I work as an editor at Marvel.

“Enter your private password. I need to access the underlying satellite permissions,” Tony continued.

"Incorrect password, warning, your location has been locked. Attempting to intrude into Stark's civilian network is illegal. Please present relevant identification..." Jarvis's projection suddenly became mechanized.

"Tony!" Rogers was startled. They couldn't expose themselves. He grabbed Tony and tried to take him away, but Tony shook off Rogers' hand and broke free.

“Tony! Tell me, what do you know that has turned you into this?” Rogers snapped.

“Ha.” Tony bent over and plopped down on the ground. “We didn’t go back to the past, but came to a parallel universe.”

Rogers: "What do you mean? What's the difference between the two?"

"It means that all the history we know may not exist in this world, and it's questionable whether even one of the six Infinity Stones is on Earth." Tony looked dejected. "We failed, Captain. We failed completely this time."

"What?" Rogers was clearly still confused as to how he had suddenly failed without having done anything.

"What he means is, whatever you want to do, the choice of time travelers to hack into Stark Industries' satellite systems is clearly a mistake!"

With a bang, a Mark armor covered with various magical patterns appeared behind Rogers. Rogers turned around sharply, his eyes scanning the surface of the armor. Having been Tony Stark's teammate for so long, he had never seen this kind of armor before.

“Oh, who’s this, Captain America? You know what? I know your twin brother.” The top of the armor opened up, revealing Tony’s head, who looked at Rogers in his bodysuit.

Looking at a young Tony Stark, Rogers hesitated for a few seconds, thinking he might have to play the emotional card.

"No, according to seniority, you should be considered my uncle? That would be terrible. I don't want this world to have another elder."

With a click, as Tony spoke, the magical armor rapidly contracted, forming a card-like object that fell into Tony's hand, while he himself landed safely on the ground.

"Excuse me." Tony patted Rogers on the shoulder, then walked to Mr. Stark, who was sitting on the ground. He extended his right hand, and a spotlight bearing the Hextech mark shot out, instantly dismantling Mr. Stark's armor.

"Hmm... So this is how weathered I look when I'm old? Like those mediocre people abandoned by the times?" Tony said, looking at the familiar face in front of him.

"You really don't have anything to ask?" Rogers was also a little confused; this was completely different from what he had imagined.

“Not for now.” Tony shrugged and tossed a button to Mr. Stark. “While I don’t know what you’ve been through, I think you haven’t forgotten one thing: Tony Stark will always be one of the smartest people on this planet. Come with me.”

After saying that, Tony turned into a beam of particles and disappeared in front of Stark.

Stark got up, dusted himself off, and said, "Maybe I'm right, there's always an answer to every problem."

"Hey, what's with the riddles? Can you tell me?" Even Rogers, with his usual irritation, was starting to get annoyed.

“Keep up, Captain. I’m taking back what I said earlier. The version of me in this world has clearly gone further than I have. Maybe he has a way to help us salvage this situation. The show isn’t over yet,” Stark said, looking at Rogers.

“Although I still don’t quite understand what you’re saying, it’s good that you’re cheering up. What are you planning to do next?” Rogers looked at Stark and breathed a slight sigh of relief.

“Follow him and ask him how much he knows, and about the development of this world.” Stark said, pressing the button in his hand. He and Rogers were quickly teleported to the teleportation base at the top of Stark.

Chapter 263 What? S.H.I.E.L.D. is dead?

On the top floor of the Stark Industries building, a smart home robot carrying a plate walked to the table and placed the bottles of red wine on it.

Stark looked around at his surroundings, feeling both familiar and strange. Familiar because he had lived on this floor for who knows how long, but it was destroyed during the Battle of New York, and even after it was renovated, it no longer had the same feeling as before.

What's unfamiliar is the various decorative patterns here. Stark has absolutely no recollection of his previous aesthetic sense being like this, and what cultural style is this from somewhere in the world? It looks strange, yet there's a strange sense of comfort about it.

"Gentlemen, since I hacked into my own network, I'll let this matter drop for now." Tony said, but he himself felt a little strange. Moreover, sitting down face to face with his future self, the sense of incongruity was overwhelming.

Tsk tsk, to be fair, even if I become decadent in the future, I will still be handsome.

Tony's eyes kept darting around Stark.

“Thank you,” Rogers replied from the side.

Then came a period of silence. The three of them looked at each other, unsure of where to begin their conversation.

"Um, could you explain the current situation on your end? Also, at this point in time, I should have already been dug out from under the ice by S.H.I.E.L.D., right?" Rogers asked tentatively, wanting to see how different this world was from what he remembered.

“S.H.I.E.L.D., that sounds familiar.” Tony blinked. It had been a long time since anyone had used that term. “But you’ve been out of the ice for years now. I heard recently that you were sent on an assignment to another planet. I wonder if you’re back yet.”

