In the dust-laden mountains, in front of a laboratory door hidden in the valley, several superheroes lined up. The smell of gunpowder had not yet dissipated, and the atmosphere grew more intense.
Until a blue and white figure slowly descended above the battlefield. Stark's nanosuit, after several iterations, no longer looked like a heavy iron shell but was sleeker and more fitted, having already ditched the face guard and used a data-stream holographic projection to cover the face, with a semi-enclosed silver metal headgear elsewhere, looking very different from other Iron Man suits.
Thus, when he descended onto the battlefield, the Iron Man of this universe did not immediately recognize him. Those forces monitoring the situation through surveillance devices also didn't know who he was. Not until he removed the data-stream face guard to reveal Tony Stark's face.
Everyone's expressions turned grim.
It was already incredible that a second Iron Man appeared on Earth, and now there's another one. One Iron Man was enough to give them headaches, now there are three here. Every force wished this world was a giant matching game and they could quickly eliminate these three troublesome entities!
But the good news was, these three Iron Men didn't seem to get along with each other. They didn't join forces, instead, they fought separately. The first two each led a team of Avengers, while the last one seemed weak but appeared to possess stronger technology.
Soon, all the forces discovered that the technological level of this last-arriving blue and white Iron Man far surpassed the previous two. Because he did practically nothing, and countless mechanical weapons appeared from the air.
Actually, they didn't just appear; they first turned into data-stream-like holographic projections, then slowly wove into solid form. If someone like Reed who could observe cosmic structures was present, he would have run fast because this means of directly editing cosmic codes to create things was akin to creation. Provoking such an opponent was not a wise move.
Unfortunately, since no one present had the technical ability to accurately observe the cosmos, they all thought Stark used a teleportation portal or something to summon those robots. So instead of running, they raised their weapons to face the enemy.
The first to move were the two Thors, because from past experience, Thor's lightning was very effective against Iron Man's mechanical creations. According to the laws of physics, such a strong electric current could instantly disable most electronic components. Both Thors raised their hammers, and the lightning lit up the valley.
The mechanical army suddenly reverted to data-stream form, making them immune to common forces. Blue light streaked across the battlefield, appearing in the correct position, then condensed back into material form. Instantly, dense gunfire covered the entire battlefield.
Just as Strange silently dominated nearly the entire industry over the years, Stark, of course, hadn't been idle. On the path of exploring universal truths, he progressed no slower than Reed, but instead of spending most of his time causing trouble like Reed, Stark used this time to upgrade his equipment, perfectly combining cosmic construction science and mechanical engineering to create an "Information Flow Combat System."
Simply put, when not in use, these things were just stored as information codes in his armor, without any substance. But as soon as needed, the codes could be converted into material form, and during combat, they could also be converted at any moment.
Faced with an unattractive attack, transform into data-stream codes to evade; needing a silent assault, convert into codes to advance; when needing to materialize for an attack, immediately transform into physical equipment for fire coverage; and after completing the strike, transform back into codes to return to the armor, using code compilation for reloading.
In summary, this was still based on the theory of "information and material conversion" that Reed wanted to apply for all humanity, only applied to machinery where it's much safer, without ethical issues, yet achieving an effect akin to the creator descending into the world.
The Avengers below never expected him to have such a move, and were blown into disarray on the spot. Still, they were skilled; the two Captain Americas immediately realized they had to attack Stark's body. With two whooshes, two shields flew towards Stark with unmatched momentum.
Stark instantly dodged. His battle armor not only could release information equipment but also had excellent performance. He flexibly climbed in the air to avoid the shields, more mechanical equipment appearing behind him.
This time, not just bombing drones, there were two nests producing ground armor. The nests didn't need to land, hovering in the air, continuously deploying mecha. Most mecha were previous versions of Iron Man's battle armor.
"What the hell!" Local Iron Man looked up at those mecha. Besides the gold and red ones, there were blue and white, purple and gold, red and blue, gold and silver. Instantly, the field was filled with over a hundred differently-colored Iron Men, all opening their hand cannons simultaneously.
"Dodge!" Captain America shouted, "Get out of the way!"
"Boom boom boom boom boom!"
Another round of violent bombardment. The Avengers each found cover, but Stark seized the moment when they couldn't maintain formation and smoothly maneuvered like a butterfly through the Avengers and layers of vegetation, flying into the laboratory.
"Stop him! Quick, stop him!"
No one present didn't want to stop him, the problem is they couldn't. Local Doctor Strange had already used magic attacks against those mecha, but once they transformed into information form, Doctor Strange had no way to deal with them, magic couldn't attack codes. And then those mecha surrounded them, and to protect his teammates, Doctor Strange couldn't chase Stark.
Seeing the mecha surround them more and more, two shouts of "Hulk!!!" nearly simultaneously rang out. The Hulk leapt out from the crowd, rushing towards the mecha, but was still nimbly avoided.
