Nick Fury watched Natasha Romanoff leave with a perplexed expression, then called Phil Coulson, instructing him to personally investigate Antarctica.
He quietly sat in the café, sipping his coffee and watching William's live broadcast of his exploration of Mars' surface.
What Fury didn't realize was that his decision not to investigate or sabotage the second spacecraft had inadvertently saved his life. If William had identified anyone actively working against him, he wouldn't have hesitated to eliminate them.
As William strolled across the Martian sands on the screen, Fury's lone eye caught a sudden flash of golden light, as though something had glinted in the sunlight.
At first, he thought it was his imagination, but the café's other patrons, who were also watching, gasped.
"Oh my God, could that be gold dust?" one exclaimed.
The moment those words were spoken, everyone—including Fury—jumped up, staring intently at the screen.
William, who already knew exactly what lay beneath the sand, feigned a look of surprise. He crouched down, stared at the ground for a few seconds, and shook his head before exclaiming excitedly,
"Oh my God, this can't be real!"
The global audience watched in astonishment as William's footsteps uncovered a glimmering golden shine beneath the Martian sand.
Kneeling down for a closer look, William reached into the sand and pulled out a handful.
Under the Martian sunlight, gold dust sparkled in his palm.
"This spot… and here… and over there!"
Pretending to be in disbelief, William began scooping up handfuls of golden sand from a 10-square-meter area. Every time he reached into the ground, his hand emerged filled with glittering gold.
Finally, unable to contain his "excitement," William stood up and kicked the sandy ground. Golden particles scattered through the air like tiny sparks.
Walking along the sandy patch, he traced the apparent vein of gold for 20 meters, kicking up sand along the way. The glittering gold beneath grew even more concentrated.
Turning to the live feed with a wide-eyed expression, William declared,
"This… this… I must have landed on an ancient riverbed rich with gold deposits!"
Grabbing the floating camera drone, he directed it toward the surrounding canyon. The feed revealed a gorge over 100 meters wide and stretching hundreds of meters before curving out of sight.
William returned to the spacecraft to retrieve a portable shovel. He jogged back to the sand bed and began digging at a spot indicated by Sunday.
With one scoop, his shovel brought up a mix of sand and gleaming gold dust.
"Oh, thank God!" he exclaimed, digging again 30 meters further along the riverbed. Another scoop revealed a third of the shovel filled with gold.
He continued digging closer to the canyon walls. The further he went, the less gold he found, until finally, 30 meters from the rock face, his shovel came up empty.
Resting his weight on the shovel, William turned to the camera and pretended to be overwhelmed.
"If the entire central portion of this riverbed is like this, then… then…"
He stammered, drawing the audience to the edge of their seats.
Finally, he exclaimed, "A single cubic meter of pure gold weighs 19.2 metric tons. Even if the gold here is just a thin layer, we're talking about a massive deposit."
Calculating aloud, he continued, "Just looking at the visible section of this canyon—ignoring what might be beyond the curve—we have a riverbed that's over 100 meters wide. If we estimate conservatively, the gold is concentrated in a 20-meter-wide strip for a kilometer in length.
"Even a conservative estimate puts the deposit at thousands of tons of gold. A more realistic estimate might reach tens of thousands of tons.
"If I assume just 4,000 tons of gold, then in a few years, transporting it back to Earth would make me the wealthiest individual in the world."
Pausing for dramatic effect, William then grinned and added, "Actually, I wouldn't even need to transport it all.
"All I need to do is establish the Devonshire Martian Mining Group. From the moment the company is founded, it will be the most valuable corporation in the world."
As the drone ascended to provide a panoramic view of the canyon, William gestured toward the long gorge.
"This canyon alone could contain tens of thousands of tons of gold. The only limiting factor is how quickly we can transport it back to Earth.
"Even if we limit mining to avoid flooding the market and only build ten spacecraft, each carrying 50 tons per trip and making three round trips a year, we could bring back 1,500 tons annually.
"For context, the global gold output last year was approximately 3,000 tons.
"While this would affect gold prices in the short term, the long-term impact would be minimal. By selling the Martian gold at just 30% above Earth's production cost, we'd undercut most terrestrial mining operations, which would lead to a natural market correction."
"The gold from this canyon alone could sustain mining operations for at least 20 years," William said with feigned excitement.
"And Mars doesn't just have gold—there's bound to be even more valuable rare metals within Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system."
By now, William's excitement was palpable.
"With Martian mining operations, I will dominate the precious metals industry and become the wealthiest person in the world."
He spread his arms wide and whispered dramatically, "I am the sole owner of an entire planet's resources."
The global audience was stunned. Many cursed William out of sheer jealousy, while others secretly considered whether they should liquidate their assets to buy shares in the Devonshire Martian Mining Group once it was established.
Within moments, people were calculating costs and potential profits. The visible gold deposit was just a fraction of the canyon, and with minimal extraction costs, it was a virtual gold mine—literally.
Their thoughts were interrupted by William's heavy sigh.
"England as a whole should thank me," he said with a sly smile.
"In these tough economic times, the gold I bring back to London would generate over $100 billion in annual mining taxes.
"The construction of the ten spacecraft alone would cost over $100 billion, creating hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity and tens of thousands of jobs."
William grinned at the camera and added cheekily, "Maybe I should have my legal team review the tax code to see if Martian resources are even taxable—and if so, how much.
"After all, at current rates, that would be over $13 billion in taxes alone."
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Mutter"]
[Every 50 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]
[Use Code D8986 for 33% Off on All Tiers — Valid Until October 5th]