When that gold and red figure appeared on the horizon, the noticeably still young second-generation Baron Zemo was clearly thrown into great panic.
"Calm down, you brat," Shiller reprimanded. Despite having a very young face, his words didn't seem out of place. Baron Zemo couldn't help but look at him, and with a cold expression, Shiller said: "There's no way Iron Man came here to investigate you because of information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He never gets along with the police, and there's no way he has any solid evidence. Since he can't prove you're breaking the law, he can't dispense vigilante justice. Now, go out there and deal with him."
Baron Zemo took a deep breath, as if just realizing it, and said: "Right, he doesn't have any evidence. There are police everywhere on Long Island right now; he can't just arrest me in front of so many people for no reason..."
Baron Zemo grabbed the communicator and ran out, seemingly completely forgetting that Shiller was also an intruder here. The staff member who brought him in earlier was called over to manage the scene with just one of his phone calls, leaving only Shiller and the other three.
"Do you know his father?" the Punisher asked.
"No," Shiller shook his head and said, "I only know he's from Hydra, so I disguised myself as Hydra too. Doesn't that work?"
"Aren't you afraid he'll investigate your identity?"
"What do you think Hydra's like? A professional and precise special agent organization?"
"Isn't it?"
"When an organization reaches a global development stage, there will inevitably be factions forming, even leading to mutual sabotage. Hydra is the antonym of professional and precise. So as long as I say I am, he has no evidence to say I'm not; even if he doesn't know me, I can claim to have been long-term insidious."
The Punisher could only give him a thumbs up.
"But isn't the timing of Iron Man's arrival too convenient?" Bruce said with his arms crossed, "Iron Man showed up, so Baron Zemo wouldn't have time to deal with you to pacify Iron Man. After all, you might not be the enemy, but Iron Man definitely is, which leaves him no time to further investigate you."
"Precisely, I called Iron Man over," Shiller said, "This young Zemo, while clearly lacking in experience, isn't a fool either. Enough pressure must be applied so he won't suspect, or rather lacks the ability to verify."
"You told Iron Man that Ant-Man was here?"
"They wouldn't believe it if I told them directly. I just got Spider-Man to give them some clues, letting them discover it on their own, and they'd definitely come here as soon as possible. After all, they are the ones who were framed, and at this critical moment, they are the ones who least want The Avengers to fall apart, so they'll be all the more eager to find Dr. Pym."
"Alright, we'll take a walk around here and see if there are any clues." Bruce stepped out of the room.
Considering there might be surveillance cameras here, they didn't do anything radical, instead just wandered around like they were visiting a laboratory.
Ordinary people certainly wouldn't notice anything, but Bruce was quite skilled in this domain. After walking around here, he shook his head and said, "Ant-Man isn't here. Either they haven't caught him or they've taken him somewhere else."
Shiller furrowed his brow slightly, but the Punisher asked, "How do you know?"
"Judging by the traces in the room, Ant-Man should have already donned his gear and entered a complete combat stance. In such a case, there would be so many traces of attempts to capture him, it's unlikely that he maintained his ordinary human form and still allowed for such a loud commotion."
"Since he's already in combat mode, there can only be two results: either he was captured because he lost, or he won and fled. There's a broken glass at the first crime scene, so it's possible he escaped."
"I know, I'm saying how did you deduce Ant-Man isn't here from observing the state of this place?" the Punisher asked again.
"Oh, you're talking about that? That's not reasoning," Bruce shook his head and said, "It's common sense. Looking at all the experimental equipment as far as the eye can see, there is no possibility of them developing a revolutionary energy weapon. More importantly, there is nothing to restrict the Pym particles."
"You mean..."
"As far as I know, the miraculous particles invented by Dr. Pym, can shrink oneself to an incredibly small size, even travel between molecules, or become extremely large, with a body type not less than a full-grown Tyrannosaurus Rex. Without a vessel or device to restrict the Pym particles, Ant-Man would find escaping too easy: either shrink extremely small, passing through the molecules of glass to escape; or grow very large, attracting attention from all sides, and then get rescued by The Avengers. In short, a base of this level can't hold him."
"You said they haven't developed revolutionary weapons, so what about the traces in the room?"
"That can only be said to be not any known modern weapon's energy weapon, but it may not be newly invented or necessarily be in their possession." Bruce paused for a while and then said, "If you have some understanding of modern science, you'd know that scientific research has never been accomplished overnight, every bit of progress has traces to follow."
