senate hearing
Now, a man in a professional-looking black suit is visible directly from someone’s perspective. He looks like a bodyguard. “All right, it’s a zoo out there, watch out.”
“All right.” sounds a quick answer in Tony’s voice, which means it’s a video from his perspective and the man is his bodyguard.
“Open up, let’s go.” the bodyguard says to someone opening the door.
They walk through a crowd of cheering fans; “Nice to see you.” Tony greets them as they pass, some even attempting to pass him their number. He signs a few Iron Man photos.
Tony: [what would be ruffling the hair of a small boy if said small boy were not wearing an Iron Man helmet making hair unreachable] See you, buddy.
“That’s so sweet.” Maria comments on the situation.
The bodyguard introduces him to a man named Larry, who wants Tony to call him. They walk through more people, greeting them cheerfully, and then finally reaching the exit. “That wasn’t so bad.”
Tony:“No, it was perfect.”
“Looks exhausting.” the Tony laying on the couch counter-comments.
“Those people seem pushier than in today’s times.” Howard answers.
TB: “Look what we got here, the new model.” The bodyguard points at a new white car, quite sport-looking, standing in the center between several Stark Expo pillars.A woman leans against the car, wearing a knee-length skirt and a blouse, with her hair trailing down her shoulders.
Tony: “Hey, does she come with the car?”
TB: “I certainly hope so. Hi.”
“Dear, that is inappropriate.” his mom scolds him.
“Sorry.”
Tony: “Hi. And you are?” She walks forward as they approached, a piece of paper in her hand, and she shakes Tony's hand.
“Marshal.”
“Irish. I like it.”
“Pleased to meet you, Tony.”
“I’m on the wheel. Do you mind?” Tony asks his bodyguard while the roof of the car opens and begins hiding away.
“That’s a nice car,” says Howard.
Tony: “Where you from?”
Marshal: “Bedford.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.”
“Oh, please no,” Maria says quietly, seeing as her son is flirting with the woman is enough. She doesn’t need to see anything more.
“Yeah? You found me.” He jumps into the driver’s seat of the car. “What are you up to later?”
“Serving subpoenas.” She hands him a letter, but Tony doesn’t take it.
“Yikes.”
Maria laughs at the sudden change in the mood while Tony groans.
TB: [Reaching over and taking the letter] He doesn’t like to be handed things.
Tony: Yeah, I have a peeve.
“Guess it doesn’t get cured then.”
Marshal: “You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow morning at 9 am.”
“And the fun is over.”
At Tony’s request, the woman shows him her badge but he confirms that he still likes it, and then starts the engine. “How far are we from D.C.?” he asks his bodyguard.
“D.C.? 250 miles.” The man answers and Tony drives off, tires screeching.
“Are you really going to drive straight to Washington right now?”
Image slides over, and it now shows ‘Washington, D.C.’ with those words appearing on the screen. Seems like an early morning.
“I guess I am.”
“Mr. Stark, could we pick up now where we left off?” It’s Tony at his hearing, except he’s not paying attention to whoever’s trying to get his attention. “Mr. Stark. Please.” Instead Tony is trying to talk to a strawberry blonde woman sitting behind him in the crowd. Then, someone bangs the gavel, presumably the man talking.
“Dear, this is really disrespectful.” Maria scolds her son.
“Your mother is right, this is no way to act at your own hearing,” Howard adds.
“This isn’t me! This is a future-me! Yell at the future me!”
The strawberry blonde woman who seems to have been trying to convince him to turn back to the Senate mouths either “no” or “go”, and Tony turns around. “Yes, dear?” Some people in the crowd quietly laugh at his behavior.
“Can I have your attention?”
“Absolutely,” Tony confirms, with one arm still over the back of the chair and slightly twisted in his seat.
A man whose plate reads “Sen. Stern” appears to be the one talking with Tony. "Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?"
Tony leans into the microphone. "I do not."
“What weapon?”
Tony: “Well, it depends on how you define the word weapon."
Stern: “The Iron Man weapon.”
“The Iron Man suit is not a weapon you imbecile!” Tony finally sits up from where he was laying down on the couch.
“Dear,” Maria looks at him.
“Sorry, but this man is incredibly annoying.” he defends himself. He's sure if the future-him was here right now, he would agree.
"My device does not fit that description." Tony answers in a serious voice.
