Chapter Summaries

Kurumi grew frustrated waiting in the desert for Tony and ordered Red Queen to seize the military satellite Moon Eye. Red Queen toyed with the Pentagon’s systems and made Moon Eye vanish, leaving Mattis and his staff scrambling before it suddenly reappeared.

• Kurumi asked Red Queen when the military would find Tony, and Red Queen explained that powerful interests were obstructing the search.
• Kurumi told Red Queen she did not want to stay in the desert any longer, so Red Queen began seizing the Moon Eye satellite.
• Red Queen’s attack confused the Pentagon technicians and made the satellite’s apparent location jump around the world.
• Mattis ordered the staff to ignore the hacker and check their systems, but they discovered that Moon Eye had disappeared.
• After the Pentagon failed to locate Moon Eye, a technician reported that the satellite had returned.

Mattis investigated the unexplained hijacking of the military satellite “Moon Eye” and ordered a satellite assigned to General Brooks after discovering his application had been rejected. The President rejected the officials’ report as absurd science fiction and sent them out, threatening to cut their bonuses and subsidies.

• Mattis demanded an investigation into “Moon Eye,” but the technicians found no trace of the hacker and could not explain how the satellite had been hijacked.
• Mattis dismissed the suspect list, ordered the person in charge to prepare an explanation for the President, and told him to assign General Brooks a satellite within two hours.
• The person in charge discovered that Mattis had once served as General Brooks’s personal guard and realized another official had blocked Brooks’s application.
• After staying up all night, Mattis and the person in charge brought the report to the President, who mocked its claim that aliens had borrowed “Moon Eye” to study humans.
• The President ordered the men out and threatened to withhold their bonuses and subsidies.

Kurumi watched U.S. forces battle the terrorists at the mountain pass while Tony Stark and Yinsen worked inside the cave. As the fighting stalled, Kurumi gathered blue energy in her hand, poised to intervene.

• The military reassigned a satellite to General Brooks, and its scans located a mountain pass near the terrorists’ base.
• Kurumi watched the military deploy troops and helicopters against terrorists armed with Stark Industries weapons.
• Tony finished making his miniature energy source and worked with Yinsen to forge an iron helmet inside the cave.
• The U.S. soldiers and terrorists fought from cover as the helicopters held back because the terrorists had explosives and missiles nearby.
• Tony heard gunfire outside and asked Yinsen what was happening.
• Kurumi watched the battle from the clouds and began gathering an eerie blue glow in her hand.

American soldiers fought their way toward the cave where Stark was being held, while the terrorist leader decided to flee with Stark and Yinsen. An explosion struck near the cave entrance, and the bald leader cursed the Americans as he watched their helicopter.

• The commander ordered his squads to break through the terrorists’ fire network and rescue Stark after several fanatics suddenly fell.
• The soldiers pushed the terrorists back, but Squad Three was pinned down by sustained gunfire at the cave entrance.
• The bald terrorist leader slapped his bearded subordinate and decided they had to flee rather than risk capture.
• The bald leader ordered the bearded man to bring Stark and Yinsen, then worried that his subordinate would cause a disaster.
• An explosion blasted bodies near the cave entrance, and the bald leader spotted the American helicopter and shouted, “I’ll be back!”

Tony Stark and Yinsen tried to escape the terrorists’ cave using the Iron Armor they had built, while United States troops launched an assault outside. Tony reached Yinsen after the fighting, but found him gravely wounded and seemingly too late to save.

• Tony and Yinsen finished preparing the Iron Armor as terrorists battered the cave door and the suit’s self-check progressed.
• A bomb at the entrance blasted the terrorists, and Yinsen rushed out with a rifle to hold the squad back while Tony waited for the armor to finish powering up.
• Tony’s Iron Armor reached 100 percent, and he broke free of the rack and charged toward Yinsen after a huge explosion silenced the gunfire.
• Fanatics attacked the United States soldiers at the cave entrance, prompting the commander and General Brooks to order an assault and evacuation of the wounded.
• Tony found Yinsen covered in blood and lamented that they had not kept their promises before noticing a shadow fall over him.

