POV Rio
"Mr Wayne, it's wonderful to finally meet you," Norman Osborne says with a smile.
"Likewise," I say while shaking his hand.
We both sit down and start our discussion. I was disguised as Bruce Wayne, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises.
"I hope this meeting isn't about something bad," Norman says with a slight smile.
"Oh, nothing bad. I just heard that your wife is quite ill, is that correct?" I ask.
"I... Yes, Emily is not doing so well. But she has lived much longer thanks to your company's Stimpaks. The Super Stimpak specifically has helped keep her going," Norman says with a saddened tone.
"I have a way to cure your wife and your family," I say bluntly.
"Wh-What? I'm sorry, did I mishear you?" Norman asks with a surprised tone.
"I can cure your family's illness," I repeat.
"I... Are you sure?" Norman says cautiously.
"Yes, but before you say anything, it will be at a cost. I want to acquire Oscorp," I explain.
"What? Are you really asking me to give up all I built?" Norman asks.
"For your family, yes. Haven't you sacrificed enough? Haven't they sacrificed enough? Oscorp just lost all its military contracts, and that's true for almost every company at this time. I offer to buy it at a reasonable price. Your family could live in luxury for the rest of their lives. Didn't you found Oscorp to find a cure?" I ask.
"I... I... Yes, yes, that was why I founded Oscorp," Norman says absently as he seems to be reflecting on his life.
"Even if I believed your claims, how can I be certain that Emily will be cured? Completely cured, I don't want to see her become ill someday down the line. Not to mention the board would never agree to a sale of the company," Norman refutes.
"I would cure your wife first. You could test her in any manner you see fit. And she will be cured, I guarantee that. I'd stake all of Wayne Enterprises and my life on that. As for the board of directors, I'm afraid you're mistaken about them. They've already agreed to sell the company; they intended to do so to Quest Aerospace, but given the current economic climate, the deal fell through. Most want out, but they don't want to do so for too cheap," I explain while sliding over a piece of paper with my offer.
Norman's eyes slightly dilate in shock before he recovers and seems to consider the offer.
"Could I remain in my position?" Norman asks.
"You can, but would you want to? Would Emily want you to? She would be healthier than she likely ever was, and you want to get right back to work?" I ask.
"Cough. Cough. Well, uh, wait a minute, you can't tell Emily that, I didn't mean it that way. I meant, would I still have a position in the company, or I suppose in Wayne Enterprises, should I come back from retirement?" Norman asks.
"Yes, if you want and as long as you give me some notice, then I can make sure you have a position. Though I somewhat feel you won't want to come back after you get a taste of retirement," I reply.
"I'm willing to provisionally accept, assuming you cure my wife and I am satisfied with the results," Norman offers.
"Then we have a deal," I say, and we shake on it.
I am taken to Norman's estate, where I find Emily Osborne in very bad condition. But with a little magic boosting, she was just strong enough to open the amulet. I had to stay with them this time as I didn't want to risk anything going wrong. Norman was given this choice, as while he built a large company, and that company did do some occasional bad things, it was, all things considered, a fairly clean company. Norman truly did put most of his focus into finding a cure for his wife. It was his wife who truly prevented him from going too far. He wasn't willing to break her trust and faith, even if it meant he might find a cure. He loved her too much.
Now, the reason I was acquiring Oscorp instead of letting it go bankrupt, or killing Norman, was simple: the easiest and least dangerous method was to acquire the company and prevent any strange offshoots of reality. I still wanted Spider-Man to happen, but I didn't want the dozens or more villains that Oscorp seemed to pump out to come into existence either. And instead of playing wackamole and stamping out various fires, it was easier to nip the problem in the bud.
Of course, helping a family in need when I had the ability to do so was a nice bonus. Now, the reason I was doing so was that I had heard that Emily was on death's door, so I knew I didn't have any more time to waste. The other reason was that I needed to wait until I could actually acquire Oscorp, which meant I needed to wait until everyone was desperate enough that they would sell without question. It also helped that I had a friend in the Oval Office.
