Having left Stark's villa, Tim's mind still echoed with Stark's words, especially concerning the meeting place of the Luminous Alliance and the fundamental reason this organization could dominate over others.
It all involved a key figure—Professor X.
Mind-reading ability was both the most feared and desired by people. In Tim's cosmos, no one could truly read minds, and even what Professor Shearer demonstrated was only close to mind-reading.
But in Stark's portrayal, the ability possessed by Professor X was no longer just mind reading; he seemed more like a god of thought.
In an instant, he could alter the thoughts of everyone in the world, a power so immense that it exceeded Tim's imagination.
Now, he understood why the Luminous Alliance could suppress organizations like Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. and ensure the details were executed accurately without any deviation.
Because Professor X could peer into and manipulate anyone's thoughts at any time.
Tim couldn't help but seriously ponder how the humans on this Earth managed to survive.
Hydra itself was already outrageous; for such a global-scale terrorist organization to exist was irrational, yet they were firmly suppressed by S.H.I.E.L.D.
An organization like S.H.I.E.L.D., which dealt with supernatural global events, along with The Avengers, was already far-fetched. Still, they somehow remained ambiguous with the KGB.
For the KGB to act so brazenly on American soil despite S.H.I.E.L.D. having many powerful superheroes was even more absurd, yet to their surprise, there were realms beyond, with the Luminous Alliance proving to be even more formidable.
The Luminous Alliance had grown so strong, and at its core were key personnel who were part of a particular group, the mutants.
Tim had just learned from the internet that among the mutants, there were several others as strong as Professor X.
Magneto's information even made Tim laugh.
There actually existed humans in this world who could control the Grand Unified Theory, not by studying it, nor proving it, but by mastering it.
How can ordinary people even survive?
Does this Earth truly provide a valid reference? Tim began to deeply doubt.
Just as Stark said, he wasn't just idly investigating these organizations and hypothesizing; he wasn't just sitting around with nothing to do.
Tim had long guessed that Bruce was up to something; Earth's structure was bound to undergo massive changes, and he obviously had to prepare early.
Not that he was Bruce's assistant or anything, but primarily because he too was an Earthling, and his family and friends were all on Earth. Unaware, he might have let things be, but knowing the risks, how could he not plan in advance?
Tim knew he wasn't Superman; influencing the battlefield with physical methods was unlikely, so he could only strive within his capabilities, which of course meant business and politics.
The universe he was now in had actually reached the perfect state of business and politics that Tim had envisioned, so of course, he wanted to understand how this state was achieved and maintained.
This way, when his home Earth experienced major upheaval, he could use it as a reference, and perhaps even improve on it.
But the deeper he investigated, the more Tim felt this universe was outrageously ridiculous, like a massive mountain of feces wrapped in nonsense that took a vacation to Russia and got a matryoshka makeover.
Every organization seemed not to be seriously functioning, yet every one of them operated smoothly; relationships between organizations were illogical, yet a perfect balance was achieved; no person appeared where they should be, yet there was always someone to handle the situation; every event occurred at the wrong time, yet somehow the timing always worked out.
If Tim had to describe it, this world was like a colossal mountain of feces code.
What's more interesting was that it seemed all but muck, yet if you swept any pile of it clean, the code would cease to function.
If you removed Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D., which thrived on capturing Hydra, would be paralyzed; if you dismantled S.H.I.E.L.D., the FBI, unable to defeat Hydra, would be paralyzed; if you abolished the FBI, Hydra, beaten senseless by S.H.I.E.L.D. over funding disputes, would be paralyzed.
If you disbanded The Avengers, Congress, targeted by mutants, would be paralyzed; if you removed the mutants, The Avengers, targeted by Congress, would be paralyzed; if you eliminated Congress... it seems you really could disband Congress, and with no Congress, no one would get hurt.
If previously Tim had still harbored some utilitarian motives, wishing to learn secrets, now he was truly curious about how this universe achieved such an order within chaos and chaos within order.
Tim and Pamela had found another house in the suburbs of Los Angeles, not as nice as the previous one but still decent enough to live in. And on his way back to this house, he noticed someone secretly following him.
Then he received a call from Pamela.
"Agents are onto us."
"Which agents?"
"Of course, the ones from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Did you forget? You just escaped from there. You don't think they'd let you get away, do you?"
