Marvel: Starting with Iron Man in the Apocalypse

The first rays of morning sunlight streamed through the glass curtain wall of the Stark Tower's top floor, illuminating the busy figures in the laboratory. Chen Haotian and Tony had barely slept all night, their screens displaying real-time surveillance footage of New York City. Dozens of red dots had been marked as "cleaned up," but three stubbornly continued to flash.

"The Brooklyn sewer system, an abandoned warehouse along the Hudson River, and..." Tony rubbed his bloodshot eyes, "...a luxury apartment building in Midtown Manhattan?"

Chen Haotian pulled up the apartment building's information: "Aldrich Building, a top-tier luxury apartment complex, where residents are all extremely wealthy and powerful. How could there be an infection signal there?"

Jarvis's voice came through the speaker: "According to resident registration information, this unit belongs to Andrew Hopkins, Vice President of New Era Corporation. Surveillance footage shows that he returned to the apartment last night and did not leave again."

Tony and Chen Haotian exchanged a glance: "The vice president of New Era Corporation? That's the front desk company that Hydra is disguised as?"

"Looks like we've found an important person." Chen Haotian stood up. "I'll deal with Hopkins. You and the S.H.I.E.L.D. team will handle the other two."

Tony stopped him: "Wait, if he's a high-ranking Hydra executive, there will definitely be tight security in the apartment. I'll go with you."

Chen Haotian shook his head: "No, the other two sources of infection are equally dangerous. The virus residue in the sewers could contaminate the entire city's water supply, and that abandoned warehouse... I suspect it's another Hydra laboratory. We must split up and eliminate all threats as soon as possible."

An hour later, Chen Haotian stood on the rooftop of a building opposite the Aldrich Building, observing the target apartment through high-powered binoculars. Just as he expected, the Hopkins apartment had an exceptionally tight security system—infrared sensors, motion detectors, and even several armed guards disguised as ordinary staff.

"Tony, I've arrived at the target location. Security is tight; it seems Hopkins knows he's in danger," Chen Haotian reported via encrypted communication.

Tony's voice came through, accompanied by the noise of some kind of machinery: "The S.H.I.E.L.D. team is in position, and we're preparing to enter the sewer system. Fury has sent his most trusted lieutenant—Agent Phil Coulson."

"That always-smiling agent?" Chen Haotian chuckled. "Good luck. Keep communications open, and notify me immediately of any findings."

After ending the call, Chen Haotian took out a set of specially made equipment from the case he was carrying. This was not an ordinary infiltration tool, but a product combining Marvel technology and Resident Evil world technology. An optical camouflage suit could make him almost invisible, a pair of special gloves could interfere with electronic security systems, and several small devices could release specific frequencies to interfere with the control signals that Hydra might use.

Once dressed, Chen Haotian moved through the streets like a ghost, easily avoiding the security guards at the building entrance, and entered the Aldrich Building through the maintenance passage.

In the elevator heading to his target floor, Chen Haotian noticed that the elevator control system was additionally encrypted. He lightly touched a button on his glove, and a weak pulse signal was emitted, causing the elevator control system to malfunction briefly and take him directly to the top floor where Hopkins was located.

The elevator doors opened, and Chen Haotian quickly slipped into the corridor, disappearing into the shadows. Two armed guards stood vigilantly in front of the Hopkins apartment building.

"Are there any abnormal signals in area B2?" one of them asked through the headset.

Chen Haotian waited patiently for a few minutes until a maid pushed a cleaning cart from the other end of the corridor. As she passed by, Chen Haotian quietly attached a small device to the bottom of the cleaning cart.

As the cleaning truck passed the guards, the device emitted a sound wave of a specific frequency, causing the two guards to suddenly appear confused and distracted. Taking advantage of this opening, Chen Haotian quickly crossed the corridor and arrived at the door of Hopkins' apartment.

The door lock was a top-level biometric system, but it posed no challenge to Chen Haotian. He took a transparent film from his equipment and gently placed it on the scanner. The nanobots on the film quickly began to work, and a few minutes later, the door lock made a soft "click" and opened.

Chen Haotian silently slipped into the apartment, and the scene before him startled him slightly. The living room had been converted into a makeshift laboratory, with various instruments flashing indicator lights. In the central isolation chamber lay a man—Andrew Hopkins. His body had partially melted, but strangely, he remained conscious.

