Harry's newly designed Extremis worked well, but the use of fire-resistant platelets once again increased the price of the entire product.
The price happened to fall right within the range where major powers could mass-produce Super Soldiers. Holding the Extremis reagent in his hand, Harry considered how to handle it.
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Extremis modifies genes through a virus to grant humans targeted trait improvements, but from a precision standpoint, it isn't actually very precise—it might affect subsequent genetic modifications on the subjects.
Furthermore, it's hard to say whether this virus will change in the human body after several decades, unlike the Super Soldier Serum, which has stood the test of time.
"How do you plan to handle this? You can be considered its developer now," Dr. Hansen asked tentatively.
"Not just its developer, but its owner," Harry said. "Doctor, you can continue researching this—a diluted version might be helpful for medical development."
Harry didn't intend to explain his plans to Dr. Hansen; instead, he found something else for her to do.
As for these reagents, Harry planned to use them on the Orbital Drop Troops. Osborn would soon have a true Super Soldier paratrooper unit.
A stronger body meant being able to use stronger Power armor—though there was still a gap compared to what Harry used himself.
Thinking of this, Harry dialed a number:
"General Ross, I need some paratroopers who are disabled but still have the will to fight—of course, you can round them out with some able-bodied soldiers with excellent resumes. We're going to have Super Soldiers."
Thirty physically disabled soldiers were sent into Osborn's medical room, and thirty perfectly intact Super Soldiers walked out in an orderly fashion.
A simple physical fitness test told General Ross that this was no fantasy!
General Ross maintained a cold, stern expression, but a tidal wave of shock had already surged in his heart.
"Privates, your new designation is S.H.I.E.L.D. Orbital Drop Troops, 1st Platoon. Now return to the waiting room and await further instructions."
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers felt reborn and were in high spirits, itching to run a few laps around the training ground. A few of them even jumped high into the air on the way.
After the soldiers left, General Ross asked, "So what technical route are you actually taking? I thought you liked mechanical enhancement like Stark?"
"Well, machines are great, and the biological body is good too. Why can't they advance side-by-side?" Harry said. "The matching armor has already been developed and should finish production in a few days."
A stronger body could adapt to a stronger powered exoskeleton—but their physical fitness was still nowhere near Harry's, so Harry only needed to modify the equipment he used himself.
The training of the S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers was primarily arranged by General Ross. Although Harry was a consultant, his focus remained on Osborn's own troops.
These hundred improved Extremis soldiers contributed another 10 points to Harry's mission progress. Now, Harry still needed to find 15 more enhanced individuals or superhumans.
"Do you have any suggestions regarding orbital drops?" General Ross asked before leaving.
After all, Osborn had already completed one drop; they might have more experience.
"The manual was given to you along with the delivery of the drop pods. I'm just a businessman; tactical planning is up to you." Harry didn't intend to give any suggestions. Although he knew a bit, he wasn't from a military background after all.
Besides, as a consultant, he had already been dutiful enough by providing S.H.I.E.L.D. with 30 Super Soldiers with a wave of his hand.
General Ross turned and asked, "When can the aerospace strategic platform be delivered? S.H.I.E.L.D. seems to have passed some resolution over there; they plan to build three Helicarriers, with technical support still coming from Stark."
What General Ross was talking about was nothing other than the Insight Project. Harry hadn't communicated much with Fury, but he believed this King of Spies could handle it.
Even if he couldn't handle it, Harry could lead S.H.I.E.L.D. to clean up their mess—that was what Harry had planned all along.
Because the United States under Norman's administration had already strictly forbidden S.H.I.E.L.D. from conducting unauthorized law enforcement actions on U.S. soil. If those guys still chose to launch Helicarriers in Washington D.C., S.H.I.E.L.D. would shoot them down immediately.
Harry said, "Then let them do it, but you have to keep a close eye on them."
Hearing this, General Ross looked at Harry—to be honest, his impression of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't too bad. One must know that S.H.I.E.L.D. had given him a lot of help during the capture of the Hulk, and before this, the U.S. government and S.H.I.E.L.D. had been very close.
In the perception of his generation, S.H.I.E.L.D. was still under the actual control of the United States—after all, its predecessor, the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR), was a U.S. agency.
However, after his interactions with the Osborn father and son, he found that these two were extremely wary of S.H.I.E.L.D., as if they were ready to abolish the organization at the slightest disagreement.
Harry also noticed General Ross's gaze and said, "General Ross, you are the U.S. Secretary of State. You tell me, an organization that has the right to launch nuclear missiles at New York—do you still believe it is under U.S. control?"
It was precisely because of the organization S.H.I.E.L.D. that this World's United Nations had become somewhat deformed—on one hand, the UN was still sandwiched between various countries, but on the other hand, all the technology and resources of S.H.I.E.L.D. originated from the U.S., featuring the most advanced equipment and complete resources.
As a result, the weight of the UN Security Council became much higher than that of the UN General Assembly, even allowing them to arrest people at will on the territory of any country.
And the U.S. would have the illusion that S.H.I.E.L.D. was on their side, also because there were many HYDRA officials within the U.S. These officials ordered S.H.I.E.L.D. around, and S.H.I.E.L.D. worked for them; in the end, everyone was working for HYDRA.
Now that HYDRA's internal Agents in the U.S. had been suppressed by Norman, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s rebelliousness began to show its signs.
Harry added, "After my father's investigation, it was discovered that they originally had a massive underground hangar in D.C.—large enough to house Helicarriers. You wouldn't want to see an uncontrolled Helicarrier patrolling D.C."
In addition, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fighters have already entered production. You need to step up the personnel recruitment."
"Are you sure your fighters can compare to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s quinjets?" General Ross questioned.
As a former Air Force General, he knew how insane the performance of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s quinjets was. This kind of fighter could go into the sky and underwater, fly with stealth, and had powerful firepower, combining the uses of almost all aircraft types into one.
However, Osborn was not Hammer Industries.
"Except for optical stealth, which I indeed cannot do, I can guarantee that in other aspects, it will only be better," Harry said confidently.
Through the equipment in the Shape Material Lab, the Vulture Team was the first and only research team to reverse-engineer Chitauri materials. This meant only Osborn could produce weapons of this level, while such weapons remained mere prototypes elsewhere, unable to be mass-produced.
Material science is a major bottleneck that halts scientific progress.
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