ushernet Chapter 799 On How the Roxenstark War Ended
Chapter 799 On How the Roxenstark War Ended
Chapter 799 On How the Roxon-Stark War Ended
The Roxon-Stark Wars were perhaps the most impactful event Peter had ever experienced on the world stage. Unlike battles between superheroes and villains, this was a pure business war, ranging from price wars to underhanded tactics, and its scope extended beyond the entire United States.
The idea of using Mephisto to cause all the Arc Reactors to malfunction in order to damage Stark Industries' stock price is something Peter could never have imagined in his eight lifetimes.
It's too ridiculous.
"I really didn't expect a young person like you to have started paying attention to stock prices. That's good. Young people should learn about investing too."
Today, Tony took Peter to visit the Avengers base in New Jersey. This place is so large it's measured in hectares, not acres. Just looking at the five Kun fighter jets, the area it occupies is truly outrageous.
Tony, still looking quite relaxed, said, "It's nothing. Stark Industries isn't going to go bankrupt anyway, and housing prices in the New Jersey suburbs aren't that expensive—much cheaper than in New York. Oh, by the way, you know, once I took a taxi in New York and told the driver I wanted to go to New Jersey, and he got so angry he kicked me out of the car and refused to come here, even though it's not far from here."
Peter looked at Stark in disbelief: "You know how to take a taxi, Mr. Stark?"
"...Hmm, the captain should tell this joke; his financial situation makes it more convincing."
Tony smiled at Peter as he spoke, "Anyway, I'm glad you're starting to take investing seriously."
"No, I'm concerned simply because so many people are facing financial difficulties because of this. You wouldn't believe how crowded Hell's Kitchen's affordable housing is." Peter seemed to have discovered a second key point: "Wait a minute... do you manage your finances?"
"No, never. What's wrong?"
As Peter remained silent, the Kun fighter jet gradually landed on the tarmac. Because this advanced aircraft used vertical takeoff and landing, it conveniently didn't require a large area for a runway. Once the plane had come to a complete stop, Tony led Peter off the plane and began explaining the surroundings to him.
"This includes all the equipment we need, and even the parts we don't need. Behind here is the entire accommodation area. I've arranged a room for every Avenger, whether they're currently here or will join in the future. Each person has a 150-square-meter duplex apartment, I mean, just one floor. Honestly, if it weren't for saving space, I would have made it even bigger."
Peter looked around the Avengers base, and after confirming the building heights of the accommodation area, he looked at Tony with confusion: "There isn't a single building here that's more than three stories high."
"Of course, we're all neighbors, and there's no one above anyone's head. What a thoughtful design."
So what exactly are you saving in terms of area?
Faced with Peter's confusion, Tony thoughtfully offered an explanation: "Floor area ratio (FAR) is a strict requirement of the federal government. Simply put, it's the building area that can be accommodated within a certain area. For example, if it's 10,000 square meters and your building area is 5000 square meters, then the FAR is 0.5. But if you build a multi-story building, bringing the usable building area to 20,000 square meters, then it reaches 2."
"Each block, even each state, has housing volume requirements. The housing volume for each block is fixed, which is why there are so many 'chopstick buildings' in New York. The volume ratio for the Avengers Tower area is required to be below 0.6. I don't have that much volume ratio for people to build on. I have to reserve enough green space to ensure that the volume ratio meets the requirements."
Peter, who had been given strange knowledge, scratched his head. He had never thought of such an absurd situation. The Avengers base actually had a restriction that the building's usable area (not the land area) could not exceed 40% of the land area. No wonder the landscaping here was so good.
"And New York too..."
"Of course, otherwise why do you think New York has so many skyscrapers with such small land areas, and why aren't so many old, low-rise neighborhoods demolished to build high-rise apartments? So that the poor have a place to live? We have to ensure the floor area ratio."
Tony shrugged as he spoke.
"Now you know what kind of country we live in, right? There are many things that nobody cares about, and other things that anyone can do but you're not allowed to do. It's really troublesome. Of course, there are also many more things that are perfectly possible to do but cause trouble if you do them."
As Tony led Peter to the room prepared for him, he began to recount the events of the Roxon-Stark War: "Actually, I could have easily crushed Roxon Energy with just a little effort, but I didn't. After all, that would have led to more bankruptcies and unemployment, and caused other problems, so I gave up."
For Tony Stark, defeating Roxson Energy would be very simple. He had a surefire way to deal with Roxson: simply make the patents for the old palladium arc reactor technology public, allowing the whole world to use the old arc reactor, and Roxson would completely lose its advantage in energy generation.
When the whole world has cold fusion, or even micro-cold fusion technology, who will care about Roxon's life or death? You have to understand that, to this day, fuel-fired power generation is still the largest source of petroleum products.
By then, Roxon will be nothing but a dead dog.
Unfortunately, although Tony knew he could do it, he still didn't intend to. The immediate consequence of announcing the arc reactor technology would most likely not be an industrial or energy revolution, but rather an arms race.
Tony Stark's consistent philosophy is that weapons can't solve problems, they can only create them. He certainly knows that releasing them will help human technology in the long run, and he has a more advanced Arc Reactor that can maintain a technological advantage.
However, the thought of his technology being used in weapons makes him uncomfortable; this is a psychological problem he has had ever had since he fled Afghanistan.
"The biggest problem now is... nobody believes me anymore, so all we need is a genius who can provide Stark Industries with the next blockbuster tech product."
Peter thought about what Uncle Ben had said about buying a car, and about the things he had in his hands.
"I can try to apply Otto's neurosensing technology to the field of prosthetics, but I can't guarantee success. After all, I'm not an expert in this area, and Otto Octavia's mechanical claw itself was, well... an accident."
(End of this chapter)