The moment Heisenberg finished speaking, Nebula instantly tensed up and bit down on her lip!
She had an inexplicable intuition that the one Heisenberg was waiting for had to be her father, Thanos!
In the blink of an eye, everything flashed through Nebula's mind.
Ever since Loki took her father's Mind Stone, her father had already become entangled with Heisenberg.
And over the years that followed, Heisenberg's Injustice League and the Skrull Restoration Legion had constantly stood in direct opposition to her father's forces!
Before she had even traveled here, Heisenberg had actually killed two members of her father's Black Order, Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight!
And after viewing the memories of future Nebula, past Nebula knew one thing very clearly. In all of her future memories, Heisenberg had never appeared at all!
So Heisenberg had to be a variable, someone just like her father, someone trying to change his own destined fate through time travel!
That had to be the reason why Heisenberg had restrained his greed for the six Stones. He was only preserving his condition so he could face her father when he arrived!
No!
I absolutely cannot let him face Father in perfect condition!
In future history, Thor with the axe chopped off Father's head, but that Thor is no match for Heisenberg at all!
I have to make Heisenberg do the snap so he can't stay in peak condition. That way, Father's chances of claiming the final victory will increase!
And just like that, Heisenberg's simple act of waiting and preserving his strength caused the past version of Nebula, hidden among the crowd, to wildly overthink everything at high speed.
At the same time, everyone else nodded in agreement with what Heisenberg had said.
So the Hulk stepped out of the crowd and declared that he would do the snap!
Everyone was already on the verge of being persuaded by the Hulk, but how could Nebula possibly accept that outcome!
Just as the Hulk was about to walk toward the gauntlet, Nebula suddenly let out a disdainful laugh.
"Heh."
She laughed as she strode over to the gauntlet, her expression proud and cold.
"Forgive me for saying this, Banner, but you are not as powerful as you think you are. You cannot withstand the backlash of the snap at all!"
Everyone immediately turned to look at her, while she put on an utterly confident expression and said,
"I stayed by my father's side for a very, very long time. I know every one of his plans regarding the Infinity Stones!
Even someone as powerful as my father could endure the side effects of the snap at most twice!
And those two snaps could not be carried out one after another, or even he would turn to ashes!
As for us, honestly, Banner, how long do you think you could last against my father?"
"Uh..."
Banner was left rather speechless. Getting knocked out by fourteen punches from Thanos was a pain he would carry forever.
But he was not about to give in so easily, so he patiently explained,
"I think I can handle it, because I myself am a product of gamma radiation, and these Infinity Stones mainly release gamma energy too!"
"That is only what you think, Banner. But you are my friend..."
Nebula cut Banner off. Keeping a cold face while suppressing her disgust, she put on an act and said to him,
"We worked together for five whole years. I do not want to watch you die just like this!"
"Then who else is supposed to do this damn snap besides me?"
Banner shouted back at Nebula, somewhat moved, but also somewhat helpless.
Hearing Banner's words, Nebula immediately turned to look at Heisenberg, who was sitting nearby.
As she walked toward Heisenberg, she made a suggestion to the Avengers behind her.
"I do not understand why you are unwilling to give this honor to the greatest among us. You have all seen his power!
And in all my life, my father taught me only one truth, that the strong are entitled to more, and they are also obligated to do more.
I trust Lord Heisenberg's character completely. I do not believe that after crossing the universe to help us, he would use the Infinity Stones to do something we could not accept.
Besides, half the life in the universe is already gone. What future could possibly be worse than that?
Most importantly, Lord Heisenberg's power is even slightly greater than my father's!
If someone with that level of power performs the snap, then after resting for about two days, he would likely recover completely. It would not be all that devastating for Lord Heisenberg!
This honor of saving the universe should have been given to you, my lord. I am Thanos's daughter. Even if I betrayed my father for justice, I still respect the strong!
I hope you prove worthy of my respect!"
The moment Nebula finished speaking, Heisenberg immediately smiled.
Here it comes, here it comes!
What Heisenberg truly needed was walking right into his hands!
If Heisenberg himself demanded to do the snap, then Captain America and the others would definitely reject him for all the reasons he had just given.
But if one of the Avengers invited him to do it instead...
Then everything would become simple!
At the same time, Nebula's suggestion immediately met fierce opposition from Captain America.
"Nebula, I know you've lived out in the universe for a long time, so your way of thinking is different from ours.
But no matter what, the snap is not merely an honor, as you see it. It is also a challenge that comes with a price.
Lord Heisenberg has already helped us immensely by bringing us the Mind Stone and the Time Stone. We cannot ask him to give even more!"
"But the price that would cost all of you everything would not even be enough to damage a single hair on Lord Heisenberg's head!"
"But that is not a reason for us to demand that he bear more on our behalf. This is our universe. We have the responsibility to solve our own problems!"
"So this is what responsibility looks like to you? Even if one of us has to die for it?"
Nebula's final shout silenced Captain America completely.
They had to admit, Nebula's certainty that the Hulk would die genuinely filled them with fear.
And they truly did not want to reach this point only to still lose one of their own, not even one!
On top of that, Heisenberg was right there, and his strength, which clearly stood on the same level as Thanos, had already proven that he could absolutely withstand the backlash of the snap.
