"I'll have three sets of equipment sent to the Kingsman Academy. Your task is to evaluate whether the agents can use them effectively. Once they pass the evaluation, they'll await further missions from me."
"Understood, boss," Harry replied.
William asked Sunday to pull up the details of the new equipment. A beam of light soon appeared before the three of them, projecting the image of a combat suit designed specifically for Laura's physique.
Sunday began her explanation. "This is the Devonshire MK-3 Full-Body Combat Suit. The main armor is one centimeter thick, lined with bulletproof fabric capable of stopping any light weaponry.
"The chest and back are equipped with quick-detach modular reactive armor plates, which can withstand armor-piercing rounds.
"The fully enclosed helmet is bulletproof, stab-proof, and poison-resistant. It also comes with infrared vision, night vision, auto-targeting, and a linked vision-sharing system with teammates.
"The suit's power system is powered by two super aluminum batteries. At full power usage, the suit can operate for 30 minutes. With the optional backup battery module, operational time can be extended to 70 minutes.
"It can enable a user to jump up to 8 meters high, lift objects weighing 2 tons, and sprint 100 meters in 4 seconds. At maximum power output, the 100-meter sprint time can be reduced to 2.9 seconds.
"The weapon system includes four modular configurations: sniper, heavy firepower, assault, and infiltration."
As Sunday concluded her presentation, Laura couldn't help but ask, "What's the model of my suit? And what's that thing on the back that looks like a bow?"
"Yours is the infiltration model, Miss Croft. Considering your talent with archery, your weapons include two extended-barrel USP competition-grade modified pistols, each with a 15-round magazine and 12 spare magazines.
"You also have a bow with a quiver of 30 arrows, two daggers, and the option to mount modular machine guns and an eight-round grenade launcher on your suit's wrist sections."
Looking at her relatively slim infiltration-model suit, then at the much bulkier firepower model, Laura exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my God, if the infiltration model has this much firepower, just how powerful is the firepower model?"
"Apologies, Miss Croft," Sunday replied. "Currently, only the sniper, assault, and infiltration models have been completed. The firepower model is still undergoing testing and requires very high strength from the user."
"Alright, that's enough for today," William interrupted as he noticed Laura still had more questions. "Once you have suitable teammates, you'll have plenty of time and opportunities to familiarize yourself with the equipment."
Ignoring Laura's eye-roll, William turned to Harry and said, "These three suits have built-in anti-theft and anti-tamper mechanisms and are user-locked.
"Anyone unauthorized who tries to approach or tamper with them will trigger an attack response from the suit. In extreme cases, the suit will self-destruct. So, if someone tries to steal them, make sure to warn them first and then let them decide their next move."
"Understood," Harry said with a mischievous smile. "Or maybe we should have anyone interested in the suits sign a liability waiver beforehand, just so the academy doesn't get blamed if something goes wrong."
"That's not a bad idea," William replied with a chuckle. After a few more pleasantries, he walked Harry and Laura out the door.
Noticing Laura's hesitation, William guessed what was on her mind. "Don't worry," he said. "I've received word that your father, Earl Croft, is still alive. I just haven't pinpointed his exact location yet."
"Do you promise?" Laura asked, her eyes filled with hope as she stared at William.
"I promise," William said firmly, nodding. In truth, Sunday had already located the island where Earl Croft was hiding months ago. But knowing William's character, he wasn't about to make it that easy for Laura.
"I'll let you know as soon as I have any updates."
"Thank you," Laura said, hugging William tightly for a long time before reluctantly leaving with Harry.
Once they were outside, Harry motioned for Laura to get in the car. Then, after a brief moment of hesitation, he turned to William and asked, "Boss, is there any chance the combat suits could be made available to the Kingsman agents? Even a simplified version?"
Without any thought, William shook his head. "No. That's non-negotiable. Kingsman agents already have bulletproof suits. That's more than enough for their needs."
Harry shook his head. "No, boss. We've become fully independent now. If any of our agents were to be killed, it would be incredibly difficult to find suitable replacements. If you're concerned about technology leaks, we could start with the first-generation suits."
First-generation? William silently considered the technology behind the MK-1 suits. Removing the virtual imaging and vision-sharing capabilities, there wasn't much left in the MK-1 suits that needed to be kept secret.
But there was no rush. William wasn't particularly attached to the current Kingsman agents, and he was waiting for them to gradually be replaced by people he had personally recruited, like Laura and Wesley.
To be honest, the Devonshire MK-3 Combat Suit was only slightly more agile than the MK-2 suits used by his expendable squad. It could also accommodate modular attachments, but in some ways, its performance wasn't as strong as the MK-2.
However, for William, the MK-3 was specifically designed to deal with werewolves and vampires. There was no need for it to be overly powerful—it just needed to protect against bites, claws, and light weaponry.
As for the MK-2 suits used by the expendables, William had recalled and destroyed them after only one test run. Now, they were only provided with a backup set of MK-3 suits. After all, the manufacturing cost of a single suit was only about $15,000, which was a negligible expense for William.
Watching Harry's car disappear into the distance, William returned to the underground lab at his estate.
Upon learning from Sunday that even the city council didn't know the full extent of London's underground sewer network, William grew increasingly dissatisfied with the slow movement of his spider drones. He began brainstorming a new type of device suitable for scanning underground structures.
After a few days of development, with Sunday's assistance, a spherical detection device about the size of a baseball was designed. It had four scanning modules on the top, bottom, and sides and was capable of hovering in midair.
"Sir," Sunday explained, "based on my calculations, the detector can operate autonomously for 12 hours. It has a flight speed of 10 meters per second and a scanning speed of 2 meters per second. In one hour, it can fly and scan 7.2 kilometers. With 100 such detectors, we could map the entire sewer system beneath the Devonshire estate and the Mayfair district in a single day."
William nodded. "Good. Make a few prototypes first and see if anything needs improvement."
"Understood, sir. The modeling process will be completed in one hour, and five prototypes will be produced."
"Great. Wake me up once they're ready," William said, reclining on a nearby chair.
An hour later, Sunday woke him, and William opened a portal to his underground production facility in Oxford. There, five spherical detection devices floated in the air, spinning gently as they hovered toward him.
Grabbing one of the spheres, William asked, "By the way, how powerful is the explosion on these things?"
"Sir, the explosion is over twice as powerful as a standard grenade. However, with a normal flight speed of only 10 meters per second—equivalent to 36 kilometers per hour—it may struggle to catch up to werewolves or vampires on straight paths."
"That is a problem," William muttered, deep in thought. "In complex tunnels, this speed might be fine. But in straight passages, it's definitely too slow for pursuit."
Standing next to the virtual design table, William examined the schematics and soon decided to sacrifice some operating time to increase energy output and enhance propulsion.
And thus, a specialized weapon designed to hunt down underground "rats" was born.
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Fairy Tail: Igneel's Eldest Son (Chapter 256)
I Am Thalos, Odin's Older Brother (Chapter 336)
Reborn in America's Anti-Terror Unit (Chapter 542)
Solomon in Marvel (Chapter 924)
Becoming the Wealthiest Tycoon on the Planet (Chapter 1284)
Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660)
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