Chapter Text
The news was fairly normal. Tragedy here, natural disaster there, stocks were down- wait. Vlad narrowed his eyes at the newspaper in his hands, then confirmed it on the computer. Stocks fluctuated constantly, but a 3-point drop in one weekend?
He pressed a button on his landline. "Leslie? Can you get me the Finance and PR departments on the line, please?"
Best Billionaire. Seriously? "Yes sir, it's a US-based contest. Wayne Enterprises is in the lead, followed by Stark Industries, Dalv Co., and LexCorp."
"And what did Wayne and Stark do to get ahead?" He asked.
"Benefits, sir. Wayne lowered employee costs and doubled benefits, while SI kept the same packages but decreased their waiting period."
"Hmm. Get with Benefits, both of you. By Wednesday, I want an in-depth cost analysis of waving the waiting period until 30 days after training," the PR person choked on something, "and let's see what we can do for increasing benefits."
"Yes sir."
"With all due respect Mr. Masters, why even consider it? That's a good chunk of the bottom line."
He tapped the newspaper idly for a moment. "Our stocks have dropped, not because they've innovated new products or changed prices, but because they look like they care. If we don't get ahead of this now, it'll look like we're playing catch-up, and could cause further losses. Best play along, for now, we can afford it."
"Understood."
He made the announcement Thursday morning, effective immediately. Next day, stocks were normal. Next week, up by 5 points.
All was back to normal.
-
He got the call at 3 AM, and vowed to murder someone if it weren't serious. "Yes?"
"Stocks are down 25 points, people are talking about selling shares," his PR person snapped.
Vlad was entirely awake now. "What happened?"
"SI. All employees are now making a living wage, and employees making over that have been given $2/hr raises. Wayne matched them."
"Peanut brittle. And LexCorp?"
"Nothing yet, but they've been going down since the benefits change."
"Match them. Match them, and double tuition reimbursement. How popular is the daycare reimbursement?"
"Nobody's mentioned it, but both companies have it."
"50% reimbursement. Make the announcement, make it big, rent out ad space on every social media site you can, get billboards, whatever you have to do. Don't worry about the budget for this."
"Yes sir."
It was 4:30 when he walked into the building. "Where are we?" He called to the team in the conference room.
"10 points shy of normal, most aren't awake yet."
"Shareholders?"
"They've asked for a meeting next month, might push it up depending on how this goes."
"Good. Keep me posted. This works out, you're all looking at a very nice year-end bonus."
"Will do!"
A few hours later, stocks had returned to normal. He gave himself a little pay cut to make sure the shareholders got their pound of flesh, irritated though he knew he'd never notice the sting.
By that evening, stocks were increasing again, and the expo next week would showcase several dozen new clean energy vehicle designs.
-
As predicted, stocks went through the roof; finally, some success! Daniel, the little rat, didn't agree. "So, heard you're falling behind! Wayne and SI a bit too big for you?"
He barely kept himself from firing an ectoblast. They were in human forms, in a rare (somewhat) peaceable moment. A moment that he intended to pursue with lovely Maddie- before Jack lumbered back in.
"Vladdie! Those are some cool cars, man!"
"Thank you, Jack. Tell me, Maddie, how-"
He was interrupted once again, this time by Maddie knocking a glass of very hot coffee on his lap. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"
"It's fine," he said with gritted teeth.
"You know, Vladdie," Danny said once they headed to the GAV. Ancients, he hated that nickname! Curse Jack for letting it slip near impressionable children. "I know a certain lady who'd be very impressed if you managed to help with the environment."
Oh. Oh, this was a trap, he knew it! But... Maddie...
Ah hell, he needed to one-up Wayne and SI somehow.
"I'll take it into consideration."
-
"Today, on the heels of Dalv Co, Wayne Enterprises, and SI," ha! He was first! "LexCorp finally decided to get in the game and offers 50% tuition reimbursement. Do you think that puts Luthor in the running for Best Billionaire, Tom?"
"Thanks, Aaliyah! Most people are thinking it's ridiculous, a tactic to bump stocks and approval ratings," Vlad snorted. As if they weren't all doing that. "But SI is upping the stakes! In addition to the September Foundation, Tony Stark has vowed 2% of profits will go to 3rd world countries."
He raised an eyebrow. Interesting. Vlad picked up the phone. "Get me Sasha in Accounting and Red in Payroll."
"How would we fare if we matched Stark's donations, thrice over? 5% for the environment, and- what's a charity you like? Sure, 1% to that. Sasha, you can go. Please remember the department meeting Tuesday. We're doing something new."
-
Aaliyah was speaking on the news again. "DalvCo stocks are at a record high this week! Many are flocking to the conglomerate as they are choosing to benefit US environmental and health concerns. SI critics argue that 2% abroad doesn't match 6% in the states. That's 5% to environmental concerns, 1% is going to Flint, Michigan, and 1% to homeless shelters across the US."
He toasted the hijabi-wearing woman on the screen. "Have a lovely day, Ms. Aaliyah. You've certainly made mine."
