Shifting Focus

Following the route mapped by Jarvis, Tony arrived at the rooftop's ventilation duct. Just as he was about to open the window, a voice spoke up nearby.

"Sir, if I were you, I wouldn't touch that vent."

Tony quickly backed up and raised his hand toward the speaker. A faint glow emanated from his palm, signaling that his repulsor blast was ready to fire at any moment.

The figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a young boy dressed in a black t-shirt, with dark hair and yellow eyes. But what was up with his blue skin? And a tail?

The boy kept his head down, looking somewhat shy. Tony, however, did not lower his guard upon seeing him.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Kurt Wagner, sir."

"Kurt? Are you a demon?"

Tony couldn't help but think of devils when he saw the tail, complete with a hooked tip.

Kurt looked up at him in confusion. "Sir, aren't you a mutant too?"

Because Tony hadn't publicly declared, "I am Iron Man", at this point, he wasn't as famous yet. Kurt had mistaken Tony's suit for some kind of mutant transformation.

"Me? A mutant? What makes you think that?"

As Tony looked at him, he realized why Kurt was confused.

"This is my armor. It's high-tech. Blue devil, do you know what technology is?"

Hearing this, Kurt stepped back slightly, lowering his head again. "I see... I'm very sorry, sir. By the way, my nickname is Nightcrawler, not Blue Devil."

"Nightcrawler, huh? I'm Tony Stark."

Tony waited for a reaction—shock, surprise, or even admiration. But after a moment, Kurt merely nodded and fell silent.

Alright, this kid definitely had no idea who Tony was. Shrugging off his bruised pride, Tony asked, "What are you doing here? And why shouldn't I open the vent?"

"Mr. Stark, I'm looking for my mother. It seems they've captured her. And about the vent—I tried it earlier this morning. I got caught."

Seeing how timid the boy seemed, Tony suddenly felt an urge to mess with him.

"Your mother got captured? Why not go to the police?"

There was an awkward silence between them.

"Alright, let me ask another question. Since we can't use the vent, how are we getting in?"

"I've been watching for a while. The vents and the rooftop doors have sensors. If they're opened, alarms will go off. The windows might be the only way."

"But Umbrella Tower's windows are all sealed. If we break the glass, we'll get caught immediately."

"True, but if I know the location, I can teleport inside."

"You can teleport?"

"Yeah, my power is called [Bamf]."

With that, Kurt vanished in a puff of blue smoke, reappearing behind Tony.

"Wow, that's a cool power."

Kurt blushed, lowering his head shyly. "It's... alright, I guess."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get going."

"Uh... I can only teleport myself..."

"What? Say that again, kid."

"I mean... I can go in first, then open the window for you."

"Fine, then. Get to it, kid."

"Uh... it's Nightcrawler, not 'kid'."

A moment later, Tony was carrying Kurt and flying up to a high-level window. Kurt turned into a puff of blue smoke, and when he reappeared, he was already inside the office. Tony smelled a faint whiff of sulfur in the air.

Before he could think much of it, he saw the window open. When Tony entered the office, Jarvis's voice crackled in his ear.

"Mr. Stark, zzzt… I'm under a hacking attack, zzzt… I will not be able to assist you further…"

"Jarvis? Jarvis!!"

After calling out twice without a response, Tony grew anxious. Kurt, meanwhile, quietly slipped toward the door.

"Mr. Stark, I need to find my mother. Perhaps we'll meet again…"

With that, he vanished out the door. Tony could only set aside his concerns for now and turn his attention to his surroundings.

The office was fairly standard, filled with desks, computers, and the usual equipment. "I need to get to the CEO's office, or maybe the Chairman's," he thought.

As he stepped out of the office, Tony was taken aback. The Umbrella Tower was even bigger than Stark Tower, and he had no idea where to go. If Jarvis were still online, he could have scanned the area for anything of importance. Now, Tony had to figure it out on his own.

After some thought, he reasoned that the higher the position, the higher the floor. So, he began making his way upstairs.

A few moments later, he reached the top floor, where he saw a secretary's desk and the Chairman's office. Entering the office, Tony immediately moved to the computer and plugged in a flash drive.

He began scanning through the files, searching for something useful. Before long, a certain report caught his eye.

"Umbrella's Japan branch is secretly researching insect-human enhancement projects and illegally selling products to the Middle East."

The report included some blurry images of insect-like creatures and vague evidence. The documentation didn't definitively prove the research, but it did show that something had been shipped from the Japan branch to the Middle East.

There was also mention of the Japan branch's executives working with Yashida Corporation, hinting at betrayal.

Upon reading this, Tony quickly understood what was happening. The Japan branch was going rogue, secretly conducting research and making deals on the side to break away from the headquarters.

Several minutes later, the data finished copying. Just as Tony was about to gather more, he heard the elevator outside ding. He quickly yanked out the flash drive, shut down the computer, and hurried to the window, vanishing into the sky.

Moments later, the office door opened, and Luna stepped inside.

"Looks like he's gone," she muttered, shaking her head as she shut the window and sent a message to her boss.

"Boss, he's gone."

.............

Meanwhile, in the underground lab, Adam looked at Mystique, who was strapped to the operating table. His mind was racing with thoughts of the Sentinel program.

If he remembered correctly, the Sentinels from "X-Men: Days of Future Past" were developed using Mystique's genes. Now that he had Mystique, and Tony's Mark I armor, all he needed was a compact energy source to begin researching Sentinels.

"Ding…"

His phone buzzed. Opening it, he saw a message from Luna.

It seemed the plan had gone smoothly. Tony had indeed come to Umbrella. James, Tony's close friend, was living up to his reputation. Just a hint of information, and he leaked it to Tony, completely disregarding that it was classified military intelligence.

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