[59] : The Altered Ending!
10+ Advance Chapters: [email protected]/Dragonnx
━━━━━
The Watcher had no intention of keeping Roger longer than necessary. After asking Roger once again to save the world, he sent him back to the zombie-infested world he had originally come from.
Time in the zombie world had remained unchanged since Roger left. To Vision, it seemed as if Roger had merely vanished and reappeared in an instant, leaving him puzzled.
Vision, with a myriad of questions on his mind, tilted his head and began to speak, but Roger stopped him before he could ask anything. Instead, Roger turned to the window, where Captain Marvel was engaged in battle with Thor, and said to Vision, “Let’s begin.”
“Alright, but the energy from all six Infinity Stones combined is immense. I can only fulfill one wish,” Vision replied.
“What do you mean?” asked Roger.
“Earth’s crisis is currently the zombies, but if what you said earlier is true, then Thanos will attack Earth afterward…” Vision expressed his concern.
The Earth was already facing the zombie crisis, and now it had to contend with Thanos. However, the Infinity Stones could only fulfill a single wish.
Vision needed to eliminate Thanos’ army as well if he wanted to fully resolve Earth’s crisis. However, his body wasn’t capable of harnessing the energy of all the Infinity Stones twice. In fact, even Ultron couldn’t handle such power.
In the original story, Ultron appeared to use the Infinity Stones without limitation, but upon closer inspection, it was clear he never used all six stones simultaneously. Like Thanos, he only used one stone at a time in battle. Using all six stones at once came with a significant cost, and even Ultron, a powerful entity in the multiverse, couldn’t avoid injury. Vision, naturally, couldn’t escape this cost either.
However, Vision’s information was outdated. Thanos was no longer a threat to this world.
Roger patted Vision on the shoulder and said, “Just do what you need to. Don’t worry about Thanos.”
“Huh?” Vision was confused.
Roger pointed to the Infinity Stones on his chest and smiled, “Otherwise, how do you think I got these stones?”
Vision quickly understood Roger’s meaning. He nodded at Roger and, without further hesitation, began to link the energies of all the Infinity Stones.
Multicolored lights flowed over Vision's body. The energy of each Infinity Stone wrapped around him like a dense web, intertwining and entangling him.
The pain from channeling such immense energy caused Vision to cry out.
The others aboard the aircraft gathered around, watching anxiously as Vision tapped into the power of the Infinity Stones.
Roger wasn’t particularly worried about Vision. He had received a definitive answer from the Watcher.
Because of Roger's arrival, the original grim fate of the Avengers had been averted. Originally, the Avengers' journey to Wakanda was a death mission, they would likely have been killed by Thanos or, if lucky, barely escaped with the Mind Stone. But the zombification of the universe was inevitable.
However, Roger's presence had reversed the Avengers' fate, erasing the original dark ending. This was why the Watcher had chosen Roger. He believed Roger could save the multiverse because Roger had the potential to be a hero.
Or rather, for the zombie universe, he already was a hero, one who couldn’t be replaced or criticized.
Only Roger himself knew that he wasn’t truly a hero.
“Now that I think about it, I never asked him for a reward… Oh well, I wasn’t sure if I could help anyway,” Roger thought to himself.
Lost in thought, Roger realized that when he agreed to the Watcher's request, he hadn’t negotiated a reward.
Unlike the original members of the Watcher's team, who were already part of the multiverse and couldn’t escape its problems, Roger wasn’t bound to save this world. He had the right to set conditions and demand the compensation he deserved.
That is, if he agreed to save the multiverse.
“Even if I did want a reward, I don’t know what to ask for…” Roger mused.
Power? Should he become the ruler of an entire universe?
That seemed pointless. Roger wasn’t interested in being a ruler, whether as a tyrant or a wise king. It was too exhausting and troublesome. He wouldn’t want that even if it were handed to him for free.
Wealth?
Forget it. Money is just a number once you have enough of it. After becoming Homelander, Roger had access to billions of dollars, but after indulging in some crazy shopping sprees, he lost interest. As long as he had enough to enjoy life, he didn’t care about accumulating wealth.
Strength?
Roger figured if he already had the power to defeat and crush Ultron, there would be no need to ask a defeated Watcher for ways to increase his strength.
As for something like beauty… Roger found the idea too vulgar. He wanted love to come naturally, not through force.
Other desires didn’t seem worth mentioning either.
The only true wish he had was to find a way back to his original world, but that was something the Watcher clearly couldn’t fulfill.
In the end, even if Roger wanted a reward, he couldn’t think of anything he truly desired.
But if he were to save the multiverse, he would definitely ask for something in return, even if it was just an ice cream from the Watcher.
Selfless sacrifice wasn’t Roger’s style. Even heroes rarely give everything for a world they have no ties to.
While Roger’s thoughts wandered, Vision had already finished channeling all the stones' energy.
The stones were embedded in Vision's body, so he didn’t need to snap his fingers. Instead, he used the Mind Stone at his forehead as the focal point, channeling the power of all the stones through it.
A rainbow of light burst from Vision's forehead. The energy from the Mind Stone shot through the aircraft, past Earth's atmosphere, and across the solar system at faster-than-light speed, releasing a brilliant aurora within the solar system.
As the energy beam spread, it moved quickly, so fast that it seemed to take only an instant to complete its task.
Vision, who had used his body as a conduit to release the stones' power, closed his eyes and collapsed to the ground.
The strain of connecting all the stones' energies had caused him to lose consciousness. Fortunately, his body was intact, he had merely passed out. Compared to the severe damage Thanos and Hulk suffered after using the stones, Vision’s condition was the best possible outcome.
Seeing Vision fall, Sharon rushed to support him, while Roger and Peter moved to the edge of the aircraft to look outside.
Captain Marvel and Thor were still engaged in combat. Thor, having lost his human consciousness, was almost completely overpowered by Captain Marvel.
When Thor was once again smashed into the ground by Captain Marvel and forced downward, his consciousness finally returned. Feeling the intense pain in his body and seeing the woman who was pummeling him, Thor was a bit dazed.
“Who… who are you? Why are you hitting me…?”
*Bang!*
Unfortunately, before Thor could finish his sentence, Captain Marvel’s fist landed heavily on his head.
Just as he regained consciousness, Thor felt his brain turn to mush. His vision went black, and he lost consciousness once again.
Captain Marvel, realizing that Thor had regained consciousness after throwing her punch, paused in silence. She looked at the now-unconscious Thor and said,
“…If I told you I didn’t mean to hit you that hard, would you believe me?”
“……”
But the unconscious Thor was no longer able to answer her question.
━━━━━
Craving for more Chapters? Get exclusive access on P@treon!
10+ Advance Chapters: [email protected]/Dragonnx
[Replate '@' with 'a' Access P@treon Normally]