Bant chatted with Norman for a while.
The conversation eventually turned to the profits from the healing serum. Bant already had a good grasp of that side of things from Eunice.
All revenue from the serum belonged to Plamos. Even though it had only been a month, the military's massive orders had already made him a fortune. Bant had instantly become one of the youngest wealthy figures in New York.
"Right now our output can't keep up with orders at all. You need to talk to Connors and have him speed up breeding those little lizards," Norman reminded him.
At the moment, Plamos had only collected deposits for its orders. They didn't have enough stock on hand.
In Norman's eyes, such low production was a huge drag on the company's ability to make money. Even if he wouldn't get a single cent of it, he was still anxious on Bant's behalf.
They talked a bit more, and then Norman began preparing to officially accuse Mendel Stromm.
Oscorp had a professional legal team, but Bant still recommended Matt Murdock to him.
After that, Bant stopped paying attention to the matter and instead asked about Harry's company.
"The phones have already started selling," Harry said.
The moment that topic came up, Harry was wide awake.
As the Osborn heir, finding a few production lines was easy for him. And at the end of the day, it was a consumer smartphone. The required technology wasn't especially demanding. The first batch rolled off the line quickly.
Riding the momentum Plamos gained from the healing serum, Harry advertised the phones, and the buzz took off fast.
Smartphones didn't have profit margins anywhere near the healing serum, but the advantage was the size of the market. Production could scale quickly, so total profit was still extremely impressive.
When Harry reported the revenue from just this month, it even changed Bant's original plan of not getting deeply involved in the communications industry long term.
Why refuse money that was basically sitting there?
Low-tech divisions like this could be handed over to Harry entirely, which would also be good training for him.
With Harry's brain, expecting him to invent something groundbreaking was probably too much, but for simpler things, he could still do better than most ordinary people.
After that, Bant took several new phones and left the Osborn estate.
At the same time, he was thinking about coming clean to Uncle Ben and Aunt May about starting a company.
"Plamos is already generating revenue. There's no need to hide it from them anymore."
Before, Bant had kept it secret because the Parkers couldn't really handle risk. Even though Bant himself knew he couldn't fail, he still wanted to avoid making them worry.
Now, there was no need.
Queens.
Ben drove with a tired look on his face.
He'd gone out looking for work again today, but he still hit wall after wall. Not many people wanted to hire someone older who couldn't use modern electronic devices.
Even being a cashier required knowing how to operate a register.
"Good thing Peter's been taking photos of that Spider-Man lately and earning a little money. It's eased the burden at home."
Ben wiped his sweat and sighed again.
It made him feel awful, having a kid still in school shoulder the family's financial pressure. And at this rate, it would be hard for them to pay Peter and Bant's college tuition.
On top of that, he worried about Peter's safety.
The newspapers published stories every day about Spider-Man fighting super-criminals. If Peter kept taking photos of him, he might end up in trouble too.
"If it comes to it, maybe I'll modify the car, install a protective barrier, and drive a taxi."
His back pain meant he couldn't sit for long, but right now he didn't have a better option.
The problem was, his old junker didn't even have working air conditioning. If he wanted to drive a taxi, he'd have to fix it up first.
"I wonder how Xiao Bant's doing in the lab…"
As Ben was thinking, he suddenly spotted two familiar figures standing by the front door.
"Xiao Bant?"
Outside, Bant stood beside Mary Jane.
After leaving the Osborn estate, Bant came straight home, but no one was there. Aunt May was still at work, and Uncle Ben was out job hunting.
Instead, Mary Jane saw him through the window and rushed downstairs.
After not seeing him for a month, the moment Mary Jane saw Bant, she looked so happy she practically bloomed. She immediately started asking what kind of research he'd been doing in the lab.
Bant casually mentioned some experimental data from working with Connors. Mary Jane understood none of it, not a single word, but she still blinked her big eyes and nodded along, like she'd listen to anything he said.
Just then, they heard a car behind them. Bant and Mary Jane turned together and saw Ben, white hair and all, leaning out the window and waving.
Mary Jane didn't want to delay Bant's reunion with his family, so she said, "Then I'll go back first."
She waved and turned to leave.
