Tony was in his workshop working on his computer as AC/DC blared through the speakers. He had been there all day, heck he had spent the last few weeks here. Barely leaving it to eat or sleep in his own bed.
Tony didn’t want to admit it, but he was frustrated. He had spent months trying to hack into the company behind the Vibe social media platforms that had become popular over the last few years. At first it was because someone from the government asked him if he could. Tony being who he was cockily said it wouldn’t take him more than an hour at most.
That was over four months ago and now it was a matter of pride that he needed to access the sites. The only thing he had accomplished so far was having to reformat his computer system a few dozen times. After the first few times it happened, he became cautious and made sure he only used a single computer not hooked up to his personal network. It made it easier and less of a hassle to deal with.
While it was rare for Tony, he could admit. Whoever programmed those websites and the infrastructure behind them was a genius. He even contacted a few people he thought might have helped in the construction process, but no one he knew was behind it. Which just made Tony want to know who it was even more.
Tony had just finished setting up his computer again and was getting ready to attempt another try. Before he smelled something delicious, which made his stomach rumble. He glanced at the clock, it was almost past ten PM.
He forgot to eat dinner again. When he was about to turn around someone handed him a paper plate with a slice of pizza on it. He muted the music as he took a bite and just enjoyed the pizza for a few moments before he said, "Thanks, Happy."
When he didn't get a reply he knew he messed up. It must be his new personal assistant… What was her name again? He could only remember the nickname he gave her, Pepper. Tony smiled for a moment as he thought about why he gave her that nickname.
She was in the accounting department before and found some major issues in one of the R&D department's books. When she brought it to her boss it was ignored, so she decided to take it to Tony himself. Unfortunately Tony’s security was a little zealous in their jobs and when she tried to barge into Tony’s office, they pepper sprayed her.
When Tony found out what happened he nicknamed her pepper and promoted her to his new personal assistant as an apology. But it turned out she was amazing at the job and in the six months she’s had the position, she kept impressing Tony. Like tonight when she brought him pizza.
Tony smiled slightly as he spun around in his chair to greet Pepper and froze. Sitting on his work bench was a man he had never seen before. He was light skinned, with black hair and black eyes.
The man smiled as he said, "Virginia Potts."
Tony stared at the man blankly for a moment before he asked, "What?"
The man took a bite of his own pizza and watched Tony for a few moments before he said, "You forgot your assistant's name, which is Virginia Potts, but you call her Pepper. I saw the video of how she got her nickname by the way, that was hilarious."
Tony tried not to smile at the memory as he asked, "And who the heck are you? How did you get in here?"
The man just pointed at the pizza box as he said, "I'm the pizza delivery guy and I got here through magic."
Tony stood up from his chair and hit the silent alarm button hidden under his desk as he did. He moved away from the man slightly as he pointed at the piece of pizza the man was eating and said, "What kinda pizza delivery guy eats the pizza they delivered?"
"The one who paid for it. Unless you want to pay for it? You’re welcome by the way, this is straight from Joe’s in NYC.”
Tony looked at the slice in his hand, then the box before he glanced to the stairwell leading down stairs. He looked back at the man as he said, “Bullshit, there’s no way pizza would be this fresh from NYC.”
The man shrugged as he took another bite of his slice of pizza. As he was eating, Happy rushed down the stairs and burst into the room with his gun drawn. He moved towards the man with his gun raised as he said, “Hands in the air, now!”
The man looked unconcerned as he took another bite of his pizza. Happy moved into position between Tony and the man as he said, “I said hands in the air, now!”
The man glanced at Happy as he said, “You should put that away, we wouldn’t want someone to get hurt now.”
Happy cocked the hammer as he asked, “Oh ya? And who do you think is gonna be hurt?”
“Are you stupid? Me of course, that’s a gun.”
Both Tony and Happy paused at the response before Happy said, “Well if you don’t wanna be hurt, listen to me and put your hands in the air.”
The man shook his head as he said, “No. I wanna enjoy my pizza.”
Tony spoke up next as he asked, “Who are you? Why are you even here?”
The man raised his hand holding his slice of pizza and pointed it at Tony as he said, “I told you, I’m the pizza delivery guy. And I’m only here because some jackass keeps trying to hack my servers.”
