"The fourth key point: Manufacturing."
After analyzing the first three points, Tony began his breakdown of the fourth: "Early this morning, Stark Industries completed the overnight acquisition of Trask Industries. We signed the contracts before noon, and then I had JARVIS analyze every design within the entire Sentinel Program."
Banner asked Tony, sounding somewhat confused, "How did you manage that?"
"I gave them a price they couldn't refuse."
Tony mentioned this point first before providing a more detailed answer: "But that's not where the problem lies, guys. The issue is that if Nimrod is an upgraded model of the Sentinel, there are much simpler manufacturing methods than going through the immense trouble of building a super-adaptive body from scratch and then upgrading it."
"Master Mold."
Master Mold was the control center for the entire Sentinel system and its primary manufacturing station. It stood to reason that as long as Nimrod had a Master Mold, he could manufacture a vast number of Nimrod Sentinels at maximum speed—provided there were enough raw materials—while significantly reducing the computational power loss required for cross-temporal transmission. It was safe to say that if Nimrod wanted to steer the future toward the "Days of Future Past" timeline, he would inevitably create a Master Mold.
"First, let's assume Nimrod has the construction data for Master Mold. He would still require an extensive network of factories and specialized equipment to rebuild it. Back in the day, the Pentagon sank tens of billions into building that thing to counter extremist mutants. Even if Nimrod can generate money out of thin air via the network, he can't conjure specialized equipment."
Tony finished speaking and offered his conclusion: "Furthermore, building one from scratch takes too long. Therefore, if at all possible, Nimrod will choose to repair the old Master Mold."
Pym then asked Tony, "So, where is the old Master Mold?"
"I don't know."
Tony answered the question with blunt honesty. He truly did not know, because after the X-Men destroyed it, it had vanished. It wasn't just left as wreckage; it had completely disappeared. No evidence was left behind. One could only say that, in all probability, the Master Mold still existed somewhere. As for where, the Avengers didn't know either.
In reality, at this point, only the high-ranking members of the X-Men knew that Magneto had hidden the Master Mold.
"Of the four points above—the acquisition of the X-gene, the anti-magic properties of the liquid metal, the location of the liquid metal, and the location of the Master Mold—all of them are areas where we have no way to intervene," Pym summarized after seeing the data. "It seems like there's nothing we can do."
"On the contrary, we can do something very important. I've already transmitted the data regarding Nimrod to Reed Richards. He's been attempting to replicate a time-travel device recently. If he succeeds, we can try to sever the connection between Nimrod and his original self."
As Tony spoke, he brought up the data from Trask Industries: "And we are capable of doing one other thing."
Banner and Pym looked at Tony simultaneously.
"What?"
"Creating Nimrod."
"What?!"
"I'm not joking. Listen, we now hold all the keys to the birth of the original Nimrod. A.I.M. has been forced to disband, and we can secure a significant portion of their records from the Pentagon. Trask Industries is in our hands, guys, and we have ample experience in AI development. We can create a brand-new Nimrod at maximum speed!"
Pym watched Tony's excitement, feeling momentarily lost. Banner, however, thought for a moment before something occurred to him: "The underlying logic, right?"
"Underlying logic?" Pym blinked, then caught on. "Oh, you're talking about the trait Nimrod displayed earlier—the fact that he must obey his core underlying logic?"
"Exactly. Even though Nimrod evolved to an unrivaled point in the future, he still follows his underlying logic. Therefore, this logic might be our breakthrough point!" Tony said with immense excitement. "As long as we replicate a Nimrod, we can understand his fundamental operating mode!"
"And then what? Do you plan to use a Nimrod to fight Nimrod, or are you counting on studying the earliest version to defeat him?"
"No, Janet. What we need to do is find Nimrod's underlying logic and evolutionary path, then feed this initial version of Nimrod to Ultron." Pym had completely grasped Tony's plan. "Perhaps in that possible future, because Nimrod rose too quickly, Ultron was unable to analyze Nimrod's underlying code. But we are different. We are giving Ultron this opportunity. Ultron can parse Nimrod from the very foundation."
Without a doubt, this plan was dangerous. If Nimrod discovered the Avengers' actions, it might trigger him to act prematurely. Furthermore, an Ultron that had learned Nimrod's underlying logic could potentially become even more dangerous. On the other hand, if they didn't do this, they currently had no way of finding a method to counter Nimrod.
Whether it was a case of "giving up eating for fear of choking" or "drinking poison to quench thirst" was perhaps a matter of perspective, but Tony was willing to take the gamble.
At that moment, Captain America and Black Panther appeared in Avengers Tower. Cap's expression was quite difficult to describe.
"Strucker said that as long as S.H.I.E.L.D. is made aware of the danger and investigates, they will inevitably discover the stockpiles of that liquid metal..."
Strucker had essentially told the Captain in plain terms that S.H.I.E.L.D. was riddled with HYDRA; telling S.H.I.E.L.D. was enough. It was truly difficult for the Captain to believe.
At the same time, Peter opened a portal, returning with Thor and the others, accompanied by Illyana. Peter told them a piece of good news (or perhaps not so good news).
"It's been confirmed. One of the key metals for manufacturing Nimrod is Promethium. This metal exists only in Limbo and was most likely brought out by Kang. This means the metal has non-replicable characteristics."
"Excellent!"
Tony cheered. This was good news; it meant that even if Nimrod Sentinels were successfully researched, their numbers would be limited.
Next, Nightcrawler arrived at Avengers Tower via teleportation, bringing Kitty with him.
"I've come to tell the Avengers our theory: Nimrod Sentinels can be implanted with the X-gene to gain abilities. According to our deductions, he needs Rogue's gene to evolve further."
Nightcrawler explained the situation first, followed immediately by Kitty's frantic addition: "And one more thing! The Professor says Master Mold is on Genosha. The fact that Nimrod attacks Genosha in the future is most likely for this reason."
"All the threads are connected, guys."
Tony flashed a smile. "Let's get to work."
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