Three seconds?
Tony's expression immediately darkened.
The Delaware Base was specifically designed by Nick Fury to store the Tesseract, and its security systems had been upgraded by none other than the playboy genius himself.
Tony had even allocated part of J.A.R.V.I.S.'s computing power to support it.
To put it bluntly:
Even in all of America, or even the world, its security was unparalleled.
From a technical standpoint, Tony couldn't imagine anyone on Earth capable of breaching it.
And now?
Three seconds.
Just three seconds.
And the intruder hadn't just hacked the system—they completely overwrote it, taking control of every monitoring system.
The difficulty of this was far beyond mere hacking.
Without J.A.R.V.I.S.'s oversight, the Delaware Base itself wouldn't have noticed a thing.
It was absolutely mind-blowing.
"This level of computing power, these algorithms… no one in this era could do this."
"Unless… there's another J.A.R.V.I.S. in the world that I didn't know about."
Tony immediately jumped to that seemingly obvious conclusion.
It wasn't arrogance. Being technically inclined, he knew how impossible this really was.
To pull off something this incredible, it would take another super-intelligent program on the level of J.A.R.V.I.S.—otherwise, there was simply no way.
So the question arose:
Was there really another J.A.R.V.I.S.-level AI out there in the world?
Based on everything Tony knew, aside from Zola, there wasn't anyone else.
Almost subconsciously, one answer flashed through his mind:
The events described in the diary—the future Avengers traveling back in time—might actually be happening!
The one capable of this might very well be… another version of himself.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., suit me up immediately."
"And contact Nick Fury."
Without hesitation, Tony issued the commands.
"Understood, sir!"
Boom!
In an instant, a sleek new armor launched and enveloped Tony.
A series of rapid mechanical clicks echoed as the suit "crawled" over him.
In mere seconds, the Iron Destroyer made its dazzling debut.
Whoosh!
Fiery streams of energy burst out as Tony rocketed from his mansion into the sky, disappearing from sight.
"Stark, what's happening?"
Nick Fury's voice crackled in his earpiece, grave as ever.
Even though Fury had detected nothing unusual, he knew Tony wouldn't call without cause.
"The Delaware Base has been breached. The entire system is under someone else's control."
"Make sure Rogers secures the Tesseract!"
"I'm on my way!"
Tony's tone was grave, delivering a solemn warning to Fury.
At first, J.A.R.V.I.S. had only alerted him to a system takeover of the monitoring feeds.
But now, the entire security system was compromised.
Tony was more certain than ever: the one behind this had to be another version of himself from the future.
After all, he couldn't think of anyone else capable of such a feat.
"I understand!"
On the other side, Fury's face was equally grim.
After finishing the call with Tony, he immediately contacted Captain America stationed at the Delaware Base.
He warned Cap and issued other orders.
In short:
The Delaware Base went into full emergency lockdown.
Captain America, along with Black Widow and other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, guarded the entrance to the Tesseract vault.
Every checkpoint was manned and alert; not even a fly could get through.
Whoosh! Bang!
Within minutes, Tony, in his Iron Destroyer armor, arrived at the base and met up with Captain America.
"Stark… what's going on?"
"Nick said you discovered the breach?"
Cap furrowed his brow, suspicious and alert.
He had been stationed here for days, never noticing any anomaly.
At this very moment, the Tesseract appeared safe on the monitors.
Plus, opening the vault required scanning Fury's iris and additional manual operations.
Even if someone tried to brute-force it, it would take at least three minutes.
And with all the guards and security measures inside the base, Cap couldn't find any flaws.
He couldn't imagine how anyone could infiltrate it silently. It seemed impossible.
"Really… you didn't notice anything?"
Tony asked as he pulled out a USB drive and plugged it in.
"No, everything's normal here," Cap replied, shaking his head.
But seeing Tony's serious demeanor, he didn't dare slack off.
"J.A.R.V.I.S.?"
Tony queried his AI.
"Sir, all programs have been overwritten. I am currently rewriting and regaining control of the system. This will take fifteen seconds."
"Fifteen seconds? Not bad!"
Tony couldn't help but marvel.
If even J.A.R.V.I.S. needed fifteen seconds to recover control, the intruder's skill was extraordinary.
"Sir, system control regained."
Fifteen seconds later, J.A.R.V.I.S. had completed the task and alerted them.
