video;

[upshore]

[There's a man in his late 20s on the screen, and he looks tired. Not like he hasn't been sleeping well - though that, too - but like 'tired' is just generally a state of being for him. His hands are out of frame. He's going to keep it that way.]

Not to diss Raine and Heather, without whom I would be dead, and I am very grateful for their help, I've got a question. Out of curiosity, are there any doctors here? Gonna be clear here - I don’t mean maniacs with rusty shears, I don’t mean someone with a penchant for making people into unwilling human guinea pigs for whatever the fuck, I don’t mean Dr. Strangelove’s crazier Nazi cousin who’s trying to turn mental patients into batteries for nanomachines with more tubes in them than that one senator guy called the internet.

‘Cause before I let anyone come near me with so much as a stethoscope in future, I’m going to need to see some medical credentials.

[A pause, and then:]

Also, if anyone comes at me dressed as a priest, this is the only warning you’ll get that I am going to set you on fucking fire. It worked on the last guy.

Comments

[highprofilerichkid]

Uh... [Sort of abrupt, but okay.] Yeah, sure. I'm not sure what you mean about using people as power sources, but I'm familiar with bio-compatible nanotech. I don't know if you have them in your world, but in my world there's an organization called SHIELD, and they had something called the Extremis program. Nanotechnology to enhance human biology. Is that the sort of thing you're talking about?

[upshore]

[Miles shakes his head.] None of that sounds familiar. And what I'm talking about is the opposite. Using people as...farms, I guess, to grow nanites. Manipulating their cells to psychosomatically produce nanites, and controlling them through a lucid dreaming state.

It sounds like bullshit, I know, but it was real enough to toss me around like an orca toying with a harp seal.

[highprofilerichkid]

Oh - manipulating cellular machinery to produce nanostructures, sure. Lucid dreaming...? That's new. So, direct mental control of an independent nanite swarm?

[Tony looks very intrigued, too caught up in the science to pay attention to the not-at-all-subtle hints that Miles is maybe not the biggest fan of nanotech.]

Sounds like pretty bleeding edge stuff. But yeah, if you had a machine to process the mental input and transmit commands to a swarm, it's definitely doable. I haven't heard of anyone in my world working on that, yet, though. I sort of have a mental interface with my nanites, but it's a totally different thing.

"bleeding edge stuff" go to time-out

[upshore]

[Sheesh. Tony is...a little bit oblivious. So, like almost everyone Miles knows when they really get into a subject. Himself included, too, probably. Still, he gets out his notebook and begins taking a few notes. His missing fingers are very much in display now, and it's clear he's still not used to it; he fumbles with the pen as he writes, trying to rest it against an index finger that isn't there anymore.]

Uh-huh, yeah. Someone was hooked up to a machine, [a fucking Death Star of medical torture,] and kept in a constant dreaming state.

[Then the rest of what Tony said catches up with him. Cue cartoon brake noise.] Your nanites?

[ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION ABORT ABORT]

hueuehuehueuhueheh

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony frowns, and he's about to ask for some details on just how illegal all this research was, when Miles performs an impressive physical rendition of the record scratch.]

The Extremis nanites, yeah. I was one of the... test subjects. [Sure, 'test subject,' that works. That's technically accurate and only moderately misleading.]

[upshore]

[Super illegal, Tony. The illegalest.

Again, cue record scratch. He heard that pause, Tony.] What do you mean, 'test subjects'?

[highprofilerichkid]

Um... One of the people it was tested on to see how it would work?

[Okay, yes, he's being a little bit deliberately obtuse. But come on, Miles, what kind of question is that?]

[upshore]

See, because the last 'test subjects' [it is by sheer force of will, and remembering that he does not have one index finger anymore, that he keeps from making airquotes] I saw were mutilated half to death with dormant nanites in their bloodstreams, subjected to 'therapy' [THE DESIRE TO AIRQUOTE IS STRONG] against their will. So please, please tell me you knew what you signed up for.

[highprofilerichkid]

[This interaction sure got intense fast.]

Well, I actually, uh... stole it, [Tony admits.] So did the other guy. It wasn't technically ready for human trials yet.

[upshore]

[WHAT THE HELL, DAMN GUY.]

...well, at least you did it on purpose.

So since you specialize in nanites, the ones you have...they're okay?

[highprofilerichkid]

[Situation defused...? Tony allows himself to relax slightly.]

Yeah, they work great. Even better than I thought they would. I just didn't want to die of heart failure, but now I can hack satellites with my brain.

[upshore]

[...what the hell, damn guy?]

...literally none of that is what the ones I have any experience with do. They're, uh...weapons. Murkoff, one of the biggest corporations where I come from, took Nazi science and expanded on it.

[His voice is very tightly controlled on that last sentence, but he's clenching the fist with his pen in it so tightly that if he had the strength, it might snap. Fuck the military-industrial complex, yo.]

