A Change of Management at Stark Industries (Marvel) (Patreon)

This 2,500 word story was suggested by patron Luke DeAn with the request “Employee swaps bodies with Tony Stark”. Make sure you're a member of the Discord to get the opportunity to put forward future story ideas!

Working for Stark Industries had long been Herbert’s main life ambition. It was a demonstration at his upstate New York high school by Howard Stark back in the seventies that had first awoken his interest in computing and finally, fifty years of experience later and at the age of sixty-eight, he was working for the most advanced science-technology corporation in the world. Howard Stark had long since passed away, but the company had been in supposedly safe hands with Stark’s son Tony who, despite his playboy mannerisms, was just as much a genius as his father - and also happened to love money just as much too.

Herbert had worked his way up the ranks until he was assigned as the Head of Experimental Tech and that position finally allowed him to begin crafting the side project he had been drawing up plans for over the past decade. Ever since Stark had come forth about his superhero identity as Iron Man and had begun galavanting around the world with his Avengers buddies, the staff at Stark Industries were left to their own devices much more often. That meant there was nobody to raise eyebrows when Herbert sealed off an entire lab for his own private technological developments, which he was thankful for as he didn’t want anybody asking too many questions until he was ready to reveal his life’s work.

Throughout his long life Herbert had never truly felt comfortable within his own skin, nor did he ever appreciate what he saw in the mirror. He was a man of advanced age with little to show for it other than his job and the modest bank account he had, but he felt as if there was much of his life that he had missed out upon. While much of that could be attributed to his almost obsessional goal of becoming a technological genius, he was also of the opinion that some was down to the circumstances of his birth. He had been born into a family with very little, to a set of parents who had struggled to put food on the table, and in a neighborhood that was rife with crime. As he saw it, those circumstances had held Herbert back for much of his early life, as nobody seemed willing to take a chance on a young man from the slums whose suits were always ill-fitting and whose cheeks were sunken from malnourishment. He was met with looks of pity wherever he went and that only made him turn bitter over the years. He had always deserved more than what he had been given and seeing others handed opportunities so easily made him sick to his stomach.

There was of course nobody in the whole wide world who had been handed so many free opportunities as the man who signed Herbert’s paychecks: the planet’s favourite playboy superhero, Tony Stark. Despite his abrasive personality and the obnoxious grandeur of his being, Herbert couldn’t deny that Stark had a gifted mind and could make wonders with even just a few spare scraps of technology. That said, Stark had been gifted all of the resources in the world and the path to success had been laid out for him even before he’d been born. Howard had done all the hard work and Tony reaped the benefits. He had never had to grovel and grind up the career ladder like the rest of them had, and that made Herbert sick. For years he had wished to turn the tables on his billionaire employer and, thanks to many long hours of research and planning, that finally seemed like an actual possibility.

The Consciousness Transference Device - or the CTD for short - was the product of hundreds of hours of slaving away in secret but Herbert was finally confident that it was nearing completion. He had recently moved to human trials and although there had been unfortunate incident where the two interns he’d roped into helping him had indeed switched bodies but had their brains completely drained in the process, leaving them drooling messes that he’d had to have secretly escorted to work as go-go dancers at a nearby all-male nightclub, a few tweaks of the tech later and Herbert was certain that he had perfected his invention! It was almost bewildering that such a small object, barely the size of a television remote, contained such a life-changing power but that was just to the credit of Herbert’s genius. All his years of hard work were finally about to pay off!

Thankfully he didn’t even need to wait that long to get to use the CTD, as rumours spread through the Stark Industries labs that the big boss would be doing a personal inspection at the end of the week. The moment the news reached his eyes, Herbert’s heart began to beat at a more intense rhythm and the corners of his lips pulled themselves up into a smile. His response had earned him a few strange looks from his employees, but a quick barking order for them to get back to work had them scattering instantly. He had no great love for the people under his watch - many of them saw him as a hurdle they had to get over in order to progress in their careers or, even worse, an outdated relic of the past who couldn’t possibly match their youthful innovation. Oh, how little they know!

By the time the great and gorgeous Tony Stark finally graced the labs with his presence, Herbert had gone over every inch of the CTD plans three times over, and had completed another test with a pair of interns. This time they had mostly retained their smarts but rather bizarrely were unable to vocalise their true identities and the attempt to switch them back had been unsuccessful. Although those factors might have seemed like flaws in the overall design, they actually worked in Herbert’s favor so he saw no reason to rectify them. It also stopped the interns from blabbing about his invention to anyone too, although he had made them sign NDA agreements prior to the experiment, just to be safe. A good scientist covered all bases, after all, and he wasn’t about to risk Stark hearing whisperings of what he was planning to do…

As Herbert showed his employer around the various stations in the lab complex, Stark was his typically charming self, but the older man could see flashes of derision in the billionaire’s eyes from time to time. He tried to keep it secret but it was clear to an observant person like Herbert that Tony Stark saw himself as superior to every single person in that building and was at some point likely to claim that he could have created all of the groundbreaking technological devices they were working on when he was a toddler. Despite the bitterness bubbling inside of him, Herbert managed to contain his irritation and continued on with the tour until they finally reached the private lab where he had spent most of his after-work hours for the past several months.

“This has been an ‘off the clock’ project I’ve been working on,” he announced, earning what appeared to be a genuinely curious expression from his hard-to-please employer. “It’s a little out of left field, but I’m rather pleased with the end result, I must say.” As he spoke, he collected the Consciousness Transference Device from its stand and held it up between them. Facing them, on either side of the thin rectangular object, was a circular lens, like that of a camera. Ensuring that he was holding the CTD perfectly in each of their eyelines, Herbert held his thumb over the activating button. His heart was thundering in his chest; this was the moment he had been building towards for his entire life and there was no underselling that.

