AN: New Week. New Target: 2k Powerstones. Let's get to top 10.
In this chapter, I added certain things that some of you readers suggested.
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[Titan HQ] [Meeting Room]
The long glass table gleamed under the overhead lights. Fresh notebooks. Laptops open. Water bottles lined up like soldiers.
At the head of the table sat Alex. He was wearing a dark blazer, white T-shirt, and black jeans. Relaxed posture, sharp eyes. King at the war table.
To his right:
Rachel, looking no-nonsense in her usual black outfit, stylus in hand, tablet open.
Jane, the financial advisor-slash-second assistant, mid-30s. She was wearing a tailored gray suit, glasses low on her nose, already doing math in her head.
Lena, head of marketing, 35-40s. Red lipstick, black leather jacket over business casual, half rebel, half shark.
Nico, head of publishing. Baggy cardigan, metal band T-shirt, glasses; looked like he smelled of paper and ambition.
Ethan Carter, Titan's in-house lawyer... clean-cut, brown suit, Harvard jawline, and the permanent aura of "I can get you out of jail but it'll cost you."
Plus two senior project managers and a junior strategy analyst, both looking slightly terrified to be in the same room.
Alex tapped his fingers against his coffee cup once.
Then the meeting officially began.
Rachel stood and clicked the remote. The wall screen lit up.
"Recap: Titan Comics' launch broke all forecasts. Physical comic sales, digital downloads, merchandise... all green across the board. We were expecting a slow snowball. We got an avalanche."
Slide: TOTAL Revenue Day 1: $10.4M
She clicked again.
Slide: Projected Revenue Week 1 (Conservative): $50M–$100M
Heads nodded around the table.
Rachel continued:
"Online pre-orders open next week. We're already forecasting sold-out stock in the first wave. The only question now… is how we scale."
She looked at Alex.
He nodded once. "Distribution."
Jane stood, hands clasped behind her back.
"Right now, we have two options."
Slide appeared.
OPTION 1: Third-Party Distribution
➤ Use existing retail networks (Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Target, comic shops).
➤ Cut them 20–30% of profits depending on deals.
➤ Minimal upfront cost.
➤ Fast rollout (1–2 weeks).
OPTION 2: Titan Exclusive Stores
Open Titan Comics-branded stores nationwide.
➤ Control everything: product placement, upsells, events, exclusive merchandise, food & drinks stands.
➤ Estimated Store Count: 1,000–2,500 (Phase 1–2).
➤ Estimated Annual Rent (if renting): $20M–$50M.
➤ Estimated Buying Property (if buying): $500M–$1B total.
➤ Staff, inventory, operations: Additional hundreds of millions annually.
She clicked again.
Slide: Pros vs Cons
➤ Third-Party = Fast, cheap, but no control.
➤ Exclusive Stores = Huge cost, but 100% brand ownership, lifetime value per customer skyrockets.
Jane concluded, calm and cool:
"If we go third-party, we're profitable immediately. If we go stores, we take a major hit short-term but build an empire long-term."
Lena leaned forward, smirking.
"If we open Titan Stores… We have to do something unique that doesn't exist yet in regular stores. Imagine it... kids' reading lounges, cosplay events, early merch drops, and exclusive fan clubs, and people can simply rent the comics, read them at the store without buying. And we should be able to remove the third-party expenditures and reduce the price of the comics and merch. We'll make our money in just a year or two if things go as planned and new content keeps coming."
She snapped her fingers.
"And imagine the launch day photos: lines around the block. Exclusive pins. Limited drops. You want culture? You own culture with stores."
Nico shrugged.
"I'm a comics guy. I care about getting books into hands. Third-party gets comics to more people faster, especially in rural areas. But Titan Stores let us curate everything... how the books are displayed, what gets highlighted, what bonus content gets offered. That's huge for collector culture. If we can pull this off, this will be something really big. Oh, boy. This will be fun."
Ethan spoke next, cool and clinical.
"If we rent: fast setup, flexible exit. If we buy: we're locked in, but the properties become assets worth hundreds of millions themselves. Real estate is still relatively cheap post-dot-com bubble crash. My advice? Start by renting. Scout the best spots. Then cherry-pick the top performers and buy those locations over 3–5 years."
Rachel tapped her tablet once, the screen lighting up clean and cold.
"We're first."
Her voice was steady. Sharp.
"We built this world. We introduced superheroes. Marvel. DC. Titan Comics. It's ours."
Slide: GLOBAL HERO BRAND MARKET – 2005
Titan Comics: 97%
Other competitors: 3% (Only scattered indie publishers, no unified franchises)
Rachel leaned in slightly, her tone tightening:
"But we're living on borrowed time."
She clicked again.
