Marvel's Iron Lady

In the blink of an eye, two days had passed. In the cliffside villa above Malibu Beach, Los Angeles, the workshop in the basement was bustling with activity.

"Jarvis—limit the output power to one percent. Prepare for the initial test."

To retrieve Captain America from beneath the ice in the far northern regions, she had spent the past two days creating a prototype cutting device.

Eventually, she would build a full-scale laser cutter to melt and cut through the ice encasing the bomber.

A drill was the conventional choice, but it was also the worst option. Since she had the capability to make something better, why not do so?

"The materials you ordered have arrived in Los Angeles and will be delivered in about half an hour."

"Good, Jarvis. They're fast enough... Now, let's see how well it works."

As she spoke, she reached out and activated the laser disintegration device she had created specifically for ice-breaking.

In less than a second, the disintegrator emitted a red laser that instantly melted through a steel plate three meters away.

The plate was made of chromium, a metal known for its high hardness and corrosion resistance.

Despite being four centimeters thick, the metal plate was sliced open like paper by the laser disintegration device.

"Continue with the energy storage test. I'm going to take a break—"

As she spoke, Miss Stark reached for the dark sleeveless shirt she had removed earlier from the desk.

Today, for the sake of her work, she had dressed in work clothes and had even put on a lab coat.

For once, she had left her long hair down, draped casually over her shoulders, adding a touch of feminine allure compared to her usual updo.

"I still need some industrial-grade cutting equipment, and... a container capable of holding the Tesseract."

She muttered to herself as she made her way to the storage room in the basement, located beneath the garage.

This was the villa's storage area, cluttered with disorganized items piled haphazardly everywhere.

Against the wall, behind a stack of cardboard boxes, was a wooden door that led to the document storage room.

Ignoring the dust on the items, she pushed the boxes aside, coughing a little as the dust stirred up.

As the dust settled, the document storage room left by old Howard Stark lay before her, seemingly untouched for years.

All of her father's files had been placed here when Miss Stark moved into the villa.

She had never looked at those things, and they had remained hidden until today.

The storage room had not been opened for a long time, so the air inside was a bit stale, but fortunately, the room had an air vent.

She turned on the ventilation system, closed the storage room door, and waited about half a minute before going back inside.

Howard's document storage room was a large underground warehouse of over a hundred square meters, with neatly arranged metal shelves.

The items here were the life's work of Howard Stark—just paper, but it contained invaluable scientific data.

When she moved into the luxurious Malibu cliffside villa, she had organized this entire warehouse with the help of others.

Although Miss Stark hadn't paid much attention to her father's research records over the years, she at least had a catalog.

It was a catalog made when these research data records were being organized and moved—who knew she would one day find it useful.

"So, my dad's research on the Tesseract is under..."

Holding the catalog listing file numbers tightly in her hand, she walked through the aisles between the shelves.

Fortunately, old Howard's research results were well-organized, and she quickly found her target.

In the corner of the room stood a gray-black lightweight alloy safe, about as tall as a person.

Miss Stark wasn't sure what kind of alloy it was made of, but after all these years, it hadn't rusted a bit.

She wiped away the dust on the safe and glanced around the room, frowning slightly.

From the beginning, Miss Stark had never planned to come here and look at her father's research records.

Perhaps it was the inherent arrogance of a genius, but she had always been disdainful of what old Howard had left behind.

If her dad could do it, so could she—only better.

She had originally planned to seal this document storage room forever, but she hadn't expected to need it today.

The research materials stored in this warehouse were the life's work of old Howard.

It was clear that Howard was indeed a genius, only limited by the era in which he lived.

Maybe... when she encountered some special situations, like running out of money, she could come here for inspiration?

Thinking this, Miss Stark nodded slightly and placed the catalog back in its original spot.

On top of the catalog was a yellowed sticky note with the words "Energy Field Generator" written on it.

After returning the catalog, she slowly squatted down and looked at the alloy safe her father had left behind.

She didn't know the safe's combination, but... she had the master key Howard had left her.

When she finally opened the alloy safe, she found a small metal box that also seemed to be made of metal.

Beneath the metal box were two thick notebooks and a dozen stacks of yellowed manuscript papers.

"I remember I was looking for research on the Tesseract, so what is this?"

Miss Stark shook her head slightly and reached out to take the metal box from the safe.

The box was pitch black, and just by touching it, she couldn't tell what it was made of.

There were no patterns or markings on it, and it looked somewhat like a metal cookie tin.

When she pried open the lid of the metal box, its contents immediately caught her eye.

At the bottom of the box lay five small cubes, emitting a faint blue light.

"Hold on—are these what I think they are?"

As if recalling something, she quickly closed the lid and set the box aside.

Her gaze then shifted to the yellowed manuscript papers beneath the box, and she reached out to take them all.

She continued flipping through the papers and notebooks in her hands, and after a few minutes, she finished.

The answer was just as she had expected—simple, yet somewhat hard to accept.

The items in the box were crystallized energy extracted from the Tesseract by HYDRA years ago.

