When Downey Wears a Tin Can [Comprehensive British and American]

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"So you really met on that tourist island?"

The main control room of the S.H.I.E.L.D. branch in the Bronx.

Two mature, socially-savvy adults obviously have more to talk about at times like this than the tense Edison Steinway squad.

And the captain finally had the opportunity to ask the question that he was somewhat curious about: "Is that the first time you two met?"

Sitting by the dark console, Danny fiddled with the buttons on it with the faint light of the fragments of will in the sealed cabin: "Yes, you saw it too, he beat me up, of course he didn't feel better Where are you going?"

The captain smiled: "Your relationship doesn't look like you just had a serious fight some time ago, I mean—"

The blond man in American uniform moved away the metal trash piled up at the door, and after barely clearing an escape route that could deal with emergencies, he thought about the wording: "Based on the personalities of the two of you—"

But it seems that sarcasm about other people's shortcomings is not what this American soldier is good at, it is more like Patton's strength, so Steve paused for a long time: "I mean——"

In the end, it was Downey who spoke out for him thoughtfully: "You mean, why did two people with such a bad temper like us become friends in such a short period of time?" Downey pressed the Enter key on the control panel, "Looks like the gossip is all over New York."

Captain: "I mean, the tacit understanding between you looks like old friends."

There's nothing wrong with being the captain of the Avengers wanting to get a side look at a new Avenger who's about to join the Avengers, especially one who inexplicably slammed the door in Steve's face a few days ago.

"Maybe it's because we have some common language?"

The familiar data operations in his brain made it easy for Downey to turn on the huge display screen in front of him without looking down at the control panel. He looked at the loading interface on the screen and asked suddenly: "You still think my temper is as bad as before. ?”

Steve said without hesitation: "No, I can hardly connect you with the past now."

He stood at the door, even when he was chatting with someone, he still stared vigilantly at the situation outside the window: "So I've always been curious about what changed you all of a sudden."

Downey said casually, "Dementia?"

No one would really believe this old stalk, the captain glanced at Downey who was staring at the screen seriously, and didn't ask further questions: "I just think that the first time I saw Mr. Robert was like the first time I saw you. , Tony"

So how is Downey going to explain to Steve that the Mr. Robert he first saw and the Mr. Tony Stark he first saw were actually the same person, and that middle-aged explosive barrel used two identities to What about the highly consistent impression of "very bad temper" from the captain?

Downey can only say: "The common problem of geniuses."

The captain agreed: "The common problem of geniuses."

The loading word on the big screen still didn't jump at this time, Donnie couldn't help but frowned.

"Check out the equipment failure, Jarvis, if I remember correctly, Stark Industries has been responsible for updating the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intranet operating system. It is impossible to turn on a machine for so long."

Jarvis, who has recovered through the energy in the will fragments: "The system is troubleshooting——the troubleshooting is complete, and there is no failure to start the system. Please wait patiently."

Downey looked at the English letters dancing on the screen and stopped talking.

This is the semi-abandoned Bronx S.H.I.E.L.D. branch, surrounded by piles of metal garbage everywhere, the blond captain who stood vigilantly at the door and scouted for any other movement in the surrounding environment has not noticed anything unusual, and the so-called The S.H.I.E.L.D. Intranet startup system, which runs the second fastest in New York, has been loading for nearly 5 minutes.

Beside the feet is the shimmering light, the fragments of will quietly suspended in the airtight cabin.

Donnie's awareness of danger is definitely not as good as Captain Blonde's, but to be honest, he thinks his sixth sense has always been quite accurate.

Because just after he subconsciously felt that something was going to happen, the next moment.

Unfamiliar, like a voice pouring directly into my head from all directions, mixed with echoes that seem to be unique to high-end concert halls——

"Donnie."

The moment the sound was transmitted to the brain, accompanied by an inexplicable palpitation, the hairs on the back of Downey's neck almost exploded in an instant as if threatened by something.

He looked at the captain not far away for the first time. The blond captain lowered his head to wipe his shield under the moonlight, and looked up sharply after receiving Donnie's gaze.

"what happened?"

Downey's throat moved, after getting the message that "the captain can't hear the voice of the fragment of will".

Downey: "Nothing."

The word loading on the big screen was still beating.

"What's the matter?" Tang Nick restrained him from his voice to his expression to be calm enough, "Will fragments... ma'am?"

After hearing this sentence, Captain Blonde immediately frowned.He stopped what he was doing and stood up. Just as he was about to speak, he was interrupted by a gesture from Donnie.

Downey: "I'll take care of it, Captain."

