Chapter 1863: Madman's Journey (Thirty-Nine)_1

The next day dawned with a light rain in New York, thick fog spreading over the suburban roads. The humid air wafted among the trees, and ghostly figures emerged from the bushes.

Nick was driving, with Natasha sitting in the passenger seat, staring blankly at the frost forming on the glass.

Eventually, it was Nick who broke the silence.

"I'm sorry, it was a secret mission, not within your knowledge scope—I intentionally downplayed Hope's death."

"You know that's against the rules," Natasha said, focusing on Nick's profile.

"You know the rules are useless," Nick retorted, but his tone soon softened, "I can't say Hope's death was an accident—I should take responsibility for it."

"But you can't take any responsibility," Natasha's tone heightened, "You once said that every agent's sacrifice is worth attention, but you didn't do so."

"There hasn't been one since then." Nick said, slapping the steering wheel, "But you have to hear me out. It wasn't a typical combat sacrifice."

"Then why did you hide it from everyone? Even her grave is placed in the most remote suburbs of New York. What are you afraid of?"

Nick averted his gaze, "If Dr. Pym is the puppet master, I assume this is forgivable—he must think I've made his daughter's death a dishonorable secret. She didn't receive the honors a true hero should have—I wish I could have a chance to explain it to him."

"But till now, you still hide it," Natasha said, shaking her head, "Your excessive focus on game theory and unfounded paranoia will one day kill you and all of us."

"This time it's different, it's not a false alarm."

The slowing tires kicked up a thin mist of water. Landing in a muddy puddle, heavy droplets splashed up like ghostly hands reaching out from hell.

Nick led Natasha to the darkest tombstone, with "Hope Pym" elegantly written on it in English. With her sharp observation, Natasha noticed that the part with her name had been wiped clean.

"Careful."

As the female agent's voice echoed, a large figure slowly emerged from the depth of the woods. His face guard slid open, revealing old-aged features.

Natasha had never seen such an aged Dr. Pym. But judging by his familiar features, that was Hank Pym, the brilliant scientist who developed the Pym particles.

"Long time no see, Hank."

"You should tell Hope that." Hank's voice sounded feeble, but he kept his gaze firmly on Nick's sunken eyes, filled with an indescribable fire.

"About your daughter. I'm sorry, I…"

"Be careful!"

"Bang!"

Nick was sent flying, landing heavily in the mud. Natasha held tight to Mjölnir and said, "Dr. Pym, killing isn't the solution. We need to talk."

With a "whoosh", Hank Pym enlarged himself again behind Natasha. "The dirty SHIELD and its director are responsible for my daughter's death, and even hid the news of her passing until she was buried. Nick Fury is a downright villain, as are the superheroes..."

Seeing Pym disappearing again, Natasha had no choice but to lift her hammer to defend herself. The defense shield, formed by the Thor's lightning, repelled a small dot the moment it touched the bright light.

The aged Ant-Man fell to the ground, but he rushed madly towards Natasha again. In his eyes, she saw the familiar fleeting purple light.

Not daring to act rashly, Natasha jumped back, propelling herself three or four meters away with the Power of Thunder. At that moment, her phone rang, and Jarvis's voice came through it.

"Ma'am, the analysis of the armor is complete. The system was not hacked in a conventional way. A special energy that humans can't currently analyze cut off my connection with the armor and took control. Be careful... Hello? Natasha, this is Tony Stark!"

"Listen, this power is very dangerous. Moreover, for some reason, it is extremely familiar with Stark Group's systems. The residual energy in the armor just attacked Stark Group's software systems. I am currently reinforcing the defense systems."

"This strange energy can infect intelligent systems far beyond expectation. Please be cautious with all intelligent devices…"

Natasha cut off the call decisively, rolling to dodge Pym's attack and eyeing his battle armor.

In her universe, although Pym had developed Pym particles, he had not yet become a superhero with a suit of armor. Rather, he was caught in the laboratory before he had a chance to suit up and fight.

Nevertheless, Natasha could tell that Pym's armor was of the same type as Stark's, which likely also had an intelligent control system.

Pym, who was rushing at her again, suddenly stopped, his body surrounded by a layer of frost. Following a "clicking" sound, Pym's entire body was frozen.

Loki emerged from the woods, holding the faintly glowing Casket of Ancient Winters. Nick also got up from the ground, rushed anxiously to Pym, and looked deeply into his eyes.

Upon seeing the familiar purple color in Pym's pupils, Nick seemed to have lost all his strength, leaning against the trunk of a tree.

Noticing the anomaly in Nick, Natasha sharply thought of something, turned her head to look at Nick saying, "What's wrong? It seems like you've seen this power before."

"Hope… Hope is…"

Nick forcefully closed his eyes, his fists clenched as he spoke, "The night that Hope died two years ago, I saw the same color in her eyes."

