Chapter 49: Aiden Peirce
At the Diamond Relief Inn, after witnessing a murder on the street, Harry stayed near the ctOS server in the Ring Line area. The murderer was Aiden Pearce, the protagonist of "Watch Dogs."
What happened was this: the unlucky guy who was killed received a call, asking him to threaten Aiden's sister. As a result, Aiden, who had lost his family because of him, suddenly became angry and chased the murderer on the spot. It must be said that these hackers truly possess superpowers in this city. After committing murder, they can escape police tracking and vanish in full view of the public.
To kill the unlucky guy, Aiden needed to find out who ordered the intimidation of his sister. To do this, he required assistance from the hacker organization DedSec to hack into the ctOS server in the Ring Zone, which was located here.
Harry put down the black tea in his hand, and Lenin found his target. Although Harry did not possess miraculous hacking skills or OS permissions, Lenin could directly take control of electronic devices without needing software to manage the hardware.
However, the power grid in Chicago was not yet fully completed, so Lenin could not control Chicago as he did the New York power grid.
The server had many guards, most of whom were mercenaries hired by Bloom Company at exorbitant prices. These mercenaries were primarily murderous and ruthless.
Just as Aiden was still carefully searching for an entry point, someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"Aiden Peirce?" Aiden's pupils shrank sharply, and he swung the stick in his hand at Harry without thinking. However, the move that had worked for him in the past failed as Harry easily caught Alden's swinging stick.
"Harry Osborn?" After recognizing him, Alden called out Harry's name.
"It's me. I'm pretty skilled, but I'm not here to catch you. I'm here to help you."
Aiden retracted his stick, his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Harry. "I don't know how you know my name, but I have something urgent. If youdon't want to get hurt—" Before Aiden could finish speaking, Harry snatched the stick from Aiden's hand so quickly that Aiden didn't even have time to react.
The stick gradually deformed in Harry's hands and was finally crushed into a ball.
"There's a nice café over there."
Even after witnessing this scene, Aiden still did not intend to leave with Harry. He secretly operated his mobile phone in an attempt to control the opening of the air valve behind Harry.
"Mr. Pearce, don't waste your efforts. Let's see if your phone still works?" Harry spread his hands.
Aiden looked at the phone with a confused look on his face, only to see that there was no picture on it—only emojis remained.
"Look, I said I didn't mean any harm. Now that you know I'm Harry Osborn, if you have any brains, you should sit down and talk to me."
Aiden felt a bit helpless. This was really the only option at the moment.
"Then let me tell you straight; I want to hire you to do things for me." Harry got straight to the point.
"Sorry, but I'm not accepting employment right now. I'm dealing with personal matters," Aiden shook his head.
"Don't you want to hear what the content is?" Harry was not in a hurry. Anyway, Alden would definitely accept it in the end.
"I plan to deal with Bloom Company."
Aiden was stunned. "Although I need to hack into ctOS to use its functions, that doesn't mean I want to bring down Bloom." Aiden shook his head.
"No, you also need to deal with Bloom Company."
Aiden said nothing and listened quietly as Harry continued. "I know who you are and what you have done. Because of a bank black money errand, you saw a strange video in ctOS and got into trouble. When the other party sent people to hunt you down, your niece was killed because of it. Now, because of you, someone is calling and threatening your sister."
Alden's eyes narrowed. His personal information did not exist in ctOS. In other words, he was theoretically invisible in this city.
How did Harry know so much? "Now, you need ctOS data to help you track who made this call, so you came to the ctOS server in the Ring District and planned to help the hacker organization hack into ctOS. I know all this."
"You see, everything you encounter is basically linked to ctOS. The reason I wanted to buy that company was also because of this system, but they were unwilling to sell it because of this system."
"Don't you think there's some secret behind this system?"
This sounded like something the DedSec gang would say. "You should ask them to help you," Aiden shook his head.
"They lack decisive means and execution. Besides, you need me too."
"Nonsense!" Aiden was obviously an isolationist. He couldn't rely on others if he could do it himself.
"You may be a tough guy, armed with a broken gun, ready to beat up those mercenaries, but have you ever thought about your niece and nephew?" Harry asked this key question and motioned to the waiter to add a cup of tea.
Alden was lost in thought.
It is true that he can run into a gunfight under a hail of bullets, but his relatives cannot. There is a precedent for this; his niece died this way. It's easy to hide from open guns but hard to guard against hidden arrows.
"Can you protect my family?" Aiden relented.
"Of course. I will send them to New York. If you watch the news, you should know Osborne's influence in New York."
Aiden's hesitation was noticed by Harry, who thought he was about to agree. However, he only saw him shaking his head.
"I can't trust you. How can I be sure that you won't take them as hostages?"
Aiden was obviously very cautious, but if Harry wanted to deal with him, there would be police in front of the store by now!
But that wasn't enough to convince a hacker that his words were sufficient, which didn't surprise Harry.
However, if nothing unexpected happens, someone will kidnap Aiden's sister soon, and then he will naturally come to visit her again.
"Okay, but my proposal is still valid. In addition, you can go directly into that area. Their leader is already aware."
Harry took out his mobile phone and said something to it.
"Wave your hand this way and give way to Mr. Pearce. You can't see him. Do you understand?"
Aiden saw the mercenary outside the door waving his hand in this direction, indicating that he heard him.
Alden looked at the mercenaries and then at Harry, feeling strangely uncomfortable.
Harry spread his hands. "Don't mercenaries work for money? Some mercenaries may still have some professional ethics, but these tainted guys, if you just throw some money at them, won't they just turn their backs?"
Aiden began walking according to the path indicated by the mercenaries.
"You can put the recruitment of this protagonist on hold for now; there are still a few talents that can be recruited here."
---
Chapter 50: Talent Recruitment
"Mr. Tobias Fluor, let me be frank. I am very interested in ctOS technology, but Illoom seems to have marked this technology as not for sale. Do you have anything to say?"
