Spark flew over the man's face as dubstep blared in his ears, the beats reverberating his eardrums as he welded the metals together into perfect harmony. Even through the thick industrial gloves he felt the comforting heat of the blowtorch fusing the materials together. The heat reminded him of his forge, which he wished was where he was working right now. Alas, this dark and draftee warehouse with no central heating wasn't the worst workshop he'd ever had.
Once the welding was done he shut off the blow torch and examined his work closely. He smiled at its perfection. He took off the gloves revealing his dark skin before pulling the goggles off his middle aged face, his short curly grey hair getting caught in the straps. He hated going grey, promising himself to shave it off the moment this job was done. He'd been making that promise for months now. He reached over and picked up his glasses from the toolkit he left them on, placing them over his dark eyes to scan his tools looking for the right instrument. He found it and began tinkering with the circuit board next to the plating he'd finished welding.
The dubstep roaring through his earphones intensified, reaching the beat he loved most prompting him to pause and savour the drop, his steel-toe boots tapping in rhythm. But even over the music he could hear the commotion of Cyborg Superman and his militia returning to the warehouse. He continued working on the circuits, making sure they were functional before tapping his laptop to begin a diagnostic. While that was running he wiped his hands and stood up from the crate he'd been sitting on. His back was creaky since it wasn't that comfortable, but again not the worst workshop he'd ever worked in. he crossed the mini orb-like drones he'd programed to run mirroring tasks on the neighbouring robots as he weaved through the line up to greet the militia carrying crates and duffel bags. He stood proudly as he watched them return, his hands in the pockets of his leather apron giving them a smile. Hank Henshaw arrived behind them along with the functioning Metallo the man sent out to assist. "How'd she run?" the black maned asked, pausing his music to listen to the bustling echoes of activity.
"I had it covered" Hank growled, brushing past the man.
The Blacksmith paid him no heed and instead focused on Metallo, pulling out his phone which doubled as a control remote. With a push of a button the robot stopped in front of the man, powering down as the kryptonite heart stopped glowing. He walked over to another tablet, plugging it into the back of the robot's skull and ran another diagnostic, analysing the string of codes. "Did it fight Supergirl as intended?" he asked aloud.
Hank scanned the lines of similar robots lining the warehouse, all as motionless as he had left them. He scowled, wondering what the old man had been doing while he was out fighting superheroes. He returned to the man who waited expectantly. "It had her on the ropes" he reported. "Got at least two blasts of kryptonite at her."
The blacksmith nodded, reading the power output. "And only lost seven percent of its energy capacity" he nodded, disconnecting the wires. "The optimization matrix works. This machine still has enough power to take on the full US military." He doubled checked the recording from the robots eyes, playing all the way to the end of the fight. "And it didn't kill her. Good. My associate will be happy."
"If she gets in my way, expect that to change" Hank warned. The man nodded, understanding perfectly reminding him his job was to program and install the kryptonite hearts to the Metallo drones. "Speaking of which…" Hank pointed out, glaring at his motionless army.
"In a moment" the Blacksmith said, turning his attention to the components and machinery Hank's militia were unloading. He walked over and began inspecting it all, admiring the adequate job they performed of removing it. "I was told your men could dismantle the reactor without damaging the technology" he sighed finding more than a few damaged pieces he had to toss out as scrap.
"We were in a bit of a hurry" he rebuffed. "And there was more interference."
"Yes, I expected security to double the moment you hit the first reactor" he acknowledged. "Did you get what you were after?"
Hanks motioned to the man with the large duffel bag, who brought it over and put in in front of the Blacksmith. The man opened it and began rummaging through the contents. "We were unable to acquire the power core" Hank reported with a scowl. "We'll target the site in Keystone next."
"That won't be necessary" the Blacksmith assured him, happily pulling out the complex and intact harness that once contained the power core inside the reactor. He examined it carefully, admiring its elegance. "Beautiful piece of engineering, don't you think?" he proudly. "This harness uses gemstones to refract energy around in a negative space which can contain anything from an energy source to a self-sustaining atom. A miniature sun in a faraday cage" he laughed. He nodded to Hank. "You got what the client asked for."
Hank looked at him inquisitively. "You sent me for the machines, not the power source?"
"Oh don't worry" he said, looking over at the one power core they were successful in stealing. He knelt down in front of it, the blue glow casting across his face. "I'm sure I can find a use for this one. Your work wasn't a waste of time."
"And what about your work?" he asked, scanning his army once again. "You assured me if my men could pull off this job for you, you'd give me the kryptonite to power these drones."
"What do you think the test run was for?" he quipped, motioning to the functioning Metallo by the entrance.
Hanks fixed his red eye on him as the man returned to the laptop that had finished it's diagnostic. "You promised me an army" Cyborg Superman growled.
The blacksmith wasn't fazed by the menacing tone, picking up his laptop and reading the code. After a moment of silence he unplugged the computer and turned back to Hank, looking him dead in his human eye before bringing up the remote and pressing the button.
Instantly the warehouse hummed to life as circuits and machines came online, the thrum of pistols extending and cooling fans engaging before every chest cavity of every Metallo drone lit up in a green glow, including the one by the door. Hank looked out at the rows of kryptonite hearts perfectly installed into each robot, each generating power to bring the machines to life. His doubts about the man's skill were quashed in that moment.
"May Me?" the blacksmith asked, holding up one final piece of tech he'd been working on. Hank looked at him and nodded, taking a seat on the crate the man had previously been using. Once the cyborg was sitting his metal skull was now at eye level which allowed the man to take the computer chip he'd modified and carefully install it behind Hank's ear. The man grunted when he felt the chip slot in, his circuits immediately interfacing with the new software. "Give it a moment" the man warned, tapping on his tablet as the program installed into Cyborg Superman's internal circuits. After a few minutes he said "there, how do you feel?"
Hank didn't answer as his brain adjusted to the new programing. He was used to many of the experiments Cadmus did to him to get him to this point, patch updates a common occurrence. But previous modifications were to improve his own performance. This upgrade the Blacksmith gave him allowed him to access the closed circuit each Metallo drone was building off, a hive of Wi-Fi signals interfacing with each other. And now, at his own mental command, they obeyed him. He stood up slowly, flexing his new interface bringing each other eyes up to look to him in unison. He stood in front of him army, nodding in appreciating feeling more powerful than ever before.
With their business concluded, the Blacksmith began packing up his mini drones and tools and requesting aid to bring all the stolen components to his truck for transport. "I trust you are satisfactory with the results" he asked the Cyborg, pulling on his dusty trench coat.
"Give my regards to your associate" he replied, already formulating his grand plan now he has his army or kryptonite fuelled war machines.
The black man nodded, pausing in front of the exit briefly. "I usually make a point of avoiding details of the business of my clients, but you have me curious. For a man as powerful as you are, what do you need an army such as this for?"
Hank turned to the man and smirked. "To wage a war on Superman of course."