Re: Washington D.C.
Luthor rocketed back up, and for a moment, it was like Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots all over again; Tony grunted as the armor absorbed the impact, as JARVIS dryly informed him that the helmet's integrity was compromised, and he was not to make the obvious joke about Luthor and integrity.
Losing the gauntlet, though, that was bad. Well, not good, at least. It meant he was running on a tripod of repulsors instead of a stable square, but he'd done that before and it was just a little bit of a stance shift and not punching back, even when he wanted to - it would have to be either the bare hand, or the one that was stabalizing him, and either one would be painful. So he headbutted the president. And it felt like freedom.
Especially when JARVIS announced he had some measure of control, enough to start bringing up schematics on the HUD and a progress bar. "Thank you, JARVIS. Now make him let go." The progress bar leaped forward, and suddenly, Luthor wasn't gripping as hard as he should be.
"So what did you come up with a code-name?" Tony asked as he grabbed Luthor with his good gauntlet and towed him a few hundred feet higher. "I mean, 'War Machine' is taken. So's 'Iron Monger'. 'Leprechaun'," he decided. "Except for the bald part. And the lucky part. JARVIS, kill his boots."
The repulsors in Luthor's boots shut off, and Tony was suddenly holding his entire weight aloft. "Oh, yeah, that worked well. Now, about that ruthlessness and bravado you mentioned - JARVIS, boots back, at 0.5%." He opened his hand, and Luthor's boots sputtered valiantly to hold him aloft, but he still dropped like a suit of metal armor.
Tony let him, until it was time to catch him fifty feet later, kicking the boots back. "Huh, you've got a severe weight problem - you knew that, right? And a firewall problem. And other problems. So, that being the case, start explaining why I shouldn't let you splatter on the monument of your choosing. Because I would." He'd hurt Pepper, hurt Bruce, hurt Superman, hurt the whole damn country. It would have to be a damn good reason.