Chapter 87 - 87 The Stark Expo

Harry's meeting with the Ancient One following the Reset went about as well as can be expected. The Reset Point the Ancient One setup allowed for Harry's memories of what occurred to transfer back into the past and alter it to prevent the event that disturbed the timeline.

If the separate timeline were stable, it would become independent and continue to exist even after the Reset Ritual was used. However, Gath's spell created a timeline that was anything but stable and both Harry and the Ancient One confirmed that the Timeline of Gath's conquest no longer existed.

What Harry found odd was that after finishing everything, the Ancient One said, "There used to be a Third Party that took care of matters such as this, but I have not noticed their presence in this timelines since a year before I met you, when you returned from the great beyond."

Harry wondered what that meant and figured he'd find out eventually. It also however meant that whoever usually cleans up messes like this could not be counted on at the moment.

The spring semester brought two large and welcomed changes to Harry's life of late. The first was that some time after March, Jean had used her Intergalactic Portkey and returned home after busting the last planet on her list. Sure, there were many other planets in need of 'pruning,' but none of them were so bad as to absolutely necessitate a good burn for at least a decade or two, giving Jean time to get more used to her powers.

Once Jean had better control, she could use more of the Phoenix's powers without losing herself, and maybe one day teleport to a planet and remove it and teleport home afterwards.

The second and larger change was the addition of a new house mate.

Mary Jane Watson showed up a day after Jean returned and was welcomed by Jean into the fold while a rather confused Harry watched.

MJ elaborated that during the conquest of Gath, the piece of Chaos magic which awoke Red Sonja had struck her. She was Red Sonja's reincarnation, meaning she remembered everything. However it was more than that. According to MJ, the Goddess that blessed Red Sonja stated she could never be with a man who could not best her in fair combat. Although Red Sonja had been enspelled by Gath to attack Harry, she hadn't held back and was bested. Although Harry's equipment was enchanted, so too was the sword and armor Red Sonja wore so it was in fact a fair battle in which Harry won by disarming her.

MJ had long figured out that Harry's girls had superpowers and the main reason she continued to hesitate about her feelings was that she didn't feel like she would fit it. When Red Sonja gave her the chance to gain the blessings of a goddess and the greatest sword skills in the world, she didn't hesitate to agree.

When Harry felt how MJ felt about him, he could only smile and ask her out on a date.

Harry did ask Jean, "Do you foresee anyone else joining your Harem?"

Jean corrected, "Our Harem. And no. MJ was the last. I can't foresee your future, no one can. But I can see how many hearts you are connected to, even if you haven't connected to them yet."

MJ also joined the group in the Hard-Light Training shortly after she moved in. What was interesting was that when she wanted to, she could change her form to revert back to that of Red Sonja, enchanted sword and bikini armor and all.

Red Sonja had memories of fighting countless strange and bizarre things and Harry had an interesting time programming the Hard-Light Training Room to mimic some of them. Unlike the rest of the girls, Red Sonja had experience leading others and fighting as a team, so when she requested group training exercises, Harry had no reason to refuse, though usually he didn't get an invite and the girls just trained together without him.

After the group's training sessions, they often implied and insinuated over meals that the training was far sėxier than Harry was certain it actually was. There were several points where Harry just picked up the offending insinuator and took her to his room to grind the Sex Path.

By April, his Sex Path had reached 35.

It was also during late April that Coulson showed up at the door.

Coulson smirked, removed his sunglasses, and replied, "Hello Professor Potter. I have been asked to get the details on the showcase you'll be displaying at the Stark Expo."

Harry said, "No problem, can I invite you in for tea or coffee?"

"Tea would be good."

Stark had given Harry a map of the grounds at the Stark Expo and told him he could pick anywhere he wanted to set whatever he wanted up. After surveying the grounds with a drone, Harry picked a location near the entrance but never said what he would be showcasing. Tony didn't mind in the slightest, but Shield had been having an aneurysm thinking of all the possible things Harry might end up showing off to the public.