Tony froze for a few moments before he said, “Wait… Are you saying you created Vibe? Is that how you were able to get past my security systems?”
The man smirked as he said, “Is that what you consider a security system? I know a third world country with better security than you have."
"Nice joke, my security is top of the line. I made it myself."
The man finished another bite of his pizza as he said, "It wasn't a joke. Plus the first time you hacked me, you gave me a backdoor into your system and you never even noticed.”
Tony studied the man for a few moments before he let out a sigh and then he said, “Stand down, Happy. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have done it already.”
Happy frowned, but lowered his weapon and holstered it. He still stayed between Tony and the mysterious man though. Tony sat back down and took another bite of his pizza before he said, “If you were coming by, you could have brought a better pizza.”
“What's wrong with Joe’s?”
“It’s plain cheese.”
The man shrugged as he said, “Cheese was the safest bet, it’s not like I know your favorite type of pizza.”
“Pepperoni, bacon and onions.”
The man looked at Happy as he asked. “What about you?”
When Happy didn’t reply, Tony said. “He likes supreme.”
The man nodded his head and then moved his right hand in a circle for a moment. A shimmering portal opened up with a neon orange ring on the outside. Tony and Happy could see the other side opened into a kitchen with some people making pizza. A couple people turned to look at the portal for a second and then went back to work. An older man glanced up and looked through the portal for a few seconds before he asked. “What can I do for you Ezekiel?”
“Could I get a large supreme, a large with pepperoni, bacon and onions. And give me my normal.”
The man nodded as he said, “Give me about ten minutes.”
“Alright, thanks Joe.”
The man nodded in response as the portal closed. Tony glanced from where the portal was, to the man now known as Ezekiel and then the pizza they were eating. He set his pizza down and grabbed something from his desk and moved to where the portal was as he asked, “What was that? Some kinda wormhole technology? Spatial folding tech? Some kinda metahuman power?”
Ezekiel shook his head as he watched Tony scan the area of the portal with the device in his hands. When nothing came up on the device Tony asked again, “What the hell was that?”
“Magic.”
Tony moved back to his desk as he said, “Fine don’t tell me.”
Happy seemed to reboot after that and moved closer to Tony as he said, “If that’s how he got in, I have no idea how to stop that from happening again.”
Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “You can’t, but it’s fine. Like I said, I only came here because this guy was trying to hack into my servers.”
Tony smirked as he said, “Since you came here, that means I was getting close to breaking in.”
“In your dreams. You should be glad I have a business proposition for you. If I didn’t, you would get the same treatment as everyone else who tries to hack my systems.” Ezekiel pointed to one of the monitors on Tony’s desk as he finished.
Tony turned to look at it as a video played for over a minute before he asked, “You ruin the computers people use to hack your systems with?”
The screen changed to show whole servers being destroyed as Ezekiel said, “Depends on the people. Some get a warning first, others lose hardware. If they try again, I take out more hardware till they learn their lesson.”
Tony turned around as he asked, “So you gave me a pass because you want something from me?”
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I don’t want anything from you. I have a business proposition. If you don’t take it, I will just find someone else to do it. Then again, who would turn down billions of dollars in profit?”
Happy still kept a spot next to Tony but he seemed a little more relaxed for now. He glanced between them as he asked. “Why would you want to give Tony or someone else the chance to earn a bunch of money? Couldn’t you just do it yourself?”
“I could, but it would just be a hassle. Do you have any idea how much work I would need to do to set up a new company? Not including getting infrastructure and supply chains set up?”
Tony nodded in understanding as he said, “So you want someone else to manufacture something for you? Some kinda smart phone like the Blackberry? Something so people can have easier access to Vibe I bet.”
Ezekiel pointed at Tony as he said, “Got it in one. But what I want made will be nothing like a Blackberry. It will make the Blackberry look like a kids toy.”
Ezekiel pointed at Tony’s computer screen again as he said, “But not just phones, I want to make tablets also. I have some mock designs there for you to look at. It also includes the spec’s I want for the device.”
