AN: Thank you for the beta Nocturnalrites! You Rock.

Note: I know NOTHING about business. I'm a project manager and fx makeup artist - not business savvy at all so if I've made errors feel free to let me know but don't tear me apart please. :-)

Thank you.

Chapter 21 Taking Stock

Oliver wasn't sure what to expect as he knocked on Tony Stark's hotel room door. The man rubbed him the wrong way, but Oliver understood him. Stark was just a different version of how he was raised. Always having money and wanting for nothing in life gave you a certain attitude.

"Come in, Queen," Stark pulled the door open and turned back to his computer almost absentmindedly. He hit a few more buttons and suddenly the room was filled with a holographic projection of figures and lines of code. Tony turned back to Oliver with a wave of his hand at all the changing code floating in the air.

"Your assistant, Felicity, saved my ass and probably this planet's ass… ass-ess," he corrected with a slight shrug. "I'd want her working for me. She's wasted working as an EA."

Oliver bristled. "Is this what you asked me to come here for, Stark?" He didn't have a lot of time to waste. Slade was out there and he'd proven he was after the Queen family. "She's a lot more than just an EA and you know that. She runs my computer systems and our intel. You can not have her." He was seriously considering turning around and walking out, but he respected Steve and this was one of Steve's friends. He needed to give Stark a few more minutes before he walked out.

"I got that," Stark pointed out. "She told me as much when I tried to hire her so I figured I'd do some digging and see how your company stands." Tony waved his hand and the numbers floating in the air changed to graphs. "You hear rumors you know. The talk on the street is that QC is in trouble."

"Are you threatening me with a hostile take over, Stark?" Oliver was livid. "Better than you have tried to take my company," Oliver nearly shouted, even as the thought was going through his head that the statement wasn't entirely true. Stark Industries was a powerhouse. A lot like QC had been before his dad died and Oliver had disappeared back to the island. If Stark tried to take QC, he might just be able to do it. "I will fight you every step of the way…"

"Hold up, Robin Hood. I wasn't trying to take over your family's company, just thought I might be able to make you a deal, partnership, timeshare in Felicity, whatever, but that's all out the window now. I'm not the one you're in danger of losing your company to." Tony waved his hand through the hologram and the numbers changed again. Oliver recognized stock prices and financials on QC. Tony leaned back and took a seat on the arm of the couch, casually crossing his legs and waiting as Oliver looked at the numbers.

Oliver wasn't sure what kind of a game Stark was playing, but the numbers looked real enough. The man was seriously an ass, but if what he was saying was real, QC was in trouble. Oliver suddenly wondered if he was as irritating when dealing with others in business. "I'm listening."

"Jarvis, display stock numbers for Queen Consolidated from this morning's report along side the financials. Show the trend in changes."

"Certainly, Sir," the AI responded, numbers already showing on the screen.

"Isabel Rochel has been devaluing your company stock. She has everything set up to take your company from you. It took me a while to track down who was behind the effort. Well, actually Jarvis did most of that work. I was busy stopping a hostile takeover of my suits by my Ultron program."

Stark's words made Oliver's heart drop.

"That's not possible," Oliver murmured under his breath as he stared at the numbers being projected and the ones on the computer screen. He slid into the desk chair without conscious thought. "I need to do something, find backing," he was more talking to himself. Could Walter help him again? He wasn't sure. "That woman will not take my family's legacy."

"You don't have time. From what I'm seeing she's poised to make a move right now." Stark told him. "She's devalued stock and set you up so that you have very few assets left. If she makes her move she's going to leave you broke, scrambling to just hold on to your trust. You'd have to speak to your lawyers but I'm fairly sure that would even be a stretch. I've had Pepper look over everything. A second set of eyes and all that."

Oliver knew Pepper Potts' reputation. Tony Stark was good, but everyone knew that Pepper Potts ran SI for him and had for the last few years. The company had been widely successful under her. Oliver had been trying to learn the business and take the reins of QC, but maybe he should have found someone like Pepper, someone he could trust that new the business world.

