The Roxxon-Stark War was perhaps the event Peter had experienced that had the greatest impact on the world. Unlike battles between superheroes and villains, this was a pure commercial war, ranging from price wars to backstabbing schemes, with a scope that extended far beyond the United States.
In particular, the move to use Mephisto to cause all arc reactors to malfunction, all to suppress Stark Industries' stock price—that was something Peter couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams.
It was too absurd.
"I really didn't expect a young man like you to start paying attention to stock prices. That's good, though; young people should learn about investing."
Tony was taking Peter to visit the Avengers base in New Jersey today. The place was so massive that measuring it in acres felt insufficient; you had to use hectares. Just from what they could see, there were five Quinjets parked there—the scale of the base was truly ridiculous.
Tony looked quite relaxed as he said, "It doesn't really matter, though. Stark Industries isn't going bankrupt, and property prices in the New Jersey suburbs aren't that high—certainly cheaper than in New York. Oh, by the way, did you know? I once hailed a taxi in New York and told the driver I wanted to go to New Jersey, and he was so pissed off he kicked me right out of the car. He wouldn't even consider coming out here, even though it's not actually that far."
Peter looked at Stark, feeling somewhat incredulous: "You take taxis, Mr. Stark?"
"…Well, that joke would probably land better if the Captain told it; his economic situation makes it more convincing."
As he spoke, Tony smiled at Peter: "Regardless, I'm still happy you're starting to take an interest in financial management."
"No, I'm only concerned about this because so many people have fallen into financial crises because of it. You have no idea—the cheap housing in Hell's Kitchen is practically bursting at the seams." Peter seemed to notice something else as he said this: "Wait a second… do you manage your finances?"
"No, never. Why?"
To Peter's speechlessness, the Quinjet gradually touched down on the tarmac. Because this advanced fighter jet utilized vertical takeoff and landing, it was very space-efficient and didn't require a massive runway. Once the aircraft settled, Tony took Peter off the plane and began showing him around.
"This place includes all the equipment we need, and even the parts we don't. Everything behind here is the residential area. I've arranged rooms for every Avenger, current or future. Everyone gets a 150-square-meter duplex apartment—and I mean that's just the area of the first floor. Honestly, if it weren't for the need to save space, I would have made them even bigger."
Peter looked around the Avengers base and, after checking the height of the residential buildings, looked at Tony in confusion: "None of these buildings are over three stories tall."
"Of course not. We're all neighbors here, and nobody has anyone living above them. What a thoughtful design."
So, exactly what space are you saving?
Facing Peter's confusion, Tony provided a very thoughtful explanation: "Floor Area Ratio. The federal government has strict requirements for this. Simply put, it's the amount of building area you're allowed to construct on a given plot of land. For example, if the land is 10,000 square meters and your total building floor area is 5,000, the ratio is 0.5. But if you built a high-rise with dozens of floors, bringing the total floor area to 20,000, then the ratio would be 2."
"Every district, and even every state, has zoning requirements for floor area ratios. The allowed building volume for each block is fixed. That's why New York is filled with 'pencil towers.' The floor area ratio for the plot where the Avengers headquarters sits is capped at 0.6. I don't have enough allotted ratio to build massive high-rises for everyone; I have to leave enough green space to ensure the ratio stays compliant."
Peter, suddenly stuffed with strange knowledge, scratched his head. He had never considered such an absurd situation—that the Avengers base actually had a restriction where the usable building area could not exceed 40% of the land area. No wonder the landscaping here was so well done.
"So that's also the case in New York…"
"Of course it is. Otherwise, why do you think so many skyscrapers in New York have such small footprints, and why aren't those short, old apartment blocks demolished to build high-rise condos? To make sure there's room for the poor to live? You have to maintain the floor area ratio."
Tony shrugged as he spoke.
"Now you know what kind of country we live in, right? There are many things no one bothers to regulate, and then other things that everyone can do, but you specifically aren't allowed to. It's a real hassle. Of course, there are even more things that are perfectly legal to do, but are just a complete headache to deal with."
As Tony led Peter toward the room prepared for him, he talked about the period of the Roxxon-Stark War: "Actually, if I had just put in a little effort, I could have crushed Roxxon Energy directly. But I didn't. After all, it could have led to more people going bankrupt and losing their jobs, and triggered other troublesome issues, so I gave up on that."
For Tony Stark, crushing Roxxon Energy would have been very simple. He had a trump card against them: he only had to release the patent for the old palladium arc reactor technology and allow the whole world to use it. If that happened, Roxxon would completely lose its edge in power generation.
When the whole world had access to cold fusion—or even micro-cold fusion technology—who would care whether Roxxon lived or died? Keep in mind that oil-based power generation remained the largest consumer of petroleum products to this day.
At that point, Roxxon would be doomed.
But unfortunately, even though Tony knew he could do it, he didn't intend to. If he published the arc reactor technology, the immediate result would likely not be an industrial and energy revolution, but a global arms race.
And Tony Stark's consistent philosophy was that weapons cannot solve problems; they only create them. He knew that releasing the technology would help human progress in the long run, and he had more advanced arc reactor technology to maintain his technical edge.
But just the thought of his technology being used in weapons made him feel uncomfortable—this was a psychological hurdle that had remained with him ever since he escaped from Afghanistan.
"The biggest problem now is… nobody believes in me anymore. So, as long as a genius can provide a next-generation hit product for Stark Industries, that would be great."
Peter thought about what Uncle Ben had said regarding buying a car, and the items he currently had in his possession.
"I could try to see if Otto's neural interface technology could be applied to the field of prosthetics, but I can't guarantee success. After all, I'm not an expert in that field, and Otto Octavius's mechanical arms themselves were, well… an accident."