Tony Stark's seaside villa.
"Tony, you agreed to be our technical consultant, but for over a month, you've done nothing but bury yourself in your lab. You've completely ignored my communication requests. Don't you think that's a bit much? If I hadn't come to your door personally, were you planning to never show your face?"
Coulson spoke with a tone of mild complaint as he finally met Tony Stark.
Because the Gurongi had been appearing almost every day or two to carry out their games, Coulson had to be constantly ready for deployment. He simply hadn't found the time to visit Tony's villa in person until now.
It had been three or four days since a Gurongi last started a killing game. However, this sudden calm was actually more nerve-wracking. A temporary peace often meant a much larger crisis was brewing in the shadows.
"I was in the middle of a very important research project, so I had JARVIS block all external communications. Besides, hasn't Nick Fury's 'Avengers' team not even officially formed yet? Why the rush to find me? Did something happen?" Tony replied casually with a smirk.
Tony had spent this time researching effective ways to counter the Bugster virus, aiming to create an Anti-Bugster armor. With the help of "Burgermon"—the Burger-game Bugster born from Tony himself who now doubled as his personal chef—Tony had actually developed some solid theories regarding the virus that had previously stumped him.
While he still hadn't found a way to truly eliminate the Bugster virus, he thought he might have found a way to "reprogram" it to some extent. Since the virus couldn't be destroyed, the goal was to mitigate its harmful nature.
Bugsters are born from electronic games and naturally inherit many characteristics of the corresponding game characters. Tony wondered if he could use certain means to set the parameters of the Bugsters born from the virus.
Games always have protagonists and villains, but currently, the born Bugsters were almost exclusively harmful existences. They required the infected human to disappear completely due to the worsening of "Game Disease" for the Bugster to reach its complete form. This was a life-threatening danger to humans; in a way, the Bugster used the infected human as nutrients for its growth, similar to a parasitic relationship in nature.
Tony's idea was to reprogram the virus to turn this parasitic relationship into a symbiotic one. He envisioned a version of the virus that could coexist with humans, which he named the "Benign Bugster."
For a man like Tony, once he touched upon a mysterious, unexplored field, he naturally became immersed in it, ignoring the outside world to focus solely on results.
Coulson sighed helplessly and explained the reason for his visit.
"I didn't expect such a big mess to break out in New York while I was studying the Bugsters! Gurongi? Ancient monsters that treat hunting humans as a game?" Tony remarked, feeling somewhat impressed by the strangeness of it all.
"So, you're here because you want me to help deal with these Gurongi monsters? That's not a problem. Iron Man will let them know that the world today isn't an era where they can just run wild."
Coulson shook his head. "We have specific people to deal with the Gurongi; we aren't short of one more fighter. We've successfully solved every Gurongi appearance over the past month. I'm here because I want to use your scientific genius to create weapons and equipment to help us."
"First, weapons. Specifically, weapons tailored for the Gurongi. Their powerful regenerative abilities make it hard for standard weapons to cause lasting damage. We need something more efficient. Second, a detector—a device that can track the location of the Gurongi so we can find them before they start a killing game and stop them in their tracks."
Tony fell silent for a moment before speaking. "I can't agree to both. Stark Industries has shut down its weapons manufacturing division, and I will not manufacture weapons for any other organization. However, a detector to track their locations is no problem."
"Tony, we need these weapons to fight the Gurongi," Coulson tried to argue.
Tony shook his head. "If the weapons go to S.H.I.E.L.D., you might use them against the Gurongi for now. But can you absolutely guarantee they won't be issued to your agents to be used against other humans in the future?"
Tony found it very difficult to place 100% trust in an espionage organization like S.H.I.E.L.D.
Coulson looked resigned and gave a small sigh. "Fine. I've brought cell samples collected from the defeated Gurongi. Please create a tracking device as soon as possible."
Tony nodded. "Don't worry. A small task like this is child's play for me."
HYDRA / Shocker Base.
"Pierce really knows how to give me extra work. I just finished the final adjustments on the Winter Soldier after his combat tests. I was just about to hand him over, and now Pierce wants me to inject 'Gurongi cells' into him for further enhancement," Arnim Zola said with a hint of annoyance.
"The Gurongi cell samples Pierce sent over are indeed very interesting," Dr. Sterns remarked, his eyes gleaming with intellectual curiosity.
Zola was noncommittal. These creatures called Gurongi certainly possessed strength and regeneration far beyond ordinary humans. However, what Zola was currently most interested in was the energy that "Ichigo" had struck into the Winter Soldier's body during their clash.
That power existed in a form similar to bio-electricity but was fundamentally different from ordinary energy. It seemed to possess a characteristic that stood above both energy and matter. In experiments, it displayed the ability to destroy any other form of energy or matter it touched.
It was divine power containing fragments of the Law of Lightning. Zola was obsessed with it, even though the fragments were incomprehensible and impossible to categorize. He had no means to analyze or replicate it with current technology.
All he knew was that this peculiar "power" had a connection to lightning and could be maintained by supplying it with massive amounts of electricity.
But the harder it was to analyze, the harder it was for Zola to suppress his inner craving.
"Is this the so-called power of the gods? The mysteries of the essence of the universe? Does it mean that if I can master this power, I can control the universe and become a true god?" Zola thought to himself.
"And what about Pierce's request to merge the Gurongi cells into the Winter Soldier for the enhancement experiment?" Dr. Sterns asked tentatively.
"That's in your hands. Since Pierce requested it, just satisfy him. With your abilities, it shouldn't be difficult anyway," Zola said dismissively.
(End of Chapter)