WOLFRAM
"And then," the heavyset scientist in front of Wolfram said, rubbing his hands and smirking with glee, "You'll force him to his knees and make him look up to me while I tell him that I outsmarted him."
Checking first that his 'client' Samuel was too absorbed in his rant, Wolfram rolled his eyes. With what metal would he make the scientist bend down? Last he checked, Shield didn't have titanium kneecaps. He always checked. You never know when you might need to break someone's kneecaps with a thought.
Why even bother explaining your plan like some Bond villain when you could kill him and be done with it? Evidence like that got you jailed.
And how could a man with three PHDs be so stupid?
"Yes sir," he said blandly. "Whatever you say."
Sensing his lack of enthusiasm, Samuel narrowed his eyes at him. "I've spent fifteen years slaving away for that man. We could get filthy rich off defense contracts, but does Shield care about money? No, it's always 'greater good' this and 'it'll save millions' that. Half our projects are 'too dangerous' or 'could be used for villainy' and scrapped. And the stuff we do make, that we could still charge an arm and a leg for, he gives away! For practically nothing!"
"After upkeep and repairs on this godforsaken lump of metal rusting away in the middle of a goddamn ocean, because Mr. Shield is apparently too good to sully his feet with soil like the rest of us plebians, and exorbitant wages for every tick-infested janitor, slack-jawed intern, and pencil-pusher skulking about this place, what do we have left for the people who do the real work around here? Practically nothing!"
Wolfram idly noted the Rolex on the man's wrist.
"Once I'm in charge," Samuel said, standing straighter and putting a foot on a box like he was crossing the Delaware, "Things will be better around here! We'll make tons of money! No more goody two-shoes Shield holding us back!"
Wolfram cleared his throat. The scientist blinked and sheepishly got off his soap box. "And, of course, you'll get your cut."
"And the Quirk enhancer?" Wolfram asked pointedly.
"Yes, that too. One of Shield's better ideas, and he even wanted to make it. Will wonders ever cease? But the government stepped in, said it was too dangerous. Probably because Shield wasn't making it for them," Samuel added with a sneer.
That made Wolfram raise an eyebrow. "What was he making it for?"
"He wouldn't say. Probably his daughter. Maybe he hoped that it would prove she wasn't some genetic defect. Wishful thinking, I say."
As Samuel absorbed himself in his Quirk-supremacist musings, Wolfram turned his attention back to the kid he had stolen out of U.A. He had expected a metal shell, or maybe even cybernetic limbs. But what he had found? That might be worth more than everything else on this island.
And he would have it all, one way or another.
498
Wait. Stop. This was supposed to be funny!