Marvel Reborn: Gems Of Infinite Potential

I had just finished enchanting the needed relays in the lab and Bruce was finishing up the customization work for my, customized, set of contacts when I said: "Hey Bruce, think you can build sensors into my finger bones?"

He turned to me and blinked "What?"

"Yeah, the voice controls are nice and all but somatic control for the contacts would be great and I mean the bones already have the vibranium lacing. So just replace that with ones that include accelerometers and the other needed sensors and then a bit of coding for interpretation and we should basically have haptic feedback." I explained, before another thought came to me as I worked on the idea "I could probably grab most of the code from the suit's, I mean they have all the gesture control features. Come to think of it, Wolverine could use another upgrade. What do you think about rebuilding it in the model of the suit nanites?"

Bruce thought for a moment before responding "The haptic feedback should be easy, but why do you want Wolverine upgraded? I mean I thought we were going to hold off until we figured out how to fully exploit the vibranium."

I nodded "Yeah, but that was before you invented the Chi crystals. Putting Nitramene directly into the body would be idiotic, but with the crystals, that problem is removed. Built in sensors to detect when you are hurt and have the Chi crystals be injected right into the body to flood it with Chi. Should provide a decent healing factor. And I figure that since implementing that would require a full rebuild anyways, we might as well put in the Pym Particle channels, the Arc Reactors, and the Quantum computers along with the full suite of sensors."

He went to speak after a moment but I interrupted "I mean with the contacts, we finally have a way to access all of that data and we should be able to rebuild the ear canal with no issue so that we could have internal coms."

He held up a hand "Ok, ok. I get your point. I'll move Wolverine 2.0 to the top of the list and start working on it, and you are right. We do have most everything we need thanks to the suits, so it shouldn't take too long."

"Best guess for the timeline?" I questioned.

"A few days to a week, we really do have pretty much everything already developed. It's just a matter of doing the integration work and fixing the inevitable kinks." he explained.

"Cool. Oh, and I'll need another set of contacts." I said, thinking about a modification to another plan.

"Hmm? Why?" he asked.

"Ward Meachum, being able to bug his eyeballs is going to make it very easy to keep him under our thumb." I explained.

Bruce shrugged "Shouldn't be a problem, just get me the scan of his eyes and I'll have them completed in a few hours."

And so it was that sitting in the passenger compartment of the Envoy SUV that Ward Meachum entered for his ride home after a long day at the office and a very tense conversation with his sister about why they both now had heavily armed security teams watching their every move was a retinal scanner.

After I had left Bruce's lab I had decided that it was time for Harold Meachum to be introduced to his new life. He was currently in his, very nice, cell. No windows, of course, but it had a bedroom, swimming pool, gym, kitchen, and dining room along with an expansive database of media. Sadly he seemed to find it all unappealing if his continuous pacing since he woke up there was anything to go by.

I opened a portal out of his sight for Natasha to enter the sealed prison suite while I watched the surveillance feed from my office, I wasn't going to take the chance that his resurrection had made it possible for him to perceive the Astral.

When she said "Mr. Meachum." he whirled around in shock before charging at her.

She swept his feet and had him pinned to the ground in a heart beat "Now that's not nice Mr. Meachum, taking a swing at a lady. If you agree to behave I'll let you return to your feet and we can talk like civilized people." she was quiet for a moment before offering an alternative "Or if you want to be impolite I could just lock you in a stockade."

Harold ground out "That won't be necessary, I'll behave."

"Good." she said as she released him and waited for him to stand.

"I'm sure you have realized by now that my boss had you extracted from the Hand for a reason, and you can probably even guess that reason." she said, pausing in the clear expectation that he would answer.

After a moment he did "He wants control over Rand Enterprises, just like the Hand did."

"Actually it was more that he wanted to remove that resource from the Hands grasp but I suppose that is semantics." she corrected.

"And if I refuse? The Hand bought my loyalty by giving me the means to conquer death, why should I betray them for you?" he questioned, only to appear stunned as Natasha laughed.

"Mr. Meachum, it is exactly because that was your price that you are going to do what my boss wants. You feared death so much that you were willing to cut a deal with the, quite literal, devil to escape its grasp. Do not misunderstand Mr. Meachum, we have already achieved our primary objective by removing your company from the Hand's control, gaining it for ourselves would just be something like a nice bonus. If you won't comply then we will just kill you and move onto other things." she explained.

He seemed incredulous "Rand Enterprises is a multi-national conglomerate worth half a trillion dollars and you want me to believe that your boss would just throw that all away?"

"Believe what you will Mr. Meachum, it ultimately matters very little to us. What matters to the Kingpin is that New York City is his territory and the Hand has chosen to interfere in that territory without paying the proper respect. When he contacted them about this obvious oversight they chose to compound the disrespect by demanding that he bow to their will and threatening his destruction if he failed to comply." she paused in the tale she was spinning, just long enough to let the tension up a fold as she held her body in a certain manner just enough to engender a subconscious fear response in Meachum, "This is not about business Mr. Meachum, it is now about respect."

