Bruce continued walking forward, looking for fruits or interesting things.
Suddenly he heard voices in the distance, so he approached with curiosity.
His steps echoed loudly as he trotted softly in that direction.
Pushing aside the branches, he looked at the place where he heard the voices and was surprised to see that all the faces were familiar.
"Hello," Bruce said, smiling.
"Bruce," said Betty, surprised before running and hugging him; as she was in her normal form, her head barely reached his abdomen.
"What are you all doing here?" Bruce asked curiously.
"Natasha cheated and tracked us down," Tony quickly joked.
"Aren't you a little old to behave so childishly?" Hope said, looking at Tony without saying a word.
"I have a young heart despite being older, unlike some people who look young but have an old heart," Tony said, looking at Hope.
"Tony really is as you described," Betty whispered in Bruce's ear, who had returned to his normal form.
Bruce just smiled slightly as he heard her, discussions and jokes were quite common in the group.
"And well, what are we going to do now? I don't think it's good for our image if we're seen rampaging through the people we encounter; after all, we're supposed to be heroes," Hope said, seeing that things had already calmed down.
"Supposed?" Betty pursed her lips.
"Well, I didn't think about it, I just wanted us to hang out for a while," Natasha said, smiling.
"Of course, you're not concerned about improving your strength" Tony said, Natasha was perhaps the strongest of them all, not counting Bruce.
"And how is little Morgan?" Natasha asked Tony; he was the only one in the group who had a child.
"She talks all day about how she'll be a great mage," Tony complained, despite having his temptations with magic, he still considered himself an inventor and would have liked to be the focus of his daughter's admiration and aspiration.
The whole group laughed lightly at Tony's grumpy face.
"And what about your baby, Steve? It shouldn't be long before he's born," Bruce said, looking at Steve.
"Yes, only a couple of months left, I hope everything goes well. Technically, it's the first birth of an enhanced baby; I can't help but feel a little nervous about possible complications," Steve said with a slightly worried expression.
"Don't worry, Madripoor's medicine is the most advanced; there shouldn't be any major problems," Betty said, calming him down.
The whole group had a fairly informal conversation as they talked about their lives, especially Tony and Steve sharing funny anecdotes that happened to them as Avengers.
Autographs and attention were quite normal, especially in New York.
It was part of the reason Steve had stopped going to New York, besides the fact that his wife was about to give birth; it would probably be a while before he returned.
As they talked, suddenly they heard some footsteps behind them, so they all turned to look.
Two very tall men with a very military air appeared and also looked at them.
Bruce looked at them with a strange look as he somehow felt strange seeing them; he quickly turned to look at Betty to calm himself.
The two men seemed to freeze when they met almost all of the Avengers group.
Even with their rigorous training and mental state, they couldn't help but feel sad.
Despite this, they still backed away slowly before reinforcing their bodies to the maximum capacity they had and running back to camp.
The Avengers group just looked at them a little amused to see them run away so scared, but they really didn't pay attention to them and continued talking among themselves.
Suddenly a couple of soldiers passed in front of them and saw them sideways with surprise before continuing to run.
This was repeated several times, confusing the whole group.
They immediately looked at Natasha suspiciously.
"Don't look at me; this could be a coincidence or Cortana's work," Natasha said, shaking her head.
When Cortana was mentioned, most of them really didn't know her, and the one who had the most contact with her was Tony.
"Does she have that much power? What if one day she rebels?" Hope asked Natasha.
"She could make the entire Earth's population disappear just by thinking about it," Natasha said, mocking, and as she expected, everyone's expressions became uncomfortable knowing that an AI had so much power.
"Don't be like that; Cortana is lovely; I hug her every day because she's so adorable," Natasha said, laughing softly.
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The others shook their heads but didn't pursue the topic either; surely Cortana could be listening to them.
....
Sterns was in the makeshift camp; a couple of hours had passed, and most of the soldiers had started to return.
With the simple communication of the tattoos, if someone found fruits, they could call their companions to eliminate threats together, so the harvest was quite good.
"Sir, I have something to report," said a soldier approaching Sterns.
"Tell me," Sterns nodded.
"I saw all the Avengers except Thor and Hawkeye gathered a few kilometers away," said the soldier.
Sterns's face immediately became grim, feeling they would have to abandon the camp and move away.
At the same time, he couldn't help but curse in his mind, wondering what they were all doing together.
In his mind, the idea of attacking them didn't even appear; he knew perfectly well their limits.
He was not a force to be reckoned with when it came to fighting.
Although his physical strength was greater than all his soldiers and his magical talent was also decent, he knows that these advantages mean nothing in front of Bruce.
In the face of his overwhelming brute force, any strategy becomes useless.
Sterns quickly emitted a pulse of magic with his tattoo to bring everyone back.
To his surprise, people who theoretically came from different directions all claimed to have seen the Avengers group.
Sterns's expression immediately became cautious; there was something suspicious; it was impossible for people coming from different directions to have seen the same thing.
He immediately felt that a conspiracy was looming over him.
It didn't take a genius to know that the use of magical tattoos was not liked by the one in charge of the system.
Now he only had two options: disperse his men and use the advantage of the tattoos on a small scale to gain benefits, or take the first step and attack the Avengers.
Normally, he would choose the first option without hesitation, but a vague idea began to form in his big head.
