Battle Strategies | Tony Stark [1]

THREE

Pepper sat just behind Tony, her heart thumping uncomfortably in her chest but never would she dare show it in front of so many people. Of course, a lot of her anxiety was due to the man seated right in front of her. His unpredictable actions were destined to get him in trouble, and she had no way of stopping him. Pepper closed her eyes in an attempt to regain some composure, subconsciously moving slightly to the right as someone sat down to the left of her.

Pepper licked her lips nervously and glanced to her left to see who sat down beside her but had to look twice, expecting another uniform clad man and not a smartly dressed blonde woman. An inaudible gasp escaped Pepper's lips as Athena winked playfully at her. Relief flooded Pepper's chest, maybe at last someone could restrain Tony from making so many mistakes now that Athena was back.

"Your back." Pepper stated, her eyes widened and a smile over took her features. "Thank god."

"Yeah, just in time to see everything go to shit, it seems." Athena hissed quietly into Pepper's ear. "Why is the government on Tony's back?"

Pepper shrugged and looked over at Tony who looked like he was about to turn around. "I'm surprised it took them this long."

Tony turned with a smirk on his face which quickly fell when he saw the blonde sitting beside Pepper. His eye twitched slightly at the unimpressed look on both of the women's faces. Ignoring the calls that were aiming for his attention, Tony whispered to Pepper. "Is she real? Is she really there?"

Athena rolled her eyes and leaned forward, gaining his attention. "Oh, I am real and your going to turn around and keep all your smart comments to yourself. You hear me?"

"I remember you being more fun." Tony whined childishly, ignoring what she told him to do and remained facing them.

"Tony, you need to get your act together. This is the government, you can't sweet talk your way out of it. You need to develop a strategy." Athena growled at him, her eyes flashing a glare at him as his name was called out again.

Tony smirked, his eyes glistening with mischief. "I have a strategy. I'm going to sweet talk my way out of it."

Athena snarled and gestured him to turn around, her eyes glazing over in annoyance as he grinned at her in triumph.

"Mr. Stark, please." Senator Stern called out, this time hitting the table with the gavel in attempt to call order.

Tony winked at Athena before turning around to face the Senator with a sarcastic smile. "Yes dear?"

"Can I have your attention?" Stern asked him, his tone tense with annoyance.

"Absolutely." Tony spoke into the microphone, the same sarcastic smile on his face. From his posture and body language it was clear that the billionaire wasn't taking anything seriously, and probably never would.

"Do you or do you not possess a specialised weapon?" Stern asked him, his voice turning more professional as he became more aware of the cameras recording and broadcasting the hearing.

"I do not." Tony answered simply, his hand resting on the back of the chair as he remained half turned to the Senator. From this position alone it was clear that the Senator didn't have his full attention yet.

"You do not?" Stern repeated annoyed, leaning back into his chair.

"I do not." Tony confirmed but then rethought his answer. "Well, it depends on how you define the word weapon."

"The Iron Man weapon." Stern clarified, leaving no room for misunderstanding.

"My device does not fit that description." Tony argued, practically able to feel the glare that was being burnt into his back by Athena.