An Offer You Can't Refuse

Meeting Reed's gaze, Tony's lips curled into a smile. "How much do you want?"

"The more, the better!" Reed made no attempt to be polite.

Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Then how much would it cost to buy out your team?"

Tony's question caught Reed off guard.

Reed frowned. He had come to discuss an investment, not to sell himself.

"Mr. Tony, I don't work for any individual or company. I only accept business investments."

He spoke with utter seriousness, but Tony merely smiled, unbothered.

"Everyone has a price. If you refuse, it only means I haven't offered enough. How about this? I'll make an offer, and you can hear me out."

Without giving Reed a chance to refuse, Tony named his price.

"Fifty billion dollars in research funding every year. You'll have complete autonomy. No one, including me, will interfere with your research."

"On top of that, you and your team will receive half the profits from anything you develop. What do you think of that offer?"

Tony watched Reed with a smile, while Reed remained silent, his expression calm.

It wasn't that he had no reaction. He simply didn't know what to say.

He might have sounded utterly resolute earlier, but Tony was offering far too much.

Fifty billion dollars was more than all his previous research funding combined, and that was just the budget for one year.

Complete autonomy would guarantee that no one interfered with his research, leaving things much as they were now.

Half the profits from his research, even shared across the entire team, would still be far more than they currently received.

Other financial groups took at least eighty percent of the profits when they invested in his research. Only the remainder went to him and his team.

An increase of thirty percentage points meant billions, even tens of billions of dollars in profits.

He wanted to refuse just as firmly as before and stand by his principles, but the words reached his lips and simply wouldn't come out.

So all he could do was remain silent.

Tony wasn't surprised by his reaction. In life, people pursued little beyond fame and fortune.

This was a real world, not a movie from his previous life. Superheroes were people too. They needed money, and they needed to eat.

Did anyone really think everyone could live on passion alone and protect all humanity?

Come on. Everyone had plenty to do.

It was believable that a few individuals might have lofty ideals, but a whole group of superpowered people coming together just to babysit others, free of charge? Was that possible?

The movies from his previous life had simply forced lofty ideals onto all those heroes to drive their plots forward.

In reality, they were all ordinary people, or at most ordinary people with a few superpowers. Who didn't like money, status, and beautiful women? Surely they couldn't all become saints.

"What would I have to give in return?"

Reed's voice was dry as he asked. He was no longer thinking about refusing. With benefits this substantial, he didn't believe he could get away without giving anything in return.

"It's simple. Keep working for me. Also, there are some things I'll need your help with, and you won't be allowed to refuse."

"Anything else?" Reed pressed.

Tony shrugged. "No. That's all."

Reed fell silent again, considering the offer.

Without question, if he accepted this contract, he and his team would be tied to Tony for the rest of their lives.

So, was it worth it?

That question deserved some thought, and he also needed to discuss it with his team.

With that in mind, Reed said apologetically, "Mr. Tony, I need to go back and think this over."

"No problem. You have three days. Come see me when you've decided."

Reed nodded, then got up and left the villa.

His head felt fuzzy the entire way back. The enormous benefits on offer had robbed him of his usual composure.

The moment he returned to his company, he gathered his team.

Soon, two men and a woman appeared in the conference room: Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm, the future members of the Fantastic Four.

Seeing Reed's calm expression, the three assumed he was still worrying about research funding and began speaking up.

"Reed, is the company out of money? We still have some savings. We'll transfer them to you in a bit. That should keep things going for a while."

Hearing their words, Reed looked up at them, then shook his head. "Don't worry about research funding anymore. I've found an investor. I'm just hesitating over whether to accept, so I called you here to discuss it."

They were delighted to hear this, and Johnny immediately said, "What's there to discuss? An investment is a good thing. Just say yes."

Ben was steadier than Johnny. Looking at Reed's calm face, he asked, "Are they asking for too big a share? That's all right. As long as someone's willing to invest, it's only fair that we give up some of the profits."

"Exactly, Reed. Don't worry too much about us. If you think it's suitable, just agree."

Susan also spoke up to reassure him.

Clearly, she shared Ben's view.

Seeing everyone looking out for him, Reed couldn't help smiling.

"No, their terms are very generous. It's just that he doesn't simply want to invest in the project. He wants to invest in our team."

Reed then explained Tony's terms to them, along with what they would have to give in return.

Once they had heard everything, they all fell silent.

The terms spoke for themselves. No one could fail to be tempted.

But being tied to one person from then on gave them pause.

After all, no one could say for certain what the future held.

After a long silence, Johnny finally spoke up. "Ahem. Everyone, I don't know if you've heard about this."

"Stark Industries has been delisted."

"Huh?"

They all looked at him in confusion.

Johnny continued, "Not long ago, Stark Industries was delisted and taken private. In other words, our investor, Tony, owns one hundred percent of Stark Industries."

"As a defense contractor, do you think Stark Industries could go bankrupt overnight?"

At that, everyone began to understand what Johnny meant.

Once Stark Industries had gone private, it would be almost impossible to bring down unless problems with its own operations caused its funding to dry up and drove the company into bankruptcy.

And the defense industry was one of the most lucrative industries in the world. On top of that, the United States military spent vast sums every year buying and replacing equipment.

So, essentially, unless the United States ceased to exist, Stark Industries was almost certain to stay in business.

Of course, that wasn't an absolute guarantee, but the chances of it running into trouble for other reasons were vanishingly small.

In that case, did they still need to worry about the future?

Once they worked that out, the gloom suddenly lifted from their faces, and they visibly relaxed.