Marvel Cybernetic Girl

November 2009, New York

Winters in New York can be brutally cold.

Instead of venturing outside, Kagura Hitomi preferred to stay indoors.

Seriously, who needs to go out and admire snowy landscapes?

Aren't games fun enough? Aren't 2D waifus pretty enough?

Ever since quitting her job at Stark Industries a year ago, Kagura Hitomi had poured all her energy into running Rhode Island Industries.

Thanks to the advanced AI assistant, Cortana, she had managed to bring many cutting-edge weapons from her memory into existence in this world.

Currently, the Marvel Universe was in the year 2009.

Even if she simply reproduced weapons that were set to debut by 2019 in her original world, it was enough to dominate the global market.

She even founded a Rhode Island subsidiary in the consumer electronics sector called Aperture Tech, which spearheaded a smartphone revolution with its full-screen models, capturing a massive share of the global market.

"Wow, having cutting-edge technology in your hands really does let you do whatever you want!"

Most of the weapons were designed based on Kagura's concepts, with Cortana creating blueprints and Rhode Island's R&D team handling development.

For more "sci-fi" systems, she would sometimes resort to using the holographic UI's Infinite Concept Skill System.

Luckily, aside from the Arc Reactor and the AI assistant, she hadn't faced a need for other "black tech" solutions from the system.

After all... she hadn't earned new QP points in a while.

Running her company already demanded most of her energy, not to mention finding inspiration for concept skills through games and anime.

Seeing how busy she was, the system seemed considerate enough not to burden her with weird tasks.

The task list only showed one persistent objective: "Establish a Superhero Organization."

On the flip side, Kagura managed to create new concept skills by combining elements from various games and anime.

For example:

Support Skill: Core Energy Conduction, derived from "Shazam," allowed her to transfer core energy to charge any device using electricity.

Defensive Skill: Light Radiation Biological Tissue Repair, a combination of parameters from StarCraft, Medics, and Medivac, enabled healing abilities.

"Yes! I can heal people now!" she beamed.

She even extracted "Optical Camouflage" concepts to gain the Full-Spectrum Electromagnetic Invisibility skill, which allowed her to completely vanish from sight.

However, without enough QP, she couldn't fully activate these tempting new skills.

"It's time to do some quests and earn more QP!" she thought.

Kagura noticed that additional tasks only appeared when she had a strong sense of purpose.

When she was relaxed, no tasks would show up.

Even building Rhode Island Industries and establishing her foothold hadn't triggered any missions since she'd only been following a structured plan without strong personal ambition.

But if she ever developed a strong desire to achieve something, the system would usually respond with a corresponding task.

Lately, though, she found herself without any burning desires.

Wearing only light clothing, Kagura lazily lounged on the couch, air conditioning blowing softly, a game controller in hand, with chips and soda within reach.

Rhode Island Industries was running smoothly.

Money was no problem.

The world was peaceful.

Even when violence broke out in some regions, Iron Man swiftly resolved the issues.

"Ah, life is beautiful!" she sighed contentedly.

But after a few days of lounging, Kagura's conscience started nagging her.

"Alright, enough slacking! Tomorrow, I'm going out to see if I can trigger any tasks!" she resolved.

The next day...

"This game is too fun. Just one more day."

The third day...

"This anime is pretty good. One more day."

The fourth day...

"Kagura Hitomi! You can't keep being this lazy! You're supposed to be a superhero!"

The fifth day...

"Oh, wait, there's a gacha event starting. Just one more day!"

Bang, bang, bang!

A sudden knock on the door interrupted Kagura's slothful existence.

"Master, you have a visitor," Cortana reported.

"Who is it?"

Cortana displayed the visitor on the screen. A beautiful red-haired woman in a black coat was waiting at the door.

Uh-oh.

Kagura's golden eyes trembled slightly. Anyone else was fine, but when Black Widow showed up personally...

It could only mean trouble!

"Shall I send her away?"

"No," Kagura shook her head. "Invite her in."

She got up from the couch, put on proper clothes, and went downstairs.

Outside, snowflakes danced in the air. Natasha Romanoff stepped inside, brushing off the snow before hanging her coat on the rack.

"I thought you weren't home," Natasha greeted.

"How could I not be? I'm currently unemployed," Kagura grinned. "Long time no see, Natalie."

"Looks like you've been doing well since leaving Stark Industries."

Natasha's eyes swept across the cozy, modern interior filled with girlish touches—tasteful without being extravagant.

"Just doing some freelance work online. Even if I earn more now, it's not necessarily easier than my old job," Kagura replied casually.

"But it's more freeing, right?" Natasha smiled.

"True. Life's been pretty chill. Please, have a seat."

Kagura gestured to the sofa.

"Want something to drink?"

"No, thanks. I'm here for your help. We've run into some trouble at work."

Natasha handed her a USB drive.

Kagura plugged it into her computer and projected the contents onto the living room screen.

"Remember the guy who stole the Arc Reactor from Tony Stark's place?" Natasha began.

"After a year of silence, he's recently reappeared."