Jarvis quickly answered, giving him more analyzed data. "Should you establish a third political party at this moment and enter the general elections for both Representatives and Senators, the prospects of success would be markedly slim. However, for the Presidential election, the situation is considerably more favorable; you would be on track for a victory with electoral votes marginally exceeding the requisite two hundred seventy—provided the election were to occur at this very instant."
"Fuck, this is bad. Even if I win, I'd be a king without a crown if I don't have any support base in Congress." Tony cursed and tried to find ways to solve the problem.
"Should I just start buying and luring the members of Congress before making a third party?"
"Sir, the outcome remains unfavorable. The electorate is firmly accustomed to the binary choice of red or blue. However, there exists a potential path forward if all fifty states were to implement Ranked Choice Voting across both state and federal elections." Jarvis gave the solution too. Sadly, it wasn't enough.
"Unfortunately, achieving this would require the endorsement of Congress in each state, which presents a considerable challenge."
Tony grunted loudly in annoyance. "Great, just great. At this point, only George Washington rising from his grave and rallying for us can fix this mess."
"Statistically speaking, Sir, the likelihood is that people would dismiss him as a fraud and disregard his words."
"Hah!" Tony laughed at that. "You're right about that, buddy."
No more talking about politics, he just flew the next hours in silence. Eventually, he landed on the top floor of the Stark Tower which had been expedited for him and built first. Complete with a working lift, all the glass walls, floors, drinks, cars, and everything in between. The rest of the building still looked like a skeleton, however.
"Where is it?" Tony asked without even taking off his armor.
"In your temporary workshop, Sir."
Tony bolted to the place in his massive top-floor house. Keying in the codes, he soon stood before the glorious, shining silver pieces of metal. It made his palms itch, wanting to start working on it immediately.
"Oh, it's gonna be a great weekend." Tony quickly got out of his armor, rubbing his hands together. "Let's see what the 'gods' make."
In front of Tony was the broken but still recognizable Destroyer armor that had come from Asgard. He had planned to take it the moment he saw it, and in that tornado that Thor made, he snagged it secretly.
"Fire up the machines. We'll start analyzing it right away. Ah, that scrap Stormy gave us too." Tony got into work mode and put on his safety goggles. Right away, he began checking out the piece of armor. It was clearly disabled, but he could still see tens of thousands of unknown written scripts on the inner side of the armor. "Asgardian language? Runes?"
"Jarvis, make a scan of all the characters," Tony ordered and walked back to the computers to analyze the data on the structure. "Wait, what's this report?"
"Sir, the data from the aliens' teleportation phenomenon has been thoroughly analyzed. A significant trace of gravitational waves was detected, arranged in a pattern that defies theoretical replication." Jarvis explained, also multitasking in doing other things. Every week and every month, Jarvis only grew stronger and faster with more upgrades.
"Oh, that… Did we just discover how to harness gravitational fucking waves?!" Tony roared, his excitement booming like an over-caffeinated lion. He scanned the reports on the screen with the fervor of a kid on a sugar high. "This is insane, Jarvis. We're talking about something that was just a theory yesterday and now, voila! It's real! This is the holy grail of space travel and, who knows, maybe even teleportation! Holy shit!"
Ting!
"Sir, the report on the metal shard Ms. Munroe gave has been prepared. You should read this." Jarvis put the pages on the screen on its own. "My database does not contain information on this material, aside from the element you recently discovered which exhibits similar properties. The shard is… indestructible. It can absorb and store various forms of energy, including kinetic impacts, which it can subsequently release. Additionally, it is extraordinarily lightweight and resilient to extreme temperatures and corrosive substances. A suit constructed from this material could—"
"Be a game changer!" Tony gawked, completing his AI son's words. First the gravitational waves and now this. It was a day of madness and surprises. "Where did she find it? What even is it?"
This changes everything. I don't have to fear an alien invasion as long as I can find more of this metal. Tony made plans mentally. But when his eyes fell on the Destroyer Armor of the Asgardians he felt even more interested. Stormy was right. There's so much I don't know about this world.
