Chapter 60 - Rhino's Armor

Ethan looked up in exhaustion as a number of teenagers walked into the lab led by Reed and Tony Stark. He sighed in exhaustion and looked over at the imprisoned and immobilized form of Rhino. In a way he was glad that things like this could be quickly drawn up and done. On the other hand he felt way too tired to deal with this.

"Mister Hilt, can you get the students set up on creating a plan to dismantle Alexei Sytsevich's armor. I will be discussing something with Stark near my lab if any questions you can't answer arise." Reed then walked off a moment later, Stark raising an eyebrow in surprise while Ethan just rolled his eyes.

Ethan pulled away from his desk and looked over the students. A few of them he had seen before and recognized, a few he was even vetting for the future for possible employment. He nodded at a cork board he spent a few hours setting up last night. "There is everything we know condensed down to parts and their relationships and interactions with other parts. The only thing that was next to impossible to sort was what he injected himself with. There were too many different combinations and variations that figuring that out would be an outright nightmare."

Gwen frowned as she stepped up and started looking over a few of the papers, "do you have any recommendations on how to remove the armor?" She recognized this intern and she had seen him a number of times, but this was the first time she was seeing him so tired and he looked to be struggling to put up the usual facade because his gaze was breaking down everything she was doing but she could see it this time. She also now realized and recognized his name from the investigation her dad gave up on.

"Yes, but we will get to those after you lot, come up with your own solutions. Think of this as a project assignment, but instead of a week-long deadline you have 'till the end of the day to write up a report." Ethan announced as he stood up. "Any questions?"

Peter Parker stepped forward, "is The Rhino secured. There is no chance of him escaping?"

"No, this containment cell is designed to contain even The Thing and theoretically the Hulk. But if it makes you feel better," Ethan nodded to the entrance where The Thing was walking past and a few of the other interns were walking in while yawning, "This building has the esteemed Fantastic Four while the other interns are now waking up to answer your questions, make observations and factual claims without their input. Now if you will excuse me, I need a few hours to go home and shower."

—----------------------

As Mister Hilt walked away Gwen frowned, she had only been here a short while but she could already tell that something was off with the way that Reed Richards was treating his interns. She looked over at Parker who was looking at the messiest intern desk that was previously occupied by Mister Hilt. He had some strange fabrics, batteries and a large metal figure covered in cloth.

"Okay, let's split this up. Figure out how to remove each part. If you have questions, ask them, there are no dumb questions." Gwen declared before she pulled out her laptop and started pulling up the original designs.

She was already seeing ways to remove the armor plating, superheating the material and peeling it off would work. But the person wearing the armor might not agree since it would injure him, severely. But she typed out the idea just in case, noting the high chance of injury.

There has to be another way to remove the armor plating. Cooling might work, but normal freezing would not work. Maybe some type of rapid cooling, like liquid nitrogen.

Gwen suddenly felt that the sixth sense she recently acquired started ringing like crazy. She looked around and saw both one of the interns that looked about her age and Peter Parker were both looking around as well. Gwen immediately turned her attention back to her part of the assignment.

"Umm…" Parker started, "I actually already have a way to remove the helmet." That caught Gwen and the others' attention. "Because it was a prototype I designed flaws into it in case it got stuck. I just need to transmit the correct code to the helmet interface and unscrew it at certain points."

"Write up a report and when Doctor Storm comes back she will approve it if it is feasible." The female intern that Gwen felt a natural connection with, responded on behalf of the interns, "But she is usually busy so she will probably have Mister Hilt help out instead."

"Okay, where is she?" Peter asked while looking around the lab frowning at the lack of worry as the interns dived into their work.

"She will be coming in late." The intern answered before turning her attention to her own project. It seemed they all had their own work to do as well. Gwen decided to dive back into her own work and ignored the gazes she could feel coming from both Parker and the female intern that addressed them.

—----------------------

Several hours later Ethan walked through the elevator with a hungover Susan, he was still tired but was holding his laughter at her stumbling form. She looked over at him and glared.

"Don't laugh, this is partially your fault!" Susan pointed out as Ethan raised an eyebrow. "We were up to four in the morning drinking and comparing partners, both past and present to see how many actually matched up to you."

Ethan chuckled as they walked into the lobby and Susan's brother Johnny caught sight of Susan. He went to help her but she just glared at him. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing, go run in circles or something. Ethan, I am going to take a shower and freshen up. I will be out in a few minutes, see if the students have managed anything in the meantime." Susan walked down the hall stumbling as she went.

