"Mr. Pent."
Obadiah was a bald man with a full beard and a somewhat fierce appearance. He usually liked to keep a cigar in his mouth, the standard villain look; however, he reined in his temper considerably when he met Karn.
He was only Stark Industries' second-largest individual shareholder, and his status and power were no match for Karn's. Even setting aside the rapidly growing Pent Group, the recently renowned Umbrella Military Company already ranked as the world's leading Military Security Company.
No Military Security Company other than Umbrella had super soldiers. This was classified information to ordinary people, but since the war in Wakanda, Umbrella had stopped hiding its strength and openly made contact with the upper echelons.
Obadiah had a few sources of information, so naturally, he knew about this.
"Mr. Stane, let's talk inside."
Karn led Obadiah into the energy plant. Although it was in the suburbs of New York City, it was already connected to the Pent Group's underground tunnels. Not far away were Umbrella's military training base and security company headquarters.
"Honestly, I don't think you need to go down with Stark Industries at all. At this level, you're pursuing either money or power, but Stark Industries is a sinking ship now. Unless you persuade Tony Stark to reopen the weapons division, Mr. Stane, which would prolong Stark Industries' life a little.
"But the Pent Group's new-energy weapons will hit the market sooner or later, and Stark Industries will still take a major blow when that happens."
As Karn spoke, he led Obadiah into the plant. Everything aboveground was devoted to civilian applications of the Arc Reactor; all military weapons research and manufacturing took place in the underground hive complex.
But even the research into civilian applications of the Arc Reactor was enough to astonish