MM Racing Chapter 15 Hidden Dangers
Chapter 15 Hidden Dangers
Chapter 15 Hidden Dangers
I disagree.
In the living quarters on the top floor of Avengers Tower, Steve Rogers rested his hands on his chin and decisively rejected Tony Stark's proposal: "We can't let Spider-Man join the Avengers."
"You were the one who initially approved this proposal, Captain." Tony tapped the table with his knuckles. "You said he was well-trained and determined—"
"I only said he was trained. But I didn't know at the time that there was a minor under the mask." Steve immediately retorted to Tony Stark: "Tony, we're facing a war, and we can't let children participate in a war."
Tony looked down at the table, but immediately looked up to argue, "Will war spare a child? Captain, you've been through war, you know what kind of war we're facing. We need an army, not a squad. That kid can be useful."
"I know better than anyone that a soldier without conviction is a ticking time bomb on the battlefield, Tony. We're talking about a kid, a teenager who's only had his powers for a few months. Does he really know what he's fighting for? He might just be acting out of his good instincts to fight evil, but what the Avengers have to face? He's not prepared for that at all."
The New Avengers Plan—an expansion plan proposed by Tony Stark after the Battle of New York—aims to build a defense line strong enough to withstand the next interstellar invasion. After all, this time, the Chitauri army only invaded through a portal. If next time, their fleet directly reaches the outer reaches of the solar system, could a mere five Avengers possibly stop such an overwhelming alien army?
Not only the Avengers, but Nick Fury also knew that the five of them couldn't possibly stop another large-scale alien invasion. After the Avengers separated from S.H.I.E.L.D. and became an independent organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. formed a super-powered team, "Thunderbolts," with Clint Barton as its captain, as a backup plan for the Avengers. Tony and the captain were well aware of this. And Tony and Steve tacitly avoided cooperating with Nick Fury, the one-eyed man who was hiding too many secrets.
But now, the debate over whether to recruit Spider-Man into the Avengers has filled the meeting room with tension.
Bruce Banner munched on potato chips, spending most of his time stationed in the lab as the Avengers' "nuclear deterrent." Unlike the rest of the cinematic universe, where everyone is more focused on their own personal matters, the Avengers in this world are more like a tightly knit combat unit (although Thor is often absent). He was watching the argument unfold, and casually thanked Janet the Wasp for bringing him a fruit platter.
"What are Tony and Captain America arguing about?"
"Um, they're debating whether a high school kid should join the Avengers." Banner, his mouth dry from eating potato chips, picked up a piece of apple with a toothpick and started eating. "Honestly, I think the suggestion is pretty outrageous too."
The little wasp looked completely bewildered.
"High school students? Good heavens, you're actually considering recruiting high school students but not me?"
Janet Van Dyne, Hank Pym's girlfriend and the Wasp, is just the manager of the Avengers, not an Avenger herself.
"Yeah, he's just a kid, young, doesn't know anything." Tony picked up a segment of orange from the fruit plate and popped it into his mouth. "But at least he wants to be a good person, and he's taken action, hasn't he? We can train him, guide him to become a qualified hero. Captain, if you don't think he's suitable, we can always ask him if he'd like to join."
"I don't think the kid will refuse," Tony said with a sly smile.
But that's exactly what the captain was worried about.
"That kid will idolize us, imitate us, and then rush to the front to prove himself." The captain pushed aside the fruit plate, his knuckles leaving white marks on the table. "He'll collapse into your or my arms, asking if he's done what he was supposed to do, just because we gave him expectations that he couldn't handle. He'll die in front of us."
"We can protect him and have him follow behind us—"
The captain interrupted Tony directly once again.
"How can we protect that child in a war where we ourselves might sacrifice ourselves?"
Janet twirled the cherry stem in confusion, while Banner rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Finally, he offered his first suggestion: "Since the aliens can't be defeated anytime soon, why don't we discuss this issue in a few years?"
"Thanks, Bruce." Tony gestured to Banner. "Could you help me calculate when the alien invaders will arrive? I'll need to plan accordingly."
"Never mind what I said."
Banner rubbed his cheek, like someone with a toothache, and asked Janet, "What's Hank doing?"
"I've been glued to the lab studying the vibranium samples you guys got, haven't slept for two days." Janet rolled her eyes. "I even have to bring her food."
"Maybe you're underestimating that kid, Captain," Tony was still trying to persuade the captain, or rather, trying to prove his point, but Steve remained stubborn: "No matter how much you think highly of him, he's just a fifteen-year-old kid, Tony."
"I got my PhD when I was sixteen. How old were you when you got your first PhD, Bruce?"
"Um, sixteen, my first PhD in experimental physics."
"Hey guys, you won't believe it, I found out..." Hank Pym emerged from the lab with messy hair and dark circles under his eyes, still holding the horror launcher he'd previously seized. Before he could finish, Tony interrupted him: "When did you get your first PhD, Hank?"
"Seventeen? Why do you ask that?"
Tony grinned smugly. "Ah, I'm a year younger than you."
"You studied engineering, and I studied theoretical physics and quantum mechanics. Of course, you can master it in sixteen."
"Anyway," Tony wisely chose to get back to the point and continued speaking to the captain, "Fifteen years old is not young anymore."
"We're not talking about age, but about mental fortitude..."
"Guys!" Hank forcefully interrupted their conversation: "You have to hear this, you won't believe what I found in the lab."
"We'll hear about your scientific creations later, Hank."
"This isn't a scientific creation, Tony." Hank's expression turned serious. "This concerns our operation."
A few minutes later, a diagram of the disassembled Horror Launcher appeared on the projection. The Avengers sat together, staring at the diagram, awaiting Hank Pym's explanation.
"This thing is quite primitive and crude. I initially thought it would require Chitauri technology to function," Hank said, manipulating the projector to replace all the Chitauri parts in the structural diagram with existing Earth components. "But look at this, guys, the person who invented this was a brilliant engineer. It could be made entirely with Earth technology."
That was obviously not the point, but having spent so much time together, everyone else knew Hank Pym's personality. They patiently waited for him to finish explaining how incredible the device was and how much fun he had gotten from the research before finally getting to the main topic.
"The problem is that this system has a fatal flaw. As usage time increases, energy efficiency will continuously improve—yes, you heard right, higher and higher. This means that the devices that originally adjusted the emission intensity will gradually fail, causing the output power to become uncontrollably high and higher."
Everyone anticipated the final outcome: an explosion.
"Can't it be improved?" Tony leaned back in his chair, resting his chin on his hand as he stared at the design drawings, trying to offer a solution from the perspective of a fellow engineer and inventor. But even he had to admit that the system had this flaw from the bottom up, and it was irreparable.
"This is a matter of fundamental logic. Designing such a simple yet efficient system comes at a necessary cost. We must remind the police of the technology's imperfections to prevent them from using it as a riot control weapon..."
What is the blast radius?
Poor Hank Pym was interrupted again, but he still told Tony the truth: "If Chitauri parts are used, the power will be greater, reaching a diameter of two to three kilometers. Earth technology explosions have a smaller diameter and are more certain, with a diameter range of about one kilometer."
"Jarvis, what was that guy's name again...?"
"Herman Schultz." The captain remembered it clearly. Hank hadn't realized what the problem was yet, but Tony and the captain exchanged a glance and both realized that something was wrong.
"How long has he been on the run, Captain?"
"It's been almost a week."
"But we don't know how many of these flawed weapons he can produce in a week," Tony sighed. "That's the biggest problem."
After Spider-Man died in the old Ultimate Universe, Captain America actually blamed himself for not taking good care of Peter Parker.
(End of this chapter)