"Well, I just did a memory sweep, and most of the people we're dealing with are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, though a few Hydra members are mixed in. I've already started reprogramming the memories of those Hydra operatives, shifting their allegiance toward S.H.I.E.L.D. as we speak," I explained.
"The cradle remains uncrackable, which is the real reason they're trying to breach our facilities. As a top-tier intelligence agency, S.H.I.E.L.D. is desperate to understand the cradle's underlying principles. But their interest is also in you, Maya. They've probably linked you to your past work at AIM, and now they've spotted you with us.
Don't worry though—I've altered the relevant records at S.H.I.E.L.D. and tampered with the memories of anyone who might pose a threat."
"Yes, the cradle has limited external functionality," Helen responded. "No one can extract any useful information about our technology since the core components are manufactured here in-house."
Shifting the conversation, Maya began, "Now, it's 2005. We've got three years to dilute the serum's effectiveness, breaking it into three tiers: high enhancement, regeneration, or a hybrid of both. We should delegate more of the work to researchers under us, but with only some pieces of the puzzle. But we must take precautions against spies first and then to prevent the U.S. from monopolizing this power and becoming the sole global superpower, if we ever were to sell it."
Helen chimed in, "We can release more potent versions later, depending on military feedback. Also, gene locks are essential for controlling the serum's effects, with exceptions for immunity, cell division, and reproduction, but it just complicates things."
I added, "For reproduction, can we fine-tune the gene lock so it only targets reproductive cells? Instead of rewriting genetic structure, we could create a silencing serum. This would simplify replication and could even be marketed as a fertility control product under a different guise, generating profit."
As they continued their discussion, I distanced myself and transformed into Helen Cho's looks, leaving original Helen's body behind for other tasks. Helen seemed at a loss for words, but I instructed her, "You'll stay with Maya and handle secret research while I take on other jobs. Avoid interacting with the rest of the company's staff for now."
We all engaged in our respective tasks. I focused on security upgrades and adding new features to our software, as it seemed that even the geniuses in the Marvel universe were catching up with our future-proof tech—especially our secure web messenger. Our social media apps had gone global, and server demand was skyrocketing, even with the high-performance devices we'd deployed.
As a result, we began construction on a new base in Manhattan, on the west side near Hell's Kitchen. The facility will include a manufacturing unit underground and a server farm above.
Our operating system has also rolled out newer versions with improved UI, better consistency, and zero crashes.
Government agencies and S.H.I.E.L.D. extensively bought our OS for their systems, which prompted some people at Hydra to start cracking our systems and even trying to breach our internal networks, especially an annoying A.I. of Zola's, which was intercepted and blocked by our own systems and Sage A.I.
For this, I have added a multitude of updates each aiming against attacks with artificial, technopathic or brute force attack prevention in our encrypted enterprise systems other than ourselves.
Meanwhile, I've been experimenting with my knowledge of magic. Thanks to the optimization by LoHP and techniques of the Sage Mind, I've perfected many magical skills. With my innate qi, cosmic energy, and understanding of dimensional laws, I can perform magic without relying on external entities or selling my soul.
I've mastered spells like the Mirror Dimension and portal creation, which are just manipulations of space through magic. There have been numerous discoveries—curses, offensive spells, and more—and I've compiled all of this knowledge. With Sage Mind, I've fully absorbed what I learned from copying the Ancient One's mind.
This allowed me to create an anti-magic zone by cleverly manipulating the rules of magic, which should be highly effective against sorcerers.
Meanwhile, Dr. Banner has been moving from the U.S. to South America, then to Brazil, Canada, and now to the Arctic region near Canada. He briefly passed through Russia before returning to the U.S., all while staying undercover.
I detected him using my divine sense and, to remain anonymous, transformed my face into that of a random person before approaching him. He was meditating, lost in thought. Without hesitation, I activated the mirror dimension, pulling him inside. My mastery over space manipulation had reached its peak, so this dimension was absolute, powered by unlimited energy from my own world.
