Justin Hammer was no tough guy.
"Look, Mr. Hammer, you've caused quite a stir this time. You should understand what the United States did after the first time something like this happened in New York, right?"
The "last time" Harry referred to was 9/11.
Hammer nodded like a little chick; dressed in his prison uniform, he was remarkably well-behaved.
Harry remembered that in the original story, when this guy was caught, he still talked tough to Pepper, saying things like telling her to wait and see.
Harry felt that if he had come alone, perhaps Hammer really would have managed a few more tough words.
But now, Norman Osborn was sitting right next to Harry. When this father and son appeared on TV individually, they both looked kind and benevolent.
But now, with the two of them sitting together in the detention room, they looked somewhat sinister and fierce.
It seemed there was no need for an interrogation process; Harry directly pulled out a share transfer agreement.
The moment Hammer saw it, his courage surged up.
"I won't agree!"
"What's the use of that? Washington is already discussing the breakup of Hammer Industries. By the time you get out, Hammer Industries will probably only have a few ballpoint pen production lines left."
After Harry finished, Norman spoke up as well.
"Prison break, bribery, helping to plan operations... New York State intends to sentence you to 57 years in prison. Well, that's a reference value; in reality, the public very much hopes to give you a life sentence."
Hammer's courage instantly plummeted back down.
"Anyway, that's how things are. You can choose."
The negotiation didn't take much effort; Hammer quickly signed the agreement.
The conditions Harry offered him were very generous: a large sum of money, a lighter sentence, and a better life in prison. He might even use that money to make a comeback after he got out. But if he held onto those shares in prison, he wouldn't even get a fart once the company was broken up.
What he didn't know, however, was that Aliens would be arriving in a few years. His assumptions were all based on the future not undergoing major changes.
And the so-called company breakup was, of course, a "suggestion" provided to Congress by the Osborn Group and a series of other companies.
It was just unclear how much HYDRA was involved. Regardless, Harry now held shares in Hammer Industries, and he could rightfully carve out a large portion of its assets.
News of Hammer Industries being broken up spread quickly, but the benefits Osborn gained from it were significantly downplayed by the media.
If Harry didn't plan to launch Osborn's own space program, the Osborn Group's current production capacity would already be in a state of surplus.
Early the next morning, Harry brought the people he had recruited this time into his office.
Among these engineers, the leader was a bald man with glasses named Philip Barnett, who exuded an air of rigorous precision.
The name sounded somewhat familiar to Harry, but he couldn't remember who it was.
Harry shook hands with this Philip.
"I'm very glad our team is welcoming such a talented engineer."
"I'm also very happy to join the Osborn Group, Mr. Osborn. When do we start working?"
Quite the dedicated pioneer. Harry turned on the Holographic Projection in the office, its coolness making Philip cry out in surprise.
He had heard that Stark intended to commercialize this technology, but that was just a rumor. He hadn't expected to see it here at Osborn.
"In that case, let's begin."
Harry had obtained space construction technology from the system. This technology was based on a specially designed Engineering Ship used for building in space.
Compared to humanity's current level of aviation, this Engineering Ship was massive, with a huge cargo hold and very small living quarters. The warehouse could store a large amount of construction materials and a team of robots responsible for space operations.
In fact, this robot team was the essence of the entire space construction technology. They could be programmed with specific designs to automatically use the materials in the warehouse to complete various construction tasks in space.
But considering current human technology, producing such a large vessel was also an epoch-making attempt.
The massive hull made Philip's eyes widen. He instinctively felt this thing was a Space Shuttle, but such an advanced design seemed almost like a joke to him.
A ship is obviously better the larger it is, but how would the energy and propulsion issues be solved? What kind of Space Shuttle is a Space Shuttle if it can't even fly into the sky?
"If I may be blunt, Mr. Osborn, this design seems a bit too far ahead of its time."
Philip's bluntness didn't offend Harry; after all, this was indeed a giant leap forward.
Besides, he had recruited Philip specifically because he needed his help.
"I know what you're worried about. Take a look at this first."
With a wave of Harry's hands, the Holographic Projection displayed two thruster units.
With just a few glances, Philip knew these were Electric Propulsion units—one electromagnetic and the other electrostatic.
In the system's design, this Engineering Ship itself was not meant to return to the ground—the supporting infrastructure was a Space Elevator. It would collect materials from the Space Elevator and then conduct construction directly in space.
But Harry didn't have a Space Elevator yet, nor the technology for one, so he could only have the Engineering Ship travel back and forth.
Therefore, based on his previous research into propulsion systems, Harry had developed a higher-powered Electrostatic Propulsion system to support the Engineering Ship's travel between the ground and space.
"A novel design. Judging by the parameters, this kind of thruster can handle the lift-off mission, but their energy consumption is too high. We might have to install a small Sun on it."
Speaking of a small Sun, Philip froze—Osborn was in the Nuclear Fusion business!
As for miniaturized Nuclear Fusion technology, currently, ordinary engineers like them only knew that Tony Stark had one on him. Could it be that Osborn also...
Philip looked up and saw Harry saying with a smile:
"You don't need to worry about the energy issue. I'll give you the basic parameters and specifications of the power supply facilities. You only need to consider whether the ship's design can handle its job."
"You just worry about production and testing, but I think there shouldn't be much of a problem with my design."
Or rather, there shouldn't be much of a problem with the system's design.
Philip was still somewhat skeptical. The technologies Harry displayed were all very advanced: Electric Propulsion technology not found on the market; Cermet Materials with excellent performance; highly efficient Superconducting Circuits; and the legendary miniaturized Nuclear Reactor.
But he understood that Harry clearly didn't want him to know this trade secret.
However, if this 'Space Shuttle' really was that powerful, he was actually starting to feel eager to give it a try.
"The production Base is right here in New York. By the way, if you have family, bring them along. I hope you can understand."
To be honest, Philip didn't quite understand. It was just a Space Shuttle, and he was working for Osborn. Would someone really break into his home to rob him?
It was just that Harry had suddenly felt lately that HYDRA might have targeted him long ago, and had already made a move—even before he discovered that Dr. Connors' computer had been hacked.
But this group of underground partisans acted very cautiously. Although Harry had power and influence in New York, he didn't have his own Agents or a complete intelligence system.
This was also why Harry was desperate for ctOS to go online immediately.
Then came a long discussion of details.
In short, for their first meeting, Harry was quite satisfied with Philip. This engineer was indeed experienced and very talented.
Most importantly, Harry had checked—he wasn't the engineer responsible for copying the Iron Man Suit.
This dispelled many of Harry's doubts, at least regarding the technical side.
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