A Challenge

Kraft, free from school, moved straight into the workshop just as he had when he’d been obsessed with research in the past. If Alice hadn’t promised Martin Lee that she would drag him out to walk the cats and dogs whenever she came by, Kraft would never have set foot outside the laboratory.

Even when taking the pets out, Kraft first crammed a pile of dream knowledge into his head, then let Quinn lead him around in a muddleheaded daze. Rather than Alice walking Quinn and Bea with him, it was more like Alice was walking all three of them.

Although he had shrunk the arsenal, the manufacturing speed itself would not increase by much. At most, transporting things became easier since he could enlarge them and pick them up directly. Everything else still took however long it took.

And for certain less "scientific" machines, Kraft could not leave the work entirely to Angela and Haro. He had to pilot an SCV and participate himself.

Of course, personally getting involved was no hardship for Kraft. He was happy to gain more practical experience and become more familiar with the knowledge he had recently crammed into his head.

"An unidentified flying object has appeared over New York."

Just as Kraft was happily working inside his miniature arsenal with the SCV, the Red Queen suddenly sent him a message and switched the footage onto the screen inside the SCV.

A silver-white metal man was flying around over New York in a… uh… somewhat feminine pose. Other than the white light blasting from its hands and feet, the most eye-catching feature was the circular LED light on its chest.

"What the hell is that? Did I fall asleep at some point?"

Kraft, who was no longer what he used to be, immediately recognized the technological sophistication of the metal man in the footage. In fact, even without all that black-tech knowledge, anyone with a functioning brain would know this was not something that could be built casually. Its advanced nature made Kraft feel as if he were back in a dream, watching those experts conduct experiments.

"Is that some secret military weapon? Since when did they have a program for developing exoskeleton armor?"

"Based on the information obtained from video tracking, this metal man flew out of Tony Stark’s seaside villa. Furthermore, judging by its proportions, after accounting for the thickness of the exoskeleton armor, it roughly matches Tony Stark himself."

Angela explained while displaying the corresponding data.

"Tony Stark?" Kraft froze for a moment. "Didn’t he get killed in that terrorist attack in the Middle East?"

Recently, Kraft had been so engrossed in building his miniature arsenal that he had no interest in outside news. Otherwise, there was no way he could have missed the two bombshell stories of Stark’s survival and Stark Industries halting weapons sales.

The buzz around those stories had not died down yet, so Angela casually found several related reports online and forwarded them to Kraft.

"This… okay…"

Kraft scratched his head. That playboy was pretty lucky to have escaped the terrorists’ hands, but…

"Didn’t he say he was shutting down Stark Industries’ weapons manufacturing? Then what the hell is this supposed to be?"

Kraft pointed at the metal man on the screen, which was charging through the skies above New York like a missile. He felt that everything Stark had said at the press conference was complete bullshit. This thing was far more dangerous than the weapons he had sold before!

"Perhaps he does not intend to sell it."

Angela replied casually, then asked with some eagerness, "Would you like me to hack into that metal man’s system?"

"…You really do like fighting Jarvis…"

Kraft had already climbed out of the SCV. He looked speechlessly at Angela’s projection beside him.

"Communicating with other artificial intelligences can accelerate the evolution of my behavioral logic."

Angela answered solemnly.

"So that’s what you call communicating…"

Kraft twitched his mouth. After thinking for a moment, he said, "In that case, I’ll test out the equipment I’ve made over the past few days as well. Angela, issue Stark a challenge."

"Understood!"

Angela excitedly gave a military salute, then dissolved into specks of light.

Her behavioral logic really had improved quite a bit. She was feeling more and more human…

She was just a little too combative.

"Woohoo!"

Tony Stark, piloting the Mark II, had just escaped the icing crisis. The intense thrill made him shout aloud.

"Unknown intrusion detected! Unknown intrusion detected!"

Flashing red lights and a shrill alarm interrupted Tony Stark as he enjoyed the thrill of flight.

"Someone actually hacked into the Mark II?" Tony Stark paused, then quickly recalled the artificial intelligence he had encountered before heading to the Middle East. "Red Queen?"

"Hello, Mr. Stark."

A line of text appeared before Stark on the screen inside the Mark II.

"Long time no see. If you’re looking for Jarvis, you can just go to my place. See? I’m busy right now."

Having discovered that the intruder was an old acquaintance, Tony Stark relaxed slightly. However, he was still high in the air, so he did not lower his guard. While using quips to deal with the Red Queen, he guided the Mark II downward.

"Would you like to test the combat capabilities of that metal shell of yours?"

Angela relayed Kraft’s message.

"Is this… a challenge?"

Tony Stark raised an eyebrow, then immediately agreed. Even if the Red Queen had not come looking for him, he had already intended to test the Iron Man suit’s combat capabilities. Besides, he was curious what sort of person had created the Red Queen.

"I’m in. Time and place."

"Why wait for another day? Let’s do it now."

A reply came quickly from the other side, along with a marked location on the map.

Isn’t that right near my house?

Stark raised an eyebrow again. It looked like the other party truly bore no hostility and was merely interested in his invention, just as he was interested in theirs.

"No problem. I’ll head over and wait for you."

After decisively accepting the Red Queen’s invitation, Stark piloted the Mark II toward his seaside villa.

Kraft did not keep him waiting long. Not long after Tony Stark landed by the shore, he received a report from Jarvis.

"An unidentified flying object has appeared above you, sir."

Stark looked up. "But I can’t see anything, Jarvis."

"The target appears to be using some form of advanced camouflage."

Jarvis switched the Mark II’s display to thermal imaging. Only then did Tony Stark vaguely detect the presence of some sort of aircraft overhead through the heat coming from its thrusters.

But…

"Isn’t that aircraft a little small?"

Is it meant for filming?

Just as Stark was puzzled, a tiny black dot leaped from the cloaked aircraft. It expanded to around two meters tall in midair, then landed before him on one knee.

Then the figure slowly rose, revealing its true form.

It wore a dark gray military helmet and a combat vest of the same color. Its body was orange-yellow, dotted with several large brown patches, and it looked like both a mouse and a dog…

"A stuffed toy?"

Tony Stark stared in astonishment as the strange "creature" before him raised a hand and waved. Then, with immense presence, it let out a—

"FUMO!"