Tony encountered Kurumi in the cave and became furious when she pointed out that Yinsen was dead. After Kurumi offered to bring Yinsen back to life in exchange for future help, Tony agreed, and she transformed before summoning Zafkiel.

• Tony mistook Kurumi for someone brought into the cave by the soldiers and told her to stay behind him.
• Kurumi identified Yinsen and told Tony that he was dead, provoking Tony's anger.
• Kurumi offered to resurrect Yinsen in exchange for Tony helping her when needed, and Tony accepted.
• Black-and-red light enveloped Kurumi, and she reappeared in a transformed Gothic outfit with Golden Clock pupils.
• Kurumi said, "Zafkiel," and summoned an old-fashioned flintlock pistol.

Kurumi used her flintlock and a mysterious golden clock to reverse time and restore Yinsen. She left before Tony could learn how to contact her, while Tony wondered whether magic could be combined with science.

• Tony questioned Kurumi as she prepared to use her flintlock on Yinsen, and she told him she was saving him.
• Kurumi summoned a golden clock, fired the pistol, and reversed time, restoring Yinsen and the damage around him.
• Tony asked how he could contact Kurumi, but she denied having any identity beyond being General Brooks's junior and warned him not to pursue the matter.
• Kurumi vanished, and Yinsen woke up confused, asking why Tony was there.

After the Phil Manor incident, Kurumi settled into a heavily monitored new villa while Tony returned to Stark Industries and announced plans to abolish its weapons division. The chapter ended with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents spotting Tony Stark arrive at Kurumi’s home.

• Tony returned to New York, and Kurumi supplied a vial of blood to convince General Brooks that she was not infected.
• Tony announced that he would abolish Stark Industries’ weapons division, then retreated to his laboratory while Red Queen manipulated the company’s stock.
• Kurumi moved into a new villa surrounded by General Brooks’s guards, military personnel, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, whom she repeatedly inconvenienced with pranks.
• Harris and Li watched Kurumi’s home for S.H.I.E.L.D. and reported that Tony Stark had arrived.

Tony visited Kurumi to discuss his redesigned Iron Armor and asked her to engrave Magic Array Diagrams onto it. Kurumi demonstrated an enchanted teacup but had not yet agreed to help him.

• Kurumi welcomed Tony into her manor and teased him about his reputation and age.
• Tony showed Kurumi holographic designs for his Iron Armor and admitted his experiment had not succeeded yet.
• Tony asked Kurumi to engrave Magic Array Diagrams onto the armor, saying he had heard of them in movies.
• Kurumi asked why she should help and demonstrated a floating teacup that could instantly heat or freeze water.

Tony Stark questioned Kurumi about the energy behind her magic and learned that magical power was becoming scarce as modern industry depleted the energy in the air. He proposed building a machine to convert electrical or nuclear energy into magical energy, and Kurumi considered him the person most likely to succeed.

• Kurumi demonstrated how quickly her teacup could heat water and produce ice, explaining that the magic stored in it would run out after a few more uses.
• Tony asked whether electrical or nuclear energy could power magic, and Kurumi said electricity might work for special items but was a poor substitute for magical energy.
• Kurumi said mages might consider her a heretic and could try to kill her, but Tony insisted they would not be able to kill him.
• Kurumi explained that modern industry had damaged the environment and depleted the free energy that magic relied on.
• Tony suggested developing a machine that converted electrical or nuclear energy into free energy, and Kurumi thought he might be able to build one.

Kurumi discussed her manipulation of the Marvel universe’s laws and the limits of omniscience with Red Queen, who hoped to obtain a physical body. Red Queen then revealed that a weakened virus had spread across much of the United States and several other countries, and Kurumi faced the prospect of releasing a suppressant through Umbrella.

