Volume 3: The Nameless Chapter 35: Mason feels insignificant in front of a true engineering master
"Of course, we welcome anyone who wants to help."
Mason punched the rear weapon slot of Fenrir's armor, and the rear armor, which had been slightly modified by Judy, bounced upward to both sides in a V shape in a very cool way.
While pulling out the forearm-thick telescopic connector of the mechanical tentacle and connecting it to the reserved weapon slot of the armor's control system, he turned around and looked at Peter Parker who came over to him.
Mason was not surprised that Peter took the initiative to ask to join the operation.
If the success rate of the previous plan with Mary Jane was only 60%, then after Dr. Otto revealed the matter of the gravity gun, Mason was 100% sure of the current result.
It was just a "personal grudge" before, but now it has risen to the level of "world survival".
Mason continued to connect the mechanical tentacles in parallel with the military mechanical control module from Night City that replaced the armor, while watching the program on the data screen in front of him automatically cracking and connecting the weapon plug-in.
He felt deeply that Judy was indeed a technical expert. She also took into account the fact that he was not very proficient in high-precision technology, so she made a " fool-proof" operating interface for him.
Although this majestic silver-gray armor still lacks a sufficiently powerful power source, its mechanical brain is ready and has been bound to Mason Cooper as the first driver with the highest priority.
The captain of Team K leaned against his four-meter-tall armor and looked at the silent Peter Parker beside him. He said softly:
"Is it because of the gravity gun incident that you made up your mind?"
"That's about right."
Peter looked at the spider hood rolled up in his hand. He was silent for a few seconds before he spoke:
“Just now, when I heard Dr. Otto talk about the catastrophic consequences that would be caused by changes in the world’s gravity, I felt as if I had traveled back in time.
It’s like standing in the mission hall of S.H.I.E.L.D., listening to the captain explain the mission to us.
Although I didn't go out with them very often, I really didn't expect that I could still recall things that I thought I had forgotten long ago.
The only difference is that at that time I could trust the people around me, and they were all top-notch heroes of justice.
But now, I am forced to join forces with a group of outsiders whose background I don’t know.”
In response to this, Mason shrugged and looked at the second barrel next to him. He stretched out his voice and said:
"A former psychiatrist and psychiatrist who lives in my home once told me in casual conversation that the more people are obsessed with some grand goal, the more likely they are to go to the other extreme when they encounter a major setback.
Peter, I regret not being able to be your friend while your world was still here.
But I guess you must have been a lot friendlier back then than you are now.
Look at you.
Distrust is almost written on your face and reiterated in every sentence, do you think all the bad things in your life now are caused by us? "
Mason curled his lips and took a look at the weapon plug-in connection program that was stuck at 80% of the progress. He frowned and tried to restart it.
It is said that this can solve 80% of program freezing problems.
Then he said:
"But as far as I know, your life had already begun to go wrong several years before the Hound of the Star Order entered this world. Aunt May's death and your divorce from Mary Jane can't be blamed on us, right?"
"People who are lost need a direction."
When Mason turned around to deal with the stuck program, Ertong, who usually didn't like to talk much, said quietly:
"Compared to positive emotions that come and go quickly and are hard to capture, hatred is obviously more likely to help a person who is at a loss find 'direction'.
I've seen this a lot in the places that trained and reshaped me. As long as you hate something strongly enough, all the losses and disappointments in your life seem to have an excuse to vent.
But we didn't make you lose your identity as Spider-Man."
Ertong grinned and whispered:
"Ms. Mary Jane told us that you gave up on Spider-Man, you did it before the disaster, you got tired of the life you once loved.
Even more, our appearance after the apocalypse gives you a reason to start over."
Peter fell silent.
The two outsiders' words were rude, but he had to admit that they were right.
After Aunt May's death, his life suddenly lost its focus, and the Spider-boy who once thought he would never stop finally got tired.
As he got older, the conflict between his ideals and reality became more and more intense, and it eventually ended with his divorce from his beloved. Spider-Man, who used to roam the streets of New York and soar in the sky, died completely.
He killed him with his own hands.
He kept telling people that his spider sense, which he relied on, had disappeared because he was old.
But it’s not.
"Why are you using an automated hacking program to try to connect to my mechanical tentacle?"
When Peter came to his senses, Dr. Otto, wearing an interstellar gangster coat, had appeared next to Fenrir's armor. The coat should belong to Star-Lord, and there was his signature on it.
Doctor Octopus was looking at the mighty war machine in front of him with a very interested expression.
