A web shooter would allow him to trol the Night Stalkers' movements by trapping them in webbing, effectively pensating for the armor's ck of speed and flexibility. He wouldn’t be swingiween skyscrapers—after all, the oon armor could hahe webbing, but not the buildings. Instead, he po use the web shooter purely as a on to immobilize his enemies.

  "Ego, pick the best web shooter design and have the details ready for me by m," Zack said.

  "Uood, sir. Sweet dreams," Ego replied.

  As Zack dozed off in his chair, soft footsteps approached the office. Ego sed the presence, firming there was no hostility or ons. He remained silent, allowing the visitor to pass.

  Annie quietly entered, holding a b. Seeing Zack asleep, she gently covered him with it, then tiptoed back out.

  The m, Zack woke to sunlight streaming through the window, a b draped over him. Smiling, he immediately knew who had left it. “This girl really knows how to take care of people,” he muttered, impressed.

  “Sir, after you fell asleep st night, Annie came in and covered you with a b,” Ego firmed.

  "Thought so." Zaodded. "Alright, Ego, show me the web shooter design you chose."

  A holographic dispy of the web shooter appeared before him, along with a list of materials needed. "Based on avaible resources, this design is the most suitable," Ego expined. "It has two modes: silk and web."

  Ego tinued, "The silk mode shoot a strand 5-10 mm thick with a terength 45 times that of high-strength steel. Its range is 300 meters, and it support 5-10 tons. The web mode creates a web 3-5 meters in diameter, made up of hundreds of firands, effective up to 20 meters. Each thread in the web hold up to 0.5 tons."

  Zaodded, satisfied. "Good work, Ego."

  The blueprint was surprisingly simple—much more straightforward than his power armor. "Ego, s the area for the materials I’ll need," Zastructed.

  A map of the industrial park appeared, highlighting two nearby factories: aronit and a chemical factory. "Looks like ing here was the right choice after all," Zack murmured. He quickly prepared himself, donning his power armor, ready to gather the pos for his new project.

  As he headed out of the office, the workers he passed looked at him with a mix of resped awe. Some greeted him boldly, while others moved aside, stepping back to give him space. The seventeen people in the factory had fully e around to Zack's leadership.

  “Keep w, everyone,” Zack said, gesturing to the wall he’d broken down earlier. “And make sure to rebuild it.”

  As he was about to leave the steel pnt, Annie appeared from the side, her faxious beh her messy bangs. "Za... Mr. Zack, are you leaving?" she asked softly.

  "Just call me 'brother,'" Zack said, reag out to ruffle her hair. His rge, armored hand made her head look even smaller and more fragile. Though she instinctively flinched, she gathered her ce and looked up at him, saying, “Brother... I have something to show you.”

  “Alright, lead the way,” Zack said, curious. Aook him through the steel pnt, weaviween equipment and maery until they reached a small room tucked in the er.

  “Is this it?” Zack asked, looking down at her.

  Annie nodded, and Zack gently opehe door. A familiar st of metal and chemicals filled the air, and he realized the room acked with materials, tools, drones, and small robots. In the ter of the room was a short workbench, clearly desigo matnie’s height. "Is this your workshop?" Zack asked.

  "It’s a b," Annie corrected shyly, l her head, almost as if afraid she’d overstepped.

  But Zaly smiled, amused by her pride. “Right, your b.” He picked up a drone from the shelf and ied it. Though unfinished, its internal structure recise and skillfully assembled, with barely any gaps between the parts. The craftsmanship was fwless—almost mae-perfect.

  “Did you make all of these by hand?” Zack asked, impressed.

  Annie nodded. Zack shook his head in amazement, realizing just how naturally gifted she was. "Sir," Ego's voice echoed in his mind, "this room tains all the materials o build the web shooter."

  Zack's expressihtened. He turo Annie. "Annie, would it be alright if I made something in your b?"

  "Of course," she agreed. In her eyes, Zack was the true genius—her creatio like toys pared to his Mark armor.

  With Annie’s permission, Zack closed the b door, removed his armor, and began w on the web shooter. Ached quietly as he worked, occasionally assisting him as he expined what he was doing. Despite her usual shyness, she became focused and steady while w. Her small hands moved with remarkable skill, using the tweezers to pce each piece exactly where it was needed, with no room for error.

  Together, they pleted the web shooter far quicker than Zack had anticipated. "Perfect! The shooter’s done," Zack said, testing the deviake sure it was funing properly.

  Uhe shooter, the silk was simpler to make—a matter of mixing the right elements in the correct proportions. In its liquid form, the silk would harden when exposed to air, so Zack added a ralizer to keep it from solidifying too soon. The finished silk was stored in small, square sacs about the size of photeries, which could be loaded and repced in the shooter like magazine clips.

  Once everything was ready, Zack fitted the web shooter onto the right arm of the Mark armor. "Alright!" he said, slipping the armor ba. Turning to Annie, he said, “I’m heading out to deal with the remaining Night Stalkers. When I’m back, I’ll take you away from here. Sound good?”

  Annie nodded, and he gave her a pat on the head before heading out of the b. Leaving the steelworks, Zack made his way to the underground parking lot where the Night Stalker leader had disappeared. On the way, he paused in front of a tall building, curiosity getting the best of him.

  “Why not give it a try?” he thought. The armor was heavy, but the ce to swing from a web was too tempting to resist.

  He raised his right arm and aimed the web shooter at the top of the building.

  Swosh!

  The web shot out, attag itself to the top of the building’s exterior wall with a solid grip. Zack tugged on the line, feeling it hold. Taking a few steps back, he ran forward and swung, the estic strength of the spider silk pulling the oon MV-01 armor off the ground and into the air.

  The swing was successful—for less than half a sed.

  “Aw, e on!” Zack groaned as he heard the sound of bricks crumbling. The wall he’d attached the web to gave way, and he plummeted, hitting the ground with a deafening crash that left a spiderweb of cracks in the crete.

  “Should’ve knower,” he muttered, standing up. Gng at the wall, he saw a rge k had e off where the web had attached. Shaking his head, he decided to abandon any hopes of swinging for now. “Guess I’ll stick to using this as a on.”