“Well… How would you describe it?”
“I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator.”
“As?” The senator actually looks like he genuinely wants to hear the description.
“It’s, a-- uh.” Tony tilts his head. "It's a high-tech prosthesis." the audience laughs. "That is… That is… That's actually the most apt description I can make of it."
“It’s a weapon. It’s a weapon, Mr. Stark.” The senator dismisses his answer.
“Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen--”
Stern speaks over him, interrupting. "My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America."
“You can just see how fed up I am already, wow.”
“Well, you can forget it.” Silence falls over the room.
“You should really speak with more respect to a Senator, Anthony.” Howard turns to look at his son.
“You should really start calling me Tony instead of Anthony.” the teen snaps. He didn’t even fucking do it yet!
“I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one,” he says dead-serious, and there are sounds of dozens of photos being taken, as well as some flashes from the cameras but Tony seems to be used to it.
“Tell ‘em.” young Tony cheers on his future sells.
“To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you're in." He doesn’t skip a beat when the audience chuckles. "You can't have it."
“Look, I’m no expert--” [Tony cuts off whatever more Stern was about to say]
“In prostitution? Of course not. You’re a senator. Come on.”
“You’d be surprised,” Howard sighs.
Tony taps the table, turns around as the crowd laughs again, this time louder, and he holds his left hand up, his fingers forming the sign of peace. The strawberry blonde from before does not look impressed at all. He mouths “no?” and she shakes her head.
“Why doesn’t she laugh? Come on, that was funny!”
“That was also disrespectful.”
Stern:“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.”
“Why isn’t Stark Industries the primary weapons contractor?” Howard narrows his eyes at the man appearing on the screen who must be the said Justin Hammer.
“Maybe the Company changed focus?” Maria offers an explanation.
“Right. A weapon company that doesn’t make weapons.” the man almost snorts, but he has enough of brain left to know that you shouldn’t scoff at Maria Stark.
Tony looks up at the announcement as Justin Hammer settles at the desk to his left. "Let the record reflect that I observed Mr. Hammer entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will be in attendance."
The audience murmurs as Hammer laughs, pulling the speaker towards him, and then walks out in front of the desks to face the audience. "Absolutely. I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony. “
“I hate this guy already,” Tony announces because why in the hell is that idiot calling him Anthony of all things.
“Me as well,” adds Howard, and Tony almost falls off his couch.
“You don’t hate him, you’re just bitter he’s been introduced as the primary weapons contractor.” Maria lays her palm on her husband’s arm.
“You're the wonder boy,” Hammer says and Tony looks away with an annoyed scowl on his face. “Senator, if I may. I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad.” He points at Tony. “Howard Stark. Really a father to us all,”
“Really not.” Howard cuts in.
“and to the military-industrial age. Let's just be clear, he was no flower child. He was a lion.”
“Was?” Maria asks, looking to Howard.
“So I’m dead?” the man also speaks.
Okay, Tony may not be his father’s biggest fan but he doesn’t look that old in this movie for Howard to be dead already? Maybe this Hammer idiot means ‘was’ as in now he is retired.
“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."
“That’s a nice speech, too bad a high schooler could say that, not an actual weapons expert? There wasn’t even any expertise in there.” Tony snorts.
“He looks like he’s in over his head there,” Howard adds and Tony kinda has trouble believing that his father and he are agreeing on something, much less over the hate for a guy none of them even knows yet.
Tony is slightly shaking his head, his left hand covering his mouth. Hammer sits down while Stern praises him for his words and continues to explain that the committee wants to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber.
“Rhodey?” Tony perks up.
“Who’s Rhodey?” Howard asks.
“My best friend,” Tony answers, not even looking at his father. He wants to see his best friend grown-up and all and the movie is pausing when they talk which doesn’t give him the opportunity.
“Really nice boy, I’ve met him a couple of times,” Maria adds.
Tony looks surprised.“Rhodey? What?” Cameras flash as gentle murmuring echoes through the chamber and Rhodey walks in.
“Look at Rhodes the Army Man, huh.” Tony smiles, proud of his best friend.
Tony gets up to greet his friend, telling Rhodey he hadn't expected to see him.Rhodey tells him to deal with it and move on. When Tony doesn’t, Rhodey insists to drop it and Tony agrees.
