★

yep. [[an independent Tony Stark rp blog]]

[autistark]

Tony warily watched Bruce interact with the dog. Even he could tell that it was going to be hanging around for a while, if Bruce had any say in things. It would probably be…good, actually. Bruce probably needed some kind of furry friend around for when he didn’t spend a lot of time with his human (or god) ones.

The mention of “the others,” however, set off alarm bells in Tony’s head, though he wasn’t really sure what they were attributed to.

"Don’t overwhelm it with too many people at once," he said, though it wasn’t really what he meant to say. What he really meant was something along the lines of, "team," "dog," "disaster."

[brucenyethescienceguy]

Bruce nodded sagely, still petting the dog gently. Tony was probably right. He knew if he were in the dog’s position he would probably be overwhelmed by the team all at once. He’d been overwhelmed as it was the first time he’d met them all in person, and even then he’d met them one at a time. 

"Good idea," he agreed. "Thor and Clint might be a bit much for her at first. I think Pepper and Natasha and Steve will be okay though." 

He stood and the dog watched him. She really was in good shape. She was fairly clean and well fed. 

"Someone’s probably out there looking for you, aren’t they, girl?" he asked the dog, his voice slipping up an octave. He should really work on that. 

[autistark]

"I don't know, I'd be careful about showing it to Steve, he might try and take it from you," Tony said. He doubted Steve would do anything of the sort, of course, but he felt like Steve was a dog person. Or maybe just a dog in the body of a person. That seemed to fit.

He laughed at Bruce's affectionate voice. That sounded about fifty times more ridiculous from someone who Tony almost always talked tech with.

[codename-winter-soldier]

On the Run

[autistark]

Tony’s eyebrows go up. “Five hours?” he asks. There’s something that bothers him about that, but he’s not entirely sure what it is. It’s probably not important, though. Right?

He ignores the feeling, and goes back to another part of his lab, getting the tech that Bucky requested. A communications jammer, that one is easy, but he doesn’t exactly have a remote activated explosive just lying around.

But explosives in general, yes. Plenty. Remotes yes as well. So it’s a simple matter to pick a smaller one and pair the two, requiring just a small bit of finagling. He walks back over and sets the objects on the table.

"The jammer works in about a 750 foot radius, or so, and this dial on your remote," he picks it up to show exactly what he’s talking about, "Will set the delay on the explosive to however many seconds you want. The rest should be pretty self explanatory."

He sets it down again, and looks over everything.

Ah, right.

"Well, you may have to take five hours to get down there, but I’m definitely giving you a lift back."

[codename-winter-soldier]

The Asset watches as Tony gathers his supplies and inspects them, getting the feel for the equipment. He is sure he’s handled things like this before, but everything still seems a bit foreign, newer, his mind supplies helpfully. Though the Asset is not at that point where he can understand exactly what that means.

“I won’t disable their communications until I’m inside,” he tells Tony, though it seems needless. For once, he is calling the shots on this mission. “It will be suspicious if I shut them off and then approach.” He stops for a moment and thinks, ironing out other parts of his plan silently. He feels as if he’s made a promise to Tony not to kill anyone, so he includes that in his objectives. He will not be the direct cause of anyone’s death.

Then, the last bit of what Tony said registers. “Lift,” he echoes stiffly, without much intonation. He isn’t sure, but it might be a question. He knows what the man means, he intends to transport the Asset away after he’s finished his mission, extraction. What confuses him is how and what worries him is the fact that Tony intends to follow-up with the Asset afterwards. He doesn’t mind that so much, but unforeseen complications could make extraction difficult for Tony, and although the man obviously can take care of himself, it still makes the Asset nervous to put him in danger.

Instead of voicing this, he asks “How?” more curious than strategic now. If Tony intends to wait a few days before retrieving the Asset, like Hydra usually does, then it will not be a problem.

[autistark]

"Well, I don't know how you're planning on using that explosive, but I think shutting their communication off at about the same time would be your best option. If you can make it seem like an attack from the outside, or...whatever. They can think that the explosive somehow shut down their network, and by the time they figure out otherwise it'll hopefully be too late."

He doesn't consider not butting into Bucky's plans. He considers it an unofficial duty to be a plan butt-into-er. Someone has to make sure there aren't any holes, right? So what if he's a little rude about it.

Tony raises an eyebrow at the next question. "How?" he repeats, as if it's obvious. He points vaguely behind him, to where he knows his Iron Man showcase is. "Iron Man suits? Mach 2? Superhero stuff? You really are new to this, aren't you."

[codename-winter-soldier]

On the Run

[codename-winter-soldier]

The Asset eyes Tony, ready to ask for advice, to ask for orders, something, but it dies in his throat. Tony is right, they need to take care of the tracker and then questions of morality and mercy can be discussed.

He thinks for a moment about the safe house, directions to all of them seem to be seared into his brain, even if he can’t remember memorizing them. “Southwest… from here,” he says, eyes sliding shut to remember the paths he’s sure he has never walked. “Five hours.” It’s an estimate; he knows all the roads and the mileage and about how fast a car can go on each road. The math works itself out in his head, quick and accurate.