"Jarvis, make two new projects. Name the first one—Iron Destroyer Armor." Tony ordered and finally looked at the computer screen. "Name the second one Gravity Armor."
"What of the new metal, Sir?"
"We'll do that once we have more of it."
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Just as he was about to jump back to disassemble the Asgardian armor, the red lights in his workshop started blinking. It meant something major had happened outside.
"What is it now?" He cursed.
Jarvis was calm, however. "Sir, the ten Iron Guardians deployed to New York had to come together. They have caught two aliens fighting in Harlem."
A screen instantly appeared in front of Tony, showing the fight.
"Whoa, hold up! That's the jolly green giant Raven showed me," Tony recognized the monster. "But there's another this time. Good job, Jarvis. Order the Iron Guardians to fetch the green one, bring it to me."
"Sir, the Iron Guardians are currently being restricted. Lieutenant General Ross of the Army has assumed control of the situation and is adamant about taking the green one with him. They've already apprehended the other." Jarvis also revealed a file on General Ross. The man's entire life was laid open to Tony's eyes.
Pat!
Tony slapped his forehead and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Silently, he walked back to his Iron Man suit and stepped into it. "There's no damn peace in this city. Guess I'll have to handle the General myself. Keep the research going, Jarvis, and if you find any spare sanity lying around, send it my way."
"I'll order your favorite shawarma takeout, Sir."
"You know me best, buddy." Tony jetted off right away.
####
Tony surveyed from the night sky, flying in circles around the mess that the two monstrous creatures had caused. There was even a military helicopter that looked damaged but safely landed in the middle of the street.
"What a mess." He soon landed in the cordoned-off area by the police. There were six Iron Guardians holding down the green monster in its place using metal restraints on its arms and legs. The big guy was almost out cold, thanks to a hefty dose of sleeping gas. "Where's the other one?"
Jarvis immediately pointed him to a massive truck trailer close by.
"Halt!"
Tony annoyedly looked at the army soldiers pointing their rifles at him. Soon enough, an old man walked out of the truck trailer, his hair white, a small mustache, and the uniform of a General.
"You must be Floss."
"General Ross." The old man growled back, his voice like gravel. "This isn't your playground, Stark. Go back to your parties and whatever else it is you waste your time on."
Ah, one of those sort of guys? Tony had vast experience in dealing with military officers. In his career, he had seen three types of officers—asslickers, enthusiastic honest nerds, and then there were the arrogant ones with inflated egos.
"I'm taking the green one."
Ross looked at the monster and sneered. "You will do no such thing. He's the property of the Department of Defense."
Tony removed his faceplate and revealed his annoyed expression. "Think of it as me borrowing."
"I will say it for the last time, Stark. Go bac—"
"Shush." Tony stepped closer to the old General, towering over him in his armor. He looked down at him, making him feel small. "How'd you like to be called Private Ross? Years of hard work, all your career, poof! Gone with the wind—I actually liked that movie, by the way. Quite the classic."
Ross knew where Tony was going. There wasn't much doubt that he'd win the election. "I-I'm doing this for the country, Stark. This isn't your playground."
"Who stopped them from destroying the city? That would be yours truly," Tony reminded him, his voice rising with each word. "I used to sell weapons for our great country, thought I was doing my patriotic duty. Turns out, I wasn't! My weapons are still in the hands of extremists and terrorists in Afghanistan. You guys still owe me an explanation for that, consider this leverage."
Pat! Pat!
Tony Stark leaned in, his metallic gauntlet gleaming in the light. He tapped General Ross in the face with exaggerated patience. "Hey, don't go playing professor on me. Know your limits before you end up in over your head. Just a friendly heads-up… Private Ross."
Furious, yet suppressing his rage, Ross silently watched Tony take Hulk away with his Iron Guardians.
"If you still don't like it, tell your boss to give me a call," Tony added as he caught a glimpse of Ross' ugly expression.
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