The special status of the Prime Universe has inflated the ambition of every member of The Avengers from that universe. However, if they weren't that kind of person to begin with, they wouldn't become more extreme just because of this. Spider Man is a good example. The Spider Man from the Prime Universe didn't change his personality just because he's from the Prime Universe. You can only say that most Tony Starks have interventionism coded into their genes.
They say the bigger your heart, the bigger your stage. But now it's the other way around: the bigger the stage, the bigger your heart gets. The Multiverse platform gave the Prime Universe a chance to show itself off, so naturally the ambitious ones among them became more extreme. That doesn't mean people from other universes wouldn't be the same.
There's no doubt that the Iron Man of the local universe also has his eye on the Red Orchid Factory. He doesn't want to use it to control Earth; he just wants to get some tech and upgrade his Battle Armor. If such a chance appears, he's not likely to pass it up.
In fact, even if he had tech more advanced than Red Orchid Factory's, he still wouldn't refuse, because the tech system Red Orchid Factory uses is different from his and has real research value. What truly shocks the local Iron Man is that the Iron Man from the Central Universe can actually restrain his desire to explore new technology.
"You never mentioned this?" Iron Man looked at Spider Man and asked. "Red Orchid Factory is probably using Shi'ar Empire tech. No, not 'probably'. I asked them myself. They're not only using the tech, they're using the materials too."
"He knows," Spider Man said. "But he doesn't really care about Alien tech. Overall, he's not much like you. Not like a machine that tirelessly explores the cosmos until it almost burns itself out. He's gentle, pretty restrained."
"Then he's not Tony Stark," Iron Man dropped a bomb. "No Stark can hold back his own curiosity. How could he not want to explore the cosmos?"
"I don't know," Spider Man said. "Why don't you talk to him?"
"How am I supposed to talk to him? I can't get to Clarkia," Iron Man said. "Do you not realize how special you are? Only you can just swagger off to the enemy's headquarters for a vacation while the two sides are still at war!"
The others chimed in as well; clearly they all thought this was absurd. After all, as long as a doomsday weapon like Red Orchid Factory hangs over their heads, the Mutants can't possibly treat them nicely. And yet Spider Man can visit Clarkia under those conditions—no one knows which side is being more reckless.
"Maybe you guys could just make a phone call or something," Spider Man said. "I can make another trip to Clarkia and set up a line between you two. What do you think?"
But Iron Man suddenly showed some resistance. He said, "Do you really think this communication means anything? You want me to Persuasion him into taking over the factory?"
"Oh, hold on," Captain America said. "The Avengers never said we agree with the government and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s decision. We still have your back, Tony."
Iron Man's expression didn't improve. He knew perfectly well that his teammates supported him because they were close. But he also knew that, objectively speaking, the Iron Man of the Central Universe was more suited than he was to control the factory.
If the two of them got on a call, wouldn't that be basically admitting he's conceding to the Iron Man from the Central Universe? Even though he knows it's hard to measure up, he still doesn't want to admit it to his face.
"You don't have to talk about that," Spider Man said. "Maybe just discuss the technical side of the factory. Communication is always beneficial, isn't it?"
Everyone looked at Iron Man, but no one spoke. They figured this could only be decided by Iron Man himself. After all, no one can exist divorced from their own position. Science has no borders, but scientists do. Any exchange will inevitably touch on politics, and that would make Iron Man very uncomfortable.
"I'll give it a try," Iron Man said. "I just want to know what kind of person he really is. Maybe he'd make a decent last-resort backup option."
Nick let out a breath. Letting the two Iron Men talk to each other was a much better idea than having Spider Man try to Persuasion Iron Man. Spider Man can't really get to the root of things, but two isotopes can cover a lot more ground. Like Iron Man said, even if all they manage is to Persuasion the Central Universe's Stark to step in and save the day when things become irreversible, that would count as mission accomplished.
Captain America patted Iron Man on the shoulder, a gesture of comfort. Thor spoke up as well: "We'll be right there with you. If he dares talk down to you, we'll curse him out."
There was nothing more to be said about Doctor Strange. He just watched the standing Iron Man with a slightly worried look. He could completely understand how stifled Iron Man felt. But right now, his skills are inferior, his timing is unlucky, and handing things to the Iron Man of the Central Universe is still better than giving them to the one from the Prime Universe.
Spider Man went to Clarkia again and set up a communication channel between the two Iron Men. But he didn't follow Nick's instructions to the letter; he secretly sent a message to the Main Universe Spiderman.
"Hey, the two of them are about to negotiate. You're sure you don't want your universe's guy to show up?"
"God, are you trying to destroy Iron Man?" the Main Universe Spiderman replied. "If he finds out those two are cutting deals behind his back, he'll blow a gasket. Because that's basically saying he's not as good as the Central Universe one."
