"Unfortunately, I already know everything you just told me. Do you have anything I don't know?"
"How would I know what you don't know..." Seeing the serious look on Tony Stark's face, Henry suddenly felt that his excuse sounded rather weak.
Maintaining his casual attitude, Henry ran a finger around the rim of his champagne glass suspended in midair. "But I do have some hearsay. Rumors with no evidence and no known source. I don't know whether they're true. You still want to hear them?"
"Go ahead. I'll judge for myself."
Henry likewise rested one hand on the table. Leaning forward to close the distance between them, he lowered his voice.
"In the fourteenth century, King Philip IV of France, in order to avoid repaying his debts and replenish the royal treasury, sent troops to attack the Paris headquarters of his biggest creditor, the Knights Templar.
"At this business of killing people to escape debts, Philip IV was far more sophisticated than that little mustache who came later. At least Philip managed to earn himself the title of a great king of France, unlike Hitler, whom everyone hated."
Tony Stark's mouth twitched, his face full of disgust. "Less commentary. I'm not here to listen to this."
"Okay. At the same time, the French king ordered officials throughout France to cooperate with the operation against the Knights Templar. Besides arresting their members, they also restricted the transfer of their assets.
"During the operation, 138 Knights Templar members, including Grand Master Jacques de Molay, were arrested in Paris alone. Across France, the number was countless.
"Many died during interrogation, while those who survived were eventually burned at the stake. To outsiders, it appeared that the Knights Templar had been completely wiped out. But the truth was that a group of knights and supporters survived.
"These people went into hiding, made use of the wealth they had managed to preserve, secretly recruited men and built up their forces again, eventually establishing an invisible power that could not be underestimated. By the modern era, some known Americans who were members of this organization included
"Henry Ford, Ransom Olds, Harvey Firestone, and Thomas Edison. Their success demonstrated the practicality of capitalism as a tool. And so, in 1937, Abstergo Industries was founded.
"On the surface, it looks like an industrial conglomerate that does a little bit of everything. In reality, you can think of it as part of America's deep state. It has influence, although I don't know exactly how much. Supposedly, NASA and the CIA are both connected to them to some degree.
"In recent years, they've been focusing on DNA research. I've heard they're dedicated to exploring ancestral memories inherited through one's bloodline. I don't know whether that's delusion or just a gimmick.
"Anyway, unlike ordinary companies that would enter Hollywood or the television industry, their entertainment division focuses on the video game industry, and they've achieved a certain level of success.
"If you're asking about the purpose of this company, whether they're worth cooperating with, how promising their business prospects are, and whether they're worth investing in, I can give you a YES.
"But whether such cooperation or investment would actually benefit Stark Industries, I can't help you evaluate that. After all, you know the inner workings of Stark Industries better than I do. I only know some publicly available information."
What Henry had said was undoubtedly rather bizarre. But Tony Stark didn't dismiss it. Instead, he seriously pondered the matter.
"Abstergo Industries wants to establish a strategic partnership with Stark Industries. What do you think their purpose is?"
"I don't know. But it's probably one of three things: money, power, or you. More likely, they want all three."
"That's a useless answer!" Tony Stark complained.
Henry shot back, "I'm not some old Gypsy woman who can rub a crystal ball and tell you about someone's past and future. Nor am I a tapeworm in their stomachs. How am I supposed to know what they're thinking?"
At that moment, Happy Hogan brought over another glass of champagne and placed it in front of his boss. Henry looked at the former professional boxer, who was gradually becoming broader around the middle, and suddenly said, "Oh, there's something you should know.
"Abstergo Industries' security team isn't on Happy's level. They're on the level of Blackwater. If you're planning to do anything that might lead to a confrontation, you need to take that into consideration."
Tony Stark was speechless. "Blackwater... What kind of business do they have that requires bodyguards at that level?"
"I don't know, and I don't want to know."
Seeing the young master take the warning seriously, Henry couldn't help adding, "Actually, given your current relationship with the military, getting a few retired SEALs to serve as your bodyguards shouldn't be difficult."
Henry caught the slight change in Happy Hogan's expression from the corner of his eye and quickly softened the remark.
"Happy, I'm just speaking objectively. I'm not deliberately trying to steal your job."
"That's fine. I understand. After all, my build is good for stopping bullets, but if it came down to gunfighting against special forces, I'm not their match."
Tony's head of security clearly understood his own role and abilities. He had no intention of sabotaging the suggestion.
His employer, however, rejected it decisively.
"No. I don't trust people from that side."
"Oh? Is there something wrong with the military too?"
Henry's curiosity was immediately piqued.
Tony Stark shook his head. "No. Rather than saying there's something wrong with the military, I'd say there's something fundamentally wrong with the military system itself.
"A bunch of ordinary people overestimating themselves and thinking they can control everything, as though the entire world should revolve around their wishes. Every soldier dreams of becoming the sole dictator, but none of them actually is.
"I can more or less understand why the old man seemed to have such a good relationship with the U.S. military, yet preferred to remain a consultant without taking a commission. Under that system, any dog with a higher rank than you can order you around."
The Kryptonian was speechless.
"Wow. Which dog left you with such a deep grudge?"
"None of your business."
Since that line had already been used, Henry naturally didn't press further. He hated people who had no sense of boundaries or social awareness, so he had no intention of becoming that sort of annoying bastard himself.
But Tony Stark seemed to remember something. Just as he was about to get up, he sat back down.
"By the way, you gave me a warning, so I'll give you one too. There's a troublesome character who's recently returned to New York. Stay away if you see him."
"Oh? Anyone capable of making even the young master feel troubled can't be simple."
"He's an angel investor, sort of like Sequoia Capital, but his methods are extremely underhanded, and his reputation in the industry isn't good. After I completed my first project at MIT, this guy came looking for me like a vulture that had smelled a corpse. If it weren't for..."
Tony Stark wore an expression as though he were constipated and couldn't bring himself to finish.
Henry could more or less guess that old Mr. Stark had stepped in to deal with the problem. But since this involved something that might concern him as well, there was no need to expose Tony's weakness just yet. Better to get the details first.
"What's this guy's name? Surely he has one. Or does he have such a disgusting face that you can recognize him the moment you see him?"
Henry's joking around finally helped Tony Stark forget his earlier embarrassment.
"Ezekiel Sims. A troublesome Frenchman. He's also the intermediary from Abstergo Industries who proposed the stock-swap deal with Stark Industries."
"Are the terms so good that they tempted you? Otherwise, why would you be interested in digging into Abstergo Industries?"
"Anything you gain comes with a price. I want to know what price they're not telling me about. Don't they realize that using someone like that as their spokesman is practically warning people that their offer has a trap hidden inside it?"
"Maybe they think it's a very effective threat."
Everyone said Tony Stark was a playboy, while the success of Stark Industries was largely attributed to Obadiah Stane.
But in America's top business circles, losing control meant becoming a fish on someone else's chopping block. The fact that two generations of the Stark family could firmly maintain control of Stark Industries had never been solely because of a genius brain and an endless stream of ideas.
Obadiah Stane's betrayal in the future was, in essence, the story of an employee attempting a counterattack and trying to become the master himself.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the protagonist of a wish-fulfillment novel, so the capitalists crushed him.
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