tushanshu_logs | Attune your ears to the grinding gears

Entry tags:

Attune your ears to the grinding gears

Characters: Tony Stark and Vincent ~~Moose~~ Moore
Date: July 20
Location: The Sky Sector
Situation: Vincent mistakes Iron Man for a sentient robot. ~~Lulz~~ Violence ensues.
Warnings/Rating: Dumb men being confused and trying to assert their dominance. Maybe some violence: possibly Vincent shooting at the armor, possibly Tony having to restrain him.

Even though the Sky Sector is mostly completed, Tony can still occasionally be found in the armor doing maintenance or lending a hand with renovation or construction. He isn't paid for it, but he feels some obligation to keep everything running smoothly, since Gene had been the de facto head of the Sky Sector project.

Today, he's kneeling over an underground electrical box, inspecting the exposed wiring. While the work doesn't technically require the armor, he finds it more convenient. He doesn't have to worry about getting electrocuted, and the armor's sensors make it easier to pinpoint problems. He's not paying much attention to his surroundings: he's working alone, and he doesn't expect anyone to be interrupting him.

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Unfortunately for Tony, or, more likely Vincent, was that someone was exploring the city; notably the Sky Sector. He's gotten a scope of the rest of Keelial, so the last, and newest, sector is all that's left.

He's still jumpy, understandably, that vision is taking a while to wear off for him. That, coupled with the fact he can barely close his eyes without his brain going insane with "what-ifs" and stupid stuff like that.

So, when he rounds the corner, spotting something that looks like a robot, and, surprisingly, as humanoid as the Scouts, he swears loudly, recoiling, and ending up falling backwards, throwing a hand out to catch himself.

Tony looks up when he hears someone swear loudly, just in time to see some guy with a mullet fall on his ass. What the hell?

"Whoa. Hey, man." Tony stands up and takes a step forward, holding out his hand to help the guy up. "Are you okay?"

It doesn't immediately occur to Tony that he might be reacting to the armor: he's too used to his identity being public, here, and being able to use the armor whenever he wants. It's such a part of him, he sometimes almost forgets he's wearing it.

Perhaps it'll occur to Tony when the big man fumbles a gun out from behind him.

"You stay the fuck back!"

And the gun is aimed at Tony's breastplate, pretty steadily for a man who sounds like he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Jeez! Okay, chill out!" Tony stops, straightening and pulling his hand back. "Just trying to help. What's your problem, dude?"

Tony can see that the guy's freaked out, but now that he's pulled out a gun in the middle of the (fortunately currently empty) street, Tony's a little less sympathetic than he was before.

He points at Vincent's gun. "You'd better put that away." The 'or else' is implied. "This is a residential district, not a firing range. Where'd you get it, anyway? Did you bring that with you?" Great. More guns floating around in Keeliai. Just what the city needs.

"You just... stay back." He's not heeding that warning, because he's giving his own. He's freaking out, because this robot is talking to him.

Vincent is going to start backing off, getting to his feet, keeping the gun levelled steadily at Tony. Irrational, he may be acting, but he hasn't fired yet. He's trained, that's for certain.

"I am staying back," Tony says, starting to sound faintly exasperated. "But I'm not going to let you run off while you're still waving that thing around. So why don't you just chill out, and explain to me what the heck is going on here, and we can work this out like reasonable people?"

Tony crosses his arms, managing to look annoyed despite the fact that his face is covered. "Because unless you normally fly around on a robohorse in futuristic knight armor and speak only in grunts, I'm pretty sure I've never met you or put you in jail before - so I'm having a hard time figuring out why you're pointing a gun at me."

Vincent screws his eyes shut for a second, opening them. "Just... shut up, goddamn it!" Because talking isn't helping. What this... thing is saying isn't helping. Or making sense. Or anything.

He can't think clearly. He's going to keep backing off, aiming to get to a distance to bolt for it.

"Well, that's not very nice. And here I thought we were building up a rapport." Telling Tony to shut up is literally the last way to get him to be quiet, Vincent.

And don't think he doesn't notice you trying to scoot away, Mr. Mullet. "Cut that out. I'm serious. Either put the gun away or quit trying to run off. You're giving off a major 'crazy gunman' vibe right now, and you know what? That's not cool." There is no way in hell Tony's letting this guy out of his sight while he's still armed, without some kind of explanation.

Tony takes another step forward and holds out his hand, like he's expecting Vincent to hand the gun over. "Put it away, or I'll take it away. Up to you."

