Capítulo 14: Chapter 14: A Billionaire's Epiphany
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"Manipulating the pieces according to your strategy... That is what defines a King"
- Minerva Orland, (Fairy Tail)
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<(Omniscient POV)>
'I can't believe that I am even thinking of doing this. He literally screwed me with that contract, didn't he?' Tony Stark, the ultimate genius, sighed silently in his heart as he held a test tube in one hand and glanced over the text on his phone that Atem had sent him from his private number on his other hand.
"Don't worry Mr. Stark, we will take care of everything. You just have to read exactly what's written on the cards." The balding man beside Tony said with a good-natured smile after noticing his downcast expression.
"Yeah thanks, Bill." Tony nodded seriously.
"It's Phil, Phil Coulson." The polite agent tried to correct him, a smile still present on his face.
"Tony, what are you doing? The press is waiting for you. They are growing all restless from waiting for you for so long." Pepper hurriedly came in and informed Tony.
"Yeah, yeah, I am coming... I am really starting to hate my life." Tony muttered as he went towards the stage to deliver what would be one of the most iconic and famous lines in the entire MCU.
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"Why are you so excited about watching the news today? I mean, who the hell watches the news while eating popcorn?" Vanessa Carlysle, aka, Copycat asked while trying to steal some of Atem's popcorn from the large popcorn bucket on his lap.
"You wouldn't be asking me that if you knew just how important this little news clip was for the entire world. Even more so with what he would be endorsing today. The free press he would be giving us with this stunt of his would be a game-changer for the metahumans in the country. One could even say that he is going to be restrengthening the whole Metahuman Rights Movement all on his own with this." Atem said while tossing a handful of popcorn into his mouth.
"Huh? Really? Now, I am extremely curious about what he is going to say." Vanessa focused her attention back on the TV screen in front of her with a quizzical expression on her face.
The entire press release went ahead a lot like it did in the movies. At first, Tony vehemently denied any possibility of the Iron Man armor technology being connected to him or his company and then had a sudden moment of clarity after which he did a 360-degree turn and declared himself as the one and only Iron Man with his iconic line.
But this time it wasn't the end of the broadcast. He still wasn't done with giving the news reporters enough stuff to fill the front page with. In fact, he had just begun.
"But me being Ironman is not the only thing I want to declare today. A few days ago when I declared that Stark Industries would be leaving the defense industry, a lot of you were skeptical about the future of the company. That's why I am glad today to introduce all of you to our newest venture, one born from the partnership between Stark Industries and Meta Enterprises... Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you MX001... uh also known as the Metamax V1, the miracle medicine for metahumans.
The very first medicine that can cure ANY physical 'deformity' that might have resulted from your mutations, the first and ONLY medicine in the market right now that can help metahumans adjust to their powers and gain voluntary control over even their involuntary abilities. So, no more getting random power outbursts, no more being hurt by your own powers. The Metamax V1 will make sure that your own gift will never be a blockade to you living your life to your full capability." Tony showed off the test tube in his hand with absolute confidence, posing in front of the cameras like a charismatic billionaire with a world-changing product in his hand.
"He is such an overkill," Vanessa said while narrowing her eyes at the smiling billionaire on the TV. "Also Metamax? You didn't tell me that name? Was it a last-minute decision or something?"
"No, it wasn't a decision at all. It seems Tony suddenly had an epiphany about the name and renamed it, probably because he thought that the name wasn't attractive enough. Well, he has suffered a lot in the last few days, so I guess he can have this victory for now. Plus, it is good that his reaction is so genuine, otherwise, it would have been tough to convince the public of his own trust in the product.
Now that people think that the product was developed with a Stark as one of its researchers, the public acceptance of the medicine would be much faster as even the portion of the government lobbying against metahumans wouldn't really have enough guts to try to go against a politically well-connected company like Stark Industries. Also, they would even take care of the distribution of MX001 for us as well since we have already gotten its FDA approval. All we have to do is just produce enough of the formula and that's it." The New God said, gulping the last bit of popcorn left over in his bowl.
"What about their profits? Aren't you gonna let them keep anything or will they be working with us or should I say for us in exchange for just our goodwill?" Vanessa asked curiously.
"Hmm? Profits? Well, the product itself is almost zero profit, with emphasis on the 'almost' but we will be profiting about one dollar per dose with the serum priced at about four dollars which is more than affordable for almost everyone around the world. But the thing is that this medicine is not for making a profit. It's for making a good brand image in front of metahumans all over the world. In fact, I will be using money from my own pocket to make sure that the product reaches as many people as possible." Atem explained.
