ＩＭＰＥＲＩＡＬ ◼TONY STARK◼

ｅｉｇｈｔｅｅｎ

The subpoenaed pair turned around hastily to the doors as they opened, revealing their friend to them. Tony was quick to his feet, shaking hands with Rhodey in the aisle-way as Deli rose up behind him.

"Hey, buddy. I didn't expect to see you here-"

"Look, it's me, I'm here. Deal with it. Let's move on," Rhodey moved past Tony, bringing Deli into a quick hug. "Nice to see you, Deli."

"You too, Rhodey. Wish it was under different circumstances,"

"Yeah, me too,"

The trio took their places at the bench, the room falling into quiet for a moment as the committee gathered their papers and Rhodey prepared himself for questioning.

"I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man and Imperial weapons, complied by Colonel Rhodes," Stern addressed the room as he showed them the stack of papers before him. "And, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?"

"You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?" Rhodey questioned the man.

"Yes, sir,"

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

"I understand. A lot of things have changed today, so-"

"You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summery of my final-"

"Just read it, Colonel. I do. Thank you,"

Deli and Tony shared an amused glance, knowing that Rhodey was on their side as he prepared his papers.

"Very well," Rhodey took one last look over at his friends before reading his report. "'As they do not operate within any definable branch of government, Iron Man and Imperial present a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests.' I did however, go on to summarise that the benefits of these two suits far outweigh three liabilities and that it would be in our interest-"

"That's enough, Colonel,"

"-to fold them into the existing chain of command,"

"I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of Defense, if you ask nice," Tony finally chimed in as the crowd laughed, Deli reaching over to hit him slightly on the arm. "We can amend the hours a little bit."

Senator Stern was reaching his breaking point, that much was obvious. The man took a moment of silence to collect himself before gesturing to the television near Justin Hammer's seat.

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

"Imagery? I'm sorry, is this committee run by complete buffoons who don't have any idea how to actually lead an investigation?" Deli's voice was quick to cut off the Senator as she sat up straight. "First you comb through Colonel Rhodes report to find a specific section that talked about the drawbacks of Iron Man and Imperial and redacted the rest of the paragraph in order to force it to fit into your narrative. Now you want to prematurely show images to the public during a live press conference? Are we two year olds trying to fit the square block into the circle hole? Do you all have any idea how to run an investigation without showing clear bias toward one side-"

"Ms. Motter, one more word out of you and I will have you thrown from this court room in a heartbeat," pursing her lips together, the woman went silent as Tony placed a hand on her arm comfortingly. Stern turned back to Rhodey. "Colonel, let's see the images."

The screens on either side of the room lit up with aerial photos taken over several different bases around the globe. Parts were zoomed in, showcasing different areas of the bases.