Tobias, who was sitting opposite Harry, asked in a tone reminiscent of an old man who lost his financial resources after Bloom left and became homeless. "Why would Mr. Osborne be interested in this technology?"
"It's just as advertised—a smart city. This is quite practical technology, which I appreciate. If you've been to New York, you should know how crowded that city is. "
In addition, Harry can overcome his last barrier—information security. ctOS can help him block 99.9% of agents. Once the system is implemented in New York, it will be meaningless to Harry. In fact, as the creator of DS, many people genuinely believe that this technology can improve cities without much thought. At least that's the case with the person in front of me. Unfortunately, after Quinn, the man behind the scenes, took over, the original intention of this technology changed. After discovering the goings-on between the company and investor Quinn, several developers left the company, and Tobias was fired as a result, leading to his current state. If this had happened before, they might easily have believed Harry's words and happily accepted Osborne's investment.
But now, money alone wouldn't make it easy for them to work for Harry. "Someone once said this to us," he continued, "but they seriously didn't tell the truth." Harry could guess what was going on. "After the system was developed and put into use, it was a time of high spirits, but several founders were kicked out of the team. Even fools knew there was something wrong."
"I understand that you don't trust me, but there is one thing we have in common: our goal. We need to find what's hidden under ctOS and bring it down."
Tobias had been looking into Harry's eyes as he spoke, searching for signs of deception. "I heard that you want to buy Blume Company," Tobias said.
"Yes, but they didn't sell it, so I was wondering if there was something else behind this company."
"Then you should go find DedSec." Harry was a little speechless. Everyone was frightened, and when they opened their mouths, they all told him to find this hacker organization. But as far as Harry knew, that group wasn't all good. He could definitely reunite these developers and invest in getting them to work for him. Why would he want to find a sophisticated hacker organization?
"You are the developer of ctOS. I will not go to a group of unknown hackers again. As long as you need, I can fund you and your previous team to continue developing ctOS and retain operational rights. I don't need that thing."
Harry only wanted to install ctOS in cities with power grids. As long as it's a city using the Osborne power grid, the permissions of the software are meaningless to him. He just wants that function. The Osborne Group needs such a system to assist the company in controlling the city, but it is not the kind of control that Quinn and Bloom have. Harry had other expectations for this system than using it to invade someone's privacy.
As for permissions, no matter how high software permissions or complex security protocols are, they are meaningless in front of Lenin.
"As for the person behind the scenes you're afraid of, I think you can have some confidence in the Osborne Group. What do you think?"
As Harry spoke, he handed over an anonymous bank card, and on the side, news was playing on the TV that the Osborne Group had just delivered a batch of new power armor to the Ministry of National Defense.
Finally, after a long conversation, the old man finally relaxed and was willing to help Harry.
Tobias's nod was just the beginning. The problems in this city are too serious, and ctOS has attracted too many powerful people. This allows Quinn, the man behind the scenes, to control the city and promote the construction of ctOS wantonly.
Thinking about it from another angle, Harry could take the opportunity to get rid of most of the officials in the city and then support a few upright officials to help him manage the city—just like they do in New York.
"Great, I know you have a facility that's perfect for network work. That place is called the Bunker."
"How do you know? I mean, that place has been abandoned for a long time. I don't think it can still be used." Tobias felt that this Harry Osborn was more of a hacker than a tracker, and he couldn't finish his words. There seemed to be nothing he didn't know.
"It doesn't matter. Osborne already has a construction team in Chicago, but they are not working now. I will let them go over and repair that place."
Harry was talking about Max and, with them, getting power to the bunker would be no problem at all.
"One more thing. I don't know how you blocked ctOS, but once they find out that we restarted the bunker, they will probably send mercenaries to attack us."
Tobias was not exaggerating; Chicago is now considered Quinn's backyard.
However, this method might be suitable for dealing with poor technicians like them, but it is not a problem for the richer Harry.
"Well, this is indeed a problem. Let's end this before they find out that the mercenaries have been bribed by me. If they hire another group of mercenaries, I will be bleeding again."
Tobias didn't realize what Harry was talking about; so those mercenaries were actually from Osborne's side now!
Harry patted Tobias on the shoulder. "Go back to the bunker. My people will follow you there. Now, I have to go meet another colleague of yours."
After getting rid of Tobias, Harry went directly to a bar in the Burnis area. He still remembered that another developer of ctOS often frequented this place.
"Harry Osborn!"
As soon as he entered, some enthusiastic fans recognized Harry and exclaimed.
In this regard, Harry certainly responded to the enthusiasm of these fans.
"Yes, I'm Harry Osborn. In fact, I'm planning to book the place tonight. Osborne's treat; have fun!"
The people who come here to drink are all adults with mature minds; most fans of the Osborne Group are relatively sane.
Harry heard that Tony was now holding Iron Man tours in various places, and his fans were much more enthusiastic. Men and women playing cosplay could be seen below Stark Tower every day.
After everyone toasted together, Harry sat at the bar.
"There has never been a rich person like you here. Can I take a photo with you? I want to post it on my social account. It will be a good advertisement. I don't think you will accept it. My royalties or something?"
Facing the bartender's request, Harry straightened his clothes and said yes.
"You're such a nice person. What would you like to drink?"
"Just beer, thank you."
"Can't tell the super rich have the same hobbies as us." The bartender opened a bottle of beer for Harry. "You didn't really come here just to drink, did you?"
"That's not true. I want to ask about a person—Lehman Kenny or T-Bone Grady. Whichever name you are familiar with will do."
The bartender looked to the side strangely after hearing these two names. Harry followed his gaze and saw a hooded man leaving the bar.
"Thank you, brother."
Harry patted the bartender on the shoulder and ran out after the hooded man.
"Hey! Didn't you say you wanted to treat me?"
"On the table."
The bartender looked at where Harry was sitting and saw a check on the table.
"Payment by check? Isn't that a bit too casual?"
Halfway through, the bartender stopped and quietly collected the check.
Here's a revised version of the provided text, correcting grammatical errors, awkward phrases, and ensuring all character names and terms are consistent with your specifications:
---
T-Bone ran very fast, but of course, he couldn't run faster than Harry.