[highprofilerichkid]

[Okay, no, still pretty intense.]

Oh. [Given the tone of Miles' original broadcast, Tony probably should have been more prepared for the conversation to go in this direction.]

I guess Extremis would have been a weapon, too, if it had ever gotten off the ground, [Tony says. His tone is cautious - he's not sure how this bugfuck crazy guy will react.] They were trying to recreate a supersoldier serum from the forties. No Nazis, though. [Fury wouldn't stoop to using Nazi science. Probably.]

Mallen, the other guy who got the serum, took way too much. He turned himself into a weapon. A monster, literally - creepy demon eyes, fire breath, the whole deal.

i desperately need miles and cap to meet. someone bring me a cap

[upshore]

[What the fuck is up with people trying to recreate shit from the Forties? The only good thing to come from the Forties was color TV. And his Jeep. And the United Nations he guessed but look can we just give up on this History Channel-like World War II fixation already?!]

Oh. Good. Nanites making people into demon monsters. That doesn't sound familiar at all. [Taste the sarcasm. Well, he's fibbing for dramatic effect; the Variants had been violent and monstrous, but not demons.]

I think there needs to be some sort of Geneva Convention about not recreating weird fringe science from World War II, [he grumbles.]

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony gives that a chuckle.] Yeah, that would probably save us all a lot of trouble. Of course, I'd also probably be dead, so that's kind of a downer for me.

[Ha ha, gallows humor! But seriously, there's got to be some reason Miles came to see him besides venting about evil Nazi science.]

So... were you part of this program? Are you one of the hosts? Is that why you wanted to talk to me?

[upshore]

[Miles chuckles too. Good gallows humor, kid. Join the club.]

No. No, I wasn't involved with the program at all. I'm a journalist. I went to check out a tip about abuse at a mental asylum. Turns out, the company running it had also been testing their pet project out on the patients.

[He flexes one of his hands, almost unconsciously. They're still hurting - phantom pains in phantom fingers.] Since you said one of your specialties is nanotech, I was wondering what you could tell me about some of the technology. I don't know as much about it as I'd like, and I'll need some context for the story.

[highprofilerichkid]

Damn. That's messed up. [That ranting hadn't been hyperbole after all.]

I can tell you a lot about nanotech, but... you know you probably won't remember any of this when you go home, right?

[upshore]

Little bit, yeah.

[Miles is already halfway to writing down the next few words in his bloodied notebook, before:] Hmmmmmsaywhat?

[Looks like someone missed that part of the briefing.]

he misplaced the introductory pamphlet along with his fingers and his sanity

[highprofilerichkid]

[Dude, is that blood on your notebook? Gross. Suddenly Tony's wondering how recently he lost those fingers.

Also, he's wondering how much of the Welcome Speech he's going to have to go over with Miles. Did he miss the orientation course?]

We don't remember Keeliai when we go home. The dimensional transfer isn't set up that way. If you vanish and then come back, you'll remember being here the first time, but you won't remember any of this while you're in your home universe.

So I can tell you anything you want to know, but unless we figure out how to fix that, it's not going to help you.

so trager took 'em all. DAMMIT TRAGER THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS

[upshore]

[More recently than you would care to think, Tony. More recently than you would care to think.

Miles sighs, flipping his notebook closed.] Well that's fucking useless.

Still, I don't know a whole lot about nanites. Are they normally capable of taking humanoid forms, or did I just get really lucky?

[highprofilerichkid]

[Miles took that pretty well. He's obviously Seen Some Shit, so a memory wipe must not rate very high on the Shit Scale. Tony's happier talking about nanotech than hand-holding someone through an existential crisis, anyway.]

Well, a mobile swarm could take any form it wanted. If it's being controlled by a human consciousness, it would make sense for it to look a little human.

[upshore]

Yeah, I suppose. But the one I saw...half the time it took the shape of what looked like a cloud of smoke, not something humanoid.

Then again, you can apparently hack satellites with your brain, so what the hell do I know about nanites?

[highprofilerichkid]

Sounds about right. It doesn't need to be in any specific shape, right? Unless the person linked to it is focusing on the shape or it has a program telling it what to do, it would default to standard swarm behavior.

[Then he grins.] My nanites can't function outside my body [SO FAR] so, different kind of tech, but sort of the same idea with the mental interface. The serum modified my brain so I can use the nanites to send and receive wireless signals. Want to see something cool?

[upshore]

"Standard swarm behavior." [To self, sarcastically:] Hooray!

[He's a little wary of 'something cool' but sure, why not.] Um...yeah, okay.

[highprofilerichkid]

[Hey, it's pretty cool stuff. Ever seen a flock of swallows flying?

But anyway, he's not going to argue about it when Miles has given him permission to show off.]

Check this out, [He says, still grinning, and calls the armor to him.]