voidtreckerexpress | Warning Mad Scientist At Work

Entry tags:

Warning Mad Scientist At Work

Who: Tony and OTA
Where: Varies
When: Apple Day 17- 20
What: Tony's keeping busy investigating, building, breaking things, you know. The usual.
Warnings: Language and I'll warn if there's EG spoilers

Quiet Car- {OTA + Manabu}

Tony has taken over one of the quiet rooms to be his own personal work space. There's a note on the wall next to the door saying just that and to stay out. If anyone chooses not to respect that, they'll find tools that had been um.. borrowed from the previous world and several mechanical projects in the works. Nothing is finished yet.

For Manabu: One of the projects, Tony is working on is fixing the laser gun that belonged to Manabu's dad. He's using both tools from the world, tools he's made, and a few items from the medical bay to get into the electric base of the gun.

Medical Car- {OTA}

Another place Tony has made himself at home is the medical area. He's taken some ingredients from the kitchen and using the tools from the medical bay to work on a few projects here as well. One can find him using some cups, mugs, bowls, and some silverware to do what looks like a couple chemistry projects.

Gym- {OTA}

When he's not cooped up with his brainy assignments, he's sparring in the gym or doing yoga. He had started off doing this by himself in his quiet room, but has clearly given that up and now does it wherever he pleases (but mostly the gym).

[Side Note]
He's repeatedly gotten so busy he has forgotten to eat or go to bed if anyone cares to notice.

[ooc- if there's something specific you'd like me to add just holler and I'll add it. Or I might think of something else and add it later.]

****

Storage car, wall where conductor's door should be.

Immediately following this

As Tony storms from the dressing carriage to the closest one to where the conductor should be, his armor clinks into place. His helmet drops into place and he barks a few orders to Friday and powers up, ready for a fight. He ignores any and all attempts to slow him down or explain himself. Finally when it's only the wall between him and the one he suspects has answers, he attacks.

"What the hell have you done with Gwen?! Come face me, you dickless tyrant!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

His eyes flicker to said sign for a moment, mouth quirking.

"Who does it apply to? Just the newcomers?"

He can't imagine Tony shouting the spider-kids off his lawn.

Tony starts to answer before he realizes he doesn't have one. He looks up at the door and then back at Manabu before laughing and shrugging. "I don't know. I'm used to locking my doors, desk, and every computer system I own. It feels strange having all my things out where someone could take them."

He thought through who he might not want in here. "I'd say mainly the kids. Peter's banned from my lab at home unsupervised. I tell ya, that kid has the worst luck."

"Ha."

Poor Peter. He wonders if he's told Tony about the spider-web mishap in the luggage compartment. Perhaps best left untold for the sake of his image...and Manabu's, frankly.

"I didn't want to say anything," he said, sitting back, folding his arms. "But it seems that way. Maybe you ought to be looking around for ways to make him a fancy, safe iron suit."

Peter tried to keep Tony from knowing when stupid things like that happen. There were enough such things that he did know about.

He laughs and nods his head. "I did! Well, not metal, but it's flame proof, tear resistant, has about a million safety features on it along with his web-shooters. And he still manages to get himself in trouble."

Maybe he should just give up and give him a version like he and Pepper had.

Manabu blinks a few times, surprised. "Seriously? Man! How easily is it to even make something like that!"

Imagining the SDF with awesome flying suits...man. He loves his job, but he bets he'd love it even more with an iron suit.

"You're cute kid. Really. Has anyone told you that?" Tony teases. "The suits aren't easy to make and his cost five million alone. But.. he was going out in a handmade costume out of mostly felt and fighting crime. I had to do something before he got himself killed."

He shakes his head remembering that crazy suit. It looked so weird and cheap. "Only ones who have suits are myself, Peter, and my wife. I had one for another guy but he's retired more or less. Hey but.. find us a way to get Peter home and me to find out if my universe survived and I'll make you one."

