Chapter 308: The Ancient One — Strange Approves!
The Ancient One followed the direction of future-Banner's pointing finger — and understood immediately. This future version of Banner wanted the Time Stone she carried.
Strange's eyes went wide the second he heard the demand, and he quietly took several careful steps backward, desperate to distance himself from whatever mess this stranger was about to cause.
Unbelievable. So that's what the Time Stone actually is — the Eye of Agamotto. How does this guy have the nerve to even ask? If the Ancient One hadn't been standing right there, Strange would have gladly ended this man on the spot.
Strange had known, from almost the moment he arrived at Kamar-Taj, exactly what the Eye of Agamotto meant to them — a relic guarded across generations, one every Sorcerer Supreme was personally sworn to protect.
And here was some outsider from another universe, casually asking to just borrow it. Who was to say he'd ever actually give it back? Absurd.
Strange also knew, from what Ethan had told him, exactly how dangerous the Infinity Stones truly were — each universe only ever contained six of them, and each carried effectively limitless power. Who knew what might happen if even one of them went missing from its home universe? At worst, it could trigger the total collapse of the entire reality it belonged to.
And even setting aside the worst-case scenario — even if the universe somehow survived without it — if something DID go wrong because the Stone had been loaned out, who would they even turn to for help fixing it?
As far as Strange was concerned, if the Eye of Agamotto were his to protect, there was no scenario under which he'd ever agree to loan it out. Not a chance.
With that thought, Strange quietly retreated a few more steps, positioning himself in case this madman tried to make a run for it.
Sure enough, the Ancient One refused. "I'm afraid that's not possible."
Future-Banner, though, was well past the point of playing nice. "I'm sorry. But I'm not exactly asking your permission." With that, he advanced slowly on the Ancient One, moving to simply seize the Time Stone from her.
"You'll regret this," the Ancient One said.
"No — I already know I'll regret it. I just don't have any other option." Future-Banner kept advancing, reaching for the Stone.
Before he could lay a hand on it, Strange's voice rang out from behind him. "How dare you, you insolent fool — laying hands on the Ancient One!" With that, Strange struck him with a single open-palmed blow.
The next instant, future-Banner's soul was ripped clean out of his body — he could see, from outside himself, his own physical form still standing there.
"Ancient One, I'm terribly sorry. I really didn't expect this Banner from the other universe to be so ill-mannered," Strange said quickly, worried the Ancient One might be upset — after all, he was the one who'd brought this stranger up here in the first place.
He absolutely needed to make up for that lapse. Sure, he knew perfectly well the Ancient One would've been in no real danger even if he'd done nothing at all — but appearances mattered here. If the Ancient One decided to casually toss him into some demon dimension as punishment, even if it didn't kill him, it would certainly leave a mark.
The Ancient One, of course, saw right through Strange's little performance. She only spared him a calm glance, then turned her attention to the now-soul-form future-Banner from the other universe.
"Let's start from the beginning, shall we." The Ancient One addressed the disembodied future-Banner directly.
Elsewhere —
"Uh, Tony — your place is completely empty. You sure you've got the timing right?" Future-Ant-Man, shrunk down to insect size, stood balanced steadily on Tony Stark's shoulder, his tiny voice still perfectly clear.
Future-Ant-Man and future-Iron Man were currently crouched furtively atop Stark Tower, peering down into Tony's own living room below.
"This shouldn't be right at all. By this point in the timeline, we should be down there with Thor and the others, closing in on Loki." Tony frowned, deeply confused, muttering to himself. "What is even going on here? Where's the Tesseract supposed to be?"
Ant-Man's tiny eyes gleamed, clearly working through something. "Isn't that you, over there, flying around? This timeline's you, I mean." He pointed off in the distance, where a streak of Iron Man armor cut through the clouds, locked in combat with the enemy.
"Maybe you two just haven't wrapped up the fight yet," Ant-Man added. After all, by the time he'd joined the Avengers, the whole first alien-invasion mess had already been settled.
At that, future-Iron Man immediately asked, "Then where — wait, where's Captain America? Shouldn't he be the one leading the charge down there?"
"Well, take a look down there — see those Riders duking it out at the bottom?" future-Ant-Man said, pointing. "Right around that pink-armored one — that guy lying on the ground is Captain America. Man, I had no idea your fight back then was THIS brutal."
"No way. There's no way Steve went down like that. We never faced anything that strong," future-Iron Man said, denying it flatly.
"I'm telling you, that's definitely America's ass. Nobody's got that ass but Captain America," future-Ant-Man shot back, entirely confident.
Future-Iron Man zoomed in and, sure enough, spotted exactly what Ant-Man was describing — that particular, unmistakable rear end that could only belong to Captain America.
This is completely insane, future-Iron Man thought. This is definitely NOT our universe.
Right about then, FRIDAY finally finished decoding intelligence on this world, and the moment Tony pulled up what she'd found, his face went pale, pupils dilating slightly. "The Director — Nick Fury — he's dead?!"
"'Ethan Cross of Hell's Kitchen'? What in the world is THAT????"
Back at the New York Sanctum's rooftop.
Strange watched the Ancient One pace back and forth across the balcony, while Banner desperately pleaded with her.
"I'm sorry. I can't help you, Bruce."
"Please," future-Banner begged, every word raw and sincere.
"If I hand you the Time Stone so you can go save your own world, then our own reality falls into mortal danger," the Ancient One said, her face perfectly composed as she refused.
Off to the side, Strange found himself nodding along without meaning to. Exactly right. Give up the Time Stone, and what happens to OUR world?
No matter how generous or self-sacrificing a person claimed to be, nobody in their right mind would give up their entire universe to save a different one.
Beautifully done, Ancient One. Absolutely beautifully done.
☆☆☆
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