driftfleet | ᴏᴏ1 : ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ

Who: Tony Stark [

privatizes and YOU.
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: S.S. Pathstone.
When: Now!

[ tony has spoken to some folks on the fleet already, and has figured out a number of things.

1. this is not the first time he has been here. apparently, there have been multiple versions of him here, and therefore a good number of people aboard the fleet knows who he is. whether or not that's a good thing is yet to be determined.

2. there are alternate dimensions, universes, and worlds. which he knew already, thanks to loki and his fucking magical mystery tour of hell a few years ago, but it's a lot different here. memory mismanagement, different versions of different people... hawkeye is a chick now? sure, whatever. okay.

3. he has no suit. he has no lab. he has no money. he has literally nothing that he usually brings to the table when he does this whole 'good guy' thing, and so he has to make do with the weapons he does have.

4. the reality tv thing is probably bullshit, but you know what? let's do this thing.

so when tony finally turns on the camera to greet the fleet properly, he's sitting at the communications station on the pathstone, fiddling with a screwdriver in his hands. ]

So.

[ smooth beginning ]

What's a guy gotta do for a decent latte around here?

[ that's it. that's the post. time to feel out how many people actually recognize him around here. but first: ]

[ encrypted; filtered to steve rogers, wanda maximoff, peggy carter, and the vision ]

Hey, gang. Avengers Assemble or whatever.

[ he really just wanted to say it once. but after that joke, tony grows a little more serious. ]

I set up an encrypted feed. You're all on the list. I'm the only one who can add people on and off it, so don't bother trying, 'cause I'll both notice and be pissed that you tried. The Atroma can probably read and listen to every single word, but I'm still not convinced the rest of the Fleet is as trustworthy or welcoming as they claim to be. Best we keep anything superhero related to ourselves.

[ and he pauses ]

They put me on the Pathstone. It has no shields and no weaponry, but it has a jacuzzi.

[ said in the world's most dry tone ]

And on a totally hypothetical note, what happens when you apply to be captain on the computer?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Feeling your way, case by case? [ hmm. ] You must have many admirers. And just as many enemies.

Kids think we're cool. Adults with decision making power? Not so much.

[ but people don't complain when the avengers work. they only complain when they don't. and honestly, tony doesn't know how he feels about that. how he feels about sokovia, and what went down there. he hasn't sorted through it yet. ]

Saving the world doesn't get done by waiting around and chit-chatting. Our enemies are way bigger than the Russians, now. Aliens, gods, demi-gods, mutants... well, the bad kind of mutants, anyway. All of it stuff that only we can handle. 'cause we've got the big guns to fire back. And people might not like that, but it is what it is.

[ there's a pause and tony puffs out his cheeks slightly, as he exhales ]

The United States government might not be my biggest fan, but if Loki is on the White House doorstep with a dozen alien worm beasts and a stick that can control minds, the President's not calling the Secret Service. He's calling me, and asking if Iron Man can nicely make an appearance at dinner to punch the guy in the face and send him back to where he belongs. We clean up our own messes, but other people need us to clean up theirs, too. It's an equal opportunity thought experiment.

[ patiently, she waits out his off-the-cuff speech. yes -- she can sense the tendrils of howard's genetics, expressing themselves like thicker, wilder roots in tony stark. bravado thicker than tar, but ultimately still reinforced by hard science and an impressive budget. in many ways, peggy doesn't agree with the entire notion of the avengers -- such as they are. but that's the problem when a lone wolf starts to stalk the outer edges of a team. she can't see the forest for the trees.

charitably: ] A thought experiment. I'd hope it's progressed a great deal beyond merely that, Mister Stark.

[ tony is far more like his father than he would ever like to admit. and he's gotten better, truly, at forgiving his father for what he had so long perceived as absenteeism. tony, the little prodigal child that he is, who could effortlessly coast through MIT and his education because he was so goddamn smart, but howard would much rather criticize tony for his flaws than his accomplishments. which might be what he needed, and tony can recognize that now. but it hadn't helped then.

howard, though, had left tony so much. the key to saving his life, the key to forging forward with the avengers. howard stark had left everything for his son, to pass on his legacy to him. but there's still the looming spectre. howard stark is a hard shadow to get yourself out from under. tony has done a fairly good job -- everybody knows who he is, and everybody recognizes his accomplishments, as his, and his own. but it's still hard to sit through talks of i knew your dad -- yeah, obviously. tony knows. he had to sit through comparisons on how lacklustre tony was in comparison to the greats of the 40s every christmas dinner.

now, though -- ]

Used to be, but it's evolved. We have a headquarters. Direct connections to the United States military. We left business cards in Geneva, and the FBI and the CIA give us a call when they need something cleaned up. We're a household name. Every government on the globe knows who we are and what we do.

[ professional, with some small amount of pride. tony is tired, and a mess, and he hates the mistakes he's made, and he hates when innocent people die, and he's really not built for combat, he was never trained for combat, but -- ]

The Avengers are a professional ass-kicking squad that do what other people can't.

[ -- from the howling commandos to this. others may trace its origins differently, but all peggy can see is a looping line from that original squad to this powerhouse of future utility. captain rogers takes his place in both of them, she supposes. and the ssr touched the commandos in much the same way (she theorizes) shield did for the avengers before the two were split apart. her jaw tightens. the entire hydra debacle still weighs heavy on her soul. ]

Any oversight?

[ the question can't be helped. her career was born out of a pit of bureaucracy. the concern comes naturally to her. ]

We live together, we fight together, we die together.

[ it sounds like a line that tony took from someone else, and it's a bit foreign coming out of his mouth. maybe a newly learned lesson? who knows. ]

We're not run by the government. We monitor each other, and when once of us screws up, the rest of us pull them out of it.

[ lately, it's been tony. who constantly screws up. because he's not a hero, and he sucks at this. but he's just going to leave that part out of it. ]

But if you're looking for an unofficial leader that nobody voted for, including me, most of the group looks at Cap.

I suppose I'm not all that surprised. He always did have a way of...asserting himself. [ even before the serum, if she's honest. ]

He's obnoxious, is what you're saying.

[ it's okay peggy he's got you ]

Self-righteous, annoying. Buys Girl Scout Cookies every single time because he feels bad.

It's better than the opposite.

[ and you're free to infer for yourself what, exactly, the opposite might be. ]

[ ............. ]

Was that supposed to be a backhanded insult?

[ MISS CARTER ]

Back-handed admiration, perhaps, for a rare specimen such as yourself.

[ -- she deals with stark men in equal measures tenderness and cool business-like tones. ]

ᴏᴏ1 : ᴠɪᴅᴇᴏ

encrypted »

encrypted »

encrypted »

encrypted »

encrypted »

encrypted »

encrypted »

encrypted »

encrypted »

encrypted »

encrypted »