Abigail's head was pounding. After arguing with Stan, she was already frustrated, but now Harry had come at her with a different attitude, clearly dealing with a serious issue.
Usually, she would just brush Harry off, but today, feeling helpless, she had no choice but to take him seriously: "Harry, why are you so fixated on weapons? Your company is still profitable, right? And if you need money, with Osborn's capital, you can make money doing anything."
Harry hadn't planned to discuss this over the phone, but since Abigail refused to meet him in person, he finally dropped his pride and told her the truth: "They've already pushed me out. They're planning on kicking me out of the board soon. I can't get involved in the company's most profitable projects, and the only ones left are my father's secret research on drugs and weapons. I can't get involved in that either, so my only option is to work on weapon development. If I fail, I'll be kicked out of the company and lose the business my father left me."
Abigail rubbed her throbbing forehead. "Harry, you know this isn't within my capabilities. How many times do I have to tell you? I'm just an ordinary employee. Tony Stark was a genius, but I'm nothing."
Harry's words came fast. "Listen, Abigail, now isn't the time for you to prove whether you're useless or not. The old guys gave me two conditions: First, I can get military funding for development. Second, I can hire Stark Industries' Abigail Rhodes as the chief engineer—"
Abigail's brows shot up, and she nearly shouted, "You're gambling with me to give your competitors a chance?"
Her outburst startled everyone in the office. Several staff members in white lab coats turned their heads, eyes fixed on her.
Abigail froze. She didn't know why, but the looks on their faces told her she had really frightened them.
The young man closest to her stiffened and carefully shuffled to the side, hugging his files tightly, then quickly fled once he reached a "safe" distance.
Abigail was speechless.
Everyone seemed to snap out of their stupor and quickly went back to work, pretending nothing had happened.
Abigail clenched her teeth, continuing the call, "Harry, when are you going to grow up? I've told you, if you want to take over the company, do it yourself. What's the point of dragging me into this? After your father died, you pushed all the responsibility onto Spider-Man, and now when your company has problems, you blame me? Harry, when will you solve your own issues?"
She said it in anger, but once the words left her mouth, she realized how hurtful they were. She froze, feeling guilty and worried about Harry's response.
Harry's voice, filled with fury, came over the phone. He sounded like a small animal lashing out after being scolded: "What do you expect me to do? I only have you!"
"You always say Tony Stark is your mentor, but did you ever stop to think who paid for your college tuition? Without that, you wouldn't even have had the chance to meet Tony Stark, let alone become his student! And now that Stark's taken care of you, you're just going to abandon your old friends?"
Abigail had been guilty at first, but after hearing his angry shout, she snapped: "Harry!"
But he wasn't done; it was as if his own wounds were so deep that he had to hurt her back: "What kind of spell did Stark put on you? He's dead, and you're still guarding his company!"
That one final sentence shattered any possibility of reconciliation.
Abigail took a deep breath, calmed herself, and said coldly, "Stark is not dead."
She wasn't sure whether she was saying it for Harry's sake or to reassure herself, but she repeated firmly, "Stark. Is. Not. Dead."
She hung up the phone, her heart heavy.
Harry tried calling her several more times, but she didn't answer. She stormed into the lab.
As soon as she walked in, she didn't have a moment to gather her thoughts before she saw Stan sitting in a chair, looking over some documents. When he saw Abigail, he stood up energetically, walking toward her: "Abigail! That argument in the meeting today was totally unnecessary. You know no one cares more about Tony than I do."
Abigail gave him a perfunctory nod, trying to sidestep him and get to her desk. But Stan blocked her, putting his hand affectionately on her shoulder. "Abigail, listen. My only wish right now is to run the company for Tony while he's gone. I know you feel the same way, right?"
Abigail nodded, still offering no resistance.
Stan went on, "When Rhodey called me today, he said Tony didn't have any family, and that he made me the ultimate heir to his estate. You know, that moment really touched me. He trusted me so much. How could I betray him?"
Abigail: "…"
Wait a second—this doesn't match what Rhodey told me.
Stan wiped his "tears" from his eyes. "Trust me, Tony will be back. We'll find him."
All the researchers were silently watching them now. Abigail knew they had probably figured out who they should listen to.
But more importantly, what filled Abigail's mind was:
"That damn Rhodey, trying to test me! You really think I don't know your tricks? You don't trust me, do you?"
Abigail was seething, but she put on a smile—her blood boiling inside her as she calmly said, "I trust you."
Stan wiped his tears, turned, and left. Abigail couldn't shake the feeling of suspicion, quickly sat at her desk, and started hacking into Stan's computer.
He had another meeting coming up, and this was her best chance to gather information.
She used the company's internal network to access the system, and it was much easier than trying from the outside. Within moments, she had cracked Stan's password. As Rhodey had mentioned, Abigail had the highest clearance for data at Stark Industries, a fact she hadn't known until now.
Soon, after copying all the files, Abigail noticed something strange—these data didn't match the ones she had on hand. Something was wrong.
She had the military procurement data, so these extra weapons couldn't have been sold to the military.
Unless, Stan was doing deals behind Tony's back. Stark Industries sold weapons, but Tony would never approve of such things.
After copying all the data, Abigail found that the last folder was encrypted. She struggled with the password, but it was too complex to crack in a short time. So she stopped for the moment, planning to try again later at home.
She remembered Magneto's associate, Raven, who could break into any security system and crack any password. If needed, Abigail would ask Erik for help.
But… would he still hold a grudge over the time she threw him out of the window?
Abigail tilted her head, recalling the day she saw two bright streaks of light fly out of her window.
…Hmm.