Umbrella's New York Branch

It was hard to say whether Steve had long been dissatisfied with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s way of doing things or whether everyone else simply wanted to acknowledge S.H.I.E.L.D.'s "achievements," but in the end, Nick Fury couldn't save the organization despite his efforts. Three days later, a massive trove of carefully selected dirt was exposed online, sparking heated discussions among netizens.

When people discovered that a mysterious organization had been monitoring their lives all along, they became furious and irrational. Another round of massive protests began, featuring the freedom-loving public's exclusive perks: beating, smashing, looting, burning, and walking away with goods without paying. It gave people a chance to vent their pent-up frustration.

During the protests in the free world, a company called Umbrella successfully registered in New York. It was an unremarkable little company that only drew the occasional glance from a few tabloids, which tucked news about the small business—backed by a subsidiary of Stark Industries—into the corners of their articles.

Duncan's Umbrella New York branch, established in the Marvel Universe, wasn't in the familiar business of medicine. It specialized in architectural design.

After all, most of Umbrella's pharmaceutical products relied on the T-virus. Taking them to market now would mean competing with the pharmaceutical companies in the Marvel Universe. The big capitalists wouldn't care how good the products were. If you cut into their profits, there were only two possible outcomes:

Either give them a share, or die.

It was precisely to avoid the trouble that came with commercial competition that Duncan had chosen an industry that didn't attract much attention: architectural design and construction.

Construction was one of Umbrella's more outrageous pieces of black technology. Its vast underground and undersea structures would make anyone in the construction industry lose their minds. Any one of those miraculous underground projects could win a major award.

American tycoons certainly wouldn't mind owning an underground nuclear bunker, especially in an era when one major crisis followed another.

The prospect of staying alive while enjoying an exceptionally high quality of life made these underground structures very tempting to the wealthy.

Thanks to Pepper, Stark Industries' CEO, promoting the company without making a point of it, Umbrella had already built a modest reputation among the wealthy. They all wanted an underground kingdom of their own. The relevant laws, however, weren't yet fully in place, and Umbrella hadn't brought over its designers and engineers from the Resident Evil world.

Some of the employees at Umbrella's New York branch had been recruited from Stark Industries, while others had been picked up from S.H.I.E.L.D.

After S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets were exposed, agents whose identities had been verified and who had no other issues naturally found themselves out of work.

Agent Hill, once Nick Fury's second-in-command, had put on business attire and gone to work for Duncan. Most of the agents were only there in name, though; when the time came to switch sides, they would still do it.

Still, as long as Duncan didn't do anything to endanger the world, they would genuinely work for him. They even asked for only a token salary.

After starting an Umbrella branch in the Marvel Universe with nothing, Duncan was in high spirits following his surgery. If Steve, Natasha, and the others hadn't been busy cleaning up the mess S.H.I.E.L.D. had left behind and arguing with those damned politicians, he would already have led a group back to the Resident Evil world to take over Umbrella again.

He'd let Isaac get a taste of Captain America's righteous fist! Let's see if a fist as big as a casserole could knock the sludge out of his head!

But once he calmed down, Duncan wasn't in such a hurry anymore. For one thing, his injuries still hadn't healed, and even walking hurt. Tony also needed to prepare all kinds of strange equipment to modify his armor. He didn't want to breathe in some weird virus and turn into a mindless monster.

While recovering, Duncan spent his days learning how to run a company and manage a team, preparing to take over Umbrella in the future.

Every so often, Tony invited him to Stark Tower to draw a few tubes of blood from Dr. Banner, who was staying there, and run some tests.

The T-virus was the core asset behind Umbrella's monopoly. Once Dr. Banner learned that such an extraordinary virus existed, he became intensely interested.

For the time being, Banner had put aside his research into Hulk's blood and was focused on trying to understand the nature of the T-virus.

In his view, the T-virus's almost unreasonable ability to repair cells and enhance physical strength surpassed even the Super Soldier Serum Steve had received.

Since the virus could continually repair cells, Banner knew that the T-virus might even have the potential to make people immortal!

A month later...

In a high-floor laboratory at Stark Tower.

"The T-virus's healing effect is remarkably strong. It's hard to believe," Dr. Banner said in amazement to Duncan, who had just had his bandages removed. He looked like a mild-mannered middle-aged scholar.

Duncan's left hand had nearly been severed. After the bones were set and the wound stitched up, the accelerated healing from the Healing Serum had completely cured it in just one month. It was truly incredible!

"Your technology can heal people quickly, too, right? It's much safer than a virus."

Sitting on the examination bed, Duncan looked at his left hand. It had returned to normal, and only a faint line from the stitches could be seen under a bright light.

Banner neither agreed nor disagreed. "But it's a lot more expensive."

That was true. The results weren't the main thing—the price was!

Duncan smiled, slowly lowered his left sleeve, then pushed himself up and hopped off the bed. "The physical exam's over. I should go take over my company. I'll bring you the original virus to study in a few days."

"Uh... actually, I'd rather you didn't bring that thing here." Banner's smile was a little strained. It would be better if something like that never showed up. Even if it had tremendous medicinal value, he still didn't want it. "I don't want to wake up one day and find the world full of zombies!"

"Hahaha, don't worry. We have a serum!"

Duncan laughed brightly, as if he weren't talking about a highly infectious, highly pathogenic virus.

With that, he left Banner's lab.

He took the elevator up to the top floor of Stark Tower, which now served as the Avengers' headquarters, courtesy of Tony, who had money to spare.

Tony seemed to think of the Avengers as a little game among friends. By offering up some of his property as their "secret base," he got a sense of satisfaction out of it.

By the time Duncan reached the top floor of Stark Tower, a lot of people were already waiting.

Tony was calibrating the detection equipment. He said he wanted to uncover the secrets of traveling between parallel universes. He had already built lots of detection devices, but none had worked.

Steve wasn't wearing his Captain America uniform. He had on a simple black combat suit and the gas mask required for traveling between worlds.

Natasha, Barton, and Agent Hill were wearing similar black combat suits, and each had a gas mask.

Sam was there, too, carrying his flight pack. He looked like a black coal ball.

Bark and six others, along with James and five others, were ready as well. Everyone wore a grave expression. When they returned, they would either bring their families away from the world about to be destroyed, or foil the Umbrella executives' conspiracy and restore peace to the world.

Their mission might be a near-suicide run, but its purpose was noble. They weren't just doing it for money anymore; they were saving the world, as gloriously righteous as heroes in a movie.

"Boss!" Bark and the others straightened up and greeted Duncan.

The others looked his way, a little excited at the prospect of traveling to another world to make trouble.

Their last trip to another world had been too brief for Steve and Natasha to feel much. This time was different.

Going back now felt like entering a dungeon with top-tier gear. They could even get a huge haul of resources after beating the boss. It was thrilling!

After putting on the Marvel Universe's black-tech bulletproof vest, Duncan nodded to everyone to show he was ready. "I'm ready. Let's go!"