“Well, that was harsh, platypus.”
Stern reveals he has a complete report on the Iron Man weapon which had been compiled by Colonel Rhodes and requests the Colonel to read page 57, paragraph four, for the record. Rhodey doesn’t like that. "You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?"
“You can’t take away only what you like from a report, it doesn’t work like that,” Howard argues.
Stern confirms it, so Rhodey continues to speak, further stating his concerns. "It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner."
“Awh, poor Rhodey, they kinda tricked him there.” Tony shakes his head.
Stern attempts to reroute the conversation. "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…" Rhodey doesn’t give up as Tony looks on.
“He’s trying his best but what can he do against a Senator?” Maria shakes her head.
Stern does not relent. He even looks smug, as if he had just won a verbal battle.
“Are all people in the future assholes?” Howard asks, surprising Tony. The guy is trying to bury him, Tony expected Howard to just keep cheering him on.
Rhodey opens the file. "Very well." He starts to read the assigned paragraph. "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." Rhodes doesn’t stop there though and further elaborates: "I did, however, go on to summarize that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities and that it would be in our interest…" Stern keeps interrupting to force the Colonel to stop speaking as Rhodey attempts to explain he'd recommended for Mr. Stark to be folded into the existing chain of command.
Tony leans forward. "I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of Defense if you ask nicely." Laughter echoes around the chamber. "We can amend the hours a little bit."
“If you will go to a hearing in the future, even more - your own hearing, this is the perfect example of how you shouldn’t be acting,” Maria speaks once again.
“Sorry, mom, will remember.” Tony winces.
Stern: "I’d like to go on and show, if I may, the imagery that’s connected to your report."
Rhodey: "I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at this time."
Stern doesn’t seem to care and keeps insisting until he wins. "With all due respect, Colonel, I understand. And if you could just narrate those for us, we'd be very grateful." A flat TV screen to the left shows aerial footage of photos where construction was underway on attempts to remake the Iron Man suit. Rhodey confirms these had been corroborated by their allies and local intelligence on the ground. Meanwhile Tony leans back in his chair, playing with a miniature Stark device in his hands. His thumbs flying over the icons.
“Wait, is that my cell phone?” Tony leans closer to the screen. “That looks sick.” this thing doesn't even have any buttons to press!
“A see-through and it reacts just to touch?” Howard leans in as well. “That does look impressive.”
Tony leans across the table, holding his device up. "Hold on a second buddy. Let me see something here.” [he sets it up to wirelessly connect to the screen with the photos] “Boy, I'm good.” [he congratulates himself as a black box with lines of code and the words WELCOME, MR. STARK appears over the pictures that had been shown earlier.]
“What is it?” Howard asks intrigued.
“I commandeered your screens. I need ‘em.” [he presses another icon on the device.] “Time for a little transparency. Now, let's see what's really going on."
“That’s why the hacking skills are important,” says Tony, lying down on the couch once again.
“You know how to hack into electronics?” Howard turns to him.
“I’m 16 years old, of course I learned how to hack into a thing or two.” Tony answers.
“Dear, I would just like to remind you that on-screen you are hacking into government files,” Maria adds.
There’s muttering in the room at Tony's unorthodox actions and Stern’s expression turns uneasy, not knowing what Tony’s doing. "If you'll direct your attention to said screens," says Tony, putting the device back down on the table and moving his fingertips across it. "I believe that's North Korea." He punches an icon. The flatscreen now shows an image of something that looks more like a top-heavy giant beetle than a Suit. There are Korean subtitles all over the picture, but everyone can clearly see the thing stagger forward a couple of steps and then tumble to the ground, where it lays kicking its 'legs' feebly before something explodes and the camera loses focus. Two of the media reporters in the audience spring to their feet and the Congress people groan and look awkward.
"Can you--" Senator Stern is leaning forward and pointing. "Can you turn that off - take it off?"
Tony laughed. “Huh, yeah, that’s very operational.”
“Well, James did say it was premature,” Maria says, chucking.
Justin Hammer springs to his feet and scrambles in the direction of the television. "Iran," comments Tony, punching the screen of his little device again. This suit can fly. For all of five seconds before crashing, judging by the smoke, probably on fire. Justin is by the screen, trying to find the off switch.
“No grave threat here,” states Tony. “Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game?” There’s in fact a video of Justin Hammer. With a suit that someone else is in. “Justin, you’re on TV. Focus up.”
