09 What’s It Like to Wait for Your Doom?

After a brief chat with Kagura Hitomi, breakfast came to an end, and Happy Hogan began to rest. Hitomi, however, took out her phone and tablet, using the flight time to catch up on some routine assistant tasks. Even though this humanoid girl had grand ambitions and impressive abilities, there were still things to do — after all, you've got to make a living, right?

Not long after, Happy Hogan, sitting across from her, started snoring.

No wonder you're so fat...

Kagura Hitomi shook her head and went back to work. Over the past month, she'd gotten more familiar with her holographic UI and its "Infinite Concept Skills" system. She'd learned to focus her mind on specific memories and use the system to scan them, acquiring new skills in the process.

For example, scanning memories from FATE about Artoria's sword "Excalibur" gave her a derivative skill related to cold weaponry: "Directed High-Energy Electromagnetic Pulse Emission." Another scan, this time from Sekiro, extracted the concept of Dragon's Blood to give her a defense skill called Passive Ultra-Fast Self-Healing.

Hmm, no resurrection skills? Interesting...

The concepts she extracted from different ACG works weren't just copies but seemed to be "imitation and reconstruction" of the concepts, adding them to her skillset in unique ways.

The problem now, though, was that while she was accumulating these skills, she didn't have the QP (Quantum Points) to activate them. And the next time she could earn QP seemed to be linked to "witnessing the rise of a superhero."

Damn photosynthesis QAQ!

Of course, during this peaceful month, Hitomi hadn't had to rely on these powerful skills. The most commonly used one so far was the near-omnipotent Electronic Hacking. Aside from military-grade encrypted areas, she could hack into almost any electronic device. She could connect to the internet at will and store information she saw and heard into nearby electronic media. It was a pretty handy ability — though, overuse tended to leave her feeling hungry...

Right now, however, the upbeat music from Tony Stark's side interrupted her thoughts.

Ugh... here we go. The party's starting next door.

True to form, Tony and Rhodey: arguing, drinking, and partying all in one go.

Hitomi still couldn't understand how Tony Stark could drink so much and still function well enough to host weapon demonstrations and sales events. If it were her, she'd probably be passed out, red-faced, on the plane by now. Considering her terrible tolerance from her past life, she quickly dismissed the idea of joining the party next door.

After all, Pepper had specifically told her to stay vigilant and protect herself. As for her new body's alcohol tolerance?

Never mind, let the beautiful flight attendants entertain Tony while they dance on the pole. I'll stay out of it.

A Few Hours Later, U.S. Military Base in Afghanistan

The weapons demo and sales event went smoothly. Stark Industries' latest product, the Jericho missile, created an impressive shockwave of destruction that left everyone in awe.

For Kagura Hitomi, however, everything had been more or less expected. Even Tony Stark's impromptu speeches were identical to what she had remembered from the script.

"I think the best weapon is the one you only need to fire once!"

Still cool, though. After all, it was Tony Stark.

Once the event wrapped up, Happy Hogan approached with the next plan.

"Alright, after the weapons demo, you and Tony are to ride in the same vehicle. Your convoy will take a slight detour to tour the desert landscape, then head back to the base."

He continued, "I'll be handling the security of the weapons shipments, so I'll be heading back with Colonel Rhodes and the others. You're in charge of Tony's safety now. Be careful."

"Got it, don't worry."

Kagura Hitomi nodded with a smile, though internally, she couldn't help but think: Doesn't matter if you're worried. We're about to get bombed anyway!

The feeling of knowingly waiting for an attack, without any resistance, and just calmly accepting the inevitable, was a strange one. But now that she was thinking about it, she focused on the upcoming assault.

She had the confidence to survive the attack, but the real concern was Tony Stark. According to the original storyline, Tony would be hit by a bomb during the convoy attack. Shrapnel would pierce his body, and the fragments would travel through his bloodstream to his heart.

To survive, Tony would have to implant an electromagnet in his chest, a traumatic experience that would haunt him.

After reflecting on everything, Hitomi made up her mind to change this future.

No matter if Tony was hit by the bomb or not, once those Ten Rings terrorists captured him, he would inevitably become Iron Man. But why should he suffer that pain?

If he had to go through this in the original timeline, he didn't have a choice. But here, in this world, he did.

Here, Tony Stark had Kagura Hitomi by his side.

The girl made a silent vow: As long as I'm here, Tony Stark won't be harmed. In the original universe, he suffered enough. Here, I'll protect him.

Ding! A new task popped up in her holographic UI.

[New Task Added] Protect Tony Stark from harm during the attack/10 QP

Wow.

Hitomi was both surprised and touched. Not only did the system not force any tasks on her, but it also dynamically generated additional objectives based on her decisions.

It really understands people, huh?

Later, after the Weapon Demo...

The event concluded successfully, and Tony Stark's voice called out to Hitomi.

"Hey, Hitomi, let's go."

"Coming!"

She followed Tony Stark to the armored jeep, sitting beside him in the front passenger seat. Due to military protocol, Tony had to be protected by an armed soldier, and that's where Hitomi came in. Tony sat in the back with a young American soldier.

"Hey, Tony," Colonel Rhodes approached before they departed, seemingly skeptical about the plans.

"Sorry, this is the 'Happy Jeep,' the 'Boring Jeep' is over there," Tony cut him off, clearly uninterested in changing his arrangements.

Colonel Rhodes didn't press the issue. "You did great with the demo, Tony. See you back at the base."

Happy Jeep, huh...

Kagura Hitomi internally sighed. You'll soon find out what 'real' happiness is...