Aliens had settled on Earth, and the Men in Black organization entered a new stage—truly becoming the Earth department responsible for managing alien affairs.
Anton's power had also grown to a certain extent.
However, he wasn't interested in it.
While discussing the alien influx with Z, Anton suggested that some aliens should be recruited to work for the Men in Black.
This would not only help monitor these aliens more closely, but also reduce the potential risks.
The idea was radical.
Z pondered it for a moment before replying, "I'll bring it up with the World Council at a later opportunity. It's worth careful consideration."
He had no expectations of Anton, the shopkeeper.
Before Anton left, Z handed him a report on Jason Wann's current status.
"Since joining the Men in Black, he's been well-behaved. Doesn't seem like a threat," Z said, a bit curious. "Are you sure he's not a good guy?"
"No problems is the biggest problem," Anton replied.
He flipped through the file and saw Jason Wann's resume. His smile faded slightly.
"You're one of the few agents who left the military's secret service organization safely. You know better than I do—none of the senior officers in that organization are clean."
"…"
Z was a little stunned, but he understood exactly what Anton was getting at.
"You're right," Z said, nodding. "I was wrong."
"I don't need this report," Anton said, handing it back. "As I said, keep a close eye on Jason Wann. If he does anything unusual, report it to me immediately."
"And from today onward, I'll check my mailbox regularly. You won't need to chase me down for responses anymore."
"Hope so," Z shrugged, unconvinced.
Time passed quickly.
Anton, while not directly responsible for alien contact, regularly checked Z's reports in his mailbox, kept track of everything, and stayed well-informed.
Meanwhile, the filming of Justice League vs. Avengers had officially begun.
Its announcement drew massive attention.
Just from the title, it was clear what kind of spectacle the film would offer—exciting, dramatic, and packed with curiosity.
The Washington incident had made the world aware of Hydra, a lingering spy organization from the previous century.
Hydra had even manipulated the Avengers. Iron Man and Captain America—two of the most admired superheroes—were revealed to be puppets of Hydra, not to mention S.H.I.E.L.D., which many people had now lost faith in.
After the incident, the Daily bugle published an exposé, but key details remained unknown.
Naturally, a film adapted from such real events piqued both curiosity and the public's thirst for superhero stories.
As soon as the project was announced, it took the spotlight.
Even Anton's new movie couldn't compete with the buzz—its announcement was completely overshadowed by Justice League vs. Avengers.
Of course, in the eyes of certain people, Anton's new movie was still the one to watch.
These people had figured out Anton's patterns—whether it was DC or the Justice League, whenever Anton prepared a new film, it signaled the introduction of a new superhero.
The movie was simply a promotional stage for their debut.
"The Flash, Barry Allen."
Military.
Secretary of Defense John Koehler sat in his office, reviewing the report passed to him by his staff. The document contained a personal profile of the Flash.
"The fastest man alive, capable of surpassing the speed of light... even traveling through time."
"Travel through time? Is that even possible?"
Koehler didn't know the truth—but he didn't doubt Barry Allen's existence for a second.
The Justice League had shattered conventional beliefs too many times. He had no reason to think the Flash was some kind of hoax, or that this was Batman creating an elaborate ruse.
The real question now was: When will the Flash appear?
Based on what John Koehler and others understood about the Justice League, every time a new member appeared, it signaled a new crisis on the horizon.
Looking at the past—the arrival of Batman, Cyborg, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Shazam, Constantine, and the rest—it was clear.
Their timing was never random. They always appeared at exactly the right moment, just before or during a major event.
Undoubtedly, this was thanks to Batman's mysterious and highly effective intelligence network.
This time, it seemed Batman had sensed another looming threat—and was planning to introduce new members ahead of it.
"The fastest man alive... is he faster than Pietro?"
As John Koehler read through the Flash's abilities, his thoughts turned to the two superpowered individuals the military had recently brought in—Wanda and Pietro, a.k.a. Quicksilver.
