"The movie is good."
Tony, ever arrogant, approached Anton and said, "Next week, I'll fulfill the terms of our bet and throw a party for you in Los Angeles."
With a sharp snort, he turned and walked away, leaving Anton standing there, dumbfounded.
Anton watched Tony get into his car and drive off, a smile creeping onto his face.
!A bet? Oh, the bet with Tony!!
He had nearly forgotten about it. But now that Tony had brought it up, there was no way he could ignore it.
"Come to think of it, Tony must have already updated his suit to the Mark II, and maybe even the Mark III, which has seen some action..."
Anton's thoughts drifted to the recent news about Gulmira. If his guess was correct, Iron Man had already made his debut.
However, Tony Stark still hadn't dealt with Obadiah Stane. In fact, Tony probably wasn't even aware of Obadiah's treachery yet.
'No one truly knows about Iron Man just yet,' Anton mused.
"Anton, the audience feedback on Cyborg is overwhelmingly positive."
Jim's voice suddenly pulled Anton from his thoughts.
"Moreover, DC novels and comics hit the market a month ago, and the response has been fantastic. We've already built up a solid fan base! This movie is shaping up to be another box office hit!"
Jim's enthusiasm was infectious. "Even Tony Stark, who rarely attends such events, came to the premiere. That's huge news."
The more Jim spoke, the more animated he became. He looked thoroughly pleased with himself. Joining DC had clearly been the best decision of his career.
"This is probably the thing I'm most proud of in the second half of my life," he said with a grin.
"Good. Ramp up the publicity. I want to see results the very next day," Anton replied calmly.
After issuing his orders, Anton lost interest in lingering at the meeting and decided to head back to New York. Betty, who had been by his side the entire time, accompanied him.
In the car
Betty handed Anton a folder containing several resumes, each with a photo attached.
"These are the candidates for your personal assistant position," she said.
Anton's personal assistant should have been Betty herself. However, given his tendency to delegate most of his responsibilities, he rarely paid attention to the operations of DC.
As his right-hand woman, Betty had taken over many of his duties at DC, leaving her with no time to serve as his personal assistant. After some discussion, they decided to hire someone to fill the position.
Anton flipped through the resumes idly, stopping when his eyes landed on a particular face. A beautiful face.
He stared at the photo for a moment, then suddenly chuckled.
"It's her!" he declared, picking out one of the resumes and handing it to Betty. "Tell this woman—Natasha—to start work tomorrow."
Betty's face remained expressionless, but inwardly, she wasn't the least bit surprised by his choice.
Looking at the strikingly beautiful face in the photo, she thought, 'Of course he'd pick her. That was predictable.'
...
On the night of the Green Goblin incident, Anton clashed with Hawkeye. After giving Hawkeye a lesson he wouldn't forget, Anton found himself wondering when S.H.I.E.L.D. would come looking for him again.
Sure enough, only a few days later, S.H.I.E.L.D. took action. This time, they sent none other than the infamous Black Widow. Anton couldn't help but feel a little flattered.
Logically speaking, even if S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't be 100% certain about Batman's true identity, they could still reasonably narrow their suspicions down to him.
After all, back during the Life Foundation incident, Coulson, on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D., had already approached him. At that time, Coulson clearly implied that he believed Anton was Batman.
While Anton had worked to distance himself from Batman's identity—especially during Batman's global $600 million box office celebration party—he doubted it had completely erased S.H.I.E.L.D.'s suspicions.
Even if they were 90% convinced that Anton wasn't Batman, there would still be that lingering 10% of uncertainty.
You see, Anton had never explicitly revealed his identity as Batman in any of his dealings with S.H.I.E.L.D. Even during the Kingpin incident and the Green Goblin incident, he communicated with them solely as Batman, never as Anton.
There was an unspoken understanding between him and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Now, with Black Widow applying to be his personal assistant, Anton could guess what they were trying to do.
S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to establish closer contact with him while also seeing if they could sway him to their side—just as they had done in the original plot with Tony Stark.
"And one more thing,"
Betty's voice broke into his thoughts.
"The stock price of Stark Industries has risen. By all accounts, we've already made a substantial profit. Should we sell?"
"Risen?" Anton didn't seem concerned. "How much higher can it go? It's not the right time yet. Keep holding. Like I said before, consider this a long-term investment."
"It's already climbed back to nearly half its former value. Are you sure you don't want to sell?" Betty asked, clearly puzzled.
She didn't understand Anton's confidence in Stark Industries.
For anyone paying attention to the company, it was obvious that Tony Stark had been sidelined by the board of directors.
Stark Industries was now effectively under the control of Obadiah Stane, who had become the company's real decision-maker.
Without Tony Stark's vision and leadership, most believed Stark Industries would never return to its former glory. The current rebound in its stock price was likely the peak, with little chance of recovering its original market value.
"How did it climb back so much?" Anton asked curiously, rather than answering Betty's question. "What's Obadiah Stane been up to recently?"
Betty glanced at her notes and replied, "He announced that Stark Industries would not be shutting down its arms manufacturing division. At the same time, he's made a significant investment in the energy sector and partnered with Dr. Otto Octavius's company to pursue the development of an artificial sun."
"Artificial sun?" Anton raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. Dr. Otto is a leading figure in the energy sector. His 'artificial sun' experiment has been in the works for years. If it succeeds, it could potentially free humanity from its dependence on fossil fuels. It would be a revolutionary breakthrough, ushering in an entirely new future."
Betty continued, "This announcement has made investors optimistic about Stark Industries' future. If Dr. Otto succeeds, Stark Industries could dominate the energy industry—even without its arms division—creating a monopoly."
"Dr. Otto? Artificial sun?" Anton's expression turned strange.
He hadn't expected Obadiah Stane to collaborate with Dr. Octavius. The two didn't seem like they'd have anything in common.
Wait a minute...
Anton snapped back to reality, recalling how, in the original plot, Obadiah Stane had recovered Tony's first-generation Mark suit from the desert and brought it back to New York.
However, due to a lack of suitable energy, he resorted to stealing Tony's "heart"—the arc reactor.
Now it all made sense.
Obadiah Stane really has gotten smarter!
…
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