The moment Deep Blue finished speaking, Thanos paused on his throne. A strange feeling crept into his chest as he narrowed his eyes slightly.
Nebula?
Wasn't she supposed to be imprisoned inside the temple on Talos? How had she suddenly appeared inside Temple Number Two?
For a brief second, he wondered if Deep Blue had malfunctioned again. But that possibility vanished almost immediately. The Deep Blue system installed in Temple Two had only recently been reformatted. There was no reason for an error to occur so soon.
Which meant something unexpected had happened.
With that thought in mind, Thanos immediately spread his mental energy throughout the massive temple ship. In the next instant, he located two unfamiliar presences inside one of the lower storage warehouses.
Nebula.
And standing beside her was War Machine.
The moment he saw the two of them together, a memory surfaced in his mind like lightning cutting through darkness.
Avengers: Endgame.
A slow smile spread across his face as realization dawned on him. So this was the "gift" Death had mentioned.
Pym Particles.
Quantum Realm tunneling technology.
Or, more accurately, quantum time-travel teleportation.
If he could master this technology, then traveling between timelines and universes might become possible. The implications were enormous. Even someone as calm as Thanos felt his heartbeat quicken slightly at the thought.
Meanwhile, deep inside the warehouse of Temple Number Two, darkness surrounded Nebula and War Machine as they cautiously advanced with flashlights raised.
Towering shelves packed with advanced weapons and equipment stretched endlessly into the shadows. The environment looked nothing like Morag, the abandoned planet where they were supposed to retrieve the Power Stone.
Because these weren't the Nebula and War Machine of this universe.
They had come from another timeline.
Their mission was simple: retrieve the Power Stone before Peter Quill could claim it, then return to their own universe and use the Infinity Stones to reverse the catastrophe caused by Thanos.
Half the life in their universe had been erased.
Entire worlds had vanished overnight.
Friends. Family. Billions upon billions of lives.
Everything depended on this mission succeeding.
Using the Avengers' newly developed Quantum Realm teleportation technology, they had intended to travel back to Morag in 2014. But from the looks of things, something had clearly gone wrong.
War Machine slowly swept his flashlight across the warehouse, confusion written across his aging face.
"Did we teleport to the wrong place?" he muttered. "This looks like some kind of storage facility."
James Rhodes was no longer young. Years of warfare and constant battles had left traces across his body. Gray hairs had already appeared near his temples, and exhaustion lingered behind his eyes.
Truthfully, he shouldn't have been participating in a mission this dangerous anymore.
But after the Snap, the Avengers were stretched thin. Everyone still capable of fighting had been forced back into battle.
Nebula glanced around the warehouse with growing unease. The place felt familiar, yet strangely different.
"This looks like the weapons depot aboard my father's ship," she said slowly. "Temple Two… but it's bigger than I remember. And the equipment here looks far more advanced."
As soon as the words left her mouth, a sudden chill ran down her spine.
Before either of them could react further, the warehouse lights abruptly turned on.
Bright white light flooded the massive room.
"Welcome back, my future daughter."
The deep voice echoed across the warehouse like thunder.
At the entrance stood a massive purple figure.
Thanos.
The moment they saw him, both Nebula and War Machine instinctively raised their weapons. Panic and tension exploded across their faces.
Rhodes nearly cursed out loud.
Of all possible destinations, they had somehow teleported directly into Thanos' territory.
Nebula's expression became even uglier as she processed his words.
Future daughter.
Her mechanical eyes widened slightly as disbelief filled her voice.
"How do you know we're from the future?"
Thanos began walking toward them calmly, each step heavy enough to feel oppressive.
"Because," he said evenly, "I never installed prosthetics on you."
As he spoke, a faint coldness flickered through his eyes.
In this timeline, Nebula had not yet reached the point where endless failure and punishment turned most of her body into machinery. Yet the Nebula standing before him had already been heavily modified.
That alone exposed everything.
Unfortunately, even in another timeline, she had still ultimately chosen betrayal.
Thinking of that made the temperature in the room seem to drop.
War Machine instantly realized the situation had become catastrophic.
"We're leaving," he barked.
Without hesitation, he raised his weapon while reaching for the Quantum teleportation device attached to his waist. But before he could activate it, an overwhelming pressure suddenly crashed down onto him.
"Ugh!"
His body slammed to one knee against the floor.
It felt as though an invisible mountain had dropped onto his shoulders.
"What the hell is happening?"
Cold sweat covered Rhodes' face as fear filled his heart.
Nebula looked equally horrified. She had spent decades beside Thanos, but she had never felt pressure this terrifying before.
This wasn't simply strength.
It felt closer to absolute domination.
Even moving became difficult.
A moment later, Thanos stopped directly in front of Nebula. His gaze swept across the mechanical components embedded into her face and body.
The coldness in his eyes softened slightly.
"Your father must've treated you terribly."
Nebula immediately turned her head away, refusing to look at him. Hatred and resistance were obvious on her face.
She felt nothing but disgust toward the monster standing before her.
Thanos sighed faintly, then suddenly reached toward her waist and tore off the device attached there.
War Machine's eyes widened.
"Thanos!" he shouted angrily. "If you've got a problem, come at me! She's your daughter!"
Ignoring him completely, Thanos calmly walked over while holding Nebula's teleportation belt.
The red lights in War Machine's armor suddenly flashed.
"System," Rhodes growled internally, "activate auto-combat mode!"
He knew perfectly well that his own physical abilities were meaningless in front of Thanos. But the armor itself still possessed automated combat functions.
The next second, the War Machine armor instantly launched forward.
Its mechanical fist shot directly toward Thanos' head with explosive force.
Thanos merely tilted slightly to the side.
The attack missed completely.
Then he threw a single punch.
Boom!
The sound exploded through the warehouse like artillery fire.
Even though Thanos hadn't used his full strength, the power behind the strike far exceeded what War Machine's armor could endure.
The armor shattered instantly.
Metal fragments burst outward in every direction.
And Thanos' fist continued forward without slowing, punching directly through Rhodes' chest.
A mortal body was still mortal.
Armor could protect flesh to a certain extent, but it could never truly change human fragility.
War Machine stared blankly downward at the massive hole in his chest. Blood spilled from his mouth as his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Cough… cough…"
His strength rapidly faded.
A moment later, his body collapsed sideways onto the cold warehouse floor.
"No! Rhodes!"
Nebula screamed in grief, her eyes turning red almost instantly. She glared at Thanos with overwhelming hatred.
"Why?" she shouted. "Why did you kill him?!"
Thanos ignored her completely.
He crouched beside War Machine's corpse, removed the teleportation device from the dead man's waist, then stood up calmly.
"Why is it," he asked coldly, "that people who refuse to accept destiny always insist on struggling against it?"
As his voice fell, the warehouse doors opened again.
A group of Black Order executives and elite warriors entered quickly before kneeling respectfully.
Thanos tossed the two teleportation devices toward them.
"Study these carefully," he ordered. "Do not damage them."
He absolutely refused to believe that humanity on Earth, a civilization that hadn't even reached Level One status, could create technology his empire couldn't replicate.
Even if the universe itself seemed determined to cheat in humanity's favor, there still had to be limits.
Surely they weren't opening portals with literal magic.
The executives immediately accepted the devices respectfully before departing to begin research.
Meanwhile, several warriors moved forward and forcibly dragged the despairing Nebula away.
Thanos stood silently in the warehouse for a moment, staring down at War Machine's corpse.
Then he smiled faintly.
"This really is quite the gift."
.....
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