Everyone at the scene understood the situation, and Tony Stark certainly did too. The Winter Soldier's involvement, however, complicated things because of Captain America's connection to him.
No one knew how to interject.
"Stark, between Hank Pym and the Winter Soldier, I think you've already made your choice, haven't you?" Hawkeye Barton glanced at Tony Stark, his tone quite certain.
Captain America couldn't help but glance at Tony Stark, his expression tightening slightly.
To be honest, even if Captain America had to make the choice himself, he would lean towards the Winter Soldier.
After all, compared to Hank Pym, the Winter Soldier had a greater chance of "winning."
But emotionally, Captain America couldn't accept this.
He had a very bad feeling in his heart right now.
Not just Captain America, but everyone present felt that the atmosphere was starting to become delicate.
"That's right, Barton, I already have the answer in my heart." Tony Stark nodded and then exhaled deeply.
Emotionally, he didn't want to choose that answer either, but from a theoretical analysis, the option he didn't want to choose did seem the most likely.
"It looks like it's going to be an interesting choice next." Loki glanced at everyone present, as if he was afraid the world wouldn't be in chaos.
"Shut up, Loki! I choose... C, death by the Winter Soldier's assassination!"
Finally, under the gaze of everyone, Tony Stark announced his answer to the big screen.
[Answer...]
Everyone present, except for Loki, couldn't help but feel their hearts skip a beat, a sense of tension washing over them.
[…Correct!]
The atmosphere in the room immediately became oppressive, as if the very air had thickened. Everyone's hearts sank, and their faces fell.
They never expected the thing they dreaded most to actually happen.
Howard and his wife hadn't died in a car accident; they'd been murdered in a conspiracy.
And the killer was none other than the Winter Soldier!
Tony Stark's body trembled slightly, his eyes widening as he stared at the big screen. A mixture of shock, anger, and murderous intent began to spread within him.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees.
"My parents... they didn't die in a car accident! They were murdered!" Tony Stark murmured.
This brutal reality caught Tony Stark completely off guard, and it also brought the regret in his heart to a peak.
The day before his parents were killed, he had argued with his father!
What a goddamn thing he had done!
Following that, Tony Stark began to grit his teeth, and everyone present could feel the intense killing intent emanating from him.
The hatred of killing one's father and mother is irreconcilable!
"Stark, this wasn't Bucky's intention, you know that," Captain America immediately said to Tony Stark, "It was Hydra that controlled him, you know, right?"
"Hydra, I won't let them go! Winter Soldier, I won't let you go either!" Tony Stark said to Captain America with killing intent.
Whether the Winter Soldier was controlled or not when he killed his parents, he didn't want to care.
If he couldn't personally kill the enemy who murdered his parents, was he still Tony Stark?
"Stark, this was all Hydra's doing, Bucky is also a victim! It's not fair to Bucky to do this!" Captain America shouted at Tony Stark again.
"Fair? You're talking to me about fair?" Tony Stark was absolutely incensed. "My parents were murdered, and the killer is still alive, and you're talking to me about fair?"
[Congratulations to the quiz taker Tony Stark for obtaining a reward of five hundred kilograms of Vibranium metal!] [The reward has been sent to the quiz taker's system backpack. Please check it!]
Following that, the system's prompt sounded again.
Five hundred kilograms of Vibranium had been credited; since it wasn't convenient to send it directly, it was temporarily stored in the system backpack.
But Tony Stark was in no mood to care about the paltry reward.
All he could think about was killing the Winter Soldier, to avenge his parents!
"I'm sorry about Howard's death. I understand how you feel. Howard was also a good friend to me, and I didn't want this to happen either!"
Captain America's voice continued, his expression serious as he continued to defend Bucky. "But even if you kill Bucky, it won't change what's already happened."
Tony Stark couldn't help but sneer. "So you're saying I should just let the murderer of my parents go?"
"The murderer isn't Bucky! It's Hydra!" Captain America emphasized again.
"Hydra, Bucky, neither of them is innocent! I'll get rid of them all!" Tony Stark said with hatred.
"Stark, if you say it like that, then you're not innocent either." Captain America stared intently at Tony Stark. "Your Stark Industries sold so many weapons before. Does that mean every person those weapons killed is on your head?"
"Tell me, what's the difference between Bucky's situation and that?"
"Bucky is just a weapon of Hydra!"
"Stark, Captain!" Nick Fury saw the two arguing and couldn't help but step in to interrupt them. "You're both a bit emotional right now, and that can easily lead to rash decisions. So why don't you both calm down first, okay?"
"The director is right. Let's focus on the quiz for now," Black Widow advised them. "We can discuss everything after the quiz."
"There's nothing to discuss," Tony Stark said resolutely to Captain America. "Bucky is dead! I know you'll protect him, but for how long?"
"Stark, I'm sorry about Howard, but Bucky is my friend," Captain America said seriously to Tony Stark.
"I almost thought we were!" Tony Stark said coldly.
Nick Fury, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the others saw this scene and couldn't help but shake their heads inwardly.
This was the last thing they wanted to see.
Through their understanding of the situation and the clues provided by the quiz system, it was clear that Tony Stark and Captain America were the two core figures of the future Avengers.
