"Let's start by checking which of the candidates even have the ability," Captain America said, scanning the options displayed on the large screen. "Option A, Stark. He can fly—he could go into the air and rescue people."
"But he can only carry one, maybe two at a time," Black Widow cut in with a shrug. "There's no way he could save thirteen people in such a short time."
No one disagreed. Iron Man could at best carry one person under each arm—two, if he pushed the limit.
By the time he delivered those two to the water and flew back, the rest would have already hit the surface.
"He can fly?" Thor cast Iron Man a surprised glance. "Impressive. But Rogers is right—flight alone isn't enough here."
"So Stark is eliminated?" Coulson concluded decisively before turning to Thor. "Thor, what about you? We don't know the full extent of your abilities. Could you rescue all thirteen in that situation?"
"Hold on!" Before Thor could answer, Iron Man jumped in. "You're ruling me out way too fast!"
"Stark, they're correct," Nick Fury said, backing the others. "With the time available, you simply couldn't save everyone."
"You're all thinking too small," Tony insisted. "Sure, right now I can't save that many people. But this is the future we're talking about!"
He spoke firmly as he corrected them. "And my armor upgrades constantly. No one here can predict what capabilities my future suits might have."
"So even though I don't yet know what I'll build later, saving thirteen people is absolutely within the realm of possibility."
Everyone exchanged glances. No one could refute that.Iron Man was a genius—not someone who created one suit and called it a career. He upgraded endlessly.
Their own footage proved it.
His armor in the New York battle was clearly more advanced than the one he had now. And the suit he wore during the final battle was on another level entirely.
"Fine. Stark: TBD," Black Widow said. "Then let's return to Thor."
"I can't do it," Thor admitted, shaking his head. "I can only fly by spinning my hammer, which means one of my hands has to stay occupied."
"So Thor is out. That leaves the remaining two," Coulson said, turning to the final options.
"Scarlet Witch—Wanda. She was the magic-user in the Civil War incident. We still don't know the full scope of her abilities, but she can stop a falling car mid-air."
"For a witch proficient in magic, saving thirteen people should be perfectly doable, right?"
No one raised any objections.
Magic defied logic by nature. Nothing would surprise them.
"Ant-Man?" Iron Man leaned forward, studying option D. "If Ant-Man can shrink down to the size of an ant… couldn't he also grow to the size of a building?"
He shot Fury a questioning look. "Nick, the previous Ant-Man—could he do something like that?"
"Hank Pym left S.H.I.E.L.D. years ago," Fury answered after some thought. "I only glanced through some of his old files. I don't recall anything like that, but I agree with your line of thinking."
Everyone nodded.
The Ant-Man suit changed the size of objects. If you could shrink, logically, you should also be able to enlarge.
Not to mention—returning a shrunk person to normal size was already a form of "growing."
"If Ant-Man were as tall as a skyscraper, he could definitely catch all thirteen people in his hands."
"So that means out of the four options, the only one we've eliminated is Thor?" Captain America said, looking around.This question was turning out to be trickier than expected.
"Captain, free-fall velocity is extremely fast," Coulson said after a moment of deep thought. "If someone truly managed to save all thirteen before they hit the water, then whoever it was must have been nearby."
From the plane to the ocean was far too short a drop. No hero could be summoned from far away in time.
There simply wasn't enough time.
So whoever performed the rescue had to be near Air Force One.
At this point in Coulson's analysis, everyone's eyes lit up.
They hadn't found definitive evidence yet, but at least they now had a direction.They weren't trapped in a dead end.
"In a situation like this, I can think of three possibilities," Coulson continued.
"One—he happened to be on a yacht or boat directly beneath, hosting a party or doing something else nearby."
"Two—he knew in advance that Air Force One would be attacked, so he rushed there. By coincidence, he arrived just in time to save the thirteen passengers."
"Three…"Coulson paused before finishing.
"That person was already on board Air Force One."
"Sounds reasonable," Thor said with a nod. All three scenarios held up logically.
"The first one feels unlikely," Black Widow said seriously. "That kind of coincidence is too much of a stretch. We can rule it out."
"The second is possible but overly complicated. Let's put it aside for now."
"Let's focus on the third scenario: the rescuer was aboard Air Force One."
"Everyone… isn't that interesting?"
With Black Widow's assessment, the others felt they had stumbled upon something meaningful.
Air Force One wasn't a normal aircraft. Anyone could board a civilian plane—but the presidential aircraft? Only a very restricted group had access.
That alone was a powerful filter.
"It is interesting," Iron Man agreed with a shrug. "So the question becomes: of these four candidates, who could realistically be on the presidential aircraft?"
-----------------------
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