Harry didn't bother making the tea, he just went into the kitchen and pulled out a ready made, freshly brewed set from his inventory and brought it back into the living room where Coulson was admiring some of the historical relics on display in Harry's home.

Other than those who were invited, Shield had never been able to get anyone inside Harry's house. There had even been requests to dispatch Ghost, someone who was capable of walking through walls, but no one had figured out yet if Ghost would be capable of walking through Hard-Light and since Harry was still considered an Asset, Ghost had not been sent.

Coulson didn't show any surprise that Harry was only in the kitchen for a moment before he brought out a freshly brewed tea pot. He wasn't sure if there was anything Harry could do that would surprise him.

Harry poured two cups and said, "If anyone else asked me what I planned to do at the expo, I'd tell them it was a surprise. But if you can keep it a secret, I'll show you."

Harry took a few sips of tea and went down to the basement to collect a few things. He returned a moment later and saw Coulson enjoying the tea properly.

Coulson did his best not to show any surprise and lightly asked, "Are those, lightsabers?"

Harry answered, "To prevent lawsuits, they are light batons."

"And you're going to... sell them... at the expo?" he asked for clarification, hoping he was wrong.

Harry smiled and picked one up and turned it on. A blue beam instantly extended outward. It looked exactly as one would expect from a lightsaber. Harry then passed his hand through it harmlessly. The beam was cut as if it was from a flashlight as his hands went over it. He moved the beam through the coffee table and nothing happened. There was no cut, no heat, nothing. It was just a fancy flashlight.

Coulson released the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding in relief that these 'light swords' were in fact just harmless toys.

Harry smiled and motioned for Coulson to pick up the other one. Coulson didn't protest and did exactly that, causing a green beam to extend out.

Then Harry did something Coulson didn't expect. He moved his blue sword at Coulson's green one. And Coulson felt the handle jerk to the side as his sword bounced off Harry's. They didn't just pass through each other.

This had Coulson's attention.

Harry continued, "A Hard-Light construct that can only interact with Hard-Light." Harry pointed to the map of the Stark Expo and the clearing behind the location Harry chose and said, "I'll make an arena for people to spar against each other. If your sword hits your opponent, they lose. Perfectly harmless and safe since the swords would just pass through people, but cool to watch and fun to use."

Harry could clearly see Coulson's interest and said, "$175 a piece,. However, each guest of the Stark Expo can only buy one. If someone wants to buy more than one, they must defeat me in light sword combat and I'll be available on Saturdays."

Coulson couldn't help but chuckle at that.

Harry then leaned forward and said, "Each one also has a serial number and I only made ten thousand of them."

Coulson looked at the one in his hand and said the number, [0001] on it. His eyes turned wide as his collector instincts emerged.

Harry continued, "Tell you what Coulson. If you tell Fury and Shield that I stone walled you and insisted that the showcase will be a surprise. I'll give this to you."

Coulson looked up at Harry with a smile and asked, "Are you bribing a government agent?"

Harry answered, "I don't know. Did you hear anything about my plans for the Stark Expo?"

Coulson answered, "I was told it's going to be a surprise."

Harry smiled and gave Coulson the charger for the Light Baton and bid him a good day. Harry's own Light Baton had the serial number [0000] of course.

A number of Shield Agents rushed to the front of the line with the first one asking, "Can I buy them all?" Apparently this was a possible contingency they had already set up.

Harry answered, "One sale per Stark Expo Guest pass. If you want more, you must defeat me in combat."

The Agent clearly wasn't expecting that kind of answer. The guest passes were actually something Harry had made up and included a number of features. Everyone who attended only got one pass and it was not possible to get a second for the same person without taking someone else's, though that was not enough to buy from Harry.

The Agent still bought the baton and tested it out under the watchful eyes of the others. When they found it was harmless, they let out a collective sigh of relief. Of course, they still stayed in line. Shield Agents loved cool toys as much as anyone.

It didn't take long for a pair of agents to notice the Screen behind Harry showed that the batons could physically interact with each other, and soon, three pairs of agents were playing around in the arena behind Harry's booth.

