The End and The Beginning

Starting: 1512 Words

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"If this is a nightmare, I better wake up soon."

Alex Luther walked along 42nd Street in New York, feeling like a walking zombie. 

The dazzling sunlight shone on him, but couldn't dispel the gloom in his heart. Even though he was on the busiest street in New York, there was no fluctuation in Alex's heart.

It was as if everything was out of place for him.

Alex wasn't from this world. He had forgotten how he arrived here, just like waking up from a hangover and finding himself inexplicably here, lying with a group of homeless people.

It had been a month since he arrived in this world. As he gathered more and more information, Alex's heart sank further. He tightened the strap of his shoulder bag, as if the contents inside could give him a sense of security. From the style, it looked like it had been outdated for a long time, but for Alex, it contained all his belongings.

The bag was picked up, and so were the things inside.

Initially, Alex was very excited when he first arrived in this world. Time travel like this only existed in novels or anime. Being able to experience it firsthand was enough to put him ahead of 99.9999% of the people in his previous life.

Especially when Alex saw 'Stark' in the newspaper, his excitement grew even more.

Stark, a surname familiar to Alex, who had seen many Marvel works. Tony Stark, The Iron Man. No one else in the world would appear with this surname on the front page of the biggest newspaper in New York except him.

But...

Alex's gaze shifted downward, and the headline that caught his eye made him hold his breath for a second.

[Revenge Organization Avengers Completely Annihilated! Terrorist Leader Tony Stark Executed!]

"What?"

Alex's eyelids twitched incessantly, and his hands holding the newspaper trembled slightly. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.

The Avengers were a revenge organization? And Tony Stark had become a terrorist? And he was dead?

Alex didn't have time to think much. He continued reading, trying to find more clues.

The event took place in California, many days ago. With the final Quinjet of the Avengers hit head-on by Patriot missiles, the revenge organization 'Avengers' could be considered completely wiped out.

The Quinjet carried the various elders of the Avengers, who exposed their positions while evacuating their base, which led to their complete demise in this attack.

Tony Stark, originally a scientific genius with billions of dollars, but after being injured by a grenade from the National Guard, he created a suit of armor made of metal. He adopted the alias Iron Man and gathered a group of separatist elements, creating the terrorist organization 'Avengers' to resist the incumbent Professor of the Eagle Nation, Professor X.

It is reported that the people in the Avengers were all 'masters of their crafts', excelling in various fields. There were figures like the Archbishop Stephen Strange, the scientist couple Hank and Janet Pym, and the self-proclaimed reincarnation of Thor, the Thunder God, Thor, and so on. However, at this moment, this organization that attempted to overthrow the authoritarian rule of Professor X had long since disappeared, leaving only the clean-up work.

Four days later, Alex witnessed the execution scene of Clint Barton, A.k.A. 'Hawkeye', on the street.

He was betrayed on his way to escape, his identity exposed. Despite his excellent combat skills and strong fighting power, he still had moments of exhaustion when facing the soldiers who kept coming.

Pong!

With a gunshot, Clint Barton, kneeling on the street, was shot in the head, and he was still wearing his purple uniform representing his identity.

Blood flowed, and the people watching around started screaming. Being able to witness such an exciting scene, these people were excited. After all, this was the Avengers that had been a headache for Professor X for a long time. Such people were rare, let alone at the scene of execution.

As for why these 'Avengers' were willing to risk their lives to launch a revolution and overthrow Professor X, it didn't matter to the people around them. They didn't care. Anyway, it was just a topic for idle chatter after dinner.

But Alex, who stood among the crowd watching all this, didn't think so.

"Why? What on earth happened to this world?"

"Why did the founder of the X-Men, Professor X, become an extreme authoritarian?"

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"Why didn't Iron Man's armor lock onto the Patriot missile coming towards them?"

"Why doesn't Doctor Strange use magic?"

"Why did Thor, the God of Thunder, swing that useless hammer and get blown up by a missile?"

Alex stared at Hawkeye's body, his heart unable to calm down for a long time. He felt everything was so strange and terrifying. At this moment, he didn't even care about the nausea of seeing a dead body for the first time.

"What kind of world have I come to?"

Over the next few days, Alex continued to wander and, based on memories from his previous life, began searching for clues in this shattered world.

Because he was a nobody with no money, Alex had to join the ranks of scavengers to avoid starving to death. However, this identity also had its advantages. Among the scavengers, there were many pieces of information about people in this world that most people didn't know.

For example, the attack on the Avengers was betrayed by a former member, Scarlet Witch, who, to save herself, betrayed the organization and revealed a lot of information and bases to Professor X.

Perhaps Tony Stark, even in death, couldn't have imagined that the culprit behind the complete annihilation of the Avengers was from within?

The seductive Scarlet Witch killed her producer, Norman Osborn, because he was a sea king who deceived her feelings. This incident made the headlines that night and was also a hot topic among scavengers.

Washington, D.C., had become an area with no supremacy, filled with various gangs. It was not an exaggeration to say it was the most chaotic place in the world.

Originally, Alex Luther was planning to go and take a look, but several scavengers stopped him and told him that it was 'hell' there, even scarier than the real hell. If he didn't want to die in gang conflicts or be eaten by those mutant monsters, it was best to stay away from there for the rest of his life and not even think about it.

This was a world akin to a nightmare. All the superheroes and supervillains in Alex's memories had changed. They became a chapter of the most tragic endings, and the methods that originally gave them superpowers had led them to this downfall in this world.

Just like a curse, in this world, all superpowered individuals didn't have a good ending, not even the aliens.

Alex didn't forget that last night a scavenger told him a story about how the Kree interstellar army was bombed into space debris by nuclear bombs.

As the memories ended, Alex's footsteps also stopped. He stood in front of a house.

The door of the house had a sign that read 'For Recycling and Auction'. Alex hesitated for a moment, then took out two iron wires from his bag, inserted them into the lock, and fiddled with them a few times. The door opened.

For houses like this one, which were waiting to be auctioned off, nobody would care until they were sold. This provided an opportunity for many scavengers. After all, nobody would want to sleep on the streets when there was a house available.

The previous owner of this house was a man named Ben Parker. His poor nephew broke a chemistry experiment once and, after being bitten by a radiation-infected spider, he suffered from a terrible disease. After causing the destruction of his family, he eventually died on the street, exposed.

Opening the door, Alex quickly entered the room and, without leaving a trace when closing the door, glanced around. After making sure there was no one following him outside, he locked the door.

"I'm back. How was your harvest?"

Just as he closed the door, a figure appeared next to Alex in an instant. In the blink of an eye, Alex hadn't even noticed how he had appeared. But Alex didn't show any surprise. Obviously, this wasn't the first time.

"I've said it before, don't casually use your super speed." Alex pushed the man away and walked towards the living room without looking back.

"I'm too bored. Every time you go out for several days, and I'm just stuck in this house. I shouldn't be discovered here," the man said.

Hearing this, Alex turned around, facing the silver-haired man in front of him, and spoke.

"Is that so? Have you forgotten how you were caught and brought back before? Pietro, what do you want to lose this time, your left leg or your right leg? Isn't your remaining left hand enough to remind you?"