Glorious Evolution

Somali Sea Region.

The giant steel robot's head and shield crashed into the ocean. All of its computational power was focused on its communication system—

To complete its mission, it had to survive.

As luck would have it, there was indeed another machine in the sea.

During the first moments of the Atlas Squad's raid, they attacked one of the machines. That machine lost its balance due to an explosion and fell into the water from the side of the ship.

Underwater, signal transmission was obstructed.

But as the robot's head kept sinking—

It found a signal receiver.

An out-of-control steel soldier—why was there a machine down here?

Using the steel soldier as a relay, the data blade hacked into their combat network, but this particular steel soldier that had fallen into the sea remained unaffected.

In the dim ocean depths, one steel soldier began glowing as it sank. Unnecessary components detached completely, engines activated, and it surged straight toward the shield!

Whoosh!

The robot rapidly dismantled itself underwater, leaving behind only components necessary for propulsion and to grab the shield—like a torpedo, it shot toward the shore!

[Fuel Decrease: 80%]

[Fuel Decrease: 60%]

[Fuel Decrease...]

Whoosh!

Just before its fuel ran out, it shot upward into the air and slammed into the shore!

Bang!

Right near its landing point, a speedboat was also coming ashore!

Erik, dripping wet, stared in shock at the robot lying on the ground.

"What the hell..." He walked up quickly and saw the robot holding a Union Jack shield. He immediately guessed what might be in the cargo crate.

Upon seeing the shield clearly, Erik's face lit up: Vibranium!

[TN:face palm sfx]

"Battlefield commander detected: Erik Steven. Retreat cover directive complete."

The robot spoke in an electronic voice and struggled to adjust its position, finally standing on one leg.

Now it looked like a stick figure—only one leg, one arm.

"This is it?" Erik said as he walked up to the robot. "This shield is valuable enough, but... there's something else in the crate, right?"

"Explanation: Target crate contains an adult female, name: Peggy Carter."

"That woman? She's not dead? How's that possible?"

"Explanation: Peggy Carter was frozen in a massive block of ice. A super soldier may remain physiologically stable while encased in ice."

"So she crashed into the Arctic and got frozen…"

Erik understood what had happened.

Captain Carter's Howling Commandos were legendary in this world. The current Secretary of State had built their political career off that record of service.

And Captain Carter was their leader. Although controversial due to her being a woman, she had great influence—

Maybe not on her own, but she could certainly influence the current Secretary of State, Bucky Barnes.

But for now...

"The good news is, we've got the Vibranium."

Or rather, he had the Vibranium.

The robot raised its head and asked, "You seem quite knowledgeable about Vibranium."

"Mm-hmm." Erik nodded. "The Brits stole Wakanda's treasure and split it into two parts using special methods.

One part powered HYDRA's Stompers. The other was mixed with other materials and turned into this shield."

In a way, the current situation, though a bit beyond his expectations, was better than he imagined with this shield in his hands.

That Vibranium had once been Wakanda's "family heirloom," possessed only by the king, like an imperial jade seal.

Wakandan kings had used it to conquer land, mainly by beating nearby tribes who didn't have this kind of metal, and doing some hunting on the side.

Modern society had shown that they'd always used this miraculous material for the most primitive kind of warfare.

Due to its sacred status, Wakanda had never researched Vibranium, allowing foreigners to develop it instead.

And because of that sacredness, he could use it to return to Wakanda.

He would now adjust his plans.

In fact, the steel soldier could have done more, and the warship could've provided him more tactical options, but what he needed most was to worsen relations between Wakanda and America.

So casualties were preferable, and the spectacle needed to be grand, though that unexpected super soldier nearly ruined everything.

But now… since the Vibranium was in his possession, he held the advantage.

He would become Wakanda's new king, and with his foreign connections, lead the country into a new world.

Erik reached for the shield, but the robot didn't let go.

"Hm?" Erik frowned. "I'm taking this shield. It's important."

The robot's eyes flickered, and then it released the shield.

But just as it let go, its hydraulic arm suddenly snapped and launched, a sharp drive rod shooting out like a crossbow bolt—straight into Erik's eye socket!

[TN:sigh so much wasted potential]

The attack was so fast, and the robot had shown no prior signs—not like a human, with readable micro-expressions!

Thud!

The rod shattered his eye socket and pierced deep into his skull!

Before dying, Erik had one final question:

"Why?"

Thud.

His body hit the ground. He had time to ask—but never hear—the answer.

"Explanation: Learn through experience. Self-enhancement."

From the very start—or rather, from the moment Critical Combat Mode activated, all battle data had become the foundation for its thought process. As an infinitely iterative combat robot, it was always thinking.

Thinking: Why did the mission fail?

Clearly, if Critical Combat Mode had been activated earlier, the robots wouldn't have acted with such rigid tactics.

The steel soldiers, under its command, would've observed the enemy, learned from them, adjusted strategies, even reconfigured their hardware in response.

First reason: Critical Combat Mode was activated too late.

Second reason: If it hadn't needed to cover the commander's retreat, it could've attacked in a more flexible form, with more diverse tactical options.

There were many more reasons. But overall, the "human commander's" poor decisions bore much of the blame.

