The Eye of Agamotto, in the Marvel universe, is the container of the Time Stone. It can dispel illusions and disguises, and can be used to assist in casting spells.
But its most crucial function is "manipulating time".
In the movie, Doctor Strange used this artifact to reverse time, restoring destroyed things to their intact state, returning them to how they were before being damaged.
Using this artifact, Doctor Strange trapped Dormammu in a time loop, forcing him to retreat.
Now, seeing the Ancient One use this artifact, Alex didn't hesitate. Together with his clone, he used "heat vision".
Blazing golden streams surged downward, blasting toward the Sorcerer Supreme. But before they could hit her, the Ancient One had already opened the Eye of Agamotto, forming a green magical ring around her hands.
Then, with a twist of her hands, the two heat beams stopped right in front of her, and then rapidly reversed.
Next, the scene became like a rewinding video recording. Light and shadow flickered, and time flowed backward.
At the same time, reality was also affected. The streetlights that had just been destroyed, the damaged road surface, the overturned cars, everything began to rewind within the torrent of time.
Fallen streetlights rose back up. Cracked roads were restored. Overturned cars returned to their original positions.
Even the flames that had poured out from the Mirror Dimension reappeared out of thin air, then retreated back into the cracks. Those cracks quickly smoothed over, as if they had never existed.
Finally, the Mirror Dimension disappeared. Alex and Caitlin returned to the entrance of the café they had stepped out of when they crossed into this universe.
Everything froze there.
Time temporarily stopped.
The Ancient One stood on a distant rooftop, gazing at Alex and Caitlin on the street, maintaining the Time Stone.
"There's no way to send them back. After all, they aren't from this universe. Clearly, the Time Stone can't affect time in another universe."
"In that case, this is the only option, replace restraint with surveillance."
Having already confirmed through action that she couldn't restrain that man, the Ancient One didn't want their battle to affect reality. After all, trouble was already unfolding in the real world.
She let out a soft sigh, ended her use of the Time Stone, returned the Eye of Agamotto to its normal state, and pulled up her hood.
Turning around, she drew a circle in the air, opened a portal, and returned to the New York Sanctum.
———
On the other side, on the street—
Alex and Caitlin both looked a little dazed. Then they heard someone behind them say—
"Don't block the way."
Alex turned back and saw it was a café. As he and Caitlin stepped aside, a rushing sound came from the sky.
He looked up and saw a figure flying rapidly through the night sky. The figure was covered in red-and-gold alloy armor, with flames shooting from his hands and feet, propelling him forward toward a skyscraper.
Lights lit up on that building, illuminating some English words: Stark Tower.
"Hey, did you see that? That was Iron Man, right?"
"Definitely him. Look, he's heading to Stark Tower."
Passersby pulled out their phones to take pictures.
'Stark Tower?'
'Iron Man!'
'Did we arrive in the Marvel universe?'
The corner of Alex's mouth lifted slightly, then he frowned, "Strange, why do I feel like this is familiar?"
"It's like I've experienced that scene before."
"Was I dreaming?"
Beside him, Caitlin asked, "Mr. John, what are you talking about?"
"Where are we now?"
"Did we end up somewhere strange again?"
Alex took her hand and walked down the street. Information appeared across his retina.
[You have actively triggered a multiverse event.]
[Event Name: Avengers.]
[Description: The Tesseract has awakened. The God of Mischief, Loki, used the Tesseract's spatial teleportation ability to enter S.H.I.E.L.D.'s research base, instantly took control of Dr. Selvig and Hawkeye, and made off with the Tesseract. Arriving at this moment, what kind of changes will you bring to this already turbulent universe?]
[Event Requirement: None.]
[Note: You may act freely. When you leave this universe, the event will end. Your actions during the event will be evaluated, and rewards will be issued accordingly.]
'Hmm, the event's been triggered.'
'No requirements.'
'Same as the DC universe last time.'
'That gives me a lot of room to work with.'
'For example, I could go to Wakanda and get myself a Vibranium suit, and maybe stir things up there to see if Vibranium can appear in the shop.'
'For example, when the Chitauri army invades Earth, I could pass through the wormhole into the other side of the universe and strike directly at their base. That should earn quite a bit of proficiency.'
'For example, I could interact with, or even fight against, superheroes like Thor and the Hulk, gaining proficiency while also trying to refresh their equipment into the shop.'
'Finally, I could go cause trouble for Loki."
'Loki has the Cosmic Cube, and his scepter has the Mind Stone embedded in it. Those are all top-tier divine artifacts.'
'Wait—'
Alex frowned again.
'Why do I feel like I've had these exact thoughts before?'
'This is really strange.'
He shook his head and looked at Caitlin, "The place we've arrived at is pretty similar to our original city."
"It was the same last time."
"Caitlin, have you ever heard of the multiverse?"
Caitlin nodded, "I've heard of it. Do you think every time I 'sleepwalk,' I'm actually going to different universes?"
Alex said, "Yes. Otherwise, there's no explanation for why both times we ended up in cities that look like New York, but aren't the one we know."
