Tony's efficiency

In the days after Natasha left, Lu Wen stayed home and thoroughly embraced doing nothing.

As for actual business, that consisted of buying low and selling at twice the price in the Entry Section every single day without fail, earning more points from the difference.

There really was nothing he could do. This damned system had set its point prices so high, and among the Void Market orders, only a handful of worlds offered the chance to earn a lot of points. They were all beyond his reach right now, too.

The ones he could visit paid little. In the last world, if the inventions Hiro and his brother made hadn't been valuable enough, and Aunt Cass... heh heh-hadn't made such good coffee, he might have taken a loss! After all, he hadn't had a single point last time.

But after using up all his refreshes for the month, Lu Wen found an order he liked.

After briefly weighing his current strength, he felt that going there could earn him a small sum of points and resolve the issue he was most concerned about right now.

Beep!

His phone rang. Someone was making a video call.

Lu Wen was eating pizza and had no hands free, so once again, Venom extended a tendril to hold the phone for him.

It was Tony.

"Hmm? Kid, what's that black tendril? Looks like some kind of high-polymer liquid composite. Got your hands on something good again?"

Tony's large, stubbly face crowded the camera. Before getting down to business, he immediately fixed his attention on Venom.

"We'll talk about that later. What did you call me for? Just so we're clear, I'm not planning to pick Baymax up yet."

Lu Wen pushed the phone back a little, moving the screen farther away. He wasn't particularly interested in having a stubbly old white guy's nostrils pointed at him from that close.

"Uh... Baymax... he... never mind. If you're not picking him up, then don't."

Tony seemed to want to say something, but held back.

"Sir, it's time to take your vitamin D." Baymax suddenly appeared, his voice gentle, though the medicine bottle and glass of water in his hands were already right in Tony's face.

"All right, all right. What a good robot." Tony sounded rather resigned, but obediently took them and swallowed the supplement.

"Looks like you two are getting along." Lu Wen raised his pizza toward the camera.

"We are not!" Tony glanced behind him to make sure Baymax had left. "It's absolutely awful."

"You know, when JARVIS nags me, I can at least talk back to him. Baymax doesn't argue, you know that? He just looks at you. Doesn't say a word, just stares! It's seriously stressful!"

Lu Wen laughed at Tony's little gestures.

"Then get some proper rest, and he'll stop watching you."

"No. I'm modifying that Neural Sensor's signal module, and I'm stuck on a... forget it, you wouldn't understand anyway.

Your Wrist Blades are done, and the other stuff is almost finished too. Come over soon so I can give it to you."

Tony slapped his forehead in front of the camera, looking as if he didn't want to talk to Lu Wen anymore.

"And what about Baymax?" A mischievous smile curled Lu Wen's lips.

On the other end, Tony stared at the ceiling, his mouth slightly open. He wanted to say something, but swallowed it back.

"What flavor of pizza are you eating?" Tony abruptly changed the subject.

"The make-an-Italian-cry flavor." A mischievous smile curled Lu Wen's lips.

"What flavor is that?" Tony asked in confusion.

"Pineapple and durian pizza with a sausage-stuffed crust."

On the other end of the phone, Tony's expression suddenly turned very serious. "Kid, you could get beaten up for that."

"No, I paid extra. The chef cried, gagged, and begged Italy for forgiveness while making this pizza for me. That Italian chef didn't seem to like durian."

"How do you know?"

"I paid a Mexican guy to run the errand. When he bought my pizza, I asked him to record it for me."

"Send me a copy of that video later."

On opposite sides of their phone screens, Lu Wen and Tony both curled their lips into the same mischievous smile.

"So even after you pushed past children to get out of a restaurant like you were drowning and climbed into your armor for a sense of security, you still won't admit your anxiety is serious?"

Two days later, Lu Wen visited Tony's home again. Looking at the medical assessments from both JARVIS and Baymax, he could only marvel at how stubborn Tony was.

"There wasn't anything wrong with me to begin with. Those two metalheads are making a big deal out of nothing," Tony said dismissively.

"I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but could you get out of that metal shell before saying that?"

Lu Wen stood, walked over to Tony, and raised a hand to knock on his helmet.

Tony flipped his faceplate open and looked at him with a stubborn, haughty expression.

"All right, enough nonsense. Tell me what you've accomplished these past few days. Didn't you say my Wrist Blades were upgraded? What else?"

