Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Element of Dark Titanium and the Alloy of Darkness

Back at the company, Michael immediately began tracking the vibranium.
"Red Queen, help me track down a vibranium dealer named Ulysses Klaue."
"Of course, sir."
Meanwhile, Tony was doing the exact same thing.
The Red Queen appeared behind Michael and added, "By the way, sir, the hammer you asked me to track—I’ve already located it. It fell in New Mexico the morning before last, and Agent Coulson went there that very night."
"Oh? What about the mysterious blond man?"
"I’ve already found his whereabouts today. Would you like them now?"
"Send them to my phone."
There was no need to rush; the hammer would be under research for a while yet.
Next, Michael approached a massive machine, bristling with pipes and seemingly designed to extract some unknown substance.
Inside a glass tank filled with a solution, a black material glowed with a mysterious blue light.
"This is dark titanium."
Under Keisha’s guidance and through constant improvements with available resources, Michael had finally created a machine capable of extracting dark matter. However, the collection process was slow; after a month, only enough had been gathered to equal the size of a human body.
Keisha explained, "Yes. Dark titanium, when fused with other metals, forms dark alloy. It’s naturally immune to satellites, radar, and thermal imaging. The black armor itself, besides providing formidable defense, doesn’t generate combat energy on its own, but it can store and break down energy."
"Store and break down energy? That sounds a bit like Uru metal."
Uru metal is the primary material for Asgardian forges; Odin’s conquests across the Nine Realms owed much to it.
Tony once analyzed Uru and discovered its superb capacity to absorb and store magical energy and to enhance the user’s magical affinity.
In a way, the two metals had striking similarities.
Keisha added, "Perhaps Uru is a naturally occurring dark metal, though not quite as exceptional as dark alloy."
"When immense force or impact strikes the dark alloy armor, its defense doesn’t depend solely on hardness. It relies more on dark energy conversion, dispersing the energy into the surrounding dark space. Some black armors use spatial wormhole functions to discharge energy into other spaces, avoiding damage. Thus, black armor doesn’t need complex structural designs; its defense is innately superb."
Michael nodded. "Overall, dark alloy is more suitable for armor than Uru metal, offering greater protection."
The metals were indeed similar. During the Black Great Wall Project, Lianfeng had also mentioned that with Lena, the Sun Goddess, it would be easier to collect solar energy for forging the black armor.
Uru, on the other hand, is forged using the energy from a neutron star.
The Red Queen appeared behind Michael and said,
"Sir, the military has requested a meeting."
Michael turned and left, muttering, "Don’t tell me it’s Rhodey coming for another heart-to-heart?"

When he reached his office, sure enough, it was Rhodey.
"Felicia, no need for tea. See the guest out."
Rhodey quickly stood up. "Don’t be like that, I’m here to place an order this time."
"Bring the good tea, then."
Michael glanced at Rhodey, walked inside, sat down, and smiled. "So, Colonel Rhodes, what’s this order about?"
Rhodey looked at Michael with exasperation. "This time, I want you guys to help modify my Patriot Armor."
"Patriot Armor?"
"That’s the name I gave it."
Michael nodded. In Iron Man 3, it was indeed called the Patriot Armor, complete with the classic blue and red trim.
"What modifications do you want, and what’s your budget?"
"Around two hundred million dollars."
Two hundred million—Rhodey must have done something major to earn that.
Rhodey said frankly, "I only want one thing: firepower. The appearance shouldn’t change much, but make the reactor hexagonal. I don’t want it looking like Tony’s old suits."
"And repaint it red and blue. No need for signal jamming or stealth—just load it up with weapons. That’s about it. Modify it as you see fit."
Michael nodded. No wonder he was Tony’s friend; that independent streak was obvious—he even wanted a different reactor shape.
"Alright, do you want thermobaric bombs, fuel-air explosives, poison gas bombs?"
Rhodey thought for a moment. "No, those are too terrifying."
"Maybe just one thermobaric bomb."
Well, after all, explosions are a man’s true allure; Rhodey simply couldn’t resist.
Michael smiled. "I’m just teasing. A single thermobaric bomb weighs several tons."
The compact suit simply couldn’t accommodate super-heavy firepower—one reason why gods often duel with melee weapons.
Rhodey’s blood pressure shot up—if it can’t be done, just say so!
"But I can fit some liquid explosives, stored in the backpack, as well as micro-armor-piercing rounds, mini-missiles, micro-incendiaries…"
"Do you want to keep the shoulder-mounted Gatling? And would you like to carry an additional weapon?"
Michael was slipping in some of his own ideas—he was preparing to develop a weapon and support module system, codenamed the Dragon Rider System, and Rhodey was the perfect test case.
The Dragon Rider System’s weapon module would include a weapon resource case, weapon shield, and the support modules would cover fire support, equipment storage, ammo depot, and mobility support (motorcycles, planes, yachts, submersibles), among others.

Rhodey considered it. "Keep the Gatling—I’m pretty fond of it. And if I can carry another weapon, I’m all for it."
"Very good. A pleasure doing business."
"Likewise."
After seeing Rhodey off, Michael suddenly thought about the reactor.
Since the palladium reactor wasn’t powerful enough, why not switch to dark titanium? That stuff was at least as impressive as Tony’s new element.
Michael immediately entered experimental mode and began work on a new reactor.
Within just three hours, he had completed the new dark titanium reactor.
Gazing at the softly glowing blue reactor, Michael decided to make it triangular.
The triangle design was reminiscent of the Origin Project; only Tony’s Mark VI armor featured a triangular reactor—the rest reverted to round, and later nanotech suits switched to heart-shaped hexagons.
Since Tony didn’t like triangles, but Michael did, he would stick with the triangular design.
During his research, Michael discovered something interesting: by adding other iron solutions, he could change the reactor’s color.
Though it served no practical function, it did inspire some mischievous ideas.
He could make each color variant and then bluff Tony into thinking he’d invented a whole slew of new elements.
He wondered if Tony’s competitive streak would be provoked into creating even more new elements.
"Red Queen, create a project checklist for me—call it the Origin Project, and include armor production, weapon modules, support modules, and so forth."
"Yes, sir."
The Red Queen appeared behind him again and said, "Sir, there’s a young man who’s been waiting for you for a long time. Would you like to see him?"
"A young man?"
"He comes every day."
"Show me his face."
The Red Queen brought up a photo and some information.
To Michael’s surprise, it was Richard—the son of Kingpin.
What could he want with me?