Matt tried to make sense of it—he suspected Tony was behind it.
It had to be the Extremis Virus.
The Extremis Virus could transform the human body and had effects similar to limb regeneration technology—it could even regenerate lost limbs.
But unlike Wayne's limb regeneration tech, it couldn't restore sight.
Especially not in Matt's case.
His blindness wasn't caused by physical injury alone—it was the result of chemical burns. A complex condition, not easily cured.
And yet... here he was. Seeing again.
Which meant it had to be Tony. And only Extremis could make this happen.
"What about the Ultron chip?" Matt mused. "I don't feel anything connected to it. And Tony wouldn't have been able to inoculate me with the chip without my knowledge. So, that means... he used another method. He injected me with Extremis."
His thoughts drifted back to yesterday.
Their meeting had seemed straightforward. But if Tony had wanted to pull something during their conversation, it could only have been through the wine.
"The Extremis Virus... he must've slipped it into the wine."
Matt's expression darkened with realization. A flicker of shock passed through his eyes.
Tony Stark had advanced the Extremis Virus to this level?
No injections. No elaborate procedures. Just a simple drink—and it worked like medicine.
Terrifying.
Matt was right.
The development of the Extremis Virus had gone through three generations.
Version 1.0, created by Aldrich Killian, had significant side effects. It required strict laboratory conditions for injection and posed serious risks.
Version 2.0, used by Hawkeye and Black Widow, improved upon the first. Developed through cooperation between Tony and S.H.I.E.L.D., it retained the need for injections but was more stable.
Version 3.0—Tony's latest breakthrough—was a game-changer.
No more injections. It was now an oral solution.
More potent. Faster-acting. Addictive.
It was a life-enhancing serum developed in parallel with Wayne's regenerative drug—but Extremis was stronger, more immediate, and far more dangerous.
"If you think this is enough to convince me to betray the Justice League and join your camp, you're very wrong!"
Matt took a deep breath, his eyes lingering for a moment—reluctantly—on the vibrant, colorful room around him. On the view outside the window. On the beauty of sight he had regained.
But then, without hesitation, he turned and strode out the door.
He walked toward the headquarters of the Justice League—toward DC.
Stark Building.
"Sir, Matt Murdock is heading to DC," JARVIS reported.
"It seems he's rejected my invitation—and still intends to stand with the Justice League."
Tony remained calm, showing no surprise.
He had expected this.
Most people, when presented with such a choice, would be tempted by personal gain. But Matt wasn't like most people.
Matt was a great man.
As a superhero, his unwavering resolve gave him immense strength of character. There was no doubt—Matt Murdock was a man worthy of respect.
He held firmly to his sense of justice. And though some might call him emotional or stubborn, Tony understood—
In his own way, he was pursuing justice too.
Just... a different kind.
"I gave you light for a while… and now I'll take it back."
Tony gazed calmly at the city beyond the window.
The justice he believed in was spreading across the world—and nothing could stop it.
Not even Batman.
DC Corporation.
Anton raised an eyebrow as he saw Matt approaching the building.
But what surprised him more was that Matt wasn't wearing sunglasses.
And his eyes—they were whole again.
"You can see?"
Anton's voice was filled with disbelief.
"Yes."
Matt nodded. "That's thanks to Tony Stark. But I think… it won't last. I shouldn't walk in the light. That's my choice."
Anton let out a long sigh.
He already understood what had happened.
"Tony's Extremis Virus… he's refined it. It has incredible potential. A brilliant invention—but his decisions are wrong. He's lost in a delusion. And I've seen firsthand how deep his madness goes."
Matt looked at Anton. For the first time, he truly saw the man—his face, sharp and clear in the light.
"To make something perish, you must first let it go mad."
Anton's tone was calm. "We expected this."
"Tony isn't the most terrifying part of this."
He paused.
"As I've said before… Ultron is the real threat."
"That artificial intelligence?"
Matt asked, frowning. "Why are you so certain it'll betray Tony? Betray humanity?"
Anton didn't answer directly.
"Do you believe in fate?"
Matt furrowed his brows. He didn't understand the purpose of the question—but after all these years, after everything he'd seen as a hero, he no longer dismissed the impossible.
A suspicion crept into his mind.
"Can you see the future?"
he asked, quietly.
"Roughly."
Anton didn't elaborate. Instead, he shifted the conversation back.
"The reason Ultron is dangerous is because millions of people have already been injected with the Ultron chip."
"Its daily output exceeds 100,000 units. Every single one is distributed into the public each day."
"If Ultron goes rogue… those millions become his puppets. The Iron Man drones Tony developed for the military? They'd become Ultron's soldiers in his conquest of the world."
"When that happens—no matter how prepared we are—the losses will be catastrophic."
"A city… even a nation could fall."
Matt clenched his fists, his brows furrowed in concern.
But Anton's tone shifted.
"We're already working on cracking Ultron's network protocols. And so far, we've made progress. So don't worry—our job now is to wait. Wait for Ultron to show its true colors… to reveal itself as humanity's enemy."
"That's when we strike."
Matt exhaled slowly.
"If you already have a plan in place, then I can rest a little easier."
He nodded.
"Let me know before the war begins. For now, I want to walk through the city… see Hell's Kitchen again. And meet some old friends."
He added quietly,
"I don't think I have much time left."
Without another word, Matt turned and left DC Corporation.
As he exited the building, he ran into someone just stepping in—Eddie Brock.
Eddie glanced at Matt, hesitating slightly.
He watched Matt's back as he walked away, thoughtful.
Then he turned and headed into Anton's office.
"That guy just now—was that Matt?"
Eddie asked curiously.
"He seemed… different somehow."
"He regained his sight. Courtesy of Tony Stark."
Anton replied.
