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"Consuming 60,000 Special Popularity Points… initiating [Super-Hero Lottery Box] draw…"
Inside his mental space, the two familiar glowing Lottery orbs reappeared, spun, and then burst apart.
The first box exploded.
A silver-blue flash lit up.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! Acquired special structure/facility: Cyberdyne T-850 Terminator Fully-Automated Production Line."
Item Description: A complete industrial line that can endlessly churn out T-850 infiltration robots—provided you feed it enough metal feedstock and power.
Performance Brief: T-850 Terminators feature hyper-alloy endoskeletons that shrug off plasma fire, twin hydrogen-cell power cores rated for 120 years, and living human tissue sheaths for top-tier combat and infiltration.
Current Output: 10 units/day (limited by raw-material grade; higher-grade inputs cut output but raise per-unit combat index).
Bundled Tech: Skynet basic fire-control algorithms (self-awareness stripped, absolute loyalty) & synthetic skin-culture tech.
Caution: The facility must be deployed in a real-World site of ~5,000 m²; once placed, it cannot be reclaimed or relocated.
Anthony's eyes lit up.
T-850! Arnold with a cigar!
Sure, in this Marvel Universe full of gods, a lone T-850 would just be Hulk's chew-toy or Thor's lightning rod.
But its core value is mass production, loyalty, tirelessness—no wages, 24/7 for 120 years straight!
Plus, you can upgrade them with Vibranium or other high-end metals.
"Not a bad pull." Anthony was already planning where to drop it.
He turned to the second orb.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host! Acquired special item: Paramecia-class Devil Fruit."
Item Description: A specialty from the Grand Line. Eating it grants a physics-bending superpower.
Side-effect: The eater is cursed by the sea—lifelong inability to swim. Sea-Prism Stone becomes a lethal weakness.
Note: This World's oceans also contain trace 'Sea-Prism' particles that suppress Devil Fruit abilities.
The glow faded.
Anthony now held a bizarre fruit.
Part honeydew, part pineapple, its purple rind was twisted with eerie spiral patterns.
"Devil Fruit..."
He turned the appetite-killing thing in his hand, frowning.
Though he could fly, the risk of drowning was low—but with Namor and Atlantis in this World, turning into a land-duck felt stupid.
And rumor said it tasted like crap.
He asked the system which exact Paramecia it was.
After hearing the answer, Anthony tossed it straight into a safe and forgot about it.
"Ashley!"
He pressed the intercom.
Within ten seconds Ashley yawned in, heels clicking.
"Sir? Heading home? I'll get the car."
"No rush, Ashley." Anthony rose and walked to the window.
"Find me a discreet spot upstate New York—abandoned air-raid shelter, disused mine, whatever. I want an underground project there."
"How large?"
"Ten-thousand square meters minimum. Independent nuclear power grid, top-tier security. No one but me enters the core."
Ashley blinked, but wisely asked nothing.
"Yes, sir. Code-name?"
Anthony stared into the night, a red gleam flashing across his eyes.
"Codename... Skynet."
...After briefing her on 'Skynet', Anthony sank back into the sofa.
Just then Ashley re-entered, tablet in hand.
"Sir, you'd better see this!"
"Per your orders, our commercial satellite finally caught something over London—Hillingdon Borough..."
Anthony took the tablet.
It showed a derelict industrial park in London.
Yet the scene was surreal.
A multi-ton freight truck floated in the air like a balloon.
Kids were tossing cinder-blocks into an invisible 'hole', watching them vanish and reappear hundreds of meters away.
Spatial overlap, gravity anomaly.
Anthony's pupils contracted.
This was... the Convergence—once every 5,000 years when the Nine Realms aligned.
And... the Aether, the Reality Stone, sealed in the abyss.
The strangest of the Infinity Stones—it turns lies into truth and matter into dark matter.
"Nice... looks like Thor 2 just started," he murmured with a chuckle.
Powerful as he now was, he still looked puny next to true cosmic heavyweights.
Even just to keep Thanos from snapping, he had to grab this gem.
In the original plot, Thor's girlfriend Jane Foster would blunder into that folded space, get bonded by the Aether, and accidentally wake the Dark-Elf Teletubby-on-a-bender Malekith.
Yet he knew the Aether was nasty stuff.
It parasitizes its host, draining life force.
How Jane Foster, a mere mortal, survived it was genuine protagonist aura—no wonder she'd become the next Thor.
Though his physique was strong, whether it could withstand an Infinity Stone's erosion was unknown; he wouldn't gamble his own body.
"Need to find... a vessel."
Anthony picked up the office phone and dialed.
"Ring... ring..."
"Hello—what? It's the middle of the night..." Jessica Jones slurred, booze still on her breath.
"If this is some crap ad shoot, I'll crawl through the line and punch you."
"Good evening, Queen." Anthony's voice was velvet.
"Still drinking? Not very superhero wellness of you."
"I'm off duty, jerk. It's 1 a.m.!"
Anthony smiled.
"Put the bottle down and get ready."
"For what?"
"Tomorrow morning, come to London with me."
"Pass. What's there besides soggy fish-and-chips and endless rain?"
"Vacation." He lied without blinking.
"You're overworked; Ashley says you nearly snapped the stylist's wrist... we need R&R. Plus, there's a local charity dinner that specifically wants 'Queen Jones'—two-hundred-grand appearance fee."
Three seconds of silence.
"...U.S.?""
"Pounds."
"...What time?"
"Eight a.m. Dress warm—London's freezing."