"What do you mean? We've been working on this game for 5 months now and you want us to scrap it to make this?" Sitting in a cramped office building, Nick was talking to the team at GreyBox Studio, a failing game company of 31 people.
"Listen guys, I know you're doubtful but trust me, this game will do well on the market. I'll even donate $50,000 to your studio for you guys to use as you see fit. If you guys do well, I'll happily donate more... Also Im not asking you to scrap your current game, just to pause it." Nick, being the majority shareholder, spoke to them with authority.
Hearing the money that suddenly fell into their lap, the apprehensions lowered from the GreyBox Studio developers.
He'd already told them the basics of what the game would be, he even made them sign a contract for merchandise licensing rights, just in case they tried to dispute it.
Since he was essentially giving the game to them, it was the studios property, but the real money would be coming from merchandise and stock!
He did this with every game studio in which he became the majority shareholder of, he became the sole person able to create offical merchandise for games that was almost guaranteed to be popular.
These small studios didn't think much about giving the merchandising rights away, they didnt think the games would become popular enough to make any merch, let alone make millions off of the merch!
Raising his hand for a handshake, the founding and lead developer looked at it for a second before ultimately shaking Nick's hand.
This was the seventh game studio in which he became the majority shareholder in since he absorbed the vulture two months ago, he was working like crazy after absoring the supervillian.
Greybox studio in particular sold all of its shares to the public, of which Nick managed to buy 78% and will continue buying when available. Due to their past couple of games doing terribly, despite being decent developers, Nick managed to buy them for just under $900,000.
After shaking the mans hand, Nick handed them a thick folder with the title "Five Nights at Freddy's". The developers were shocked at what was inside. It had everything from dialogue, game maps, drawings, and lore to it, and even described the voice actors' tone of voice.
After spending all that time with Bobby Singer copying his entire library of lore, Nick had gotten rather proficient at drawing and taking notes. Adding the mental boost he gained from the Vulture, Nick was able to recall a lot more about his past world.
When absorbing a creature, Nick doesnt rise up to the level of whatever he absorbed. Instead whatever he absorbed was added onto Nick!
This meant that instead of rising up to the Vultures intellect, the vulture intellect was added on Nicks already slight above average intelligence! Remembering games from his past world in great detail was easy!
Leaving the gaming studio, Nick got in his car and drove back to Queens in New York.
After driving past all the bustle of the city, he arrived at the windowless building he'd bought nearly a year ago. It was the headquarters and lab of his new company "Valentine Industries"!
It was a brutalist concrete building that had the white words "Valentine Industries" on it, it looked more like a giant concrete rectangle than a building but it fit all of Nicks requirements.
Getting out of his car, it took him a full three minutes of unlocking all of his security checkpoints to arrive at his destination within the building.
It was a research lab equipped with everything Nick needed to create electronic appliances on one half, but the other half was full of chemistry tools and appliances..
In the middle of the electronic side was a metallic skeleton hanging from the ceiling with wires, it was a complete exoskeleton!
The Vulture was a genius, but he was a genius who focused entirely on two subjects, exoskeletons and antigravity. He was completely illiterate in chemistry, and this meant so was Nick.
After absorbing the Vulture, Nick's mind had been enhanced greatly, his understanding of and affinity for electronics and machinery greatly increased, but he also gained memories and schematics!
These memories contained all of Adrian Toomes's research and experience on his anti-gravity generator and his exoskeleton. It was this very same exoskeleton that hung from the ceiling and was recreated from Nick's memories!
Taking off his baggy clothes, Nick unhooked the exoskeleton from the ceiling and began strapping it to his body. Beginning at his feet, Nick clasped the exoskeleton around his foot like shoes, then legs, hips, chest, arms, and even a hand segment that looked like ultra-slim platemail gloves.
The leg portion of the exoskeleton was essentially four large rods that wrapped around calf, then another four that wrapped around his thigh. The knees and waist section had small, soundless motors that moved the rods back and forth.
The back section looked like a metallic human spine that had to be harnessed tightly against the user's spine. The arm section had a similar rod concept for the legs, except for his hands which had metallic gloves that could bend steel when he closed his fist!
After putting everything on, he began to test it. Flexing his hand slightly, the exoskeleton closed his fist for him and reopened it as he relaxed his hand.
Moving his hand forward slightly, the Exoskeleton rocketed his hand forwards and nearly knocked Nick's shoulders out of socket!
"The upper body part is working properly but is too powerful, if I was a normal person I definitely would've torn a muscle and dislocated a shoulder."
Bending forward slightly, the Exoskeleton pushed him down slowly enough so that he could touch his toes. Nick had especially dialed down the back portion of the Exoskeleton, lest he accidentally break his spine and paralyze himself.
Running had a similar result to his arms, he ran incredibly fast but had slammed into a concrete wall when he tried to stop. Letting out a sigh, Nick began taking off his exosuit and connecting it back to the ceiling mount.
"The Exoskeleton is works fine but lacks control, it needs an Internal Operation system to analyze the user's gait and regulate the force output for military use. The civilian version won't have this level of force output, so I should be able to sell it immediately..."
Whether it was for warehouse workers lifting heavy boxes, nurses having to lift patients, stroke victims struggling to walk, or even the elderly that needed canes, they could all use something that augments their strength!
That being said, Nick was still hesitant. Just one malfunction and he might accidentally injure or even kill the user, which would weigh heavily on him, but also severely damage his company's blossoming reputation.
"It's best I hold off on selling the civilian model until I can implement a failsafe that regulates the suit. There's too many factors to consider, and me taking a shortcut could result in someone dying."
The Vulture might have been an antigravity genius that dabbled in exosuits, but he wasn't the greatest at programming. That was all software, while the Vulture was more of a hardware guy.
Nick had begun learning how to program and was absorbing the knowledge at a startling rate, he figured he'd be able to create the necessary program in just a couple months! But a couple months was still too long for Nick's liking.
"Even when If i do wait and create the program myself, I'll still need someone to double-check my work, and they'll need to be a competent programmer. Seeing as It'll take me some time to track down Micro, can only go after the other person with decent programming skills, Spiderman!"
Unlike the vulture, who was a genius in a specific field, Spiderman is an overall genius who dabbles in every field, including programming!
In the comic books, Peter Parker created a wide array of gadgets and tools, ranging from the spiderwebs he swings on to tiny robot spiders that help him infiltrate buildings.
"I did create the Chemist half of my Lab with him in mind, but I planned on waiting for a while before inviting him...It's best to poach him now before others realize how much of a genius he is." Looking at his watch and seeing that it was still 12:54, Nick left now as he headed off to Midtown High School!
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I'm moving away from the "freak of the week" mini-arcs and onto a more cohesive story that builds on each other.