Chapter 125: The Bat Event (7)
Stark put on his lightweight Mech armor again and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Steve on the ground, Captain America holding his shield. They looked at the enormous monster in front of them, and Captain America swallowed hard, saying, "Don't tell me that he was the one who invaded Stark Tower last time..."
Stark looked at the massive shadow in front of him and also swallowed hard, saying, "I think...probably, maybe..."
He hesitated for a moment, then shouted, "Connors! Are you Connors?! Can you understand us now?!"
"Of course, you don't need to shout so loudly, I'm not deaf," the giant Lizard Man said. "I used cold technology to improve the lizard serum, extracting and modifying the part that would cause human-lizard transformation. It allows me to have a larger size and stronger strength, but most importantly, it allows me to remain rational."
Stark rubbed his neck, which was sore from looking up for a long time, and said, "The improvement is indeed too significant!"
Stark was right. Dr. Connors' Lizard Man is now over ten meters tall, like a building, with lizard scales all over his body and prominent spikes on his joints. The spine is covered in sharp bone spurs, and his large vertical pupils look cruel and ruthless.
"Wait, now that you're here, what about the experiment?" Stark asked.
"I entrusted it to Peter, I believe he can handle it," Connors replied. He then made a sprinting leap and jumped directly onto the highest remaining wreckage of the Brooklyn Bridge after its collapse. With a powerful swing of his tail, several bats were instantly knocked away.
Connor did indeed pass all remaining research tasks to Peter, but it's apparent that Peter is not doing well at the moment. He said, "Wait! Doctor! You must wear a lab coat to enter the laboratory... Hey! Don't touch that test tube, you can't pour directly from it..."
Schiller completely ignored him, picked up a test tube, and waved it in front of his eyes. Peter walked over wearing gloves, carefully took the test tube from Schiller, and said, "Doctor! This violates laboratory regulations! We need to..."
"Alright, if I could follow the laboratory regulations, I wouldn't have come in after Connor left."
"But..."
"Connor has already left, don't worry about those serums. Let's work on something more interesting."
As he spoke, Peter saw that Schiller had somehow pulled out a stack of blueprints. Peter took the design from Schiller, glanced at it, and said, "What is this? A small-scale cryogenic generator? Isn't this the same as the previous cryogenic technology?"
"Exactly. I had someone design a small-scale cryogenic device that can freeze everything within its range."
"So, it's a weapon? What's the use?"
Schiller sat down, then he tapped the table, indicating for Peter to sit down as well. He said, "The biggest problem right now is that ordinary people cannot deal with these monsters. But what if everyone had an effective means of countering vampires? What do you think would happen?"
"That group of vampires is doomed," Peter said without hesitation. "How many people are in the Brooklyn area? Even if we exclude the vulnerable groups and only count those who have worked out and can fight, there must be at least tens of thousands of people, while those bats are only a few thousand at most..."
Then Peter suddenly realized something and said, "Yeah, that's actually a good idea!"
"If we use regular guns, the vampires' self-healing ability is too strong. Even if we shoot holes in their wings, it won't do much good. We need a weapon that can immediately stop their activities, so that ordinary people have a chance to fight back," Schiller explained.
Peter continued Schiller's words, "Freezing can do this. Once a shot is fired and the bat is frozen into an ice block, it won't be able to cause any harm to humans, and since they aren't injured, they won't trigger any self-healing abilities either. They just won't be able to move..."
Peter imagined the scene where a physically fit person could throw a low-temperature generator at a bat diving towards them and could incapacitate the bat quite effectively.
Peter rubbed his hands together and said excitedly, "This is actually my first time really making weapons. I didn't remember much of what Mr. Stark told me before, but now it's all coming back to me, and it's clear."
"That means you're a genius," Schiller said. "By the way, what do you plan to name this set of weapons?"
"Um..." Peter hesitated for a moment and said, "Although I refined the concept, I feel like this idea wasn't originally mine. What do you plan to call it, Doctor?"
"How about Blizzard?"
"Blizzard? That's fitting for that large-scale freezing device."
"Then let's go with that name. Go ahead, I'm waiting for your Blizzard Alpha test version."
After Peter left, Schiller called Nick and said, "I'm almost ready on my end. How are things on your side?"
"The moderate faction has been lobbying the senators non-stop, and they've even gone to the Security Council, but Pierce has held up under the pressure. I can only buy us another two days at most. You better hurry."
After hanging up the phone, Stark, wearing the Mech Armor combat suit, quickly walked into the laboratory and saw Schiller writing and drawing on the lab table. Stark anxiously asked, "What's going on? Could those senators really have been swayed by vampires?"
He opened his face mask and said, "Director George told me that someone contacted him and asked him not to use large-scale firepower anymore. Damn it, those bats are so crazy, but he tells us not to fight back?"
"How's the situation on the battlefield now?" Schiller asked.
"It's not too optimistic," Stark gulped down a large glass of water and then slammed the cup onto the table. It was clear that he was not in a good mood. He said, "The Lizard Doctor has been a big help. He's torn apart a lot of bats and held off most of the pressure on the front line. And Captain America, I have to admit, that guy knows how to fight..."
"Our cooperation is pretty good. We can share most of the firepower on the flanks, and the other flank is guarded by SHIELD agents. It seems like they can hold on for now, but this is not a sustainable strategy."
"The sun will be up soon," Schiller said. "You guys hold on for one more wave of attacks. Once the sun comes up, their attacks should weaken."
"But the vampire hunter named Blade told me that under the effect of a certain ritual, these crazy bats can even resist mild sunlight."
"However, this does not mean that their mobility will not be weakened. As soon as daytime arrives, a large portion of vampires will definitely choose to lie low."
"Well, it seems that our task during the day is not on the battlefield. What is Nick Fury doing? Why did he let those vampires gain the upper hand in public opinion?"
While writing, Schiller didn't even look up and said, "You have to understand that their connection to human society is very close, including many scholar, professors and celebrities. This time, our attitude was too tough, and many of them have united to try to influence our decisions from within."
Stark sighed and said, "Many police officers were injured, and even more civilians were killed. Fortunately, our decisive battle took place near the bridge, not in the residential area. Otherwise, I dare not think about how devastating the losses would be. These monsters should go to hell!"
"Your battle has temporarily ended, but another war is waiting for you."
"What do you mean?"
"This all-out attack by vampires is indeed troublesome. Some of them believed in a vague prophecy and came to New York to stir up trouble."