Arthur woke to the ache of a body pushed beyond its usual limits. Every muscle in his arms and legs screamed a quiet protest, a testament to his first workout from the System. A small, subtle notification appeared in his peripheral vision.
[Endurance Gained: +0.2]
He ignored it. The number was insignificant, but the feeling was not. He showered, the hot water a welcome relief against his sore muscles, and dressed in a fresh suit.
He arrived at the Stark Industries legal office before anyone else. The place was a quiet, sterile maze of cubicles and conference rooms, a world of deadlines and documents that felt both mundane and terrifyingly significant. As he settled in, he received a message on his corporate tablet. It was from Pepper Potts.
[From: Pepper Potts]
[Subject: Urgent]
[Status: Conference Room B. 8:00 AM. Be there. Don't be late.]
Arthur arrived at Conference Room B five minutes early. The room was already buzzing with the low murmur of legal jargon and frantic whispers. At the head of the table, Pepper Potts was a force of controlled chaos. Her face was a mask of professional stress, but her eyes, darting from screen to screen, held a hint of genuine worry.
"Glad you could join us, Arthur," she said, her voice sharp but her tone neutral. "I'm sure you've heard about the Jericho contract. We're on an impossible deadline. Tony wants the final paperwork approved by noon."
"I have," Arthur said, his voice calm and authoritative, an easy confidence radiating from him. "I've reviewed the master file Mark sent over."
He pulled up the contract on the large screen, a blur of legal text and jargon that would have taken a normal person hours to parse and they would be right, I already regret being born, fucking hell lawyers are insane. He quietly thought pointing to a small, insignificant clause buried deep within the liability section.
"This is the problem," Arthur stated, his voice commanding the attention of the room. "The terms of this clause leave a backdoor open for the Department of Defense to sue Stark Industries for a design flaw that could be unrelated to the missile itself. It's a risk we don't need to take, especially with the upcoming IPO."
The other lawyers in the room, seasoned veterans in their field, stared at the screen, their faces a mixture of confusion and astonishment. They had been staring at the same document for hours.
Pepper's expression shifted from one of weary stress to one of sharp, focused interest. She looked at the clause Arthur had highlighted, her eyes narrowing as she re-read the fine print. After a moment, she looked up, her gaze meeting Arthur's.
"You're right," she said, the words a quiet revelation. "I missed that entirely. It's a landmine." She turned to the rest of the team. "Arthur has a point. We need to redraft this entire section. Get to it."
She then pulled Arthur aside, lowering her voice. "Thank you. You saved us from a serious headache. Tony's demo trip is just a few days away, and this could have derailed everything. You have a good eye."
Arthur just nodded. "Anything to help, Ms. Potts. It's why Tony pays me so magnanimously, even if he doesn't know I exist." Pepper gives a quiet snort at that.
He was about to walk off when he turned back to her. "Ms. Potts," he began, "I haven't seen Obadiah around. Was he not scheduled to be in this meeting?"
"He was," she said, a brief flash of frustration crossing her face. "He went ahead to Afghanistan to personally supervise the demonstration before Tony gets there."
The puppet master is already in place, with Raza on his lap supervising god knows what, Arthur thought to himself.
He returned to his desk, drafting the new amendments to the contract, his mind a whirlwind of legal precedents and strategic planning and trying to frame it for a mental capacity of the idiots on the board.
[Intelligence Gained: +0.5]
[Charisma Gained: +0.3]
He looked at the new stats on his System menu, a feeling of quiet satisfaction settling over him.
"Worth it".
The rest of the morning passed in a blur. He completed the redraft of the Jericho contract in half the time it would have taken him a week ago. As he finished and sent the file to Pepper's office, he was contemplating on how to secure himself for the coming storm.
He decided to grab a coffee from the break room, and as he walked, he passed by a group of engineers;
"—heard he's working on some kind of new project. Says it's going to change the world. It's some kind of…"
"Obie doesn't like it. And we all know who actually runs things here"
Arthur's brows furrow,So Tony was already losing power in the company?, could be useful..he mused.
The Luck stat. It wasn't about winning the lottery. It was about being in the right place at the right time. He had a feeling these small, fortunate coincidences would be a constant from now on.
He stood in the break room, looking out over the New York City skyline. The Stark corporate headquarters stood tall in the distance,with a serious look.
I am the boss..I am the boss..I am the boss...maybe.