In truth, she had a lot she wanted to say to Bant. She'd been listening the whole time and hadn't had a chance to speak yet.
"I'll come find you later," Bant said.
Uncle Ben parked the car and walked over, asking curiously, "Why'd she leave? Did I interrupt you two?"
"No," Bant said, shaking his head.
"By the way, Uncle Ben, there's something I need to tell you."
The two of them walked into the house together.
Ben smiled. "What is it? Something about your experiments?"
"No." Bant's tone was calm. "I started a company."
…
That evening, the family sat around the dinner table.
Even now, it still felt like a dream to them that Bant had founded a company.
"So we just… become rich like that?" Aunt May asked carefully, as if she was afraid of waking up from something beautiful.
Bant nodded, giving her confidence.
In that moment, it was like a heavy weight was lifted off the two elders' shoulders. Even the lines around their furrowed brows seemed to relax.
Aunt May couldn't help but cry. She was still holding a spatula when she gave Bant a huge hug, saying happily, "That's wonderful! So we don't have to worry about not having enough money for you two to go to college anymore."
Even now, what they cared about most was still Bant and Peter.
"Peter, you don't look surprised at all," Uncle Ben said, giving Peter a mildly reproachful look, like he was blaming him for not telling them sooner. "Did you know already?"
Peter shook his head. "I only found out just now."
The reason he wasn't surprised was simple. Earlier today, he'd heard something even more shocking.
Compared to "conquering a planet," what was starting a company?
"Not just college tuition. We can live better now," Bant said. "We can move out of Queens, buy a few bigger houses. You won't need to work so hard anymore."
But Aunt May and Uncle Ben both shook their heads.
They exchanged a glance, and then Uncle Ben said earnestly, "Honestly, Xiao Bant, you've made us proud since you were little. Now you've achieved something huge, and we're truly happy for you. But we don't want you to waste money just because you have it."
Ben was genuinely happy, but also worried. He feared that massive wealth might make Bant lose himself.
Bant understood that. In his past life, he had a relative who made a lot of money young and became arrogant. Later he got addicted to gambling, lost everything, owed debts, and ended up in prison.
"Don't worry, Uncle Ben. I just want to improve our lives," Bant said. "A better environment, not being dragged around by survival. That's what earning money means."
More than anything, Bant wanted Uncle Ben and Aunt May out of Queens and into a safer place with better security.
But they didn't want to leave.
"We've lived here for over thirty years, Xiao Bant," Aunt May said. "This house is older than the two of you combined."
"We know everything about this neighborhood. We know everyone who lives here. Mrs. Walters, Mrs. Lola, little Billy two houses down…"
Aunt May listed names like she could recite them in her sleep.
Then Ben said, "We've already put down roots here. If you suddenly make us leave, we'll feel lost. We'll feel… lonely."
Maybe that was just what most elderly people were like.
Once people got older, they weren't as willing to accept new things, especially a new environment and new faces.
Because they knew they didn't have much time left.
Bant understood.
Since Uncle Ben and Aunt May didn't plan to leave Queens, he wouldn't force them.
Besides, he didn't need to.
"Good thing the Machine Warriors in the Ben 10 world are pretty advanced," he thought.
He could strengthen the area's security and have machines patrol.
The armor he'd taken from Stark before, plus the tech from Sakaar, had given Bant plenty of inspiration.
Now that Plamos was slowly turning a profit, he had the funding to research these things.
On one side, Bant gave them the new phones as gifts.
On the other side, Bullseye, whose mission had failed, returned to Kingpin.
Inside a spacious, glittering hall, Kingpin stood there like a small mountain, dressed in a white suit, hands behind his back as he looked out over New York's lights.
To someone like him, New York was the true city of the world.
All of this city's evil was a network of veins he had built with his own hands, endlessly pumping money and power straight into him.
"You failed, Lester."
Before Bullseye could speak, Kingpin spoke first.
His voice was low and heavy.
"That's not common."
Kingpin turned, sat on his massive black throne, and crossed his hands.
Normally, he wouldn't tolerate failure. But for his most capable subordinate, he could show a little leniency.
Especially when the opponent was Spider-Man.
Two Spider-Men.
/-\
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