Stepping into the stark, grey-white corridor, the Avengers cast a wary glance around their surroundings before finally settling their eyes on the door ahead.
Tony could tell, more or less, that the entrance utilized facial recognition—or perhaps something even more advanced, like a combined facial and iris scan. How exactly were they supposed to get in?
Fortunately, the dilemma didn't last long.
After a flicker of blue light, the heavy door retracted into the wall with a smooth hum.
"Come on in. I was just looking for a way to unwind; I don't mind sparing a moment to chat." A girl's voice drifted from inside the room.
Without hesitation, the Avengers stepped through.
The laboratory was filled with various apparatuses that even Tony couldn't identify at a glance.
The two Stones they sought were placed right in the center of a machine clearly designed for experimental subjects.
However, what truly commanded everyone's attention was the puppet girl standing in the room. They had actually encountered this likeness once before.
"Hello, Madam Herta," Rogers said, trying his best to appear composed and respectful. "Forgive the intrusion, we've come because—"
"Save it. There's no need for the pleasantries. You're here for these two Stones, aren't you?"
The youthful-looking Herta puppet cut him off bluntly. Her expressionless face gave off a prickly, almost biting vibe, though her adorable appearance did quite a bit to neutralize the coldness of her attitude.
Ignoring the Avengers' collective unease, Herta continued, "I know you're not from this parallel universe, and I know what you're planning to do."
"Instead of wasting time on unnecessary openings, why don't you just tell me: what can you offer that's interesting enough for me to let you borrow them?"
This question stumped the team. They truly had no idea what someone like Herta could possibly want.
"What do you need us to do?" Rogers asked, matching her bluntness.
"Your method of traversing parallel universes," Herta replied, clearly pleased by the shift to an efficient conversation.
"That..."
At this, the Avengers fell silent. It wasn't just a moral qualm about trading technology that wasn't strictly theirs to give; it was the fact that they knew nothing about Herta.
If she intended to use that technology for something catastrophic...
"Is this the extent of your sincerity when asking for a favor?"
Seeing their hesitation, the Herta puppet's face darkened with impatience. "If you're not willing, you can leave. Even Thanos knew he had to bring enough to the table before speaking to me."
"Thanos!?"
The Avengers' expressions shifted instantly.
"What? You have a history with him? Not surprising," Herta said, arching an eyebrow. "A single-threaded organism with a brain that underdeveloped must have left quite a bad impression on you."
"That's an understatement... He left us with scars that can never be erased. And the only way to heal those scars is..." Rogers trailed off, his gaze drifting to the Infinity Stones behind her.
"Oh, I see. Obviously, my genius self doesn't exist in your universe."
Herta reached the conclusion without surprise. "It figures. Having a genius like me is a blessing to this universe; not every reality is lucky enough to have that honor."
Her words sounded arrogant—alright, more than just "a little" arrogant.
"You collaborated with Thanos?" Tony asked suddenly.
Thanos was his nightmare, but even after this brief interaction, he sensed that Herta and Thanos weren't cut from the same cloth. His question was driven by sheer curiosity about the Titan.
Of course, more than that, Tony wanted to understand more about this... puppet?
After all, the better you know someone, the better you can play to their interests.
"Collaboration? If you count him jumping through hoops just to get an audience with me, only to be dismissed on a whim, as 'collaboration,' then sure, I suppose we did," Herta said casually.
Jumping through hoops for a meeting, only to be shooed away?
Was Thanos really that easy to brush off? Especially after going to such lengths?
Not even Tony, who had traded blows and words with the Titan, believed it—let alone Rogers.
"That's it? Just like that?" Tony's eyes widened.
"Sixty-two years ago, that single-threaded purple potato came knocking, seeking the wisdom of the great Madam Herta."
Before Herta could answer, another Herta puppet, holding a broom and looking identical to the first, marched into the room.
"What is...?" The Avengers' eyes darted back and forth between the two.
Was Herta some kind of mechanical lifeform, like Ultron?
Under their collective gaze, Herta walked unbothered to her desk. She picked up the coffee Asta had brewed for her, quietly waiting for the "Auto-Praise Puppets" to continue.
"He sought a way to infinitely extend the lifespan of the universe from the great, beautiful, and peerlessly brilliant Madam Herta," the first puppet droned on in its praise-mode.
"Why is 'beautiful' ranked after 'great'?" A third puppet entered the room carrying a book.
She refuted the first one while handing the volume to the Herta sitting at the desk.
She wore a look of genuine indignation, causing several members of the Avengers to twitch.
What was going on? Did Madam Herta specifically build two puppets just to go around boasting about her achievements?
But the first puppet was clearly drowned in its own reverence.
It ignored the rebuttal entirely and continued: "The great Madam Herta simply pulled out a Curio at random, and the purple potato's entire worldview shattered into pieces."
"That is the power of a genius." The second puppet straightened its back. "Mortals simply cannot comprehend the world of a genius!"
"A Curio? What's that?" Scott chimed in without hesitation. He was playing the "hype man" because it seemed to suit Herta's ego, but he was also genuinely curious.
Besides, he was the one with the least baggage regarding Thanos, having never actually met the guy.
"What kind of Curio did the great Madam Herta show him?"
"Curios are objects created by the great and beautiful Madam Herta that transcend the understanding of the universe! They are inventions whose principles and structures remain utterly incomprehensible, even when handed to others!"
The first puppet was clearly delighted to tell the tale.
"Unlike Star-Destroyers, which are non-retail items whose technology the universe can reverse-engineer within a century, every Curio would take a current civilization over a thousand years to even begin to analyze. Therefore, the great and beautiful Madam Herta is never stingy about sharing them."
Because no one can understand them, she doesn't bother hiding them?
Even Tony, a scientist who had been called a genius his entire life, felt a jolt of shock at that claim.
"And the Curio the great Madam Herta gave to that purple potato," the puppet continued, "was one that allows food to infinitely multiply—provided it isn't finished before it can divide again."
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! Webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.