As he drove, Tim glanced at the rearview mirror. The person in the driver's seat of the black car following him looked familiar—it seemed like one of the field agents who had chased him at the FBI base.
After hanging up the call, Tim didn't speed up; he leisurely continued towards his destination, constantly changing lanes and deliberately choosing longer routes, leading the agent on a wild goose chase.
Suddenly, the phone rang again, this time with Jason's voice on the line.
"Be careful, Tim, Hydra is targeting you. When did you offend them?"
"I don't know." Although Tim answered this way, he knew that it was not surprising for Hydra, led by Shearer, to target him after he spoiled their plans.
Not even two minutes had passed when Pamela called again, this time Natasha's voice came through the phone.
"They know you are investigating the KGB. Be cautious."
Tim did not argue; he had long experienced the KGB's persistent harassment, and even the slightest mention of them could make him a target for their tracking.
Soon, Stark's call came through.
"Did you mess with Nick? He just called and told me to detain you, I said you had already left. Drive carefully."
After hanging up, Tim sighed, knowing this day would come.
S.H.I.E.L.D.'s plan to fundraise through Hydra had fallen through, Nick would definitely trouble him, he'd spoiled Shearer's plan, Shearer wouldn't let him go, he'd caused a commotion at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI wouldn't help him, he'd investigated the KGB, and the KGB would certainly be cautious of him.
He had offended all three organizations.
So, the question arose, who had sent the car that was following him?
Tim changed lanes again. Although he had seen this person at the FBI, if the FBI were arresting him, it wouldn't just be one car.
The FBI is America's official law enforcement agency; they don't need to play spy games to arrest someone. They simply block off the area by air, land, and sea. Who would stop the police from making an arrest?
This stealthiness was not the FBI's style; kicking down doors was their way.
It was very likely that the KGB, conducting an operation in the guise of duty, were the ones trying to catch him, which matched the style of those secretive spies.
Moreover, the man's features were closer to that of the Slavs, and the muscles around his lips moved differently from those of a native English speaker, making Tim think it very likely that he was from the KGB.
With that in mind, Tim decided to expose a weakness, as if it were the KGB, they wouldn't want his life, but rather to know what he was investigating about them and what he had discovered.
Tim deliberately changed lanes without signaling and accelerated in the instant he moved over, crashing into a car in the adjacent lane, both vehicles ending up in the far right lanes.
When Tim's car stopped, he pretended to panic, opened the door, and ran. He dashed to the sidewalk and swiftly turned into the nearby alley, and sure enough, the man from the black car came after him.
Tim ran through the alley and quickly crossed the road behind it, took a turn, and continued running into a narrower branching path.
A gunshot sounded with a muffled thump, clearly a silenced firearm, confirming his suspicions that these people did not want to expose their identities.
Using the shadows of the buildings, Tim accurately identified which alleys were dead ends and deliberately ran into one in his panic.
The three men indeed followed him. Tim raised his hands and said, "Don't shoot, don't kill me..."
The leader cautiously approached him with a gun. At that moment, Tim noticed that the gun in his hand was the standard issue for the FBI.
As he was thinking, the man lunged at him, slamming him against the wall and then knocking him unconscious.
When Tim woke up, he found himself in the trunk of a car, tightly bound, and he realized he had indeed been captured. He felt weak all over, probably because he had been drugged.
Tim had long discovered his low sensitivity to various neurological drugs; it even took more than double the dose of anesthetics to affect him, which was also why he drank so much coffee. This was one of his trump cards, waking up earlier than expected.
Despite this, he felt somewhat groggy, and the rough ride made Tim feel nauseous.
The two people in the front didn't communicate much; their voices were very low, almost inaudible. But as the car stopped, Tim faintly heard a sentence—"Hail Hydra."
It was bad. It was Hydra.
When Tim woke up again, he found himself lying in a pristine hospital room and looked up to see an old acquaintance.
Natasha stood beside him.
With blurred vision, he saw people bustling around, and on the wall hung a shield, the emblem of S.H.I.E.L.D.
"How are you feeling, Tim?"
Tim was utterly bewildered.
How could he be at S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Russians from Hydra with FBI weapons had kidnapped him to S.H.I.E.L.D.???