At Avengers Headquarters, the oppressive atmosphere was finally eased somewhat by several pieces of good news.
Steve Rogers stood before the holographic screen in the command center, his expression softening slightly.
"Professor Charles has agreed to lend his full support," he said, looking at everyone present. "Magneto, Erik, will be coming as well."
The news made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
Professor X's telepathy and psychic barriers might play a crucial role against the invisible contamination, while Magneto's powers were indispensable for physical defense and precision strikes.
"What about Thor?" Natasha asked.
Steve pulled up the communication log. "He said he'll arrive by tomorrow at the latest."
With these reinforcements, the defense plan finally seemed a little more secure.
The progress from the science lab was even more encouraging.
Tony Stark wiped the sweat from his face, his eyes gleaming.
"The multilayer frequency shield system—confirmed effective!" He pointed at the overlapping, multicolored energy barriers on the holographic model. "The principle isn't complicated. Since a single-layer shield can be 'learned' and eroded by the black mist, then we won't give it the chance to learn."
Bruce Banner took over, speaking faster than usual as he suppressed his excitement. "We divided the shield into seven layers. Each layer has completely different energy frequencies, fluctuation patterns, and information encoding, and they cycle through predetermined sequences. While the black mist is still cracking the first layer, the second has already switched to a completely new 'password,' and the third is preparing the next one..."
"It's like using seven different locks to secure the same door in rotation." Reed Richards stretched out his arm and traced interwoven waveforms through the air. "By the time it picks the first lock, the door has already switched to the second. It'll still be breached eventually, but we