Marvel: The Ultimate Superman-Chapter 150. The Absorption Ability Blueprint [Bonus]

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Inside the heart of Oscorp's most classified lab, Nolan stared at the latest data feed flashing across his holo-screen.

The source? General Ross's Red Hulk transformation.

The best part?

The Leader who had an oversized brain in a jar with a God complex had unknowingly transmitted every byte of his precious experiment straight into Nolan's AI core, A.E.L.R.

The fool never even noticed his terminal was compromised.

"Red Hulk converts emotional surges into thermal radiation... anger amplifies his heat output. Eventually, he even starts emitting flames."

Nolan frowned.

"Fire's flashy. But unnecessary."

That kind of ability was useful only for crowd control or altering battlefield terrain, things Nolan could already do with a single [Super Breath].

"I don't want the emissions," he muttered. "What I need... is the core of it—the absorption."

He watched a looped video of Sterns analyzing Ross's mutated cells under gamma irradiation. The mitochondria inside had warped like miniature black holes, devouring radiation and transmuting it into raw power.

Now that, Nolan thought, is something I can use.

This was Red Hulk's edge over both Hulk and Abomination. He didn't just react to gamma. He fed on it. In fact, he could absorb almost any form of radiation—gamma just gave him the best return.

According to A.E.L.R., a theoretical fusion with Mystique's DNA or her mutation profile could stabilize these changes without triggering massive physical transformation.

Reverse-engineering her shapeshifting traits, Nolan could lock his outward appearance, suppressing any monstrous mutation.

After all, he wasn't trying to become Red Superman.

He was aiming to be Superman.

Besides, sunlight was just radiation, too. Ultraviolet. Theoretically, he could mimic Superman's solar absorption model, but better.

Sunspots. Gamma bursts. Cosmic rays.

With the right matrix, he could feed off it all.

And with Pym Particles, he could carry microreactors saturated in gamma energy running 24/7 right in his pocket.

Portable suns, essentially.

"Pym Particles..." Nolan murmured, his gaze narrowing.

He only had a single vial.

The particles were delicately generated through a process even S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't fully replicated. Only two sources had ever truly mastered them:

Hank Pym and S.H.I.E.L.D. and perhaps... Hydra, if their archives held black-site backups.

There were options:

Kidnap Hope Van Dyne.

Rescue Janet Van Dyne from the Quantum Realm, who likely had secrets even Hank didn't.

Or infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D.'s deepest databanks.

"Hank Pym's ego is legendary," Nolan muttered. "Too proud to share. Too smart to be underestimated. No wonder he burned bridges with Fury."

But S.H.I.E.L.D. had a long-standing habit of replicating everything their people made. Somewhere in that mess, fragments of the Pym formula had to exist.

He'd cracked the Super Soldier Serum with scraps from Hydra.

He could do the same with Pym Particles.

"Hydra..." Nolan's eyes lit up. "They're still in play."

He turned to A.E.L.R. "Segment all leads into three acquisition paths: Hank Pym, S.H.I.E.L.D., and Hydra. Build infiltration scenarios for each." fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

"Affirmative, sir."

Nolan exhaled.

The final form can wait.

For now, it was time to fuse Mystique and Red Hulk's models to build a stable absorption core within himself.

He tapped his comm.

"Connors. What's the status of the Mystique serum?"

"I've got a preliminary formula," came the reply. "But I need more time."

"Bring it here. I'm running a live experiment."

"...Understood."

...

Dr. Connors arrived at the lab with vials and data slates in hand. But the moment he entered, he froze.

Nolan was immersed in his work, standing before a massive containment chamber, calibrating gamma radiation levels in real time.

Inside, biological samples, Nolan's own mutated cells,, were reacting under exposure. Their forms warped. Most combusted. But a few... survived.

Those few cells, twisted and alien, began exhibiting patterns remarkably similar to Ross's.

Except these weren't Ross's cells.

They were Nolan's.

Connors stood silent, watching Nolan speak softly to himself while manipulating instruments telekinetically via magnetism. The AI, A.E.L.R., logged every change.

Under the microscope, the surviving cells thickened. Hardened. Their membranes grew dense, repelling energy leakage. They glowed faintly with energy, but didn't emit it.

"Retain the energy," Nolan whispered. "Don't release it. Redirect the mitochondria. Prevent emission through radiation decay. Internalize all output."

He was muttering to himself like a surgeon performing an impossible operation.

"Super Soldier Serum accelerates mutation, but the Steel Body compound resists instability... That's why Ross survived the gamma surge," Nolan noted.

"Fine. Accelerate growth. Reinforce internal structure. No mass mutation. Focus on integrity and potential."

He adjusted the variables again, rewriting the mutated cell's behavior.

Connors, still silent, watched in awe.

To him, Nolan didn't look like a man anymore.

He looked like a creator molding life at the cellular level with precision and vision no one else on Earth could match.

Hours passed. The lab darkened. Only the glow of monitors and reactors remained.

Finally, Nolan stepped back.

"It's done."

At that moment, A.E.L.R.'s console lit up.

"Sir, I've completed the gamma resonance parameter analysis. Simulation protocols are prepped."

Nolan looked up at the screen, his expression unreadable.

A prototype of godhood... was ready to test.

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