'Sorry, no offense but I just want to fight the Hulk before he becomes a Shrek'
I calmly stepped inside and, without warning, slapped him across the face. He was startled, his concentration broken.
"Look, lady, why did you do that?? You don't want to see me angry," he warned, his voice tensing.
"As a matter of fact, I do," I replied, and slapped him again—this time with the strength of little over human strength at their peak. The force sent him stumbling to the ground, dizzy and disoriented. That's when the inevitable happened: Hulk emerged, fighting against Banner's will.
" Heyoo Hulk. Try smashing me." Looking at his pissed face, I smiled and replied in expectation.
With a growl, he charged, his big fist plunging toward me. I caught it effortlessly and, with a flick of my wrist, flipped him onto the ground. Every time he roared in fury and became more irritated, I slapped him again.
"This will not work. I will restrict my strength"
We fought fiercely—his strength grew with his rage, and his size followed. But I adapted, using my own size transformation to match his. We both smashed into buildings, rolled on dirt. The best part was being slapped in face by a pole due to a momentary distraction.
And I gave him the same medicine soon.
As our battle continued, the environment around us fell apart—houses, cities, and shops were reduced to rubble. We fought for an entire day, and at last, Hulk began to tire. His rage subsided enough for a hint of sanity to return. Panting, he glared at me, muttering, "Hulk hates you."
"Well, I love Hulk," I said calmly. "Just think of it as training. I am here to spar with you for fun. Until you have strength that can topple mountains and continents, you need to keep training."
"Hulk won't kill anymore"
"Oh was that the problem, look around is there anyone near? Its only abandoned buildings."
To ease the tension, I offered him candies and meat, which I'd enlarged using reality manipulation. To my surprise, Hulk accepted and enjoyed the food.
Afterward, we resumed the sparing, but this time, I didn't hit back. Instead, I focused on teaching him how to redirect his strength, parrying blows instead of relying purely on brute force.
We continued this routine for three days. Every day, I trained Hulk in basic combat stances and techniques.
At the end of each session, I rewarded him with more food and beer, which helped maintain his mood. Despite the occasional outburst, when his rage spiraled out of control, I subdued him by pushing him back to his limits. His strength couldn't grow endlessly in one session—it required gradual improvement.
As our training continued, I guided him into his mind space, forcing my way into his mind dragging him along. I showed him the Green Door, the gateway to the rage dimension, and explained, "Only use this in extreme bad situations. It will fuel your power but might strip away your sanity if used recklessly." Seeing his confused looks, I explained " In short if this door is open; you will be a fool but strongest."
By the end of our playing around for a week, all the area around us for radius of 50 km was completely devastated. Buildings and streets lay in ruins from the intensity of our battle. The original land becomes a wasteland. I didn't train Hulk to merge his mind with Banner just yet. Instead, I encouraged him to communicate with Banner more often.
Before parting, I handed Hulk a massive cup of ice cream, enlarged with my powers, which he accepted eagerly. "Goodbye, Hulk," I said, vanishing from the scene as the mirror dimension collapsed.
The next day, Bruce Banner woke up with fragmented memories of what had happened. "No, not again... How many did I kill this time?" he muttered in distress as he rushed outside, expecting to see chaos and destruction.
But to his surprise, the busy street looked the same as always, untouched. Confused, he noticed the large cream cup beside him, and bag full of cash and a pair of elastic and form-fitting clothing, made using the most stretchiest and hardened clothing material with vibranium threads interweaved—a silent reminder that something had indeed occurred. He was left bewildered, trying to piece together what had truly happened.
Time passed slowly, but Cho Inc.'s profits steadily increased. It's been nearly three years since the last Hulk incident, and he has been seen wearing the clothing I gave him. The only big thing that happened is how some shield agents tried to recruit in to our company and IRS doing three separate audits either due to suspected frauds, compliance checks , third party reporting but everything returned fruitless as it was nothing but my reality manipulation could correct.
For the past two years, I have explored the limits of my technopathic abilities, venturing beyond merely entering with my mind to access information. I discovered that I could transform my entire being into pure information, allowing me to build an interactive playground in a virtual realm.
