Above the ruins.
A rift split the dark clouds.
Beneath this deathly, desolate apocalyptic landscape, Morgan Stark's figure stood out vividly amidst the rising dust. She was the daughter of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.
Because Tony Stark had embedded some "personal cargo" settings into the Infinity Gauntlet before Ian reset the universe, Morgan Stark had always been placed within this small pocket dimension.
One could say this small universe was the "final Easter egg" hand-buried by Tony before the restart, and Morgan—placed here immune to the zombie virus—served as the continuation of his bloodline.
She was also the "Administrator" of this world.
A father's love is often silent and invisible, yet undeniably great.
In Western culture, the name Morgan carries the ancient cultural weight of the legendary sorceress Morgan le Fay; unsurprisingly, the girl bearing this name was equally eccentric and clever.
Morgan Stark nimbly pulled off her tactical goggles, revealing a pair of spirited, large eyes. After her gaze swept across the faces of the group, it finally locked firmly onto Ian.
"Uncle Ian!"
Morgan Stark suddenly cried out, her voice clear as a bell, immediately deploying the skill [Connection Entanglement] on Ian. Then, before Ian's pupils could widen in shock or the others could react, she rushed forward like a joyful fawn, spread her arms, and hugged Ian tightly around the neck.
"Wait, no!"
Before Ian could even raise a question, he was knocked back half a step by a solid hug. The girl carried the scent of engine oil and strawberry shampoo, and her hair tickled his chin. He froze on the spot, his hands hovering awkwardly in mid-air, looking quite at a loss—the story of Lord Ye who Loved Dragons had found a new interpretation through him.
Despite Ian always wanting to be Batman's uncle, being suddenly called "Uncle" and subjected to the "Great Hug Method" made his brain buzz and his movements frantic.
"Listen, while I don't mind being an uncle again, how is your 'relative-recognizing' speed faster than mine?" Ian patted Morgan's head somewhat cautiously.
Like he was comforting a puppy.
"Oh? Uncle Ian, what's wrong with your face? You had this exact same expression when my mom caught you stealing my baby formula back then! I have photographic memory; I won't remember it wrong!"
Morgan looked up, blinking mischievously. Facing Morgan Stark's "Gusu Murong Fu" secret technique and her nonsensical combo, Ian—who should have been a master of such things—saw his CPU clearly overload.
He opened his mouth.
He wanted to say that was something his brother Jordan would do, but no one in this world knew he had a "good brother," which caused Ian's face to turn a shade redder.
"Tsk tsk, stealing baby formula... I knew that was something you'd do." Thor let out a suspicious "pfft" from the side. Gwen had silently pulled out her phone to start recording, while Cap—poor Cap was still lying on the ground but had managed to raise a difficult thumb to signal that this show was not to be missed.
Clearly, Ian's money hadn't bought Cap's absolute loyalty yet.
"You must have peeked at my divine arts... damn it, I knew Tony Stark being so nice to me was a conspiracy! He actually stole my two core skills and gave them to you!" Ian frantically "peeled" Morgan off his body, holding her an arm's length away as if she were a dangerous object.
He gave a tactical cough and suddenly pulled a plush toy from his pocket—a grimy Batman doll—and waved it in front of Morgan's eyes.
"Good girl, see that? Over there, go fetch." Using a tone one uses to coax a child, Ian tossed the bootleg doll quite a distance away. The scene fell into a bizarre silence. Thor covered his face, Gwen's hand holding the phone shook, and Cap's efforts to hold back his laughter made his rear end hurt.
"Hahahaha."
Morgan Stark, of course, didn't move. However, the zombies who had been hit by the [Retro-Evolution Ray] and reverted to childhood began crawling toward the doll with eager cries.
Clearly, their latent childhood instincts had been triggered.
"Uncle Ian, you're still as unlikable as ever!" Morgan Stark's clear laughter echoed through the ruins; she seemed entirely accustomed to Ian's behavior.
At least her reaction was more composed than those of the prospective members of the New Justice League. Seeing the toddler zombies approaching the toy, Morgan used a grappling hook to snatch the doll back.
"I remember when I was little, you gave me a Batman figure with 108-pack abs. My dad said Batman doesn't look like that, but you insisted your Batman was the genuine version." Unexpectedly, Morgan Stark actually knew of Batman. As she used a cleaning device on the toy, a look of reminiscence crossed her face.
"Unlikable?"
