The wind of Clarkia always carries a damp earthy scent. As the golden sun just peeks over the horizon, a sky full of vivid colors drips down along the dewdrops on verdant leaves. When Shiller walks into the bathroom, the dim morning light streaming through the stained glass windows causes the wood patterns on the floor to ripple like water.
While tidying his hair in front of the mirror, he senses an unusual aura from afar. The wind's howl carries anger. So he walks to the window and sees, through the gap between the tall trees, a figure shimmering like a diamond soaring over Clarkia Island. The mutants, startled by that powerful surge of energy, are pulling their heads out of the windows.
"White Queen..." Stark's voice comes from the living room. Jile leaves the bathroom quickly and heads to the living room, where Stark stands by the window, turning his head to look at him: "You've completely pissed her off."
"I can't let Magneto face the White Queen's fury alone," Shiller says, "nor let him clash with those people from the Prime Universe. Tony, you go stall the Avengers from the Prime Universe, I'll soon be able to explain everything to Emma."
After Shiller turns to leave, Stark grips the window frame, looking outside. Suddenly, a golden-red figure streaks across the sky. Stark's expression becomes serious. The hot-tempered White Queen and the scheming Avengers from the Prime Universe colliding would surely be like thunder striking fire; he must stop them.
A gleam flashes in Stark's eyes. Instantly, the blue and white Nano Armor envelops his entire body. In the dazzling morning light of Clarkia, he becomes a meteor, catching up to that golden-red figure and flies in circles around him at several times his speed, disrupting his surrounding airflow, forcing him to stop.
"You bastard!" Main Universe Iron Man struggles to stabilize himself and is forced to come to a complete stop, hovering in mid-air, staring fiercely at Stark, "Didn't you say you were here for a vacation?!"
"No matter what I'm here for, at least you're not here to invade," Stark emphasizes, "Are you really planning to charge straight to the Mutant Royal Court?"
"That woman is furious, her anger will ruin all the plans."
"Is it all plans or just your plans?"
"Do you have to stop me?!" Main Universe Iron Man is somewhat flustered, "What's in it for you to interfere with me?"
"I'm saving you," Stark has to appear more assertive, "Do you think the White Queen is so easy to deal with? She's a powerful mutant with psychic abilities no less than Professor X. If you rush at her while she's enraged, do you think there'll be any good outcome?"
At this moment, Main Universe Iron Man also calms down. It's not necessary to have psychic abilities, nor do you need to be a mutant, to feel the angry Psy-storm that just swept across Clarkia. The White Queen's power far exceeds their expectations, especially since she's a mind power user, which is enough to cause apprehension.
Now, other Avengers have arrived. Main Universe Iron Man slowly lands, followed by Stark. He glances briefly; this time, the turnout is indeed substantial.
Captain America, Spider Man, Black Widow, The Hulk, Doctor Strange, Hawkeye, Thor - all the famous superheroes are here. It seems they really value this multiverse rescue mission.
As Stark sizes them up, they are subtly sizing up Stark as well. It can be seen that Doctor Strange and Iron Man are aligned, having no good feeling towards him. Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye are relatively neutral, with attitudes neither good nor bad. Only Spider Man and Dr. Banner, who has not turned into The Hulk, are relatively friendly.
Stark, of course, knows why this is.
As the armor ebbs away like a tide from his body, other than Spider Man and Dr. Banner, everyone else shows a shock expression. What's even more shocking is, Stark steps forward and shakes hands with Captain America.
Captain America is somewhat incredulous when he sees Stark proactively extending his hand. But out of politeness, he reaches out to shake hands. Black Widow is quite vigilant; the female agent seemingly perceives this as a trap, standing quietly beside Captain America, ready to react at any moment.
"It seems there are still some clear-headed people among you," Stark begins, "No matter why the White Queen has come, you will inevitably have a fight with her if you rush into the Mutant Royal Court now."
"We're not afraid of her," Iron Man states again.
"I've read too much anger from her thoughts," Doctor Strange says with a frown, "I'm worried her irrationality might persuade Magneto to commit equally irrational acts. We're going to dissuade her."
This is a typical interventionism, Stark thinks. This group doesn't pay heed that both the White Queen and Magneto are mutants. No matter what decision they make, it's the internal affairs of mutants. As long as they think the decision made by mutants is wrong, they will find a way to intervene.
Sometimes this can indeed be effective. Because the mutants don't often make right decisions. To prevent them from acting on impulsive whims, having a third party intervene isn't entirely a bad thing. So, the biggest issue now is not whether they want to intervene.
Or the key to this whole affair is whether they have the capability to intervene.
The enraged White Queen's mental attack would definitely be terrifying. And Professor X is unlikely to come forward, nor might he stop in time. Without a method to instantly suppress her, if the two sides battle on Clarkia Island, ordinary governments wouldn't need to play any tricks; the mutants' New Utopia would be doomed again.