Tony started to look through the files Ezekiel placed on his computer. He had to admit, it was some pretty ingenious stuff if it worked. Small cameras that could take pictures in the megapixels, HD screens, touch screens, wifi, bluetooth and numerous other features were added to each device. The longer Tony went over the mock ups, the easier it was for him to picture it. It would definitely take some work, but if he made the first prototype…
After almost five minutes Tony turned around and asked, "What's the catch?"
Ezekiel held up a finger as he said, "I only have three. The first one is simple, whatever you make runs my software. You can add some apps to it if you like, but the OS is mine alone. I will take care of all the security updates, OS updates and run the application store."
Ezekiel raised another finger as he said, "You have to make at least one version affordable. You can lower the specs across the board on it, but still make it durable and functional."
Ezekiel raised a third finger as he said, "They need to be as environmentally friendly as possible. So easy to fix with replaceable parts would be best. Heck you could even start a new branch for Starktech and go into the repair business. Otherwise you could just let third party companies deal with the repairs, using your parts.”
Tony relaxed into the back of his chair as he thought it over. It was a pretty good deal for him. He would be the first to market with something everyone would want. Making an affordable version for everyone would also be profitable.
Making it environmentally friendly and easily fixable would make it less profitable. But if he factored it into the design from the start and made sure they produced parts in bulk to reduce cost. Add in making a repair service in house to fix the devices. They would lose some profit from third party repairs, but they could also up-sell their spare parts to them for a profit.
Tony smiled to himself as he realized just how good the deal could be. Tony then looked up at Ezekiel as he said, "I want half the profit from the app store."
Ezekiel laughed before he said, "Fuck off, you get all the profit from the devices themselves."
"And we would be running your OS for free. Plus the profit from the app store could be worth more than the phone sales alone. Well depending on what you’ll charge developers to use it.”
"That's part of the deal, letting you be the first to market with smartphones. Plus I am doing all the work for the OS and everything software wise. As for pricing I was only going to charge five percent of gross profit." Ezekiel smiled as he finished.
“Only five percent? You could easily charge fifteen to twenty percent with no issue. Honestly you could easily ask for thirty percent if you wanted to.”
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I have no reason to charge that much, it will take me almost no work to run the app store. I don’t need to rip off all the indy dev’s that will flock to make software for the device.”
Tony had a smug look as he said, "Then at least give me a twenty five percent cut from the app store then. Or I could just do everything myself and cut you out completely. No matter who you went to, your phone would still come out after us."
Ezekiel's smile morphed into a smirk as he said, “You really think I would let you get that far?"
Happy tensed up as Tony frowned and asked, "Is that a threat?"
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "It's a promise. You think I would come here, share all of this and not have a couple backup plans?”
“And what would that be?”
Ezekiel’s grin widened before he said, “Depends on how spiteful I wanted to be. I could just sabotage any manufacturing attempt you make into phones until you understand that Stark Industries is never allowed to make smartphones.”
Ezekiel’s grin morphed into something almost feral as he said, “Or I could sabotage your company so badly, you would spend the next ten years just trying to save it from going bankrupt.”
As Tony quietly contemplated Ezekiel’s words, Ezekiel waved his hand in the air. A moment later a portal appeared again. Ezekiel looked through it and saw three pizza boxes sitting on the counter. He waved his hand again and the three boxes floated through the portal. As they landed on the table next to him he waved at the older man on the other side of the portal as he said, “Thanks a lot Joe.”
“Anything for my best customer.”
The portal snapped closed a few seconds later. As Ezekiel opened the top box of pizza and pulled out a hot slice. He folded it slightly and then took a big bite of it. As he chewed on it he watched Tony who was lost in thought.
When he finished his bite Ezekiel said, “Don’t think too hard on it. Those are only my worst case scenarios if you tried to fuck me over for some stupid reason.”
Tony looked up at Ezekiel who smiled as he said, “I came to you, because I know you aren’t greedy or stupid enough to try. But you can think over the offer for a few days if you want.”
Tony shook his head as he said, “I would be a fool to turn this down. So how about five percent of the app store profits?”
Ezekiel gave Tony a flat look for a few moments before he said, “One percent, is your only offer.
“Deal! Now give me my pizza. I’ll get someone to draft up a contract in the next few days.”
