MARVEL: BUYING GODHOOD

I looked at her.

That wasn’t what I’d said.

Technically, I could have used the laboratory as an excuse, and it wasn’t a terrible explanation, but I had no idea why Gwen had decided to tell Helen that.

Maybe saying she was working for the lab sounded better than admitting I’d convinced her by asking whether she wanted a company more than she wanted to spend time with me.

Either way, contradicting her now would only create another conversation I didn’t want, so I let it go.

Helen slowly turned toward me.

“How many secretaries do you need? You have White, me, and now my daughter.” For a moment, I thought she was annoyed because I’d offered Gwen the position without asking her first.

That was fair enough.

“White will eventually be handling Mother’s company.

You’ll be my legal adviser and keep an eye on everything from that side, and Gwen will eventually help with the science division.” I paused before adding, “And I’m sorry.

I should’ve asked you before offering her the position.”

Helen’s expression didn’t change much.

“Don’t ask her to do anything wrong.” Oh.

That was what this was about.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure nothing touches her.” Helen seemed satisfied with that, but Gwen’s expression hardened.

Great.

Now she was angry.

I was too tired to deal with this right now.

Whatever Gwen wanted to say could wait until after Stane was gone.

I ignored the look she was giving me and turned my attention elsewhere.

Almost an hour passed before White entered the room and told me, “My Lord, he is here.” Finally.

I looked toward Helen and asked whether everything was ready.

She nodded.

“The money for the shares is ready, and more is being arranged for the other things you wanted.”

More loans.

Billions more, most likely.

At this point, I wasn’t even sure how much I’d borrowed against my personal assets without sitting down and adding everything together.

Not that I was worried about paying it back.

Gold wasn’t particularly complicated, and if I really needed money, I could have the Research Assistant create a skill that let me produce enough of it to cover billions.

It just wasn’t a viable solution on a larger scale.

I couldn’t keep dumping ridiculous amounts of gold into the market without eventually causing problems, so for now, borrowing against assets I already owned was much simpler.

A few minutes later, Obadiah Stane walked through the door with six lawyers behind him.

The bald fucker had actually come prepared.

I’d expected him to need more time, especially since I didn’t know whether the five percent was coming from his own holdings or if he’d had to arrange it with someone else.

If it was his, there wasn’t much of a problem.

If it wasn’t, then he’d managed to get everything together considerably faster than I’d expected.

Either way, the fact that he was already here told me how badly he wanted this deal finished.

We moved to the table, with Helen taking the seat beside me while Gwen and White remained nearby.

Stane’s lawyers began taking documents out of their cases and arranging them across the table.

Helen immediately started going through the copies placed in front of us, while I waited for Stane to finish.

For the first time since I’d offered Gwen the job, she seemed to be paying close attention to what being my secretary might actually involve.

Once everything was ready, Stane pushed one of the documents across the table toward me.

“As we agreed, five percent of Stark Industries.”

I picked it up and glanced at the first page before looking toward Helen.

She was already reading through her copy, so I left that part to her and looked back at Stane.

He tapped the documents in front of me.

“This is the price.” I looked down at the number.

One point seven five billion dollars.

Exactly thirty-five percent of what the shares were currently worth.

It was still a lot of money, but considerably less than I’d originally expected to spend getting five percent of Stark Industries.

I looked back at Stane and asked, “And this includes the blueprints and commercial rights to the Arc Reactor?” When he confirmed it did, my gaze moved toward Helen.

“Everything right?”

Helen continued reading for a few seconds before looking up.

“Not completely. The Arc Reactor rights aren’t entirely under his authority.” Stane immediately disagreed.

“Tony gave me the authority to sell company assets and technology if necessary. Once the news becomes public and the company starts falling, this will fall well within that authority.” Helen didn’t respond immediately and went back to the agreement, while Stane looked toward me.

“There is something I want from you as well. When the news becomes public, I want Sterling to release a statement saying it will continue supporting Stark Industries and me.”

That explained part of why he was willing to give me the deal so cheaply.

Five percent of Stark Industries being bought by Sterling at the same time I publicly supported the company would help when the news about Tony came out.

I tapped the agreement.

“So I get five percent, the Arc Reactor blueprints, and the commercial rights?” Stane nodded.

“Yes. The purchase will be announced at the same time, and I hope you and Ms. Stacy will be there.” I nodded.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be there.”

I looked toward Helen again.

“Add the reactor rights clearly in the agreement.

I want the right to use, modify, develop and commercially sell anything I create from it.” Helen nodded and spoke to one of the lawyers, while Stane watched me for a moment before asking, “Why are you so interested in the reactor?” I answered, “I’m thinking about opening an energy company.”

I caught the small smirk that appeared on his face.

He clearly didn’t think much of the idea, but that was fine.

He hadn’t seen what I could turn the Arc Reactor into.

In its current form, making an energy company around it probably did sound more like an expensive scientific project than a profitable business.

The lawyers changed the agreement while Helen checked the wording.

A few minutes later, she pushed it back toward me.

“It’s done. You have the commercial rights.” I read the added section myself before signing and passing it across the table.

Stane signed after me, and just like that, it was done.

As the lawyers started organizing the documents, I looked at Stane.

“Whose shares were they?” He answered, “Three percent were mine.

The other two came from shareholders who wanted to cut their losses before the news becomes public.” I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “I guess they don’t trust you very much.” The flash of anger on his face told me I’d hit something, but Stane didn’t respond.

He stood, his lawyers gathered everything, and after Helen received our copies and confirmed the transfer, one point seven five billion dollars was sent.

Stane left soon after, and I looked down at the agreement in front of me.

That had been much easier than I’d expected.

I’d thought getting five percent might cost me somewhere between three and five billion dollars, and I’d half expected Stane to try threatening me or changing something at the last moment.

Instead, I’d gotten it for less than two billion along with the Arc Reactor rights.

Apparently, whatever he was planning mattered enough that he didn’t want to create more problems for himself.

More importantly, I could legally work with the Arc Reactor now.

With the commercial rights written into the agreement, Tony couldn’t simply come back and stop me from using it once he returned.

I still wanted to improve it and patent my own version, but now I didn’t have to worry about whether I was allowed to build on his technology.

I had roughly a week before the announcement happened.