A time traveler arrives in the Multiverse with an ability that turns confident assumptions into reality. If he believes an ordinary object should perform an impossible task, the rules of the world may simply adjust to make it happen. A bicycle can rise into the sky, common equipment can behave far beyond its normal limits, and even the human body can ignore expectations that should be absolute. The power sounds convenient, but every new idea raises a larger question: if reality keeps obeying what he thinks is “scientific,” how long will it be before no one—including him—can tell where logic ends and imagination begins?
Chapter 41: 040: A Challenge
With no school to attend, Kraft moved straight into his workshop, just as he had when he was obsessed with his research in the past. If it weren’t for Alice’s promise to Martin Lee—that she’d drag him out to walk the cats and dogs every day when she came by—Kraft would never have set foot outside the lab. Even when going out to walk the pets, Kraft would first stuff his head full of dream-related knowledge, then, with his mind a complete muddle, let Quinn lead him around aimlessly. Rather than saying he was walking Quinn and Beya with Alice, it was more accurate to say Alice was walking all three of them. Although the armory had been shrunk, production speed and such hadn’t increased much. At most, items like transport units could be enlarged so they could be picked up by hand; otherwise, whatever time was required for the rest of the work still had to be spent. Moreover, when it came to certain “unscientific” machines, Kraft couldn’t simply leave their construction entirely to Angela and Harlow—he had to hop into an SCV and get involved himself. Of course, this hands-on involvement wasn’t a chore for Kraft; he was actually happy to get some practical experience to further familiarize himself with the knowledge he’d recently crammed into his head. “An unidentified flying object has appeared over New York.” Just as Kraft was having a blast driving his SCV around his miniature armory, Red Queen suddenly sent a message and switched the feed to the screen inside the SCV. A silvery-white metal figure was flying back and forth over New York in a… um… somewhat feminine posture. Aside from its limbs, which were emitting white light, the most conspicuous feature was the circular LED light on its chest. “What the heck is that? Did I fall asleep or something?” Kraft, who had long since changed beyond recognition, instantly recognized the technological sophistication of the metal figure in the video. In fact, even without any knowledge of cutting-edge technology, anyone with a modicum of common sense could tell that this thing wasn’t something you could just whip up on a whim. Its level of advancement gave Kraft the illusion that he was watching the bigwigs conduct an experiment right there in a dream. “Is this a secret military weapon? When did they start developing exoskeleton armor?” “According to the information tracked from the video, this metal suit flew out of Tony Stark’s beachfront villa, and judging by its build—after accounting for the thickness of the exoskeleton—it roughly matches Tony Stark’s own physique.” Angela continued her explanation while displaying the corresponding data. “Tony Stark?” Kraft paused in surprise. “Didn’t he die in a terrorist attack in the Middle East?” Recently absorbed in building his own miniature armory, Kraft hadn’t paid any attention to outside news; otherwise, he couldn’t have missed the two bombshells—Stark’s survival and Stark Industries’ halt to weapons sales. The buzz around these stories hadn’t died down yet, so Angela easily found a few related articles online and forwarded them to Kraft to read. “Well… okay…” Kraft scratched his head. That playboy sure had some luck—managing to escape from the terrorists. But… “Didn’t he say he was going to shut down weapons production at Stark Industries? So what’s this thing, then?” Kraft pointed at the metal figure on the screen, careening through the skies over New York like a missile. He felt that everything Stark had said at the press conference was a load of bullshit—this thing was way more dangerous than any of the military hardware he’d sold before, wasn’t it! “Maybe he never intended to sell it to anyone.” Angela replied offhandedly, then asked, sounding eager to get started, “Do you want me to hack into this tin man’s system?” “…You really do love fighting with JARVIS, don’t you…” Kraft, who had already crawled out of the SCV, glanced speechlessly at Angela’s phantom image beside him. “Interacting with other AIs helps accelerate the evolution of my behavioral logic.” Angela replied with a straight face. “So that’s what you call ‘interacting’…” Kraft twitched the corner of his mouth, then thought for a moment before saying, “In that case, I might as well test out the gear I’ve been building these past few days. Angela, go issue a challenge to Stark.” “Yes, sir!” Angela saluted excitedly, then vanished in a flash of light. Her behavioral logic had indeed improved significantly; she was starting to feel more and more human… Though she is a bit too warlike. “Wuhu~” Tony Stark, piloting the Mark II, had just emerged from the freezing crisis, and the intense thrill made him let out a loud shout. “Unidentified intruder detected! Flashing red lights and a frantic alarm interrupted Tony Stark as he was enjoying the thrill of flight. “They actually managed to hack into the Mark II?” Tony Stark paused for a moment, then quickly recalled the artificial intelligence he’d encountered before heading to the Middle East. “Red Queen?” “Hello, Mr. Stark.” A line of text appeared on the screen inside the Mark II, right before Stark’s eyes. “Long time no see. If you’re here to see JARVIS, you can go straight to my place—as you can see, I’m busy right now.” Realizing the intruder was an old acquaintance, Tony Stark relaxed slightly. However, since he was still high in the sky, he remained on high alert. While bantering with Red Queen, he steered the Mark II downward. “Want to test the combat capabilities of this tin can of yours?” Angela relayed the message from Kraft. “Is this… a challenge?” Tony Stark raised an eyebrow, then agreed without hesitation. After all, even if Red Queen hadn’t come knocking, he’d already been planning to test the Iron Man suit’s combat capabilities—and he was curious about the person who had created Red Queen. “I accept. Time and place.” “Why wait? Let’s do it right now.” A reply came back quickly, along with a marker on the map. Isn’t that right near my house? Stark raised an eyebrow again. It seemed the other party really had no hostile intentions—they were simply interested in his invention, just as he was interested in them. “No problem. I’ll head over there and wait for you.” Decisively accepting Red Queen’s invitation, Stark piloted the Mark II toward his beachfront villa. And Kraft didn’t keep him waiting long. Not long after Tony Stark landed on the shore, he received a report from JARVIS. “An unidentified flying object has appeared above you, sir.” Stark looked up. “But I don’t see anything, JARVIS.” “It appears the object is using some kind of advanced stealth camouflage.” JARVIS switched the screen inside the Mark II to thermal imaging, and only then could Tony Stark faintly detect the presence of some kind of aircraft above him through the heat signature emitted by its thrusters. Wait… “Isn’t that aircraft a bit small?” Could it be used for filming? Just as Stark was wondering, a tiny black speck leaped out of the cloaked aircraft, then grew to about two meters tall in midair before landing on one knee in front of him. Then the figure slowly stood up, revealing his true appearance. It was a creature wearing a dark gray military helmet and a combat vest of the same color—its body was entirely orange, dotted with several large brown spots, and its appearance was somewhere between a rat and a dog… “A stuffed animal?” Tony Stark stood there dumbfounded, staring blankly as the strange “creature” before him raised a hand and waved at him, then let out a resounding “FUMO!”
