tushanshu | video; shortly after waking up this morning

I could call you Tony, but that might get confusing. Tony Stark. Tony the Tiger. Too many Tonys.

So what's the deal? You reliving your childhood now or what? Is this where I should offer to take you for a ride with the suit?

I would very much appreciate if you did not call me that. [HE HAS A LOT OF ISSUES ABOUT TONYS.] It would be weird. [Gene Khan: Master of Understatement.]

And reliving my childhood? I'm not a fan. [There is a record scratch in the distance as his brain catches up with his ears.] ...a ride with the suit. The suit?

Good. We're in agreement.

[ Tony has a lot of issues with Tonys too. They have something in common. Also with the aversion to childhood reruns. ]

What other suit is there? You're too young for the birthday suit. And all of my other ones are back home in Malibu, which leaves... [ He pauses for dramatic effect. ] ...the Iron Man.

[You mean he gets to be up close and personal with the Iron Man suit while its occupant is not punching him through a wall? This day just got at least 20% better.]

That...would be really cool. [Again...understatement.]

Well then, if it's cool, we're gonna have to do it, aren't we?

[ He studies the video for a moment, doing a few mental calculations. ]

I'd say you could put it on, but it looks like you're a little too short right now. Next best thing, though, okay? And I'll spring for a pizza. Thing.

[Yeah. With that sentence, his resemblance to the Stark that Gene knows becomes increasingly uncanny.

Just as well he wouldn't fit right now, Tony, because this guy and power armor are a dangerous combination. This guy and...well...power...is also a dangerous combination.]

Sure, sounds good. I've been holding off on trying the, uh, local attempt at pizza.

I wouldn't eat it if it wasn't edible. Or if it was gross. I'll get some other...

[ Tony can't cook. If it isn't raw, pre-made, served to him, or microwavable, it's a disaster waiting to happen. But he can go buy things. ]

What do you like? Food-wise. I'll have Dummy go get something else in case you hate the pizza.

Um...everything.

[Gene can cook - perks of basically raising yourself and part and parcel of keeping two adults locked up in the basement for a year. Too bad he's pint-sized and giving him any sort of kitchen duty would be woefully irresponsible at best.]

I dunno. Hot Pockets?

Hot Pockets...

[ Dummy can make those. Surely. He can make smoothies, how hard could Hot Pockets be? ]

Sure. Okay. Hot Pockets it is.

[Adventures in cooking!]

Cool.

[He glances back towards his kitchen.] I don't think I'm tall enough to get to anything in there. [He could try the rings, later, but he's not quite sure he wants to find out if the armor scales too. Oh yeah. And he doesn't want to spill those beans. Particularly not now.]

[ Oh hell no. Does that mean he's somehow going to be accidentally responsible for his other world teenaged self's friend who's stuck in the body of a child? Why does this happen to him? ]

Yeah, okay, look. Come over, I'll handle dinner, and then I'll give you money to avoid the kitchen until whoever's in charge of this mess gets it sorted out.

[ He has yet to meet a problem he can't make go away by throwing money at it. ]

Just don't get lost on the way over, take candy from strangers, get into any vans, or run with scissors.

[Mission accomplished. (Starks were so easy. He'd feel bad...except he doesn't 'cause heck yeah free dinner.)]

Cool. Thanks.

See you in a little bit.

Sure thing. Just come in when you get here. I'll let the door unlocked.

[ Otherwise he'll have to come get it and he doesn't want to bother. ]

[About twenty minutes later, a very small person pushes open the door. Gene hasn't been to Tony's place yet, so he considers this both reconnaissance and a chance to get a free meal (and, you know, teenagers can't pass up free meals).]

Tony? [He closes the door behind him, incidentally while hating his child's voice. You can't strike fear in the hearts of the masses with the voice of kitten-Yzma, here.]

[ Although there have been numerous consultations with JARVIS, Operation: Hot Pocket hasn’t been going as smoothly as Tony would have liked. He doesn’t know how to make dough. Dummy doesn’t know how to make dough. JARVIS has tried to explain it, but neither man nor machine really gets the concept. In the end, Tony has to go out, buy some dough, some cheesey substance, and some meat and bring it back to the apartment. Then he dumps it on the counter and leaves it to his two creations to figure it out without him.

