tushanshu | Video - Four days after Malicant's message

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Video - Four days after Malicant's message

[Malicant has made his move, and Tony has decided that it's time for the Foreigners to step up their game. Starting with their communication network. As Bakura demonstrated, the consoles are no longer safe from Malicant's prying eyes (if they ever have been).

After a marathon troubleshooting session with Akito, Tony has also concluded that if a truly secure secondary network is going to happen any time soon, there's going to need to be a lot more people working on it. His time and resources are stretched thin, and he needs help.]

The consoles are not secure. I don't know if anywhere is, but we can actually do something about the consoles, at least. I know there've been some attempts to encrypt the console traffic and a couple false starts at a secondary network. I think it's time to get down to business and get a fully independent secure mobile network up and running, as soon as possible.

Magic is too susceptible to influence, so this network is going to be strictly technological. Pure tech and heavy encryption give us the best chance of shutting out our nosy neighbor.

If you have any expertise with radio, electronics, or telecommunications - anything that might be helpful - get in touch. Engineering, physics, cryptography... Hell, if you worked a summer job in IT. I want you here at Stark Industries.

Also, if any foreigners from higher-tech worlds brought any stuff along with them that they don't mind giving up, I'd like to take a look at it. Electronic devices like cell phones would be the best. A lot of post-industrial-revolution consumer goods contain minerals and compounds that are hard to get a hold of here, and we'll need as much of those as we can get.

And one more thing: I've put together a dozen... self-defense devices. Nothing big, but enough to give you a few seconds if you're in a tight spot. Distributing them to the turtle parents is the top priority, but if there are any left over, it's first come first serve. If you want one, meet me at SI and I'll give you the rundown here.

[private to ALL TURTLE PARENTS]

The fewer people are bonded to each turtle, the more vulnerable they are. Protecting the turtles means protecting their parents, so you all get first dibs on the toys. Anyone who's interested, send me a message and I'll set one aside. And come to SI as soon as you can.

[private to AYA, RICHIE FOLEY, CLARK KENT, DONATELLO, and MIKE WESTON]

I'm contacting you all specifically because I know you have tech skills or because Aya told me that you've worked on the secondary network in the past. We need you in on this.

---

((ooc: For the sake of security, Tony will only be describing the self-defense gadgets in person. Anyone who comes to SI to claim one will be given the following information:

There are six aversive devices [remaining: 4]. They consist of a slightly concave hemisphere - sort of like a very thick-walled bowl - that fits in the hand. They work on a principle similar to the Active Denial System. When they are held with the concave side facing out, and a button on the side is pressed, they emit a ten-second burst of radiation that, while harmless, causes immediate and intense discomfort to any person standing in range. Anyone without extreme magic- or drug-enhanced pain insensitivity will be compelled to move out of range. The area of effect is a wide cone that extends out about thirty feet. Each device has enough power for two bursts before it must be recharged.
[claimed by: Enjolras, Annabeth]

There are six force field generators [remaining: 5]. These are devices are disk-shaped, with about the same dimensions as a restaurant pager. Press the large button on top, and they will generate a transparent force field bubble about six feet in diameter. The field lasts about six seconds under ideal conditions, but may collapse sooner than that if it is interacting with a lot of matter (e.g., if the person holding it is swimming, or in tall, dense grass). The field can be moved, and will remain centered on the device when in motion (in other words, you can run with it). Each device has enough power to generate one force field before it must be recharged.
[claimed by: Raine]

Both devices can be recharged at any console, or at Stark Industries.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's worked so far. A couple people know, but they wouldn't go public with it.

[Except for maybe Ghost, if he ever got tired of holding the secret over Tony's head for blackmail. Oh, and Stane. If he, uh, ever woke up from that coma.]

What did you need all those identities for?

As it ought to be, I think. My closest friends, those I trusted with my life knew mine. And often helped with some of the work.

[They'd been instrumental proofreaders, offered commentary and added asides and other points to consider along with offering work of their own.]

