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After Amanda's words, Barry, John, and Oliver thought for a moment. In fact, each of them had similar thoughts, especially Oliver. Diggle and Quin, were not against doing something if they got the chance. Barry, however, had mixed feelings. On the one hand, Hunger was indeed dangerous and the hero sometimes had thoughts of stopping him. But on the other hand, Hunter had saved his father and had most recently helped Stein. Of course Barry didn't doubt that he was doing all of this for profit, but he couldn't just stab him in the back.

Noticing Barry's doubts, Waller continued to press. She knew who was behind the mask, but it was not yet time to reveal that trump card.

«Mr. Flash, I see you're hesitant. It's understandable, your character is a little different from Mr. Queen's. But you must also realize that this man is no hero. All the meta people he's killed weren't killed for others, they were killed for him. Also, don't forget that he killed ordinary people. It doesn't matter if he did it for survival or pleasure. Murder is murder, there must have been a way around it. But he chose this way, and even if they were criminals, no one gave him the right to kill them.

Amanda's words had some effect on Flash, but he still wasn't sure. Hunger didn't seem to be his enemy. Back in the square, he'd tried to bring the truth about Firestorm to the people. Barry thought he was a hero, too, and he was still ashamed of that incident. But for some reason, Hunger wanted to tell everyone about it, to tell the truth about Ronnie. Even though he knew something about Zoom, that didn't mean he was a villain. At Amanda's words, Barry hesitantly replied:

«He stopped killing a long time ago, and before... Maybe he had a reason.

Waller grinned:

«What makes you think he stopped? He's got enough money to cover up his kidnappings.

Barry couldn't argue with that, but for some reason he was sure Hunter hadn't.

At that moment, Oliver came up to Flash and took him aside. Then he said quietly:

«I understand your thoughts, I don't like it either. But you've seen how he operates, he and I are definitely not going to be friends. He's interested in power and authority, and believe me, I've met people like that. You see something good in him, but that's Barry's mistake. If he really needs super speed, you can be sure he'll come and take it from you, and he won't care about your feelings. He's already so strong, if we don't do something, it's only gonna get worse. Just trust me. ARGUS are assholes, but sometimes they're right. This is one of those times. A lot of what we're doing is out of fear, you know that. But I swear to you, nobody's gonna kill him, we're just gonna find a way to keep it under control and keep ourselves safe.

Oliver's words made Barry think. They made sense, but what was the method Quin was talking about? Deciding not to ask, Barry exhaled:

«Okay, I'll do it.

Turning around to Amanda, Barry said loudly:

«I'm in, but give me time. I'll deal with my problem first. Besides, even if we all band together now, we don't stand a chance. I think you know his strength without me. If your plan doesn't work and we lose, then everything you said will happen.

Smiling victoriously, Waller nodded:

«It's good that you understand. Don't worry about time, we need it ourselves. Like you said, we can't afford to lose.

***

Completely unaware of the conspiracy brewing, Hunter calmly returned to Central City. It was still early in the morning, but the company should be open by now, so I went straight there.

Our main center was located in a large high-rise building in the center of town. There was a police station nearby. When I entered the building, I quietly passed through the guards, nodding my greeting to them.

Stepping into the elevator, I leaned my key card against the scanner and then my hand. After checking my fingerprints, the elevator started to take me to the top floor. The security system wasn't great, but we didn't hide anything there, so it was fine. There were several offices and a couple of labs on that floor. Basically, all the vice presidents worked there, and only they and their secretaries had access to the floor, not counting the guards, of course. But the guards had levels of access as well. Simple guards guarded the first twenty floors. Next came people with bigger salaries and skills, and they guarded the other forty.

Unfortunately, the building wasn't built from scratch. Someone sold it to us after their "amazing" bankruptcy. The high-rise wasn't bad, but I wanted something of my own... Maybe later, we don't have the money for that now.

I took the high-speed elevator up. I went straight to Elaina's office; she should have the report ready by now.

Calmly opening the door, I heard it immediately:

«Fucking hell! Fergus, I told you to knock... - When the woman looked up and saw me, she was not even embarrassed and said hello as if nothing had happened: -Oh, Director, have a seat. - Pressing a button, the woman said menacingly: - Fergus, bring two coffees and no sugar!

When I sat down, she looked at me expectantly.

I grinned and asked:

«Hartley asked you to make a list of the companies I need, did you?

Nodding, the woman rummaged through her papers and pulled out a thin folder before handing it to me.

I accepted it and pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket, handing it to Elaina.

«What's that?

Quickly running, through the list with my eyes, I answered:

«That's the plan, for the near future. These are a couple of applications for the phone we have started to release. I have described the approximate principle of their work, then it's up to you. A cloud streaming service should also be created in the near future. All of this could bring in some good money.

Looking at the sheet seriously, Elaina sighed:

«Where the hell do you get these ideas from?

Instagram and Uber, these are the things that didn't exist in this world. Google and Microsoft, Apple and Amazon exist, but some things still don't exist. There's still a lot to capitalize on. Consoles were unpopular and streaming services haven't launched yet. Creating our own online app store was not a bad idea. Plus, our phones were doing well. If everything goes well, there will be more profits.

Standing up I said:

«Organize everything, I'll be away temporarily. Don't be surprised if some of the companies on the list get eaten very soon.

Elaina grinned:

«I haven't been surprised by this kind of thing for a long time. The way you do it. Who cares? We're getting stronger, and that's what matters. You can rest assured, I'll take care of it.

Nodding, I turned around and walked away, hearing a quiet muttering:

«Ehhh, once again, he's dumped a lot of work on me....

I grinned and headed toward Hartley. That's why I liked Elaina, because she didn't ask questions and did what she was told. Just the kind of worker I needed. Though skills were important, too, without them....

---

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