Chapter 115: General Ross and the Secretary of State

Hope Pym is the daughter of Hank Pym.

She had conflicts with her father, resentful of the man who founded the company because of the incident with her mother.

But this did not mean she was willing to see the company her father built encroached upon by others.

Darren Cross was Dr. Pym's student. At first, he was excellent and deeply trusted by his mentor, a man of great talent and intelligence.

It wasn't until Dr. Pym discovered his student was attempting to secretly create Pym Particles that he realized the true ambition lurking beneath the surface.

By then, it was too late. Darren was fully fledged, even pulling Hope to his side on the board to vote Dr. Pym out of his own company.

Hope was just angry with her father at first, but after discovering Darren's true intentions, she began to understand she had made a terrible mistake.

Darren now guarded against her strictly, giving her no opportunity to remove him as she had her father. On the contrary, he sidelined her, leaving her adrift in the massive company.

The stubborn Hope couldn't bring herself to ask Dr. Pym for help.

Now, seeing the third major shareholder appear after a long absence, Hope had to take it seriously.

The last time this shareholder had intervened, Pym Technologies was facing a crisis, and it was then that Dr. Pym had been forced to exchange shares for a chance of survival.

Even when Darren moved to kick out Dr. Pym, Shareholder No. 3 had remained indifferent, speaking only through a phone call.

Within the same circle of the ultra-wealthy, everyone knew each other's identity.

Hope naturally knew who the third shareholder was, which was why she was even more wary.

This was a man with a tens-of-billions-dollar industry, who had just recently acquired Hammer Industries. If Darren received his help, he could completely seize the company for himself.

Hope waited restlessly at the door, planning to gauge Mr. Wick's attitude to decide her next move.

After waiting for a long time, she saw the three of them walking out.

John and Darren walked in front, getting along as if they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in years.

"Haha, please come again often, Mr. Wick."

"I hope to have the opportunity to invite you to my winery. There are many decent wines stored there."

"Oh, by the way, you might be very interested. We are starting to focus on laser weapon research."

Hope looked as if she had seen a ghost. She knew Darren all too well.

Don't let his smiling face fool you; he was a man full of calculations, his smiles hiding his true intentions.

For him to actively invite John to his private winery—a place reserved for his closest partners and family—was unprecedented.

How long had they been talking?

Hope stood there, dumbfounded.

Darren reluctantly said goodbye to John. "Next time you come, you must give me this opportunity to invite you."

"There will be an opportunity," John smiled slightly. "I hope next time we meet, you will bring me a bigger surprise."

He spoke as if he were satisfied with the company's current operation.

But Darren understood his meaning, and his smile became even more pronounced.

"I will definitely work hard to satisfy you, Mr. Wick."

Ferdinand followed behind, looking completely amazed.

He never imagined the dealings between big shots were like this.

John had taken out the Pym Particles, plus the partial formula, and instantly made Darren kneel.

You should know that the Pym Particles themselves weren't the whole story; reverse-engineering them was no simple task.

When Dr. Pym was at S.H.I.E.L.D., surrounded by the world's top scientific talents, they couldn't deduce the secret from the particles alone. That's how difficult it was.

The formula, however, was different. It was created by Howard Stark after researching the particles.

Though incomplete, it could allow Darren to take a massive leap forward.

With the real particles to reference, Darren was now confident he could produce his own.

This was equivalent to someone handing him a mountain of gold. How could he not be ecstatic?

He would hand over all his shares, be swept out of the company, and it wouldn't matter. As long as he produced Pym Particles, the world's rich would rush to cooperate with him.

Just a mere Pym Technologies?

Compared to behemoths like Stark Industries and Hammer Industries, it was insignificant.

Darren smiled brightly and didn't even give Hope a chance to speak to their guest. He personally saw John out the door, watching as he got into the dusty luxury car and drove away.

He had a smile on his face the entire day.

It led the employees of Pym Technologies to speculate whether Hope had finally accepted Darren's advances.

Hope smiled on the surface, but her heart was filled with a wave of worry and frustration.

Because of Darren, she'd had no opportunity to get close to John.

She hesitated, wondering if she should tell her father about this. If it were Dr. Pym, he might be able to detect some clues.

But as the thought passed through her mind, she remembered her mother's departure and her father's actions.

Ultimately, resentment held her back.

***

Ferdinand swore that he would learn to fly a plane in the future.

That way, he wouldn't have to drive from New York to San Francisco for a week, stay for two hours, and then drive all the way back.

After two weeks on the road, he felt like he was about to get hemorrhoids.

He drove the car into his house with blank eyes, lay down on the lawn, and took a deep breath.

Ah, the smell of the earth!

"What are you doing?" Roman walked out and saw his older brother lying on the lawn. He hesitated, then said, "Mrs. Roll's Teddy pooped here this morning."

"Cough, cough—"

Ferdinand quickly scrambled up. He wondered why there was a strange smell of indigestion.

"Damn Mrs. Roll, I told her to tie up her dog, but she wouldn't listen."

He had a look of utter bad luck.

Roman looked at the dusty luxury car and felt heartbroken for this guy who loved his car more than his own life.

Without Ferdinand even needing to ask, he voluntarily washed the car.

If he hadn't extorted a hundred dollars from Ferdinand afterward, perhaps Ferdinand would have praised him for being sensible.

***

Hammer Industries.

John had almost forgotten that he still owned this company.

As one of the former arms giants, and now a leader in the industry.

Hammer Industries itself had a great foundation, possessing production lines that could rival Stark's weapon department and numerous weapon design experts.

When Justin Hammer was imprisoned, his experts were preparing to jump ship.

Fortunately, Taran Industries intercepted all of them. After buying Hammer Industries, those experts who thought they had left were sent right back.

This left them speechless for a while.

It was said that for several months, those people didn't dare show their faces in the lobby, afraid of being discovered that they had job-hopped in a complete circle, right back to where they started.

If word got out, it would probably provide enough gossip for people in the weapons field to talk about for weeks.

John, who had just returned to New York, was intercepted by Hattie. He rode on the green motorcycle that weaved through traffic and successfully arrived at Hammer Industries.

The client who wanted to see him had been waiting in New York for three days.

Taking John in the elevator, Hattie said with a slight nervousness, "A big shot has come this time. It concerns the future development of our company."

John heard this and said carelessly, "How big of a shot?"

Could it be that the President had personally come to visit?

But that didn't seem like a very big deal, did it?

The elevator reached the top floor. One of the reasons John didn't like staying at Hammer Industries was because its building was too short.

Not to mention compared to Stark Tower, even Taran Industries was taller.

It was a shame Justin Hammer still wanted to compete with Tony, not even looking at how much lower his building was.

But the scenery that John didn't care for was being watched with relish by someone else.

As soon as he entered the door, John noticed the two people inside.

General Ross, and...

A man wearing a dark blue suit.

He was about fifty years old. His face wasn't old, but he had many wrinkles due to excessive thinking.

But compared to people in his position, he was already considered young and promising.

That person stood there, and even General Ross could only stand.

John saw the other party, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

Hattie whispered in his ear, "This is Secretary of State Lute Abush."

Secretary of State.

An existence second only to the President and Vice President.

No wonder General Ross, a hardline military Big Brother, had to give face.

Compared to the position of General, Secretary of State was higher.

However, John's surprise wasn't because of this person's position.

It was because they had met before.

***********

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