I was a journalist in a dangerous time and place for those. And a revolutionary in a country run by the rich and powerful, who supported the divine right of kings, and kings themselves. Some of the things I said should have gotten me killed.

[And there's a wry twist of his lip there.]

Some of the things I did managed to accomplish that.

[Enjolras had mentioned being dead in their first conversation, so Tony's not surprised by that (and he still doesn't really want to talk about it, since he has been valiantly ignoring his own uncertain status for the past several months). But the mention of kings catches his attention.]

Kings? Wow, you must have been pulled from pretty far back. France hasn't had a king in... two hundred years or something. [He knows next to nothing about the history of France.]

Unless you're from a really different timeline. [A pause.] Or a really different Paris. That was Paris, France, Planet Earth, right?

Rather far back compared to many people here, yes. It was 1832 before I woke up here. And no, so I have been able to learn here. France has had a series of other events, a new republic, then, further on, another that worked.

[And that thought alone, of the republic that came, and the thought that one came after that have been helpful in all of this. It is something to look back at and realize that Les Amis were a part of, and to see their marks left on the world.

Not that Enjolras has learned much of France's history here. Only that there is a future for his country.]

I've been told there were some hardships along the way to that as well, but I've avoided most of the details. France will always have my love, my whole being, but I am not able to influence her anymore, so...

So here I am, babbling at you, I suppose. Although, I must point out that there seem to be very different Earths involved in all of this as well. Which is...incredibly odd, actually. Enough to make your head spin, and maybe never stop. Timelines got thrown out of the way here, I'd say. Then again, a lot of things we accept here by now are also really strange.

All I remember about French history is that a lot of people got their heads chopped off in the French Revolution. [All the way across the divide between dimensions, Rhodey is facepalming.]

Is it weird, being from so far in the past? I mean, it seems like a lot of the people here are from some version of early-twenty-first-century Earth. Not necessarily your future Earth, but some of them can't be too far off. It's like... living in a sci-fi novel.

[Tony seems quite fascinated by Enjolras' position. If he were stuck somewhere with a bunch of people from 200 years into his future, he'd never be able to stop asking them questions about it.]

Ah, yes.

[Enjolras has to admit the description is...pretty apt, really. Sure, it's a little basic, but, well. Chopping off heads and Marie Antoinette are about what one who does not know the history well are things that stand out. ]

The Terror was. well, needed, I think, based on the situation at the time, but would have better been avoided. I think that there are ways to form a republic without shedding blood, but it seems as though the world was not ready, either then, or in my lifetime.

I missed that revolution by quite a bit, though I had a friend, almost a second mother, who witnessed it. She had some interesting stories and advice when we took up the task of bringing the republic back.

[Enjolras is pausing there, considering the question carefully.]

It has been odd, especially at first. I suppose I've grown used to it now, but at the time, well, I was lucky friends from home were with me, then. It was easier to find my place.

[Though, there is a blink at the concept of a future Earth, there.]

The idea of a future Earth seems so....strange. Or any of the other places people might come from. I do not think it will ever seem entirely normal. I do admit I wonder who might be from the future of my world here.

And I may have spent a lot of my first few months here being rather lost. Sometimes I do suspect I still am. It's...taken some getting used to.

I suppose it must be odd for you as well. It seems a bit before your time in terms of the technology that could be put to use here, no?

[The future is equally strange and fascinating. Enjolras cannot imagine stepping back and how frustrating that must be at times.]

[Tony nods politely as Enjolras talks, but a lot of that political and historical context goes straight over his his head.

He's still with you on the time displacement, though, Enj.]

Yeah, man, the tech here sucks. [But the complaint is fairly good-natured, and he's still smiling.] I guess they make up for it with magic. Magic— that's what I'm having trouble getting used to.

So what are you most looking forward to about the future? Cars? Hot Pockets? The iPod Touch? [(No, he's not actually expecting Enjolras to know what those last two are.)]

