Chapter 76: New Company

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: New Company

Daniel didn’t immediately fly back to the aircraft. Instead, he hovered one or two meters above the ocean’s surface. Below him, the sea churned violently, countless whirlpools forming amidst the waves.

With his vision, he could clearly see people struggling beneath the water and there was no hesitation, as twin beams of heat vision shot from his eyes, piercing through the sea one target after another.

He continued until he was absolutely certain there wasn’t a single survivor left.

The surrounding waters had begun to turn red, and the thick scent of blood was already drawing colleges of sharks from afar.

But none of that had anything to do with Daniel anymore. He turned and flew back into the aircraft. Inside, Daniel and T’Challa sat silently on the couch.

Neither of them spoke.

At first, they had only wanted a good fight. Now that it was over, after witnessing so many people lose their lives in such a short span of time, a heavy feeling settled in T’Challa’s chest.

Daniel felt the same, after a long silence, T’Challa finally spoke.

"Was it really necessary?"

Daniel didn’t answer immediately, simply nodding instead.

The two of them quietly drank their wine, before long, they returned to Tony’s house, and no one said much afterward. They didn’t even bother exchanging a goodnight as both returned to their own room.

That night, both Daniel and T’Challa lay awake, neither slept.

The next morning, Tony only had time to meet briefly with them before rushing out the door.

A massive mess was waiting for him to clean up. He needed to stabilize Stark Industries, and more importantly, he had to restore the confidence of the shareholders.

After discussing it among themselves, Daniel, T’Challa, and Susan decided that once Tony returned that evening, they would say their goodbyes, as there wasn’t much, they could do to help here anyway.

Tony didn’t come back until after ten that night. The moment he walked through the door, exhaustion was written all over his face.

"Was it that troublesome?" Daniel asked.

Tony rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"A little more than troublesome."

He dropped onto the sofa.

"Some people on the board are actively making things difficult for me. The shareholders aren’t optimistic about Stark Industries right now either. I need to come up with a new weapons system as quickly as possible and give them confidence again."

"Why does it have to be a weapon?" Daniel asked.

Tony looked up.

"What do you mean?"

Daniel leaned back.

"Let me ask you something. Across the entire world, are there more soldiers or more ordinary people?"

Tony frowned hearing that question.

Daniel had always found Marvel’s world strange.

Back during the Red Skull era, energy weapons already existed. Just looking at the technology in Captain America’s time was enough to prove it.

That massive flying wing Hydra had built was incredibly advanced. Military technology was absurdly developed, yet civilian technology lagged decades behind.

It was 1991.

Aside from landline telephones, people mostly relied on pagers, there weren’t even proper mobile phones yet.

With Tony’s intelligence, was creating a mobile phone really that difficult? The greatest scientists in the world were either obsessed with military projects or pursuing technologies so advanced that ordinary people couldn’t even comprehend them.

Nobody cared about civilian applications.

Many technological pioneers had died decades ago, and entire fields seemed to have stagnated ever since.

’Can’t anyone spare some effort for consumer technology?’

Daniel couldn’t help complaining internally.

The lack of entertainment was driving him crazy. He couldn’t even flirt with girls. If video games existed, would he still be thinking about all this? Not a chance, he’d be gaming every day.

In his previous life, Daniel had been a teenager who grew up with video games. From childhood to adulthood, gaming had practically been his entire hobby.

He was a complete homebody, and because of that, Daniel had already made a decision, he was going to change everything.

The Internet Age needed to arrive earlier. He carried countless ideas from the future in his head. Now, combined with his and Tony’s genius mind, what couldn’t they build? They had both money and talent.

The path forward was crystal clear and if Tony couldn’t do it, then Daniel could.

Although he hated using his brain, his super-powered mind wasn’t for decoration. Maybe he wouldn’t be the best at developing entirely new technologies from scratch. But if someone pointed him in the right direction, reproducing future inventions would be easy.

Of course, he’d still rather let Tony do the hard work. For Tony, it should be simple enough. Daniel remained firmly committed to being lazy whenever possible.

"Why don’t we create a mobile phone?" Daniel asked.

Tony blinked in surprise.

"A mobile phone?"

"Yeah, landlines aren’t always convenient, and pagers can only send text." Daniel sat forward as he spoke.

"So, why not invent a telephone people can carry around with them? A true mobile phone."

