𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫?

༻ ❁ ༺

May 2009

US Capitol Building
Washington DC

          "MR. STARK," Someone rapped on the podium with a gavel, and an agitated and slick voice spoke. "Could we pick up now where we left off?"

Charlotte fidgeted in her seat and turned to glance at her mom, a somewhat confused expression was on her face. Pepper didn't notice her daughter's movements until she felt a small hand press down on top of her own. Glancing down at the girl, Pepper gave her hand a reassuring smile as she gently squeezed her hand. She noticed how Charlotte was rather nervously observing her misbehaving father, as he continued to semi spin in his chair at the desk in the center of the courtroom.

The gavel banged once more, louder this time, in an attempt to regain Tony's attention. "Mr. Stark, please," the same slick voice as before spoke.

"Yes, dear," Tony quipped, turning to the microphone with a little smirk. The audience that had gathered, Charlotte included, snickered at the exchange. Pepper lightly nudged Charlotte's leg and when the young girl looked at her mother, she instantly shrunk as she was met with the hard and stern stare that only a mother possessed.

"Could I have your attention?" Senator Stern asked, passing a disapproving and exasperated look in his direction.

"Absolutely," Tony replied, an intentionally fake smile plastered on his lips. It was apparent to Charlotte that everyone in the crowd was on her father's side, the scattered and audible chuckles were evidence enough.

Clearing his throat Senator Stern pressed on. "Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?"

"I do not," Tony stated, leaning closer to the microphone.

"You do not?" Stern pressed.

"I do not," Tony repeated, his tone of voice never changing. He paused for a moment to muse over his thinking. "Well, it depends on how you define the word."

"The Iron Man weapon," Stern pressed.

"My device does not fit that description," her dad responded, his voice balanced and firm.

"Oh, well," Stern appeared stunned. "How would you describe the device?" he asked, shifting forward in his chair, his brow furrowed.

"I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator," Tony responded, his smirk had totally gone and his voice had hardened, cutting off the end of the Senator's sentence in the process.

"As?"

"Ah, it's a, um, its a high-tech prosthesis," Tony said, clearly hesitating to choose his words carefully. "That's actually the most apt description I could make of it," He continued over the laughing audience, all but Pepper seemed to be enjoying this.

"Is that how you would describe the prosthesis you built for your daughter?"

Tony's entire demenure changed. He shifted in his chair, pulling himself completely upright and his expression turned hard and calculated as he glared at the Senator. "My daughter is not a part of this hearing." His voice was firm. "Tell me Senator, if you were in the same position my wife and I found ourselves in - having only minutes to prepare a two year old for a life saving operation, then I would like to think that you would have made the same decision as we did. Would you have preferred for us to allow our daughter to die?"

The room fell silent, apart from the occasional shutter clicking from the media, a pin could be heard dropping.

"So," Tony continued, not permitting the Senator a chance to respond, "if you think for a second that I would endanger my daughter's life by attaching a weapon, to her person, then that is a conversation that you and I can have at another time. Off the record, of course."

The room fell silent once more, the jurors and other partial judges seemed to shift uncomfortably.

"Well," Stern stammered. "I meant no offence."

"Right," Tony whispered, chuckling lightly to himself.

"Nevertheless, it is a weapon," Stern said, his voice was now at an awkward pitch. He was uncomfortable. "Mr. Stark, it is a weapon -," He was interrupted promptly by Tony, who was scornfully gazing at the Senator.

"Please, if your priority was actually the wellbeing of the American citizenry –"

However, Stern continued talking, "My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."

"That's not fair," Charlotte spoke out of turn, and a little louder than she expected. Some of the jurors shifted their attention to her, and she shrunk inwardly against her mom. "Dad made the suit. He didn't hurt anyone."

Pepper did not know what to say, "Not everyone will see it that way." She managed to reply, "It's not that simple, sweetheart. I wish it was."

