When Aldrich Killian, the President of A.I.M., heard that Air Force One had lost contact, he was utterly bewildered.
If the Pentagon couldn't find Air Force One, he wouldn't have had any questions—after all, he was the one who hijacked it. He also believed that Tony Stark wouldn't act rashly, given that his best friend, War Machine, was still in his hands. Moreover, they needed Air Force One to lead them here to find A.I.M.'s location.
So why had Air Force One gone silent?
Killian was stumped, but a few minutes later, the plane restored normal communications. Letting out a sigh of relief, he turned and shouted to the group of people behind him.
"Is everyone ready? We are about to face the Avengers!"
"Everyone knows we can't beat the Avengers, Boss." One of the A.I.M. employees looked at Killian hesitantly. "In that case, why don't we run? We could go to HYDRA and work for them instead."
The regular A.I.M. employees had already fled. Those remaining to fight a decisive battle with the Avengers were the die-hard loyalists—some planted by HYDRA years ago, and others recruited by Killian himself.
Back in 1999, Killian had been a wet-behind-the-ears kid, mocked and humiliated by the twenty-two-year-old boy genius Tony Stark. He had vowed to make him pay. But Killian wasn't Stark; he didn't have a prestigious family background. To make his revenge successful, he began collaborating with Stark's ex-girlfriend, the botanist Maya Hansen, to study the Extremis virus she had discovered in plants.
However, they needed money to start their research.
That was when HYDRA found them, bringing A.I.M. into the fold as a corporate front. Up until that point, Killian actually knew nothing of HYDRA's true nature. It wasn't until the Extremis research was successful and they began their next project—a new type of robot based on the fusion of a special liquid memory metal and Extremis—that HYDRA revealed itself, demanding to embed personnel and increasing their investment.
Killian's attitude was clear: as long as he could destroy Stark, what did HYDRA matter!
"Is the adjustment of the remaining Super-Adaptoids complete?"
"Complete. But we only have three units in total. One has already lost its signal; can the other two really stop the Avengers?" the subordinate reported hesitantly. Killian gave the man an impatient look. Even if they couldn't stop them, so what? Could they not self-destruct? Even if they all blew up, they had to take Stark with them.
"Boss, bad news!"
"What is it? Are the Avengers attacking?" Killian looked at his subordinate irritably, only to receive a piece of news that left him stunned.
"No, it's Mr. Griffin! He's fled with the Cosmic Cube prototype!"
"???"
Killian furrowed his brows in confusion. Why would someone run away with an empty shell?
Was he insane?
The so-called Cosmic Cube project was a venture pushed heavily by this man calling himself Griffin. He was supposedly a scientist who had collaborated deeply with S.H.I.E.L.D. and possessed intimate knowledge regarding the Tesseract.
He had proposed that based on the existing data and characteristics of the Tesseract, they could invent a container. This container would be able to open a doorway to other dimensions and could be carried around. Once they could utilize this container, they would possess a true sense of infinite energy.
HYDRA believed this item had even greater potential. What could infinite energy be used for? Without a doubt, provided they mastered the proper methods, they could rewrite reality itself.
Consequently, HYDRA had invested heavily in this project, but Killian hadn't paid much attention to it—so much so that he had nearly been caught by S.H.I.E.L.D. at A.I.M.'s legal headquarters.
But as of now, they had only completed the first step. Based on the Tesseract files and data S.H.I.E.L.D. had researched for decades (sent over by HYDRA), they had developed a shell that could theoretically house and move that spatial rift. What was the point of taking a shell!
He probably felt the situation was dire and decided to bolt; it was highly unlikely he had actually found a way to open the spatial rift and rewrite reality. If he had, why wouldn't he stay and slaughter everyone?
The troublesome part about this guy was that he held intelligence regarding HYDRA, so it was best to let HYDRA handle him.
"Ignore him. Send word to HYDRA and let them take him out."
Air Force One had entered visual range, but the radar showed more than one target; a smaller aircraft was flanking it. In other words, the Avengers had arrived together.
Killian took a deep breath. This day had finally come.
"Is Colonel James Rhodes' Extremis transformation complete?" he asked his deputy one last time.
"Not yet, Boss. We still need some time..."
"Forget it then." Killian gritted his teeth and made his decision. "Our guests are here. Get ready!"
"So, you think Nimrod is the one pulling the strings behind all this."
Aboard Air Force One, the Avengers were gathered. The presidential plane had now been repurposed into a meeting room. Cap nodded after listening to Tony explain the entire process. "That makes sense. But why hasn't Nimrod attacked us proactively? According to what we know, he is fully capable of wiping out the entire Avengers."
"The answer is simple," Pym mused. "Nimrod has no physical body. He didn't teleport the Nimrod Sentinels here; he only transmitted his own data and is operating remotely from the future. Therefore, what we are dealing with for now is just a massive, super-advanced Artificial Intelligence."
"And the opponent is very smart and advanced. In the future, he could suppress Ultron, and in the present, he can evade the combined search of JARVIS and Ultron." Peter pointed out another situation. "However, he still has a disadvantage: he isn't strong enough. He hasn't reached the level where he can delete or merge with Ultron."
"That is our advantage. With Ultron here, we don't have to worry about our data being compromised," Tony concluded, looking at the port drawing closer in the distance. A.I.M. was no longer their primary opponent—or rather, they weren't worthy. They needed to catch the Nimrod behind A.I.M. "It's basically certain now that the original future Nimrod hoped for has collapsed. Now, it needs to step onto the field personally to deal with us."
"And as for the Nimrod Sentinels, we can basically confirm they are upgraded versions of the Super-Adaptoids. If A.I.M. still has Super-Adaptoids in reserve, they will definitely be here."
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