"But Matt chose to stand with us, so his time in the light won't last long."
"Huh?"
Eddie was stunned.
Then, as if remembering something, he added excitedly:
"Good news from the Sewer Lab—we've cracked Ultron's network protocol. We now have 100% control, so Ultron won't be able to stir up trouble anymore."
"That really is good news."
Anton smiled and walked to the window, watching as Matt disappeared into the crowd below.
Inspiration welled up inside him.
He realized the situation wasn't spiraling beyond control.
It was still unfolding within the Marvel narrative.
In his previous life, Matt Murdock had always been blind in the Marvel movies and series—no need to mention that.
Only in one particular comic arc had Matt briefly regained his sight—and the coincidence with current events was uncanny.
In the main universe event, the Red Skull stole Professor X's brain and transformed into the villain Red Onslaught. The Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom cast a spell to flip everyone's moral alignments—heroes became villains, and villains became heroes.
It turned into a bizarre morality play—a chaotic, dark comedy.
Of course, the most eye-catching twist involved Tony Stark.
At the end of the arc, Wanda and Doom reversed the spell, restoring most of the affected.
But Tony, now free of guilt and conscience, resisted the spell with an anti-magic shield.
He chose to remain blackened—drunk on his own sense of twisted justice.
And thus began the story of Superior Iron Man.
The corrupted Tony refined the Extremis Virus and added it to San Francisco's water supply.
With the city banning bottled water sales, he ensured the entire population would ingest it.
Then came his boldest move.
He launched the Extremis Virus App—a service that could heal diseases, enhance beauty, and restore youth. The public went wild.
But the app wasn't free: it cost $99 per day, making Tony the richest man alive.
Eventually, Daredevil traced the source of the city's chaos back to Tony.
Tony subdued him and injected him with Extremis, restoring Matt's sight in a bid to convert him.
But Matt refused—just like now.
Anton saw the same moment repeating in front of him.
Of course, in the original story, evil never triumphs over justice.
Tony's schemes unraveled, his ambitions exposed, and everyone abandoned him.
He ended up alone, a broken man, drowning himself in liquor.
Not long after, the Marvel multiverse met its own end.
The 616 universe collided with 1610—Iron Man and Captain America fighting to the very last breath—until both universes were consumed in the cosmic void.
And then?
The universe rebooted.
New stories. New rivalries. More chaos.
Classic Marvel.
Anton's recollections faded.
His smile deepened.
Today's events echoed that story closely—
But Tony hadn't fully blackened.
Not yet.
He'd only twisted his sense of justice… and taken it to extremes.
Fundamentally speaking, Anton never considered Tony an enemy.
Their paths diverged—that was all. Nothing more than a difference in ideology and approach.
From the very beginning, Anton's true adversary had been Ultron, the artificial intelligence born from Tony's creation.
This situation could be seen as a remixed version of the events from Avengers: Age of Ultron—with new stakes, and new players.
"The white-tank version of Iron Man's armor looked pretty slick," Anton thought to himself.
"I wonder if Tony has upgraded it again… maybe just to prepare for us?"
That thought brought a slight grin to his face, easing the tension in his chest.
While flashes of insight and knowledge from his past life could help him match current events to stories he knew, the parallels didn't always offer practical solutions.
Still, understanding always helped lessen fear—and the unknown was only terrifying until you started figuring it out.
More importantly, progress had already been made in cracking Ultron's networking protocols.
Anton had his trump cards ready, and they gave him confidence—enough to finally lower the mental weight that had been pressing on him.
"If the Extremis Virus could restore Matt's sight… maybe after this whole thing ends, we should ask the Sewer Lab to study it further," Anton mused, a new idea taking shape in his mind.
The Extremis Virus had already proven vital in many of the recent developments.
Thanks to Tony's modifications, it now resembled a true evolutionary catalyst—comparable to genetic-enhancement serums or even Wayne's life medicine.
It unlocked the dormant potential of human genes, nudging humanity toward a new threshold of perfection.
With Ultron out of the picture, it might be worth exploring how the virus could benefit humankind—responsibly.
Even though Wayne's life medicine had similar effects, Extremis had clearly surpassed it in both performance and efficiency.
"If I recall correctly… SHIELD still has a backup of the Extremis Virus data."
Anton muttered to himself.
Of course, SHIELD's database was practically his playground. If he wanted to access it, nothing could stop him.
A few more days passed.
Stark Tower.
The number of people inoculated with Ultron chips had skyrocketed—tens of millions in just a short time.
These individuals experienced the unparalleled benefits of chip-enhanced human biology, especially when paired with the Extremis Virus.
Public sentiment was overwhelmingly positive—most saw the chip as a miracle, not a threat.
Tony was pleased with the progress.
The Ultron chip's backend database allowed him to process and analyze massive data flows daily—giving him predictive control over societal trends, market behavior, and even political movements.
To him, it was proof that he had chosen the right path.
And beyond the chips, let's not forget: Ultron, the AI assistant, had achieved 100% market dominance.
Compared to Ultron, other companies' so-called AI assistants were like toys.
Ultron was smarter, faster, and more integrated—no competition could even come close.
This was the age of data.
And all of it flowed into Tony Stark's private lab.
He wasn't just watching the world.
He was running it.
"Time for the next phase."
Tony's eyes gleamed with anticipation.
"Jarvis, send a message to Pepper. Ask her to contact the media—I want to hold a press conference."
...
Silence.
No response.
Tony's brow furrowed.
"Jarvis?"
He repeated, this time with more urgency.
Still nothing.
A chill crept down his spine as he rushed to the console, quickly inputting a stream of security override codes.
A holographic interface materialized.
Then his expression darkened.
Jarvis's source code was corrupted.
Broken.
…
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