The day after the press conference, Avengers Compound.
Tony had pulled off a massive stunt last night, resulting in almost the entire roster of the Avengers gathering today. Well, actually not the entire roster; Thor was still at home looking after his father, and T'Challa was still in Wakanda, though he participated in the meeting via video link.
"Guess what? Yesterday, the Pentagon spokesperson was out there saying we were suspending cooperation, and last night, before I even went to sleep, the Pentagon's phone lines were practically blowing up."
Tony lay on the sofa in the center of the new Avengers base, sat up with a smile, grabbed his glass, and took a small sip. "You guys have no idea how euphemistic and pleading General Ross's tone was last night. Hahaha."
"Actually, I was right there last night... strictly speaking, Hulk was."
Banner, who was sitting to one side, chimed in. Yesterday, after the Captain helped Tony walk in to rest, Hulk also came over to express his concern—he gave Tony a Burger King hamburger. Hulk remembered that Tony liked eating them, so he had leapt over to a Burger King at a gas station in New Jersey to buy it.
Then, Hulk witnessed the entire process of Tony talking on the phone with General Ross while eating the hamburger. After saying just a few words, Tony put it on speakerphone, letting the Captain and Hulk listen in as well.
"Jarvis recorded it, but I don't think it's as fun as listening to it live. I was there bickering with General Ross, and then General Ross suddenly asked me what happened, what was that roaring in the background?"
"So I told him: 'Oh, General, it's nothing, it's just Hulk laughing over there. Oh, wait, he laughed so hard he turned back into Banner.'"
Hearing this, almost everyone burst into laughter. After Hank finished laughing, he asked Tony, "And then? How did you and General Ross end up wrapping up the conversation?"
"I told him that the issue of the Arc Reactor is not a military problem, but a technical one, a technological revolution, and I don't think the Pentagon is quite suited to lead this matter. Then, a few minutes later, Matthew Ellis's call came through."
Compared to General Ross, Matthew Ellis had always maintained a very good public image, constantly appearing before the public as a figure who "bridges national divides and rectifies national mistakes." The fact that he could keep someone like General Ross—who was clearly inclined toward the Republican party—at the Pentagon as the highest official in charge of superhumans across America was clear proof of this.
Moreover, this man was a highly skilled speaker, tight-lipped and flawless. Even Tony had to admit that it was difficult to lose his temper while chatting with President Ellis.
"In short, the basic situation has been settled. The US government will bail out Stark Industries' stock price, and the controlling interest will remain unchanged. However, Stark Industries needs to build new factories and provide at least twenty thousand jobs. I think that's perfectly fine."
Hearing this, Banner asked about another issue. "What about Roxxon?"
"Even Matthew Ellis can't give up the prospect of the United States enjoying the oil of an entire world all to itself. There's nothing that can be done about that." Tony threw his hands up in a gesture of helplessness, then smiled. "At least they won't go invading Svartalfheim for oil just yet. Even if Malekith holds the portal between the two realms, they have no intention of making a move."
And that might simply be because they couldn't win.
"However, the new era's power war can basically come to a close. Once the whole world manufactures Arc Reactors and begins using them, they will quickly realize that generating electricity with oil is an incredibly foolish thing."
Peter listened to all of this from the side. He could be certain that Tony making this decision must have been incredibly difficult, and it was equivalent to bringing a much greater burden to the Avengers: in the future, a whole batch of supervillains powered by old-style Arc Reactors would bound to emerge, and the Avengers would definitely have an obligation to deal with them—what Tony called the Armor Wars.
But relatively speaking, the entire world would also enter a brand-new period of rapid development. One couldn't stop eating for fear of choking. At least at this moment, before the negative effects progressed any further, the whole world was cheering for Tony.
Even those mainstream media outlets, whose website homepages still carried negative news about Tony Stark, had no choice but to sing Tony's praises at this very moment. If Tony had only released the data in the United States, they could certainly still talk at length about the downsides of the Arc Reactor. The problem was that he had made it public to the entire world.
What are you going to do, act like a second Thomas Edison? Claiming that alternating current could electrocute an elephant to death? Then how about you turn off your own alternating current first and go back to direct current?
Everyone chatted casually for quite a while before departing one by one. Tony, however, continued to sip his drink. He felt exceptionally tired these past two days; for the first time, his mind hadn't generated any technological inspiration, and he didn't want to do anything at all.
After a moment, though, he noticed that Peter hadn't left, and he looked over. "What's up, kid? Is there something on your mind?"
"One thing is about Otto's neural interface system..."
"Oh, there's no rush for that. You have plenty of time to figure it out; Stark Industries isn't going under just yet."
"That's not what I meant, Mr. Stark." Peter shook his head, then brought up another matter—something Aunt May had told him. "What I wanted to say is, someone beat us to the punch and made this thing."
"Oh? Who?"
"I don't know. Lately, there's been an urban legend in New York about a doctor who provides medical checkups, prescribes medication, and performs surgeries without charging any money. My aunt works at a charitable organization, and she saw with her own eyes a person with a leg disability regain their health. I went there to help out for a day and discovered that his leg had been reconstructed into a highly advanced prosthetic, and the technology used is very similar to Otto's."
Tony felt perplexed. He was about to say something, but in the end, he chose to leave this matter to Peter. "I'll leave this matter to you, Spidey. As you know, among us, you're the only one with a hidden identity, so you're the only one suited for this. If you feel there's a problem with this matter, mobilize your street-level friends. I trust you. If anything major happens, notify the Avengers immediately."
Peter nodded. This was indeed the matter he intended to investigate next. However, aside from this, there was one more thing he wanted to ask of Tony. "Also, I have a friend who is interning at the Daily Bugle, and she asked me if there's any channel through which she could interview you."
"The Daily Bugle... Jonah Jameson actually didn't speak sarcastically about me, but isn't his relationship with you terribly bad?"
"Jonah and I just have a mutual prejudice, and his prejudice against me won't affect what I do. Furthermore, I'm just doing a friend a favor."
Tony pondered for a few seconds, then looked at Peter. "You know how to take photos, right? Want to make the front page?"
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