"Where did this warship come from?"
Hope looked curiously at the Hyperion inside the underground Base. This time, Artoria didn't come alone but had brought all the women from the company along. Through the experience of searching for the Infinity Stones in the Universe last time, and the experience data of the Hyperion traveling in the Universe that had been saved, it was used for the upgrade and modification of the Hyperion. Looking at it, with almost no damage except for the deck being a bit dirty and having some scratches, Artoria sighed. It seemed it was time to scrub the deck; our cleaners could perform aerial splits again.
"This warship took several years, and its modification and power system were only recently completed."
Facing the women who had followed her for years, Artoria didn't lie, she just didn't tell the whole story. Artoria also wanted to keep some secrets and didn't intend to tell the women everything. After hearing Artoria's words, Helen Cho stepped forward to carefully observe the design of the Hyperion. It was indeed made of Earth materials; Artoria was not wrong. Such a warship was quite resource-consuming to manufacture, both in terms of finances and manpower. But Helen Cho, like the others, didn't understand why Artoria would create something like this. Was it to sell for money? But that was impossible! After all, Artoria had never touched lethal weapons like this. Did the stark family all like weaponry?
"You might have thought wrong; this is a space warship."
Looking at Helen Cho's expression, Artoria knew that she must have misunderstood, so Artoria used a holographic projection to display the overall structural diagram of the Hyperion for the women. This was something even S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier couldn't do. Artoria now wanted to put the Hyperion in front of this group of talented women, wanting them to properly upgrade the equipment for the Hyperion. So Artoria had to show sincerity. If this were a weapon of slaughter, no matter how much these women liked her, it would easily lower their favorability. How could Artoria do such a thing?
"Space warship? Do you want to go to space?"
The moment she heard Artoria's words, Susan analyzed Artoria's intention. So, Artoria wanted to pilot this battleship into space! Susan felt much more at ease instantly, realizing that Artoria was still the same person she was back then and hadn't been corrupted by money into a fallen Angel. Susan felt quite relieved. Hearing Susan's question, the other women also understood Artoria's meaning, but Maya, who specialized in biology, scratched her head. This was completely unrelated to what she had studied! It was too late to learn it now. Gwen was also very distressed; she wasn't some kind of genius either, so she was also having a headache.
"What's the difference between a person without dreams and a salted fish? Shall we go see the sea of stars together?"
Artoria didn't answer Susan's question directly, but her words served as a statement of intent. She did indeed want to enter space again, but this time, Artoria didn't plan to go alone. She decided to take these women with her to stir up trouble in the Universe. The immediate priority was to upgrade the Hyperion's system, especially the weapon system. The cost of the energy cannons was simply too high and wasted energy. She wondered if this group of women could manage the modifications.
"Of course I'm willing."
Hope answered without any pressure. Although her specialty wasn't a perfect match, she had learned physics from her father, so she didn't have to worry about any problems with the propulsion system. After all, the kinetic energy required to open the door to the quantum realm was far more precise than that of a spaceship. Hope was confident that she could use this to make Artoria look at her with admiration. Thinking this, a happy smile appeared on Hope's face, which made Susan realize exactly what this person was thinking. Susan's mood instantly soured, because she wasn't a genius either.
"I Hope everyone can help turn the Hyperion into a fortress that can ensure everyone's survival in space. When the time comes, we will set off together to the Universe to find a new world."
Looking at the women staring at her with various expressions, Artoria understood their thoughts. Among this group of women, other than Hope and Helen Cho, there really weren't many who could help with this matter. Not to mention Susan, Maya, and Gwen, Raven hadn't even attended school; she had only learned basic education under Richards, and Raven really didn't like school. If Raven went to school now, she would probably rank first—at the bottom of the list, of course.
"The Hyperion? Is that the name of this battleship? Does that mean we can go with you?"
Artoria's words made the women's eyes light up, and they all spoke up. Hope and Helen Cho were focused on the name of the Hyperion, while the others were focused on the fact that Artoria seemed to have said the word "together." That meant Artoria intended to take them with her to outer space! Just thinking about standing together in an embrace under the starlight of space made the romance factor skyrocket. This was far more romantic than going to Paris or Turkey. Instantly, all the women were motivated, their eyes shining as they looked at the Hyperion. Even if they couldn't help modify the Hyperion, they could help the other two with other things, like serving tea or water.
"Just keep up this state and work hard!"
The high spirits of the women made Artoria very happy. As long as they maintained this work attitude, she believed the modification project for the Hyperion would be completed in two or three months. Artoria glanced at the women, then turned and left, preparing to buy some things. She didn't plan to go home for a while. On one hand, it was because Maria was pushing for marriage, so Artoria decided to just stay here for this period. She would let Saturday handle some things.
"Speak! What is it?"
Maria said to Tony with displeasure. This guy had been staring fixedly at Mordred from the very beginning. Fortunately, the child was brave; if the child had been scared to tears, she wouldn't let Tony off the hook. Even if he was her own son, he couldn't scare her granddaughter. Maria's tone was very bad, but this didn't wake Tony from his daze. It was his old father who understood Tony's feelings and patted him on the shoulder, which finally brought Tony back to his senses.
"This child? Is she Artoria's?"
Coming back to his senses, Tony swallowed, feeling his mouth go dry, because a terrifying thought had emerged in his mind. This child had an extremely high resemblance to Artoria. Could it be Artoria's child? The moment this thought arose, Tony felt like his brain was about to explode. What was going on? He had spies almost everywhere around Artoria; no man could have approached his sister without him knowing. Who could it be? Could it be that Flash kid?
"Don't worry! This wasn't born from Artoria; it was likely born from another girl through biotechnology."
Borrowing Tony's laboratory, Howard gave Mordred a comprehensive examination. Looking at the superhuman physical fitness and the genetic fragments in her hair, there were no signs of the X-gene, but it did show another type of gene he had never seen before. Howard said to Tony and put away Mordred's physical examination report. This child was not simple! Although she looked very much like Artoria, he felt the issues with this child should be attributed to the mother, that is, the woman named Gaea. They had watched Artoria grow up from a young age, and Artoria had never shown any superpowers back then. But ever since she went to an alien Planet and something happened, she had gained some strange and bizarre powers. The others who went with Artoria had also gained powers, so Howard believed the child's powers were inherited from the mother.
"That's great."
Hearing this news, Thor let out a deep sigh of relief. That was terrifying; his mom didn't speak clearly, almost scaring his heart to a stop. Patting his chest, Tony carefully observed Mordred and even reached out to touch her, but Mordred didn't seem very interested in this cheap uncle of hers and even bit him directly.
"Ouch! That hurts, let go!"
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