"Can you please stop running? Don't worry; they won't find you."
Harry quickly caught up with T-Bone and patted him on the shoulder as they continued running side by side.
T-Bone was in distress and wanted to continue accelerating, but he couldn't get away from Harry.
"Haha! You've been running at full speed and found that the rich man is running incredibly fast, and he doesn't look tired at all!"
"That's right! Why are you running away? Do you think they'll do anything to you, or even come to catch you?"
Harry was a bit helpless. In the original work, Alden was beaten up as soon as he found T-Bone, but that made sense—Alden came to the door, and T-Bone revealed his identity, and Alden knew he was looking for trouble. The killer.
But Harry Osborn, the super-rich man who appears on TV every once in a while, shouldn't he come up to him and ask for help when he sees such a person?
T-Bone supported himself against the wall and quickly regained his strength, looking at Harry as if he had seen a ghost.
"I heard that rich people have more time to do bedtime exercise, and they generally have better physiques. It seems to be true."
Harry spoke earnestly. "It might be true, but I'm obviously not that kind of person."
"So, what do you want from me? You exposed my identity, so I can only run."
"If you do something for me, you won't have to run away, and you can also seek revenge on Blume. How about it?"
Harry wasn't going to waste time and directly extended an olive branch.
"For ctOS."
Harry nodded. T-Bone shook his head. "ctOS is a mistake, and I will correct it."
The fact that ctOS fell into the hands of Blume and Quinn was completely contrary to his original intentions. Corruption was rife, and it did not make the world a better place in the way he had imagined. After discovering the problems with ctOS, he wanted to resign from ctOS, but he had a resignation dispute with Bloom because of his special status. In anger, he used ctOS to cause a blackout in the Ring Line, killing 11 people.
He is guilty.
He will never make the same mistake again.
"Isn't this your original intention of creating ctOS—to make the world a better place? Why refuse? Forget about Blume, and there is no gang boss controlling us."
Harry opened his phone, which was laden with the holographic projection technology Tony gave him.
"You see, this is the Osborne Group. We have made nuclear fusion a reality, high-tech prosthetics have allowed the disabled to regain their lives, and artificial prostheses have saved thousands of lives."
"Recently, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on human genetic diseases. A normal life that was once an unattainable luxury for them has now become a reality."
"We truly make the world a better place, and you should work for Osborne for your sake."
T-Bone sat on the steps, looking up at the sparkling holographic projection in Harry's hand, his throat a little dry.
He is a scientific person who loves creation and invention, which is his source of motivation.
When he created ctOS, he truly believed that this thing would make the city more convenient and better.
But reality taught him a lesson: scientism was wrong, and his most proud creation turned into something that dragged the city into the abyss.
People like Harry are who he wants to be.
That's why Harry showed him these things, things that resonated with him.
"I made a mistake." T-Bone lowered his head. "Many people died because of this."
"So let's start by correcting this mistake. By the way, your former colleague Tobias has restarted the bunker. So, do you want to accept the Osborne Group's invitation?"
"I have to remind you that there are thousands of people who hope to get this opportunity." Harry turned off the projection and stretched out his hand toward T-Bone. After a brief silence, T-Bone made his offer.
"ctOS must run under my radar."
"Why don't you run it yourself? You know it best. I'm not interested in fixing bugs or anything like that."
"What do you mean?" T-Bone was stunned.
"You may also know that I planned to acquire Blume Company, but now I have changed my mind. I plan to set up a separate subsidiary to develop information technology. You will manage the company and this system. What do you say?"
Everyone else wanted to take ctOS as their own and work for themselves, but Harry offered him a different opportunity.
"Me? You want me to manage a company?"
Harry nodded and shook his outstretched hand towards T-Bone.
Having said this, T-Bone no longer hesitated and chuckled.
"You are somewhat different from those people." T-Bone stood, taking Harry's hand. Osborne now has a new employee—a genius software developer and legendary hacker.
"Very good, then you don't need to stay here anymore. Let's go to the bunker. Your former colleagues are also there."
Boom.
The sound of the off-road vehicle's engine was heard in the distance, and T-Bone suddenly became nervous.
"They are coming; we must hurry."
Harry just waved his hand.
There were heavily armed soldiers in the SUV surrounding Harry and T-Bone.
"It's over. Do you have any backup plans, Billionaire?"
"Of course, and you already said it." Harry waved his hand casually and took a few steps forward.
A mercenary jumped out of the off-road vehicle and walked swiftly to Harry.
"Boss, Quinn found out that we betrayed him. He should be contacting other mercenaries now."
"Quick question. Do you have any brothers in New York? I'm going to see them."
The mercenaries laughed and heckled each other.
"Of course, boss; they can only ask for help."
T-Bone was stunned as he listened to the conversation between the two people in front of him. Weren't these mercenaries trained by Bloom to guard the ctOS server?
"Get in the car; let's go to the bunker."
Harry waved his hand toward T-Bone, who was still stunned.
T-Bone and Tobias hugged each other when they returned to the bunker. Both of them felt a little emotional.
Since they left Bloom, everyone has not been doing well. T-Bone is wanted for causing the blackout, and Tobias has become a homeless man.
Armed with Harry's money, the bunker was now a veritable stronghold, and mercenaries guarded it tightly.
In addition, he brought Frank over.
If everything goes well, this will be a short-term job at best.
The bunker is actually a hacking facility. There are various signal transceivers here, and the computers and servers in the basement are piled up in the hands of a good hacker.
T-Bone had used the bunker's facilities before, and he felt at ease back here. He quickly hacked into the system database through the bunker and found a strange and incomplete video.
Only Harry knew that this was where it all started.
The complete video records the process of Chicago Mayor Donald killing another ctOS developer, Rose. The protagonist of Watch Dogs, Alden, saw this broken video when he hacked into ctOS and was targeted by the mastermind behind the scenes. A killer struck, ultimately leading to the death of his niece.
