Although Toomes, in his old age, couldn't understand the aesthetics of today's youth, when he looked up and stared at that pair of giant mechanical wings, a light still uncontrollably welled up in his bloodshot old eyes.
After all, what boy's initial dream is to have endless mortgage payments and spend his whole life collecting scrap?
Flying into the sky like a bird is the ultimate romance for a man.
And now, this dream hung quietly within his reach.
Toomes subconsciously swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing, as he nervously cast his gaze to the side.
Jinx was sitting on the workbench with her legs crossed. She caught the desire that was practically overflowing from Toomes's eyes, and a smile curled at the corner of her lips.
"What are you spacing out for, old man?" Jinx raised an eyebrow and teased, "Put it on and see if it fits?"
Hearing this, Toomes trembled, turning his head to look at the Vulture Suit.
A moment later, the heavy metal components, assisted by robotic arms, attached to his body one by one.
Accompanied by the sound of interlocking gears, the suit was fully equipped.
The roof of the underground Inventory rumbled open to both sides, revealing the clear sky outside.
Toomes took a deep breath, and the turbine engines on his back spewed out faint blue exhaust flames.
The air blast instantly swept through the entire underground Inventory, blowing Jinx's blue hair into a mess, but she couldn't care less about the strands stuck to her face, her eyes fixed intently upward.
In mid-air, Toomes was pushed up by the explosive thrust, rising from the ground in a crooked manner.
He wobbled in the airflow a few times before finally finding the knack for it, stabilizing his posture in mid-air.
"Holy crap, that's awesome!"
Below, Mason and the dozen or so workers from Toomes's team clapped excitedly, cheering. Herman, standing to the side, also applauded excitedly with glowing eyes, full of anticipation that once the other blueprints were realized, he would also be able to get his hands on a cool outfit.
Toomes looked down at the vast plain below and Jinx and the others, the wild wind whistling past his ears.
His intense heartbeat echoed in his chest, and a look of wild joy slowly blossomed on Toomes's face.
"Woohoo!"
It was hard to imagine that a world-weary middle-aged man could let out such a youthful cheer in mid-air.
The suit was equipped with a communication module, and Jinx's voice, accompanied by a slight crackle of static, came directly into his earpiece.
"Alright, old man, don't just focus on joyriding. Try out its functions."
As soon as she finished speaking, Jinx reached out and grabbed at the empty air below.
Just like how summoning Unohana Retsu comes with a Zanpakutō, Jinx, as an incarnation, also possessed her own exclusive weapon.
An exaggerated-looking Gatling gun appeared out of thin air in her hands.
This was [Pow-Pow].
Pow-Pow
The gun body was painted in pink, and the thick barrels were engraved with all sorts of weird, chaotic patterns.
Jinx used her slender arms to nonchalantly lift the heavy weapon, pointing the muzzle directly at Toomes in mid-air. Herman felt his hair stand on end, and Toomes, up in the sky, felt even more nervous, his scalp tingling.
It was the first time in his life he had been pointed at by such a large gun.
Before he could react, the barrels of Pow-Pow began to spin wildly, and dazzling tongues of fire spewed out.
Seeing the dense bullets about to hit Toomes, the sensors inside the suit were instantly activated. A layer of ghostly green energy film appeared around Toomes, deflecting all the large-caliber bullets pouring in, creating ripples of dazzling energy.
It worked!
Toomes was wild with joy, and Jinx below also revealed a smile.
This was the defense system she had miniaturized and improved upon after dismantling the HYDRA deflector shield technology in Sokovia.
It could be considered a complete fix for the fatal shortcoming shared by most flying mechs: "high mobility, but no error tolerance."
You have to know, the original Vulture was completely primitive; he had no superpowers and no functions whatsoever.
That suit was quite backward among the many pieces of high-tech equipment; its only function was to fly.
Yes, just fly.
Even Falcon had a bunch of miscellaneous little functions, but Vulture just flew—he didn't have any explosives or weapons, nor any defensive measures; he was pitifully bare-bones.
Now that the defensive shortcoming was fixed, what about the offensive means?
You couldn't just rely on the incarnation to crash into people in mid-air, right?
"Shield system is fine," Jinx continued in the communicator, "Next."
Toomes understood, turned around in mid-air, his eyes sharp, and locked onto a row of thick trees not far away.
Accompanied by the crisp sound of mechanical operation, the metal wings suddenly flattened, and the metal feathers on the edges suddenly popped out a section. These ejected feathers emitted a ghostly green light, their entire bodies as thin as cicada wings, with edges sharper than daggers.
Toomes swung his wings violently.
Several metal feathers, like arrows released from a bowstring, cut through the air with a shrill whistle and accurately pierced into the tree trunks.
After a half-second delay, the tree trunks suddenly erupted with dazzling, ghostly green fire.
"Boom!"
Amidst the deafening explosion, the tree trunks, thick enough for several people to hug, were instantly blown in half, with wood chips and charred debris flying everywhere.
"Good god... this is just too..."
Toomes's throat went dry, and he couldn't help but curse under his breath.
"That's insane!"
If the shield was the remnant heat of HYDRA technology, then this explosion effect was entirely a little clever idea Jinx had stuffed in.
This undoubtedly greatly improved Vulture's long-range combat capability.
The most ingenious part was that as soon as this volley ended, the drive shafts on the inside of the wings immediately spun rapidly.
Amidst a series of mechanical pushing and pulling sounds, brand-new feathers were loaded out from the wing slots, once again replacing the gaps on the edges, gleaming with cold light, ready to go.
It would be a pity if such a cool mechanical suit like Vulture didn't have some decent functions.
You couldn't be like the Vulture in the original movie, wearing a high-tech suit flying in the sky while having to hold an alien rifle to shoot.
That would be too low-class.
The test was over. Toomes landed back in the underground Inventory with barely concealed excitement. When taking off the suit, he was still a little unaccustomed to the difference in gravity, but when he looked at Jinx again, his eyes were completely different.
How is this a little lunatic? This is clearly an absolute genius!
Not just Mason, but now Toomes and the entire team had completely changed their initial impression of Jinx.
After spending time together, they discovered that while this girl was indeed quite crazy at times, she basically wouldn't hurt people for no reason like an antisocial psychopath. Usually, she would at most make some nasty threats, but essentially, she was still a kind girl with a bottom line.
It's just that her mental state is a little... okay, actually, it's very unstable.
But her extraordinary talent.
Although the suit was mainly the responsibility of Toomes and Mason, the blueprints were Jinx's, and she had helped a great deal with key technologies. Even a mechanic like Mason, who considered himself a smart person, couldn't help but be amazed: What on earth did this girl grow up eating?
Her brain is actually so good.
Hmm... regarding this question, Jinx never wanted to talk much.
What could she say?
Should she tell them that she grew up eating slop in the Undercity
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