"What did he just do?"
Nick Fury and the Fantastic Three were all stunned by that question. The difference was that Nick Fury had research personnel under him monitoring the entire battlefield.
"Our instruments detected a subtle change in the device on his back and the surrounding magnetic field. That likely caused the monster called the Deep Sea King to be crushed by millions of tons of magnetic force in that instant. It couldn't withstand it and exploded on the spot," the researcher said.
A device on his back?
Nick Fury had actually noticed it a long time ago, that crackling, electricity-sparking mechanism on the back of Zod's Dark Knight armor.
"We suspect it's an electromagnetic generator," the researcher said with admiration.
"Can we replicate it?" Nick Fury was tempted.
"We can, but it wouldn't mean much, because we can't control magnetic fields the way Zodhis can," the researcher shrugged.
"Why?" Nick Fury's single eye widened.
"The Strategic Homeland Attack and Defense Logistics Support Agency spends so much budget on you every year, and you still can't even control magnetic fields?"
Nick Fury could not accept it.
"Director, we're not Zodhis. This century probably only has one Zodhis. That's what a genius is like. Otherwise, the scientific world wouldn't still be unable to fully digest the knowledge left behind by that group of scientists from World War II."
The researcher spoke frankly.
No one knew whether war gave birth to science, or whether the scientists from World War II really were the smartest group in human history. The technical blueprints and knowledge they left behind still had not been fully absorbed, even after all these years, even with so many geniuses and researchers across the world. To this day, humanity still hasn't moved beyond Einstein's relativity, and quantum mechanics established by a huge group of physicists like Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli, Louis de Broglie, Max Born, Enrico Fermi, Paul Dirac, Albert Einstein, Compton, and many others.
Did that mean nobody after World War II was smarter than them?
Of course not. Thinking that way would be underestimating what the sheer size of humanity could produce. It was just that Zodhis believed the real problem was limitations, and the waste caused by duplicated research.
After all, without shared technology, every country had to repeat the same projects. That massively wasted humanity's total time and resources. Unless humanity achieved true unification and concentrated its efforts, only then would it be possible to surpass that group of physicists who had practically been deified.
Nick Fury wanted to speak, then stopped. Damn it, that actually sounded reasonable. I can't refute it.
Damn it, f*ck!
"Hello, Dark Knight."
The Fantastic Three had seen Zod's power. He had made the Deep Sea King explode with a simple clenched hand.
"How did you do it?" Reed asked fervently. He was hopeless. He was the type who could ignore his girlfriend's feelings just for research.
Of course, Susan wasn't much better. Doom was her fiancé. He'd only been missing for a few days, and Susan was already back together with Reed.
No wonder Doom would turn dark. He got ruined financially, and then his fiancée got stolen too. Who wouldn't snap?
"The device on my back is an electromagnetic generator. Then I made a controller that can manipulate electromagnetic force," Zod explained simply, and Reed instantly showed a look of realization.
Zod wasn't afraid of others hearing this and developing some targeted demagnetizer. His electromagnetic generator's output actually wasn't that high. It was mainly for misdirection. He also wanted to use the Fantastic Three to spread the reason he was so strong.
That way, nobody would assume his power came from mutation or some superpower Zodhis gained, instead of armor-based technology that was simply too advanced.
"You're a genius," Reed praised, clearly wanting to discuss it further.
"I still have things to do. I'll be leaving. This is in your hands now."
Zodhis nodded to them, cutting off Reed's attempt to talk, then flew away without a sound.
After controlling electromagnetic force and magnetic fields, there was no need to fly by blasting energy like Tony Stark did. It was faster, too, and it didn't suffer from supersonic shockwaves, sonic booms, or heat barriers.
The next day, sure enough, the military came knocking.
They were here to strike first, complaining about War Machine's quality and questioning War Machine's combat capability.
"Major General, you need to understand something first. War Machine was never meant to fight monsters. It was meant to counter most human military weapons. In fact, after War Machine appeared, most tanks and fighter jets were facing obsolescence. War Machine perfectly fulfilled its value, didn't it?" Uld shot back at the Air Force major general.
The white-haired major general immediately realized this woman wasn't some young rookie he could bluff. No wonder she had Zodhis's trust to manage such a massive company.
Still, losing twelve War Machines made the Air Force top brass ache, because it meant the power they held had shrunk.
As for the Deep Sea King's remains, Zodhis had completely disintegrated them at the molecular level. On top of that, it had been a rainstorm. The forensic trace team searched all night and couldn't find even a single strand of DNA.
It was like losing both the wife and the troops. Trying to steal a chicken and ending up losing the rice instead.
"We already made it clear in the contract terms. Blade Tech Industries does not compensate for War Machines damaged or destroyed due to combat. We only provide warranty and compensation for product defects," Blade Tech Industries' legal team said, going straight to the contract clauses with the major general.
The major general irritably twirled the pen on the table. Who reads contracts carefully anyway? And they were the U.S. military. He doubted anyone would dare mess with contract tricks.
Besides, that clause was standard practice, not a trap.
Right then, Uld received a message through her earpiece. She looked at the Air Force major general.
"Our boss, Zod, says he has a new product. Major General, are you interested in taking a look?"
The major general froze. Zodhis had a new product?
Of course he wanted to see it!
Then they saw Zodhis's new product.
It looked very similar to War Machine, but it had four metal arms on its back.
"This is War Machine 2, built specifically in response to that monster called the Deep Sea King. The surface is coated with sub-grade Kryptonian metal, so its defense is much stronger than War Machine 1. I also increased the output and startup speed of the palm energy cannons. The power core abandons the palladium-element reactor and uses a magnetic-confinement fusion reactor instead. It can fight longer, and its flight speed is faster than War Machine 1."
/-\
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