Chapter 191 — In Marvel world
In another world, far away from Tony Stark's Earth, Tanya von Degurechaff stood inside a small office within the Imperial military base.
The room was simple. A desk, several documents, a weapon rack near the wall, and a window looking out toward the gray sky above the training field.
The mission panel from the Multiversal Chat still floated quietly in front of her eyes.
Tanya had already read it several times.
The objective was simple on paper.
Protect New York.
Kill Chitauri.
Tony Stark had already explained that the enemies were aliens. A being named Loki had appeared in his world and used something called the Tesseract to open portals. Those portals could allow an alien army to invade Earth.
Tanya did not know what the Chitauri were.
She did not know their weapons.
She did not know their numbers.
Tanya crossed her arms and thought quietly.
"Unknown enemies… unknown numbers… unknown technology."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
In war, unknown factors were dangerous. A commander who rushed into battle without preparation was a fool.
That was not how Tanya fought.
She reached toward the desk and pressed a small button.
A moment later, someone knocked.
"Enter."
The door opened.
Visha stepped inside and saluted immediately.
"Major."
Tanya nodded.
"Visha, go to the armory and gather as much ammunition as you can."
Visha blinked.
"Ammunition, Major?"
She looked slightly confused.
They were not currently deployed on a battlefield. Normally soldiers only gathered full combat supplies before an official operation.
But Tanya's voice remained calm.
"Yes. Rifle ammunition, spare magazines, grenades. Anything useful."
Visha did not question further.
"Understood, Major!"
She saluted again and quickly left the room.
Tanya turned back to the window.
Her thoughts continued moving quietly.
The biggest mistake a mage could make in battle was wasting mana.
Magic was powerful, but it consumed energy. If a mage ran out of mana during a fight, they would become extremely vulnerable.
Tanya had experienced that danger before.
If she used magic carelessly against weak enemies, then what would happen if a powerful enemy appeared afterward?
If that happened while her mana was already low, the result would be disastrous.
Tanya shook her head slightly.
"No."
That kind of mistake would not happen.
If normal weapons could kill the enemy, then there was no reason to waste magic.
Bullets were cheap.
Mana was not.
A few minutes later, Visha returned.
She pushed open the door with visible effort.
Her arms were filled with ammunition boxes.
Behind her, two other soldiers carried additional crates.
"Major! I brought everything the armory could release."
Tanya looked at the supplies carefully.
It was not the full reserve of the base. Since they were not officially mobilized, the armory had limits on how much it could distribute.
But thanks to Tanya's rank, Visha had still managed to collect quite a lot.
Rifle rounds.
Machine-gun magazines.
Grenades.
Spare ammunition for Tanya's personal weapon.
Tanya inspected the equipment one by one.
"Good work."
Visha smiled slightly, relieved.
"Thank you, Major."
Tanya packed the ammunition into her storage equipment carefully. Everything was organized so it could be accessed quickly during combat.
While she worked, another thought crossed Tanya's mind.
Her Calculation Devil Fruit had changed everything.
In her world, magic demanded constant mental computation, trajectory, output, stabilization, and energy flow all calculated simultaneously. The computation orb had eased much of this burden, but casting in combat remained mentally exhausting, and most mages struggled to maintain precision under pressure.
Now, Tanya's mind processed calculations far faster. The Calculation Fruit allowed complex magical formulas to run almost instinctively, as if automatic, without conscious effort.
Her magical efficiency soared. She could maintain precise control with far less strain, and her mana consumption dropped as unnecessary calculation and instability were minimized.
In short, Tanya could now fight longer while using less mana.
And that was not the only thing the Calculation Fruit had strengthened.
Still, Tanya did not let that advantage make her careless.
Efficiency was everything.
If a rifle could kill an enemy, then magic was unnecessary.
When all the preparations were finished, Tanya stood quietly in the center of the room.
Her weapon was secured.
Her ammunition was ready.
The mission panel appeared again before her eyes.
Without hesitation, she accepted the mission.
The moment she confirmed it, small particles of light appeared around her body.
The light slowly spread across her uniform and equipment.
Tanya looked down at her hands as they began turning into glowing fragments.
"So this is how the system moves us between worlds."
The particles drifted upward like dust in sunlight.
Within seconds, her entire body dissolved into light.
Then she disappeared.
The room became silent.
But something strange happened.
Time itself began to slow.
The air in the room moved almost not at all.
Dust drifting in the air slowed until it barely moved.
If someone looked very carefully, they could still see motion.
But it was extremely slow.
So slow that the world seemed frozen.
Moments passed.
Then suddenly, another presence appeared inside the room.
A figure stood where Tanya had vanished.
Unlike everything else, the figure moved normally.
It looked around slowly.
Its voice carried quiet confusion.
"How is this possible?"
It walked toward the center of the room.
"My faithless believer has disappeared."
The figure paused.
It tried to sense Tanya's presence.
But there was nothing.
"I cannot sense her."
The voice grew more puzzled.
"And how is time stopped in this world?"
The figure looked around again.
Everything was moving incredibly slowly.
Even it could not immediately understand the phenomenon.
The figure stood there silently for a short time.
Then it chuckled softly.
