Roughly a week had passed since I met with Dwayne and obtained the rights to create a movie or television show based off of the characters in the Dakotaverse. In this span of time a few things occurred. The biggest one was that I obtained the permits I needed to build and run a film company. I also managed to snag myself a cell phone from T-Mobile. It was a black flip phone called Nokia, which looked ancient in my eyes. This relic did not have internet, and was really only used to call or text others. The worst part was that there were a set number of minutes I could use a month.

I was beginning to dislike being in 2004, but this was only a minor issue. I also purchased a fax machine and a computer. The computer was a big fat machine that needed to be connected to my phone line at my house in order to connect itself to the internet. Meaning I could not talk on my home phone while using my computer. This was not that big of an issue, the problem I had was the loading time of every single thing. I've never experienced a computer run so slow before. Worst of all, YouTube was not invented yet!

After that, I was kind of depressed for a while but ended up getting over it. Instead I placed my focus on everything I needed to do. Which ended up being me creating an email with AOL, something I've never heard of. Giving my new number and email to Sandra as well as Dwayne.

The two of them reached out to me a few times but that was all. I was still waiting on Sandra's contact to get with me about finding a lot of sale, but considering how long it has been I was about to search for someone else to do it. Most of my time was spent reading all the issues of the Dakotaverse to get a general idea of how any plots could go. Sadly I realized soon that there was a flaw in that universe. There was not a huge threat that could really bring everyone together. Hardware had a nice story but his main focus was on trying to take down a criminal organization that he realized he worked for after talking with his boss. The number of enemies he had were many, but he rarely branched out from there. Static had the most diverse villains so there was hardly anything to be said about him. Icon I realized was powerful, extremely so too. So much so that there was rarely a credible threat that could stop him.

The other comics each had some small problems too, but his was the most major. After reading further into the comic I came across these problems. I was having trouble trying to figure out a plan for them but came to the understanding it would be best to talk to Dwayne about it.

Which was something I was about to do when my cell phone rang. It was a number I did not recognize so I was hesitant to answer. Still, I did as there were only a few people with my number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Alex Scott?"

"This is he, who is speaking?"

"Ah yes, I'm Matthew Wright. I got your number from Sandra, she said you were looking for an agent to help you acquire some property. Is that true?"

"That's true."

"OK good. She spoke well of you and claimed that you were fine with any price associated with the property. So I did my own search and found a plethora of places for sale. When will you be available to look at them?"

"I can meet you right now, or is it a bad time?"

Matthew thought it over for a second. "I can meet now, you live in the Detroit area yes? It'll take me an hour to get there but is there any place you want to meet?"

"There's a Coney Island on the outskirts of the downtown area. It's next to the…"

I went into detail explaining the location as best I could. Matthew listened and said he would find it once he arrived.

With the meeting set, I washed up and changed clothes. From there I took my time before I departed to the Coney Island.

When I arrived I noticed a few cars there along with a line of people outside the restaurant. This place was fairly popular with a lot of people. That could be attributed to their food that was to die for.

A few minutes after I pulled in and parked, a small Volkswagen pulled into the lot. I could tell it has seen its days but it was still running like a champ. I noticed the look of uncomfort on the man's face inside once he pulled in and he even hesitated to get out of the vehicle.

He was a white man in an area filled with black people. With the news constantly informing everyone of the violence occurring on the streets and the rise of street gangs anyone would be afraid. No one was paying him any particular mind as they glanced his way once then looked away.

After he got out of the car I took notice of his outfit. It was very casual and he seemed to be eating something before arriving because I spotted a stain on his shirt. He must have tried to get rid of it but did not manage to do so.

Seeing how out of it he was after stepping out of his vehicle I quickly approached him. It was easy to see that he was out of place here, so I knew this was the man I was waiting on.

"Matthew?" I asked just in case.

He snapped his head in my direction, looked a hit surprised then nodded.

