After seeing Merlin off, James immediately met with the former guards of Tony Stark. Since their task was done, he passed them onto Red who was in desperate need of manpower.
"Now then, time to check on my students~"
Confirming the possibility of bringing his teacher into this world, James had already found an interesting new path to take in order to increase his power and influence in this world. But he did not take action immediately.
Despite the ley lines being easily accessible, all the materials he needed were present… James could start his plan now and just start rushing his actions but, the young white haired man did not really want to "rush" things.
Instead, his mind was on the few people who he had "recruited" into his organization.
He sneaked a glance at the SHIELD New York Headquarters right next to his "Tower of Avalon", seeing the large number of personnel, all working with great efficiency and skill, a certain desire emerged within James.
"The halls of the Clock Tower were always so empty, even my class was… well - it may not have been the quietest class but it was the one of the smaller ones, population wise at least"
Recalling the class he had taught, the students he had and the plethora of mages that walked through the halls of the Clock Tower, James felt that the scene was quite lacking.
A true school needs to be bustling with activity, filled with many people, they need not be loud, so long as you could walk the halls midday without worrying about the steps behind you coming from a ghost, it would be great.
"Though… ghosts would be a welcome sight to a magus actually…"
With such thoughts, James exited the room, as he did the doors closed automatically despite being nothing more than pair of standard wooden double doors. As James walked away, the doors shone with a golden light, ethereal chains wrapped around the doors as what appeared to be an ethereal lock clicked.
Multiple layer Bounded Fields as well as a pseudo-reality marble created from an artificial World Egg, a crystallization of a completely artificial inner world. The artificial world egg was created from the compiled memories, lives and knowledge of about a hundred homunculi.
None of the homunculi were dead, but their experience in the capsule had been recorded and countless "back-ups": were created.
Using the projected lives as the foundation, a sense of "self" was imbued into a gem and that gem had become a tools that is capable of creating a reality marble.
Through a process only James was able to conduct, magic circuits were imbued into the gem, a conscience was formed and a reality marble was "created".
James turned and looked at the monstrosity that was born from the "Artificial Noble Phantasm Project", a smile flashed on his face as he left the sealed room.
Only a few people had access to that room, Merlin was one, James another and the butlers.
Yet, despite all the precautionary measures employed, James still turned to one soldier set to guard the tower.
"Keep the Summoning Room safe, remember, only those with the "key" could enter"
Hearing his commands, the soldier, having the image of Geralt from the witcher but with a colder and more serious air about him replied, his voice low, almost like a growl as he uttered only one word-
"Affirmative"
James nodded at the soldier as he made his way down the tower.
On his way down, James checked the countless projects being accomplished by various researchers.
Unlike what others would expect, the researchers did not have similar faces. Instead, they all had different appearances, skin colors… they weren't homunculi.
"Director!"
"Good afternoon sir!"
"Hello"
As he walked down the halls, James encountered various faces, most of them he could not recognize. But they all knew who he was.
James did not act aloof, instead he smiled as he greeted them back-
"Dr. Hughes! Hope the limb regeneration formula research is going well"
"Professor Kilman, how was the vitality formula I passed onto you, did it show positive results?"
"I see, it seems we need to find a way to stabilize the stem cells… could I trust you with that Dr. Waller?"
Company policy made all the employee's wear name tags, its common practice but what these employee's didn't know was that their uniforms and name tags, provided by the company were all magically produced and enchanted.
James did not need to read through endless amounts of reports.
He did not need to constantly learn names.
All he had to do was activate his ability from time to time and he could quickly grasp the information he needed to run and maintain the company.
It was a loophole he had abused in the Nasuverse and this loophole had turned into a cheat in this chaotic marvel universe.
James had created a spell that could be engraved on name tags, the spell recorded all information of an individual who was assigned the tag. Their name was used as the catalyst to record their information, it was almost like "touching the root" but it was, in fact, more of a hack.
The name tag acts as nothing more than a virus bound to the being connected to the root. All their information which is connected to the root is intercepted and recorded. This information is then transferred to gems which would then be used by a large group of homunculi to go through huge swaths of information in order to optimize processes as well as to catch out spies and all that.
It also had the secondary function of being James' cheat sheet, his notes, used to interact with his employees.
By using the extremely accurate knowledge as well as the deep understanding of their current mental states and issues, James is capable of leading conversations to make himself look as if he truly "cared".
Unlike influencers and protesters who love to call for change, ask for help or simply blame others, yet not knowing a thing about the matter at hand, James copied their methods but he was not dancing around like a bumbling idiot.
There are plenty of individuals in the world who love to critique others, but the majority of these individuals don't truly understand how certain processes work.
Those that call a family who chose to euthanize their family or pets murderers, unaware that the family member had written a will asking to have his life cut short if he found himself in a state where he was neither living nor dead. Or that the pet who was euthanized would have been able to live another year or two but their life would be filled with various issues, unable to walk, living in constant pain…
Actions and words do not come out of thin air, all things has a cause and effect.
James was moving like a reactionary but unlike normal reactionaries who move based on a single piece of knowledge, James was running based on complete profiles. He could even pull out the whole life story of an individual if he wanted to but few individuals deserve such focus.
Most of the researchers in the "Tower of Avalon" were researchers who did not make it in the academe.
Every year, countless young men and women spend countless hours delving into the unknown only to find themselves jobless, homeless…
Their knowledge was worthless as the field of research, despite having a high salary, did not have that many positions available.
