MARVEL/DC: DOCTOR IN THE MULTIVERSE

Bruce remained silent for several seconds.

His thoughts never truly left the man quietly drinking tea in the corner.

Lynn always waited.

He never rushed to intervene.

He allowed every situation to develop until everyone else exhausted every possible solution.

Only when his intervention became indispensable...

Only when no alternative remained...

...would he calmly stand up, solve the problem, and present an invoice large enough to make billionaires hesitate.

Bruce had already seen the pattern more than once.

But the fees were never what truly concerned him.

It was Lynn's motivation.

Every global crisis made him stronger.

Every patient expanded his knowledge.

Every powerful opponent became another source of information.

Another ability.

Another step forward.

Bruce's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly.

What happens...

...when there is nothing left worth collecting?

Would Lynn still choose humanity?

Or would humanity simply become another variable in one of his calculations?

Bruce had considered that question countless times.

He had never reached an answer.

Ever since their first meeting at Miracle Clinic...

Lynn remained the only person Bruce could never completely profile.

Tony Stark was driven by guilt.

Steve Rogers by responsibility.

Clark Kent by compassion.

Thor by honor.

Even Barry Allen's optimism followed predictable emotional patterns.

Lynn...

None of Bruce's psychological models fit him.

Behind those gold-rimmed glasses...

His expression remained gentle.

Calm.

Almost reassuring.

As though nothing in the world could genuinely disturb him.

Bruce knew better.

Someone who could remain perfectly composed during every global catastrophe was either extraordinarily kind...

...or extraordinarily dangerous.

At that exact moment...

Lynn raised his head.

Their eyes met.

Lynn smiled faintly.

Then casually lifted his teacup toward Bruce in a quiet gesture of acknowledgment.

Almost like offering a toast.

Bruce immediately looked away.

He resumed the briefing.

"Our highest priority remains unchanged."

His voice regained its usual composure.

"We need a defense against the Mind Stone."

"If even one frontline combatant becomes immune to its psionic attacks..."

"We regain the initiative."

Tony folded his arms.

"How?"

Bruce remained silent.

Tony answered his own question instead.

"I've modeled it repeatedly."

He projected another simulation onto the holographic display.

"The Mind Stone doesn't transmit conventional energy."

"It's not electromagnetic radiation."

"Not sound."

"Not gravity."

"Not neutrinos."

"It's essentially higher-dimensional information."

"And as far as we currently know..."

"No naturally occurring material on Earth can block it."

Bruce nodded.

Banner adjusted his glasses.

"What about bioelectric interference?"

"If we generated a counteracting neural field around the brain..."

Tony immediately shook his head.

"Already tested."

"The information density is absurd."

He enlarged another graph.

"The human brain processes roughly tens of millions of bits every second."

"The Mind Stone overwhelms that by several orders of magnitude."

"You don't stop a tidal wave with a sponge."

Silence returned.

Lynn quietly sipped his tea.

He watched the discussion with mild amusement.

The conclusion seemed obvious.

This entire room...

Contained some of Earth's strongest physical combatants.

And almost all of them possessed astonishingly weak magical defenses.

Clark Kent's Kryptonian physiology could survive stellar temperatures.

Thor had endured the heart of a dying star.

Tony's newest armor resisted artillery.

Bruce prepared for almost everything.

Yet...

None of that mattered against the Mind Stone.

Only Wanda had successfully resisted it.

Not because she possessed superior mental endurance.

But because Chaos Magic fundamentally altered reality itself.

Her power rewrote the rules governing the attack before it reached its target.

That was something entirely different from resistance.

Thor possessed magical knowledge.

But Asgardian combat traditions emphasized enchanted weaponry, lightning manipulation, and overwhelming physical strength.

Sophisticated defensive sorcery had never been Thor's specialty.

The Ancient One remained uninvolved.

That was consistent with her long-established policy in Marvel Comics: defending reality from mystical threats while rarely interfering in conflicts that humanity could resolve itself.

As for Stephen Strange...

At this point in the timeline...

He was almost certainly still one of New York's most gifted neurosurgeons.

The future Sorcerer Supreme had yet to begin his journey at Kamar-Taj.

That left one practical solution.

Lynn calmly finished another sip of tea.

Magneto's helmet.

Several months earlier...

Magneto had visited Miracle Clinic.

While treating him...

Lynn had completely analyzed the helmet's operating principles.