"This is what we're looking for." Harry let T-Bone pause on the image. "We need the full footage to see what they're hiding."
"They were tracking our address in reverse but stopped." T-Bone tapped the keyboard a few times. "This thing seems to be very important to them; it was transferred to another database. I can't access it directly; the connection must be made at the physical layer."
"Can you trace the location of that database?"
---
---
The developers of ciOS are back active in the hacker world, which is big news.
The private top hackers once employed by Blume Company is now employed by Osborn, and the situation has quietly changed.
To Harry's surprise, Alden, the protagonist, also came to him. Just looking at the background story, this is also a talent. In his own memory, he single-handedly defeated various mercenaries who were chasing him.
But in the end, he went further and further down the road of "private law enforcer."
Back to Alden, he finally found the man behind the phone call threatening his family. The man behind the scenes has now arrested his family to force him to uncover the shady story of Blume Company.
But the man behind the scenes only wanted to use this to blackmail Blume Company.
His family was arrested, and Alden had no choice but to do things for him—and it also involved the truth behind his niece's murder. "You still came to the door, private law punisher."
The so-called Private Law Enforcer was one of Alden's riddles in Chicago.
After his niece died because of him, he has always wanted to find the person behind her murder. In the process, he continued to use ctOS to find those criminals and stop them. But Harry felt that there was a strong element of catharsis through violence in this behavior.
Harry's words surprised both T-Bone and Tobias. No one knew the identity of the private law enforcer, but they all agreed with his approach.
Alden opened his mouth but unfortunately did not deny it. "I need your help. I need to find—"
Harry played the video.
"You need to find this thing; I know it, and my offer still stands. Do you want to join us or continue to work alone?"
"Remember what I said? You may be a tough guy, but as long as you continue to do this, you will never be able to live a normal life with your family, and you may even implicate them."
"Work for me, and I'll give you what you want." Sitting across from Harry, Alden said nothing.
Harry was not in a hurry. Most of these talented hired spirits had obsessions, but no matter what kind of obsessions they had, they were all related to reality. In this world, money and power can solve most real problems. Of course, some problems still require superpowers to solve.
Without Harry, Alden would never have had the chance to go ashore because even if he let go of it all, someone might still find him because of everything he had done. The only way is to kill Aiden Pierce identity, hide in the darkness, kill every damn criminal, and always be a private law enforcer.
But by joining Osborn, Harry is fully capable of protecting his family and giving them a normal life.
"I'll join, but you need to rescue my family first."
Great. Osborn has added another talented staff member. Harry waved his hand, and T-Bone turned on the projection behind him.
"This video was moved by Blume to a gang's territory. We have to have someone infiltrate that place, upload the virus, and then get the data."
T-Bone looked at the USB flash drive.
"But our actions have greatly stimulated Blume Company. They have now sent more mercenaries there. It is unrealistic to enter by force. Do you have any good ideas?"
I was talking about Alden; he looked like a man of action—and there was no way they were going to let Harry do this. Harry was the boss.
The two scenes T-Bone tracked showed that there were indeed many mercenaries gathered there, fully armed and well-equipped.
Although Harry hired more people, they could only be used as security. If these people were sent to fight, he would be at a disadvantage.
At this time, Alden noticed that a fat man in the picture seemed to be very dissatisfied with the gang boss, but he had a high status—he could enter the database room that was not connected to the internet.
"Let's start with this person..."
Before Alden could finish speaking, a sharp sound broke through the air outside the window.
"Let's go straight in," Harry pointed outside. Frank had arrived.
Frank was wearing a dark green combat armor suit and stood on the aircraft, with a set of equipment behind him.
"Boss, shall we take action now?"
Everyone looked at each other.
"Oh my god, so that 'green guy' is really from Osborn?" T-Bone took two steps toward the window. "This skateboard is really cool; can you get me one?"
Harry smiled. "This is the military version. The civilian version is not easy to market because of policy issues."
"Alden, you use this thing to infiltrate. This is Frank, Osborn's head of security. He will teach you how to use it."
"Any other questions?" Harry clapped his hands, and the aircraft slid into the house.
Alden was also shocked by the high-tech equipment in front of him—he finally no longer had to crawl around the city.
"Very good, let's go now. Let's end this matter as soon as possible. If it is not resolved today, Osborn will lose a lot of income in one day."
Harry made a gesture of invitation to Alden.
Infiltration was almost effortless.
Frank and Alden easily bypassed the security forces on the ground and arrived outside the warehouse wall without anyone noticing. "Arrived at location," Alden said, holding up his cell phone.
"Dude, we're on a mission right now; can you stop looking at your phone all the time? Are you addicted to your phone?" Frank complained.
In fact, this was Frank's misunderstanding. Alden had been using his mobile phone to hack into ctOS, get the data he wanted, and control city facilities to cover himself. If you think about it carefully, it can be regarded as mobile phone addiction in a sense.
"Ahem, don't discuss anything else while taking action. Just follow the original plan, blow up the wall, and use the thing you have on your hand to insert it into the server," Harry instructed.
"Well, Mr. Osborn, although I don't want to say this, there is one thing you need to know. Uploading viruses and downloading data takes time. If you blow up the wall directly, it is likely to attract a lot of mercenaries."
"So are you sure your tech gadget will do the trick?" T-Bone said with some uncertainty.
Being caught hacking into the current situation is the worst-case scenario. No one can tell whether they will just blow up the database.
The original plan was for the two of them to sneak in quietly and steal data quietly, but Harry said: "Give me the USB flash drive, and then you can use this stick to stick it in, and it will be over."
No wonder T-Bone was suspicious.
But Lenin can indeed accelerate the speed of data transfer to an unimaginable level, though it will cause damage to the circuit. But that is not important.
"Trust me, Cicay, Alden, Frank, get ready for action."
As Harry finished speaking, an explosion sounded.
Without waiting for any reaction from these mercenaries and gangsters, Alden followed Harry's instructions and inserted the device into the server.
He saw the server suddenly flash with electric sparks, and black smoke came out with a bang.
