Rhodey's injuries were healed by Ethan with a casual wave, a miraculous sight that left everyone a little stunned.
"Mages can do things like that?"
This world's Tony Stark looked him over several times and even used his own equipment to perform a detailed scan of his friend Rhodey, confirming that all his injuries were healed. Even his muscle strength had returned to its peak. This was completely unscientific!
Although he had already witnessed many unscientific things, he still found this scene quite magical.
"Next is Banner."
"Me?"
Bruce Banner pointed to himself. He did not know what was wrong with him.
"Do you want to stay like this forever?"
Currently, Banner had the appearance of the Hulk but Banner's mind. It seemed like a fusion of the two, but the fusion was not complete because Banner still could not perfectly control the Hulk's power.
"Then what should I do?"
"Hold out your hand!"
Banner extended his hand. Ethan did not touch palms with him and chant something like "the sun is setting." Instead, he directly brought Banner into the spiritual world, making him face the other self within his own mind, which was the Hulk.
In this spiritual world, Ethan taught him how to control his power, allowing him to freely switch between the Hulk and his normal human form.
It took quite a while in the spiritual world to complete this teaching, but when Banner opened his eyes, he found that almost no time seemed to have passed at all.
"I..."
Banner looked at his hands, which had returned to normal, and his loose clothes, then turned to ask Steve beside him.
"How long has it been?"
"After Ethan touched your hand, your appearance started changing. You opened your eyes after turning back into a normal person..." Steve estimated in his mind. "About a minute?"
Banner understood that the flow of time in the spiritual world was vastly different from the real world. A long time might have passed in the spiritual world, but only an instant had passed in reality.
"I can turn into the Hulk whenever I want?"
"Yes, but your strength might not be as great as the true Hulk."
Banner from his own world had guided Banner in this way to master his power. It was a problem that could be solved by simply replicating that method.
As for the rest, there seemed to be no one who needed his special attention. And by helping Banner and Rhodey, Ethan finally gained the goodwill of this group.
"Next, I'll arrange accommodation for you."
The Avengers base was large and well-equipped with various facilities. Finding two rooms for Ethan and the other Tony was not difficult.
It was likely that no one would rest tonight. Many people were curious about the other world, while the two Tonys, looking at each other with expressions of mutual dislike, huddled together. Rhodey, worried that there would be a conflict between the two Tonys, could only keep following them. Suddenly, he felt that his legs becoming more agile might not be such a good thing!
Leaving the conference room, they went to the mess hall, chatting casually while eating. Thor, meanwhile, kept pouring drinks and asking about his counterpart in the other world.
"You mean, I became the King of Asgard in your world, and I just killed Thanos?"
"Clint was there at the time. You can ask him."
Clint nodded, then looked at the obese Thor in front of him, unable to control his urge to comment.
"To be honest, that one is far more deserving of the title God of Thunder than you."
"How could anyone be more deserving of the title God of Thunder than me? Do you know what flows in my veins?"
"Cheese sauce!"
Rhodey, who had been sitting farther away, suddenly blurted it out, making everyone laugh.
"Thor, recover your strength as soon as possible if you can. We need to take the Infinity Stones from Thanos, and you're an indispensable combat force."
Because of the Soul Stone, everyone had abandoned the original plan and decided instead to go to the point in time when Thanos finished his snap and fled to that remote planet. They would set up a plan in advance and launch a surprise attack the moment Thanos arrived.
Even with a surprise attack, Thor still needed to recover his full combat strength, because they would not get a second chance. Whether they could save this world depended entirely on this operation.
"Don't worry. As long as I'm facing Thanos, I'm always in peak condition."
Thor knew his strength had decreased significantly, but at this moment, he would not back down.
"When do we leave?"
Ethan stuffed fries into his mouth while watching their conversation. Their expressions were still solemn. It seemed facing Thanos still put immense pressure on them.
Ordinary people like Black Widow and Hawkeye simply did not have the strength to face Thanos head-on. At most, they could cheer from the sidelines.
"I've already sent a message to Carol. We're waiting for her reply."
