Human Torch

Russell wasn't surprised by the media and the public's speculations. In fact, this was a result he had deliberately steered.

As for the reason, of course, it was due to his special thoughts regarding Gwen.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered with these gimmicks.

After briefly glancing at the news reports, he turned off the TV.

The name of the Superhero Serum had already been broadcasted.

In the days to come, as long as he continued performing heroic deeds, the name of the Superhero Serum would become more deeply ingrained in people's minds, eventually rivaling those of the Fantastic Four and others as a top superhero.

By then, he would be ready to consider revealing his true identity.

After switching off the TV, he made a phone call to Diana, who was currently on a business trip in Israel, inspecting newly unearthed relics in the Dead Sea.

Israel was 7 hours ahead of New York. Timing-wise, Diana should have just finished her day's work.

It didn't take long for the call to connect, and Diana's voice came through the phone.

First, Russell engaged in some small talk between lovers with Diana before recounting his recent activities.

Even if he didn't tell her, Diana would figure out what he had been up to when she returned.

It was better to inform her now than to let her find out later. At least this way, some unpleasantness could be avoided.

After hearing his account, Diana didn't say much; she simply reminded him to stay safe.

As their conversation came to an end, Diana casually gave him a small reminder.

"Don't dally with others! Especially, don't bring other women home!"

While Diana wasn't particularly possessive, and even tolerated some of Russell's quirks, bringing another woman home was the line in the sand.

If he crossed that line, Russell could be sure that Diana wouldn't mind showing him how sharp the Sword of Athena truly was.

Having lived with Diana for so long, Russell certainly knew what was acceptable and what wasn't.

Even without Diana's reminder, he wouldn't bring other women home.

Things that could be handled by booking a hotel outside didn't need to be made needlessly complicated.

Moreover, even without a hotel, the car was still an option.

There were more solutions than difficulties, and with the right mood, any place could become a battleground.

After hanging up, Russell sighed lightly.

Diana wouldn't be back for another week or two. This meant that during this period, he would still be sleeping alone, holding his pillow.

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

As the file opened, a photo of Gwen appeared on his screen.

Though he hadn't met Gwen again during this time, he had hired a private detective through the black market to investigate her.

Gwen Stacy, 20 years old, a sophomore at Empire State University, currently interning at Oscorp.

Father George Stacy, Chief of Police in New York, and mother Helen Stacy, a homemaker.

In this world, Gwen didn't have a younger brother; she was an only child.

After perusing the information returned by the private detective, Russell finished the whiskey in his glass with a gulp.

Fantastic Four headquarters.

Baxter Building.

On the top-floor living area, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, one of the most unruly members of the Fantastic Four, reclined on a sofa. He stuffed popcorn into his mouth as he watched news reports about the Superhero Serum.

As one of the most well-known superheroes in New York, Johnny was no stranger to superheroes making headlines.

To be precise, he himself was a frequent guest in those headlines.

Watching Russell on the television, Johnny's brow furrowed slightly.

Though he didn't know who this new Superhero Serum guy was, he could still discern something different from Russell's interactions with the media.

This guy is really good at dealing with the media!

This realization gave Johnny an indescribable sense of crisis.

Among the superheroes who were already famous, the Human Torch Johnny Storm was undoubtedly the one who understood how to deal with the media best.

Or, to put it more accurately, he was the one who loved appearing in the media spotlight, surrounded by flashing cameras.

Other superheroes would do anything to stay away from journalists, while Johnny was the complete opposite.

If it weren't for Mr. Fantastic Reed and his sister-in-law Invisible Woman Susan not agreeing, Johnny had even considered inviting a TV crew to the building for a 24-hour reality show.

After finishing the popcorn in the bucket, Johnny made a decision.

He was going to hold a press conference!

He decided on it, and without hesitation, he crumpled the empty popcorn bucket into a ball and tossed it toward the trash can, aiming like he was shooting a basket.

Three misses!

The idea was great; reality was cruel.

The balled-up bucket didn't even come close to hitting the edge of the trash can.

Ignoring the askew bucket, Johnny stood up and made his way toward Mr. Fantastic Reed's lab.

Though he had always wanted to be the leader of the Fantastic Four, it was a pity that not even his own sister Susan supported him.

Upon reaching Reed's lab, Johnny didn't mince words. He straightforwardly expressed his idea to Reed.

....

Russell was unaware of the events happening at the Baxter Building. Currently, he was in the laboratory on the second floor, conducting tests on the battle armor.

After this period of modification, Peter and Number 3 had achieved some visible results.

The Endosymbiotic Battle Armor had been transformed by the two of them to resemble Zaku's appearance.

At least from the appearance.

The Endosymbiotic Battle Armor was constructed from fully intelligent liquid metal, so changing its exterior appearance was not a challenge.

In order to make the Zaku-form armor more in line with the design, Peter and No. 3 had specially crafted beam rifles and thermal axes for the armor.

The current Zaku battle armor had an overall military green color.

Except for the helmet!

This wasn't Russell's request, but a decision made by No. 3 herself.

With a military green body and a light blue helmet, even though it seemed a bit mismatched, it was still better than having a green helmet.

To meet Russell's firepower platform requirements, the Zaku battle armor had more external interfaces than the original armor form.

Numerous external weapon interfaces were reserved on the back of the armor.

Due to time constraints, these external interfaces were temporarily unconnected to weapons.

Beam rifles, thermal axes, palm-mounted arc pulse cannons, and chest-mounted particle cannons.

After a brief performance test of the Zaku battle armor in the lab, Russell disengaged from the suit.

"Based on the current armor prototype, develop a mass-produced model. Remove the particle cannon on the chest and the pulse cannon on the palm. Change the beam rifle into a kinetic weapon, keep the thermal axe, and add external weapons like Gatling machine guns and individual anti-tank cannons."

"Switch the material to standard titanium-gold alloy, retain the basic functions of the operating system."

"Change the power system to a charging form with a battery life of three hours."

"Remove the flight system, replace it with low-altitude catapult flight."

"Try to keep the cost below 30 million US dollars!"

Russell's intention to turn the Octopus Monster Laboratory into a military-industrial behemoth was not just empty talk; he was truly planning to do so.

Since Stark Industries was gradually turning away from military contracts, Russell didn't mind taking the piece of the pie that once belonged to Stark Industries for himself.

In addition to selling to the military, he didn't mind selling to HYDRA either.

As for the price, 50 million US dollars per set should be reasonable.

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