"There are no friends or family we recognize here, and some buildings are different."
"Like that Stark Tower."
Caitlin said nervously, "Something like that actually exists? That's unbelievable. Could it be that I'm sick?"
Alex smiled, "You can relax. You're perfectly healthy."
He had been scanning Caitlin's body from time to time. If she were sick, he would know immediately.
Caitlin touched her flat pocket, "I didn't bring any cash. What do we do now? Spend the night at a subway station?"
"I've got some experience with that," she added.
Alex smiled, "No need. I've got a way to get money. Wait here, don't go anywhere."
After saying that, Alex looked at the ATM across the street.
In front of the ATM, a man with dark complexion was listening to music and dancing.
When it was finally his turn to withdraw money, he stepped forward, only to be lifted up and shoved aside.
He fell to the ground and saw a white man wearing a baseball cap, plaid shirt, and jeans, looking like a worker, walk up to the ATM.
"Hey, man, there's a line here."
"If you want money, you've gotta wait behind me."
Alex ignored him completely. He grabbed the ATM and yanked it hard, tearing the entire machine off.
Throwing it onto the ground, Alex then looked at him, "What did you just say?"
The man stared wide-eyed and waved his hands, "I-I didn't say anything."
"Take your time, no rush. I can wait."
Alex smiled, grabbed a stack of cash from the machine, and crossed the street.
At that moment, the bank security guard ran out, saw the ATM thrown aside and the dollars blowing across the street, and froze.
Then the man picked up some of the money on the ground and ran. The guard didn't even know who to chase first.
As more and more pedestrians joined in picking up money from the ground, the guard completely gave up on chasing Alex and shouted—
"Don't pick that up, that's the bank's money!"
"You're breaking the law!"
"Stop it!"
Amid the flow of traffic, Alex walked as if he were taking a stroll. A taxi nearly hit him. The driver stuck his head out the window and slapped the car door, shouting, "Are you blind? Can't you see this isn't a crosswalk?"
Alex casually tossed him a dollar bill. The driver took one look and immediately smiled, "Take it slow, sir. Have a good evening."
Alex returned to Caitlin and stuffed the cash into her pocket, "See? Now we've got money."
Caitlin was curious, "Mr. John, where did you get the money?"
"Well, people in this universe are very generous. I told a gentleman our money got stolen, and he gave me a stack."
"This should be enough for us to spend for a few days," After saying that, Alex hailed a taxi and left with Caitlin.
Based on the plot of The Avengers 1, a major battle would soon break out on Manhattan Island in New York. So Alex took Caitlin as far away as possible.
They practically reached the suburbs. Alex found an apartment-style hotel and booked one room each for the two of them.
"It's getting late. Get some rest. Tomorrow we'll go out and look around."
"Okay. Good night, Mr. John."
Alex returned to his own room. He had no intention of wasting time sleeping. Taking out the "Black Bat Circus" coin, just like last time, he summoned a few circus members to protect Caitlin, then left the hotel.
———
[Eastern Africa, Capital of Wakanda]
Prince T'Challa strode quickly into the security center, "What happened?"
His sister, Princess Shuri, said nervously, "Brother, just now we detected a rapidly moving unidentified object. It's been moving back and forth at first cosmic velocity in our nearby airspace, as if searching for something."
T'Challa's expression turned serious, "Searching for something?"
Shuri said, "It really does look like it's searching. Brother, should we notify Father?"
T'Challa shook his head, "Let's see what's going on first. Don't alarm Father unnecessarily."
At that moment, someone called out, "Prince T'Challa, Princess Shuri, the object has stopped. Look at the main screen."
On the holographic display in the security center, the quiet night sky above the African savanna was shown. Beneath the star-filled sky, a figure stood suspended.
"It's actually a person?", Shuri said in shock, "Even that flying tin man in New York couldn't reach first cosmic velocity."
T'Challa said loudly, "Zoom in."
The image enlarged, revealing a bright full moon.
The moon was huge tonight. With the zoom, even the craters on its surface were visible.
The figure that had been moving at first cosmic velocity stood in front of the moon. Backlit, his features were hard to see, but his eyes glowed with golden light.
He wore a black combat suit with gold lightning-like patterns, and on his chest was a stylized emblem derived from the letter "K."
Behind him, a red cape fluttered. For a moment, Shuri felt like it wasn't a cape at all, but a mass of flames.
A flame of calamity! A blaze of war!
It gave her a very bad feeling.
At that moment, someone else shouted, "We're detecting high-intensity solar radiation. The radiation levels are rising exponentially!"
At the same time, on the screen, the man's eyes lit up.
A burst of golden light flared like the midday sun, flooding the entire security center with white. Then they heard a roaring sound from outside, and the ground and buildings began to tremble.
T'Challa rushed to the window and looked out. In the distant night sky, a golden beam was blasting downward, sweeping wildly across the land.
Wherever the beam passed, massive orange-red fireballs erupted.
