A few casual remarks from Bant were enough to make Coulson's mind start turning.
Once his interest was piqued, Coulson even looked a little impatient, clearly wanting to talk more with Bant about cars.
Seeing that, Natasha rolled her eyes subtly and gave a light cough.
As an agent, getting led around by a kid who looked this young… Coulson was being way too unprofessional.
Coulson snapped back to his senses awkwardly. He scratched at his thinning hair, pressed his lips together, and forced down his craving before saying, "I thought Plamos would keep riding the influence of the self-healing serum and continue pushing biotech."
"The self-healing serum can bring me that much profit, and the market hasn't even fully opened up yet. Why rush?" Bant shot back.
"So you really do have the tech?" Coulson's eyes lit up.
Bant glanced at his sparse hair, then said, "Yeah. It works great for treating baldness. I think it'll sell like crazy. Don't you?"
Coulson: …
The rookie-village chief of this Marvel world took a deep breath, then said, "If you ever sell it, make sure you let me know."
At that, Natasha had nothing else to say.
Because she felt that even if Nick Fury came лично, he might not be able to resist the temptation of hair growth.
Men.
She shook her head helplessly.
Then she heard Pepper lift her chest slightly and ask shyly, "Ahem, Mr. Parker, excuse me for asking. It's mainly… I'm asking on behalf of my assistant. Do you have something that can…"
She shot Bant a look, then used both hands to gesture two watermelons in the air.
"You know."
Bant nodded.
It made sense, sure, but… are you really asking for your assistant?
Bant's gaze dropped to Natasha's chest.
This Black Widow was already plenty big. She did not need a second growth spurt, did she?
Of course, to avoid making Pepper awkward, he wisely did not call her out. Instead, he said, "It's fine. Small is cute too."
Pepper: …
She really wanted to kill someone.
After that, Bant briefly introduced his concept for the car and the approximate size of the exhibition area he needed.
Pepper invited him to go check the site in person.
With nothing better to do, Bant nodded and agreed.
So the group prepared to leave.
Bant noticed that when no one was paying attention, Natasha quietly reached out, touched the corner of the table, and placed something there.
If nothing unexpected happened, it was a camera.
He pretended not to see it, but secretly sent Connors a message on his phone, telling him not to act rashly.
Then the five of them left together.
The Stark World Expo was naturally not located in Manhattan, where every inch of land was worth a fortune.
Even if Tony had enough money to buy all of Manhattan, knocking down the buildings and rebuilding would still take more time.
Besides, the total area of an expo might reach five or six square kilometers. If it were held in Manhattan, even Wall Street might not survive.
"Actually, besides you, several other companies are also setting up their venues today," Pepper said to Bant in the car.
Bant nodded.
The more famous a company was, the earlier it would receive an invitation, and it would not even need to pay exhibition fees.
As for smaller companies, they might have to pay an enormous price just to get a slot, and then many products would be crammed into a remote little hall.
It might be unfair, but reality was like that.
After about an hour, they finally arrived.
Pepper walked in front and introduced things as they went. "This side is Stark Industries' pavilion, that side is Hammer Industries… this area is all industrial, because we originally thought Plamos was bringing medical technology, so we placed you in a different zone."
She spoke apologetically.
Bant did not really care about the location.
Anywhere was fine. Being farther from Hammer Industries was even better. He wanted to reap the fisherman's profit, not be the fisherman himself.
They continued on to the biotechnology area. Here, the top industry giant was naturally the Osborn Group.
At this moment, Osborn Group's pavilion was already under construction. Clearly, Norman had received the news earlier than Bant. In fact, if not for Coulson's request, Pepper would never have considered giving Plamos a separate pavilion at all.
She had always viewed Plamos as a subsidiary of Osborn.
As they walked farther, another group caught Bant's attention.
He pointed at a man in a suit who was directing workers and asked, "I don't think I've seen that company's logo in New York. Who are they?"
"Life Foundation."
"It's a company from San Francisco. That's Trevor Cole," Pepper was still thinking when Natasha, who had already memorized every participating company, casually answered.
"Life Foundation…" Bant narrowed his eyes.
He knew that organization was always tangled up with symbiotes.
Bant naturally did not want to miss symbiote genes. He remembered that among the 5YL non-special alien heroes, there was also Venom's shadow. And Venom was different from ordinary alien heroes. It had the ability to possess a host.
That was a bit like a bio-chemical green sludge.
