Just as Frank was planning to go on a killing spree, Hurley called him.
"Mr. Castle, the satellite has picked up the situation there. Try to use non-lethal weapons to avoid conflict. Another team of NSA Agents is already on their way."
"Received."
The people at the CIA weren't stupid; Hurley didn't really believe they would dare to surround Frank with so few people.
Even if ordinary people didn't know the names of the Osborn private security personnel during the Battle of New York, the CIA should have been able to guess a thing or two.
If Frank were allowed to go on a killing spree on the spot, there was no telling what kind of trouble it would stir up.
Since that day, the goblin glider and the individual power armor had also caught the attention of Congress, but with the lessons learned from the past, it was unlikely they would use hearings to demand that Osborn hand over these technologies this time.
She also knew about the matter Frank was investigating. Harry usually didn't concern himself with details after making arrangements, but as his assistant, she had to follow up on everything.
Under normal circumstances, her role was to assist Harry; she wouldn't pry into things Harry didn't care about, but she would try her best to investigate the matters Harry instructed her to handle.
She personally confirmed some information with the NSA and the newspaper that had previously received related leaks, discovering that Frank wasn't the only one investigating the Kandahar incident.
The video of civilians being interrogated had been exposed to reporters by an anonymous person called Micro.
An NSA Agent named Dinah Madani had been following the matter. This Agent had even been to Kandahar, where she was investigating a drug trafficking case—drugs were being shipped out from the homeland and then sent abroad.
Unfortunately, she was recalled to the country not long after.
On the other hand, the New York NSA Agent-in-Charge, Wolfe, had repeatedly demanded that Dinah stop investigating the matter. He believed it was nonsense—a video of unknown origin proved nothing, and it could even be a fabrication.
However, since Frank had confirmed it was genuine, it meant that this Dinah and Wolfe simply didn't see eye to eye.
As it happened, Wolfe had also repeatedly made demands to Osborn as a representative.
So, Hurley gave this Ms. Madani a small hint and, while she was at it, helped her make contact with the newspaper.
There was still one person involved missing—that was the anonymous whistleblower, Micro. This whistleblower was hiding well, but ctOS had already covered all of New York; he couldn't hide.
ctOS had already marked a large number of places where he might be hiding; now they were just waiting for the security department to send back news.
Before long, the news came back.
"Ms. Rachel, we've found a guy who might be Micro. He has set up an information work center here, and our people have already started hacking in."
"Very good, bring him back."
On the other side, Skye looked at the countdown on the computer, and then looked at Bone.
These countdowns were a program set by Micro. Once the time was up, it would broadcast all the secrets to the internet. He had designed this program so that he wouldn't die without a sound.
"You're telling me to hack this thing? I thought we were going to investigate that S.H.I.E.L.D."
Bone shrugged: "That's for later. We start here. The countdown is almost over; can you actually do it or not?"
These networks were much easier to hack than S.H.I.E.L.D.'s; he needed to see what this little girl was actually capable of first.
On the other side, the armed helicopter hadn't even had a chance to open fire before its tail rotor was blown off by a few missiles from the goblin glider, and the multi-million dollar armed helicopter was completely destroyed.
There was no cover in this place, and being under fire from an armed helicopter was really tough to deal with; luckily, they had air support too.
The helicopter crashed, and the goblin glider strafed the remaining soldiers wildly—the live ammunition had already been replaced with stun guns, specifically to prevent this kind of situation.
The battle ended quickly; for a goblin glider that could even fight Aliens, taking out these guys wasn't difficult at all.
Moreover, it seemed the Orange Agent had long been prepared to sacrifice these soldiers.
By the time Madani arrived with her team, all these soldiers had been laid out in rows on the ground by Frank, looking like the body collection phase on a battlefield.
"What happened?" Madani was stunned.
"Don't worry, they're still alive; they were just shocked and are temporarily unconscious," Frank said, stepping forward. "Frank Castle, I heard you've been looking for me."
"I have been looking for you, Dinah Madani." Dinah still didn't understand what had happened here. "How did you do it? 40 fully armed soldiers?"
Frank didn't answer her.
These soldiers brought in by the CIA were far from being fully armed; due to the special nature of the operation, they couldn't bring in equipment like power armor.
These soldiers could have been called fully armed a few years ago, but now, they really didn't amount to much.
"Let's find a place to talk properly about what's going on."
"Fine."
The group arrived at Osborn Tower.
Now, the original leaker "Micro" David Lieberman, the survivors of the Hellhound Squad, the newspaper editor who received the leak from Micro, and the NSA Agent responsible for investigating drug smuggling were all gathered in one place.
David Lieberman was still unconscious when he was brought in, still wearing his tattered pajamas, and he was startled when he opened his eyes.
"Frank Castle? Gana Henderson? Dinah Madani? Damn it, is this the end of everything? Where is this?"
"Osborn Tower. One of our employees seems to have been dragged into some matters, and we have gathered everyone here today to resolve this."
Hurley briefly explained the situation and then walked toward the door.
"I'll leave the rest of the time to you. I hope everyone can cooperate well and resolve the issue as soon as possible. Mr. Castle is a highly capable employee, and we hope he can return to work as soon as possible."
"Also, everyone, your families are now under Osborn's protection. Mr. Micro, your encryption program has been..."
Closing the door to the conference room, the remaining people looked at each other, not knowing where to start.
Finally, Dinah Madani spoke up first.
"Then I'll go first. I am Dinah Madani. A few years ago, while I was still in Afghanistan, I received a video tape. I believe everyone here knows what it is."
As soon as she finished speaking, the holographic equipment in the conference room suddenly lit up, playing the video of the Hellhound Squad interrogating civilians.
Everyone was startled by the device that suddenly lit up.
Although there were Aliens in this World now, everyone present didn't seem to have kept up with the times in terms of their understanding of technology.
"There is an artificial intelligence in the conference room. It's a bit mischievous and usually appears during company meetings. Please ignore it." Hurley's voice rang out.
The holographic image flickered and formed a string of text: I am still learning, please treat me well.
This "artificial intelligence" was Lening.
"Alright, let's continue."
The video continued to play. The young man was hung in the center of the soldiers, emitting painful wails. He begged these people to let him go, saying he had a family and was just an ordinary police officer.
Soon, someone became doubtful because of his words, but the Orange Agent ordered the young man to be killed, so Frank did it.
Frank and Gana's breathing quickened significantly, a change that was seen by everyone present.
"It seems this is not fictional."
"Actually, you weren't the only ones to receive this video; the newspaper received it too," said a middle-aged man wearing glasses. "A man named Micro sent us this video, but the newspaper thought..."
The middle-aged man was Mitchell Ellison, the newspaper's editor.
The man stopped halfway, his gaze drifting toward Madani.
"The newspaper thought this incident shouldn't be reported, and the evidence was insufficient. We received some warnings."
It meant they were afraid; this kind of thing looked like the kind of situation that ran very deep.
Everyone fell silent. David decided to speak up: "And I am that Micro. After I sent the video to the newspaper and the NSA, I was silenced by the Agent leading the NSA team—it was your direct superior, Carson Wolfe."
David pointed at Dinah.
After listening, Dinah looked at Ellison: "Was it also this person who 'warned' you?"
Ellison nodded silently.
"Alright," Dinah leaned back into her chair, "I'm starting to understand a few things."
On the surface, she was calm, but Dinah's mind was already being tossed by a storm of these revelations.
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