The appointed time arrived, marked by the steady tick of the wall clock above the café's counter.
Eddie sat with his back to the wall, eyes tracking every customer who pushed through the door. A businessman in a rumpled suit. Two college students with laptops. An elderly woman ordering tea. None of them moved like they had thirty million dollars to spend.
If I had a Scouter, Eddie thought, fingers drumming against his coffee cup, I could just scan everyone who walks in. Know exactly who the buyer is.
The devices sold for five million dollars each. Far beyond his current means. But after this transaction? Maybe he could pick one up. Get Anne a hover car, too. One of those Baymax healthcare robots for the apartment. Support the company's products.
The buyer could be a regular person, he considered, then immediately dismissed the thought. Nobody ordinary spent one hundred million on a glowing orange ball, Dragon Ball or not.
Eddie was still running through possibilities when the whine of repulsors cut through the café's ambient noise. Conversations died. Cups paused halfway to lips.
Iron Man descended from the sky like a red and gold meteor, landing on the sidewalk outside with a hydraulic hiss. The Mark 21 gold armor gleamed in the afternoon sunlight as Tony Stark walked through the café door, servos whirring softly with each step.
"Fuck," Eddie breathed. "Venom was right. The money really is too low."
Told you, Venom's voice crowed in his mind. Should've asked for a billion.
Eddie's jaw tightened. Too late to change the price now. A deal was a deal, and Tony Stark wasn't the kind of man who appreciated last-minute negotiations.
Tony swept the café with his HUD, analyzing heat signatures and identifying faces. When his sensors locked onto Eddie Brock, the readout made him pause.
Power Level: 60.
Not an ordinary human. Far from it. The man sitting at that corner table had power comparable to enhanced operatives, maybe even low-tier superhumans.
Interesting, Tony thought. He'd expected some lucky civilian who'd stumbled onto a Dragon Ball by pure chance. Instead, he was dealing with someone extraordinary. Someone who could have used that wish for themselves, but chose cash instead.
Either very smart or very cautious. Possibly both.
Tony's armored boots clanked against the tile floor as he crossed the café, drawing stares from every patron. He pulled out the chair across from Eddie and sat down, the armor's weight making the furniture creak.
"Deadly Guardian?" Tony's voice carried the metallic edge of his helmet's speakers.
Eddie extended his hand. "That's me. I didn't expect the buyer to be the famous Iron Man."
Tony glanced at the offered hand but didn't move to shake it. "Sorry, not really a handshake guy. Especially not in the suit." He leaned forward slightly. "You brought the merchandise?"
Eddie, raise the price, Venom hissed inside his mind. Raise it hard. This asshole just disrespected you.
Eddie withdrew his hand, heat creeping up the back of his neck, and reached for his backpack instead. He ignored Venom's suggestion. Pride wasn't worth risking the deal.
The box he placed on the table was simple, unadorned. Eddie opened it with a soft click, revealing the seven-starred Dragon Ball nestled in foam padding. The orange sphere caught the café's overhead lights, the red stars seeming to glow from within.
"There it is," Eddie said simply.
Tony's faceplate retracted with a smooth mechanical whisper, revealing his face. He picked up the Dragon Ball, turning it over in his gauntleted hands. The armor's pressure sensors tested its durability, squeezing hard enough to crush steel. The ball didn't even show a scratch.
"Genuine," Tony confirmed. He glanced up at Eddie. "Bank account?"
Eddie pulled his wallet from his jacket, extracted a card, and slid it across the table.
Tony's HUD scanned the numbers. "JARVIS, transfer one hundred million to this account."
"Transfer initiated, sir," JARVIS replied in Tony's ear. "Transaction complete."
Eddie's phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, stared at the text message for a long moment.
Wire Transfer Received: $100,000,000.00
From: Stark Industries
The number seemed unreal, even seeing it in black and white.
