At the opening ceremony of the Stark Industries Expo, Tony made a spectacular entrance wearing his Iron Man suit, stealing the show and sparking a frenzy among all the spectators.
However, immediately after Tony left the opening ceremony and broke out of the encirclement of reporters, fans, and partners, he received a subpoena, requiring him to attend a hearing convened by the Senate Armed Services Committee the following morning to be questioned about the Iron Man suit.
The next day, at the hearing in Washington, Tony Stark debated the government officials present into silence.
He broadcast footage collected on the spot, showing a video of an accident during Justin Hammer's experimental development of an Iron Man suit knockoff—a full-coverage exoskeleton armor.
This footage slapped Justin Hammer's face hard.
It proved that the technology related to the Iron Man suit was far ahead of the current era and was mastered only by himself.
Besides Tony, no one else in the world possessed the technology to manufacture the Iron Man suit, so it posed absolutely no threat to national or world security.
He successfully overturned all the reasons given by government officials at the hearing demanding that Tony hand over the Iron Man suit technology.
Coupled with the behind-the-scenes lobbying by major US defense industry giants that Stark Industries had already contacted, and the lack of results at the hearing, the government had no choice but to give up.
After all, if Tony Stark were genuinely forced to hand over the Iron Man suit technology to the government, it would mean that Stark Industries Group would highly likely re-enter the defense industry and cooperate with the US military.
This would definitely not be good news for all other defense industry giants in the United States.
If, against all odds, the Iron Man suit technology had to be handed over, the most correct and beneficial choice for Stark Industries would clearly be to reach an agreement to cooperate with the US military on its manufacture.
If that happened, a revolutionary weapon like the Iron Man suit would have an almost overwhelming advantage over the products of other defense contractors.
The major US defense industry complexes would undoubtedly face huge impacts and disruptions. Their weapon contracts with the military would surely be greatly affected in the face of Iron Man technology.
So, Stark Industries only needed to subtly hint at this to these defense contractors, and they would naturally use their connections to exert pressure, sway public opinion, and lobby in secret.
After all, for these defense industry giants, if they don't have something, it's best if no one else does either.
Since they couldn't develop technology comparable to Tony's Iron Man suit, they absolutely couldn't allow Stark Industries to reach a cooperation agreement with the military.
Of course, the most critical factor here was that the Iron Man suit technology was owned exclusively by Tony, making it impossible for them to replicate.
Since Tony was only focused on being a vigilante in the Iron Man suit and was unwilling to engage in arms deals, which wouldn't affect their business, these defense industry giants were naturally happy to see this happen and were very willing to push things along from behind the scenes.
Justin Hammer was the only major North American defense industry executive willing to attend the hearing because the government promised to share the technology with Hammer Industries if they could compel Tony Stark to surrender the Iron Man suit technology. Justin Hammer saw an opportunity for Hammer Industries Group to skyrocket and dominate the market.
The result, however, was that Tony thoroughly humiliated him.
For Tony, however, this hearing was not a major concern; all preparations had been made beforehand, and the victory was achieved without any surprises.
The most urgent task was to immediately find an element other than palladium that could be used to manufacture the Arc Reactor.
This was necessary to save himself from the life-threatening danger of palladium poisoning.
However, after trying almost every known element, he still hadn't found a usable substitute.
Tony inevitably fell into despair, anticipating the gradual end of his life.
As a result, his behavior became increasingly reckless, committing various absurd acts, hoping to do everything he wanted before he died.
Strictly speaking, Tony was slowly driving himself to a dead end.
Since the Arc Reactor caused palladium poisoning, Tony could have simply replaced it with another energy-driven device to prevent the shrapnel from entering his heart.
Recall that in the Afghan cave, Yinsen was able to use a car battery to power a makeshift device installed in Tony's chest to stop the shrapnel.
For Tony Stark, replacing the Arc Reactor in his chest with another functional device would absolutely not be a problem.
While it might not be able to power the Iron Man suit, saving his life would be easy.
But Tony's actions clearly indicated that he would rather face death than remove the Arc Reactor from his chest.
Perhaps, as he himself stated, the Iron Man suit had become a part of Tony Stark.
Since becoming Iron Man, Tony had truly found meaning in life.
He had transitioned from being a former arms dealer and warmonger to Iron Man, who could save others and maintain peace.
Therefore, Tony preferred watching himself approach death than giving up the identity of Iron Man.
Tony's abnormal behavior attracted the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Nick Fury deployed Black Widow to join Stark Industries as a legal counsel, getting close to Tony to find the reason.
During a car race in Monaco, Tony suddenly craved some excitement and took the place of his team's driver to race himself.
At this moment, Whiplash, Ivan Vanko, appeared, using his self-developed Arc Reactor-powered electric whips to attack Tony.
Although Tony defeated Ivan using the portable Mark V suit, the reactor Ivan built still drew the attention of interested parties.
Justin Hammer, who was also at the race, immediately used his connections to bail Ivan out of prison.
He wanted Ivan Vanko to manufacture Iron Man suits for him, aiming to showcase Hammer Industries' Iron Man suits to the entire United States at the upcoming Stark Industries Expo.
On Tony's birthday.
Colonel Rhodes finally lost his patience after seeing Tony throw a party with a group of beautiful women while wearing the Iron Man suit. He angrily denounced Tony's increasingly outrageous behavior.
He donned the Mark II armor, chased away the women at the party, and fought Tony.
In a fit of anger, Rhodes eventually flew away in the Mark II armor and returned to the military base.
Of course, Rhodes was able to take the armor because Tony had released the authorization. The Mark II was considered a final gift to his old friend, Rhodes.
All the guests were scared away by the fight between Tony and Rhodes, and the once-lively villa suddenly became silent.
Tony returned to his laboratory with a desolate look, his expression complicated as he looked at the series of Iron Man suits he had built.
"J.A.R.V.I.S., bring out the game Gashats Dan gave me. I need to seriously study this Bugster Virus."
"Sir, the nature of the Bugster Virus is currently completely unknown. Proceeding with research hastily might lead to unforeseen dangers," J.A.R.V.I.S. voiced a warning, although he knew his opinion likely wouldn't be followed.
Tony shook his head with an indifferent look: "It's precisely this kind of completely unknown entity that piques my interest."
Since he was suffering from palladium poisoning and didn't have much time left, there was nothing left to fear from the Bugster Virus.
(End of this chapter)