When Tony asked about Pepper's whereabouts, Pepper was actually already dead.
A gunshot to the head, dead on the spot.
Harry could feel Tony's emotions—Garrett must have sent that photo to Tony, and he wasn't in a good state right now.
"She's still alive," Harry said.
But Tony continued to stare at Harry relentlessly.
"She's still alive, it's as simple as that. Are you going to keep believing what that Garrett guy says, or what I say?"
After those words, Tony went silent, though he likely wouldn't have any motivation until he actually saw Pepper.
Harry was actually suppressing a belly full of rage, but reasoning was useless right now. He had done so much for better development, so he wasn't about to get into a petty spat with Tony.
"Captain, it's time to deal with S.H.I.E.L.D. I need you to issue a statement telling the remaining Agents what the situation is—and one more thing, where did Fury go?"
"He's dead. It happened last week. Pierce said your people took him out." Captain America glanced at Tony. "Tony said the same thing."
Just as he finished speaking, a familiar voice came through the communicator.
"Good work, Captain. And Osborn—I was careless."
To be honest, Harry was a bit disappointed in Fury—he had already told him Pierce was problematic, but he still fell for the guy's trap and got blindsided.
"I'm disappointed, Agent. So where exactly are you now?" Harry made no effort to hide his disappointment.
"I'm in hiding—Pierce ambushed me from within S.H.I.E.L.D. S.H.I.E.L.D. already belongs to them."
"I thought you should have been prepared for this—what exactly happened with you?" Harry had long ago revealed Pierce's identity to Fury; he thought that would be enough.
He hadn't expected this black braised egg's feelings for S.H.I.E.L.D. to affect his little brain—to actually get ambushed inside S.H.I.E.L.D.!
"We have to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.," Fury said heavily.
It seemed this at least deepened his understanding. After all, these words should have come from the Captain; this saved the step of having to persuade him.
"It's good you have that resolve—the UN Building has been surrounded. If you head over now, you might still catch Pierce. It'll likely be the last time in his life he wears a suit."
"I'd be happy to see that, but we still have three Helicarriers to deal with. They're at—"
Harry tapped on the terminal, and data was transmitted over.
"One is in the Pacific, one is in the Atlantic—I mean, in the ocean—and another is about to 'enter' the Indian Ocean."
The firing point for the last Helicarrier was in Asia. Since Hammer only had one aerospace strategic platform, this carrier needed reinforcements to handle it.
Coincidentally, Thor was still on Earth—S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't find Thor, but Harry could. After all, he was the one who kept the God of Thunder here in the first place.
Watching the three Helicarriers sink into the sea, Fury fell silent.
"Alright—I'm heading to the UN Building now, and then to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D."
Fury cut the communication. This black braised egg wouldn't actually destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. If Harry wasn't mistaken, he was going to get his S.H.I.E.L.D. Black Box and hand it over to the next Director.
However, that thing had already been obtained by Aiden. Although this security chief hadn't done this kind of secret-digging business in a long time, he was still as sharp as ever.
The call ended, and Harry looked toward Tony and Steve.
Since the Captain didn't need to give a speech anymore, he might as well help them handle something—and complete a system task while he was at it.
"You want to know what your good brother has been up to all these years, right? I'll help him break the brainwashing now, though the method will be a bit aggressive."
Watching his good brother lie into the virtual reality pod, Steve couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"
"A neural link pod. I'm going to enter his brain through scientific means now," Harry said while adjusting the data.
"A brain-computer interface? I didn't expect you to actually achieve it. But why do I have to come along?" Tony just wanted to get back home as quickly as possible to confirm Pepper's condition.
Harry didn't speak—because this matter was also very important to Tony.
The screen displayed the Winter Soldier's situation within the virtual reality.
Mobilizing memories by stimulating the hippocampus—this set of technology was already on the edge of being taboo from an ethical perspective.
But for someone like the Winter Soldier, whose self-awareness was severely damaged, this was the fastest-acting method.
In the memory, Barnes fell from a train during his final mission. Steve had always thought he was dead, but in reality, he was picked up by HYDRA.
HYDRA performed an amputation on his necrotic left hand and replaced it with a bionic metal arm. Through brainwashing and training, they turned him into the cold Winter Soldier.
As a true biological weapon, he carried out missions without hesitation, killing one enemy of HYDRA after another. In a sense, he was HYDRA's 'Captain America'.
Until 1991, when he carried out a special mission.
Howard Stark used collected research data and Captain America's blood to create Super Soldier Serum samples. This news was obtained by HYDRA, who intercepted and killed the Starks on their way to S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the images, a white-haired Howard Stark's tone was full of shock when he saw Barnes, but Barnes had no reaction. He beat Howard to death with his mechanical arm, put him back in the car like he was dragging a dead dog, and then strangled Maria.
Steve's expression at this moment was quite shocked—he didn't know what to say.
Unlike the original timeline, this was his first time learning about this!
He looked at Tony. Tony's breathing had become quite heavy, his eyes fixed on the images on the screen.
Bang!
Steve grabbed Tony's hand—Tony wanted to smash the virtual reality pod and make the Winter Soldier pay with his life!
"Tony, it wasn't him who did it, HYDRA was controlling him!" Steve's voice was even trembling slightly. "Howard was my friend too, I also..."
"Shut up! He killed my parents!"
Seeing Tony's repulsor cannon beginning to charge, Harry spoke up: "Pepper is about to wake up. She'll probably want to see you right away. Are you sure you want to do this now?"
Tony looked over. These words undoubtedly diluted his anger, as a variety of strange emotions spread through his mind.
Too many things had happened during this time—first he was deceived, then threatened by HYDRA, backstabbed his partner, then saw images of Pepper's death, and now found his parents' killer.
But now, Harry was telling him Pepper was awake? He had always thought that was just a lie—to keep him focused on the battlefield.
"She's awake?" Tony murmured, somewhat dazed.
"Right in the New York Osborn Stronghold. Dr. Connors is looking after her." As Harry spoke, he displayed Pepper's current appearance. Clearly, this Pepper who had returned from the dead was quite at a loss.
Tony looked at the few people there again and walked toward the outside of the plane.
Before leaving, he took one last look at Harry:
"Thank you."
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