The projector displayed the final result of the battle on the wall. Electro's self-destruction caused an explosion with a radius of about 30 meters, but facing two supersonic heroes, his explosion was a dud. It served no purpose other than turning himself into a pile of dissipating electricity.
Despite this, for those watching the live broadcast, this was still a monumental moment.
"Gentlemen, we have seen the interdisciplinary research situation of Project Rebirth (Project 1), Project Beast (Project 2), and Weapon X (Project 10). With simple genetic editing, we achieved in just a few hours a project plan that had eluded us for decades: an Alpha-level mutant that can be controlled by us and is greatly enhanced."
Otto Octavius stood in a secret conference room beneath the Pentagon, broadcasting the fight of their modified Electro, Max Dillon, to an audience. The room was filled with key military and Pentagon officials, as well as the presidential candidate Matthew Ellis. They had witnessed the entire process of the Avengers finding a way to neutralize Electro.
It could be argued that this entire spectacle was the reason the White House and the Pentagon chose to shut down all facilities in the New York area and prevent the American Avengers from intervening. Otherwise, dealing with Electro would not have been difficult for Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers, with her energy-absorption powers, or Ares, the God of War from Greece.
"The biggest issue is not success, but cost. With this operation, we successfully recovered a vital strategic asset from the illegal mutant nation: the Genetic Slicer designed and manufactured by the renowned bio-geneticist Nathaniel Essex. This equipment can consistently and stably produce super-soldiers for us, approximately 20 per day..."
Matthew Ellis rubbed his jaw. He didn't care much about the Super-Soldier program. Compared to his predecessor, the Republican president whose term was plagued by mutant unrest and the Twin Towers bombing, Ellis, a Democrat, was actually open-minded about superheroes and mutants.
With superheroes around, he could easily cut the police budget, save expenses, and use that money to court voters. As for the losses caused by superheroes and criminals, the heroes themselves paid for those. If it weren't for the profitability of Stark Industries, the compensation alone would bankrupt Tony Stark.
Of course, Tony Stark didn't cover alien invasion damage; he was only responsible for the collateral damage caused by superheroes thwarting villains.
"Very good presentation, Doctor Octavius, apart from whether it was truly necessary," President Ellis said, looking disinterestedly at the Pentagon officials. His own Secretary of Defense, also a Democrat, was clearly uninterested. The CIA and FBI were more interested, but General Ross's interest was practically exploding.
The idea of a US military-controlled super-soldier force was exciting to him.
"If Magneto discovers this, he might declare war on the United States. We don't need to go to war with 16 million mutants for a single machine," Ellis shook his head. "And super-soldiers? America is the most powerful nation on Earth. We don't need a stronger military. If there are alien invaders, we have the Avengers, the American Avengers, and S.H.I.E.L.D. protecting us. We can even call the X-Men."
"A single super-soldier can replace a hundred troops, Mr. President. If the U.S. military had enough super-soldiers—not many, just imagine twenty thousand Captain Americas—then the U.S. military wouldn't need any non-technical troops, saving hundreds of millions in military spending annually. The most troublesome part of the whole process, the tens-of-billions-dollar Genetic Slicer, doesn't need to be rebuilt; we recovered an existing one."
Otto smiled. Hearing the mention of saving hundreds of millions in military spending, President Ellis finally raised his eyebrows in interest and nodded.
"And all of this has only one obstacle. Norman Osborn's research on Project Beast cannot interface with ours. I strongly recommend that the Pentagon reclaim the development rights for the Savage Force Project..."
"We will discuss that matter later, Doctor."
President Ellis, who had long since learned from his advisors about the personal animosity between Otto and Norman, stood up and interrupted Otto. "Norman Osborn has proven his project is making steady progress; there's no need to complicate matters. As for you, don't forget your primary task, Project 5, Doctor. Now, I need to get back and rest. It was a good show today, but everyone, remember to keep it confidential."
Otto adjusted his glasses in resignation and nodded.
"Yes, Mr. President."
Hours later, Otto returned to his lab in Lower Manhattan. With his artificial symbiote, he could now walk independently, but Spider-Man's constant growth and meddlesome nature led him to realize that if he was to carry out his revenge, he had to eliminate Spider-Man, or at least keep him too busy to interfere.
He activated a device set up in the lab. As electricity gathered, the scattered and disintegrated lightning that had resulted from the self-destruction was condensing to form a rudimentary, blurry human shape.
"I had Nathaniel Essex place a suggestion in your brain: if you couldn't escape, self-destruct in Manhattan. And it proved true—Spider-Man, he always finds a way to deal with us, and I cannot allow him to interfere with my revenge."
Otto stood in front of the apparatus. The device barely sustained Electro's life signs, but it would take several months for him to fully resurrect. However, a few months was worth it. He wanted to see how much more Spider-Man could grow.
"You are just the first, Max Dillon."
Otto sat down, looking at the screen displaying one potential candidate after another: Quentin Beck, codenamed Mysterio; Mac Gargan, codenamed Scorpion; Aleksei Sytsevich, codenamed Rhino.
Max Dillon, codenamed Electro, and Otto Octavius, the ultimate Doctor Octopus.
This list was already long, but if he wanted to defeat Spider-Man, it wasn't enough. He needed more helpers who could counter Spider-Man.
Of course, before that, he could extract some interest from Norman Osborn.
As the events at the Pentagon showed, what he needed to prove was not that he was more successful than Norman Osborn.
It was Norman Osborn's complete failure.
Otto smiled, looking at the names on the list responsible for the Savage Force Project: Jonathan Drew and Curt Connors.
"So, who will be the final member of my Sinister Six..."
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