Iron Man Is Born

Since Harry was here, he obviously wouldn't let Obadiah get back up and blow up Stark's Reactor.

He was about to take a controlling stake in Stark Industries. A drop in its stock price would help him buy in, but if it kept falling, investors would start questioning Harry's judgment.

Bang.

Harry tossed the powerless Tony onto the ground, then took out a strange rod and inserted it into a gap in Obadiah's armor.

"What is that?" Tony asked.

Jarvis told him it was a material he had never seen before.

Completing the New York City Power Grid mission had given Harry two rewards: Leining and superconductive material.

This rod was the Conductive Rod Harry had made from that superconductive material.

"Remember the Lunge Mine that blew you up? This thing can also be called a 'Lunge Mine.'"

Click.

Obadiah seemed to have been waiting for this very chance. He raised a hand to grab Harry, but electric current instantly surged into his armor, destroying every circuit in the suit!

"How is this possible..." Obadiah's face was full of disbelief. If any random electric shock device could paralyze Power Armor, then what had he even built it for?

An ordinary electric shock device naturally couldn't paralyze Power Armor, but a living Electric Lifeform could.

Harry had another reason for using Leining to disable the armor. He needed Leining to copy its internal structure so he could prepare to upgrade his own suit.

After all, Tony would never hand over the technology behind the Iron Man suit.

Now, this suit had become an iron coffin.

"Nice outfit. Let's see how many years you get for this." Harry withdrew the Conductive Rod.

"Done." Harry put away the Conductive Rod. "You can have someone deal with him now, but I suggest you keep this thing somewhere safe."

"I would have done that even if you hadn't said so." After hesitating, Tony continued. "Thanks."

"No need to thank me. After all, I'm about to take a controlling stake in Stark Industries. Just giving you a heads-up."

"What?" Tony froze.

What Obadiah had done this time was no small matter—selling weapons to armed militants, privately developing high-destruction weapons and using them in the city, causing massive economic losses, and more.

And he had quite a few accomplices.

If Tony had handled this problem alone, he naturally would have gained complete control of Stark Industries, just like in the movie.

But Harry had shown up midway.

Harry was no insignificant figure. After something like this happened, plenty of people would support him taking a controlling stake in Stark Industries.

"Don't worry, it's only temporary control." Harry patted Tony's armor. "If I wanted to, I could even begin acquiring Stark Industries. As long as I agreed to take over the military contracts you left vacant, they would accept it."

"But normally, I won't interfere with your company or your affairs."

As for a controlling stake, it would only be relative control. Once Tony returned to Stark Industries' management and dealt with Obadiah's mess, he could still achieve absolute control over the company.

All Harry wanted was a foothold in Stark Industries. Driving Tony away would be counterproductive.

"Overall, it'll be about the same as the relationship between you and Obadiah before this, except I basically won't meddle in your business."

As he spoke, Harry took out an Arc Reactor identical in size to the one in Tony's chest.

Tony did not immediately take the Reactor Harry held out. Instead, he stared straight into Harry's eyes. Even as discomfort rose in his chest, he refused to accept anything from Harry.

The discomfort in his chest eventually turned into a suffocating pressure. His face went pale, and he looked utterly powerless before Harry.

After a while, perhaps because he heard some other news, or perhaps because he had thought it through, Tony looked away and took the Reactor.

"I'm starting to understand what you're thinking." Tony turned his back to him and replaced his Reactor. "You want to be the driver, but I'll be watching you. The moment I find something wrong, I'll snatch the steering wheel away from you."

Harry smiled. As long as Tony relented, he had made an absolute killing from this incident.

Tony from a few years later would not have been so easy to deal with.

After all, the leaders of both sides in the Civil War were somewhat stubborn.

"Of course. I welcome your supervision. Don't forget the artificial intelligence you promised to give me."

"Not staying for dinner? Oh, right, why didn't your female secretary come with you?"

"Don't get any ideas about her!"

Ignoring Tony's Invitation, Harry flew straight into the night sky.

"Eighteen... Why do I feel like he's fifty-eight?" Tony sat amid the ruins.

"Sir, based on your recent interactions, Mr. Osborn's psychological age is indeed far beyond eighteen," Jarvis said.

"Tony!"

Pepper had arrived with a group of people.

Seeing the Power Armor behind Pepper, with the glaring Osborn Group emblem on it, Tony sighed.

The entire incident came to a perfect close with Tony's classic declaration:

"I am Iron Man."

However, this time, there was another unsolved mystery surrounding Iron Man's first appearance.

Witnesses claimed that there had been another participant at the scene, someone who flew far faster than both Iron Man and Obadiah. Many speculated that this person had played an important role in the incident.

Tony's pride drove him to suppress Harry's existence, and Harry naturally would not step forward to compete with him for credit.

"Actually, that was just a means I used to... subdue the imitation."

"Some say it was Harry Osborn. Do you agree with that claim?"

"That eighteen-year-old kid? He's smart, sure, but do you really think their clunky Power Armor can compare to this?" Tony tapped his phone, projecting Iron Man's heroic figure. "His Power Armor can't even fly!"

"But he does have a bright future. I heard his father is running for Governor..."

On television, Tony spoke fluently amid the media's barrage of cameras and microphones.

"How did you convince him? What exactly did you do?" Like an endlessly curious child, Heli chased Harry around every day, asking question after question.

She seemed to have accepted that Harry would ride a Green Goblin glider to do certain things.

After all, when Harry came back, he had barely broken a sweat and was still full of energy. He did not look like he had been in any mortal danger.

"I only did a tiny bit of work. Besides, it's perfectly normal for geniuses to appreciate each other. Don't overreact."

"I just rode the Flying Vehicle over to observe Stark Industries' latest technology, then gave some guidance to the local troops using Power Armor. Other than that, I really didn't do anything."

Unlike Tony, who enjoyed being the center of attention, Harry preferred this feeling of being shrouded in mystery.

Yes, it was obvious that I did it, but I just won't say it. I won't admit it.

Just having fun.

Besides, Harry had recently discovered that Heli looked rather adorable when she puffed out her cheeks and glared at him. Compared to Western faces, he still found Heli's more Eastern-looking features more appealing.

"How are the elections going?"

The sullen Heli could only return to work mode.

"It can already be said that it ended early."

For a mere gubernatorial election, the result was overwhelmingly one-sided.

Whether officials or ordinary citizens, they all wanted Norman Osborn to take office.

He had even ranked first in surveys asking, "Who would you choose as the next president?" Tony Stark was second.

It was somewhat absurd, but that truly was the result.

Norman would officially take office next week. He needed to take another look at his grand blueprint.