After bringing this former military industrial giant under her command, Makima did not pause for a moment; she immediately began working on restructuring his paralyzed industrial empire.
Of course, just as Makima had previously declared, Hammer Industries had become history.
Although the factory buildings, equipment, and the technical backbone staff who had not managed to pack up and run were all kept and received intact, the sign hanging on the top of the building had long been mercilessly removed and tossed into the trash.
Replacing it were four brand-new characters—Su Industries.
Yes, the "Su" from Su Modie.
From this moment on, Su Modie, far away in New York, had firmly established her status as a little rich girl in New York.
Although the nominal CEO was currently Justin Hammer, that mysterious old man, with Makima holding the leash behind the scenes, Su Industries would never repeat the same mistakes as the former Hammer Industries.
What Su Modie needed to do now was very simple—
Just sit happily in Makima's arms, eating hot pot, singing songs, and waiting for the money to fly into her own pocket.
After Justin Hammer was controlled, he indeed showed good subjective initiative; he pulled an all-nighter to organize a top-secret report several hundred pages long, detailing the core projects and external contacts of Hammer Industries over the years.
Makima's speed in reading this report was astonishingly fast.
She sat upright at her desk, her slender fingers flipping through the pages rapidly.
Her spiral eyes reflected the dense data and lists.
In just one afternoon, she had digested the entire report. Through this report, Makima unearthed several candidates who had close financial dealings with Hammer Industries and were worth recruiting.
In Makima's view, these people were practically tailor-made cannon fodder for the Thunderbolts...
Oh no, I mean excellent vanguard members.
Soon, a preliminarily screened list was submitted to Su Modie.
Su Modie glanced at it. There were over a dozen people listed on it, so she picked up a red pen and performed a second round of refining.
Finally, four people stood out and entered the candidate sequence—
Abner Jenkins, Fred Myers, Carmilla Black, and... Screaming Mimi.
Ignoring Annie's good friend and that rather bizarre nickname... let's talk about the first two.
Abner had deep ties with Hammer.
Abner Jenkins
As everyone knows, ever since Iron Man amazed the World with his appearance, Hammer had always wanted to copy him and create a competing suit of armor.
Unfortunately, the scientific research foundation of Hammer Industries was a bit too thin.
The prototypes they made either fell apart after walking two steps or almost twisted the pilot's spine into a twist on the testing bench, but among that pile of discarded drafts and mediocre researchers, there was an anomaly—Abner Jenkins.
Abner was originally just an aircraft maintenance technician, but his genius mechanical intuition made him unwilling to settle for that meager salary.
At that time, Hammer Industries was thirsty for talent, and the two sides hit it off immediately; he brought his own ideas and joined Hammer Industries.
However, before his hard work could be released, Hammer was sent to jail by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Tony because his employment of villains was exposed.
In the chaos, Abner took all the core data and prototype parts he was responsible for and disappeared without a trace.
If it were anyone else, they might think this was just a small employee running away with money, but Su Modie knew—
This young man named Abner would have quite a reputation in the future.
Makima followed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence network to investigate and soon locked onto a strange target in Maryland.
Recently, there had been a commotion in Baltimore, Maryland.
Many local residents claimed to have witnessed a huge, green "Mothman."
This mysterious creature was not only agile but also repeatedly carried out armed robberies on small local banks.
Because the surveillance equipment in those towns was too old and the images were as blurry as if they had been pixelated, this "urban legend" remained highly popular. S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was busy dealing with the aftermath of the Battle of New York and had no time to deal with such rural rumors.
They could only leave it to the local Police to handle.
But those Police were even more useless.
They could not distinguish which eyewitness reports and clues were true, or if someone was just hype and bragging.
Such a case full of supernatural elements should, by rights, fall under the jurisdiction of the "Midnight Sons" in Su Modie's plan.
But Makima happened to set her sights on it.
The reason was simple—Su Modie remembered that when Abner first appeared in the comics, his codename was Beetle.
Yes, not that Blue Beetle from next door.
Although they both relied on high-tech suits in the shape of beetles, the difference was that Beetle was a villain.
So, if Su Modie guessed correctly, Abner should have really developed a suit similar to Iron Man's.
This so-called Mothman was him doing some zero-dollar shopping there.
I have to say, Hammer was indeed a bit unlucky. If he had gone in a few months later, Abner's suit might have really helped him turn things around.
As a result, Makima, who had just returned from blowing the sea breeze in Georgia, had not even had time to rest for two days before she was on her way, boarding a private plane to Maryland. This amazing overtime efficiency made Su Modie's conscience ache slightly.
"Old Ma, you're working too hard."
Su Modie sighed through her consciousness.
No wonder the workaholic Hill favored Makima; this was not just a workaholic, this was purely a working machine!
Su Modie really felt sorry for Makima, who never stayed at home.
"When you finish this and come back to New York, I will definitely reward you well. You can have whatever reward you want."
Makima was sitting in the leather seat of the plane, looking at the churning sea of clouds outside the window. When she heard the word "reward," a faint, yet aggressive arc appeared on her eternally indifferent face.
"Master Mo Die, that is what you said."
Makima stroked her neatly trimmed nails and whispered, "I will... look forward to it very much."
With S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence network as a foundation, plus Su Modie's memory, finding someone was actually a very easy thing.
But plans could not keep up with changes.
Before Makima, who had just landed in Maryland, could spread her search net, Lux had made an unexpected discovery first.
At this moment, inside the underground Inventory, the roar of machines continued.
"You said Abner?"
Mason, who was sticking his butt out and burying his head in a Chitauri power core, stopped what he was doing.
He raised his oil-stained face, pushed his goggles up to his forehead, and his tone carried a hint of surprise.
Lux was also stunned upon hearing this, her beautiful eyes widening slightly.
"Why, do you know him?"
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