Ian's focus was not on Batman. Hearing Morgan Stark's evaluation of him, his hair practically stood on end. He snatched the toy back and stuffed it into his four-dimensional trousers.
"Everyone clearly loves me! I have millions of followers! I have a dedicated cult! I—wait, I haven't opened a dedicated technical school. Where did you steal the 'Ian Secret Technique' from?"
"[Connection Entanglement] is a supreme law! It's clearly an ultimate divine power that only SSSSVVVIP students have a chance to learn after spending money on gacha to collect 18,000 fragments!"
"Your hug just now was clearly the activation prelude for [Connection Entanglement · Junior · Kinship Link]! I haven't even taught this skill to Thor! How could a little girl I've never met know it?!" Ian's expression shifted rapidly as he looked at Morgan Stark with eyes full of bewilderment.
He was truly confused by her intimacy. If his super brain remembered correctly, this was the first time they had ever met.
At this moment, Ian sensed something eerie and fishy. He began to imagine conspiracies and schemes, wondering if there was a deeper message hidden behind Morgan Stark's attitude.
"That's not right. You're not in a 'heat' period, so why are you pretending not to know me?" Morgan Stark's expression was even stranger than Ian's.
"I really don't know you!"
Ian took a step back, asking warily, "Did your dad arrange a child marriage for me when I was little?! I'm only fourteen! You look like you're eighteen-thousand years old!"
He began to test her.
It was as if he wanted to use this seemingly absurd inquiry to verify a certain suspicion in his heart.
"..."
Morgan's expression shifted from surprise to speechlessness.
"Uncle Ian, your logic chain is messier than a Saturday's code." Something seemed to occur to her; she suddenly became suspicious and leaned in to sniff Ian.
"Did you eat those radioactive fish in the sewers again?" Morgan's expression turned from confusion to shock, though it was unclear what she had thought of.
"I didn't! All the radioactive fish in the Gotham sewers were eaten by Batman alone; I couldn't get a single bite!" After instinctively retorting, Ian realized he had crossed into the wrong universe.
"Uncle Ian, I'm not a kid anymore. I know Santa Claus and Batman are fictional!" Morgan Stark responded with a sneer.
As the conversation between the two fell upon the ears of the New Justice League members, Steve Rogers and Thor were completely bewildered—though Gwen Stacy appeared thoughtful.
They huddled together, whispering, wondering how the Evil God found acquaintances everywhere. Just as Ian was about to argue the reality of Santa Claus with Morgan Stark, an ear-splitting noise interrupted his train of thought. A fierce roar tore through the silence of the ruins!
Everyone whipped their heads around.
From the thick smoke in the distance, several distorted figures slowly emerged. A zombie wearing a tattered Star-Spangled uniform, with half its face rotted away and a shield covered in rust, advanced with a low growl.
It was Zombie Captain America.
Behind Zombie Cap was a Zombie Iron Man with mechanical arms attached and an exposed spine, along with a Zombie Spider-Man covered in a black symbiote, dripping Venom from its mouth. More terrifying still was the Zombie Hulk; its decaying skin was a nauseating purple-green, leaving corrosive slime with every step.
"Hell."
Gwen's voice tightened, her nerves on edge.
"Where did they come from?"
She was an individual with memories from before the universe reset, so she had some understanding of the Zombie Universe. Seeing the Zombie Avengers appear now was a massive shock.
Thor had already raised Mjolnir.
"I don't care where they came from, just knock them down! What disgusting imitations! That person holding the hammer isn't me!" He seemed to have rediscovered some of his reckless "meathead" personality.
Above the ruins, the wind and sand swirled debris—a whisper of the apocalypse.
"Awoooo~"
The silhouettes of the Zombie Avengers became clearer in the thick smoke. Their rotted bodies emitted the stench of death, and ghostly green soul-fires burned in their empty eye sockets.
The Zombie Hulk, in particular, was gargantuan; with every step it took, the earth trembled.
"Wait! Why am I in there too? I'm just a WWII veteran!" Cap looked at the zombie version of himself, feeling a chill down his spine and an inexplicable fear.
Fortunately, these zombie heroes didn't possess the zombie intelligence they should have had.
They were approaching.
But their speed wasn't particularly fast.
"I don't know either." Morgan Stark stood by the wreckage of the jet, brow furrowed, her fingers sliding quickly over the holographic projection on her wrist, pulling up streams of data.
