At the same time, Li Yue and others were ready to execute their plans inside Stark Tower!
Tony and Captain America were about to head to New Jersey in 1970, infiltrating the SHIELD facility to steal some Pym Particles.
On the other hand, Li Yue was to complete his plan, defeating Tony and others in broad daylight and directly stealing the Tesseract and the Mind Stone.
"Cough cough, everyone is ready, so let's start our respective actions!"
After addressing Tony and the others from the future, Li Yue disappeared on the spot.
"Bruce, how exactly did you come across him? And his ability to appear and disappear from nowhere is just too incredible!" Tony expressed his astonishment as he watched Li Yue vanish before him.
"Ah, talking about it is just tears!" Banner didn't mention that he had tried to take the Time Stone from him forcefully. He not only failed but was struck so hard by Li Yue that his soul nearly left his body.
"Alright, Tony, we should get to business!" the future Captain America reminded him.
"OK, let's go! See you in a bit, Bruce!"
Tony and Captain adjusted the time and location on their wrist devices, then donned their quantum suits. After a flash of white light, they disappeared from the spot.
"Big Green! How long will they take to return?" Ant-Man couldn't help but ask Banner curiously.
"Normally just five seconds, or maybe forever..." Banner watched the spot where the two had vanished, counting silently in his mind.
"Hey, they're back! That was fast; it felt like just a few seconds! Time travel is truly incredible!"
When Banner reached the count of five, the two reappeared right in front of them, with Ant-Man exclaiming in surprise.
"So, this is the unexpected gain he was talking about!"
The reappeared duo looked somewhat off, seeming a bit lost. Tony, in particular, had an incredibly expressive face.
...
On the other side, Li Yue used his superpowers to teleport back to Kamar-Taj, quickly changing out of his casual attire into a silver vibranium armour made in Wakanda. Then, he vanished from Kamar-Taj in an instant.
When he reappeared, he was above New York City. Clad in his silver armour, his cape billowed with the wind, rustling loudly. In his hand, he held a peculiar weapon with a silver metallic sheen, its blade divided into three sharp edges that glistened coldly. Held at an angle towards the ground, his stance exuded immense authority.
His face was also covered with a menacing devil mask, which was somewhat terrifying.
"Natasha, watch out ahead!"
At that moment, a shadow rapidly approached him, following Nick Fury's orders to meet Tony and others. It was Natasha and Hawkeye, piloting a Quinjet, planning to land atop Stark Tower.
However, they did not expect someone to suddenly appear on their flight path. Although the Quinjet wasn't moving very fast, the distance between them was only a few meters, and colliding with the figure would take less than a second.
While piloting the jet, Natasha had no time to perform other manoeuvres, and the aircraft headed straight for the figure. As they drew closer, she could only silently pray for the person before them.
From her perspective, being hit by such a high-speed jet would surely be fatal.
...
"Damn it, I just wanted to pose coolly! Why does someone have to fly a plane into me!" Li Yue thought resignedly, wondering why he always seemed to attract trouble when he was just trying to look cool.
"But now I'm supposed to be playing the villain! Of course, I need the resolve of a villain!"
Then, Li Yue remembered his purpose for coming here, and his mind was made up quickly.
"You two shouldn't be checking out so easily, right?" Li Yue's lips curled into a smile after sensing the people's identities inside the plane with his psychic powers.
Then he turned around, facing the oncoming jet, and stretched out his left hand, spreading his fingers to stop the plane.
"Has he gone mad? Does he think he can catch a plane with just one hand?" Seeing his actions, Natasha thought he must be joking.
However, what happened next left her utterly speechless.
The front of the jet precisely hit the palm of his hand, but then it went no further.
His arm didn't break under the massive impact; instead, the unique material of the jet's hull began to crack and burst. The rapid speed and the force of inertia instantly compressed the pointy front of the plane into a flat shape while his entire arm sank deeply into the jet's body.
Fortunately, the jet's speed wasn't very high as they were near Stark Tower and had begun to slow down for landing.
Still, who could have imagined that under such circumstances, the jet would be forcibly stopped by his single arm?
Natasha and Barton were utterly dumbfounded inside the cockpit, having forgotten the peril they were in.
Throughout, Li Yue made no other movements. After stopping the jet, he simply waved his left hand, his arm still embedded in the aircraft. The plane, weighing several tons, seemed as light as a feather in his hand as he flung it towards the top of Stark Tower.
...
"Damn it, Li Yue, you scumbag! You come here and try to destroy my building!"
Tony and others were on the rooftop of Stark Tower, waiting for Li Yue to appear. However, when they saw Li Yue show up, they hadn't expected things to turn out this way.
"Li Yue is using a jet to smash into us?"
Although Tony thought this, he still trusted Li Yue. He then used his powers to try to control the incoming jet.
"Stark, didn't Li Yue say he was just acting? Why do I feel like Li Yue is serious this time?"
As the jet slowed under Tony's control, Thor complained directly to Tony.
"Cough cough, if Li Yue weren't just acting, this plane would have hit us by now! I don't think my current power level could control something he threw at us with all his might!"
Tony finally managed to stabilise the entire jet, hovering it in the air before slowly placing it on the ground and then responding to Thor.
"..."
Everyone was somewhat speechless upon hearing Tony's words. Were they supposed to thank Li Yue for not going all out?
...
In the air, Li Yue rapidly approached Tony and the others.
Bang!
Li Yue's landing spot was like being hit by a cannonball! A loud noise erupted, kicking up dust and scattering stones everywhere.
Like a blast, an invisible shockwave sent Tony and the others flying.
Even the suitcase Banner and Captain America held seemed to be discarded subconsciously, falling in front of Li Yue. The case hit the ground and burst open, spilling its contents.
Li Yue walked forward, picking up the Tesseract and the Mind Stone.
"You... who exactly... are you?"
As the "blasted" group staggered to their feet, Captain America asked Li Yue in a tone filled with immense shock.
"Ha ha, didn't expect the Captain to be quite the actor, did you!"
Seeing the Captain's incredulous and shocked expression, Li Yue internally applauded his acting skills.
"I am Thanos, from Titan!"
Following this, Li Yue also got into character, slamming his tri-bladed staff into the ground with a gust of wind, introducing himself with a formidable presence.