Three seconds?"
Tony's expression immediately became serious.
The Delaware Base was a Base specially used by Nick Fury to store the Tesseract, and its security system had been specially upgraded by the Playboy.
Tony even allocated a portion of Jarvis's computing power to support it.
To put it bluntly,
even across the entire United States, or even the entire World, its security was second to none.
From a purely technical standpoint, Tony couldn't imagine anyone in the current World who could crack it.
But now?
Three seconds!
In just three seconds!
The other party not only cracked the system but directly overwrote it and took over its monitoring system.
This level of difficulty was immeasurably higher than simply cracking it.
In fact, if it weren't for Jarvis's monitoring, the Delaware Base itself wouldn't even realize its monitoring system had been controlled!
It was simply unbelievable.
"This computing power, this algorithm—this isn't something anyone in the current era can achieve."
"Unless there exists another Jarvis in the World, and I've been unaware of it."
Tony immediately came to this self-evident conclusion.
It wasn't that the Playboy was arrogant; on the contrary, as someone from a technical background, he understood the difficulty of such a feat even more clearly.
To achieve something so incredible, there had to be a super program of Jarvis's caliber; otherwise, it would be impossible.
So, the question was:
Was there really another super program of Jarvis's level in the World?
Based on all the intelligence Tony currently possessed, it seemed there really wasn't, apart from Zola.
So, in Tony's mind, an answer almost subconsciously surfaced:
What the diary described—the Future Avengers traveling through time—had probably really happened!
The one who accomplished this was very likely another himself!
"Jarvis, get me an Iron Man Armor immediately."
"Also, contact Nick Fury."
Tony didn't hesitate, immediately giving Jarvis this command.
"Understood, sir!"
Boom!
As Jarvis spoke, a dazzling Iron Man Armor was immediately ejected and enveloped Tony.
Accompanied by a series of rapid clicking sounds, the entire Iron Man Armor "writhed" over Tony's body.
In just a few seconds, the Destroyer made a dazzling appearance.
Whoosh!
With a burst of scorching energy, Tony instantly flew out of the luxurious Villa, soaring into the sky and disappearing.
"Stark, what's wrong?"
Nick Fury answered the call, and the Director's extremely grave voice immediately echoed in Tony's ear.
Although the other side hadn't detected any abnormalities, Nick Fury knew that Tony wouldn't contact him without reason at this time.
"The Delaware Base has been infiltrated, and the entire system has been completely controlled."
"Quickly tell Rogers to secure the Tesseract!"
"I'll be there immediately!"
Tony's voice was incredibly serious, gravely warning Nick Fury.
That's right, when Tony first received the alert from Jarvis, it was just the monitoring system being overwritten and taken over.
But by now, the entire security system had completely fallen.
This made Tony even more certain that the one acting was his other self from the future.
After all, besides Jarvis, Tony really couldn't imagine who else could do such a thing.
"I understand!"
On the other side, Nick Fury's expression was equally grim beyond compare.
After ending the call with Tony, he immediately contacted Captain America, who was stationed inside the Delaware Base.
He issued a warning to Captain America and also gave other orders.
In short,
the Delaware Base immediately entered an emergency state.
Captain America personally led Black Widow and other Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., guarding outside the secure door where the Tesseract was kept.
Needless to say, at every checkpoint of the relevant passages, everyone gripped their weapons tightly, ready for battle.
It could be said that not even a fly could escape.
Whoosh! Thud!
Just a few minutes later,
Tony, piloting the Iron Man Armor, arrived at the secret Delaware Base and met up with Captain America.
"Stark, what's going on?"
"Nick said you discovered the Base was infiltrated?"
Captain America's brows furrowed slightly, with a hint of doubt and vigilance, as he sought confirmation from Tony.
In the past few days, Captain America had been stationed at this Base.
He hadn't left for even half a step and hadn't discovered any abnormalities.
Setting aside other things, just at this very moment,
the monitoring screen clearly showed that the Tesseract was safely in the vault.
What's more,
that vault, in addition to requiring Nick Fury's iris scan, also needed some accompanying manual operations.
Forget about a violent intrusion; even opening it through normal procedures would take at least three minutes.
Coupled with the exaggerated security forces within the Base, Captain America couldn't find any fault.
He truly found it hard to imagine that someone could complete a silent invasion; it was simply impossible.
"Are you sure you didn't find anything?"
Tony asked Captain America while pulling out a "USB drive" and inserting it into the port.
"No, everything is normal here."
Captain America shook his head.
But seeing Tony's prepared stance, he didn't dare to be careless in the slightest.
"Jarvis?"
Tony then began to question his personal AI.
"Sir, all programs have been overwritten. I am currently rewriting the programs to retake control of the system."
"This will take fifteen seconds."
Jarvis immediately gave this reply.
"Fifteen seconds? Not bad at all!"
Tony couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.
For it to take Jarvis this long to rewrite, this was indeed a remarkable feat.
"Sir, system control has been re-established."
Fifteen seconds passed quickly; Tony and Captain America hadn't even exchanged many words when Jarvis completed the operation.
An alert was immediately sent.
Captain America, Black Widow, and Tony, standing before the monitoring screen, immediately saw a change in the monitoring feed.
The Tesseract inside was gone!
The vault was empty!
Whoosh!
Captain America and Black Widow's expressions instantly changed, both shocked and angry, utterly unable to accept it.
The Tesseract, stolen?
How could this be!
"The previous monitoring footage was tampered with; this is the real footage."
"I regret to inform you, the Tesseract is no longer here."
Jarvis's voice rang out again, providing further explanation to Tony, as well as to Captain America and Black Widow.
"This is impossible!"
