"What—the Fed has to kick him one percent of all annual printing?"
"What—and Makino Technologies gets deep federal cooperation?"
"What—every piece of equipment and material Makino Tech needs must be provided free of charge—as in, no payment?"
"Stark Industries and Makino Technologies will pay no taxes to the government…?"
...
...
Tony Stark handed President Matthew Ellis a long list.
As a dyed-in-the-wool capitalist, Tony truly loved dealing with the U.S. government—especially after he named himself Leon Ragnell's plenipotentiary for negotiations.
If there were benefits to be had, Tony could ask for them directly—and while he was at it, skim a little for Stark Industries. After all, he'd pioneered a new energy paradigm; surely a little policy "encouragement" was good for humanity.
So the government suffers a bit—so what?
Who told them to poke Leon, the walking apocalypse?
Now they could pay the bill.
...
...
Irritated as they were, the U.S. government pinched their noses and drafted the Pacific Seventh Accord.
Tony had the lawyers comb it line by line—airtight. And even if a loophole existed, Leon could always flip the table. The thing mostly protected America, not Leon.
Leon, meanwhile, went right back to living his life.
That didn't mean Washington—or S.H.I.E.L.D., or HYDRA—sat idle. One shot obliterating the Seventh Fleet had every power center on edge.
If the accord hadn't gone through, Nick Fury would already have called Captain Marvel. This was an extinction-level threat.
Leon wasn't swinging—so they'd try a soft approach.
Intel from Natasha said it plainly:
Leon liked women.
So a stream of "talent" lined up at his door.
Leon didn't turn anyone away.
With absolute strength, he wasn't worried. Want to extract his cells? Be his guest. He'd even feed you up first, then let you try.
Whatever. That's what being this strong looks like.
Surrounded by beauties, Leon truly understood what it meant to live above everyone else.
Gorgeous company. Money tossed like confetti.
Ah yes—the decadent spiral of the capitalist lifestyle.
Soon enough, he reset his focus. Two main projects:
First: the gravity chamber. He brought in Bruce Banner; they clicked instantly, went from theory to schematics fast. Hitting 100× gravity right away was impossible; the first build would be 10×.
Tenfold would do.
Second: the reactor. The current arc reactor output was far too small for Leon's needs. He wanted something on the level of Android No. 17 and No. 18—super reactors.
The tech wasn't there yet. Time to push forward.
Leon also did one more thing:
Help Banner tame the Hulk.
He needled Bruce now and then, luring Hulk out again and again—and beat him down. After the thrashing, he'd feed the big guy, then coax him like a child.
To Leon's surprise, Hulk's battle power kept rising—500 at first, now 680. It would grow with time, just not as fast as Leon's. With proper training, Hulk's numbers rose even better.
The big green was… impressive.
On the other front, Iron Man's hardware jumped a tier. Leon measured the reactor's raw energy at about 300+ battle power, and after a full-stack upgrade Tony pushed his suit's combat output to 200.
Mark IV, but on a radically different level than the old "Mk 4" in this timeline.
Key upgrade: modularity—assemble anytime, fight anytime.
Way slicker than the old suitcase armor.
Around then, Whiplash (Ivan Vanko) came for revenge.
Outdated gear versus a modernized Stark—Tony tagged him with a single repulsor blast and erased the problem.
Even Tony hadn't expected that much punch.
He'd copied Leon's combat philosophy outright: when in doubt, use the Prince's Battle Method—create distance, spam repulsors, ki blasts, and the Dodon Ray; never brawl if you don't have to.
Meanwhile, Hammer Industries—Stark's long-time rival—got steamrolled.
Makino Technologies executed a hostile takeover; the entire Hammer complex now answered to Leon.
With Stark + Hammer complementary, Leon's R&D velocity exploded.
By then, Leon's battle power had climbed to 24,000.
And he still wasn't satisfied.
Too slow…
He was adding 160 a day now.
Not even 4,800 a month.
Months ago he would've been thrilled; now it felt… lacking.
"The time's come," Leon murmured. "Let's pay Kamar-Taj a visit and learn some magic."
(End of Chapter)
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