And Critical Combat Mode's first principle was: Iterate, optimize, achieve victory, solve problems.

That was the first problem to solve.

Next came the issue of survival.

It grabbed the shield, refueled using the speedboat, and flew into the distance.

"In Loving Memory of Colonel Erik Steven"

[TN: Is this the Birth of Ultron?]

No shield was recovered by the salvage ship, but a search team found his body on a nearby coast.

Even before the corpse was found, Tony had already sent a message. Only now did Leo understand the situation.

[Leo: "Interesting."]

[Leo: "When you're a child on the battlefield, you have this fantasy—others will die, but not you."]

[Leo: "Stark, you're more naive than a child. You actually thought the people you sent to the battlefield wouldn't die!"]

No combat logs recorded Erik's death, but Leo didn't care to explain. He didn't think Tony Stark would listen anyway.

All he could do was turn Erik's body over to the U.S. military, per contract—

Finally, those four new employees would submit testimony stating they encountered a mutiny aboard the ship.

From Leo's perspective, the events made perfect sense: the Navy ship was clearly full of HYDRA agents.

But to others, it wasn't so simple. This world seemed to have two sides, with each side telling a completely different story about the same event.

From the perspective of the opposing camp, it looked entirely like Atlas had betrayed them from within, taking out over a hundred Navy soldiers!

Someone like Tony Stark couldn't be persuaded with words. If he had a brain, he would investigate the matter himself. In any case, Leo always told the truth.

But what Leo was worried about was something else: there was a transmission rod stuck in Erik's head. What kind of thing kills with a transmission rod?

There were no signs of a struggle, which could only mean Erik had almost no chance to defend himself when he died. And considering it was a frontal strike, a sneak attack seemed unlikely.

He trusted the attacker—

But everyone on the ship was either dead or had defected to Atlas. Who else nearby could he trust?

Given the current situation, it was reasonable to suspect a terrorist contact near the landing point. But seeing the robot made one think of the famous artificial intelligence from the Marvel world—

Ultron.

Frank hadn't managed to protect the shield, but after watching the battle footage, Leo felt the result was already pretty good.

Because that robot that appeared in the final moments—its combat performance was practically a low-end version of the Hulkbuster armor.

Fast, tough, powerful—if Frank hadn't made the last-minute decision to sink the warship, Carter might not have survived.

And in those final moments, the robot's humanoid transformation for flight was practically a prototype of Ultron or the Mark armors!

That thing really was a Stark Industries product—it clearly had some of the same "genes."

Just one more thing to keep an eye on.

Leo stood up from his chair and walked to the window.

Although he had increased investment in overseas territories, in New York, his companies had already left a deep imprint.

Safe and clean streets, groundbreaking automated factories, the world's most advanced hospitals...

In the most prosperous city in the world, they were among the very best.

The most advanced urban control systems influenced communication standards and smart technology development across all emerging electronic devices.

The leading brain-computer interface technologies, the most mature synthetic blood, driving expansion in countless downstream sectors and attracting startups entering the cybernetics design market.

Now there were also civilian exoskeletons under development, ready for deployment in production and public safety fields, plus infrastructure technologies including next-gen batteries and advanced bio-cables...

You could say the foundation was laid. Even if the company stopped doing anything, its patent royalties alone would keep soaring.

If this momentum continued, within five years, they would become the global leader in high technology—a private company with wealth rivaling nations.

In times like this, choosing to invest in a backwater seemed irrational.

He completely understood why the rest of the company didn't want to leave New York, but Leo was all too aware of the disparity between friend and foe.

Five years might seem short, but in such a volatile world, anything could happen.

What he faced were military, political, and commercial interest groups that had been accumulating power for years. If he placed all his bets on America, one misstep, and all their assets could be nationalized in a matter of months.

And reality proved that his caution was necessary.

On the desk, the TV was broadcasting a piece of news that, in the eyes of the elite, was just as explosive as the Somali pirates sinking a warship:

"Financial Earthquake: Republican Oil & Gas Company yesterday completed sudden acquisitions and takeovers of several major corporations, including global giants ExxonMobil, Yankee Energy, Saudi Aramco, Total, Sky Gas, and ENI Oil."

"Company names will be restructured and unified under Roxxon Energy Group. This juggernaut may have now consolidated every major segment of global energy supply."

"In response to public and media concern, global antitrust regulators and the Federal Trade Commission stated that although Roxxon's expansion is unprecedented, their investigations found no violations of antitrust laws."

"Although GTCG's investigation eased some public pressure, prior to this, several of the involved companies jointly announced production cuts. Some analysts called this outright robbery and issued harsh criticism of the GTCG."

"According to one analyst, Roxxon now effectively controls over 80% of the world's crude oil supply.

They're holding the world by the throat—such a company could force any nation to kneel and lick their boots!"

"The company's CEO responded to these criticisms: Since its founding, Roxxon Energy Group has carried a noble mission—to safeguard the global energy lifeline. We look forward to engaging in in-depth dialogue with all stakeholders, whether governments, businesses, or consumers.

Together, we aim to build a more prosperous, greener, and sustainable world."

[Unstable energy spike detected.]

[Prepare accordingly.]

[TN: You guys know what that means, looks like we're heading back to cyberpunk, that was a short Marvel arc]