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1970 — New Jersey Base
Howard Stark, senior consultant of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, cut short his vacation and arrived at the secret base wearing a look of confusion.
"Peggy, you owe me an explanation," Howard Stark complained irritably as he entered Peggy Carter's office.
"You know my son was just born this year."
Since his child's birth, Howard Stark had grown noticeably more composed. The flamboyant playboy and arrogant genius of the past had finally matured.
That said, his words were still sharp and commanding—the pride of a supergenius had never faded.
"Congratulations, Howard," Peggy Carter said sincerely, looking up at him.
"Your son is destined to be as great as you are."
"Thank you, Peggy."
Hearing praise directed at his son, Howard couldn't help but smile with a father's pride.
"Howard, what do you think of Evolution Glory Biotech?"
Peggy handed him a file, her tone turning serious.
"Evolution Glory?" Howard glanced through the documents.
"A biotechnology company on par with Stark Industries. Their disease serums have saved countless lives."
He looked back at Peggy, fully aware that she wouldn't be investigating the company without reason.
"My agents recently infiltrated Evolution Glory," Peggy continued.
"They discovered something troubling. This company provides support for mutant awakenings. They possess a serum capable of activating dormant mutant genes in ordinary humans."
"If a person carries the X-gene, injecting this serum will turn them into a mutant."
Peggy frowned deeply.
For years, she had been monitoring mutant activity. But the House of Mutant Evolution was too mysterious, leaving Evolution Glory as her only viable lead.
"I don't care about mutants," Howard said coldly, sitting casually on the desk.
"Tell me what you actually want me to do."
"I want you to study space… the Tesseract."
Peggy tapped the desk lightly. Her expression was unusually grave.
"…Interesting choice of words, Peggy," Howard said slowly.
"Sounds like you know more than you're letting on."
"You don't need to know the details," Peggy replied.
"Just tell me—can we use the Tesseract to open a portal?"
Howard's expression changed instantly.
"A portal? That's reckless," he said seriously.
"So far, the Tesseract has only performed one confirmed spatial transfer."
Peggy knew exactly what he meant—the event that had sent Red Skull into deep space.
That was precisely her goal.
After learning of the Mutant King, Lancelot, Peggy had spent years searching for a way to eliminate such an uncontrollable threat. From 1962 to now, she had finally found an answer.
If the threat couldn't be destroyed—
Then it would be exiled.
She had chosen this moment because the Tesseract was currently in one of its most active phases.
"All right, Howard. I know you can do it."
She led him into a highly advanced, energy-dense laboratory.
"Hmm?" Howard suddenly froze.
"Dr. Pym? What are you doing here?"
Dr. Hank Pym stood inside the lab.
"Damn you, Peggy Carter!" Pym snapped.
"You won't let me research Pym Particles, but you let Howard Stark play with the Tesseract?!"
Furious, Pym stormed out.
The moment he returned to his own lab, his body rippled like liquid—
and transformed into Mystique.
"My lord," Mystique reported to Lancelot,
"Howard Stark has arrived. Peggy Carter intends to have him continue Tesseract research."
"Emma. Read Peggy Carter's thoughts," Lancelot ordered.
The White Queen activated her telepathy, her mental presence instantly covering the entire base.
"One minute later—
My lord, Peggy Carter plans to use the Tesseract to send you into deep space."
Lancelot's ruby-like eyes glinted faintly.
"Interesting," he murmured.
"So this is another way to eliminate a future threat?"
He didn't even know when he himself had become one.
At the same time, he finally understood why Professor X had once said that when he used the Eye of the Future to observe mutant destiny, he became lost in the abyss of the cosmos.
…
"Tesseract… Peggy Carter."
Lancelot tapped the table lightly, his gaze turning cold.
"Yes," he said calmly.
"I want to see if I can devour the power of the Space Stone."
His presence radiated absolute kingship.
Lancelot feared no challenge—especially not in the year 1970.
"Leave Howard Stark alone," he added.
"Let him study in peace."
He had no intention of disturbing the snake before the future heroes arrived.
A month passed in silence.
Inside Howard Stark's cutting-edge laboratory, the Tesseract erupted with violent energy fluctuations.
"What's happening?" Howard frowned.
"I've never seen the Tesseract behave like this."
"Doctor," the assistant said nervously,
"Energy levels are increasing exponentially. The cause is unknown."
"Is the energy transfer stable?"
Howard rushed to the control panel, adjusting the system.
This was a spatial transit device he had spent an entire month developing—
one that extracted spatial energy released by the Tesseract to tear open a rift.
For this era, this was the absolute limit.
"Energy flow has stabilized," the assistant said anxiously.
"Should we stop the input?"
Howard shook his head, eyes burning with excitement.
"Sometimes, you have to learn how to run before you learn how to walk."
"Science has always carried risks," he said.
"What scientists do is turn risk into achievement."
The Tesseract's violent fluctuations only fueled his inspiration.
At that moment—
Inside the base, two clusters of quantum light burst out of the void and rapidly expanded.
Two future heroes, clad in white quantum traversal suits, finally arrived.
Boom.
The instant they appeared, Lancelot opened his eyes.
His Eye of the Future activated automatically.
Before him unfolded two completely different futures.
"So it really happened…"
Lancelot's face darkened.
"The timeline has split."
His Eye of the Future spiraled out of control, endlessly projecting two diverging destinies.