"No... that's impossible... I've never seen them here before! My old man's testing grounds should only have ordinary zombies. How did Zombie Avengers pop up?"
She muttered to herself.
Her voice carried a hint of panic.
"Perhaps our arrival triggered some kind of abnormal reaction? Or maybe when Tony Stark was excising this universe, he didn't clean out these error messages?"
Ian rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Whatever the case, this is a great chance to prove ourselves!" Morgan Stark took a few deep breaths, her eyes gradually growing determined. She tapped the necklace on her wrist.
In the next instant.
Nano-armor quickly covered her entire body. The red-and-gold Iron Man suit shimmered with a cold luster under the setting sun—it was clearly a modified version of Tony Stark's classic style.
However, the lines were smoother, and the joints glowed with pale blue energy patterns.
"Watch me!"
Morgan Stark was just about to strike.
However, Ian reached out and stopped her.
"Let me handle this."
Ian's eyes were deep, making him look incredibly reliable—except he suddenly grinned excitedly, a reaction that somewhat ruined the image he had cultivated.
"I've been wanting to try punching Thor and kicking Captain America for a long time!" Ian was a man of character; normally, he'd be too embarrassed to strike those around him.
Finding zombie versions of the superheroes was a dream come true for him. Thus, he didn't use the [Retro-Evolution Ray] but instead charged straight out.
"Hey! We're right here!"
"What part of us do you find unpleasing now?"
Cap and Thor protested simultaneously, while only Ghost-Spider Gwen felt relieved. By then, Ian had already charged out; with one step, the ground beneath him exploded!
Since Ian started by instant-killing the ugliest one—Zombie Spider-Man—Zombie Iron Man was furious. It was the first to attack, its palm cannons lighting up with ghostly green light as a corrosive energy beam shot out! Ian didn't dodge, letting the beam slam into him.
Then.
Even his clothes weren't torn.
Ian's mimicry armor was just that powerful; he could pretend he had a biological force field even when he wasn't flying.
"Is that it?"
He sneered. The next second, his figure vanished!
"Boom—!"
Ian's fist pierced the chest of Zombie Iron Man. The super-alloy armor was torn like paper, spraying rotted internal organs and mechanical parts everywhere.
The electronic voice of Zombie Iron Man emitted a piercing shriek.
But just then.
Ian had already grabbed its head and slammed it into the ground!
"Bang!"
The ground shattered into spider-web cracks. Zombie Iron Man's helmet broke, revealing a half-mechanical, half-rotted face.
"If Tony knew he turned into this, he'd probably jump out of some shadow in rage." Ian appeared to be mocking with a cold laugh, but he was actually secretly conducting a test.
Unfortunately.
There was no response.
While Ian wondered why Teacher Tony's child was so familiar with him, and whether the full support Tony gave during their first meeting had another reason.
Zombie Cap took the opportunity to hurl his shield, the vibranium disc spinning at high speed toward the back of Ian's head! However, without turning around, Ian reached back and snatched the shield mid-air.
"Clap!"
He caught the shield steadily. Then, under everyone's unbelievable gaze, this powerful youth actually pulled out disinfectant and seriously cleaned the vibranium shield several times.
"Gah gah gah~"
That wasn't Ian laughing weirdly; it was him munching on the "biscuit" delivered to his door.
[Entropy Lord Experience +81]
[Entropy Lord Experience +79]
[Entropy Lord Experience +78]
...
Although the vibranium shield was incredibly hard, what was clearly harder was Ian's "enchanted" set of teeth. To him, chewing such a thing was like an ordinary person eating military hardtack.
Though it was a bit of a struggle, it was eventually digestible. One could see why it was one of the hardest metals in the Marvel Universe; the energy it provided Ian was definitely not low.
He almost felt like taking the real Cap's shield to eat as well—as if sensing Ian's gaze, Cap, lying on the ground, hurriedly hugged his shield like he was protecting his wife.
"That's vibranium..."
Watching Zombie Cap's shield disappear into Ian's mouth, no one felt more horrified than Steve Rogers. He knew exactly how hard that metal was!
The Evil God... is truly wicked!
"Your turn."
Ian licked the shield crumbs from his fingers and turned toward the bewildered Zombie Cap who had lost its shield. Surrounded by ruin, the grieving Zombie Cap roared and charged at Ian.
Under the influence of losing its life-long love (the shield).