Cute kid gets a brief scowl, but nothing beyond that. Suit-talk is more interesting -- and promising! A suit of his own? That's cool, that--

Wait.

"Why do you say 'if my universe survived'?"

Tony's humored smile fades as Manabu latches on the poorly chosen remark. Oh. Right. That.. well.. guess he's told enough people anyway..

"Don't let this get back to Peter. I'm from his future, assuming we're actually from the same universe and not just similar ones. Some really bad things are going to happen and one of those things is a being from some other reality comes and wipes out exactly 50% of everyone on Earth, my home planet. Right before I came here we were fighting him again and I was just about to kill him and bring everyone back he destroyed when I showed up here. Peter's one of the ones who gets taken and there's nothing he can do about it, so I don't want him to have to live with that fear. But if for some reason I don't succeed in what I was doing- if I don't kill Thanos- then our world will be destroyed. If I win, then I die. He doesn't need to know that either."

A lengthy bit of silence settles in well after that answer. Manabu's expression, which grew cloudier and more conflicted as Tony went on, is scrunched up with a mix of concern and confusion. There's a lot more to the story than what Tony's said, obviously, and it's hard for him to grasp sense of the whole thing.

It's not just that, but that last bit is so...grim. Grim and weirdly familiar. Not line for line, of course, but the notion of a man having to make that choice to give up his life for others. There's some bit of that in the everyday of an SDF officer, but never with stakes so high. But it happens. Now and then, it happens.

It happened to Wataru Yuuki. It happened to Mamoru Yuuki.

"Jeez, Tony, I..." He grimaces, rubbing the back of his neck. What does one say in the face of a heavy bit of story like that?

Silence threatens to creep back in as he tries to think of what to say.

Had it been wrong to tell the kid this? The longer the silence, the more convinced Tony gets that he'd just crossed a bunch of social lines he shouldn't have. Normally he wouldn't care, but he liked Manabu.

"It's okay," Tony says after it's clear Manabu can't think of how to act now. "I shouldn't have.. that was an overshare." He looks down at his hands on the table for a moment. "I'm still processing it, so.. I might need to tell it more than people need to hear it. So I apologize for that." Was it wrong to want people to know going home for him was a death sentence?

He tries to smirk and make a joke and it only half works. "Thought this was the train for dead people when I first got on."

While Tony wondered if he shared too much, Manabu was feeling strangely...proud? Proud to be confided in, being trusted with such delicate information. Tony may have said kid moments ago, but he wouldn't be telling a real kid about such things right now.

That's something Manabu won't take lightly, that's for sure. Even as Tony doubts, Manabu solidifies his certainty to do right by him and honor the wish to keep it quiet. A man-to-man promise.

"Oh," he blinks, his head tilting at the remark. "No, the ghost train's a different color and make altogether."

He says so with such pointedness as to definitely not be a joke.

Tony can't read Manabu right now. He has no idea what's going on in the other man's head, but he doubts it's anything positive. He wouldn't be too surprised if the young man walked out of the room after this.

"What?" That remark was so completely out of left field, Tony doesn't know how to react to it. "There literally are ghost trains where you're from?"

Tony's reaction makes Manabu laugh, though he tries to stifle it at first.

"Ha, just...just the one," he replies, his mouth still twitching. "Don't worry -- I was surprised to find out it was real, too. And to wind up on it."

After a beat that could've very well implied that he was dead, Manabu raises his hands to quickly quell that.

"That is to say! I was on the job! Trying to stop another guy from getting on. I never got killed or anything, just...stowed away. On a...a train full of ghosts...heh..."

Even just one ghost train was enough for Tony to be sucked in to this conversation. His eyebrows rise right on cue when Manabu says he was on it.

He laughs, this was an incredible story that he was having a hard time believing. If it were from someone else's mouth he might not have. Manabu though..

