AN: "Will be going back to more frequent shorter chapters now."

_____

While everyone was taking a break, Tony got the Death Commandos and transported them to another location. He separated them from the rest because of what he was about to do next.

First thing he did after isolating them was have them stripped. All their weapons and equipment were already taken away, but Tony still wasn't confident enough to say that they are fully disarmed. Some of them may still have equipment hidden at someplace that they could use to escape.

After removing every possible equipment he can think of from the prisoners, he had his symbiote split and then bond with each and every one of them.

Tony used the symbiote to take control of their bodies. With these, the prisoners shouldn't pose any more threat. Not only could he affect their movements, he also used the link to slowly siphon their powers off of them.

He was also going to try All-Black's more sinister abilities.

_____

After learning about the Shi'ar Empire, Tony started worrying about what would happen in the future.

As far as he could tell, even if he won the trial, the Majestor of the Empire may still overrule the decision. And based on the way the Majestor easily gave 'Jean' time to prepare, Tony was sure that something like that could happen.

The only way Tony could win without any complications was with a trial by combat. If he won the fight, they would respect the results and let Jean go.

While Jean would be free, there is still one problem, the Shi'ar. They would still be hunting the Phoenix. They would keep on targeting the Phoenix's host as well as the host offspring.

Jean may be free but there's little chance that they'll let her offspring go. And with the way things are going between her and Tony, this offspring would be Tony's.

Tony wasn't thinking about having kids any time soon but he still didn't like the idea. He wouldn't just allow someone to target his future kids.

He wanted to make sure that this thing never happens.

The easiest he can think of is to control their system. By controlling the decision-makers, he would be ȧssured that the whole empire wouldn't target his kids.

There might still be some smaller groups who would target his kids, but Tony wouldn't be as concerned. He might even consider letting some of them slip past his protection. It is a way to temper his kids. Tony wanted his kids to live in peace, but it didn't mean he wanted them unprepared.

Tony thought about how he would control the Shi'ar.

He dismissed controlling them through some kind of technology. The Shi'ar is currently more advanced than he was. Any attempt he would do would only alarm them. He could surpass their technology given time, but he just didn't have the time.

He also dismissed using shadow clones to impersonate them. The clones are not the real person. One look from their telepaths and they would easily be revealed. They may not be allowed to look into an official's memories, but they are still allowed to peek if only to confirm the person's identity.

Tony did know of a way that he could control them. It was using magic. He got a spell from Darkhold that he could use to control someone's will. It was essentially a spell to turn the person he targeted into his slave.

The problem was the spell's power source. Even if when modified, the spell still drew energy from some other dimension and not from Tony. The spell is based around the energy and Tony still has no way to replicate it. This uncertain factor made Tony dismiss it as it could bite him back later. He wasn't fully in control of the spell which left an opening that could allow someone else to control his slaves.

Since most options were not feasible, Tony thought about using his symbiote. Unlike dark magic, he has full control of it. He also could bypass the telepaths as they should still be able to detect the original host's mind.

He also had something else in mind. He just needs to test some things on actual subjects first.

_____

Once he made sure each one had been bonded completely, Tony contacted Phoenix for ȧssistance.

After the Phoenix got ready, Tony started his tests.

He channeled some psionic energy into his symbiote. He then used both his human and symbiote body to try and read the minds of his prisoners.

Since Tony has telepathic powers of his own now, he has a way to see a person's memories without running the risk of forming a split personality.

While he failed his first few tries, he was soon able to successfully read mind. He read the minds of all of his prisoners.

After getting all the information he needed, he proceeded to his actual tests.

___

Tony wanted to see if he could bond the Phoenix Force with his symbiote body, All-Black.

While normal symbiotes were weak against fire, All-Black was an exception. It should be able to combine with the Phoenix in theory.

There was only one problem. The two entities weren't exactly compatible.

All-Black was supposed to come from the shadows while Phoenix is fire and life incarnate. The concepts they represent are sort of opposites. The relationship wasn't direct, it still made him doubt if it was possible to combine the two.

____

Tony had the Phoenix create some flames that he applied on a part of All-Black that he had separated.

The flame was able to recognize Tony's consciousness in the symbiote. It surrounded the symbiote, but Tony didn't feel pain from the fire.

After making sure it was safe, Tony then started testing out ideas he thought about to try mixing the flames with the symbiote. He thought of multiple combinations and then tested the results on the Death Commandos.

____

After finishing the tests Tony returned to the others.

He heard Mastermind shouting the moment he arrived.

Mastermind was approaching the people from Magneto's Brotherhood.

Mastermind: "Help me undo these restraints. I Magneto, command you to release me."

He already started drawing flame but he was held back by Magneto.