The helmet's purpose had never been mystical.

It manipulated extremely precise electromagnetic phenomena to interfere with telepathic intrusion, preventing powerful psychics such as Professor X from establishing direct mental contact.

The original design...

Could never block an Infinity Stone.

Not even close.

But...

If its architecture were rebuilt using Quantum Electromagnetic Domination...

If vibranium replaced the original alloys...

If the field geometry were reconstructed according to the Mind Stone's observed energy spectrum...

The result would be very different.

Lynn reached a conclusion almost instantly.

It would work.

Not probably.

Certainly.

Another sip of tea.

The quotation...

Was already forming inside his mind.

...

Discussion continued.

Tony rapidly constructed simulation after simulation.

Virtual equations filled the room.

Every model collapsed almost immediately.

He deleted another projection.

"No."

"Again."

"The information architecture inside the Mind Stone isn't even based on mathematics we currently understand."

"I can't determine the carrier."

"I can't determine the transmission medium."

"I can't even define the encoding language."

"So reverse engineering becomes impossible."

Steve leaned forward.

"What if we stop trying to block it?"

Everyone looked toward him.

"What if we strengthen the brain instead?"

Banner smiled weakly.

"Steve."

"Do you know the information-processing limit of the human brain?"

Steve shook his head.

Banner tapped several calculations.

"The exact number isn't important."

"The difference is."

He pointed toward the Mind Stone's estimated output.

"The Stone exceeds us by several orders of magnitude."

"You can't reinforce a drinking glass until it can contain the Pacific Ocean."

Steve nodded quietly.

Clint Barton finally spoke.

His left arm remained immobilized inside a cast.

"Then why can Wanda stop it?"

Bruce answered.

"Because she isn't resisting the information."

"She's changing the rules governing the information."

"Chaos Magic rewrites reality."

"It changes what the attack fundamentally is."

"In today's battle..."

"The Mind Stone's psionic wave entered Wanda's field."

"And emerged as harmless electromagnetic light."

"It wasn't blocked."

"It was transformed."

Clint leaned back.

"So what we're looking for..."

"...is magic."

Silence settled across the room.

Every pair of eyes slowly turned toward Wanda.

She sat quietly.

Her face remained pale.

Dark circles lingered beneath her eyes.

Maintaining the Chaos Magic barrier had nearly exhausted her.

She spoke hesitantly.

"I..."

"I could probably protect more people..."

"...if I tried."

Lynn finally interrupted.

"No."

The single word immediately stopped the conversation.

Everyone turned toward him.

He placed his teacup on the table.

Adjusted his glasses.

"Her power is driven by mental activity."

"Mental energy is finite."

He looked directly at Wanda.

"Asking her to shield everyone..."

"...is like asking one fuel tank to power an entire fleet."

"Eventually it runs dry."

He continued.

"She already exceeded a safe neurological threshold today."

"If she repeats that level of output..."

"The consequence won't merely be fatigue."

"It risks permanent neurological damage."

Wanda lowered her head.

She knew he was right.

Even now...

A dull ringing still echoed inside her skull.

Like countless insects buzzing beneath her thoughts.

Tony crossed his arms.

"So."

"What do you suggest?"

Lynn calmly lifted his tea once more.

"I am a doctor."

"I treat patients."

"You handle strategy."

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose.

His headache intensified.

Lynn quietly reflected on the larger problem.

The Alliance's strengths and weaknesses were becoming increasingly obvious.

Their offensive capability bordered on absurd.

Superman.

Thor.

Iron Man.

Wonder Woman.

Each possessed destructive force capable of devastating battlefields.

Yet...

Their resistance to mystical or higher-dimensional attacks remained surprisingly poor.

Clark's Kryptonian brain processed information unimaginably faster than any human's.

That advantage meant almost nothing against an Infinity Stone.

Thor's Asgardian physiology granted respectable mental resilience.

Enough to recover faster than ordinary humans.

Not enough to prevent the attack.

Ultimately...

They were exactly what Lynn privately considered them.

A collection of overwhelmingly powerful physical combatants...

With remarkably fragile magical defenses.

Solving that weakness required only two possible approaches.

Bring in a true master of the mystic arts...

Such as the Ancient One—or, in the future, Doctor Strange.

Or...

Create technological equipment capable of reproducing the effects of magical protection.

Visit /ShiroTL for more chapters.