“Oh, that excuse of an expert.” voices Howard.
Onscreen Tony shares a look with the onscreen Rhodey and the Colonel has to hide his growing smile behind his hand.
“Rhodey knows what’s up!”
The Suit's upper half twists jerkily. Then the Suit twists again, and its knees wobble. "Oh, shit - oh, shit!" cries Justin on the screen, skipping backward as the Suit begins to collapse. At that moment Justin manages to unplug the television, the screens going dark. The room rustling with whispers and some laughter. Senator Stern rubs the bridge of his nose in consternation.
“Oh, that was beautiful.” Tony chuckles, and surprisingly he hears his father laugh as well.
"Wow. Yeah, I'd say most countries, five, ten years away. Hammer Industries, twenty.” sums up Tony while Hammer scrambles back to his seat and points that the test pilot survived.
“Well, that’s a relief.” Maria breathes out.
It actually is, Tony doesn’t want someone to die just because some idiot attempted to copy his work.
“And you’re trying to tell me this is the primary weapons contractor?” Howard scoffs.
Senator Stern stands up. "I think we're done, is the point that he's making," he says hurriedly.
“Shocking, they don’t want to embarrass themselves any further,” Howard says quietly.
"I don't think there's any reason--"
"The point is, you're welcome, I guess," Tony cuts in.
"For what?" asks the Senator.
“Me.” Tony shrugs.
"Because I'm your nuclear deterrent," Tony spreads his hands. "It's working. We're safe. America is secure."
“And are you safe?” asks Maria.
Tony's voice is rising. "You want my property? You can't have it!" He brings his hands down on the table with a thud. "But I did you a big favor!" He rises to his feet and turns to look around. "I have successfully privatized world peace." He makes the peace sign with both hands and everyone in the chamber stands up, clapping and talking all at once.
“That would be considered quite inappropriate.” Howard lectures.
“Yeah, well, they like it.” Tony gestured towards the screen.
"What more do you want?" cries Tony above the applause. "For now!” It cuts to Stern’s upset face.
“Oof, someone’s not happy with me, that’s a surprise.” Tony murmurs.
“I tried to play ball with these ass-clowns!" He points back to the Congress table.
“You really can’t say things like that!” Tony’s mom says, sounding scandalized.
“Playing ball is the only way to make it through,” Howard adds.
Senator Stern smiles at Tony “F**k you, Mr. Stark. F**k you, buddy."
“Did he really just swear on national television?” Howard’s eyes widen.
“He said fuck you to me, I can’t believe this.” Tony breathes out.
“Language, dear,” Maria says, sounding quite defeated at this point though.
“I’m just repeating what I heard.” Tony defends himself.
“You heard it beeped out,” Howard argues.
“But I can’t say the word and beep it out at the same time.”
“Then don’t say it at all.”
“Boys,” Maria speaks in her stop-this-right-now-or-i-will-stop-you voice. Naturally, they both listen to the woman and just get back to looking at the screen.
"We're adjourned - we're adjourned for today," says Stern.
"Okay!" answers Tony with a smirk. He bents down to the table where he's been sitting, picking up his sunglasses, and putting them on.
"You've been a delight," says the Senator in a voice that indicates that Tony had been just the opposite.
“Wow, Rhodey’s I’m done with you face hasn’t changed. I literally saw the same face an hour ago.” Tony laughs when he catches a glimpse of the older Rhodey on screen.
The scene changes to a TV screen in Russia, a news channel covering the Senate Committee, Tony is now walking down the center aisle toward the camera."My bond is with the people.” he says, though Russian translation can be heard. “And I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. If there's one thing I've proven it's that you can count on me to pleasure myself." Tony whips his glasses off and moves out of the camera.
“That sounds very wrong, dear.” Maria shakes her head.
“Hey, it’s human,” he argues.
Vanko sits at a desk, twists a switch and electricity runs up and down long whips he'd created. Then the scene changes to Vanko wearing a contraption, not a full suit, rather a chest piece that helps power the whips. He approaches the wall which holds many articles on Tony Stark before he cuts his ancient TV in half.
“Okay, buddy. You don’t like me, we get it.” Tony swallows.
“Why do we have to see this man?” Maria asks, the scene understandably making her uncomfortable.