Carol Danvers was Captain Marvel, the superhero who was once considered their last great hope. In this battle, she had not had many opportunities to shine. Her only highlight had been destroying Thanos's warship, after which she mostly just stayed on the battlefield.
"While Carol hasn't arrived yet, Thor, hurry up and lose weight!"
Thor fell silent. He was also thinking about how much his condition could recover during this time, but Clint came up with another idea.
"Actually, we can find more help."
Everyone was startled. Even the two Tonys, who were talking quietly not far away, turned their heads to hear Clint's idea.
"Since Ethan can freely travel between parallel worlds, and even bring Tony over, he can also bring others over."
He had seen how fierce Thor from that world was. If they could summon that powerful God of Thunder, the probability of winning would undoubtedly increase greatly.
"Hey!"
"Thanos has already been killed once by that Thor. I won't give way this time."
Clint's suggestion caused dissatisfaction from two people. Thor, who felt underestimated, and Tony Stark, who had specially come over to show off.
"I think we can start preparing now. I'll handle this Thanos myself."
"Well, we don't have any extra Pym Particles, unless you can follow us to another parallel world." Scott turned to look at Ethan, who was slowly eating fries beside him. "Can you do that?"
"Yes!"
Ethan's answer was simple, then he pulled the onion rings toward him.
"But it doesn't have to be that troublesome. There's an even simpler way."
"What do you mean?"
Ethan was still stuffing onion rings into his mouth as he answered their question.
"To confront Thanos and take the Infinity Stones from him, you don't necessarily have to go to a parallel world."
He answered, but everyone still did not understand what he meant. So Ethan could only give a demonstration to help them understand.
He looked at the table, then at Black Widow, who was eating an apple.
"Lend me that apple."
"This?"
Natasha looked at the apple in her hand, which was already half-eaten. She had no idea what Ethan wanted to do.
"Just put it on the table."
Natasha did not refuse and placed the apple directly on the table. Then Ethan put the last onion ring in his mouth, clapped his hands twice, and wiped his mouth with a wet wipe before standing up.
He did not squat down in a horse stance or strike a special pose, nor did he grit his teeth as if struggling. He simply extended his right hand. As he did, green energy was released, condensing into various mysterious symbols that wrapped around Ethan's arm in a ring shape.
A green ball of light seemed to be held in his palm, and as he gently rotated his hand, the green rings on his arm also slowly spun.
This was nothing, just light and shadow effects. The Avengers had seen plenty of that. What truly caught their attention was the ordinary apple on the table, which was only half-eaten.
As Ethan rotated his wrist counterclockwise, the apple slowly restored itself to a whole one. Then, as he continued to rotate, the bright red apple slowly turned greenish-blue.
"This is..."
As Ethan rotated clockwise again, the green apple slowly ripened. Then, under everyone's astonished gazes, it was eaten bite by bite, leaving only the apple core.
That was not all. Ethan continued to slowly rotate his wrist, and the apple core began to slowly rot and decay. Then, after Ethan gently rotated counterclockwise for a moment, it returned to the state it had been in when Natasha placed it on the table.
Ethan withdrew the energy from his hand and lightly spread his palms.
"Understand now?"
There was nothing to misunderstand. Thanos had used this method to resurrect Vision, who had been killed by the Scarlet Witch, and then took the Mind Stone.
Ethan's meaning was clear. He also possessed this ability.
"You have the Time Stone?"
"No. The Time Stone is with Strange."
"Then how did you...?"
"With enough strength, you can naturally do it."
It sounded easy, but everyone could understand with a little thought that ordinary people could never achieve this in a lifetime, and even Doctor Strange could not do this. He needed the Time Stone.
Steve suddenly thought of a question.
"How strong are you exactly?" He felt that asking this might be inappropriate, so he provided a reference point. "Compared to Thanos..."
"Well..." Ethan did not know how to answer. His current strength far surpassed Thanos's. Even Thanos with the Infinity Gauntlet would be no match for him. "Probably strong enough to crush him easily!"
To the people around him, these words sounded like bragging.
Steve frowned and was about to say something when a series of crackling noises suddenly erupted, mixed with thunder. Without asking, he knew Thor had summoned his axe.
"Let me see how strong you really are!"
(To be continued.)