Crisis Countdown

Earth, S.H.I.E.L.D., Triskelion.

The red-and-gold Iron Man armor descended from the sky, landing on the open rooftop of the building.

The security door on the top floor automatically opened as he approached. The Iron Man armor on his body was automatically dismantled piece by piece, collected by mechanical arms and taken back into the building.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, including Deputy Director Maria Hill, had been waiting for some time.

"Tell me the latest situation," Stark asked as he strode forward.

"The signal is still coming through," Hill said. "It's been two hours. The signal from deep space has never stopped. Someone is undoubtedly trying to tell us something, and our experts are still doing everything they can to decipher it."

As they spoke, the two arrived at the command room.

The moment he saw them enter, an expert in a white lab coat rushed over in a panic.

"Sir!" he shouted, sweat covering his face. "The signal has changed!"

"Calm down. What are they saying?" Stark asked.

"We don't know yet," the man in the white coat said. "But the previous readings were always steady, a signal trending toward a stable value. Now the data has begun fluctuating!"

"What does that mean?" Stark asked.

Before anyone could explain, someone else shouted, "Someone is hacking into our system!"

Everyone in the command room went on high alert. The technicians began hammering away at their keyboards, and Stark quickly walked over to a computer. The technician seated there knowingly gave up his place.

But no one could stop the intrusion. Earth's programming technology could not even make sense of the enemy's methods. It was as if they had unleashed some kind of virus, one that swiftly and efficiently infected all their systems. Yet its programming was utterly unlike anything on Earth, leaving