Chapter 27: The Future of Warfare

Thaddeus Ross is focused on chasing after the green giant who used to be Bruce Banner. This was what he believed to be the future, the future of warfare.

An army of superpowered soldiers who are invulnerable to weapons could easily deal with any and all dangers and threats that the US could face.

When Ross witnessed the green giant carry a tank and even destroy it like it was nothing, when the green giant simply shook off any and all damage that was caused by even the most powerful weapons the military had-

At that moment Ross decided that he would obtain the green giant's power.

Alas, no matter how he tried to replicate the conditions that lead to Bruce Banner turning into the green giant he could not create another monster.

Ultimately, Ross saw this as either a result of some special genetic characteristic of Bruce Banner or just a chance genetic mutation.

Either way the only way he could get answers is to obtain genetic material from Bruce Banner.

Unfortunately, Bruce Banner had been on the run for a long time now and Ross was unable to track him.

The moment Ross catches wind of Banner the green giant had long left the area and all Ross would find is an empty room with not a single piece of genetic material from Banner.

Because of this Ross had been heavily invested in looking for weapons or anything that could possibly injure the green giant. Even a small cut would do as long as he could obtain some blood or skin Ross would be satisfied.

Unfortunately most weapons developed are designed to deal with humans or any current threat. 

Whether it was fortunate or not, the knowledge of the green giant was carefully hidden from the world. This meant that no one is attacking Ross for his failure but at the same time, no one knows about the green giant leading to a lack of developments focused on dealing with it.

But Ross did not give up as he still tried to look for any weapons or solutions to his problems.

Because of this Ross had built an extensive network of people, whether they be acquaintances or friends, all of which are heavily invested in the military industrial complex.

One of these "friends" happens to be Senator Stern who is a big supporter of the military.

Senator Stern literally built his political career on the military. From support to the veterans to support for the troops. Stern had become the politician who pushed for improving America's capability on defending itself.

Ross became a "friend" of Stern for this reason as Stern was deeply connected to the huge military industrial complex.

Although people knew about Stark Industries and the "Merchant of Death" Tony Stark, there were other companies that have created various huge developments in military tech.

There were companies that were developing medicines, others improving firearms and there were even some that were researching limb regeneration medicines.

Initially Ross was not going to come to this demonstration held by Stark Industries. Especially after he learned of Tony Stark's decision to close the weapons development division of the company.

Of course, these words and claims of Tony were not immediate and Ross did not completely believe that Stark Industries would close down its weapons development division. 

Though Tony Stark continued to claim that he will do just that, Obadiah Stane claimed otherwise.

Based solely on this Ross could already see the internal conflict occurring in Stark Industries.

For Ross, the rise and fall of these huge conglomerates was something he could care less about. 

He did follow the developments though as he wanted to know whether or not he could expect anything from Stark Industries.

But based on his own investigation, Tony Stark had not left his home for a long time. Something he was not known to do as Tony was a well known playboy.

Though as Ross thought about it he saw that Tony may have developed some sort of PTSD.

After all, Tony Stark would not drop his vices that quickly. But he did, he stopped having models come to his home, he stopped going to parties and few people found him drinking at bars.

Now Tony Stark was like a recluse but this made Ross see Stark Industries as a huge dynasty that was about to fall.

Without their Golden Goose Tony Stark, the company would sooner or later drop to mediocrity at best, crash and burn at worst.

Now though he was wondering what kind of "new weapon" Obadiah Stane was going to give them.

He really wanted to see what amazing development Stark Industries would make without the help of their greatest asset, Tony Stark.

When Ross arrived and saw the confidence in Obadiah Stane he only scoffed as he did not want to trust the face of a man who could easily lie through his teeth.

He voiced out his opinions without filter before sitting alongside his fellow generals.

After they all got themselves seated, Obadiah stood before them as he started to speak.

"Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen! Today I wish to share with you some great and some heartbreaking news."

