If he could topple Hammer Industries, he could claim their entire production line.
Zod found the idea tempting. Hammer Industries was already being squeezed to the brink by his own Bladetech Industries. And now that Stark Industries had reclaimed the orders they once discarded, Hammer was on the defensive with no room left to breathe.
Fortunately for them, after locking himself in the lab for a while, Tony Stark managed to develop a "Anti–War Machine Defensive System."
The nature of warfare had changed dramatically since War Machines entered the battlefield. Radar and satellites couldn't track them, their silhouettes were too small to intercept reliably, and by the time anyone spotted one with the naked eye, it was already too late. Every nation had been pulling all-nighters studying how to counter Zod's creation—yet Tony Stark had beaten them all to the punch.
The U.S. tested the system against real War Machines, and the results stunned them: only a 30% margin of error.
That number was outrageous.
"As expected of Tony Stark."
The U.S. military was more than satisfied. Stark's defensive system, along with its specialized ammunition designed to crack open War Machine armor, hit its mark every single time. The once unstoppable, fearsome War Machines that had terrified the world suddenly seemed… paper-thin.
Naturally, news like that couldn't be kept from other nations—especially not when the U.S. showed no intention of hiding it. Stark Industries was under military control; they weren't about to sell this system to anyone else. Sure, Obadiah might secretly move units under the table someday, but not when the Pentagon still had this thing under lock and key.
"As expected—Tony's still the strongest. He just slashed the pride of that Zod-Hiss guy in half!"
At the board meeting, Obadiah beamed with confidence. The other shareholders were grinning ear to ear, their gloom swept away.
Many of them had watched their assets shrink after War Machines hit the market, and some were even considering selling off their Stark stock. But no one wanted to be the fool who sold too early. Bladetech Industries wasn't publicly listed yet—Stark's share price was only barely holding on. If Bladetech ever went public, Stark's stock would plummet faster than freefall.
The new anti–War Machine system—launchers, radar, and command units—cost a fortune. Even so, faced with the threat War Machines posed, the U.S. military and Department of Defense still ordered twelve sets. They didn't need many; the system was fully mobile.
Bladetech Industries soon received the intel—and the test footage.
The video showed three enemy-model War Machines simulating an illegal entry into U.S. territory. The moment they crossed the border, a missile carrier on the ground snapped into action. Its electronic eye rotated, locked onto its preset targets, and the launcher unfolded to reveal an unusual missile. The missile tore through the air. The War Machines attempted evasive maneuvers and tried shooting it down—but halfway through its flight, the missile split into a cluster of submunitions.
The War Machines were caught completely off guard.
The payload seemed designed purely for penetration, with almost no blast radius. Each War Machine detonated internally and disintegrated into scraps of metal.
Watching the War Machines drop with such ease, Urd looked anxious—but Zod merely appeared deep in thought.
He hadn't expected this. He had pushed Stark so hard that Stark ended up inventing the Jericho missile—a weapon that was supposed to debut eight years later.
And Tony Stark really was a genius. Zod had assumed the War Machines would dominate for at least two years—maybe four—long enough for him to saturate the market before rolling out a Mark II.
Yet Tony had developed a countermeasure almost immediately.
Fine then, "Crap-tony." When it came to dismantling his own weapons, Stark really did have a gift.
"Zod?"
Urd was still waiting for his orders.
"Let it be. Even if that defensive system is impressive, the military will still buy our War Machines."
Zod's tone was calm. The new system made it feel as if Bladetech was being directly targeted, but in reality, it changed nothing. The existence of interceptors never stopped the production of missiles.
Just because the enemy has a countermeasure, does that mean you stop making weapons? Don't be ridiculous.
The U.S. had only purchased twelve sets. Everything else would still be War Machines. Their allure had already captivated the world. Who didn't want to slip into a suit of steel, soar through the sky, and experience the intoxicating thrill of being bulletproof?
Even the Four-Star Multi-Purpose Bipedal Pack Mules had petitioned Congress to equip the Army with War Machines.
The proposal was laughed straight out of the room.War Machines belonged to the Air Force—not a single suit could be spared.
The Navy and Air Force were already clawing at each other over allocations; the Army didn't stand a chance.
The National Guard eyed them greedily as well, but again, they were outmatched. The Air Force argued War Machines couldn't operate underwater—so what use were they to the Navy?
The Navy snapped back that War Machines were essentially the carrier's new-generation air wing—and therefore indispensable.
And then Bladetech received a massive order.
The U.S. planned to build a new aircraft carrier under the Poseidon Program. The carrier would be constructed entirely from secondary-grade Kryptonium. The required material alone was astronomical—essentially enough to buy out ten, maybe twenty years of Bladetech's supply.
"Poseidon Program? They're still making aircraft carriers these days? Not focusing on nuclear subs?"
Zod truly couldn't understand how the U.S. could throw money around so casually. Secondary-grade Kryptonium was priced at eight thousand dollars per gram. No one knew how many tons the Poseidon-class would need, and the manufacturing process would take at least fifty years. It might even get canceled halfway through.
But profit was profit. Zod didn't care whether the project lived or died. Even if construction stopped, there would never be a shortage of buyers for Kryptonium. Bladetech was the only source of the alloy on the planet—they could live comfortably for ten generations on that monopoly alone.
And once they discovered more alien minerals—materials that could be refined into even better alloys—they'd leap ahead again. In materials science, a small breakthrough was enough to drive an industrial revolution.
Naturally, the order was top secret. But once Urd learned of it, her anxiety eased considerably.
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