With a smile, Adam left his apartment and headed downstairs. After taking a deep breath, he flagged down a yellow cab to Stark Industries.
After giving the address to the cabbie, Adam sat quietly in the back. As the cab crossed the city, he watched the emotional landscape shift through the window. The quiet, steady rhythm of the residential district faded, replaced by the sharp, frantic 'strings' of ambition and caffeine-fueled stress in the corporate district. By the time the Stark Industries building came into view, Adam had completely smoothed out his own emotional state, locking his Spectator persona perfectly in place.
Adam looked at the massive building in front of him. While not as grand and massive as the future Stark Tower, it was still something. After paying for his ride, Adam started walking toward the building's entrance.
After passing security checks, he found himself in a massive lobby that was a cathedral of glass and steel. Adam observed how everyone was busy with their work. After looking around and finding nothing important, Adam made his way to the reception.
At the reception, a young woman in her mid-twenties was typing away on the computer in front of her. Adam observed her, saw how concentrated she was, with her shoulder a little tense, and her eyes flickering from side to side while looking at the screen in front of her. He walked up to her desk.
"Hi, I am Adam Sokolov, here for an appointment at 11:00 with Miss Potts," Adam said with a warm smile as he got near her.
The receptionist stopped what she was doing and looked up at him. For a moment, she seemed slightly dazed by his appearance before quickly snapping back to reality. She maintained her polite professionalism, but through his observations, Adam could easily tell the woman was highly skeptical.
"Hello, sir, just a second," she replied with a small, practiced smile, and called someone, whom he assumed was Pepper.
"Ma'am, there is Mr. Sokolov here for the 11:00 AM appointment, yes, ma'am." She put the receiver down. "Mr. Sokolov, you are confirmed for the appointment, and please take the elevator to the 40th floor for Miss Potts' office." She said with the same practiced smile.
"Very well, thank you." With that, Adam walked away from the reception and toward the elevator. After taking the elevator to the 40th floor, he got out and went for the first office that clearly had a nameplate with "Virginia Potts" on it.
Knock, Knock!
With a polite but firm knock, he waited for the invite.
"Come in." With that, Adam opened the door and entered. The first thing to greet him upon getting inside was the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the second thing was the occupant herself. Behind the wooden desk sat Pepper Potts in a blue shirt and a black pencil skirt.
"Good morning, Miss Potts," Adam greeted with a slight smile.
"Good morning, Adam. Please take a seat," replied Pepper while pointing to the chair in front of her. Adam walked forward and sat in the chair that was indicated by Pepper.
"Adam, we don't have much time. I only gave you five minutes, so this interview won't be a standard interview. Let's get to the point."
With that, Pepper threw a thick dossier on the table. "In fifteen minutes, Obadiah Stane is bringing a furious four-star general into my office. Tony insulted this man at a gala last night, and the general is threatening to cancel a billion-dollar manufacturing contract. I need to negotiate with him, but I don't know what makes him tick. You have five minutes to read his file and give me an angle."
Adam took the dossier, which had more than 40 pages of information on the general. While a normal person would panic at that big a file, Adam used his enhanced mind to read the whole file in two minutes. He pieced together the general's service record, his charitable donations, and any other information available in the dossier to build a flawless psychological profile.
"Offer him something that would cost Stark Industries next to nothing, but it should have immense psychological value, for example, funding a specific charity in his home district." With that, Adam placed the file containing the information on the general down on the desk.
Pepper raised an eyebrow, impressed with Adam's deductions and analysis. But she would not make it easy for him; she wanted to see what he could do under pressure. "Good."
Then she looked at him sharply. "But anyone can read a textbook, Mr. Sokolov. I need someone who can anticipate problems before they hit my desk. I have a schedule conflict today between a Stark Industries Board of Directors meeting and this billion-dollar contract disaster cleanup. I already know what I'm going to do, but I want you to tell me what it is. Negotiate with me. Convince me why you deserve this job."
"Oh?" Adam looked surprised that he needed to pass tests to prove himself for what he considered an analyst's job. "Very well!" Adam nodded and used his powers to watch Pepper. Her posture was perfectly professional, but the micro-expressions betrayed her. When she mentioned the PR disaster, her brow furrowed in annoyance—a problem to be solved. But when she mentioned the Board of Directors, her jaw tightened minutely, and her breathing hitched for a fraction of a second. It wasn't just annoyance; it was pure, unadulterated dread.
He used the knowledge of psychology and business to map the landscape of the company, but he deduced from Pepper that she hated the Board of Directors.
"I would advise you against going to the meeting with the Board of Directors, Miss Potts," Adam said calmly, his voice soothing in contrast to the tension in the room.
Pepper narrowed her eyes. "Excuse Me?"
"Clearly, you do not like the Board, and from what I can gather, they are asking for you for no good reason. You are planning to rush the general out in ten minutes so you can make it to the Board meeting on time," Adam said, leaning forward slightly. "That is a mistake. It validates the Board's panic and gives Obadiah Stane the psychological high ground. Instead, we are going to use the general to neutralize the Board."
Pepper unclasped her hands, her curiosity momentarily overriding her stress. "I'm listening."
"I read the general's file," Adam explained, tapping the dossier. "He isn't threatening to pull the contract because it's bad for the military; he's doing it because his pride is wounded. Tony embarrassed him publicly. He doesn't want better margins; he wants respect. So, you give him absolute, undivided respect. At exactly 2:14, one minute before your Board meeting, you will have a junior executive walk into the boardroom with a message."
Adam paused, letting a cold, calculating smile touch his lips. "The message will be: 'Miss Potts extends her deepest apologies, but currently she is locked in a secure negotiation, personally saving a billion-dollar Department of Defense contract.' or something along those lines, that is up to you."
Pepper's eyes widened a fraction of an inch.
"You don't go to the Board meeting at all," Adam continued smoothly. "The Board only cares about the stock dip. If you are actively saving the military contract, they cannot demand your presence without looking incompetent. By making the general your absolute priority over your own Board of Directors, you flip the psychological dynamic. The general feels like the most important man in the building; his ego is soothed, the contract is saved, and you don't have to step foot in that boardroom."
Pepper sat in a stunned silence. She stared at the seventeen-year-old boy sitting across from her, her mind racing. She had spent the entire morning dreading that 2:15 PM meeting, preparing to be yelled at by angry old men. In under three minutes, Adam had profiled a hostile military VIP and handed her a bulletproof, strategic shield to legally skip the meeting she hated most.
She looked down at her tablet, then back up at Adam. The sharp, frantic tension in her shoulders finally dropped.
"Congratulations, Adam, you're hired as my personal assistant," Pepper said without any hesitation in her voice.
"... What?"