The creature's rotted muscles exploded with startling speed. It threw an upper-cut straight at Ian's jaw! However, Ian simply raised a hand and caught the fist with one palm.
"Look, Steve! He doesn't have your '50-50' power!" Ian first shouted to the real Steve nearby, then slowly applied pressure to the hand gripping Zombie Cap's fist.
"Crunch!"
Zombie Cap's hand bones were crushed to powder!
"Awoo—!"
Zombie Cap let out a pained howl, but Ian had already grabbed its neck and hoisted it up.
"You know?" Ian tilted his head. "I've always wanted to try this... the move villains love most." He slammed Zombie Cap's head violently into Zombie Iron Man's head!
"Bang!!"
The two rotted heads collided, exploding like watermelons, splashing black blood and brain matter everywhere. Ian shook his hand in disgust, tossing the two headless corpses aside like trash.
The scene was somewhat silent.
This moment was indeed quite shocking.
For a time.
Aside from Morgan Stark, who was watching with boiling blood and cheering frantically for Ian, everyone else had trouble distinguishing who the villain was between the zombies and Ian.
"Roar roar roar!!!" Seeing its companions die one after another, the silent Zombie Thor roared and summoned lightning. Clouds swirled, and thick bolts of lightning struck toward Ian!
However, Ian just glanced up—and then opened his mouth wide.
[Entropy Lord Experience +34]
[Entropy Lord Experience +23]
[Entropy Lord Experience +21]
...
Having even swallowed the power of Mephisto's Hell dimension, Ian had proven he wasn't a picky child; the lightning summoned by a mere Zombie Thor was naturally no problem.
In reality, such a harvest left Ian utterly disappointed.
"Only this much voltage? As expected, you bootleg Avengers possess less than one percent of the power of the originals." Ian could sense that Zombie Thor wasn't entirely without intelligence.
Sure enough.
His mockery instantly enraged the opponent. Zombie Thor roared and charged, Mjolnir swinging with destructive force toward Ian! A power capable of splitting mountains slammed down!
"Roar roar roar!" Zombie Thor emitted an ear-splitting roar, its rotted muscles exploding with startling strength as Mjolnir whistled through the air, wreathed in violent thunder.
The air was torn apart.
Electric sparks leaped frantically around the hammer's head.
The power of this strike was enough to level a small hill.
However, facing such an attack, Ian didn't flinch. He just stood there, confident not only in his strength but also in the [Ian Kent Defense Technique].
> **[Ian Kent Defense Technique (Elite)]**: When standing still, damage taken is reduced by 30%. The face and vital areas enjoy double damage reduction.
With such a divine skill, Ian was not just as still as a mountain; he actively used his face to meet the battle. Under the horrified gazes of the group, Mjolnir slammed solidly into his face.
The thunderous sound of metal colliding shook the surrounding ruined buildings into powder. The shockwave created a gale. Cap instinctively raised an arm to shield himself, Gwen's spider-sense made her cover her ears in advance, and Morgan's armor automatically activated a protective shield. Only the real Thor was blown away.
Still, he managed to crawl back on his own.
Worthy of encouragement.
As the dust settled, everyone's eyes widened. Ian remained in a pose with his hands in his pockets, not even a wrinkle on his clothes. His face was perfectly intact, not even the skin was red—clearly, the universal divine skill combined with Ian's natural thick-skinned nature was synonymous with being unharmed.
"!!!!!" For the first time, a human-like shock appeared on Zombie Thor's rotted face. Its clouded eyeballs trembled violently, and its jaw almost hit the ground.
"Phew~"
Ian gently blew on the hammer, as if trying to replicate a classic scene.
However.
What he exhaled was only a sulfur-scented Fel breath. Forget freezing; not even a spark came out. This failed replication made Ian "redline" (overheat) in embarrassment.
He suddenly pulled out his right hand.
Clenching his fist, he smashed it toward the Mjolnir resting against his cheek.
His right hand formed a fist, booming against the hammer's handle!
"Bang!"
With the first punch, spider-web cracks appeared on the hammerhead.
"Boom!"
The second punch directly shattered half the hammer's face, spraying shards of Uru metal everywhere.
Zombie Thor let out a shrill howl, as if every punch was hitting its heart. The real Thor looked on, dumbfounded, his beer dropping to the ground with a "clatter."
"Impossible!"
"This is impossible!"
The real Thor shouted from a short distance away in shock.
