I had been relaxing leisurely for a while.

The Avengers facility was quiet, like the calm before a storm.

So the members and staff took turns going on vacation.

Some members asked, "Is it okay to do this?" but I just said it was fine.

I told them that since we never know when the next big problem will hit, it’s good to travel and rest while things are quiet, and just sent them off.

That didn’t mean there was nothing at all to do.

It was just things like going to merchandise events with the members, waving to fans, and signing autographs.

"Since we’re just lazing around the base anyway, why don’t we go on a trip too?"

Natasha seemed pretty bored as well.

"Where do you want to go?"

"Hmm... I don’t know. How about we go ride the Lakshmi? Actually, I’ve never been on it because I’ve been too busy."

"Come to think of it, I haven’t ridden it either."

To be exact, I had been on it, but that was for inspections or repairs—I’d never actually used it for leisure.

And while the resort ship Lakshmi had lost some popularity compared to its early days, demand was still high.

"You haven’t ridden it either? You made it! That’s ridiculous. The owner hasn’t even tried it once..."

"Well, I’ve been busy too. Should I make a reservation right away?"

"Sure. But I’d like to bring Penny too. She hasn’t been able to rest at all lately. And Dr. Cho’s team as well."

"True... Alright. Let’s book for everyone and go together."

Natasha was the type to quietly take care of things like this.

Even in the original, she was the one who ran the base after the Infinity War.

I immediately asked Dr. Cho’s team and Penny’s family about their plans.

Penny’s family agreed right away. Especially her father, who was worried about her coming home late every day from rescue work, was very enthusiastic.

Except for a few staff members working under Helen Cho, everyone decided to go.

They seemed tired of being cooped up in the base every day too.

So I made the reservations immediately—all premium suites.

I covered all the costs, but it didn’t matter.

These days, the money I made from coins was so much that it didn’t even make a dent.

What was interesting was that Jane from Dr. Cho’s team decided to come, so Thor decided to tag along too.

"Wow~ There’s a beautiful city inside the ship!"

"There’s also a water park upstairs, so we can have fun later."

"Really!? Okay!"

Penny was definitely the happiest, running around with Cosmo to check out all the sights.

Her father looked pleased watching her.

The doctors, having grown closer through exchanging help in their respective fields, were happily chatting and sightseeing together.

Dr. Darcy Lewis was also in the group, but with Natasha around, she couldn’t approach me and just stayed next to Jane, glancing over.

Meanwhile, not far away, Thor was sneaking glances at Jane, waiting for the right moment to talk.

Interestingly, Dr. Helen Cho was also subtly watching Thor.

’Wow... If this goes wrong, we might have a morning drama on our hands. It’s a bit worrying, but it’s also entertaining.’

Since the doctor team was shopping and buying souvenirs and clothes, I thought it was the perfect timing and took Thor over to them.

"Doctor team, I’ve brought a strong porter to make your shopping easier."

As I said that playfully and pushed Thor forward, the doctors’ eyes lit up.

Then, as if they’d been waiting, they started handing their bags to Thor one by one.

Thor shot me a resentful look, but I gave him a thumbs up and a "you got this" look.

"This one’s a bit heavy~"

"Oh, please take this too."

"This one’s okay, right?"

In an instant, Thor’s hands and even both shoulders were loaded with bags, but he still managed to turn his head toward Jane.

"Hello... Jane."

"Oh, uh... Hi, Thor."

Jane flicked her hair awkwardly and smiled, and Thor tried his best to look natural despite being buried in bags.

Watching that, I laughed silently in amusement, and Natasha beside me laughed too.

She must have found the situation just as funny.

But seizing this opportunity, Thor actively spoke to Jane, and Jane didn’t seem to dislike it.

However, Dr. Helen Cho couldn’t just stand by either—since Thor’s hands were full of shopping bags, she personally fed him a drink.

At this point, the other doctors had caught on to the situation and were giggling behind them.

Anyway, we enjoyed the water park, visited both the South and North Poles, and then returned to the base.

Penny, having had a great time, talked all day about the trip.

Seeing that, Penny really was still young.

"So at the South Pole, we saw the aurora... and penguins and polar bears..."

"Sounds like fun. I should go sometime when I have time."

"Yeah! It was really fun!"

The other members, knowing how hard Penny had been working on rescue missions, all listened with smiles.

Time passed, and as spring approached, the government suddenly contacted me—and it was the President of the United States himself.

—"Share the Gundam technology with the military as well. We trust you, but if something goes wrong, we need to be able to defend ourselves. Of course, I’m not asking for it for free. I’ll guarantee exclusive rights to the technology and pay appropriate royalties."

So I asked for some time to think about it.

From their perspective, it was a reasonable request.

But I was still uneasy about just handing it over.

That was because in the Marvel world, governments were like open windows—technology could easily leak, and if things went wrong, it could be stolen. They were simply untrustworthy.

Since I couldn’t decide this alone, I contacted all the Avengers members for an important meeting.

Every single member gathered in the conference room—I could see Eleanor (Deadpool) and Rhodey (War Machine) had come too.

Rhodey was probably called by Tony.

"Since everyone’s here, let’s begin. To get straight to the point—the President has requested that we hand over Gundam technology to the military. I got the call yesterday..."

I explained the phone call with the President to them in detail.

The members remained silent for a while after hearing it, each seeming to mull over the issue.

Then Pietro broke the silence and asked me.

"But you’re the one who made the Gundams. Couldn’t you just decide on your own without asking us?"

