"They call this a 'fireplace'? It looks more like a 'chimney' to me."
Sherlock had been falling for about half an hour.
Since the "pipeline" was in a state of disrepair, and gaps could be seen outside from time to time, he couldn't help but worry that he would fall out - after all, he was used to falling out of the world from various seemingly stable places.
When looking out from the gap, it is true that as Loki said, there are countless parallel green pipes. At first glance, they look very similar to the structure of a "timeline". In other words, they should be used to penetrate various timelines through them.
It is designed to look like this.
At this time, under Sherlock's feet, at the end of the pipe, there was a dull circular white light gradually becoming brighter. He calculated the time and found that he was about to reach the end now. There should be no more problems...right?
Zhizhizhi——
As if to break Sherlock's luck, just as he was thinking this, there was suddenly a harsh sound of metal cutting from the side of the "exit" of the pipe, and at the same time, dazzling sparks flew everywhere.
Immediately afterwards, Sherlock watched helplessly as a large hole was torn open in the inner wall of the "chimney", and another pipe about the same thickness as the one he was in penetrated directly, sealing the descending road tightly.
.
What kind of outrageous vulnerability is this? How does the Space-Time Administration maintain it?
Since he was not sure what would happen if there was a collision during the timeline jump, Sherlock had no time to think about it, so he quickly took out his wand and pointed it at the pipe in front of him to cast the most suitable magic he could think of in a hurry:
"[Alajo Cave Opens]!"
Buzz——
This magic, which in theory could only open the door lock, exerted an unexpected effect at this time. It directly "pierced" the complete pipe, revealing the "pipe exit" glowing with white light where Sherlock was originally going.
"Huh...it's okay. I'll report the damage when I get back." Sherlock entered the "exit" through the pierced road blocking pipe and disappeared.
The "real exit", which was only half a meter away behind the blocking pipe, slowly disappeared after waiting for no passengers for a long time.
————
Kang——!
Da da da--
Boom!
As soon as Sherlock came to the "other timeline", he was hit by huge roars, fierce gunshots and continuous explosions that made his ears hurt. The most troublesome thing was that he appeared very high in the air, with a brief pause.
Then, it immediately began to fall straight to the ground.
"[Slow Falling Curse], [Illusion Body Curse]." He quickly cast two spells on himself, and then began to look for the landing point while condescendingly observing the current form.
There is no doubt that this is a troubled New York. The steel dragon flying in the air and those strange humanoid creatures wearing exoskeleton armor should be the invaders "Chitauri".
In the "Holy Timeline", these aliens were wiped out with little room for resistance. The remaining equipment also helped the earth develop a wave of technology. In this timeline, they apparently successfully invaded and attacked the main city of New York.
It caused considerable damage - the "wormhole" is still open in the sky.
The ones fighting against these aliens are naturally the National Guard and armed police, who are large in number but basically useless, and the "Avengers" who can exert local advantages but cannot reverse the situation due to the small number of people.
Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye, Thor, Natasha, although it is not polite to say this about superheroes from other world lines, but from a high altitude, their battles do look like the legendary collaboration between tanks and infantry -
—Three tanks with three infantry.
Sherlock confirmed the battlefield shape, adjusted the direction of the slow fall, and floated towards the roof of an empty building.
The mission of the "Ministry of Magic" this time is not to save New York or rescue civilians. After all, there are so many parallel timelines. If they had to save every one, all the agents would be too busy to do so, and there is no way for the sacred timeline.
any meaning.
This time, the mission of the agent Loki who set off early was supposed to be to prevent a powerful descendant from contacting the Avengers or extending the time of the wormhole. But as things have progressed so far, it is obvious that he has messed up everything and is only left with
A last-minute chance to turn things around.
Could it be that he was so late after just being blocked? Sherlock tried to analyze, but immediately threw the problem out of his mind after two seconds - reasoning under such seriously insufficient conditions will only make himself fall into the invalidity of assumptions.
reasoning cycle.
Now I just need to wait for Iron Man to fight at the last moment... huh?
Sherlock was observing the overall shape of the battlefield when he suddenly discovered that there was a spatial disturbance in a remote corner that would only occur when using a Portkey or Phantom Teleportation mode. When he looked closely, he saw four people appearing out of thin air there...
