After instructing Lilith and Vivienne to mind the shop, Garfield headed to the basement with Mari in tow, Shōkyū still dangling from his paw like a misbehaving kitten.
The basement training ground had been partially converted into a hangar.
Parked in the center sat a Republic fighter from the Star Wars universe, its red-and-white paint gleaming, X-shaped stabilizers folded in landing configuration.
Rin, Kumatarō, and Kumajirō stood guard nearby, while Howard Stark crouched on top of the vessel, screwdriver and hammer in hand, trying desperately to find an access panel.
There was none. Not a single seam, bolt, or hatch.
"An X-wing fighter!" Mari's eyes went wide.
Howard looked up at Garfield's arrival, sparing only a glance for the squirming Shōkyū. "Boss, this kid know something about this thing?"
Mari turned to Garfield uncertainly. He gave a small nod, permission to speak.
With that, Mari addressed Howard. "It's a Republic fighter, but I think it's still in the prototype stage."
"They weren't deployed until later, during the war with the Trade Federation."
Garfield's ears perked up. That was right, X-wings hadn't entered service during the early conflict.
He floated up for a closer look. Twelve meters long, the silhouette was unmistakably X-wing, but the wings were broader, the nose shorter than the classic design.
There was no socket for an astromech droid either. This looked like a single-pilot variant.
A prototype, then. From some era of Star Wars history, real enough to touch.
Mari watched Garfield hover with open envy.
Master Garfield can fly too... Someday, I'll learn. He's so powerful, he could end the war if he wanted.
Garfield landed. "Howard, give it up. You're not getting that thing open. I don't see a single screw hole."
"I might be able to~" Howard scowled, unwilling to surrender.
"No." Garfield cut him off. "This fighter is at least five hundred years ahead of Earth's tech."
"Even its hyperdrive components, just one piece can't be replicated here. You know why?"
A flash of understanding crossed Howard's face. "Material strength. For FTL travel, the tolerances would be insane."
"Exactly. You can't even meet the baseline material requirements, let alone reverse-engineer the rest."
"Don't gnaw on a rock you can't break. Wakanda's technology, barely a century ahead is where you should focus."
Howard sighed, rationality winning over obsession. "Yeah... yeah, you're right."
Garfield shooed the reluctant genius upstairs, then turned his attention to Shōkyū, still held firmly in his grasp.
He pointed at the X-wing. "Alright. How did you and Pandora drag this thing here?"
"How should I know?" Shōkyū threw up her hands or rather, her paws.
"Miss Pandora told me to aim at some little ball and pump power into it. I shot a Tailed Beast Ball at it, and poof, the ball turned into a tunnel."
"She reached in, pulled this thing out, then climbed inside and vanished."
Of course.
Garfield's headache returned. Pandora had somehow torn open a path to the Star Wars galaxy and gone through.
Probably chasing trouble, as usual.
But at least he knew she wasn't dead. He'd feel it if she were.
Still... what a mess.