Armstrong demonstrating the deployment of his nanomachines.
Senator Armstrong's nanomachines were a type of reinforced anti-shock nanomachines used by Steven Armstrong in the late 2010s during the World Marshal Incident.
Overview[]
It is unknown how Steven Armstrong acquired them, but at some point after the Guns of the Patriots Incident, he injected them into his body. The nanomachines require an energy-based power-up to be activated, and when activated, they augment the user's physique to extreme superhuman levels, and even cause the iris to gain a red color. The effects of this transformation are not permanent, as Armstrong can power-down back to his base peak human strength.
Armstrong's strength, speed, reflexes, durability and agility are increased to immense superhuman levels, so much that he can overpower already strong individuals such as Raiden or even Jetstream Sam. His feats of strength include destroying large carbon nanotube debris by throwing them, destroying the entirety of Metal Gear EXCELSUS, punching pillars of lava and trails of fire into the ground, as well as snapping a high-frequency blade, something which denies every core tenet of modern physics according to Doktor. This proves that enhancements of the body can make humans even stronger than cyborgs.
However, Armstrong's primary ability is his pseudo-invulnerability. The nanomachines act reactively when damage is detected, but can also be used manually. When active, the affected body part gains a steel-like texture. The nanomachines render Armstrong virtually invulnerable to any and all forms of physical trauma by acting as self-repair units. Whenever damage is dealt to his body, they immediately repair the damage before the energy transfer happens, granting him pseudo-invulnerability against all sorts of weapons, even high-frequency blades, which can disrupt atoms and cause quantum decoherences.
The nanomachines also allow Armstrong to redirect and manipulate all forms of energy. When the damage received is dissipated before it can actually harm his tissue, he can store the kinetic energy from the received blows into his body and release it in the form of a burst. The nanomachines are also shown to amplify his body's magnetic field, allowing him to manipulate electromagnetism much like Monsoon can, and lift several military vehicles, causing them to explode, which is a result of him absorbing their energy to fuel himself more. He can also regain his stamina by absorbing nearby energy, a process which can only be interrupted by the Murasama blade, a special blade which can interfere with his nanomachines. Last but not least, due to Armstrong's blood circulating really fast, he can generate thermal energy in the form of pyrokinesis, which he can use to amplify his striking power, create trails of fire on the ground or release an aura of immense heat.
The only weakness the nanomachines have is the Murasama blade, which due to it's comparatively higher quality when compared to other high-frequency weapons, can directly interfere with them due to being closer to the frequency in which they operate, although still not directly negating their durability. Also, one can sneak hits via making Armstrong to force them into manual use, and thus bypass their reactive defense, and try to damage his tissue from there. However, this is not permanently effective, as Armstrong can still heal from such blows as long as his heart is active.