He took a special programming keyboard from Barbara and connected it to the military control module of the Fenrir armor. He reset the parameters skillfully, gave up automatic decoding and manually wrote the connection program for the two machines from different worlds.
Look! The real boss even wrote the driver framework on the spot.
Although he was a little uncomfortable with the technology from the future at first, it only took a few minutes of analysis for Dr. Otto to find the data interface left by Judy and start working.
"Barbara, change the third tentacle connector to Alpha RF mode, and restart the physical hardware of the second tentacle. The driver software of the fourth tentacle seems to have gone offline due to long-term inactivity.
You can find a way to activate it... No, rewrite a better one.
From what I've seen, you are fully capable of doing this, using the encrypted coding method I taught you a few minutes ago."
"Okay, Dr. Otto!"
Barbara connected her microcomputer to the split database of the mechanical octopus tentacle, and there was a satisfied smile on her face, as if she had learned something incredible today.
Although Dr. Otto looked ordinary and even a little old-fashioned and out of fashion, she realized after just ten minutes of contact that he was a true genius.
Just sharing a little bit of his knowledge would make Batgirl feel that the trip was worthwhile.
She also secretly tried to crack the deep data structure of the computer that Judy gave her, but the encryption mode of "cyberspace" made it impossible for her to start. It was like using a small wrench to dismantle an airplane.
It’s not that it can’t be done, but the workload is so daunting.
But just now, Dr. Otto only took her ten minutes to fully demonstrate to her how to use low-level technology to complete the "smuggling" infiltration of the underlying data architecture of high-level technology products in a tricky way.
It's a stroke of genius!
"Did you complete the reconfiguration of the internal weapon system of this armor, Mason?"
Dr. Otto asked curiously while his fingers were flying to connect the new weapon system of the Fenrir armor. Mason pushed the frame of his glasses on his nose and said modestly:
“I designed it with two friends over a few days, and it was my first time attempting such a large project.”
“Well, I can see that it is indeed very ordinary.
It can be seen that you want to create something 'new', but your actions obviously cannot keep up with your ideas.
From what I have seen, the currently arranged weapon architecture and even the reserved energy system are full of a poor imitation of the original design and small-scale improvements.
Do you know what this means, young man?"
Doctor Octopus gave a fair and even somewhat spicy evaluation.
He pushed up his brown glasses and glanced at Mason.
The young man was not at all unhappy or annoyed by the criticism. He even knew how valuable the short and fat man with a slightly bald head was, so he answered very humbly like an apprentice:
“This means that my knowledge reserve is seriously insufficient, resulting in all my wonderful ideas remaining at the macro-design level and unable to go deeper into the specific architecture.”
"Very good. You clearly know your own problems. You will definitely achieve great things in the future, just like Peter did in the past."
Doctor Octopus grinned and clicked his fingers on the keyboard.
The next moment, under Mason's gaze, the octopus's mechanical tentacles that had just been stuck in the analysis part and could not connect to it vibrated strangely, and then a pleasant electronic sound rang out in the Fenrir armor without an energy system:
"An alien weapon plug-in has been detected and incorporated into the fire control system. It is temporarily named 'Octopus'. The weapon debugging program has been activated... The energy module is missing, and the command system has failed to activate.
Ask the first passenger, Mason Cooper, to inspect the energy module of the armor codenamed 'Fenrir'."
"It lacks a mechanical heart. "
Dr. Otto took off his glasses and reached out to feel the mighty Fenrir armor. Relying on his sensitivity to mechanical creations, he quickly found the second outer armor opening slot without Mason's prompting.
As the heavy armor bounced to the sides, what came into view was an empty place where energy batteries were placed.
"For a combat mecha with such a high degree of completion to fight at full strength, it must at least use nuclear batteries, or even cold fusion type super batteries."
Doctor Octopus looked back at Mason and said:
"What are you going to use instead? I don't have any plans for the rest of the day. If you'd like, Mason, I can help you with some advice."
"Of course I would love to have that!"
The captain was overjoyed.
He didn't expect that there would be such a good thing on this trip. It was like pie in the sky to be able to get free guidance from a technical master like Dr. Octopus.
Mason immediately took out the alchemical engine he had just completed halfway.
As soon as this thing was taken out, Dr. Otto's eyes widened. He was not surprised when he saw the Fenrir Armor, because although this thing was not ordinary, he had seen similar products before.
Although the design style and internal structure are different, with Doctor Octopus's knowledge of mechanics, it's basically a case of "knowing it at a glance."
But what Mason took out was different.
Even if it's just a semi-finished product.
But it still almost challenges Doctor Octopus's understanding of mechanics and physical science.
