Ethan Voss placed a brief phone call, speaking only a few quiet words before ending the conversation. When he hung up, he rose smoothly from his chair and gestured for Mayor George to follow him. The mayor looked slightly curious but stood up immediately, clearly eager to see what Ethan intended to show him.
Without explaining much, Ethan led him out of the office and toward a private elevator. The two men descended together in silence until the display finally stopped at the third underground level of the building. As the elevator doors slid open, Ethan began speaking casually while guiding the mayor through a secure corridor.
"I'm not sure if you've noticed this before, Mayor George," Ethan said with a faint smile, "but I also own a private security company called DC Security."
He continued walking while speaking in an easy tone. "It's staffed almost entirely by specialists. Former military personnel, elite tactical experts, and people with a wide range of combat experience."
By the time he finished explaining, the two of them had arrived inside a glass-walled observation room. The room overlooked a massive training space located one level below them on the fourth basement floor.
Mayor George stepped closer to the glass and looked down in surprise.
The training area beneath them was enormous. In the center of the room stood a full-scale model of a standard residential house constructed from real brick walls and reinforced framing. The only obvious difference was that the structure had no roof, allowing observers from above to clearly see everything happening inside.
Several people were already waiting below, apparently prepared for some sort of demonstration.
Ethan walked to the control console beside the glass wall. He cleared his throat lightly before switching on the room's microphone system.
"Let's begin."
The moment his voice echoed through the training facility, several figures stepped forward from the shadows of the mock house. They were fully armored soldiers, each wearing thick tactical suits that covered their entire bodies.
Their armor included reinforced helmets with dark face shields, making it impossible to see their expressions.
For several seconds, the soldiers simply stood still in formation.
Then one of them crouched slightly, lowering his body into a runner's starting posture.
In the next instant, he exploded forward.
The soldier accelerated with terrifying speed. Like a rhinoceros charging out of a cage, he slammed directly into the outer brick wall of the house.
The impact produced a thunderous crash.
Mayor George gasped in shock.
From the observation room above, he could clearly see the result of the collision. The brick wall had been smashed open, leaving a massive hole large enough for several people to pass through.
But the soldiers didn't slow down.
They continued charging forward through the structure, kicking up clouds of dust as shattered bricks and fragments of concrete scattered across the training ground. One soldier barreled through multiple interior walls in a straight line, smashing through the house completely from one side to the other.
When the dust finally settled, the soldiers stood calmly in the open training area.
Not a single one of them appeared injured.
Mayor George was still staring in disbelief when the next demonstration began.
Without any warning, several of the armored soldiers suddenly pulled pistols from their holsters. They quickly divided into small groups and began firing directly at each other.
Gunshots echoed loudly through the underground facility.
Bullets slammed into their armor again and again, producing bright sparks with every impact. Ricochets bounced off the metal plating and scattered across the training area.
Yet none of the soldiers even flinched.
Their bodies remained perfectly steady as they continued firing and maneuvering with terrifying precision.
The demonstration continued for several more minutes. The soldiers displayed extraordinary strength, speed, and endurance, performing combat exercises that clearly exceeded normal human limits.
By the time it ended, Mayor George's eyes were wide with astonishment.
He slowly turned toward Ethan.
"Mr. Voss…"
His voice was filled with disbelief.
"Those soldiers… are they Captain America?"
Ethan chuckled softly.
"They're not quite at Captain America's level," he explained calmly. "Their enhancement is slightly weaker."
He folded his arms and continued.
"But they have one advantage that Captain America never had."
"There are many of them."
Ethan's gaze drifted toward the soldiers below.
"And when deployed in sufficient numbers, they can achieve results far beyond what a single hero could accomplish."
Mayor George's expression instantly brightened.
"You mean… we could use soldiers like these against the criminals in Hell's Kitchen?"
"Of course," Ethan replied without hesitation.
"Mayor George, this project has already been under development for some time. My company has been cooperating closely with the Strategic Defense Offensive and Logistics Agency."
He gestured toward the soldiers again.
"They already have nearly one hundred enhanced soldiers like these."
Ethan continued speaking calmly.
"Even the White House Secret Service has several agents currently participating in the program. They're helping verify the safety and stability of the technology."
He shrugged slightly.
"If everything continues to go smoothly, these enhanced agents will probably become a permanent part of the president's security team."
Mayor George's face flushed red with excitement.
"The NYPD needs this kind of power too!" he shouted.
Ethan nodded immediately.
"I completely agree with you, Mr. Mayor."
At that moment, another man standing beside Ethan stepped forward and spoke.
"However," Cohen said carefully, "I should remind you that transferring this kind of technology into the police force isn't cheap."
He continued calmly.
"In addition, the officers selected for enhancement must already possess extremely high physical fitness. Not everyone can undergo the procedure."
The mayor forced himself to calm down slightly.
"How much money are we talking about?" he asked.
Cohen answered without hesitation.
"The enhancement process itself costs three million dollars per person."
He continued explaining the details.
"In addition to that, each soldier receives BF enhancement drugs. These allow the enhanced personnel to temporarily unleash explosive power during combat."
"Each set of these drugs costs approximately five hundred thousand dollars."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"And that only covers the personnel expenses."
Cohen gestured toward the soldiers below.
"The armor you saw them wearing is the latest product developed by FDSW. It's designed specifically for enhanced soldiers."
"The armor not only amplifies their physical capabilities but can also withstand attacks from pistols, rifles, armor-piercing grenades, and even rifle grenades."