The first thing he had to do was to calm the system's leaders.
"Everyone disperse as much as you can in groups of four, keep getting stronger, tomorrow will be another day," Sterns said, looking at his men.
The soldiers obeyed orders a little disheartened as they had a different outlook in mind.
Still, they knew Sterns had a broader view of the situation and surely had his reasons.
....
Cortana watched Sterns's actions and bit her lips in annoyance.
In the end, villains aren't as stupid as in the movies; he didn't even try to ambush or do anything against the Avengers.
She could only watch as the group dispersed.
She really wanted to make a sequel to The Avengers.
Sighing, Cortana set that matter aside and began to review the data.
More than 7 billion people participated in the event.
Almost everyone in the world participated.
Now, after two days of the event, the number of people only decreased by just over 100 million.
The event had an estimated duration of 6 months, but at this rate, it should be over in just over two months.
Being in the event, people generated a much greater amount of emotions than usual; these emotions converted into energy were what created the magical fruits that made people stronger and thus accelerated the system's expansion.
If the event ends too quickly, it could slow down their plans.
....
Sterns woke up after the second day of the event before requesting a meeting with the leaders of HYDRA.
"How were the results of the magical tattoo?" Pierce quickly asked; this was important to apply it to their agents worldwide.
"The experiment was successful, but the operation couldn't be carried out," Sterns said.
"I caught the attention of the event's leader; I had to temporarily disperse my men, but I have a plan."
"I noticed that we're not exactly cheating, so they can't disqualify us and expel us, rather they don't want to. The event supervisor must be very proud and unwilling to simply expel us."
"The Avengers are gathered at the event and made my men constantly encounter them; I guess he wants to create a conflict that eliminates us."
"Although by dispersing my men this stopped, I want to attack the Avengers," Sterns said, surprising everyone.
The others at the meeting looked at him strangely, since Sterns was usually the one who said not to conflict with the Avengers.
"With numbers, we can overwhelm most of the Avengers, and regarding Bruce, let's send Blonsky. Although he's not enough, isn't Ross there? Surely he would be interested in participating," Sterns said, silencing the entire meeting as everyone seemed to be considering the viability of the plan.
The plan was risky, but that risk also promised a great reward. Without the Avengers, they could surely occupy the first place, especially without Bruce, who was the most powerful.
"First, let's contact Ross; without him, this plan isn't viable," Bertrand said. It had already been proven that Blonsky wasn't a match for Bruce; if Ross was added, there should be no problem eliminating him.
"I'll take care of it then," said Pierce; after all, America was his jurisdiction.
Pierce quickly disconnected from the meeting before taking a car towards the White House.
He didn't dare to discuss such matters over the phone.
As the highest-ranking position in SHIELD, it wasn't difficult to see the president, so after verifying his identity, he was allowed in.
"Director Pierce, the president will see you immediately," said a secretary, indicating he should wait.
Pierce nodded and calmly sat down to wait.
A few minutes later, the door opened, and a bodyguard indicated for him to enter.
Pierce entered, facing Ross.
He looked like someone in their 30s, which was unusual to see in a president, but Pierce knew the president was older than himself.
"Mr. President," said Pierce, walking to him.
"Director, please take a seat," Ross said, nodding to Pierce and gesturing.
"Thank you," said Pierce, nodding before sitting in front of the large desk.
"Director, I'm quite busy, so please let's get to the point," Ross said, looking at Pierce. He wasn't a fan of SHIELD since they operated in his territory without being under his command.
"Of course," said Pierce, nodding before taking out a letter from his chest and handing it to Ross.
Ross looked confusedly at Pierce before taking the letter and opening it.
Ross's eyes widened in surprise as he read the letter.
It seemed that SHIELD's council wanted to play a trick on the Avengers by expelling them from the event.
The Avengers were a rather complex subject even for him.
Despite the world changing and it could be said that everyone had superpowers, there was still special treatment towards the Avengers.
They were still considered heroes, treated as celebrities, respected, and at the same time, expected to appear when needed.
According to the letter, the council wanted the Avengers to be under their control, but they had never achieved it, which didn't surprise him; the Avengers were a very influential and difficult-to-control group.
If possible, of course, Ross would also want to have them under his control, but he knew this was impossible even though most of them were Americans.
He had tried it with Bruce, but he only ended up receiving a beating; occasionally he had nightmares in which the emerald giant ran towards him.
Now that an opportunity presents itself to suppress the Avengers, Ross couldn't help but hesitate, feeling tempted.
The plan detailed that they would use Blonsky to fight against Bruce and that he would have to help him.
Ross knew that Blonsky had been taken by SHIELD, so he didn't find it strange that they had managed to control him somehow.
What Ross didn't know was that HYDRA had taken Blonsky many years ago.
Pierce patiently waited for Ross's response.
He knew it wasn't an easy decision to make as it could have multiple repercussions if something went wrong.
After several minutes, he finally decided.
He would take the risk; anyway, Bruce was an obstacle in his path to receiving better rewards; eliminating him in advance would ensure him the first place as he didn't believe Blonsky, that defective thing, would pose a threat.
"We have a deal," Ross said, looking at Pierce.
"Send me a location, and we'll meet to coordinate," Pierce said, nodding without saying too much.
"Alright," said Ross, nodding.