An Iron Resolve Ch. 102 (Marvel)(Time Travel) (Patreon)

A/N: Poor Hope is going through a lot right now.

-x-X-x-

Hope Van Dyne was up shit’s creek without a paddle. She’d fucked up, there was no other way of putting it. Though fortunately, her fuck up wasn’t as bad as it could have been. She’d committed no crimes and done nothing illegal. That was good, at least. In the end, her biggest mistake was trusting the wrong man.

Yes, she’d wanted to stick it to her father. Yes, she still blamed Hank Pym for her mother’s death all these years later. No, she didn’t necessarily want to reconcile with him any time soon. But… it wasn’t just because she was mad at Hank that she’d chosen to side with Darren.

Her father’s personal protégé had really seemed like he’d had a good plan. He’d smooth talked her and while Hope understood that now, at the time it had all seemed above board. Pym Technologies really had been stagnating under Hank Pym’s leadership. The man refused to use any of his greatest inventions to help them carve out some market share from an increasingly dominant Stark Industries.

Even Hope herself hadn’t been able to convince Hank to part with his Pym Particles on even a black boxed basis. While Tony Stark was selling Repulsor Technology to not just the military but also giving out weaker, nonlethal versions to law enforcement, Pym Technologies was falling further and further behind. Just imagining the potential applications of Pym Particles in a number of fields was enough to make her head spin, quite frankly.

So when Darren had come to Hope with his plan, she’d listened… and she’d wanted to believe. First of all, Darren had already had about half of the board on his side by that point anyways. Everyone liked to make a big deal about her being the deciding vote in her father’s ouster because she was his daughter, but that ignore the rest of the executives who had also been fed up with his pigheaded and obstinate behavior.

The idea had been that Hank being ousted by his own company and daughter should have been a wakeup call. That he would hopefully come back to her and Darren and beg to be let back in, and they could leverage that to get access to Pym Particles. From there, Pym Technologies could have taken the world by storm.

Failing that, Darren’s other plan was to just reverse engineer Pym Particles once Hank was out of the picture. How hard could it really be? At this point the technology was half a century old. The only reason that they hadn’t been able to recreate them earlier was because Hank as CEO refused to let any research into such things happen.

Or so they had thought. As it turned out, it wasn’t as easy as all of that. Especially because Stark Industries had already paid off all of the best minds on the damn planet. Even the scientists not working directly for SI were having their research funded by Tony Stark’s incredibly generous grants. It was ridiculous…

But Hope hadn’t thought for a second that Darren would cross the lines he had. She’d certainly not believed that even as he was working with her to oust Hank Pym, he was also scheming with other businessmen to destroy Stark Industries and take over the business world so they could share it between them.

The other things he’d done, and the people he’d been willing to work with to kidnap scientists who could help him recreate Pym Particles… it was enough to leave Hope feeling like a complete idiot. She’d had the wool pulled over her eyes to the sort of man Darren Cross really was from the very beginning.

His crimes were numerous that he was already arrested. The Board had of course voted to have him removed as CEO immediately, and appointed her interim CEO in his place, much to her chagrin. But it was only temporary… especially because the news was enough to absolutely crater Pym Technologies’ stock prices, as well as cost them several incredibly important contracts in both the military and public sectors.

Their company was in ruins… so of course the board had taken Pepper Stark’s generous offer to turn the much diminished Pym Technologies into a subsidiary of Stark Industries before the dust had even settled.

The same thing had happened with Rand Enterprises and Hammer Industries from what Hope had heard from the news. Both companies had lost their CEOs, both companies had taken a huge hit in the stock market, and both companies had wound up bought up by Stark Industries.

Even Wilson Fisk’s holdings weren’t doing so well in the wake of the man’s death, but seeing as a lot of his companies were nothing but shells to hide criminal activity, SI hadn’t seen fit to touch any of THAT with a ten foot pole. Wise of them really, given how much government scrutiny, from federal to state to a local level had fallen upon all of the late business owner’s properties.

Roxxon was the only company from what the news was calling ‘The Cabal’ to survive… and that was only because the man involved in the cabal hadn’t been the CEO. August D’Angelo had of course immediately put out a statement condemning Peter Scarborough’s actions as his own, and while Roxxon’s stock price had taken a hit, it hadn’t been nearly as bad as the others. They would continue limping on as an independent entity for a while longer, though Hope’s more cynical side felt it was only a matter of time before they were gobbled up as well.