He finished calmly.
"Each set costs around eight hundred thousand dollars."
Mayor George stared at him in stunned silence.
"That's… incredibly expensive."
Ethan smiled faintly at the perfect moment.
"Mr. Mayor, you asked me earlier what kind of weapons the NYPD should be equipped with."
He nodded toward the training area below.
"Now you have your answer."
He leaned forward slightly and spoke with quiet confidence.
"Give them this level of equipment and power."
"Even if all they had left was a spoon, they could still wipe Hell's Kitchen clean."
Mayor George left the building shortly afterward, clearly satisfied with what he had seen. His mind was already racing with plans for how to move forward.
After all, the citizens of New York deserved elite police officers capable of protecting them.
The city government would contribute funding. Wealthy residents who wanted to participate in the redevelopment of Hell's Kitchen would certainly contribute even more.
And Ethan Voss would undoubtedly benefit from the entire arrangement.
Previously, he had enjoyed the backing of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Now both the New York City government and many of the city's most powerful financial elites would also be supporting him.
According to Ethan's recommendation, the NYPD should deploy at least fifty enhanced officers to control Hell's Kitchen alone.
That single program would cost more than two hundred million dollars.
And when additional expenses were included—bulletproof equipment, specialized weapons for ordinary police officers, ongoing drug supplies, armor maintenance, and replacement costs—the total value of the deal would easily exceed three hundred million dollars.
After personally escorting the mayor out of the building, Ethan returned to his office alone.
He sat quietly in front of the massive floor-to-ceiling window behind his desk, staring out at the towering skyline of Manhattan.
For a long time, he said nothing.
During the meeting earlier, he hadn't only discussed weapons cooperation with Mayor George.
He had also secured preliminary approval for another plan.
The plan involved his DC Security Company recruiting independent street vigilantes and integrating them into an official partnership with government agencies.
Based on the intelligence he had gathered, a man wearing a red horned mask had already begun appearing in Hell's Kitchen.
There were also traces of a woman possessing abnormal physical strength.
But Ethan knew that once enhanced police units became active, those vigilantes would inevitably be pushed further and further to the margins.
Their conflicts with the NYPD would likely intensify.
By offering them an organized platform in advance, Ethan hoped to guide them into something closer to his future Justice League concept.
Whether those stubborn vigilantes would accept the offer, however, remained uncertain.
In Ethan's view, the world didn't need an endless number of heroes operating outside the law.
No matter how loudly they proclaimed their righteousness or courage, every vigilante carried blood on their hands.
And those ridiculous heroes who constantly bragged about their principle of never killing were even worse.
Their refusal to eliminate criminals often only encouraged greater evil.
If someone couldn't accept the existence of darkness and cruelty in the world, then they shouldn't pretend to be a hero.
Allowing evil to survive only condemned more innocent people to death.
What mattered more—the safety of the city or the moral satisfaction of the hero?
Sometimes it seemed that certain so-called heroes cared more about being admired by crowds chanting their name.
In truth, the definition of a hero was far simpler.
Violence confronted with violence.
Power answered with power.
That was the most brutal and honest reality.
Anyone who tried to wrap that truth in sentimental rules was simply deceiving themselves.
Of course, Ethan had no intention of forcing anyone to join him.
Just as he would never force ordinary people or mutants into his divine realm.
Deep down, he believed he was offering them salvation.
If they refused, that was their choice.
The universe itself was indifferent to the fate of individuals.
Why should he pretend to be a benevolent savior?
If Thanos one day wiped out half the population of the world, it wouldn't matter much to Ethan.
His divine realm existed outside the normal structure of reality.
Even the power of the Infinity Stones might not be able to affect it.
Over the next several days, both the Typhon Group and FDSW continued expanding steadily.
Meanwhile, after its initial surge, Stark Industries' stock price gradually stabilized.
Ethan's aggressive financial maneuvers were finally reaching their conclusion.
His personal cash reserves had grown from two hundred million dollars to over 1.3 billion dollars.
In addition, he now owned 3.13 percent of Stark Industries.
That made him a significant shareholder in the company.
Unfortunately, opportunities for massive profits like this would probably not appear again anytime soon.
Still, Stark Industries' stock continued trending upward, making it an extremely valuable long-term investment.
Recently, Ethan had also been visiting the library at Culver University quite frequently.
Not because he was interested in academic study.
And certainly not because of the energetic and beautiful college atmosphere.
His true goal was much simpler.
He wanted to observe the Hulk's combat power up close.
A few days earlier, Dr. Stern had successfully obtained a blood sample from the Hulk.
Ethan had rushed there overnight and personally transported the sample into his divine realm.
Inside that separate dimension, they used advanced in-vitro culture technology to replicate a large quantity of the Hulk's blood for research purposes.
Dr. Connors, Dr. Stern, and the pharmaceutical researchers at Typhon were now working together to extract the maximum potential from the sample.
After all, Ethan had never intended to create a mere army of inferior enhanced soldiers.
What he truly wanted was something far greater.
A legion of Hulks.
Or at the very least… a legion of Abominations.
In the original Hulk incident, Dr. Stern had created the Abomination using only 14.56 percent of the Hulk serum. Now, with abundant research time, extensive experience with enhancement drugs, vast funding, numerous researchers, and the assistance of supernatural abilities, there was a real possibility that they could eventually develop a Hulk serum with one hundred percent effectiveness.
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