Setting aside the mess with the Blade Fist activists, Castle knew that he couldn't personally take direct action against the troublemakers just yet. However, discovering that every single one of them—both the initial Black provocateurs and the recently joined white liberal agitators—was guilty of serious tax evasion gave him a perfect avenue for retaliation. At this point, he could only rely on the most powerful domestic enforcement agency in the United States: the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).
The IRS was far more effective at suppressing chaos than agencies like the FBI, Homeland Security, the DEA, or the ATF. None of these organizations could hold a candle to the sheer authority and fearsome reputation of the IRS, especially in the face of groups that used their social identities to act recklessly, as if untouchable.
Castle knew that involving the IRS would not draw the attention of the Lockset organization, which was orchestrating these protests to smear him. For now, he just wanted to bide his time and wait until next month when Lockset's plans with Amir Barkawi and their Japanese collaborators were set to unfold. At that point, he'd deliver a dose of "divine justice" to them.
After packaging and anonymously sending the evidence of tax evasion for all the troublemakers to the IRS, Castle dusted his hands, stood up, and walked into the supercomputer lab. Here, the brilliant hacker duo, "Chubby" and Ramsey, had practically made the lab their home. Castle planned to enlist their help to officially begin development on the visual stealth technology he had teased during his conversation with Lockheed Martin's executive.
This technology, in fact, already existed in Castle's mind. Thanks to inheriting the memories and skills of Tony Stark—a man "cursed by knowledge"—Castle had a wealth of technological expertise at his disposal. While the Arc Reactor and Iron Man suits were deliberately locked away by the System to avoid disrupting the balance of this world, nearly everything else from Stark's repertoire was available to him.
However, Castle couldn't simply replicate the technology and present it as a finished product, as he had done with the drones. To maintain appearances, he needed to simulate a proper R&D process, complete with challenges and gradual progress.
The visual stealth technology he was working on was based on the optical camouflage tech that S.H.I.E.L.D. had stolen from Stark Industries in the Marvel universe. It had been implemented on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s airborne helicarriers and Quinjet aircraft. Castle's inspiration stemmed from this—if such technology could be applied to Quinjets, there was no reason he couldn't recreate it in this world.
Given the events of the past few weeks, Castle was feeling particularly insecure. This insecurity was what had driven him to cozy up to Lockheed Martin at the Presidential Inauguration Ball. Understanding his value lay in his "black technologies," Castle had deliberately leaked hints to Lockheed's executive about the groundbreaking technology he was working on.
Castle also suspected that Lockheed wasn't entirely convinced he could deliver such revolutionary advancements. Their recent attempts to pawn him off onto the Indian aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) were proof of their skepticism.
But that was perfectly fine with Castle. He wasn't in a rush to prove himself. After all, only he knew the full extent of the technology he truly controlled. It was understandable that Lockheed would have doubts. However, once this visual stealth technology was unveiled, Castle was confident that Lockheed's executives would come running to him like loyal dogs.
When Castle entered the supercomputer lab, he saw Chubby and Ramsey furiously typing away at their keyboards. When Castle had initially handed over the technical documents for the stealth technology, both of them had been completely stunned.
"Damn, Uncle Rick doesn't mess around—he always goes big," they had exclaimed. The technical requirements and code for the so-called visual stealth technology had left them wondering if even a team of hackers, a supercomputer, and an AI like Jarvis could realistically pull it off.
In essence, visual stealth technology relied on creating an optical illusion. Flexible display panels containing various dyes would be installed on the underside of an aircraft—primarily the belly facing the ground. Using powerful central computing and control systems, the aircraft would project colors and patterns to blend seamlessly with the background sky or terrain.
However, this technology had a significant limitation: the flexible display panels couldn't yet withstand the friction and heat generated by high-speed flight. At supersonic speeds, the panels would easily be damaged. Achieving the same level of seamless stealth as the Quinjet in the Marvel universe would require modifying the structural materials of the aircraft's belly during the manufacturing stage—a monumental engineering challenge.
Castle, being a self-proclaimed lazy genius, had no intention of tackling such an enormous undertaking.
Instead, Castle's technical documents limited the application of this technology to subsonic aircraft, such as drones, transport planes, electronic surveillance aircraft, and airborne early warning systems. While the technology could theoretically be applied to fighter jets like Lockheed Martin's F-22, Castle deliberately held back. Revealing a fully mature version of the technology upfront would only set unrealistic expectations for future projects.
Even in the Marvel universe, S.H.I.E.L.D. had only implemented this technology on their helicarriers and the relatively slow Quinjet. No country in the real world had managed to develop anything close to this, which explained why Chubby and Ramsey were so shocked by the documentation Castle provided.
The two hackers were initially overwhelmed by the task, but once they realized that, with the help of a supercomputer and Jarvis, the project was entirely feasible, their curiosity got the better of them.
This so-called visual stealth technology essentially boiled down to two breakthroughs:
A powerful algorithm capable of dynamically analyzing and reproducing the background sky in real-time to control the color-changing panels. Flexible display panels embedded with specialized dyes, which were not yet commercially available in this world.
After recalling the technical details of this technology, Castle assigned the programming tasks to Chubby and Ramsey, who were otherwise using the supercomputer to lazily browse the internet. Meanwhile, Castle focused on developing the flexible display panels and the associated dyes in his mechanical laboratory, with Jarvis assisting in the fabrication process.
After checking on Chubby and Ramsey's progress in the supercomputer lab—where Chubby was visibly struggling under the pressure of Castle's high technical standards—Castle left with a satisfied smile. He headed to his mechanical lab, where he began the first trial production of the flexible display panels using the schematics he had "painstakingly" compiled.
Being the cunning man he was, Castle deliberately produced an early version of the technology that was incomplete and unsuitable for immediate military use. This version was limited to low-speed, subsonic aircraft, serving more as a proof of concept than a finished product.
Why?
Because unveiling a perfected solution for supersonic fighter jets right away would raise too many questions. Castle's extraordinary capabilities would be more likely to draw suspicion than admiration.
So, while Castle had decided to collaborate with Lockheed Martin, he wasn't planning to hand over a polished product like he had with Northrop Grumman in the past. This time, he only needed to produce a functional prototype to demonstrate the feasibility of his concept and prove his worth to Lockheed.
Imagine the reaction if Lockheed's flagship aircraft, the F-22, or the upcoming F-35, could not only evade radar detection but also disappear from visual sightlines. At altitudes of several thousand meters, where fighter jets typically operate, ground-based observers already struggled to see them with the naked eye. Adding visual stealth would elevate these aircraft to an entirely new level.
For Lockheed, such a breakthrough would be a game-changer.
Moreover, the F-35 program was a joint effort involving multiple countries. While partner nations like the UK and Japan had a stake in its development, visual stealth was not part of the shared technology package. Once these nations realized that the U.S. Navy and Air Force had an exclusive, visually stealthy version of the F-35, the upgrade costs alone would be staggering.
And who would profit from those upgrades? Lockheed Martin and, of course, Castle.
(End of Chapter)
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