062

Norman was in a small waiting room in one of the New York police stations, next to him was Harry who seemed to be starting to lose his battle with sleep and Felicia who was watching Harry, so he wouldn't fall out of his seat. Bernard was in search of a few snacks.

It had been a little over thirty minutes since they had arrived at the police station after the trouble they had had at Osborn Manor, it must be said that the cops were surprised at the scene that awaited them at his home.

Of course in such a situation it was logical that they should be in custody until the situation was clarified, but being one of the most influential men in the country and possibly the world, the treatment he received was certainly pleasant.

By now his lawyers should be doing their job, and he would possibly be released within a few hours, after all in cases like this the wealth and prestige he had certainly played an important role.

The door to the room was soon opened by Bernard who brought with him a small tray, with two cups of coffee and a glass of water, "Sorry for the delay" he pronounced.

He quickly handed out the three drinks to each person, being that Felicia and Norman received the coffee cups and Harry the glass of water, "Unfortunately they didn't have juice" he mentioned while he handed the glass to the little boy who only nodded his head.

Osborn started to bring his cup to his mouth and realized that the smell it had was too sweet for his taste at the same time and from the corner of his eye he looked at Felicia who seemed to be displeased with something, "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's too bitter" she mentioned quickly as she looked down at the cup in her hand.

Norman just looked at Bernard who didn't even flinch at the look from his boss, "Maybe I may have confused the two cups" he explained and Norman couldn't see a trace of a lie in him, but the fact that Bernard had made a mistake on something so simple was simply impossible.

In a simple way Norman reached out his hand and took the cup that was in the white-haired woman's hand as he handed the cup of coffee he was holding to Felicia. For a few moments Felicia just carried her gaze between the two cups, "I didn't drink from it, if that's what you're worried about" Norman mentioned.

"It's not that" Felicia began to say then closed her mouth and simply adopted a thoughtful face to finally shrug her shoulders, "Thank you" she mentioned as she took a sip of the coffee and her eyes practically lit up at its sweet taste.

The minutes never stopped and in a slow way the time began to pass.

It wasn't until 20 more minutes had passed that the door to the room they were in was opened, the first person Norman could see was one of his top lawyers being followed by an officer.

"Everything has been resolved sir" mentioned the lawyer.

Norman just got up from his seat while the other people followed his example, Felicia took an almost sleeping Harry in her arms and positioned herself next to Norman while Bernard just stood behind them.

Without haste and without slowness they began to leave the police station while the other officers just looked at the scene with seriousness and those who saw the scene had a small hint of fear in their eyes.

As soon as Norman came out of the police station the first thing he saw was the now familiar figure of his secretary with a serious face. For the first time Norman was sure that the blonde's attitude this time was not an act.

"Sir," Alice greeted quickly as she took Norman's left side.

"Media?" asked Osborn, beginning to play his part.

"None have been informed of what happened" she mentioned as she began to walk alongside Norman and the others towards the car, "All the newscasts are focused on the Stark Industries incident" she mentioned quickly.

"What exactly happened?" asked Osborn.

"At the moment the official version mentions that three robotic prototypes got out of control and started fighting without caring about the damage they were causing, still, this may change in the next few hours" she explained.

'Three?' Osborn asked himself.

"Have either Obadiah or Anthony given any kind of message?" he continued to question.

"Neither has spoken and likewise I have not been able to contact either of them" in a quick manner she replied.

Between their little exchange of words they had arrived at Norman's personal van, quickly Osborn opened the back door, "Come in Felicia" he mentioned to the white-haired woman who at no time had stopped holding little Harry in her arms.

For his part Bernard began to turn the van around to be in the pilot's position, "Sir, I think you should cancel the trip to the Nobel Prize ceremony" Alice mentioned to him.

"We currently have no knowledge of whom it might be who attacked you and if he or they would try again, a ceremony like that would certainly be a great opportunity" she explained in a quick manner.

Norman shook his head, "Certainly that would be the most prudent thing to do however I won't do it, in spite of everything hiding is not something I like to do" maybe at this point he was being a bit stubborn, but he really thought that way, he would only hide in the worst cases and this time it wasn't it.

The beautiful blonde seemed to want to protest, but held back from doing so, "I understand sir" knowing well that Norman's actions could not be changed she ended up accepting them instead of starting a battle that she would never have a chance of winning.