Tony was in his workshop working on his computer as AC/DC blared through the speakers. He had been there all day, heck he had spent the last few weeks here. Barely leaving it to eat or sleep in his own bed.
Tony didn’t want to admit it, but he was frustrated. He had spent months trying to hack into the company behind the Vibe social media platforms that had become popular over the last few years. At first it was because someone from the government asked him if he could. Tony being who he was cockily said it wouldn’t take him more than an hour at most.
That was over four months ago and now it was a matter of pride that he needed to access the sites. The only thing he had accomplished so far was having to reformat his computer system a few dozen times. After the first few times it happened, he became cautious and made sure he only used a single computer not hooked up to his personal network. It made it easier and less of a hassle to deal with.
While it was rare for Tony, he could admit. Whoever programmed those websites and the infrastructure behind them was a genius. He even contacted a few people he thought might have helped in the construction process, but no one he knew was behind it. Which just made Tony want to know who it was even more.
Tony had just finished setting up his computer again and was getting ready to attempt another try. Before he smelled something delicious, which made his stomach rumble. He glanced at the clock, it was almost past ten PM.
He forgot to eat dinner again. When he was about to turn around someone handed him a paper plate with a slice of pizza on it. He muted the music as he took a bite and just enjoyed the pizza for a few moments before he said, "Thanks, Happy."
When he didn't get a reply he knew he messed up. It must be his new personal assistant… What was her name again? He could only remember the nickname he gave her, Pepper. Tony smiled for a moment as he thought about why he gave her that nickname.
She was in the accounting department before and found some major issues in one of the R&D department's books. When she brought it to her boss it was ignored, so she decided to take it to Tony himself. Unfortunately Tony’s security was a little zealous in their jobs and when she tried to barge into Tony’s office, they pepper sprayed her.
When Tony found out what happened he nicknamed her pepper and promoted her to his new personal assistant as an apology. But it turned out she was amazing at the job and in the six months she’s had the position, she kept impressing Tony. Like tonight when she brought him pizza.
Tony smiled slightly as he spun around in his chair to greet Pepper and froze. Sitting on his work bench was a man he had never seen before. He was light skinned, with black hair and black eyes.
The man smiled as he said, "Virginia Potts."
Tony stared at the man blankly for a moment before he asked, "What?"
The man took a bite of his own pizza and watched Tony for a few moments before he said, "You forgot your assistant's name, which is Virginia Potts, but you call her Pepper. I saw the video of how she got her nickname by the way, that was hilarious."
Tony tried not to smile at the memory as he asked, "And who the heck are you? How did you get in here?"
The man just pointed at the pizza box as he said, "I'm the pizza delivery guy and I got here through magic."
Tony stood up from his chair and hit the silent alarm button hidden under his desk as he did. He moved away from the man slightly as he pointed at the piece of pizza the man was eating and said, "What kinda pizza delivery guy eats the pizza they delivered?"
"The one who paid for it. Unless you want to pay for it? You’re welcome by the way, this is straight from Joe’s in NYC.”
Tony looked at the slice in his hand, then the box before he glanced to the stairwell leading down stairs. He looked back at the man as he said, “Bullshit, there’s no way pizza would be this fresh from NYC.”
The man shrugged as he took another bite of his slice of pizza. As he was eating, Happy rushed down the stairs and burst into the room with his gun drawn. He moved towards the man with his gun raised as he said, “Hands in the air, now!”
The man looked unconcerned as he took another bite of his pizza. Happy moved into position between Tony and the man as he said, “I said hands in the air, now!”
The man glanced at Happy as he said, “You should put that away, we wouldn’t want someone to get hurt now.”
Happy cocked the hammer as he asked, “Oh ya? And who do you think is gonna be hurt?”
“Are you stupid? Me of course, that’s a gun.”
Both Tony and Happy paused at the response before Happy said, “Well if you don’t wanna be hurt, listen to me and put your hands in the air.”
The man shook his head as he said, “No. I wanna enjoy my pizza.”
Tony spoke up next as he asked, “Who are you? Why are you even here?”
The man raised his hand holding his slice of pizza and pointed it at Tony as he said, “I told you, I’m the pizza delivery guy. And I’m only here because some jackass keeps trying to hack my servers.”