Stane paused for a second as he let out a breath before he continued talking-

"The heartbreaking news is that Tony Stark will not be developing weapons anymore"

Hearing his words, a lot of the participants of the demonstration wanted to stand up and leave. But they held themselves back and waited for Stane to give them the "great news".

But when Obadiah spoke of Tony Stark, a smile formed in Ross' face as he thought-

*As I expected, now then… I wonder what kind of amazing technology Stane could create without his golden goose*

Stane went over everyones reactions, as he expected, many believe in Stark industries because of Tony Stark. This was something Stane was used to but that didn't mean he liked it. Even he had his own pride and he wanted everyone to know that even he could keep Stark Industries running without Tony.

"But do not worry! There are countless geniuses in this world and the product we have today was made in partnership with Mr. Morales at the back"

Stane said as he gestured towards Miles Morales who was at the back of the crowd.

Everyone turned to see the dark skinned man with a golden mask who was giving them a casual business smile as he bowed.

"Now then, what product will we be showing today? Tony Stark had created the Jericho missiles. His reason was to reduce casualties by giving our brave men and women of the armed forces the ability to eliminate threats from a distance."

As Obadiah explained, a video of the test done in the middle east was shown on a large flat screen television. Everyone watched as the Jericho missiles leveled a small mountain. Indeed it was powerful but even Ross knew the limitations of that kind of power.

"There are countless ways for use to cause such destruction, you who all have experience in the field should know that destruction is destruction no matter what weapon is used. That said, using such weapons are not always optimal"

Stane clicked on a remote control that changed the feed on the television, what appeared on screen were images of various cities all over the world. 

"Whether it is the middle east, China, Africa, Afghanistan or even-"

Stane paused as he clicked on his remote, the image changed and from foreign cities what appeared were images of US cities-

"Our own cities, all of these places could become hubs for terrorists and our enemies. Yes, major cities are heavily protected but what about small cities, cities that don't have the capacity to have specialized forces?"

Obadiah clicked once more as images of illegal immigrants and of airports appeared on the screen.

"There are always holes in our defenses, always ways for our enemies to infiltrate our homes"

The image was once again made to change by Obadiah, this time showing images of middle eastern cities and towns.

"Yet all we can do is slowly try to fish our enemies out! Yes, our enemies are known to hide in caves and mountains but they also exist in urban areas. And it is in this area that we lose most of our valued soldiers!"

Presenting images of soldiers fighting in cities, hiding behind their armored vehicles as they try to defend against an ambush from all around. Obadiah then went to the meat of his presentation.

"Tony created weapons that could level mountains but could we level cities? Even in the middle east, destroying a single house would lead to huge public outcry! Imagine what happens when the houses become those of our countrymen?"

Obadiah's words were obviously leading, but despite already knowing what Obadiah wanted to say all the participants, even Ross was hooked.

It should be said that bombs and mountain leveling weapons were great but their usefulness was limited.

Listening to Obadiah, Ross, as much as he didn't want to, felt that Obadiah was going to show off a weapon that was not a bomb that would give a big boom. But instead something like a gun, a weapon that could be used for strategic actions.

Ross directed his attention towards the huge trailer.

*Weapons would not need such a huge trailer… is it a special guided missile? Or something like drone that could carry guns?*

Various thoughts flashed in Ross' mind as he stitched together the focus of Obadiah's words.

*Soldiers welfare and careful operations that can't use great destructive force…*

When he thought about it, Ross turned his attention to the demonstration area.

Various weird structures were scattered in a huge area.

*Hmm… is it a new tank? Interesting… what kind of weapon will Stane show*

Ross now lost his disinterest as he was now filled with a desire to know what Stane was going to show and as his thoughts reached this point Stane finally reached the end of his elevator pitch.

"Humans have gone from using sticks and stones to using guns and bombs! We always move forward making things bigger and better now then, how about we make something bigger and better that does not involve making huge explosions?"

