The Mandarin hijacked the national broadcast again, but in cities where ctOS was online, the feed was cut back after only a few seconds.
The television screens went black for a few seconds, but quickly returned to the programs they were watching.
Allowing the entire nation to witness Ellis's compromise and The Mandarin's toughness was an excellent intimidation tactic, but now, their little plan had been more than half ruined.
For some people, this highly threatening hijacked broadcast was reduced to just a few lines of text; of course, they could still choose to watch the video later, but that would strip the footage of its impact.
Under The Mandarin's threat, Ellis made the call, but he waited in vain for a call from Osborn. The guy took a deep breath and then made a fierce threat:
"Norman Osborn, you have once again rejected my teachings."
"United States, you have welcomed a cold-blooded President, but your cold-bloodedness cannot save you. Your equipment, military, and those blasphemous half-cyborgs are all useless!"
The Mandarin spouted a long string of threats, but the effect was clearly not as good, and it even made people feel a bit amused.
Norman Osborn has high-tech equipment, an army, and mechanical cyborgs; what do you have? Suicide attacks?
As for Ellis, that poor sap was already terrified.
Harry and Tony watched the whole thing, each holding a cup of cappuccino.
Tony said, "How do you plan to deal with this guy?"
Harry shrugged, "How else? Carrying out a Terrorist attack on domestic soil—deal with it as you would any other. But my father doesn't officially take office until next January, and it's still Ellis's term, so you might as well ask him how he plans to handle it."
"And you, don't you have the urge to leak your home address and have a 1v1 man-to-man duel with this The Mandarin?"
Tony made a "what are you joking about" expression and said, "Why would I have a 1v1 reality show with him?"
Harry smiled—that was what you were going to do anyway.
However, Happy was fine now, and what happened at the East Country theater hadn't caused any serious consequences, so Tony Stark's mood was quite stable.
Thinking of this, Harry asked, "How far have you upgraded your mark armor?"
"MARK 42. I'm currently researching remote operation protocols; I plan to let Jarvis control these suits."
Judging by Tony's words, his development progress was a bit slower than in the original work.
Come to think of it, Tony had been busy researching the Mind Stone during this time, so it was normal for the research on the mark armor to be a bit slower. Following this logic, perhaps his anxiety wasn't as severe either.
Killian's primary goal was to put the Vice President on the presidential throne. Attacking Tony was because he might interfere with the plan—and to settle a personal grudge on the side—and Tony just happened to expose his own address.
But how would they handle it now?
Tony continued, "Speaking of which, I want to develop an armor specifically for dealing with Hulk. I plan to bring Banner in on it."
Harry nodded, "So you want to bring me in on it too?"
"I want you to lend me Abomination to test the new armor once we're done designing it." Tony had a very punchable smile.
Seeing that punchable smile, Harry also laughed, "I want in too, otherwise no deal."
The training fees for Abomination are very expensive.
The next morning, Norman stood on the podium.
"We will not bow to a Terrorist. Such acts of provocation must be punished, not compromised with!"
The reasoning was actually sound, but clearly, someone was trying to stir up trouble again.
It mainly revolved around Norman's cold-bloodedness. This line of reasoning argued that since Norman could ignore one person's life, he could ignore the lives of many more.
It hadn't been long since the incident where he stopped the nuclear missile, and yet people had already forgotten about it and were taking these arguments seriously; Harry was greatly surprised.
Norman's motive for stopping the nuclear missile might not have been pure, but they had genuinely saved many people during the great battle.
Fortunately, this year was an election year, otherwise, in a few years, this matter could really be twisted into something black.
Norman was very firm on the podium.
"We will not, and we should never, bow to these Terrorists!"
"To demonstrate our courage and confidence, I will hold a tour of speeches in the capitals of all 50 states."
"I got you."
The news that Norman was going to conduct a speaking tour at this critical juncture ignited the entire nation.
As a President who had been targeted by a Terrorist before even taking office, this behavior could be called quite bold. Rednecks cheered for it, ordinary citizens worried about it, and the wealthy remained silent.
Many people felt this scene was very familiar—a populist President going out among the people to be close to them.
This was exactly the effect Harry wanted. As a company with no ties to the old establishment, many of Osborn's actions would infringe upon the interests of his enemies, and they would jump in frustration.
Rather than taking over a system where everyone had their own ulterior motives, it was better to have a fierce collision, expose all the problems, and then let Norman sweep these guys away under the Banner of public opinion.
After all, this country is a political powerhouse, and those words carry significant weight.
"Conducting this kind of speaking tour at this time is definitely not a wise move. I believe you have already considered this." Hurley said symbolically.
"In the face of such a Terrorist, contempt is the most appropriate attitude to show." Harry replied.
"Fine, then let's talk about something else. Quinn International is willing to negotiate with us about the mine, but he requires you to go to Malta in person to discuss it with him."
Harry raised an eyebrow: "And the reason?"
"Ian Quinn's name has always been on the IRS's list." Hurley finished, paused, and added hesitantly, "A suitable reason, but I advise you not to go."
"Just because it's a sensitive time now?"
Hurley nodded.
In fact, looking at it normally, buying the mine was something Harry had mentioned long ago, and getting caught up in a dispute over a mineral vein was perfectly normal.
And it wasn't abnormal for Quinn International to be willing to negotiate: as long as they could extort a large sum from Osborn, they wouldn't mind looking for mines elsewhere.
If one didn't know that there was a HYDRA in this World, it would be quite difficult to connect this company, which had long since fled the United States, to the domestic election.
Harry smiled and said, "However, this mine is very important. If he is willing to sell it, it is worth me going there in person."
Quinn International has a total of 11 mines, and this is the only one they are planning to acquire recently.
If Harry hadn't guessed wrong, the gravitonium was in there—even if he guessed wrong, it didn't matter. This was a mine that hadn't been fully explored yet, but Harry knew it was a gold mine.
The key was to give them a sense that "this move is very solid."
"Prepare the plane—I'm going to take our own plane."
In addition to cars, Osborn was also developing various types of civilian aircraft. With Osborn's batteries and the thrusters Harry designed, the era of electric aircraft was about to arrive.
It just so happened that I could personally step in and give Osborn a boost.
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