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After Greta’s latest trip to the pocket universe, she’d encountered a problem.
Jason Trask would, later on in the century, propose and then create machines which had the sole purpose of killing all mutants indiscriminately. The Time Stone had shown her that this would devolve into an all-out bloody war which would kill both human and mutant alike. There was no stopping it there but, with a bit of luck and a strong breeze, they might be able to erase it from history when the re-unification happened.
Hana was currently scanning. Her mental synchronisation was being put to use to find the right person with not only the brains to stop Trask dead in his tracks, but the right personality traits as well.
Despite how one’s life experiences changed them, their core personality traits were there from birth to death. Already seventeen people she’d found had been disregarded.
It was tiring and time-consuming, but if Trask got his killer robots out into the world, all their efforts would be for nothing.
So they needed an engineer, one better than Trask. Ideally, they needed someone who could, if he was so inclined, put the man out of business. They also needed someone who would never think less of mutants because of their state; someone who would never accept genocide in any form; they needed to be someone who valued life in all its forms.
Hana stopped her scanning. ‘How about this fellow?’ Stretching her powers out, she synchronised the others to herself and showed them the mind she’d found.
‘Howard Stark...’ Emil mused.
With the synchronisation still in place, Greta looked at the Time Stone in her hand. It began to glow brightly.
Trask ended his proposal.
The room was silent for a long moment. All of his business associates, both partners and rivals, studied him. The cameras of the attending media went off. It appeared to be a conference which the press had been invited to. Then Howard Stark stood up. His face was completely closed off and he folded his arms across his chest.
‘And how much is this particular venture going to cost, Mr. Trask?’
Trask glared at him. ‘The estimates have been drawn up. I assure you, Mr. Stark. It is quite affordable.’
‘How much?’ Howard Stark just reiterated his question. ‘If you have the estimates, give us the figures.’
Trask looked like he was sucking a lemon. ‘Those are classified at present.’
Howard nodded to himself. ‘So, in other words, it’ll cost an arm and a leg. Where do you intend to get this money? Obviously, you’re not going to fund this project entirely out of your own pocket.’
‘We are in the process of negotiating government funds...’ Trask started but Howard cut him off.
‘So it’s going to come out of taxpayer dollars.’ Howard nodded. ‘Now, what about the plans for these things.’ He held a hand out and his secretary handed him a folder. Howard pulled out a pair of glasses and slid them on. He flicked the file open. ‘According to the business briefing you provided the engineering world with, these machines are humanoid in appearance, with two arms and two legs like a human being, and a minimum of fifteen feet tall. While these may be programmed to attack mutants, can we be assured that they will not create unnecessary collateral damage? Can we be assured that they won’t destroy buildings and accidentally hit innocent bystanders?’ He then addressed those gathered. ‘Let’s all remember, mutants tend to stay in densely populated areas in an attempt to blend into crowds.’
The sound of pens scrawling quickly came from the media, and the gathered businessmen began muttering amongst themselves.
Otto chuckled. ‘They’re not coming back from that. We’ve found our man.’
‘And how do you propose he gets up there?’ Harmon asked, honestly curious. ‘He’s the son of a German Jew and living in a poor neighbourhood in America. You know what the social climate’s like. That kind of background will work against him.’
Greta shrugged. ‘Then he obviously needs a little help, doesn’t he?’