Noah had actually known about the Avengers' plan for a long time.
Not just him.
Thor and Loki, who had come along, were also fully aware of it.
That said, all three of them were still curious-curious about how these people had come up with such a bold plan, and how they intended to carry it out.
Traveling to a parallel universe.
That alone was enough to make anyone interested.
So for now, they didn't care what the Avengers were thinking.
"We brought you the Stones. We even came here personally to help fight," Noah said calmly. "So if we're curious, isn't it your responsibility to explain?"
The Avengers understood the logic.
And honestly, they felt relieved.
Although Natasha's physical problem still couldn't be resolved immediately, her soul had been found. On top of that, there was a sorcerer present who could resurrect people.
Even if they only half believed it, it was still hope.
More importantly-
This sorcerer had brought them the Infinity Stones.
So Captain America, one of the plan's main architects, took the initiative to explain.
"Our plan is simple," Steve said. "We travel to parallel worlds, collect all the Infinity Stones, and use them to bring back everyone who disappeared."
"Mm." Noah nodded. "I know."
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have met Dr. Banner, right?"
Steve sighed.
Banner ending up in Noah's universe had been a complete accident.
Anyone would have been confused by something like that.
But there was nothing they could do about it.
At least for now, it seemed to have worked out in their favor.
Steve shook his head and continued.
"In the original plan, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, and I would go back to the Battle of New York. The goal was to obtain the Tesseract, the Mind Stone, and the Time Stone guarded by the sorcerers at Kamar-Taj."
Because of intelligence limitations, they had assumed the Sorcerer Supreme was Stephen Strange.
That detail made Noah quietly amused.
At that point in time, Strange hadn't even broken his hands yet.
How could he possibly be guarding the Sanctum?
"Actually," Noah said calmly, "even if Banner hadn't gone to the wrong universe, the situation would've been similar. Back then, the Sorcerer Supreme was still the Ancient One. Strange was just a doctor. I already told you that."
"Yes," Steve nodded. "And that's exactly why it sounds like a nightmare."
The others shared that sentiment.
They had no idea what kind of person the Ancient One was-or whether she could be persuaded to hand over the Time Stone.
Looking at Banner, they instinctively felt it would be impossible.
Habitual thinking was the same for everyone.
In truth, if Banner hadn't gone to the wrong universe, he actually could have persuaded her.
But things had already gone too far.
And Noah wasn't about to explain that now.
After all, what was he supposed to say?
Steve moved on.
"There was another team. Thor and Rocket would go to Asgard before the Dark Elves' invasion. The Aether was inside Jane Foster at the time, so we planned to extract it."
Loki's eyelid twitched.
The Reality Stone was currently on him.
Even though the universe they were talking about wasn't his own, the plan still made him uneasy.
Steve, of course, had no idea what Loki was thinking.
He continued.
"The final group was War Machine, Nebula, Hawkeye, and Black Widow. They'd split up-one team would retrieve the Orb before Star-Lord, the other would go for the Soul Stone."
Steve paused.
"...That mission failed. Natasha sacrificed herself."
Noah nodded.
But his gaze shifted unconsciously to Nebula.
Steve didn't know.
What had happened there was far worse than he imagined.
Natasha wasn't the only loss.
Nebula-the one who had fought side by side with Tony-had already been replaced.
If those two teams were compared in terms of tragedy, it would be hard to say who had it worse.
When Steve finished speaking, Scott looked like he wanted to say something, then hesitated.
Noah smiled faintly and ignored it.
He knew.
Steve and Tony had taken an additional trip afterward-but neither of them wanted to mention it.
Since they didn't bring it up, Noah didn't bother asking.
Instead, he looked at them strangely.
"That's it?" Noah asked. "That's your plan?"
"Yes," Steve replied.
Then he noticed Noah's expression-the kind that made it look like he wanted to cover his face.
"...Is there a problem?"
With that look alone, even an idiot could tell how much Noah despised their plan.
The Avengers weren't pleased.
They felt underestimated.
After all, they had already gathered almost all the Stones using this plan.
"What's your problem, sorcerer?" Scott blurted out. "We've basically succeeded. Or do you have a better idea?"
The words echoed everyone's thoughts.
All eyes turned to Noah.
They wanted to see what insight this mysterious sorcerer from another universe had.
"I do," Noah said, nodding. Then he sighed. "But first-who was the idiot who came up with this plan?"
He paused.
"I'm not talking about traveling to parallel universes for the Stones. I'm talking about choosing a bunch of random time points. Who thought that was a good idea?"
"...Idiot?"
Tony, Steve, and Scott all stiffened.
That plan had been theirs.
Naturally, none of them were happy.
"Of course it's idiotic," Noah continued calmly. "Your objective isn't the Infinity Stones themselves, is it?"
"Of course it is," Tony snapped.
"Then let me ask you this," Noah said. "You chose those time points because the Stones were conveniently located and not too scattered, right?"
"Yes," Steve said. "That's exactly why we chose them."
Noah spread his hands.
"If that's the case, since you already knew the exact moment when all six Stones were gathered together... why didn't you choose that time?"
Silence.
The room went dead quiet.
Everyone present-aside from Barton, the replaced Nebula, and Scott during his time in the Quantum Realm-had been there.
They all remembered that battle.
"You mean..." Tony swallowed. "Stealing them from Thanos?"
"Mm." Noah nodded.
"Are you insane?" Tony's voice rose immediately. "Do you have any idea how strong Thanos is? Do you?"
"I do," Noah replied. "Which is why I'm saying-you're idiots."
Thanos's strength was exactly why they had never considered it.
With all six Stones, he was invincible.
Even with one or two, he was terrifying.
So they had instinctively ruled out that option.
"I've seen Banner's memories," Noah said calmly. "Did you forget how you defeated him?"
"When he was extremely weak," Steve answered automatically-
Then stopped.
Everyone understood.
Noah wasn't suggesting they confront Thanos at his peak.
He was talking about the planet where Thanos retired.
About ambushing him when he was at his weakest.
At that time, Thanos had just taken a full-powered hit from Thor's axe.
A full-powered Thor.
That alone said enough.
On top of that, he had just snapped his fingers.
The backlash from six Infinity Stones had nearly destroyed his body.
He was exhausted.
Crippled.
If they had encountered him then...
They could have killed him in minutes.
"And if you think that's still risky," Noah added casually, "you could've waited at his hut a bit earlier. Ambush him the moment he finishes his 'great deed' and escapes there."
That was the final blow.
The Avengers' expressions darkened with embarrassment.
Yet none of them could deny it.
The logic was airtight.
A gravely wounded Thanos, finally letting his guard down-
Suddenly surrounded and attacked.
The odds were terrifyingly high.
And they were experienced at exactly that kind of operation.
They had done it before.
Noah stretched and stood up.
"The Time Stone is yours," he said. "When you're ready, do what needs to be done."
With that, he turned and left without waiting for a response.
Thor and Loki exchanged a glance and immediately followed.
They didn't know where Noah was going.
But following him was never wrong.
"Why provoke them like that?" Thor asked once they were outside Avengers Tower.
"Just wanted to see their reaction," Noah shrugged.
Pure mischief.
"Also," he added, "get ready. I don't think it'll be long before Thanos shows up."
"Oh?" Loki raised an eyebrow. "What did you notice?"
"Nebula," Noah replied calmly.
"She's not right. The temporal traces on her... they're from 2014."
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