"Mission is over."
Unlike Alden, who looked confused, Harry clapped his hands easily. "It went much smoother than expected."
Chapter 53: Watch Dogs
So you didn't bring the data and didn't trigger your family. We really have a tacit understanding.
Aiden meets Damian, the guy who kidnapped his family.
Damian was Alden's former master and partner. The two of them used hacking technology to rob banks. Until one operation, they hacked Leto 10S and happened to stumble upon the Beuken videos Blume sent out.
Damian broke a leg, and Aiden's niece was captured.
Aiden has always wanted to find out who ordered the death of his niece and avenge her.
On the other hand, Damian believed that there was a huge secret involved, a secret that could make him rich.
So he approached Blume Company, then kidnapped Aiden's sister and asked Aiden to help him find the data and help him coerce Blume.
Aiden now knows the full story thanks to Harry's events.
He made a deal with Blume Company. Aiden's tone was very calm. His plan here was not to hand over the data blankly. "Where did you hear that?" Damian's little thoughts were exposed, and his tone was unkind.
"We're in trouble," Aiden continued. "Look, the basis of the transaction between you and Blume is information. If I give it to you, what will happen to you?"
"You seem to have forgotten one thing: I can decide your sister's fate with just one phone call." Damian shook the phone.
Damian taunted, then laughed.
"You've underestimated me."
Aiden shook his head and said to Damian, "You don't seem to have thought this through, Damian. Your deal puts you on the receiving end of this. If you kill my sister, you'll get nothing, and Blume will take you out if he finds out you've betrayed him."
"Now I am the one who controls your destiny."
"Let me talk to my sister on the phone."
Just when Aiden said these words, everyone in the room cheered.
They're going to track down Aiden's sister's location via phone.
"The location has been confirmed. Frank and the sound troops have been sent to you," T-Bone said to Frank. "Rendezvous with the target, and bring her in."
Aiden stared at Damian with his eyes fixed on him while waiting for his sister's voice.
Just when his sister was about to say something, Damian hung up the phone. "You know, Aiden, I admire the way you think."
"If you do this again next time, your sister will be dead," Damian said as he turned to leave.
At this time, Alden's communicator rang. His sister was safe. "What do you know, Damian? No one could do this to my family." Aiden slowly pulled a pistol and pointed it at Damian's head.
Damian fell into a pool of blood with shock on his face. An attack instantly occurred in the bustling neighborhood. A few moments later, the streets were bustling again, and Alden had already moved.
"Now that the most troublesome problem has been solved, we can expose this information. Let's end this," Harry stated. This information was a nuclear weapon in the political world. It was time for a new master in Chicago politics.
Blume Corporation colludes with the gang to control Chicago's politics.
"Chicago mayor accused of murdering former ctOS employee Rose."
"A widespread scandal broke out among Chicago political officials. Relevant investigations have been launched! The officers involved have been transferred to state court, and the FBI has become involved in the matter."
The impact of the news exposure was huge, and a scandal of this magnitude even spread ahead.
Is ctOS safe and controllable? Should this technology be abolished?
"Osborne, I heard that you reunited the developers of Ctos and established a company for them. What do you think of this doubt?" Mary faced the camera with a friendly smile.
"Technology is just a tool, and what it does ultimately depends on the people who use it. I still remember when the Osborne Group's neural implants were just launched. The media was still trumpeting that the Osborne Group was about to control humanity. Such stupid things. But in fact, neural implants can effectively treat a variety of diseases and are the technological basis for the latest generation of prosthetics, technology that has saved thousands of lives."
"Technology can make our lives better. We can list our company's products one by one, but have you heard enough?"
Harry spread his hands.
"The Osborne Group will develop the OS system to make it more efficient, convenient, and transparent."
"We have reached an agreement with New York City and will deploy the improved OS system in New York. Their supervision is welcome."
"To this end, we brought in the former developers of OS . Letman, Kammy, now know as T-Bone and Oral."
Harry took a step back and handed the center stage to the two of them.
"As developers of OS , we have to bear a list of responsibilities for the bad things that have happened in the city in the past year."
As soon as the duo took the stage, they sincerely apologized in front of the camera.
As for the wasted person, T-Bone certainly had the funds to clear his name.
At this time, a reporter asked, "Mr. Grady, I must remind you that the investigation into OS is still ongoing, but your tone seems to imply that ctOS played a very important role in the Chicago competition incident?"
"Yes, or rather, Blume played a very important role. ctOS is just a tool, but Blume used it for the wrong path," he said with a squint.
Halfway through the press conference, Harry completely handed over the stage to T-Bone and Tobias.
As soon as he walked out of the back door, Alden's voice rang in Harry's ears.
"Thanks, the press conference was really torture."
"Quinn resolved?" Harry asked.
Lucky Quinn's actions directly led to the death of Alden's niece, and Aiden said he had to kill this guy himself.
Harry readily agreed.
Anyway, as the investigation escalates step by step, society will sooner or later uncover that Quinn, who appears to be a great philanthropist, is really a gang boss and the culprit of all this.
With Frank's help, he's nothing but an old man, whether he is a rich man or a gang boss.
Aiden easily finds Quinn and hacks into his pacemaker, making everything look like an accident.
This powerful gang boss was cornered without ever meeting Harry, like an insignificant speck of dust that was easily brushed away.
Harry suddenly felt that Frank and Aiden were quite similar; they were good people because their family members became genuine law enhancers and finally did something for their sins.
A typical American comic hero.
They should be good teammates. With Alden's wealth of social engineering, he could definitely serve as Osborne's watchdog in the dark and one in the light.
"Thank you," Aiden walked up to Harry and thanked him sincerely.
"I don't need your thanks, just need you to work hard."
"By the way, how did you manage to send them all? I thought it would be difficult."
"Well, I donated some money to the agency that has the right to investigate as operational funds. Not only that, because the mayor and deputy mayor were all caught, a new acting mayor's office was created with the help of the governor and Osborne."
Aiden paused for a moment, then shook his head. "Rich people are really untouchable."