"Now it's time to retire, tonight took us all by surprise, so it's time to rest" commented Norman as he began to climb into the van.

"Sir" called Alice before she closed the door, "You should call the vice president in large part it was thanks to him that the situation could be resolved in a simple way" she added.

Norman nodded at his secretary's words, "I will, have a good rest Alice" by way of reply he said to her.

"Likewise, Mr. Osborn" said the blonde with a warm smile to close the door of the van. The next second the engine of it started up and began to move steadily until it disappeared from her sight.

Carol just kept looking in the direction he had gone, her smile had disappeared long ago and there was only a serious and thoughtful face that was broken when a somewhat strange ringing sounded from one of her pockets.

The beautiful woman quickly pulled out something similar to a pager and proceeded to read the message, her eyes turned completely cold once she was done. Without wasting any time she turned around and headed towards her own car.

…

Felicia watched as Norman had a conversation with whom she assumed was the current vice president of the nation and was really curious about how he could possibly have such a connection.

Besides that she was also curious about the blonde woman, as she didn't remember seeing her around Norman the times she dropped by to visit him at Oscorp.

She had to admit that she was someone that most of the opposite sex would find attractive, but considering that it seemed that any woman who was close to Norman would in no way lose to a supermodel it wasn't surprising.

In fact, she would be more surprised if it was a woman with a relatively normal appearance, as that would be strange. Her thoughts soon stopped focusing on Norman and her gaze fell on Osborn's son who was asleep in one of the van's seats.

Such images reminded Felicia that despite Harry's maturity and intelligence he was still a child after all. She was really liking her job as a nanny, it just felt natural to spend time together with the two Osborns.

Norman's farewell words brought Felicia's attention back to him, "Are you done?" she asked softly and in a low tone so as not to disturb Harry.

Norman just nodded as he brought one of his hands to the bridge of his nose, tonight had caused his self-control to suffer steadily throughout.

"By the way how long have you had the vice president on your payroll?" asked Felicia by way of playfulness, although Norman knew he was dying for an answer.

After some thought Norman didn't find any kind of problem in sharing that information with the white-haired woman, "Since his beloved daughter got her leg back thanks to the Connors Formula" he answered simply.

"You could say that I became their benefactor, however, I prefer to keep that kind of position on hold, at least until something truly important happens, then it is at that time that I will use their gratitude to my advantage" commented Osborn superficially.

"What kind of situation would you need to be supported by the vice president?" asked Felicia however this time she didn't get an answer and Norman just had a mysterious smile on his face.

"By the way do you have an idea who is behind the attack?" she questioned again, but changing the subject as she moved a little closer to Norman, as even though Harry was asleep she preferred to talk about such a delicate subject with the least risk of him overhearing.

"I have an idea yes, but nothing specific, though I have the key piece, so it's a matter of time before I find out who did it" he replied simply.

Felicia just nodded, at this point she knew that whoever did it could be left for dead, one thing she learned from Norman was that he would not allow something like what had happened to go unpunished.

The drive to Felicia's house was somewhat long and because the white-haired woman had spent a considerable amount of energy shopping she ended up getting sleepy after all not everyone is like Norman who could go days without sleep and nothing happened or Bernard who was a butler.

Currently, Felicia's head was resting her weight on Norman's shoulder who simply sat still in a relaxed manner. His vision soon caught Bernard's gaze in the rearview mirror.

"Bernard concentrate on the road" he commanded in a regulated tone of voice.

"Sir I know you must be tired at this point of hearing me talk about the same subject, but at some point you will have to stop lying to yourself, or you will have to draw a line between you and them" this time Bernard's tone seemed to be that of a father who was disappointed in his son.

Bernard's words reached the ears of Osborn who only closed his eyes and let out a sigh, while gently placing his head in the same position as Felicia.

The rest of the trip simply passed in silence as both men who were still awake had their own thoughts.

…

Norman had immediately teleported to The Shelter after leaving Harry with Bernard at one of his other properties in the city, one that was more hidden than the Osborn mansion.

It took him no time at all to arrive at his destination where a somewhat bored Forge was waiting for him.

"Everything's ready" he mentioned as soon as he saw him, "He's been awake for about 20 minutes and by the looks of it, it won't be too hard to break it" he casually continued speaking.