This sanctuary, protected by the highest-grade encrypted network walls and my personal backup servers using quantum technologies thousands of years into the future, became my personal training ground. Here the reaction speed is 100 times that I possess with my body and cultivation.
In this digital playground, I learned to connect my mind to systems across the globe. I interacted with Sage A.I. withstanding a simulated trial of Zola's previous network attacks. I did fare okay-ish. Then I learned much more about how to engage in attacks with machine codes.
I could detach from my physical form and harness vast computational resources to perform calculations or calculate independently using my sage mind. That means even if my information is stored within a handheld calculator, I could use my immense sage mind to basically perform like a supercomputer there. Unlike conventional systems, I existed beyond the need for hardware, embodying a form of consciousness that could manipulate data directly.
My conceptual ability evolve allowed Sage Mind to develop further to form a translation layer sort of mechanism where I could think and it will change to native instructions to deploy to perform CPU-like activities, allowing me to use more simulation space to engage with both programmable and non-programmable systems.
Previously technopathy needed me to deal with every information all at once, sort of like micromanaging every human body processes instead of just doing things you like to do, which consumed my actual working span.
Attacks like telekinesis, matter transmutation, and divine dao strikes, heavenly law energy techniques are ineffective here; only my skills in shielding, reality manipulation, and technopathy and strangely soul based attacks on A.I consciousness, super speed, proved useful.
These abilities allowed me to traverse physically disconnected networks and storage systems seamlessly, rendering my information incorruptible. I could essentially appear and vanish wherever I wished across the internet and move FTL under the transmission cables. I can appear at the end of the hardware I present jumping out of virtual realm to physical world.
The shielding technique I developed negated tracking efforts and enabled me to conceal my presence, giving me the freedom to move undetected. This newfound capacity to navigate the digital world made me reconsider my physical existence and my place in a reality where I could be everywhere and nowhere at once. After learning new usages and discoveries, I truly became unerasable immortal species on internet, a living A.I. The essence of consciousness is still a mystery to even me.
'Yeah I also ventured into SHIELD databases over all the world and showed the looping clip of Nick Fury getting scratched by a Flerken disguised as a cat from my vision across timeline for 1 hour continuously on their monitors which were connected to non- Cho industries Opensource based customized systems.' Seeing Him angry was entertaining.
But I did send him an encrypted message to limit sharing sensitive information or treasures with his boss Alexander Pierce and World Security Council with no reasons provided and deleted the message after he saw it. They tried to trap me by cutting of connection all at once. I simply jumped over to a new user nearby using reality manipulation and went back through the networks leaving no trace whatsoever.
Over these three years, we completed our intended biotech product development, removing all flaws through research, modeling, and my input in their discussions. I also provided more advanced systems and instruments, getting involved in their study of biological life level on cultivation.
In February 2008, I sat in my office, watching the news flash: Tony Stark, the brilliant inventor and billionaire, is missing, taken hostage in Afghanistan. I observed the chaos with detached interest as S.H.I.E.L.D. mobilized in response.
Inside a dark cave, Stark's life hung by a thread, forced by terrorists to create weapons. I noted his defiance with irony as he devised an escape plan, recognizing his struggle as a fleeting moment in the grand scheme of things.
During Stark Industrie's lowest point, we had purchased a modest number of shares in Stark Industries—not enough to be significant stakeholders, but enough to profit from the unfolding drama. Then I remembered about the forgotten item.
I entered my ring space, where I found remnants of Iron Man's past—fragments of his soul intertwined with memories from an alternate timeline. Stark's determination to protect a world that would never appreciate his sacrifices struck me as almost comical.
I resolved to weave these memories into him in current timeline, ensuring he believed he had been reborn when he announced himself as Iron Man.
