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Howard Stark paced in front of the boardroom.
‘Stocks are at an all-time low,’ he was told. ‘That little…thieving incident has lowered the public’s trust in our weaponry. If we don’t do something now, we’re on our way to bankruptcy.’
‘It’s obvious, isn’t it?’ another board member asked. ‘We have to move off of weapons and onto something else. The weapons that were stolen were just too devastating for people to be comfortable with us doing them anymore.’
Howard stopped pacing. He’d always wanted to get out of the weapons industry, and now the perfect opening was being presented to him. ‘What do you suggest?’
‘You’re not serious?’ one of the newer board members demanded. A young and ambition man called Obadiah Stane. He was friendly enough, and he always had input in board meetings. ‘We make weapons. We’re an armaments manufacturing company. It’s what we do. We’re the best on the market.’
‘Best on the market or not, if we don’t change tact we lose everything,’ Howard said.
‘But what else could we make to the same level?’ Stane demanded.
‘I’m making an effort not to be insulted,’ Howard quipped in deadpan.
Several of the other board members smirked as Stane promptly shut up. Howard smiled in self-satisfaction and stood up. Stane may have had a passion for the boom-booms, but this was about self-preservation. Howard walked over and grabbed the chalkboard, wheeling it over. Picking up the piece of chalk on the edge, he wrote the heading.
‘All right, people. What else can we do? Options!’
‘We could start making general technology,’ one man suggested. ‘Maybe our own range of vehicles. If you can make a flying car, I’m sure you can make one that obeys the laws of gravity.’
Howard smirked as he wrote down “general technology” and “automobile line”. ‘Other ideas?’
‘The space race?’
‘We could branch out into medicine. Maybe prosthetics.’
‘Could we get into the movie business maybe?’
‘That sounds like something I might do on a whim,’ Howard mused even as he wrote it down.
‘What about travel?’
‘Security systems?’
‘You can’t make anywhere as much money off of security systems,’ Stane nitpicked.
Howard wrote it down anyway. At the same time, he took note of that. Stane was more worried about making as much money as they were before, rather than keeping the company afloat. He made a mental note to himself to keep an eye on that one. If he was more interested in lining his pockets than the security of the employees under him, he may need to be weeded out.
An hour or so later, Howard had a chalkboard full of ideas. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Let’s go through the company and see what we’re actually equipped to do.’
***
Howard was working in his lab when he heard the door slam open.
Twisting around, he saw Peg storming in with Jarvis trailing behind. Howard frowned. He’d told Jarvis that he didn’t want to be disturbed. And he’d gone and let Peg in. Quickly moving in the way he’d learned as a kid, he hid his current project from Peg. He was going to have a harsh word to Jarvis about this.
‘What’s this I hear about you shutting down weapons manufacturing?’ Peg demanded. ‘Don’t you realise how badly we need those?’
Howard pulled a face. ‘Since when are you interested in what I do with my company?’
‘Since it affects my missions!’ Peg snapped.
‘Affects your missions?’ Howard asked. ‘I’m not taking away the ones that are already distributed. I’m just stopping making them. After what just happened, the company’s landed in hot water. What am I supposed to do?’ He sighed. ‘How did you find out anyway? It hasn’t hit the press yet.’
It wasn’t due to until this evening.
‘I’m a federal agent, Howard.’ She took a deep breath and then said, ‘Look, I know that your company’s been affected by the theft of those weapons, but that’s no reason to duck out and stop making the weapons. Running away is not going to fix the problem. You’re just going to have to struggle through it.’
‘Struggle through it?’ Howard breathed out a laugh. ‘What? “Keep calm and carry on”?’
‘If you like,’ Peg said. ‘Look, what happened was horrible but you can’t allow guilt to let you take away weapons from those who really need them. We all have to fight through this for the greater good. I mean, honestly, what would Steve say if he knew that you cut off weapons production because of one little theft?’
She turned and walked out of the lab.
Howard was left with a sick churning in his gut. He quickly turned and tucked away all of his equipment. He had to go for a walk and clear his head. He tucked on his jacket and walked out of the house, locking the lab up behind him. Howard walked, thinking about nothing. He stopped to get some food, in hopes of removing that sick feeling from his gut. While, he was in the store, he bought a newspaper too.
The headline was SI’s change of direction so they must’ve just only arrived. Howard didn’t bother to read it. Instead, he sat on the bench, opposite an old man who’d most likely stopped to rest his feet. Flicking the paper open, Howard turned to the stock market section. He pointedly kept his eyes off of his own company.
Maybe Peg was right.
Maybe he was overreacting.
