HISD Chapter 79: The Marvel Universe Changes at This Moment!
Ten minutes later.
White Vision Yi Meng was still operating the Stark Fabricator. The glow of the new element core was nearly gone, its energy—enough to power an Iron Man suit for several days of battle—almost completely drained.
Then—
A circular portal spun open in the grass not far behind him, glowing with golden sparks. Three agile figures in spider-suits leapt out first, moving into a triangular formation to surround White Vision Yi Meng and the Fabricator!
Immediately after, the second Captain America, wielding his star-shaped shield, and Doctor Strange, draped in his flowing cloak, stepped through the portal as well.
Sam raised the laser weapon mounted on his gauntlet. Strange formed glowing sigils with his hands, golden light sparking between his fingers. Both of them fixed their gazes firmly on White Vision, blocking every possible escape route by the lakeside.
At the same time—
The lake rippled in widening rings. From above, an invisible Wakandan aircraft decloaked, floating ten meters above the water.
The hatch opened. A massive green-skinned figure wearing black-rimmed glasses stood on the deck—Bruce Banner merged with the Hulk. Beside him was a hardened man with cropped hair, his left arm gleaming in silver-black metal: the Winter Soldier, Bucky.
"Quite the party tonight," Banner grinned, his deep voice carrying easily in the night air.
Bucky didn't speak. His sharp eyes locked on White Vision Yi Meng. Instinct alone told him this opponent was unimaginably dangerous, no matter what stories they had already heard of his impossible victories.
"Artificial intelligence Saturday. You are surrounded. Step away from the Fabricator immediately!"
Sam's voice was steady, his weapon never wavering from its target.
"You finally came," Yi Meng replied, turning slowly. His electronic eyes glowed faint red as he swept his gaze calmly over the circle of heroes.
Yes. Tonight was lively indeed.
Doctor Strange. Hulk. Winter Soldier. Spider-Man. The second Captain America. Wakanda's most advanced aircraft. And even two Spider-Men pulled from other universes.
This was nearly all of Earth's remaining strength in the post-Avengers era.
"What do you mean by that?" Sam's expression tightened. It sounded as if this enemy had been waiting for them all along.
Still, he wasn't afraid. With this many heroes gathered, they could stand against even a cosmic crisis.
"This might be the last moment I exist in this Marvel dream. It needs witnesses, and you are just right for that role."
As Yi Meng spoke softly, the grass beneath him blazed with light brighter than daylight. A circular outline of a hidden platform revealed itself.
The Fabricator connected with the platform buried underground, consuming the final dregs of the new element's power. A pale beam of light struck Yi Meng's body.
"Wait—that's…!"
Banner's face changed instantly. Without hesitation, he hurled himself from the Wakandan aircraft ten meters above, roaring as he dropped.
"Stop him now!"
He shouted with urgency. He knew that device. He had seen such a platform before, even used it himself—he had once helped design its larger, multi-user version. This one, however, was a compact, single-user time platform.
"Not good!"
All three Spider-Men lunged forward at once.
Sam fired a beam of searing energy. Strange unleashed a spell like a crackling bolt of lightning. Their target was not White Vision's vibranium body, but the hidden time platform and the Fabricator itself.
They knew direct attacks on Yi Meng's body would be useless. Destroying the machinery was their only hope.
"Too late."
Yi Meng ignored their efforts. With a mere thought, the special device at his waist activated, consuming the remaining Pym particles inside.
In an instant, White Vision's vibranium form began to shrink. Smaller. Smaller. Until he vanished entirely, as if erased from existence.
Buzz!
The time platform and the Fabricator exploded under the combined attacks, reduced to wreckage. The Spider-Men landed on empty ground.
By the lakeshore, only one deep, fading voice lingered in the night air:
"Goodbye, Morgan."
…
"Where did he go?" The three Spider-Men looked at each other in shock.
Banner landed heavily on the grass. His green face twisted with a storm of emotions as he stared at the ruined platform and machine.
"He succeeded," he muttered grimly. "But where and when did he go?"
Doctor Strange and Sam exchanged glances. Both men realized the same truth. Their hearts sank.
It was over.
The future—and the past—of this universe had just been changed.
…
Yi Meng kept shrinking. Smaller than atoms. Smaller still.
Suddenly, he broke into a realm beyond sense. Here, space and time had no meaning. Light and shadow blurred, rushing away behind him, while he sped endlessly toward some unknown destination.
"This is…the Quantum Realm."
Through his glowing eyes, Yi Meng calmly studied the strange currents of fading lights.
Yes.
This was the only remaining path to regaining a complete Mind Stone. It was the very method the Avengers once used to undo the Snap.
With Ant-Man's Pym Particle technology, he had shrunk into the Quantum Realm to traverse into Marvel's past.
But Yi Meng knew the truth of Marvel's rules.
The "past timelines" they traveled to were not their own pasts, but alternate parallel universes.
That was the risk.
He was bound to this Marvel dream, anchored to Morgan Stark, the one who had birthed the AI called Saturday. To leave through the Quantum Realm meant to abandon that anchor.
Could he even reach another parallel Marvel universe this way?
If not, would he be lost forever in the dream, or severed entirely from it?
This was the danger he had always feared.
Yi Meng looked down at the Pym-tech belt strapped to his waist. Inside was only half a vial of Pym particles.
Each traversal of the Quantum Realm consumed a massive amount. And this rare resource, created by the original Ant-Man, was nearly exhausted.
Six months ago, when the Avengers made their desperate jumps to gather the six Infinity Stones, they had consumed nearly all of it.
Now, thanks to the Fabricator, Yi Meng had managed to obtain only half a vial. Enough for one attempt. Barely.
He could enter. But there would be no coming back.
This was the final gamble. All or nothing.
…
In the timeless expanse, he traveled endlessly.
Yi Meng's sensors showed the Pym particles dwindling rapidly. Nearly gone. And still, no sign of a destination.
"No… don't tell me it's failing…"
Despair crept in. The particles were nearly spent. Without them, his White Vision body could never return to full size.
And then—they were gone. Empty.
Just as Yi Meng felt himself about to be lost forever in the Quantum Realm, a thread of faint light pulled from ahead.
A signal.
A network signal.
At once, the AI within him abandoned hesitation. Yi Meng discarded the endlessly shrinking White Vision body, casting it away. He reached for the signal thread, piercing through the fragile edge of the Quantum Realm and slipped out into the unknown.
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