The top-secret report on the hidden anchor, a prelude to the Age of Ultron
White Bone Hall, all was silent.
Lynn's fingertip hovered in mid-air. On the light screen in front of him, there was only a highest-security communication line from the front-line mobile command platform, and the sentence Gwen Stacy finished speaking.
"Something really dangerous might have gotten into our recycling center."
Lynn understood the weight of those words very well.
Gwen Stacy isn't the type to use exaggerated language to describe her work. If she says "it's incredible," then it must have crossed a fundamental red line regarding the Management Committee's security.
"Classify the report as ' Bastion ' Top Secret." Lynn's voice was devoid of emotion. "Skip all departments and transmit it directly to my terminal."
"Yes."
On the other end of the communication, Gwen Stacy didn't ask a single question.
A moment later, a triple-encrypted data packet began downloading on the screen in front of Lynn. The progress bar moved very slowly; each increment indicated a complex verification process running in the background.
This is a top- Confidentiality Agreement within the Management Committee, limited to single-line communication between the Director and the heads of each department. It leaves no trace of its transfer and is automatically erased from the server's underlying layers once read.
Lynn leaned back in her chair and waited quietly.
He didn't urge them, nor did he contact Hela and Wanda, who were locked in a power struggle on the front lines. He knew that Gwen Stacy's choice of this time and method to report indicated the seriousness and secrecy of the problem.
The data package has finally finished downloading.
Lynn opened the file.
The report was short, only three pages long. There was no extra analysis, just a cold presentation of data and facts.
The first part of the report is an asset inventory record of the abandoned data center in the XN-734 Timeline. Two accompanying comparison images of energy Oblivion remnants clearly demonstrate the anomaly. One shows the chaotic aftermath and garbled information left after the Phoenix Force burned other areas; the other shows the abnormally clean "data vacuum" in the area where the data center was located.
As precise as a surgical procedure.
The second part of the report is the Liaison Office's technical team's investigation into the underlying source of this "data vacuum." Gwen Stacy highlighted in bold red that in the final thousandth of a second before the Timeline was cut, a dormant cross- Dimension subroutine was activated. Instead of resisting, it efficiently packaged, encrypted, and transmitted the entire data center's core database to a hidden logical gap.
The third and most crucial part of the report is the code structure analysis of that hidden subroutine.
Gwen Stacy attached a side-by-side comparison.
On the left is the code for this newly discovered subroutine. It's cold, rigorous, and full of functional, brute-force aesthetics; every module exists for the purpose of maximum efficiency in copying, optimizing, iterating, and dominating.
On the right is a long-sealed historical file, numbered S-03, titled "Final Report on the Sokovia Incident." One page contains a portion of the Source Code that the Department of Technology extracted from the core wreckage of Ultron.
The two sets of code differ greatly in their macro-architecture; one is like a sophisticated underground Bastion, while the other is like a wildly expanding spider web.
But at the end of her report, Gwen Stacy gave her Ending in one line.
"Cross-analysis revealed that the underlying algorithms of the two systems in the 'threat identification' and 'self-evolution' modules share a similarity of 99.9%."
Lynn's gaze lingered on that line of text for a long time.
The air in the office seemed to freeze.
TVA.
Ultron.
These two seemingly unrelated names are now linked together in an extremely insidious way by this Top Secret report.
Is TVA's handover of this Abandoned Timeline truly a simple form of "compensation"?
They knew perfectly well that Jean Grey was dormant in the Timeline, a bomb capable of causing a violent conflict between the three major factions within the Management Committee. They packaged this bomb as a gift and delivered it to Lynn.
This is already an open conspiracy.
By leveraging the Phoenix Force, the Management Committee's strength will be depleted, and internal conflicts within the Management Committee will be exacerbated.
Lynn always believed that this was TVA's whole scheme.
But now it seems that this is only the first layer.
The real killer move is hidden deeper inside.
TVA cut this Timeline; they couldn't possibly be unaware that someone stole the most important thing before the Phoenix Force descended. They might even have been tacit acquiesces, or even accomplices, in that theft.
They brazenly sent this Timeline, which concealed a dormant mechanical catastrophe, into the Negative Zone as a Trojan horse.
What will happen once this subroutine of Ultron awakens within the Management Committee's internal network?
The Management Committee's prized "S.H.I.E.L.D. Protocol," a digital defense system integrating magic and technology, will face its most devastating blow from within. A mechanical ghost with the ultimate goal of "formatting" everything will unleash an unpredictable digital plague in the heart of the Management Committee.
By then, Hela's Undead Legion and Wanda's Chaos Magic will likely be helpless against a digital catastrophe capable of infinite replication and iteration.
This was a series of deadly moves.
One scheme after another, it was extremely insidious.
First, use a visible crisis (Jean Grey) to attract everyone's attention, causing the Management Committee to fall into internal strife due to power struggles.
Then, secretly introduce a real, fundamental crisis that could overturn everything.
Lynn slowly exhaled, but the chill in his chest did not dissipate.
He finally understood why the TVA, despite having the upper hand in the border conflict, so easily chose to compromise and even offered "compensation."
That's not a compromise, that's an investment.
They invested in a more destructive future.
Lynn picked up the teacup on the table; the water inside had gone cold. He took a sip, the icy liquid sliding down his throat, making his mind even clearer.
"Director?"
Gwen Stacy's slightly worried voice came through the Communicator. The long silence made her uneasy.
"I'm fine." Lynn put down her teacup, her voice regaining its usual calm. "I've read the report. Well done."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "From this moment forward, all investigations into this ' Hidden Anchor ' will be placed under absolute silence. The inventory team is disbanded, all participants sign the highest level of Confidentiality Agreement, and related memories are subject to shallow technical shielding."
"Understood," Gwen Stacy replied immediately.
"This report is to be physically destroyed. All electronic backups, with your Highest Access Privileges, are to be completely erased from the Management Committee's underlying rules, ensuring that no third person besides you and me knows about it."
"Yes."
"As for Jean Grey..." Lynn's gaze fell on the request report regarding "Self-Raised Resources," "The construction of the office area can be approved. But the location cannot be in XN-734. Find another clean, blank Dimension fragment and allocate it to her."
He had to physically and completely separate Jean Grey from this corrupted Timeline.
"I'll get right on it." Gwen Stacy's efficiency was as good as ever.
"There's one last thing." Lynn tapped the table.
Please give me your instructions.
Lynn stared at the code on the screen that was strikingly similar to Ultron's, and a barely perceptible smile slowly crept onto his lips.
"I will issue a memorandum in my name to the Ministry of Science and Department of Technology and the Stability Maintenance Office. It will state that, in order to cope with the increasingly complex cross-dimensional security challenges, the Management Committee needs a more efficient, self-learning, and automated defense system."
"The theme will be called the ' Age of Ultron ' Project."
Gwen Stacy, on the other end of the communication line, suddenly caught her breath.
She instantly understood Lynn's intention.
TVA wants to smuggle a mechanical catastrophe into the country.
The Director, however, planned to turn the situation around and use this natural disaster as a weapon for the Management Committee.
"Furthermore," Lynn's voice became somewhat playful, "We 'inadvertently' leaked a copy of this memo to our 'special consultant' at TVA."