This ended up acting as advertisement and soon, a long line of people formed. Each had to present their pass to a scanner which confirmed they had not bought one yet before the purchase. Harry had a few squib employees of Brilliance Inc doing the selling, Harry just wanted to watch. Most of the booths didn't have much at the moment as the Expo would last a full year and today was just the first day. Harry figured the Light Batons would be sold out by the end of the month.

It didn't take long for people with lightsabers running around the Expo to attract more people to Harry's booth and there had already been five challenges against Harry to buy more than one. Harry ended each of those fights in less than five seconds. Usually they ended with dismemberment, or would have if the swords were actual light sabers.

For the Karens and Kens of New York, Harry would either stab them in the heart or decapitate them. Customer Service at its finest.

MJ, Jean, Rogue, Wanda, and Jade all showed up along with Peter, Gwen, and Felicia. All were allowed to skip the line and were gifted a Light Baton for free, each of which had a serial number less than 10.

At the end of the first day, a plane flew overhead and Stark jumped out and landed in his suit at the heart of the expo. His speech about how awesome he was as a person and had pretty much brought world peace was broadcast through the whole expo and Harry could only roll his eyes. Once the speech was over, Stark flew off the stage and right over to where Harry was.

After the metal suit landed outside the booth, his helmet opened up and Stark spotted the guys in the arena dueling each other. He turned to Harry and said, "You're selling lightsabers?! Where's mine?"

Harry tossed him one and Stark immediately noticed the serial number. [0002]

Stark then asked, "Can I have one for Pepper?"

Harry shook his head. "She has to come get it herself. Otherwise you can have a light baton duel against me and if you win, I'll give you another."

Stark grinned, put his helmet back on, and flew over to the arena, clearly intending to fight while in his suit.

Harry got his own and calmly walked over to the ring under the stares of the hundreds in line and the many more just watching and recording outside the ring.

Stark hit the switch on his and immediately asked, "Why's mine red?"

Harry answered, "Because you're the old man fighting with a suit that contains its own life support system."

Stark took a stance and replied, "I am not an old man."

The moment Harry stepped into the ring, the suited Stark leaped forward to strike which Harry smoothly deflected. In the interests of fairness, Stark's suit was only granting him strength slightly above that of a professional athlete and Harry didn't need to use his full strength to match it. Stark knew of course that Harry could go much stronger and faster, but also knew that he wouldn't in public so he could only try to beat him with skill.

Although the hard light batons could not pass through each other, they were were still frictionless, meaning it wasn't difficult to force a glazing blow to slide off. Harry knew that Stark would use his computers so he went easy on his at first so Stark's systems could generate a fighting style and give Harry a challenge. Stark wouldn't use them to fight for him, but they would ȧssist in his movements in a similar way that Harry's Path system auto-corrected his movements.

It took less than a minute for Stark's system to figure out a proper dueling pattern and after a minute they were exchanging over a dozen blows every five or so seconds. Stark still had the advantage of his suit's weight which granted him a stronger stance, but Harry was faster over-all and could straff side to side with greater ease.

At some point Stark's computer reached the limit of predicting Harry's strikes and responding with the chosen parameters. He jumped up and remained floating using his repulsors and said, "You can't win Potter. I've got the high ground!"

Harry stated, "You gotta come down eventually."

Stark fired a weak repulsor beam from his hand at Harry's feet to try to make an opening. Instead, Harry predicted it and stepped into the strike and deflected the muon beam with his lightsaber/ The reflected beam struck Stark's foot and since he was holding a lightsaber in one hand and firing a muon beam with the other, he was only being held up by the repulsors in his feet. One of them being struck threw the billionaire off balance in the air and Harry leap two meters in the air and slashed Stark in half before he regained balance.

Stark regained himself and turned to watch Harry land and asked incredulously, "These can actually deflect lasers?!"

Harry smiled and said, "Maybe." He wasn't going to tell people that they did because he didn't want to be held responsible for idiots killing themselves trying to use them to reflect lasers.