The Hulk wanted to jump onto the nest and smash it, but once he jumped up, the nest flickered and transformed into a data stream, disappearing. The Hulk crashed heavily to the ground, a bit dazed as he got up, looking up at the empty sky, wondering if he had seen an illusion.
The others were fighting back the mecha and mechanical army, only two Spider Men, taking advantage of the chaos, sneakily approached the laboratory entrance.
"Hey, which one are you?" Local Spider Man said.
"I'm from the Prime Universe," Prime Universe Spider Man said, "Which one are you?"
The other Spider Man sneakily looked around, pulling out his phone to show Prime Universe Spider Man his Spider App page.
"Oh, I remember you, you were the guy using the anniversary avatar frame. You shared that apple pie recipe last week, it went viral, right?"
"That's right." Local Spider Man nodded, "Let's add each other as friends."
After speaking, they scanned each other's QR codes and became friends before sneaking into the laboratory door. Once the door closed, both simultaneously let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh my god, you have no idea how crazy they are!"
"I'm telling you, they are absolutely insane!"
They said in unison, looked at each other, and loudly screamed together.
"No way, it's like that on your side too?"
"You mean your Avengers also..."
The local Spider Man sighed first and said, "You wouldn't believe it, Mr. Stark actually reached out to the Royal Guard of the Shi'ar Empire just to get the defensive technology for the outer perimeter of the Red Orchid Factory. It's like making a deal with the devil!"
"Don't even mention it, Iron Man in my universe almost sent Doctor Strange to the Shi'ar Empire for technology, thank goodness it didn't happen. They are out of their minds!"
"I don't know what to do either," the local Spider Man said, "If we don't let the Stark Group get the factory, then letting the US Government and military get it won't be any better! Whoever gets that factory will use it against others, right?"
The Main Universe Spider Man was also troubled and scratched his head, saying, "Right now, it seems better that Iron Man in your universe holds it, at least he won't use it to destroy Earth."
"Don't tell me your universe intends to..."
"The primary goal of the Main Universe Iron Man controlling the Red Orchid Factory is to use the Mother Module to threaten you and the Mutants. They claim it's mediation, but they actually want you under the control of the Prime Universe."
"What?!" The local Spider Man said in shock, "How can they do something like this!"
"It was the Mutants who asked for help." The Main Universe Spider Man sighed, "They have justifiable reasons."
"I said we should help the Mutants," said the local Spider Man with a frown, "But Captain America and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Director didn't think it was necessary. I had a bad feeling when the Mutant's squad was completely wiped out. I didn't expect they'd bring the entire Multiverse into this. That differently colored Iron Man is also from another universe, right?"
"He's from the Central Universe, haven't you seen him?"
"Oh, it's him, I haven't seen him in Battle Armor," the local Spider Man shook his head, "He doesn't seem to wear the armor often. I thought all Iron Men had the same color scheme."
"What are you planning to do?" asked the Main Universe Spider Man.
"I don't think it's a good idea to let Iron Man from our side get the Red Orchid Factory. People worried he might use it against others will go crazy trying to take him down. They could start a world war!"
At this point, the local university Spider Man paused for a moment and then said, "Then how about letting Iron Man from the Central Universe control it? He won't act recklessly, and he's strong enough that no one can do much to him."
The Main Universe Spider Man shook his head, "The issue is the Central Universe doesn't engage in interventionism. The Central Universe Iron Man isn't here to rule Earth either."
"Then why did he get involved in the recent battle?" The local Spider Man asked, puzzled.
The Main Universe Spider Man shook his head, "I don't know either, but they probably have some other plans. He doesn't need the factory's technology or deterrent power. I think you'll have a hard time convincing him to take over the Red Orchid Factory."
"I'll think of a way to persuade him," said the local Spider Man, "Only if he controls the factory and shows enough power can this terrible mess be calmed. There's no other way."
"Then give it a try," said the Main Universe Spider Man, "Though I think the chances are slim... oh, there he is."
The Main Universe Spider Man looked toward Stark, who was standing in the center of the laboratory. The lab manager and several researchers were facing him with guns. The two Spider Men stopped in their tracks, wary of agitating the researchers.
They weren't afraid that bullets could harm the Central Universe Iron Man, but the lab wasn't very large, and stray grenades could easily harm themselves. It was best not to appear impulsively.
"Don't you understand? You've already been abandoned." Stark sighed and said, "If no one had sold you out, how could we have found this place?"
"Well, we absolutely won't hand over control of the Red Orchid Factory to you! You freakish lunatic!" The manager, holding a gun, said excitedly, "Don't think you can get any technical data from me!"
"Unfortunately, what I need isn't technical data. Shiller," Stark called out. A teleportation portal appeared behind him, from which Magneto emerged.
"Please," Stark said to the researchers, "Believe me, stepping out that door won't have better results than accepting the Mutants' invitation."