Well, That Was Unexpected (Or Was It?)
*Friday Morning: 8 am*
I strolled into my office, clutching my second coffee of the morning. Strictly speaking, it was a little early in the day to be hitting the caffeine like this, but it’s been a long week of dealing with school and stupid people so I’m gonna cut myself some slack. I’ll stick to water the rest of the weekend to compensate. I can’t wait for Harley to get back tonight so we can just snuggle up on the couch and watch useless TV. Unfortunately, he had some sort of seminar to go to after classes so it’s going to be much later than usual when he gets back to the tower. On the plus side, I can probably get in a patrol before he gets back which will free up tomorrow night for our date. Silver linings and all that.
I sat at my desk and looked over the folders stacked neatly in the center by my assistant, Jaycee. She always does such a great job of prepping me for my day. I’m so glad Pepper insisted Harls and I needed assistants since we were in-training to run the company. Technically speaking, Ned and MJ also are in-training, but they stayed closer to home and don’t have as much on their plates (though Ned still does the whole Man-In-The-Chair thing every once in a while) so they share an assistant. I opened the first folder and got down to business. I only have about an hour before I need to be at a board of directors meeting and I need to know everything in these folders before then.
*1 hour later*
I opened the door to the meeting room just as the clock ticked over to 9 am. The room was already filled with the board of directors and Jaycee was already set up in the corner with Harley’s assistant Micheal to take notes for later. Gods bless those two. They definitely deserve a raise; I’ll talk to Mom about that when she gets back. Maybe I can ask Thor for that blessing as well, you never know what he’ll do when he’s in a good mood.
I sat down at the head of the table and glanced around at all of the older men situated around the oval. Harley and I have been running these meetings off and on for the better part of five years now, but I know there are some that still have a problem with how young we are. It’s easy to tell which ones because they always argue against anything Harley or I propose. We actually have a running bet on just how ridiculous of a response we can get out of these old farts when we introduce a new idea. I get the privilege of introducing our newest project today, and I’m hoping I can get one of them to actually choke a little on his coffee. So far, the best we’ve able to do is a light chuckling and a mild harumph from two of the board members. Since today’s idea is particularly progressive, I’m hoping we can get the desired results. Since Harley is probably watching from his phone to see if it happens, I look up and wink at the nearest camera before clearing my throat to get everyone’s attention.
“Hello, everyone. Thanks for joining us for the monthly board of directors meeting. Harley is in class today and Pepper and Tony are heading out to one of the other locations to deal with a crisis so I’m going to run today’s meeting. Ready to get started?”
Some mild grunting and various sounds of assent echoed around the room so I stood and began my presentation. Today’s project was all about a device that can help scrub groundwater of pathogens and other dangerous substances passively and without much maintenance. It would be life-changing for those countries who struggle to provide clean water to their citizens. After fifteen minutes, I was winding down and headed into the Q & A portion of my presentation. Internally, I was braced for some of the stupid comments the board might come up with, though none of that was visible on my face. I sat back down in my chair and gestured for the questions to begin.
“Mr. Parker. You say that your idea will better the world, but what will it do for our bottom line?” Mr. Sanders asked, as usual. That man only cares about money; lives, eats, sleeps, and breathes it. I’d feel bad for his wife and kids, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t actually see them that much, which sounds bad but with the personality of a rotten grape left in the sun, he’s best in small doses lest he influence the next generation into his level of sourness.
“Mr. Sanders, this water scrubber will do both. Because of it’s usefulness to counter the effects of the global water shortage and it’s lower production costs, most countries are going to be tripping over themselves to purchase our product. Plus, those companies that are actively paying reparations for polluting water supplies can choose to fix it instead.” The grin on his face and a couple of the other members was truly worrisome, so of course I had to add, “But in the spirit of global unity and prosperity, we will of course be offering this product to all countries below the poverty line for free.” There it is! The shouts, literal shouts, of outrage were too loud in the enclosed space of the meeting room and it took a lot of willpower not to flinch from the noise. Can’t have these asshole thinking I’m actually afraid of what they have to say, after all.
