Karl nodded in satisfaction. His current state was practically maxed out in terms of offensive power. He hadn't expected Odin's combat style to carry traces of spatial power as well. The dimensional slash could even ignore armor and deal direct damage to the target itself. That was absurdly overpowered.
"I could probably slice Tony into several pieces with one swing now and still not damage the armor. Beautiful~~~"
If Tony ever found out Karl was using him as a benchmark—and planning to cut him into chunks—he'd probably rush over and strangle him on the spot.
Time quickly passed, and a month later, the Guardians of the Galaxy had thoroughly enjoyed themselves touring all across America. Even Yondu had bought a mountain of things, most of them useless but visually appealing decorations. The man was a hardcore trophy collector. His old ship had been destroyed along with all his previous collections, so naturally he had to restock aggressively.
Over the course of that month, the tension between Nebula and Gamora had completely dissolved. Nebula no longer planned on returning to Thanos either. After all, Thanos had always treated her as nothing more than an accessory to Gamora and had never truly valued her.
As for Mantis, she had learned a great deal during her stay. Under Gwen, Gamora, and the others' guidance, she was no longer the clueless innocent she once was.
After saying their goodbyes, Quill and the others once again embarked on their interstellar journey. Their first objective was to help Yondu rebuild the Ravagers.
One thing worth mentioning was that Nebula had officially joined the Guardians of the Galaxy and become one of their members.
That day, Karl received a call from Tony.
At the moment, Karl was out wandering around with Peter. Spider-Man was still carrying on with his usual vigilantism while Karl specialized in standing nearby doing absolutely nothing useful.
"Hey kid, come over here for a bit. I've got something to show you."
Tony sounded unusually relaxed.
"Please don't tell me you want me to test another suit for you."
Karl's face instantly drooped.
Tony was always dragging him over to test newly developed armors. It had been fun at first, but after enough repetitions, anyone would get tired of it.
Nearby, Peter was currently beating up a mugger. Karl honestly couldn't understand why New York's crime rate seemed to be carried entirely by this group of people. Was criminal behavior encoded into their genes or something?
"Not exactly. I mostly just want to show off the results."
"Fine~~~ We'll head over after Peter's done beating this guy to his satisfaction."
Karl hung up and looked toward Peter, who was having the time of his life. The guy was treating the mugger like a yo-yo, occasionally throwing in a few punches for good measure.
"That's enough already. Tony wants us for something."
Karl couldn't bear watching anymore.
Playing with the guy like a yo-yo was one thing, but at least have some technique. Why was the poor man bruised and swollen all over? A yo-yo wasn't a volleyball, so what exactly was Peter practicing spike smashes for~~~?
"Oh, got it. Perfect timing too. Tonight we should bring Felicia and the others along and freeload a meal off Mr. Stark."
Peter firmly believed in never leaving empty-handed.
"Excellent idea~!"
Karl gave him an approving thumbs-up.
After dropping the mugger off at the police station, the two of them headed straight for Tony's place.
As always, Tony was down in his underground laboratory. Aside from sleeping, he practically lived there.
The moment Karl and Peter entered, they saw a blue-and-silver suit of armor standing atop the central control platform.
Other than the color scheme, this armor was noticeably different from Tony's previous suits.
The biggest difference was its appearance. While it still retained the classic Iron Man aesthetic overall, the frame was slimmer and more streamlined, and one glance was enough to tell it had been designed specifically for a woman.
"So? My latest masterpiece—the Rescue Armor."
Tony didn't even look up as he continued fiddling with holographic projections and adjusting various parameters.
"This for Pepper?"
Karl immediately recognized it as the blue Rescue Armor Pepper used in the movies from his previous life.
"That's right. Her birthday's coming up, and I'm planning to give her this."
Tony nodded.
He'd been preparing it for a long time. He had wanted to design a suit for Pepper ages ago. The world was getting more dangerous by the day, and Tony couldn't stay by her side protecting her all the time.
"The Rescue Armor includes all the standard weapon systems, but it's also equipped with advanced medical support systems for emergency rescue during combat. It also comes with four drone cannons and nanotech transformation functions. It can generate all kinds of weapons—even energy cannons~~"
Tony pressed a button, and the floating cannons behind the Rescue Armor immediately unfolded.
Unlike Tony's crescent-shaped drones, these looked more like compact aircraft.
"These four drones aren't just for offense. Their main purpose is medical support through nanotech. They can form a nano-isolation layer over wounds to stop bleeding and slowly repair injuries. So? Pretty awesome, right~~"
Tony looked extremely satisfied with his design while uploading a new AI into the armor.
"Friday, how do you feel?"
Tony looked toward the Rescue Armor.
Friday was his backup AI, originally designed as a household assistant. Since JARVIS had gradually shifted his focus toward combat systems and armor management, Tony needed a new AI to handle everyday matters.
He just hadn't expected Friday to end up installed in a suit as well.
"I feel wonderful, sir."
A gentle female voice responded.
Friday and Pepper really did seem like a perfect match.
"Good. Begin full systems control and run diagnostics."
"Yes, sir."
The first thing Friday tested was the nanotech deployment system.
After the armor equipped itself smoothly and rapidly, she proceeded to test flight capabilities and weapon systems.
Since the suit was made from nanotech vibranium, durability testing was skipped entirely.
Once all testing concluded, the various performance data appeared across the holographic displays.
Tony smiled slightly as he reviewed the parameters.
Success.
"Friday, upload combat and targeting modules."
Tony immediately gave the command.
Pepper had already been learning combat and firearms training from Natasha for quite some time. Handling ordinary criminals wasn't a problem anymore.
Still, Tony believed in preparing for the worst. If Pepper couldn't handle something personally, Friday could always take over.
After the tests ended, Tony retracted the Rescue Armor. The nanotech vibranium flowed back into the triangular arc reactor at the center of the chest piece.
"JARVIS, order me a gift box. Something simple—preferably crystal."
"Yes, sir."
After putting away the reactor, Tony left the lab together with Karl and Peter and moved on to an activity all men understood instinctively:
Gaming.
Stark Industries' gaming division had officially launched the first batch of full-dive VR helmets, completely revolutionizing gaming itself.
Combined with a 360-degree omnidirectional treadmill, players could move and run freely without restriction.
The three of them immediately geared up and logged in.
Even after Pepper, Felicia, Gwen, and the others returned home, the trio were still fully immersed in the game, tirelessly running around, waving motion controllers wildly, and occasionally yelling nonstop at each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 20 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~