A few weeks later.
"Another board member has agreed to our terms," Hurley reported from the side.
"Very good. What's the projected shareholding?" Harry asked while adjusting the goblin glider. "Has that guy called Obadiah reacted yet?"
"We expect to hold 19% after the transaction is complete. A few weeks ago, other board members expressed interest in transferring their shares, but then went silent. I suspect this Obadiah you mentioned is behind it."
It stood to reason.
Stark Industries held a board meeting not long ago, where this guy initiated a resolution to remove Tony from management.
His purpose for doing all this was for his own benefit, so securing the board members was only natural.
This caused Harry to spend significantly more than budgeted on this matter.
However, the result was gratifying; this share was already quite substantial.
But as he increased his holdings, it became increasingly difficult to continue acquiring more shares. It was time to stop.
Boom.
The goblin glider floated up on its own, flying rapidly in circles around the Underground Room. The new artificial intelligence control system was functioning well.
"Harry! You aren't thinking of testing this thing, are you? It's too dangerous!"
"Yes," Harry said, putting down his tools. "Don't try to talk me out of it. This is my father's proudest invention; it's only natural that I should be the one to use it."
"Besides, this time there are safety measures in place."
As he spoke, Harry put on an unreleased version of a powered exoskeleton. It was covered with the best ceramic-metal material Harry currently had on hand. The design focused on adapting to high-altitude, high-speed flight, while adding small thrusters to the legs to increase vectoring and improve maneuverability.
Lacking an artificial intelligence as powerful as Tony's, Harry only equipped himself with a simple mask instead of a helmet.
From the outside, it did indeed look quite similar to the Green Goblin in some of the movies.
Talk about fate.
Without waiting for Hurley to say anything else, Harry jumped onto the high-speed glider. The power armor on his feet locked tightly onto the glider via magnetism.
Now, it was time for the test!
"Woo-hoo!"
Harry flew straight into the sky, shooting up towards the clouds like a Rocket!
Once he successfully reached the sky, Harry suddenly noticed there seemed to be another flying unit up there!
Harry laughed, increasing the glider's power!
"Sir, there is a high-speed flying object approaching from behind."
"What? High-speed? How high-speed?" Before the clueless Tony could figure out what it was, Harry had already caught up to him!
"Good evening! Mr. 'Iron Man,' are you out for a joyride too? Want to race and see who's faster?"
"What? Who are you?" Tony looked completely bewildered.
"What's wrong? No confidence in your armor?" Harry's glider circled around Tony, wantonly showing off its speed!
"You think I'll lose?" Tony didn't think Harry had any malicious intent and focused on Harry's words. "First one to Lake George!"
"No problem!" Harry said, instantly boosting the glider's power to the maximum. A massive roar echoed across the outskirts of New York!
The sonic boom disrupted Tony's flight path, even blowing him into a few rolls in the sky.
"Jarvis, activate supersonic flight mode!"
"But sir, the calibration hasn't yet..."
"I said activate it!"
Boom!
A second sonic boom rang out, and Tony caught up, refusing to be outdone!
"Jarvis, I want to talk to him!"
"Very well, sir. Radio signal detected and connected."
"Who are you? I've never heard of anyone having this kind of technology!" Tony's voice came through Harry's communicator.
"And I've never heard of anyone who could build flying steel armor. Mr. Iron Man, you aren't worried about losing and trying to distract me, are you?"
"This isn't my maximum power yet..."
Before Tony could finish, Harry boosted the power again!
"And this isn't my maximum power either!" Harry laughed, overtaking Tony once again.
"Damn! Jarvis, I need to catch up to this kid!"
"But sir, the other party's speed seems to exceed the safety limits you set."
"Accelerate!"
But Tony found that he really couldn't seem to catch up to Harry!
In terms of speed, he really seemed unable to outmatch this kid who had appeared out of nowhere!
"Green kid, I think we should change how we compete."
"What? Are you giving up?"
"I mean, we should change direction! Let's see who can fly higher!"
Harry laughed—seeing Tony's excited expression, this must be his first test flight; he hadn't solved the icing problem yet!
"Then I've won the first round. Second round!" With a boom, Harry flew towards the sky.
Watching Harry fly towards the sky, Tony shouted, "That's a false start!"
After flying for a while, a thick layer of ice appeared on Harry first, but his armor had long been prepared for this!
His glider was also well-prepared; its surface armor layer spun at high speed, grinding away the layer of ice, and a burst of hot air was expelled, easily resolving the icing problem!
But Tony's situation on the other side wasn't as good; his entire flight trajectory gradually turned into a freefall—
"Jarvis? We need to activate the auxiliary wings, Jarvis?"
"Second round, Mr. Iron Man, you've lost again." Harry tapped on the iron can; the sound was crisp.
Since both of their speeds had slowed down, Harry no longer communicated via radio—after all, the mark armor had also stopped functioning.
Harry flew around Tony a few times, even shrugging his shoulders and tapping on Tony's canned head, indicating that he was completely unaffected by the icing.
Tony inside the can seemed to be saying something, but Harry couldn't hear it clearly. He waved at him and turned around to fly back home.
The race that took place in the outskirts of New York ended with Harry's victory, and he was, of course, in a great mood.
As for Tony, although the feeling of losing wasn't great, seeing another person in the sky actually gave him a feeling of having found a kindred spirit.
Landing on his luxury car, amidst the dry powder sprayed by the robotic arm "Dummy," he smiled and shook his head, guessing that the TV might have been right—he might really be suffering from PTSD.
Bang.
Harry jumped off the glider, only to see Hurley still in the same spot, arms crossed, pacing back and forth.
But before Hurley could say anything, Harry scooped her up amidst her screams and carried her into the bedroom.
"Today has truly been a wonderful day. I assume you won't have anything to say, right?"
"We should go on a vacation or something."
Lying on the bed, Harry suddenly said.
Since there was nothing to do right now anyway, he might as well take Hurley out to relax for a few days.
"Obadiah has invited you to attend the charity event where Tony Stark will be presenting funds to the Firemen's Home."
Harry looked at Hurley, making her feel a bit strange.
"What's wrong? Are you going or not?"
"I'm going, but can you not talk about work in this kind of atmosphere? It's not conducive to the harmonious development of our relationship."
"Huh?"
Hurley couldn't quite understand Harry's train of thought—in her view, work was very important.