Chapter 90: The Little Girl

"What is this?" Skye discovered Lotus, her surprise akin to stumbling upon a new continent.

A strangely shaped mollusk?

Her curiosity piqued, she approached. "This is my pet. An octopus genetically modified in the lab. You'd better keep your distance; it can bite. The lab crowd wanted to dissect it, so I brought it out," Luke said, deliberately emphasizing the word "dissect."

"Hiss..." Skye had just reached out, but quickly withdrew her hand. "Alright."

Lotus pretended to be oblivious, quietly minding its own business: I won't say a word.

The television continued broadcasting the news; the screen displayed the brilliant fireball that was launched toward the moon that night.

"Cool," Skye remarked, her expression one of astonishment, mouth half open.

She'd been locked up here these days, only now learning what had happened outside. She couldn't help but raise her estimation of the organization's danger level yet again, feeling an immense pressure.

But, for the sake of the artificial intelligence, she was determined to stay.

"Did it hit the moon?" Skye asked as the television switched to another scene.

"No... probably not. There must have been energy loss. The moon is so far away," Luke mused. He hadn't paid attention to whether it really struck the moon.

Skye nodded. "Makes sense."

The screen switched to a scene of the Apostle and Iron Man battling. In the studio, the so-called military expert was analyzing, with great authority, the exotic design of the Apostle's mech, speculating that the Apostle was not American but a foreigner.

The expert called for Americans to support their homegrown superhero, Iron Man, and to reject the foreign Apostle.

Skye scoffed at this after watching. She said there were plenty of such people on American television, always courting controversy, fear-mongering, contradicting for the sake of it, vying for prominence—American audiences were already used to it.

Skye told Luke not to take it personally.

She feared Luke might get upset and blow up the TV station.

Luke's attention was elsewhere. Watching himself from a third-person perspective, he realized how dashing he appeared that night.

Sword King Dragon God, clad in black and gold, understated yet luxurious, a brilliant red cape fluttering in the wind, his sword-wielding pose textbook perfect. Absolutely stunning!

Skye asked curiously, "Do you have a grudge against Tony Stark?"

"No," Luke replied, still basking in self-admiration.

"I thought you two were rivals."

"Emmmm, maybe we're just naturally at odds," Luke said after a moment's thought.

He would never admit that he used Tony as a punching bag for training.

Aside from the need to stir up trouble, he had to test the firepower of Tempest and Warlord somewhere, right? At this stage, who in Marvel is more suitable as a punching bag than Tony?

Hulk was hiding, and even if encountered, he couldn't beat him.

Captain America was missing a kiss and still asleep.

Thor lived far away and rarely showed up.

That left Black Widow and Hawkeye, both defeated already.

Tony, on the other hand, was much more fun—plenty of opportunities to spar and cause trouble, and most importantly, he could take a beating.

Truly a superstar in the world of punching bags.

Skye didn't see it that way.

She believed Iron Man had his sights on the Apostle; the two were destined rivals. She was convinced that sooner or later, they'd have a final showdown.

When the time came—bingo, the grand finale. She needed to uncover her origins with the help of artificial intelligence before that happened.

"Assistant, what do you think of this body type? Do you like it?"

"I'll follow the master's choice."

"Then this it is."

Using a three-dimensional simulation to finalize the human skeletal model took less than twenty minutes.

Once the bone structure was confirmed, casting with titanium alloy was straightforward.

However, considering the remaining amount of adamantium alloy, Luke ultimately selected a little girl body type for Christina.

A little girl it would be; she'd grow up in time.

The internal sensors and circuits were all designed and arranged by Christina; Luke merely provided technical support.

Heavenly technology shone yet again. The mechanical assistant's airplane head, long discarded, was now retrieved, gutted and refurbished, ready to be installed in the skull. Christina handled all of this.

"I suggest downloading Wing Chun, Taekwondo, Mixed Martial Arts, and Judo into your memory disk. See which ones you like."

"Which does the master practice?"

"I can't teach you what I know. You'd learn faster online than from me."

"Then Wing Chun and Taekwondo."

"Sure," Luke nodded.

Once this body was complete, Christina would be a force to be reckoned with, serving as his little bodyguard.

"You should also learn firearms shooting."

"Certainly, master."

"An AI that knows martial arts—no one can stop it!" Luke laughed.

He continued to let his imagination run wild, pondering whether Christina should learn swordsmanship as well. Should he forge a sword for her, making her a young swordswoman?

Or, once he acquired the skills of a gunner, equip Christina with Wang Xiaomei's energy-charging laser cannon?

Such a massive laser cannon would be impossible for an ordinary person to carry. Luke himself could only use it mounted on a mech. But with Christina's alloy body, it would be no problem.

A cannon-wielding girl—Luke thought the aesthetic would be fantastic.

"What are you doing?" Skye leaned in curiously.

"I'm building a body for Christina."

"Oh my... that's daring! Is it safe to do this?" Skye exclaimed in surprise. "Giving an AI a controllable physical unit is dangerous. After all, AI isn't human... Sorry, Christina, I didn't mean it personally."

"It's alright," Christina replied.

"What I meant was, could this pose ethical issues?" Skye asked carefully.

Luke snorted. "Who cares?"

"..."

Alright, Skye felt she had no answer. This organization really was lawless...

Skye wondered how long it would be before they caused some big news again. Compared to that kind of destruction, giving a strong AI a body really wasn't much.

Half an hour later.

In the mech bay, the alloy skeletal frame of a little girl had cooled and taken shape.

Using the same technology as Warlord, the interior was titanium alloy, the exterior coated with a thin layer of adamantium. The leftover stock was used up, just waiting for S.H.I.E.L.D. to deliver more.

Gazing at the metallic sheen of the alloy skeleton, Luke felt as though he were creating a Terminator.

"The issue of flesh is tricky. If only I could draw the doll-making skill from DNF, it'd be perfectly realistic. For now, I'll have to use local methods. Which Marvel company excels at bionics? Emmmmm... If all else fails, I'll have to use Japanese tech."

Under Skye's concerned gaze, Luke frowned and muttered to himself.

...

At the site of the incident.

In the distance, the fountain plaza was under repair, funded by S.H.I.E.L.D., with workers working overtime and progress swift.

Nearby buildings were also under renovation; the shattered glass from that night had been newly replaced. The surrounding roads had returned to order.

On the other side, the collapsed exhibition hall was being demolished and rebuilt. After being sliced in half by a certain someone’s sword, it could no longer be repaired.

Between the plaza and the exhibition hall, a motor vehicle lane was in turmoil.

In the middle of the road, passing cars were swerving to avoid an outrageously large, monstrous dog.

It was a bulldog, dozens of times larger than a normal adult bulldog!

Even stranger, beside the monstrous dog stood a blonde little girl.

Passersby raised their phones, snapping pictures to record the bizarre scene.

Crystal stood in the middle of the road with Tetanus, oblivious to the fact she was blocking traffic, under the curious gaze of many.

She looked up and caught sight of an electronic billboard displaying the news—a giant mech launching a massive fireball at the moon.

"Tetanus, can you take me to this person?" Crystal patted the big dog's leg with her tiny hand.

Tetanus shook its head, then nodded.

Crystal smiled sweetly, pressing her small hand onto the monster dog's side.

With a whirlpool of energy, the girl and dog vanished into thin air before the crowd’s eyes.

The surrounding people erupted in commotion, hastily dialing 911 on their phones...