During working hours.
Natasha was holding Steelbone's global box office statistics, preparing to report to Anton.
As she reached the office door, memories of last night crossed her mind, leaving her expression complicated.
Obviously, her identity had already been exposed—or perhaps it had been known since the first day she submitted her resume.
This made Natasha feel like a clown in front of Anton.
Especially after recent interactions, she realized she might never truly understand what kind of person Anton really was.
However, Coulson had instructed her to stay at DC Company and collect as much intelligence as possible.
Since Anton didn't seem to care, she could maintain the charade as long as she wasn't dismissed.
Knock, knock, knock!
Natasha knocked and entered the office.
"Good morning, Natasha!"
Anton greeted her with a bright smile.
"It's almost noon, boss," Natasha replied, shrugging. She handed him a report: "Here are Steelbone's box office statistics. Things look good. Our company has achieved another success."
"That's inevitable," Anton said, self-assured. Then he asked, "How's the filming of Superman and Batman: The Dark Knight? Did Jim report to the company?"
"The filming is nearly finished. Jim said Quentin needs to start post-production on the special effects soon," Natasha answered.
"Excellent," Anton nodded. "I'll have Quentin and his team join them early."
The top priority was Steelbone, which had already stepped onto the path of success. In the system panel, its fan count had reached 14 million, needing just 6 million more to unlock.
Next in line, Batman's second film wasn't as critical.
However, for DC's growth, The Dark Knight would attract a huge Batman fanbase, generating profits that could fund future projects and support other hero IPs like comics and novels.
More importantly, Superman!
But Superman's fanbase was still small, only a few million, far from the ambitious goal of 100 million. By Anton's standards, the numbers were mediocre.
Yet he wasn't in a hurry.
In his current position, Superman wasn't essential.
As long as Thanos didn't appear prematurely on Earth, Superman's presence wouldn't change much.
Even if Dark Dimension overlord Dormammu invaded, Doctor Strange and Ancient One could handle it.
Besides, even if Superman showed up, in his ordinary form he'd struggle against Dormammu.
Magic resistance was key!
In short, Anton already had enough firepower with Batman, Green Arrow, and soon-to-be-unlocked Steelbone.
With duplication skills, he could fight on multiple fronts.
Add the preliminary Justice League members: Spider-Man, Venom, Daredevil, the Turtles, and perhaps the ambitious Ghost, Phil Yurick.
With this force, Anton was confident he could go toe-to-toe with the Chitauri.
At least, the soon-to-be-formed Justice League wouldn't be weaker than the first Avengers.
"You may leave," Anton waved Natasha off casually, then left DC Company for the Horn Daily upstairs.
Natasha hesitated, then stayed back, not wanting to risk Anton's displeasure.
Soon, Anton met a busy Eddie.
"How's Phil these days?"
It had been nearly ten days since Anton last saw him.
Under their instructions, Phil had enthusiastically accepted the mission, disguising himself as a villain under the Ghost persona.
"He found Dr. Stokeman and, using the Ghost identity, earned his preliminary trust," Eddie said with a smile.
Phil claimed to be Green Goblin's subordinate, seeking revenge, and hoped to use Stokeman's mind transfer technology to rescue the Green Goblin from Batman's custody.
"Stokeman didn't suspect anything?" Anton asked curiously.
"Phil wore altered armor and used a modified glider. Stokeman isn't stupid; as a competent scientist, he would recognize that the equipment's origin matched Green Goblin's."
Eddie continued, "You see, Stokeman had no reason to suspect a Batman adversary. Besides, if he really was Schrade's subordinate, he'd trust Phil even more, since Schrade ended up in prison because of Batman."
He paused, smiling: "Don't forget—they share a common enemy. They might even be venting their anger at Batman together every day."
"Seems Phil is doing well," Anton said, stroking his chin. "Let him act quickly. The mind transfer tech will be very useful."
"This level of black tech… it's hard to believe without seeing it firsthand," Eddie admitted, excited.
"Perhaps Phil has already been amazed," Anton replied, then added, "The public experiment with the artificial sun will soon begin, jointly conducted by Stark Industries and Oakmax. You should have received the invitation."
"Yes," Eddie nodded. "What about it?"
"Obadiah may expect the artificial sun to do something for him. Stay alert; we might need to intervene!" Anton warned.
Eddie froze, trusting Anton's intelligence completely—Anton had never been wrong.
It sounded like something might happen during the artificial sun experiment.
"What's going on?" Eddie asked, sensing a big story.
"Hard to say. I just hope there isn't a major incident," Anton shook his head.
Meanwhile, in New York at TCRI Labs…
Phil witnessed a stone being teleported to another location by Stokeman's machine, his face full of shock.
It actually worked!
Under his mask, his expression was one of astonishment, swallowing hard as he stared at Stokeman.
"Success!" Phil exclaimed. "Quick, Dr. Stokeman, it's time to act!"
"No!"
Stokeman shook his head, stopping Phil (disguised as Ghost). "Mind transfer tech is not yet mature. The success rate is low. A failed transfer could send the object randomly to anywhere on Earth—or even outside. You just happened to see it succeed once."
"What should we do then?"
Phil blinked, recalling Eddie's warning, and smiled slyly: "Dr. Stokeman, have you considered that your mind transfer device might not be complete?"
"Huh?"
Stokeman turned sharply, staring at the Ghost, silent for a long moment, sweat pouring down his forehead, as if someone had seen through his deepest secret.
-----------------------
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