[That's all right. Enjolras has gotten used to it doing that for most people, honestly. He hardly notices it anymore, when it comes down to it, really. Most of his experiences talking about the Revolution have gone this way, sometimes even at home.

The time displacement IS a more immediate issue really, isn't it?]

Magic. Ah yes. I've learned a spell to heal some minor wounds myself, and I still have no idea how it works, entirely. As for the future...

[He's pausing, considering the question a moment, though his face is blank at the last two.]

I have heard that cars have come a long way from the ones that caught my friends' attentions as they came into the world, actually. de Rivaz and his hydrogen engine, and Brown's attempt at making one of those work were one thing, and eventually made the papers some of them read, but the idea that it will become much easier to transport people is amazing, isn't it?

It is strange. As far as science and reason go, mankind has come so far. At home, we'd conquered so many things that men once feared. The hydra, the dragon, the griffin, or what men thought of as them once. We had the locomotive, the balloon, and were on the grasp of mastering the air itself, as we had mastered our control of fire and water. And yet, there were? are? so many more things to go.

You are an example of that, yourself I think. Mastering the air, and taking it even another step further. I am amazed at how far the world, at least your world, has come.

You remind me very much of someone who I care for very much. If he had stayed here long enough to meet you, you and Etienne would have gotten along so well. I think he would be more impressed at all of this than I am, not because I am not impressed, but because he would better understand all of this.

There was one thing I looked forward to finding in the future, as men accepted science and the truth as fact, but I think I was a bit too optimistic. I had hoped once, that we would all embrace that truth, that there would be a universal peace and universal ideals.

It was disappointing to learn that it has not come yet, and likely will not for some time. But the idea that we continue onward, and that there are people like you who work to keep others safe, who embrace the spirit of what we had hoped for is a comfort. So, the people of the future, I suppose. And the idea that you apply the knowledge that my friends valued so highly into aiding others.

[His face is solemn here, his eyes a little bright, as he considers it.]

It is a comfort, knowing there are others out there, you and people like you who will fight for the right things. I can think of nothing better now, that advances humanity toward the better world to come.

[Holy shit. That sounded like one of those long-winded speeches people are always giving about his dad at those stupid award ceremonies, except it was about him, and the guy actually meant it.]

...Wow. If I die in the boss battle, can I hire you to give my eulogy?

[Like, dang, man. That was intense.

~~Sorry, Enjolras. He's a little, uh, overwhelmed.~~]

[Enjolras does mean all of it. From what he's learned of the future, mostly from the younger people here, humanity will be all right. It means a lot, and he believes in it, more than before.

At that, he's ducking his head a little, smiling.]

I should hope you do not need it, but if it comes to it, I should be glad to.

[Tony laughs and shakes his head, and gives Enjolras a friendly clap on the back.]

You're a good guy, Enj. [Kind of weird, but in an endearing way.]

...Just be sure to mentioned that I mastered space, too. Because the armor can totally go to space. [Okay so maybe low earth orbit doesn't really count, and "mastering" space would probably mean inventing an FTL drive, but still... he's funny! Laugh, dammit!]

[Kind of weird is, well, better than a lot of other ways he could be described. That said, if you'd known his friends, Tony, well, he looks normal compared to a few of them. Which is kind of...wow. ]

Thank you.

Space?

[Oh, THERE is a nineteenth century blink of total confusion. ] Not as in the area around us, I would take it?

[He's fairly sure Bahorel mastered the area of conquering that sort of immediate, physical sort of space long ago, after all, and if not him, than certainly the hatchlings have done that here.]

Umm... Space, as in, everything beyond the outer atmosphere of the planet? What the stars are in? The cold, pitiless vacuum of space? Space, the final frontier?

[What was the state of astrophysics in early 19th century France? Tony has absolutely no idea.]

The stars outside of the night sky? Or rather...where they really are, then? I...know next to nothing of those, really. It was not an area I looked into very much. That is...I know that they have a different home, and of the other planets that exist but...