"Come on, boy, this thing is very interesting. Tell me how it works."
He squatted in front of the silver-gray semi-finished product and called Mason over. Then the two men seemed to have exchanged their positions. Mason became the instructor who explained the alchemical engine, and Dr. Otto became the student who listened attentively.
"Well, it's done."
A few minutes later, Barbara pulled out the data cable of the microcomputer on her arm from the socket of the octopus's mechanical tentacle, her heart filled with a sense of accomplishment.
In the past, it would have taken her several days to write a driver for such an alien weapon. However, with Doctor Octopus's guidance, she used her new way of thinking and finished it in just twenty minutes.
Even Bruce's Bat-Web!
Barbara is now confident that she can do it within ten minutes without the security access code!
"Is that guy very powerful?"
Ertong kicked the iron lump under his feet and felt a little depressed.
He doesn't think he's stupid.
But Mason and Dr. Otto were chatting so excitedly that they seemed almost ready to become sworn brothers, but he couldn't understand a word they said.
It was the first time he saw Mason so excited, completely different from his usual calm demeanor.
"Dr. Otto is amazing, Jason."
Barbara wiped the sweat from her forehead and said to Ertong very seriously:
"He is very, very capable. Let's put it this way, if he came to our side, Mr. Lucius would definitely resign from his position as chief designer of Wayne Industries and invite the doctor to be the new design director.
The technology of Judy's era was at least three generations behind what we use now, but in Dr. Otto's eyes, that future technology was not difficult to understand at all.
Do you know what this means?"
Batgirl shook her head and sighed:
“This means that even in the world of 2077, Dr. Otto is still an incredible technical expert, the kind that Judy would worship whenever she sees him.
My God, his thinking is at least 100 years ahead of the times! I doubt that Lex Luthor is even smarter than him...the two are at least geniuses of the same level!"
At this point, Barbara said to Ertong with shining eyes:
"Jason, let's find a way to kidnap Dr. Otto! Bring him to our side. A genius like him deserves a better world!"
Faced with this wild idea, Jason Todd immediately shook his head and said:
"If we do this, what's the difference between us and the Star Club? We can invite him, but it's up to him to decide whether he wants to go with us.
And if he is as talented as you say, then I believe he can live well even in such a doomsday."
On the other side, Mason looked at the design drawings of the new armor's internal structure and weapon system that he and Dr. Otto had completed together, and a sense of accomplishment arose spontaneously.
Like Barbara, he felt he had learned something powerful.
"Perhaps this request is a bit excessive, but please help me take a look at this suit of armor."
Mason took out the anti-Superman armor with the outer armor already repaired and said to Dr. Otto:
“Compared to the Fenrir armor whose main design cannot be modified by my current abilities, I am more interested in this anti-Superman armor.
As you can see, the Fenrir Armor was developed specifically for special occasions. I can't walk around the streets with this thing.
In comparison, this personal multi-purpose armor is more important to me.
But my design still has many immature aspects, so..."
"I'd love to take the time to help you perfect it, Mason. I've been having a lot of free time anyway."
Doctor Octopus put on his brown glasses again and stopped Mason with a gentle smile that shouldn't have appeared on his face. He let out a long sigh and said:
"But this time I have to make a small request . Outsiders, I hope Team K can do us a little favor. The Osborne Tower stores a large number of gravity hammers excavated from all over the world.
The loss of those things has made the world unstable.
When I designed that excavation device for them, I left a secret door for reinjection. I need you to return what they took from this world!
Just reinject those gravity hammers into the Earth's core, and the destabilizing earthquakes around the world will subside over the next few months."
Dr. Otto said seriously:
"This world may end in the future, and we may not be able to prevent that ending. But there are things we can do, and I don't want to see it destroyed by a bunch of bastards.
Even though I was one of those assholes.”
"If I can, I will try my best to do it."
Mason nodded and said:
"This does not conflict with my main purpose."
"Be careful of the Green Goblin."
Doctor Octopus carefully observed Mason's expression, and after confirming that he was not evading, he reminded him:
"I worked with Norman and I know a lot of people said he was crazy, but he wasn't! He knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it.
He is more determined than anyone else in this apocalypse.
Therefore he is more dangerous than before.”
"It doesn't matter! I'll do it."
A voice sounded from behind. Mason and Dr. Otto turned around and saw the middle-aged version of Spider-Man standing up and putting the helmet on his head. He said:
"Just like in the past, let me deal with the Green Goblin. I know why he hates this world, and I will find a way to solve it. This is Spider-Man's responsibility!"