By all rights, Stark Industries should have been under investigation for monopolistic and anti-competitive practices in a dozen different markets at this point. And yet they weren’t. Funny how Tony Stark was on the World Security Council, which some were calling the most powerful political body of the Twenty-First Century at this point. Real funny.

Not that it would matter to Hope for much longer, or so she figured. The young businesswoman isn’t used to sitting outside of an office waiting for a meeting, but she’d decided to put her best foot forward today and arrived thirty minutes early. And so here she was, waiting for Pepper Stark, ostensibly her new boss, to get around to firing her and kicking her out of her father’s company.

It would hurt of course, but Hope figured she deserved it for the part she’d played in Darren’s rise to power. And she’d land on her feet with enough of a nest egg to figure out what she wanted to do next anyways. She-

Hope blinks as the door to Pepper’s office suddenly opens, a snippet of conversation reaching her ears.

“I look forward to working with you, Ms. Meachum. I think SI and Rand Enterprises can do great things together, especially with you at the helm.”

She can only watch as a woman she’s only able to put a name to because of what she overhears steps out of the office. There’s a smile on Joy Meachum’s face as she shakes hands with Pepper Stark.

“I agree, Mrs. Stark. I look forward to working with you as well.”

Hope watches as Joy turns away, sees her, and gives a polite and professional nod before briskly being on her way. After a moment of watching her go, Hope jolts when Pepper calls out to her.

“Ms. Van Dyne? I’ll see you now.”

Right. Okay. She follows Pepper into her office, noting the somewhat intense-looking PA that stands off to the side as Pepper gestures for her to take a seat in one of the chairs on the front side of her desk. Pepper herself sits down behind the desk, smiling as Hope shifts in her seat a bit.

“To answer the obvious question on your mind… yes, I am having Joy Meachum take over as CEO of Rand Enterprises. I don’t believe the crimes of the brother should extend to the sister, especially when she knew nothing of his actions or dealings with terrorist scum.”

… That made sense. The Hand… well, the organization had somehow been wiped out, and their history had found its way to a dozen different news outlets. Everyone was reporting on their destruction, as well as their laundry list of terrible acts over the centuries. A group of immortal Kungfu fighters basically controlling the criminal underworld in dozens of countries might have sounded insane and made up a decade ago, but these days it felt far too possible.

Fortunately they were gone now. In no small part thanks to this woman sat across from her, Hope privately suspected. No one smart was saying it out loud of course, but everyone was thinking it. The Hand had been hired by the Cabal to take down Stark Industries, starting with kidnapping Morgan Stark. And then they’d been destroyed and the Cabal had been taken down in mere days.

… It wasn’t Hope’s business. Joy Meachum might have been allowed to take her brother’s position, but Hope could read between the lines of what Pepper was saying. Joy got a pass because she knew nothing. Hope had helped Darren take her father’s company from him. She doubted she’d be so lucky.

Before Pepper can say anything else, the intense-looking PA suddenly slams her hands on the side of the desk, growling as she glares Hope down.

“Do you regret it? Helping that worm seize power? Do you regret giving him the resources he needed to try and convince bandits to kidnap a child?”

Hope stares with wide eyes for a moment, wondering where the hell Pepper Stark got her PAs. But in the end, she finds herself responding to bluntness with honesty.

“… Yes. I regret it immensely. Darren Cross was a scumbag who fooled me into siding with him over my own father. I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself entirely for that.”

That seems to be the right thing to say, because the PA backs off then, nodding sharply. Pepper, having been watching this exchange, just smiles softly.

“You’ll have to forgive Hela. She’s taken a liking to Morgan. All this talk of kidnapping, even if it didn’t go anywhere, has riled her up as you can imagine.”

Yes… yes, Hope can indeed imagine. And if Hela is riled up… Hope swallows thickly and looks Pepper Stark right in the eye.

"I’m sorry for the role I played in letting Darren Cross rise to power and threaten your daughter, Mrs. Stark. Truly, I am.”

“I know.”

Hope blinks at that simple answer. Pepper just shrugs, still smiling.

