38 degrees 53 minutes north latitude, 77 degrees 3 minutes west longitude, the Triskelion Building of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
After passing security check, Stark stepped into the elevator and was guided to the top floor by the receptionist.
"Amazing! You didn't have such a hard time getting into my house." It was obvious that he was not in a good mood.
"I'm sorry Mr. Stark, but this is routine, and the former president has complained about it as well."
"I have reason to suspect that this is Nick's way of intimidating me." Stark pushed up his sleeves and looked at his watch, only to find that he had wasted five minutes.
Five minutes was enough for him to fly two hundred kilometers away.
The elevator slowly went up and led directly to the director's office on the top floor.
"Hey Tony, long time no see."
The moment the door opened, Stark saw the bald, one-eyed guy sitting at his desk, watching a video.
"It may not be as comfortable as your holographic imaging system. There is no other way. The budget of the bureau has always been very tight. But fortunately, this traditional 2D projection can also convey a lot of information."
Nick's one eye is very oppressive, as if it can see through anyone in front of him.
Seeing this, Stark squinted his eyes out of habit. He knew that what was going to happen next would not be easy to deal with.
"Tell me about that research." The whites of Nick's eyes were like a lion's.
"I thought SHIELD was so powerful and had everything under control."
"Hey listen, the bureau gives Stark Industries plenty of respect." Nick crossed his arms and looked at the man in front of him. He wanted to see whether he was the industrialist Stark or Iron Man Tony.
"OK, I believe you Nick, but I can only say that this is all just a minor incident. I will resolve this matter as soon as possible and gradually reduce its impact."
"Oh Tony, maybe you already know that it's not just an episode anymore." Nick canceled the pause and let the image continue playing.
It was an emergency satellite image that showed people on the beach in chaos. Some were falling down, some were getting up again, and they were attacking each other. It was like a battlefield.
Then he called up another set of satellite images, which showed two high-speed flying objects, starting from Los Angeles and heading to the East Coast at the same time, but parted ways halfway.
The destination of one of them was the headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D., while the other flew directly to New York.
"Well, well, I didn't expect that we would think the same thing." Stark sniffed and fought back at Nick's behavior of exposing his secrets.
"It seems that we both want to hold the other party back and control the situation as soon as possible." Nick laughed dryly, and then said seriously, "But we failed, Tony, the situation is out of control."
He zoomed in on the satellite feed, clearly showing what was happening on the beach.
"Mutants are attacking normal humans, and then new mutants are created. If this continues, it will become the zombie army in the movie."
"Tell me Tony, this isn't what you meant."
"Damn, how could this happen!" As all electronic equipment was confiscated, Stark could not contact Jarvis who was driving the empty shell armor, and had no idea of the situation on the scene.
He was somewhat surprised to see this scene.
He leaned back and tried to find a comfortable position, but the live satellite broadcast in front of him made it difficult for him to calm down.
"How dangerous is that research, Tony? Why is there so much chaos underground in New York, and now it's coming to the surface?" Nick asked in a tone that could not be avoided.
Stark knew that there was no need to hide this from Nick anymore, but while he was planning to tell him everything, he also tried to convince him.
…
Breeze Beach.
The Iron Man armor shuttled back and forth among the crowd, occasionally firing low-frequency lasers at the crowd below, accurately hitting the nerves of those mutants and causing them to faint.
On the other side, Doctor Strange activated the ring, summoning golden magic ropes to tie up the mutants who had lost their ability to move one by one.
This greatly relieved Spider-Man and Black Widow who were fighting on the ground. There were fewer and fewer people and the battle would soon be over.
"Parker, why are you here?" Strange looked at the Spider-Boy below with a serious expression.
"Hey Stephen, this is an emergency!" Xiao Chong quickly retorted. Doctor Strange's behavior was not so tactful. He was as troublesome as Mr. Stark.
"Hey, Stephen, why are you here?" At the critical moment, Black Widow rescued Spider-Man.
"Oh, maybe... Parker is right, this is indeed an emergency." Doctor Strange has never been good at dealing with women, so after a little hesitation, he quickly changed the subject and said, "Have all the mutants been cleared? These people need timely treatment. Tell the medical staff not to use high doses of immunoglobulin, as they may have rejection reactions at any time."
When Strange saw Natasha present, he realized that SHIELD must have been involved in this matter.
"Stephen, you look like you've been prepared for this." Black Widow narrowed her eyes. She knew that he had been researching something with Stark and Banner recently, but she didn't expect it to be related to the mutant creatures underground in New York.
Therefore, the purpose of her action this time is to capture the mutants before Iron Man and bring them back to S.H.I.E.L.D. for interrogation and research.
I just didn't expect things to become so difficult.
"Hey, actually, I feel the same way..." Spider-Man took the opportunity to chime in.
Doctor Strange glanced at him and frowned. The reason why he and Stark didn't want Spider-Man to get involved was because they were afraid that he would be too curious and make a big deal out of it, thus attracting the attention of Natasha and Rogers.
You know, this research is of great significance and involves many forces, but it is also full of dangers. Conservative Avengers such as Rogers, Natasha and Hawkeye have always disagreed with their research.
The mutated creatures this time are actually just an episode. If they knew that these creatures were leaked due to an experimental accident, they would definitely try to stop them, and all their previous efforts would be wasted.
However, now things have developed into this state for no reason, and the research matter has finally come to light.
When Doctor Strange was struggling with how to respond to Natasha, the Iron Man armor flew to his side and brought a message:
"Ms. Natasha, here is the latest news. Director Nick has just handed over the authority to handle this incident to Mr. Tony Stark. The next matter will be handled by the Stark Industries security personnel. Mr. Stark expressed his deep apologies for putting you in danger just now."
Jarvis' gentle voice sounded, saving Doctor Strange.
"Oh, this is really unusual..." Natasha's eyes flickered and she looked suspicious after hearing the news, but soon, almost the same message came from her communicator.
So she became even more convinced that this incident was really unusual.