And there's an audiable click. Safety's now off.

"I said stay the fuck back!"

"Man. You really need to find your chill, pal. Have you considered yoga?" Tony does not step back, but at least he doesn't take another step forward.

"Look, I don't have a problem with you, whoever you are. All I want is for you to put that gun away before some kid runs by right in time to catch a ricochet, alright? I'm not going to hurt you. And you're not going to hurt me - not with that dinky little thing. This armor is a nanocrystalline polyresin alloy. It can brush off a surface-to-air missile. If we do this the hard way, it's just going to end with a lot of bruises and wasted bullets on your end. So." Tony speaks slowly and calmly, in the tone of voice one reserves for people who are unhinged, or maybe a little bit dim. "How about we relax. Take some deep breaths. And talk this out? Yeah? No fighting. No shooting. Just talking. Two guys having a nice little chat. Sound good?"

There's something about the phrasing that clicks in Vincent's mind. As unhinged as he might be, Mr. Moore is very intelligent, whether that be tactically or otherwise.

The gun doesn't get lowered.

"Before I strip myself of my only goddamn defence..." He growls, keeping everything level. "You're gonna tell me who the fuck you are."

"Tony Stark. Iron Man. I don't think either of those is going to mean much to you if you're not from my world. But I'm one of the foreigners, just like you. I've been here about two years." He's still speaking in a slow and measured voice, since that seems to be finally getting through to Mullet Guy.

Tony gestures at the still-open electrical box. "I helped develop the Sky Sector, and I like to make sure everything's running smoothly. What about you?" Tell the nice armor man your name, Vincent.

"You're human?" Vincent queries, still not lowering the gun. "Prove it, then the gun gets lowered."

"What?" Ooohhhhhhhhh. "Yeah, of course I am." He must have thought Tony was some kind of... automatic killbot. Like Fury's dumb Hammeroids. Tony would've thought that misconception would have been cleared up as soon as they started having a conversation - but then, it seems like Mullet Guy maybe isn't all there, if you know what he means.

"If you want to get technical about it, I'm sort of a cyborg, but that's a recent upgrade. This," he gestures at himself, "is just armor. But it's armor that's not coming off as long as you're still threatening to shoot me. They say we come back if we die, here, but I'm not exactly eager to test that with a bullet to the face."

There's a long moment's pause, before an audiable click. Safety's back on. Then Vincent's hands are going up, gun still left in it, but not pointed anywhere.

"I'm not putting it away until I have proof."

So, this is the best compromise you're getting, Tony, mate.

...Eh, good enough.

Tony sighs, shrugs, and dismisses the armor. It folds away into its backpack, leaving him wearing nothing but his decidedly un-bulletproof shirt and jeans.

"There you go. Happy now?"

"No."

Is all he grunts, but the gun gets stashed behind him regardless.

"The bloody hell're you goin' around in that for?"

"I'm doing electrical work." Tony tilts his head at the electrical box and raises his eyebrows. DUH, Vincent.

"What the hell are you doing running around with a gun threatening people until they prove they're human? Because if you have a problem with non-humans, I have some bad news for you."

Since there are all of, like, forty humans in the entire city.

"I don't have a problem with non-humans." Vincent growls, and that's all you're going to get out of him on this topic.

"And I'm pretty sure you can do electrical work in something that's a little less designed for fighting in a goddamn war."

"It's designed for a lot of things," Tony says, less crossly than he might under different circumstances. It seems like this guy must've had bad experiences with military robots or something - and Tony can sympathize with that.

"It's not a weapon." ~~Suuuuuure it isn't, Tony.~~ "At home I use it to catch criminals - superpowered ones that the police can't handle on their own - so it has some offensive capabilities, but that's not all it does. I didn't even build it for that. That just kind of... happened." It's a long story.

"Here I mostly use it to get around. And for stuff like this." Tony shrugs. "It's easier than carrying around a toolbox?"

"Developing an armour that can brush off a surface-to-air missile and, obviously, is armed to the bloody hilt doesn't just 'happen', kid."

Yeah, he doesn't believe that for a second.

"And, frankly, I'd rather not use a weapon to fix electrical circuits." A pause. "Also, I'd rather not deck myself in bloody metal before sorting something with a live current."

Well, when you say it like that it sounds weird.

"...I just wanted to make something cool to show to my dad." Literally, that's what happened. God's honest truth, he made the armor for shits and giggles. Overachiever, much? "I didn't start using it to catch criminals until... a bunch of other stuff happened."

