Chapter 6: The Tea Party

"Just out of curiosity, why didn't you go back into Neurosurgery? This is genius... Absolutely incredible." Bruce breathed, observing a formerly paraplegic brown and white spotted rat they'd picked up from a pet shop, that was now shambling along awkwardly on the lab counter. That had to be better than being snake food, right? Though, rather than an arc reactor, the power source was a re-chargeable lithium camera battery strapped to her back. Stephen stroked his mustache and smiled fondly.

"Many reasons, the most important one being that there are threats to this world that only I can prevent. I cannot allow anything to come before that work." He told Bruce. "I simply could not resist this project, though. Not when the results could do so much good for people who desperately need it. ...Assuming there will ever be a way to make it cost effective."

"There might be." Bruce said thoughtfully, watching the rat (who they'd named name Lily), as she poked her nose at the edge of Bruce's notes. "Most of the people this could help won't need a power source like the arc reactor actually implanted in their body. Assuming it could be something worn externally, it opens up a whole new realm of possibility."

"I see, in that sense, yes, this could be something that might be plausible for mainstream usage eventually." Stephen answered and watched Lily lose her footing. "Perhaps not for the weak of heart, though. The recovery process is sure to be discouraging." Carefully, Stephen touched Lily's tail with the end of his pen. She turned around and looked at him curiously. So, she can feel that she's being touched. Fascinating.

"From what Nat's said, I don't think Steel is faint of heart in the slightest." Bruce mused.

After badgering Hollie, Tony found his way to his workshop and was about to get back to work on the Mark 42 when Jarvis interrupted him.

"Sir, there are some files that Ms. Steel asked me to forward to you. They are available on your private secure server. She said to tell you quote: Il mio debito è pagato; buon Natale tardivo. (My debt is paid; merry belated Christmas.)" The AI told him. Tony raised his eyebrows.

"Merry Christmas? Huh? Bring up those files, Jarv." Tony said and nearly squealed like a little girl when he saw them. It was a complete list of every Stark weapon, and newly developed tech based on his weapons currently in SHIELD's possesion. Even better than that, it listed all their current locations and floor plans of the secret warehouses they were stored in. He wasn't sure what to do with the info that wouldn't get him thrown in jail or worse, but he knew one thing for sure – Hollie must not hate him as much as let on if she threw him a bone like this. Granted, he could have probably gotten a hold of these files in the past if he'd known where to look. SHIELD's databases were extensive and used numeric codes instead of keywords for the directories, which made searching for something you didn't know precisely where to find very difficult.

"The... Tea Party?" He said curiously and opened a directory that wasn't part of the weapons development files. It contained two text documents, one titled 'read me first' and 'The Tea Party Revolution'. Tony opened the 'read me' one. It turned out to be a note from Hollie:

Stark,

I'm not giving you access to this information to go and blow up SHIELD's warehouses – that won't solve a damn thing. The terrorist attacks that have been going on are all connected and orchestrated by a group called the 'Tea Party'. No, not the political party – though they do have some minor investment in the rebellion. Regardless, the Tea Party seeks to overthrow the government to revert to more conservative principals with a new constitution based on thoroughly bastardized principals of the Catholic faith. The Government and higher-ups at SHIELD know this, but so far they've been able to keep it quiet as far as the public is concerned.

I'm telling you this because I was assigned alongside Romanov and Barton to put a stop the rebellion, and now I can't. It won't be long until they get proper footing. They're very well-funded and have support in high places. By that, I mean the Italian Mafia and a group of Afghan Terrorists that call themselves the Ten Rings. A man by the name of Dante Carnivale is a high ranking member of the insurgence. He's using a false Identity, but I do not know it. He is Mafia, and responsible for the murder of my family. He hunts me at every turn for betraying him to join SHIELD.

Part of their plan is to seize SHIELD's weapon facilities and use their tech against them, should the government continue to ignore their demands. They have the resources to do this easily. And they will blow up as many civilians as it takes to make a point. The death toll was in the hundreds before the fiasco at the Macy's and there's been more attacks since then judging by the news. SHIELD's been covering it all up to keep the public from panicking.

If they're not stopped, there will be civil war. Fury thinks it'll just go away if they don't get the media attention they're after. He's wrong. There are moles running rampant in SHIELD. It is only a matter of time.

This may wind up being a job for the Avengers, and I thought you should know before the shit hits the fan.

- Hollie

"Holy... Jarvis, get Clint's ass down here!" Tony yelled and read through the other file, which was a list of terrorist attacks that had been passed off as accidents and military training exorcizes that went awry. The only ones they didn't try to deny were the explosion at the Macy's because there were too many witnesses, and the shooting that left thirty people dead in the O'Hare Airport in Chicago. Again, too many witnesses to cover it up entirely. Though, both were labeled as Iraqi extremists rather than actual American insurgents. Typical, pin the blame on a specific ethnic group and perpetuate prejudice and biased hatred to keep the truth out of reach.

"You called?" Clint said looking around curiously.

"Yeah, those heat-seeking arrows are going to have wait until after you explain this, Legolas." Tony said, pointing at the projections of Hollie's note and the details about the terrorist attacks. Clint sighed and ran his fingers through his blonde hair that was badly in need of getting trimmed.

"It's just like she says, a fucking nightmare. There's been another three attacks since the airport – thirty seven people dead. That gas explosion this morning in Queens, the subway collapse in Newark, and the fire in Los Angeles." Clint said miserably after reading Hollie's letter.

"Hollie's right, Fury and the council aren't taking it seriously. They're a major threat; it's not just some dumb college kids rebelling against the The Man. They've got the funding and manpower to do some real damage. Right now, they're just trying to prove a point: kill as many civilians as they have to in order to get the government to meet their demands to make it stop."

"Right, we're having a team meeting tonight, because someone has to take this shit seriously. Nothing pisses me off more than my tech in the hands of terrorists." Tony ground out to Clint who nodded bitterly in agreement.

"Right, team meeting it is. Nat and I were actually planning to bring it up once we got some solid intel to go by, but so far we're coming up with nothing. These guys are good, too good." Clint replied miserably.