Mr. Sanders actually stood up from the other end of the table and leaned forward in what he must of thought was a threatening manner to say, “That will not be happening, Parker. You’ve gone too far this time. We will not stand for this! If you can’t make smart choices for this company then you can just get out!” I see he dropped the mister when he made his stand, add in lack of manners to his list of faults, then. I glanced around at the other members to see who agreed with him. Unfortunately, it was too many to be comfortable.
I raised one eyebrow at him and calmly stated, “Just so everything is perfectly clear, you’ve decided that I can’t be trusted to make decisions that are in the best interest of this company so you’re ‘over-throwing’ me, correct?”
He glanced around for support before replying, “Yes. You and Harley can’t be trusted to make decisions, you’re just children after all.” That last bit was said in almost a placating tone, as if he thought our age was the only problem here. So now he’s not only after me, but Harley as well. And he’s made it to a first name basis, almost like he thinks he’s in charge of us or something. It took everything I had not to roll my eyes at his antics. My eyes darted behind them to our assistants who were looking a little red in the face. I frowned, trying to decide why they were so upset before realizing that they were shaking slightly and trying not to look at each other. They weren’t mad, they were just trying to hold in their laughter. Fair enough, I was having the same problem.
I smirked at them before looking back at Mr. Sanders. “Does anyone else feel the same as Mr. Sanders? That Mr. Keener and I aren’t fit for leadership because of our poor decision-making due to our age?” Five more people raised their hands around the table. Mr. Sanders was starting to look smug. A subtle vibration came from my watch and I knew that meant FRIDAY had alerted Mom and Dad and they were sending their support.
I took a deep breath before standing up as well. I didn’t need the height difference to make my point, but I am Tony’s child in spirit and I wanted to put on a little show to make my point clear for future instances. I spoke calmly and clearly as if talking to a child and said, “Fabulous. Mr. Sanders and all of those who agreed with him will you please stand up?” As they slowly stood up, the door behind me opened and Happy entered with a half a dozen security personnel. “Thank you for your cooperation. Unfortunately, due to irreconcilable differences, your presence is no longer needed at this company. Stark Industries was built on the idea of a better tomorrow for the world, not just our bottom line. Your actions show that this is not a motivating factor for you so as of this moment you are stripped of all rights and privileges and will be escorted from the building. You will no longer be welcome at any SI facility and charges will be filed if you attempt to enter one after today. Please leave your badges on the table, you won’t be needing them after today. Thank you again for your cooperation.” I waved security forward and sat back down in my chair and waited for the explosion. I was not disappointed.
“YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!” Of course, it was Mr. Sanders that spoke first.
“I assure you I can, Mr. Sanders. You seem to forget that I am acting-CEO of this company.”
“Well then I’ll speak with Tony and get this fixed. He won’t be happy with you for firing more than half of the board. You’ll be the one leaving, I’ll see to that!” Some of the others were nodding in agreement.
I chuckled before replying, “Yes, please call my father and tell him to get rid of me instead of yourselves. I’m sure he won’t have a hard time deciding between his heir and the board that has tortured and belittled him for years. The only reason you haven’t been removed before was because of some deep-seeded guilt leftover from his father. However, I guarantee his own parental instincts will override that guilt now that you’ve come after Harley and myself. Thanks for that; we’ve been trying to get him to fire you all for years.” Both Jaycee and Micheal cracked and that and started laughing quietly in the back. The other ex-board members looked pale, but were still sitting down waiting on Mr. Sanders to save them.
“None of you have the authority to get rid of us. We’re the board! You report to us! You can’t just fire us because we don’t agree with you!” he looked so smug while saying that, I actually felt a tingle of excitement for the hammer that I was about to drop.