"You...you've finally come." Hopkins' voice was hoarse and pained, his eyes unusually bright, creating an eerie contrast with his melting body.

Chen Haotian remained vigilant, his weapon pointed at the isolation pod: "You knew I was coming?"

Hopkins let out a sound like a bitter laugh: "Hydra... betrayed me. They used me as a test subject, to test that defective virus... but I retained part of my consciousness, and I knew that only the Stark brothers could end this suffering."

Chen Haotian surveyed the laboratory, noticing a running computer with complex data displayed on its screen: "Why do you retain consciousness? Why not allow yourself to completely break free?"

“Information…” Hopkins said with difficulty, “I have information about Project Hydra… They’re not just trying to create chaos… They’re looking for something… something that connects different worlds…”

Chen Haotian's heart stirred: "Continue."

But at that moment, Hopkins' body suddenly convulsed violently, and his eyes turned completely milky white: "It...it's controlling me...run...run away..."

Without hesitation, Chen Haotian retreated, activating his protective gear at the same time. Just as he reached the doorway, the isolation chamber exploded, and Hopkins, now completely transformed into a giant puddle of slime, was rapidly rushing towards him.

Even more terrifying, Hopkins's distorted face emerged from the slime, emitting an inhuman roar: "You can't...stop...the connection is about to complete..."

Without further hesitation, Chen Haotian unleashed a dazzling light from the void energy crystal in his hand. A pure energy wave struck the slime, and Hopkins's last remaining features vanished with a scream. The slime rapidly evaporated, leaving no trace.

After confirming that the threat had been eliminated, Chen Haotian quickly walked to the computer and plugged in a special device: "Jarvis, download all the data, and then completely erase the hard drive."

"Executing, sir," Jarvis responded. "Self-destruct mechanism detected. I need to complete the data transfer before it starts."

A few minutes later, Chen Haotian left the Aldrich Building. At that moment, Tony's communication came through: "The source of infection in the sewers and warehouse has been cleared. Agent Coulson was... exceptionally professional; he even treated all the team members to sandwiches before the operation."

Chen Haotian smiled slightly: "I've also resolved this on my end, and I've obtained some interesting information. Hopkins mentioned before his death that Hydra was searching for 'something that connects different worlds'."

Tony paused for a moment. "That doesn't sound good. You mean Hydra might already know about our abilities?"

"It's uncertain, but we must be vigilant." Chen Haotian looked at the Stark Tower in the distance. "Let's go back and analyze the Hopkins data first; perhaps we can find more clues."

Back at Stark Tower, the two immediately began analyzing the data retrieved from the Hopkins computers. Most of the information concerned Hydra's infiltration across various sectors, but one encrypted file caught their attention.

"This file uses an extremely complex encryption algorithm, some of which is not even from this world," Tony discovered in surprise as he tried to crack it.

Chen Haotian stared at the scrolling code on the screen, his brow furrowed: "Let me try."

He channeled the faint void energy within his body to his fingertips, then lightly touched the console. Surprisingly, the moment the void energy touched the system, the encrypted file began to decode automatically.

"What's the principle behind this?" Tony stared at the scene in disbelief.

"The interaction of energy systems from different worlds." Chen Haotian pondered. "It seems that Hydra has indeed come into contact with something from other worlds, or at least related technologies."

After the document was fully decoded, a series of unsettling messages appeared on the screen. Hydra not only knew of the existence of the multiverse, but they were also actively searching for ways to traverse different worlds. More importantly, the document mentioned a project called "Boundary Bridge," which aimed to establish a stable inter-universe passage.

"Where did they get this knowledge?" Tony felt a chill run down his spine. "Even we only discovered our time-travel abilities by accident."

Chen Haotian pointed to a symbol at the end of the document—a familiar logo: "Take a look at this."

Tony leaned closer and gasped: "That's... the Umbrella Corporation logo?"

"It seems Hydra received more than just virus technology from Umbrella." Chen Haotian closed the file, his expression serious. "We must reassess the situation, Tony. This game has just escalated."

As night fell, the lights of New York City came on again, seemingly returning to their usual calm. But atop Stark Tower, two men knew that a storm spanning the universe was brewing. And they were at the eye of that storm.