Hearing Su Che's words, Tony Stark made a throat-slitting gesture. But obviously, he had no rebuttal.
Regarding the palladium poisoning, he simply couldn't find a good solution for now. The only way to alleviate it was by drinking chlorophyll juice.
"Haven't you ever thought about having surgery to remove the shrapnel from the blood vessels near your heart?" Sitting on the wool carpet, Su Che held a wine glass, looking at the somewhat disheveled Tony Stark through the dark red liquid.
"Come on, man. I don't believe that's possible with current medical technology." Tony Stark, also sitting on the carpet with his legs bent and leaning against the sofa, raised his hand: "If it were a normal injury, fine. But the problem is, those tiny bomb fragments are inside the blood vessels. Right now, I can only rely on the energy from this Arc Reactor to keep those tiny shrapnel in check. Surgery? Heh, I'd estimate an 80% failure rate."
"You should have a little more confidence in yourself." Listening to Tony, Su Che leaned back: "After all, there are so many top doctors in the world; maybe they can come up with the most reasonable plan."
Well, in Iron Man 3, Tony's surgery was very successful. And then, in Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark smashed the Arc Reactor right into Steve's hand.
"I have plenty of confidence in myself. But I don't have much confidence in those doctors. So I'm looking for a way myself. Over there, those two boxes were brought by my new assistant, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. She had people deliver all my father's relics stored at S.H.I.E.L.D. to me." At this point, Tony Stark sneered: "These guys probably think that just because I can't find a solution for now, my old man, who's been dead for so many years, would have one!"
"By the way, let me show you something!" As he spoke, Tony Stark took a document from the side and handed it to Su Che.
Taking the document from Tony, Su Che opened it and glanced through it. It was a hearing notice.
"These idiots think my Mark armor is a weapon. So they're holding a hearing specifically for me, hoping I'll hand over the Mark armor or disclose its core information to them. Heh, buddy, what do you think these idiots are thinking? They actually want me to reveal the armor's core secrets to them? If they have a Mark armor on their side then, would I still be the one and only Iron Man?"
Looking at the hearing document in his hand, Su Che tossed it onto the floor: "You got notified to attend a hearing, and my café got audited by the IRS. Don't you think that's quite a coincidence?"
"IRS? They're bothering you?"
"Yep!" Spreading his hands while leaning against the sofa, Su Che said to Tony: "The manager of my Blossom Woods Café is that girl named Selina. Her total income this month is nearly $7,000. That includes her basic manager's salary of $500 per week, which is $2,000 a month, plus customer tips, points redemption money, etc., totaling $7,000. Besides her, there are part-timers—college students who only work a few hours a day for an hourly wage—they count as part-time. Other regular employees at the café can make $2,000 to $3,000 a month. So the IRS thinks there's something wrong with my café's books."
Hearing Su Che's breakdown, Tony Stark wasn't surprised at all: "If I were the IRS, I'd investigate you too. After all, judging by the current hourly wage standards set by the Workers' Union for service industries like restaurants, cafés, and hotels, ten bucks is pretty standard for land use. Not counting the girl named Selina and the part-time college students, the regular café employees are making two to three thousand a month including tips. If they don't investigate you, who should they investigate?"
[Note: The timeline is 2008, but calculated according to the 2010 trade union standards.]
At this point, Tony Stark suddenly reacted. His body, originally sitting on the carpet leaning against the sofa, straightened up. Looking at Su Che, who was still smiling and seemed unsurprised, he said suspiciously: "You mean, it's very likely some people have already guessed that you are the Silver Moon Knight? If that's the case, then everything makes a lot more sense. I was investigating Obadiah Stane's secret private accounts, so I got hit with a hearing. You helped me as the Silver Moon Knight, so your café gets audited by the IRS. So, I'm the one who dragged you into this."
Speaking of this, Tony Stark nodded thoughtfully: "However, being able to mobilize not only the IRS but also get those guys in Congress to initiate a hearing against me... this suggests the people we're investigating have quite a background. They might even be members of Congress themselves."
As he spoke, Tony Stark's eyes lit up, and he immediately stood up from the floor. "Dude, you keep drinking. I'm going to use this clue to trace it back!"
After saying that, Tony Stark walked over to his computer and turned it on, simultaneously having J.A.R.V.I.S. retrieve all the information on the Congressmen and the hearing committee members.
Watching Tony Stark start investigating in the "right" direction, Su Che held his wine glass, seemingly playing with his phone out of boredom, but actually texting Natasha Romanoff.
She can start now, and frame Senator Stern!
Tony's investigation -> leads to Stern -> Stern gets caught, his true HYDRA identity is revealed -> "accidentally" discover the HYDRA base in Sokovia!
Tsk, it's a perfect closed loop, isn't it? This way, we can get Wanda and Pietro out. Even if HYDRA tries to counter-investigate, they can only trace it back to Stern. That way, they can only curse Stern in the shadows. ...0
And through Stern, we might be able to dig up more HYDRA clues. That's why we must start from Tony's side. Everything must have a valid reason! Including the destruction of the HYDRA base in Sokovia, every step must have perfect evidence and "accidental" discoveries.
But what Su Che didn't expect was that he had just sent a text to Natasha Romanoff not long ago, reminding her she could start work, and before Natasha had even produced all the "clues," Tony had already made a new discovery!
"Damn it, I knew it couldn't be that simple!" He clapped his hands lightly and enlarged the system projection in front of Su Che. Soon, a photo composed of light blue holographic projections appeared before Su Che!
"Man, I followed the money trails of those Congressmen and found some key evidence. Even though it went through layers of obfuscation and even involved anonymous account cleansing records from small foreign banks, I still managed to trace the owner of the damned anonymous account based on the list!"
"It's this Congressman named Stern. Damn it, no wonder there's a hearing! You should know, he's the chairman of the upcoming hearing! I bet your IRS audit is his fault too!"
Looking at the photo displayed on the holographic projection in front of him, Su Che was momentarily surprised. He never expected that before Natasha Romanoff had even started the "Framing Project," Tony had actually found him himself!
Tsk, effortless success, perfect!