After the Guardians of the Galaxy left, Steve withdrew his gaze from their retreating backs and turned to Schiller. "What exactly is going on with my shield? Is it really not made of Vibranium?"
Stark snorted, just about to say something, when T'Challa walked in with Ororo. He smiled at them and asked, "What are you talking about? I could hear you from a long way off."
"We were discussing how some illiterate idiot thought his shield was made of ordinary Vibranium." Stark's tone dripped with sarcasm. "He even thought Howard's genius design was what made it so durable."
T'Challa looked a little awkward. "Uh, isn't it?"
To promote Vibranium, T'Challa had previously read a great deal of historical documentation on the subject. He had discovered that many people had no concept of this unusual metal. Some had even first heard the name Vibranium because they knew Captain America's Stars and Stripes shield was made from it.
Wakanda's Propaganda Department had even allocated a substantial budget to get Captain America to add one more line whenever he introduced his shield: "This is made from Vibranium, the hardest metal in the world."
"Of course not." Stark sighed, no longer in the mood to mock his good friend. After thinking back, he said, "Howard was indeed a decent scientist. All the Starks were. But even he admitted that he wasn't a pure scientist. He was more like a businessman who understood technology."
"Back then, not all of Stark Motors Technology Group's technology was developed by Howard. He bought out quite a few technologies from frustrated scientists or scientists who had lost their funding. They didn't amount to much later on, but that was one of Stark Industries' secrets to getting started."
No one looked particularly surprised. In truth, someone like Stark, who