POV Rio
Lara and I parted ways as I returned to the US and she to the UK. But we did exchange contact info, so if either of us wanted to hang out or had an interesting adventure, we could cooperate again. And I made sure to summon her father's pocket watch, which she thanked me for. Though I was exhausted and ready to have a calmer couple of months before I had to go out again.
Once I got home, I took a couple of days' break and then started working on Minecraft again. I did that for 3 weeks before I was confident that the game was in a state that I liked. It had a bit more features than the original Minecraft 1.0.0, but it was still pretty close in features. Then I reached out to some YouTubers to see if they wanted a free copy if they played it on their channel. Once that was done, I just let things progress as they should.
After that, I considered my choices outside of games. Part of me thought about developing a social media platform, but then I thought better of it. It would take a lot of manpower to run something like that, and I wasn't too keen on having to operate such a large company. So why not have someone else run the company for me? As such, I made a call to Selene via the magic mirror I left with her before we parted ways, as I didn't have anyone else who could feasibly need the mirror. She had more money than she knew what to do with, and moreover, she wasn't the most in the know, as most humans. She wasn't clueless, but she was pretty unfamiliar with social media.
It took a lot of discussion, but eventually she saw my point of view and agreed to see about purchasing some of the companies I mentioned. With a focus on YouTube in particular, as I knew how much of a cash cow that site could be, and it's not like Google can be trusted to run it properly. At least not in the future. However, I had to agree to develop two social media apps for her newly founded company, which they would fall under.
I had one year to deliver both of them. A bit of a tight schedule, but I figured it was barely doable. The apps I chose were Discord and Pinterest. I started with Pinterest as I believed it would be the easiest to create.
But while I did that, I made sure to keep in close contact with Selene, who had also been very busy borrowing all the stocks she could to short Stark Industries. The initial drop from the kidnapping might not be large, but it would still be noticeable, as some investors will panic-sell and everyone's faith in such a company becomes more shaky. That would be the initial shorting. Then Selene would return the stocks, keep the profits, and end up buying most of the remaining stock on the market, becoming a board member. Then, when Tony is rescued, the stock will obviously rise quite a bit.
Selene will sell it shortly before he gives his press conference. Then she will immediately work to short all the stocks she can before the obvious crash. Then, as the stock bottoms out, she will buy up everything, including from those who are desperate to get out from what they believe is a sinking ship. I'm 95% certain this strategy will see Stark Industries stock fall, likely as far down as 80%, then likely stabilise around 60% or so once Selene buys up a lot of the stock. And since I am getting 50% of the profits from all these trades, I will immediately jump into the top 0.001%. Then, as a last hurrah, I would have Selene sell all the stocks to Tony once he has dealt with Stane. My guess is that Tony will go private once he has all the stocks again. It might hurt his funds, but nearly losing your family's life's work will change how you view being a public company.
At the beginning of February, I finished assimilating John Constantine and got my next template, this time I got a Changeling from Dungeons and Dragons. At first, I was a bit confused as to what that meant, but I soon understood that it was a generic species template. So I don't get any particular class, but I do start with some pretty great gear.
I got the Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location, which was basically an anti-divination and scrying magic item, which came at the perfect time, as Tony would soon be kidnapped, and I would lose God's Boon. A pair of Boots of the Changeling, which makes my footsteps, jumps, or other movements make no sound. Next came the Shifter Belt, which gives me the ability to breathe underwater and swim as if the water were helping me along. Next were the Master Spy's Gloves, which made my disguises far more likely to fool people and made it so whenever I was accessing something I wasn't supposed to, I would never trigger an alarm.
Next was a literal wardrobe filled with outfits for literally any occasion, culture, or scenario. The wardrobe was magical and could be summoned from anywhere. Last was the Ring of the Changeling King, which was quite powerful. It made me take no fall damage, granted me Truesight, whenever I shift into someone's form, I instinctively know how to act to better sell the disguise, and lastly, it gives me the Clark Kent effect. Whereas long as I don't explicitly say it or shift forms in front of others, they can't connect the dots and realise Rio Pines is Superman, or whatever alter ego I craft.
Overall, the gear was perfect for me. I mean, Truesight basically made me an illusionist's worst nightmare. It also gave me perfect Dark Vision so I could see clearly, no matter if it was day or night, even magical darkness wouldn't stop my vision. And it was controllable. But the best gift had yet to come. The Changeling, as the items would indicate, can change its form. And this shapeshifting was really, really hard to see through and basically impossible to dispel unless I will it. Combined with the Clark Kent effect, I was basically guaranteed to be safe from all but the most omniscient of beings. Then you can add Agent 47's disguise abilities, and I can quite literally become the perfect infiltrator.
No, it's more accurate to say I am the perfect infiltrator. I have so many things stacked upon each other that I really pity anyone trying to prevent me from getting what I want to get.
'Hmm, who to test this on first?'
I didn't have the time or the assimilation percentage to do anything quite yet, so I instead focused on getting something from Tony Stark that I could use as a tracking device. But to do that, I would have to travel to Malibu, California.
'Oh, well, guess I'll get the broom.'
I originally intended to use the Firebolt, but I quickly realised that would be really stupid. It would take me roughly 20 hours of nonstop flight to reach Malibu, and I was not going to do that. So instead, I bought a plane ticket and did things that way. The flight was still about 5 hours, but that was just about the perfect time for me to get a full night's sleep.
After landing, I checked into a hotel and then invisibly left the hotel to sneak over to Stark's Malibu home. Infiltrating was easy. I didn't do too much. Just walked in and stole a few things that had enough connection to Tony that I could use them for a location spell. Then I swiftly left.
I spent the next three weeks exploring various places around the country as a nominal tourist. In reality, I was memorising various locations around the country for teleportation. On the 11th, Tony was kidnapped, and only 3 days later, we had returned the shorted stocks. We made about 7 billion dollars in profit from doing so. I didn't take my share yet. Instead, I had Selene use those funds for the future money moves, so that I would make more money in the long run.
I did find something interesting during my travels. I was in the area, so I decided to check out a hunch I had, and sure enough, I found them. The Cullens from the Twilight series. I had thought I recalled hearing the Volturi name before, but I wanted to confirm if it was a coincidence. The Shapeshifting Clan of Wolfmen didn't live in Forks, though, due to the butterfly effect of native tribes being far stronger in this reality. Though that wasn't much of a problem, as the remaining Volturi and what is likely the last Werewolf were also living in the town. I didn't really have any intention of getting involved with any of them, but I did let Selene know about them. What she did with that info wasn't my problem. Though my money was on either she would hire them or eradicate them.
But once two weeks had passed, I returned home and got back to work as I had a while before I needed to rescue Tony Stark. But then I recalled something that I hadn't thought of in a while.
'The Diamond in the Rough.'
God said that the Afghan desert would have something I would like. And I felt it might be a good idea to look for it. Whatever it is.
'Hmm, now how to get to Afghanistan?'
I couldn't just suddenly fly there as Rio Pines; that would draw a lot of attention and raise questions. The Firebolt was a really slow but safe option if I flew from Santorini Island.
'Man, I really need better flying mobility.'
I didn't have any great options for long-range distance movement other than apparition, but that relied on going to the place first.
'I'll handle that eventually, and if all else fails, I might get something from a template.'
I decided I would take the slow but safe option for now, making constant stops along the way to make sure I had plentiful teleportation spots in the Middle East. I already had a lot in Europe, the US, and a few in Africa. Which still left a lot to be desired, but I would have time to handle that later. For now, I had to start the boring journey.
'I guess I can code while I fly.'