Both had officially agreed to join the special forces and were now undergoing military training to acquire standard combat and tactical skills.
Flash's abilities were clearly similar to Quicksilver's.
No—they were practically identical.
The difference? According to the data, the Flash could move fast enough to break through time and space.
Pietro couldn't do that.
"If the Flash can do it," Koehler thought, "then Pietro can too. He just needs more training to fully unlock his potential."
Elsewhere—
A special training facility for the U.S. military.
Whoosh!
A streak of silver lightning tore across the desert training ground.
Inside the facility, scientists tracked and analyzed the data being generated in real time. They gathered every bit of info they could from the silver blur zooming past them.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A few minutes later, Pietro returned to the base, panting slightly. He glanced at the team of researchers monitoring his performance.
"Well?" he asked. "Was I faster this time?"
"175 miles per hour," one of them replied. "Congrats—15 mph faster than your last run."
Then he shrugged.
"But it seems you're hitting a plateau. Based on your body's current metrics, you can sustain this average speed for about four hours with sufficient energy reserves. After that, your body slows down to replenish those reserves."
"You probably have more potential, though," another researcher added. "At high enough speeds, your legs could generate enough airflow for brief flight. But for that, you'll need to move even faster."
The researchers exchanged glances. One of them spoke up:
"Pietro… have you seen the news?"
"What news?" Pietro blinked, then caught on.
"You mean the Flash?"
Even though the announcement of Anton's Flash film had been eclipsed by the hype around Justice League vs. Avengers, the word had spread everywhere.
Such was the influence of DC Corporation today.
As one of the few companies officially backed by the Justice League, public interest in DC, the Daily bugle , and Wayne Enterprises had never waned.
"Good."
The man nodded. "According to the information we extracted from the story published by DC, the Flash's speed is estimated to be around 1,200 miles per hour—just under Mach 2. That's about seven times faster than your current top speed. However, this is only our estimate of his normal speed…"
"Seven times… and that's just his normal speed…"
Quicksilver froze for a moment.
He had expected there to be a gap between himself and the Flash, given their similar abilities—but he hadn't imagined the difference would be this huge.
If normal speed was already seven times his maximum, then what about the Flash's peak speed?
Just how fast could he really go?
"If the stories are true, and the Flash's top speed exceeds the speed of light—maybe even several times over—and he can travel through time at will, then he's already something close to a god. You can't evaluate someone like that using human standards."
Seeing that Pietro was clearly affected, the researcher tried to reassure him:
"Since your abilities are so similar, what he can do, you might be able to do too. Our top priority now is getting your speed up to Mach level—we've already got some ideas."
"What kind of ideas?" Pietro asked.
"We plan to use isotopes to enhance your abilities. Based on our calculations, if the procedure is successful, your speed could reach Mach 4 or even Mach 5. At that level, you'd be able to at least hold your own against the Flash."
The researcher continued:
"As for surpassing the speed of light—that's beyond the realm of human comprehension. I doubt even the Flash can casually run that fast. So yes, there's a real possibility you could defeat him."
"Alright."
Pietro nodded.
"Let's get started."
Meanwhile, at a nearby training facility, Wanda was undergoing her own solo training.
Without the power of the Mind Stone, she was focusing solely on mastering her Chaos Magic—primarily in the areas of mind control and reality manipulation.
At this stage, she had not yet tapped into the reality-warping side of her powers.
Even in the original timeline, Wanda only unlocked her full potential and created Westview after being pushed to her limit during the final battle.
Up to that point, her powers were mostly limited to psychic manipulation.
To train this, she had to constantly challenge herself—controlling multiple objects, increasing the complexity and weight of the tasks, and pushing her mind toward simultaneous multitasking.
Her training was far more monotonous than Pietro's.
But Wanda didn't mind.
She enjoyed it.