I also grant him memories of the aftermath of the snap. The world population surged, with individuals reappearing in unexpected places. This growth triggered cosmic energy spike leading to early maturing of celestial deep within earth, revealing timelines where Earth faced destruction and glimpses of heroes like Doctor Strange and Kitty Pryde intervening, Eternals fighting and many others but mostly of failures. Visions of the TVA, the multiversal war, cosmic entities and Loki's rise as the controller of time under a structure resembling Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
After thinking it over, I have sealed memories of him with his wife and child. I don't care about morality, but it may be the only thing that bound him to that universe and may adversely affect this universe's development. I will return it later.
As real Stark fought his way to freedom and returned, the world reacted in shock. When he announced his withdrawal from weapons manufacturing, the room erupted in cheers, but I remained indifferent; it was merely a trivial act against an unyielding system.
The emergence of Obadiah Stane brought betrayal. I watched the clash between Iron Man and Iron Monger unfold like a scripted play.
Meanwhile in these months of his captivity and escape, Helen and Maya has reached completion in their research.
They discovered a metabolism mechanism that improves with cultivation and successfully synthesized it without needing inner Qi, based on their own samples. This led to the creation of three major serum grades: Human Genetic Optimization first, second, and third levels, marketed as Prime 1eX, Prime 2eX, and Prime 3eX. And a pure regeneration drug name rGX 2.0
Prime 1eX: Optimally enhances cellular adaptation, strength, endurance, and cell hardness, 2.5 times compared to the S.S.S.(1 tonne - baseline), with no side effects. It provides minor regeneration using biological nanites that self-generate, can eliminate cancer cells, and can pass as a genetic trait to future generations. It also reduces metabolism, extends lifespan to over 220 years with no genetic lock.
Prime 2eX and Prime 3eX: Both include an advanced partial gene lock and different chemical structures from Prime 1eX. They offer higher regeneration, even enabling limb regrowth, and increase strength to 5x and 10x S.S.S., respectively. However, they significantly raise metabolism and halt the body's evolutionary traits. These serums must be administered when the host is disease-free, as they may cause future genetic mutations.
Both has permanent infertility. Life span is 140 and 80 years respectively. There is no effect on mental stability with the two drugs.
The rGX 2 is a pure onetime regeneration drug which will restore the body into its peak from even limb removal provided they were injected with nutrient solution for recovery within minutes or gradual recovery over days with regular food intake. After a week the serum will lose its effectiveness leaving nothing behind.
We manufactured the drugs at in-house manufacturing units. I conveniently added rare items that needed among the purchased items and reduced the costs. The production continued.
After the major events were over Tony declared, "I am Iron Man," I smirked at his absurdity of human desire for recognition, but still, it could also be considered as a thoughtful approach to raise the stock price and company value. That night, I sent the curated memory into his soul, watching it integrate with his biological body. Tomorrow would be a spectacle as Stark awakened, ready to embrace his new identity. I anticipated the unfolding drama with bemused satisfaction.
As I returned Helen's control back, I noticed a portal opening above our company building and Ancient one came out. I decided to use Helen herself to test. Using the memory seal I put, I actively pulled back any memory of mine and the things I showed in vision and made it all her own achievements using a pseudo memory. Seal itself was hidden.
Helen now recovered, saw the recording on the surveillance and went to check it. Borrowing a gun from the guard on the way to Top floor, she went out to meet Ancient one. She knew she undergone enhancements, so she didn't fear anything. I just followed behind her in abstract form shielded from perception, laws, causality and reality.
"Who are you and what's your business here? Where is that red circle which just appeared before?"
Observing Helen for a few moments, Ancient one replied:
"Relax Helen Cho, I am here to meet you. People call me ancient one. I have witnessed the timeline progression of this reality decades before and this was not how it supposed to happen. It all changed in 1999 from which future constantly changes. No more traceable. Cho industries was never supposed to happen. Can you explain why is it so?"
Looking at the Helen's 'Wtf is this old laby is blabbering about' look. Ancient one also got confused. She decided to check on herself. Came forward and pushed her soul out in an instant. "No stop lady, I a...."
