Swallowed in Flame

Chapter 1

A/n Yay I'm so excited to get this up. Anyway hope you enjoy. Love you all.

Dad said it would be better if I didn't go to the expo thing. I felt like an outcast but also the most popular person in the world. Does that make sense? Dad rarely let me out of the house and when he did he was right next to me the whole time. He was treating me like I was made of glass. I had no say in anything I did. It was as if he was controlling my whole life now, which he basically was. 

I walk over to the couch and turn on the tv. Dad falls onto the stage. I have it muted because I honestly don't care about the whole speech but last time I didn't watch one of dads things he found out by asking Jarvis what I had done that day and got in trouble for not watching it. I do turn the volume on to listen to my grandfather. Dad never talks about him but I read about him in history books at school. I watched the whole introduction to the Stark Expo from the 1970s. It was nice to see my grandfather. I asked dad about him once and regretted it because he shut down. His smile fell instantly and he just kind of spaced out. 

Pepper walks into the house snapping me out of my thoughts. "Ready to go to D.C.?" Pepper asked me. "Am I ever!" I exclaim sarcastically. She laughs. I stand up and walk over to her and we both head out the door. We get in Pepper's car and are off to D.C. Time to suffer. God help me now. 

Pepper and I were sitting on the second row of chairs watching the hearing. Dad is turned toward us mouthing things at Pepper and I. I gave my father a big smile but Pepper hit me with her elbow. I made a very fake scowl at my father and nodded my head no. He smiled at me. "Mr. Stark, could we pick up now where we left off? Mr. Stark. Please," the senator says fairly annoyed. "Yes, dear?" dad says as he turns to face the front. A few laughs come from the chairs around me. I smile. "Can I have your attention?" the senator continues. "Absolutely," dad announces.

I'm pretty sure he was drunk or high or both. He could also just be his normal cocky self. We will never know. He seemed happy though so that's good, right? "Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?" the senator asks. "I do not," dad answers hurriedly. "You do not?" the senator asks. "I do not. Well, it depends on how you define the word "weapon"," dad explains. "The Iron Man weapon," the senator says. "My device does not fit that description," dad says. "Well... How would you describe it?" senator asks. "I would describe it by defining as what it is, Senator," dad explains vaguely. This was quite amusing "As?" the senator presses. "It's a high-tech prosthesis," dad starts explaining and the crowd starts laughing, "That is... That is.... That's actually the most apt description I can make of it." "It's a weapon," the senator argues. "Please, if your priority was actually the well-being for the American citizen..." dad starts but gets cut of by the senator, "My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of America." "Well you can forget it," dad says sharply, "I am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. 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. You can't have it." The crowd laughs at the prostitution but I manage to keep my cool. "Look I'm no expert..." the senator starts but is cut off by my father saying, "In prostitution? Of course not. You're a senator. Come on." Dad turns around and faces me and Pepper. He notices Peppers flat expression and mouths 'no' at Pepper and she mouths 'no' back. 

Dad turns back around, "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." Justin Hammer starts walking up to the front. "Let the record reflect that I observed Mr. Hammer entering the chamber; and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance," dad asks and there are a few murmurs. "Absolutely. I'm no expert. I defer to you Anthony," I wince at the name Anthony when Justin makes his reply, "You're the wonder boy." "Senator; if I may," Justin begins, "I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad. Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age. Let's just be clean, he was no flower child. He was a lion. We all know why we're here. 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 or grave threats that Mr. Stark will not always be able to foresee." Justin Hammer finishes his speech with, "Thank you. God bless Iron Man. God bless America."