Tony froze for a few moments before he said, “Wait… Are you saying you created Vibe? Is that how you were able to get past my security systems?”
The man smirked as he said, “Is that what you consider a security system? I know a third world country with better security than you have."
"Nice joke, my security is top of the line. I made it myself."
The man finished another bite of his pizza as he said, "It wasn't a joke. Plus the first time you hacked me, you gave me a backdoor into your system and you never even noticed.”
Tony studied the man for a few moments before he let out a sigh and then he said, “Stand down, Happy. If he wanted to hurt me, he would have done it already.”
Happy frowned, but lowered his weapon and holstered it. He still stayed between Tony and the mysterious man though. Tony sat back down and took another bite of his pizza before he said, “If you were coming by, you could have brought a better pizza.”
“What's wrong with Joe’s?”
“It’s plain cheese.”
The man shrugged as he said, “Cheese was the safest bet, it’s not like I know your favorite type of pizza.”
“Pepperoni, bacon and onions.”
The man looked at Happy as he asked. “What about you?”
When Happy didn’t reply, Tony said. “He likes supreme.”
The man nodded his head and then moved his right hand in a circle for a moment. A shimmering portal opened up with a neon orange ring on the outside. Tony and Happy could see the other side opened into a kitchen with some people making pizza. A couple people turned to look at the portal for a second and then went back to work. An older man glanced up and looked through the portal for a few seconds before he asked. “What can I do for you Ezekiel?”
“Could I get a large supreme, a large with pepperoni, bacon and onions. And give me my normal.”
The man nodded as he said, “Give me about ten minutes.”
“Alright, thanks Joe.”
The man nodded in response as the portal closed. Tony glanced from where the portal was, to the man now known as Ezekiel and then the pizza they were eating. He set his pizza down and grabbed something from his desk and moved to where the portal was as he asked, “What was that? Some kinda wormhole technology? Spatial folding tech? Some kinda metahuman power?”
Ezekiel shook his head as he watched Tony scan the area of the portal with the device in his hands. When nothing came up on the device Tony asked again, “What the hell was that?”
“Magic.”
Tony moved back to his desk as he said, “Fine don’t tell me.”
Happy seemed to reboot after that and moved closer to Tony as he said, “If that’s how he got in, I have no idea how to stop that from happening again.”
Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “You can’t, but it’s fine. Like I said, I only came here because this guy was trying to hack into my servers.”
Tony smirked as he said, “Since you came here, that means I was getting close to breaking in.”
“In your dreams. You should be glad I have a business proposition for you. If I didn’t, you would get the same treatment as everyone else who tries to hack my systems.” Ezekiel pointed to one of the monitors on Tony’s desk as he finished.
Tony turned to look at it as a video played for over a minute before he asked, “You ruin the computers people use to hack your systems with?”
The screen changed to show whole servers being destroyed as Ezekiel said, “Depends on the people. Some get a warning first, others lose hardware. If they try again, I take out more hardware till they learn their lesson.”
Tony turned around as he asked, “So you gave me a pass because you want something from me?”
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I don’t want anything from you. I have a business proposition. If you don’t take it, I will just find someone else to do it. Then again, who would turn down billions of dollars in profit?”
Happy still kept a spot next to Tony but he seemed a little more relaxed for now. He glanced between them as he asked. “Why would you want to give Tony or someone else the chance to earn a bunch of money? Couldn’t you just do it yourself?”
“I could, but it would just be a hassle. Do you have any idea how much work I would need to do to set up a new company? Not including getting infrastructure and supply chains set up?”
Tony nodded in understanding as he said, “So you want someone else to manufacture something for you? Some kinda smart phone like the Blackberry? Something so people can have easier access to Vibe I bet.”
Ezekiel pointed at Tony as he said, “Got it in one. But what I want made will be nothing like a Blackberry. It will make the Blackberry look like a kids toy.”
Ezekiel pointed at Tony’s computer screen again as he said, “But not just phones, I want to make tablets also. I have some mock designs there for you to look at. It also includes the spec’s I want for the device.”
