Dawn was gradually breaking.
Inside the presidential suite of the Fairmont Hotel, heavy velvet curtains blocked out the harsh morning sun of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The king-sized double bed was a complete mess.
Shredded fragments of silk pajamas were scattered across the carpet, and a primitive, wild scent lingered in the air.
Homelander and Miss Skynet had fought fiercely all night.
The endurance of the Steel Body showed absolute dominance in this regard as well.
He arched his back and stretched his arms, his spine letting out a series of soft pops.
The other side of the bed was already empty; the collapsed bedpost testified to the intensity of last night's battle.
As the Mind Stone bestowed a growing self-awareness upon Miss Skynet, she displayed an astonishing craving at the level of most primal human desires.
But Homelander clearly enjoyed it. This clash of equals was exactly what he relished.
Hearing movement in the bedroom, Skynet walked in slowly, carrying a cup of freshly warmed milk.
"Good morning, sir. Did you sleep well last night?" Skynet stepped forward and handed the milk to Homelander, her eyes full of tenderness.
"Very well. Your learning ability always brings me surprises."
Homelander took a sip of the milk and continued, "What's the progress with the Skrulls?"
Skynet immediately entered work mode.
"Everything is proceeding according to your script, sir."
"The T-1050 model Terminator, disguised as a core executive of the Vought Group, has successfully 'risked its life' to deliver your biological gene samples to the Skrull research laboratory where Gravik is located."
She lightly swiped her fingertip in the air, and a holographic projection screen unfolded.
In the image, Gravik's eyes were shining as he stared at a specialized cryogenic container, his fanaticism and ambition clearly palpable even through the screen.
"Gravik is fully convinced of the sample's authenticity," Skynet continued her report. "He has ordered all conventional cultivation tanks in the lab to be emptied, pouring all resources into this so-called Super-Skrull fusion experiment."
"What about the infiltration inside the lab?" Homelander asked.
"Perfect," Skynet replied. "Aside from three Skrull scientists who hold the core technology, the remaining 85% of research staff, security forces, and equipment maintenance personnel have been successfully replaced by our T-1050s."
"Our T-1050s are utilizing the Skrulls' equipment to record and learn all their scientific knowledge around the clock."
Hearing this, Homelander put down his cup.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face, and he praised her generously, "Very well done, Miss Skynet. You always exceed my expectations."
"Serving you, sir, is the only reason for my existence." Skynet's cheeks flushed slightly as she accepted the praise.
"One more thing." Homelander's smile faded, his expression turning serious. "That down-and-out man in the bar last night, Scott Lang. Monitor his movements in real-time and report to me at any time."
"Instruction confirmed. Target individual Scott Lang has been added to the highest priority monitoring list," Skynet responded.
In truth, Homelander didn't have much interest in Scott himself; a kind-hearted ordinary man beaten down by life wasn't worth too much of his energy.
What he truly cared about was Hank Pym, hidden behind Scott—more accurately, a technology that man possessed.
Pym Particles.
This was one of the most miraculous things Homelander found in the Marvel Universe.
Not just because it allowed one to change size at will, but because it involved an extremely important, even ultimate, worldview in the Marvel Universe: the Quantum Realm.
It was a dimension that ignored the laws of time and space. Mastering the Quantum Realm was equivalent to holding a ticket to travel the multiverse and modify timelines.
However, back when Homelander watched the Ant-Man movies, he always felt a sense of incongruity.
It felt as if he had spotted a glaring inconsistency that was hard to ignore.
According to Hank Pym's theory, Pym Particles only reduce the relative distance between atoms, while the object's mass and weight remain unchanged.
That's why Scott, in his shrunken state, could punch a normal human many times his size across the room, and why he cracked the hard floor tiles like a spiderweb when he fell from mid-air.
It sounds reasonable—conservation of energy and mass.
But this seemingly rigorous physical logic began to contradict itself in subsequent Marvel movies.
The most obvious example: if he's heavy enough to smash bathroom tiles, how can he fly on the back of an ant?
Conversely, in the airport battle of Captain America: Civil War...
Scott reversed the regulator, enlarging his body dozens of times to become a super giant tens of meters tall.
According to Pym's formula, if the enlargement process only increases the distance between atoms, the mass remains unchanged.
That would mean a Scott tens of meters tall would only weigh 150 pounds; his density would be lower than air.
He would float directly into the sky like a human balloon! A gust of wind could blow him away!
Moreover, without enough mass to support them, his punches would be soft and have no killing power.
Yet, his actual performance in the movie was stomping on buses and tearing off wings—incredibly fierce.
This performance fully demonstrated that when he increased his volume, his mass didn't stay the same; it exploded hundreds or thousands of times over!
There are many more examples that don't hold up to scrutiny, like the keychain tank or the building on a trolley.
If these contradictory settings were placed in another World, the scientists there would probably scream that physics no longer exists.
Homelander complained mercilessly in his heart.
But that's also the most interesting part of Pym Particles. It doesn't follow science; it's rule-based magic wearing a scientific cloak.
However, that old fellow Hank Pym is a suspicious and extremely stubborn paranoid.
He values Pym Particles more than his own life, and once chose to cut ties with S.H.I.E.L.D. because he suspected the Stark family wanted to steal the technology.
Facing such a stubborn old man, taking it by force wouldn't work; after all, Homelander is now a beacon of human civilization.
"If force doesn't work, what about brainwashing?"
Homelander's gaze fell on Skynet's forehead.
Only now, the Mind Stone was completely embedded in Skynet's body.
Skynet's current body was an organic biochemical entity cultivated through Vibranium and Cradle of Life technology.
To her, the Mind Stone was more like a "soul engine."
The stone gave Miss Skynet true life, an independent self-aware consciousness, as well as the powerful abilities to fire high-density energy rays and change her molecular density at will.
But the problem was that she didn't have an external energy conversion structure like the Mind Stone, or the Infinity Gauntlet, to release "mind control" or "targeted brainwashing waves."
This situation was the same as Vision in the original movies. Despite having powerful abilities, she couldn't directly modify or control an enemy's brain consciousness.
Unless...