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Oscorp, a corporate giant whose scale rivaled Stark Industries, had risen through a very different path.
Its growth resembled that of old-money dynasties like the Rockefellers and Mellons—a position built through generations of effort, acquisitions, and strategic marriages.
However, the previous chairman, Amberson Osborn, despite being hailed as a great industrialist, had once made a disastrous policy decision that severely weakened the company's competitiveness and nearly plunged the family into financial crisis.
One direct consequence was that, in order to survive, the company's ownership became increasingly fragmented.
As a result, unlike Stark Industries, Oscorp was not the personal kingdom of its current chairman, Norman Osborn. Internal power struggles within the board of directors had never ceased.
Even so, Norman Osborn's iron-fisted leadership kept the board under control and continued driving the company forward.
From military hardware and cutting-edge technology to biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, any industry at the forefront of innovation was considered fair game for Oscorp's expansion.
Ordinarily, the chairman of a corporation of that caliber would be far beyond the reach of someone like John Garrett, merely the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Eastern European Division.
The wealthiest backer Garrett had ever personally connected with was Ian Quinn of Quinn Worldwide, a multinational corporate magnate and one of the participants in the Deathlok Project.
Even that connection had only been established through HYDRA.
Yet armed with information about the alien Henry Brown, the personnel records of the former Siberian Alien Research Institute, and the fact that the last surviving researcher, Nikolai Semyonov, now worked in Oscorp's biological sciences division, Garrett finally succeeded in arranging a meeting with Norman Osborn.
And there, he proposed a trap.
From inside Oscorp headquarters to Nikolai Semyonov's residence, Garrett and Osborn secretly deployed surveillance equipment and personnel everywhere—without informing the man being used as bait.
They even brought out experimental weapons that had never been adopted by the military.
After all, they were preparing for a supposedly bulletproof alien.
Mentioning concepts like "Superman" or "kryptonite" would only earn ridicule from a businessman like Norman Osborn.
To people like him, if a weapon couldn't penetrate a target, that simply meant there wasn't enough firepower.
And if increasing the firepower still didn't work, then the problem was one of yield.
Many experimental weapons remained outside military service not because they lacked destructive capability, but because they suffered from issues of reliability, manufacturing costs, or operational expenses.
A unique situation like this was the perfect opportunity to deploy them and collect real-world combat data.
Norman Osborn certainly wasn't stingy enough to worry about the expenditure.
Both Garrett's psychologists and Oscorp's experts confidently insisted that if Henry's obsession with revenge was truly as deep as described, he would step into the trap within a matter of days.
Based on that assessment, Norman Osborn cleared his schedule and waited alongside Garrett.
And waited.
And waited.
The reason he was willing to spare the time was simple.
He was interested in Henry Brown.
Not merely because Tony Stark favored him.
Nor solely because of his achievements in digital film technology.
But because Henry was clearly an intelligent man.
Norman Osborn was more than a businessman.
He was also an accomplished scientist and researcher.
That advantage was one of the major reasons he could keep the rest of the board in line.
A man like that didn't necessarily crave talented people.
But he could immediately recognize talent when he saw it.
He understood exactly how valuable Henry Brown was in the field of technology.
At first, Osborn had believed Henry was merely a mutant with unusual abilities.
Finding out he was actually an alien only increased his interest.
The revelation was an unexpected gift.
Back in 1992, Oscorp had obtained a sample of a Super Soldier Serum through undisclosed channels.
The company's biotech division had launched a military-funded research project based on it.
Initially, the objective had simply been to replicate and mass-produce the serum supposedly derived from Captain America.
Then, near the end of 1996, the project's goals abruptly changed.
Now they were expected to create a superior version.
A stronger serum.
The difficulty skyrocketed overnight.
Even after Norman repeatedly poured additional resources into the project—both money and manpower—results remained nonexistent.
That was why he paid attention when someone informed him that one of his biotech researchers had become an assassination target.
And why he had agreed to hear Garrett's proposal.
At this point, obtaining a talented employee interested him far less than obtaining a living alien specimen.
He hoped to find a breakthrough in the Super Soldier Serum project through alien DNA.
Unfortunately, when the Siberian Alien Research Institute had been shut down, the biological samples collected from Henry had been scattered among the departing researchers.
Poor storage and management eventually caused the specimens to degrade and spoil.
All of them had been destroyed.
Thus, Norman Osborn eagerly anticipated acquiring fresh biological samples so his research could begin immediately.
Unfortunately, several days of waiting gradually exhausted the busy executive's patience.
At first, he and Garrett had spent their time chatting amicably.
Naturally, most of the discussion revolved around Henry Brown.
The self-taught genius discovered by Tony Stark.
Before this, Norman's curiosity had been casual.
He had never seriously investigated Henry's origins or background.
Garrett's intelligence reports filled in those gaps.
But eventually Garrett ran out of new information to offer.
Conversation dwindled.
Silence took over.
As time passed, Norman Osborn's expression grew increasingly unpleasant.
Meanwhile, Garrett became more and more uncomfortable.
The two men operated in entirely different worlds.
Garrett understood perfectly well that if he remained hidden in the shadows, plotting against someone like Norman Osborn, the man's wealth and influence didn't frighten him.
But sitting openly beside him?
Face-to-face?
That was another matter.
If Norman wanted him crushed, Garrett wouldn't survive the pressure of a single finger.
Even if Osborn had him killed on the spot, as long as no evidence surfaced, S.H.I.E.L.D. would simply add one final entry to Garrett's file before shelving it forever.
They wouldn't avenge him.
They wouldn't seek justice.
They wouldn't even care.
So when his subordinate Kaminski finally arrived at the private bar area attached to the chairman's office, Garrett practically leapt from his seat.
"The target fell into the trap?"
"Where is he?"
Kaminski immediately sensed the unusual atmosphere.
His first instinct was to turn around and leave.
Instead, he forced himself to approach and deliver his report.
"Sir, the target has left Los Angeles."
Garrett exhaled in relief.
"That kid certainly has patience. Waiting until now to leave Los Angeles.
"Where did he go?
"To Semyonov's house to set the trap off?
"Or did he infiltrate Oscorp?"
"No."
Kaminski hesitated.
"He went to Alaska."
Garrett stared.
"What the hell is he doing in Alaska this time of year?"
"During his stay there, the old bartender who took him in passed away.
"He appears to have gone to attend the funeral."
A perfectly reasonable explanation.
Yet hearing it now only made Garrett feel as though he were sitting on a bed of nails.
The gaze from behind him practically turned into physical blades stabbing into his back.
Inside his head, Garrett cursed furiously.
The kid has revenge to pursue, and instead he runs off to Alaska in the middle of winter?
What's so important about an old man's funeral?
What, is he inheriting a million-dollar estate or something?
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