She waited until he nodded his understanding before saying, casually, "Besides, we hold the lives of your son and daughter in our hands. Currently, we have extended the aegis of our protection over them." My cue to turn on the wall mounted TV and show a split screen image of Ward and Joy Meachum surrounded by their guards. "But we could easily withdraw that protection and leave them at Madam Gao's mercy, or even close our fist around them and squeeze the life out of them." she threatened.

He went pale in fear, 'huh, so he actually does care about them. wasn't sure, guess he isn't a complete monster.', and Natasha let him marinate in it for a long moment before continuing "Make no mistake Mr. Meachum, that you will comply with our requests is not in question or doubt. What is up to you are the methods used to achieve that compliance and the benefits, or costs, that compliance will have for you and your children. Now, do we understand each other?"

Harold Meachum sighed in defeat, "Yes, I understand."

Natasha smiled at him "Good, I'm sure you will let Ward know that you think he should comply with our directions and that you are being well treated when you talk to him tonight."

He started slightly at the knowledge he would be speaking with his son and the implied command to encourage his compliance.

"Before that though, why don't we sit down and you can get started on telling me everything that you know or have surmised about Madame Gao and the Hand." she said as she leads the way to the sitting area and takes a seat, waving him to another.

"Oh, and don't leave anything out. You wouldn't want to find out the punishments for lying and you don't know just how much we already know about you and your dealings, so it's best if you just start from the beginning and tell us everything while leaving nothing out." she said as he sat.

Harold collected his thoughts and then started to speak "It started when I was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer in March of 2001. The doctors told me that I had months to live and I started getting my affairs in order when Madam Gao came to visit me early in April 2001, she said that she had access to a medicine that would greatly slow the cancer's progress and would give me access to it in exchange for my using Rand Enterprises resources to benefit her.

"My first task was to have our pharmaceutical division build a state of the art laboratory in the Chinese hinterlands. Once that was done it was to use our logistics division to move drugs around the United States. Then it was to provide the scientists needed for that lab of hers to develop a new variant of synthetic Heroin. Wendall caught on then, he noticed when I pulled some of the scientists off on our cancer research and shipped them off to a small lab in China."

He paused and sighed, Natasha just sitting there calmly and listening.

"I suspected that he knew and so I had Madam Gao poison the pilot and copilot on his plane when he left to investigate the lab himself.

With him, Heather, and Danny all presumed dead I ended up with the proxy for all his stock and effectively total control of Rand Enterprises. That's when Gao started having me infiltrate the company with her own people and begin using its resources to more directly benefit her operations. Over time, however, the drug was becoming less and less effective. I had days to live when she offered to bring me back from the dead in exchange for fully committing to her cause and obeying whatever orders she gave."

His story continued for a while longer and then Natasha started questioning him in depth, teasing every detail out of his skull.

Eventually, it was over and Ward Meachum had entered his SUV for the ride to the apartment he would be staying in as his house was swept and secured. Within three rings he answered the phone.

"Hello Ward, good work today. I'm sure that you have many questions so ask away, but do open the box sitting next to you and hold it up to your eyes as you do." I said.

He glanced at the box and set the phone in his l.a.p before opening it, seeing the retinal scanners he pressed it into his face. Moments later I had the needed scans and sent them off to Bruce.

"Why did you need a retinal scan from me? Who are you? Why are you doing all of this? Where is my father?" he questioned, clearly still rattled from everything that had occurred today.

"You will find out tomorrow, the Kingpin of New York, because the Hand disrespected me, and sitting in a nice suite of rooms in one of my facilities." I answered one after the other.

He seemed incredulous as he said "All of this because the Hand disrespected you? You committed the worst terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11 because the Hand disrespected you?"

"I don't handle disrespect well and I'm sure that Homeland Security will have a merry time digging into Madam Gao's businesses as they try and figure out why that particular building was the target. Especially when I make sure they find the proper trail." I explained.

"How did you get the Ten Rings to attack a building for you?" Ward questioned, seemingly shocked that anyone had the influence to get those notorious terrorists to do their dirty work.

"I wouldn't trust those goat f.u.c.kers to find p.u.s.s.y in a whorehouse, much less carry out a precision operation inside New York City. I extracted your father with my own people, faked up that claim of credit, and the rest is history. It's not like the Ten Rings are going to not accept credit for a major terrorist attack on US soil, and when Homeland finds the evidence I've ensured they will find showing that Madame Gao was selling them arms and smuggling their people into the US I'm sure they will be less than thrilled with her." I explained.

Ward visible got himself back under control before saying "Why are you telling me this?"

"So that you more fully understand the extent of my power and reach Mr. Meachum. You already grasped my ruthlessness, now I want you to fully internalize the fact that I am always going to be ten steps ahead of you and have the influence and reach to stop you from acting against me either openly or in secret. This would be the stick, as it were." I answered.

"And the carrot?" he questioned, slight hope tinging his tone.

"Money, power, protection. What else Mr. Meachum? But we can continue this later, I'm sure your father would like to speak with you and you are only minutes away from your apartment." I answered, putting on his father before he could respond.