Not wanting to keep arguing with Tony about his anxiety, Lu Wen changed the subject to his equipment.

Tony snapped his fingers to signal him to follow, and the two headed to the basement on the house's lowest level.

It was called a basement, but it was actually larger than most people's apartments.

The lights came on automatically, illuminating rows of workbenches and equipment racks. Various tools hung on the walls, and a robotic arm in the corner was slowly turning. Several unfinished metal plates were piled nearby, along with finished products.

"Take a look at these first." Tony picked up the pair of black bracers on the central workbench and tossed them to Lu Wen.

They were nearly half the size of Hiro's version, with matte-black casings. They were lighter than expected and well balanced, too.

"I replaced the casing with a new alloy. It's more heat-resistant than before! Swapped the power supply for a miniature arc reactor. Battery life should be about... with normal use, you won't need to recharge for three weeks. I recalibrated the blades' focusing parameters, too. They're longer and more solid now."

Lu Wen fastened the bracers around his wrists and gave a casual flick.

Two golden beams sprang from the fronts of the bracers with a clear, steady hum. The blades extended roughly a meter, their edges neatly focused rather than ragged like before.

He swung them twice, the beams slicing through the air with sharp whistles, then turned his hands back and retracted them. The beams withdrew cleanly.

"Can you change the color?" Lu Wen asked.

"You can make them red, but gold looks more expensive," Tony said. "I picked it for you."

Tony opened a drawer and took out a metal box containing twenty neatly arranged, button-sized black patches, each with a ring of extremely fine silvery-white lines in the center.

"New Neural Sensors. Just stick one on your body and it's ready to use. Signal range is one thousand meters! When I upgrade them later, I'll give you those too."

Lu Wen picked one up and tried it. The Micro-Robots he'd left with Tony instantly received the signal, shifting into various configurations according to his thoughts.

"Excellent. Much more convenient, too."

"These two machines of yours are ready as well." With that, Tony turned and walked to the corner, where two metal machine tools stood side by side.

"A fabrication machine for the Micro-Robots. It can manufacture them in three sizes and has interchangeable cutting-head modules.

For the Green Goblin gear, it can make both bombs and throwing blades. I switched to lighter materials. As long as you have the materials, it can manufacture them. I put the material properties on the computer too, so it'll be easier for you to find substitutes if you're short on resources.

The Glider requires more precision, so a machine this small can't mass-produce it. Instead, I made you three models in different sizes. They've all been fitted with arc reactors, which should be enough for you."

Lu Wen reached out to touch the machine before him, then glanced at the three Gliders of different shapes and sizes before turning to ask:

"How long did all this take you?"

"Not many days. Your equipment all had pretty good foundations. I just upgraded it," Tony said very casually.

"And with those little robots helping, I spent a lot of the time sitting still! So how about leaving this batch with me?"

"Of course. These were meant as a gift for you anyway." Right in front of Tony, Lu Wen put all the equipment away.

"How did you do that?"

"I don't know how to explain it to you. I'll see if I can get you something similar later."

"Then I'll look forward to it! Oh, right, I haven't touched the Green Goblin Serum yet. Biological stuff isn't my specialty. I'll need more time. Once Banner's free, we'll study it together."

"What's the hurry? I'm not rushing you."

"You're not rushing me, but I can rush myself, can't I?" Tony's tone was light, but Lu Wen could tell he wasn't joking.

"That's fine. You can push yourself to work, and Baymax will push you to rest."

At the mention of Baymax, Tony pressed a hand to his forehead helplessly.

"Oh, that nagging robot. Can't you take him away this time?"

"Hey, I don't think you dislike Baymax nearly as much as you claim. Aren't you two getting along pretty well?" Lu Wen said with a chuckle.

"We are not."

"Yes, Mr. Lu Wen. Both sir and I are very fond of Baymax." JARVIS's voice suddenly chimed in, undermining Tony.

"Oh, JARVIS..." Tony made a silencing gesture at JARVIS's electronic eye.

"Tch, still won't admit it! If you really didn't like Baymax, you'd have shut him down ages ago. I don't believe you can't find a way to shut down a medical robot."

Tony stared at the ceiling, refusing to speak, attempting to freeze Lu Wen to death with the cold shoulder.

Baymax's squeaky footsteps came from behind them. Carrying two glasses of juice, he walked in through the door JARVIS opened for him.

"Look, what a thoughtful, chubby white fellow."