The smell of baking dough, cheese, and meat is wafting through the air when Gene comes in and Tony, up to his elbows in parts for Loki’s Angry Bird robots, glances in the direction of the entryway. ]

In here. Follow the sound of my voice. Hot Pocket Stromboli things will be done in… uh, soonish. Probably.

[Not having to cook for himself is a win in Gene's book, though having robots prep one's food is a little bit...weird...to him. But, hey. Supergeniuses are way too big and important to mess around with almost-but-not-quite Earthly ingredients.

Gene follows Tony's voice, and finds his way into the robot prep area. It occurs to him that he's never actually seen his Tony working on any projects, because he hadn't been part of that inner circle. So it's a little weird to see Tony actually building things.]

What are you making?

[ Truth be told, it’s a little weird for Tony too. When he works, he works alone. Doing it in front of an audience is a novelty about which he’s not sure how he feels. ]

They’re little—Well, birds. Mostly. There’s going to be a pig in here too by the time I’m done.

[ That probably bears some kind of explanation. Carefully, he sets the parts down he’s currently connecting and turns to look at Gene properly. ]

It’s a cell phone game. Angry Birds. The cellular tech’s a little lacking here, so I had to improvise.

[Bird robots. Gene has seen weirder. But if they're better at being birds than Killer Shrike, then more power to 'em. Because Killer Shrike is just terrible.]

Oh. Okay.

[And then the explanation comes, and it makes a little more sense.]

Angry Birds? Yeah, I've heard of that. Never really played it much, though. I prefer Temple Run. ['Cause at least Temple Run can be considered 'practice' for actual temple runs!]

[ Tony has never played it. There isn’t much point. He always flies through games like that. It’s the math; it makes them too easy. ]

I know a guy who wants an upgrade. This is the best we’ve got.

[ Disentangling himself from all of the equipment and pieces of parts, Tony turns around properly and rubs his hands against the legs of his pants. ]

Okay, so what do you want to see first?

[Gene shrugs. He doesn't want to seem too keen about the armor...but on the other hand he really wants to check out that armor.]

No clue. What else do you work on over here, aside from bird robots?

Everything.

[ He recognizes that that's a little broad and tries to narrow it down to a more helpful focus. ]

The tech here isn't very good. All you need to do is see the consoles to know that the computers are crap. So I'm trying to make something better. Lots of somethings. Not just computers. And I've been trying to design some retroreflective panels for the suit out of the materials here in the city. No small feat, let me tell you.

[Gene nods thoughtfully. The contemplative attitude looks a little weird on a six-year-old.]

What would you even have here to make retroreflective panels out of? I mean, it can't be easy, cobbling this all together out of scrap and salvage.

It's not. It's actually really hard to do. The materials here are... substandard at best. At worst, nothing like what I'm used to at home. But where there's a will, there's a way, right?

[ And he's got will in spades. At least when he's determined to do something. ]

I'll find an appropriate substitute. Or I'll change the way I approach construction of the things to make whatever I find work. Long as you're not married to only one way of reaching a goal, you can get there no matter how many obstacles are put in your way.

[Pep talk from Tony? Pep talk from Tony. Pep talk that was...actually, weirdly, exactly what he needed. Hell yeah.]

Yeah, I guess so.

[Tony, you may have just done a bad thing by accident. Gene smiles slowly, as if something's just occurred to him. Then he's talking again, all curiosity.]

So you showed up here and decided to build a branch of Stark International? [Shit. That's not right. Different Stark, different company.] No, sorry. Stark Industries.

[ He notices the smile, but he doesn't pry into its origins. If something he said struck a chord with the kid, so much the better. He doesn't need to know what it is. ]

Not quite.

[ This isn't his favorite topic, but now that Gene's brought it up, he figures he may as well answer him. ]

It was already here when I arrived. Seems like there was a Tony Stark here before me who was a little more nostalgic for the old days than I am. I think he built it.

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can you handle my slowness to play this out? :D

you bet!

action;

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