Ian leaned back in his seat comfortably. "I can see that some of you are very unhappy."
"What do you think?" Steve asked. "Dozens, even hundreds, of people lost their lives, and all because you wanted to play God."
"You're wrong about that," Ian replied. "No one died. Of course, the news will report dozens of casualties, but all of them are false identities I made up for this incident."
"That doesn't make what you did any better," Maria·Hill added. "New York is in shambles and it will cost billions of dollars to fix it."
"Money, right? Sometimes, I forget the way I think, and now I'm completely different from ordinary humans," Ian said. He raised his hand and opened a portal, and the screen showed somewhere in Solar System. He pointed at one of the asteroids.
"Asteroid L-876A - this thing contains natural resources estimated to be worth $3.6 trillion." As he finished speaking, the asteroid shrank and passed through the portal, and then the portal closed. "Money will never be an issue."
There was silence in the room, and everyone was speechless. Then, Natasha broke the silence. "I think what everyone doesn't like is that you control the fate of people on this planet for arbitrary reasons."
"Ah, so you feel like you're being used - like puppets on strings," Ian nodded. "Unfortunately, your fate was sealed even before I became a variable. Let me show you what would have happened if I hadn't intervened."
Ian typed the Snap, showing everyone the future from the first <Iron Man> movie to Endgame. Of course, he hid some facts, such as the existence of Bucky and the fact that he killed Tony's parents. He used a spell to speed up their perception so that they could experience it all quickly.
"So, I'm dead?" Natasha asked.
"Count me in," Tony added. However, he quickly focused on his life with Pepper and daughter Morgan·Stark.
"How could this be the fate of Asgard?" Thor murmured to himself. He couldn't believe that his powerful country would fall to this point. "Hela?" He whispered, with a certain degree of ferocity in his eyes.
"If you let time pass naturally, this will be your fate," Ian explained. "But my appearance and that Great Cataclysm changed the direction of things."
"What exactly is this Great Cataclysm you are talking about?" Fury asked.
"Yes, let's get back to the topic," Ian nodded. "You should know or have heard of the word 'Multiverse', right?" Everyone nodded. Some of them may not be familiar with this concept before, but after seeing their future, they also have a certain understanding.
"Some being or something, for reasons unknown, forced all universes to collide and Fusion until only one remained, this event is known as [Great Convergence]. I know you can't imagine how horrific such an event would be, so I'm going to show you some clips of the future that my predecessor and I saw."
Countless horrific scenes appeared in the room, showing everyone the scene of terrible creatures invading this reality and destroying the Carnage universe.
They saw how they were futilely resisting these invaders, and how some of the invaders were variants of themselves. One of the images shown was of a Hulk variant, which treated humans as food and consumed life in countless galaxies.
"Stop," Banner said, and Ian stopped the picture.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," Ian added. "Infinity's dimension holds Infinity possibilities. Even with my ability, I can only see a small part." The silence in the room was deafening. After what seemed like a century, Ian spoke again.
"Now do you understand? I'm not doing this for power or for some stupid reason like trying to play God," Ian said.
"The future is bleak and it is my job to ensure that our reality survives this ordeal, and I will do whatever it takes to succeed. However, I cannot do it all alone, so I need your help."
"What can we do in that situation?" Hawkeye asked, his voice full of hopelessness and desperation. The battle with Loki had shown him the limits of being an ordinary person, let alone dealing with these godless creatures who treated the galaxy and the universe as playthings.
"There's no need to despair. Our world has many powerful protectors, and we've already been through Convergence twice, and got out of trouble without any problems."
"Solved? How?" Fury asked.
"We Annihilation them before they Fusion their universe with ours," Ian replied calmly, shocking everyone. They knew the man was powerful and the scale of the things he dealt with was incomprehensible, but for him to directly say he Annihilation a universe, that was another story entirely.
Ian waved his hand and showed the team the evidence. He not only showed them his team's attack, but also the effect or process of that universe being Annihilation. He also showed them what would happen if their own universe was destroyed.
"It's so cruel," Steve commented. He was a soldier and had seen the cruelty of war. However, his experience pales in comparison to an event of such a cosmic scale.
"Indeed. Unfortunately, this is a situation where either they die or we die," Ian nodded. "Are there any other questions?"
"I have a question," Fury said after taking a deep breath. He knew that he was facing a god-like existence, but he still decided to speak. So, he looked directly into Ian's eyes. "Does the United States government know about this?"
Ian smiled. "Are you wondering if I used magic to get the position of Minister S.H.I.E.L.D.? The answer is no.
After showing these leaders future technologies and prospects they could not imagine - including immortality through genetic manipulation - most sold out their countries without hesitation and gave me the political and military power I desired."
Fury muttered silently. He knew these people and their way of doing things, so he believed Ian's words.
"Is there anything else?"
"How do you plan to arrange for us?" Banner asked.
"Good question," Ian said with a smile. "All of you are talented people, so I have prepared a training plan to ensure that you become people who have the ability to turn things around in this incident."
"Training? Do you want to teach us magic?" Hawkeye asked.
"Not necessarily," Ian shook his head. "Magic may not be the most suitable path for you. What Luck is is that I have been to many dimensions and know countless energy systems that can give you power."
"When will this kind of training start?" Hawkeye then asked.
"I still have some unfinished business. My clone also needs to clean up the aftermath of this invasion, so it will take about 2 to 4 weeks," Ian replied with a smile.
"That sounds like a long time," Hawkeye muttered, and Ian's smile became even brighter.
"I don't want to burst your bubble, but I'm not agreeing to join your little club," Tony declared.
"Tony--"
"Now, excuse me, I have to go see Pepper." He walked out of the room, summoned the armor and flew away. Everyone looked at Ian, but he was calm. "It doesn't matter." He knew that if Tony wanted to protect Pepper or his friend Rhodey, he had no choice but to ask for help.
To say the least, even if Tony doesn't come, it won't hurt because there are others who can replace him, such as Hank·Pym, Lily·William ms and Shuri, and if necessary, he can even be Resurrection Tony's father--Howard·Stark.
"I must say goodbye," Thor declared. He had many questions that he needed to go back to ask his father and mother. "Brother, do you want to go with me?"
"I want to go home, but there are still unfinished business here."
"Okay then." Thor flew outside and called Heimdall (Heimdall) to teleport him home. He didn't even go to see Jane.
"I guess we'll see you again in a few weeks," Ian said to the remaining people, before teleporting away with his clone.