A secret meeting room in Hebron.
Luke, Captain America Steve, Frank, and Nick, who had hurried over and learned something about the situation, sat in a row of chairs. In front of their table was the captive, his hands still bound.
"Is he okay? I mean he is only handcuffed with this pair of handcuffs." Seeing the person coming, Nick was stunned at first, as if he didn't expect that the other party was only handcuffed with a pair of handcuffs.
Although there was no need to worry about the other side launching a sudden attack successfully when Luke, Captain Steve and Frank were all in combat, he still asked for safety's sake in order to avoid that situation.
"His alienated limbs are now in a dormant period, which means he cannot control his alienated mechanical limbs at all. There is no need to worry about the other party breaking free or resisting." Luke pointed to a small palm-sized mechanical spider lying on the captive mechanical shoulder and said softly.
This small mechanical spider has the ability to seal the mechanical organs of the mutant and interfere with neurons.
"Eric Savin? He used to be the head of the Army's super-tech project. He worked for General Ross and was an extremist." Nick used his authority and it only took a short time to search out the main past experience of the man opposite.
Eric just had an unfathomable smile on his face and remained silent without answering.
"A few years ago, with the disbanding of the Paratech Project, you left the military and worked for the founder of AIM. Sure enough, the latest mechanical virus was the work of Aldridge Killian?"
Nick didn't stop just because Eric didn't say anything. He continued to talk to himself bit by bit, but his only intact eye stared at any subtle expression on Eric's face without blinking as he spoke. Unfortunately, Eric's expression was normal, and he kept that cynical smile.
"The mechanical virus is a very good research result, but unfortunately it is not perfect." Luke suddenly spoke from his seat, twirling a pen in his hand. Luke's voice caught Eric's attention.
"You should be well aware that AIM will inevitably face some turmoil no matter what. It's no longer a good ship."
"I know you, Luke Field." Eric finally spoke, saying his first words after coming in. "Dr. Killian admires you very much. You were once one of his alternatives."
Eric glanced at the four people sitting in front of him and chuckled. "I know what you think of us: lunatics! Criminals! Evildoers! It doesn't matter. In my opinion, you're not much better than us. At least Dr. Killian still has some great ideals. You think we're about to fall, but maybe we can finally make a comeback?"
I love what my former boss said: "Whoever controls the weapon controls the power of the word." It seems Dr. Killian has a weapon, a powerful one with limitless potential! You can't do anything to him.
"Excessive confidence is arrogance. This world, and we, are not that simple," Nick said meaningfully. "Let's discuss Dr. Killian's intentions. I have no ill will towards his technology, but I am dissatisfied with his spreading such immature technology. I know you may have the influence and support of certain individuals in the military, but they have caused enough trouble in the past."
"Killian can't perfect this technology, right?" Luke suddenly spoke again.
Eric glanced at him, this time saying nothing. But Luke didn't care. "The truth is, he—or rather, you all—are almost at the end of your rope. If he can't perfect this technology quickly, then you'll soon be paying the price for this immature technology. And your lives will be the settlement currency!"
This time, Luke's words finally made Eric change his expression.
"I'm guessing this technology wasn't developed by Dr. Killian; it likely originated by accident. You must have relied on some medium to create this so-called [Mechanical Virus]. Was it the Cosmic Cube, the core of the Spark Project? Without it, wouldn't your technology be rootless?"
Dr. Killian discovered the cube's unique properties and developed a technology to harness its power. I imagine he was ecstatic when he first developed this technology. But the experiment failed, didn't it?
Judging from the look on your face, am I right? " Luke looked at Eric's unpredictable face, leaned back in his chair, and grinned.
"Failure? Shouldn't that be considered a success? Those mutants of theirs." Nick, standing next to him, turned his head. No matter how you look at it, while the other mutants weren't perfect, they weren't failures either. After all, a few ordinary people, after being mutantized, could use their transformed mechanical limbs to fight against a regular team of agents. Not to mention the military, even he was somewhat envious of this technology. Even though S.H.I.E.L.D. already had all the technology provided by Hybron!
"I think Dr. Killian has only solved the part of how to make people mutate. He hasn't had time to figure out the procedures after mutating, or he can't figure it out." Luke shrugged.
"Tell me more." Nick ignored Eric and stared at Luke. Captain Steve and Frank also looked at Luke curiously, waiting for his answer.
"Stability and energy supply," Luke replied. Under the gaze of Nick, the others, and Eric, he whispered, "I've dissected and analyzed the bodies of artificially created mutants. They were still young, but their bodies were riddled with wounds. Even if they survived, they didn't have much time left."
I suspect Dr. Killian's immature technology and eagerness to experiment have resulted in these mutants' bodies already on the verge of collapse after their transformation. The reason they're still alive and kicking, rather than paralyzed and languishing on life support, is that Killian has somehow found a way to forcibly glue their shattered bodies together. Of course, the ultimate effect of this stabilization technology is that it provides stability, but it's not entirely satisfactory.
Every time a mutant uses their abilities, they destabilize this stability and consume their own [life]. The more powerful the abilities gained after the mutation, the greater the instability and the aftereffects. I've watched your combat footage and examined your body using the detection system within the Full Metal Suit. You appear different from the mutants I dissected. You possess a greater energy source within you, which lessens the burden of your mutation. Have you been injected with any super-soldier potion?"