Tony started to look through the files Ezekiel placed on his computer. He had to admit, it was some pretty ingenious stuff if it worked. Small cameras that could take pictures in the megapixels, HD screens, touch screens, wifi, bluetooth and numerous other features were added to each device. The longer Tony went over the mock ups, the easier it was for him to picture it. It would definitely take some work, but if he made the first prototype…
After almost five minutes Tony turned around and asked, "What's the catch?"
Ezekiel held up a finger as he said, "I only have three. The first one is simple, whatever you make runs my software. You can add some apps to it if you like, but the OS is mine alone. I will take care of all the security updates, OS updates and run the application store."
Ezekiel raised another finger as he said, "You have to make at least one version affordable. You can lower the specs across the board on it, but still make it durable and functional."
Ezekiel raised a third finger as he said, "They need to be as environmentally friendly as possible. So easy to fix with replaceable parts would be best. Heck you could even start a new branch for Starktech and go into the repair business. Otherwise you could just let third party companies deal with the repairs, using your parts.”
Tony relaxed into the back of his chair as he thought it over. It was a pretty good deal for him. He would be the first to market with something everyone would want. Making an affordable version for everyone would also be profitable.
Making it environmentally friendly and easily fixable would make it less profitable. But if he factored it into the design from the start and made sure they produced parts in bulk to reduce cost. Add in making a repair service in house to fix the devices. They would lose some profit from third party repairs, but they could also up-sell their spare parts to them for a profit.
Tony smiled to himself as he realized just how good the deal could be. Tony then looked up at Ezekiel as he said, "I want half the profit from the app store."
Ezekiel laughed before he said, "Fuck off, you get all the profit from the devices themselves."
"And we would be running your OS for free. Plus the profit from the app store could be worth more than the phone sales alone. Well depending on what you’ll charge developers to use it.”
"That's part of the deal, letting you be the first to market with smartphones. Plus I am doing all the work for the OS and everything software wise. As for pricing I was only going to charge five percent of gross profit." Ezekiel smiled as he finished.
“Only five percent? You could easily charge fifteen to twenty percent with no issue. Honestly you could easily ask for thirty percent if you wanted to.”
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “I have no reason to charge that much, it will take me almost no work to run the app store. I don’t need to rip off all the indy dev’s that will flock to make software for the device.”
Tony had a smug look as he said, "Then at least give me a twenty five percent cut from the app store then. Or I could just do everything myself and cut you out completely. No matter who you went to, your phone would still come out after us."
Ezekiel's smile morphed into a smirk as he said, “You really think I would let you get that far?"
Happy tensed up as Tony frowned and asked, "Is that a threat?"
Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "It's a promise. You think I would come here, share all of this and not have a couple backup plans?”
“And what would that be?”
Ezekiel’s grin widened before he said, “Depends on how spiteful I wanted to be. I could just sabotage any manufacturing attempt you make into phones until you understand that Stark Industries is never allowed to make smartphones.”
Ezekiel’s grin morphed into something almost feral as he said, “Or I could sabotage your company so badly, you would spend the next ten years just trying to save it from going bankrupt.”
As Tony quietly contemplated Ezekiel’s words, Ezekiel waved his hand in the air. A moment later a portal appeared again. Ezekiel looked through it and saw three pizza boxes sitting on the counter. He waved his hand again and the three boxes floated through the portal. As they landed on the table next to him he waved at the older man on the other side of the portal as he said, “Thanks a lot Joe.”
“Anything for my best customer.”
The portal snapped closed a few seconds later. As Ezekiel opened the top box of pizza and pulled out a hot slice. He folded it slightly and then took a big bite of it. As he chewed on it he watched Tony who was lost in thought.
When he finished his bite Ezekiel said, “Don’t think too hard on it. Those are only my worst case scenarios if you tried to fuck me over for some stupid reason.”
Tony looked up at Ezekiel who smiled as he said, “I came to you, because I know you aren’t greedy or stupid enough to try. But you can think over the offer for a few days if you want.”
Tony shook his head as he said, “I would be a fool to turn this down. So how about five percent of the app store profits?”
Ezekiel gave Tony a flat look for a few moments before he said, “One percent, is your only offer.
“Deal! Now give me my pizza. I’ll get someone to draft up a contract in the next few days.”