"Well, you can forget it," Tony bluntly asserted, ignoring the cameras flashing in his face.

"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," he turned around in his seat and pointed a finger in her direction. "Honey, cover your ears," he said with a wink before turning back to face the main panel, "prostitution, depending on which state you're in." When the others around him chuckled, he didn't skip a beat. "You can't have it."

As Pepper shook her head in disapproval, Charlotte kept her ears covered. After the retort, she signed to her daughter that it was alright to listen again, which made her uncover her ears as people seated around the two looked at the little girl affectionately. A photographer even managed to snap a picture of the moment.

"Look, I'm no, expert –" Stern began. He was growing increasingly flustered and agitated with the billionaire.

"In prostitution?" said Tony. "Of course not, you're a senator! Come on!" He threw his arm out and gestured to the crowd to make the attendees laugh once more. Tony made a brief eye-contact with Pepper, who disapprovingly shook her head at him, then looked at his daughter, and he settled back down with a grim expression at once when he did not see her even smile.

"I'm no expert in weapons," continued Stern, brushing off the snippy remark. "But we have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I would now like to call Justin Hammer, our primary weapons contractor –"

Before beginning, Tony gave a suspicious look at the man taking a seat at the other end of the table. "Let the record reflect that I observe Mr. Hammer entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance."

Charlotte covered her mouth to giggle. She felt bad that her father was picking on someone, but even she had to admit that it did make her chuckle.

As the crowd whispered among themselves about the apparent disrespect Tony had just displayed, Senator Stern rapped again with the gavel. After all, it was well-known that Justin Hammer would not have DOD contracts if Tony Stark was still producing weapons.

Justin Hammer laughed if he was off, though. He had a very slouching, careless way that tried to exude competence and trust, but didn't do either in reality. "Absolutely, I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony." He smirked at the man in question. "You're the Wonderboy."

"Senator, if I may," continued Hammer, standing from his seat and walking around the table. In his hand, he carries the microphone as if he was conducting a sermon. "I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert, your dad," He pointed at Tony. "Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and to the military industrial age."

By watching her back, Charlotte could feel her dad tense, couldn't believe that Hammer had brought the name of her grandfather. Justin Hammer was unfamiliar to her, so she didn't know whether he had earned the right to talk about her family as if they were friendly.

"Let's just be clear, he was no flower child," Hammer continued. "He was a lion." Senator Stern looked greatly pleased with the dark expression on Tony's face.

"We all know why we're here," continued Hammer, "In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet he insists its a shield. He asks us to trust him," He gave his head a deprecating shake, a genuinely childish, sarcastic smile showing his disdain towards Tony as plain as day. "as we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony, I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house. But this ain't Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats – threats that Mr. Stark will not always be able to foresee. Thank you," as he walked back to his chair, Hammer turned and gestured with a small salute.

"God bless Iron Man, and God bless America."

Charlotte frowned at the performance, her own disdain for the showboating man was elevating. She did not like Justin Hammer.

The only people who cheered Hammer's speech were those on the panel and some scattered audience members. Senator Stern spoke again:

"That is well said, Mr. Hammer. The Committee would now like to invite Lieutenant-Colonel James Rhodes to the Chamber."

Uncle Rhodey?

"Rhodey? What?" Tony said as the press leaped to their feet, slightly surprised. Clearly, he was caught off guard. Charlotte mirrored his actions, as they looked towards the back of the Chamber.

She couldn't believe it. Was her godfather really going to testify against her father?

Lieutenant-Colonel James Rhodes walked down the aisle, avoiding connecting with Charlotte's puzzled expression. As Rhodey approached the table and walked back towards him, Tony rose to his feet, "Hey, buddy," he greeted him pleasantly, grasping his old friend's hand, "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Look, It's me, I'm here, deal with it, let's move on." He concluded aptly, nodding at his friend briefly.

"I just -" began Tony.

