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"What!" Tony wore a look of genuine surprise for the first time that day, then his expression turned serious.
Henry didn't answer directly. He just smiled and said, "See, you think if you stand higher you gain a wider view. In fact there are still blind spots inside your view — you simply didn't notice my situation, did you?"
"So now you're a killer?" Tony crossed one leg and rested his hands on his knee, clearly on guard.
Henry shook his head. "No, no — the Continental Hotel is a system. There are many jobs in it. Not everyone is a shooter who takes contracts to kill."
"Don't tell me they also find lost puppies and rescue kittens," Tony scoffed.
"As far as I know, if you offered a hundred thousand coins as a reward, it wouldn't be impossible," Henry said honestly.
Tony paused, then decided to ask for clarity. "Explain. Tell me what you can say."
Henry replied, "The Continental Hotel is a kind of broker platform. Besides contract shooters, there's a whole chain of services derived from the work.
"If someone gets hurt and can't be taken to a hospital, medical personnel are needed to handle it. After a job, someone has to clean up the scene, erase evidence and deal with bodies so the police don't become involved — that needs professionals too.
"If there are witnesses, or someone phones the cops, and the incident threatens to blow up, someone has to manage public opinion. There's target intelligence collection, weapons sales, custom body armor — everything.
"In short, the Hotel's work covers many sides. It's not just about running up in a room with a gun and taking someone's life, whether that life is guilty or not."
Tony's face softened a little. "So you're one of those who cleans up afterwards?"
"I'm the one who gets shot, then helps stop the bleeding and pulls bullets out," Henry replied bluntly.
So long as Henry wasn't the one pulling the trigger, Tony seemed willing to accept him. Tony grumbled, "Why did you join that crowd instead of getting a normal job?"
"Because the FBI screwed me over," Henry said, and told the story again — how he'd been handed over to Congressman Houghton's people, how the Hotel's shooters struck, and how he'd been captured.
"Anyway," Henry went on, "Houghton's whole family is dead, even his bodyguards. I'm the only survivor. You can imagine how the police treat me now.
"Except for fleeing, the only way to live a normal life is to get somewhere they can't catch you. If I want to stop being a target of the FBI, I need cover they fear. The simplest method is to find a patron they'll think twice about."
Tony snapped, "Why didn't you come ask me for help?"
Henry threw up his hands. "I don't want to sell myself, and I don't have the bargaining chips to bring to you. The Continental Hotel became an option because they accept deals.
"Maybe it's unfair to some. My services are not cheap, yet I'm still flagged by the FBI instead of getting wiped from their list. At least day-to-day I don't have those suit-and-tie people watching me, tailing me, making life hell."
Tony lifted his chin proudly. "Now that I'm here, you can give up the Hotel and work for me. I'll make sure your FBI file is clean by tomorrow."
Henry snorted. "Heh. That's precisely what I wanted to highlight. You think you control everything, but there are still things you don't know.
"What you want me to do — besides finding another guy who's as hard to kill — that position could probably be filled by someone else with your reach.
"Right now my post is exactly your blind spot. Don't you think me staying there helps you more than me being a public-facing figure with your logo stamped on me?"
Tony, seasoned by dealing with old wolves of the studio system, wasn't easily bamboozled. He narrowed his eyes and stared at Henry. After a moment he said, "So in the end you just don't want to work for me and wear the Stark badge. By your logic, I could buy someone to do your job.
"If the Hotel's method is that straightforward — buy and it's done — I believe I could find someone more dependable than you there.
"Do you really think appointing you CEO of Stark Pictures was pulled from thin air? Forget it — I don't have time to explain. If you're not interested, fine. That's that."
Henry gave a look of approval. "Not bad. Seems the last two years have taught you not to be the naïve student who assumes life only has one side."
"Shut up!" the young master snapped. "We're not so close I'll take that kind of sarcasm."
"Alright, I apologize," Henry put up his hands in mock surrender. "One more question then: what do you want to do?"
Tony bristled. "What do I want to do?"
Henry asked back, "You suspect your parents' crash wasn't an accident and strange things have happened to you — after you find the answer, what then? If you confirm they were murdered, do you want revenge? If you find they weren't, will you pursue justice by the book?
"Or will you ignore an ugly truth to protect your circle's rules? Is this a single person's plot or a collective decision? Or perhaps it has nothing to do with your parents at all — you just want to cleanse society of its rot and rebuild some moral order? Or maybe you haven't thought that far and just want the answer?
"I've seen people say they want a better life, then fall headfirst into chasing money and abandon everything else. It's laughable — they save and scrimp, only for relatives to squander it. They ignore family for ambition, end up with nothing.
"You know your actions carry risk, maybe cost lives. Is your goal worth the price? Or will you manipulate the levers and become the new king — slay the dragon only to replace it? Is that your aim?"
Henry stood up, leaned close to where Tony sat, and lowered his voice. "One last thing: is this truly your idea, or have others egged you on without you realizing? If the latter, have you considered that you might be a pawn charging forward while someone else reaps the reward? When they discard you, will they care if you die?
"If it's your own idea, think harder. I don't want to be your pawn and end up tossed aside. In games at that level, can I place absolute trust in you?
"Think carefully, Tony Stark. Don't promise more than you can deliver. People ruin themselves that way."
Henry handed the pen-shaped jammer on the table to Tony with a toss. "Oh, and this gadget's flat. That's our cue to stop. Conversation over."
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