Obadiah gave the crowd a question and without waiting long he answered said question as he proudly revealed his new weapon-

"Ladies and gentlemen! Let me give you-"

Following his words the trailer opened up revealing what could only be described as a weapon that could only be seen in science fiction. It stood nearly 5 meters tall, having a wide frame with semi-humanoid features.

"The Knightmare Frame - Glasgow!"

Upon revealing the name of the huge mech, as if responding to Obadiah's words, the four "eyes" on the armor lit up with a red light.

 Then, before anyone could speak the sound of wheels spinning rapidly was heard. Everyone looked for the source of the sound and their attention was directed at the feet of the "Knightmare Frame"

Seeing this the first one to speak was Ross-

"Wheels?"

Stane did not explain anything, in fact he did not hear Ross' words as the old general did not shout and just whispered to himself.

Then, before everyone's eyes the huge "iron doll" shot forward. The speed at which it shot out was faster than any modern tank. With its large frame a powerful gust of wind that carried clouds of sand enveloped the group of viewers.

This made everyone shoot up from their seats but instead of going to their cars or away from the area they rushed forward to get a better look at the "Knightmare Frame".

As the group escaped the cloud created by the Knightmare frame they bore witness to a scene that few could believe was true.

In the distance a huge metallic humanoid was rapidly moving across the desert. There were strips of various terrain in which it moved through with ease.

Everyone was slacked jawed in awe seeing the huge mass of metal moving at such speeds.

"Won't it have a hard time getting over hills and the like with such a large frame?"

One of the generals asked and when he did Stane smiled. The old businessman then took out a radio as he said.

"Begin Stage 2 of movement demonstration"

Responding to his command, the huge Knightmare frame shifted its body, skated through the desert and rushed rapidly towards a huge wall as tall as it was.

Everyone did not look away and were anticipating what kind of capabilities the knightmare frame would use to get past the obstacle and to their surprise it did something none of them expected.

Like a human, the knightmare frame bend down as it approached the wall then-

"It could jump?"

Seeing the knightmare frame jump made one of the researchers scream out in surprise. He was a robotics engineer and knew how hard it was to emulate various biological movements. Jumping was especially difficult as the mechanics that would allow any being, especially a bipedal one to move their bodies up and down to simultaneously push the ground and pull their bodies up was not easy.

The physics in such movements made use of the entity's mass converting it to downward force to push off from the ground and then pull the body up to supplement the rebounding force from the ground once again using mass to pull one's body up.

The mechanics defined the difference between doing a squat and jumping in place. The movement was similar but the many intrinsic actions that allowed the body to direct force to the ground and to the sky is what allowed one to jump when needed and squat to exercise.

Of course, the complexity of these actions were already researched and there were developments in this field but most robots could barely keep their balance after falling back to the ground.

The key here is balance, most robots could do the same thing but with four legs and a more centralized center of mass.

The researcher was amazed because he just watched a bipedal mech, skate through the land then, with great speed, perform a jump and land smoothly on the ground without losing balance.

"HOW IS IT ABLE TO MAINTAIN BALANCE? How is it able to…"

The researcher was both amazed and confused but his eyes shone with a bright light as the machine in the distance continued to do various maneuvers.

The military officials and generals as well as Senator Stern may not understand the key mechanics that made the machine amazing but the reaction of the various researchers made them understand one thing.

That was, the fact that the huge hulking mech in the distance was truly a marvel.

But despite this many of them still had one question in their minds. This question though was something none of them said, save for one man-

"That's great and all but how is it able to support our troops?"

Ross asked, his eyes showed a light of interest but he still gave off the aura of apathy.

Stane smiled as he once again opened, talked on the radio and said.

"Prepare for combat demonstration"

At his command, various turrets appeared in the desert.

"Please stand behind the protective wall in case of any stray bullets or debris"

Following his words, everyone headed for the enclosure nearby, made of transparent bulletproof material.

After everyone entered the enclosure, Stane then talked to the radio as he commanded.

