At the beginning of the year, a civil war broke out in Lavteria, a small country in Eastern Europe.
Because Lavateria was an isolated country, this war went unnoticed by Susan and many other Americans.
But when the civil war ended and Lavteria elected a new monarch, many eyes turned to this small country.
Especially in the United States, where this monarch studied and started a business before being elected monarch of this isolated country.
Victor Von Doom
When Susan heard about this, she couldn't believe it at first.
But as the news reports came in, he realized it was true and learned why Victor was chosen as the monarch of Lavteria.
It turns out that Victor is a descendant of the country's former rulers, who fled to the United States when his family was overthrown.
And it seems the new rulers didn't do a very good job because the citizens of the country rebelled and put Victor back on as monarch of Lavteria.
Susan was surprised by these events.
But although Victor surprised her by becoming the monarch of a country, she shrugged it off because it had nothing to do with her and she was busy with her work.
Especially when she and Reed were preparing to go into space with the goal of studying the effects of a certain energy on biological materials.
This cosmic energy, a name that occurred to Reed when he discovered it, was gathered in a large cosmic cloud and would pass through the solar system next year.
Reed had a theory that a cosmic cloud like this passed through the solar system millions of years ago and accelerated evolution on Earth, so they would obtain valuable data by studying it.
Curing numerous diseases and extending human life expectancy would be within reach if they could study this cosmic energy.
Susan was enthusiastic about the idea, and I would swear that she joined this project because of the prospects for this research and not because Reed was involved.
And of course, he had less time to think about other things when Tony Stark appeared alongside his armor, gaining the title Iron Man and impacting companies like the Baxter Group.
The Baxter group is a large chemical and medical company.
Although it was initially a company that only manufactured paper many years ago, the company grew and since his father gained control of it, the company changed its focus to the health sector, studying medical advances for the benefit of humankind.
But just as the Baxter group makes a lot of money, it also spends a lot of money on research.
The Baxter Foundation, located in the Baxter Building, is an organization that brings together a large number of scientists who conduct numerous research projects every year and require a large amount of funding.
Since many investors are interested in this research and its potential lucrative results, the Baxter group had no problem maintaining the Baxter Foundation.
But that quickly changed with the emergence of Iron Man, and all the investors quickly took their money to other companies seeking to replicate Tony Stark's armor.
With less money, the Baxter group logically reduced the budget for the Baxter Foundation and many research projects had to be stopped.
Susan was conflicted when her team's research continued despite the few likely results they could obtain from space travel and her father's initial refusal to support the project.
But logically, as her father's daughter and heir, she would have certain privileges and her project did not stop.
Susan knew this and wanted to find a way to help her father, but she couldn't think of anything.
Although the Baxter group is not in danger due to a lack of funding, Susan wanted to find a way for the Baxter Foundation to continue its research without having to lay off the large number of scientists who are currently without specific jobs, moving from one place to another in the building.
If things continue this way, the Baxter building will soon lose half of its residents.
Susan was hoping to change something, and just then Victor appeared.
After so many years without seeing each other, one could notice the differences in both of them having matured after almost 2 years of having finished their doctorates.
While Susan maintained her charm along with the air of a scientist, Victor now walked with an air of superiority, something he expected from the monarch of a country.
The truth was that Susan did not expect to run into Victor at this time, especially since he was supposed to be busy governing Lavteria in Eastern Europe.
Victor told him that he was on a diplomatic visit, and was also looking for new agreements for Von Doom Industries.
Susan wished him good luck before attempting to leave, but Victor stopped her and told her of his interest in joining his team's space mission, leaving Susan conflicted.
Although the foundation would be better off with the new funds, she wasn't sure whether to accept Victor's help.
As one of her former suitors, Susan didn't want any complications or to give him false hope, so at first she thought of simply rejecting Victor's proposal.
After all, she had to accept that she wasn't sure she would get any valuable information from this space trip, and every day she realized that she got too impatient when Reed told her about the research project.
If she knew that space travel wouldn't be very lucrative, why would Victor want to get involved in the project?
It was clear to Susan that Victor wanted to get closer to her, and she was ready to reject his proposal.
But as he recalled the foundation's financial difficulties, he eventually agreed reluctantly.
"That's fine, Victor."
"I'll talk to my father," Susan said, and Victor nodded, smiling.
Throughout the journey to the Baxter Group headquarters where her father was, Susan felt Victor's gaze upon her and was already regretting having accepted Victor's suggestion to travel in the same car.
Although she knew the foundation needed that capital injection, Susan expected her father would not agree with Victor's involvement.
After all, her father should remember Victor as one of her suitors and know that she didn't want to be near him, right?
"Of course, of course"
"I'm glad that a friend of my daughter wants to join the project."
"The research they are conducting has great potential and is one of the Baxter Foundation's flagship research projects."
Unfortunately for Susan, her father seemed enthusiastic about receiving Victor and immediately began negotiating with him about how much money the new monarch of Lavteria planned to invest.
Susan slapped herself in the face when her father acted like that.
'Is the Baxter Group really that short of money?' Susan wondered as she watched her father trying to embellish the space trip she and Reed were planning.
Susan still remembered how her father did not look favorably upon this project, and even less so when Reed was involved.
But as she was his eldest daughter and heir, she was eventually able to convince her father to fund the research at the Baxter Foundation.
But now, her father seems even more fanatical about this project compared to Reed, a very different attitude from the past, and Susan could only think that the Baxter Group was in bad financial shape.
Sighing, Susan could only watch in shame as her father acted like a salesman trying to scam his customers.
In this way, Victor joined the project and would travel to space with them.
Originally, she and Reed were going to be in charge of the investigation, while her brother Johnny and Ben Grimn were going to be the pilots.
But now there will be 5 crew members on the spaceship and Victor will join her and Reed in the investigation.
"Make sure you do the calculations right, Richards," Victor said.
"That's what I'll do."
"If you don't understand something, make sure you don't ask."
"I'm busy," Reed replied.
Of course, Susan had forgotten the rivalry between the two men and quickly remembered why she had stayed away from them for a while when she wanted to concentrate on her master's degree.
During the remainder of the research project, on the best candidates to be bathed in cosmic energy during their passage through the solar system and during training for space travel, the two men made sarcastic remarks to each other, much to Susan's annoyance and the amusement of her brother Johnny and Ben Grimm.
If she didn't want to keep her brother busy, Susan would kick him off the project because of all his attempts to bother her about the situation between the two men.
But like a good sister who didn't want her brother wasting his time, she kept her cool and didn't kick Johnny out of the project.
Especially when she knew her brother and knew he didn't want to be here.
Johnny preferred driving cars and having fun with women, but Susan worked hard to get Johnny to learn aviation and astronautics at university and learn from Bemm Grimm during the project, so he wouldn't give up so easily just because of a few comments.