Stripping off the remnants of what had been armour before the battle, I left it to Stark to refine, promising to stop by and see him one of these days. Looking at what was left of his creation, Tony was crying bloody tears inside. But realising that his invention had worked out all its costs by saving lives, he calmed down a little. Lots of damage all over the hull. A torn off helmet, a hole in the side of the armour and completely ruined arms. No armour of his had ever been in such a bad state before. And this was despite the fact that the armour layer of this specimen had been increased by 30%. Though if one thought back to the user's insane actions, everything fell into place. Tony was still shuddering as he remembered how Rain grabbed the whip with his hands and despite the armour fusing with his skin, he continued walking towards Vanko.
Leaving the scene of the battle, I hurried after my hard drive. While doing so, hoping that Shield would have too much trouble with the exhibition to send many forces to Hammer's secret factory. All the way to the place I felt a strong itch in my side and arms, which on the one hand was very annoying, but on the other hand I was glad that the regeneration was working properly. And the increasing speed of the itching strength even hinted at raising new levels with regeneration. Already approaching the building, I decided to check the reward for the task.
The amount of reward for the task is being calculated. The exact number of lives saved cannot be determined yet.
There are 20 hours left until the calculations are complete.
Now, that's unexpected. I thought that those I saved from death were counted, but it seems that the system took into account those who were injured and only because of me, albeit indirectly, was able to receive medical care. Is this saying that the final size of my reward depends on the quality of the doctors' work? I will hope that because of the large number of bumps at the Expo, the best of the best were sent there.
Upon reaching the building, I was greeted by the expected sight. There were a couple of cars at the entrance and two Shield agents on duty. This was a chance to get rich! One of the major arms suppliers was hiding a terrorist in one of their factories. Even without warrants, you can break in and take anything in sight. And even with all of Hammer's failures, there's bound to be a couple or three great blueprints on his server. I can see their point. I came here for the same thing. Using the same tricks as last time, I was able to get my disc and flash drive.
What was I able to get from the Hammer's servers? Well, until I plug the hard drive into my laptop, there's no way of knowing. But I've got his compact and destructive weaponry, data from Stark's suit, reactor scans and a couple of other projects in the programme's top targets. Right now, I'm heading towards a small studio flat that's paid for out of a left-hand account. It has all the comforts of home, namely a fridge with a supply of tinned food and water, a first aid kit with enough medication, even illegal ones, and Wi-Fi. A top-of-the-line laptop was also waiting for me here, to which I connected my hard drive. After entering all the passwords and going through the necessary checks that would destroy this kid if Shield or Vanco agents found him, I was finally able to see the huge amounts of data I'd been able to pull from the server. Why gigantic? Because the military samples Stark Industries makes are 10 terabytes. And I used a test variant made of five such discs.
After three hours of checking and searching for the most important data, I sadly confirmed my theory about Vanko's armour. Namely the non-existence of its blueprints on Hammer's servers. I had hoped to gain knowledge of how his reactor and whips worked. What surprised and delighted me was the initial work on the Superadoptoid. I don't know how Hammer got access to such technology, but I have some ideas about its creator.
The main ability of this drone - yes, again a drone - is to completely copy the technology, forces, skills, experience and tactics of its opponents. In general, if you let such a robot watch some karate competition, it will fight the winner on equal terms by the end of the championship. And if you decide to shoot it from the repulsor, you can expect the same attack in return. All in all, a very powerful and, most importantly, dangerous technology. And most importantly, it's very similar to the Guardians project based on Mystique. Only here, as in the film, there is not enough data to fully implement the conceived technology. I remember in the film, Mystique's body was required to complete the project. And not necessarily a living one.
After sitting at the files for a couple more hours, I decided it was time to go back for my battle trophies. When I got to the Expo, I found the guards sluggish and the ambulance almost gone. As I realised, Tony had kept Shield from taking over the area and had hired private security companies. Well, I'm better off. Taking advantage of the darkness caused by the devastation that had destroyed most of the building and everything surrounding the exit, I dragged all the drone parts in 9 runs, pre-checking for any tracking systems. Just as I was leaving, the repair crews started arriving. I wonder if Vulture is among them? Or does Tony have his own damage control company by now?
After finishing this tedious evening, I finally returned home and went to bed. And after only three hours of sleep, I was awakened by the housekeeper's knocking. Not realising who I had given up on, swearing, I started to get dressed. After making my "guests" wait for about 7-8 minutes, I finally came downstairs wearing a T-shirt with Iron Man reactor print and black jeans.