• A woman questioned Harris about Stark’s whereabouts and learned that their planted bugs had disappeared days earlier.
• Kurumi tested her ability to distort space and discussed the Marvel universe’s laws and claims of omniscience with Red Queen.
• Red Queen said she planned to create an artificial brain and obtain a body, and Kurumi expressed interest in how it would work.
• Kurumi asked about Umbrella’s progress and learned that public interest in its headquarters had dwindled.
• Red Queen reported that a weakened virus had infected nearly half of the United States and people in several other countries, and Kurumi worried she would look like a mastermind behind the outbreak.

Kurumi spoke with Tony Stark late at night as he showed off his new Iron Man armor, Mark, and prepared to test it in flight. Tony broke the sound barrier and ordered Jarvis to keep climbing despite the warning that the suit might freeze.

• Kurumi asked Tony for advice, but he eagerly talked about his armor and prepared to demonstrate it.
• Tony put on Mark and joked with Kurumi while she watched through the projection screen.
• Tony launched through a hole in his villa wall and flew over New York, while Kurumi preferred watching the city scenery to his face.
• Tony ordered Jarvis to accelerate, and Mark broke the sound barrier.
• Jarvis warned that flying higher could freeze the suit, but Tony told him to keep going.

Tony tested Mark at extreme altitude, survived a near-fatal descent, and crashed into his villa on landing. He showed Kurumi a massive energy converter at Stark Tower, which could turn free energy into other forms but could not yet convert electricity back into free energy.

• Tony flew Mark above 25,000 meters, but the suit froze and he nearly fell to his death before it recovered and carried him away.
• Tony returned to his villa and crashed beside the laboratory, wrecking a supercar as Dummy sprayed him with a fire extinguisher.
• Tony told Kurumi that he had extracted a small amount of free energy and successfully converted it into other forms of energy, though converting electricity back remained unresolved.
• Tony took Kurumi to Stark Tower and showed her the energy converter, which was so large that he said shrinking it to chest-reactor size might take ten or twenty years.

Kurumi worked with Little Red to assess Stark’s energy converter and prepare a black-and-red armor design, concluding that Hank Pym’s Pym Particles offered the most practical path forward. She ordered the blueprints sent to her and planned to use Stark’s gold-titanium alloy for the armor.

• Kurumi kept awake to study and plan while Harris watched her from across the street and reported that her room lights were on and she had connected to the internet.
• Kurumi and Little Red discussed why miniaturizing Stark’s energy converter would be difficult with Earth-199999’s available materials and technology.
• Kurumi examined the detailed blueprint for a black-and-red suit of armor, which included bone-like wings and an unarmored abdomen.
• Little Red told Kurumi that she had roughly confirmed Hank Pym’s residential address but had not finalized an operation plan.
• Kurumi decided to pursue Pym Particles, asked Little Red to send her the blueprints, and chose Stark’s gold-titanium alloy for the materials.

Kurumi learned that Stani had gained access to Stark’s first-generation armor and was researching Iron Armor while Tony focused obsessively on his new armor and energy converter. The chapter ended with Red Queen reporting that Umbrella’s “Nightmare” had completed its final system installation.

• Umbrella drew attention in New York as a mysterious pharmaceutical company staffed by experts but still without a product.
• Kurumi asked Red Queen about the military’s apology broadcast and learned that Stark had retaliated against the military and destroyed several terrorist bases.
• Red Queen revealed that the first-generation armor remained in Stark Industries’ basement, but Stani had obtained an opportunity to examine it.
• Kurumi and Red Queen discussed whether to warn Stark that Stani was investigating the armor, while noting that Tony was consumed by his research.
• Stani invited Tony to banquets as a pretext to get access to the energy reactor, but his researchers had failed to miniaturize one.
• Red Queen told Kurumi that Umbrella’s “Nightmare” had completed its final system installation.