"That's exactly why we need him to blow up this negotiation. It's better for all three of them," the local Spider Man said. "The Iron Man from the Central Universe won't be morally blackmailed, my universe's Iron Man doesn't have to be forced to bow his head, and your universe's Iron Man won't be driven mad with rage."
"Oh man, that's a brilliant idea." The Main Universe Spiderman caught on right away and sent a flood of thumbs-up stickers. "But if we do that, is there still any hope for the factory?"
"Honestly, I've always wanted to ask: what's the point of that factory existing, anyway? Why can't we just blow it up?"
"Wasn't that supposed to be for defending against Mutants?"
"It's for carrying out Genocide," the local universe Spider Man said. "Those Super Sentinels they're building will indiscriminately slaughter all Mutants. Don't tell me you didn't know that."
"Of course I didn't know, we don't have that in our universe yet." Main Universe Spiderman sent a shocked emoji, then said, "You're right. Genocide is evil no matter when it happens. Let's blow it up, the two of us."
"As much as I'd love that, it's probably going to be very hard. There are way too many eyes on that factory, and the tech level is ridiculously high. Just the two of us probably can't crack it."
"Did they move all the Researchers in the lab to Clarkia?"
"Yeah. They should be in the Mutants' Anti-gravity Laboratory."
"A lot of them must want to destroy the factory," Main Universe Spiderman said. "Because as long as that factory exists, they're never really free. Every faction is going to want them to help keep the factory under control. Only by completely wiping that thing out can they actually go back to their own lives."
"That's also a brilliant idea," the local Spider Man said. "But I'm not sure the Mutants will let me get close to them."
"Of course they will, you're Spider Man."
After the local Spider Man arrived on Clarkia Island, he went to find Stark first. Stark was a bit surprised to see him. When he heard that the Iron Man from the local universe wanted to talk, he paused for a moment and then said, "I knew you guys were still trying to talk me into taking over. Getting another me to do the Persuasion for you can't have been easy. I'm not going to agree, but I can still give him the courtesy of a call."
As soon as he said that, Spider Man knew this wasn't going to work. Still, the Iron Man of the Central Universe really did have too good a temper—anyone else would've washed their hands of this long ago. But the Iron Man of the Central Universe was actually willing to take another call just to save the local Iron Man's face.
"Thanks a ton." Spider Man said it from the heart; after all, he was under pressure too if the mission didn't get done.
"Thank Clarkia," Stark said. "This place puts me in a really good mood. Who knows, maybe we can actually talk tech for once."
The call connected quickly, but the local Iron Man clearly didn't know what to say and just stayed silent. Stark had to speak first: "What do you think of the tech at the Red Orchid Factory?"
"A lot of the tech they're using is extremely advanced, including some of the AI tech they use to build the Mother Module. But without certain special materials and key data, I don't think the factory could pull it off so easily."
"That's exactly what I'm getting at. Do you know where the Shi'ar Empire's tech came from?" Stark asked.
"Ghosts would know where they got it," the local Iron Man said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the US Government had dealings with any kind of Alien Civilization. I just don't know what they sold out this time to get it."
"Doesn't that strike you as odd?" Stark said. "What exactly is there on Earth that could interest the Shi'ar Empire—and more importantly, something the government can actually hand over?"
The local Iron Man clearly hadn't expected him to bring this up. He asked, "You think there's something shady about where this tech came from?"
"To the Shi'ar Empire, technology itself isn't worth much; their tech level is way ahead of yours. But those Crystals aren't something you can just casually pick up, are they?"
"Crystals? You mean the Source Energy Superconductor?"
"Yeah," Stark said. "I don't believe those Crystals are dime-a-dozen junk even in the Shi'ar Empire. On the contrary, that kind of stuff is not some easily synthesized compound. So why is the Shi'ar Empire willing to hand so many of them over to the Human race?"
The Iron Man on the other end fell silent again. Stark sighed inwardly. He'd basically spelled it out—how was this guy still not getting it? Was this universe just too far removed from interstellar war?
Stark wanted to keep talking, but a burst of noise came from the other side. Two almost identical voices started yelling at each other. Stark raised an eyebrow. Don't tell him Main Universe Iron Man had shown up?
He'd guessed right. Main Universe Iron Man had barged in to wreck the party, because there was no way he was going to let the locals hand the factory over to the Iron Man of the Central Universe. He stormed straight into the conference room. The two branches of The Avengers immediately started brawling again.
Stark hung up, a bit helpless. Fine, knock yourselves out. When the Shi'ar Empire activates the Energy Crystal, opens a Teleportation Portal, and their army comes charging right in your faces, you'd better still have time to be messing around here!