[But that is about that. Enjolras knows pretty much that they exist, and can, apparently, be viewed, and that Galileo got himself into a great deal of trouble when it came to the entire thing, but, well, the subject is, again, not one so much for him. ]

Wait a moment. You said that men can reach them in your world, that you have...

[Well, color him impressed.]

What does a layman need to know of them, then?

Don't get too excited. We haven't made it to any other stars yet. They're really far away. Like, really, really, really far away. With current technology, it would take us... the better part of a hundred thousand years to get to the nearest one. [Space is really big, Enjolras. So big.] Well, that's actually with some of the slower propulsion systems; I've got tons of ideas for much better ones, and you could get up to much higher speeds over that amount of time as long as you had enough fuel for acceleration and deceleration and took into account the relativistic—

[It belatedly occurrs to Tony that someone who needed "space" explained to them is probably not going to appreciate the finer points of relativity.]

Uh... long story short, we're not going to be flying to other stars until we figure out how to really fuck with the laws of physics. It's possible, because I've seen it, but humanity still has a ways to go. [Unless there's enough left of the Makluan ship's drive to salvage. In which case fuck yeah Tony's gonna make an FTL drive when he gets home. Just you wait.]

But we've got some robots on Mars, and we got people to the moon. Technically the armor could go to the moon, but it would take a couple days to get there, so it would be a pretty boring ride.

[You think you can talk a lot about politics and history, Enjolras? Just wait till you hear Tony really get going about SCIENCE.]

Edited 2014-11-13 06:52 (UTC)

[Still far away, even in their realm itself. Enjolras decides to mentally place the stars on the same sort of mentally far away scale as he does things like, well, Tu-Vishan from any of their Earths. He's reasonably sure that their earths are still closer to each other than a world on a turtle's back. Not that it helps much with an exact understanding of the distance, but it is, at least, closer than thinking that Tony could, say, reach out and pluck a star out of the night sky or anything, even if he was able to reach the heavens.]

We had not gotten very far with any understanding of physics beyond the very basics, yet. That is, a few laws of it are obvious enough, gravity and the like, but the idea of such manipulation as you speak of is incredible. There is so much more than I could have conceived of. More... how did the English Bard put it, things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of, anyway.

I cannot imagine what it must be, to have seen such a thing as that. I think that I would feel rather small among such greats as all of that. I know that stars are not eternal, at least, but I think that we romanticize them so much as to forget the fact. I must imagine, at any rate, that it would still make one feel oddly small, to have found even a corner of the borders of the universe, if I understand it rightly.

And it would protect you for so long as that, as boring as it might be, in theory? To think of what is coming! It is only a shame so many of my friends must miss it.

[Well, it's interesting, really. And it's somewhat adorable to see Tony finding something he is equally as passionate about as Enjolras is about his country's politics. There's something about seeing him excited that makes Tony seem much more his age too, and it's somewhat endearing, though he would never quite say that to his face. It does make him want to ruffle Tony's hair or something, though he'd never dare, anyway.]

[Astonishingly, Tony quotes:] 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' [Holy shit! What is this?! Did Tony suddenly get replaced with some Mirror Universe Tony who actually gives a fuck about classic literature?

Wryly, he explains,] Yeah, I remember that one. Hamlet. I had to memorize some of it for class one time. [Don't ask him to quote any more of it, though. Because he didn't actually memorize the lines he was supposed to. He kind of, uh, blatantly cheated. So, not so much with the 'appreciating classic literature' after all.

And now back to talking about his favorite subject: the armor!] Theoretically, yes, the suit is equipped for extended spaceflight. I haven't ever tried it, but there's no reason it couldn't do it. There's just not anywhere to go. [Remember how space is really, really, really, really big? Yeah. Sub-lightspeed travel through the cosmos gives a whole new meaning to 'the scenic route.']

Edited 2014-11-18 05:34 (UTC)

That one, yes!