"Drop it," In a tone that brooked no debate, Rhodey said as they made their way back together to their seats.

"All right, I'll drop it," Tony said, with a fake smile on his face, for the sake of the media. "Charlie will be excited that you're here. She's been pestering me to take her to the hanger again."

For Rhodey, that was a low blow, but Tony was right; at that moment, Rhodey couldn't even bear to look at his goddaughter.

"I have before me a complete report of the Iron Man weapon compiled by Colonel Rhodes," Stern stated, "and, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page fifty-seven, paragraph four?"

"You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?" To make it clear to everyone watching, Rhodey explained that he knew exactly what the senator was trying to do.

"Yes, sir," said Stern.

"It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner," Rhodey said calmly.

"I understand," Stern said quickly, obviously not wanting him to go down that line of thinking too far. "A lot of things have changed today, so would you just read."

However, by changing the subject, Rhodey was not going to let him get away and began talking about him. "You understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summary of my findings–"

"Just read it, Colonel, I do. Thank you" Stern told him, sharply.

Rhodey gave a measured look to the Senator. His eyes then fell to his report, "Very well," he said and turned to the requested page. "As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to both the security of the nation and to her interests." Then, though obviously hating the situation, Rhodey passed an apologetic look towards Tony.

"Why is uncle Rhodey saying that?" Charlotte asked Pepper, confused by what was happening.

Pepper pursed her lips and sadly shook her head, "He doesn't want to, but they are making him read his report in a way that makes your father's suit look unsafe."

"But why is uncle Rhodey saying it, if he doesn't want to?" Charlotte stammered, trying to understand.

"He has no choice, Charlie. He's under oath and they are manipulating that." Pepper kept her voice low as not to cause a disturbance.

Rhodey looked back up, visibly dissatisfied, "I did, however, go on to summarize that the benefits if Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities and that it would be in our interests –" Stern hastily tried to stop the Colonel from speaking a few times throughout that sentence, but Rhodey held his ground and continued speaking. "– to fold Mr. Stark into the existing chain of command, sir."

Tony leaned forward to talk into a microphone on his own table. "I'm not a joiner," he quipped, "but I'll consider Secretary of Defense if you ask nice, we can amend the hours a little bit." His quips continued to get his laughs from the crowd, indicating that the attempt of Stern to turn the public against him were still ineffective.

Stern cleared his throat, he seemed nervous once again. "I'd like to go on and show, if I may, to the imagery that's connected to your report."

"I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public," With a smile that did not hit his eyes, Rhodey responded.

"With all due respect," In a tone that indicated no respect, the Senator said, "Colonel, I understand, and if you could just narrate those for us, we'd be very grateful."

Rhodey gestured to the man who switched on large television monitor to the side of the room, recognising that he could do little else. As Rhodey started speaking, an aerial view of a compound was illustrated. "Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are in fact attempts at making manned copies of Mr. Starks Suit."

Tony frowned at this and he took out of his pocket a small gadget that looked like a smartphone and turned it on. When he started typing on it, his thumbs flew over the icons as Rhodey went on, "This has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground indicating that these Suits are quite possibly at this moment, operational."

"Hold on one second, buddy," Tony said, leaning forward with the small device in hand. "Let me see something here," In front of the flatscreen, he held up the little gadget and pushed an icon on it.

"Boy, I'm good," As a black box with numerous lines of code appeared, he praised himself and the words, 'WELCOME, MR. STARK', appeared over the previous screen and photographs. "I commandeered your screens," Hammer seemed bewildered by this creation, "I need em," he commented while he pressed another icon on the device. "Time for a little transparency. Now let's see what's really going on."

Stern seemed uneasy, "What is he doing?"

"If you'll direct your attention to said screens," Tony proceeded, ignoring the Senator while running his fingertips over it, and setting the device back down on the table. "I believe that's North Korea," He punched an icon and grainy video was displayed on the computer of a one-sized robot Mark taking a hesitant move and tearing down, causing a machine-gun spray fire.

