Deals

Mr. Morita prepared some coffee and placed it down on the coffee table in front of me.

Sitting down on the simple chair beside the table, he turned to me and said, "Forgive me for the poor display before, the bank's been hassling me lately. I haven't been able to keep up with the monthly payments since the factories shut down."

"No problem, I understand. It must have been tough for you. But if you don't mind me asking, how were you able to afford so many factories. From what I understand, you seem to be a professor at a high school." I question. I mean, a single, middle age educator really doesn't seem to have many options, since the treatment of schoolteachers in both worlds could be said harsh, putting it politely.

"Principal, actually. A principal of Middletown School of Science and Technology. And all those factories, I just manage them now. They belonged to my father.

He invested some of his father's money into two of the factories west of New York, and then bought over the most of place bit by bit over the years. I thought I would continue the tradition and ended up applying for a loan with the bank to buy up more of the factories along with the land rights to maybe develop it in the future. But that plan started falling to pieces about two year ago, when the place was slowly abandoned." He reminisces softly.

Hearing his story and taking a sip of the coffee, I continue with the discussion about the deal and ask a bit of miscellaneous questions regarding the place for about half an hour, before verbally agreeing to a fair price, which would benefit the both of us.

The paperwork would have to be written up, along with a dozen signatures on multiple documents before I could legally own the place.

According to the great sage, if done efficiently, the bank should be able to get all the paperwork done in about a month, but considering the workers, it might take a bit more.

I currently didn't have much of a presence in the business world nor the political world by which I could nudge the process along faster, but it didn't matter. I was in no rush.

Saying my thanks and goodbyes to Mr. Morita, I turned towards one of the five-star hotels in the heart for New York to spend the rest of the night.

Checking in and booking the penthouse suite, I took the elevator to my room.

Walking in, I could see a lavish designer furniture set laid around the room, a king size bed draped with soft and smooth silk sheets and a ceiling to floor window overlooking the whole of New York.

I walk up to the window and peer at the dazzling and busy city, thinking how it was all going to be thrashed by the Avengers in just a few years.

'I would probably join them against the Chitauri but can't really change the timeline too much. That Death God did warn me against it.', I say to myself. I had a feeling that if I somehow damaged the timeline a bit, an angry glowing man would smite me out of existence.

.

Thinking about the events of the day and the future operations, I suddenly remembered that I had a big problem that I hadn't thought of before.

"Who the hell am I going to hire. And who's going to buy my shit. I haven't even advertised my products."

{Well, you could just sell them to some of your alter ego's connections in wholesale and let them sell it. You get profits, they get profits, and mainly you get some connections in the business world as Lucifer.} Great Sage replies in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Oh yeah, I could just say my sister, or my friend introduced me. I can ask them for some manual labour to manage the factories. You are absolutely brilliant." I exclaim out loud.

{Humph, praise me more, peasant.}

"Too far, ahem" I cough to get her out of her fantasies and get out my phone.

Ring, ring...

"Hello. This is Pepper Potts speaking." I voice comes from the other side.

"Hey, Ms. Potts. This is Lucifer Cereus Leukos. My sister gave me your number, saying that if I had any new tech, Stark Industries would be interested." I introduce myself.

"Hi Mr. Leukos, was it. Unfortunately, I'm busy at the moment. Let me just redirect your call to the front desk…" was a perfunctory answer from Potts.

"Even if my sister helped you eliminate Accenco upper management?" I ask in a calm voice.

"…"

I could hear the gears turning in Pepper's head until it finally clicked in her head who she was talking to.

"I apologise sir. I didn't recognise you. Would we be able to set up a meeting to discus this further this week?" she asked back in a very polite tone, making sure that I hadn't been angered by her previous display.

"Certainly, my schedule's empty this week, so maybe we could get together tomorrow, lunch. How about that."

"Absolutely. I'll add you to my calendar, right this moment. How about 1:00 pm at the Stark Tower. I'll have someone guide you to the meeting place."

"Works for me" I reply in a casual tone, before hanging up.

.

"Time to make some gadgets." I say, rubbing my hands together in excitement.

{Ready when you are.}