Iron Man Hearing

"You seem to have done something big in New York, almost stealing my thunder."

"Big? Just punishing evil and eliminating harm. Congress is overreacting."

Harry and Tony chatted by the entrance.

"Overreacting—I like that word. You know they're overreacting this time too, right?"

"That's hard to say, Iron Man. Something as flashy as that—everyone wants one."

"Thanks for the compliment, but could you not use the word 'one'? It sounds a bit uncivilized."

"Does it? It's just everyday language. I think you're overthinking it."

Bang bang bang!

"Mr. Harry Osborn, Mr. Tony Stark, please take your seats!"

The two glanced at the senator, shook hands, and walked to their seats.

The hearing quickly launched into debate.

The senator insisted that Tony was hiding a super weapon, namely Iron Man.

But Tony claimed it was a "high-tech prosthetic," and Iron Man was himself. He argued that, according to various state laws, handing over Iron Man would constitute forced labor or some form of physical transaction.

The room burst into laughter at Tony's remarks, the atmosphere light and cheerful.

"I'm certainly no weapons expert, but I've invited one here today. Let's hear what he has to say." Senator Stern said with a forced smile.

One, not two, because Harry had declined the senator's pre-hearing invitation.

Stern wanted Harry on his side, promising more contracts from the Department of Defense, but Harry wasn't impressed.

Power Armor was only sold by Osborn anyway—whether you promised or not, it didn't make much difference.

As for weapons sales, Harry genuinely had no intention of selling to Congress.

First, he didn't really have any high-tech weapons to speak of. Second, many weapons sold to Congress ended up in Hydra's hands—weapons were far harder to control than Power Armor.

On the battlefield, the military went all out to recover any damaged Power Armor, but weapons? That was a different story.

On top of that, Congress had promised that if they got their hands on the Mark armor, they'd hand it over to Osborn Group for reverse engineering.

But Harry refused. That was simply impossible.

So Harry ended up sitting in the back rows.

"I'd like to call Justin Hammer, the Department of Defense's primary arms contractor."

"Aren't you an arms contractor?" Tony turned to Harry.

"I'm an armor supplier. There's still some difference between that and arms. After all, firefighters might need my equipment, but they'd never need weapons." Harry nodded. This "armor supplier" label was something Harry himself had spun, painting himself as an honest merchant.

The camera panned to Harry and Tony. Tony raised his hand.

"For the record, I saw Mr. Hammer walk in, and I think—but I don't see any weapons expert." Tony glanced at Harry. "The closest thing to that concept, an 'armor supplier,' is sitting right behind me."

Harry spread his hands toward the camera but made no statement.

He was just here to observe, not to get involved.

"...I'm no weapons expert. We all know who the real weapons expert is." Justin pointed at Tony. "Your father, Howard Stark!"

"...He was the father of the military-industrial complex. But he wasn't a flower seller—he was a lion."

"...Tony Stark forged an indestructible sword, yet insists it's just a shield, asking us to trust him, to hide behind him."

"...We live in a dangerous world, and Mr. Stark may not always foresee the danger."

"God bless Iron Man. God bless America."

Justin's speech was serious, circling around one point: Iron Man was a weapon. He perfectly conveyed Senator Stern's intent.

Next came James Rhodes—later known as War Machine.

Senator Stern ordered Rhodes to read specific passages from the report as dictated, clearly aiming to take things out of context, arguing that Iron Man was a dangerous weapon that shouldn't be in private hands.

Then the screen began playing footage, showing that some regions had already started reverse-engineering Iron Man suits, trying to heighten the sense of urgency.

In reality, similar armor reverse-engineering had begun long ago—ever since Osborn Group's Power Armor was deployed on the battlefield.

But no one targeted Osborn. After all, Harry hadn't hidden anything; he'd sold it to the military right away, and the military was enjoying it on the battlefield.

Watching the screen, Tony fiddled with his phone.

"Hold on... I'm taking control of your screen. Time to make things a bit more transparent."

Tony played footage of what Stern called "reverse-engineering":

Most of the so-called reverse-engineering was nothing more than overambitious research, even leading to bloody accidents due to the engineers' rush for results. The so-called "urgent situation" was pure nonsense.

Like some giant robot—it collapsed after two steps, its mounted machine guns still firing wildly, people nearby unable to dodge in time. The scene was gruesome.

Harry silently remarked to himself—Osborn Group's Power Armor technology wasn't actually that expensive, but Hammer Industries insisted on directly copying Tony's design.

Or maybe the Power Armor reverse-engineering had failed too?

Then a classic scene appeared on screen—a soldier testing Hammer Industries' knockoff, and the Iron Man suit spun a full 180 degrees—

Slap!

The video had finished playing, and Hammer finally yanked the display cable out of the TV.

"Normal companies take five to ten years. Hammer Industries takes twenty." Tony delivered the finishing blow without mercy.

"Allow me to point out—the soldier in the video is still alive..." Hammer offered a feeble protest.

But Harry had prepared a clip of his own, using this special occasion to run an advertisement.

The TV, its cable pulled out, flickered back to life as Leining appeared on screen.

"Indeed, he is not. This soldier's spine is completely destroyed, he's paralyzed from the neck down, and he has multiple organ injuries."

Everyone drew in a sharp breath—damn, that was worse than death.

"Osborn Group performed a prosthetic implant surgery on this soldier, replacing his spine and reconstructing the damaged nervous system..."

Before he could finish, Tony turned his head, looking as if he'd seen a ghost.

"How did you do that? I still have another video!" Tony mouthed to Harry.

The soldier on screen was running across the training field again, expressing his gratitude to Osborn.

"In any case, that's the situation. The technology used on this soldier will be hitting the market soon. Mr. Stark seems to have something to say."

Harry glanced at his watch and held up ten fingers to Tony, signaling he had ten seconds.

The paused TV started moving again, the same soldier on screen.

"Fuck Hammer Industries!"

In that moment of extreme tension, the sudden profanity left Senator Stern and Hammer on the scene completely speechless.

"You're welcome," Tony suddenly said.

"What?"

"Because I can prevent nuclear war through intimidation. Iron Man is useful. We're safe. America is safe. You want my stuff? Don't even think about it!"

"I alone can maintain world peace."

The entire audience stood up, including Harry.

But Harry wasn't standing to applaud like everyone else. The ad was done; the rest didn't matter.

He needed to wait for Tony outside, or else once the crowd swelled, he wouldn't be able to slip away.