"Your soul is noticeably more powerful than normal humans, yet it carries your own signature and without any magic defense. Which means its really you. How were you able to have innate qi on you? That too so many levels higher and purer over Kunlun practitioners possibly can...Your body is strong as that creature hulk... but no connection to any dimensions? Who are you?"
"WHAT IS THIS? how am I able to see myself ?" Helen panicked.
"You are a soul now. Answer my question." she casted the truth pursuing magic on her.
"I am Helen Cho. What is this? Magic? ...My body is strong because, I have found the secret behind evolutionary traits in human biome and used it to perfect myself using the serum I made. As for Qi I don't know what it is. Now you know my secret let me back into my body and stop threatening me...with those weird circles. "
She activated the time stone and made her answer more than 10 times which still remained mostly same.
"You sound .... truthful." She released the hold on Helen's soul, and it came back. Helen instantly distanced herself and put on a fighting stance.
"Now, I apologize for my actions. It was purely because of my doubts, looks like higher entities are interested in manipulating timelines...
You are welcome to learn magic. Look for 177A Bleecker Street in Greenwich village. But it's for those who protect the world from the unknowns and for those who will not interfere with the human conflicts. I believe you will keep this to yourself." Stepping onto the portal she said.
'Revealing myself means she needs answers. I don't owe anyone that kind of effort. Its best result is to get interfered daily. Besides Tony will act differently which will be outside causes I lead.
She will have others to look out for soon. The sorceress at X men world didn't happen to have time stone with them, or I would have had to explain then' Thinking it over, I returned to Helens body and lifted the seals. She gained clarity.
I returned her back to my bedroom while she was in a daze over the new confrontations in my mindscape. "Why didn't you help me?"
"You wanted answers to magic right? That's the answer. Reason? The law of causality. It is simple to understand in newton's third law. If I were to deal with her, I will have causal relationship with events of this universe that are outside of my intentions." I informed.
....
Tony was confused over next day, held Pepper Potts dearly, confessed her that he will always be there with her and love her and shed few tears.
Pepper stalled but soon returned him the hug, thinking that the series of events happened may have deepened their affection. He didn't answer about his sudden outburst but after their communications went on about how Cho industries planning to release new products .. he got confused and then disbelief and now not knowing what to do. He revealed himself next day, to Pepper after all she was the only one there for him, but never got married (* New memory).
He is now with conflicts with his mind thinking that this is a new reality all together and not a new timeline. He entered his workshop and decided to upgrade the hardware and buildings and by end of month he have successfully reconstructed the particle accelerator and is now busy building the new reactor. Although Nick Fury came, this time Stark didn't respond properly and decided to take decisions with Pepper regarding Shield and Hydra..
Our company managed to buy one of the Stark Industries top weapon manufacturing sites and Hammer Industries bought the other two. I plan shift my focus to robotics and engineering later. Coming to our serum developments, the prime 2eX and prime 3eX are administered in two steps with second one activating the serum. It also has nanites that check one's cortisol levels and brain bioelectric changes to determine whether you are conscious and not under stress when you are taking it to prevent misuse.
The preclinical study with animals took 7 months. FDA approval obtained within two months as I pulled some strings behind the process. Helen Cho also insisted in giving item to South Korea also, for that our base in Korea started their own approvals but it still required some export control of arms license from US. Making it deemed export wasn't very difficult for me and license obtained is for 10 years, the military only found out it later but the contract is legal in military court. We also applied to MFDS, the drug regulation office at South Korea. Since both countries were in mutual defense treaty clinical trials started and General Thaddeus Ross came to us on his own initiative. We only marketed the prime 1ex serum. So, he was with us in the two-day transformation procedure of the consented humans and testing.
We secretly entered into talks with him about supplying and having contract with military about higher dosages. With his help, the speed was extraordinary in regulatory approvals. And 23 consenting volunteers from military and among veterans came forward, accepted drug and become a successful super soldier so clinical trials which usually takes 2 years went down to 6 months with Ross' support.
The HGO 1 drug or Prime 1eX was also publicized but it needed some more trials which also solved with the help of General Ross within the next 2 months.