"How could Mjolnir be smashed by a fist!" He really couldn't help but let his mind wander: if Ian could smash the hammer of another version of himself, could he also smash his own?
Thor, who didn't yet know that individuals and divine artifacts across the multiverse vary in strength and quality, was sweating profusely, seemingly unwilling to accept reality.
Just then.
"Oh, right. I can answer that for you, my dear follower. You have no idea what is 'possible'... don't glare at me, I'm just recreating a classic scene!"
Ian still had the leisure to point out the real Thor's psychological journey.
When he threw the third punch.
Mjolnir was turned completely into scrap.
The broken handle shattered inch by inch, turning into iron filings! Zombie Thor's arms shook violently; before it could react, Ian's left hand had already clamped onto its head like a steel vice!
"Splat~!"
Ian closed his five fingers!
Zombie Thor's head, burning with green fire, exploded like a ripe watermelon! Brain matter and corrosive fluid splashed everywhere as the headless corpse slumped to the ground.
Stirring up a cloud of dust.
"One last one." Ian didn't stop. With a tap of his toe, he flew into the sky, diving straight for the gargantuan Zombie Hulk crawling out of the ruins!
The monster roared, throwing a punch that compressed the air into a sonic boom! It roared as it charged, a rotted giant fist slamming toward Ian! Ian didn't dodge, throwing a punch in return.
"Boom—!!"
The moment the fists collided, a shockwave exploded!
The ground within a hundred meters shattered!
Zombie Hulk's arm was shattered the moment it made contact, rotted flesh splashing like mud!
"Roar—!!"
Zombie Hulk let out a pained roar, but Ian had already grabbed its head and slammed it into the ground!
"Rumble!!"
The ground was smashed into a giant crater a thousand meters wide. The momentum was vast, and Zombie Hulk's body was deeply embedded.
"You don't give me a job or experience, so let's leave it at that." Ian's right hand formed a claw and plunged into its chest—his hand pierced through Zombie Hulk's heart.
Then.
Surging fist-force directly penetrated the Hulk's indestructible chest.
A gust of fist-force even burst out from the back!
"Bang!"
Zombie Hulk's heart exploded in Ian's palm, spraying black blood. Zombie Hulk's body twitched violently a few times. It looked down at the bloody hole in its chest. The soul-fire in its eyes flickered intensely before finally fading away, and its massive body slumped down, motionless.
The battle, from start to finish, had taken less than ten seconds. Ian shook the blood from his hand, jumped out of the pit, and gave a sunny smile to the dumbfounded crowd.
"Done."
Ian felt like he hadn't even warmed up before the Zombie Avengers were all lying down. He felt a bit unfulfilled, but within dozens of kilometers, not even a toddler zombie could be found.
Looking at the debris on the ground, Ian thought for a moment, picked up the shards of Mjolnir, cleaned them with disinfectant, and then started stuffing them into his mouth along with Zombie Iron Man's armor.
[Entropy Lord Experience +77]
[Entropy Lord Experience +86]
[Savage Tyrant Experience +198]
[Entropy Lord Experience +65]
[Entropy Lord Experience +99]
...
For some reason, a portion of [Savage Tyrant] experience was mixed in. Ian had clearly washed them thoroughly, yet it seemed he had still consumed some zombie virus.
But there was no panic.
The zombie virus was less toxic than the viruses already in Ian's body.
It couldn't stir up much trouble.
It was all turned into "protein" and became nourishment for Ian. Ian crouched on the ground like he was picking out fresh vegetables at a market, seriously searching for shards of Mjolnir. He picked up a relatively intact piece of Uru metal, blew off the dust, and with a "crunch," stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it loudly.
"Has a bit of a charred aroma."
Gourmet Ian gave a sharp review of the Mjolnir shards that still held electric arcs.
The description was precise and biting.
Thor and Steve stood to the side, their expressions as complex as if they'd just been forced to marry each other—their emotions were truly indescribable. Thor instinctively hugged his remaining Mjolnir tightly, fearing Ian would eye it next. Steve was the same, stuffing his shield under his clothes to hide it.
Both were worried Ian wouldn't be satisfied with his meal and would turn around to scam them of their treasures. The two "brothers in misfortune" huddled together, whispering about what exactly Ian *wouldn't* put in his mouth.
On the other side.
Gwen approached Morgan, who was taking photos of Ian.
"Don't you find it strange at all?"