Before he could turn off the TV, the other anchor spoke. "That's not all, Aaliyah! Wayne Enterprises has gotten permission from the FDA to synthesize insulin! They'll be selling for $20 per bottle, making it possible for the quality of life to increase for millions, at home and abroad."
"You're right, Tom!" Aaliyah's bubbly voice rang out, "Insulin can cost Americans anywhere from $800-2500 per month due to high markups. By selling with such a small profit margin, they are massively undercutting Big Pharma."
"Traitor," he mumbled. "What to do about this?"
-
"What are we doing about this?" Red demanded, striding into his office. "We have dozens of patents for medical technologies, but we're locked into contracts."
"What about the artificial organs?" He asked. He planned on cloning Maddie, and started with small things. Skin grafts. Organs. Over the past 10 years, they've been highly successful.
"We can't exactly sell those outside of a hospital."
He nodded, then froze. "Red, what if we didn't? We could announce our prices, make the people drive it down."
"Nobody's going to haggle on an organ," they said, but he could hear the uncertainty.
"On a heart, a pancreas, a lung? Of course not! But on a kidney, liver, skin grafts? There's some time. Besides, combine it with the price listings for the dialysis machines and ventilators, and you'll have a country so angry at the healthcare and insurance industries, they won't care about anything sketchy we do for years."
They nodded, albeit nervously. "Sure."
-
"Thank you for agreeing to join us on air, Mr. Masters."
"Please, just call me Vlad. It's a pleasure to be here."
Sam hadn't stopped cackling since the price lists went out, and Facebook and Twitter went insane. Frankly, Danny was worried for her. Tucker just rolled his eyes and turned the TV up. "Take down the bourgeoisie!"
"Doesn't that mean taking down Vlad?" Jazz asked, sitting down on the floor of Sam's bedroom.
"Are you complaining?"
"No, but I like him a lot more all the way in New York."
"Fair."
"So Vlad," Harriet asked- a favor for something in Wisconsin. He wasn't clear, she didn't press. As long as he didn't go crazy like the Fentons, she had the interview that would bring her back to the big leagues. "Tell me, what inspired you to release those prices?"
"The news, actually. Everyone seemed so surprised by the markup on insulin. I suppose if you spend enough time in an industry, you become desensitized."
"Did you know it would cause rioting?"
Vlad raised an eyebrow- careful, it said- and replied smoothly, "I wasn't surprised when it did. As anyone from the affected companies can tell you, I've been trying to lower prices for years. I have a profit margin that covers the organ growing, transport, and faulty organs, but even if they only charged 10% above that, we're talking thousands of dollars per organ they'd be losing."
"Are these FDA approved?"
"Yes. In fact, we started producing them a decade ago, and they're far safer than an organ donated by someone else."
"And how does that work?" She asked, and he nodded, pleased to be back in safer topics.
"For one, the rejection risk is lowered from upwards of 60% down to just 3%, 1% with the anti-rejection medicines required for all traditional transplants, because they're made with the owner's DNA. These medications, by the way, frequently cause cancer or other unintended harm. For another, a traditional transplant requires two people to be cut open; a donor who may or may not be dead, and the one receiving the organ. That confers certain risks of..."
-
"Are you seeing this?" Pepper demanded, turning up the TV.
"What? I'm working on-"
"Sir, you may want to see this," JARVIS insisted.
Tony popped a blueberry in his mouth and looked up. "Wait, he's been cloning people?!"
"That's what you're focused on? Tony, Wayne Enterprises releases dirt cheap insulin, DalvCo and Vlad Masters are overthrowing the US healthcare system, and we're still getting flack for donating abroad instead of locally!"
"We can't do much about that. Maybe release a new phone?"
"A new phone?! They are improving or saving lives out there! A new phone will have us laughed out into bankruptcy. What about the hearing aids you made for Clint, that new screen reader for Daredevil, or the prosthetic arms, or the braces- any of that?"
"They're not perfect," he argued.
She stared at him and sighed. "If I could turn back time, I'd beat your father to death." Pepper inhaled sharply, then continued in a milder tone. "The hearing impaired person who hears for the first time in years will not care if it isn't perfect. The visually impaired person who has a screen reader miles ahead of the market won't care if the battery needs to be replaced once every 2 years instead of 5. And I promise you, when somebody bed-bound gets braces or a chair that lets them move around of their own free will, they will not care if it requires additional padding."
"But it's not-"
"Quality of Life now? Or perfection when it's too late?"
"Sir, if I may suggest- Ms. Potts is correct. You may also benefit from a larger testing pool."
"I mean, if you think they won't mind the glitches, sure. Go for it."
"Good."
-
"Mobility aids?!" He snapped.
Danny yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Dude, it's 4 am here."
The fruitloop didn't care. "First insulin, now mobility aids- mark my words, Daniel Fenton, I will win!"
Daniel didn't reply.
"Daniel?"
The sounds of snoring reached his ears. "Little wretch," he snapped half-heartedly and hung up.