AHumanMadeMOFO
patreon
Chapter 190: Response (1)
🕑 Added 2025-01-27 16:06:52 +0000 UTCScreech.... A simple family car pulled up in front of the Continental Hotel in downtown Chicago. Jiaying got out in a hurry and quickly entered the hotel.
She walked straight through the hotel lobby and headed for the kitchen.
When the kitchen staff saw Jiaying, they pretended she wasn't there and continued with their work.
Without pausing, Jiaying walked through the kitchen and into the cold storage room.
Inside, surrounded by various meats hanging on hooks, she moved to the very back of the cold storage. She pulled a lever on the wall marked with an emergency sign.
The cold storage wall rumbled and opened, revealing a staircase leading down.
As she descended, the wall behind her closed again.
At the bottom of the stairs was a large door guarded by two burly men.
When they saw Jiaying, they quickly opened the door and let her in.
Jiaying walked through several turns and past numerous guards before entering a luxurious lounge. Inside, Josh was half-lying on an extravagant sofa with an ice pack on his head, while Vito stood guard by his side.
"You're here. Are Margaret and the kids taken care of?" Josh asked weakly as he saw Jiaying enter.
Calvin Chadwick's sudden betrayal during the council meeting had taken Josh completely by surprise.
Fortunately, Josh had always prioritized his safety and had prepared numerous escape methods for himself.
This time he used a technology provided by Yuri from the Red Alert world; teleportation.
Of course, it wasn't the massive superweapon Chronosphere.
The Chronosphere, capable of transporting entire armies, was extremely difficult to build. Despite Yuri's technical support, it was nearly impossible to complete such a project quickly.
For the time being, the Chronosphere remained a technical reserve stored in Josh's system inventory.
Moreover, its immense power required considerable safety precautions when transporting living beings. Without them, the intense energy field could reduce a body to particles.
Instead, Josh used a simplified version of the teleportation device designed for the Chrono legionnaire. (Tl/N: I've never played the Red Alert Game Series so there may be some inconsistencies with the names)
The original Chrono legionnaire required full body armor due to the inherent dangers of spatial teleportation. Any slight error could result in dismemberment from spatial distortion.
However, Yuri developed an energy field technology that provided a temporary protective barrier during teleportation, ensuring safety from spatial tearing.
This device, small enough to be worn as a belt buckle, was both efficient and safe. Of course, Josh didn't rely on it without testing it.
Before using it for the first time, Josh had several Ouroboros agents test the device, and all tests confirmed its safety.
The device required a pre-installed spatial locator at a destination. Once activated, it could instantly transport the user to that location.
In theory, the teleportation range was unlimited as long as there were no spatial disturbances.
In practice, the distance was limited by the energy stored in the device. The maximum range was about 20,000 kilometers, about half the circumference of the Earth.
Josh had chosen the Ouroboros underground base beneath the Chicago Continental Hotel as his destination.
Yuri's energy field technology owed much to Josh, as it was derived from the Tesseract-based Hydra energy weapons Josh had provided two years earlier.
Initially, Josh was concerned that the Tesseract's energy might lose its properties in another universe, similar to how the Infinity Stones became ineffective in the TVA in the "Loki" series.
However, after completing the trade and consulting with Yuri, Josh discovered that the Tesseract's energy retained its unique properties in Yuri's universe, greatly advancing Yuri's research.
It wasn't until Josh thought about it that he realized that the theory of the Infinity Stones losing their power in another universe didn't make sense.
After all, in Avengers: Endgame, the Avengers borrowed Infinity Stones from alternate universes and their powers remained intact.
Moreover, both Infinity Ultron and Guardians of the Multiverse showed that the Infinity Stones could work in any universe.
The situation in the TVA could only be explained by the TVA's unique location—most likely a rift outside the boundaries of any universe.
In such a space, the rules of a regular physical universe don't apply, which is why the Infinity Stones are useless there.
However, as long as they remain in a normal universe, the Infinity Stones and their energy are fully functional!
This conclusion gave Josh an idea; if he could trade one of this universe's Infinity Stones to another universe, then this universe's Thanos would never be able to complete the snap.
Of course, it was too early for that. Josh hadn't even gotten his hands on the Tesseract yet, so the idea could only remain buried in his mind for the time being.
Due to production limitations—and Yuri’s own needs—Josh currently had only ten single-person teleportation devices.
Besides Josh himself, the others who had them were Margaret, Vito, Ophelia, Jiaying, and Francesca.
Margaret had three of the devices, two of which were for the children, of course.
Josh kept the other three for himself.
In addition, the spatial locator for each device was set to a different location.
For example, of Josh's three devices, one was set here with Vito, another was set with Margaret and the children, positioned in Europe instead of the United States, and the location of the last was known only to Josh.
However, Josh would never casually use these devices unless it was a life-threatening emergency like this one.
Judging by Josh's current weak state, it was clear that teleportation was not a pleasant experience. In his condition, he would need a full day's rest to recover.
Vito, on the other hand, experienced only mild nausea and recovered quickly, thanks to his super-soldier physique.
Another reason for the limited use of these devices was the limited supply of Tesseract energy needed to power them.
Although Aldo had intercepted an entire warehouse of Hydra weapons containing Tesseract energy, the actual amount of energy was not significant. Yuri’s research had already consumed a lot of it.
In addition, Yuri needed more energy for future research.
Currently, less than a third of the original supply remained.
Without additional energy sources, these teleportation devices would become useless. Well, not completely useless--
Without the Tesseract energy to generate the protective force field, users would have to wear full body armor or could only teleport inanimate objects. Even then, the power consumption would be enormous.
This was one of the main reasons Josh coveted the Tesseract so much.