“We should…” he thinks for a moment. “An explosive… remote activated.” He ignores the stab of guilt he feels, the mission taking presidence for the time being. “We will also need to jam their communications. They can’t call for reinforcements.” He turns to Tony, waiting for more input. He isn’t a strategist; Hydra told him what to do and only allowed him to make decisions when things went wrong.

[autistark]

Tony's eyebrows go up. "Five hours?" he asks. There's something that bothers him about that, but he's not entirely sure what it is. It's probably not important, though. Right?

He ignores the feeling, and goes back to another part of his lab, getting the tech that Bucky requested. A communications jammer, that one is easy, but he doesn't exactly have a remote activated explosive just lying around.

But explosives in general, yes. Plenty. Remotes yes as well. So it's a simple matter to pick a smaller one and pair the two, requiring just a small bit of finagling. He walks back over and sets the objects on the table.

"The jammer works in about a 750 foot radius, or so, and this dial on your remote," he picks it up to show exactly what he's talking about, "Will set the delay on the explosive to however many seconds you want. The rest should be pretty self explanatory."

He sets it down again, and looks over everything.

Ah, right.

"Well, you may have to take five hours to get down there, but I'm definitely giving you a lift back."

[autistark]

Tony stepped into the shop, trying to find a way to stay on the welcome mat without blocking the door. It had been sunny just a minute ago, he swears, but now he looked a lot like he'd just jumped into a pool. Great.

[autistark]

"I don’t care what you do, as long as you clean up your messes," Tony said, shrugging. "I’ve had worse things in here before."

He watched the dog, curious. It looked pretty skinny, and…well, not exactly well groomed, but it seemed too friendly to be a street dog, to him. They were vicious and had to, like, compete for food or something, right?

He frowned. He really didn’t know anything about dogs.

"Well, don’t spoil her too much, or she’ll keep expecting your food instead of dog food."

[brucenyethescienceguy]

Bruce reached out to the dog again cautiously. She accepted a gentle rub under her chin, and Bruce felt himself smiling, surprisingly. It wasn’t often his face did that on its own. He’d been rather stressed lately, and as the pit stared at him with her big brown eyes he felt some of that anxiety melt a little—or was that his heart? 

"What a sweetie," he murmured. 

He looked up at Tony. “The others are gonna love her.” 

[autistark]

Tony warily watched Bruce interact with the dog. Even he could tell that it was going to be hanging around for a while, if Bruce had any say in things. It would probably be...good, actually. Bruce probably needed some kind of furry friend around for when he didn't spend a lot of time with his human (or god) ones.

The mention of "the others," however, set off alarm bells in Tony's head, though he wasn't really sure what they were attributed to.

"Don't overwhelm it with too many people at once," he said, though it wasn't really what he meant to say. What he really meant was something along the lines of, "team," "dog," "disaster."

[codename-winter-soldier]

On the Run

[autistark]

Tony stares at him, worrying at the inside of his mouth. There’s definitely something worrying about a heavily armed guest discussing how much he wants to kill certain people, but…

"Hey, I don’t blame you," he says. "I don’t know what happened to you, but…" He shakes his head, trying to figure out what he’s trying to say here. This is all getting very…morality-based, and that was never really his strong suit. Or, at least, he didn’t discuss it much.

"We all want to get rid of Hydra. Or, everyone will, once word gets out that they’re still around. You, probably, more than anyone else, and I’m not saying you shouldn’t feel that way, but…well. A lot of them are probably going to die anyways. We’re going to get rid of them, one way or another. So I can’t really tell you what to do."

He sighs, leaning against the table again. “Just don’t do anything you’ll regret, okay? I don’t know where that line is for you. But make sure you figure that out before you go in there.”

[codename-winter-soldier]

The Asset isn’t sure what he was expecting from Tony’s answer, but it certainly wasn’t more questions. He bites a little harder on his lip, frustrated. This kind of decision isn’t as simple as choosing where he wants to sit in a room or what plan would be best for their goals. These decisions followed logic; he was trained for them, programmed. This… is a lot more difficult and for the first time, he can’t default to a ‘correct’ answer.

He eyes Tony, contemplating his words and chewing the lip between his teeth. The pain does nothing to ground him or make the decision any easier. “I’ve… done a lot I regret,” he remarks petulantly. Somewhat put out that Tony brought it up. He knows he doesn’t like that feeling, regret… or guilt. He knows that killing, even if his victims are Hydra agents, will cause him to feel those emotions. Therefore, he should avoid it, if at all possible. It’s a logical argument.

But he is so afraid of Hydra, frightened to the point that, if not for his bodily control, he would shake. He doesn’t fear for himself, but for Tony, Steve, and their allies. From what Tony has said, he knows they are good people who don’t deserve to die. He wants to kill the agents with his own two hands, so that he can be sure that the threat has been eliminated. “I don’t know,” he says, finally, not looking up at Tony. It seems the Asset isn’t designed for these kinds of questions.

[autistark]

"It's not an easy question," Tony says, not sure what else to say. He can't tell Bucky what to think--he could tell him what Tony wants him to think, but Bucky's had enough of people ordering him around, probably. Even if taking orders seems easier sometimes.