While he was thinking, Trevor noticed them too. Bant was not well-known yet, but Trevor at least recognized Pepper.
He walked over quickly and, from a distance, greeted Pepper first. "Miss Pepper Potts. I didn't expect to see you here."
Life Foundation and Stark Industries were not on the same level. To Trevor, Pepper was someone out of reach. Since he had run into her, there was no reason not to come over and chat. If he could get funding support from Stark Industries, it would be an unexpected windfall for Life Foundation.
"Hello, Mr. Cole." Pepper wore a polite, professional smile. She clearly did not want to waste time on Cole and immediately said, "I'm taking him to the pavilion."
The subtext was obvious: excuse us.
But Cole was a bit unwilling to let it go. His narrow eyes flicked toward Bant, and he showed surprise and confusion. "And this gentleman is…?"
"Bant Parker, founder of Plamos Technology." Without waiting for Pepper to answer, Bant took the initiative to step forward and extend his hand to Trevor. His watch emitted a yellow glow.
But Trevor did not immediately shake his hand.
"Plamos Technology?"
He ran the slightly unfamiliar name through his head, but his empty mind still could not find a single useful detail.
Fortunately, Bant volunteered information. "I assume Mr. Cole has heard of the self-healing serum?"
"So you're the inventor of the self-healing serum. My apologies, my apologies!" Hearing that, Cole's attitude changed instantly. He seized Bant's left hand, and the way he looked at Bant became warmly enthusiastic in an instant.
"I'm the founder of Life Foundation, Trevor Cole. I've always believed the self-healing serum is a great concept because it aligns perfectly with my philosophy…"
Trevor Cole kept talking nonstop. Bant lowered his eyes and glanced at his wrist. The watch showed no reaction at all.
Now it was his turn to grow cold.
He shook Trevor's hand off and said icily, "Alright, Mr. Cole. We have other business to attend to."
Bant wanted nothing more than to pull out a wet wipe and scrub his hand clean, then turn and leave.
No symbiote, and you think you're qualified to talk to me?
Cole did not react right away. He thought Bant had been angered by his initial arrogance. He did not keep pestering them, but resentment flared in his heart immediately.
Damn brat!
Just because you produced some so-called self-healing serum, you dare treat me with that kind of attitude?
He did not reflect on himself at all.
Rather than reflecting, it was easier to blame someone else.
At this moment, Cole clearly held a grudge against Bant, and against Plamos as well.
In his view, Plamos was nothing more than one of Osborn's puppet companies. If not for the self-healing serum, he would not have even heard of it. When it came down to it, even the serum might be Osborn's work.
Bant did not care about Cole's resentment in the slightest.
To be honest, he would love for this guy to run into a symbiote as soon as possible, then show up with Riot or Venom, causing trouble for him.
That way, he could collect symbiote DNA, and even the genes of the symbiote god Knull.
Knull was a multiverse-level existence. He was older than the cosmos itself. The god-slaying All-Black the Necrosword was something he created.
Of course, Bant did not hold overly high expectations.
Knull was the god of symbiotes, but he himself was not a symbiote, and the connection between symbiotes and him did not come from bloodline.
In fact, All-Black the Necrosword was the true origin of symbiotes, and the Necrosword came from Knull's shadow.
After parting ways with Cole, Bant threw that minor character to the back of his mind.
Under Pepper's guidance, he chose the location of his pavilion and finalized the design plan.
But at the same time, he felt confused.
"Miss Potts?"
"It seems Tony Stark hasn't shown his face in a long time," he asked. "Did something happen?"
Hearing that, Pepper did not know how to respond.
To be honest, lately Tony had become more and more indulgent by the day. The whole person looked like he was rotting, spending all day wearing his armor and throwing parties.
He was like someone who knew there was no tomorrow, taking full advantage of whatever pleasure he had left.
Even taking advantage of the few remaining days when he could still be Iron Man.
But honestly, Pepper did not understand why Tony was acting so recklessly, because she did not know what was happening to him now.
She had originally thought Tony was getting better, but judging by the outcome, that was not the case at all.
On one hand, Pepper was disappointed in Stark. On the other, taking the CEO position had made her so busy that she no longer had the time to care for Tony's daily life like she used to.
In fact, they had not seen each other for a long time, at least two weeks.
The last time they were apart this long was when Tony was kidnapped in the Middle East. Back then, Tony's life hung by a thread and she was on edge with worry. And now, Tony's life was hanging by a thread again, yet she knew nothing, throwing all her focus into work.
/-\
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