[Enjolras has to smile at the quote, and the correction of it. Those of his friends who had read their Shakespeare had somewhat inundated him with it, after all.]

My friends quite liked to remind me of it, when it seemed my mind might be shutting down a little or they thought me too stubborn on a point. Perhaps it did some good.

[Ah, yes, back to the armor indeed.]

So vast as all of that. It is strange in a way. How advanced the world has become, and yet, not very much to do with some of those advancements. It seems as though it must be frustrating in some sense.

My friends like to remind me of it when they want to remind me how many times they've saved my butt, [Tony contributes cheerfully. Bless you, Rhodey, for helping him cheat on his theater final.]

It is, sometimes, [he replies, more seriously, to Enjolras's second comment.] In the fifties and sixties there was this big push to go into space, because Russia and the US were competing with each other for technological superiority, but then... stuff happened [- a whole lot of really interesting and important history, but, you know, let's not get bogged down in the details -] and it all kind of petered out. Technological innovation didn't stop, or anything, but I guess people decided they wanted to focus on improving what we have on the planet instead of trying to find out what's beyond it.

[He puts his chin in his hand, looking a bit melancholy.] Not sure how well that's worked out for us. I mean, the advances in computers have been insane, but then... trillions of dollars get spent on the military while NASA can barely pay rent.

[To put it more succinctly: The Space Race is to rocket scientists what the Library of Alexandria is to historians. Which might be an analogy it would occur to Tony to make, if he knew what the Library of Alexandria was.]

...Maybe that's going to change, now, though. [He says it like he's just realizing it for the first time, and looks pensively off into the middle distance.]

Edited 2014-11-19 08:13 (UTC)

[Enjolras has to laugh at that, because, well, his friends DID have their moments of reminding him of just about the same thing .]

Friends have their ways of saving us, and then reminding us of that forever. [The last of that is said dryly, but Enjolras adds a smirk at the end of it.]

But then where would we, and said saved behinds, be without them?

The..nineteen fifties and sixties I would presume? I cannot think that only twenty or thirty years, even with men of great reason and science would bring such about. Stuff?

[That seems, well, interesting for another day. Enjolras will need to ask about cold war politics and what followed after that another time. ]

Were they successful in their ventures off? I suppose one cannot blame anyone for trying to achieve good on the Earth. But that seems as though it may only work if everyone were to benefit. And the military. Funding wars as opposed to the discoveries that may be made in science?

[He has to shake his head at that idea, frowning. Destruction. Instead of anything else.]

It had always seemed that education was the way of the future, exploration of the world as a part of that. Men should advance to find and tame the elements, to learn of them, and not simply to destroy each other. Depressing, but interesting.

...Do you suppose? Due to your work, then?

Pepper chose "Rescue" as her superhero name because of how many times she bailed me out, [Tony says with a grin.]

Oh— yeah, nineteen. Sorry. [It's weird, talking to someone from almost two hundred years in the past.]

It is depressing. [Even more depressing is the fact that his dad built Stark International and got rich on weapons manufacturing. Yeah, he'd had a change of heart when Tony was born, but... well. Tony frowns.] People like Stane and Justin Hammer - they both tried to take over Stark International - they only care about building weapons and making money. They don't care about using technology to help people. [He shakes his head, and, suddenly sounding surprisingly vehement, says,] I'm glad I took care of them.

[He looks back at Enjolras, the abrupt anger fading again as he processes his last question.] Oh, uh, no, actually. [A wry smile.] I wish, but I think it's the alien invasion that's going to do it. A lot of people are going to take space exploration a lot more seriously now that a bunch of lizard monsters from another planet have tried to blow us all up.

Oh now that is good. There were jokes among my friends that I needed a bodyguard, but nothing quite so obvious as swooping in to rescue me in quite the same fashion. I can imagine that things got...rather interesting in that case.

