Although Hades had voiced plenty of complaints, things had indeed gone exactly as Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze had expected.
Hades had been persuaded.
Everything Johnny had said had struck a chord with him.
He wanted to return to Earth as well.
Although he knew that his strength might not be enough to go head-to-head with Nolan Lock, he was still extremely confident in his own abilities.
Furthermore, although Johnny had mentioned that Mephisto and possibly other Lords of the Dimensions would be backing him, it was still unclear who would ultimately benefit from this situation.
Hades had tremendous confidence in the combined strength of the three brothers.
If that still was not enough, they could even bring out every god in the Olympian pantheon.
With that kind of force, Hades believed they would definitely have the upper hand.
Besides, who said everything had to be decided through brute force?
In a battle like this, should they not be relying on their minds?
The one who survived until the end would be the one who ultimately obtained the greatest benefits.
Once he obtained the five Infinity Stones, getting the sixth, the Time Stone, would naturally become much easier.
And if he could gather all six Infinity Stones...
From that moment onward, he would become the ruler of the entire universe.
No one would ever be able to stop him from doing whatever he wanted.
All the suffering he had endured because of Poseidon could then be repaid in full.
He would even make Poseidon experience the same feeling of being exiled.
"Then it's settled."
"Our alliance is officially established."
"I'll be responsible for bringing Zeus to Earth."
"Your task is very simple. Unite with your master and anyone else you can find."
"I don't care how many allies you can gather."
"But at the very least, we need enough strength to defeat Nolan Lock."
"Otherwise, trying to obtain those five Infinity Stones will be nothing more than an empty dream."
Johnny Blaze nodded.
For him, this was not particularly difficult.
Finding Mephisto was not a problem.
Although Mephisto was currently seriously injured, sending an avatar to Earth was still within his capabilities.
And Hades standing before him was not exactly the cleverest person around.
In fact, neither Zeus nor Poseidon was particularly intelligent either.
As long as his master, Mephisto, sent an avatar to Earth, there was a good chance none of the three brothers would even realize it.
Besides, they did not necessarily need to defeat Nolan Lock head-on.
As long as they possessed enough power to resist Nolan, that would already be sufficient.
At that moment, a smile appeared at the corner of Johnny Blaze's mouth.
He felt rather pleased with his own cleverness.
As for everything happening behind the scenes...
Nolan Lock knew absolutely nothing about it.
Although Poseidon had told him that the three brothers of the Olympian pantheon were interested in the Infinity Stones, Nolan had no idea about Ghost Rider or Mephisto.
Fortunately, he did not particularly care about it.
For Nolan, the most important matter at the moment was still the ownership and distribution rights of his weapons.
To prevent Nolan from taking action against them, the members of the Council had organized a completely public hearing.
They understood Nolan's objective very well.
As far as Nolan was concerned, he might not care about the members of the Council at all.
However, public opinion was something Nolan still had to take seriously.
That was the conclusion they had reached after observing Nolan for a long time.
Nolan wanted to sell his products.
Then he needed the approval of the public.
If the public rejected his products, then no matter how powerful Nolan was, continuing down that path would be extremely difficult.
In their eyes, Nolan's current strength was already so overwhelming that there was no real need for him to remain a businessman.
Yet, for some reason, Nolan remained incredibly persistent about being a businessman.
No matter how much money he earned, it seemed as though he was never satisfied.
He showed no intention of stopping.
Under such circumstances, ordinary people had become one of the most important factors capable of influencing Nolan.
And that was precisely why they were so confident about holding this hearing.
Although Nolan had played an enormous role in the previous battle, ordinary civilians had not necessarily gained much additional security from it.
Or rather, even if Nolan could give them a sense of security, would it not be better for them to secure their own safety?
Why should they place their lives in the hands of someone they might never even meet?
That was how the Council saw the situation.
As long as they said a few carefully chosen words, they could create a rift between Nolan and the public.
Once that happened, Nolan would naturally have to compromise to preserve the public's trust and approval.
They no longer expected Nolan to keep every single weapon under his exclusive control.
Even if they could not force him to release everything, as long as certain essential weapons remained available for purchase, they would consider that a perfect outcome.
And so, under these circumstances, a very unusual public hearing began.
Nolan Lock sat in the defendant's seat.
The members of the Council occupied the seats on the platform.
Every one of them wore an extremely serious expression.
Countless cameras were pointed toward the proceedings, broadcasting everything taking place here to the entire world.
Beside Nolan, Jessica Jones and the others looked somewhat worried.
Tony Stark sat farther back, his face filled with obvious displeasure.
Although Tony also believed that Nolan should make some of his weapons available for purchase, since that would fit with the balance-of-power strategy he had always advocated, he strongly opposed forcing Nolan to hand over his weapons.
To Tony, that was completely unreasonable.
And this was not the first time something like this had happened.
Back then, his own Mark-series armor had been subjected to government pressure, forcing him to surrender control over it.
Tony believed that if Nolan lost this hearing today, Lock Tech could face the exact same situation next time.
And when that happened, there might not be anyone left to help him.
That was why Tony had come here.
He was making his position absolutely clear.
The Council members naturally noticed Tony's attitude.
However, in their eyes, Tony Stark was nowhere near as important as Nolan Lock.
Even though Tony was one of Earth's foremost military experts and technological geniuses, compared with Nolan Lock, Tony was currently like a baby in the eyes of the Council.
