Alex was aboard one of the three Quinjets granted to his SITE-001 by the system en route to South Africa. His destination: a meeting with the region's most notorious arms dealer, Ulysses Klaue. This trip wasn't about acquiring ordinary weapons, which he could easily delegate to a subordinate.
Instead, Alex pursued a unique item that Klaue had pilfered from some rather secretive individuals.
One of his assistants called out, holding out a phone. "Sir, a call for you."
He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as he was interrupted from looking over the many reports he had to deal with daily but still taking the phone. "It's me."
"Sir, I'm the agent in charge of dealing with A.I.M; I request permission to spend 1 billion USD on securing our objective." the voice on the other end stated directly.
'A billion dollars... Killian's ambition is costly. He's likely nearing a stable Extremis prototype,' Alex thought. 'Though calling it stable might be giving him too much credit given the state it was in doing Iron Man 3.'
"Approved. Ensure we embed at least five of our scientists in the project for that amount," he responded after a brief contemplation.
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[On the other side of the call with Aldrich Killian.]
Aldrich watched the security footage on his monitor of the hallway right outside his office, where the man had gone to make a call. He was slightly impressed that he couldn't hear anything. 'Vocal jamming? This is becoming more and more interesting.'
Barely a moment after the call ended, the man entered the room again.
"Mr. Killian, my boss has agreed to the amount. He even allowed five of his own scientists to be moved in to help ensure the project succeeds."
Aldrich was somewhat surprised at how easily his request for 1 billion was met. He had been somewhat suspicious when he was informed that some private investor wanted to join A.I.M, especially so close to the success of Project Extremis.
It all felt terribly suspicious, but he also couldn't turn down that amount of money at present. "Why, that is great to hear! I don't suppose you can tell me who you work for now, can you? As for the scientists, well, I'm sure I can find somewhere for them in A.I.M."
Aldrich said with a smile on his face. While suspicious, he still enjoyed the idea that someone believed so much in him to spend a full billion like that.
"I'm afraid my boss wishes to remain anonymous for now, Mr. Killian. Now, shall we get to the signing of the agreements?" the man smoothly deflected and tried to move the conversation on.
'Well, this man might be trained enough not to let things slip, but if he really is sending real scientists, there is no way they won't let it slip soon enough,' Aldrich thought to himself as they moved on to signing document after document.
Aldrich was once again surprised when the person before him signed the transfer for the funds himself rather than needing his mysterious boss to process it. This caused his suspicious to grow and he resolved himself to ensure that those spies didn't reach Extremis.
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[Back with Alex.]
Alex was just about ready to meet with the infamous weapons dealer. His men were working on security right now. Which for a man like him meant combat helicopters in the air with high caliber machine guns and tank buster rockets as well as a fully armed section of ALPHA-1 ready to lie down their lives for him.
"We will be landing in a few minutes, Sir. From there, the meeting will be around 100 meters away from the landing point." An ALPHA-1 member said as he stood in full body armor with his gun in hand.
While Alex himself was just dressed in his typical suit, which was naturally entirely bulletproof, and his Foundation pin on his chest.
"Alright, and remember, we will be getting what we want from this meeting, one way or another." Alex said to remind his men to act appropriately; after all, he didn't want to pay too much, so putting a bit of pressure on Ulysses was expected.
The men nodded in understanding as they waited for the craft to land, which happened five minutes later. Afterward, the door opened. "Alright, let's get some vibranium for the Foundation!"
As Alex stepped outside the craft, he could see his men standing at attention while the sound of his helicopters filled the air and kicked up a strong wind. Not far away, he could see a small group of men dressed very differently from his own guard, standing around and waiting.
"Mr. Klaue, it is a pleasure to meet you." Alex called out as he neared the group, and he could see the man who would one day demand payment from even Ultron.
"Ahh, Mr. Ricci, you bring quite an escort with you. One would almost think you were going into war with that much firepower." The man said, clearly on edge by being surrounded by that much firepower.
Sure, his own men were around with jeeps, machine guns, and shoulder-mounted rockets, but it felt a little underwhelming compared to what the other man brought.
"No no, not war Mr. Klaue. I am here for the same reason as you, business." Alex said over the noise of the flying death bringers in the air.
"Business, you say? The word on the street is that you are pushing hard for expansion right now. A bad time, I dare say, with the Mandarin doing the same and all."
Ulysses knew quite a few things about what was going on in the underworld, so he wasn't surprised that Ricci wanted weapons, though he didn't believe he had to come all the way down himself to buy them.
"Well, you let me worry about that, Mr. Klaue. I didn't do this without thinking about it first, I can assure you. Now, onto business, I am looking for something special, something I know you have. Something I know you got from your dealings back in the day."
Alex said as he used his right hand to tap the back of his neck.
The signal wasn't unnoticed by the arms dealer as he tensed up a little. "That is some expensive stuff, all right, and very, very rare." Ulysses said slowly while putting an emphasis on just how rare it was.
"We both know it is nowhere near as rare as those guys claim. I also know just how much of it you really got your hands on- a full quarter, didn't you?" Alex said with a toothy grin on his lips. "I'm only asking for a mere 10 kilograms of it."
Ulysses was left very concerned by what he heard the Italian man say. He was just about to open his mouth when all those heavily armed and very well-trained-looking men of Ricci's all tightened the grip of their weapons. Which made him reconsider his words.
"That will cost you a lot, Mr. Ricci, and that is with a capital L." he said after a moment.
"I am ready to pay you one billion for all of it. Agree, and I promise that no one will hear a word, nor will any of it enter the market either."