Stark landed, opened his helmet and said, "That's so awesome!" like a kid at Christmas.

Harry nodded sagely, "I know."

The crowd who had watched the fight went nuts. Nothing Harry did was beyond the scope of a human's capabilities, even the leap, but it still looked cool.

"Mr. Stark!" A petite red headed woman walked up to the arena and handed Tony a piece of paper.

Harry asked, "Does she want an autograph?"

Stark's eyebrows rose in surprise and he stated, "I'm being summoned to court."

Harry took the paper and saw it was a summons to the Armed Service Committee's Weaponized Suit Defense Program Hearings chaired by Senator Stern. According to the summons, Stark had to be in DC the next day.

Harry thought it looked fun and asked, "Can I go?"

Stark took back the paper and said, "Race you," before flying over to the parking lot to find his car.

Harry ran out the gate towards the parking lot and when he found an area without cameras or witnesses he pulled out something from his inventory which transformed into a car. He'd registered it already and it was street legal. It was something he built after getting his license since other cars didn't interest him.

About an hour later Harry passed Stark's car on the highway and waved politely while speeding ahead. Stark's car used Satellites to determine the position of all cars and cameras and cops in an area so he wouldn't get pulled over. Harry didn't need satellites when he had invisible drones which could move faster than the speed of sound. He could even disable the cell phone cameras of those he passed to ensure there was no evidence of him speeding and his car could make turns and cuts unlike anything else on the road.

Not long after passing Stark, Harry got a call from said billionaire asking, "The hell kind of engine you got under there? I didn't even hear it when you passed by."

Harry answered, "There's no engine or floor. It is powered by my feet, just like a flint stone's car."

"I can't even tell if you're joking at this point."

"Well, this time I am."

"Well that's helpful. Listen, after the court thing take a trip to my place in Malibu. I got some stuff I need you to sign."

Harry considered it and replied, "Still haven't found an alternative to palladium?" If that was the case, Stark's heavy metal poisoning would only give him about another month to live.

Stark answered, "I've tried every derivation of every known element and nothing works."

Stark's reactor didn't just use muons to power his suit, the muons also kept his blood pumping. There were no other elements that could produce muons in the same way he used palladium. It was too late for a heart transplant as well since the palladium already in his blood would destroy any new heart so he'd never get approved for one. Just like an alcoholic with a dead liver could never get approved for a liver transplant.

Harry sighed and said, "I'll come over, but not to sign anything. I know a family recipe that will deal with the heavy metal poisoning and give you more time."

"What, like chicken soup?"

"Nothing quite as tasty," Harry replied before hanging up. Technically Harry could just purge the heavy metal, rip Tony's heart out, and feed him some elixir of life, but Tony worked well under pressure and that was always an option if Tony failed. Besides, Harry had seen the full map of the Stark Expo when he used a drone to look for a good spot to set up. Howard Stark certainly had an interesting definition of subtly.

250 miles later the pair reached DC and Harry made his way into the courtroom along with Pepper who had arrived to DC by plane earlier that morning.

Tony spent the first five minutes after arriving being Tony which of course meant nothing useful happened. Harry wondered if it was a good idea to show up since there were cameras everywhere Link told him were broadcasting live to C-SPAN.

Eventually Senator Stern said, "Mr. Stark, can we pick up now where we left off? Mr. Stark Please, can I have your attention?"

Stark leaned into the mic and answered, "Yes dear? Absolutely."

Stern repeated clearly, "Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?"

On live TV in front of tens of thousands of witnesses, Stark answered, "I do not."

Stern incredulously repeated back, "You do not?"

"I do not. Well, it depends on how you define the word, 'weapon.'"

Stern visibly rolled his eyes and clarified, "The Iron Man weapon."

Stark replied, "My device does not fit that description."

Not expecting Stark to answer so shamelessly, Stern asked, "Well... How would you describe it?"

"I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator."

"As?"

"It's a high-tech prosthesis."

Unsurprisingly, a burst of laughter at Tony's shamelessness rolled through the court.