Charlotte exclaimed, having been so quiet and attentive up until now. This would usually be boring for a child, but it was about her dad, so she wanted to behave and pay attention.

"Can you," Senator Stern was leaning forward and pointing. "Can you turn that off?" He ordered, panicking and knowing that his point was being undermined. Hammer stood up, in an effort to do exactly that, apparently.

"Iran," Tony continued, punching the button of his little computer once more. Hammer was fumbling with it in front of the TV by this time, so it was easy to see a man catapulting through the air in a flight attempt and crashing catastrophically, causing Charlotte to cringe. "No grave immediate threat here," Tony said, and then, with sudden curiosity, he perked up and added, "Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game?"

"Justin, you're on TV," Tony pointed out snarkly as Hammer tried to block the screen with his body, "Focus up." As members of the committee discussed amongst themselves, he exchanged a look with a sniggering Rhodey, clearly just having been made aware of this progress.

"I knew Mr. Hammer was being too nice, but he was also being mean what's that called, Pepper?"

"Passive-aggressive," As she watched the conversation with a tense smile, Pepper responded to her giddy husband.

"Remember that phrase, honey," he motioned to Charlotte, sending a cheeky smile in her direction. "You'll find it entirely useful later on in life."

"Okay, give me a left twist," said the Justin on the screen to his test subject, "Left's good. Turn to the right," Here the suit glitched with sparks flying off it as Hammer backed away, "Oh, shit!" cried the Justin on the screen, skipping backward as the suit began to collapse.

Justin managed to unplug the television at that moment, after which he immediately turned and started to scramble back to his seat. With whispering and some laughter, the room was rustling, and everyone was pointing. Senator Stern rubbed the bridge of his nose with dismay.

"Yeah, I'd say, uh, most countries, five to ten years away," Tony said, and he gestured to Justin, who had just returned to his chair. "Hammer Industries, at least twenty." he deadpanned.

"Id like to point out that that test pilot survived," Justin inputted, obviously humiliated and degraded.

Senator Stern stood up. "I think we're done, is the point that he's making," he said hurriedly, "I don't think there's any reason –"

"The point is, you're welcome, I guess," Tony told him.

"For what?" asked the Senator.

Because I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. We are safe. America is secure." Tony spread his hands and raised his voice, "You want my property? You can't have it!" With a thud, he dropped his hands down on the table. "But I did you a big favor!" He rose to his feet and turned to face the crowd, "I have successfully privatized world peace." There, when the crowd stood up and cheered, he held up peace signs with both hands.

"What more do you want?" cried Tony above the applause. "For now! I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns!" He pointed back to the panel of Congress members sitting before him.

"Swear!" Charlotte yelled at him, but as she clapped at her dad, she grinned, and Tony must have noticed her because he was winking at her.

Stern smiled at Tony and said, "Fuck you, Mr. Stark. Fuck you, buddy." he declared.

Charlotte gasped at what she just heard. "Big swear!"

"Were adjourned - were adjourned for today," Stern stated with a sigh. Tony's smile was beaming as he picked up his sunglasses, and put them on.

"'You've been a delight,' the Senator muttered in a voice that suggested Tony was just the opposite. The spectators were also in various periods of laughter. Rhodey shook his head in amazement at just what Tony had pulled from the committee.

Tony was now walking down the center aisle toward a camera that had since been positioned by the entranceway, "Cause my bond is with the people," he was saying. "And I will serve this great country at the pleasure of – myself! If there's one thing I've proven," said Tony proudly. "it's that you can count on me," He took off his sunglasses to look straight into the camera. "to pleasure myself!"

Before quickly taking her hand and marching from the room, Charlotte giggled as Tony walked straight over her afterward and high-fived her, "Dad, you're so weird. I love it!" she laughed at him, her voice blending with the cheering around them.