General Ross

Strictly speaking, a superhero team like the Fantastic Four doesn't have a true leader in the conventional sense.

After all, everyone's status is equal, with no one having a higher position than the others.

However, in any team, issues of authority and leadership tend to arise.

Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, may not have aspired to be the leader, but within the Fantastic Four, his leadership was greater than Johnny's.

This situation was quite normal, as Johnny was indeed quite unreliable.

Even before awakening his superpowers, Johnny wasn't a well-behaved individual.

Not to mention Mr. Fantastic and the Thing, even his own sister, the Invisible Woman Susan Storm, found him exasperating.

In their team of four, three thought he was unreliable.

Considering this, his position within the team was easy to guess.

Although Johnny had become a bit more carefree in personality, he wasn't foolish.

Just like those reporters, he too immediately discerned the meaning behind Russell's words.

This...

Johnny hadn't anticipated that Russell wouldn't give him any face at all.

If it weren't for the photographers still snapping away at them, Johnny's face would have long since lost its smile.

While these reporters might not know the exact nature of the relationship between Russell and Johnny, Russell's response made them keenly aware of the discord between the two.

After answering the reporters' questions, Russell paid no heed to Johnny's slightly awkward expression and shot out his tendrils towards the nearby building.

Subsequently, under the gaze of Johnny and the reporters, he swung away with his tendrils and left the scene.

Watching Russell's disappearing figure, Johnny felt like a clown right now.

After Russell left, he had no intention of continuing to interact with the reporters. Flames erupted from his body, transforming into the Human Torch, and he quickly soared into the sky, disappearing from sight.

The little episode between Russell and Johnny quickly made it to the front page of the news the next day.

After all, this was the first meeting of these two superheroes, one old and one new.

Russell didn't think much of this little incident.

Two more days passed.

The first production model of the Zaku combat armor was finally born.

No. 3 and Peter didn't disappoint Russell and successfully kept the cost within 20 million dollars.

After personally testing the scaled-down version of the Zaku combat armor, Russell made a phone call to the Republican senator.

The product was ready, and it was time to meet with these military bigwigs.

At a mansion in the outskirts of New York.

Introduced by the senator, Russell smoothly met with three American military generals, all with a rank of at least Brigadier General.

Among these three military leaders, Russell was pleasantly surprised to find that he actually recognized one of them.

General Ross!

Looking at General Ross in the uniform of a Major General in the U.S. Air Force, several names quickly flashed through Russell's mind.

Bruce Banner, Betty Ross, Emil Blonsky...

He didn't know if Bruce Banner in this world had transformed or not. He would need to find an opportunity to investigate after going back.

Although many names and thoughts flashed through his mind, Russell's expression remained unchanged. He shook hands with them as if he had no idea who General Ross was, despite recognizing him.

After some polite greetings, Russell didn't waste their time and handed the prepared Zaku combat armor documents to the three generals.

Although General Ross was interested in super soldiers, what interested him were super soldiers like Captain America, not high-tech powered exoskeletons like the Zaku combat armor.

Nonetheless, he still carefully perused the documents on the Zaku combat armor that Russell had provided.

While General Ross might not have been very interested, the other two generals were quite intrigued by the Zaku combat armor.

"Isn't the price of this armor a bit too high?"

One of the generals, Major General Jack, said to Russell.

"General Jack, whether something is expensive or cheap depends on what you're comparing it to."

"The Jericho missile is expensive, but the military still loves it, right?"

The price tag of 120 million dollars did indeed seem high, but Russell wasn't worried about this issue at all.

Without similar competitors, unless the military could develop their own armor, even if the price of the Zaku combat armor was somewhat inflated, the military would still have to choose to procure from him.

"The Jericho missile's power has been proven in combat, but your armor currently only has data on paper."

General Jack continued.

"General, what you said isn't entirely accurate. The lack of combat experience is simply because the armor's production has just begun."

"If you're interested, General, I can provide the armor for real-world combat testing at any time."

Russell replied confidently.

Although he was full of confidence in the Zaku combat armor, General Jack still had some skepticism before seeing the results of real-world testing.

He had seen too many numbers and theories on paper.

Some military contractors even claimed they could produce Death Stars when trying to secure military contracts.

Although there was no immediate decision, General Jack and the others still gave Russell a chance to prove the armor.

They would carry out real-world combat testing of the Zaku combat armor in a military testing ground.

Russell didn't refuse their arrangement.

Military contracts were not that easy to secure!

If they didn't see the actual performance, even if he touted the Zaku combat armor as incredibly powerful, he wouldn't be able to secure a military contract.

After confirming the time for the real-world testing, Russell left the study and planned to return to the laboratory.

However, as soon as he arrived in the hall, General Ross, who had been quiet all this time, suddenly approached him.

"General, do you need something from me?"

"Let's talk in the wine room."

Although this place was the senator's mansion, with General Ross's status, borrowing the senator's wine room was absolutely no issue.

In the wine room.

Russell and General Ross sat across from each other.

"General, if you have something to say, feel free to say it."

"I'm not very interested in your Zaku combat armor, but I'm very interested in you."

With a serious expression, General Ross looked at Russell and spoke slowly.

"Um... General, I'm not into men!" Russell frowned.

Hearing the topic he had inadvertently broached, General Ross nearly sprayed the red wine he was drinking.

"You..."

After setting down his wine glass, General Ross looked at Russell with a straight face and retorted, "I'm not into men either!"

With a resolute tone, General Ross rebuffed.

"There's only the two of us here; I won't beat around the bush."

"I'm well aware of your underground world identity."

"I have a plan that requires individuals like you to join."

Although General Ross didn't explicitly state it, Russell could generally guess what he meant by "individuals like you."

He basically wanted a super soldier team similar to Captain America's. It wasn't difficult to guess!

"General, you might have misunderstood."

"Selling weapons to the military doesn't mean I want to become a weapon for the military. Those are two completely different things."

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