An Assassin Never Tells

T W E N T Y - T W O

May 10th, 2011

"Rhodey? What," Tony was confused but got up to greet his friend nonetheless, "Hey, buddy. I didn't expect to see you here.

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

"I just-"

"Drop it," Rhodes really did not want to be there.

"Alright, I'll drop it."

The two men sat down at the long table, Tony resuming his old seat and Rhodes sitting to his left.

"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," asked Stern.

"You're requesting that I read specific sections from my report, Senator," questioned Rhodes.

"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 if you could just read-"

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

"Just read it, Colonel. I do. Thank you," Stern was done with this meeting.

"Very well. "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-" Rhodes read, mine, Tony's, and Pepper's hopes diminishing.

"That's enough, Colonel," Stern tried to cut him off.

"-To fold Mr. Stark-"

"That's enough," Stern tried again.

"-into the existing chain of command, Senator," finished Rhodes.

"I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of Defense if you ask nicely," butted Tony, causing the crowd to laugh once again, "We can amend the hours a little bit."

"I'd like to go on and show, if I may," Stern ignored Tony's previous statement, "the imagery that's connected with your report."

"I believe," reasoned Rhodes, "it is somewhat premature to show these images to the general public at this time."

Stern spoke over Rhodes, "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."

"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-"

At this point, Tony was as done with the meeting as I was and pulled out some sort of device that made some annoyingly loud beeping sounds.

"-indicating that these suits are quite possibly, at this moment, operational."

"Hold on a second, buddy. Let me see something here," Tony connected the device to the T.V.s that were projecting the images, "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."

"What's going on," Stern asked, stupidly if I may add.

"If you will direct your attention to said screens, I believe that's North Korea," the suit failed.

"Can you turn that off? Take it off," Stern urged Hammer.

"Iran," the suit, once again, failed, "No grave threat here. Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game? Justin, you're on T.V. Focus up."

T.V. Hammer gave some useless directions to his team helping him with a suit, which failed just as the others did. Hammer unplugged the T.V. before anyone could see anything else.

"Wow. Yeah, I'd say most countries, five, ten years away. Hammer Industries, twenty."

"I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived," stated Hammer.

"A useless fact, really," I muttered. Hammer glared at me.

"I think we're done is the point that he's making. I don't think there's any reason-" began Stern.

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

"For what?"

"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," Tony stood up and turned around, "I've successfully privatized world peace. What more do you want? For now! I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns."

"Goodness," I whispered, but I was certainly not ready for what came out of Stern's mouth.

"Fuck you, Mr. Stark. Fuck you, buddy. We're adjourned. We're adjourned for today."

"Dear, God," I was shocked.

Tony looked around to see Pepper unamused and Rhodes unamused. I was concerned for the American government if that was the type of language people used in a professional setting. "Ok," he said.

"You've been a delight," Stern stated sarcastically. I had some choice words for that joke of a man. 

A/N: Hello my loves! I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating, school has been stressfullll. But oh well. Anyway, TWO THOUSAND READS???!!!! Y'all are the absolute best, I swear! Thank y'all so much for reading and voting and commenting on this book!! I love y'all!!! <3 :)

P.S.~ This book is also up on AO3. It has the same title and my user there is the same as it is here!