Kurumi visited Umbrella headquarters to inspect the mech Nightmare, which Red Queen had designed for her. After learning about its reactor and combat capabilities, Kurumi installed the power source and prepared to put on its neural-link suit.

• Kurumi asked Red Queen to arrange a vehicle so she could visit Umbrella and see Nightmare.
• Kurumi reached the heavily fortified laboratory on Basement Level Four and found Nightmare waiting there.
• Red Queen explained that Nightmare needed a combat suit with neural-link devices and described its reactor's flight and combat endurance.
• Kurumi installed the reactor in Nightmare and asked Red Queen to reveal the combat suit.
• Kurumi began removing her clothes to put on the suit while Red Queen watched through her fingers.

Kurumi tested Nightmare with Red Queen and learned how its psychic controls and energy shield worked. She pushed the mech into its second form, but was still adjusting to piloting it.

• Kurumi climbed into Nightmare and learned Red Queen could not access spatial-folding storage technology, though she had developed a psychic device to control the mech.
• Red Queen activated Nightmare, and Kurumi tested its neural guidance by making its right hand move and punch through the air.
• Red Queen explained that Nightmare's energy shield normally protected against high wind speeds and that Kurumi could trigger its second form by increasing the energy supply.
• Kurumi increased Nightmare's energy output to its maximum, causing the mech to unfold into its second form as she struggled to balance and control its movements.

Kurumi tested Nightmare’s flight and extreme-speed modes over New York while Red Queen explained how Kurumi’s spiritual power let her control the armor with ease. The test ended with Kurumi drawing a magically engraved spear whose material and potential power impressed her.

• Kurumi used Nightmare’s neural controls to fly and broke the sound barrier, nearly damaging the metal wall before Red Queen strengthened the energy shield.
• Kurumi ordered Nightmare into extreme-speed mode and flew across New York, drawing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attention.
• Red Queen explained that Kurumi’s spiritual power and mental ability made controlling Nightmare easy for her but nearly impossible for ordinary people.
• Kurumi reassured Red Queen about Nightmare’s capabilities and its potential to surpass IS units with an energy converter.
• Kurumi followed Red Queen’s instructions and pulled a magically engraved spear from Nightmare’s back, recognizing that it could unleash terrifying power.

Kurumi took Nightmare and Red Queen to a deserted islet to test the heavy spear, first assessing its raw strength and then activating its magic runes. She hurled the rune-lit spear toward the ground, leaving its impact to follow.

• Red Queen piloted Nightmare at extreme speed to a deserted islet after Kurumi asked to test the spear.
• Kurumi swung the spear into a massive boulder, smashing it apart and judging its brute force.
• Red Queen explained that machines could engrave magic runes through imitated spiritual-power fluctuations, though such weapons were considered less spiritually attuned than those made by masters.
• Kurumi encouraged Red Queen to consider how more advanced AI might create weapons with spirituality, then channeled magic power into the spear.
• Kurumi threw the glowing spear toward the ground beneath the moonlight.

Kurumi tested Nightmare’s spear and laser turrets, then asked Red Queen to modify its cockpit into full-body armor. After Kurumi returned, Nick learned that she had spent half the day at Umbrella and grew angry with the agents who had failed to infiltrate it.

• Kurumi tested Nightmare’s spear on the sea and discovered that it could unleash a powerful attack without causing an explosion.
• Kurumi accidentally activated Nightmare’s wings and laser turrets, then used neural control to fire at a boulder and retrieve the spear.
• Kurumi asked Red Queen to modify Nightmare with full-body armor and declined to add Silver Gospel-style light wings because of their energy consumption.
• Kurumi returned to the agents, while Nick reprimanded them for failing to infiltrate Umbrella.
• Nick connected the strange disturbances over New York and the apparent missile strike near a deserted island, which the military had already taken over.