science is fun [closed]

[wrathfulkhan]

Characters: Tony Stark, Gene Khan, Raine Sage
Date: Early September
Location: The labs in Stark Industries
Situation: "Hi, I'm Tony Stark, and welcome to Jackass." Hey you know those crazy-ass rings of insane phenomenal power? We should test them. For science.
Warnings/Rating: Idiot teenagers attempting Mythbusters science with technology beyond either of their ken. Watch what happens. someone's prolly gon git hurt and it's prolly gon be gene

So, things are weird.

Not much weirder than usual, granted, but weird all the same.

The weirdest thing, though, is that Tony has agreed to work with Gene. Doing science. Ring science. The last one's still locked up in Tony's possession, of course, and a good thing, too. But they both decided that they ought to test the effects of using only one at a time...just in case.

There's a whole section of the lab they have to themselves, which is great, because Gene is going to need a lot of room and a lot of test dummies to test out all the rings' powers.

Comments

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony tenses when Gene starts to stand. That seriously does not look like a good idea.] Gene— [It's not. As soon as Gene tries to straighten up, his eyes roll back and he collapses again.

Tony just barely manages to break his fall enough that he doesn't smack his head on the floor. The last thing Gene needs right now is a concussion, on top of whatever the ring did to him.]

Yeah totally fine, [Tony says when Gene comes around again. He narrows his eyes at Gene in a very obvious 'you are such an idiot' glare.] Now do you want to lie down on the couch?

[ruinsprofessor]

[Raine absolutely has experience with people with more pride than sense. Hence watching him fall over with a moderately resigned expression. She sighs just a little, and tosses another first aid at him just in case, though it did look like Tony caught him well enough.]

Experimentation can wait. Gene, Tony's right, you should rest.

[She stands up, offers a hand down to Gene. The couch is still across the room, after all, and he doesn't look steady enough to make it there by himself. The other option is probably being carried by Tony, so it's a matter of what his pride prefers.]

[wrathfulkhan]

[Gene's pride absolutely prefers help from Raine than being picked up by Tony.] Fine, [he grouses again, accepting Raine's hand and hoping he doesn't black out when he stands again.]

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony hovers, ready to catch Gene if he falls again, as Gene takes Raine's offered support and allows himself to be led over to the couch.]

You should drink something, [Tony says decisively, once Gene has been safely delivered to the couch.] I'll go get you some water. [And he starts hunting the workbenches for a cup to fill up at the sink.]

[ruinsprofessor]

[Raine leaves her staff on the floor in favor of making sure she has a free hand to support Gene if he stumbles. While it may not do much for his pride, at least it's really obvious people care about his safety?]

I'll stay a little while. Just in case.

[Science is probably over for today. Raine watches Tony for a moment, then shifts her attention back to Gene, wondering about the dynamic between the two.]

[wrathfulkhan]

[KEEP WONDERIN', RAINE. Gene has no idea what to make of the fact that people actually seem concerned about him. It's weird, and he's not here for it.

He settles back on the couch, closing his eyes. Yeah. Still dizzy. And still too stubborn and practiced at hiding his pain (or pretending he doesn't feel it) to actively let on that he's suffering.]

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony brings the water over and sets it down on the floor within Gene's reach. And then he... stands around awkwardly. Like, okay, what the heck is he supposed to do now? Sit and stare creepily at Gene while he recovers? Read him a bedtime story?? HELP]

I... guess I'll...? Be doing some work...? Over there? [He starts drifting over to one of his worktables.] ...Tell me if you, uh, need anything?

[dear god Raine please save him]

[ruinsprofessor]

[The awkward is actually palpable; it's almost funny. Would be funnier if teenagers trying to figure out who likes whom was the most serious of problems, but even so Raine ducks her head for a moment to hide a smile.]

Actually, if one of you has the wherewithal to explain, I'd like to know more about these rings.

[It's better than leaving him alone with Gene, right?]

[wrathfulkhan]

[Hold his hand and tell him he's pretty!

Gene reaches for the water and manages to drink about half the glass before responding.] They're ancient relics, [he says.] Alien technology. Not really...optimized for humans to use them, I guess. [Makluans have six eyes. They probably also have a whole host of redundant organs to boot.]