"I see, so this is not business but pure marketing?" Copycat asked, raising one of her brows in intrigue.
"Yep, exactly. The revenue we earn from our tech products and services as well as our many MANY investments are more than enough for us to continue to operate both the company at its maximum efficiency as well as support Neo Genosha's economy, although the way things are going, the country would be more than capable of completely being a developed country with a high GDP on its own in just a few years. After all, Genosha's biotech is probably as advanced as Wakanda's vibranium technology." Atem revealed to Vanessa.
"Oh, I didn't know that. I always thought you were letting Genosha leech off of you. But how is the country even making money? I mean there is absolutely zero tourism there since the country is still not open to non-metahuman outsiders. And none of the industries have grown too big. The only company in the country that can be considered global and profitable would be Meta Industries after we moved the company there. Besides that and the agriculture industry, I don't think I have heard of anything even remotely as big in terms of making money in the country." Vanessa said as she shut off the TV and slowly made her way into Atem's embrace.
"Horny are we? Sorry, but you are not gonna get lucky with talks on finance and politics... But still, I will humor you since I have some time. You see the island of Genosha is more or less useless. It doesn't have anything that can be developed into a significant industry. But that's where the newly joined Krakoa comes in. The living island can literally produce an unlimited amount of any type of biological plant. it can make any organic plant matter as long as it has access to water, and energy, preferably in the form of sunlight as well as minerals in the soil.
So, it is literally an infinite plant glitch giving us an infinite amount of forest resources and thus high GDP when we export those resources. And that's just the beginning because the unlimited plant thing unlocks more industries like farming, agriculture and so much more. Not only that, the island even produces some unique plants by itself that are produced nowhere else in the world like plants that can produce more efficient antibiotics, flowers with pollen that can extend normal human life as well and plants with flowers that can cure diseases of the mind." Atem said like a proud father.
"So you want to be Wakanda.... only more green and environment friendly?" She asked with a sneer.
"Yep. Plus, I am also thinking of making Krakoa produce health-friendly crack or pot. Imagine doing drugs that are actually healthy for you. There is more than a two hundred billion dollar market in that sector, so we can profit a lot from a monopoly like that." The God of Domination began to do a quick math in his mind trying to see just how much money he would be able to make by forcing Krakoa to produce free stuff for him.
The pitiful island-shaped metahuman was fundamentally Atem's free organic factory to make whatever he needed or wanted and he had no qualms in using it to its full potential. Why would he even? Atem wasn't just taking stuff away from him. No, he was a believer in equal exchange. So, he gave services of equal value to the island as well in the form of safety and protection.
He kept the island and all its resources safe from the hands of corrupt and evil organizations and instead only 'requested' the bare minimum amount of natural resources from it. If this was not fair, then he had no idea what was.
"By the way, what happened to Mystique and her wife? I don't think I have seen them in the last few months. They were missing even before you went away on that trip of yours to conquer a dimension or something." Vanessa asked as she prepared herself for what would be a long nap on Atem's chest.
"Well, they are actually on a... secret mission. At least Mystique is, while Destiny is preparing herself for the enlightenment process. After all, I did select her as the second person who would be awakening her divinity after Morgana became a New God of Magic. I have a very good guess on what type of divinity she might awaken and trust me, she would be really useful if I am right, especially in our current battle to take over the hidden monster side of the world." Atem explained as he thought about one of the few fronts he still hadn't dominated completely.
'It really is a miracle how Blade, Shiklah, and Lilith still haven't started an all-out World War 3 against all the monsters who haven't surrendered to us yet. It seems that they have decided to listen to my constant requests to keep the monster world hidden from the normal public. Good for them, maybe I should give them a raise one of these days. After all, I heard that the werewolves faction had made them work really hard since they were the ones who were the most adamant about not working under us.' He pondered silently.
"What do you think...?" Atem could not finish as he saw Vanessa already having achieved her primary goal of starting her nap on his chest.
"*Sigh*. She is definitely one of the laziest metahumans in my faction... But that's also the reason why she is my favorite person to just chill with." The New god laughed to himself as he embraced the blue-skinned metahuman and prepared to go into a nap himself.
He definitely didn't 'need' naps since he was a god and all but after a hard day's honest work like blackmailing Tony Stark, he definitely wanted it.
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