"How can cloning be that easy?" Tony snapped at Strange, his expression darkening.
Maybe Tony wasn't well-versed in magic, but in terms of science, what he was witnessing now was absolute nonsense.
It's not like Tony hadn't interacted with the Doctor Strange of this universe before—but he'd never heard him mention anything like this kind of magic.
"Difficult?" Strange responded coolly. "You might know nothing about our magic, or maybe you simply don't understand Alex Ray's power."
He said nothing more and just stood to the side, silently watching Alex work.
Strange didn't particularly like the superheroes in this world. First off, the Avengers were arrogant. They always assumed that anything not present in their world couldn't possibly exist in another.
In contrast, Strange found the people in Hell's Kitchen more tolerable. They never dismissed the unfamiliar—they'd simply seen too much to doubt anything anymore.
Second, these Avengers were far too reckless. They charged into missions fueled by nothing more than raw passion.
They never considered the consequences. Just look at how many had died.
Alex Ray couldn't be bothered to argue. For someone who wielded black magic and had access to the complete magical encyclopedia of Hogwarts, cloning a corpse?
That was practically elementary.
He inhaled deeply, his eyes narrowing as he focused on Natasha's soul.
Raising two fingers, a faint magical glow shimmered at his fingertips.
He lightly tapped the air.
A brilliant white light, sharp and pure as a meteor, shot from his fingers and pierced straight into the soul lingering in the room.
The light struck Natasha's soul and immediately wrapped around it, glowing brighter by the second.
Inside the glow, her soul seemed to be tugged by an unseen force—growing blurred and translucent.
The Avengers held their breath, watching the scene unfold with wide eyes.
Then suddenly, dozens of stars lit up around Alex Ray.
They sparkled like the night sky, radiating an almost ancient energy.
Slowly, they began converging—forming a hazy human silhouette.
The outline became sharper, clearer.
First the legs formed.
Then the torso.
And finally, Natasha Romanoff's entire body appeared from thin air.
She lay before them, lifeless but whole.
The Avengers were thunderstruck. They had just watched a soul be reborn.
"This... this actually worked," someone whispered.
"Oh my God," another muttered in disbelief.
But although Natasha's body had returned, she lay still on the ground, not even twitching. The Avengers rushed forward, and Hawkeye didn't hesitate to strip off his coat, covering her gently.
She was completely naked.
Steve crouched beside her and asked Alex Ray anxiously, "What's going on? Why hasn't she woken up?"
Alex rolled his eyes. He was beyond done with their constant questioning.
"Seriously? You don't just pop up and start dancing the second you're resurrected. Her soul needs time to sync with the new body. It'll take a while for her to recover."
"Bring her downstairs. Let her rest. She should wake up in a day or two." He waved dismissively and flopped onto a nearby sofa.
Relieved, the Avengers exhaled collectively.
Hawkeye scooped Natasha up and quietly carried her to another room.
The rest turned to Alex, eyes full of gratitude.
"Thank you," one of them said. "For bringing our family back."
Immediately, Alex Ray heard the system in his mind firing off a series of notifications.
"Congratulations, host: Steve Rogers has added you as a friend."
"You have obtained the trait: Unyielding Will."
"Friendship level with Steve Rogers: ★★☆☆☆"
"Congratulations, host: Bruce Banner has added you as a friend."
"Congratulations, host: Scott Lang has added you as a friend."
"You have obtained a full Ant-Man suit."
"Congratulations, host: Thor Odinson has added you as a friend."
"You have obtained: Stormbreaker."
...
Alex glanced over the flood of notifications with a smirk. It was pretty easy to read the Avengers' bond with Natasha just from their friendship ratings.
First, unsurprisingly, Hawkeye had full stars.
Their bond? Family-level.
Alex couldn't help but mutter, "So Hawkeye's wife really was the third wheel, huh?"
Next, Banner and Thor had both jumped straight to four stars.
Alex knew why. Banner and Natasha had a romantic subplot—complicated but definitely there. Thor? He was simple and genuine. Natasha had been a loyal comrade who'd bled beside him in countless battles.
Then there was Steve and Tony—both sitting at three stars.
Alex eyed Steve with disdain.
Natasha had treated Steve like family. She'd laid down her life for him. And now that she was back—thanks to Alex—Steve only gave three stars?
Didn't say much about how deeply they valued her.
But what really surprised Alex was that someone hadn't given him any friendship points at all.
Just then, Strange leaned over and whispered, "There's someone here whose time signature doesn't match this universe."
Alex narrowed his eyes.
He scanned the room and immediately zeroed in on Nebula.
If it weren't for the system's ping, he would've completely forgotten she was there.
Not that it was his fault.
Nebula had the personality of a wall. Low presence, zero charisma. Maybe she was intentionally keeping a low profile.
When Alex first arrived, he'd been too focused on studying the Soul Stone—and on resurrecting Natasha—to even notice her.
Without the system's headcount, she'd still be flying under the radar.
Honestly, Nebula had been easy to overlook even in the movies.
And now that he thought about it, it made sense that she hadn't shown any favorability toward him.
She barely knew Natasha, had never fought alongside her.
She wasn't emotionally invested.
Besides, this wasn't this universe's Nebula.
It was the 2014 version—the one Thanos sent as an infiltrator.
The original Nebula from this world had already been killed by Thanos back in 2014.
Which meant things were about to go sideways—fast.
If Alex was right, 2014 Thanos was already en route.
Which was exactly why Alex had shown up here in the first place.
He didn't trust this group of Earth-616 heroes to protect something as dangerous as multiversal Infinity Stones.
"Alright," Alex said at last, standing up and brushing the dust off his sleeves. "Natasha's taken care of."
He looked over at the remaining Avengers.
"Now that we've brought the Infinity Stones from our universe, it's time to talk plans. You guys gonna tell us what happens next?"
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Bonus Chapter - 150 Power Stones
2nd Bonus Chapter - 300 Power Stones
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