‘It was a good move for them, you know,’ the old man across for him suddenly said.
Howard looked over. ‘I’m sorry?’
The old man pointed to the headline with his cane. ‘Swapping out weapons for the space race. I don’t understand the draw myself, but after those weapons were stolen…well, now we all know what Mr. Stark could create if he was so minded. And there’s nothing saying if someone else got their hands on those designs, other people wouldn’t.’
Howard felt a touch of amusement. It wasn’t often these days he wasn’t recognised. But he was suddenly reminded of why people were suddenly so nervous about SI building weapons. He flicked the paper shut. ‘Yeah, but I bet some people aren’t happy about it.’
The old man scoffed. ‘Of course they’re not. Stark weapons are the best. My grandson served in the war and he swears by his rifle. But, at the same time, the rest of us are more worried about the super-weapons falling into the wrong hands and being used against us, like what happened when they were stolen.’
‘Yeah.’ Howard finally opened up and looked at the stocks of his own company. ‘Looks like their stocks are going back up though.’
‘Of course they are,’ the old man said. ‘The people that want those weapons don’t have to worry about the livelihoods of thousands of employees that’ll lose out if Stark Industries goes out of business because of this.’
Howard looked at the old man. ‘Did you used to be a businessman?’
The old man grinned. ‘Yeah. Retired years ago. One thing I learned: people are always going to try and sway you to their side. Listen to what they say only to see if they’ve thought of anything that you haven’t.’
That was probably the most valuable piece of advice Howard ever got.
***
Howard sat back, reading his Life magazine.
He could hear Peg coming again. He’d just spent two weeks in Paris, clearing his head and thinking everything over. He now had a very clear idea of what was going on. He’d also had a chat with a man who’d heard of him by name since before he made his fortune. He’d never thought much of that inter-class friendship between one of his neighbours and her employer. Only when he made his fortune and entered the circles of the upper classes did he realise how odd it was.
Of course, the man he’d spoken to had been the father of the employer in question. He had to be pretty open-minded to handle having a barren daughter as well as he did. She was never sent to live in a nunnery. At any rate, he’d given Howard some advice that Howard was seriously considering following through with.
So, he wasn’t too surprised when he heard Peg’s sure and quick footsteps. And Jarvis’s following after.
She threw the doors to the living room open. ‘I thought we agreed that you weren’t going to go ahead with this asinine idea!’
Howard ignored her. ‘Jarvis, didn’t I tell you I didn’t want any visitors today?’
Jarvis froze, as if confused as to why he got involved in this.
‘Don’t ignore the question, Howard!’ Peg snapped. ‘We agreed that you were going to continue making weapons.’
‘We agreed to no such thing,’ Howard responded calmly. He had hoped he’d never again have to use the skills he’d cultivated for survival in his childhood. But it was clear he would. ‘You came in and tried to guilt me into staying with the weapons. I just decided you had no idea what you are talking about.’
‘I’m a federal agent, Howard—’
Howard cut her off. ‘So you benefit from those weapons, yes. But, frankly, America’s looking more towards the skies now. Don’t want Russia beating us out in the space race, do we?’
‘Rubbish!’ Peggy insisted. ‘It’s not like there’s anything up there! All of this “space race” malarkey is just a phase! There are more important things to worry about down here.’
Howard continued reading his magazine. ‘That’s your problem, Federal Agent, not mine.’
‘Will you pay attention to me?!’ Peg made a grab for the magazine.
Howard shifted out of the way at the last second.
Peg froze in shock.
Howard smirked to himself. Closing his magazine, he tucked it under his arm. ‘I’m not discussing this with you, Carter. The decision has been made and finalised. The company is already transitioning over. You can just deal with it.’
‘Howard—’ she began in a reprimanding tone.
Howard cut her off again. ‘When you’re responsible for the livelihoods of literally thousands of people, you can talk. Until then, vamoose.’
Peg glared at him.
Howard returned the glare. ‘Either leave now or I’m calling the police on you.’
Peg glared at him a moment longer. Then she turned on her heel and stormed out.
‘Sir, I don’t think you should’ve done that,’ Jarvis started to say.
Howard turned on him. ‘I said I didn’t want visitors today, Jarvis. Did I say that?’
Jarvis froze, and then dropped his head. ‘Well…yes.’
‘So why did you let her in?’ Howard asked.
‘She said it was urgent,’ he said.
‘And you just took her word for it?’ Howard asked pointedly.
‘Well, given the service Ms. Carter served in the past year…’ Jarvis trailed off at the look on Howard’s face.
‘You know what,’ Howard said. ‘I’m beginning to think George is right. You do need butler lessons.’