"Super hero".
Iron Man, whose armor is gorgeous and advanced for many generations, Captain America, who is not wearing a mask and has a beard, Dr. Banner, who is obviously an ordinary person but has green muscles, and... a weirdo who looks like an ant in a strange red and black armor.
.
Spider-Man’s new armor? Ant-Man?
Sherlock looked at them, and a certain rule from the Ministry of Magic flashed through his mind:
[3. The members of the 'Avengers' are Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Hulk, Thor and Natasha. If additional members appear, or one of them has the same character and ability,
If the information does not match, please return immediately.]
The rules will not explain why, but simple reasoning can lead to the conclusion: this is the interference of other timelines in the Ministry of Magic's mission target timeline. Maybe these non-staff personnel are friendly, but the time and space turbulence they cause is real.
, so all the agents who encountered similar situations never returned. They were lucky enough to be able to send back some information, which led to the birth of that rule.
Perhaps, the agents who arrived earlier disappeared because of the presence of these people?
Sherlock watched their actions silently, trying to analyze their intentions.
Although these "alternative timeline heroes" appeared at the point where the Chitauri invaded, they did not seem to have any intention of helping the "genuine heroes". After casually smashing a few cars and killing some Chitauri who discovered them, they
Divide into three groups and leave separately.
Well, there were two groups. Dr. Banner came straight to the roof of the building where he was.
————
"'Mage Supreme'?" Bruce Banner climbed to the top of the building, turned his head and looked around: "I know you are here!"
What? Is there anyone else here?
Although he did not activate the "Eight Formations of Stone Soldiers", Sherlock, who has the ability of "position construction", does not think that the existence of others can hide from his perception.
He increased the intensity of the detection and conducted a more detailed search on the roof of the building, but found nothing except Banner talking to the air and a nest of trembling baby rats.
Did he remember the wrong location? I heard that the Hulk's brain doesn't work very well...
[2. A person named ‘Stephen Strange’ who calls himself ‘Doctor Strange’ or ‘The Master Supreme’ will appear in front of you. Tell him the truth about your mission, and he will believe it. 】
Although he is "Sherlock Holmes", but wearing the "adult version of the vest" he used on the ocean planet, he is "Stephen Strange".
"[What are you looking for with me?]" Sherlock found a nearby plastic chair and sat down facing the Hulk, then lifted the disillusionment spell. In order to prevent himself from looking like the "Supreme Mage", he tried to learn the "White Star"
——The tone of the Space Demon God version.
"Ah, you are here," Hulk turned around and walked towards him without any surprise: "Your days of opening teleporters at every turn are over. Give me the 'Time Stone'."
It seems that I don't get along very well with him in that timeline, and at this time, I should say to people who don't have a good relationship...
"[If you want it, you have to get it yourself,]" Sherlock stood up and turned to the Hulk: "[You know the rules.]"
"I knew you would say that," Banner crossed his hands and opened them suddenly. His clothes exploded in an instant, and his originally huge body nearly doubled in size again: "[Hao——G!]"
"[How many times have we fought? How was the outcome?]" Sherlock asked a question he was really curious about in a provocative tone.
"[Hulk! Never lost!]" After the second transformation, Banner, or Hulk, obviously had no ability to communicate. He smashed the floor with his foot and rushed over like a tank.
【Eight Formations of Stone Soldiers】!
[This is common sense, my dear friend]!
【Lungominiad】!
The next moment, the Hulk was charging forward. His huge body was fixed in the air by a circle of pillars, and was illuminated by a circle of searchlights that made his body almost transparent. At his throat, he was being pointed at the tip of a huge ornate lance.
It seemed that as long as Sherlock stretched his hand forward, he would pierce its thick neck.
call--
"[Hu... Hulk?" Almost at the same time, Hulk shrank rapidly, and finally turned into the thin Dr. Banner in Sherlock's impression.
"[Now, I think we can have a good talk.]" Sherlock put away his lance, turned it back into a wand and put it into his sleeve.
"I think so. You just scared Hulk, and now he can't come out at all," Dr. Banner grinned: "Can you put me down first?"
