Chapter 163: Aldrich

Susie was walking down the street when she suddenly felt that someone was following her.

This discovery made her both excited and thrilled. The past few days of training had allowed her to basically master her abilities, and she had also learned about the existence of Hydra from Nick Fury.

Now that someone was trailing her, she thought it might just be an operative from Hydra.

Therefore, she purposely sought out some narrow alleys, hoping to lure the person in.

As soon as Harry stepped into the alley, a foot kicked him squarely in the chest.

However, he reacted quickly, dodging the kick, and then reached out to grab Susie’s neck.

Susie blocked Harry’s attack, only to realize that this person’s strength was by no means inferior to her own. At that, Susie finally grew serious, utilized the techniques she had learned, locked Harry’s arm, and delivered a heavy shoulder throw, slamming him hard onto the ground.

"A cyborg?"

Harry lifted both legs, performed a kip-up to stand back up, kicked backward, and then said with a hint of surprise, "As expected of that guy’s younger sister, not bad at all."

Hearing this, Susie’s anger flared even higher. There was no doubt that everything she had now was a gift from Michael, yet she still felt not an ounce of gratitude toward him.

"Shut up."

A large quantity of water droplets condensed in the surroundings and shot toward Harry.

After being subjected to high compression, each droplet possessed greater destructive power than a bullet. Harry, who was not wearing his enhanced combat suit, found them somewhat unbearable and was forced back step by step in retreat.

In a rush, Harry said, "You really hate him, don’t you? As it happens, so do I."

Susie paused for a moment, waved her hand, and the water droplets froze suspended in mid-air.

She stared coldly at Harry and asked, "What do you mean?"

Looking at the floating water droplets all around, Harry crouched on the ground, panting heavily, and said with a trace of excitement, "Can we continue this conversation somewhere else? I need to dry myself off."

He already knew that the brother and sister were estranged, but his initial goal had been to use this girl to threaten Michael. However, what he hadn’t expected was that this girl also possessed special abilities; she truly lived up to being that guy’s family member.

Soon, the two arrived at a café, and Susie even ordered a cup of hot coffee for him.

Harry didn't mind, took a direct sip of the scalding hot coffee, and then said, "That guy killed my father and then swaggered in and stole his company."

"Make it clearer."

Susie didn't quite understand; she didn't even know who Harry's father was.

"My father’s name was Norman Osborn, the former CEO of Oscorp. Oscorp was built entirely by his own hands, and later it was renamed Angel International by Michael."

Susie nodded. She was actually aware of this matter.

"Your father was that Green Goblin who carried out terrorist attacks."

Harry nodded and said, "Yes, I admit he wasn't a good person."

On this point, Harry’s perception was still very clear. As could be seen from the fact that in the original timeline, even after injecting the Green Goblin version of the personality-splitting enhanced serum, he merely sought revenge and did not attack others, Harry still possessed a strong sense of justice.

This Harry was the same; apart from seeking revenge against Spider-Man and Michael, he had not involved anyone else.

Harry continued, "He was guilty; he killed so many people, but he should have been judged by the law, not subjected to Michael’s violence and vigilantism. He is not a god; he has no right to judge, and he shouldn't have done that."

Susie listened in a daze. What did that mean? What was going on? Michael killed Norman Osborn?

"What happened? Tell me the details."

"That guy wearing bat armor is Michael. He killed my father, and a few days ago, he attacked a large number of military and government personnel."

Only then did Susie connect everything together. The two sheriffs from before had also suspected that Michael was the mastermind behind the series of cases, though they seemed to have stopped being police officers and appeared to have resigned.

Damn Michael.

She had a fairly favorable impression of those two cops, and the thought that they were being coerced into abandoning the work they loved made her find Michael even more detestable.

Everything, absolutely everything, stemmed from Michael. If not for him, she might still be happily living with her mom and dad.

Thinking of this, the look in her eyes as she gazed at Harry couldn't help but soften significantly.

"Indeed, that fellow has done too many wrong things. If not for him, maybe Jack and Susie wouldn't have committed suicide either."

Seeing this girl who was younger than himself and had also lost her parents, Harry couldn't help but feel a pang of pity for a moment.

Just like that, two people who sympathized with each other forged a certain kind of alliance.

However, everything they said was being monitored by a nearby woman, who transmitted the audio to Nick Fury.

...

Aldrich received a phone call informing him that the actor he had hired as the Mandarin had been killed.

This news left him stunned. His plan had only just begun, and the important figure he had crafted was just gone like that?

How was he supposed to accept this?

What should he do now?

He looked at Stark Tower, hesitated for a moment, and walked inside anyway.

The Extremis virus still needed refinement; he needed Iron Man’s brain.

As for the Mandarin, he could just find another one. If worst came to worst, he would simply replay the original footage and edit it together.

He went inside, found the front desk, and stated his purpose.

The receptionist made a call to notify Pepper’s assistant, who walked over to Pepper and said, "Miss Potts, your four o'clock appointment has arrived."

Pepper looked up and said to Happy, "Happy, let's talk about this later."

Aldrich walked in following the assistant. Ignoring Happy, the head of security, he went straight to greet Pepper.

"Hi, Pepper."

Pepper replied as well, "Hi, Killian, you look really great."

Seeing this old friend from the past, Pepper couldn't help feeling a bit excited. She continued, "What have you been up to lately?"

"Not much, just spent five years hanging out with a doctor."

Aldrich corrected her directly, "You can just call me Aldrich."

Pepper said to Happy, "Happy, why don't you go take care of things first?"

Seeing his boss trying to brush him aside, Happy realized the situation was unusual. He immediately said, "I won't go far, just right nearby."

"Fine."

Happy retreated outside the door. To prevent his boss from wearing any metaphorical green hats, he whipped out his smartphone through the glass door and began secretly snapping photos of Aldrich and his lackey.

Once the two entered the office, Pepper spoke first, "It's so good to see you again, Killian. What brings you here this time?"

"After years of dodging the President's so-called unethical biotech research, my team has invented a little something modest. I call this thing the Extremis."

With that, Aldrich showcased the Extremis virus.

"I need to turn off the lights."

To clearly see what Aldrich was demonstrating, Pepper took the initiative to turn off the room lights, making the projection much clearer.