The assassination attempt on Nick's life might have failed and the Hand might have voided the contract, but Nick didn't know that and it lit a fire under him.
He quickly prepared defenses around his building, not knowing if they'd attack again, even going so far as having Peter help him out the next day.
Peter asked about why he was doing all of it, Nick could only pull the Hydra card out once again. He explained that they were building the weapons needed to counteract them, not that they were going to be Nick's main offensive and defensive weapons.
He didn't know why the Hand tried to kill him, whether it was because they knew something secretive about him, somebody hired them, or they wanted to eliminate him before he advanced the AMS further so regular people can be on par with Chi users.
It ultimately didn't matter to him, since they came after his life he'll eventually wipe this clan out of existence once strong enough.
Thankfully the building of the drones was rather easy since Nick had planned on selling the Exosuit to the military, and because of that, he'd already registered his company as a weapons manufacturer. This allowed him to buy weapon parts in bulk for his drones.
After the manufacturer created the base drones that he planned on selling commercially, it took Nick about ten minutes to weaponize each one. This was far too time-consuming for his plans of having swarms of drones, but it was okay for personal protection at night.
The only thing Nick was missing out on was the software that allowed these drones to turn from mindless killings machines into efficient and accurate marksmen.
Nick could attempt this programmj3ng task, but just the slightest failure meant he or someone unrelated might get shot, he'd rather not risk it and leave it to the experts, like the man nicknamed Micro!
Having absorbed the Vulture, Nick's memory recall had increased greatly. He could remember movies and comic books much better, which was a blessing in a world made up of movies and comics. It was only thanks to this that Nick was able to remember the Hacker Micro's real name, David Lieberman!
Having looked up the local obituary, Nick smiled widely seeing he'd been "killed" two months ago.
David was a genius cybersecurity analyst who worked for the NSA. While working for them, he saw some things he shouldn't have and when he tried to report it, he was hunted down and nearly killed. If it weren't for the phone in his chest pocket that blocked the bullet, hed have been killed!
He had to fake his death so that they wouldn't threaten his family, he would originally bided his time and eventually teaming up with the Punisher. Together they put Micro's information to use and actually stopped the people who were after his life.
Nick even managed to remember quite a bit about Micro's base because of how unique and memorable it was, it was in a defunct steam plant on a small island. There weren't many islands in New York, and even fewer of those islands housed abandoned steam plants.
It was only after checking the second abandoned steam plant located on Roosevelt Island that Nick realized he got the correct one. There were hidden cameras everywhere, something that a normal person would have missed, but not Nick.
Realizing this was the location of Micro's hidden base, Nick waited until it was 2 AM as he scoped out the entire steam plant. Micro was incredibly smart; he placed his cameras so that any normal person would have been seen breaking in, but Nick wasn't normal.
Micro had very few cameras on the roof; the roof was very sloped, making it impossible for a helicopter to land. Besides that, there was no access into the base from the roof, so why would he even bother placing cameras?
By the time a person could climb on top of the roof, they'd have already been picked up by other cameras; this was where Nick made his entry into the base.
Using his wings, he flew high into the sky, avoiding the cameras and gently flew down onto the roof before putting his shirt back on.
Flicking his wrists down, he shot out a circle of acidic webbing that began burning into the roof! Using his telekinesis, Nick lifted up the now separated chunk of the roof to prevent noise and activated the anti-gravity harness to gently float into the base.
Within 20 seconds Nick had soundlessly made entrance into Micro's base without the man even knowing!
Calming his heart down, Nick channeled his Chi into his ears to enhance his echolocation abilities further!
Sensing his target heart beating rhythmically and the slight sound of snoring, Nick figured Micro had to have motion detectors and cameras on, so he chose speed over stealth.
Focusing his Chi into his legs, Nick toggled the anti-gravity harness to reduce his weight to make him faster before he dashed! He heard alarms going off but he didn't stop, he burst through the door and saw a large array of computers and screens.
There sat Micro on a swivel chair, he had fallen asleep watching his family on his hidden cameras, but he was wide awake now. He reached for his gun but was too slow, a rapid fast nail slammed into the gun's barrel, knocking it out of his reach.
Just as Micro scrambled for the gun on the floor, Nick was in front of him in an instant, forcefully pushing him back into the chair.
"Calm down, David, I'm here to help." Nick's calm voice wasn't reassuring at all, if anything, it made him even more nervous.
"Help? People don't usually break in and bum rush people in their sleep trying to help them." As he spoke, Micro's eyes looked left and right, trying to plan an escape.
"Don't you want to reunite with your family?" Nick's words caused the vigilant Micro to freeze, his eyes locking into Nick's.
"Wha- who are you? How did you even find me?" Micro's voice hus complaints while internally trying to think of a way to worm out of this.
"My name is Nicholas Valentine, CEO of Valentine Industries, and I came to recruit you." A look of recognition appeared on Micro's face.
"So you're the guy creating those AMS... I don't know why you're trying to hire me, but I'm in some serious shit right now, my family are essentially hostages! I don't got time to build door cameras."
"Im not ask you to attach your name to my products and announce that your not actually dead, I'm just asking you to create the software that goes into my creations. In exchange...ill give you all the resources you'll ever need and kill the people who are after you." Micro's eyes widen at this offer.
"You? The guy who's after me is William Rowling! The Director of Covert Operations who has the entire government backing him! Who do you got backing you?! The moment you step on their tail, your family is no longer safe!" Hearing Micro screaming at him, Nick took out a knife that caused the man to immediately start sweating.
"I have no backing, I am independent of all outside influence, but that doesn't mean I'm helpless, or that I can't help you." Letting go of the blade, it floated through the air, twisting and turning before gently resting on Micro's throat for a second before floating away.
Micro's eyes widened in disbelief, he'd heard rumors on the net that supernatural abilities began popping up in people, but this was the first time he'd seen it. He realized just how easily it would be to kill someone with powers like that, his heart was full of fear but his mind understood this was the chance he was waiting for!
"I promise that so long as you work for me for 10 years, I'll help reunite you with your family within a month. If I can't fulfill my end of the promise, you are free to return here and hide away." The blade quickly returned to Nick's sheath before he outstretched his hand for a shake.
Micro took a second to process everything. He had initially been looking into ex-soldiers that William Rowling had also screwed over to help him. He realized that an ex-soldier couldn't compare to a millionaire with supernatural powers!
It took him a few second but eventually Micro gained a resolute look, David shook Nick's hands like he just made a deal with the devil, but he didn't care. If making a deal with the devil was what it took to reunite with his family, then so be it!