"There are many difficulties with energy weapons. To put it simply: the energy source for storing energy, the conductor for transmitting energy, and the muzzle for focused energy output—each link has a high technical difficulty, and it's not just about the design; it also depends on the development of basic materials science. Without breakthroughs in materials science, even if scientists rack their brains, they couldn't manufacture any decent energy weapon."
"I didn't see any equipment related to testing conductors here, and the energy research equipment is very basic. It looks like it was modified from an automobile production line, and the assembly table is even more elementary. It doesn't look like it could produce any new weapons."
"So, they haven't invented any new energy weapons at all? Does that mean our previous conclusions about Ultron converting life forms should all be overturned?"
Bruce shook his head again and said, "The production of weapons belongs to the industrial sector, but converting life forms is not. It involves fields like biology, chemistry, and micro-structural studies. These things are not as intuitive as industrial production; storing cells or molecules may only require a small petri dish, and it's not evident from the surface."
"Does that mean converting life forms is even simpler than making an energy weapon?"
"No, it's actually more difficult. But because it's harder, it's not achieved with just any equipment, so it's not easily noticeable. Manufacturing weapons is simpler, and closer to modern science, so it's easy to discern whether it's feasible at a glance."
The Punisher nodded and said, "It seems reading more books has its advantages; I've walked around and didn't see anything."
"It seems Ultron's transformation of life forms was really just a coincidence," Shiller said. "This Norton Experimental Science project team is totally superficial; they've produced no results and are just swindling funding."
Bruce stood there pondering for a moment before saying, "To say there's no outcome at all might not be entirely accurate. Did you see the big machine inside the innermost laboratory?"
"You mean that thing that looks like a CT scanner?"
"Yes, that thing has been clearly modified, showing some degree of technical sophistication." Bruce paused for a moment, seemingly searching for the right words, then said, "To explain in the simplest terms: that thing is a particle collider, only the other party being collided is a human."
"What?" Shiller couldn't help but look at him.
"It's literal, they use various elements to collide with the human body to see which can react. Simply put, they're gambling. Only they actually hit the jackpot; Simon's life form was transformed, and the results were stolen by Ultron."
"I see." Shiller turned to look at the laboratory at the end of the corridor, which was the largest one. But from the outside, it seemed unremarkable, not expecting it to have such a purpose.
"However, this certainly aligns with Hydra's style. They aren't really a scientific research organization; they're adept at espionage and stealing others' research results. It's impossible for them to develop real technology from scratch. This gambling approach suits them well."
"Even so, this machine might not be the product of their research," Bruce said again. "All the equipment in the other laboratories are mass-produced machines, only this one is different. I suspect it might have been stolen from somewhere."
"This further aligns with Hydra's nature," Shiller said. "Moreover, in the field of particles, the most authoritative is Dr. Pym. This might be one of the motives behind their attempt to kidnap Dr. Pym."
"You guys really confused me," the Punisher said. "Didn't you say they failed in the kidnapping?"
"Just saying they had the motive doesn't mean they actually went through with it, or succeeded," Shiller said. "I mentioned the kidnapping of Dr. Pym to Baron Zemo earlier, and he obviously panicked. This indicates he intended to do so, and even sent someone already. But now, since he hasn't developed energy weapons, it proves that his people were unsuccessful, and someone else kidnapped Dr. Pym."
"If they weren't successful, then why was he so anxious?"
"He might not even know he failed," Shiller shook his head and said, "Now what we need to investigate is: given that the traces inside weren't left by him, perhaps the people he sent never managed to capture Dr. Pym. Why is he so panicked then?"
As the three talked, they had already reached the second floor via the stairs. This wasn't a laboratory but an office area, with the largest office at the end, obviously belonging to Baron Zemo.
They entered, and Bruce didn't even stop walking, heading straight to the wall with the bookshelf. He tapped it; the wall was solid, but this action made the Punisher realize there might be a hidden chamber behind the wall.
Bruce scanned the wall, then turned toward the chandelier above, and next to the central air conditioning. He quickly walked to the central air conditioning control panel, dismantled it in a few swift moves, and looked at the chaotic wiring inside. Bruce pressed a few buttons on the panel, and then an invisible door next to the bookshelf opened.
They walked inside, and sure enough, it was a very spacious hidden chamber. Bruce shook his head, lamenting: "A hidden chamber should be underground; if it's upstairs, it's easily revealed through the building's structure—how foolish."
Shiller also entered, looked around, and although it was a hidden chamber, it resembled a large office, only more luxurious than the outside. The furniture was all solid wood, and the floor was covered with a dark red carpet, looking like a place a villain would stay.
At this moment, Bruce's attention was drawn to an empty jar on the desk. He picked it up, examined it, suddenly paused, and finally couldn't help but laugh.