Capítulo 7: Project ICARUS
Ryan designed the original Falcon suit well before his 14 birthday. It was hardly a tough job to combine a pair of retractable wings with a jetpack engine. He then went on improving it with better materials like designing it with Titanium gold alloy and covering it with Kevlar before painting but looking at it after a few days, he knew he can upgrade this more. This is how project ICARUS was born.
This was a pair of retractable wings, with a wingspan that could go from 8 feet in stage 1 to 20 feet in stage 5 matching up to the highest speed of Mach1. Instead of a bulky jetpack Considering it was still the 90s era, it was a great piece of engineering. Trouble came after the design. Who can fly this thing expertly, without leaking it to US Military and thereby destroying him, his company and all his future goals?
They have to test a pilot who is an expert in hand to hand combat, firearms and most importantly flight. They went to US Air Force Pararescueman from where future Sam Wilson became Falcon with his EXO-7 Falcon flight suit. But in the present time, there was hardly any such candidate across the entire US Air force.
"Well, these are the last people from this batch. I like that Korean boy. He follows orders and never asks any questions. Orphan grew up in Koreatown in New jersey. 10 years of experience of being a pilot. That black girl is also good. No family, grew up in Harlem and is known for punching and breaking gang fights in the area and saving many young kids. She has been training herself for Air Force but was discharged last year. If her instructor was not too touchy maybe we would have her resume from the Air Force database."
Hope introduced a new group of people that were being screened for the Icarus project. After looking at the two photos he felt like maybe he would get lucky finally.
Why? Well, it was mainly because that Korean boy looked more like an actor he knew - 'Lee Dong-Wook'. That actor was quite famous and had done good shows. If such a person is here, it means that guy is now in Protagonist mode and this is his scene. Awesome. And that girl definitely looked like that black actress Taraji Henson. So two main non-white characters popping just at the same time. Definitely drama.
"Send these two in test chambers and leave the rest. Their records are impressive, body fitness is also good and with enough training, they might become our ICARUS. Let's see how they perform with prototypes."
After 10 days, he finally got the result that made him happy. Both of the main characters overachieved than set parameters. Martha also specified that both trained in flight simulation and practised firearm training apart from normal time. It seemed they also enjoyed this challenge and wanted to prove something. Good for them and Great for Phil.
"Welcome to the final round of testing. My name is Martha. I will ask a series of questions and I hope you both answer them. There is no wrong answer here and you both are already qualified. We just want to determine the lead pilot role between both of you," said Martha when both the candidates were called for the final assessment.
Martha welcomed both of them into a room and sounded almost human. Anyway, Phil was not going to show off his AI to anyone anytime soon. Let the world worship JARVIS and think of 1000s of hackers trying to hack it and various agencies overriding its protocols. Useless trouble. Phil was also looking at both candidates through the monitor screen and wanted to personally test them.
"Your names please?" asked Martha.
"My name is Hank lee"
"Janelle Chord"
Well, their names don't ring any bells. Maybe they were part of comic world mutants or something. Ryan even after thinking for a long time, still could not find any link to these two people with any known or unknown MCU character or story. Anyway, that was the least of the problems now.
"Mr. Lee and Ms. Chord do you know the program you are actively participating in is part of a private arms unit and will never be known to the public? If captured during any mission by any force, the company will never provide any legal help and you will be sacrificed after 2 failed rescue attempts. Do you agree to this?" questioned Martha.
"I know" - short reply from Lee.
"No problem. I grew up in Harlem. I know the rules better."- Chord said with a slightly sad smile trying to cover her disappointment in not being able to join the US Air force but finally finding herself in a shady organisation. Well, at least the pay is definitely good.
"Please go into the operations room and you shall meet operation head Hope and you can take further orders from there. Congratulations, as both of you, are selected to be the first solo flight operators and I hope you can find your life meaningful here." Martha sent them away after a few more questions when Ryan was basically satisfied with their answers and the lie detector machines or the health sensor machines fit in the cabins didn't send any signals.
This was his regular hiring tactic. Set of questions under various hardware testing to check their loyalty and psyche towards the organisation.
A great day for Phil. His smile was no less perfect than any toothpaste ad hero after all project ICARUS was finally taking off.
"Sir, there is a call from Captain steve rogers. He is asking for a meeting." Martha suddenly informed in his earpiece.
"Finally he is coming back just when I was worried about him. Let him know we can meet in the evening at the diner near his apartment. He can choose the time," replied Phil with a happy smile.
A truly great day except now he was going to his own physical training with Hope. That girl never held back her punches. Maybe hope will go easy on him knowing he is going to meet Cap today.
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