Stark clarified, "That is... That is... That's actually the most apt description I can make of it."

Sterns seemed tired of Tony and just repeated back, "It's a weapon. It's a weapon, Mr. Stark."

"Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American Citizen..."

The Senator interrupted, "My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."

Stark replied, "Well, you can forget it. I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself, which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you're in. You can't have it."

Stern figured he was out of his depths and looked ready to call for reinforcements. "Look, I'm no expert..."

Stark delivered one last parting shot, "In prostitution? Of course not. You're a Senator. Come on."

Over the mocking laughter in the court Stern continued, "I'm no expert in weapons. We have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I would now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor."

Stark leaned into the mic once more and stated, "Let the record reflect that I observed Mr. Hammer entering the chamber, and I am confused as to why Mr. Potter was not called up, as other than myself, he is the only one in this building who actually understands how weapons work."

Harry shook his head at the clamor and several cameras pointed at him. Harry was rarely if ever on TV.

Senator Stern looked thoughtful and asked, "Is Mr. Potter willing to give an honest testimonial?"

Harry stood up and shrugged, "Sure. What do you want to ask?"

Stern motioned, "Please approach the bench. In your opinion, is the Iron Man suit a weapon?"

Harry pulled out a disk and tossed it into the space in front of the table and snapped his fingers. Instantly a bright green hologram of the Mark 3 Iron Man suit was on full display for the entire room.

Before anyone could question what he was doing, Harry stated, "The Iron Man suit consists of five primary components. The first is of course the shell. However the shell is meant for defense, so this part cannot be considered a weapon." The hologram separated and showed how each piece looked when taken apart. Of course, the hologram didn't include some of the more specialty things like the servos and motors which gave Tony his edge. Anyone trying to recreate the suit with this hologram would be in for a surprise.

Harry continued, "The second component is the power source. However a power source cannot be classified as a weapon no matter how you stretch the definition, so we'll move onto the third component, the operating system. However, the operating system's primary function is actually life support. As the primary function is not combative in nature, this component cannot be considered a weapon either."

"The fourth component is the propulsion system. However, a propulsion system cannot be considered a weapon. And of course the fifth component is Tony Stark himself, as the suit was built by him, for him, therefore no one else can wear it without Stark editing and reshaping the suit for them. Unlike myself, Stark has not been classified as a lethal weapon due to a lack of any specialized training, therefore none of the five primary components of the Iron Man suit can be considered a weapon."

Hammer immediately stated, "Wait, what about those beam things he shoots from his hands! How are those not weapons?"

Harry theatrically rolled his eyes which caused Tony to smile. Harry snapped twice and the hologram changed to show the wrist mounted repulsors and even showed a holographic scene of them firing. Harry stated, "Those are stabilizing thrusters and are a part of the propulsion system. They are basically the wheels on a car. Hitting people with those is not much different than running over someone with a car's front tire, and tires are not considered weapons. Tony obviously plays too much Grand Theft Auto and simply enjoys using them too much."

Hammer added, "What about the missiles and lasers he has built into the armor?"

Harry nodded and said, "Those are add-ons. If Hammer Industries or the United States Government wants to know how to build a laser or build a missile, I'm sure there is a patent somewhere they can learn from."

Harry snapped his fingers again and the hologram changed to show the patent application for a laser. The patent application was about forty years old, but a laser was a laser.

Harry asked Senator Stern, "Anything else?"

Stern shook his head and Harry walked over to pick up his disk and return to his seat.

The remainder of the hearing did not go well when Hammer tried to pull up some shaky evidence that would prove the U.S. needed the designs to the suit to counter other countries working on it, but Stark hacked the feed and showed how 'advanced' those attempts really were. Basically it was clear that no one working on replicating the suit was close to succeeding.

The next day Harry returned to New York, but once he got home, he took a portal to Malibu. Tony had already returned, since when Harry wasn't racing, Tony's plane could get him from DC to California faster than Harry could drive from DC to New York.