"If we do that then communication would become incredibly easy, and then there’s the internet."

"The connection speeds are slow right now, sure, but I believe the future belongs to the internet."

"As long as network speeds continue improving, imagine what becomes possible. People wouldn’t even need to leave their homes, as sitting in front of a computer would be enough to learn what’s happening anywhere in the world."

"Computers wouldn’t just be tools for work, they could become entertainment platforms too."

He paused before saying something even more shocking.

"In fact, I’m certain that one day mobile phones and computers will become the same thing."

Tony’s eyebrows rose.

"A market worth trillions of dollars."

Daniel spread his hands.

"So why aren’t we doing it?"

Tony fell silent. The more he thought about it, the more intrigued he became. The concepts themselves weren’t difficult.

What surprised him was that he had never seriously considered the possibility before, but after a while, he shook his head.

"Right now, Stark Industries’ military business is still the priority."

Stark Industries had been built on weapons manufacturing. No matter how successful civilian technology companies appeared on the surface, military contractors still occupied a different level of influence.

A civilian tech giant might look glamorous, but if it angered an established defense conglomerate, that company could literally end it. Tanks, fighter jets, even aircraft carriers. Military power and political influence were things ordinary corporations couldn’t easily match.

"Still," Tony continued, "you’re right." A spark of excitement appeared in his eyes. "And I already have a few ideas."

"What you’re describing isn’t difficult to achieve, because a lot of the underlying technology already exists, so we could build it without much trouble."

He looked at Daniel with surprise.

"Didn’t expect your brain to be useful after all."

"Well, I’m just lazy."

"How about this?" Tony suddenly proposed.

"Stark Industries continues focusing on military technology. That’s the foundation of the company."

"But the four of us can start a new company together."

The three of them stared at him.

"Us?" Daniel asked.

"That’s right. Us."

Tony pointed at Daniel.

"The idea came from you."

"If that’s the case, everyone should get a share."

Tony wasn’t interested in taking advantage of his friends and Daniel was right, the market potential was enormous. Then he smirked playfully.

"Otherwise, someone might run out of money someday and have to start dragging meteors around or diving into the ocean to salvage ships again."

Daniel’s face twitched, but Tony still continued.

"You still have a hundred million dollars, don’t you?"

"Put it in."

"T’Challa puts in a hundred million."

"I’ll put in a hundred million too."

Then he turned toward Susan.

"And Susan..."

He paused.

"Three people would make the shares awkward to divide."

"So, I’ll give you one percent."

Susan nearly jumped out of her seat.

"No, no, no!"

She waved her hands frantically.

"That’s way too much! I didn’t do anything, so I can’t accept that."

Tony thought for a moment, she did have a point.

"Alright, then 0.1 percent."

Seeing Susan about to protest again, he immediately cut her off.

"And that’s final."

Without giving her another opportunity to refuse, Tony made the decision.

"Wait a second."

Daniel suddenly raised a hand.

"The idea was mine."

"Can I contribute less money?"

Tony’s proposal involved one hundred million dollars. If Daniel invested all of it, he’d be broke again.

Hearing that, Tony just rolled his eyes.

"I’m contributing manpower and effort. So, doesn’t that count as investment too?"

Then he looked at all three of them.

"Which one of you knows how to run a company?"

The three exchanged glances, then they all shook their heads. None of them wanted to manage anything, they all preferred being hands-off owners.

T’Challa remained silent. Unfortunately for him, Daniel wasn’t willing to let him off so easily. He immediately pointed at him.

"He only contributed money!"

"Oh, right!"

Tony slapped his forehead.

"I almost forgot."

"Too much going on lately. My brain’s a little fried."

After thinking for a moment, he revised the arrangement.

"In that case, Daniel and I each put in fifty million."

"T’Challa contributes two hundred million."

"The three of us each get 33.3 percent."

"Whatever remains goes to Susan."

At that point, T’Challa finally spoke.

"I’ll need to return home first if you expect me to produce that much money."

Two hundred million dollars was a lot, even for him, it wasn’t something he could immediately access.

Tony waved his hand.

"No problem, this is just the preliminary plan. I’ll start assembling a research team first and you can transfer the money later."

T’Challa nodded.

"Fair enough."

Daniel suddenly asked, "So what’s the company called?"

Tony rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then a grin spread across his face.

"Mark."

"Mark Technologies."

"How does that sound?"