There were two people in suits waiting for me downstairs. And what was my surprise when I recognised one of them as Colson. No, I'd certainly expected Shield to come out at me, but I'd thought they'd be too busy in the near future. At the very least, they've got the perfect opportunity to smear the military in the face. After all, they were the ones who gave Stark's stolen suit to Hammer to modify, and because of their decision, it fell under the control of a terrorist, and it was only through the work of their agent that they were able to regain control. That's a gift for 100% approval of a request for increased funding. Otherwise, they still have a flying aircraft carrier to build.
With his signature smile, Phil approached me:
«Hello, Mr Pearce. We're from the Strategic Domestic Intervention, Law Enforcement and Logistics Unit.
«Hi. And what's the Strategic Internal Unit In-" Seeing my hesitation, Colson immediately gave me a more normal variant.
«Shield," he said, exchanging a smile with his colleague. Apparently, it wasn't the first time people couldn't pronounce that gibberish.
«So what does Shield want from me? - I asked, sitting stone-faced, as if yesterday's events didn't concern me.
«We want to offer you a job that suits a man of your talents," Phil replied.
«And what is it about my talents that interests you? - I asked, keeping my face brick-like.
«Don't be pompous. Highest grades in all subjects during all my studies. A lot of victories in the Olympiads. Early graduation. With your talents any institute will fight for you, - he explained, putting out of the folder copies of my report cards.
«So if they will fight so hard for me, why should I go to work for you? - I asked with genuine interest. Is that what Fury can offer me? In my situation, the whip is impossible. Firstly, I'm the son of a close friend of his. Secondly, his friend's position is even higher than his own. And thirdly, tell me, what would happen to him if he harmed or coerced the child of one of these bigwigs? That's right, they will feel their positions are being compromised and they will start ranting at the organisation and, given how well things have been going before, they will simply remove the "cyclops" from his position, which is likely to be taken by the father or his puppet.
«We may be able to help bring out your other talents. - With those words, he pulled out two photographs. One showed me donning the Stark suit, and the other captured the moment I ripped off my helmet and used the howl.
«Am I being accused of something? - I asked, my expression unchanged.
«No, you're not! We just admire a man who was willing to risk his life for others. Our organisation is in great need of such people. - How he pours, and how he emphasises the word "people". I mean, that's a pretty problematic mutant issue.
«Yeah, the man in the second photo did the right thing. Why don't you consider the fact that I gave him the suit? I mean, seeing all the horrors, I could have been scared. I'm just a teenager," I shrugged, showing that if they didn't get the tape from the file that showed my time in the armour and my transformation, they could try to shout that it was me. But any reasonably capable lawyer will prove that all claims are circumstantial and there is no direct evidence.
«Yeah, that's what a teenager would do. Although a teenager wouldn't even give up the armour, he'd stay in it for his own safety. But our organisation would have been able to help unleash this man's skills to their full potential. And he would have received the best training in the country and would have been able to learn about many things that are hidden from most people," Colson said, smiling and looking me straight in the eyes.
Not bad, Phil. He decided not to confront or refute my statement. At the same time, he colourfully described the perks of working for them. You didn't mention the enormous risk to life for people like me. He also tried to press on the teenage desire to get in where it is not necessary and find out what is not necessary.
Realising that he couldn't get an answer now, he left his business card and left, saying goodbye. Said that if I ever met that person again, it would be nice if I repeated their offer to him.
***
In Germany, in a hotel room.
«Sir, Shield agents came by today," the concerned voice on the phone said.
«Were they trying to recruit Ryan? - Alexander asked just for the record.
«Yes," the female voice replied briefly.
«Good, I'll be back tomorrow. Follow him and report on any of his actions that raise questions," Pierce instructed and threw the phone into the wall.
«'So why'd you flare up yesterday? Too soon," Alexander said aloud, sitting down in his chair and thinking about the very unpleasant outcome that everything was heading towards.
At that moment, as if reading his thoughts, the very same number rang. Picking up the phone, which wasn't hurt in the slightest, he answered the call:
«Speaking.
«I've been told that Shield is interested in your offspring," came a voice that sounded pleased.
«Yes, they tried to recruit him," Pierce answered reluctantly, realising where this conversation was going.
«At least your son had the brains not to say yes right away. That's good. But we both know that his future will be tied to Shield anyway. So it's better for them to initiate it themselves," the voice said, clearly enjoying Pierce's silence.
After a couple of minutes, Alexander did speak:
«When?
«I knew you would make the right decision. Your son has too many secrets," the voice said with undisguised delight. - I'll have everything ready within two days and I'll be waiting for your call.
«Good. - Pierce Sr. disconnected from the conversation.
***
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