After completing his infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., Marcus once again shifted his consciousness back to his true body in Queens, New York. When he awoke inside the New Umbrella Corporation, it was already past eleven at night.
Whiplash had just sent word — the weapon modifications Marcus had commissioned were finished.
When Marcus arrived at Whiplash's laboratory, the towering Russian was working shirtless at a steel workbench, hammering furiously on the frame of an exoskeleton. Sparks flashed and danced through the dim room, illuminating the walls like bursts of lightning. He looked less like a scientist and more like a blacksmith forging the weapon of a god.
"How did the modifications turn out?" Marcus asked as he approached.
Whiplash glanced up, wiped sweat from his brow, and snorted. "The materials are top-notch, but the craftsmanship? Garbage. The balance is off, the handles are poorly designed, and whoever forged them clearly had no idea what they were doing. And worst of all — they weren't even properly maintained."
Marcus chuckled softly. Coming from Whiplash, that was almost a compliment.
The Weapon X Project had produced these blades — the same program that created Wolverine — and yet Whiplash dismissed the U.S. government's engineering as primitive. He wasn't wrong, though. The difference between an ordinary scientist and a true genius of super-technology was like the gap between earth and sky.
As for the poor maintenance… that was probably Deadpool's fault.
Marcus took the two blades in hand — the Adamantium katana and the Carbon-Steel alloy blade — and noticed that the handles had been completely redesigned. They now resembled high-tech hilts, not unlike lightsabers from Star Wars. Thin wires ran from the handles to a small cylindrical power core pulsing with a faint blue light.
Marcus instantly recognized it — a miniature Arc Reactor, the same type that powered Tony Stark's Iron Man armor.
Despite its size, the Arc Reactor was a marvel of energy engineering. Even the earliest versions could output over 300 megajoules per second, enough to power a full Iron Man suit. The one Whiplash had constructed wasn't quite at Tony's level, but it came close — and for something designed merely to power two blades, it was absurdly overqualified.
Marcus pressed a button on one of the hilts.
A burst of blinding blue electricity flared down the blade, enveloping it completely. The humming energy made the air vibrate. When Marcus let the sword drop lightly, both blades plunged straight through the reinforced flooring as though it were butter — sinking up to the hilt.
Incredible.
Even the weaker Carbon-Steel blade tore through solid metal as easily as soft clay.
Whiplash grinned proudly and crossed his arms.
"The current running through those blades can fry most power systems. Hit a city power grid with one swing, and the entire network will collapse. Unless it's running on an Arc Reactor like this one, nothing on Earth can handle that kind of overload."
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "So they can function as portable EMP weapons too."
Whiplash shrugged. "Exactly. Just don't do anything stupid — like, say, lick the blade while it's charged."
Marcus smirked. "Noted."
Then he glanced down at the Arc Reactor sitting on the workbench, its light pulsing rhythmically like a heart. "Tell me something," he said dryly. "Do I have to wear it on my chest like Stark?"
Whiplash gave a grunt of annoyance and spat out the toothpick he'd been chewing. "Unless you want me to cut you open and stitch it inside, yeah, you might have to."
Marcus's expression shifted slightly. "Cut it open and install it inside…"
A slow, intrigued smile spread across his face. "That might not be such a bad idea."
He activated his metallic transformation, allowing liquid silver to flow across his chest. The Arc Reactor slowly sank beneath his skin as he absorbed it into his body, the connecting power lines merging seamlessly under the flesh. The cables linking the Reactor to his twin blades disappeared entirely, woven into his metalized structure.
When he straightened again, there was no trace of the device — just the faint blue glow that flickered briefly beneath his chest before vanishing.
Marcus flexed experimentally. "Perfect," he murmured. Now the Arc Reactor functioned as an internal power core, seamlessly supplying energy to both weapons.
And, if necessary, he could eject it — pushing the glowing device out through his chest like Stark himself in his unarmored state.
That thought made him pause. Stark.
A spark of inspiration flashed in his mind.
"Let's see just how far we can take this…" he whispered.
Mental Possession — Tony Stark.
Drawing upon the genius inventor's knowledge, Marcus refined his metallic biomorph ability to microscopic precision. Under his control, his body began to reshape — atom by atom — replicating the intricate structure of the Iron Man armor's arm modules.
Not just the repulsor system, but the magnetic actuators, pulse emitters, and microservos within the gauntlets.
In stunned silence, Whiplash watched as Marcus's right arm transformed. Smooth plates slid into place, interlocking into a perfect imitation of Stark's gauntlet — only silver instead of red and gold. In the center of Marcus's palm, light began to gather.
"Boom!"
A blinding pulse of energy exploded from his hand, striking the far wall with the force of a cannon. The reinforced alloy plating buckled, leaving a blackened crater where it struck.
Marcus flexed his smoking hand, grinning. "So it works."
Indeed, it did — perhaps even better than Stark's own design.
His biometal cooled faster than Tony's gold-titanium alloy, allowing higher firing frequency and sustained output. The internal Arc Reactor provided a constant, independent energy supply.
Encouraged, Marcus continued shaping the armor — the transformation spreading across his body like liquid mercury. Plates formed over his limbs, chest, and head until, at last, he stood completely encased in gleaming silver armor.
The faceplate sealed with a hiss, and a cascade of holographic HUD displays illuminated before his eyes.
For all intents and purposes, Marcus had just created a biometallic Iron Man suit — one that needed no machinery, no assembly, and no human pilot.
It was him.
A living Iron Man — a weapon fueled not by genius, but by evolution itself.
___
🎉 Shoutout to lord Ocram! 🎉
A huge thank you to lord Ocram! for joining my Patreon and supporting the journey! Your support means a lot and helps keep the chapters coming faster. Welcome to the VIP club! 🙌✨