"Susan, Johnny, help me reroute a power line over here! I need to restart a piece of equipment!" Reed shouted toward Susan.
Susan, Johnny, and the others were still over ten meters away, separated from Reed and Tony by a gaping hole in the floorboards smashed by the Hulk. Reed Richards had recklessly swung across on a severed cable just to study the All-Wave Projector, but the others weren't about to take that risk.
Upon hearing Reed's call, even Susan's expression filled with hesitation.
How were they supposed to get across? Follow Reed's example and swing over on a cable like Tarzan?
Was he joking? They didn't even know if that cable was still live!
"Reed, you're a goddamn lunatic!" Ben Grimm barked at Reed from across the hole.
Seeing that his partners couldn't help him, Reed Richards had no choice but to turn his gaze back to Tony Stark.
Tony didn't hesitate for a second: "Don't even think about it."
Reed then shifted his gaze to Max Dillon, who was standing to the side with a smile, having remained mostly silent.
"If it's just a circuit issue, I can handle it," Max Dillon said smoothly.
He and Iron Man were guarding the All-Wave Projector on either side. Aside from his initial transformation into Electro to save the armed helicopter Tony had accidentally shot down, he had maintained his human appearance the rest of the time.
Consequently, Reed Richards had no idea that this ordinary-looking Max Dillon was actually "Electro," a man capable of turning into a sentient energy body at will.
"Really?" Reed looked delighted.
"Max, don't help him," Tony warned. "Our guy is still in another world on the other side of that vortex. Don't go looking for trouble."
Max Dillon shrugged. "If no one helps him, do you want to bet on whether Reed tries to grab a live wire with his bare hands again? I'd rather not witness that."
Tony Stark instinctively reached up to rub his forehead, but since he was wearing a metal mask, he could only rap his fingers against his metal skull.
"Crap."
Max was right. Tony fully believed Reed Richards was capable of such madness.
Tony was torn. If he didn't help, the guy would go crazy; if he did help, there was no telling what kind of impact it would have on the All-Wave Projector.
While he was worrying, Tony saw Max Dillon wink at him.
Max waved his hand through the air, and a series of electrical sparks traced out a few words. However, they vanished before Tony could get a clear look.
Tony's spirits lifted. He quickly muted the Mark IV's external speakers and spoke to JARVIS inside the suit. "JARVIS, what did Dillon just say?"
"Sir, Mr. Dillon said: 'I will provide the power while lowering the voltage so his equipment won't function properly,'" the JARVIS AI replied.
Tony couldn't help but smirk, stealthily giving Max Dillon a thumbs-up.
Reed didn't notice the two of them exchanging silent messages; his attention was focused almost entirely on the All-Wave Projector.
"I originally named this device the All-Wave Projector because I discovered it could fluctuate with almost any frequency."
"But looking at it from another angle—does it resonate with the fundamental strings of all potential dimensions, thereby connecting to other worlds rather than just this current primitive one?"
Following Reed's directions, Max Dillon powered up a piece of equipment while Reed rapidly conceptualized a model of the All-Wave Projector in his mind.
"Based on current analysis, the vortex channel is unstable. I need to stabilize it first, then build a perfect model based on that."
"Hmm... I could try firing an inverse resonance wave at the original channel to cancel out the instability, like using sound waves to stabilize a bridge."
"That might make the channel as solid and transparent as glass, instead of how it is now, where you can't even see the other world without sticking your head through."
Reed looked at the machine Max had powered. Without stopping to thank him, he rapidly adjusted the parameters on the console.
Hummm—
Just as Reed envisioned, the inverse resonance wave shot accurately toward the All-Wave Projector.
At the same time, Tony Stark and Max Dillon shared a look. Under the low-voltage conditions, Reed's machine fired the wave, but it was practically useless.
The insufficient voltage meant the inverse resonance wave wasn't the perfect theoretical waveform Reed had programmed; instead, it produced extremely fine harmonic distortion at the peaks.
"Huh? That's not right." Reed didn't notice the voltage issue, but he noticed the problem with the resonance wave. He scratched his head, muttering to himself, "Where did it go wrong?"
"Let me think... I mostly understand the core principle of the All-Wave Projector now: it's about locking onto and stabilizing the strongest resonant frequency to open a path to other worlds."
Deep in thought, Reed performed another series of operations on the machine, firing several more resonance waves.
Because the voltage was too low, the peaks of these different inverse resonance waves were inconsistent. What the All-Wave Projector received was the main frequency of the original channel mixed with distorted harmonics—A-, A+, B, C...
Like a stone thrown into a calm lake, a ripple spread out, and in the next second, it transformed into a crashing wave. The mirror-shattering effect had begun.
The distorted harmonics acted like a virus, contaminating the originally pure All-Wave channel. The Projector began locking onto more and more "similar frequencies."
Around that yellow-green vortex, tiny specks of light began to appear. As they siphoned energy from the main channel, the primary vortex—in an attempt to maintain its own existence—began scanning and binding more frequencies even more frantically, forming a vicious positive feedback loop.
Pop, pop...
One yellow-green vortex after another opened and rapidly expanded.
In the primitive world, Batman held Lunella in one arm while using his other hand to drag a giant net made of spider-silk, pulling Devil Dinosaur away from the flames.
The battle between the Lizard and the horned giant Tyrannosaurus was nearing its end. It was clear that size alone hadn't allowed the giant dinosaur to overwhelmingly defeat the Lizard.
On the contrary, the Lizard—superior in strength, speed, and agility—had now wrapped his body around the giant Tyrannosaurus's neck like a python, preparing to strangle it.
Batman looked around. It seemed no "wild" dinosaurs were approaching due to the fight between the two monsters and the massive ring of fire.
However, near the original yellow-green vortex, an unknown number of carnivores were being drawn to the scent of the dinosaur carcasses piled on the ground.
Those dinosaurs weren't much of a threat to Batman, but they would be a problem for the red Devil Dinosaur he was dragging.
Just as Batman was considering a specific plan—perhaps having the Lizard carry Devil Dinosaur while he ran with Lunella—Reed Richards "solved" the problem for him.
Small and large yellow-green vortexes opened across the ground around Batman. First, they swallowed the human remains scattered across the landscape.
Then came the Lizard and the giant Tyrannosaurus still locked in combat, followed by other dinosaurs and primitive people who weren't even part of the fight.
Batman looked into the distance. The scent of blood from the carcasses suddenly faded as they, along with the predators drawn to them, vanished through the vortexes.
In an instant, an unknown number of portals had opened in this primitive world. Even Devil Dinosaur, whom Batman was dragging, fell into a vortex.
"Something's wrong." Batman's heart sank. He clutched Lunella and sprinted toward the original portal.
He wasn't sure where these new portals led. The wisest course of action was to return the way he came, get Lunella to safety, and then act according to the situation.
The question of where the portals led was answered the moment Batman stepped through the vortex and back into the Baxter Building.
Every single portal was in Manhattan—specifically within a one-kilometer radius centered on the Baxter Building.
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