Eric was silent again.
Nick, standing next to him, saw the brilliance of his single eye dim again, and his interest in this alien technology waned significantly. For him, what he needed was stable, fieldable technology, like the products sold by Heybolen. While most of these carried certain risks, they were manageable under Heybolen's technological control. Even if an unexpected situation arose, there were usually solutions.
If it were unstable technology, the various miscellaneous items within SHIELD could create a number of severely flawed super soldiers. Of course, his diminished interest didn't mean he'd given up on the technology. That cube was clearly a dangerous item, and SHIELD would undoubtedly want to keep it sealed. Even if it were to be circulated, it would only be within a manageable risk range.
"Is it the Extremis virus?"
Eric suddenly raised his head and looked at Luke in astonishment, as if he was surprised by the words that came out of his mouth.
"How do you know?" Eric asked. The Extremis virus was a top secret within AIM, known only to a select few and their partners. Clearly, there wasn't a close connection between the company and those partners.
"Using Extremis as the energy source for the mecha virus? Doubly unstable." Luke smiled. People in this world are often this crazy. They often fail to wait for the technology to fully mature, and accidents always cause them to use it prematurely or accidentally, injecting imperfect drugs.
Using the Extremis virus as the energy source for the mechanical limbs transformed by the Mechavirus is a clever approach and worthy of praise. However, the prerequisite is that both are stable.
If these two technologies are used too hastily in a person's body at the same time, the person's body will not only be on the verge of collapse, but will also be like a powder keg that may explode at any time. The instability and uncertainty will be raised to a level that no one can be sure of.
Killian should also have a stabilizer in his hand, which is an important weight he uses to restrain and control those alienated people.
"Do you know that Heberon has developed a new technology, synaesthesia! This technology allows a person to peek into the deepest memories of another person. So your concealment is completely unnecessary in my opinion." Looking at Eric who had returned to his silent state, Luke stopped talking.
"Do you really have this technology?" Nick piqued his interest. This technology would be a perfect match for agents like them! If this technology truly existed, it would greatly reduce the difficulty of obtaining intelligence. He could even use it to tentatively identify potential threat actors within S.H.I.E.L.D.
He had a few suspects in mind, and all he needed was the right means to verify the truth of his suspicions.
"Of course. If you need, I can demonstrate it for you. However, this technology has some side effects," Luke said, half-truthfully. The synaesthesia technology was real, and it was already well-established within Heybollen. It hadn't been publicly released for a while, due to some considerations. As for the side effects? The latest version of the synaesthesia technology certainly had no problem with that. But who would throw a trump card right out of the gate?
"What do you want to know?" Eric asked. He didn't know if what Luke said was true or not, but he still recognized Heberon's skills and Luke's reputation.
Let someone peek into your memories?
Eric declined.
Besides, even if he spoke out now, it wouldn't affect Killian at all. As a close confidant, he naturally knew Killian's intentions and all his plans. His disappearance would surely draw Killian's attention and force him to make a desperate move. When he led his men to hunt Venom, Killian had already begun making foresight preparations. Now that so much time has passed, Killian should have everything ready.
"We just want to know what Killian is up to. I've been following AIM for a long time, and the tendencies you've shown seem very dangerous to me." Nick temporarily put aside his thoughts on discussing business with Luke and looked at Eric, who had spoken, with a serious face.
"Change," Eric replied.
"Change?" Nick's expression became more serious. This word, applied to a slightly crazy person like Killian, was not something to celebrate.
"An evolutionary transformation! This is the Spark Plan he formulated after surviving the Chitauri invasion and acquiring the Tesseract." Eric explained readily, "The plan is to use the power of the Tesseract to completely evolve humanity! Shedding the frail human body and destroying the current political landscape, new leaders will gather the world's power to usher humanity into the space age, enabling them to survive and thrive in the interstellar space."
"That's a pretty grand plan. So, who will be the new manager? Killian?" Nick said with a sneer of sarcasm. If it really came to that, he'd rather have Luke, the scheming profiteer, or Stark, the arrogant and sharp-tongued, take the job than have Killian take the new position.
"You don't understand the power of the Cosmic Cube at all, so you are so arrogant and ignorant that you think everything is under your control, and even if it happens, it can be reversed. In fact, you may have to face a choice between two options: choose to die in evolution? Or join us, become one of us, and contribute to Killian's new world." Eric sneered at Nick's tit-for-tat response.
"What do you mean?" Nick sensed something was wrong from Eric's words.
"What I'm saying is, it's too late now. Let's join this mechanical evolution together." The sneer on Eric's face turned into a crazy grin. "Since I lost contact, Killian should have made preparations for the early launch. He will activate the energy of the Tesseract and release it indiscriminately. The entire metropolis, the entire country, the entire world will soon be exposed to the light of evolution.
At that point, everyone will have no choice but to follow Killian's script. If you can't help him fix the technical flaws quickly, many people will die. And if you want to survive in the beginning, you need the stabilizer in Killian's hands."
Is this a friendly force?
Luke tilted his head subconsciously.