Searching for Deep Memories

"Stark..."

Hank was astonished to see Tony's name on the locator. After all, Tony had died seven years ago.

Years ago, he had been colleagues with Tony's father, Howard Stark. Then, in 1989, he had found unfinished Pym Particles in Howard's office, leading him to believe that Stark had stolen his research. In the end, they had parted ways, and Hank had left S.H.I.E.L.D.

Seven years ago, Tony Stark had carried two nuclear missiles to their mutual destruction with an alien warship. Hank had been in New York at the time and had seen it with his own eyes.

Much of the resentment in his heart had faded as well.

During the Battle of New York, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier had been destroyed, and Nick Fury and Hill had died in battle. That had also exposed a glimpse of the Hydra lurking in the shadows. Two years later, Steve Rogers, then a New York councilman, had joined forces with General Ross to tear Hydra out by the roots.

Hydra's files had been made public, revealing that it was Hydra who had copied the Pym Particles back then.

From that point on, he had completely let go of his prejudice against Stark, and had even felt somewhat guilty...

Seeing Stark again now, he couldn't help being a little distracted.

"Scott, come back!"

"Ah... okay!"

In just a moment, Hank had formed a guess about Lin Xu's origins.

First of all, Tony Stark had definitely not been capable of entering the Quantum Realm seven years ago. Otherwise, he wouldn't have died in New York.

What was more, there was no information at all about Lin Xu's past, and there was that huge sum of money from an unknown source.

He had reason to conclude that this man hadn't simply traveled through the Quantum Realm and come back out. Most likely, he had wandered in here from another universe.

And Tony Stark was still alive in that universe, or this thing wouldn't exist.

As for why he had settled down here?

Ha, there was no one left in this universe's Stark Family, and the person who understood the Quantum Realm best was him, Hank Pym!

If this Lin Xu didn't come here, where else could he go? Call him arrogant or conceited, but he had the confidence to back it up!

He had called Scott back because he planned to pay Lin Xu a visit himself later.

He just didn't know what his counterpart in the other universe's relationship with the Stark Family was like, or whether he had rescued Janet...

Meanwhile.

Lin Xu had been planning to see what Scott was up to, but unexpectedly, Scott had only lingered for a while before leaving.

It really was a little boring.

Sensing Scott leave, a somewhat bored Lin Xu began scrolling through the news.

[New York Times, November 2: Steven Grant Rogers will deliver a speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. His current vote count is already several times that of the other candidates, and America is about to welcome its first superhero president.]

Seeing Captain America's strange name in the news, Lin Xu wasn't surprised, because he knew that Captain America really did go by that name in some MCU universes.

But why did the news feel so familiar when he saw it, even though he couldn't remember where he had seen it before?

Having always been cautious, he decided to get to the bottom of it, just in case.

After opening a Mirror Dimension on the spot, he took out the Eye of Agamotto and used it as a medium to forcibly search his own deep memories.

Search keywords: Marvel, President Captain America.

One minute, five minutes...

Finally, a film clip less than five seconds long began to emerge from the depths of his memory, growing from blurry to clear.

In the scene, Captain America was giving a speech on a giant screen in New York Times Square.

"I, Steven Grant Rogers, do solemnly swear..."

Of course, that wasn't the point, and Captain America wasn't the main character in the memory. "Vision," sporting the Six Infinity Stones, was beating the hell out of a bald man in blue robes. (What If...?, season 8)

Infinity Ultron and the Watcher!!

"I'm tired. Let it all be destroyed!"

If it were any other universe, Lin Xu wouldn't have cared. It would have been an insignificant coincidence.

But this one was an exception, because this universe itself had been split off from Infinity Ultron's universe by that old bastard Ancient One.

It was also closest to Ultron's universe. Them fighting their way over here made perfect sense... My ass!

He checked the date. It was already November 1, which meant that Infinity Ultron and the Watcher would fight their way here tomorrow morning.

In the animation, they switched to a different world every time Ultron threw a punch, but that was just a way of presenting the fight. He didn't dare bet that a fight between two Multiverse-level powerhouses would destroy only Times Square.

At that thought, Lin Xu hurried to his feet. He was going to lay his cards on the table with Dr. Pym. Either way, he couldn't stay in this universe any longer.

Escape plan 3.0, officially launched!

Ten minutes later.

Lin Xu knew his escape plan had failed...

"Hank, is there really no way?"

"Sorry, this is my first time seeing this device. If I charge it without carefully understanding its construction first, breaking it outright would be one thing, but if it's only partially damaged, you could get lost in the Quantum Realm."

Lin Xu still wasn't ready to give up. "How soon can you do it?"

"About a month!"

"Ha, there's no month left."

"What?"

"Nothing..."

"Lin, although I don't know what happened on your side, there's no need to be so anxious. As far as the Multiverse is concerned, the flow of time is one-way. No matter how long you spend here, only a few seconds will have passed there when you return."

"..."

Unlike the silent Lin Xu, Scott and Hope were a little surprised. They had never seen Hank be this patient.

Hank: What the hell do you two know? If I raised my voice and he took this thing back, what the hell would I have left to study?

Lin Xu had no time to know what they were thinking. His mind was racing. He definitely couldn't win a fight, and he currently had three options.

First, flee. Take the Pym family and escape into the universe, as far away as possible.

Second, go to Kamar-Taj, get the Time Stone, have Dr. Pym wear the Eye of Agamotto, and start a time loop.

Third, find help.

First, he wasn't sure whether the battle would affect the entire universe. After all, judging by what he had seen in the animation, Infinity Ultron was terrifyingly powerful.

As for the second option, he likewise wasn't sure whether the Eye of Agamotto could help Dr. Pym become immune to the ravages of time. Of course, the most crucial point was that even if he went to Kamar-Taj, he might not be able to get the Time Stone. When he had observed Kaecilius a few days ago, he had noticed that Kaecilius wasn't wearing it.

That left only the third option: find help...

First of all, the Watcher and Infinity Ultron were strong. They were Multiverse-level powerhouses in their own right.

But Infinity Ultron had left his original universe, so all six stones would be weakened to varying degrees. The Watcher had also come from the void into reality, weakening him as well.

If he found a few scapegoats, they might have a chance to put up a fight.