00096. Professional delivery boy

00096. Professional delivery boy AnnouncementAlright everyone, this is the last chapter for the year. At the beginning of the year I made a promise to post at least a chapter a week. This would mean 52 chapters and a little over 100k words. Well I am happy to say I smashed that number, coming in with 70 chapters and over 160k words written for you to read. That being said, this coming year I plan to do even more. I’ve already started another story and will be posting it when I have enough chapters done. So look forward to that and possibly another story as well. I hope all of you take care and have a great New Years eve/day. I will see you next week with a new chapter for you to enjoy.

It only took about a week for Tony to have contract agreements drafted. The whole thing was kept top secret and only Tony, Happy, Ezekiel and the lawyer who drafted the contract knew about it. Ezekiel wanted to have everything ready and the devices in production before they even advertised anything about it. Then within a month of when the ad campaign started the phones would come out. They would easily have over a year head start on anyone else in the market.

Theo had to go over it all with the help of his clones. But Tony was straightforward in the contract, he would get one percent of the profits from the app store. He would also receive thirty percent from the ad revenue, since Ezekiel didn’t want to share the data analytics. But for any smartphone or tablet device made by Stark it would have to run Ezekiel's OS. There were a few other clauses in the contract, but that was about it.

Once the contract was finalized, Tony had started to work on making a cheap but fixable smartphone. It didn’t even take him a week to make a decent prototype. The schematics Ezekiel provided were a big help, but it was Tony's genius that brought it to life.

Over the next couple months Ezekiel would randomly show up at Tony's house to double check his prototypes. He would point out any issues he found or just make suggestions on what could be improved. While he wasn't an engineer by trade, he had all his knowledge of smartphones and tablets from his old life to fall back on. It was really simple for him to suggest things he knew people would like.Thê source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n))

After the first few times they met, Tony had grown comfortable with Ezekiel just randomly popping in unannounced. One of the reasons is because Tony had a bad habit of forgetting to eat and Ezekiel always brought food. Since Ezekiel could go anywhere, almost instantly it seemed. Tony gave Ezekiel a list of places and foods he liked to eat from different restaurants around the world. Ezekiel didn't mind, while he didn't like sweets much, he enjoyed food. So trying a bunch of food from around the world was something he looked forward to doing.

It was about three months into their collaboration when Ezekiel portaled into Tony's workshop and found Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts there. She seemed to be berating Tony for something.

"You didn't show up again! You can't keep doing this, it was an important meeting!"

Tony smiled and pointed at the device on his table as he said, "I lost track of time, I was working on the last prototype and was having an issue with it."

Pepper waved at the device on Tony’s table as she said, "This new secret project you have going doesn't matter. You just skipped out on a meeting for a potential multi-billion dollar contract from the US Army. If Mr. Stane wasn't there, it would have been lost."

"How come you call Obie, Mr. Stane and me Tony?"

Pepper let out a sigh as she said, "Because he actually deserves respect. You on the other hand shirk your responsibility and expect others to clean up after you like a child."

Ezekiel laughed as he said, "She has a good point Tony. You’re pretty much a man child."

Pepper whirled around to look at who spoke as Tony said, "I thought we were friends?"

"Business partner would be a better term for what we are."

Tony placed his hands over his heart as he said, "You wound me sir."

Pepper composed herself as she said, "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met. I'm Pepper, Tony's personal assistant and nanny."

Ezekiel placed the bags he was carrying down and extended his hand as he said, "Ezekiel, professional delivery boy."

After they shook hands Pepper asked, "You're a business partner of Tony? I’m surprised he lets you down here. He won’t even let Mr. Stane down here."

Tony replied with a bit of annoyance in his voice, "I can't keep him out, I've tried. But at least he brings me food."

Pepper looked confused at that statement as Tony moved to open the bags on the table. Tony had a big smile on his face as he said, "You actually brought me BBQ from Okies!"

As Tony started to pull out the cartons of food, the door to the workshop burst open as Happy ran inside with his gun drawn. He looked at Ezekiel and let out a sigh as he put his gun away.

Ezekiel smirked as he said, "I brought you your favorite from Okies."

Happy walked over to the table Tony was currently at as he said, "You know you could just call me like a normal person and not trip the silent alarm every time you show up."

Ezekiel patted Happy’s shoulder as he said, "I could, but I don't want you to get rusty. Plus you could use the exercise."

Tony had a rib half in his mouth as he said, "He's right, you've been getting a little big around the waist lately."

Pepper walked closer to look at the food as she said, "I didn't want to say anything, but Tony's right."

"I have an issue with my thyroid, and the medication I'm on is making me gain weight." Happy finished with a frown.

"Really? You should've told me. I know one of the best doctors without a degree in the world."