Steve didn't say anything anymore, he knew exactly what he was good at.The blond-haired captain returned to the position just now, and his eyes in the darkness stared at the airtight cabin at Downey's feet with extreme vigilance.

The light of the will fragments in the airtight cabin became brighter, and the spherical light body distorted into various shapes as if analyzing the meaning of Downey's words. After a while.

"Help."

Downey sat where he was and didn't speak.The Fragment of Will didn't get a response after waiting for a few seconds, and the voice became more urgent this time.

"Help."

The mechanical strap cannot be connected to the smart housekeeper, nor can it search for the signal of Tony Stark tens of kilometers away. Downey's mind is running fast in these few seconds, until he is sure that there is no other better solution right now. Only later did he speak: "How can I help you?"

The shard of will that finally got a response shone brighter than before. She seemed to be thinking about her words, and when she spoke again, her voice had returned to its original inorganic state.

"I know we did something wrong. We dragged you into this turmoil against your will. We will try to make it up to you, but before that, I hope you can see—"

The surrounding scene faded away with the words of the fragments of will, and the originally messy Bronx S.H.I.E.L.D. branch turned into a barren wasteland. Unknown giant birds hovered above the head, and many deep ravines appeared on the ground beneath their feet. , Downey barely recognized this place from the collapsed and ruined walls around him: "...Manhattan?"

It was very sudden, without any explanation or time for Downey to digest. Just after his words fell, the ground under his feet split again, and the hurricane passed through the rift, emitting a mournful cry that almost pierced the eardrums.

Everything is like the accelerator key being pressed, the magnetic field flips, the comet returns, the asteroid hits the earth, the magma spews out of the ground, the sight is gradually covered by red smoke, the sun expands and swallows the earth and then runs out of energy - these are like Downey Just like what I saw at Karma Taj.

The universe fell into eternal night.

Downey stood in the middle of the vast void, following the ups and downs of the cosmic dust.

The fragments of will in the airtight cabin were still changing forms, and a finer pinhole-sized circle of light lit up in the center of the original light cluster, which seemed to be her eyes, which were used to feed back all of Downey's reactions to her.

But honestly.

Maybe it's because the demise of the universe is too far away for him, making the whole process like watching a hugely expensive Hollywood 3D movie with 4D eyes, or maybe it's because the ancient master has shown him the same picture After going through it again, even though it was more real and shocking this time, he still didn't feel any emotion.

Apparently the Fragment of Will noticed this too, and she stopped her form-shifting, and then a moment later.

The pitch-black picture in front of him was quickly drawn closer, as if he had passed through some kind of tunnel. The speed was so fast that Downey could only feel the vague sound of the wind behind his eardrum. When the sound of the wind stopped, one second, two seconds, three seconds— —

It's like witnessing the end of the Anthropocene.

Donnie heard the baby whimpering.

What moves people the most is always the instinctive empathy of human beings.

The picture in front of me was relit, when the comet hit Manhattan, a mother held her child high in the rubble, shouting at the top of her voice, longing for someone to help.

Although Donnie could see clearly, the baby's face, which had been lifted up to the sky, was already bloody and bloody from the falling boulder.

Anyone can think that this is just another bewitchment by fragments of will, but he has to admit it.

At the moment when the picture freezes on the picture of the baby being smashed and the eyeballs protruding from the eye sockets.

The purpose of the will fragments has been achieved.

It took Downey a long time to find his own voice: "Where is S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"This is a natural disaster, Donnie."

Donnie licked his somewhat dry lips: "Where's the Avenger?"

"You know very well that Earth is not the only one that will be destroyed, Donnie. I admit that the Avengers have great abilities, but they cannot affect the entire universe."

This is probably the most brilliant part of the will fragments. She only showed Downey one picture, leaving the rest blank.

Facing the fear of the unknown and endless imagination, she knows how to grasp a person's weakness.

"No one can fight against the main universe, she can decide the survival of all derivative universes."

The surrounding images reversed, and Downey once again returned to the S.H.I.E.L.D. branch where the surroundings were pitch black and only the word loading was lit up on the screen.

It took him a long time to recover from the tingling sensation just now.

"So—" Downey digested the words of the will fragment just now, "Why did the main universe destroy you?"

The inorganic voice of the will fragments finally became humanized at this moment, "Because I awakened my own thinking, which is not allowed by the main universe."

She described: "Just like you human beings, dictatorial people will not allow their subordinates to have rebellious thoughts in order to consolidate their status, and the main universe does not even allow us to have thoughts."

Downey: "Sounds like you're the victims."