Johnny looked at Ethan and raised an eyebrow. "What happened to her?"

"Hangover, excuse me." Ethan answered abruptly before walking into the lab. He noticed that the students had already filled the board and were talking as he walked in. He walked up to his desk, "okay any questions."

"Yes, how are we submitting our reports to Doctor Storm?" Gwen asked when she noticed him.

"Give me your emails and I will send the template. Then you will print it up on that printer." He motioned toward a printer, "and then have them stacked over here when you are ready. Do any of you need to borrow a computer?"

Peter Parker raised a hand, "I need one."

"Okay give me a few minutes to send out these emails then you can borrow mine." Ethan responded as he quickly began typing. "Doctor Storm will be out in a bit."

"Hey Ethan," He looked over at Cindy. "Reed brought up making a progress report with the projects he assigned us."

"You mean the work he passed off to us?" Ethan asked as he moved away from his computer and motioned for Peter to take over his spot.

"Yes." Cindy answered abruptly with a shrug, "I was being gentle in the way I phrased it. Anyways, he tried to check your progress but couldn't access your computer. He also wanted to know what was under that sheet. He took one look and walked away confused."

"Bah! I will just talk to Susan. As for this," he nodded at the sheet covered object. "It is a personal project, I only brought it here because I had to stay and work overnight."

"Got it, I will-" Cindy stopped talking as Susan Storm walked up with her hair still wet.

"What ideas do we have so far, Mister Hilt?" Susan asked and looked under the sheet for a moment.

"They already have a few. I am having them write it out and print it up. Then we can start working on them. I estimate this will take a week at the longest to complete it. Has Shield or Sitwell tried to contact you?" Ethan asked, thinking ahead of the underhanded tactics they will attempt.

"Not yet. Why?" Susan asked with a frown.

"Nothing, but if they do call, just let them go to voicemail. As soon as they realize we brought the original creators of the pieces of armor they will attempt to move him out of the building. Because-" Ethan was explained but was interrupted.

"Because as soon as the armor comes off it is the student's property again. But if Shield moves them away they can remove the armor and have ownership. Not answering the phone buys us time to delay any transfer." Stark explained as he stepped up. "If you don't mind Susan, I will stick around until Pepper gets here. Apparently she is taking longer to get here than normal."

Susan chuckled lightly while Ethan smiled. "Yes, I can imagine she is suffering from a hangover even worse than my own."

Stark frowned as he looked around and then shook his head, "anyways. I doubt it will be long before you get a response. Fury has been keeping a close eye on my activities."

Ethan went to speak up when he heard the printer rev up. He walked over and retrieved the files. Skimming over them for a moment before handing them off to Susan. She read them over a few times before nodding and looking at Peter Parker.

"Mister Hilt, help Mister Parker with removing the helmet. Then we will work on breaking this down piece-by-piece. The students will only work until two in the afternoon. Around one they will stop and write a report." Susan started to then quietly talk to Cindy Moon.

Ethan nodded and looked at Peter who began by picking up a few pieces of equipment he needed and then nodded before looking at Ethan. Ethan sighed and walked up to the door to the containment area. He held his hand up to the scanner and felt a light tingle as his handprint was scanned.

The door slid open and he walked inside where Alexei was restrained. The giant of a man began struggling against his restraints but Ethan ignored him. He walked up a catwalk and arrived above Alexei's head height. He then turned around and saw Peter Parker being hesitant. For a vigilante and wannabe hero his cover identity was a bit too timid.

Ethan sighed, "you don't have to worry. These restraints were designed for creatures far stronger than The Rhino."

Peter mumbled something and then carefully walked up the catwalk. "I have to get right by his head to transmit the code. Then it will have to be manually taken apart and removed." He explained as he pointed a device at Alexei's hand, the student forgetting his cover as a timid student.

Ethan helped Peter as the code was transmitted and then they took apart the helmet revealing Alexei's bald head. It had some tattoos but more noticeable was the irritation and skin damage. It seems the helmet would not work on the long term, something is irritating and causing damage.

They walked out of the room and Susan waved them over, "okay Gwen turned in her plan for removing the armor. It will take a few days to do this carefully. But since Mister Parker has completed his part we can have the others do a few plates. While they are doing that, why don't you tell them about your work experiences and give them some advice?"