"Stark is back."
When Ina Sandra said this, her face was full of disbelief.
The missing person who had been missing for more than two months, almost three months, suddenly returned. Ina originally thought that he had died young.
"Really?" Luke was still tweaking his prototype suit, pondering the conditions for unlocking his fourth talent. This question had been plaguing Luke for a long time, exhausting his brainpower over the past two months. As for Tony Stark? If it weren't for Ina Sandra's reminder, he'd have almost forgotten about him.
"I just got the news that he and Colonel James Rhodes are about to return." Ina sighed. "It seems that he is indeed very important. To think that an Air Force colonel led a team to search for him for over two months."
"Some people in the military don't want to see him go. Without Stark, where will they get new weapons? Hammer Industries?" Luke remained noncommittal. Given Howard's connections, Tony's talent, and the persuasive support of his good friend James Rhodes, it's not surprising that he's held in such high regard.
"A group of reporters are waiting for him at the airport now. Do you want to watch the real-time news?" Thinking of Luke Field's hobby of watching Stark's real-time news, Ina asked with a smile.
"You can watch." Although he knew what might happen, it wouldn't hurt to take a look, so Luke nodded under Ina's gaze.
"White Queen, project the channel information for the reporter interviewing Stark," Ina Sandra called out, having found a random spot to work. As long as White Queen was around, she could assist her from anywhere. So, she didn't mind taking a moment out of her busy schedule to accompany Luke to see Tony Stark, who had escaped death.
After all, she and Luke had almost fallen into Stark's situation, so it was more or less the same thing, they could empathize with each other.
The footage lasted for an hour before the private plane that was supposed to pick up Stark landed.
When Tony Stark appeared with his arm wrapped in bandages, disheveled hair and blood scabs on his face, the reporters who had been waiting in the airport for a long time started rioting, staging the routine scramble for the opportunity to interview Tony Stark in public.
"It looks like he's suffered a lot. He's in a mess, isn't he?" Ina Sandra, who handles company affairs, looked at the projected picture and the embarrassed man in the picture. It was hard to equate the man who used to be full of vigor and vitality and always acted arrogant when facing reporters with the man who gave people a sense of peace and silence in the picture now.
"Or maybe it's a rebirth." Luke suggested.
However, when the man who had brought the reporters all the way to the hotel for the press conference, who had sat on the floor, on the steps, calmly eating a hamburger in front of hundreds of eyes, suddenly announced a piece of information that shocked everyone to the point of speaking out of turn.
"Stark Industries will close its arms division and will no longer sell any weapons of mass destruction."
The first person to react was the kind-faced Obadiah Stane. He almost subconsciously stood in front of Tony, stretched out his hand to pull Tony up and push him to the back, asking people to take him away. At the same time, he loudly explained to the reporters who had come to their senses and become crazy, trying to reverse the bad influence brought about by Tony's words.
Although Stark Industries is not just about the arms business, but also has other aspects of the business, there is no doubt that the arms business is the most profitable and the most comfortable business. In fact, under his influence over the years, when people mention Stark Industries, the first thing that comes to mind is an arms dealer! A military-industrial enterprise!
It is conceivable that once Stark Industries' arms division is shut down, the general public's impression of Stark Industries will also collapse. This will have a terrible impact on Stark Industries!
Obadiah Stane did intend to drive down Stark Industries' stock price, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity to acquire more shares so that he could truly take control of Stark Industries in the future. However, he never intended to truly bring Stark Industries down and cause it to fall apart! So after finally sending away the group of reporters who had smelled something fishy and gone completely crazy, Obadiah Stane rarely lost his temper with Tony and asked Pepper Potts to keep Tony under control for the time being and not let him show up.
Of course, his energy dissipated and turned into ecstasy when Tony revealed the arc reactor on his chest.
…
Hebron Industries.
Ina watched the farce end in amazement, then stood up suddenly. Under Luke's stunned gaze, she rarely cursed and cried out in pain: "My stocks!"
The news Tony Stark had revealed would clearly trigger a stock avalanche for Stark Industries. Smaller investors could flee immediately; as long as they ran quickly, they wouldn't lose much. But how could someone of her size escape? And how could she possibly escape in such a short time? The financial markets shifted in an instant. Ina was already imagining the dreadful future in which she would become a Stark shareholder with Hebern and a seat on the board of directors.
"It's fine," Luke said.
"Pretty good?" Feeling frustrated, Ina looked at Luke dangerously. As someone who couldn't accept failure, she repeated Luke's words somewhat strangely, but her tone was a rhetorical question.
"Tony Stark is no fool. Although he, like me, dislikes management, that doesn't mean he doesn't understand business. I believe in his determination to shut down the munitions division, but I also believe he holds the cards to revive Stark Industries, or even take it a step further. He is the indispensable treasure of Stark Industries, not the so-called munitions division," Luke reminded him. "Don't forget, his brain can be used for more than just researching and manufacturing weapons."
"You're right. It seems this is still an opportunity." Ina calmed down. Suddenly, she looked at Luke seriously and said, "In that case, becoming a major shareholder of Stark and joining the board of directors is not impossible."
…
Malibu Villa.
Tony Stark was selecting materials for his new Iron Man suit. With Stark Industries' strength, his database contained information on most of the world's materials. And most of these material manufacturers wouldn't refuse an order from Stark Industries. All he had to do was select, place the order, and receive it.
So when he picked out a metal material that he was satisfied with, he asked his smart butler: "Whose product is this titanium alloy material?"
"Haibolun Industrial Technology." The voice of the intelligent butler Jarvis immediately gave the answer.
"Wow, it seems the little guy did a good job, a little better than I thought." Tony thought of Luke and said, "Please place an order for me. I need this new titanium alloy material."
"How much would you like, sir?" Jarvis asked.
"Let's start with one ton." Tony Stark said easily.
"Okay, the price of Haibolun Industrial Technology's new titanium alloy TI-0450-ZT material is $125 per gram." Jarvis replied easily, "The order has been completed."
Hearing this unit price, even Tony, who was worth a lot of money, couldn't help but curse softly in his heart.
"Little vampire!"