Chapter 4: Iron Man

A man in a business suit and a goatee was sitting bored on a desk; this man was Tony Stark the genius inventor and playboy billionaire owner of Stark Industries which was founded by his late father Howard Stark. Right now he was watching footage of himself in a red, yellow and silver robot suit fighting alongside his friend Air Force Colonel James Rhodes in a similar black and silver armor against several rogue terrorists and some sort of manmade of purple energy. "I don't really see the problem, I help fight terrorism both as Iron Man and as a member of the SHIELD sanctioned Avengers team. I beleive you know of Arthur Parks who was a criminal that got zapped turned into a living laser" Tony said facing a beautiful blonde haired woman who was Colonel Carol Danvers of the Air Force. "Plus I gave Rhodey the War Machine suit so the army has their own Iron Man." Tony said as Carol sighed.

"While your activities as Iron Man are officially sanctioned by SHIELD, The Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff in particular feels you should be doing more to provide the military with weapons such as the Iron Man armor and he is not happy with you and SHIELD helping to protect Dr Banner..." Carol told him but Tony cut her off with a hand symbol. He then got up on his feet.

"Oh yeah Banner, my fellow Avenger T'Challa told me how a week ago he caused an incident that could have started a war between the US and Wakanda so I really don't care for the opinion of that idiot who doesn't know a hero like Bruce when he sees one." Tony told her with a slight serious tone to his voice. "Second of all Iron Man is not a weapon, you are not the first military personnel I have had to say this too and you are probably not the last but my days of making weapons for war are over." Tony said remembering how he and his father had made weapons for the military but an incident where he was captured by terrorists using his weapons caused him to have an epiphany. After escaping with his first Iron Man armor he shut down his weapons division, focused on clean energy and other methods and decided to atone for his companies' weapon making past in becoming Iron Man.

"So you are saying that I am to report to General Thaddeus Ross and say your stance has not changed?" Carol asked and Tony nodded, Tony could not help but notice the smile that Carol had on her face as she left. Truth be told she could not usually stand Ross's overbearing angry attitude and she was only doing this in a devil's advocate type of role. She had seen what he was willing to do with his Hulkbusters unit and he did not trust Ross with something like the Iron Man armor. She would follow orders but Ross would not expect her to completely agree with him or to all that dedicated to him.

Meanwhile in the headquarters of the Roxxon Oil Corporation, an elderley man in a wheelchair was meeting with a bearded man in a red business suit. The older man was Hugh Jones the owner and founder of Roxxon and the other man was Kearson DeWitt who was Roxxon's CEO. Hugh was a long time rival of Tony and Howard Stark, he and Howard both started their companies at the same time and were equally footed in power and influence (Howard dwelled in helping the government with the War taking place and Hugh made deals with the criminal organisation known as the Maggia). However over the years while Stark Industries enjoyed more success and became larger, Hugh and Roxxon was not quite as powerful as it once was in the 1940s but Hugh always was on the lookout for ways to finally take down the Stark family's company and then maybe buy the remains of it.

"Mr Jones sir, I beleive I have found an ally who could help us with our Tony Stark problem." DeWitt said as a man then entered the room, he had long hair, a goatee, a business suit and on every single of his fingers were a golden ring each with a different colored stone. Hugh did not look impressed but that would soon change.

Then suddenly the man lifted up his hands and the rings on his fingers seemed to be glowing which made Hugh interested. The man told Hugh "I hope we can be allies as long as you help me with what I require for my own plans for power, my true name is unimportant but you can refer to me as the Mandarin!"

Iron Man's armor is the one from the Ultimate comics and yes Tony has the same issues with government pressuring him for his armor from Iron Man 2 and from SHIELD in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes before the Avengers were formed. Just so you know Carol has no powers yet but she may become Captain Marvel at some point. Yeah due to his part in Season 2 of Agent Carter where he was a member of the MCU's version of the Secret Empire (For this universe I was actually considering having my own version with General Ross being a member).