On the monitor, Cap, Black Widow, and Tony saw the Tesseract… was gone.
The vault was empty.
Cap and Black Widow's faces drained of color. Shock and anger overwhelmed them.
The Tesseract… stolen?
"How is this possible?"
"The previous footage had been tampered with. This is the real feed," J.A.R.V.I.S. explained.
"Unfortunately, the Tesseract is no longer here."
"Impossible!"
Cap refused to believe it. Technically, it shouldn't be possible.
Even if the feed was altered, there were still countless security layers and guards inside the base.
Especially the vault—no signs of forced entry whatsoever.
No, the entire security system was flawless; no evidence of tampering.
This was impossible.
Unless…
"Could Loki have escaped?"
Cap pondered. In his mind, only a god like Loki could have pulled this off.
But Fury hadn't said a word.
Could Loki have gotten out, stolen the Tesseract, and Fury didn't notice at all?
The director of S.H.I.E.L.D.? The world's top agent? Could he really have been so blind?
Cap was momentarily confused. He wished he could open the vault himself to see if the Tesseract was really gone.
Unfortunately, no one could open it except Fury.
Natasha, having seen the diary and understood some key intel, glanced at Tony knowingly.
The thief was someone else entirely.
"Stay calm, Rogers," Tony's confident voice echoed.
"No matter who it is, Loki or not, he won't succeed."
"Even if the Tesseract is temporarily gone, it's still under control."
"Sounds like you were prepared?"
Cap glanced at Tony.
"Of course. It's been stolen before," Tony shrugged.
Then he commanded J.A.R.V.I.S.: "Activate the tracking system. Locate the Tesseract."
"Tracking system? You installed a tracker on it?"
Cap was shocked. How could Tony have placed a tracker on a cube?
"No, I just collected the energy pulses emitted by the Tesseract."
"It's a special gamma radiation, unique to the Tesseract—no such wavelength exists naturally."
"Using these pulses, I created a small device to detect the same gamma wavelength."
Cap finally understood—J.A.R.V.I.S. wasn't tracking a physical device but the Tesseract's unique energy signature.
"Sir, signal located!"
J.A.R.V.I.S. was impressively fast.
A few moments later, a map was projected before Tony.
Without hesitation, he strode forward—he intended to retrieve the Tesseract.
"Stark, we need a plan!"
Cap shouted.
"I have one—get the Tesseract back!"
Tony didn't stop, didn't look back.
Cap had no choice. Tony wasn't technically under his command.
"Nick!"
Cap contacted Fury, updating him on the situation, then grabbed his shield and, with Natasha, rushed outside.
Tony, however, had already taken off in the Iron Destroyer.
"Sir, the signal source is on that car ahead."
The armor's speed, combined with the Tesseract's brief disappearance, meant Tony located it quickly.
Ten minutes later, J.A.R.V.I.S. alerted him.
A seemingly ordinary car was flagged. J.A.R.V.I.S. automatically switched to X-ray mode.
Inside were three people: the driver in front, two passengers in the back, with the Tesseract beside them.
Undoubtedly, it was Future Cap, Future Tony, and Future Ant-Man.
Future Banner? As in the movie trajectory—he had gone to Kamar-Taj.
"This worked… can't believe how smooth this was!"
Future Ant-Man glanced at the two in the back, smiling.
"Nice work, Scott!"
Future Cap nodded appreciatively.
The success owed largely to Ant-Man, who had shrunk himself—and the Tesseract—allowing them to steal it without alerting the other Cap.
Though the Tesseract briefly returned to normal and almost caused trouble, everything ultimately went smoothly.
With the S.H.I.E.L.D. system hacked by Tony, the theft went unnoticed—until now.
Whoosh! Bang!
Suddenly, a figure shot down from low altitude, hitting the ground like a meteor.
Blocking everyone's path.
The Future Avengers froze; smiles vanished.
All eyes on the unexpected intruder:
Tony Stark.
Another Tony Stark.
"Oh no, this is bad," Future Ant-Man muttered, pressing the brake.
"What do we do, Cap? What now?"
Future Ant-Man asked Future Cap.
"You take the Tesseract and go," Future Cap started to say, but Future Tony had already made a decision.
Given the situation, only he could stop the other Tony.
-----------------------
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