This kind of controlled, quiet routine allowed her to feel the subtle strengthening of her powers day by day. And more importantly, it gave her hope for revenge.
During a break in training,
Wanda glanced at the tablet in her hand. The screen was filled with headlines about Stark Industries and media coverage of Tony Stark.
She sneered unconsciously.
Despite his victory over Captain America in their confrontation, the disappearance of Steve Rogers had become an unspoken truth among powerful circles.
And Tony?
He had paid a steep price for that win.
Under pressure from the government and the military, he had been forced to hand over critical data related to the Iron Man armor. He also had to commit to delivering a shocking number of Arc Reactors to support the military's research into replicating the Iron Man tech.
This didn't completely strip Tony of his secrets, but it did significantly reduce his influence in military affairs.
Once the U.S. government fully mastered the production of Iron Man soldiers, Tony would be tossed aside without hesitation—just another casualty of political expediency.
A perfect example of the government "tearing down the bridge after crossing the river."
Tony understood that perfectly.
But to protect himself, he had no other choice.
In Wanda's eyes, this was their opportunity.
The moment the U.S. government gained full control over Iron Man production, they'd find an excuse to eliminate Tony. It wouldn't matter who objected—the military would turn a blind eye.
In fact, they might even help.
And that…
was exactly what Wanda and her brother had been waiting for.
At this time, Anton, who was far away in Los Angeles, was busy working on his own movies—completely unaware of all the speculations and global changes taking place. Not that he cared much.
The filming of The Flash was nearing its end.
Once the movie was released, the Flash would meet the redemption threshold. At that point, Anton would gain yet another trump card.
[Flash Fan Value: 31 million]
Anton glanced at the system panel, and an unconscious smile crept across his face.
After all this time, and with the previous build-up, the Flash was no longer a blank slate hero.
Even back during the Wonder Woman pre-production phase, The Flash TV series had aired and attracted its first wave of fans.
With DC continuously releasing new content over the past two years, the Flash naturally amassed a large following. His fan value had already surged past 30 million—and now sat at 31 million.
The threshold to redeem the Flash was 50 million fans.
Gaining the remaining 19 million after the film's release would be a walk in the park.
Anton wasn't worried about the film underperforming.
With DC's current popularity, combined with the Justice League's momentum, failure simply wasn't in the equation.
"Once I redeem the Flash, I can experiment with time travel… see if it's possible to reach other timelines, or even break the barriers of time and space. Maybe I could go to other worlds—not just stay trapped in Marvel's."
Anton mused aloud, a glint of excitement flashing in his eyes.
To be honest, with the power he currently held, the Flash wasn't exactly a necessity.
Was the Flash powerful?
Not really.
Was he weak?
Also no.
But the idea of killing the Flash to reset the timeline wasn't just idle talk.
In truth, the Flash's value didn't lie in his combat strength.
His real power was in his ability to create storylines and reshape settings.
As long as the plot became too convoluted, the Flash could sacrifice himself and reboot the timeline.
That was the true reason Anton wanted him.
He didn't want the Flash to fight battles—he wanted him as a gateway. A way to glimpse other timelines. A means of making necessary attempts.
Could the Flash's time-traveling ability open paths to other universes?
Universes beyond Marvel?
Back to Earth—to the home in Anton's memory?
His breathing quickened. The idea made his heart race.
He had grown used to this world, yes—but no matter how long you stay away, everyone wants to go home eventually.
"Oh, right. The sewer lab research is still in progress…"
The thought popped into Anton's mind.
The Hulk, Mr. Fantastic, the original Ant-Man, and Dr. Lizard—some of Marvel's top minds—were all gathered together, working on time travel research.
Thanks to Hank Pym, Pym Particles were no longer a rare commodity.
With those resources in hand, it was only a matter of time before the group made a breakthrough.
Anton was curious—would their version of time travel be the same as the Flash's?
Or something entirely different?
Either way, he couldn't wait to find out.
…
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