"The hell… Where am I, and why does my stomach feel like I just rode a rollercoaster designed by a psycho?"
Su Zhan blinked rapidly, the world around him a dizzying, shimmering blur of chaos. He was suspended in mid-air, a nauseating sensation of weightlessness combined with the sheer visual assault of explosions, fire, and things whizzing past that definitely shouldn't be whizzing past.
He felt detached, almost like a ghost watching a spectacular, terrifying 4D movie. A massive, roaring inferno engulfed a platform in the distance, casting wild shadows against the churning water. Metallic debris rained down like shrapnel from some apocalyptic hail storm.
Then, his dazed gaze focused on the silhouettes streaking through the smoke-choked sky.
"No way. Seriously? Is that… Iron Legion?"
Dozens of gleaming red-and-gold figures—the unmistakable armors of Tony Stark—flew with mechanical precision. They were weaving and dodging through the blazing wreckage, only to suddenly flicker with internal fire and detonate in brilliant, heartbreaking flashes. It was an extravagant, devastating fireworks show, and the sight instantly clicked a memory in his mind.
This was the climax of Iron Man 3. The final, desperate, emotionally charged destruction of the Iron Legion. The very end of the line for Tony's suit obsession.
A pang of genuine sympathy hit him, quickly followed by a wave of crushing, mind-numbing pain.
"Agh!" Su Zhan clenched his eyes shut, his hands instinctively clamping down on his skull as if trying to keep his brain from tearing itself apart.
It wasn't physical pain; it was the sharp, overwhelming intrusion of data. It was as if a universe of information had been violently downloaded into his consciousness in one agonizing burst.
Then, as suddenly as it began, the tearing sensation vanished, replaced by an intoxicating sense of clarity and power. He gasped, pulling ragged air into his lungs, and a smile—shocked, joyful, and completely unhinged—slowly stretched across his face.
["Welcome. King System Initializing. Host: Su Zhan. Commencement: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Post-New York/End of Extremis Crisis."]
The mechanical voice was calm, formal, and ridiculously over-the-top, like a robotic butler announcing the end of the world.
"A system… I actually got a damn system," Su Zhan muttered, his voice choked with disbelief. "Transmigrated into the friggin' Marvel world, and I drew the golden ticket."
The System Spirit quickly outlined the situation in his mind: He was here in the Marvel Universe for reasons unknown. The System's purpose was simply to cultivate the strongest 'King.' Its functions were purely auxiliary; the hard work—and the danger—was all his.
A King? In this world?
Su Zhan scoffed inwardly. The Marvel universe wasn't just a place of bright spandex and witty one-liners. It was a cosmic gauntlet of gods, rage monsters, genius billionaires, interdimensional conquerors, and guys who could literally snap half the universe out of existence. Becoming a 'King' here was less a pipe dream and more a suicide note scribbled on a napkin.
However, the next piece of information extinguished his cynicism and lit a bonfire of ambition.
My body has been fundamentally rewritten.
When he was transported, his physical form had been permanently altered. It possessed two unique properties that changed absolutely everything:
Devour: The ability to consume and steal the power from any source, living or inanimate.
Stabilize: The complete ability to ignore all instability, side effects, drawbacks, or compatibility issues from any power he consumed.
No matter how toxic, flawed, or destructive a power was—like the Hulk Serum that induces uncontrollable rage, or the deadly Extremis Virus—his body would instantly synthesize and perfect it. He could stack powers like collecting Pokémon cards, but instead of trading them, he absorbed them into his perfected self.
"Holy Moses," he whispered, a tremor of pure exhilaration running through him. "That is not just 'assistance,' that is the ultimate cheat code for the Marvel sandbox!"
The Marvel world was overflowing with dangerous, unstable, but unbelievably powerful abilities: the volatile Extremis, the addictive Centipede Serum, the crippling side effects of the Super Soldier Serum (if injected incorrectly). All of these terrifying risks were now his guaranteed gains.
The bigger targets—Gamma radiation from the Hulk, the sheer physical mastery of the Black Panther, the cosmic energy of an Asgardian—they were all on the menu. The only limit was his ability to survive long enough to acquire them.
And that brought him back to his current, incredibly precarious location.
"Shoot. Iron Man 3. The timeline is already way too advanced," he grumbled, scanning the battle zone. The Avengers were formed, SHIELD was active, and the world was well aware of the super-human community. It wouldn't be easy hunting down the good stuff anymore.
Still, his annoyance quickly turned into a predatory grin. "Eh, who cares? Without the existing heroes and villains, wouldn't the path to my reign be entirely boring? The bigger they are, the tastier the snack."
He needed to focus. His immediate objective wasn't world domination; it was surviving the current chaotic explosion zone and, more importantly, securing his first meal: The Extremis Virus.
That virus was a jackpot. Instantaneous regeneration, superhuman strength and durability, and thermal abilities (fire breath). It was a powerful, if risky, foundational ability. Thanks to his Stabilize function, the 99% self-destruction rate that killed others was a non-issue for him. It was a high-level, low-risk upgrade.
