Chapter Forty-Six: The Difficult Task of Opening the Coffin

Dr. Banner smiled faintly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Tony’s remark—for him, the true allure of science lay in probing the very essence of things.

Yet Steve, standing nearby, found himself a little puzzled. After all, Tony and Banner were both giants in the scientific community; it was only natural for the two of them to collaborate on a research project. So why had they involved him?

“Stark, why do we need to bring weapons?” Steve gave his shield a gentle shake. If this was just about the discovery of an unusual crystal coffin, he couldn’t see the need for them to be fully armed.

“Because, Captain, the lady inside is still alive,” Tony replied, setting down his teacup. He strode over to the armory, and in an instant, the Iron Man suit enveloped him. The previous briefing had been vague, so neither Steve nor Banner had known.

“She’s still alive?” Steve was surprised, even shocked. But then, considering he himself had survived entombment beneath Antarctic ice for so long, perhaps the existence of a living woman in a crystal coffin wasn’t so outlandish.

“No, no, no—this is nothing like your situation,” Tony interjected, reading Steve’s thoughts from his expression. “That crystal coffin is completely sealed, and the woman inside has a strange sword thrust through her abdomen. I doubt even you could’ve survived under those conditions.”

Steve fell silent for a moment. Though he was a man from the Second World War who had slept till the present day, he had since absorbed a great deal of modern knowledge. He understood what an airtight seal implied. And the super-soldier serum was not the same as invincibility—sealed away after being impaled, even he would never have lasted.

“So? What’s your plan?” Steve asked, beginning to understand. For Tony, genius that he was, to call on them for help, the problem must be truly intractable.

Dr. Banner also paused his data analysis. “Tony is right. The life form inside that coffin is still alive. Good heavens, it’s hard to believe—can she really be human? Or maybe she’s something like Thor. But can Thor survive in a vacuum? I’ll have to ask him next time.”

Tony, now clad in his armor, stood before the crystal coffin. “Let me say this first, Dr. Banner—please, don’t lose your temper right away. I’d rather not have to renovate my newly repaired tower again.”

Banner grinned and scratched his head, moving behind Captain America, who had already readied his shield. “Relax, Tony. Since last time, I’ve got a much better handle on my temper.”

“If you say so.” Tony pursed his lips. He wouldn’t feel truly secure until he completed his anti-Hulk armor. In a way, Tony and Fury were cut from the same cloth—which explained a lot.

“Are you ready? I’m going to start.” Red light glimmered on Tony’s armored forearm as he prepared to cut open the crystal coffin with a laser.

“Ready,” Steve replied, just as a beam of red light shot toward him. Thankfully, his shield was up, and he deflected it with ease.

The ceiling wasn’t so lucky. Though Tony shut off the laser the moment he realized it was useless, the beams reflected by the coffin still managed to leave several holes in the living room’s décor.

“Well, looks like I’ll need to redesign my room again,” Tony said helplessly, surveying the fresh punctures. The crystal coffin hadn’t just deflected his beam—it had split it into several rays. He hadn’t anticipated this; all previous tests with light and scanning rays had yielded perfectly normal data. Who could have guessed it would react so peculiarly to a cutting beam?

“Sir, scanners indicate that at the instant your beam struck the crystal, a strange energy fluctuation erupted inside. We believe this energy is responsible for the reaction,” Jarvis reported, his words displayed before Tony’s eyes.

If the coffin responded to any perceived threat, then even opening it would be fraught with danger.

But now, with the arrow nocked, there was no turning back. Since energy weapons were ineffective, Tony had no choice but to resort to the most basic physical methods.

He nonchalantly produced a chainsaw from his suit. For a multifunctional suit, a fully automatic chainsaw was hardly out of place.

So, under Captain America’s slightly stunned gaze, Tony Stark, clad in the Iron Man suit, began sawing at the crystal coffin.

This time, the coffin didn’t unleash any strange energy surges, which comforted Tony somewhat. It seemed the energy response was triggered only by energy weapons. He didn’t know why, but that could be studied later.

Tony’s relief was short-lived. After sawing down less than ten centimeters, he felt tremendous resistance—not from some mysterious force, but from the coffin itself. The material’s hardness was simply staggering.

“This can’t be.” Tony was incredulous. His chainsaw was made of his latest, toughest alloy—stronger than any known material in the world. Or so he’d thought.

Yet Tony wasn’t ready to give up. He knew that in nature, the harder a material, the less tough it tended to be. If he simply applied more force, perhaps he could finally break through.

Jets of flame spurted from his suit’s thrusters as he pressed down with all his might. After a few seconds of nerve-grating screeching, he managed to force the saw blade a few more centimeters deeper—but it brought him no satisfaction.

He withdrew the chainsaw, now reduced to a mere strip of metal. The once-sharp teeth had all been ground smooth. Tony’s plan for a physical breach had failed.

Steve couldn’t help but snort with laughter. The sight of Iron Man wielding nothing but a flattened piece of metal was just too comical. His laughter drew Tony’s gaze.

Meeting Tony’s steel glare, Steve apologized, “Sorry, Tony, I didn’t mean to.”

But Tony’s eyes lit up with inspiration and he said mischievously, “No problem, Captain—as long as you don’t mind me borrowing something from you.”

“What is it?” Steve followed Tony’s gaze to his own shield. After all, when it came to sheer hardness, what could compare to the vibranium shield?

Though Tony’s chainsaw had met a heroic end, Steve had full confidence in his shield and handed it over without hesitation. Tony took it, and without further ado, strode into his lab to craft a tool. Since the shield was round, he’d need to make an auxiliary device to mount it properly.