"No one could have done this."
Although the monitoring footage was indeed before his eyes, Captain America still found it hard to believe.
From a technical standpoint, it was simply impossible!
Even if the monitoring footage was tampered with by the enemy, what about all the checkpoints and guards in the Base, and all the defensive forces?
Especially the vault; there were no signs of forced entry whatsoever!
No, not just the vault; to be precise, the entire security system showed no abnormalities, and the enemy left no traces.
This was indeed impossible.
Unless…
"Could Loki have escaped?"
After some thought, Captain America made this obvious deduction.
In Captain America's view, only a god like Loki, who was superior to ordinary humans, could possibly achieve such a feat.
But he hadn't heard Nick Fury mention it.
Could it be that Loki had escaped and caused trouble, even stealing the Tesseract, and Nick Fury hadn't noticed anything at all?
The dignified Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Agent King, couldn't possibly be that useless, could he?
For a moment, Captain America was truly at a loss.
Now, he truly wished he could immediately open the vault in front of him and see with his own eyes whether the Tesseract was still there.
Unfortunately, no one could open this vault except Nick Fury himself.
As for Black Widow on the side?
Having also read the diary and knowing some crucial information, she gave Tony a meaningful glance, having other suspicions.
The one who stole the Tesseract was likely someone else entirely!
"Calm down, Rogers."
"No matter who it is, whether it's Loki or not, he won't succeed."
Tony's confident voice, however, now sounded from the side, "Even if the Tesseract is temporarily taken, it's still under control."
"It sounds like you were prepared?"
Captain America couldn't help but glance at Tony.
"Of course! The Tesseract has already been stolen once!"
Tony shrugged naturally, then gave Jarvis a command, "Jarvis, activate the positioning system and locate the Tesseract."
"Positioning system? You installed a tracker on the Tesseract beforehand?"
Captain America was greatly surprised.
The Tesseract was just a square cube; how did Tony manage to install a tracker on it?
"No, I simply collected some energy pulses emitted by the Tesseract beforehand."
"It's a very special kind of gamma ray, so special that, apart from the Tesseract, no such wavelength of gamma ray exists in reality."
"Based on that energy pulse, I created a small device that can locate gamma rays of the same wavelength."
With Tony's explanation, Captain America finally understood.
It turned out Jarvis wasn't tracking a tracker, but gamma rays.
"Sir, it has been tracked!"
Jarvis's efficiency was also top-notch.
While Tony was speaking, Jarvis already had a result.
Whoosh!
A corresponding map was immediately projected in front of Tony.
Tony glanced at it, and without a word, immediately took large strides.
Undoubtedly, he intended to retrieve the Tesseract.
"Stark, we need a plan!"
Captain America immediately yelled to Tony.
"I do; get the Tesseract back!"
Tony's steps did not falter, and he replied without looking back.
What else could Captain America do?
Although the Avengers had already completed several missions together, ultimately, Tony wasn't his subordinate and didn't need to obey his orders.
"Nick!"
Captain America immediately contacted Nick Fury, promptly synchronizing the situation at the scene with him.
At the same time, he picked up his shield and, along with Black Widow, quickly rushed out of the Base.
In any case, Tony had already taken action, so they couldn't remain idle.
Whoosh!
However, by this time, Tony had already piloted the Iron Man Armor into the sky and was out of sight.
"Sir, the signal source is in the car ahead."
The Iron Man Armor was very fast, and not much time had passed since the Tesseract was stolen.
Just ten minutes later, Tony, inside the Iron Man Armor, heard a reminder from Jarvis.
Whoosh!
At the same time, a seemingly inconspicuous car on the street was specially marked by Jarvis.
Without Tony even needing to instruct him, Jarvis automatically switched to a transparent scanning view.
The specific "scene" inside the car was directly displayed in Tony's vision.
He saw that there were three people inside.
One was driving in front, two were sitting in the back seat, and the Tesseract was also placed in the back seat.
Undoubtedly, it was Future Captain America, Future Tony, and Future Ant-Man.
Where was Future Banner?
Following the movie's trajectory, he had gone to Kamar-Taj.
"We did it, I can't believe it went so smoothly!"
The atmosphere inside the car was very good. Future Ant-Man, who was driving, turned his head and glanced at his two companions in the back seat, beaming with joy.
"Well done, Scott!"
Future Captain America also couldn't help but nod.
The biggest contributor to the smooth success of this operation could be said to be Future Ant-Man.
It was Future Ant-Man who shrunk himself, and then shrunk the Tesseract, allowing it to be stolen silently without alarming the other Captain America.
Although the Tesseract returned to normal in less than a minute, almost causing chaos, fortunately, everything ultimately went smoothly.
Coupled with the S.H.I.E.L.D. Base's system being cracked by Tony and the monitoring tampered with,
by the time the other party discovered the Tesseract was stolen, it would probably be too late.
Whoosh! Thud!
But no one expected that, at this exhilarating moment,
a figure suddenly swooped down from a low altitude, heavily striking the ground like a meteor.
Blocking everyone's path!
Screech!
The smiles on the faces of the Future Avengers in the car instantly froze as if cut by a knife.
Everyone stared at the uninvited guest who had descended from the sky, their expressions incredibly varied.
Tony Stark!
It was none other than another Tony Stark!
"Oh, oh, this is bad."
Future Ant-Man couldn't help but mutter with a pained expression, then quickly slammed on the brakes.
"What do we do, Captain? What should we do now?"
Future Ant-Man began to ask Future Captain America for his opinion.
"You two take the Tesseract and go first."
Before Future Captain America could speak, Future Tony had already made a decision.
Considering the current situation, indeed, only he could stop the other Tony.