“That’s true, we can’t fire board members just because we don’t agree on things,” I said, watching the sighs of relief cross the room. “However, I’m well within my rights to fire you if I can prove you have adversely affected the profits of this company. I can do that right now. I have documented evidence that proves you and your fellow ex-board members cost this company millions of dollars in revenue over the last few decades. That’s more than enough to warrant your immediate removal.”
Mr. Sanders deflated, but soldiered on, “That’s impossible. I want to see this evidence now!”
I nodded before gesturing towards the center of the table. FRIDAY projected a data table onto the middle of the table so everyone could see it. It showed a marked loss of profits for almost 12 years in multiple sections of the company. “As you can see, we had less than ideal profits for over a decade. This was due to the board’s decision to continue to market this company as a weapons manufacturer at the request of Obadiah Stane, who was selling our damaged products under the table, instead of focusing on the innovative, new technology that Mr. Stark was inventing and patenting. These items were released after Stane’s removal and have shown tremendous revenue increases and hold steady profits even years later. Your refusal to move forward with technology and progression cost us billions of dollars. Your loyalty to a criminal and a terrorist almost cost us our reputation. Mr. Stark is the only reason Ms. Potts hasn’t torn you to legal shreds and his protection has now been removed. I was willing to just let you leave quietly, but now that I have presented the information, I will be following up on it. Expect to hear from our lawyers and more than likely, Homeland Security. You assisted a terrorist and willingly tanked our profits. There will be repercussions. Now, get out of my building before I remove you myself.”
I settled back in my chair while security escorted the ex-board members from the room, Mr. Sanders being practically dragged from the room by Happy. The remaining board members were a range of emotions from scared to nauseated and were staring at me like I was a nightmare come to life.
After they had all left, I looked at the remained members and said, “So, back to what I was saying. This scrubber will be offered to those countries below the poverty line for free. However, most of the countries who will benefit the most from this product will have to pay for it and the profits from those sales will more than cover the cost of the donated ones. Any questions? Anything I haven’t covered that you can think of?”
The remaining members glanced around at each other and seemed to have a non-verbal conversation. They seemed to all stare at Mrs. Welter who sighed before speaking, “We’re all comfortable with this plan, but have some logistical questions to ask.” I nodded so she continued, “What will the shipping costs be? And how will we cover the actual distribution of this product in a timely fashion? I assume this is a priority job, so you would want it going out as soon as possible.”
I smiled at her and said, “These are all valid questions, and I don’t have the answers to them yet. We haven’t settled on the production process yet, so I can’t begin to crunch numbers on distribution until that has been settled. We are always looking for suggestions and ideas to further the process, so if any of you have one or come up with one later, please let us know.”
They all seemed to be satisfied with my answer, but were still sitting stiffly in their chairs. So I guess I need to address the elephant in the room. “Guys, you don’t need to worry about us coming after you as well. We’ve done extensive background checks on all of you and if we had a problem with any of you that didn’t get called out, I would have included you in the exodus proceedings. We are all very pleased with your work so far and believe that you all will be pivotal to our success going forward.”
The tension fled from the room as they all relaxed slightly into their chairs. I nodded towards Jaycee and Micheal and stood up. “Now, unless you need anything else from me, It’s been a long morning and I still have to visit the legal and HR departments before lunch. Thank you for your time, and I’ll keep you up to date on this project going forward.”
I left the room with Jaycee and headed for the elevators. It was going to be a long day of filing charges and lawsuits and press conferences to announce what happened today and the plan going forward. I thunked my head on the back wall of the elevator and sighed before Jaycee said, “Sorry, Boss, but you knew they had it coming. At least Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts weren’t here to burst in and steal your thunder.”
She had a point. I can’t wait to lord it over Dad that I got to finally tear those idiots a new one and he wasn’t involved. Heh, that’s going to be a bragging point for a least a month.
I can’t wait for Harley to get back so I can hear what he had to say about today’s meeting. Tonight can’t get here fast enough.