I entered the board room and took a seat at the head of the board table. I noticed a few new faces, and a few that had always been there were no longer there. I asked around for introductions and found that some of the directors of certain departments had been arrested, and their second, or sometimes third, had been forced to take their place.
The part of the board that was made up of major shareholders all had looks of trepidation on their faces since, for the first time, they no longer had the majority.
I leaned back in my seat and said, “First order of business, I would like to know why we fired twelve hundred employees while I was undergoing medical treatment.”
There was silence as the director of HR, Ted Pressoctt, spoke up and said, “I liquidated their contracts since we are currently undergoing financial stress.”
I picked up a piece of paper from a manilla folder that Pepper had left at my spot and said, “The people you fired make less than 1% of non-management salaries.” I then looked them in the eye as they tried to start spouting excuses.
Before they could, I said, “That was not within your purview to do. On top of that, the DOL is now breathing down our necks, ready to throw several lawsuits at us. What were you thinking? Our reputation as a company is already under fire, and you decide to make us look worse by firing all of our hard-to-scout interns and other unskilled workers. Do you know how hard it is to find a good cleaner with level 5 security clearance?”
I then raised my voice and, using my best drill sergeant impression ever, yelled, “You're fired. Get out.”
“B-but, I only...” they tried to say while spluttering, so thinking they hadn’t heard me, I raised my voice one more level while keeping a neutral aggression level in it. “You can simply leave the building peacefully, or we can have you removed.” He slumped his shoulders and walked out of the room with a half-dejected, half-offended look on his face.
I then looked at the rest of the board and said, “Anyone disagree with that action? I won’t hold it against you; I simply want your opinion.”
There was silence as the entire board looked on in shock for a few seconds, since I had never acted like that before. I had been leaning back the whole time and simply smirked slightly and found it amusing.
“I never liked the bastard. In fact, I'm glad they are all gone.” I raised my eyebrow and said, “Melissa, why would you say that?”
Mellissa Adams had been the director of research and development since the mid-nineties, after she left Darpa. She had long greying hair tied up into a bun, wore a black suit, and wore make-up, which took at least a decade off of her mid-sixties face. She hurrumped and then said, “Since your father died, they have taken every opportunity to undermine you and Howard's legacy. I am glad you finally grew a backbone, even if it took what you went through.”
I was beginning to understand why my father liked her so much. I shook my head as I noticed several of the members had visibly relaxed. I then had a projector brought in and stood up as I prepared to give one of the most tedious PowerPoint presentations in history.
It took about four hours to work through, and even Pepper had said it was overdone when I got her to proofread it a few days earlier. I would like to thank Jarvis later.
If I had to condense it, then it could be explained like this:
First, all weapons manufacturing is being permanently suspended. Stark Industries had never been founded by my father to improve the world or make weapons; it's just that as he got older, he found making weapons the most lucrative.
In order to make this as smooth as possible, All factory employees were given the option of being moved to other projects or their contracts being sold to different arms companies like Hammer, Oscorp, Lockheed, or Boeing.
Our more adaptive factories are going to be put on other projects, while most of our specialised manufacturing lines are to be put up for sale, as are the contracts that could only be fulfilled with them.
Second, our weapons research will continue, and we will continue to produce licenses for other companies as well as provide expertise in certain fields as advisors. This was mainly so the government didn’t just claim eminent domain over patents.
Third, Stark Industries will be renamed Stark Corporation. With its physical assets being divided into several new subsidiaries, namely,
Stark Pharmaceuticals (S.P.)
Stark Industries and Manufacturing (S.I.M.)
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Stark Media (S.M.)
Stark Defence Technologies (S.D.T.)
Stark Orbital (S.O.)
Stark Security (S.S.)
Stark Pharmaceutical’s aim was to research medical technologies as well as work with S.I.M. to produce cheaper versions of medicines like penicillin and insulin that were then publicly available in the US. Later on, it will also be used to research more futuristic medical tools, like robotic prostheses.
Stark Industries and Manufacturing’s AIM is to basically specialise in taking the technologies other subsidiaries create and making them as efficient and cheap as possible while keeping quality high. This is going to eventually become our biggest branch through a mix of higher automation and mass expansion of capacity and flexibility in production lines.
Stark Media’s aim was to manage several companies I had bought, like LucasFilm, Tumblr, Epic Games, and DC Comics. That, however, was going to be the smallest thing the company managed. I intended to start making smartphones and other consumer products to compete with Apple and Samsung soon, and that was going to be our biggest money maker for the foreseeable future. Apple had released their first iPhone a year ago and had already sold over two million at $399. Samsung was working on its own and would release one next year. We also intend to compete with the gaming and film industries in the future as well.