"[Tell me,]" Sherlock dispelled the eight formations of stone soldiers, but temporarily kept the circle of searchlights to prevent him from going crazy again: "[How did you know I was here?]"
"'Future You' left us a message, saying that you were in this building observing the 'Avengers' against the Chitauri, and if they failed in the end, you would take action," Dr. Banner said after regaining his freedom.
Touching his neck: "So you always retain your strength?"
Following Banner's words, two new rules came to Sherlock's mind.
[1. Shirahoshi-sama and the organization she established only exist in the sacred timeline. 】
[3. The time nodes of other timelines may be faster or slower than the sacred timeline, but they are not the past or future of the sacred timeline. 】
It turns out that even if there is no "Ministry of Magic" in other timelines, these superheroes have still developed ways to travel to other timelines, and these non-"sacred" timelines cross each other and will not have any impact on the sacred timeline.
effects unless that would lead to their own destruction.
"[Magic is something that doesn't cost much. If too many people know about it, you should be very clear about the consequences.]" Sherlock shook his head, and then tried to talk: "[What is the meaning of 'future me'?"
dead?】"
"How else can you die? Thanos, who has collected the six infinity stones, snaps his fingers and you turn into ashes." Dr. Banner spread his hands: "When you handed over the stones, I thought you were convinced that you would not die."
He will die."
There is too much information, let’s put it aside for now...
"[So, you want to save the people who turned to gray and try to get the Infinity Stones from the 'past'?"" Sherlock confirmed that his statement was correct and continued to ask: "[Do you know that if the Infinity Stones leave?
Will their original world lead to the destruction of that world?】"
"Of course we have a plan, as long as you return it after use, when you took it away, when you returned it, to ensure that there are no problems with the history." Banner patted his chest and said.
Are they completely unaware of the timeline issue? Or can they confirm that they go to the same timeline every time? No, the bigger problem now is that they don’t have the time stone at all. Even if they bring it, they can’t put it together.
Give the "Holy Timeline" gem to those who follow the sideline timeline.
But how to deal with this Dr. Banner?
Sherlock was still thinking, and a new Ministry of Magic rule emerged:
[9. Infinity stones from other timelines are just beautiful glasses, don’t bring them back. 】
Is that what happened?
【Permanent Transformation】
Sherlock reached into his arms, pulled off a button, and then took out the crystal clear "Time Stone": "[This is the 'Time Stone' you want, remember to return it after you use it.]"
This is strange to say, but it is necessary. This behavior means that the button transformed into the shape of a time stone is the "time stone" recognized by the "time stone holder" on the "sacred timeline"
”.
Personal crushing, and a bit rogue, it's like picking up a random diamond in Siberia, and then having a diamond company polish it and equip it with a certificate, then it is a diamond, and as long as the company insists, no one can refute it.
"Okay, we'll return it soon, maybe it will only take a few minutes? You know, no one can say for sure about time..." Banner took the "Time Stone" and spoke very naturally from the top of the building.
Jumped down.
Paji.
After half a minute, with an aggrieved and cowering "[Hulk]" roar, the Hulk, covered in rubble and rubble, soared into the sky.
Hmm... I need to clear my memory. Sherlock sat down on the plastic chair. If he returned to the sacred timeline with a stereotype of this Hulk, he would be hung up and beaten by the real Hulk for such an offense.
"Hello, 'Mage Supreme'." The next second, the door to the stairwell from the roof to the interior opened. Captain America, who was not wearing a mask but had shaved off his beard and looked a little tired, came out carrying a box: "I
Come and return the 'Time Stone' I borrowed from you."
"[It seems that your operation went smoothly,]" Sherlock took the "Time Stone" that Captain America took out of the suitcase: "[It seems that I have to congratulate the 'Avengers' for saving the world again?]"
"Yeah..." Captain America forced a smile, and then suddenly looked at Sherlock with great determination: "Do you think that if I choose to stay in the past, will it have any adverse effects on the future?"
Want to make up for regrets? But the things you really care about will not come back, because what you left is other timelines, but...
【4. Interference with other timelines will not affect the sacred timeline. 】