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony sits down, facing Raine and Gene, and pulls some random half-finished gadget into his lap to fiddle with. He nods at Gene's description of the rings, silently thanking Raine for the distracting conversation topic.]

Yeah. And they're hundreds or thousands of years more advanced than current human technology. It's hard to guess how much more advanced, really - me and my dad couldn't make heads or tails of them. When they're all together, they can manipulate matter and energy, and even spacetime itself.

[Theoretically, they give their bearer ultimate cosmic power. In practice, their bearer has mostly used them to fuck with Tony.]

[ruinsprofessor]

[Ah, the things teenagers do with phenomenal cosmic power.]

Thousands of years ahead despite being ancient.

[Well, it's not like there's not precedent for knowledge being misplaced, intentionally or not.] And each has its own separate power, beyond what they can be used for together. How many are there, total?

[wrathfulkhan]

Ten, [Gene says. Lucky break they'd had the same number of digits!] You'll notice I'm short one. [There's a little bit of wry humor in his voice, even though he still doesn't think it's very funny.]

[highprofilerichkid]

Well, they are alien tech. The species that made them is way more advanced than us. The rings just ended up on Earth accidentally, [Tony clarifies. So it's not so much an issue of humans misplacing knowledge as it is aliens literally misplacing their magic space rings.

He pointedly avoids adding anything about the tenth ring, because how about let's please not talk about that okay.]

[ruinsprofessor]

[Raine blinks at ten, mostly because there actually is a set of ten fairly magical rings in her world as well. A very different circumstance, certainly, but the places parallels turn up are always fascinating.]

And how much do you know about what each one does?

[Aliens, not such a strange concept. The elves did something much the same.] Accidentally. This other species didn't settle your planet?

[wrathfulkhan]

[Gene laughs humorlessly.] They're not the colonizing type. All they want to do is enslave and destroy. A fugitive brought the rings to Earth to hide them from the Overlord.

I know less about them the more powerful they are, [he admits.] We were trying to learn more when... [He waves his hand vaguely, as if to indicate the situation.] ...this happened.

[highprofilerichkid]

Teleportation, energy blasts, water, fire, ice, matter alteration, mind control, super speed, [Tony rattles off, almost flippantly.] The ninth controls darkforce energy, and the tenth... [he shrugs.]

But I bet that's only a fraction of their real power. The Makluans were using them to take over the whole galaxy, before they were stolen. They're the most advanced technology I've ever seen, or heard of.

[ruinsprofessor]

[She'd almost been expecting elemental alignments all the way through, but in retrospect she supposes that was a little foolish.]

Ten rings, for an entire galaxy. [Browraise. That's... impressive. And a little concerning.] Sensible, however, to know what they can do before testing in combat is necessary.

[wrathfulkhan]

Yeah, that's what we thought, [Gene says wryly.] Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all. [You know. Considering his brain just BSOD'd.]

[highprofilerichkid]

It was stupid, [Tony mutters, almost to himself.] I never should have tried this without my equipment.

[He still sounds upset, and now there's some frustration creeping into his voice. The rings are powerful, and dangerous, and at his fingertips - and as inscrutable as ever. He's trying to unravel the technological secrets of a galaxy-conquering alien race with tools that might as well be a tin can and a couple of sticks.]

I don't know why I even bothered, [he continues glumly, and sighs. After a few seconds of stewing in his melodramatic angst dejection, he sighs again, and turns to Raine.] If you're going to stay and watch Gene, do you want me to take a look at that jelly thing?

[It's the best he can do to salvage this thoroughly unfortunate situation.]

[ruinsprofessor]

You bothered because it's safer, relatively, to learn what you can and can't do in a controlled environment. [Her tone implies she really shouldn't have to point this out to them, especially Tony. He's a scientist. It was a sound idea. Training accidents happen, and she's cleaned up enough of those.]

Yes, I'd appreciate it. It's not... vital, but would be very useful. [She lost track of it, a little, in the frantic rush to make sure Gene was all right; now she locates it and offers it to Tony, no worse for wear.]