(Long story short: he was orphaned, tried to take ill-advised revenge on his father's former business partner, and ran afoul of every costumed crazy in the tri-state area along the way.)

"And like I said, it's a nanocrystalline polyresin alloy. It has different conductive properties from just 'metal.' Also, the current is off. I'm not an idiot." He's been electrocuted before. That is not an experience he's looking to repeat.

~~he is an idiot, though~~

"Right." Hear his resounding faith in your intelligence, Tony? "Whatever. I'll leave you to..." He motions vaguely. "Whatever batshit insane stuff you're doing."

Because he can't take this right now. He's just barely come to terms with magic existing, never mind nanocrystalline polyresin alloys making futuristic war armour ~~BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT IT IS~~. So, he's just going to turn to head back to the hotel.

~~SHUT UP VINCENT NO IT'S NOT except yes it totally is~~

Minor electrical work doesn't really count as 'batshit insane' in Tony's book, but whatever.

Meanwhile, Vincent hasn't totally convinced Tony that he doesn't fall into that category. So when he turns and starts walking away, Tony tenses again.

"Hey! I'm sorry for freaking you out - but I mean it about the gun. This place might not have a legal system like you're used to, but you're still going to get in a lot of trouble if you shoot someone." And get the rest of the foreigners in trouble, too. When one foreigner misbehaves, the kedan tend to take it out on all of them. "I'd better not hear about you pulling your gun on anyone else. Got it?"

The not-very-sub-subtext there is: he can suit up and confiscate that pea-shooter any time he likes, Vincent, so you'd better play nice.

And Vincent stops. And laughs at that, turning to face Tony again.

"Listen, mate." He growls, expression draining. "I don't shoot anyone who doesn't deserve it, alright?" And he raises a finger to point at the backpack. "And if you think I'm scared of ya little billy jumpsuit? You better think again."

He lowers his hand. "Threaten all you want, cobber. You're just some snot-nosed brat who thinks he's invincible because he's got a flash new toy. And I don't take too kindly to folks threatening me for something I'm not gonna do."

"Okay, one: I don't know what, like, half of those words mean." He doesn't speak Australian, Vincent. Vegemite barbie kangaroo?

"Two: I don't care how good your reasons are, if you lose your shit and threaten to shoot total strangers, people are going to get on your case. And dialing up the macho man act? Really isn't helping."

Tony's starting to look annoyed again. "You're the one who pulled out the gun and started making threats. It's not my fault if you can't take what you dish out."

"Sounds like you need to take a class in listening, mate. I wasn't threatening; I was warning, because I was being approached by something that looks like it can snap me in two." And you haven't seen "macho man" yet, Tony. "I've almost been through that. It's not fucking fun."

He shakes his head. "If you can't tell the difference between a threat and someone scared outta their wits, I wonder about your capacity to fight crime. Give a bloke a fair go before accusing them of stuff."

"I'm okay on listening, but I might have missed the class on how to tell the difference between someone threatening to shoot you and someone warning that they're going to shoot you. My bad. I was homeschooled."

Tony heaves an irritated sigh. Being sarcastic probably isn't helping. Even if the guy deserves it.

"We both lost our cool, okay? I'm sorry. All I'm saying is, there's a lot of freaky stuff around here, but if the first thing you do when something weird pops up is go for your gun, you're probably just going to make things worse. And it'll make trouble for everyone else, too. We're trying to stay on good terms with the kedan, and they're not going to like it if there's a foreigner running around who pulls out his gun every time he gets surprised. So... don't do that. Please."

Look, Vincent, he's asking nicely!

Vincent doesn't care. He could get on one knee and offer his query on gilded parchment and Vincent wouldn't care. He just grunts in response.

"Unless all the surprises are robots, or guys in freaky future-armour, I've done well with surprises up until now."

Um. About that.

"...Well, there is a robot, but she's really nice. And there's another guy with power armor. It looks really creepy - it's all black and pointy and kind of evil-looking - but he won't hurt you. ...And a girl with bright purple power armor who will probably try to arrest you if you point a gun at her. If they surprise you, don't shoot them either."

Edited 2015-08-11 22:20 (UTC)

Well, now he knows what to expect.

"Fine." He shrugs. "Thanks for letting me know."

"No problem," Tony says dryly. "Can I put my armor back on now? I'd like to finish up this electrical work. I have a lunch date."

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Attune your ears to the grinding gears

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