"What on earth is going on?" Natasha glared at Nick and walked up to him. "You can't hide it any longer, Nick."

Nick crouched down slowly, wiped his face with his hand, then said, "The mission report said that Hope Pym died in battle, but it was me who killed her."

Natasha's eyes widened.

"I had no choice." Nick got up, hitting his hand hard against the trunk of a tree. "Hope's battlesuit went rogue. She suddenly attacked the agents around her like a madwoman. She killed thirteen people, and she wanted to kill me too."

"I was cornered in a corridor with no choice but to shoot. I silenced every agent who witnessed all of this, not for me, but for Hope."

"She's done a lot for S.H.I.E.L.D. She can't become a traitor." Nick lowered his head and shook it. "But at least four agents saw her kill people. The last gun I used was thrown to me by one of the agents. The truth is hard, irreversible, and can only be faded."

"I know if I told her father the truth, he wouldn't believe me, he would just think I'm shirking responsibility." Nick turned his head. "After Hope's death, I did a lot of investigative work, trying to find out where this strange power comes from, but there were absolutely no results."

After that, he turned his head again to look at Hank Pym, speaking with a bit of heaviness in his tone. "If something happens to old Pym, I wouldn't be able to confirm that Hope is completely innocent. If it really was one of Pym's experiments that caused Hope to go rogue and kill, then both father and daughter should bear the responsibility."

"It's not that simple." Natasha spoke up, "Jarvis just told me…"

Suddenly, the roaring sound of an engine came closer from afar. A familiar golden-red battlesuit landed in front of the grave. With a "click", the face guard unfolded, Tony looked extremely serious, "I've got an incredible piece of bad news. The one who invaded Jarvis's system was Jarvis."

"What did you say?!" Natasha looked at him unbelievably.

"I can't believe it either, but it's true. It was another Jarvis that cut off the contact between that battlesuit and Jarvis, even almost reverse invaded him."

All the people on the Star Devouring Engine turned to look at Tony Stark's face, Stark shook his head and said, "Don't look at me. My butler is busy dating. I suspect he's even forgotten how to write the most basic codes now."

"Remember the name we got from the Observer?" Nick rubbed his chin. "'Infinite Ultron', Ultron is also a robot, right?"

"That could be possible." Stark agreed, nodding his head. "The Observer said the Infinite Ultron was an Ultron who got the Infinity Gems. So, he must be somewhat capable."

"Was Hope's death two years ago the doing of Infinite Ultron? Did he start arranging his moves that early?" Loki frowns.

"Not necessarily." Shiller shook his head, pointing out another possibility, "Don't forget the function of the Time Gem, it might also be able to time travel just like us."

"But aren't Infinity Stones only supposed to work in their own universe?" Nick furrowed his eyebrows, speaking with a hint of confusion, "This Infinite Ultron has not only threatened one universe, how does he do it?"

"That mad Doctor Strange." Shiller reminded, "Before, he has been constantly devouring Stranges from different universes, gaining a lot of power."

"And now I'm afraid a group of the Ancient Ones will be searching for him, he is being forced into desperation and might collaborate with Infinite Ultron. In most cases, Infinity Stones only work in their own universe, but if they cooperate using the method of the crazy Doctor Strange devourering the power from the multiverse, it might not be the case."

"That's troublesome." Nick rubbed his forehead, "So it is likely that the mastermind has time-traveled to two years ago before us and caused Hope's death. Then he let the universe develop, using Hank Pym to get rid of the Avengers."

"But our arrival drew his attention, so he exerted extra force, trying to get his plan back on track."

Shiller shook his head again saying, "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Perhaps at a future time, we thwart his plot, and he chose to go back in time to interfere with us."

"But if we were successful, would you let him escape?" Nick retorted.

"Not necessarily." Shiller rubbed his chin, "Maybe I wanted to let him off and catch a big fish later."

While everyone was engaged in endless discussion, Natasha came back. She nodded at everyone and said, "The problem is mainly solved now. Tony used Jarvis to regain control of Pym's battlesuit, and Pym has regained consciousness."

"He heard our conversation in the ice block, Nick showed him some backups from the mission, especially the surveillance inside the building where the mission took place. Pym saw the scene of his daughter going crazed."

"Tony wanted to avenge Rhodey, but Nick stopped him. Now they have to find the murderer first, or else we're all still in danger. I told them we will do our best."

"Loki went back to find his brother. I returned Mjölnir to him, but he gave me this."

Natasha brought out the nearly powerless Casket of Ancient Winters from behind her. She then handed it over to Tony and said, "The real culprit spent some time absorbing the power of this divine artifact. It's possible that he left some of his own power on it."

Tony took the Casket of Ancient Winters and walked over to the lab bench saying, "Give me a min."

About half an hour later, the projection screen lit up, everyone watched one point in countless points of light.

Tony pulled down the lever and said, "He's gone to another universe. Old rules, hang on, we're about to take off."