The Black Queen quickly finished her analysis and established a complete personal file for Jessica Campbell.
If this were on Krypton or aboard a spacecraft, they would already be running full genetic simulations on Jessica Campbell. Unfortunately, under current conditions, they could only attempt manual sampling to see whether cultivation was possible.
Without disturbing Jessica's deep sleep or triggering any self-modification, she was transferred to a standard laboratory for continuous monitoring. After that, Zod left her alone.
Zod then turned his attention to the company's business performance. Although he trusted Uld and the Black Queen, he still liked to check it himself—if only for the sense of accomplishment.
Sales of Vitamin ∞ were excellent. It had already become Blade Tech Industries' flagship product—though, admittedly, Blade Tech had quite a few "flagship" products by now.
Recently, Uld had been contacting the production bases of several pharmaceutical companies to discuss acquisitions. After all, more than fifty percent of the U.S. population was already using Vitamin ∞. It had swept through everyone with the ability to pay. Those who weren't buying it either couldn't afford a $500 bottle, or lacked both the means and even the awareness of its existence.
In other words, the American market was already saturated. A large number of health supplement companies had been crushed in the process. Uld showing up at this point to acquire them felt a bit like kicking someone while they were down. But considering that filing for bankruptcy would leave them drowning in debt anyway, selling was the better option. At the very least, Uld's offers were fair—just not as high as before they'd been wiped out.
Blade Tech Industries was now ambitious, preparing to expand Vitamin ∞ to the global market. Smugglers had already begun trafficking Vitamin ∞ into other countries. And since it was, technically speaking, just a vitamin, most countries didn't even treat it as a criminal offense when it was seized.
Next came the extermination agents targeting cockroaches, mosquitoes, rats, and flies.
Sales of the extermination agents far surpassed Vitamin ∞, and the profits completely eclipsed it as well. For one, the product was genuinely effective. For another, the United States… had certain hygiene issues. This resulted in sales numbers far beyond even Uld's expectations, to the point where he had no choice but to take this seemingly insignificant profit stream seriously.
Once this potential was fully tapped, Uld realized it was absurdly lucrative—more profitable than weapons trading and certain other gray-area industries. His reason for negotiating with multiple pharmaceutical production bases was precisely to expand manufacturing capacity. The business plan had already been printed out and delivered to Zod.
Zod, however, hadn't had time to read it.
"I forgot to label Vitamin ∞ as enhancing virility, improving beauty, and boosting bust size."
Seeing that Vitamin ∞ sales lagged behind the extermination agent, Zod immediately made a note. He planned to have the Black Queen send it straight to Uld's phone later. And he wasn't lying—after all, Vitamin ∞ was extracted from a wide range of beneficial nutrients for the human body. It counted as a powerful tonic. The only drawback was the high cost of raw materials.
Sub-Kryptonium didn't even need checking. Orders from the U.S. "Poseidon" project were already lined up.
Then there was the War Machine.
With current technology, the War Machine was extremely valuable—especially on the battlefield. It carried immense tactical and strategic significance, perfectly suited for decapitation strikes, and was practically unstoppable.
The greatest advantage of the War Machine wasn't speed, firepower, or defense.
It was mass production.
That was the key difference between it and super-soldier serum products like Captain America or the Hulk. Those, for various reasons, had become irreplicable one-of-a-kind creations.
However, Uld informed Zod that Stark Industries had also developed something similar. They simply called it the Iron Suit.
The legal teams of Blade Tech Industries and Stark Industries were already at each other's throats. Capitalists, when shameless, were astonishingly capable. After losing in a Los Angeles court, Stark Industries immediately appealed in New York City—and the fight resumed.
Anyone with eyes could tell that Stark Industries had decided to drop all pretense and drag it out. They could afford the legal fees anyway. The cost of a single Iron Suit more than covered it, with plenty to spare.
The United States quietly supported Stark Industries, taking the opportunity to suppress Blade Tech Industries.
Of course, this pressure couldn't be applied too blatantly. The U.S. was dissatisfied with Blade Tech Industries still not being publicly listed, as well as its practice of selling War Machines worldwide. But they couldn't push too hard—what if Zod was driven away? Who would take responsibility then?
Because Stark Industries had military shareholders, it couldn't sell Iron Suits worldwide the way Blade Tech could. All MK-1 units were sold exclusively to the United States.
Zod had no particular reaction to Stark Industries' provocations.
He simply picked up the phone and called Bucky.
By now, Bucky was in control of a HYDRA branch. Everyone in that branch had become members of World Serpent—though none of them had yet been transformed into beast soldiers.
"Bucky," Zod said calmly, "help me kidnap Tony Stark. Dump him in the Middle East and hand him over to the Ten Rings."
Zod felt that Tony Stark had become far too profit-driven, and that wasn't a good thing. Although it wasn't quite time for the original storyline to begin, Zod could give him a little push—help him become a proper Iron Man ahead of schedule.
Kidnapping Tony Stark was ridiculously easy.
At the time, Stark was in bed with two cover-model twin sisters. Once Bucky confirmed the location, he led his men straight in. Stark's bodyguards were taken down effortlessly. Tony Stark, in the middle of his "hard work," froze in terror when the door was blasted open. The two models screamed and clutched each other.
"Tony Stark?" Bucky asked.
"N-no, I'm not."
Tony tried to bluff his way out of it—only to be grabbed by Bucky with one hand and thrown into a black SUV without even being allowed to put his pants on.
After the incident, the scene was sealed off by police, the military, and intelligence agencies. SHIELD agents wore grim expressions. All hotel surveillance footage from that time period had vanished. Every guest who might have seen something was unconscious. There were no witnesses at all.
Clearly, whoever did this was extremely cautious.
"And there was likely a top-tier hacker providing cover," Coulson reported to Nick Fury. "Street cameras lost that segment of footage as well."
"Who do you think did it?" Nick Fury asked, rubbing his temples.
"I don't know," Coulson replied. "It could be retaliation from Blade Tech Industries. Or it could be kidnappers who've had their eyes on the Stark family's money."
There was simply too little evidence at the scene to draw any conclusions.
Nick Fury was naturally suspicious and cautious. Combined with the fact that the lawsuit between Blade Tech Industries and Stark Industries had become common knowledge, it wasn't unreasonable to suspect that Blade Tech, furious over the dispute, might have resorted to underhanded retaliation.
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