Tony Stark spent the next few days trapped somewhere between self-doubt and the emotional state of a walking lemon spirit.
Every time he stepped out of the basement to catch a breath or find something to eat, he would run straight into Skadi and Tsuda Takao's "daily companion routine." If it wasn't the two of them watching TV with Skadi acting like a human body pillow, then it was the two of them feeding each other fruit on the balcony. Otherwise, Skadi would be hugging a pillow and following Takao step for step, like a silent and overwhelmingly powerful white little tail.
That natural, effortless intimacy—focused entirely on "my world only has you"—made Tony feel physically uncomfortable. Accustomed to flashbulbs and staged social interactions, he now felt as if a hundred lemon spirits were stuffed inside his chest, bubbling with sourness.
"Damn it, this place is impossible to stay in!"
One time, when he saw Skadi—whose hands could split an armored vehicle—carefully offer a cream-covered strawberry to Takao, and Takao opened his mouth helplessly yet naturally to accept it, Tony finally couldn't take it anymore. He cursed under his breath, turned around, and dove back into his underground workshop.
Only buried in machines, circuitry, and the humming of the Arc Reactor could he temporarily forget the constant dog-food bombardment produced by the "not-a-couple-but-more-than-a-couple" duo upstairs. He poured all of his energy into developing the Mark II suit, using work to numb the strange emptiness and… envy? (He would absolutely never admit that.)
Takao would occasionally come down to check on him, bringing coffee or snacks. Watching Tony—with dark circles under his eyes—scratch his head in frustration at the complex holographic blueprints, especially over the problem of how to quickly equip the armor, Takao couldn't help speaking up.
"Tony, have you considered changing how you put the armor on?" Takao pointed at the original design that required a huge mechanical arm platform and a lengthy disassembly process. "This efficiency is terrible. If you run into an emergency, the enemy won't politely wait for you to snap everything into place."
Tony lifted his head from the mountain of schematics, his bloodshot eyes sweeping toward Takao with the natural arrogance of a genius mixed with several days of bottled-up pettiness. He reflexively complained, "Oh? Our great 'mage'—aside from summoning a… hm, 'enthusiastic' companion—also dabbles in modern engineering now?"
Takao raised an eyebrow, recognizing Tony's sour tone. Instead of getting annoyed, he smiled—deciding it was time to give the future Iron Man a small shock from a "prophet."
"Magic and science might intersect on some level, Tony." Takao walked to the hologram and casually swiped his hand through the projection. "For example, this problem of yours can be solved with a little 'magical thinking.'"
He pointed at Tony's platform-based assembly system. "Why must the platform adapt to the human, instead of letting the armor adapt to the human?"
Tony frowned. "Meaning?"
"For instance, first option."
Takao gestured across the hologram. "Design the armor to blossom open. See here—the chest plate or the back plate can be made into petal-like segments that open like a flower. When you need to equip it, you just walk in, stand in the right spot, give a command, and the armor plates will snap shut—auto-locking and linking the circuits. The whole thing would take maybe two or three seconds. Saves time, saves effort, and doesn't require all that bulky machinery."
Tony's eyes widened instantly.
This idea… it wasn't mechanical assembly in the traditional sense at all—more like the opening and closing of a biological shell. Simple. Direct. Efficient.
Before he even finished processing that, Takao continued, "Second option: portable assembly. Design a suitcase—looks like a fancy metal briefcase on the outside. Inside, it contains a folded core framework of a simplified suit. In danger, you press a switch, the case opens, the structure unfolds and expands, and you only need to slip your arms back—bam, it auto-covers your vital areas. Defense and firepower won't match the full model, but the speed and element of surprise? Perfect."
A suitcase armor?!
Tony's mind raced, conjuring scenario after scenario. This was the kind of gear special agents dreamed about!
"And third," Takao said, getting increasingly enthusiastic, feeling like he was teaching a class to an elementary schooler, "remote assembly. Implant or wear micro-locating beacons at your wrists, ankles, and torso. Then store the suit pieces somewhere—your garage, or… in the sky? When needed, press a button on your watch or use a voice command, and the separated armor parts will home in on your signal like returning bees and assemble mid-air onto you. Imagine that scene, Tony. Cool enough for you?"
Remote summoning. Aerial assembly.
Tony's mouth hung open, the hologram flickering across his stunned expression. Each idea was wildly imaginative, yet all hinted at technically feasible paths. Especially the last one—it wasn't just an engineering challenge but a combination of precision location, high-speed flight control, and dynamic aerial docking…
This was straight out of science fiction.
"You… you…" Tony pointed at Takao, struggling for words, before finally blurting out, "Where the hell do you get these ideas?! That brain of yours that watches SpongeBob—other than storing your 'companion,' it still has room for this?!"
Takao shrugged, expression unreadably deep. "I told you—maybe it's magic. Since I can summon Skadi, knowing a bit of 'scientific magic' isn't that strange."
Strange your ass!
Tony screamed internally. But the way he looked at Takao had completely changed—no more mockery or sarcasm. Instead, a sharp, serious focus… mixed with the excitement of encountering a fellow genius?
He lunged toward the console, his hands flying over the holographic interface as he rapidly built preliminary models of Takao's concepts. "Blossom-type… structural strength calculations… hinge and locking systems… suitcase, space optimization and unfolding logic… remote assembly, oh God, that'll need an entirely new navigation system and—"
Watching Tony immediately fall into the "fine, you win" phase, fully obsessed with the new ideas, Takao smiled with satisfaction. He patted Tony's shoulder. "Take your time, big genius. Remember you owe me a patent fee… or next time Skadi scratches the bathroom door, help me talk her down?"
Tony didn't even look up—he waved dismissively, telling him to get lost and stop interrupting the great Mr. Stark's technological revolution.
Takao chuckled, shaking his head as he turned to leave the basement. He knew that the evolution of Iron Man's armor would accelerate ahead of schedule because of his "spoilers."
And upstairs, his "fearful-of-loneliness" companion was probably already getting impatient—debating whether she should scratch the door or simply tear it down.
(End of Chapter)
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