Chapter 445: Deal

When William Bracken learned that his political party, which was supposed to support him unconditionally, had decided to abandon him, he was utterly shocked. The representative sent to deliver the message from the higher-ups was also quite helpless. In his view, the reason Senator William Bracken had fallen into his current predicament was due entirely to his own recent string of disastrous decisions—completely self-inflicted.

First, there was the recent failed assassination attempt on a congressman from the rival Donkey Party. While such things weren't unheard of in political battles, Bracken's attempt was unbelievably sloppy. The assassin hadn't even acted before being caught by the Donkey Party's people. To make matters worse, the killer had no sense of loyalty and immediately exposed Bracken, providing the opposition with solid evidence of Bracken's role in the plot.

Then, instead of learning from his mistakes, Bracken once again sent hitmen in New York to take out someone causing him trouble. Not only was the plan quickly uncovered, but when the two assassins were captured, Bracken foolishly sent them out again the next day, trying to finish the job. The result? A writer, under broad daylight and in front of the police station, pulled out a gun and shot both hitmen dead, using this as a pretext to formally launch an investigation into Bracken.

When the New York District Attorney officially applied to Congress for authorization to investigate Bracken, the Elephant Party still wanted to save him. After all, they had invested significant resources into building up William Bracken as a political star. Losing him over one misstep felt like a tremendous waste.

However, just as the Elephant Party was wracking its brains to find a way to pull this fool out of the fire, they received news that the writer who had put Bracken in this position had struck a deal with one of their biggest financial backers: Northrop Grumman. The writer was likely going to use a new piece of technology he possessed to gain a stake in the company.

This sudden shift in circumstances forced the Elephant Party to pause its efforts to save Bracken. Upon hearing this, the arms dealers backing the party reassessed the situation and quickly realized that William Bracken was no longer worth saving. Meanwhile, the writer's technology was of great interest to Northrop Grumman. The cost-benefit analysis changed drastically, and the arms dealers made their decision: securing this new technology was far more valuable than preserving a doomed senator.

Upon fully understanding the extent of Bracken's blunders, the Elephant Party's financial backers decided to abandon him. Their priority now was to secure the drone designs and the impressive semi-intelligent flight control system from Castle, the rising star drone designer. After all, there were a hundred senators in the U.S., but only one Castle, especially at this critical moment when the U.S. military was preparing to bid on the next generation of drones. Given Bracken's numerous screw-ups and the immense value Castle brought, the choice was obvious for the money-minded arms dealers.

Thus, once they confirmed that Northrop Grumman would be sending representatives to New York to secure the deal with the writer who had caused Bracken's downfall, the Elephant Party reluctantly decided to abandon William Bracken. If Bracken could somehow survive this on his own, the party would gladly support him again. But if he couldn't, well, too bad.

What neither the Elephant Party nor William Bracken knew at the time was that Castle hadn't just exchanged his drone designs and semi-intelligent flight control system for a one percent stake in Northrop Grumman. He had also agreed to help the company develop an impressive missile—the same one that Tony Stark designed at the start of *Iron Man*—the "Jericho" missile.

When Castle first arrived in this world, he quickly realized that Stark Industries and the other characters he was familiar with from his past life didn't exist here. Even more surprising was the fact that this world didn't even have the "Marvel" comic company. If it had, he wouldn't have dared to openly present the drone design, which bore a striking resemblance to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Quinjet, as his own. Castle was initially confused, as this world seemed both similar to and different from his previous one. For example, while there was no Marvel, Hollywood still had Disney.

After confirming that this world was fundamentally different from the one he knew, particularly in that it had no Marvel, Iron Man, Captain America, or Black Widow, Castle became excited. His system had rewarded him with "Tony Stark's complete mechanical expertise," although all knowledge related to the Iron Man suit had been erased. However, Stark's other weapons designs and engineering knowledge remained intact. Tony Stark, after all, was the world's foremost weapons manufacturer in the Marvel Universe, and Castle knew the value of this knowledge was incalculable.

So, after the initial negotiations, when Moz left the room with Northrop Grumman's financial and legal teams, leaving Castle alone with the company's vice president and aerospace tech director, Castle pulled out an external hard drive. He briefly explained his idea for developing a super missile—the "Jericho"—which immediately piqued the vice president's interest. The design was so impressive that the vice president, a man who had seen it all, was blown away. This is why Castle later bragged to Moz that he had been made an R&D consultant at Northrop Grumman. The company's board of directors had approved the position after the VP urgently reported Castle's missile idea.

This was all part of Castle's plan. He knew that in order to secure his position with Northrop Grumman, he had to constantly demonstrate his value. Only then would these arms dealers see the benefit of having him as an ally. This is why Castle revealed his idea for the Jericho missile, showing the arms dealers just how valuable he was. In turn, they would be willing to abandon William Bracken in exchange for securing Castle's groundbreaking new designs.

It was because of Castle's maneuvering that the Elephant Party had given up hope of saving William Bracken. Their financial backers had made it clear: they would not intervene on behalf of the senator, who was neck-deep in trouble, and they certainly wouldn't jeopardize their relationship with the highly valuable writer. What choice did the Elephant Party have? They could only send a representative to New York to inform Senator Bracken that he had been abandoned. The message was simple: If you can survive this on your own, we will support you again, but that's the best we can offer.

How could Bracken not be furious when he heard this, especially now that he had almost no way out?

Given the current situation, Bracken knew he was doomed. Not only would he lose his seat in the Senate, but he would likely end up in prison for his actions over the years. Without the protection that came with being a senator, all the crimes he'd committed would come to light, and they were too big to cover up. While most politicians in the country were as dirty as he was, the key difference was that his crimes had been exposed.

In Bracken's case, things were even worse. The police captain who was investigating him was determined to bring him down because he had ordered the hit on her mother. On top of that, his rival political party was capitalizing on the situation, fanning the flames. What had once seemed like a manageable situation now looked like an inevitable disaster. Bracken realized that his chances of escaping unscathed were slim to none.

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