But so what?
None of them could bring themselves to ask Heisenberg to do it!
After all, they were superheroes, the brightest souls in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
They were not like those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who would draw him a grand empty promise or dangle all kinds of rewards in front of him.
They were all smart, but they were also all pure. No matter how different their lives had been, none of them were the kind of petty people who would make Heisenberg bear the injury at a moment like this.
Perhaps they might think about it.
But they would never actually do it.
That was the principle superheroes held to.
And so...
The atmosphere fell into a strange silence.
That silence lasted for more than three seconds. Iron Man and Captain America had even begun preparing themselves to make the sacrifice personally.
But the Hulk moved first. He shoved Nebula aside and strode toward the gauntlet set with the Infinity Stones.
"Enough arguing. I'm the Hulk. I believe this thing definitely can't kill me. On this Earth without Lord Heisenberg, I am the strongest lifeform there is!"
As he spoke, he reached out toward the gauntlet.
But at that very moment, Heisenberg suddenly rose to his feet!
In an instant, he appeared before Banner. With his left hand, he held Banner back, while his right hand reached directly toward the gauntlet not far away.
"I've been waiting for one of you to ask me, but you lot really are too shy!"
He teased them as he slid his hand into the gauntlet.
"What that blue-skinned woman said was absolutely right. What you see as some earth-shattering sacrifice is little more than child's play to me.
Do you really think I'm that selfish?"
He spoke casually, but halfway through his expression suddenly turned much uglier.
The feeling of putting on this damned gauntlet was far more painful than he had ever imagined.
A torrent of energy instantly crawled up his forearm and charged straight toward his shoulder.
The sensation of his muscles being ripped apart made him want to scream out on the spot!
"Fuck!"
Heisenberg had no mood left for chatting. He immediately pressed his thumb and middle finger together and snapped them sharply!
Get it over with, finish the job, and wrap this up. This feeling was fucking unbearable.
Boom!!!
An invisible shockwave surged outward, and in an instant, the whole world changed!
Before the Avengers had even fully reacted, Heisenberg had already torn the gauntlet off his right hand and thrown it away!
Then he sucked in a huge breath and blasted his right hand with an icy exhale!
Only when his burning red hand was wrapped in ice did he finally feel that long-lost coolness and relief.
At the same time, his system was frantically reporting the massive surge in Origin Matter!
The amount of Origin Matter he possessed had exploded from a mere seven hundred thousand or so to a full 4.6 billion in an instant!!!
That was 4.6 billion!
Looking at his Origin Matter, even though Heisenberg was wracked with unbearable pain, he still could not stop himself from grinning from ear to ear.
"Heh... Hahahahaha!!!"
His laughter snapped the Avengers out of their daze all at once. The next moment, everyone hurried into action.
"My lord, how is your arm?!" That was Captain America.
"What wish did you make with the Stones?" That was the Hulk.
"How does it feel, snapping your fingers?" That was Iron Man.
"You are the true hero. Even in pain, you can still rejoice because you saved everything!" That was Barton.
"Has our world changed?" That was Natasha.
Hearing Natasha's final question, Heisenberg laughed while roaring excitedly in his heart!
You're asking me whether your world changed?
Of course it changed!
Because I only brought the people of Earth back to life!
As for all those other aliens, heh.
Out of consideration for the movies, he had reluctantly revived the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Asgardians.
But other than them, not a single alien would awaken from this damned snap!
God knew how many lines of fate for countless lives he had shifted with that tiny little alteration.
A gain of 4.6 billion already explained everything!
Only now did Heisenberg finally dare say that he had truly become rich!
But even in his excitement, he could not shake off the group of Avengers around him.
He slowly walked out of the crowd and came to Tony, who was putting away the badly damaged Infinity Gauntlet.
"Buddy, I've done everything I wanted to do, so I'm taking the Stones."
"Of course!"
Tony immediately handed the gauntlet to Heisenberg. After all, everything Heisenberg had done had earned their genuine trust.
At the same time, most of the Avengers present received phone calls. The people calling them were almost all loved ones they had once lost.
Barton, for example, was now talking endlessly with his wife and daughter, while Ant-Man had already hurriedly gotten on the phone with the Wasp.
Even Rogers had received a loving call from the Winter Soldier.
Only Miss Natasha...
The woman with long wine-red hair smiled, relieved yet lonely, as she walked to the window and gazed out in silence at the ruins Heisenberg had just created.
On the other side, Heisenberg removed the Time Stone and the Mind Stone from the gauntlet, returning them to his necklace and scepter respectively, then casually tossed the gauntlet back to Tony.
After that, he walked over to Natasha and stood beside her, looking out the window together.
Natasha turned to look at Heisenberg and pressed her lips together.
"What, do you like the scenery of Earth?"
"Haha, Earth's scenery is all the same. I just wanted to take a few more looks at you, still alive in this world."
"Oh, what an honor."
"Heh, don't think too much of it. In my eyes, you are only one more achievement I just completed."
As Heisenberg spoke, he quietly thought to himself,
So future me actually managed to achieve the ending where Natasha survives in Endgame.
This feels damn good.
/-\
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