He could not cause any meaningful trouble for them.
Naturally, Tony's presence was not going to change their decision.
Tony clearly noticed their attitude as well.
Although he was dissatisfied with these Council members, there was little he could do about it.
He had no effective means of punishing them.
Meanwhile, Nolan simply sat there calmly.
He looked as though this was not a hearing being held against him at all.
It was almost as if he had simply come here to have a casual conversation.
The presiding judge struck the gavel and asked:
"Nolan Lock, regarding the war that took place in Wakanda some time ago, what do you have to say?"
"We have received complaints against you."
"The complainants believe that you have monopolized the weapons market and that some of your actions could potentially lead to the destruction of the entire world."
Nolan frowned.
He looked toward the judge, a hint of coldness appearing in his eyes.
"I don't know what else you expect me to explain about that war."
"I saved the entire Earth."
"If I hadn't been there, everyone sitting in this room would probably have already been under alien occupation."
"As for this so-called monopoly..."
"Didn't every country obtain purchasing rights to Lock Tech's weapons during that war?"
Nolan let out a mocking laugh before continuing.
"As far as I know, the number of Lock Tech weapons that appeared on the battlefield was drastically lower than the number of weapons that had been sold to various countries."
"In other words, most of the countries that sent troops into battle did not deploy all the weapons they purchased from Lock Tech."
"They kept many of them in reserve."
"And what exactly did they intend to do with those weapons?"
"I don't think that's particularly difficult to figure out."
"They wanted to obtain greater military power and use it to intimidate other countries."
"Nolan Lock, watch your attitude."
The judge struck the gavel again.
"We are discussing your actions."
"The fact that various countries kept some weapons in reserve was completely reasonable."
"That battle was only the first round."
"We had no way of knowing whether Thanos could be defeated."
"If he could not be defeated, then the countries of the world would inevitably have to launch a second counteroffensive."
"At that point, they would deploy their remaining weapons as well."
"You are a military arms dealer."
"I believe you understand this."
"Soldiers need time to become proficient with a new military weapon."
"At the time, the soldiers had only just received the weapons purchased from Lock Tech."
"They had not yet mastered their use."
"So rather than deploying everything during the first battle, it was better to spend some time training before sending the weapons into combat."
"That way, they could produce the greatest possible effect."
The judge's argument was reasonable and well structured.
Under normal circumstances, it made perfect sense.
At least to the vast majority of people around the world, such an explanation was entirely convincing.
Nolan curled his lips.
"Then what?"
"What exactly are you planning to do now?"
"Do you want me to keep every weapon from being sold?"
"Or are you planning to take the weapon designs developed by Lock Tech and hand them over to the various countries so they can manufacture them themselves?"
Nolan's words were completely blunt.
The judge immediately responded.
"We respect everyone's technological achievements."
"Therefore, we will not take the weapon designs developed by Lock Tech and manufacture them ourselves, as you claim."
"But we hope Lock Tech will continue selling these weapons."
"Instead of sealing away their production immediately after a war ends."
"The Earth could face an extraterrestrial threat at any moment."
"Under these circumstances, the entire planet needs to strengthen its defenses."
"If we fail to do so, then the next time Earth faces an alien invasion, our defenses will be extremely weak."
"And if Earth is destroyed under those circumstances, then you will have to bear a significant portion of the responsibility."
The judge understood the situation very clearly.
Yes, they were holding a hearing against Nolan Lock.
But this hearing was fundamentally different from ordinary hearings.
Nolan's strength had long since grown beyond their ability to control.
Trying to forcefully control him was simply impossible.
They were even worried that they might anger him.
Their real hope was to persuade Nolan to compromise to some degree, allowing them to gain certain benefits in the process.
But if they directly tried to strip Nolan of his property, they were afraid he would retaliate against them afterward.
With Nolan's terrifying strength, if he truly decided to retaliate, no one could afford the consequences.
Nolan Lock was not Tony Stark.
If it were Tony, they could perhaps restrain him through various means.
Tony was also a superhero with certain principles.
He would never openly turn against them over such matters.
Nolan was also a superhero.
But after studying Nolan Lock for so long, they understood that there was a fundamental difference between the two.
Tony Stark was a straightforward superhero.
Nolan Lock was, first and foremost, a businessman.
There was almost nothing they could not ask him to do.
But there was one thing they absolutely could not take from him.
His profits.
If they touched his interests, Nolan would inevitably turn against them.
And no one could afford the consequences of that.
After hearing the judge's words, Nolan suddenly laughed.
"Keep the right to sell these weapons?"
"As far as I know, every country still has a considerable stockpile of Lock Tech's superweapons."
"And after Thanos' army was defeated, his forces left behind plenty of advanced weapons as well."
"By now, I imagine the various countries have already divided up those spoils and taken them into their own laboratories."
"They're studying them and trying to develop genuine superweapons of their own."
"And under these circumstances, you're telling me that you want Lock Tech to continue selling weapons..."
"For the sake of world peace?"
Nolan stared at the people on the platform.
"Do you really think I'm an idiot?"
"Or do you think the public is stupid?"
"Every major country already possesses a certain stockpile of superweapons."
"If I continue selling more weapons, I have no idea what the result will be other than triggering a global arms race."
"So shut up."
"You bastards are making me sick with this nonsense."
...
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