Alex made his offer. He knew the reason Vibranium was usually so damn expensive was that it was believed to be beyond rare. Yet tons and tons of it were hidden by a particular nation, so the real value was not quite as high as many believed.
"That is a generous offer but not even close to its value," Ulysses responded firmly to the low offer. While a billion dollars was a significant sum, selling vibranium at the average market price could potentially yield tens of times that amount.
"Please, Mr. Klaue, we both know it will take quite a few decades, maybe even lifetimes, to offload your stockpile. Unless you want to flood the market and attract unwanted attention, not only from those pains in the neck but from the rest of the world as well," Alex explained, emphasizing the potential risks.
Alex was more than prepared for Ulysses to decline the offer and more than prepared to make him accept it as well.
Ulysses grimaced at the mention of drawing attention from Wakandans. "You said that none of this would enter the market? Nor would it go to my other buyers?" he inquired, swayed by the promise of a billion-dollar payday.
"That's correct, Mr. Klaue. I have my own reasons for wanting this. If you sell me what I want, you won't hear or see of it ever again. And who knows, I might even return to buy more in the future, helping you turn a few rocks into hard cash and lots of it," Alex replied, attempting to sweeten the deal.
He knew that a man like Ulysses Klaue was not someone who could be easily threatened into anything without wanting to get back at you. So Alex did his best to ensure Klaue would be satisfied.
If he couldn't, then he would have to get rough and live up to his name as overkill. 'don't push me, Ulysses, the Foundation wants this ore, and what the Foundation wants, it gets.'
"Handle the payment, and I'll have what you want brought out here within the hour," Ulysses agreed after a moment's consideration. He understood that while he was selling his goods below their market value, the alternative risked drawing unwanted attention. "I hope the money can be all clean as well," he added cautiously.
"We'll clean it for you as an after-sale bonus, just this once, though. That way, we can finish this quickly, and both end the day happy," Alex said after a short pause. He turned around and started walking back to his quinjet.
"Oh, and Mr. Klaue, if you get your hands on some nuclear stuff, let me know," Alex called out as he walked away, leaving Ulysses to sweat over that announcement.
An hour later, Alex sat in his quinjet and played with a small piece of vibranium as he started the trip back home.
"If a bunch of cowards hiding in their jungle and stealing tech from the rest of the world to improve it with this stuff can be considered the most advanced civilization on Earth, then my Foundation can make true marvels with it," Alex mused.
He was already anticipating what the Foundation might be able to do with the vibranium, though he was worried they would want to target Wakanda to get their hands on all of it.
Alex himself had no respect for the nation or its people. He knew the Foundation personnel would have even less, as they greedily hoarded something that could bring prosperity to all of mankind.
"Stop by SITE-644. I want to talk with the top research staff there. And get me some pictures of Howard Stark's Stark Expo and invite Anton Vanko and his son to a SITE for an interview on the arc reactor design," Alex instructed. He suddenly remembered that he didn't have to wait for Tony to come around for these things.
"If Tony could make it in a cave from scrap, and Ivan could do pretty much the same, then there is no way my people can't create it on their own, much less with Ivan on board as well," he added with a cold voice, fully informing his men what he meant by "invitation."
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His men didn't understand what he meant by Tony making something in a cave, but neither did they care, they had their orders and that was enough for them.
The quinjet showcased its impressive specs as it arrived at SITE-644 in record time. The SITE itself was only about 60 kilometers from Paris and was currently his main stronghold in Europe.
As his jet landed on the roof of what appeared to be the headquarters of a large media company, he saw a group already waiting to greet him. At the front was a bespectacled woman, appearing to be in her mid-50s. She had the look of a respectable businesswoman who had seen everything, fitting for her high-ranking position in the Foundation.
"Welcome to SITE-644, Sir. I am SITE Director Alexandra, and I'm pleased to have you here," she said, quickly leading Alex and his guards into the depths of the facility, where a large group of researchers greeted them.
"Alexandra? That means 'defender of mankind,' doesn't it? A fine name indeed, Director," Alex said lightly, knowing well about her name as his own meant the same while riding the elevator and offering the woman a light smile.
"Well, it is what we do, Sir. I have sent out one of those new Quinjets to bring in that father and son pair you requested. They should get here soon enough. And if I may, those jets are a real marvel, or so my men keep saying. Having more of those would be a blessing," the woman said, making a barely veiled request for more jets.
Alex didn't bother answering it as he simply didn't have more to give. Even SHIELD was still working on making their first working ones.
The rest of the day went on with Alex handing over 2 kg of vibranium to the researchers and telling them what he knew about the metal, as well as informing them about Wakanda and Tolokan, which he named as an SCP. He also hinted about the possibility of relics made of the stuff that might have leaked out into museums around the world.
He finished by telling them about the high-energy element found by Stark and that the father and son duo would have designs for a reactor that was meant to harness that power.
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Returning home, he felt like he had accomplished a lot over the past few days, such as buying vibranium, getting into A.I.M, and obtaining the arc reactor. He looked forward to seeing what his people could do with Vibranium, the reactor, and the new element.
The staff back at SITE-644 had been really excited to get started on it, so he expected some results soon enough.
That SITE might not be one with a focus on science, but that didn't mean that they didn't have a large amount of bright minds around. Alex still hoped to get a proper Foundation science research SITE soon.
"For the glory of humanity," he said as he stood up and emptied his wine glass before leaving his spot by the pool and heading to bed. Behind him, his men saluted in the shadows and repeated his words.