Chapter 186: “Nonsense!”

Right now, worrying about which side the Ultimate Team will take is pointless. What matters is stopping these robots and keeping them from escaping.

To Batman, these machines are a real headache. All he can do is cripple them with his Batarangs and give the others some cover. Bare-handed, he's not sure he can inflict much damage.

"Batman, why don't you use that other form of yours and finish this in one go?" Stark lands beside Bruce, sweeping aside a robot about to ambush him with repulsor blasts from both palms.

Bruce says nothing. He just keeps clearing the enemies in front of him, flinging Batarangs like they're free; each one drops a robot where it stands.

"And I'd appreciate an explanation. Are these things the invaders from that planet hanging above us?" Stark talks nonstop while guarding Bruce's rear, firing at the metal attackers.

"That up there is an Earth from another universe," Bruce answers flatly—almost frying Stark's mental CPU.

"Hold on, hold on—do you mean what I think you mean?" Stark can hardly believe it, but his attacks never pause as he bombs away at the robots.

Bruce offers no further details.

Meanwhile, Reed has finished prepping a device to blow that thing in the sky to pieces.

Bruce spots the launcher mounted on Reed's craft. A small payload rockets toward the planet and vanishes from sight.

Reed looks up at the blue world overhead, smiling as he waits for its destruction. To him, he isn't destroying another universe's Earth; he's protecting the one beneath his feet. This isn't a crime—it's salvation.

Both the Ultimate Team and the Howling Commandos are too busy wrestling the robots to notice Reed's move—everyone except Bruce.

"BOOM!"

A thunderous blast erupts; shockwaves roll across the battlefield. All eyes turn upward—yet the blue planet is gone. It's shattered into countless fragments that rain down like cosmic gravel.

Everyone immediately retreats, scrambling to avoid the falling debris—chunks that big could flatten anything.

But the robots stand motionless, as if the planet's explosion short-circuited them.

Once they've evacuated and the surroundings settle, the Ultimate Team finally turn to the others who arrived earlier. They need answers: Why was a whole planet parked over Earth, and why did S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellites miss it?

"I think you owe us an explanation," Captain America says, shield still raised, eyeing the Howling Commandos—especially Reed Richards, long branded a super-criminal.

Thor hovers overhead, Mjolnir crackling with thunder, ready to strike whoever's responsible.

Nick Fury glances from Reed to Bruce. He has a rough idea of what happened, but it's best if they explain—he might learn something new.

Reed starts to speak, but Bruce steps forward first and lays everything out, including Reed's plan.

"You're saying the universes are colliding with Earth as the pivot," Stark sums up, looking from Bruce to Reed. "And the only way to save our Earth was to destroy the other one." He falls silent—partly stunned, partly aware everyone else needs time to process this.

Captain America fixes Bruce with a hard stare. "No other way at all?"

Bruce doesn't answer, but the grim set of his face says enough—words Cap never wanted to hear.

Cap is about to press further when Susan stops him; civilians are gathering, and airing this in public could spark chaos. This is not news the world can handle right now. One more crisis and humanity might destroy itself before any planet collision does.

"No one leaves. We're heading to S.H.I.E.L.D. to discuss this," Cap orders. Susan throws a force-field dome around them all.

Bruce remotely guides his Bat-wing to grab the field, hauling everyone toward S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ.

Inside S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Alpha-One base, Monica is already tearing her hair out: she barely wrapped up the Galactus incident when, without warning, the entire Ultimate Team rushed off to Africa.

And clearly, they hadn't informed her at all—she had no idea what they had been up to. Even when she mobilized S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellites to monitor them, there was still no indication of what they had done. However, the moment they reappeared,

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellite managed to capture images of them along with a few individuals by their side. It was now obvious that the Ultimates were with the Howling Commandos—and even that troublesome Bat was among them.

"The Ultimates are back," an agent in the command center shouted at the simulator card, as they had just received the Ultimates' signal along with a landing request from the Batwing.

Monica immediately stood up, ready to storm over to the landing pad and demand answers—what exactly were they planning, and why had they acted without informing her?

