New Project

After more than half a year of hectic work, the establishment of S.W.O.R.D. was finally preliminarily complete. The organization's various institutional levels and systems were all capable of operating independently, which meant Michael could finally devote more time to his "hobby."

Michael stood amid the wraparound holographic equipment in his private laboratory and swiped his hand, opening a transparent screen projected in midair. A project indexed as "Armor" unfolded before him. Complete information on every generation of armor he had created so far was stored in separate folders, arranged by serial number within the project.

Michael tapped the interface skillfully several times and called out, "Sherry, are you there?"

"Of course, sir. What are your instructions?"

"Create a new project file. We're about to have a new friend."

"Understood, sir. Are you ready for another upgrade?" As Sherry spoke, the files on the interface flashed rapidly, and the project was quickly created. "What title would you like to give the new project?"

"X-06 will do." Michael opened the project file indexed "X-05," containing the data for the White Black Armor he currently wore. "Also, once it's created, copy the complete data from X-05 into it. We'll modify the old model directly."

"Yes, sir."

Michael walked over to the workbench. Sherry had already intelligently fed the data into it and projected the file image in three dimensions through the table's built-in display system. Michael opened the "Armor Structure" option, and a scaled-down three-dimensional cutaway of the armor immediately appeared in the center of the table.

Michael circled half the workbench, thought for a moment, then reached out and erased a layer of armor around the torso. He rested his chin on his hand and studied it for a while before successively removing armor from the gauntlets, legs, and other areas.

After a series of additions and deletions, the armor, which already prioritized mobility, had become significantly lighter overall. At the same time, however, its defenses had inevitably taken another severe hit. It looked like it might not even withstand a direct hit from an anti-tank gun.

Sherry had clearly noticed the problem as well. "Sir, I must remind you that while these modifications will grant greater speed and mobility, they will also reduce the armor's defensive capabilities to the absolute minimum. For your safety, I strongly advise against adopting these modifications."

"You have a point." Michael nodded. "That's why we need this."

He formed a hand seal and extended his right hand. A pale golden Magic Circle appeared out of thin air on the tabletop. As his arm slowly rose, the Magic Circle followed his movement inch by inch, leaving behind a cylindrical glass container on the workbench. A deep-blue substance was sealed airtight inside, emitting a faint blue glow.

Using the laboratory cameras, Sherry scanned the structure of the substance inside the glass container.

"Vibranium, sir?" she asked.

"One of Strucker's former subordinates had some connections with Ulysses Klaue, an arms dealer on the black market." Michael picked up the small vial of Vibranium and circled half the workbench. "Klaue is the only smuggler in the world dealing in Vibranium. He said he paid a terrible price to get it, so his asking price wasn't cheap either. This tiny vial alone cost me several billion."

"But you don't lack several billion, do you?"

"Perhaps." Michael shrugged.

"Then do you intend to use Vibranium to create this new suit of armor?"

"Not yet." Michael set the Vibranium back on the table. "First, we need to study this small vial and collect as much data as possible. Besides, I don't intend to build the armor out of pure Vibranium. As far as I know, while Vibranium is the strongest metal in the world, it has one fatal weakness—sound waves. Until we find a way to resolve that flaw, I have no plans to put it into practice."

"Perhaps composite materials could be used to compensate for that flaw?" Sherry suggested.

"Good girl, you almost make me proud." Michael smiled faintly. "That was my plan too. So you can begin working now—scan and collect data from this vial of Vibranium, build a model, then mix it with every material we know at every possible ratio and see what happens."

"Yes, sir. The relevant project has been established. Experimental data will be recorded automatically." As Sherry spoke, several green scanning beams shone onto the small vial of Vibranium and began slowly sweeping from top to bottom.

"One more thing, sir. A S.W.O.R.D. special operations team reported the capture of an unidentified enhanced individual. He was just transferred to the New Jersey S.W.O.R.D. Branch." Sherry paused, then added, "With the combined efforts of Miss Maximoff and Sergeant Barnes."

"Sounds like they're working together rather pleasantly."

"Would you like to personally confirm it?"

Michael glanced at the all-around scan currently being conducted on the Vibranium atop the workbench.

"It's not like I have anything else to do right now." Michael shrugged. "Prepare a suit of armor for me. Keep working while I'm gone. Once the data collection is complete, immediately begin simulated tests of mixed metals."

"Understood."

A few minutes later, the black armor descended vertically onto the rooftop of the New Jersey S.W.O.R.D. Branch, trailing two jets of flame behind it. The branch director had been waiting at the landing site for quite some time, and the blast of air kicked up by the landing suit left him unable to open his eyes.

The director gave Michael the most proper salute he could manage. Michael strode past him and asked in a voice altered by the suit, "You captured an enhanced individual?"

"Yes, he was just transferred here." The director hurriedly led the way. "Our experts are collecting samples and attempting to confirm his identity through genetic matching. The results should be available any moment now."

Michael followed him through several security doors and arrived at a biological laboratory deep within the base. The captured superhuman was imprisoned inside a tank-like glass container, his entire body covered in black scaled armor. His sharp black hair drifted slowly through the bubbling liquid, while his bloodless face looked as though it belonged to a corpse.

The doctor in charge of the laboratory stepped forward and, after saluting, reported, "This sample is extremely strange. Part of his genetic code appears to have been damaged. I've never seen a defect like this before. Also, the armor covering his body appears to have been implanted into his skin, with its central system directly grafted into his spinal column. Therefore, we cannot remove his armor."

"You mean illegal biological modification," Michael said.

"Yes, sir. He is not only an enhanced individual, but has also definitely been deliberately modified." The doctor adjusted his glasses and flipped through the report in his hands with a puzzled expression. "As for his identity... it's rather strange. We conducted a genetic match and found the closest match in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Special Abilities Registry. The genetic match rate was 92.35%."

Michael raised an eyebrow beneath his helmet. "92.35%?"

He was not an expert in genetic engineering, but even he understood how rare such a situation was. Genetic matches were either exact or nonexistent. From a conventional medical standpoint, a 92.35% match was practically impossible.

Unless the test subject was a clone.

Before S.H.I.E.L.D. collapsed, it had maintained a Special Abilities Registry specifically to archive and monitor the personal information of extraordinary individuals around the world. S.W.O.R.D. possessed most of Hydra's top-secret files from back then, and Hydra had been closely entwined with S.H.I.E.L.D. for so many years that they naturally had a copy of the registry as well.

Except for certain entries personally classified by Fury as Level Ten top secrets. Much of the information in that portion of the copy was incomplete.

"So who was this 92.35% match?" Michael had already roughly guessed the answer, but he still needed confirmation.

"The registry information is incomplete. We were only able to find a name: Peter Parker." The doctor adjusted his glasses again. "But we still haven't figured out who exactly this Peter Parker is."

"Thank you for your efforts, Doctor, but I'll take over from here." Michael interrupted him flatly and turned toward the exit. "Continue focusing on studying this specimen. Report directly to me if you uncover anything else. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."