"Proceed with the demonstration"

Following his words, all the spectators were immediately amazed. 

They watched as the knightmare frame shrugged off small arms fire and even ignored the attack of an M2 machine gun.

Though it didn't do the same for missiles and larger caliber shells. Though the way it dealt with such attacks were even more amazing than it ignoring small arms fire.

When the turrets that imitated tanks tried to target the knightmare frame, the huge mech rapidly moved through the sand.

The turret was unable to follow its movements as the knightmare frame pointed its hand towards the turret where a missile emerged and shot towards the turret leading to an explosion.

"The turrets moved faster than the Abrams turrent… with that kind of speed and weaponry unless its targeted by guided missiles it can't be destroyed."

"It dodged a rocket propelled grenade, moreover did you see how its upper body could rotate 360 degrees and destroy a guided missile with its armaments"

The Knightmare frame danced around the emulated battlefield, using onboard armaments to "neutralize" its targets. 

But this was not the end, after the live combat demonstration the Knightmare frame then picked up what could only be described as a huge rifle.

Then, it started to once again move around the battlefield. The knightmare frame then stopped before a structure that was thrice its height. 

As everyone waited for what it would do, they watched as the Knightmare frame shot a wire guided armament that grabbed onto the top of the structure.

Then to the surprise of everyone present the Knightmare frame used the wire to pull itself up the structure.

It also used the same wire to rappel down like a human.

If that wasn't enough it shifted its body and using the wire it was able to use the wheels on its feet to "drive" up the structure.

After this it began to move through the area once more adding in 3 dimensional maneuvers into its actions.

The whole scene made everyone go silent, the knightmare frame was huge but it wasn't that huge.

As the knightmare frame completed its demonstration and came up close to the audience everyone saw that the huge knightmare frame was just a bit under 5 meter tall.

Its width allowed it to drive on highways with two lanes, then as they came closer they realized that the small arms fire barely left a dent on the machine. Seeing the damage of 50 cal rounds just chipping away some paint made the military generals wanting to see the effect of a sabot shell to the armor.

But they held back their curiosity as doing so may destroy the machine. Also, even if the shell did not destroy the knightmare frame the force would surely knock it down.

Everyone was busy talking amongst themselves, studying the machine. Amongst the researchers a blonde woman wearing standard office lady attire came up to one of the engineers.

"General Houston wants to have a word with you"

Hearing the words of the blonde woman, the researcher quickly excused himself as he followed the woman as they walked towards the general who separated from the group waiting for them.

As they walked towards the general, the researcher spoke.

"Its really a magnificent weapon isn't it"

To his words the blonde lady smiled as she answered.

"Yes, yes it is, the general is very interested in your thoughts about it"

When the man heard the blonde woman's words he had a look of shock on his face as he replied.

"Is that so? I guess I need to make a report now…"

"Yes, do you have the footage?"

"Of course! The general came here prepared to be the first to make a deal with Stark Industries if necessary!"

The conversation between the blonde woman and the researcher was heard by some of the other generals.

"It seems that the marines are already making moves"

"Well given the kind of operations marines need to take, it's understandable"

"Is the air force not interested?"

"Do you think I wouldn't be interested? I would love to have these kinds of suits in the air force but only the AFSOC would use them. Unlike the Marines who would probably have their own special units that is separate from MARSOC"

"The army would probably be in the same position as the marines, the national guard as well… though if they have some amphibious capabilities maybe we could get some for the navy since we also have SEAL's working alongside the Marines"

"They might just give the national guard some units and let the Navy, Army and Marines share units"

"So its another race to get funds… maybe we should hold back on the new F35's?"

"No! the F35 is a great platform though maybe we can reduce the number for a few Knightmare frames…"

All of the generals were talking amongst themselves.

Stane and Miles on the other hand were watching them from afar, they gave each other a knowing look, they were both smiling as they could already see how successful the Knightmare Frame was.