And what exactly had happened earlier?

But when she saw the grave expressions on the Ultimates' faces, she already knew—something big had gone wrong.

This time, everyone was gathered around the table in the Alpha One Command Center, but no one spoke a word.

Every face bore a serious expression.

Well, not everyone. Monica looked completely lost—she had no clue what was going on. Reed, on the other hand, looked calm and confident, certain that he held the winning hand.

Reed believed his method was unquestionably the most effective and the one most likely to gain approval. What other way was there to save their planet?

At this point, all other agents had already been cleared from the Alpha One Command Center. Nick Fury had prohibited any further eavesdropping or interference. Even outside the command room, security measures were in place to ensure no one learned what was about to be discussed.

"Let's hear it—everyone share your thoughts. Maybe together we can come up with another solution," Captain America finally broke the silence. He was clearly restless and looked to the others for a better answer.

For Captain America, this recent journey had far surpassed anything he'd experienced before.

First it was aliens. Then other bizarre entities appeared. And now, a world-devouring being who literally consumed planets. And to top it off, they were being told that unless they destroyed another Earth in another universe, their own planet wouldn't survive.

It was all too overwhelming.

"Isn't my method the best possible solution? If we eliminate the other planet, we survive," Reed said, looking up at Captain America. He didn't care at all about the darkening expression forming on Cap's face.

"Then you might as well freeze me back in ice, because I'm never agreeing to that proposal," Captain America shouted, rising to his feet in anger.

"I can freeze you back right now," Reed replied with a smirk. For him, putting Captain America back on ice was no challenge at all.

Captain America glared at him furiously, but didn't act further—because right now, they still needed Reed. At the very least, they needed that brilliant brain of his.

"I support Reed's plan," Stark suddenly raised his hand. He chose to back the idea of destroying the other planet to save Earth.

Cap was stunned. He never expected Stark to go along with such an option.

The next moment, Nick Fury raised his hand as well, also supporting Reed's planetary destruction plan.

As Stark's close friend, Thor naturally agreed with Stark's decision.

Captain America turned his gaze to Bruce—after all, Bruce knew the most about the situation. Cap was also deeply worried. If even the Bat voted in favor, would that mean every planet they came across might end up destroyed?

But Bruce didn't raise his hand at all. He just coldly swept his gaze across everyone present.

Monica was starting to lose it. She could understand every individual word they were saying, but when strung together, it all sounded like utter gibberish to her.

"Can someone please explain what the hell you're all talking about? I don't understand a single thing!" Monica slammed her hand on the table and shouted at everyone present.

At this moment, Nick Fury took on the role of explaining. He laid out the entire sequence of events for Monica. He wasn't worried that his ex-wife would oppose him.

He believed that, as a fellow agent, Monica would understand and ultimately support his decision.

After hearing everything, Monica sat back down, stunned, her face filled with disbelief.

She had once thought that the arrival of the planet-devourer was what Kang the Conqueror had foretold as the world-ending threat. But now, it seemed that the Devourer was just the prelude to something even greater—merely a small ripple in the storm to come.

"So what's your decision, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Reed asked, looking at Monica. He didn't call her by name but addressed her by her title.

Monica's stance would determine S.H.I.E.L.D.'s next move. If she agreed, everything would become much simpler.

"How can you be sure that the Earth colliding with ours doesn't have humans? Doesn't have people like us?" Captain America challenged Reed. Bruce had previously explained the difference between the Blue Planet and the Red Planet.

The Blue Planet had no life. But the Red Planet hosted a human civilization similar to their own. To Captain America, personally killing off all life on another Earth was absolutely unacceptable.

No one has the right to casually judge another's fate or strip away their right to live.

Not even people like them.

"Steve Rogers, were you frozen for so long that your brain got damaged? We're talking about the survival of Earth, and you're standing up for another universe, for creatures that may not even be like us," Reed shot back harshly. "Can you really say that life from another universe is the same as us? Even just looking at human evolution, today's humans are already almost completely different from those of the past."

"Bullshit!" Bruce's voice suddenly rang out, and what he said shocked everyone present.

(End of Chapter)

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