[And, if she is like most ladies Enjolras knows, he has no doubt she was left pondering the stupidity of men in general after every event. There seems to be a capacity for logic and sense in most of them that go to whole other levels, he would say, if asked to guess what it is about them as a gender.]

Then that is good, I think. Those who would cause so much harm must be stopped no matter what. I can imagine that cost being fairly great though, not to them, but to you if that makes any sense. [Depressing indeed, and the thought of using said weapons to make money, well...] How long until technology and its control became the new power, right? Better it was ended for those who would take it that way.

An alien invasion? Then there is other life, non human life out there. I could see why that is a concern. Trying to blow someone up is certainly something to be taken seriously, yes.

[Well, she was at least left pondering the stupidity of Tony, that's for sure.

He's glad and a little bit surprised that Enjolras agrees with him so wholeheartedly on the issue of Stane and Hammer.] Exactly, [he says firmly, nodding his head. There have been a lot of people questioning his choices lately and it's very validating that at least someone understands. He's not sure what Enjolras means about the cost to himself - though he guesses he did end up getting knocked around a lot while trying to keep Stane and Hammer from using SI for evil. And it had been pretty stressful, having that possibility hanging over his head for almost two years. But everything had worked out in the end.]

Oh, yeah, tons of it, apparently. We just got unlucky and the first aliens we met were some of the nastiest. But if anything's going to jumpstart human space exploration... aliens threatening to slag your planet is a good incentive to start looking for other planets.

[If it helps, Enjolras often left his boyfriend, and his very best friend pondering the exact same things?

Sometimes there are reasons to use force to eliminate someone who would badly impact many more people, or a moment in a cause. Enjolras himself has used that force, even against one of his own men when an innocent was caused to suffer and to die, and the sacred altar of his barricade was dishonored in the same moment. He hates that use of force, but he approves of it when badly needed.

It is so sad that Tony understands the fact so young, and it makes Enjolras wish that he could be some source of actual comfort, but for now, all he can do is nod along. ]

I have had to resort to using force myself, to remove threats and active harm.

[He adds this, maybe as some sort of explanation of the cost he mentions. The soldier Combeferre wanted to save is forever imprinted, even less so than the insurgent turned murderer he'd dispatched with his pistol.]

Killing is never easy, even when it is right and can be performed calmly enough as a matter of justice. I suspect that every direct action that ends in a death still leaves us with something of a scar inside. Necessity is a cruel mistress, sometimes, and leaves her mark on the soul.

It takes a good man, and a strong one, to do the righteous thing, no matter how hard it is. [This goes along with a clasp of Tony's shoulder, and a smile.] You strike me as that sort of man, Tony. I think your father must be rather proud of you.

[Aliens are so hard a concept for Enjolras to consider, but the idea of what they've done is more important than picturing how they look just now.]

Ah, yes, that would put one's feet to the fire, wouldn't it? I can imagine how chaotic it must be.

I... [Tony stares at Enjolras, stunned and slightly starry-eyed.] Thanks, Enj. That really means a lot.

[That's what he's been trying to do all this time. That's why he built Iron Man, and, after the plane crash, why he used the suit to protect the city; why he tried so hard to keep Stark International out of Stane and Hammer's hands. He wanted his dad to be proud of him. That's what it all comes down to, in the end.

Honestly, his self-esteem has been taking a beating here in Keeliai, and he hadn't realized how much he'd needed to hear something like that.

The smile he gives Enjolras is warm, grateful, and maybe a teeny bit adoring.

~~Congrats, Enj, Tony is now your BFF 5EVR~~]

Video - Four days after Malicant's message

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do you want some science, Enjolras? have some science

He'd love some science, Tony!

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WARNING: major spoilers for s2 finale, b/c occasionally I actually remember to put spoiler warnings

Re: WARNING: major spoilers for s2 finale, b/c occasionally I actually remember to put spoiler warni

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NO ENJOLRAS DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM

MUAHAHA. FOREVER. ...for now

most adorable worst influence ever

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