But this group doesn't seem to think they lack the ability to intervene. This time they arrived so fully equipped, clearly intending to resort to violent suppression. Indeed, just Dr. Strange and Thor alone would not fear most opponents.
Before this, Stark would have thought it wouldn't be a big deal to let them and the mutants have a little clash. No matter which side got the short end of the stick, they would learn to be a bit more cautious, which would be a good thing.
But the scenery of Clarkia was truly too beautiful. It was a genuine promised land. Earth is the greenhouse of the cosmos, and Clarkia is like an ancient garden left by Earth. If it could really stabilize, the superheroes of the multiverse would certainly not hesitate to come here for vacation. Just by developing the tourism industry, the mutants of this universe could make a fortune. Stark was even thinking about bringing Pepper and Little Morgan here to play, and he couldn't let this wonderful place be destroyed by these people.
Suddenly, Stark reached out towards the Main Universe Iron Man. The gold-and-red mecha seemed to be drawn by an inexplicable force and flew towards him abruptly.
The airflow lifted the strands of hair on Stark's forehead, and the gold-and-red mecha gradually enlarged in his pupils. Until the two Iron Men faced off across the mecha, the Main Universe Iron Man was captivated by Stark's eyes, which flickered with data glimmers, unable to utter a sound for a moment.
Everyone instantly assumed a combat stance.
"Don't move," Stark said in a deep voice, "Clarkia is not only a new home for the mutants but also a precious asset for this universe's humanity. Don't even think about destroying it with war. Back off, or don't blame me for being unkind."
Seeing Captain America still wanted to approach, Stark raised his hand, and the gold-and-red mecha soared into the sky, and the scream of the Main Universe Iron Man vanished. The Avengers were shocked and looked up, Doctor Strange's hand immediately glowed with magic light, and he stared hard at Stark.
Spider Man hurriedly reached out to stop him and whispered in his ear, "Don't be impulsive, Mr. Strange, we might not be his match."
"What did you do to Tony?" Captain America asked a bit anxiously.
"I just hung him on a low Earth orbit to calm him down," Stark said, "If I really wanted to hurt him, his mecha would have crushed him into pulp by now."
Captain America looked back at his teammates, Dr. Banner slowly shook his head at him. He clenched his fist, took a deep breath, and at this moment Black Widow stood out and said, "We don't intend to attack the mutants, but we have the right to know what's happening in the Mutant Royal Court. Because now we stand with the mutants, if the plan changes, we should be the first to know."
"You can send a representative," Stark still chose to compromise, "Choose someone not so impulsive, who can persuade the White Queen to come with me. Iron Man and Doctor Strange are not an option."
Captain America glanced back. He knew Doctor Strange was very dissatisfied, but he didn't want to clash with Stark head-on here either, so he just turned his head and said, "You go get Tony down first, I'll go with him for a trip."
The others were helpless too, this Iron Man suddenly from another universe was indeed too bizarre. He seemed to possess technology far superior to that of the Main Universe, appeared to be more peaceful than the Tony they knew, yet somehow inscrutable, making people shiver.
While following Stark to the council hall, Captain America couldn't help but ask, "Are you the Iron Man of the Central Universe?"
Stark nodded. He didn't say much more, in fact, he was focusing on enjoying the scenery along the way. The route to the Mutant Royal Court, the council hall where they went yesterday, happened to pass through the valley. A clear stream ran through the valley, with numerous tall trees shading the sky. On both sides of the cliffs, there were colorful crystal-windowed cottages built by mutants, layer upon layer, beautiful yet unobtrusive.
"What did you do to Tony's mecha?"
"I made his mecha misidentify its owner," Tony said as he walked, "That's the downside of not having JARVIS."
Captain America didn't understand these technical issues, he said, "He's a bit impulsive, but not intending to do bad things."
"Do you want me to be polite to him?"
"No, your attitude is polite enough," Captain America was quite reasonable, he said, "It's just that directly attacking his mecha might make him…"
"Have an anxiety attack?"
"If someone suddenly controlled my body or organs, I would be very scared too," Captain America said.
"If the mecha is so important to him, then he should make it more advanced," Stark shook his head and said, "I can imagine, ever since the multiverse war, you have spent too much time on multiversal diplomacy. As everyone knows, the only rule in diplomacy is the bigger fist is the hard truth. Realizing that now isn't too late, is it?"
Captain America pursed his lips. He was unwilling to admit that the strength of their universe was not strong enough. The Avengers of the Main Universe have also defeated many powerful opponents. They were united, all wanting to strive for a higher position for their universe in the multiverse. If it weren't for their common will, they wouldn't be acting together like this.
However, the scene of the Main Universe Iron Man being completely powerless against this Iron Man made them feel uneasy. It wasn't that they misjudged the average strength of the multiverse, but that this Central Universe was absurdly strong.