Erik won the election in a landslide. Not literally, as that would be Quentin Trembley III if he existed in this reality. He doesn't, I quadrupled checked. It was part of my checks to make sure I wasn't in a version of the MCU with Gravity Falls, as I really didn't want to deal with Bill Cipher. But thankfully, it's not like that; my family just shares some resemblances to the Pines family from the show.
But back to Erik. After he won, he has been working to improve the lives of the general populace, which basically meant cracking down hard on corruption and making sure money stays out of politics. He has also increased the tax on the wealthy, which was sad for others, but I couldn't care less. Not only did I not have to pay taxes, but even if I did, I wouldn't mind, I knew it would be going to help others. Other reforms that came through were massive budget cuts. For instance, did you know that the Oil Industry got subsidies? Despite the fact that they had been making massive profits for decades at this point. Not that it mattered that much, as basically every oil company was bankrupt when their black gold ran dry or when they were nationalized.
So yeah, there were a lot of places that could see some changes. The military also saw a sizable budget cut due to a lack of need for it at this time. Though I bet Hydra and the other backstabbing snakes hate that, as Erik has made it clear that the US will stay out of international conflicts. Time would tell if he could actually keep that promise, as the world was in a tense state, with a particular hotspot being Mongolia. The amount of oil it has is a veritable gold mine for whoever controls it. China and Russia both want it, and Mongolia wants to be independent, so you can see how that might be an issue.
Another law that was recently passed was the Meta Recognition Act, which officially gave equal rights to all superpowered people of the US, or Metahumans as they are now being called. Technically, it wasn't really needed, as from what I have learned, there are at most maybe twenty known mutants on the planet. That's not to say that people don't have the X-Gene; it's just that it is unawakened in almost everyone on the planet, and there was seemingly no way to predict who would or wouldn't awaken the X-Gene. It was honestly very interesting to learn. In my Bruce Wayne persona, I had even discussed with Erik and Charles about changing the name from Mutant to Meta-Human, as Mutant had a negative connotation with it.
Now, related to this, I have done some tests to make sure I wouldn't have to worry about some annoying individuals. Specifically, Mister Sinister and Sublime. Though I did check for Bolivar Trask, William Stryker, Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix, Cassandra Nova, Dr Doom (cause I'm paranoid), Hive, and a few others. I used the compass to get an idea, as from what I can tell, it can lead me anywhere as long as it is in the same universe. I was able to confirm that Mister Sinister, Cassandra Nova, Dr Doom, and Sublime, or any derivatives of them, do not exist in this universe, which is good news, I suppose. Not great news, as that still meant I had to deal with some really annoying people, but it was good enough for now.
Bolivar Trask and William Stryker were at the top of my kill list, as both can lead to some really bad situations. With Trask being of particular note, as I really didn't want to deal with murder robots that adapt to any situation. Hive would be another target, as I wanted to kill that thing as soon as I could, but it wasn't urgent, as he should still be stuck on that distant planet, and he isn't that dangerous, as I can just attack with lasers from orbit. But then there was Apocalypse, he was something I wasn't fully certain on how to deal with. Sure, he was hibernating, but I couldn't say for how long, I could basically only hope that he remains buried and forgotten for now.
'I suppose if the Xenomorphs haven't awoken him by now, it is safe to assume he will continue to slumber for a while.'
Perhaps that was wishful thinking, or maybe I would luck out, and the X-Men would be able to defeat him. Worst-case scenario, I could probably be able to find a way to banish Apocalypse somehow.
'Maybe I could use the portal in my basement to send him to some godforsaken world.'
Now that I thought about it, I figured it might be time to test the portal a little bit. I did want to figure out a way to communicate across dimensions/universes if it's possible, though it probably wasn't. If all else fails, I should at least find a world/universe where I could dumb my dangerous magical garbage like any self-respecting mage. (For Legal Reasons That Is A Joke!)