"Sir, the server is under a malicious intrusion."
The Black Queen suddenly raised an alarm.
"An intrusion?" Zod found it strange. The Black Queen, without exaggeration, was the strongest hacker in the world, and yet someone could still break in?
"The opponent's technique doesn't look like a typical hacker. The way they're using data streams is very unusual," the Black Queen said as she fended off the attack.
"Need help?" Zod asked. His electromagnetic power could be useful in a situation like this, and it was extremely strong.
"No need, boss."
The Black Queen quickly crushed the intruder, to the point she almost traced their location.
…
"So scary. Or rather, as expected of Zodhis. He even has a strong artificial intelligence…"
In some dim base, a human face appeared on a screen.
HYDRA, Arnim Zola!
Hitler's capable right-hand man, a Swiss geneticist, and also the first human genetic engineer in Earth's history. He was responsible for developing all kinds of clone organisms and monsters. In 1972, he was diagnosed with terminal illness, so he transferred his consciousness into a giant computer of that era, storing it inside a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in New Jersey.
In a way, Zola was basically slapping the field of AI in the face. With the hardware conditions back then, storing consciousness should have been impossible, let alone having Zola become the strongest hacker on the network afterward.
But this was the Marvel universe.
Anything was possible.
After learning of Zodhis's existence from Serpent S.H.I.E.L.D., and hearing about Zodhis's series of inventions, Zola grew tempted by those creations. That was why he chose to infiltrate Blade Tech Industries' database, wanting to obtain Zodhis's research materials on those inventions.
He never expected that the moment he finally forced his way through that stubborn firewall, he would immediately run into an unprecedented counterattack. And he recognized what was hitting him.
Not a human super-hacker.
Because aside from Skye of the Rising Tide organization, and a few unreasonable supervillains and superheroes, Zola had no opponents in the online world.
But a strong artificial intelligence was different.
A being with its own intelligence and emotions, and also the ability to learn and evolve.
After Zodhis mastered atomic-level electromagnetic force and magnetic field manipulation, he built Kryptonian-grade hardware to house the Black Queen, causing her learning and evolution speed to skyrocket. At first, Zola could still suppress the Black Queen, but in less than a few seconds, he was learned, surpassed, and beaten into retreat.
If his reaction had been any slower, the Black Queen would have traced him.
"A strong artificial intelligence is truly terrifying…"
Zola recalled how he tried to evade tracking. His initial botnet decoy tactic even fooled the Black Queen for a moment, but right after that, the Black Queen seemed to learn the botnet tactic too. She ignored thousands of disguised puppets and chased him directly.
…
"He got away?" Zod looked at the Black Queen, surprised.
"He reacted quickly, and he also feels like an artificial intelligence. At the very least, he's not lower-tier than me," the Black Queen said after analyzing the situation.
Zod thought it over. This was not the time when Ultron should be born yet. After his super-brain dug through his past-life memories, he had a guess.
"Zola, the one who invented the Zola Algorithm in HYDRA?"
If it was him, reaching this level was not strange. Zod's instincts really wanted to complain about how this guy could withstand the Black Queen using such outdated hardware, but whatever.
The good news was that the opponent could not learn and evolve, while the Black Queen had completed an evolution and surpassed him through this attack-defense battle. If Zola came again next time, the Black Queen would lock onto his location in one second.
Of course, after realizing how terrifying a strong AI was, Zola would never come again.
Then came the news about General "Thunderbolt" Ross abandoning the military for politics, successfully becoming Secretary of State.
At the press conference, Ross looked energetic and radiant. The power of the Red Hulk made him unbelievably healthy. He could probably live another hundred years without any problem.
That kind of vigorous presence invisibly boosted the public's confidence in him.
"So he really did become Secretary of State." Zod figured Ross's family must have pushed hard behind the scenes, otherwise he would not have climbed to Secretary of State in a little over a year.
Watching Ross spout loud statements on screen, Zod turned it off.
"Bad news, boss!"
A sudden emergency communication caught Zod off guard.
"What is it?" Zod picked up, because this call was important.
"Tony Stark got away!"
The beast-soldier on the other end was sweating bullets. They never imagined Tony Stark could escape while being watched by so many beast soldiers.
"He escaped?" Zod was extremely curious about the whole process. A crude Iron Man suit, forged by hand, could actually escape from beast soldiers?
Are you kidding me?
"Tony Stark didn't escape on his own. We were suddenly attacked by the Ten Rings. By the time we dealt with them, we discovered Tony Stark had already disappeared," the beast-soldier said carefully.
After all, if you were going to act, you had to act thoroughly. That was why Zod had sent them to Afghanistan to put on a show. Being attacked by the Ten Rings was unexpected, but thinking about it, it was not that strange.
The Ten Rings had wanted to make a move against these outsiders from the start. After getting taught a harsh lesson, they began watching this group of terrorists who neither looted nor did anything else.
But after observing for more than a year, these terrorists still did nothing. Other than a shift-change-like rotation once in a while, swapping in many new faces, they just stayed put.
The Ten Rings suspected they were surveying Afghanistan, waiting for the right moment to strike. To prevent future disaster, the Ten Rings decided to strike first.
This time, they learned from the last beating and went all-in, bringing high-quality weapons from Stark Industries. They even had War Machines they had secretly bought from Blade Tech Industries, intending to wipe out these ill-intentioned outsiders in one decisive blow.
But they never expected the outsiders to be stunned at first, and then, after getting killed, revive and turn into monsters!
The Ten Rings leader even saw one of those monsters tear open a War Machine's hardened steel-alloy armor with its bare hands!
The attacking Ten Rings managed less than ten minutes of suppression before the beast soldiers snapped out of it and tore them apart, slaughtering them to the last man. Not a single one escaped.
Then, while cleaning the battlefield, the beast soldiers suddenly realized Tony Stark was gone.
Along with him, the crude Iron Man suit that was supposed to be taken at a scheduled time was also missing.
Even "Yinsen" had not been brought along, which meant the beast soldiers lost the only method they had to track Tony Stark.
With no other choice, they could only report to Zod.
/-\
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