"Director, are you sure we should wait outside instead of going in to see what's happening?"
Nick Fury glanced at Steve and asked suspiciously, "You really want to know the outcome of Tony Stark's trial, Captain?"
Steve shook his head and said, "No, not at all. I'm just curious why S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't intervening in this matter. If S.H.I.E.L.D. helped, there would be more possibilities to persuade him."
"Captain, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s responsibility is to protect the national security of the United States. But when it comes to two large corporations that can influence Congressional legislation, S.H.I.E.L.D. is completely powerless, unless there's evidence proving they threaten U.S. territorial security."
Nick Fury explained S.H.I.E.L.D.'s responsibilities to Steve again. In fact, he wanted to directly go after Future Biopharmaceuticals more than anyone, but he couldn't. He just couldn't do it.
When Nick Fury was reinstated as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, a congressman and a council member warned him that unless he was five hundred percent sure, he was not allowed to have any unfavorable intentions towards Future Biopharmaceuticals.
The main purpose of forming the Avengers was also to ensure the security of his position. If he lost the position of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, Nick Fury could only mobilize a few old subordinates, and even dealing with the Mafia would require careful planning.
"Then let's wait. Do you want a soda?"
"No thanks..."
Nick Fury and Captain America waited outside the New York Supreme Court for news. Now, hundreds of newspaper and television reporters, from the U.S. and other countries, were gathered here.
For this reason, the court had the New York Police Department dispatch over two hundred officers to maintain order near the courthouse. With so many reporters gathered nearby, any accident would be a black mark for New York.
Peter Parker, along with Quicksilver and Wanda, also came inside the courthouse. They didn't act as witnesses. Being under 18, they entrusted all matters to their lawyers and sat in the audience as spectators.
"Pietro, Wanda, this trial might be pretty boring, but you'll see the result you want." Peter Parker whispered to Quicksilver and Wanda in the audience. Lately, Peter often took them on hero activities, and they had become quite close.
Thanks to Peter, Wanda and Pietro had also learned a lot about the company. They now got along better with Tsunade, and Wanda had even secretly gone to an underground casino with Tsunade a few times.
And Wanda had good observation skills. By betting against Tsunade, she had made over twenty million dollars in just two or three visits, seventy percent of which came from Tsunade.
Tsunade didn't know about the Chaos Magic within Wanda; she just thought Wanda's experiences were pitiful, like the innocent people caught up in the chaos of the shinobi world, so she was quite protective of her.
Quicksilver asked curiously, "Why would it be boring?"
Peter continued to explain, "Because Tony Stark might just choose to accept the penalty. Mr. Mirai has crucial evidence for every charge against Tony Stark. If he doesn't accept the penalty, today's hearing will become a public trial, and that would damage Tony Stark's reputation..."
Quicksilver and Wanda nodded. Although they didn't fully understand, they got the gist.
Bang!
Bang!
The judge quickly banged the gavel twice. Due to the large number of charges, they were being handled in batches. Otherwise, if the legal teams from both sides really got into it, hundreds of lawsuits could drag on for years, even over a decade.
But Tony Stark wouldn't choose to fight it head-on. The other side's evidence was too solid. Future Biopharmaceuticals gave Tony Stark two choices: accept all charges after the trial begins, but allow him to argue within the scope of the penalties.
Otherwise, they would release all the evidence online, along with some things about Stark Industries. Although unrelated to Tony Stark personally, it would render Stark Industries powerless to do anything meaningful for the next decade, only able to prepare for the next round of defense arguments.
Tony Stark knew the power of artificial intelligence. Without JARVIS's assistance, he could barely control the Iron Man suit. Being targeted by an AI more powerful than JARVIS would be extremely uncomfortable for Tony.
The first hearing ended after just a few hours.
As Peter Parker said, the lawyers hired by Stark Industries didn't contest the validity of the charges at all. Instead, they argued with the legal team hired by Future Biopharmaceuticals over the penalties.
The bottom line for the Stark Industries legal team was thirty days of community service and a total of five billion dollars in compensation. But that was too cheap. Agreeing to that so easily would make the top-tier law firms in America look like they had no integrity.
So even if it took a few years, as long as Tony Stark didn't mess up, he would still have to face a few days in jail, a year of community service, and hefty compensation.
And it would be hard for Tony Stark to fake illness, because the other side had an AI. Unless he abandoned all electronic devices or completely upgraded JARVIS, which he couldn't do right now.
After the first hearing, reporters immediately surrounded Tony Stark as he tried to leave. He attended the hearing in person hoping that Hyuga Mirai would also come. Tony Stark wanted to resolve this privately with Hyuga Mirai.
But Hyuga Mirai had completely forgotten about it. During the trial, he was sunbathing with Kurenai Yuhi.
"Mr. Stark, are you confident in handling Future Biopharmaceuticals' lawsuit?"
"Mr. Stark, there are seventy-eight charges against you for speeding alone. Senator Wente has already suggested New York State create specific legislation regarding speeding. What are your thoughts?"
"Mr. Stark..."
These reporters desperately tried to get a hot story from Tony Stark, but got nothing. Escorted by his security detail, Tony Stark got into his car without a word. Affected by this, Stark Industries' stock price dropped by over 20%.
Now, besides dealing with the lawsuits, Tony Stark had to prepare the clean energy project to transition Stark Industries, or else the company would be completely finished.
Tony had seen Pepper working hard for the company recently; it was something he had dumped on her. Losing the most profitable weapons division, combined with his legal troubles, put Stark Industries in a very bad position. Tony Stark felt he had to relieve the pressure on the company before he could focus on other things.
"Sir, a car has been following us since we left the New York Supreme Court. It's been tailing us for three blocks now."
