Temporarily Safe

Steve and Natasha handled stepping through the portal far better than the Umbrella Security Company members, who had never seen anything like it. After all, they'd beaten up Thor, fought aliens, and seen the countless wonders of advanced technology in the Marvel Universe—not to mention the cosmic artifacts that could back them up.

No one understood abnormal events better than they did!

The portal closed, and the remaining four SUVs drove out of the warehouse and parked in the open area outside.

A tiny mishap had occurred along the way: Susan, whom Duncan had tricked into going out to buy fried chicken, had returned and was leaning against the sports car, eating.

At the sight of the four cars that had appeared out of nowhere, a piece of fried chicken fell from her hand. Her mouth hung open wide enough to fit—

"Boss..."

After getting out, Duncan ignored his dazed secretary and gave Bark, who had just stepped out of the car, a look. Bark understood.

They restrained the secretary, and the group also brought out a small cartload of family-sized buckets to serve as lunch.

The three visitors from the Marvel Universe got out of the car. Sam, the Falcon, was still visibly shocked, and started asking questions as soon as he stepped out.

"Man, is this teleportation magic? Are you a wizard? Or is it some kind of technology? If there's a magic circle, could you make a piece of candy appear? It's been my dream since I was a kid to see magic make candy! Please!"

Compared to Sam, who was a little too excited, Natasha and Steve were much more composed. Even though Duncan had helped them, they hadn't let their guard down completely.

On the contrary, Steve's expression grew grave when he saw the supplies piled in the corner of the warehouse. Their rugged packaging looked much like military equipment.

There were still a few grenades inside a half-open wooden crate. Who were these people, stockpiling weapons so openly and dressed so formally?

"We still have a mission, Sam. Thank you for helping us. I'd like to know who you are."

Steve's appearance was a huge surprise. When Duncan entered this new world, he'd never imagined he'd end up in the Marvel Universe.

Now he'd realized how much help he could get there. Meeting Steve was a stroke of luck, too—at least he'd have someone who could vouch for him.

"My name's Duncan. We're members of Umbrella Corporation. They're company security personnel, and they're my employees now." Duncan held out his hand to Steve.

Steve took his hand. "Steve Rogers."

"Natasha."

Natasha's manner was cool, and her appearance wasn't as stunning as Duncan had imagined.

"Hey, I'm Sam. Nice to meet you." Sam flashed a wide grin and shook Duncan's hand.

The warehouse was completely empty; it didn't even have a chair. Duncan had his men drag over three empty wooden crates to use as seats. After inviting the three to sit, he began explaining the situation, also filling in the seven members of the U.B.C.S., who were still reeling from the whole business of crossing worlds.

Everyone gathered in a circle as Duncan asked, "Are you familiar with the concept of parallel universes?"

The fried chicken Susan had bought didn't go to waste. It was passed around, and everyone listened while eating.

"Parallel universes? You're not telling us this isn't the same world, are you?" Natasha's brow furrowed slightly.

This was even more unbelievable than the mysterious technology and magic she'd expected. Different worlds, parallel universes—despite all she'd seen, she found it hard not to doubt him.

Steve was an old-timer who didn't know much about parallel universes, so he turned to Natasha.

"A parallel universe is what you get if you imagine the universe as a plane. There could be countless similar worlds on that plane."

Natasha explained it in simple terms. "It's like drawing a planet on a sheet of paper. No two planets would be exactly the same. Parallel universes are similar: each one might have a planet like Earth. But how do you expect us to believe you?"

"Give me your phone." Duncan beckoned to Susan, who was trying to make herself invisible, and took the phone that looked antiquated to Natasha. "You can search the internet for whatever information you want. It's hard to explain otherwise."

Natasha took the phone and started browsing the internet. It looked old-fashioned, with its small keyboard, but its connection was as fast as 4G. She searched for all kinds of things, starting with the Umbrella Corporation Duncan had mentioned.

Then she looked up historical events, celebrity gossip, and all sorts of other topics.

A vast network of complex, logical information formed a picture of a completely new world. There wasn't a flaw in it; it was utterly convincing.

After searching for ten minutes, Natasha had to believe what Duncan had told them. Even if someone had made up all that information, they couldn't have done it in an instant. It was the strongest proof she could get.

"So we're not in our original world anymore?" Sam stared into space. He'd thought it was a magic portal.

Steve asked Duncan, "How do we get back?"

"I can open a portal back whenever you want."

Natasha rubbed her temples. "Are there many people with this ability?"

"I'm the only one." Duncan smiled at Natasha, thinking about how he could recruit people from the Marvel Universe to work for him.

The Marvel Universe had plenty of talented people who could bring even a tiny, unrealistic glimmer of hope to the world of Resident Evil.

Umbrella Corporation's power in this world was too great. Its secret bases, hidden all over the world, seemed impossible to find them all. It was as if the corporation, not the governments, was actually in control.

If the virus didn't leak from Raccoon City, it would leak somewhere else. Red Queen would carry out Isaac's orders.

The only way Duncan could think of to save this world was to drag Isaac out of the Hive, give him a good beating, take his Airborne Serum, and seize control of the company.

But the underground defenses couldn't be ignored, and Red Queen wouldn't turn against Isaac before the virus leaked. Duncan didn't even have permission to enter the Hive.

Watching something terrible slowly unfold while being powerless to stop it felt awful.

"Since that's the case, we hope Umbrella Corporation can help us. There are still millions of people who need saving in our world, and we have only fifteen hours left!" Steve straightened up and looked at Duncan earnestly.

Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. through and through, and the World Security Council's approval of Project Insight had given Hydra the means to realize its ambitions. If they couldn't stop Hydra's plot within fifteen hours, more than two and a half million people would die in the Helicarrier's barrage!

Steve simply couldn't accept that. He'd already seen the limits of what he could do. Fighting all of Hydra by himself was too difficult. He needed help, and so did the people of the world!

Natasha remembered their urgent mission as well and added, "If we need to work together later, we can introduce you to people who might help."

With the ability to travel between worlds, the first thing she could think of doing in another world was working together for mutual benefit—making some big deals.

She knew how to handle that sort of thing. She could even get Tony involved and establish a super-company spanning multiple worlds.

Duncan shook his head with a smile. "I've already been isolated by the board of directors. I can't offer you much help."

Then he put on a grave, helpless expression and said, "Compared to your world, the seven billion people in ours will be wiped out in ten years if no one saves them!"

Everyone present froze at his words. More than shock, sheer astonishment captured how they felt.