She whispered her question to Morgan, feeling that Morgan was just as abnormal as Ian. Hearing this, Morgan didn't look up, continuing to *click-click* away at Ian's "Gourmet Review" scene.
"Strange? Uncle Ian is always like this."
Morgan wasn't actually a crazy girl, but she once again displayed her familiarity with Ian, appearing to have accepted his behavior as a normal person would.
This "Son of Tony, Daughter of Iron" paused for a moment as if suddenly remembering something funny. "Did you know he used to love making tea with nuclear wastewater?"
"He said it had a 'mineral flavor.' Truly a life well-lived."
Morgan again showed that sense of being accustomed to it, her tone full of the flavor of memory. This one sentence made Gwen's New Spider-Sense sharply prick her nerves.
This was really wrong.
She had clearly known Ian for a long time, yet she had no memory of these things Morgan was saying. Moreover... Morgan's degree of familiarity with Ian was as if she had grown up following him.
Gwen, who had memories from before the restart, realized Morgan's strangeness just as Ian had, but she couldn't find any useful information in her "old era" memories.
"Tony Stark and that guy over there knew each other a long time ago?" Gwen frowned, realizing Old Tony had been hiding something from both her and Ian.
Morgan finally put down her phone and tilted her head in thought.
"I don't know how long they've known each other. But..." She lowered her voice and said mysteriously, "I heard from my mom that the encounter between Uncle Ian and my dad was quite spectacular."
When those words were spoken.
Not far away, although Ian was still buried in chewing metal, his ears pricked up like radar; he was just as curious as Gwen about the information Morgan knew that he didn't.
Morgan, seemingly unaware, continued: "Back then, Uncle Ian was very destitute, even live-streaming to beg for food. In the end, he failed to snatch the lunchbox my dad was giving out for charity."
"He got so angry that he used some magical means to sneak into our villa..." Morgan's voice wasn't just recalling the past, but also the warm times of her mother telling her stories.
Gwen couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
"And then? Stole the vault? Blew up the lab?"
Her intuition told her Ian definitely didn't just go there to cause destruction or commit theft.
Morgan shook her head.
"None of that."
She spoke with a suppressed laugh and a tone of sentimentality.
"He stole several pairs of my dad's unwashed underwear."
When those words came out.
Ian froze on the spot.
"...What?"
Gwen's eyes widened like saucers.
"Shut up! I would never do such a thing! Those are all false memories Tony fabricated for you!" Ian turned his head, his face "redlining," mainly because a metal shard was stuck in his throat.
The coughing turned his face bright red.
Yes.
That was his reason.
Morgan didn't notice Ian's reaction at all, enthusiastically continuing with revelations that even Ian couldn't predict.
"He wasn't stealing my dad's underwear to sell to my dad's fans."
She lowered her voice mysteriously. "Uncle Ian had special methods; he could extract the 'progeny' from the underwear and sell them on the black market. Supposedly, he even provided after-sales service."
When those words came out.
Ian turned the "redline" shade of the Public Enemy robot, Rambo.
Gwen and the others' expressions also froze.
"I heard he became a billionaire from that in no time." Morgan looked admiring. "I have to say, as expected of Uncle Ian—even his money-making is so creative!"
She seemed completely unaware.
That those "progeny" were all her competitors.
"Pfft—!!"
Thor spat out his beer and hurriedly rushed toward his "Old Man Odin" and the King of the Frost Giants, fearing Ian would replicate such an operation in Asgard.
Steve's face had turned green.
He instinctively touched his own trousers.
Then he looked at Ian in horror.
"I was once knocked unconscious by you!"
The veteran's persecution complex flared up once more.
Ian finally coughed out the metal shard.
He jumped up and shouted.
"Slander! This is blatant slander! Didn't you see how cool I was fighting monsters just now? 'Cool' has been my middle name my whole life!"
Ian pointed at Morgan.
"Your mom must have senile dementia! How could I possibly do such a thing?! Right, all of these can actually be false memories Tony implanted in you; you never actually truly knew me!"
This was Ian's current guess.
"I am DC Ian! Look at my belt... you have to read it backwards, it says DC Ian!"
Just as Ian refused to accept that such behavior was related to him, in the shadows of the ruins far away, a pair of eyes belonging not to a zombie but shining with the light of wisdom quietly observed all of this.
The figure lightly pressed a communicator by their ear.
"Abnormal timeline disturbance observed; target has made contact with the 'Anchor.' Prepare to execute Phase Two Protocol."