JARVIS's voice sounded in the car. Upon hearing this, Tony immediately took out his communication device and pulled up some images JARVIS had captured.
"That guy again... What? Captain America?"
When Tony Stark saw Nick Fury, he just felt a bit annoyed. That guy had been inviting him to join the Avengers frequently lately. Tony wasn't surprised the black egg was following him. But the person next to Nick Fury surprised Tony.
"JARVIS?"
"Sir, based on the current photos, it's impossible to verify the authenticity of the person's appearance without more authorization."
"Then do it, JARVIS. Check S.H.I.E.L.D.'s internal files. If you get caught, cover our tracks immediately."
Tony decisively gave JARVIS the authorization. Except for that AI from Future Biopharmaceuticals, JARVIS didn't need to fear any hacker on this planet.
Hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s core database required internal cooperation, but JARVIS accessed other, lower-level files quickly.
"Even finding an antique like this... S.H.I.E.L.D. Director really has skills..."
After seeing the information JARVIS sent, Tony Stark confirmed the authenticity of this Captain America. He thought for a moment in the car, then reached out and tapped Happy's driver's seat.
"Tell security not to stop the car following us later."
Hearing Tony's words, Happy immediately contacted Stark Tower security. If Tony had said it a moment later, the security department would have been mobilized.
Soon, several cars drove in succession into the Stark Tower underground parking garage. Nick Fury and Captain America got out and jogged to catch the closing elevator. Steve used his superhuman strength to pry the nearly closed elevator doors open again.
This was a private elevator to the top floor; normally, it was very hard to open the doors by force once they started closing. Steve and other enhanced individuals were the exception.
"Stark, you clearly saw us just now."
Tony Stark raised an eyebrow helplessly. "The next elevator also goes to the top floor. You just need to take a different one. Forcibly opening the doors like this damages the elevator. Don't be so rough."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. has a large budget."
Nick Fury waved his hand dismissively, then introduced to Tony Stark, "Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. He recently joined the Avengers."
"Good move, Director."
Tony Stark smiled briefly, then turned serious. "So, are you here to invite me again? You saw what happened today. I'm going to be incredibly busy. Is S.H.I.E.L.D. looking for a community service worker to be an Avenger?"
"Stark, being targeted like this by them..."
"Director, if you gathered some intelligence, you'd know that he doesn't even consider me a threat. He wasn't even at today's trial."
Tony Stark took a deep breath, then rested his chin on his hand thoughtfully for a moment before speaking.
"He might just be doing this to get back at them for those two new superheroes he recruited. At today's hearing, two law firms were specifically handling cases related to the Sokovia bombing threat. Even if the President were involved in a scandal, he couldn't afford to hire that many lawyers..."
Steve suddenly interjected, "Hey, Stark, don't joke about the President!"
Tony Stark gave Captain America a helpless look, then used JARVIS on the elevator's display screen to pull up a recording from today's proceedings.
He paused the video midway, then enlarged and enhanced the image.
Nick Fury looked at it and immediately asked, "Who are they?"
"Spider-Man, Quicksilver, and Scarlet Witch."
Tony Stark pointed them out to Nick Fury one by one, then shrugged. "It's a guess, but probably right. That watch, it's very similar, almost identical, to the one the owner of Future Biopharmaceuticals wears."
Captain America nodded. "The New York hero. I know him. He still looks like a student. So... are we trying to recruit him?"
Nick Fury and Tony Stark exchanged a glance, both seeing helplessness in the other's eyes.
"Give up on that unrealistic idea, Steve. His annual income is probably higher than S.H.I.E.L.D.'s entire budget. I can't imagine any way you could recruit him."
Tony Stark felt it was a bit difficult communicating with an antique, but he wasn't lying. It was recently revealed that superheroes keep all their earnings. Spider-Man had accidentally let it slip during a TV interview.
Later, some analysts calculated that Spider-Man's current annual income might be around a billion dollars, and Future Biopharmaceuticals didn't take a single cent from him. Truly charitable to the extreme.
After that slip-up, Peter Parker announced he would donate 80% of his earnings to help people affected by war and disasters, and was planning to establish a charitable disaster relief foundation with Quicksilver and Wanda.
They talked briefly in the elevator before reaching the top floor of Stark Tower. After some drinks were brought out, Nick Fury stopped beating around the bush.
"Stark, I'll be direct. Join the Avengers."
Tony Stark took a deep breath and replied seriously, "Director, I'm honored you've invited me so many times, but now isn't the right time. If you want to go after Future Biopharmaceuticals, I can only advise you to go back to communicating via messenger pigeons. Until I upgrade JARVIS, I'm not making any decisions."
"S.H.I.E.L.D. can help you with that."
Nick Fury immediately responded. "You need some assistance, and S.H.I.E.L.D. can be just that. Besides, the Avengers aren't formed to target anyone specifically, but to maintain peace and order."
Tony Stark thought for a moment, then gave Nick Fury a long, hard look before speaking. "If I sense something wrong, I'll quit the Avengers immediately."
---
"Pietro's ability development is clear. Now he just needs to continuously strengthen his physical fitness. Do you need flight capability? If so, I can add a few more functions to your speed suit."
Hyuga Mirai asked. Quicksilver, looking at the speed suit on the screen, quickly shook his head and said, "No need, sir. This is fine."
"Better add flight. You might need to fight in the air someday. Just don't crash into billboards with the suit."
After Hyuga Mirai said this, Peter Parker scratched his head awkwardly. During his Spider-Man suit tests, he had crashed into three billboards and a dozen windows.
After discussing Quicksilver, Hyuga Mirai turned to Wanda. The future Scarlet Witch now looked at Hyuga Mirai with only anticipation in her eyes.
"What do you think of a witch costume?"