Taking advantage of this, James had hired many unknown researchers, there were men and women holding PhD's yet were unable to land a job due to various reasons. A previous failure, a workplace conflict, some higher powers keeping them down…
These "geniuses" with nothing to lose were all easy targets for James and his people.
With money not being a problem, James had invested a sizable amount in order to get a bunch of nobodies to start various research projects.
Of course, these researchers were nothing more than "straw soldiers", decoys set to attract the eyes of various powers.
Bait- they were targets who certain groups would try to entice or use against James.
All he had to do was have a team leader take an important role and be the lead in all projects.
"Hello Director Barthomeloi"
A pleasant voice sounded behind James, turning around he met the gaze of a blue haired bespectacled woman.
"Team Leader Izabella! What a pleasant surprise! I heard that the current projects are developing rather well, do you think we could release products by next year?"
James started a pretty loud conversation with the homunculus maid, Izabella, now wearing a formal suit as she carried with her a tablet.
"Director, if all goes well, we'd have a complete product by the end of this year. Though regarding the trials and certifications-"
"Please pass it onto my secretary"
James evaded the long winded conversation, he did not mind acting around but he did not want to spend too much time talking about worthless topics.
The meeting with his teacher seemed to have ignited a certain flaim within James as he was suddenly "inspired", now all he wanted to do was meet with his students. Observe their progress and see if he could provide them a few tips and maybe give them a lesson…
Although James did not take his teaching job back at the clock tower seriously, he did find the act of teaching quite fun.
Understanding his intentions, Izabella did not push the matter further as she simply nodded her head and bid James farewell.
After that quick appearance in front of all the employee's and spies, James proceeded to exit the tower where his sedan was waiting for him.
James did not look around or make any suspicious moves, he just walked straight towards his car and entered it. A few seconds later, the car started to move and from the opposite building, an inconspicuous sedan drove out of the underground parking lot tailing the black sedan James was in.
A rather silent chase occurred, two black sedans drove through the streets of New York.
Unlike movies and TV shows where something was bound to happen, the whole drive was rather pleasant and James even found time to scroll through social media learning of the most recent news topics.
[Tony Stark confirmed to have been kidnapped]
[Obadiah Stane remains quiet despite receiving a ransom video!]
[A targeted act, Stane and his desire to control Stark Industries]
[The internal struggle of an Arms Giant]
[Tony Stark, the genius lost to human greed]
[The life of Tony Stark, the Warmongering Philanthropist]
[The monster known as Tony Stark, a Philanthropic Warmonger]
The various articles painted quite an interesting picture, the media, like a pack of hungry hyena's had jumped onto the news of Tony Stark being kidnapped. Video evidence of this was presented with the ransom video that starred the billionaire covered in blood and tied to a chair-
[Pepper Potts in despair as her Boss/Lover's fate remains unknown]
[A month after his disappearance, Stark Industries remains silent, was Tony Stark abandoned?]
[The life of a billionaire vs the lives of the lost marines]
[The true heroes, martyrs who fought till their last breath]
There were articles that talked about Pepper Potts, photos of her wiping her "tears". There were some photos where she looked like she was breaking down. These photos, their sources were unknown but the image and face of the infamous secretary was not something difficult for people to recognize.
Aside from those, there were also articles that talked about the lives lost during the kidnapping of Tony Stark.
Articles that seem to weigh the lives of the soldiers vs Tony Stark. Questions from the family members of the deceased on whether Stark Industries needs to pay bereavement support. Members of the government and even some generals supported the need for Stark Industries to offer bereavement support as the soldiers died, not in the "line of duty" but as "bodyguards" of Tony Stark.
James smiled as he read through the articles, he pictured the reaction of the many people affected by these news articles.
Whether these small acts would lead to some major change is yet unknown, but what James does know is that the Military would find it near impossible to find the base of the Ten Rings where Tony was kept.
The area was deep in hostile territory, far from any base and was surrounded by enemy encampments.
When James initially got the report on the location of Tony Stark in the middle east, he questioned whether the billionaire would be able to escape.
After all, it would take a true miracle for him to escape, especially if his suit can't fly for more than 1 km before crashing down.
This was another reason why James made sure to have two homunculi to protect Tony.
Even if the man did escape the Ten Ring's base, the question of whether he could get help was a huge problem in and of itself.
The last thing James wanted was to have sand man-
"We have arrived sir"
Lost in his thoughts, James did not quickly realize that they arrived at their destination. James looked out the window, he saw a pair of familiar faces and smiled as he exited the vehicle.
James turned his gaze up looking at the two large golden words "Empire State".
He then walked towards the entrance and casually entered the building much to the surprise of the two people behind him.
Inside the Empire State building, James headed towards one of the many elevators. His steps were slow and casual, the two individuals following him tried to enter the same elevator as him but as they chased after James, a group of students suddenly walked in front of them.
The line of kids was quite long and if they forced their way through they'd be noticed by their target.
Seeing as they could not do anything but wait for the students to pass, the two individuals acted casually. Others would find nothing wrong with them but their eyes would focus on the Elevator James was on from time to time.
At that moment, one of the chasers, a woman with red hair, found her eyes meeting with James'.
That moment lasted a mere split second but that moment, for the woman, felt almost like an eternity.
*DING*
The sound of the elevator caused the woman to snap out of her frozen state yet, at that moment, the doors of the elevator James was on slowly closed. The line of students had passed and the two individuals found themselves helplessly staring at James who gave them a smile as the elevator doors closed.