The next morning, at Capitol Hill.

Laura had decided that she hated politics.

Laura was slouching in her chair to the right of Tony in front of the committee in the packed chambers.

She had an American flag pin on her navy blue pant suit jacket, playing them at their own game.

A row of photographers were taking their pictures in front of them while a senator repeatedly slammed his gavel.

She herself had a migraine from the whole affair and the gavel wasn't helping.

The banging echoing in her head loudly.

She pinched the bridge of the nose underneath her glasses with her eyes closed, her patience having run out long ago.

She and Tony had been asked questions for hours now, the two refusing to comply but the senators didn't back down.

Tony himself was turned around, talking to Pepper in the crowd who was trying to get him to focus.

This particular one she concluded was very annoying.

"Mr. Stark, could we pick up now where we left off? Mr. Stark. Please." Senator Stern repeated himself.

"Yes dear?" he joked, causing the crowd to laugh while turning back around.

"Can I have your attention?" Stern asked again.

"Absolutely." he nodded.

"Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?" Stern asked.

"I do not." he answered.

"You do not?" Stern asked again.

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

"The Iron Man weapon." Stern clarified.

"My device does not fit that description." he argued.

"Well… How would you describe it?" Stern asked.

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

"As?" Stern tried again.

"It's a high-tech prosthesis." he joked, causing the crowd to laugh.

Laura smirked slightly with her eyes still closed.

"That is… That is… That's actually the most apt description I can make of it." he added and Stern looked over at Laura.

"Ms. Watson, do I have you full attention?" he asked with annoyance, seeing her slouching with her eyes closed.

She readjusted her glasses while straightening up towards her mic.

"Not particularly. Politics bore me. You bore me." she insulted, causing some jeers and ooh's in the crowd.

"Ms. Watson. I will ask you the same question. Does Mr. Stark possess a specialized weapon?" he asked her.

"Once again I will tell you, Stern, it's not a weapon, no matter how many times you use the word "weapon" And it's a suit, Senator. The word is literally in the title. Apparently reading comprehension isn't a qualification to become a Senator. Not that I'm surprised, Senator." she mocked him.

Tony smiled proudly while the crowd laughed.

"Ms. Watson if I hear one more remark…" he began to scold her but she interrupted him.

"Don't you "Ms. Watson" me. I don't wanna be here. Neither does Mr. Stark. All of this is just political bullshit from you. If you actually served the American citizen…" she began but he interrupted her.

"My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America." Stern revealed.

"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 or what state you're in. You can't have it." he joked.

"Look, I'm no expert…" Stern began but Laura interrupted him.

"Clearly."

"In prostitution? Of course not. You're a senator. Come on." Tony joked again which he waved to the laughing crowd.

He looked back at Pepper who shook her head no at him.

"I'm no expert in weapons. We have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I'd now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor." Stern introduced him.

Laura watched him eye her in particular as he walked in, wearing a charcoal grey suit and sat down on the table opposite to them.

Hammer Industries had taken over for weapons contracting after Stark stopped making and Laura herself knew their products were mediocre at best.

"Let the record reflect that I observed Mr. Hammer entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance." Tony insulted.

"Shots fired." Laura added as Hammer laughed awkwardly.

He got up, grabbed a mic, and began pacing between them and the Senators.

"Absolutely. I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony. Even your protégé Ms. Watson over there..." he said while gesturing towards her and she narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're the wonder boy. Senator, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad. Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age. Let's just be clear, he was no flower child. He was a lion." Tony gave him a look and Laura rolled her eyes once again.

"We all know why we're here. In the last six months, Anthony Stark has created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet, he insists it's a shield. He asks us to trust him 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. God bless Iron Man. God bless America." he concluded and sat down.

"That is well said Mr. Hammer. The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber." Stern announced.


"Shit." Laura cursed while slouching back in her chair.

Rhodey marched down the aisle in his uniform as Tony got up to shake his hand.

"Hey, buddy. I didn't expect to see you here." he told him.

"Look, it's me, I'm here. Deal with it. Let's move on." Rhodey ignored him.

"I just…" he began but Rhodey interrupted him.

"Drop it." he said while sitting down next to Hammer.

"All right, I'll drop it." Tony said and sat down next to Laura.

"Welcome to the shit show Rhodey. I'd share my popcorn but it ran out." she joked while reaching over Tony and Rhodey simply stared at her, unamused with her behavior.

"I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon, complied by Colonel Rhodes. And, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?" Stern asked while holding a copy of his report.