“Wait, that’s a familiar name? You mean…” Stark sensed something was off. In his memory, S.H.I.E.L.D. was still a massive entity that had been parasitized.

How come when it comes to Tony, it seems like he's implying that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been dead for a long time?!

“That’s right, S.H.I.E.L.D. is history, along with Hydra.” Tony said, gesturing with his hand, and Jarvis projected relevant video footage.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone?!" Rogers' jaw nearly dropped in astonishment.

"That's right. Hydra provoked the Knights of the Round Table, a mystical force in the United States, and tried to use public opinion to force King Arthur, the leader of the Knights of the Round Table, and Artoria to hand over the Crown of the British Empire. This behavior seriously disrupted the stable order jointly maintained by the mystical and the legitimate world. In the end, King Arthur destroyed the Crown of the British Empire with a sword. Hydra's goal was half achieved, but their actions also thoroughly angered the mystical world."

"Faced with enemies everywhere, Hydra launched its subversion plan ahead of schedule, completely taking control of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s space carrier. Former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Frank used himself as bait to disguise himself as Pierce, causing Hydra around the world to launch its revenge plan ahead of schedule. In the end, they were wiped out, and Frank also sacrificed himself in that battle. Before he died, he passed the position of director to S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Coulson."

"With the leak of information related to S.H.I.E.L.D., coupled with the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. branches around the world were basically destroyed along with Hydra, the last director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Coulson, finally announced the disbandment of S.H.I.E.L.D., which has been a long time since then."

Tony succinctly explained the causes and consequences of the demise of Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. Although he had no access to some of the information, his explanation was generally accurate.

Speaking of which, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s air-conditioned aircraft carrier is still docked at the Hextech temporary research facility, awaiting further modifications.

Stark jumped up from the sofa and paced around. Tony's words were quite a lot to take in; it was really hard for him to process.

"What is the mystical side? And what are King Arthur, Artoria, and the Knights of the Round Table?" Stark hesitated for a while before finally calming down and asking.

"You don't have a mystical side where you are?" Tony asked, intrigued. As parallel universes, the differences between them shouldn't be this great. "Do you know the Clock Tower? What about Heaven?"

Rogers shook his head like a fan, saying he'd never heard of any of these names before.

Tony reached out and a booklet introducing the basics of the Chinese Preparatory Training Institute floated into his hand. "Take a look at this first, and then we can continue our conversation."

Meanwhile, Bruce Banner also arrived in downtown New York, at Strange's place—or more precisely, the place where they first met Strange.

QQ QQ...

Bruce knocked on the door, hoping it would open automatically and that the magician Strange would appear before him with the Time Stone.

Indeed, just as he expected, the door opened automatically, but unfortunately, it wasn't Strange who appeared in front of him.

Instead, he was a muscular, stocky man, about the same height as Bruce Banner.

This man was Morley, the former elite mage of the Temple. After the death of the Ancient One and the execution of Kaecilius, he and his group joined the Ouroboros Society, and this place became one of the Ouroboros Society's outposts.

"Hey! Banner, long time no see. What brings you to New York all of a sudden?" Morey opened his arms and gave Bruce Banner a big hug.

Their friendship was forged at a mystical exchange meeting; one was a mage who liked to wield an axe, the other a scientist who preferred his fists—that's fate!

Bruce was taken aback. Who was this person? Had he seen him before?

"Hey? How come you've gotten so small? And why are you acting so strangely? Is Hulk throwing a tantrum again?" Morey asked immediately.

“Yeah, yeah,” Bruce replied awkwardly. Although he didn’t know what was going on, it was probably the right thing to do to follow along. “Um, is Strange there? I need to talk to him.”

“Strange?” Morey scratched his head and looked at the people behind him. “Have you guys heard of him?”

The former temple mages behind them shook their heads; they had never heard of such a person.

“Are you sure you’ve got the name right? Or are you from another region of the Ouroboros Association? Why don’t you ask on the internal network? You know, there are some people we don’t even know yet,” Morey explained.

Bruce was a bit overwhelmed. As a genius scientist like Tony, he had guessed what was going on. Clearly, he had come to a parallel universe. There might be many places similar to his own world, but there were also many differences.

Whew~ Bruce let out a breath. His ability to adjust his mindset is top-notch, which is why he was able to reconcile with Hulk.

Whether it's a parallel universe or not doesn't matter, as long as the Time Stone is still here, that's enough.

"Can I come in and sit for a while?" Bruce asked. He felt that the Time Stone might still be in this building, and perhaps it hadn't been discovered yet. Searching for it might yield some results.

“Of course.” Morey welcomed Bruce inside. There was nothing to hide at the outpost, and as for Bruce Banner’s identity, he had passed the identity checks several times before entering, so there was probably no problem.

If a user of a polymorph or other spell could fool multiple detection spells, they wouldn't go to such lengths to come to Morey's place. This is just a small outpost of Ouroboros; there's no need for this.