"The thing is, Gundam technology actually includes Iron Man’s tech too. The Arc Reactor engine is a prime example."

At that, Tony looked a little surprised and asked.

"Oh, really? So what’s my tech share percentage?"

"About 30%. For reference, Hulk Strike is over 70%."

This wasn’t wrong—Tony’s technology was that outstanding, and a lot of it had been borrowed.

Hearing that, Tony, pleased that his tech was in the Gundams, smiled and patted my shoulder.

"If we end up selling Gundam technology to the government, you’ll need to pay me that percentage."

"Of course. Anyway, there’s another problem: ’Can we really trust the government?’ If we give it to them and it ends up in Hydra’s or another terrorist group’s hands, it could be a disaster."

"True, there was the Ten Rings incident too."

Tony, having gone through a lot back then, remembered it clearly.

But Rhodey, apparently a bit bothered by Tony’s words, spoke in a sulky tone.

"Yeah, yeah. I was all wrong. But it’s the President’s request. We can’t just outright refuse."

"That’s true."

Then Captain America, who had been listening quietly, shared his opinion.

"I’m opposed. Like Jin said, if the technology falls into terrorist hands, we might end up facing Gundams ourselves. And if it spreads to other countries, future wars could involve machines like Gundams being used as weapons, causing massive casualties."

At Captain’s words, Natasha countered.

"What if we keep all the good tech to ourselves and still fail to stop an incredibly powerful alien or terrorist group? Other people might not even be able to fight back and just get overwhelmed. I think it’s necessary to give people the means to protect themselves. Tony must have known that too, which is why he handed over the War Machine to the government... right?"

When Natasha asked, Tony nodded.

"Yeah, that’s right."

As the atmosphere began shifting toward handing over the technology, Rhodey elaborated on the government’s position.

"Honestly, the government could only operate one War Machine because of security issues. Even if Gundam technology is introduced, it would have to go through congressional approval, so even making one unit won’t be easy. And yeah, trust was shaken after the Ten Rings incident. But since then, security has been a top priority, so I hope you can trust us now."

I found that hard to believe.

It wasn’t really a government issue—it was a world-building issue.

In Marvel, there were far too many people with strange abilities.

"This is tough... I’m worried it’ll be misused if we give it, but if we don’t, the President’s request is there, and I do agree to some extent with letting people protect themselves."

Then Vision offered a good suggestion.

"Why not downgrade it before handing it over? That would strike a compromise between both sides."

"Oh~ that’s a great idea. What do you think, Captain?"

After a moment of thought, Captain replied.

"Weapons are out of the question. They’re too powerful."

"Understood."

I was worried this might become a prelude to Civil War, but it passed without major incident.

Once the meeting ended like that, Tony clapped his hands and said.

"It’s not often we all get together like this. Let’s have a drink."

"Sounds good."

"Yeah."

Everyone agreed on having a drink right away.

As expected, they were all on the same page when it came to that.

The next day, we were working on the downgraded Gundam blueprints at the base, and Tony and Banner, showing great interest, decided to join.

"With this, the joints won’t hold up. Walking around is fine, but it won’t be able to move violently."

"That’s what I figured. I guess there’s no way around using Chitauri alloy."

"With this size, we can’t help it..."

"This will drive the unit price up even more. That metal doesn’t come from Earth. How about reducing the size instead? It can’t handle G-forces anyway."

"It’s a shame, but we have no choice."

As opinions converged like this, the size was reduced to 10 meters, and somehow the appearance ended up resembling ’Ingram’ from ’Patlabor.’ It wasn’t intentional.

"I hope they’re satisfied with this..."

As I fretted, Tony and Banner told me not to worry.

"They’ll be satisfied. The government can’t do anything about the materials. And I think this turned out pretty decent. Pity we couldn’t include weapons though."

"Tony’s right. I don’t think you need to worry too much."

Since Tony and Banner said that, I handed the completed blueprints to Rhodey.

"Explain it well to the President. There was too much opposition, so we couldn’t include weapons."

"Got it."

I estimated the unit cost would come out to about 500 billion Korean won—about twice the cost of an F-22 Raptor. And if weapons were added, the cost could rise even further. Even though R&D costs were excluded, it was still expensive. It remained to be seen how many units would actually be produced.

And the biggest beneficiary of this project was Tony. Since Tony had made a deal with the government to produce Arc Reactor engines scaled to the unit size, he was expected to make considerable profits in addition to the technology licensing fees. Of course, Banner had also participated in the project, so he would receive licensing fees too.

Surprisingly, Tinkerer could also benefit—he could earn a lot by providing the government with the G-suit technology he had made for Penny. In the end, he had become a ’successful otaku.’

But there was a side effect—the government had taken a significant amount of Chitauri metal from Damage Control. Apparently unsatisfied with the technology we provided, they wanted to build better units. Not that we were in any position to complain. The alien metal was government property to begin with.

And perhaps as a result of the technology transfer, the government recognized Vision and Mew-Mew’s US citizenship, allowing me to transfer the house to them. Of course, they had to pay taxes, but Vision and Mew-Mew accepted that.

A few days after that, we received intelligence that someone was targeting a biochemical research lab in Nigeria. Captain, Falcon, Natasha, and Pietro were deployed for the mission. Finally, the story of ’Captain America: Civil War’ had begun.

But unlike the original, the team composition was different from the start. Wanda was replaced by Pietro, as Captain judged him more suitable for infiltration missions. With such changes, I was a bit worried.

’I hope nothing goes wrong.’