Tony held his head in his hands, disbelief written across his face. "Holy crap! What's going on? How come I don't remember having so many reinforcements back then?"
Looking at the countless Golden-Armored Warriors in the sky hunting down the Chitauri army, what did his previous lone stand against the Chitauri alongside a few guys in weird costumes even count as?
Looking at that destructive seven-colored beam of light continuously outputting into the spatial wormhole, what did it count as when he had personally carried a nuclear bomb into the wormhole to blow up the mothership?
Did it just count as him having commendable courage?
Meanwhile, the Green Doctor, who had been to Asgard, scratched his head and guessed:
"These should be Asgard's army. That seven-colored beam in the sky should be the Asgardian planet-killing weapon Thor mentioned, the 'Bifrost Bridge...'"
"But I remember Thor also said that at the 2012 timestamp, the Bifrost Bridge had just been smashed by his hammer not long ago and hadn't been repaired yet. That's why the God Realm couldn't send a large army to support. He only managed to come because Odin exhausted his own divine power to send him..."
"But now this..."
The final member, Captain America, appeared much more composed than the others. He said in a deep voice:
"There's only one possibility. It's just as Tony said before: we didn't travel through time; we traveled to a parallel Universe at a corresponding point in time!"
"And since it's a parallel Universe, it's impossible for it to be exactly the same. Just as there are no two identical leaves in the World, even on the same tree there are at most similar leaves; the same applies to parallel Universes!"
Hearing this, Tony also calmed down and nodded:
"The Captain is right. It seems we've arrived at a very different leaf. The Thor of this Universe didn't destroy the Bifrost Bridge recently, so the Asgardian army was able to come and support Earth!"
"This is undoubtedly a good thing for the Earth of this Universe, but correspondingly, our original plan to 'borrow' the stones likely won't work anymore. We'll have to take more risks and act according to the situation!"
Captain America and the Green Doctor both nodded, indicating they thought the same way.
At this moment, Scott raised his hand and asked a crucial question:
"Everyone, since this Universe's timeline is already completely different from ours, meaning the locations of the stones have also changed, how are we supposed to find the three Infinity Stones?"
Facing this question, Tony, Captain America, and the Green Doctor looked at each other and said together with firm tones: "We only have one choice, and that is... the Avengers!"
"No matter how much this World changes, in the face of such a disaster, I believe the Avengers will definitely appear. As long as we find them, we can get clues about the Infinity Stones in this Universe from them!"
As he spoke, Tony tapped his chest. The nano-device he wore immediately projected an electronic female hologram.
"Friday, help me search for news about the Avengers in this Universe."
[Connected to this Universe's network. Searching the entire web...]
[Sorry, Sir. No further information regarding 'Avengers' was found in this Universe. The only file related to 'Avengers' is currently in the S.H.I.E.L.D. archives, in a sealed and inactive state...]
Tony, Captain America, Green Doctor:?
The three of them gasped, exclaiming simultaneously: "In this Universe, Nick Fury actually didn't assemble the Avengers? How can that be?"
Scott, being an observer on the side, was actually more clear-headed. He had a sudden flash of inspiration and said:
"Hey, Friday, since this Universe doesn't have the Avengers, there must be a corresponding hero team, right? Help me find this Universe's Superhero team!"
[Understood, Mr. Lang...]
Tony's pupils shrank suddenly, but before he could speak to stop her, Friday had already begun the search. He hurriedly said: "Friday, stop the search immediately!"
[Understood, Sir, I'm... zzt... Sir... I am under... attack...]
But it was already too late. After Friday's holographic projection flickered a few times, it turned into a particle state and began slowly reorganizing.
In plain terms, the system had crashed!
Damn it!
Seeing this, Tony cursed inwardly.
He shouldn't have given that idiot Scott voice authorization for Friday's butler permissions back at the Avengers Base!
Captain America and the Green Doctor also seemed to remember something, and their expressions turned grim.
Only Scott looked at the agitated Tony and the dark-faced Captain America and Green Doctor, scratching his head in confusion. "What's wrong with you guys?"
Tony glared at Scott through gritted teeth. "You pea-brained Ant-Man! How dare you casually let Friday investigate an unknown Superhero team in this Universe? At this point in time, Friday isn't the only artificial intelligence on Earth!"
Scott finally realized he had caused trouble and swallowed hard. "Then should we run now?"
Tony's face was dark. "It's too late. Friday is just a temporary system for the MK85. Now she's been seized by another artificial intelligence system from this time period!"
"No matter where we run, it can track us!"
Scott's heart hammered as he asked with a trembling voice, "This other artificial intelligence system you're talking about, who does it belong to? Why can it even control your AI system?"
Tony looked at the projection that was about to finish reorganizing—it clearly wasn't the female projection of Friday, but a male one. He said with a complex tone:
"There are gaps between different artificial intelligences. Friday is a replacement system I created later, but before her, I actually had a partner who had evolved for a long time..."
"It was my first-generation AI butler system. It's..."
A figure wearing a suit, with a slender build, appearing very elegant and proper even as an electronic projection, appeared in Tony's nano-device projection.
The electronic man in the suit spoke slowly in a highly magnetic voice:
[Everyone, your use of artificial intelligence to intrude upon Earth's network has seriously violated Earth's network security protocols and infringed upon the private information of the 'Spider Family.' I am Mr. Stark's intelligent butler, Jarvis. Mr. Stark and the Spider Family are about to arrive. Please do not have any extreme reactions...]
After the standard warning was issued, Jarvis turned to look the group over, recording their information. It wasn't until he saw the Green Doctor and Tony that a flicker of human-like confusion appeared on Jarvis's calm face.
[Now, in addition to the illegal use of artificial intelligence to intrude upon the network, you have an additional charge of infringing upon the portrait rights of Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner...]