Slide: Risk Timeline – Next 3 Years
6–12 months:
Big corporations and hungry studios realize superhero IPs are the future.
12–24 months:
Competitors will either copy, steal, or build their own cheap universes.
24–36 months:
Oversaturation risk. Bad adaptations. Audience trust starts to crack if we're not careful.
Rachel looked directly at Alex.
"No one owns this space but us. But if we hesitate, we'll lose it. If we let cheap copies flood the market before we lock in fan loyalty... It's over."
She clicked again.
Slide: Titan's Only Options
Expand fast. Control the myth. Control the experience.
Expand smart. Build loyalty so deep, no imitator can break it.
Protect the story. No bad licensing. No weak spin-offs. No cash-grabs.
The room was silent after Rachel's last slide.
Alex tapped his coffee cup lightly, then turned toward Ethan.
"If I'm about to throw another billion into stores, scaling, merch, all of it... are we going to have the IRS breathing down my neck?"
Ethan didn't blink. Calm. Steady.
Without a word, he connected his laptop to the conference projector.
The screen flashed up:
[Asset & Net Worth Overview: Alex Wilson]
Ethan began, clicking through with ruthless efficiency:
"In the last three months alone..."
Wilson Production House
Cupcake shop
Park Hyatt Tokyo
Titan HQ Building
Titan Printing Plant
Other mics. expenditures...
He glanced at Alex meaningfully.
"You've been on a buying spree. Aggressive. Smart. But aggressive."
He clicked again.
"That said..."
Stock Portfolio Value:
Strategic holdings in tech, pharmaceuticals, energy, and entertainment.
Acquired smartly during the downturns in the early 2000s.
Current stock value: explosive.
Another click.
And then the number appeared on the screen:
Alex Wilson – Net Worth: $24.9 Billion
World Ranking: #4
(Just overtook Carlos Slim Helú's $23.8B.)
The room froze.
Rachel's stylus fell onto the table with a clatter.
Jane sat up straighter, pushing her glasses up, rechecking the number like she misread it.
Nico mouthed a silent "holy shit."
Even Lena, cool as ice, actually blinked twice.
Ethan continued, matter-of-fact:
"Between cash, stock assets, property, and ongoing profits... you're not just safe. You're untouchable."
Slide shifted:
➤ Cash on hand and equivalents: $3.2 Billion
➤ Stocks (liquidable if necessary): $15.4 Billion
➤ Property and physical assets: $6.3 Billion
Rachel finally found her voice, dry. "You accidentally became richer than 99.9% of the world?"
'HOLY SHIT!' Alex shrugged, like he was talking about picking up dry cleaning. "Money's just fuel. I create things."
Jane shook her head in disbelief. "You could buy half of Manhattan and still have room left for dessert."
Ethan calmly shut his laptop. "Long story short... You can invest billions, open stores, buy real estate, expand the production house, and still have enough left to buy a sports team or two if you're bored. The IRS isn't your problem."
Rachel gave a small snort. "The only thing you're at risk of is running out of time, not money."
Lena grinned, folding her arms. "Well then. Screw third parties. Titan Stores it is."
Alex stood slowly, coffee in hand, surveying his team... the war council of a man on the edge of building an empire.
"Full steam ahead," Alex said. "We build the kingdom."
The meeting exploded into action.
...
The room buzzed as everyone scrambled to their laptops and notebooks, already tossing ideas back and forth.
But Alex wasn't done.
He stayed standing at the head of the table, watching them for a moment, calculating, building, seeing the future.
He raised a hand.
The chatter died instantly.
"Hold up," Alex said, his voice calm, but electric underneath. "We're not stopping at stores... Since we are already here, let's do something big again."
Rachel glanced up from her notes. "...Oh no. You're still cooking."
Alex smiled slightly. That dangerous, empire-building smile.
"We're opening our own movie theaters... Think of it as a long-term investment."
For a second, no one spoke.
Then Lena leaned back slowly in her chair, eyebrows climbing toward her hairline. "You're serious."
Alex nodded. "Dead serious."
Rachel blinked, stunned for the first real time today. "Like… Titan Theaters?"
Alex paced slowly around the head of the table, voice steady, low, absolutely certain.
"We created the heroes. We own the comics. We control the merch. We're building the stores. But where do they go for the experience? Well, we'll be playing every other movie like the ones that already exist. But..."
He let the question hang.
Nico looked like he was about to faint from excitement.
Jane sat straighter, already mentally calculating logistics and death by leases.
Alex continued:
"Movie chains right now? Garbage. Overpriced tickets. Stale popcorn. Shitty seats. Half-empty theaters because nobody wants to go anymore unless it's an 'event.'"
He turned and clicked his remote.
