I'm working on Marvel's Spider-Man in American comics.

Chapter 718 The Roxon-Stark War

Tony Stark received news of Justin Hammer's release on bail almost immediately, but he didn't take it seriously. At that moment, he was busy with something important—continuing his ex-girlfriend's research on the AIM extremist virus.

[The survival rate of the last batch of mice has reached 100%, sir. It's time to move on to the next stage. The primates ordered from Africa have arrived at the laboratory.]

Jarvis reported on the latest developments, while Tony beamed: "Great! Once I become the Extremis Virus Iron Man, Captain America won't be able to teach me a lesson with his fighting skills anymore."

There is no evidence that the Extremis virus can enhance a person's combat abilities, sir.

“I know, what I mean is that I can be in less pain even without wearing armor, and I have the physical abilities to compete with super soldiers.”

Tony's research into the safety of the Extremis virus and his own injection of it stemmed from the fact that the intensity of combat was increasing, making it difficult for even Captain America, let alone Tony, to cope with newly emerging enemies simply through advancements in armor technology.

On the other hand, the research and development of nanorobot micro-storage technology has stagnated. The gap in the number of nanorobots, from suits to steel armor, is too large, which has significantly slowed down the research progress.

So Tony decided to take a different approach—if simple portable equipment couldn't carry enough nanobots, why not hide them inside his body? Like inside bones, muscles, and blood vessels. Perhaps his body couldn't do that now, but that didn't mean he couldn't after receiving the Extremis virus injection.

So Tony began working with complete absorption, not even answering Rhodes's calls. After working for dozens of hours without eating or drinking, Tony fell asleep on his desk and was then woken up by Jarvis's voice.

[Sir, Stark Industries stock has experienced significant fluctuations, and Miss Potts is contacting you.]

"Stocks? What happened? Did they go up a few percentage points again?"

“Yesterday, Stark Industries’ stock fell by about 8.7%.”

Tony was stunned, then quickly sat up from the pile of scrap paper and computers and immediately asked, "April Fool's Day has been moved to September?"

This is likely related to the energy extraction agreement signed between the US government and Watt Alheim.

Seeing Tony still confused, Jarvis continued explaining: "Vat Alheim is the realm of the Dark Elves, whose leader Malekith is Thor's enemy. However, Wat Alheim has been proven to possess more than ten times the oil reserves of Earth, and Roxon Energy has spearheaded an exclusive energy extraction agreement with the United States."

"Stark Industries is on the unfriendly company list, right?"

Yes, sir.

Tony thought for a few seconds, saw Rhodes' call, and immediately stood up: "Notify the Avengers, we're in trouble." About an hour later, at Avengers Tower, all the Avengers, including Black Panther, arrived at Avengers Tower through the newly set Norn Stone teleportation device. Even Thor, who had been offline for a long time, came along because it involved Watt Alheim.

Tony first told everyone what he knew, then sat down at the table and looked at everyone: "That's the situation now, and Potts told me something even more troublesome: Roxson has started buying up Stark Industries' retail stock. There's no doubt they intend to enter Stark Industries and take a place there."

Although Tony Stark is the largest shareholder of Stark Industries, he has been away from the company's management for several years. He has devoted almost all his energy to the superhero business and to developing new products for the company in his spare time. Therefore, it was only after contacting Potts that he finally understood the general situation.

The impending influx of large quantities of oil has caused a sharp drop in energy prices across the country and potentially globally. Furthermore, all energy companies in the United States, except for Stark Industries, have the right to extract oil in Watt Alheim, causing Stark Industries' stock, which currently focuses on clean energy, to plummet.

"There's no need to worry about Stark Industries going bankrupt or its shareholding changing. Fossil fuels are, after all, still... still not clean energy. As long as we get some environmental organizations to do some publicity, Stark Industries will survive. No need to worry about not having a place to stay tomorrow."

Of everyone present, only the captain looked at Tony and shook his head. Tony then proceeded to address the next point: "The next question is, now that the United States has become the world's largest energy exporter, let's not even talk about whether it will trigger another oil crisis. Just think about what the United States has done over the years. Could this situation develop into a future where we see American soldiers on the battlefield of Asgard?"

"In that situation, we would need to fight the country we live in—"

After thinking for a moment, the captain nodded, seemingly finding it all rather troublesome. It was simply extremely troublesome, a real pain in the neck.

"This is absolutely despicable, that Roxson..."

“His name isn’t Roxon,” Peter interrupted Saul. “His company is called Roxon, and his name is Dario Agger. Guys, I have to tell you something. Strange has been keeping an eye on Roxon lately because he discovered that Mephisto bought a lot of Roxon stock, and that stock is now being dumped on the retail market. And stocks are contracts, and the devil is a master at manipulating contracts.”

"Rockson Energy's stock has surged along with this news, and what's more troublesome is that the concept of stock is no longer just about one or two shares."

Black Panther understood the concept: "With the trading of shares, the entire Roxon Energy stock is in a state of... devil's contract, which makes it even more unsettling."

Everyone fell silent until Hulk ripped open the bag of potato chips with a "rip," popped a chip into his mouth, and asked a question: "Hulk thinks... bad guys aren't friends, they might not be cooperating."

Everyone looked at Hulk, and then Tony smiled.

"In other words, Mephisto and Roxon are likely two different things, and we need to confirm this possibility. If that's true, then it's simple: Mephisto is in Strange's hands, Spider-Man, the liaison is yours. Roxon is in my hands; it's time for a business war."

Tony said, jumping off the table: “A Roxon-Stark War.”

(End of this chapter)