"You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?" he asked confused.

"Yes, sir." Stern nodded.

"It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner." he stated.

"I understand. A lot of things have changed today." Stern said while looking at Laura who smiled back.

"So if you could just read…" he asked Rhodey again but he interrupted him.

"You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summery of my final…" he tried explaining.

"Just read it, Colonel. I do. Thank you." Stern ended his argument.

"Very well…" Rhodey began reading his copy of the report.

"As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests." I did however, go on to summarize that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh three liabilities and that it would be in our interest…" he quoted but Stern interrupted him.

"That's enough Colonel." "…to fold Mr. Stark…" Rhodey continued and Laura smiled, knowing what he was doing.

"That's enough." Stern tried again.

"…into the existing chain of command, Senator." he finished.

"I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of Defense, if you ask nice." Tony joked.

"I'll take the Senator job for New York please. You make it look easy." Laura joked as well and the two smirked at each other.

"I'd like to go on and show, if I may, the imagery that's connected to your report." Stern asked.

"I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at this time." he argued.

"With all due respect, Colonel, I understand. And if you could just narrate those for us, we'd be very grateful. Let's have the images." Stern asked again and they began to appear on the TV for them.

"Intelligence suggests that the devices seen in these photos are, in fact, attempts at making manned copies of Mr. Stark's suit. This has been corroborated by our allies and local intelligence on the ground…" Rhodey said as Tony brought out a Stark Phone.

"How'd you get that!" Laura hissed at him since the device was supposed to be reveal by her today.

He waved her off and she sighed while slouching back into her chair and crossed her arms.

"… indicating that these suits are quite possibly, at this moment, operational." Rhodey warned.

"Hold on a second buddy. Let me see something here." Tony paired his phone to the TV, breaking into the system.

"Boy, I'm good. I commandeered your screens. I need them. Time for a little transparency. Now, let's see what's really going on." he said, getting everyone's attention.

"What is he doing?" Stern asked angrily.

"Showing the full truth, Senator." Laura said firmly into the mic.

"If you will direct your attention to said screens, I believe that's North Korea." a video showed a poorly made suit falling over around engineers while shooting gunfire all over the place, striking the camera itself.

"Can you turn that off? Take it off." Stern ordered.

Hammer got up and began messing with the cords on the TV.

"Iran." a suit took off for five seconds before crashing, causing a fiery explosion.

"No grave threat here. Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game? Justin, you're on TV. Focus up." everyone watched him being recorded with a suit being tested with a pilot inside.

Tony gave Rhodey a smug look who covered up his smile with his hand.

"Okay, give me a left twist. Left's good. Turn to the right." Hammer was heard but the suit twisted unnaturally, causing the crowd the to gasp.

"Oh, shit. Oh, shit." Hammer's voice was heard and he managed to turn off the TV.

"Wow. Yeah, I'd say most countries, five, ten years away. Hammer Industries…" Tony began but Laura spoke up.

"Twenty Tony. Twenty." she mocked while gesturing her hands towards Hammer.

"I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived." Hammer reassured them.

"I think we're done is the point that he's making. I don't think there's any reason…" Stern said but Tony interrupted him.

"The point is, you're welcome, I guess." he said smugly.

"For what?" Stern asked without amusement.

"Because I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. We're safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favor." he got up and faced the crowd.

"I've successfully privatized world peace!" he made peace signs with both hands, causing everyone to get up and cheer for him.

"What more do you want? For now! I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns." Tony insulted the Senators.

"I didn't even bother!" Laura exclaimed while getting up.

"Thank you for coming to today's performance. We'll be here all week!" she gave a mock bow particularly to Stern.

"Fuck you Mr. Stark. Fuck you Ms. Watson! We're adjourned. We're adjourned for today." he slammed his gavel as Tony put on his sunglasses and Laura grabbed her bag from between her feet.

"Well that was fun." she joked to Tony.

"See that wasn't so bad." he joked back.


Meanwhile, in Wakanda.

T'Chaka and T'Challa were watching them shaking hands while walking out.

"She has her mother's wit. That's for sure." T'Chaka said and closed the holographic into his bracelet.

"What did you find out about her?" he asked T'Challa.

"She graduated with honors from MIT in 2000. She has worked for Mr. Stark since she graduated. He promoted her after their kidnapping." he answered and T' Chaka nodded.

"Do you want me to continue with your plan?" he answered.

"Yes. I'm doing it for her Baba."