C 100

[Do you wish to redeem the Arrow template?]

[Exchange!]

As Anton confirmed the exchange, a flood of information poured into his mind.

Oliver Queen was born into the Queen family, the wealthiest family in Star City, with a fortune valued in the tens of billions, tied to Queen Industries. 

Initially a spoiled and carefree billionaire, his life took a drastic turn when he was shipwrecked and stranded on a deserted island.

To survive, he honed his skills in archery and combat. Later, he managed to overpower a group of pirates who had landed on the island, using their ship to return to the United States. 

Upon his return to Star City, Oliver became the vigilante known as Green Arrow and eventually joined the Justice League.

The island where he was trapped was called Lian Yu, or "Purgatory."

However, Oliver's story was far from a simple tale of survival. His time on the island was marked by countless challenges and twists.

Now, Anton possessed the ability to take on the identity of Green Arrow.

Since this marked his acquisition of a second hero template, the system rewarded him with a free skill: Doppelganger.

This skill allowed Anton to become Green Arrow himself or create his independent Arrow clone. However, the clone's existence came with a cost: every moment the clone remained active, fan points were consumed.

It was essentially an in-app purchase mechanic—Anton wasn't fooled. He understood the system's intentions perfectly. Like any gacha system, it was designed to drain his resources.

That said, the cost of maintaining Arrow was relatively reasonable. To keep the Arrow clone active for one hour required 100,000 fan points. If the fan balance was depleted, the clone would vanish automatically.

However, if Anton transformed into Green Arrow himself instead of creating a clone, no fan points would be consumed.

Batman, on the other hand, was far more expensive. Maintaining a Batman clone cost 500,000 fan points per hour, totaling a staggering 12 million fan points per day. This was even more than the fan points Anton had spent to acquire Batman's template in the first place!

By comparison, Arrow's cost—100,000 fan points per hour, or 2.4 million per day—seemed like a bargain.

It was clear that the stronger the hero, the higher the cost of maintaining their clone. Anton couldn't even imagine the fan points required for someone like Superman—those figures would likely be astronomical.

[Arrow's fan value balance: 230,000]

At the current rate of 100,000 fan points per hour, Anton could maintain the Arrow clone for only two hours. The system, of course, billed in full-hour increments, even for fractions of an hour.

"I wonder how expensive it would be to maintain cyborg..." Anton mused to himself, deep in thought.

The Green Arrow template is worth 10 million, and maintaining a clone costs 100,000 fan points per hour.

Batman's original price is 50 million, with a clone maintenance cost of 500,000 fan points per hour.

By that logic, the Cyborg template, valued at 20 million, should have a clone cost of 200,000 fan points per hour.

Not too bad.

Thinking about it, when the Justice League is fully established, three of its members will technically be himself.

In fact, if you go by the original DC Justice League lineup, all seven founding members could end up being him.

If the Justice League adopts a voting system where the minority follows the majority, even if you throw in Spider-Man, Venom, Daredevil, and the four Ninja Turtles, the votes would still balance out equally with him controlling half the team.

And if Batman, of course, "persuades" Venom to vote his way, the result would be 8 to 7.

Who has the final say in the Justice League?

I do!

Anton thought smugly.

When he snapped back to reality, he noticed the workday had come to an end. The warm evening light streamed into the office, casting a peaceful glow.

He opened the office door and saw that only a handful of employees were still working overtime outside, likely wrapping up tasks before heading home.

"Anton, see you tomorrow!"

Natasha called out as she noticed him step out, giving a quick wave before strutting out of the building.

Watching her leave, Anton narrowed his eyes, his thoughts drifting back to Coulson's earlier visit.

He didn't want to get too entangled with S.H.I.E.L.D.—there was always trouble when dealing with them.

Nick Fury was surrounded by Hydra without even realizing it.

Looking at the entire S.H.I.E.L.D. organization, Anton could only count a handful of trustworthy individuals: Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Maria Hill, Hawkeye, and Black Widow.

Beyond those five, Anton doubted there were any others. In his eyes, everyone else in S.H.I.E.L.D. might as well be part of Hydra.

Hydra's infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. was almost laughable—like a gang of undercover cops infiltrating a criminal organization until, eventually, the whole gang, except for the boss, turned out to be cops.

'What's the point of playing hide and seek with you?' Anton thought to himself.

Until Hydra was fully exposed and S.H.I.E.L.D. cleaned house, Anton had no plans to deepen his relationship with the organization.

'Better to let the river water and well water stay out of each other's way.'

If necessary, he'd maintain a superficial relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. That was fine by him.

The previous Kingpin incident was a unique case. S.H.I.E.L.D. only got involved because Kingpin had too much influence in New York's political and criminal spheres. 

If Wilson Fisk were sent to an ordinary prison, it wouldn't have been called imprisonment—it would've been a vacation.

S.H.I.E.L.D. stepped in to avoid retribution from Kingpin or backlash from New York politicians who were on his payroll. At the time, their investigation into Obadiah Stane provided a convenient excuse to target Kingpin as well.

But now, with the emergence of the Lizard and the Green Goblin, Anton had his own plans.

He suspected that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interest wasn't limited to these two villains. They likely wanted to deepen their ties with Batman.

Anton smirked. Nick Fury is probably trying to recruit Batman for his Avengers initiative.

But this vision clashed completely with Anton's plans.

"It's time to have a proper talk with S.H.I.E.L.D.," he muttered.

Anton returned to his office and glanced out the window toward the street.

Natasha was walking out of the company building just as a taxi pulled up.

Watching her leave, Anton couldn't help but suspect that the taxi was arranged by S.H.I.E.L.D. He figured Natasha would likely report back to Coulson about her "undercover" activities over the past few days.

Deciding to follow her, Anton quickly went downstairs.

Thanks to Bruce Wayne's inherited skills and resources, tracking Natasha's taxi was easy. Even though both Natasha and Hawkeye had top-notch anti-surveillance training, Anton had the advantage.

After following her for a while, Anton pulled over to the side of the road. Spotting another taxi, he approached the driver and handed him a wad of cash.

"Take my car home. I'll use your taxi. The money's all yours. Tomorrow, figure out how to find your car on your own. Sound good?"

The driver, a middle-aged white man, grinned at the sight of the cash. "No problem at all! Not troubled one bit!"

With the swap complete, Anton resumed tracking Natasha in the taxi.

Eventually, they arrived in a Brooklyn neighborhood.

Anton watched as Natasha exited the taxi and entered a house. Her cab, as expected, parked nearby.

Moments later, a familiar figure stepped out of the cab.

The man casually scanned his surroundings before following Natasha into the house.

Clint Barton.

Commonly known as Hawkeye.

….

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