---
Bloom Co. Was Doomed
Due to a devastating scandal and the death of its hacker, the Blume Group was in turmoil.
Now, Grady-Frid has successfully established itself as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Osborne Corp.
Although T-Bone and Froome weren't exactly the best candidates, they quickly learned from past mistakes.
The original version of ctOS had been compromised by hackers. After careful consideration, T-Bone decided to completely abandon that version and redesign the system from the ground up based on the data from the first version.
ctOS has been completely destroyed, and the new system is underway.
**[Rewer Space Construction]**
From now on, we have learned how to build various space stations and other small facilities directly in space.
Looking at the Earth from above, he sees the big picture.
The technology primarily provides Harry with the capability to directly build satellites, constructing space stations and even asteroid mining stations in space.
It is the first step toward space exploration.
Harry doesn't want to accompany the superheroes to fight Thanos head-on, like in the Marvel movies. He might win, but the cost would be extremely painful.
In the original story, after the four heroes of the Avengers were defeated, there was a misconception in Harry's mind that the world would soon return to normal, as if nothing had happened.
From a practical standpoint, the disappearance of ordinary people would greatly affect society. These people disappearing and reappearing would have a massive impact, even if personal safety is guaranteed.
He finds himself overwhelmed, with his subordinates riding on his coattails, making him feel burdened.
How does he deal with this social relationship? The old guard is returning to his original position. What about the newcomers? Will he agree with them, or might it turn into a war between two factions in the end? Thanos provoked a war, and of course, there should be a war in return. From this perspective, Harry agrees with Tony's view of fighting the war beyond Earth. He does not want to be bombarded by several orbital bombardments from those space battleships.
What he craves is peace.
"Harry, are you serious? You can't cause such a big incident just a week after going to Chicago! All company acquisitions need to go through proper procedures, and such a rough solution will complicate things," Hurley tapped the table, pulling Harry back from his thoughts. "But that really has nothing to do with me. It would have happened regardless."
Harry said he was merely expediting the process of the ancient agreement.
What he did was invest tens of millions to acquire a software company with unlimited potential. Harry felt that it was a wise move.
But that was not the case in Hurley's eyes.
There is speculation that the company is involved in this matter. "Then just let them guess, and if the media publishes a few more articles like before, it doesn't matter. You guess, the truth is what is revealed, whether or not it's accurate."
Hurley rolled his eyes and handed over a piece of information.
"Take a look at that regarding the acquisition."
Harry nodded but had no intention of reading the material.
"In addition, I have asked them to come to New York. I want New York to install this system in the future; this alliance will be linked to the power station. Wherever power is needed, we will market our product."
"This may be a bit difficult. After all, this system is not a fusion model, and they might not accept it."
"Then let's sell them in bundles. The benefits of the system are greater than they might imagine. They will see it when they are all installed here in New York."
Hurley tapped the pen on the table. "Bundling? That sounds like some junkware."
Harry sighed, rebutting that bundling was not a normal marketing strategy; it only works because he is the seller.
"If you're unhappy, go to Stark and ask for a power station."
After considering Dr. Ott's technology, it is obviously more suitable for large urban power supplies.
If they can accept the pollution caused by the decay of palladium, Harry wouldn't mind if they went to Stark. Anyway, he would get a share of the money Stark made.
In fact, Tony only matched clean energy to Stark Tower in Avengers 1—but now they are already using Oscorp's nuclear energy.
"Is there anything else?" Harry asked. "I have to remind you that the group has a lot of business, and you need to pay attention to yours; it is no better than before."
It seems that the Osborne Group has too many important matters recently, and Fury is a little overwhelmed.
Harry was concerned about this. After all, as CEO, he essentially left the matters unattended and ignored them.
But once the.Ctos project is promoted, New York will have no secrets for Harry, and it will be much safer at that time.
"Are you busy with things, aren't you?" Hurley asked.
"You know you're busy, so you should focus on secondary affairs," Hurley said without raising his head.
"But there is one more thing I need your help with."
"Okay, you know I won't make it difficult. Just tell me."
"I want to set up a new subsidiary for space projects."
Hurley looked surprised.
"What's the matter? Can only Stark can have satellites in the sky; isn't that strange?"
Harry didn't do it on a whim. The system that undocked the space construction technology for him would have to be utilized sooner or later.
Many functions can be done in space, so he would not feel comfortable relying on someone else's satellite, even if he bought one.
Even if Tony gave him one, he wouldn't dare to ask. This guy had a tendency to install backdoors.
It's a matter of stability. Osborne has not invested in this area, and if we start from scratch, the cost will be very high.
Her's words are not unreasonable.
Osborne's business in the past has always been biotechnology.
Of course, with the huge sales of power armor, the military industry has also become one of the main businesses.
As for aerospace, Osborne really doesn't have much investment in this area, which is quite complex.
But with the systematic technology Harry already has, he considers it a technical strength.
It's just that this time he can't find someone to work for him.
"Then I'll manage this company myself. I have the skills."
Hurley laughed. Harry was very smart, but no matter how smart a person is, there should be a foundation for everything.
The things that Harry had created before could be completely explained by the fact that he had been studying biological sciences and even mechanical design since he was a child.
But sales and aerospace don't seem to align.
Forget it. Harry didn't know how to explain anything. Anyway, he had to use his strength to speak for himself.
"Okay, but I have to remind you this is a big deal."
Probably because he was worried that Harry made this operational decision, Hurley expressed concern that the company had never ventured into this area before.
In this regard, Harry said that he knew it would be challenging.
And he wanted to test himself heavily.
"Then that's it, basically nothing else."
Harry leaned back in his chair. He needed to take a break and think about aeronautics.
Just when he turned on his phone, he discovered breaking news.
"Tony Stark attacked while driving."
The time was drawing near. It seems that Tony has been taught a lesson by the Soviet man. The plot of Iron Man almost matches reality.
At the same time, Harry's phone rang.
---
"Why don't you come to my birthday party?" It was Tony who called. The so-called birthday party was the one that led to his armor being stolen.
