AutumnXd
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CHAPTER 11
🕑 Added 2025-04-13 18:30:06 +0000 UTCNick Fury's pupils contracted sharply. His expression remained stoic, but deep inside, an unsettling realization clawed at his mind.
But.
Unlike Coulson's pure excitement, Fury felt something else entirely—a shiver, creeping up his spine like a shadow in the dead of night.
If...
A mere side mission could grant such a power—
Then what of the main mission's reward?
This was just an appetizer. The system was playing its hand carefully, laying breadcrumbs, feeding them power like a dealer handing out the first taste for free.
Then! The real main course—
What unimaginable grand reward awaited the one who placed first on the leaderboard?
Nick Fury swallowed hard.
A man who had spent a lifetime staring down warlords, gods, and monsters... suddenly hesitated to think further.
He didn't dare.
He couldn't.
But one thing was crystal clear.
That reward—
He must have it.
"Everything unknown must be brought under control!"
His grip on the console tightened.
"I..."
"We..."
"Must protect the world."
Nick Fury locked his single eye onto the leaderboard, its glowing text burning into his mind. The name at the top... it was both a challenge and a threat.
Meanwhile—
Beyond the glow of monitors and secret war rooms, unseen forces stirred.
Tony and Black Widow's transformations had not gone unnoticed.
Not only were the superheroes restless, their gazes flickering with unease and anticipation, but the hidden organizations—the ones buried in the darkest corners of the world—had begun to extend their reach.
Their silence was not indifference.
It was calculation.
And in the midst of it all—
Black Widow, Tony, and the rest of the team pressed forward, stepping deeper into the underground facility.
This was no safe haven.
But don't forget—
They were carrying a ticking time bomb.
The main mission.
If they couldn't stop the Red Queen—
"Trapped in this world?"
Tony Stark scowled, swinging his arm and sending a zombie crashing into a steel wall with a sickening crunch.
His expression darkened.
He had a future to return to—
Who the hell wanted to be stuck in this apocalyptic hellhole?
"Watch out!"
Matthew's sharp voice cut through the air. "More incoming! There are Lickers among them—don't get caught!"
He kept his sights trained on the horde, his gun steady, but inside, unease gnawed at him.
Even as they fought, his mind raced forward to what lay ahead—
The corporation's AI—Red Queen.
Only by shutting her down could they complete the mission.
And yet...
He could already smell death creeping in.
Something wasn't right.
Something was terribly wrong.
"The way these zombies are grouping... their movement... they're too coordinated!"
Matthew's instincts screamed at him.
His blood ran cold.
"Damn it—" he breathed. "We've been spotted."
The words barely left his lips before the realization hit everyone like a tidal wave.
The Red Queen had seen them.
These weren't just mindless zombies anymore.
She was controlling them.
"No wonder they're moving differently!" Matthew's forehead was slick with sweat. "They're not acting like a horde anymore—they're soldiers."
Mindless creatures... suddenly moving with mechanical precision.
Not just the Lickers.
Even the average infected were coordinated now.
Tony, despite his enhancements, was starting to struggle.
The pressure was mounting.
Splurt—
A sharp, wet sound tore through the chaos.
Another one of Matthew's mercenaries was dragged down—
Consumed.
Under the Red Queen's relentless onslaught, their situation was deteriorating at an alarming rate.
Matthew gritted his teeth.
"The Red Queen's gone rogue! All our previous plans? Useless!"
"She's controlling them like a damn hive mind—we can't fight them individually anymore!"
His voice hardened.
"We have no choice—we have to force our way through!"
Elsewhere—
"Unstoppable? Invincible?"
A dark chuckle escaped Batman's lips.
If he remembered correctly—
"Artificial intelligence..." he muttered, his gaze narrowing. "Who said you're the only ones who have it?"
He shook his head.
The man whose intelligence rivaled his own wouldn't let an AI outmaneuver him that easily.
Batman was certain—
In his domain...
Their technology was second to none.
"The Red Queen is an AI!" Matthew gritted out, voice sharp with urgency. "She's beyond human capabilities—we can't hack her from the outside! There's no way—"
And then.
A strange sensation washed over him.
A shift.
Something... changed.
Then—
BOOM!
An invisible shockwave erupted in the digital sphere.
A flood of corrupted data surged into the network—
Like a tidal wave, crashing into the Red Queen's system, drowning her in useless junk data.
Matthew couldn't see what was happening in cyberspace—
But he felt it.
Because right in front of them—
The zombies' perfect synchronization shattered.
For the first time since the battle began, they hesitated.
The Red Queen's iron grip had loosened.
"She's... malfunctioning?" Matthew muttered, eyes widening. "No—someone's attacking her!"
He turned sharply—
Right into Tony's smug grin.
The billionaire's chin lifted, radiating three parts arrogance and two parts charm—
An utterly devastating combination.
"...You did this?" Matthew's voice trembled in disbelief.
Tony's grin widened.
"Relax, buddy." He dusted off his shoulder. "This is nothing."
But then.
His confidence faltered slightly.
"Hey, hey, hey—don't just stand there! Get moving!"
His cocky demeanor vanished as urgency took over.
"I can't control her! I'm just keeping her too busy to command the zombies—"
"If you don't kill them now, she's gonna break free!"
Even Jarvis—Tony's top-tier AI—
Was struggling against the Red Queen.
She wasn't just advanced.
She was designed for war.
Hacking her completely?
Impossible.
"MOVE! FAST!" Tony barked, sweat beading on his brow.
Because even as he held her back—
The Red Queen was already fighting back.
And if she won?
They wouldn't even get the chance to run.
