I Think That's Pretty Scientific

Chapter 44: 043: The Cat’s Out of the Bag

“So it really is Pym particles?” Back at his mansion, Tony Stark had JARVIS run a search and found information on the technology capable of enlarging and shrinking objects. “But hasn’t that stubborn old man always been hostile toward Stark Industries?” Dr. Henry Jonathan Pym, also known as Hank Pym, had discovered a subatomic particle capable of altering the size of objects. He named it the “Pym Particle” after himself and founded his own company—Pym Technologies. However, this old man seemed to have a grudge against his father, Howard Stark; he’d never given him a friendly look during their few meetings and had even publicly criticized Stark Industries in the media. Given Tony Stark’s pride, it’s no surprise he doesn’t have much regard for Hank Pym either. “Could this be that old man’s son? But that doesn’t make sense—if he were a member of the Pym family, he probably wouldn’t be this friendly toward me.” Even though Kraft had beaten him up pretty badly, Tony Stark could sense that the other guy didn’t actually mean any harm… Well, maybe just a little. But that bit of malice was on the level of a mischievous kid’s prank—hardly the kind of attitude one would expect from a descendant of Hank Pym, who regarded him as a sworn enemy. Moreover, Stark had specifically looked into it: Dr. Pym had only one adult daughter and a student; aside from that, he had no other descendants—let alone any minors. “Whoa… I didn’t expect that old guy’s daughter to be so pretty.” Seeing Hope van Dyne’s photo, Tony Stark couldn’t help but whistle. “Well, then, it’s unlikely that kid has anything to do with that old man Pym,” Stark mused, rubbing his chin as he analyzed the situation. “That makes sense—Pym particles were just discovered by that old man first. If he could discover them, then naturally others could too.” Although he had misunderstood the source of Kraft’s ability to change size, Tony Stark’s overall line of reasoning was sound. So, after ruling out the possibility that he was a protégé of Dr. Pym, Stark began searching for information on some well-known child prodigies. Among them, of course, was Kraft, the chief designer at Dream Toys. And in Tony Stark’s mind, Kraft remained the prime suspect. Even though there were clearly others who were more suspicious, Stark—for some reason—was convinced that he was the pilot of that ridiculous puppet mech he’d just seen. He was actually a bit puzzled by this intuition himself. Maybe it was because he was a loyal customer of that kid’s products? Once he had identified Kraft as his prime suspect, the more Stark analyzed the situation, the more convinced he became that it was him… A teenage genius, from a wealthy family, living in New York—and most importantly, judging by the pile of bizarre gadgets on Kraft’s “Skilled Hands” channel, this kid clearly had a unique way of thinking. So it made perfect sense that he would build a puppet-style exoskeleton suit. His pranks also made sense—it was no secret that Kraft Lee harbored prejudices against people of any race other than Asian. Tony Stark had JARVIS run a quick search and learned the full story. Although this information had been filtered by Martin Lee, it was more than enough to support Stark’s suspicions. However, even though Tony Stark had all but confirmed Kraft’s identity, he had no intention of exposing him. Since Kraft had breached his firewall without proceeding further, Stark naturally respected his privacy. If Kraft didn’t want his identity revealed, Stark wouldn’t go out of his way to do so either. Of course, this also had to do with Kraft’s age; if Kraft were an adult, Tony Stark wouldn’t have been so patient. Kraft was still unaware that Tony Stark had already guessed his identity. Upon returning to his workshop, he was excitedly doing somersaults. Although Kraft wasn’t a fan of Tony Stark, he did acknowledge the playboy’s professional skills—not to mention that he’d managed to build an exoskeleton suit that rivaled Kraft’s own “Dream Creation.” To have beaten up a guy like Stark like that—it was absolutely impossible for Kraft not to feel excited. Of course, once the excitement subsided, Kraft felt a tinge of fear. Ever since he’d built himself a whole arsenal of gear in his microfactory, he’d gotten a bit carried away—not to the point of thinking he was invincible, but he’d certainly looked down on those so-called tech companies. Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit, however, brought him back down to earth. Even though he’d chased down and beaten the crap out of Tony Stark today, Kraft didn’t believe that Iron Man suit was all it had to offer. Tony Stark hadn’t even painted it yet, and he hadn’t fully equipped it with weapons or gear. Clearly, this suit was just a prototype. Given Stark’s genius and the financial and military resources of Stark Industries backing him, boosting that suit’s combat capabilities would be a breeze. And Tony Stark is just a relatively well-known scientist—there are so many other scientists in the world at his level, as well as research teams funded by various countries and organizations. Who knows if there aren’t other masters of “black technology” lurking in the shadows? Leaving other matters aside, isn’t the Hulk a prime example of this? Furthermore, Kraft realized his own weakness—his physical conditioning just wasn’t up to par. Once the pace of combat picked up to a certain point, Kraft’s reaction speed couldn’t keep up, and he was essentially reliant on Angela and Harlow’s support. He felt that Tony Stark was probably in a similar situation—though it didn’t have a major impact, it still left him somewhat lacking in agility. Plus, there’s no sense of involvement… If Kraft hadn’t wanted to experience the thrill of piloting a mech, why would he have built these piloted mechs in the first place? He could have simply created autonomous robots controlled by artificial intelligence. After all, he was just a fifteen-year-old boy. Then there’s the issue of stamina. In fact, even if Tony Stark hadn’t called a halt, Kraft wouldn’t have been able to hold out much longer. Although the AI handled the controls, the λ-Driver system runs on emotional energy, which requires Kraft to maintain constant concentration—otherwise, the punches he throws at Lord Bo Tai would lose their power. Not to mention that Kraft had to shout out every now and then to stoke his own emotions, which was quite draining on his stamina… “Um… Angela, just put together a workout plan for me first.” After mulling it over for a long time, Kraft still couldn’t bring himself to pursue research on human augmentation. The shadows of his childhood weren’t that easy to overcome, so he had no choice but to settle for the next best thing. After the two “scientists”—both masters of black technology—had a cordial and friendly exchange behind closed doors, they both put this “minor incident” out of their minds. However, it caught the attention of a certain intelligence agency whose name was still very long and tongue-twisting. After all, Tony Stark hadn’t exactly been flying around the skies over New York in secret. If Kraft could spot him, S. H. I. E. L. D. —as an intelligence agency—was bound to notice as well. Not to mention that Kraft later set off such a conspicuous firework. Fortunately, Tony Stark’s villa was secluded enough, and the few security cameras that might have captured the scene had been hacked by Angela, so S. H. I. E. L. D. currently only knew that Stark had cobbled together a tin man—Kraft’s existence remained undisclosed. “Keep a close eye on Tony Stark’s movements at all times!” Both the former and current directors of S. H. I. E. L. D. issued exactly the same order to their subordinates.