"If this is a nightmare, then I'd better wake up quickly"

Austin walked on Spadina Avenue in New York City like a zombie.

The dazzling and brilliant sunshine shone on Austin's body, but it could not dispel the despair in his heart. Even if he was on the busiest street in New York, Austin's heart did not have any ups and downs.

As if everything was incompatible with him.

Austin is not from this world. He has also forgotten how he came to this world. It's as if he woke up with a hangover, finding himself in this world inexplicably, lying next to a group of homeless wanderers.

It has been a month since he came to this world. As he gathered more and more information, Austin became more and more depressed. He tightened the shoulder bag tightly as if the contents in the bag could bring him some comfort. A sense of security has been out of fashion for a long time, but for Austin, it contains all of his wealth.

The bag was picked up, and so were the contents.

After coming to this world, Austin was actually very excited at first. Time travel only existed in novels or animations. If he could experience it himself, he would be ahead of 99.9999% of the people in the world in his previous life.

Especially, When Austin saw "Stark" in the newspaper, Austin became even more excited.

Stark—Austin is very familiar with this surname from many Marvel works. ony Stark, Iron Man, no one else in the world, except him, would carry this surname to the front page of the largest newspaper in New York.

But...

Austin's gaze moves down, and the headline that comes into view makes his breath pause for a second.

[ The Avengers of The Splinter Group* Are All Destroyed! Terrorist Leader Tony Stark Executed! ]

"What?"

Austin's eyelids were twitching, and the hands holding the newspaper were trembling slightly. He couldn't believe what he saw.

The Avengers are a Splinter Group? Tony Stark turned into a Terrorist?

Moreover, he's dead?

Austin didn't have time to think too much. He continued to look down, trying to find more clues.

The incident happened in California many days ago. With the last Avengers Quinjet being hit head-on by a Patriot missile, the separatist organization "Avengers" has been eliminated in name only.

The Quinjet was carrying various members of the Avengers. Their positions were exposed when they were evacuating the stronghold, which also caused them to not survive the attack and all of them were killed.

Tony Stark was originally a scientific genius with hundreds of billions of dollars, but after he was injured by a National Guard grenade, he made a metal suit. He changed his name to Iron Man and assembled a group of people. The separatists created the terrorist organization 'Avengers' and began to rebel against the current President of the United States, President X.

It is reported that the people in the Avengers are all "possessed of unique skills". They are extremely talented people in various fields, including Sorcerer Stephen Strange, scientist Hank Pym, and his wife, Thor who claims to be the reincarnation of God of Thunder, etc.

However, at this moment, the organization that sought to overthrow President X's authoritarian rule has already perished, leaving only cleanup work.

Four days later, Austin was on the street and saw the execution site of Clint Barton, CodeNamed 'Hawkeye'.

He was betrayed on the way to escape and his identity was exposed. Even though he had excellent fighting skills and strong fighting power, he was always exhausted when facing the soldiers who kept rushing up.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Bang!

With the sound of a gunshot, Clint Barton, who was kneeling on the street, was shot in the head. However, he was still wearing the purple battle suit that represented his identity.

Blood flowed, and the people watching around screamed. They were very excited to see such a wonderful scene. After all, this is the Avenger who has given President X a headache for a long time. Such people are rare, let alone It's said to be an execution site.

As for why these 'Avengers' would risk their lives to launch a revolution and overthrow President X, it doesn't matter to the people around. They don't care; it's just a topic for post-dinner chat.

However, Austin, who was standing in the crowd watching all this, didn't think so.

'Why? What has happened to this world?'

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

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

'Why doesn't Doctor Strange use magic?'

'Why was Thor swinging that useless hammer and got killed by a missile?'

Austin stared at Hawkeye's body and couldn't calm down for a long time. He just felt that everything was so strange and scary. At this moment, he didn't even care about the nausea he felt when he saw a dead person for the first time.

"What kind of world have I come to?"

Over the next few days, Austin continued to wander and began to search for clues in this broken world based on the memories of his past life.

As he is a person without legal status and without a penny on him, Austin can only join the team of scavengers to prevent himself from starving to death. However, this identity also has its advantages. Among the scavengers, there is a wealth of information about many things unknown to most people in this world.

For example, in the previous attack on the Avengers, the former Avengers member 'Scarlet Witch' betrayed them. In order to protect herself, this woman betrayed the organization and told President X a lot of information and strongholds about the Avengers.

I'm afraid Tony Stark would never have imagined that the culprit that caused the Avengers' annihilation actually came from within, right?

The seductive Scarlet Witch, known as the "Charming Witch" killed her own producer Namor because he was a sea king who deceived her feelings. This incident made headlines that night and became a favorite topic among the scavengers.

The original Washington, D.C., has now become an unregulated area, filled with various gangs. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the most chaotic place in the world.

Austin was originally going to take a look, but several scavengers stopped him and told Austin that there was 'hell', even scarier than the real hell. If he didn't want to die in a gang conflict, or be eaten by those mutant monsters. It is best to stay away from there. Don't go there in this life, don't even think about it.

This is a world comparable to a nightmare. All the superheroes and supervillains in Austin's memory have changed. They have become a chapter with the most painful ending. The methods that originally enabled them to obtain superpowers, here made them The main culprits who have fallen here.

Like a curse, in this world, all superpowers have a bad end, even those aliens.

Austin has not forgotten that last night a scavenger told him a story about "The Kree interstellar army was bombarded by nuclear bombs and turned into space junk."

The memories ended, and Austin's footsteps stopped. He stopped in front of a house.

There was a sign of 'recycled for auction' on the door of the house. Austin paused, took out two pieces of wire from his bag, put it into the door lock, and fiddled with it a few times, and the door opened.

No one will take care of the houses that have been recycled for auction until they are sold. This also gives many scavengers an opportunity. After all, who would want to sleep on the street when there's a house available?

The previous owner of this house was a person named Ben Parker. His unfortunate nephew messed up a chemistry experiment, got bitten by a spider exposed to radiation, and contracted a terrible disease. After causing the destruction of their family, he ended up dead on the street.

Opening the door, Austin quickly entered the room. He looked around without leaving any trace when closing the door. After making sure that there was no one following him outside, he locked the door.

"You're back, how was the harvest?"

As soon as the door was closed, a figure appeared next to Austin. In just a blink of an eye, Austin didn't realize how he appeared. However, Austin did not show a surprised expression. Obviously, this was not the first time.

"I told you, don't use your super speed casually anymore." Austin pushed the man away and walked towards the living room without looking back.

"I was too bored. Every time you go out, it takes days, and I'm just here in this house. I shouldn't be noticed by anyone," the person said.

Hearing this, Austin turned around, looked directly at the silver-haired man in front of him, and said.

"Oh, really? Have you forgotten how you were caught 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?"

(End Of The Chapter)...To be continued.

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( T/L: The Avengers of The Splinter Group - The team that became a splinter group of Avengers that chose not to comply with federal superhuman registration, as opposed to the government-sanctioned team gathered in Mighty Avengers, which itself was supplanted by a different government-sanctioned team in the series Dark Avengers.)

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