Chapter 573

"How strong can he become?"

Now that the candidate had been selected, Lieutenant General Hogue’s greatest concern was the man’s eventual combat capability.

They needed a hero, after all.

If Umbrella simply produced another super-soldier, that wouldn’t be enough. At minimum, Hogue wanted someone who could stand on the battlefield alongside Captain America.

"How strong he becomes depends entirely on what he’s willing to pay."

Oleses raised her eyes slightly.

There was a sharp glint in them.

"You don’t need to worry about that," Hogue said naturally. "Equipping the entire military with armor as advanced as yours would still be difficult for us, but if we’re only commissioning a single superhero, our budget is more than sufficient."

He had, naturally, assumed that the "price" meant money.

Pay more, get a stronger hero.

It was the most basic rule of the universe.

No investment, no power.

"I think you’ve misunderstood me."

Oleses shook her head.

"What I want to know is what he is willing to pay."

"Hmm?"

Hogue frowned.

He still wasn’t following.

"This man is an ordinary human being. If he wants to become a superhero, he’ll have to undergo biological modification."

Salorlas took over the explanation when she saw his bewildered expression.

"The more extensive the modifications, the stronger he’ll become. But the more we alter him, the less of his original human body remains."

She paused.

"So what we need to know is how much of his humanity he’s willing to give up."

In other words, the stronger he became, the less human he’d look.

Take it far enough, and eventually there wouldn’t be much human left at all.

The real question was whether Jeffrey Mason himself could accept that.

"He must retain a normal human appearance."

Ross suddenly spoke.

He still remembered what the corrupted enhanced humans from the attack on the special military base had looked like.

Umbrella claimed those creatures were its products.

They had certainly been powerful.

Ten of them had formed a defensive line that an entire reinforced battalion had spent an hour trying to break through. Without armored units, it was difficult to say who would have won.

But physically, they had barely qualified as human anymore.

Their faces were particularly memorable.

They were ugly enough to make a grown man cry.

"Agreed."

Hogue glanced at Ross.

As someone who had spent half his career involved in enhanced-human research, Ross was speaking from experience.

And his suggestion struck directly at Hogue’s own concerns.

A hero needed overwhelming strength.

That much was obvious.

But raw strength wasn’t enough.

A true hero had to embody something. He had to inspire the public, strengthen confidence in the government, and give people something they could rally behind.

That required an acceptable appearance.

He didn’t have to be handsome.

He just had to look human.

Preferably strong, dignified, and imposing.

If Umbrella produced something that looked like the Abomination, there was no chance of selling the public on the image of a noble American hero.

Nobody would rally behind that.

They’d probably just throw eggs at him.

"Keep the exterior human..."

Salorlas frowned thoughtfully.

"So we can do whatever we want internally?"

She already had a modification plan in mind.

Cut Mason open like a fish.

Remove the bones.

Remove the organs.

Replace everything with an entirely new internal structure.

It was certainly an efficient approach.

"But there’s still one question," Salorlas continued. "Will Mason himself agree to it?"

"His desire to become a superhero is extremely strong."

Hogue flipped through the candidate files in his hands.

"He’s already decided that he’s willing to sacrifice everything for his country."

He turned the pages.

"In fact, that’s true of everyone on this list. Otherwise, the Department of Defense wouldn’t have selected them in the first place."

"Then we can discuss compensation."

Salorlas smiled again.

The expression was elegant.

The words that followed were anything but.

"Name your price."

Hogue leaned back in his seat, looking every bit like a man with an enormous budget.

"Free."

Salorlas smiled.

"This project will be our gift to the Department of Defense. We won’t charge you anything."

Hogue stared at her.

Free?

There was such a thing as a free lunch?

Having spent his career dealing with corporations, Hogue wasn’t about to believe that.

"I assume there’s a catch."

"There is one small condition."

Salorlas nodded.

"We’d like a little authority from the government."

"What kind of authority?"

"Quite a few people in the world are trying to enter our field now."

Oleses’s expression became disdainful.

"From our perspective, their research institutions are little more than amateur workshops. Unlicensed ones, at that."

"Their technology is crude and riddled with defects. Worse, the people running these operations aren’t interested in serving their countries the way we are. They seem far more interested in using their technology to pursue illegal profits."

She smiled faintly.

"Killian is the perfect example."

Hogue knew enough about the matter that he didn’t need an explanation.

So he waited.

The next part was what actually mattered.

"So..."

"Whenever something similar happens again, we’d like the United States government to authorize our company to handle it."

Hogue’s expression changed immediately.

He shook his head.

"Absolutely not."

His answer was firm.

"If money is what you want, we can negotiate."

"General, you need to understand that we have no intention of interfering with the American justice system."

Salorlas didn’t back down.

"Our response team can formally register as a specialized security organization and operate as military contractors."

"We won’t charge the government any fees."

"Any criminals we capture will be turned over to the American judicial system for prosecution."

"Of course you’ll hand them over."

Hogue gave a cold laugh.

"What else would you want with them?"

He had seen through them.

"You want their technology. You want to monopolize enhanced-human research."

"What’s wrong with that?"

Oleses spread her hands.

"They refuse to cooperate with the government, and their technology is crude and defective. Why shouldn’t we recover it, analyze it, improve it, and turn the results into usable products for the government?"

Hogue’s eyes narrowed.

"And then the government pays you for them."

"Our prices are fair and reasonable."

Oleses shrugged.

"If you’re concerned about us monopolizing the field, we can share any new technology recovered during our operations with the government."

"But what would that accomplish?"

She leaned forward slightly.

"We aren’t bragging when we say this, but our company is the best in this field. We’re the only ones capable of rapidly analyzing these technologies and improving them."

"So whether you keep the technology within the military and conduct the research yourselves, or hand it to someone else, you’ll waste an enormous amount of valuable time."

She suddenly turned toward Ross.

"How much funding did you need again?"

Ross scratched his head.

He clearly didn’t want to answer.

Everyone was looking at him.

He sighed.

"Ten billion dollars a year."

Hogue’s face twitched.

Ross continued reluctantly.

"And even then, there was no guarantee we’d get results. At least, that’s how it went when I was running the research."

Hogue sucked air through his teeth.

He didn’t think the old soldier was lying.

Ross might have become rather close to the Eredar Twins recently, but the Department of Defense kept records of government expenditures.

Hogue could verify the number easily enough.

And how long had Ross worked on enhanced-human research?

Twenty years.

Twenty years at ten billion dollars a year.

Two hundred billion dollars.

And that was only the government’s official spending.

It didn’t include the money secretly provided by various financial interests behind the scenes.

Nor did it account for the enormous expense of cleaning up after the catastrophic accident Ross had caused.

The government had probably spent as much on the aftermath as it had on the research itself.

If the problem were only money, Hogue could find a way.

The United States government had deep pockets, and the military budget was hardly known for its restraint.

But time was another matter.

Ten years was bad enough.

Twenty was absurd.

And during those ten years, Umbrella’s research division would almost certainly have finished analyzing and optimizing the technology several times over.

By the time the military finally produced a working result, Umbrella would already be several generations ahead.

There would be no competition.

The company would still hold the monopoly.

"So, when you look at it that way..."

Oleses smiled with quiet satisfaction.

"Buying finished products from us is actually the more economical option."

She looked at Hogue.

"Don’t you agree, General?"

Hogue fell silent.

He hated the logic.

But he couldn’t deny it.

The absolute certainty with which he’d rejected their request had already begun to crack.

Even so, he couldn’t make the decision himself.

"This isn’t something I can approve on my own."

He finally shook his head.

"I’ll have to take it back and ask the President."