Judging from Tony's behavior, it seemed he didn't take the USB drive left by Harry seriously and still held an extravagant banquet.
"What? Why did I hear that you had a fight with your equipment at the birthday party and your high-tech prosthetics were taken away?"
"Forget about this. That new element—how did you get its structure?" Tony spoke quickly. "It's very effective. Among your hundreds of random guesses, there is a new one that fully meets my needs—an element!"
In other words, after the banquet, Tony still reviewed the information left by Harry. But he didn't know when he figured it out. "How about saving your life?" Harry shamelessly flattered himself.
Anyway, SHIELD did the same thing. The most they did was remind Tony that Harry had sent all the structures!
"You? I found this new element in my father's... some documents. It has nothing to do with you. But if you want, the fair isn't over yet. I can arrange a special booth for Osborne at the fair."
Iron Man.
"So you're going to thank me like this? I thought Osborne's participation in your expo was to boost your reputation. Also, your suit doesn't seem very reliable," referencing what happened in Monaco.
This was about Anton Vanko's attack on Tony at the racetrack. The former Soviet man also invented the arc reactor, and with the help of the Ten Rings Gang, he successfully infiltrated Tony's racing car and had a superhero showdown with him.
However, the equipment was too poor and was easily defeated by Tony.
"Not very reliable? I easily solved that madman..." Harry decisively interrupted Tony's boasting.
"Easy? That guy was wearing a tattered exoskeleton, and he could still fight you several times. You know, I saw a saying on the internet: Facts have proven that the Soviet people's physique and clothing are on the same level as Americans wearing steel suits."
"Are you serious?"
"I'm kidding, but a special booth is nice. I just need to promote a new city management system, so I will booked it." The Stark Expo had significant exposure, and it was a good opportunity to enhance the promotion of Ctos. As for Anton Vanko and Hammer Industries, Harry planned to take action against Hammer Industries after the incident and pitch their aerospace technology department.
By the way, when dealing with Anton Vanko, he could also use Lenin to steal some more technology. This former Soviet man was talented, but Harry knew he could never recruit him. He had too many personal issues.
After hanging up the phone, Harry went straight to the laboratory. Now that Tony had obtained the new element, Harry certainly could not lag behind.
In the movie, Tony built the facility for creating new elements by hand with a wrench. Harry certainly wouldn't use a wrench to build a particle accelerator, but he had Dr. Otto. Harry called Dr. Otto, and Dr. Otto's image connected on the screen.
"Hello, Harry."
"Good afternoon, Doctor. How's it going in Washington?" Harry also greeted him and asked about the situation in Washington.
"Everything is normal. The reactor is running fine. I don't have to watch it all the time. Rather than staying here, I want to go back to New York and participate in this experiment."
As a scientific genius, Dr. Otto had an almost fanatical love for scientific inventions, and the regret in his tone came from the heart.
"So we have to thank science even more for allowing us to conduct the same experiment thousands of miles apart and witness the birth of new elements together." The two looked at each other and smiled.
"Then let's begin."
Harry pulled back the curtain covering the particle accelerator.
The particle accelerator was designed by Harry and Otto. The particles would be magnetically accelerated in the accelerator to a terrifying speed, have enough energy, and would eventually be refracted through a prism into the palladium element at the center of the accelerator.
A completely new element would be created under the bombardment. This sounds ridiculous because, generally speaking, since it is a new element, it should not be on the periodic table, which means it should have a higher number of protons. The higher the number of protons, the less likely the element is to be stable. Even artificial elements from the last few digits on the periodic table only exist for a short time.
Not to mention, if we use the known scientific research in the world as a reference, the energy of the particle flow simply cannot reach the energy required to normally create new elements.
But in this universe, it makes sense because the element is a new one discovered by Tony's father, Howard Stark, based on his research on the Tesseract. This element is actually related to the Tesseract , the Space Stone.
Simply put, science fiction.
"Hit the accelerator," Harry said as he pressed the start button. The particles in the accelerator gradually emitted dazzling blue light and were endowed with immense energy under the acceleration of the magnetic field. After being accelerated to a sufficient speed, the prism in the channel began to illuminate. The particle flow, resembling a blue laser, moved little by little toward the palladium element in the center.
The biangular palladium element finally underwent a qualitative transformation under the bombardment of the particle flow, emitting a dazzling blue color.
A perfect replica of Tony's experiment—after all, this is what Tony sought. "We did it, Doctor!"
Harry clapped his hands and turned off the power.
Dr. Otto on the other side of the video was already stunned, especially as the room darkened. The gleaming triangle logo still shined unabated, and his expression became more and more shocked.
"A brand new element... We discovered a brand new element! Damn it! Harry, you're so lucky. I have to get back to New York immediately. I can't wait to conduct experiments with it!"
As seen in the video, Dr. Otto, whose face was glowing red, jumped up and down in the room with excitement.
Harry just laughed and said nothing.
"Harry, you have to let me go back right away. Damn it, I'm so curious. How can it be so stable? How much potential does it have?"
"Don't worry, Doctor. This new element will stay here. It's safe, just waiting for you to come back and conduct various experiments."
"Damn it, I have to hurry up the construction team!"
Harry spread his hands. It seemed that American workers were going to experience the pain of meeting deadlines.
I hope they won't go on strike, which would ruin Dr. Otto's dream of returning to New York.
Putting the new element into the safe, Harry left the underground base.
Aiden opened a small shop not far away, and he would always keep an eye on the armor.
Although his combat prowess was not as strong as Frank's, Aiden was proficient in social engineering and was a senior hacker. He was the most suitable person to hand over the confidential tank.
"This thing is very important. Take care of it."
"Guarding physical objects is much easier than guarding secrets, but what exactly are we studying here?"
"The future, Aiden. You are protecting the future." After patting Aiden on the shoulder, Harry continued, "How about I call you the Guardian of the Future from now on?"
Aiden rolled his eyes at Harry and returned to work.
