Potts stared at Tony in shock, her eyes full of disbelief.
Obadiah had actually transferred his shares to Tony. How was that possible?
Seeing her incredulous expression, Tony kept smiling. "Anyway, Obadiah won't get in our way. Go ahead and do what you need to do."
"All right."
Potts answered, her expression quickly settling back into composure.
However Tony had managed it, all she needed to do was deal with the remaining minority shareholders.
Soon, Potts left the office and headed for the conference room.
The conference room was on the same floor as Tony's office, and before long, he heard furious shouting outside.
Clearly, those minority shareholders couldn't sit still after hearing that he wanted to buy back their shares.
Tony paid them no mind. Professional matters were best left to professionals, and when it came to business, Potts was undoubtedly one. He trusted her to handle everything.
Just then, the system's cold voice suddenly rang out.
"Ding. Mission issued."
Main mission: Form the Dark Alliance Mission details: Recruit enough individuals with special abilities to form the Dark Alliance and spread darkness across the world. Mission rewards: One lottery draw and a contingent of Shadowkhan for each successful recruit.
Tony's gaze sharpened at the system panel that had suddenly appeared before him, then the corner of his mouth twitched.
He had known all along that this system of his was no good, but he hadn't expected it to be a villain system.
I'm the famous Iron Man, a leading figure in the Justice League, you know!
Sure, a little mishap means I can't turn into Iron Man anymore, but I'm still a thoroughly decent guy. Now you want me to spread darkness across the world? Do I look like that kind of person?
Curling his lip, Tony called out.
"JARVIS."
"At your service, sir."
"Check whether anything strange has happened in New York lately."
"Search complete, sir. Nothing unusual has occurred."
"All right."
Tony clicked his tongue in disappointment.
He might have been a good guy, but the system simply offered too much. Both the lottery draws and the Shadowkhan were valuable rewards.
Unfortunately, not a single superhero had surfaced. Even if he wanted to recruit them, he had nowhere to look.
Wait, why should I waste time and effort searching for them? It would even cut into my time chasing women.
I should make them come to me instead.
Who do superheroes hate most? Villains, of course.
Those guys are walking XP bags for superheroes. If I controlled an armed villain outfit, wouldn't superheroes come knocking in an endless stream?
As the saying went, there were always more solutions than problems. With that new approach, Tony's thoughts immediately became crystal clear.
Finding superheroes was like fishing. Putting out bait and quietly waiting for a bite was the perfect approach.
But first, he needed some bait.
And that bait couldn't be too weak. Replacing it every day would be a hassle.
At that thought, Tony dredged up his limited knowledge of Marvel. Who were its famous villains?
Thanos and Kingpin.
Those were the only two he could remember, both fairly representative examples.
Old man Thanos was out of the question. At this point, who knew which planet he was holed up on, pondering population control?
That left Tony with just one candidate: Kingpin.
Among Marvel's many characters, Iron Man and Kingpin were the most alike.
One rivaled gods with mortal strength; the other fought a whole host of superheroes with mortal strength.
On that point alone, both were exceptional men, talents who stood above the rest.
Moreover, Kingpin commanded an enormous force, with businesses across the United States, and was known as New York's underground emperor.
Every superhero liked picking a fight with him. He was undoubtedly excellent bait-no, an excellent potential partner.
With Kingpin drawing attention, Tony could keep reeling them in.
Then forming the Dark Alliance would be a piece of cake.
At that thought, Tony smiled.
While he was considering how to win Kingpin over and establish a partnership,
Potts, meanwhile, successfully bought the minority shareholders' stakes for four hundred million dollars in the conference room.
That might have sounded like a lot, but at Stark Industries' peak, each of their stakes had been worth ten figures.
Buying all their shares for four hundred million dollars was practically a steal.
Tony's holdings now rose to ninety-eight percent, leaving just two percent of the shares circulating on the market.
A complicated look flickered through Potts's eyes as she regarded Tony, who had taken the entire corporation firmly in hand almost immediately after his return.
"What now? Yours is the only voice that matters in the entire corporation."
"Delist it!"
"Buy back the remaining two percent, too."
Tony spoke casually, but Potts's expression changed in an instant.
"Are you insane? Do you know how big an impact delisting would have?"
"Your wealth could shrink by half the moment we delist!"
Potts couldn't help raising her voice.
Tony didn't care. With the share buyback this far along, delisting was inevitable. Even if the losses were enormous, he would see it through.
It wasn't that he had anything against money. Rather, every day the corporation remained publicly listed was another day it remained subject to government regulation and public scrutiny.
After delisting, although the losses would be heavy, Stark Industries would become a completely private kingdom, no longer beholden to anyone.
To keep Stark out of the public eye, he had to delist it!
"You don't need to worry about anything else. Just do as I say. We have to delist."
"Also, put out a false announcement saying the corporation plans to shut down weapons manufacturing."
If Potts had been able to tolerate everything up to that point, those words finally made her lose her composure.
"What? You're shutting down weapons manufacturing?"
"That's the corporation's lifeblood!"
Potts spoke loudly, clearly opposed to Tony's decision.
Tony rolled his eyes and said helplessly, "I said it was a false announcement. I just want you to announce it and fool the stockholders. Who said anything about actually shutting it down?"
His predecessor might have done something like that-after all, that was exactly what he had done in the original story-but Tony wasn't stupid.
If he didn't manufacture weapons, plenty of other people would.
As people said, the market dictated demand. Unless the world achieved universal peace someday, weapons would always be needed.
In that case, why should he fool himself and hand that income stream to someone else for nothing?
After hearing his explanation, Potts breathed a sigh of relief. Even his earlier decision to delist no longer seemed so important.
As long as weapons manufacturing stayed open, he could delist if he wanted.
Nursing a headache at the thought, Potts left Tony's office again, not daring to stay any longer.
Otherwise, who knew what other shocking statement Tony might come out with?
She moved quickly. Within a few hours, the false report that Stark Industries was about to shut down weapons manufacturing had spread like wildfire.
The stock, already volatile because of Tony's disappearance, immediately went into a nosedive.
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