Magneto: "Patience young one. His fate isn't to be determined by us. But by the person, he did wrong to. "

Tony heard this as his cue and decided to buŧŧ in. "Oh please. If you let Jean or other X-men deal with him, they would just have him locked up somewhere. "

Magneto: "Please. Have a little more confidence in Charles. He may be old but he could still learn"

Tony: "Fine. But I still think they would let him off easy. Don't you want to handle things internally?"

Magneto: "Let's just settle this when the time comes. Do you need anything else?"

Tony: "Not really. I just came here to ask if you still want some revenge."

____

Shi'ar Imperial Library

While Tony was dealing with the Death Commandos, he had his clones collect all the data he could. He didn't have them disperse earlier to avoid the chance of him being distracted by the information.

Now, he was ready to take in all the information.

He made sure the clothes he wore were presentable and signaled his clones to disperse. They dispersed on the queue.

All the information his clones gathered were transferred to Tony at the same time. Tony was overwhelmed with all the information that he received.

The Shi'ar Empire isn't like the Kree which is just a single massive civilization. It is made up of different species and millions of worlds. Each of those species contributed some unique technology to the empire.

While the information stored in the library has been reviewed and most duplicate information removed, the total amount of information contained in it was still massive. Tony felt that he wouldn't be able to process all this information so any time soone. He decided to speed up his thinking speed so that all the information he recieved were organized in his mind instead of just leaving it all in a mess.

After he finished organizing all the things he learned, he was so mentally exhausted that he decided to sleep.

_____

When Tony woke up, he was greeted by Oracle(Sybil). She informed him that the trial will be starting soon.

Oracle: "I hope you found what you were looking for. If not, then too bad. The trial will be commencing. Any request to delay the trial wouldn't be entertained."

Tony: "I think I got everything. Unless there is some secret library hidden somewhere."

Oracle: "It was the Emperor who granted you access to all information available in the Shi'ar Empire. It is an insult to even think that we would do such a thing."

Tony: "All right, calm down. Sorry about that. But I couldn't help it. Back in my planet, people with power tend to have these kinds of secret stuff lying around all over the place. I just can't help but think the same here."

After accepting Tony's apology, she inquired as to why he appeared in this form. He was still in his male appearance and didn't transform back to Jean after all.

Tony: "Well, this would help reduce confusion during conversations. Jean still hasn't shown signs of regaining consciousness. So, I am going to be the one doing all the talking. Does it matter what form I appear as?"

Oracle thought about it. Other than herself, no one important knew of the accused's appearance. All her superiors were also referring to the accused as a male. The only one who still considers the accused as female is her. "I guess not. But if you were able to successfully win the trial, the Shi'ar would recognize this appearance of your as innocent and not Jean's appearance."

Tony was a bit perplexed with what she said.

Oracle: "What's with that look?"

Tony: "Nothing. I'm just wondering. Did tell anyone about Jean after you were ȧssigned as her counsel?"

Oracle: "No. It is my duty to protect the privacy of those that I counsel. I believe you have a similar concept on your planet."

Tony: "Yeah we do. It's just… you know what, forget that I asked."

Oracle: "Alright. But did your inquiry change something?"

Tony: "Kind of. It did change something, but not much."

Oracle: "Then I am glad to be of some help. If there is nothing else, we should start moving."

Tony: "One last thing. Can I wear a costume?"

Oracle: "Costume?"

Tony: "Mask, outerwear, cape. That sort of stuff. Can I wear it during trial?"

Oracle: "I don't understand why you would need such a thing."

Tony: "I was just thinking about the appearance thing. If I went on trial wearing a costume, then people wouldn't know about Jean's appearance until after the verdict is given. I would be able to represent Jean in trial without the confusion. Then, I could just reveal Jean's appearance later."

Oracle: "I need to check with others."

Tony: "Fine. By the way, I already uploaded the design in one of your computer things. Can you help me make it in your molecular synthesizer? You can even make it using chocolate if you're so concerned about security."

Oracle was starting to wonder, did he ask the trial to be delayed to prepare for his defense or did he ask the delay to have one more day to enjoy life.

She looked at the costume Tony designed.

It was Darth Vader's suit.

Tony recreated the design from the helmet down to the boots. The only difference was the height. The design was 18 cm (7") shorter due to his height. It was a considerable difference that Tony decided to leave it be. Adding heels or changing his height would just affect him negative during combat.

Oracle was kind of impressed by the level of detail of some areas in his design: "How did you have the time to design such thing?"

Tony: "Let's just say that I have a hard time maintaining focus."

Tony actually wanted to add another request of playing the Imperial March during his entrance, but Oracle was still hasn't even got the go signal for the costume. He decided to wait and raise his requests one request at a time.

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