Stark waved his hand and all the numbers in the air disappeared. "I don't like that Isabel woman. I don't like many people so that isn't really saying a lot, but after meeting her at the party, I like her less than most people I don't like." Tony told him. "And Steve will be mad at me if I let you go under then hire Felicity. He'll think I did it on purpose. It's something I might do so I can't really blame him, but you seem a decent enough person and I could enjoy the look on that woman's face when she loses."

Oliver had no idea what Tony was talking about. "What are you saying, Stark?" he questioned, very little heat left in his voice. He'd been so busy fighting Slade, he'd let his family's legacy be stolen. His father was probably turning over in his grave. He'd have to speak to his mom and see if there was anything at all that he could do to stop Isabel

"I'm saying that I'm willing to take the company from Isabel. I'll buy her stock and take your company from her. I'll do what I need to to purchase QC and save your family company, but only if you're on board with it." Tony slid back down against the desk. "I know what it's like to struggle to save the family company and to have a snake in the works. You ended up on an hostile island, I ended up in a terrorist's shithole cave." He shrugged and didn't continue.

Oliver stood up and watched Stark do the same. He hadn't thought about it like that, but he and Stark had a lot in common. Seemed like they both had been forged in fire because their fathers had trusted the wrong people.

Hell, it was probably only a matter of time until Isabel got the leverage she needed to take away everything that meant something to his family. He was beginning to wonder about her connection to Slade. They'd come into town nearly the same time and it seemed strange that he was being targeted by two people at once. Maybe they were working together. "So what are you proposing exactly?"

"Isabel has done such a good job of leaving the company open for hostile take over that she's done my job for me. I come in, take the company out from under her. I make you the CEO under Pepper's direction. She'll teach you to run your company and help you put good people in place to back you. As the stock builds back up you will become my partner in QC but SI will retain majority stock. You do a good job and you get your company, well, half of it, back. You get the protection of SI and your family keeps its wealth." Tony grabbed a bag of dried cranberries and offered some to Oliver. At his negative shake, Tony shrugged and grabbed some to shove in his mouth.

It was a lot to take in. The thought of losing QC to anyone, but especially to Isabel, was more than he wanted to think about. Could he trust Stark to do what he said? Oliver was honest enough with himself to admit he'd been a terrible CEO. Felicity ran the company more than he did half the time and Isabel really handled the bulk of the work.

"What's in it for you, Stark?"

"SI doesn't have much of a presence on the West Coast and neither do the Avengers. QC is a good location and would make a good base. Remodel a couple of floors, change a few things around and we get both. I get to stick it to the Isabel woman, help out a fellow trust fund baby and I get access to Felicity, who by the way would need to be promoted. I'm thinking VP. She could turn this place around with her ideas, I'm betting. That girl is gold you're not utilizing."

This was a lot to take in. Isabel setting him up and nearly taking over QC. Felicity being an officer in the company, him working with Stark. But the thought of Stark Industries resources to rebuild his family's company was tempting. Being taught to run the company and having people he could trust to delegate some of the tasks to was also a big plus. Even before Slade, Oliver felt barely above drowning most of the time. Without Felicity and his mother, he'd have been lost. No one but a Queen should ever hold the reins of QC, but if they couldn't find a way to stop Isabel, then Stark Industries was a better choice than losing the company completely. It might only be a matter of time until someone came in and took QC from him. Oliver was enough of a realist to realize that he had never paid any attention to his father's lessons on running the company. He was in over his head and had been.

"I need to speak to my mother," Oliver decided, standing up. "She and my dad built this company. She should have a say in what happens to it."

"And you need to check out my information. Call your lawyers and accounts, but be careful who you trust. If we're going to do this we don't want to tip our hand to Isabel or her people." Stark reached into the bag of cranberries and popped a few more into his mouth. "That would ruin the surprise." The look on Stark's face was evil.

"Seeing the look on Isabel's face would be a big plus," Oliver admitted. He sighed hard and squared his shoulders. "Thanks for the heads up, Stark," Oliver held out his hand. "I'll get back to you."