Before anyone could say anything he made a portal and disappeared through it. Pepper was wide eyed and her mouth hung open at the sight. Tony and Happy just ignored it and started to eat the food in earnest.

Pepper finally pulled herself together as she asked, "What the hell was that?"

Tony just said, "Ezekiel." And Happy nodded in agreement like that explained everything.

Tony then slid a cardboard carton filled with BBQ in front of Pepper as he said, "Have some food Pep. It's fresh from Okies in Texas."

Pepper let out a sigh and decided to just go with it. She would get answers after she ate some of the delicious smelling food in front of her.

Happy squatted down a few times and then flexed his arm some. He started to do some footwork and even tossed out a couple jabs as his face lit up and he said, “My arm’s fixed and my knees don't hurt!”

Tony was the most surprised as he moved next to Happy and said, “But every doctor we took you to said the nerve and tendon damage wasn’t fixable.”

Tsunade nodded her head as she said, “It probably was by what passes for medicine in this world.”

Tony glanced over to Ezekiel as he asked, “You keep saying this world. So are you guys aliens or something?”

Ezekiel laughed as he said, “No. Just from different universes... Or something like that.”

Tony nodded his head as he said, “That explains some things.”

Both Happy and Pepper looked at Tony and said at the same time, “That doesn’t explain anything!”

“No it does. The portals, the software I can’t hack. Medical tech that can easily heal things modern medicine can’t in a few minutes. The smartphone designs he gave me. It’s all from a different universe that is maybe fifty to a hundred years more advanced than us.”

Happy shook his head before he glanced at Tsunade and said, “Doesn’t matter where you came from, you have my thanks.”

“You're welcome. Now pay me ten thousand dollars.”

Happy blanched at that as Ezekiel smiled and then pointed at the table with a pile of cash on it. Tsunade glanced at the cash, then smiled brightly as she moved towards the table and said, “That’s more like it!”

Tony glanced over at the cash himself as he asked, “How much is there?”

“Maybe a hundred and fifty thousand.”

Tony glanced at Happy as he said, “Go up to the safe and match it.”

While Happy moved to go upstairs, Tsunade glanced over at Tony and smiled as she said, “You didn’t tell me he was generous and wealthy.”

Ezekiel moved over to the table with BBQ on it as he said, “Tony likes to say he’s a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist... Or something like that.”

“I haven’t said that before... But it has a nice ring to it.”

Ezekiel started to eat some of the BBQ as Tsunade started to count the money on the table. Tony moved back over to his carton of food as he asked, “So where exactly are you going to send her?”

Tsunade’s eyes lit up as she said, “Las Vegas!”

Tony paused for a moment before he said, “I haven’t been there in a few months...”

Pepper shook her head as she said, “No! You can’t go. The meeting you missed today was moved to tomorrow because Mr. Stane stepped in. You need to show up this time or we’ll lose the contract.”

Tony waved off what Pepper said as he stuffed some brisket in his mouth. As he finished it he said, “What I’m working on will be worth a lot more than a billion dollars.”

“I think we projected twenty billion in the first year alone.”

Tony nodded in agreement as he said, “Those are the low end estimates. I think it will be closer to thirty billion. With that number increasing steadily for the foreseeable future. Within ten years it could match or pass the weapon division in profits. It would be higher, but Ezekiel wants the devices to last, be repairable and environmentally friendly.”

Pepper looked surprised as she said, “You're joking, that’s a three hundred billion dollar a year business.”

Ezekiel smiled as he said, “No, he’s correct, it’ll be better in the long run. Plus the profit you would make wouldn’t be that much more. Maybe another billion a year at most if you didn’t make them easily repairable. You should be able to make that and more by being a wholesale supplier of spare parts.”

Ezekiel frowned as he added, “Unless you went super scum lord and made a new phone every year with slightly better specs. While you update the old phones and make them run slower, so people are forced to upgrade devices. Then you could maybe double the estimates.”

Tony shook his head as he said, “But you wanna be the good guy and not do that.”

Ezekiel nodded as he said, “It’s good for your karma not to be a scumbag. Plus you already make weapons, you need all the good karma you can get.”

Tony just waved it off as Happy came back into the room. He walked over to the table and placed a backpack down next to Tsunade. She glanced in the bag and smiled, before she stuffed the bag full with the money on the table. When she finished she glanced at Ezekiel as she said, “Alright, lets go!”

Tony held up a hand as he said. “Give me twenty minutes, I wanna go too.”

Pepper frowned as she asked, “What about the meeting?”

“Doesn’t matter, in fact call them and cancel it. Tell them I’m not interested.”

Tony turned to look at Happy as he said, “Hurry up and eat, then we’re going to Vegas!”