White House, Oval Office.
After a busy day's work, The President left the chair that symbolized the state's power.
He squeezed the bridge of his nose, took off his glasses, and stood on the carpet embroidered with the bald eagle.
A few seconds later, it seemed that some kind of switch was activated.
The ground shook slightly and descended slowly.
The President was standing on a metal lifting platform, surrounded by such darkness that he couldn't even see his fingers.
With his arrival, several laser beams shrouded and scanned him for confirmation.
"Welcome back."
A monotonous mechanical sound quietly said so, and the induction lights in the underground space were turned on one by one.
This was similar to the architectural layout of a military base, with wide spaces and cold colors.
On both sides of the wall stood nutrition chambers that were as tall as a person. Each was two-thirds filled with light green liquid.
A naked body was immersed in it, like a specimen in formalin.
The President seemed to feel nothing and walked on, entering a room through two thick alloy doors.
He sat on a metal chair, picked up a translucent helmet connected with many pipelines on the right-hand side, and put it on.
"Start transmission."
The President's eyes suddenly went hollow, and the whole person seemed to become a puppet, losing self-awareness.
"Business as usual. Continue to speed up the pace of the Cold War, limit the scope of power of S.H.I.E.L.D, and keep an eye on Howard Stark."
The monotonous mechanical sound read the memory on the President's brain and then gave instructions.
"He is a key figure! The future formation of the Avengers. Iron Man, one of the patriarchs, is Howard's son."
"This guy is a world-class genius and needs to be kept on his toes, preferably wiped out if necessary."
"The Tesseract, which is one of the six Infinity Stones, is an important bargaining chip that Hydra desperately wants to obtain."
"..."
A monotonous mechanical voice issued commands.
The whole process, like a repeating machine type of hypnosis, lasted about 2 hours.
"All right."
The President took off his helmet and left the room.
During the period, he had no expression, like a robot that was set up. Then he took the elevator back to the oval office.
"As for Howard Stark, I have sent killers to eliminate this potential threat."
A tall man with diamond-shaped gems inlaid on his forehead appeared in an underground laboratory.
"I've said it many times. Don't just take care of an important character like Howard Stark. It will only cause even worse trouble."
In the monotonous mechanical voice, there was a hint of irritation.
"It's as if Hydra knew the end of World War II, and then went to the past and tried to kill Captain America and Superman."
"Unless you plan well and eliminate all factors that may lead to failure, you will always face failure."
"Because they are the 'protagonists' of this story, the goddess of luck always favors them."
"Nathaniel-Essex, I'm an absolute expert in this field."
Mister Sinister raised his eyebrows, and a contemptuous smile appeared on his lips. He joked, "Kang the Conqueror, how did you fall to this point and become a fresh specimen soaked in formalin?"
Following along his line of sight, there was a complete human brain in a transparent glass jar.
That was Kang the Conqueror.
He should have died a long time ago.
Heat Vision had cut off his whole body, and the lower half of his body was reduced to mush.
In a few seconds, his life would have been lost.
The fact that he could still talk and 'live' was all thanks to Nathaniel Essex.
Mister Sinister, who ended up a little better than Kang the Conqueror, was an alpha mutant who was blown half to pieces by Superman, leaving him barely breathing.
He took the latter's brain out and put it into a nutrition pod, where its consciousness was connected to a high-tech computer from the future, becoming a virtual being resembling artificial intelligence.
"Because the world is not right!"
Mister Sinister's sarcastic smile aroused Kang the Conqueror's sorrowful heart.
"Superman ... never existed! At least in all the timelines that I've conquered, I've never heard of him!"
"That horribly powerful guy. He's like an actor who ran to the wrong studio!"
"Adding a part for himself while making a mess of the original story!"
Kang was very upset, like a player who failed in clearing the game and was ridiculed.
"Okay, stop talking."
The smile on Mister Sinister's face solidified. He didn't want to hear about Superman but knew about the other party.
Whenever he mentioned the young Lieutenant General, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, his whole body would faintly ache.
The sense of desperation with death overhead and no room for resistance really discouraged people from reliving and remembering.
"Anyway, he has ... disappeared."
Mister Sinister said.
It was as if he was comforting Kang the Conqueror but was actually reminding himself.
Superman was a nightmare for them.
"We must be prepared, take precautions, and not take it lightly."
Kang the Conqueror, who only had one brain left, reminded him.
"Although Superman was inadvertently taken out of this universe by my space-time transmission device."
"But no one knows where he has gone and whether he will come back."
Mister Sinister's eyebrows were slightly wrinkled. He was in a bad mood.
He felt that Kang, who didn't want to take the blame, still just had to add to their worries.
There were many universes, countless time and space; How could Superman come back?
"Don't worry, we control the President, which means we have a lot of resources."
Mister Sinister was patient because he still needed the information from Kang the Conqueror and his future technology.
"Essex is being supported by the government and is developing at a very fast pace. As long as I can completely control the mutants and get S.H.I.E.L.D.'s gene pool in Alkali Lake."
"At that time, I will not only be able to break through the limits of the Alpha level and enter a higher level."
"I can also build an invincible army with the help of the mutant genes."
"Like Apocalypse, becoming a god and conquering the whole world."
Mister Sinister was like a veteran general on stage, with banners from supporters planted all over his back.
After Superman left this universe, he was recuperating and healing from his injuries.
While working with Kang the Conqueror, he brainwashed the President and established Essex Biotech.
With the help of the future technology mastered by the latter, Mister Sinister's cloning technology had made further breakthroughs.
According to the template of a Super Soldier, he could manufacture replicas in large quantities.
This technology had attracted the attention of Hydra.
Both sides were villains and had the same enemy.
So, they hit it off, and both got what they needed.
According to Mister Sinister, everything was on the right track and moving forward steadily.
He didn't want anyone to interrupt his progress.
"By the way, not only Howard Stark, but Captain America, and Nick Fury also ... they are all key figures."
Kang the Conqueror added.
"If you want to eliminate the instability, it's best to solve it once and for all."
Mister Sinister nodded his head, indicating that he knew.
The assassination of Howard Stark was just an appetizer.
What came after was the main course.