---
Chapter 56: Osborne's Private Armed Team
"Are you going to the Stark Expo?" Hurley's face was filled with surprise, and his expression resembled that of a mother who had just discovered her son, who had been absent for several months, decided to go out to participate in a conference. Stark had invited Harry before the expo, but Harry did not confirm whether he would go on stage to speak, so the expo did not have a special Osborne show to display Tony's innovations. He even missed the opening ceremony for which Hurley had always prepared.
That Harry was about to withdraw from New York made it all the more shocking.
"What's wrong? I didn't refuse before, but there are too many things on my plate," Harry replied, lying.
As for participating in the expo midway, it was not surprising that Harry was a well-connected individual. Osborne Enterprises even needed to stabilize the Stark situation during the transition period and was a heavyweight exhibitor.
"Well, although it's a little late, it's a good thing that you are willing to go on stage to showcase the company's products. I will contact Pepper Potts right away."
"Well, besides, I'm going to bring some sets of power armor with me this time."
Displaying power armor at an expo? Hurley didn't understand, but the power armor that Harry wanted to showcase did not conflict with the display at all. The main purpose of showcasing the power armor was to display Cabot's personal weapons and get them used up.
Frank had recruited several veterans with physical disabilities after procuring the Osborne- high-tech prosthetics.
They were willing to work for Osborne. Harry did not plan to let them participate directly in the expo but would clear the area to protect the public when Hammer Industries made a big splash at the event.
"Yes, I'm not the only one going to the exhibition this time. I will take Frank with me and will ask him to report the schedule to you."
Ding dong.
The office door opened automatically, and Frank arrived, folding a document in his hand.
"Frank is here in time. Ask him to give you the personnel list now."
Frank's mental state was quite good, at least much better than before.
"Here's the combat roster, Ms. Rachel." After taking a look, something was obviously wrong with Hurley's expression. He looked at Frank and then at Harry.
"Combatants? We are going to the expo?"
"Sorry, I must have misinterpreted. It's the security personnel, Ms. Rachel." Under Harry's gaze, Frank changed the wording and said it again.
"Yes, the security personnel. I told you that the company would establish a security department. Maybe it will develop into a security company in the future." Harry shrugged his hands.
"Another big expense, right?" Harry tapped the pen on the notepad and added the matter to the memo. "Frank, let's go see your good recruits."
Harry stood up.
"Okay, I recruited a total of 40 people in the first batch, one of whom was a good friend—Curtis Hoyle, a black man and a trustworthy military star who once worked with him on the Cerberus team."
Curtis's left leg was injured on the battlefield, and he was burned significantly—half lame. After retiring, he received insurance.
He and Frank had a good relationship and had kept in touch since their service.
"Nice to meet you, Curtis." Osborne stepped forward to greet him.
"Nice to meet you too. You are a great person." Harry smiled and shook Curtis's hand.
Hearing this, the recruits laughed instead.
"Sir, you are the first person to say this. Better people will only say that we are great soldiers."
"Is this a conflict? No conflict," Harry smiled and sat down in front of them.
"You all go to the battlefield with faith in your heart, so you are people of valor."
The elders smiled and said nothing.
Maybe it was true before, but going to the battlefield and not going to the battlefield were two different things.
"But you went to the battlefield and survived," he addressed the Americans. The war, to most, was just a series of good news in the newspapers.
"You are the only ones who have seen the truth."
So regardless of what you think, I believe you are the ones who have validated your beliefs—whether you feel they've been betrayed or whatever.
The soldiers were silent. What Harry said was true.
The US government deceives people through lies that they are fighting a just war, but it is obvious that this is not the case.
The media promotes American troops as heroes, but they are not treated that way.
"So now that you have determined your beliefs, at least you know what you want."
"Shouldn't that be a bad thing? This is not surprising."
After the words fell, many people laughed.
"I was drafted by a private military contractor, and they told me that the company had invested millions of dollars in me and that I should go fight and kill people, and I said, 'Forget you.'"
These soldiers obviously understood this story very well, and most of them laughed in unison, but their laughter felt hollow.
Harry smiled at the somber situation.
"I'll put it to you like this: telling you that the war is fought for your beliefs or the gratitude of others. The Crusades have ended long ago."
"What I want to tell you is that here at Osborne, you are using your skills to earn dollars, not for American beliefs or other reasons, and Osborne offers you the highest price."
The soldiers looked at each other a few times but said nothing.
"Of course, helping protect the world sometimes."
"Hey, boss, you pretend not to care."
Harry shrugged. "It's up to you to believe it or not, but that's the truth anyway."
The atmosphere was harmonious. Harry took a cursory glance at the soldiers. Most of them had prosthetic limbs. Osborne provided them with undisclosed versions of military prosthetics.
However, the functions of the prosthetic limbs were relatively simple, mainly enhancing movement abilities.
After all, they would have to use combat armor, and flashy prosthetics were not the first choice on the battlefield.
"Where did you find these good comrades?" Harry asked.
"The US Department of Veterans Affairs. I have a familiar friend there—Desmond Doss. When he heard that Osborne was planning to help them solve the problems of these veterans, he became very supportive."
"That legendary World War II medic? You have a lot of connections!"
"You checked their backgrounds, right?"
Frank shrugged at Harry's words.
"Of course, besides, no one cares about these physically disabled veterans. The National Security Agency and others look down upon them."
This was true.
A mentally sound and physically intact veteran may receive invitations from those organizations after serving, especially a recruit with outstanding merits like Frank.
But those with physical disabilities are often overlooked.
Physical disabilities can lead to mental struggles, making it difficult for them to integrate into society in various aspects.
But most of the veterans Frank found were experienced and capable—considering the battles they had faced, it was remarkable that they were still physically disabled.
He has a good brother who now runs a private armed company. He is interested in providing us with some excellent security personnel, but I think I should consult with you first."
Frank's good brother runs the Pirate Arms Company. Harry shook his head.
"Charming brother? Let's forget about that."
Frank retorted, but this good brother was the kind of person who meddled in the affairs of others.