The arc reactor, glowing with a soft blue light, spun lightly in Jack Kadere's hand before he pushed it back into Tony Stark's chest.
Thunk.
Jack gave it a firm, measured punch, and the device sank into place with a satisfying click, reconnecting to Stark's life-support systems.
"Cough! Cough! … Cough!!"
Tony hacked violently for a few seconds before finally catching his breath. He patted his chest and shot Jack a resentful glare.
"Brother, could you maybe be a little gentler?"
"Stop whining." Jack's tone was sharp. "Where's the suit? And don't tell me you still haven't finished it."
"It's done. I was just about to call you," Tony replied, forcing himself upright despite his weakened state.
He tapped a control panel, and a hidden platform rose from the floor a short distance away. Several sleek, high-tech combat suits were displayed—unlike the bulkier Iron Man armor, these were streamlined, close-fitting designs optimized for mobility.
"Thanks to you, by the way," Tony said, genuine gratitude in his voice—though, as usual, it came out in an odd way. "There's only one Tony Stark! If I were a woman, I'd be head over heels for you."
Jack snatched up several sets of the combat suits, grimacing. "Say something that creepy again, and I'll twist your neck."
Tony's eyes flickered toward Obadiah Stane, lying on the floor nearby with his neck at a strange angle. His voice lowered. "He… uh…"
"He's not dead," Jack said matter-of-factly. "Deal with him however you want."
After securing the portable suits, Jack tossed a small black cylinder to Tony. "Think you can make one of these?"
Tony caught it, turning it over in his hand. "What is it?"
He noticed a recessed switch and pressed it without much thought.
With a sharp bzzt, a beam of brilliant blue energy flared to life, cutting through one corner of the nearby worktable in a shower of sparks.
"Whoa!" Tony yelped, instinctively tilting the blade away before he sliced more than furniture. "You didn't mention it was a lightsaber! I almost skewered myself!"
"So… can you make it?" Jack asked, entirely unconcerned about Tony's near miss. With the magical Horse Talisman's ability to restore life, and his own knack for yanking people back from the brink, accidents like that didn't faze him.
"Hold on," Tony muttered, carrying the weapon over to a diagnostic console. He powered it down and set it on the scanning bed. "Jarvis, analyze the structure."
A moment later, Jarvis projected a full 3D breakdown of the lightsaber, its schematics, and an array of energy readings.
"Sir," Jarvis advised, "testing the maximum power output is recommended before replication."
"Later," Tony said, already juggling multiple priorities. "Oh, and delete Obadiah's system permissions. Give Black Spider top-tier clearance."
As he spoke, Tony enlarged a diagram of the weapon's crystal core. "This… is it the power source?"
Jarvis responded in his smooth, unhurried tone, "Apologies, sir, but I am unable to comply. Mr. Black Spider's data is shielded by an unknown encryption. Identification and logging are not possible."
Tony's head snapped up. "What the hell? Are you telling me you're an alien?"
Jack met his gaze without flinching. "Just focus on your work. Whether I have 'clearance' or not is irrelevant—I can walk in here anytime I want."
Tony stared at him for a moment, speechless. "...Right. Very impressive. Also, very unnerving."
"The most interesting component of this weapon," Tony said at last, pointing at a crystal-shaped element projected on the holographic screen, "is this. Jarvis ran it through every database on Earth. No match. This material doesn't exist on our planet. And you still say you're not an alien?"
Jack's thoughts flickered—A Kyber crystal?
The lightsaber had been a system reward, and unlike those in Star Wars, it didn't require the Force to wield. He had assumed the internal design would be different, but to find a Kyber crystal inside… surprising. This one must be special—powerful enough to generate the plasma blade on its own.
"Think you can make a substitute?" Jack asked.
"I'll need to test what it can do first," Tony said. He led Jack down to the lower lab, retrieving a plate of gold-titanium alloy—the same material used in Iron Man's armor.
"Let's see how it handles this—"
He didn't finish the sentence. The lightsaber sliced clean through the alloy like a hot knife through butter.
That was… unsettling.
Even with his armor, Stark realized this simple, elegant weapon could cut him in two with ease. He glanced at Jack, trying to mask his unease.
Great. I spend years building the most advanced combat armor on Earth… and he waves around a glorified glowstick that turns it into scrap in seconds.
Pushing down his irritation, Tony refocused. "Using an Arc Reactor to replace the crystal and reworking the internal structure, we could build something similar. But it wouldn't be as powerful."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Weaker because the energy output isn't enough?"
Tony shook his head. "No. It's not an energy problem—the Arc Reactor's output could match or even surpass this crystal's. The challenge is controlling the plasma blade so it doesn't go unstable. We'd have to dial down the power to make it safe."
The engineer in him couldn't hide his excitement. If he could integrate a stable energy blade into the Iron Man suit, it would be a game-changer in close combat.
He turned to Jack. "If I crack this, I want to equip one on the Iron Man armor. Don't worry—no mass production without your okay. And Stark Industries doesn't make weapons anymore."
Jack considered it. "Fine by me. But I have one condition—if we build them, we also outfit Ghost-Spider and the others with the upgraded tech."
Tony smirked. "Looks like we're about to start a whole new arms race—only this time, for the good guys."