Not wanting Tony to know about portals yet, Harry portaled a few blocks down and then jumped over the wall to avoid the security parked out front watching Stark's gate from afar.

Tony was still asleep so Harry used his technopathy to disable the cameras and took out a table, a burner, a cauldron, and all of the ingredients he'd need for this brew. From the speakers, Jarvis asked, "May I inquire as to why my video surveillance is offline?"

Harry answered, "Nothing personal Jarvis, I just don't want a recording of what I'm about to do."

"And what exactly is it you are about to do sir?"

"You'll see when I'm done."

After an hour, the dastardly smell of the potion had filled the room and Tony was coming out of his room and shouting, "What died?! Jarvis, we need a-" And then he saw Harry in front of a completely stereotypical cauldron stirring the pot which was smoking a strange color.

"Harry, what are you cooking?"

"Your medicine," answered the Wizard. He hadn't made a potion in a while but the best part of the Path system was that not using a skill would not cause it to decrease in effect.

Stark's curiosity was stronger than his fear of the stench so he cautiously approached the cauldron and asked while pointing at the varied ingredients, "What are those?"

"Crushed nibble worm fangs, dried fire beetle dung, moonwart fungus sap, platypus venom, and a dozen other things you've probably never heard of."

"Uh huh. Jarvis?"

The AI responded, "I am unable to identify any of the items listed other than platypus venom which is not sold as far as I can tell. Also, my recording systems have been disabled since Mr. Potter's arrival, so I am unable to give you more details as to what Mr. Potter is concocting."

Harry turned off the fire and lifted the cauldron over to where Harry had set thirty one small vials. Harry skillfully poured the potion in each until the cauldron was empty and the thirty one vials were full. Harry then put a stopper on each one and put the whole set in the fridge.

Stark complained, "Hey, don't be putting strange things in my fridge!"

Harry took one vial and handed it to Stark "Drink it."

"Um, no? What is it?"

"Something that can flush heavy metals safely from your system without killing you. Drink one each day and you won't die anytime soon."

Stark looked at the tube again and asked, "Really?"

"Just treat it like a big shot glass and take it all in one go."

After hesitating for a few moments, Stark downed the vial and in the next moment cried, "Geez, I think death would be preferable." In order to combat the heavy metal poison Stark had been drinking chlorophyll for the last few months but a gallon of that gunk was preferable to a vial of this potion.

Harry shrugged, "Consider it motivation for finding a new way to fix your heart. Besides, it's effect is instant."

Stark rose an eyebrow at that and pulled a gizmo from his pocket and pressed his thumb next to it. A number glowed in it, [0%]

"Son of a bitch." He knew yesterday it was at 23% and it tended to rise a few percent every time he used the Suit, even if it was only for a few minutes. Stark asked, "Will it be this effective every time I use it?"

Harry nodded, "Yeah. But even if you don't use the suit, you still need to drink one a day until you find an alternative. Your body has remained poisoned for too long and this will give it a way to heal itself and prevent it from getting worse."

Tony made smacking sounds with his mouth showing that he was trying to get the taste out and said, "This is cruel and unusual and you know it. Besides, there isn't anything else, I've checked everything. None of your metagems can generate muons so unless you're holding out on me, I've got nothing."

Harry confirmed, "None of my metagems, even the ones I haven't made yet, can generate muons. But you don't need me. From what I understand your father already made what you're looking for."

"Wait, really? How do you know?"

Harry smiled, "I'll tell you exactly what it is if you let Brilliance Inc have the rights to it."

Stark blinked at that and said, "Oh no. If my old man figured it out, I'll figure it out. I'm not letting you have my legacy."

Harry laughed and started putting his equipment into an expanded bag. Tony watched bug eyed as Harry shoved several cubic meters worth of equipment into a bag Harry then placed on his waist.

"Can I have one?"

Harry answered, "If you behave I'll think about it," and headed for the back door.

Tony didn't see him off, he was too busy thinking over what Harry said. He knew he wasn't going to die now and Harry pretty much confirmed what he was looking for existed somewhere he could find it.. Now he just had to figure out where.