"Good" mentioned Norman without stopping his pace, "I want you to investigate in depth the events that happened tonight at Stark Industries" he ordered him.

"That won't be difficult," he said, accepting the request.

Without further ado Norman walked through the door of the room and Forge just turned around to start working, maybe he wasn't the best in that field, but something like this was a piece of cake for him.

As soon as Norman walked through the door of the room his usual calm and indifferent aura changed completely to an oppressive and dangerous one.

His gaze soon fell on the man he had captured a short time ago standing in the middle of the room. "You have two choices" without any reason to engage in a dialogue with the other party Norman decide to speak directly.

"The first one you tell me what we both know what I want, and I will grant you a quick death" he told him simply.

"The second one on the other hand you refuse to talk, and then I will be forced to use other methods which will cause you to suffer for an indefinite period of time and I will give you an even more painful death for wasting my time" he continued.

However, the answer did not come, so Norman simply took one of the tools that Forge had created for cases like these, they had been designed to cause as much pain as possible without killing.

"This was your choice" Norman reminded him and soon after the screams and cries of pain and despair began to be heard throughout the room however outside it was completely silent.

…

An hour later Norman left the room and headed for the command center where Forge was sure to be. His deduction was correct, as he quickly spotted his subordinate in it.

" You took your time" he mentioned to him without even seeing him.

"I mentioned I would give him a slow and painful death, I only kept my word" he said as he approached Forge, "What did you find?" he asked immediately.

"S.H.I.E.L.D." he mentioned quickly, "All the information is being controlled by them, which in itself implies that something is wrong, but careless their systems are not something I have a problem with" he added.

"The official version is that three of Stark Industries' robotic prototypes got out of control in the middle of certain tests" he continued.

"However when it all started there were only two of them" as he mentioned that two images appeared on the screen, Norman could recognize them, as they were the same designs he had seen in the MCU movies, on one side, there was Iron Man and on the other was Iron Monger.

"But about 10 minutes after the initial battle between the two began a third one arrived, and it definitely did not come from Stark's facility" this time only an image of a robot different from the others was shown, first of all, its height was bigger than the previous two about three meters its main color was red, but it had certain parts painted with yellow and black.

'SP//DR' thanks to the image Norman could almost confirm that Peni's existence in this universe was because he was the Spider-Man or in this case the Spider-Girl of it.

The next thing that was shown was a short video of what looked like the end of the fight, "Where did you get the video from?" asked Norman while pictures might be simpler to find he wasn't so sure to say the same thing about a video.

"It was on one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. channels, so I just took it" commented Forge absent-mindedly as he was concentrating entirely on the video of the three advanced machines fighting.

Norman could almost see the gears starting to turn in Forge's head and knew he would almost certainly replicate the armor, though he doubted he could achieve the same results with SP//DR.

Unlike what happened in the movie this time Iron Monger was stopped without the need for the Arc Reactor explosion, he had been outmatched by his two rivals who were allied against him.

Norman just smiled at that fact, "Were you able to find Obadiah's location?" he asked seriously.

"I did currently he is being escorted by an elite team from S.H.I.E.L.D. they are probably taking him to one of their prisons" he mentioned quickly as a map showed where the convoy was currently at.

Norman just remained silent and thoughtful for a few moments.

"You're thinking of attacking him aren't you?" questioned Forge as he saw Osborn's attitude.

"Yes, Stane was the one who commanded the attack team, tonight he wanted to eliminate the other two shareholders of Stark Industries to finally have complete control over it, none of his plans worked" explained Osborn simply.

Forge just nodded considering the weaponry he had no doubt it had been a good plan, but he had not counted on all the probabilities that could happen.

"I'll get the equipment ready" he mentioned quickly as he rose from his seat, no doubt Norman would make him pay, and he doubted the fact that he was in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody would be enough to stop him.

Norman just stood still as he watched Stane's location change slowly, but steadily the next second he turned around and began to follow Forge.

There was absolutely nothing to connect the Osborn mansion attack to Stane, at least there was no concrete evidence of it, and he was sure they hadn't had time to question Stane.

So even if someone attacked the convoy to abduct Stane even if for some stupid reason they thought he might be the one behind it, they couldn't prove anything.

A somewhat evil grin formed on Norman's face, he would just be paying in the same coin, the only difference is that he would not fail, he would make sure Stane suffered.