Nick Fury immediately looked at Loki, who was standing next to him.
Loki shrugged and said, "To be honest, I also think that the answer to this question should be me."
He was deliberately misleading others. After all, it was an arena mode. Among the five players, only three could win. This meant that to secure victory, one had to not only score correct answers but also eliminate other players.
Loki was naturally skilled at this kind of game.
Taking advantage of the others' doubts about him, he released a smoke bomb, even though he thought the answer to this question was probably not him.
Based on the future revealed by past quiz games, in the normal timeline, the only time he caused trouble on Earth was during the Battle of New York. Though he did steal the Tesseract, it was from S.H.I.E.L.D., not the Avengers base.
After the Battle of New York, he should be in Asgard dealing with Ragnarok, and he definitely wouldn't have had time to do anything on Earth.
Furthermore, the option of Thanos could also be ruled out. According to the information disclosed in the previous quiz game, Thanos was known for his direct and domineering behaviour. He didn't engage in sneaky tricks but went straight for what he wanted.
So the correct answer should be one of the remaining two choices. Loki thought the possibility of the first option was higher, and the reason was simple. Scott Lang was the new player selected in this quiz game.
Based on the rules of previous quiz games, many questions were often directly related to new players. Thus, Loki believed the second option was the most likely correct answer.
Of course, he preferred to answer correctly alone, so he mislead them and said, "Remember the Battle of New York? I played tricks on all of you and stole the Tesseract easily."
"No, you're not right," Tony Stark shook his head and said, "If I remember correctly, during the Battle of New York, the Cosmic Cube was in the S.H.I.E.L.D. You didn't steal it; it was more like a blatant robbery!"
Loki shrugged, "That depends on how you define stealing and robbing. What do you think the answer will be?"
Nick Fury glanced at him, realizing that Option A and Option D could be ruled out.
" I think Scott has proven that he will be a member of the Avengers in the future. Though the Avengers were facing a civil war between them at that time, it was enough to clear his suspicion. And It's well-known that Thanos wants to collect the infinite stones, and he directly invaded Earth and snatched the Mind Stone in Wakanda, not the Avengers base.
So the correct answer is possibly between b or c, I thought the possibility of the second option was higher, but Tony's reasoning makes sense, so there's only one option left."
His analysis was well-founded, and his method of elimination for this multiple-choice question was effective.
However, no one noticed that while Nick Fury was calmly analyzing, he secretly signalled Tony Stark with his hands behind his back, implying that he should choose A!
Nick Fury, though looking stern, was not foolish. He could think like Loki and realized that in this competitive answering mode, they needed to use some strategy and tactics to succeed.
Having learned from the previous round where Thor and T'Challa encountered difficulties, they didn't want to become losers in this game. Instead, they all aimed to be in the winner's group.
Unlike the players in the previous round, the players they encountered this time seemed to be less friendly.
Loki was a cunning and dishonest guy who had caused trouble on Earth in both this timeline and the original timeline.
Hank Pym was also untrustworthy and had a feud with Tony Stark from the start.
Therefore, Nick Fury made his choice easily. In this game, Tony Stark was his trustworthy teammate.
This cooperative advantage was significant. Two people could work together, which was better than the other three players fighting independently.
Tony Stark noticed the subtle movements of Nick Fury. After all, they were colleagues and had fought side by side before, so they understood each other well.
With a cunning look in his eyes, Tony said, "Nick is right. The answer is obvious. Whoever answers quickly gets 4 points. Let's see whose hands are faster!"
Loki smiled and said, "Fair competition. Let's see who can answer and score points."
Hank Pym remained silent, and Scott Lang showed an honest smirk, saying, " I'll just follow your lead."
He found that this question-and-answer game didn't seem too difficult. As long as everyone used their brains together, they could quickly come up with the answer.
When the countdown started, everyone was eager to answer and tapped the button in front of them. Scott Lang turned out to be the lucky one. He laughed and immediately made his choice, saying, "I choose C!"
Hank Pym glanced at Tony Stark and sneered, "You are just like your father, I choose A!"
Tony Stark sneered back, "I choose A too!"
Unfortunately, Scott Lang wasn't smart enough to understand that they were tricking him into picking the option they wanted.
Both Nick Fury and Loki made their choices, and now Scott Lang was dumbfounded.
After listening to their analysis for most of the time, where they claimed that the correct answer was clear-cut, and whoever answered first would get 4 points, only he chose an answer that they analyze, and everyone else chose him instead!
"Hey! What's going on? didn't you say that just now the answer was clear! Then why did you choose me?" Scott Lang spread his hands, feeling as if he was being targeted.
Hank Pym shook his head and said, "Idiot, I gave you a wink just now, but you didn't see it, did you? Tell me, why were you put in jail?"
Scott Lang didn't hide the truth. He had once worked for a company that cheated consumers to make high profits. Unable to stand it, he exposed the company's evil deeds to the outside world.
As a result, he faced retaliation from the company and got fired. Out of anger, Scott Lang decided to crack the company's security system, steal the money, and distribute it to those who were deceived.
Though what he did was a good thing in a Robin Hood sense, unfortunately, his actions were considered robbery in the eyes of the law. Such behaviour would be severely punished, leading to his imprisonment.
"What!, just because I'm a thief, I can sneak into the Avengers base to steal things and get away with it? Come on, that's the Avengers base! Even in prison, I've heard of them. They're all extraordinary and good people. I can't just steal from them!"
Scott Lang was still unwilling to believe that the answer could be himself, or in other words, he still clung to a glimmer of hope that he had answered correctly.