Devour, Stabilize, and Go. That was his new motto.
A concussive KABOOM! jolted him back to the present. He ducked low behind a twisted metal support beam, eyes fixed on the distant action. Tony Stark, looking like he'd been put through a cosmic blender, was slumped on the ground. A figure—Killian, the main villain—reappeared, his body glowing like molten rock, having survived the Iron Man suit explosion.
"Oh, this is the dramatic bit," Su Zhan murmured, knowing the timeline by heart.
Killian, fueled by rage, moved to finish Tony. Then, like a cinematic deity, Pepper Potts, wearing a half-busted Iron Man gauntlet, intervened. The sight of Pepper—already infected with Extremis but surviving—kicking the heavily armored villain across the pier was a pure shot of adrenaline.
She fought Killian with ferocity, leveraging the Extremis power and the Iron Man armor's weapon system. She aimed the repulsor arm cannon.
FZZZZ-CRACKLE!
A blinding blue blast struck Killian, overwhelming the unstable viral power within him. The villain didn't just die; he vaporized, annihilated into nothingness.
"Damn it! Too clean!" Su Zhan hissed, shaking his head in genuine frustration. Killian was obliterated. No corpse, no usable biological material. The Extremis Virus was gone with the breeze. "That was my main target! Thanks for nothing, Little Pepper!"
He sighed, but his predatory calm returned instantly. Adapt. Always adapt.
Tony Stark, meanwhile, was rushing to Pepper, initiating the famous "House Party Protocol" cleanup—a dramatic flourish of all the remaining armors self-destructing in the sky like the world's most expensive pyrotechnics display.
"The ultimate commitment issue," Su Zhan chuckled softly. "He blows them all up, but everyone knows he'll be back in the workshop building a superior model tomorrow. Good for me, I guess."
He had to move now. The site would be swarming with first responders, military, and maybe even SHIELD agents soon. He couldn't risk revealing his unique abilities to those watchdogs yet. He straightened his clothes—remarkably untouched by the chaos—and started walking toward the distraught pair.
"Tony, hold on. There's one more!" Tony yelled a warning.
Pepper, her eyes glowing with the strange, unsettling power of Extremis, immediately raised the cannon-arm. The blue energy of the repulsor focused on Su Zhan.
Tony squinted. "Huh? Who the hell are you? A civilian? Wait—Chinese?"
Su Zhan smiled, wide and disarming, raising both hands slowly in the universal gesture of surrender. "Don't be nervous. I'm not with Killian, Hydra, or the Space Guys. I mean absolutely zero harm. I'm just here to offer some specialized help." He gestured politely toward Pepper. "This beautiful lady seems to be in quite a bit of trouble, yes?"
The hostility radiating from the duo was immediate and intense.
"Stand down and explain yourself, or I guarantee you won't like the alternative," Tony warned, stumbling to his feet. "Jarvis, I need a threat assessment on the new guest, now."
"I'm afraid your helpful butler won't find anything on me, Mr. Stark. My name is Su Zhan," he said smoothly. "And before you jump to any conclusions, let's talk about the situation at hand."
Su Zhan dropped the friendly façade slightly, letting a hint of authority enter his voice. "The Extremis Virus, as you just saw, is fundamentally flawed. It causes instability, volatility, and can incinerate the host. You, Tony Stark, are a genius, and I'm confident you can eventually engineer a cure."
He paused, letting the implication sink in. "However, no one can guarantee when that cure will arrive. How long will Ms. Potts live in constant fear, waiting for her biological clock to go off? That is a terrible anxiety for a loving partner."
He leaned forward conspiratorially. "I can help her. I possess a unique, immediate method to completely remove the Extremis Virus from her body, leaving her perfectly healthy, and more importantly, perfectly human."
"I don't believe you," Tony instantly shot back, his voice thick with suspicion and protective fury.
But Pepper's face, pale and streaked with soot, flashed with a desperate hope. "Tony... is it real?"
Su Zhan shrugged. "Skepticism is warranted. Look, to be totally transparent—I came here for the Extremis Virus. It's a valuable commodity. But me taking it from her body is mutually beneficial, isn't it? It cures her, and it benefits me. It's a clean exchange."
He took another calculated step closer, hands still up. "There is no danger. Even if my method fails, which it won't, it will not harm her further than the virus already has. Allow me to try. At the very least, you have nothing to lose, and perhaps, just perhaps, you'll gain an unusual, powerful, and potentially useful ally. We might not be enemies, Tony Stark. At least... not yet."
Pepper's conflicted gaze shifted from Su Zhan to Tony. "Tony... if there's a chance... I can't live like this."
Tony stared hard at Su Zhan, his jaw clenched, the wheels of his super-genius mind spinning a million miles a minute. He knew this mysterious man was lying about his full intentions. But the desperation in Pepper's eyes was the only truth that mattered.
"Jarvis, forget the threat assessment. Prepare for unknown energy signature absorption. And if he makes one move out of line..." Tony's voice was low and deadly. "...detonate the remaining armor fragments directly on his head."