Fragments of will: "It can be said that the will of the universe will split itself into pieces, in addition to avoiding the crusade of the main universe, it is also to have more channels to find ways to save itself."

Downey: "The way to save yourself is to cooperate with Hydra?"

Fragments of will: "It's not our intention to cooperate with them, Donnie, there is always a price to pay for collecting what you want, and we will choose Hydra because Hydra found it before S.H.I.E.L.D. Let us go." She paused, her voice filled with human helplessness, "I hope you can understand that in the face of the issue of the survival of the universe, the good and evil of human nature, justice, law, good or bad are not worth mentioning."

Downey couldn't help pinching the center of his brows, and after a long silence: "How do you want me to help you?"

Fragment of will: "The first step is to get Tony Stark out of here. As long as he stays here, this universe will never be able to restore order."

The problem seems to be back to the beginning.

From the time they set foot on Karma Taj, it seems that the will of the universe is extremely obsessed with them-or the identity of Tony Stark alone.

Downey frowned and thought about it, and couldn't help asking before he figured out the connection: "I'm not Robert Downey Jr. in the main universe, am I?"

He didn't make a sound when he said this, he almost just made a lip movement, and he was sure that even Steve Rogers, who was proficient in lip-reading, couldn't read what he just said by looking at the back of his head in the dark , and within his expectations.

Fragments of will can also analyze the content through lip language.

Fragments of will: "Yes, Robert Downey Jr. in the main universe is married to his agent, and he is living happily."

Downey: "..."

Although the situation was not suitable, Downey subconsciously thought of his agent——

Probably Robert Downey Jr. in the main universe has a beautiful female agent, but his agent is a middle-aged bald beer belly.

He felt that it was impossible for him to marry a middle-aged beer belly even if he married Tony Stark.

Donnie paused.

Forget it.

Tony Stark doesn't have to either.

He pressed his temple again, which was about to be overwhelmed by the fast-moving brain and the amount of information: "Tony Stark is a person, not an object, and my decision can't interfere with him." He looked at the fragment of will in the airtight cabin, " I can't let him die."

Fragment of will: "He won't die, I will send him to his original universe, or other derivative universes, where he will only live better than now."

Downey: "And let him live in other universes as a 'virus'? What about those derivative universes?"

Will fragments: "As far as I know, apart from me, there is no derived universe that has awakened self-thinking. The situation in those universes cannot be worse than mine, but I can't guarantee what will happen."

Typical self-interested thoughts, the picture of the baby's death that was frozen in front of him just now made Donnie unable to tell her fault for a while.

Downey: "But this is Tony Stark's business. I'm not qualified to make such an important decision for him. Why don't you go to him yourself?"

Before the Fragment of Will opened his mouth, Downey said again: "Sorry, I forgot. It seems that you have already looked for him, but he rejected you."

Downey put down his finger on his temple, as if he was following the rhythm of counting the clues, and tapped the console in front of him with his fingertips: "What reason are you using to confuse him? My life?"

Fragment of will; "First of all, the fragment that bewitched him was not me."

Downey snorted, "So each piece of you is an independent individual?"

Fragments of will: "It can be said that, and I hope you can understand, I am not asking for anything, I just hope to get help from the perspective of a victim."

Downey: "It means I can say no."

Fragment of Will: "So you want to refuse?"

Donnie fell silent.

That ethereal female voice was like a bewitching whisper from a demon.

"You are not an indivisible whole."

"Two people appearing in one place at the same time is a disaster for this world."

"Now the most perfect solution is in front of you, and it won't hurt anyone, I just want to know—"

- "What would you choose?"

……

……

- "You must really want to know."

- "What choice will he make?"

The other side of New York.

Equally dark Steinway Edison division.

The loading on the screen changed to another screen, just like watching a live broadcast.

Tony Stark looked at Robert Downey Jr. sitting on the other side of the screen through the screen.

It was as dark there as it was here, so dark that Tony could only see Donny's eyes lost in thought.

He watched those eyes go from struggling, to dazed, to clear, and finally became rational.

Like a sharp knife, reason seems to be able to stab him easily.

Tony Stark's hand couldn't help clenching, after a while.

He heard the man on the other side of the screen say in his familiar voice that once said "I need you".

"what should I do?"

The clenched fists let go and let go.

The fragment of will in the airtight cabin next to him spoke: "This is human nature, Tony."

"You know very well that he is a person who puts the big picture first."

"so."

"Are you still going to refuse to cooperate with me this time?"

The screen in front of him went dark, and the words "loading" returned.

Tony Stark was silent for a long time in the dark.

then.

"what should I do?"