“As I said, the kidnapping didn’t go anywhere. It all worked out for the best. The real criminals are facing justice.”

… Or already have, Hope finds herself thinking, Wilson Fisk and the Hand flitting through her mind. She bows her head.

“I hope that for my part, my resignation will be enough to-!”

Hope stops talking because unexpectedly, Hela suddenly lets loose with a veritable growl off to the side. The businesswoman looks over at Pepper’s PA, more than a little nonplussed. But Hela stays quiet, allowing Pepper to fill the void.

“I do not accept your resignation, Ms. Van Dyne. In fact, I called you here today to let you know I’m making your interim position as CEO a permanent affair. You will be the actual CEO of Pym Technologies from now on, in the same way Ms. Meachum is taking over as CEO of Rand Enterprises, which is being restructured and renamed to Meachum Enterprises.”

Hope’s mouth opens and closes like a goldfish for a few moments before she remembers herself and snaps it shut. When she finally does open it again, she makes sure she has something to actually say.

“I… I’m sorry, but why me? I would think I would be the last one you would want in such a position, Mrs. Stark. I betrayed my own father to support a man who turned out to be an utter monster. How can you trust me with… with anything, let alone an entire company?”

Pepper’s smile remains soft, understanding, and even kind as she sits back in her chair, looking as regal as a Queen holding court.

“You were manipulated by a charming man, Hope Van Dyne. It happens to the best of us… it even happened to your own father. Or do you forget that Darren Cross was Hank Pym’s protégé before he betrayed him? Did your father see either of you coming, really?”

Well… no. Darren had Hank fooled from start to finish. To be fair, in the beginning Darren loved her father more than she did. Considering their acrimonious relationship, he’d loved her father a LOT more than she did. It wasn’t until he realized what an obstinate and unyielding ass Hank was that he’d begun to turn against him.

And all the way to the end, Hank hadn’t seen it coming. Not until the day Darren announced for the vote of No Confidence in front of the entire board. Hank had been completely blindsided and shocked by Darren’s betrayal… and then doubly so when Hope had sealed his fate by being the deciding vote in favor of his removal.

Even still…

“I can’t possibly be qualified. It’s why I didn’t take the position back when Darren and I started talking about ousting my father. I’m just not CEO material…”

But Pepper is already shaking her head as Hope trails off.

“That’s Cross talking, Hope. Not you. That’s his words coming out of your lips. He got into your head. He made you think you weren’t worthy of such a position, that he was the best man for the job. He convinced you to give up your birthright, and then he used and abused it for his own game. Really… all I’m doing is putting Pym Technologies back where it’s belonged all along… in your capable hands.”

… Could that be true? Hope finds herself flushing a little bit at Pepper’s confidence. It feels… good to have someone like the implacable and invincible CEO of Stark Industries saying that she sees such potential in her. They were close to the same age, and yet in this case age was just a number… Pepper was so far and above Hope it wasn’t even funny.

She’d come here expecting to be let go or asked to resign. She’d been ready to be chewed out for her actions and then fired, even. But this… this was so far outside of Hope’s expectations she didn’t know what to do.

Funnily enough, it’s Pepper’s PA that suddenly approaches her, grabbing the arms of her chair and looming over her to stare her right in the eye.

“You may not have thrown off your shackles on your own, but they have been removed all the same Hope Van Dyne. It is time for you to seize your destiny.”

… Seriously, where the fuck did Pepper find this lady?! And yet… Hope slowly nods, Hela’s words resonating with her on a strangely deep level.

“Al… Alright. I’ll do it.”

Hela nods sharply again before stepping back. Pepper just smiles, rising from her chair and walking around her desk as Hope hesitantly stands as well. They shake hands, with Pepper’s smile turning shark-like in quality.

“Happy to have you onboard, Ms. Van Dyne.”

And for the first time in a long time, Hope is truly happy as well.

-x-X-x-

A/N: It'll probably shock you all to know this but I have zero intention of adding Hope or Joy to Pepper and Tony's harem btw. Just want to clarify that now to keep expectations on the level.

Also poor Danny Rand, he's gonna come back in a few months and Rand Enterprises isn't even going to exist anymore lol. Not sure what his legal rights to 'Meachum Enterprises' will even be. But hey, on the plus side, The Hand don't exist anymore either!