HYDRA had developed many advanced energy weapons, all powered by these crystals.

Even after more than seventy years, the crystals hidden here were still brimming with spatial energy.

The reason the energy within the crystals hadn't dissipated was mainly due to the metal box.

The black metal box was something Howard had casually made to store the Tesseract energy crystals.

The special material blocked external detection while also stopping the crystals' energy from leaking out.

If her theory was correct, this might be the best way to locate the Valkyrie bomber.

"Miss, I need to interrupt you—the materials you ordered have arrived at the villa's entrance."

"Mr. Harold, who is in charge of transportation, wants to come in, but I stopped him. He's knocking at the door."

Jarvis's sudden voice interrupted Miss Stark's thoughts, pulling her out of her reverie.

She hadn't expected the materials she ordered to arrive so quickly—and to be delivered by her head of security personally.

She quickly gathered up the documents and the box containing the crystals, closed the safe, and slowly left the storage room.

When she opened the villa's door, she saw a silver-gray business car parked on the street not far from the entrance.

Standing by the car was a burly man in a suit, sweating profusely and anxiously waiting for something.

"Happy? Happy?"

Seeing the man by the car, a sly smile appeared on Miss Stark's face.

As she spoke, she slowly walked across the stone path on the lawn and approached the business car.

"Uh... I guess so, Miss. I've had a pretty happy day."

Harold Joseph Hogan—head of Miss Stark's personal security team, nicknamed "Happy."

"I brought over the things you ordered from the warehouse early this morning."

As the bodyguard spoke, he reached out and opened the rear door of the business car.

Inside the trunk of the business car lay a silver alloy briefcase, quietly resting.

"But I don't quite understand why you need these things?"

"Oh, it's nothing important. I just plan to make a new outfit for myself."

Miss Stark replied, taking the metal briefcase filled with various materials from Happy's hand.

She opened the briefcase in front of him and began counting the specific quantities of the materials inside.

"I see, something with just a bit of high-tech content, right?"

"Yes, just a tiny bit of high-tech~"

As someone close to Miss Stark, the bodyguard had some understanding and experience with her way of thinking.

His employer was not only a wealthy heiress but also a scientist with a strong creative drive.

Well... in her own words, she was an inventor with cutting-edge technology.

But Happy Hogan was more accustomed to calling his employer a scientist.

After all, that's how Hollywood sci-fi movies usually depict it, right?

"So, don't you have your own personal fashion designer, Boss?"

"...Carbon nanotubes, graphene, and a sufficient amount of high-polymer materials. Hmm... What did you just say?"

"Nothing, Miss. I hope you have a pleasant weekend—"

Realizing his earlier comment might have been a bit thoughtless, Happy Hogan quickly flashed a professional smile.

As a bodyguard with professional pride, he swore that his smile was only for his boss and no one else.

"Of course, you too—"

Though he was her bodyguard, he rarely entered her villa voluntarily.

Seeing that he intended to leave, Miss Stark waved to him with a smile and returned his greeting.

A few minutes later, her figure reappeared in the basement of the mansion.

To be precise—in her private workshop within the basement.

She had graduated from MIT three times, but her main field of study had always been mechanical engineering.

She had procured many materials, primarily to protect herself.

Miss Stark planned to create a new type of fabric that could protect her from harm.

Not only would it be used as shock absorption in her future Iron Man armor, but it could also be worn in everyday life.

So, this fabric needed to meet three special requirements.

It had to be lightweight, easy to cut, and possess the cushioning properties of a non-Newtonian fluid.

In future battles, relying solely on the Iron Man armor's shock absorption structure might not be enough.

Moreover—Miss Stark never wanted to find herself in a situation where someone might shoot at her on the street.

"Jarvis, activate the projection system and open the Smart Creation interface."

In the next moment, numerous dynamic information windows appeared in the semi-open workshop.

They spread across the walls, floor, desk, and ceiling, looking intricate and dazzling.

There were control interfaces, scrolling data, and dynamic image displays everywhere.

It was as if the entire workshop had transformed into a giant computer display interface.

"Start the simulator—use composite materials as the main structure, with carbon nanotubes laying the central framework."

"Connect the framework with graphene materials, and use composite material units to construct a lattice structure as the target."

Layer upon layer of blue projections formed within the shaping field of the projection equipment on the workbench.

As Miss Stark spoke, Jarvis brought her ideas to life step by step.

The materials she had ordered were displayed in an orderly array within the projection.

This was a new type of nanomaterial, a wearable electronic computer cluster.

"Miss, the simulation program shows that the materials are fine, but... we lack sufficient materials."

"I know that. Replace the filler materials with aluminum-based ones. Liquid metal at the nano-level is too expensive."

Hearing Jarvis's reminder, Miss Stark couldn't help but roll her eyes playfully.

Of course, she knew that the materials she ordered were insufficient, but those things were too expensive.

"For now, I just need it to be bulletproof and insulated against the cold."

If all went well, she would wear a suit made from this new material to the Arctic.

If everything went as planned, the clothing made from this fabric would allow her to completely ignore the bitter cold of the far north.