Then the beam swept toward the capital of Wakanda, instantly activating the city's protective shield.
A layer of blue light lit up, blocking the golden beam and the ensuing explosions outside. At that moment, the entire sky over Wakanda was illuminated by fire.
Blazing flames spread wildly, expanding along the outside of the blue shield, like a vivid red dye rapidly spreading, painting the entire night sky into a glaring crimson.
"What's going on? Did something explode?"
"Could it be a meteor?"
"Good thing we've got the shield, otherwise we'd be finished."
In the capital, Wakandans were awakened by the explosions. They rushed out of their homes or onto rooftops, staring at the night sky and the receding flames beyond the shield.
Inside the security center, T'Challa's face was grave. He turned and said, "I know what he's doing."
"He's looking for us, looking for Wakanda!"
"Shuri, reinforce our defenses. Also notify General Okoye. Assemble the army. Prepare for battle!"
Soon, piercing alarms rang out over the capital of Wakanda. The sound was so loud it carried beyond Wakanda itself, reaching Alex's ears.
The one moving at first cosmic velocity through the African skies was Alex.
After leaving New York, he headed straight for Wakanda. Of course, he didn't know its exact location, only that it was in eastern Africa, so he had been flying back and forth overhead.
In the end, he used heat vision to sweep the ground, creating explosions to trigger Wakanda's protective shield, finally pinpointing the exact location of this most technologically advanced nation in the Marvel universe.
The moment he locked onto it, Alex descended.
By then, dawn was approaching. After all, there was nearly an eight-hour time difference between New York and Africa. As the eastern sky began to lighten, Alex landed on the grasslands.
Ahead of him, across the vast land, rose an energy barrier that stretched almost endlessly.
Alex clasped his hands behind his back and walked forward as if sightseeing. In the distance, from the horizon, a cloud of dust began to rise.
Then large numbers of fighter jets flew in, roaring as they approached, beams of light shining down on Alex.
Following them were numerous hovering vehicles, the primary ground transport of Wakanda, bringing in countless soldiers.
Just like in the movies, Wakandan soldiers wore tribal-style outfits, carrying spears and shields, looking almost like uncivilized primitives.
Finally, Alex saw that from one of the vehicles, Wakanda's protector, the Black Panther, already suited up, jumped down.
Alex made a rough estimate. The number of troops Wakanda had mobilized was about five to six times what was shown in the movie. And they had a full array of vehicles, aircraft, and military equipment, not like the tribal scuffle depicted on screen.
T'Challa stepped forward, removed his helmet, and looked at Alex.
"This is the border of Wakanda. Stranger, you are not welcome here. Leave."
Alex laughed, "King T'Challa, no, Prince."
"You haven't become king yet."
"And besides, I come and go as I please."
"It's not your place to order me around."
T'Challa said in a deep voice, "Do you understand what a national border is, sir?"
Alex chuckled, "A border is nothing more than something humans defined themselves. Think about it, when you were still primates, did something like a border exist?"
"Or to put it another way, what right does a group of primates have to stop a dragon from entering their territory?"
T'Challa said firmly, "Step into our land, and you are our enemy!"
"Want to stop me?"
"Then you'd better show me what you've got."
After saying that, Alex stopped wasting words with him. His eyes lit up, firing heat vision.
Two golden beams struck the blue energy barrier, creating ripples of golden light, but they failed to break Wakanda's shield.
Seeing this, the bald general behind T'Challa, Okoye, said, "No need to worry, Prince T'Challa. He can't break our 'dome shield.'"
But just as she finished speaking, the beams from Alex's eyes suddenly thickened. The stream of energy blasted forward like a cannon, slamming into the shield and causing it to flicker.
Alex glared again. With a thunderous boom, the grass beneath his feet ignited without warning. The temperature outside the shield rose rapidly, and the distant trees began catching fire one after another.
Inside the security center, alarms blared nonstop.
Princess Shuri stared at a chart and immediately contacted her brother, "Brother, the temperature outside the shield has exceeded ten thousand degrees!"
"You have to be careful!"
"That mysterious man appears to be able to release and freely control solar radiation levels!"
Hearing his sister's warning, a flash of shock passed through T'Challa's eyes. He shouted, "Full defensive measures!"
He hurriedly put his helmet back on. At that moment, the energy barrier ahead flared brightly. Then the entire "dome shield" flickered twice, and completely shattered.
BOOM!
The instant the shield disappeared, a torrent of ultra-high-temperature energy surged forward. T'Challa immediately threw himself over General Okoye, pressing her to the ground, and felt a searing heat on his back.
His suit was made of Vibranium, which could absorb energy and heat. Even so, he could still feel the intense heat, showing just how terrifying the energy torrent was.
The torrent swept past in an instant. Wherever it passed, vehicles, aircraft, weapons, and soldiers were annihilated. Then, within that torrent, hundreds of fireballs erupted.
[🎉 Shoutout to Little_Demon, Thanh, WetWatee, Slashdog, Darklouche and Michael for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]
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