At the Sky Base, Tony commandeered Dreykov's former office as his personal lab during the renovation. He punched through the metal walls around it, replacing them with glass, claiming that being able to see the outside scenery from all directions would inspire his creativity.
Blake wasn't sure how much this would actually boost Tony's inspiration, but so far, the only "invention" worthy of the name was a pair of pants that wouldn't tear when Banner transformed.
Today, it was finally Blake's turn.
He donned a pair of knee-high socks made of some unknown material, handed to him by Banner.
There was also a pair of long gloves that reached to his elbows.
Both the socks and gloves had multiple wires running through them.
Tony stood at the console, typing rapidly on the keyboard.
"Get ready, I'll count to three. Blake, you're going to unleash flames from where your hands and feet are covered, got it?"
"Got it!"
Blake obediently nodded, mimicking Tony's take-off stance: feet together, palms facing down.
"3...2...1!"
As Tony counted down, Blake released flames from his body, enveloping his arms and calves.
Tony pressed some button, and in the next moment, Blake's flames vanished, absorbed entirely by the gloves and socks.
All the energy was collected and redirected to his palms and soles.
Blake immediately felt a growing counterforce under his hands and feet.
He started feeling a bit weightless.
"Tony, why does it feel like the power is too low? I can't seem to lift off," Blake muttered in frustration.
"That's because your flames are too dispersed. To be precise, your fire powers are too weak—at least for now. But you're lucky; you met me, and of course, Banner, who deserves around 21%—maybe 25%—of the credit. Get ready, hold still!"
Data from Blake's flames scrolled quickly across the screen in front of Tony, showing temperature, reactive force from the flame jets, energy conversion rates for the boosters, and so on.
"Alright! Now, relax your whole body. I'll count to three, hold this position, and trust me—you're about to experience flight!"
Blake nodded, excited.
Then he saw Tony tapping a few more keys quickly and pressing the Enter key hard.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, a powerful thrust surged from his palms and soles, and Blake shot forward like a deflated balloon, carving a graceful arc through the air as he smashed through the lab door and flew out.
"JARVIS, remind me next time to keep the door open—it's such a hassle to fix," Tony said.
The socks and gloves Tony had provided Blake were made of some unknown material, but Tony mentioned they were single-use items, meant to collect data on Blake's flames.
The goal was to maximize Blake's propulsion with minimal effort.
So…
The second attempt saw the boosters suddenly burst into flames, but they burned out instantly, and Blake crashed headfirst into a nearby refrigerator.
On the third attempt, he shattered a toilet tank with his head, narrowly missing an accidental head wash.
Tony was laughing so hard he doubled over, and even the usually serious Banner had a hint of a teasing smile on his face.
Seeing Blake turn his head toward him, Banner quickly pretended to busy himself, looking down.
Blake suspected Tony was doing it on purpose, but he had no proof. Especially when he was on the brink of receiving a flight suit, Blake chose to yield.
Eventually, after Blake ended up with his head lodged in the lab's ceiling panels, his neck awkwardly hanging there while Tony took several pictures, Tony finally had JARVIS create a finished suit.
Blake's armor didn't have as many circuits or energy systems as Tony's. Aside from a lot of energy converters and a few boosters inside, it didn't contain any other complicated features.
This made Blake's suit lighter and slimmer compared to Tony's current Mark series.
Given Blake's natural durability and the protective quality of his combat suit, Tony essentially removed every feature from the suit except for energy conversion and flight.
The suit was made of a thin layer of golden titanium alloy, lacking the bulkiness of Tony's own armor. It looked closer to Spider-Man's later suits or Black Panther's armor.
It was a black full-body suit, with Tony's signature touch of opulence: every edge had a golden trim.
On each shoulder, there was a small golden character "Blake," adding a touch of vintage flair to the armor.
Aside from the lack of a helmet, the suit's back had four retractable wings, which was an addition compared to the Mark series.
When Blake released flames from his whole body, the wings would automatically deploy, and the flames from other parts of his body would channel into these four boosters, greatly enhancing the suit's mobility.
Before designing this suit, Tony had been researching the Mark 7 armor's auto-tracking and auto-wear features. Due to the complexity of his own armor, that research was still ongoing, which turned out to be advantageous for Blake.
With two wristbands, all Blake had to do was take out the suit and spread his arms, and the suit would automatically open and fit around his body based on the position of the wristbands.
To enable this feature, Tony added an Arc Reactor to Blake's suit as a backup power source and for energy use when tracking Blake's location.
This was a very thorough consideration.
However, since Blake had a space-storage ability, he probably wouldn't use this feature often—mostly just for opening and closing the suit when wearing it.
"Top speed is Mach 2. If you switch to the Arc Reactor, you could reach up to Mach 4 at the limit. Blake, this is the fastest suit I've ever built," Tony's voice came through the earpiece as Blake did countless loops in the sky, reluctantly returning to the base.
"Right now, your flames haven't reached the maximum capacity of the boosters and energy converters. As your flames get stronger, the suit's speed can increase further," Tony said after checking all the parameters.
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