Marvel: A Lazy-Ass Superman

Chapter 776: Chapter 776: Wild Boar Armor

Late at night, inside the secret base in Tribeca, Henry was hammering away at several components, putting the finishing touches on them. At the same time, he was multitasking, controlling the spy drones he’d sent out and periodically checking the surveillance footage they transmitted back.

One group of spy drones was watching the Osborn family’s detached mansion near the United Nations Headquarters in Manhattan. Another group was monitoring the Osborn Industries headquarters downtown.

For the moment, both groups of spy drones were only conducting external scans. Henry had yet to infiltrate either location. He needed to confirm the placement of the security systems and find a way to break into their surveillance networks before he could have a high degree of confidence in making a safe infiltration.

Although the Sparrow-class spy drones possessed optical camouflage and stealth capabilities, they could still reveal faint traces of themselves in small, brightly lit environments. Henry didn’t want to alert the enemy, so he chose the more cautious approach of reconnaissance.

His goal was, of course, to locate Norman Osborn, or at the very least find where the Green Goblin armor and weapons were being maintained and stored.

According to the movie, they were kept in the attic of the Osborn mansion. But Henry didn’t dare take the movie’s information at face value. After a whole night of surveillance, Norman Osborn had appeared neither at his own home nor at the company’s headquarters.

Clearly, he either had a safe house somewhere else, or there were secret spaces inside the mansion or headquarters that couldn’t be detected from outside. A third possibility was that he’d gone to one of Osborn Industries’ more remote production facilities.

Henry might have to wait until the spy drones infiltrated the buildings before he could determine whether there were hidden spaces inside the mansion and headquarters.

Although dealing with the Green Goblin was fairly urgent, urgent matters had to be handled slowly. The more anxious the situation, the steadier he needed to be.

After all, his opponent was Norman Osborn. Henry couldn’t afford many mistakes against him. He might only get one chance.

So Henry could only wait.

Fortunately, patience was one of his strengths. A Kryptonian with super-speed didn’t have to worry about opportunities disappearing in the blink of an eye. Even a fraction of a second could feel like an entire day to him.

The mecha component Henry was hammering on was part of a new armor incorporating Isu energy technology, codenamed Wild Boar. Its design featured the head of a tusked wild boar atop a humanoid body, with an interlocking black-and-orange color scheme.

Its primary weapons were a compact crossbow, a pneumatic gun, and a railgun, with an emphasis on silence. As a result, their firepower wasn’t particularly impressive and they were mainly suitable for close-range use.

Its secondary weapons consisted of a kukri and serrated blades resembling shark fins mounted on the arm armor. The blades could be extended and retracted.

In addition, the arm armor was equipped with grappling hooks and powerful winches, giving the Wild Boar armor more options for attacks and tactical maneuvers.

As a trade-off, its flight capabilities were relatively weak. Although it had the same standard super-ejection acceleration system, it wasn’t equipped with flight thrusters. At most, it could manage a form of hovering flight.

Isu technology was primarily used for defense and stealth. Optical camouflage still had the same minor flaw: it worked fairly well when stationary, but once the user started moving, various traces could still be detected. That aspect still needed improvement.

The advantage of this armor was its compact size, making it closer to Henry’s own body proportions. It wasn’t like the Green Arrow Duck, which was essentially a giant mascot suit more than twice the wearer’s normal size.

Just because there were fewer mechanical components didn’t mean the armor would rely more heavily on the Kryptonian’s own physical abilities in combat. Isu energy technology allowed many devices to be miniaturized or integrated with other systems.

The ammunition compartments, however, couldn’t be reduced very much. Apart from carrying less ammunition, the only alternative was to add bulky components resembling tumors to the armor for storage and ammunition capacity.

Since the armor was designed for covert infiltration, the limited ammunition wasn’t enough to make Henry anxious. If necessary, he could simply switch to close-quarters combat and do something ridiculous like beat someone equipped with advanced technology to death with his bare hands.

Moreover, Isu energy technology wasn’t simply about releasing energy to inflict damage. That was because Isu technology had no concept of a conventional ”battery.” Energy could be replenished whenever it was consumed.

When its energy was depleted, Isu equipment could use the Earth’s magnetic field and magnetic resonance to replenish itself. This was based on the theories of wireless and unlimited energy once proposed by Nikola Tesla.

However, recharging took time.

And as the equipment’s components aged, the amount of energy Isu technology could store would gradually decrease. Eventually, it would become impossible to recharge at all, rendering the equipment permanently unusable.

That was what Cassandra had once told him: the special weapons and armor preserved from her era had gradually lost their functions, becoming nothing more than ordinary iron and artifacts.

The same was true of the Isu weapons and equipment she had stored beneath the sea and only recently recovered. Their capabilities were no longer what they had been at their peak, and some of their more powerful functions were even missing.

Because energy played such an important role in Isu technology, it wasn’t something that could be casually released, whether for attacks or other purposes. Objects capable of freely releasing energy as a weapon were all artifacts of the highest tier.

Another discovery Henry had made from studying the existing Isu equipment was that its use of energy resembled the abilities displayed by mutants.

Could that mean the Isu of the First Era had already deciphered certain secrets of mutant genetics, then encoded those abilities into mass-producible devices and reproduced them artificially?

That would also explain why the Eternals could use Isu weapons and equipment despite possessing no Isu genes.

After all, the Eternals, mutants, and Isu could very well all be technologies derived from, or extensions of, Celestial technology.

It might even point toward another path to true Marvel-level supertechnology: the Sentinel robots invented by Bolivar Trask using genetic technology.

A fully developed Sentinel robot wouldn’t merely be capable of wiping out the mutants and humans on Earth. Put one in the wider universe, and even Marvel’s three great interstellar empires would probably have a hard time dealing with it. Even against the Zombie Universe, it might be capable of turning the tables.

They could learn and adapt. Different Sentinel units could share knowledge.

Most importantly, they could be mass-produced!

The comic-book Sentinels could even be considered weaker than the fully developed form seen in the movies. It was the exact opposite of the usual situation, where comic versions of characters tended to be stronger than their cinematic counterparts.

Henry estimated that if Ultron ever saw a fully developed Sentinel, it might even abandon its vibranium body and choose another vessel to house its primary consciousness.

But the Sentinels were still far too distant from Henry.

As for Isu technology, the Kryptonian was only just beginning to scratch the surface.

The Wild Boar armor Henry was building was actually a prototype for the Isu Eagle Armor that Cassandra had specifically requested. He had simply cobbled together a set of experimental components for the time being.

Considering that he needed to deal with billionaire Norman Osborn, the best approach might be to have him publicly die in the identity of the Green Goblin, and then have his true identity exposed afterward.

That way, someone else would help clean up the aftermath, reducing public attention on the incident. People above a certain level would also learn Norman Osborn’s definitive fate, allowing them to make subsequent arrangements accordingly.

The only drawback was that the Wild Boar armor would probably become a disposable identity.

Afterward, Henry would have to bury it—or even destroy it—to prevent anyone from tracing it back to him.

Using a makeshift suit of armor to eliminate Norman Osborn?

Worth it!

After all, Norman Osborn died in the movie’s ending anyway.

Henry would simply play the executioner himself, preserve the friendship between Peter Parker and Harry Osborn, and let those two kids thank him later.

Henry hammered away at the components in his hands with even greater enthusiasm.

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