On the computer screen,
the face of Iron Man, Tony Stark, pieced together from countless symbols, looked startlingly lifelike. Ian's eyes widened, and he rushed over to the massive computer in three quick steps.
"Damn."
He reached out and touched the cold metal shell of the mainframe.
"This is the real Iron Man. It literally could not be more real."
Ian let out a sincere gasp of amazement. Of course he was shocked, but in a ruined world like this, it also felt like nothing was too surprising anymore.
"Did you just touch my ass?" Digital Tony raised a brow, his tone teasing, as if he did not mind Ian's reaction at all. Maybe he had already gotten used to his current form.
"Want to touch me back?"
Ian fired back with a question of his own.
And just like that, Digital Tony, who had been trying to show off his sense of humor, fell silent.
Then, at that moment,
"Tony, can you look up this boy's information?" Betty frowned as she stepped forward and pointed at Ian beside her. "He can unlock Gwen's weapons and open the base doors."
She likely knew Ian would not say anything useful, or at least nothing whose truth could be confirmed, and she clearly did not want to sit through another one of his questionable explanations. So she went straight to the one source she trusted most.
At that,
Digital Tony seemed to search through every last bit of data and memory faster than any human could even register.
"No record."
"He's not a S.H.I.E.L.D. employee, not a member of the Avengers, and not anyone I knew when I was still alive."
Digital Tony shook his head with absolute certainty.
"No record!?"
"Not even one!?"
Both Betty and Gwen looked stunned beyond words.
In response,
Digital Tony only nodded.
"That's right. He has the highest level of access, and I do not know why."
The image on the screen flickered slightly, almost like it was reflecting some emotional fluctuation from Digital Tony.
"How could something like that even happen?"
Betty sucked in a sharp breath.
"Of course it's possible, dear Dr. Betty Ross. Tony Stark really was my past, but I'm only the incomplete future of Tony Stark."
"There were plenty of things unrelated to the plan that I never uploaded."
Digital Tony shrugged.
"Maybe you can go dig through my grave and see if you can find the parts of my brain I left behind. Assuming they're still there."
His tone had the utterly indifferent vibe of someone who had completely given up.
"What plan?"
No one answered Ian's question.
Gwen just looked at him with an extremely strange expression.
"You're seriously creepy."
She looked even more suspicious of him now.
"A superhuman with no recorded data..."
Betty looked at the boy beside her with uncertainty and alarm.
"Don't look at me. I can't even deal with the few hundred viruses on my own computer."
Ian raised both hands and earnestly explained that his understanding of computers was limited to ordinary daily use.
"..."
Betty and Gwen were both speechless.
"But it's fine. They all live together pretty peacefully in there. They don't affect my gaming or my videos. Every now and then they just pop up on screen to insult me for sucking at games."
Ian sounded a little emotional as he said it.
The atmosphere in the base hall became especially quiet.
No one replied.
Which left Ian too embarrassed to ask what antivirus software he was supposed to buy. He had already tried most of the ones on the market, and somehow ended up with more than a dozen extra viruses afterward.
Free stuff really never worked well.
Ian genuinely missed the days when 360 was the only thing poisoning his computer.
Just then,
"Dr. Ross, something's gone wrong with the experiment!"
A researcher in a white coat hurried over, looking tense. The moment Betty heard him, her expression changed immediately.
She did not even bother with Ian anymore. She turned and strode off with the researcher. Gwen hesitated for a moment, then followed after them. The two of them disappeared with him through one of the doors.
The hall suddenly fell quiet.
Only the sound of researchers hammering away at code Ian could not understand remained.
"So what exactly are you all busy with in here?"
Ian looked around at the bustling staff. They even had snacks. They did not really look like people struggling to survive in the apocalypse.
Digital Tony's gaze followed Ian the entire time.
"This is the Continuity Alliance. Our only goal is to return the world to the right path, restore our civilization, and correct the broken course of this entire universe."
He answered without hiding anything.
"Not bad."
Ian nodded.
According to Lady Death, if this place really was the inside of a broken universe, then these "echoes" from its past having this kind of obsession actually made perfect sense.
He was already thinking about how to invite Tony to play Gwent with him.
What?
You thought a human brain could not outplay a computer? That was seriously underestimating Ian's superior intellect. The reason he was circling around Digital Tony right now was because he was trying to figure out where the machine's power cable was so he could yank it.
"Uh."
Digital Tony waited a few seconds and, realizing Ian had no intention of asking anything further, finally could not help speaking first.
"You're not even going to ask how we plan to do that?"
Now that was some world-class urge to share.
"Does your save-civilization plan include assigning people attractive partners?"
Ian suddenly asked. Digital Tony froze for a second, then shook his head.
"Then I'm really not that interested in your plan."
Ian shook his head.
A clean, decisive rejection.
He felt this particular attempt at "temptation" from the universe's echo was still lacking a little technical finesse. If he were the one trying to tempt people, he would have started by promising each person eighty-eight gorgeous wives.
"..."
Digital Tony did not start smoking.
But Ian really had managed to silence him.
A full five seconds later,
"My database contains records of every living being in this world, including the most beautiful and sexy psychiatrist in the universe. Maybe I could wake her up and have her talk to you."
For some reason,
even a computer had decided Ian had mental health issues.
"Can she prescribe medicine?"
Ian asked with curiosity.
He was not actually tempted, because he knew that taking drugs in here would not produce the effect he wanted anyway.
"No, but I swear, she really is..."
Digital Tony did not understand what Ian was actually thinking. He honestly believed he had a pretty solid grasp on male psychology.
However,
"Sorry, no thanks. I've already got my own. Two of them, actually."
Ian's blunt interruption and direct refusal caught the computer carrying Iron Man's memories and mind completely off guard.
"..."
Digital Tony wanted to smack his forehead.
Unfortunately,
he no longer had a forehead.
"ROAR!"
Just then,
a deafening roar erupted from deep inside the base. The entire underground complex trembled with it, alarms began blaring instantly, and red emergency lights started flashing wildly.
(End of Chapter)
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