Roxxon Energy Corporation had probably noticed the trend as well. They were afraid Stark would stop caring about the rules of the game and storm their headquarters to slaughter his way through it, so they quit while they were ahead and chose to withdraw from the New York market rather than risk provoking Tony Stark.
"Could this be some kind of business strategy?" Nick Fury did not understand corporate warfare, and he did not think anxiety was some terminal illness.
Daisy glanced at him and Maria Hill, then said rather obliquely, "Pepper said Tony's health is in really bad shape. The two of them haven't... in a very long time."
Nick Fury's son was already about Daisy's age, so of course he understood what she meant. He nodded lightly.
Maria Hill understood too and quickly rolled her eyes at Daisy.
Anxiety was primarily a psychological condition. In the original timeline, Tony Stark had recovered from it on his own. There was little outsiders could accomplish no matter how much they studied it.
...
The commercial rivalry between Stark Industries and Roxxon Energy Corporation came to a temporary ceasefire. When Roxxon's shareholders heard that Stark was holed up at home researching Iron Man armor, they were all terrified. Several major shareholders found themselves weighing which mattered more, money or their lives.
While they were frightened by Tony Stark's unstable mental state, Daisy began arranging a wilderness survival show with Wanda as the star.
A cute young woman doing that kind of show would be quite watchable. Making money was secondary; the main purpose was to give Wanda something to do.
Dumping her straight into the middle of nowhere was unrealistic. Daisy was afraid Wanda might get excited after encountering an enemy and blast a hole through the Earth.
The most basic skill she needed was learning to tell good people from bad people.
If she met a good person, she could chat with them for a bit. If she met a bad person and did not want to reveal her strength, then she should run.
"That sounds so complicated..." Wanda frowned. Telling good people from bad really did stump her.
Wanda was unquestionably introverted, and Chaos Magic placed tremendous mental pressure on her.
She had almost nothing to say to strangers, and she was aware of the problem herself. Now she was doing livestreams, facing a camera and dealing with different people and environments, because she wanted to become more outgoing.
Daisy naturally supported the idea. In the original timeline, Stark had kept Wanda shut inside a room where she barely went out at all, and the facts had proven that approach wrong.
A personality could change gradually. Daisy's method was simply to take Wanda out and wander around, chatting with people whenever the opportunity arose. They were in New York, after all. If the sky fell, Daisy could hold it up. Nothing too serious could happen.
It was currently 2009, and mobile livestreaming was only beginning to emerge. They still used a traditional video camera to record the show, but to put pressure on Wanda, they broadcast it live the entire time.
They had recorded two episodes while exercising at home. Viewers generally reacted very well to seeing a pretty, gentle-looking young woman working out on camera. Daisy's side filtered out all the obscene comments. One or two offenses earned a verbal warning; too many, or anything too vicious, and Hydra agents all over the world might pay the offender a visit for a chat.
When Wanda saw all the praise for her in the livestream chat, she was delighted. Convinced that she had found a sense of value in her own existence, she trained hard and stopped complaining that she was tired.
Her constitution still imposed limits. There was no way she could casually lift twenty metric tons (about 22 US tons) like Daisy or break the sound barrier whenever she felt like running. At best, she was somewhat above average among ordinary people. After all, the awakening of mutant genes strengthened the body to some extent as well.
Daisy also prepared a reinforced suit for her to wear underneath her clothes. Made from Kevlar, it offered a certain degree of protection against fire, knives, and handgun rounds.
For her third livestream, Wanda planned to show everyone New York's nighttime scenery. She felt deeply attached to New York. She had watched the city go from glory to devastation and then rise again, and she felt that its experience resembled her own, as though the city shared her breath and fate.
When Wanda asked for her opinion, Daisy said she did not mind.
After straightening her clothes, Wanda stood in front of the camera and introduced herself with great seriousness. "Hello, everyone. I'm your friend Scarlet. Today I'm going to show you the night view of New York City. This is a city reborn from the flames. Many of you may never have been to New York, so come along with me and take a look!"
Scarlet was the alias Daisy had given her. The opening was normal enough, and her good looks certainly helped.
To keep up with Wanda's pace, and for safety reasons, Daisy herself had to temporarily serve as the camera operator.
The streets still bore traces of the great battle. Many walls were scorched black, and piles of rubble lay everywhere.
For all anyone might say, the city was still quite chaotic. Any other streamer who dared to film New York at night like this would probably have been hauled into a police station long ago. Daisy simply had enough clout and unconventional connections that ordinary people did not dare cause trouble for her.
And now, when everyone else was afraid to film while they were willing to do it, that became a selling point. The livestream audience climbed steadily.
They randomly interviewed two passersby on the street. Wanda's pleasant appearance made them willing to stop and chat with her for a few moments.
Once she had done it a few times, Wanda gradually lowered her guard around ordinary people and began to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of casual conversation.
A young Latino man by the roadside caught her attention. She walked over without thinking and asked what he was selling.
"What do you do? Why do you have a camera? Do you even know what I'm selling?" The young Latino man deliberately acted mysterious, pulling a stack of bootleg DVDs from a cardboard box.
"DVDs of the Avengers fighting aliens! How about that? High-definition! We risked our lives to record these! I've got Iron Man, Captain America, even Wonder Woman, and she barely appeared. What? You want Wonder Woman's fight footage? Here, this disc is free!"
The young man was delighted to have someone advertise for him for free, so he generously gave Wanda a bootleg disc.
"Everyone, did you see that? New Yorkers are just this warmhearted!" Wanda had no idea that she had just given him free advertising. In her mind, giving something away for free was simply an act of noble character.
Not far down the road, they saw a Black man standing beside a truck, apparently selling something as well.
Daisy thought he looked like someone involved in organized crime, but she did not warn Wanda.
Wanda strode over and introduced herself while the man watched her warily. She had gained a little experience this time and knew to ask his name first.
"Turk Barrett. Everyone around these blocks knows me. Whatever you want to buy, you can come to me!" This Black man was bolder than the bootleg seller. He saw the camera and, without the slightest hesitation, immediately began advertising himself.
Such a direct answer disrupted Wanda's planned questions. Thinking quickly, she asked Turk how business had been lately.
"Terrible. Last month some guy riding a tricycle kept committing crimes on these streets. That bastard kills without blinking. He steals merchandise and money alike. He has no respect for the rules at all!" Turk poured out his grievances straight into the camera.