"Alright, start that from the beginning. I need that whole story. But first.. I need a drink." He moves over to one of the boxes he's squirreled away from the luggage room and pulls out a bottle of hard cider. "A little sweet for my tastes, but it'll have to do." He pulls an extra cup from the box too (just why he has those in there, who knows). He fills his glass and then waits to see if Manabu would like some too, ready to pour at the slightest indication he'd like some.

"Aa, hey, thanks!" Manabu eagerly nods at the invite, already reaching for the cup before it's even filled. He waits until Tony's settled back in his seat before even thinking of lifting it, pausing before deciding to hold the cup out for a clink.

"To, ah...spooky ghost trains, and...spooky trains in general, then?" He shrugs, his expression sheepish. That's not much of a toast, but hey.

Tony's smile broadens when Manabu accepts his invitation. It was nice to have someone to drink with. He almost has the glass to his lips before he realizes the other man has his held out for a toast. Quickly, he moves his to tap his new friend's and says, "Here here!"

He leans forward in his chair as he listens to the tale. While Manabu manages to keep his attention the whole time, Tony does interrupt once or twice with questions. Mostly though, he seems to be enjoying the story. "Quite the hero. Well done." He refills their glasses at the end. "If you want crazy stories though, you should hear about when aliens attacked our city."

Tony proceeds to swap a few 'fun' tales with Manabu till they kill the bottle.

Manabu can't remember the last time he's sat down to just shoot the shit with someone over some booze. Granted, he's never been much of a drinker outside of politely complying with a group, but he can't deny that the feeling of a light buzz creeping on is a special kind of comfort. Reminds him of downtime with the rest of Big One's crew.

Man, he misses those guys. He hopes their train-based hijinks at least let them visit home once in a while.

"Jeez." He shakes his head at the tail-end of a laugh. "So that big, green guy just...beat him on the floor like he was a dirty rug? And he survived that? That's almost like a cartoon, but...I can't say I don't believe it. There's weird stuff going on all the time somewhere, right?"

Tony missed the other Avengers too. They weren't just allies, many of them had been friends. Unfortunately there had only been a small handful of times they'd been able to hang out. He has never been able to eat shawarma without thinking about his comrades.

This was pretty good too though. He hadn't expected Manabu to be such enjoyable company, but the young man was. He had some fun stories to tell and was a good listener to his. He could get used to a friend like this.

"It was! That's exactly how it looked. And the guy called himself a god, but really he was just some powerful magic user. Either way, it didn't help him at all in that moment except to survive it. I don't know how he ever regained his dignity."

"Maybe we won't have to find out." Manabu shrugs, putting the empty cup down. "I don't know what the selection process for this operation is, but so far it hasn't included warmongers or self-proclaimed gods."

No...just...magical adventurers, scientists, and children.

Still weird.

"In any case--" He stretches, then glances down at the unfinished pistol. Right. That... "I have cooking duty tonight, so I know I have to get to that, but..."

Tony sighs, not pleased that Manabu has to go. He was really enjoying their break from reality to swap stories and drink. However, he also knows and respects 'when duty calls'. He sees where Manabu's gaze goes and nods, picking up the pieces of the pistol and carefully putting them in a small box (suitcase he stole from the luggage car).

"We'll have to do this again. Don't worry, I'll protect this." He closes the lid and latches it shut. It wasn't locked, but if anyone looked in here it wouldn't appear to be any more interesting than the rest of his random items he'd borrowed. "Drop a line if you hear anything I should know about, okay?"

There's still a part of Manabu that aches with worry, seeing his father's pistol put out of sight, out of hand. But he knows better than to fuss; he has to trust this guy to do right, and he will. After all, he had no less than two opportunities to hurl him off a mountain and that went alright!

So instead of protest, Manabu gives a lazy salute before heading out the door, calling over his shoulder, "Aye, sir! See you around."

Hopefully dinner won't be too much of a bust; it wasn't that much hard cider...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Warning Mad Scientist At Work

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Endgame Spoilers

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject