"Sir, we're ready. Just say the word and we can start."
Elric leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on the wall of monitors before him. Each screen flickered with data streams, surveillance feeds, and encrypted communications. The glow cast sharp shadows across his face.
"Good," he said quietly. "Just make absolutely sure this doesn't lead back to Sokovia. Not a single trace."
"That's not a problem at all, sir," Aline's voice responded through the speakers, calm and confident.
He'd spent weeks on this. Weeks. Planning, calculating, running simulations with Aline until they'd refined every last detail. The original plan had been straightforward enough—become a world-renowned hero, get into some messy conflict with the government, then retire from the spotlight. Simple. Clean. Effective.
But then reality hit him like a cold bucket of water.
The Avengers.
Those guys were going to be a massive problem. Even if he became the most famous hero on the planet and then gracefully retired, it wouldn't matter. Not really. Not as long as the Avengers existed. They'd overshadow everything, steal all the influence, and basically ruin the effectiveness of his carefully laid plans.
Sure, having Wanda with him meant they wouldn't be a threat in terms of raw power. But influence? That was a different entirely.
So he'd made a decision: deal with them first.
Killing them was obviously an option—probably the easiest one, honestly—but he'd already decided he didn't want innocent blood on his hands. And despite everything, these people were heroes. They'd save the world countless times in the future. Hell, if he played his cards right, he could probably even use them for his own purposes down the line.
The Avengers had their core trio—the three heavy hitters who were the real problem: Hulk, Thor, and Tony Stark.
Tony was going to be the hardest nut to crack. The guy was smart as fuck, insanely rich, and had resources out the ass. No, dealing with Tony directly would be suicide of his plans. He'd have to be more subtle there.
Thor and Hulk, though? They fell into the same category in his mind. Both were incredibly powerful, both could use their brains when they absolutely needed to, but neither of them really bothered most of the time. That made them... manageable. Predictable.
He'd sketched out rough plans for all of them.
And Hulk was first on the list.
Elric was about to give the final command when something made him pause. He raised a single finger—a silent gesture for Aline to wait.
"Hold on. Is everything prepared? I want full confirmation before we do this."
"Yes, sir." Aline's tone shifted instantly, becoming sharp and businesslike. All traces of uncertainty vanished. "I've already completed a comprehensive behavioral and psychological analysis of General Ross. The simulation is precise down to the smallest detail. We can begin the moment you give the word."
Elric nodded slowly, his blue eyes catching the sterile fluorescent light of the surveillance room. They almost seemed to glow as they reflected the dozens of screens around him.
A moment passed.
Then another.
"So what are you waiting for?" he muttered, letting a hint of impatience creep into his voice. "Start it."
A quiet hum filled the room—barely audible, but there. A low vibration that seemed to pulse through the very floor beneath his feet.
Somewhere out there in the vast, encrypted void of cyberspace, a single, completely innocent-looking email was sent.
The sender? An anonymous account. Untraceable. A ghost in the machine that would vanish the moment its job was done.
The recipient? Thomas Weller—General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross's loyal second-in-command.
"Message delivered," Aline confirmed, her voice calm and methodical. "Encryption is optimal. Digital trail has been scrubbed clean."
Elric stepped closer to one of the larger monitors, his eyes narrowing as he examined the email himself. He frowned.
It looked... basic. Almost too basic. Just a few short lines of text, a single attached file, and a set of coordinates. No flowery language, no obvious emotional markers, nothing that screamed "this is definitely from General Ross!" to anyone who might intercept it.
Honestly? It looked like spam.
"This doesn't feel personal at all," Elric said bluntly, skepticism clear in his voice. "Are you absolutely sure this is going to work?"
Aline didn't even hesitate.
"Boss, the likelihood of success is 97.3%."
She continued before he could interrupt. "After collecting both Thomas Weller and General Ross's complete digital footprints—private communications, tone markers, distinct speech patterns, their entire social networks—I've constructed virtual personality models for both of them. The accuracy is exceptional."
"I understand the message looks basic to you," Aline explained, and Elric could swear he heard a hint of patience in her synthesized voice, like a teacher explaining something to a student. "But for Thomas? It contains multiple personal cues. Subtle word choices. Signature phrasing that General Ross uses frequently. References that only someone as close to Ross as Thomas—someone intimately familiar with his unique communication style—would recognize and find completely natural."
"These elements are invisible to your eye, sir. But for Thomas Weller? They'll feel natural. Familiar. Utterly convincing."
Elric stayed silent, staring at the message for a few more seconds. Despite Aline's detailed explanation, he still wasn't entirely convinced. The simplicity of it just felt... wrong somehow. Too easy.
"If you want," Aline added, apparently sensing his hesitation, "I can increase the match rate to 99.99%. Near-perfect mimicry. But for that level of accuracy, I'll need physical access to them. Cameras, microphones, live behavioral tracking in real-time."
"With that data, I can build a complete one-to-one digital replica of them—voice tone, subtle eye movements, exact decision-making logic, everything. They won't have the real memories, obviously, but the way they think... will be completely indistinguishable from the actual individuals."
Elric let out a quiet sigh, shaking his head.
"No need to go that far. I don't want to turn this into more of a pain than it needs to be." He waved a dismissive hand. "Just send it. If it doesn't work..."
A faint smile crossed his face—predatory, calculating.
"A little illusion can go a long way."
There was a brief pause, then Aline's voice returned, smooth and unwavering.
"Don't worry, boss. It will most likely work."
And just like that, the wheels began turning.
Somewhere out there in the digital infrastructure of the world, a single email was worming its way toward its target. A silent domino, tipped over to start a chain reaction that would eventually bring down the Hulk.
Elric smiled to himself in the darkness of the surveillance room.
Let's see how this plays out.
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