New slide:
THE PROBLEM WITH TRADITIONAL MOVIE CHAINS
➤ High ticket prices ➤ Low-quality experience ➤ Broken projectors, bad sound ➤ Overpriced, low-quality food ➤ No sense of occasion
Another click.
THE SOLUTION: TITAN THEATERS
➤ Premium experience at accessible prices ➤ Recliner seats standard. No upcharge. ➤ In-theater dining (gourmet sliders, milkshakes, real coffee, cocktails) ➤ State-of-the-art projection + Dolby Atmos sound & vision ➤ Exclusive merch kiosks inside every theater ➤ Titan Comics hubs attached to theater lobbies ➤ Monthly "Fan Nights" — cosplay encouraged, prize giveaways, exclusive first-looks
"As you all know, Dolby is the new future. But due to the high cost, no one touches that, and they keep sticking to the same old projectors. But we'll give everyone the best ultimate experience." Alex explained.
Ethan tapped his notes. "Real estate-wise, we can focus first on failing malls and strip centers. There's blood in the water right now. We buy the locations cheap, retrofit for luxury, and own the land."
Jane nodded, already in deep finance mode. "We'd need a prototype theater first. Prove the concept. Then scale up."
Lena laughed under her breath. "If this works... it'll make AMC look like Blockbuster."
Alex's eyes gleamed.
"It will work."
Slide changed:
PILOT CITIES:
➤ New York (flagship) ➤ Los Angeles ➤ Chicago ➤ Dallas ➤ Miami
He explained:
"First five cities. Then ten. Then nationwide. International rollout by 2010."
...
Rachel slowly set her tablet down, her voice still dry but layered with adrenaline.
"This is insane."
Alex smirked. "No. This is inevitable."
Jane was already flipping pages in her financial ledger. "Assuming no licensing hell, supply chain disasters, or PR meltdowns... with cashflow from comics, merch, and stores feeding into theaters..."
She paused, tapping her pen against her palm.
"You could break even in under two years."
Rachel leaned forward, eyes gleaming now. "And after that?"
Jane smiled thinly. "You print money. Like... government-level printing."
Ethan folded his arms. "You're also setting up a vertical monopoly. You make the content. You distribute it. You sell the merch. You own the experience. No middlemen."
Nico, bouncing slightly in his seat like a caffeine-charged golden retriever, added, "I love the idea. And if this succeeds, then can we expect some salary increase?"
"You bet." Alex smiled.
Lena cracked her knuckles. "Good. Because marketing this will be an event by itself."
She clicked her laptop, projecting the rough first ideas:
Titan Theater Launch Campaign:
"Own the Story."
"Be Part of the Myth."
"Heroes Deserve a Kingdom."
Lena looked directly at Alex, serious now.
"You want the average fan to feel like buying a ticket isn't just buying a seat, it's joining a movement."
Alex nodded once. "Exactly."
Rachel tilted her head. "Timeline?"
Alex checked his watch casually, like he was checking traffic.
"Soft prep starts now. Prototypes in two months. First two theaters opening in four months."
The room buzzed like an engine starting.
Jane raised a cautious hand. "This means…we'll need a real estate team. Architects. Contractors. Sound engineers. Hospitality leads. Kitchen staff. Logistics for merch supply chains, uniforms, brand training..."
Ethan added calmly, "And about two thousand legal contracts."
Rachel nodded once, steady. "I'll put together the first dream team. Minimum viable Titan Theater unit."
Alex smiled. "Do it. Pull from inside Titan first. Find the true believers. Then, headhunt the best from outside. Offer them triple their salary and a piece of the brand."
Rachel grinned. "You want killers."
"I want Titans," Alex said simply.
The screens flashed again, a single bold line across all the displays now:
Titan Comics (Global Expansion) ✅
Titan Stores (Retail Domination) 🔥
Titan Theaters (Experience Empire) 🔥
Titan Studios (Movies, Shows, Originals) 🔥
Titan Tech (AR/VR, Apps, Digital Publishing) 🔥
Titan Records (Music Label for Original Scores) 🔥
Titan Foundation (Scholarships, Fan Community Grants) 🔥
Rachel sat back, looking at the list like she was staring at a battle map before a full invasion.
"And you said I don't sleep..." She chuckled.
Alex leaned forward, "Prep the armies."
Everyone moved at once.
...
[Noon]
The meeting finally over, Alex collapsed into his private office's massive leather chair, kicking his boots up on the desk, staring at the ceiling.
Over twenty billion dollars.
Titan Comics.
Titan Stores.
Titan Theaters.
Wilson Studios.
A complete, self-feeding empire of art, culture, rebellion, and profit.
He should have felt tired. Burned out. Done.
Instead, he felt... alive.
'I think I will change the name of the production house to Titan.'
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AN: About the Dolby part. I know it's too early. Think of it as AU.
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