“Should I be worried about what it does?” Tony asked in his famous snark, his curiosity having already faded to that familiar look of ridicule. “You’re not about to use me as a test--”

The CEO-turned-superhero’s words were cut off as Herbert pressed his thumb down on the activator and the circumference of the lens on each side was immediately illuminated by a ring of bright light. The effect was nothing short of hypnotic towards both men, causing their bodies to go rigid and their minds to go completely blank, quite the achievement for such a small device considering the combined intellects of the pair of men. Warmth began spreading through each of their bodies, stretching from the top of their skulls and down to the tips of their toes, all while having opposing effects on the pair: Stark suddenly caught in a wave of fatigue while Herbert was blessed with energy and vigor he hadn’t felt in several decades.

Having only ever been an observer to the previous test runs of the CTD, Herbert had no idea what to expect when he was one of the subjects himself. Thankfully there was no pain - indeed the sensation radiating throughout his body was comparable to the most blissful orgasm a man could possibly experience. Every inch of his being hummed with delight as he felt his consciousness getting sucked forward, right out of his body and into the device. Stark was caught by much the same, his mind lurching forward into the CTD as he was overwhelmed by an uncharacteristic weariness.

Their consciousnesses were only held within the CTD for a fleeting moment before they were launched out in the opposite direction: Herbert settling smoothly in Stark’s skin while his now former employer found a new home in the weary body of the older man. As he was slammed into his new flesh, Stark fell victim to a full-body jolt and in the process his weak grip failed, sending the CTD to the ground, where it skidded right to the feet of his former body! Instead he was greeted by aching joints and a throbbing headache as bad as any hangover he had experienced before.

Herbert, on the other hand, felt fresher than a daisy even despite having a matching headache. He rolled his shoulders and pressed a hand to his flat stomach, amazed by just how good he felt, like a man reborn! He couldn’t remember ever feeling so aware of the strength in his limbs, nor how well he filled out the front of his pants. Was that why Stark was always so confident all the time? Herbert was beginning to understand why the man walked with such a swagger. It was a rather intoxicating feeling, to tell the truth, and he could identify that from just those first few moments within his new body. He could only imagine what other goodness awaited him once he was fully established in his new home!

Reaching down to cup at the bulge in his pants and cop a feel of his new manhood, Herbert let the patented Tony Stark smirk settle onto his new handsome face. As if Stark hadn’t already had enough advantages in life, his physical attributes were as perfect as any man could hope for. Herbert only saw it as further proof that his employer had needed humbling though. The other man had been totally defined by his privileges - who was he when they were all stripped away?

“As a matter of fact, yes, I was about to use you as a test subject,” the scientist formerly known as Herbert Foles revealed, lightly pressing a hand to his throat as he tested his new vocal chords. “And I’d say the test was a complete success, Mr. Foles, wouldn’t you?”

Across from him, the body of the sixty-eight year old man had remained hunched over, its occupant unused to the chronic pain a man of Herbert’s advanced years experienced on a daily basis. He’d experienced scrapes and bruises in his time as Avenger, but this pain was in a whole other category. It seemed to radiate from within him and that was much harder for the playboy billionaire to deal with. “This is a real funny joke, Tony…” he started, only to stop short. His expression darked even further upon hearing the name that had unwittingly left his lips. “I mean Tony!” Another pause. Horror began to creep into the many lines on his aged face. “Why the hell can’t I say your damn name?” he demanded, spitting out the words like poison. “Whatever. Joke’s over. After you switch us back, you’re one-hundred percent fired.”

“After I switch us back?” the new Tony Stark retorted, not even attempting to hide the glee from his voice. “Oh, I don’t think that’ll be happening.” It was all too easy for him to prove that he was more than just talk too. Within seconds he had raised his foot and brought it stamping down, crushing the Consciousness Transference Device beneath his heavy boot. The scientific innovation smashed into multiple pieces underneath the force and its inner workings were completely fried by a peak of energy brought on by the sudden attack on its delicate shell.

The destruction was accompanied by a cry of despair from the new Herbert Foles but there was little that he could do. Whatever it was that had switched their consciousnesses was well beyond repair, and he didn’t have the first clue on how he might go about making another. “Before you start thinking about cooking up another one of those neat little toys, I scrubbed the plans clean from the system and burned all of my notes. I can’t have you trying to steal my body, after all,” the new Tony informed the man he had replaced, grinning like a cheshire cat as if he could read the other’s mind. “Oh, and by the way, the firing stands. You’ve got ten minutes to pack up your stuff before I have security come and escort you out. Toodles, Herby, and thanks for your service! We’ll let the young guys take it from here!”

With that, the sharp-dressed billionaire playboy turned on his heel and started to strut out of the laboratory that had not long ago been like a second home to him. Now that he was the one and only Tony Stark he couldn’t wait to see what every one of his numerous homes looked like! He’d get right on that too. Tapping the one-of-a-kind watch on his wrist, he was politely greeted by a robotic voice. “J.A.R.V.I.S., pull my car around,” he instructed in his new delightfully commanding tones. “I’ve decided to take off work early. I’d also like you to hire some entertainment for tonight: men, women, I don’t care. I feel like celebrating.”

“Of course, sir,” the highly advanced A.I. assistant responded instantly. “Might I ask what you’re celebrating?”

As he climbed into the driver’s seat of his billion dollar sports car, Tony Stark took one more moment to check himself out in the rear-view mirror. He really did have it all - looks, money, power - and none of it was going anywhere. As such, there was only one logical response: “Innovation… and victory.”