"Money's in your account," Tony said, closing his faceplate again with a soft hiss. "Stark Industries will handle the tax documentation. Consider it a courtesy." He paused, tilting his armored head. "You're full of surprises, Mr. Brock. Former investigative journalist, now heading up communications at Universal Capsule Company. Quite the career trajectory."
Eddie wasn't surprised that Tony had researched him. JARVIS probably had his entire life story compiled before Stark even walked through the door.
"Good luck winning the tournament," Eddie said.
"Luck?" Tony stood, picking up the Dragon Ball. "I don't need luck. But thanks anyway."
Without further ceremony, Tony walked toward the exit. The moment he cleared the doorway, repulsors flared to life and he shot into the sky, becoming a gleaming speck against the clouds within seconds.
Eddie sat for a moment longer, staring at the bank notification. One hundred million dollars. More money than he'd ever imagined having. The café's normal sounds slowly resumed around him—espresso machines hissing, quiet conversations, the clink of spoons against ceramic.
He left cash on the table for his untouched cappuccino and walked outside into the sunlight. His Harley waited at the curb, chrome gleaming. Eddie straddled the bike, kicked it to life, and pulled into traffic.
He needed to tell Anne. Share the news that their lives had just changed forever.
Half a world away, T'Challa walked along the banks of the Amas River, the longest waterway in Wakanda. The river's current moved with serene power, protecting the nation just as his ancestors had for centuries.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy of trees lining the shore, dappling the water in shifting patterns of gold and shadow. The air smelled of rich earth and growing things, untainted by the pollution that choked so many cities beyond Wakanda's borders.
His sister Shuri walked beside him, her steps quick and energetic compared to his measured pace. She'd been quiet for the first part of their walk, unusual for her. Now she broke the silence.
"Brother, do you know how much the outside world has changed?"
T'Challa glanced at the river's surface, watching it flow past. "I've heard about the emergence of extraordinary individuals. Superhumans. Enhanced beings."
Shuri nodded, her braids swaying with the movement. "It's not just that. The technology is advancing faster than we anticipated. The Universal Capsule Company has released products that rival some of our own innovations." She gestured animatedly as she spoke. "Scouters that measure combat power. Hover cars using anti-gravity principles. Healthcare robots with advanced AI. And they've done it without vibranium."
She paused, then added with emphasis, "Without vibranium, T'Challa. Stark Industries and Vanko Industries have developed clean energy systems that approach what we've had for generations. They're catching up."
T'Challa stopped walking, turning to face his sister fully. "What are you asking for?"
"I want to study their technology," Shuri said immediately, as if she'd been waiting for the question. "I need samples. Scouters, the Baymax robots, hover cars. I want to understand how they work, see if we can learn from their approaches."
T'Challa's expression grew serious. "Have you considered that these devices might contain tracking systems? Monitoring software? Backdoors?" He shook his head. "Father would never allow them into Wakanda. The second-generation Scouters have recording capabilities, cloud uploading, remote access. Bringing them here would be inviting surveillance into the heart of our nation."
"The Baymax robots are the same," he continued. "Networked. Connected. Any foreign technology could expose Wakanda's location, our capabilities, everything we've protected for centuries."
Shuri crouched down, her frustration evident in every line of her body. She picked up a smooth river stone and sent it skipping across the water's surface. One bounce. Two. Three. Four. The stone finally sank near the far bank.
"The outside world is changing," she said quietly, watching the ripples spread. "Evolving. While we stay hidden behind our barriers, content with what we have." She looked up at her brother, genuine concern in her eyes. "I'm afraid, T'Challa. Afraid that if we don't engage with the outside world, if we don't adapt and grow alongside them, one day they'll surpass us completely."
She picked up another stone, turning it over in her fingers. "And then what will we be? A relic. A curiosity. A nation that fell behind because we were too proud to learn from others."
The river flowed on, indifferent to her worries, carrying water from the mountains to the sea as it had for millennia.
T'Challa stood silent, watching his sister, the weight of tradition and the pull of progress warring in his thoughts. The question she'd raised had no easy answer.
It never did.
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