Stark Defence Technologies’s aim was to continue to use our large number of defence researchers to continue their work while also allowing us to bring in more money without the risk of actually making weapons.
Stark Orbital’s aim was to bring our satellite launching ability in-house since we stopped in the 90s and, in the future, compete with companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX. Though I had no doubt that, with our history of making ballistic missiles and having launched satellites in the 1960s, we had no doubt we could dominate the private space industry,.
Stark Security, on the other hand, was intended to act as a physical and cyber defence for all of our other subsidiaries. Our main cyber defence was going to be on Friday, and I intended to hire soldiers from the US and NATO countries to act as physical security. We intended to primarily target physically disabled veterans, and my hidden motive was to pinch all of Killian's minions before he got Extremis working.
As for how we would do this as efficiently as possible, I was twofold. First, I would use my knowledge to pinch researchers from around the world like Helen Cho and into S.P., and when I got Jarvis to anonymously leak dirt we had on Hammer, AIM, Life Institute, and other companies, we would pinch all their good scientists. I had even looked into getting Otto Octavius and Reed Richards, but both were reluctant to join.
And the second was to make the company as efficient as possible by replacing most of the middle management with Friday and getting her to make sure each employee was at their peak at all times. Another one of her goals was to make sure that the directors of each subsidiary or department knew everything they needed to know while cutting out the junk so they could make the best decisions with the least amount of time lost.
As for my own plans, which I didn't tell the board, well, they were a bit more ambitious. I intended to launch a system similar to Starlink but on a larger scale and provide world-wide cell service and internet cheaply.
I also intended to bring the world's greatest minds together and perfect technologies to the point where we solved world hunger and most diseases using inspiration from the regeneration cradle, Extremis, and Baymax.
After that, it was also my plan to create deep-dive VR technology like seen in Sword Art Online. Using it, I intended to make games like Fortnite and Minecraft (which I was going to make sure I had before Microsoft got their grubby little mitts on them). while also making original games that will enthral the masses.
By about 2012, when the invasion of New York happens, I intend to have enough of a technological advantage to use my identity as Ironman to directly confront Hydra with the help of the other Avengers and begin actually changing the world for the better. Until then, I would have to be vigilant and keep these technologies away from Hydra because I knew they would stop something that would make the world better since it would slow down their own world-domination plans.
Some may ask why I had the intention of taking over the world in the long run, but it was simple. If I didn't, then someone eventually would. And it wasn’t like I intended to actually rule the world. My goal was to uplift the entirety of humanity onto a level playing field at the post-scarcity level.
After the board meeting, I headed home and decided to start doing some research on vibranium.
Despite contrary opinion, vibranium in and of itself was extremely brittle. In fact, I could snap the glowing blue ore with my bare hands.
Cap’s shield was actually made of an alloy called proto-adamantium. It was about 40% vibranium and was what happened after T’challa’s grandfather gave my father about ten kilogrammes of vibranium. He had a bit left and used it to make a shield.
Actual Adamantium was just an alloy made of hafnium, tantalum, inconel, and carbon. The alloy was discovered in the sixties after trying to recreate proto-adamantium without vibranium, and once all the ingredients have been combined and treated correctly, they will set as a metal that won’t melt unless it experiences sustained temperatures of around 8000 degrees Celsius and has a tensile and compressive strength higher than gold-titanium. The only downside was that it took forever to set, and once set, it could not be reforged unless you used it as a star or something, and it was incredibly expensive.
Not as expensive as vibranium, but still.
I cut off a tiny piece of the vibranium using the mining tool and put it under my electric microscope. It was pretty hazy, and it took me a while to adjust the microscope adequately. Once I did, however, I was shocked. “Jarvis, are you seeing this?”
“Yes, and I am unable to fully calculate what it is I am seeing.” He replied that whatever vibranium was, it was not an element. Where an Atom was made of Protons and Neutrons. This was made of something else; it was like where the nucleus should be—just a mass of swirling purple energy. I sighed, knowing I would have to experiment with it to even begin to unlock its potential.
“Jarvis, start running calculations for vibranium alloys along with ways of forging them, using my father’s research as a base.” I then headed up to the living room to make dinner for my friends. I had invited all three of them over since tonight was the night I told them everything.