. Next, the group began discussing which points in time they should go to retrieve the Stones. After much discussion, they concluded that they would split into three teams and go to different parallel universes to collect the Infinity Stones.
Among them, Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man, and the Hulk would go to the time of the Battle of New York to find a way to obtain the Tesseract, the Mind Stone, and the Time Stone kept by the sorcerers of Kamar-Taj.
Due to the information they had, Tony and the others thought they were going to Stephen Strange. Ethan gave them a slight reminder.
"At that time, the Sorcerer Supreme protecting Earth was still the Ancient One, and Stephen Strange was still a doctor."
The few of them looked at each other. They had not been aware of this.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure."
Captain America and the others felt a bit of a headache. They did not know what kind of person the Ancient One was, and they were not sure whether they could persuade Strange's predecessor to hand over the Time Stone.
However, this issue could be set aside for now. Perhaps the Ancient One would be easier to talk to than they thought?
Besides this team, there was also a team composed of Thor and Rocket Raccoon. They would go to Asgard before the Dark Elf invasion. At that time, the Aether was parasitizing Jane Foster's body, and they would need to specially make a piece of equipment to extract the Aether from Jane.
The last group consisted of War Machine, Nebula, Hawkeye, and Black Widow. This group would also split up after arriving in the parallel universe. One group would need to get the Orb before Peter, while the other group would go to get the Soul Stone.
"That's it? That's your plan?"
As time passed, people who had not originally been at the Avengers base also rushed over, except for Captain Marvel, who was somewhere in the universe busy getting her hair done.
"Yes."
Hearing their affirmative answer, Ethan had the urge to cover his face.
"Is something wrong?"
Just from Ethan's expression, even someone slow could tell how much he disdained their plan. This made the Avengers feel very unhappy, as if they were being looked down on.
"Hey, if you think there's something wrong with this plan, then come up with a better suggestion."
Scott always said whatever came to mind, and his words happened to voice the thoughts of everyone present. So everyone turned their gaze to Ethan, wanting to see what profound insight this companion from a parallel world, whom they had never met, had to offer.
"You want to collect all the Infinity Stones, right?"
"That's right."
Steve could still talk to Ethan calmly. He did not mind the plan being disdained. If Ethan could offer a better alternative, that would undoubtedly be a good thing.
"You chose these three points in time mainly because the Stones are in clear locations and not particularly scattered."
"That's right."
Ethan spread his hands, adopting a speechless posture.
"In that case, since you clearly know the point in time when all six Stones were gathered together, why didn't you choose that time?"
"..."
The Avengers suddenly fell silent. It seemed Captain America immediately understood what Ethan meant.
"You mean... snatching them from Thanos?"
"Uh-huh!" Ethan nodded, arms crossed.
"But Thanos's strength..."
This was the reason they had not considered this. Because Thanos's strength was too great, and when he had all six Infinity Stones, he was practically invincible. Even Thanos with just one or two Stones was not easy to deal with. So they had instinctively overlooked this option.
"Didn't you already kill him?"
Now everyone understood. Ethan was not suggesting they go head-to-head with the strongest Thanos, who had just acquired all the Stones. Instead, he meant going to the planet where Thanos had chosen to retire and ambushing him while he was in a weakened state.
"If you think that's too dangerous, you could also choose to wait a little earlier in Thanos's hut and launch an ambush the moment he finishes his righteous deed and escapes there."
At that time, Thanos had just been severely wounded by Thor's axe and had suffered some backlash from snapping his fingers, leaving his body at its weakest.
If they suddenly rushed out from all directions to ambush him just as he left Earth and was about to relax, the chances of success would be very high. They had actually done this a few years ago.
The Avengers thought in silence for a moment. Ant-Man looked at his companions to his left and right, and finally admitted that Ethan's suggestion seemed quite good. He awkwardly gave Ethan a thumbs-up.
"It really is a good plan!"
"However, directly facing Thanos, even in an injured state, still carries the possibility of failure... and we cannot fail."
Ethan's plan sounded like it had a high success rate, but it was definitely not as safe as the original plan, because the Stones they had planned to retrieve were not being guarded by powerful individuals.
The Tesseract and the Mind Stone, after the Battle of New York, were kept by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. They just needed to use a little ingenuity to get their hands on these two Stones.
The Time Stone was in the hands of the Sorcerer Supreme. What they needed to do was persuade the other party, not snatch it.
The Aether was in Jane Foster's body. Jane was in Asgard at the time, and Thor just needed to find an opportunity to approach his ex-girlfriend. Likewise, there would be no enemies to stop him.
As for the Orb? The only competitor was an idiot, and the Soul Stone was on a desolate planet.
"No, the Soul Stone isn't that easy to get."
Not a single person here knew that obtaining the Soul Stone required sacrificing a soul. Nebula only thought that Thanos killed Gamora after getting the Soul Stone. Everyone thought they could simply go to Vormir and get the Soul Stone directly.
"To obtain the Soul Stone, you must sacrifice the life of the person you love most... Who are you prepared to let die?"
Hearing this condition for obtaining the Soul Stone, the Avengers immediately realized that their original plan had lost its feasibility.
Although Hawkeye and Black Widow were both willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, Captain America, as the commander, would absolutely not agree.
"In that case, let's go directly to Thanos. I really want to chop his neck with an axe again!"
Other things did not excite Thor, but fighting Thanos? He was motivated no matter how many times.
"Uh... if you can still swing that axe."
War Machine Rhodey had become a snarky maniac since his injury, occasionally blurting out a remark. After he finished his jab at Thor, he turned his head and saw the parallel universe's Tony standing beside him, tilting his head and examining him.
"Hey, don't tell me we have some special relationship in the parallel world."
Because of where Tony was looking, Rhodey felt a bit flustered.
"What? Oh, I was just looking at this... exoskeleton device on you!" Tony pointed to the walking assistance device on Rhodey. "How long have you been using it?"
"Don't worry, I'm used to it."
Rhodey suddenly felt that this really was Tony. Even though he came from another universe, he was still the good buddy he was familiar with.
"Looks like the me in another world is doing quite well."
Tony nodded in response. He had previously learned from Hawkeye that the Avengers in this world had experienced internal conflict, but he had not known that Rhodey had been severely injured because of it.
Looking around again, he saw the gaunt Natasha, the much older Clint, the always-frowning Steve, and that much older version of himself.
"Ethan!"
"Don't worry, this is simple."
There was no need for unnecessary words. Ethan knew what Tony wanted to ask him. Without any physical movement, just a single thought arose, and golden light already enveloped Rhodey.
The sudden change caught everyone a bit off guard. By the time they reacted and wanted to ask something, they realized they did not need to speak.
The golden light slowly faded, and Tony reached out to turn off the device on Rhodey's body, while a slightly bewildered Rhodey remained standing steadily where he was.
(To be continued.)