The opposition between these two characters would directly lead to the disintegration of the Avengers! The events of Civil War were a clear indication of this.
After learning about this future, Nick Fury and the others had been constantly considering how to prevent events like the Civil War from happening.
But who could have predicted that the question-and-answer system would suddenly drop such a bombshell?
It directly caused Tony Stark and Captain America to become enemies.
It had to be said, this was absolutely terrible.
Only Loki stood to the side, a faint smile playing on his lips, as if he were watching a good show.
Surrendering was just a helpless act based on the current situation, but that didn't mean Loki had truly accepted his fate.
He would seize any opportunity he could during this time.
And now, Loki thought he might have found one.
These two guys actually had such deep-seated conflicts, which he could perhaps make good use of.
[The answer is over, now the answer analysis begins!]
The system's voice immediately followed. Tony Stark and Captain America both paused their argument, turning their gazes towards the big screen.
Everyone else present did the same.
Even Loki looked very interested, staring at the big screen. He was very curious about what this so-called answer analysis was all about.
Under everyone's gaze, the corresponding images began to appear on the big screen.
The scene was a world of ice and snow, with uneven hills everywhere. On one of the snow-covered hills, there was an incredibly strong iron gate.
Regardless of what was behind that iron gate, the fact that the location was chosen on such a hidden, snowy mountain suggested that this was no ordinary place.
Two figures, fully armed, appeared outside the iron gate.
It was none other than the Winter Soldier, Bucky, and Captain America.
But for some reason, the iron gate was ajar, clearly indicating that someone had already been here.
"He must have only arrived a few hours ago," Captain America said to Bucky with a serious expression.
"That's enough to wake them!" Bucky replied in a low voice.
What this secret entrance led to was currently unknown. However, from the conversation between Captain America and Bucky, it wasn't hard to deduce that they were here to stop "him" from waking "them."
It seemed to be something serious.
Next, Captain America and Bucky entered the entrance, which turned out to be an abandoned secret base.
The two explored the base cautiously, on high alert.
Clang!
A loud crash suddenly echoed out. Captain America and Bucky immediately spun around, instantly entering a combat stance.
Bucky held his ominous black submachine gun, aiming it at the iron door that had made the noise. Captain America raised his shield.
As they stood ready, the large iron door was violently forced open, revealing the figure of Iron Man.
Captain America and Bucky were somewhat surprised, but still looked wary, not even relaxing their fighting stances.
This showed that Captain America and Iron Man were still in a state of hostility.
Everyone made a basic judgment: Could this be happening after the Civil War?
"You seem a little on edge," Iron Man said to them as he walked towards Captain America and Bucky.
"It's been a long day," Captain America replied flatly.
"At ease, soldier, I'm not here for you!" Tony Stark immediately clarified, addressing Bucky behind Captain America.
"Then why are you here, Tony?" Captain America asked, looking at Iron Man with a serious expression.
These two sentences conveyed the same message to everyone: Captain America and the others believed that Iron Man had come to capture Bucky.
This made the judgment of the time point even more meaningful.
After all, Civil War was triggered because Iron Man, acting on Ross's orders, brought people to capture Bucky.
"Maybe your assumption isn't so crazy," Iron Man shrugged. "Ross doesn't know I'm here, and I don't want him to know. Otherwise, I'd have to arrest myself."
"Sounds like you have a lot of paperwork to do," Captain America's tone softened, and he lowered his shield.
"It's good to see you, Tony!" Captain America said sincerely to Iron Man.
"You too, Cap!" Iron Man replied in kind to Captain America.
The tense atmosphere in the room began to dissipate.
"The brainwashed soldier, you defeated him. We're calling a truce. You can put your gun down," Iron Man said to Bucky from a distance.
But Bucky clearly didn't trust Iron Man. It wasn't until Captain America gave him a signal that he slowly lowered his gun.
"Doesn't want Ross to know," "arrest himself," and "truce"—these key words once again confirmed everyone's previous speculation.
This scene on the image was basically happening after the Civil War.
Next, the three of them cautiously began to explore the abandoned base, until they came to a room where Iron Man suddenly noticed something.
"I've detected a heat signature," Tony Stark said to the other two.
"How many?" Captain America's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately asked in a low voice.
"One!" Tony replied, sounding somewhat surprised.
It seemed the person they were looking for shouldn't be alone.
At this moment, the group followed the passageway into a spacious hall. They saw that the lights of several cryo-chambers had suddenly been turned on.
Several people frozen inside the cryo-chambers came into view.
Who those frozen people were, no one knew.
But given the living example of the Winter Soldier being frozen by Hydra, and the fact that this place had attracted Captain America, everyone could reach a basic conclusion: the people in those cryo-chambers were definitely not ordinary.
Even more Winter Soldiers, maybe.
"They should all be Super Soldiers!" Black Widow assessed. "In the footage from Civil War, Captain America mentioned there were five other Super Soldiers. It should be them."
The cryo-chambers in the footage also showed exactly five.
Everyone agreed with Black Widow's assessment. Moreover, Captain America had also said during Civil War, "We can't let that doctor get to them first."
So, at the beginning of this footage, when Captain America said, "He's already been here for several hours," that "he" was presumably that doctor.
All the clues and details fit together and corroborated each other.
...
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