Chapter 264 Loki: I'm still the second prince of Asgard

"So, at this point in time, S.H.I.E.L.D. really doesn't exist anymore?" In Stark Industries, Rogers was in a daze, seeing double images before his eyes.

“You’ve asked so many times. If you really can’t remember, I suggest you get checked for Alzheimer’s disease. It’s no longer a terminal illness. If you get treatment early, the chances of recovery are not low.” Tony didn’t know what to say. He had met Rogers from this world before.

She is a very studious person, although she is a bit slow-witted, and she doesn't usually bring up seniority.

(Rogers: Do you think I want to? These days, even a construction worker at the Clock Tower needs a bachelor's degree. If my education isn't up to par, I can't even understand the equipment manual, hey!)

Tony glanced at Rogers in front of him again and sighed deeply. No matter how you compare them, his uncle was still more impressive. Even his standard American-style pert buttocks were more shapely than the man in front of him.

"Then, the Avengers don't exist anymore either?" Rogers continued, seemingly oblivious to the sarcasm in Tony's words.

“Yes, yes, those kinds of plans that emphasize individual strength and promote individual heroism have long been proven to be unworkable, and even if we were to promote individual heroism, it wouldn’t be our turn.” Tony sighed, somewhat speechless, and turned to look at his aging self, hoping that Stark wouldn’t turn into a fool like Rogers when he got old.

"Hmm... Judging from these common-sense observations, the difference between your world and ours is unimaginable. However, the good news is that the six gems should still exist. Also, do you think our application to borrow them has any chance of success?" Stark got into the zone, and now he was finally acting like someone who was handling things.

“Uncertain, but the probability should exist. After all, the gem doesn’t seem to be valued by most superhumans. In our internal definition, it’s just a key to access the world’s rules, and whoever gets the gem only has very limited access.” Tony pulled up an internal file, erased some things that shouldn’t be revealed, and showed it to Stark.

“Yes, I understand. It seems we need to revise our plans. Could you introduce us to a certain person in charge? I think there's a chance we can reach an agreement.” Stark looked up at Tony seriously and said.

Will my personality become like this in the future? The change is a bit too big, but it's actually quite good.

Tony suddenly laughed. Transforming from a sharp-tongued, eccentric, and imaginative genius scientist into a calm, mature, and never-give-up leader can't be considered a regression, right?

"I'd like to ask, what was your original plan?" Tony asked after laughing.

“Well… Ant-Man, Rogers, and I were tasked with taking advantage of the chaos to steal the Mind Stone. Banner went to find Stark, and the others had their own missions. However, after realizing something was amiss, we changed our plans. Rogers and I were to come to Stark Industries to check things out, and Ant-Man was to track down Loki, whom we unexpectedly encountered…” Stark didn’t hide anything and explained the plan in detail.

"Wait a minute!" Tony exclaimed, his reaction suddenly changing. "Who are you saying that Ant-Man is following?"

“Loki, the second prince of Asgard, Thor’s brother, you don’t have him? Or have we mistaken him for someone else?” Stark asked, seeing Tony’s strong reaction.

"Damn! This could cause a diplomatic incident! How strong is that Ant-Man? How about he beats you guys?" Tony jumped up from the sofa, and the balcony lift began to move, providing good preparation for the armor to fly.

"Um...we've never actually fought him, but I probably couldn't beat Banner," Stark said after a moment's thought.

Besides being able to grow bigger and smaller, Ant-Man's most outstanding ability is his strength, but that strength is still insignificant compared to Hulk's.

"Let's go first. How smart is that Ant-Man? Can he even realize this is a parallel universe?" Tony tossed two sets of portable flight equipment to Stark and Rogers, their armor already sealed by Jarvis using Hextech's licensed technology.

“Unsure. This generation of Ant-Man is fairly knowledgeable, but his mentality is terrible,” Stark replied, putting on the equipment.

Tony frowned and took off first from the flight platform, while the magical satellites were also activated in an attempt to lock onto Loki's location.

"What's wrong now?" Rogers followed behind, still not quite understanding. There was nothing he could do; after all, it was a decades-old machine that hadn't been specially maintained, so it was reasonable for the CPU and memory to have some problems.

“It’s obvious that Loki in this world isn’t a villain.” Stark’s expression also turned serious. “Moreover, Asgard may have already established diplomatic relations with Earth. After all, Earth in this world is qualified to stand on the same level as Asgard.”

"So, what if things go wrong? This could be another Sadagne incident like in World War II?!" Rogers realized, and was startled.

“That’s right, Ant-Man’s communicator is still disconnected. We might need to prepare for the worst.” Stark kept calling on his portable terminal but received no response.

I don’t know if it’s because the worlds we’ve traveled to are different, but some of their technologies have encountered various problems after arriving here, especially in terms of communication. It’s fine at short distances, but it fails at longer distances.

"Found it! Follow me!" Tony looked at a building in Uptown New York and quickly descended.