Washington D.C., Tuesday Afternoon

[imafuturist]

Tony Stark	Well, the bill act had not only gone through but been rushed right on to be signed into law with great aplomb for most of the news channels. Which meant that Tony was having an absolutely no good day as he had to go in and try to do some damage control on this. While having his legal team attempt to go through the proper channels to get this struck right on down with the courts as soon as possible. He tried to school his expression into something other than jaw-clenched frustration with the entire situation. "Senator Kelly. I should have known you'd be in charge of this."
Senator Robert Kelly	"Mr. Stark." Of course he was. Like he'd pass up an opportunity to protect humanity from the awful mutant menace. And now apparently superheroes too. "So glad you could meet with us with your busy schedule."
Tony Stark	Yay for being condescended to! "Us?"
Norman Osborn	"Us," Norman said striding into the room like... well, like a big damn supervillain who was meeting with a US Senator about making superheroing partially illegal. Which it already should have been since they were vigilantes. "Thank you for inviting me, Robert."
Tony Stark	Excuse you. Glass houses, Osborn. "Are you serious right now?" Because he was taking crazy pills. He had to be taking crazy pills because the goddamn Green Goblin was in this meeting.
Senator Kelly	"It's only fair to maintain a balance between the popular voice of the people and a voice for your little community, Stark." Because somehow Norman was a voice of the people. Yep. This is what happens when you get serious about terrible joke politicians. This right here.
Norman Osborn	"You gain perspective when you don't spend every other weekend rushing into space with an exclusive club of privileged adventurers," Norman said. "Listen to what your employees say sometimes. You might hear the actual concerns of the common man and woman."
Tony Stark	Tony stared at him for a moment so he didn't say anything that he couldn't take back. Like asking how getting his ass kicked by a kid in a spider costume felt. Because he was here to be a voice of reason. In a room full of crazy. "Right," he said stiffly. "I'm sure the Sinister Six are heartbroken that you turned them down for the common man and woman." LOOK, IT JUST SLIPPED OUT.
Norman Osborn	Norman glared for a second. It may have been with crazy eyes, BUT JUST FOR A SECOND. "You see, Senator? This is the problem. A man with the power of an army battalion and who answers to no one making accusations based entirely on unsubstantiated reports from the leftist media." Hey, Ben Urich, how did it feel getting thrown under the bus like that? "What guarantee do I have that he won't come after me based on baseless speculation?"
Senator Kelly	"Gentlemen," Kelly said firmly. "This meeting isn't to hash out your agendas." It totally was about to hash out his agenda of fearing people with super powers. "Please take your seats so we can discuss the implementation of this act."
Tony Stark	Oh, Tony was going to donate so much money to the leftist media now, Osborn. Just you wait. "Thank you, Senator," he ground out, taking a seat across the table from Osborn. So he didn't do something like punch the man.
Norman Osborn	And Norman would give a few interviews on Fox to do the same thing. Big whoop, Stark. "Of course," Norman said, sitting down like it was the head of the table, even though it totally wasn't.
Senator Kelly	"Less than a week ago, Steve Rogers, otherwise known as Captain America, escaped SHIELD custody with the intent to circumvent this act," Kelly began, glancing over a briefing that had been given to him.
Tony Stark	Okay, what. "It wasn't even voted on then," Tony interrupted, suddenly getting the reason for all the ignored phone calls to Steve. Because he couldn't be allowed to try and discuss this with his team in a reasonable fashion. Oh no. Of course not.
Norman Osborn	"But it is still against the law to assault law enforcement officers. How many men and women of SHIELD were injured during his attack?" Norman asked.
Senator Kelly	"It looks like he hijacked a jet, forced the pilot to land and... bought the man a cheeseburger for his trouble." Oh, the shit Kelly was putting up with here.
Tony Stark	Yeah, that sounded like Steve. Tony gave Norman a perfectly innocent look for that one. Just try to make that unAmerican, buddy.
Norman Osborn	"So he just stole a SHIELD jet," Norman pointed out. "Congratulations to the Captain for only committing one crime. Let's give him a medal!"
Tony Stark	"He has plenty of them," Tony shot back.
Senator Probably Not The Zodiac Killer	"Gentlemen." Why did he have to act like the teacher in the room? "Can we stay on subject?"
Norman Osborn	"My apologies," Norman said. "Please, continue."
Senator Kelly	Kelly gave them both a look before returning to the briefing. "There is concern of a rogue contingent of so called 'superheroes' openly flaunting their disregard for this law. And it's not unfounded if we already have evidence of one." Captain America at that. It was almost as though this might lead to some sort of... war.
Tony Stark	Not if Tony could stop it. Because Jesus Christ did that sound like a bad idea. "It's too soon to decide that," Tony replied. "There needs to be time to figure out how to even go about enforcing this." And by then he could hopefully push through an objection in the courts.
Norman Osborn	"We already have the means in place," Norman said. "SHIELD has the capabilities, and OsCorp will be more than happy to provide any defense production help they need if other companies can't rise to the challenge." Osborn was so evil he subtweeted in person.
Tony Stark	...you monster. Tony sat up straighter, clenching his jaw at that. "SHIELD couldn't stop one man." Who was Captain America, therefore too awesome for them. "And OsCorp's reputation in weaponry is as shoddy as Hammer Industries. If anyone is to enforce this, it'll be the Avengers." He hoped. He needed to keep this from becoming Osborn's show at any cost.
Norman Osborn	"That 'one man' SHIELD couldn't stop is the Avengers," Norman pointed out with a grin. "Turning to them would destroy all public credibility we might have in enforcing the act. If the Avengers can't bring him in immediately, people would draw their own conclusions on why."
Tony Stark	"Like all the public credibility the Green Goblin has?" Tony snapped.
Senator Kelly	"Osborn has a point," Kelly chimed in. Because he was the devil's advocate here. "If it's your own teammate leading this opposition, what sort of credibility do the Avengers have?"
Norman Osborn	"Especially when this isn't even the first time Captain America has shown himself to be against us," Norman pointed out. "Maybe the first time you can get people to believe the alien imposter story. I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt myself. But what excuse will he come up with if he changes his mind this time, too?"
Tony Stark	"I'm sorry, weren't you in prison during that?" Tony asked, voice going low and tight with anger. "Give me a week to get this under control. A week."
Senator Kelly	"If that's possible," Kelly granted him blandly.
Norman Osborn	"I think a week is fair for the Avengers' past service," Norman admitted. "But if a week passes without any progress, I think it'll clearly be time to look at future services."

[Preplayed with the awesome craftyladyparts]