If the automated combat drones joined the fight, the whole assault would end in an instant.
But the mercenaries had given Drex Valen something better.
A chance to show his own hand.
He had been thinking about the same thing for a while now.
When exactly should he make a proper entrance in powered armor?
Now, apparently.
"Natalie, come with me."
Drex led her toward a metal corridor.
Natalie's pulse ticked up immediately. A new hire like her, and he was bringing her this far into company facilities already? That had to mean she was being trusted with major secrets.
Or maybe Drex Valen was simply worried about her safety and wanted to get her behind the reinforced door.
That metal barrier looked more than secure enough for that kind of thing.
Then she saw him stop in front of it.
The door shifted open to reveal a biometric lock system.
Eye scan.
Mouth scan.
No wonder she had not been able to find a visible keypad or access panel. This thing was far more advanced than it looked.
Drex walked through first.
Natalie followed quickly behind him.
Inside was a massive chamber, broad and clean and lined with War Machines arranged in rows.
It looked like a warehouse full of armored suits.
A deliberate decoy, clearly meant to mislead anyone who managed to get this far.
And, for a second, it worked on her too.
Drex crossed the room and stepped onto a black platform.
"Black Queen."
At his call, the platform lit up.
From its surface, a liquid-like metal flowed upward around his feet, then climbed his legs, his torso, his arms, sealing over him piece by piece until it covered his entire body.
When the transformation was complete, the metal hardened into a full suit of armor.
Natalie stared.
The reaction made sense.
For someone whose life had already included enough strange things to make most people's heads spin, this still pushed the boundary of what felt possible in a single breath.
The armor's silhouette was sleek and streamlined, almost minimalist, but the reinforced joints and layered plating gave it a brutal sense of force.
The overlapping metal segments were not just protective. They were beautiful in a sharp, predatory way.
Then the helmet formed.
Two external earpieces extended backward and connected into the nanometal frame, giving the entire design an unmistakably futuristic edge.
The strange-looking helm joined into the neck guard, then tapered down into a reinforced jawline and chin piece.
The outer color of the armor began to shift.
The primary plating darkened into pure black.
That change came from the nanometal altering its molecular color properties. A moment later, gold tracery surfaced across the heavy shoulder armor, lines of metallic brilliance cutting through the darkness like veins of fire.
In seconds, the entire suit had transformed.
What had looked like a highly mechanical nanotechnology shell now felt something else entirely.
Dark.
Commanding.
Like a weapon that had stepped out of the shadows and decided to stay there.
The armor was built from nanomachines.
After acquiring several hundred tons of vibranium, Drex had the resources to indulge in serious research.
With the Black Queen's assistance, he had completed the development of nanotech and manufactured the machines himself.
They were all under the Black Queen's control and possessed both adaptive transformation and formidable defensive capability.
Using vibranium data, along with global alloy and metal composition records, the Black Queen had run enough calculations to produce a material stronger than secondary kryptonite and stronger than A-grade kryptonite as well.
That alloy became the primary structure of the nanomachines.
It was a shame the Solar God armor and the War God armor could no longer be deconstructed for parts.
If they had been, and if their original kryptonite had been fused into the process, the result might have been even stronger.
"Dark Knight armor deployment complete."
The Black Queen's cold voice filled the chamber.
That was when Natalie learned the name of the suit.
And, honestly, it looked nothing like a mass-produced War Machine.
"Boss?"
Drex guided Natalie out of the chamber.
Whatever little devices she had secretly dropped along the way were already being recovered and destroyed by nanomachines sent out under the Black Queen's control.
The moment Drex Valen emerged in the Dark Knight armor, he ran straight into a mercenary squad.
"War Machine!"
One of them shouted and opened fire at once.
The bullets slammed into the armor.
It made no difference.
The alloy strength of the Dark Knight suit was so high that even vibranium was outclassed by it. The rounds left no visible mark, not even on the black surface that looked almost painted on.
Drex raised one hand and fired a blue energy beam.
The beam was not truly light. It was condensed energy particles traveling in a focused stream, which made it look like a laser to the naked eye even if it moved a little slower than actual light.
The result was still devastating.
No blood.
No dramatic spray.
Just instant vaporization.
The beam passed through the heads of the first two mercenaries, converting them into the most basic molecular remnants. A stray edge of the blast swept onward and evaporated the left hand of the man behind them.
The two headless bodies stood for half a second longer before their necks charred shut under the heat.
Blood never got the chance to spurt.
From a distance, they looked like mannequins with their heads removed.
Natalie, still following behind him, frowned when she saw the weapon's power.
The energy cannon built into Drex Valen's palm was far more destructive than the one on a standard War Machine.
Then she saw him extend one finger.
A red glow ignited at the fingertip.
A series of crimson laser beams fired out at terrifying speed, punching through the mercenaries and slicing straight through their body armor as though it were paper. The holes they left were large enough to fit a ping-pong ball through.
Every finger on the Dark Knight suit could fire these high-penetration lasers.
With the output boosted, the same beams could even cut.
The Dark Knight moved down the corridor like a rolling execution.
The mercenaries fought back with everything they had.
Rifles.
Heavy weapons.
Even RPGs.
Which, in a sealed corridor like this, was basically suicide with extra steps.
"What the hell is that?"
One mercenary spotted the black armor striding toward them.
It resembled a War Machine at first glance, but the details were wrong. Too refined. Too dangerous.
Then the suit raised its hand.
"Incineration cannon."
Drex's voice came through the armor.
The forearm plating shifted immediately, nanomachines reassembling into a predesigned shape. A spiraling stream of flame burst out a second later, blasting forward for more than a hundred meters.
The mercenaries caught in it screamed as they turned to ash.
The corridor's sprinkler system activated at once, dousing the hall with heavy spray in an attempt to kill the fire.
Drex watched the steam rise and nodded once.
"The Dark Knight's performance is pretty good."
He sounded satisfied.
So far, most of the weapons he had designed had already been tested.
Now it was time to switch to kill mode.
Nanomachines surged across his forearm again and reassembled into a proper long blade.
High-frequency vibration ran through the edge, making it lethal enough to cut through anything in its path.
Even vibranium would be severed cleanly.
Then Natalie saw the back of the suit open.
A line of thrusters emerged.
They ignited with blue fire, flaring out like brilliant wings of light behind him.
The acceleration was immediate.
The Dark Knight blurred forward in a single violent burst, closing the distance to the mercenaries before they could even react.
Blade flashes followed.
Steel, armor, flesh, all of it split apart in a shower of motion and ruin.
It was less a fight than a slaughter.