Dirty Politics

With Bruce Banner's matter settled, Nick Fury still had a lot of things to deal with. Black Eggplant Nick Fury's nickname) had Wei Xiuming stay behind to exchange intelligence.

"What is that combat robot of yours? Even Tony Stark's Iron Man suit was dismantled, yet it was able to withstand the Abomination's fierce attacks," Nick Fury asked after activating the Shielding Device back in his office.

"The Imperial Machine Regined —that's the name on the blueprints. I've applied some of the technology from the all-domain, continuously enhanced mobile weapon to it." Wei Xiuming entered some data into Nick Fury's office computer, causing the projection device to display two humanoid mechs of different styles. "They were both developed for space combat, with heights of about fifty meters and twenty meters respectively. They were specifically miniaturized to deal with this situation, and after modifying and integrating some functions, they were built overnight, sufficient to handle most situations."

"But I underestimated people's ignorance and ambition. I've said it more than once before: don't try to control the Amazon Cells. It has never been a power that can be used by anyone other than Doctor Death —what kind of punishment will General Ross receive?"

It's unclear how Wei Xiuming brought up General Ross, but Nick Fury said, "The hearings for General Ross are underway. His crimes are enough to warrant the death penalty, but someone is trying to exonerate him, blaming the Abomination on a man named Samuel Stern."

"A long time ago, Samuel Stern contacted Dr. Banner and obtained a blood sample from him for research. Samuel Stern is indeed an expert in cell life sciences. These things are all on file, and Thaddeus Ross even has many copies of Banner's blood samples made by Samuel Stern as evidence."

"It's entirely possible that Samuel Stern researched something, such as creating a monster called the Abomination, and it would be very easy to pin the blame on him—most importantly, the surviving surveillance video shows that the Abomination originated from Samuel Stern's life science lab, and DNA samples taken from the bodies at the scene were not found to contain his remains."

"The most reasonable inference is that Samuel Stern applied his research findings to himself, because all the evidence points to this fact—on the contrary, even with heavy losses, General Ross's army still resisted the Abomination; the Hulk, born from his command, also participated in the battle against the Abomination, and with the hype from some unscrupulous media outlets, the Hulk was portrayed as a tragic hero rather than just a monster that only knew how to destroy."

With a cold snort, Wei Xiuming said, "Could it be that General Ross has done nothing wrong this time?"

"We know the inside story. After all, we've even been in contact with one of the parties involved. It wasn't just Samuel Stern who disappeared; Emil Franski also disappeared. According to the intelligence I've obtained, General Ross injected him with a degraded version of the Super Soldier Serum and some kind of drug of unknown origin."

Nick Fury said, "But that's the reality. Thaddeus Ross's hearings were conducted in secret, and who knows exactly how much quid pro quo and shady political maneuvering was involved?"

Politics is the art of compromise. The emergence of Abomination gave a group of military leaders hope for the weaponization of biotechnology. Both the Knight System and the Iron Man suit are controlled by large corporations, who need their own power. Therefore, General Ross has always been very tough on enhanced humans, must be protected so that his research can continue.

The agency that profited the most from this mediation was S.H.I.E.L.D.., a fact Nick Fury didn't intend to tell Wei Xiuming. Even though his vision was ahead of its time, every era has its own way of doing things.

Both were founding Monarch, but Zhu Yuanzhang dared to skin his officials alive because he rose from humble beginnings to rule the country legitimately; in contrast, Zhao Kuangyin's empire was acquired by an orphan and a widow, and he could only declare "sharing the empire with the scholar-officials" to win the hearts of the people.

But the topic was clearly about equipment, so why did it veer to this?

"Is it possible for the Reginald you mentioned to be mass-produced and deployed in batches?" Nick Fury abruptly changed the subject.

Wei Xiuming shook his head and said, "It's possible, but it's best not to do it."

"Whether it's Reginald or the All-Area General-Purpose Continuously Enhanced Mobile Weapon, both are large humanoid mechs with thick outer armor and enough batteries for movement, leaving ample space for the pilot to design a cockpit; however, the miniaturized atmospheric internal version, in order to accommodate the necessary parts, cannot be worn by a human like the Iron Man suit, which is a difference between it and Tony Stark's Iron Man suit from the very beginning of its design."

"Otherwise, without the Phase Shift Armor, Reginald wouldn't have been able to withstand the Abomination Fist for so long. Each physical attack he blocked consumed a lot of energy, and his fuel core also took up a considerable amount of space."

"Just like in the early stages of aerospace technology, engineers and scientists had to rack their brains to optimize materials and layout in order to reduce even one kilogram of weight. The Iron Man suit is a weapon, not Tony Stark's personal toy. His frail body completely hindered the performance of the Iron Man suit, and if you removed him as the pilot, the performance of the Iron Man suit would be multiplied."

"If Tony Stark no longer personally donned the Iron Man suit into battle, but instead transformed Iron Man suit combat robot, filling the space that was originally occupied by him with parts, energy, or weapons and ammunition, how powerful it would be."

"My approach involves using wireless signals, translating electrical signals into human brainwave activity via Mind Transfer Device, allowing the driver to control Reginald without being physically present at the scene. However, this carries risks. If a clever individual were to crack the signal and implant a virus into Reginald's programming, the driver's brain would also be infected with the corresponding virus."

"Coulson has experienced this; he should have experience with it." After his long speech, Wei Xiuming fell silent. He noticed a glint in Nick Fury's single eye, like the light in the eyes of unscrupulous merchants who hoarded 20-series graphics cards after the 30-series cards were released, trying to sell their 2070s at the price of a 2060, or the gleam in the eyes of writers preparing to buy new computers upon hearing the news.

"Could the Phase Shift Armor you mentioned be applied to S.H.I.E.L.D..'s Helicarrier?"

"It has a large enough size and space to meet your requirements. As for the energy issue, we can entrust Tony Stark to install a large Arc Reactor. It just so happens that Stark Industries has started to develop the new energy market after closing its weapons division, so I'll give him a big deal."