"Yes. Mr. Scott I presume?"

I laughed at the slight confusion on his face. Clearly he was expecting someone else at least look wise.

"Yes, that's me. My voice doesn't match my appearance huh?"

"No, it does not. One second, I have to grab the list of properties from my car."

Matthew told me before he opened his car door. At least he tried to but the door was stuck. He tangled with it for a while before it finally opened up.

It only took him a moment to reach in and pull out a stack of papers. When I say stack, I really meant it. There were at least fifty different pieces of paper in his hand after he left the car.

"Are we going inside or are we staying out here?" He asked me as he held the papers.

"Inside. I was not expecting so many. At most ten."

Matthew smiled.

"Well, the good thing about Michigan is there are a lot of places for sale. We are big on the automotive industry but that's about it. All the major companies are are or either have emerged from the west coast, specifically California."

"That means I'll be able to find a great place."

"More than that, you'll find that I've found places that are set to be heavily invested in, in the near future. Meaning if you build there, then you'll also have a bustling neighborhood. I expect the prices of land to go up here in the future so if you want to get them now, then it's best to hurry."

I opened the door for him and we entered the restaurant. He found us a seat close to the entrance which was fine by me. We did not order anything, not even something to drink. Instead we got right down to business.

"Alright, so Sandra informed me that you wanted some place in the Detroit area. I did find you what you wanted, but I'm not sure if they would be the best for what you're trying to do. Take a look."

Matthew passed me four sheets of paper, each one with open land on them. There were some smaller pictures at the bottom of the paper showing the surroundings and he was right. This land was large, but it was in a residential area.

"There is also the option to secure these eight places. It's in the heart of Detroit and a prime place to build, but there are already buildings there. I'm not sure if the owners are willing to sell, bur if they are you can grab these and rebuild on the land. This is not the ideal option, but it is an option."

Matthew told me as he quickly passed me more pieces of paper to look over. I did and noticed that I've seen some of these places before as I ventured through the city. They were surrounded by expensive homes, hotels, high-end restaurants and have many stores you could walk to. The foot traffic was high in the area as well.

I took note of this and set it to the side.

"You like it?"

"Yes, it is very promising. My only issue is that there are already buildings there. Anyways, whats next?"

"Honestly, those were the best places in the Detroit area. All the rest of these places I'm going to show you are outside of this region. I was not sure if you'd like them since you wanted something here instead. The first two are located in Madison Heights."

Matthew slid me another set of papers to look over.

"The first one is close to the Ethan Library and Madison Park. There also happens to be a community College in the area so there are a lot of college kids roaming around. So far it's a decent spot, but…"

Matthew started to go into the details about what sort of projects were set to occur in that location. How invested people were invested in building up that community.

He showed me more places just like that and I had to say, many of them caught my eye.

"Now, this last one is not so great. The price is cheap and the land is the largest out of them all. However, I'll be honest with you there is a lack of prospects here. There's no set plan for anyone to build there and I don't see any big companies emerging from the area. Due to this, you can grab this land with no problem. The downside is, there is very little reason for people to go there so I'm not sure if this is even worth looking at."

Matthew said as he passed me the last paper he had. I checked it out. When he said it was large, he was not kidding. It was over 300 acres, a vast difference compared to the ones he showed me before.

"The value of this place is the cheapest being a little over 110,000 dollars for it all. Great for whatever you are wanting to build there, but the neighboring areas are fairly bad. There's nothing decent in the city either. Now that I'm thinking about it, this wouldn't suit you would it?"

I smiled. This land was perfect, truly. It was stupidly large, more than enough for me to build a top-notch stuido. I could create an entire campus having places for my staff to live so they could come to work with ease. I could build a hotel for visitors, maybe even a small theme-park for the kids. My vision of this place was endless and when I saw the city it was located in, I decided I would buy it.

"I want this place. Can we go look at it?"

Matthew was stunned when he heard what I said.