"I see."
Amusement and curiosity laced its tone, yet it offered no explanation for its realization.
Slowly, the figure faded away.
Time in the world remained extremely slowed.
Far away, in another universe, Tony Stark was flying across the ocean.
His Mark 10 armor cut through the air with powerful thrusters.
Inside the helmet, JARVIS spoke calmly.
"Sir, the Helicarrier is directly ahead."
Tony looked forward.
In the distance, a massive structure floated above the ocean.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier.
Tony adjusted his flight path and descended toward it.
As he approached the deck, many people below noticed the incoming armored figure.
Agents began reacting immediately.
Tony dropped toward the landing platform.
When his boots hit the metal surface, the impact was enormous.
THUD.
The ground shook slightly.
A metallic reverberation echoed across the deck, rattling nearby equipment.
The heavy armor slammed onto the deck like a falling vehicle, sending smoke and dust swirling around him.
Nearby agents rushed forward, weapons raised, some aiming rifles into the haze.
Among the approaching figures were Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, and Bruce Banner.
They all moved quickly to the landing area.
Natasha looked through the smoke.
Then she immediately recognized the armor.
"Stop everyone!"
Her voice was sharp.
"It's Tony Stark!"
The agents hesitated.
The smoke slowly cleared.
Tony stood in the center of the landing zone.
His new armor was larger than his previous suits, with thicker plating and a heavier design. The red-and-gold metal reflected the lights across the deck.
With a soft mechanical sound, the faceplate opened.
Tony's face appeared.
Seeing him clearly, the agents slowly lowered their weapons.
Tony looked around at everyone staring.
"What's the matter?" he said casually.
"Am I that handsome?"
No one answered immediately.
Natasha stepped forward and holstered her pistol.
"No."
She looked at the armor again.
"Your suit just looks completely different."
Tony nodded slightly, ignoring the answer.
"I built this one to maximize firepower and strength."
Then he turned toward Bruce.
"Well, Bruce. How have you been?"
Bruce shrugged.
"I've been fine."
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"They treating you well here in S.H.I.E.L.D.? Not experimenting on you or anything?"
Bruce quickly waved his hands.
"No, no. Nothing like that. I'm just doing research work."
Tony nodded.
"That's good."
Then he turned toward Steve Rogers.
"And Captain Steve Rogers."
"How are you doing?"
Tony knew Steve's story, a soldier frozen in ice for decades and later awakened from deep Antarctic ice, something that still amazed him, because surviving that was impossible for a normal human, though Steve was far from ordinary as a Super Soldier.
Steve looked at Tony's face.
For a moment he remembered Howard Stark.
Tony's father.
Then Steve nodded.
"I'm doing fine. Thank you for asking, Stark."
Tony glanced around the deck.
"Well then."
"We should clear some space."
"My friends will be arriving soon."
Natasha's eyes widened slightly.
"Is Gaius coming?"
Bruce reacted as well.
He still remembered the one who had defeated the Hulk and a cold shiver ran down his spine at the thought.
Tony nodded.
"Yes."
"And someone else."
Steve looked confused.
He had no idea what they were talking about.
Natasha immediately turned toward the nearby agents.
"Clear the area!"
Agents quickly moved equipment aside and opened a wide empty space in the middle of the deck.
Tony stood facing the open area.
Natasha, Steve, Bruce, and several agents watched quietly.
Then particles of light appeared in the air.
They shimmered like fragments of glass, scattering reflections across the deck.
The light gathered slowly.
A small figure formed.
The light faded.
A little girl stood there, blonde hair framing bright blue eyes, dressed in a military uniform with a rifle resting calmly in her hands. Her face was unmistakably young, yet her eyes were sharp and steady, carrying a calm that did not belong to a child.
Tony smiled slightly.
"Tanya."
Tanya turned toward him.
She gave a formal salute.
"I am Tanya von Degurechaff," she said clearly.
"This is our first time meeting face to face."
Tony nodded.
"Tony Stark."
"Iron Man."
Around them, the agents looked confused.
A small girl?
A soldier?
None of it made sense.
Before anyone could ask questions, more light appeared.
But this time the mass of light was enormous.
It gathered into a towering shape.
The light vanished.
Gaius stood there.
His golden armor was massive.
Sunlight seemed to glint and scatter from the polished plating, casting elongated shadows across the deck.
Even Tony's large armor looked smaller beside him.
Steve Rogers felt something immediately.
A heavy pressure filled the air.
It pressed on his chest like a weight, forcing his muscles to tense instinctively.
His instincts reacted.
Without thinking, Steve shifted into a defensive stance.
Tony noticed and spoke casually.
"Gaius."
The giant armored warrior stepped forward.
Each step produced heavy metallic thuds on the deck.
"Tony," Gaius said calmly.
Then he looked down.
"Tanya."
Since Tanya was much smaller, he had to look downward to see her clearly.
"I am Gaius Maximor Thassor."
Tanya looked up at him.
Her expression remained calm.
But inside, her body reacted strongly.
Every instinct she had developed from her time on the battlefield screamed danger.
The being standing before her was incredibly powerful.
Even though she knew he would not attack her, her body refused to relax.
~~~
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