Chapter 69: Thunderbolt

　　It's no surprise to Russell that the media and the general public would have such speculation.

　　In fact, it was the result of his active guidance.

　　As for the reason, of course, it was because he had so many special thoughts about Gwen.

　　Otherwise, he wouldn't bother with these little tricks.

　　After casually watching the news reports, he turned off the TV.

　　Now the name of the superhero serum is out there.

　　In the days to come, all he had to do was continue to do heroic acts of righteousness, and the name of the superhero serum would grow deeper and deeper into people's hearts, eventually turning into a superhero on par with the likes of the Fantastic Four.

　　At that point, he's almost ready to think about announcing his true identity.

　　After turning off the TV, he called Diana, who was on a business trip to Israel, examining the newly unearthed remains of the Dead Sea.

　　Israel is seven hours faster than New York, and in terms of time, Diana would be just finishing up her day now.

　　It didn't take long for the call to connect, and Diana's voice came through the other end of the line.

　　Russell started with a little couple's chat with Diana and then told Diana about some of his recent activities.

　　Even if he didn't say anything, Diana would be able to tell what he'd done in the meantime when he returned.

　　Rather than have Diana find out when she returned, she should tell her now.

　　That way, at least some unpleasantness can be avoided.

　　After hearing his story, Diana didn't say anything, just told him to be safe.

　　At the end of the call, Diana gave him a small reminder in a seemingly casual tone.

　　Don't womanize!

　　Especially not bringing other women home!

　　While Diana had no cleanliness fetish and even acquiesced to some of Russell's little hobbies, not being able to bring another woman home was the bottom line.

　　If that line was crossed, Russell could guarantee that Diana definitely wouldn't mind letting him experience how sharp the Vulcan's Sword really was.

　　Having lived with Diana for so long, Russell certainly knows what he can and cannot do.

　　He didn't need Diana to remind him that he wouldn't bring another woman home.

　　There's absolutely no need to complicate things that can be solved by simply getting a hotel room outside.

　　Besides, even if you don't get a room, the car is just as good.

　　There are always more ways than there are difficulties, and any place can be a battlefield if you are excited about it.

　　After hanging up, Russell let out a small sigh.

　　Diana wouldn't be back for another week or two, which meant that in the meantime, he'd still have to sleep alone with a pillow.

　　Setting the phone aside, he opened an encrypted file on his computer.

　　As soon as the file opened, Gwen's picture appeared in his line of sight.

　　He hadn't met with Gwen again in the meantime, but he had commissioned a private investigator in the black market to look into Gwen.

　　Gwen Stacy, 20, a sophomore at Empire State University, is currently interning at The Osborne Group.

　　Father George Stacy, NYPD commissioner, mother Helen Stacy, homemaker.

　　The Gwen of this world has no brother and is the only child in the family.

　　After looking over the information that came back from the private investigator's investigation, Russell drained his glass of whiskey in one gulp.

　　Fantastic Four Headquarters.

　　Baxter Building.

　　In the living quarters of the penthouse, Jonathan Stone, the most debauched of the Fantastic Four, Thunderbolt, lounged on the couch, shoveling popcorn into his mouth as he watched a news report about the superhero serum.

　　As one of New York's most recognizable superheroes, Jonathan is no stranger to superheroes making headlines.

　　To be precise, he himself is a regular in these headlines.

　　Watching Russell on TV, Jonathan frowned slightly.

　　He didn't know what this new serum that had popped up was either, but those images of Russell facing an interview showed him something different.

　　This guy, he's good with the press!

　　This discovery made Jonathan feel an unspoken sense of crisis.

　　Of all the superheroes that have become famous so far, Jonathan the Thunderbolt definitely knows how to deal with the media the best.

　　Or rather, a favorite person to appear in media shots and be surrounded by flashing lights.

　　While other superheroes hate to stay away from reporters altogether, Jonathan is just the opposite.

　　If Mr. Fantastic Reed and her sister Susan the Invisible Woman hadn't disapproved, he'd have even entertained the idea of inviting the show to the Mansion for a 24-hour reality shoot.

　　When the popcorn in the paper bucket was finished, Jonathan had a decision to make.

　　He's going to have a press conference!

　　When he said he would do it, he crumpled the empty paper bucket of popcorn into a ball and threw it at the trash can in a shotgun throw.

　　Three non-stains!

　　The idea is beautiful, the reality is cruel.

　　The paper can that Jonathan had crumpled up didn't even touch the side of the trash can.

　　Jonathan ignored the buckets of paper thrown askew and got up to walk towards Mr. Fantastic Reid's lab.

　　Although he always wanted to be the head of the Fantastic Four, sadly, even his own sister Susan didn't support him.

　　Upon arriving at Reid's lab, Jonathan didn't have the courtesy to speak his mind directly to Reid.

　　......

　　Russell didn't know what was happening in the Baxter Building, and now he was in the lab on the second floor conducting tests on his battle armor.

　　After this period of remodeling, Peter and #3 made some meaty gains.

　　The Inner Symbiosis Battle Armor, transformed by the two of them to look like Zagato.

　　At least from the looks of it.

　　The Inner Symbiosis Battle Armor is built from fully intelligent liquid metal, and the change in shape is not difficult for the Inner Symbiosis Battle Armor.

　　In order to make the Battle Armor in Zagu form more in line with the design drawings, Peter and 3 and purposefully built the Beam Rifle and Thermal Axe for the Battle Armor.

　　The current Zagu battle armor has an overall military green color.

　　Except for the helmet!

　　It wasn't at Russell's request, it was at #3's own discretion.

　　Army green body color with light blue helmet.

　　It looks ever so slightly less coordinated, but it's better than a green helmet.

　　In order to meet the requirements of Russell's firepower platform, the Zagu Battle Armor is going to have more external ports than the original Battle Armor form.

　　On the back of the battle armor, a large number of external weapon ports are reserved.

　　Because of the timing, these external ports are not connected to the weapon at the moment.

　　Beam rifle, thermal axe, arc pulse cannon in palm, cluster cannon in chest.

　　After testing the performance of the Zagu Battle Armor a little in the lab, Russell disarms his attire.

　　"Using the current battle armor as a prototype, develop a mass-produced model, eliminating the cluster cannon in the chest and the pulse cannon in the palm, replacing the beam rifle with a kinetic weapon, keeping the heat axe, and adding external weapons such as the Gatling machine gun and the man-portable anti-tank gun."

　　"The material is changed to ordinary gold-titanium alloy, and the operating system just retains the basic functions."

　　"Energy system changed to rechargeable form with a three hour range."

　　"Cancel flight systems and change to low-level catapult flight."

　　"Try to keep the cost under thirty million dollars!"

　　Russell's intention to make Octopus Monster Labs a military-industrial giant isn't just talk, he really intends to do it.

　　Since the current Stark Industries was starting to gradually abandon military orders, Russell didn't mind making the cake that had belonged to Stark Industries his own.

　　In addition to selling to the military, he wouldn't mind selling to Hydra.

　　As for the price, 50 million dollars a set shouldn't be a problem.