Writing Thanos's genetic code into Jessica Jones's chromosomes, and then crafting a brand-new serum to fuse with Rory's blood.
The theory was feasible, but it existed purely on paper.
When Rory woke up, he was in no rush to begin the experiment; instead, he prepared to cultivate more of Jessica Jones's blood samples.
Insufficient raw materials always made him overly cautious during experiments, a trait he thoroughly disliked.
While watching the surveillance feeds, he whipped up some instant food to fill his stomach.
"Still haven't given up?"
Several new surveillance feeds popped up on the monitor, and Rory spotted Captain America Steve Rogers on one of them.
This guy still hadn't given up on hunting him down.
In his mind, Rory began plotting how he could get his hands on a blood sample from Captain America.
"Clint, how are things on your end?"
"Captain, no useful clues found. I think we should call in more backup to help."
In the aftermath of the Endgame, all the Avengers were busy with their own affairs.
Thor had handed Asgard over to Valkyrie the Brunnhilde and then left for outer space with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Captain Marvel was as elusive as a ghost, nowhere to be seen.
Dr. Banner and War Machine Rhodes were busy rebuilding the Avengers Compound, and calling upon the Masters of the Mystic Arts was out of the question entirely.
Wanda the Scarlet Witch's whereabouts were unknown, and Spider-Man Peter Parker was busy with school, leaving only Sam Wilson who could be called upon for help.
Captain America Steve agreed with Hawkeye Barton—every extra person meant an extra shred of hope.
So he immediately contacted Sam Wilson.
However, Sam Wilson was not the only one who arrived; he also brought the Winter Soldier Bucky, along with a full team of S.H.I.E.L.D. logistics agents.
"Captain, Nick Fury asked me to say hello for him," Sam greeted, dropping in from the sky.
"Captain, give the order."
Captain America Steve nodded, transmitted Rory's profile to everyone, and commanded: "There's a high probability Rory is hiding around here. He can make weapons and explosives and poses a certain degree of danger. Find this person, and leave the rest to me."
"Got it, Captain."
"Copy that!"
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents split up to search.
Sam took to the air to deploy drones, the Winter Soldier and Captain America conducted a ground search, and Hawkeye Barton climbed to a rooftop to monitor the streets.
"Captain, the headquarters channel is connected; I'll transmit the satellite feed to you shortly." War Machine Rhodes's voice came through the earpiece.
Captain America was momentarily stunned, then resumed his search for Rory.
At that moment, Rory was watching the surveillance monitors, set down his empty water glass, and muttered speechlessly: "Does he really have to make such a huge fuss?"
Judging by the current situation, being discovered was only a matter of time.
It was time to make some necessary preparations.
The temporary Avengers headquarters had already secured satellite access and quickly pinpointed the area where Rory might be hiding through surveillance screening.
Captain America led the others to sweep the pinpointed zone sector by sector, narrowing down the perimeter as much as possible.
Two days later.
Wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, Rory stepped out of a dental clinic, only to be caught on a street surveillance camera.
Inside the temporary Avengers headquarters, the facial recognition monitoring system emitted a series of "beeps."
Rhodes immediately worked the keyboard for a moment, then transmitted the footage to Captain America's communicator.
"Captain, Rory's trail has been found! Heading south on 41st Street, wearing a black jacket and a baseball cap!"
"Copy that!"
Upon receiving the news, Captain America immediately led his team rushing toward 41st Street in Hell's Kitchen.
Sam Wilson, who could fly, arrived first.
Whoosh... Thud...
Rory, walking down the street, was startled by the sudden drop-in from the sky.
Clutching his chest, he said speechlessly: "Is this how all superheroes make an entrance, or do insurance companies compensate ordinary people if you scare them to death?"
Sam, wearing red goggles, smiled slightly: "Just to intimidate bad people."
"I'm a bad person? What bad thing have I done?" Rory tilted his head and blinked.
Sam opened his mouth, only to realize he had no idea what bad thing Rory had done; he had simply assumed that anyone the Captain wanted to catch was no good.
"Uh... the Captain will be right here. You can talk to him about it."
In less than a minute, the street where Rory was walking had been surrounded by several black SUVs with a distinct S.H.I.E.L.D. aesthetic.
Hawkeye Barton, the Winter Soldier Bucky, and Captain America arrived one after another.
Rory stood innocently against the sidewalk wall, and seeing Captain America approach, he looked aggrieved and said: "Steve, is there some misunderstanding, or do you think I've done something wrong?"
Captain America was much taller than Rory.
Drawing closer, he spoke in a low voice: "Rory, hand over the stuff and come back with me."
"What stuff, come back where?" Rory feigned ignorance and asked casually.
"You know very well what you took. As for where, back to where you belong, of course."
"Heh." Rory sneered repeatedly and said, "Steve, you've given me a whole new perspective on what a superhero is."
"You guys can do whatever research you want—studying the Tesseract to build weapons, studying the serum to create Captain America, studying artificial intelligence to create Ultron—why can't I? Is it because you represent justice, and whatever you deem unacceptable is evil, right?"
Rory's expression was filled with mockery.
Captain America Steve Rogers fell silent. It was true that the Avengers had saved the universe, but that didn't mean the members of the Avengers had never made mistakes.
Just as Rory was about to go on, Captain America suddenly cut him off: "Enough. This is different. Thanos's blood is too dangerous; we can't take that risk."
"Don't give me that 'we' nonsense. I'm not cut from the same cloth as you lot."
With a cold expression, Rory brushed past Captain America and walked toward his laboratory, but his path was blocked by the Winter Soldier and Sam.
"Didn't you want the fruits of my research? Take them." Blocked in his tracks, Rory glanced back at Captain America and said, "But what I have to say is, the only difference between you and a robber... is that you wear a cloak called justice."
First of all, Rory hadn't committed a crime; he was simply doing what any scholar would do, only because the things he had acquired were somewhat dangerous.
Yet which research didn't come with risks? Every weapon was manufactured with the sole purpose of killing.
The serum could be used in the medical field, yet it was still judged by Captain America as high-risk.
Tony's mechanical prosthetic limbs, the green-glowing Dr. Banner, Ant-Man's shrinking and swelling, and even the serum that enhanced Captain America had likewise created the Red Skull, who had almost destroyed the world.
To put it bluntly, what Captain America feared wasn't the serum; he feared Thanos, and that already-vanished Thanos had left an indelible shadow in his heart.
Rory knew talking was useless, and with a cold face the entire time, he led the group to the laboratory.
"Those are the Thanos blood samples I cultivated; you can take them." He then unhooked a hard drive from the computer and said, "This is my scientific research; you can take that too, but you must know that this thing was never meant to belong to you."
Rory handed the hard drive out to Captain America.
Captain America hesitated for a long time before finally letting out a sigh: "Listen, Rory, I just want to eliminate unstable risks. You know very well what Thanos did, so... I'm sorry." He pushed the hard drive back toward Rory and continued, "This is the fruit of your research; I won't take it."
"So what? Putting on a good-guy act and you're still going to send me back to 1970?"
Rory had already guessed Captain America's plan.
Captain America nodded helplessly and said, "Yes, you don't belong here."