"I've done a lot I regret, too." That's true enough. Where can he go from that, though? Suddenly he's trying to argue a guy out of killing people who will probably end up dead anyways, but--he doesn't really want to argue Bucky out of anything, he just wants...

He pinches the bridge of his nose, screwing his eyes shut. He isn't sure what he wants to happen. He just suddenly feels responsible for this guy's decisions.

Steve.

Tony huffs, shaking his head. "I wish I could give you more time to think about this, but we kind of need to get rid of this thing." He gestures at the tracker. "How far away is this safe house you've been talking about?"

[autistark]

"How can you call that food? That's disgusting."

[autistark]

codename-winter-soldier replied to your post:[[ i walked into a club at school today and the...

[Your secret identity is safe]

[[ No one can know I'm Iron Man ]]

vandamaksimova replied to your post:[[ i walked into a club at school today and the...

// oH MY GOD

[[ probably the most terrifying thing ever. probably ]]

[autistark]

zeebsdarling replied to your post:[[ i walked into a club at school today and the...

"a club"

[autistark]

[[ i walked into a club at school today and the president of the club was like, "You're Tony Stark, right?" and I was just like ??? ???? h OW D OYOU KNOW but then a moment later they were like "Your mii. On street pass" and I was just like OH, yes. Yes that is me. ]]

[autistark]

Tony stood up again, watching Bruce make friendly with the dog. Tony had never really been an animal person, himself, but Bruce seemed to at least want to take care of it, whether or not he actually liked it or not. Tony couldn’t really tell.

"Go ahead," he says, though he’s not entirely sure what he’s agreeing to. "Don’t know what you’re going to feed it, though. Or do you keep kibble around for emergencies?"

[brucenyethescienceguy]

Bruce gestured vaguely as he tried to make the words come out right. “I just meant—well, the Tower is technically yours and I didn’t—whatever. She’s…I’m going to keep her here while I try to find her owner if she has one. If that’s okay.” 

He stood up and groaned. Damn knees. 

"I think I have some leftover chicken in the fridge. Unless someone ate it," he explained. "I’ll get some kibble later if it looks like she’ll be here more than a day or two." 

He didn’t want to say it out loud, but he already hoped she was a stray so he could keep her. And he already knew what he would call her. 

[autistark]

"I don't care what you do, as long as you clean up your messes," Tony said, shrugging. "I've had worse things in here before."

He watched the dog, curious. It looked pretty skinny, and...well, not exactly well groomed, but it seemed too friendly to be a street dog, to him. They were vicious and had to, like, compete for food or something, right?

He frowned. He really didn't know anything about dogs.

"Well, don't spoil her too much, or she'll keep expecting your food instead of dog food."

[codename-winter-soldier]

On the Run

[autistark]

"Well," Tony starts, "It’s not really—I mean…" He frowns. He’s tempted to argue that it’s different—it feels different, sure, when you get to say that people weren’t your real target, that they were just ‘collateral damage’ from the blast, but—isn’t that the mindset he’s spent the last few years trying to distance himself from?

It’s a lot easier to lecture someone else about this stuff than actually practice it.

"I guess that doesn’t really make sense, no," he admits, forcing himself to not try and argue his way out of it. Belatedly, he realizes that Bucky’s expression has changed. "You alright?" he asks.

[codename-winter-soldier]

The Asset runs a hand down his face, a futile attempt to wipe away his expression. “I don’t—“ he cuts himself off, crossing his arms over his chest while he struggles for words. He debates on whether to tell Tony the truth, or lie, neither are going to do him very much good. But perhaps Tony understands his conflicting desires, his guilt.

He takes a deep breath, steeling himself for the confession. “I don’t… want to hurt anyone,” he assures before continuing. “But I want to… kill… the agents,” he explains. It comes out as more of a question than admission. “I…” He grits his teeth when no more words will come. He wants to say that he doesn’t want to kill, he just wants to kill Hydra. He wants to get rid of the threat, a precautionary measure, for his own peace of mind… and enjoyment, a more depraved side of himself whispers.

“…I don’t want to hurt anyone else…” he says quietly, refusing to look up at Tony. “Just… Just Hydra…”

[autistark]

Tony stares at him, worrying at the inside of his mouth. There's definitely something worrying about a heavily armed guest discussing how much he wants to kill certain people, but...

"Hey, I don't blame you," he says. "I don't know what happened to you, but..." He shakes his head, trying to figure out what he's trying to say here. This is all getting very...morality-based, and that was never really his strong suit. Or, at least, he didn't discuss it much.

"We all want to get rid of Hydra. Or, everyone will, once word gets out that they're still around. You, probably, more than anyone else, and I'm not saying you shouldn't feel that way, but...well. A lot of them are probably going to die anyways. We're going to get rid of them, one way or another. So I can't really tell you what to do."

He sighs, leaning against the table again. "Just don't do anything you'll regret, okay? I don't know where that line is for you. But make sure you figure that out before you go in there."

[firstsonhammond]

"No offense or anything, but seriously? Just pretend I don’t care? That’s bullshit advice and we both know it.”

"It’s a nice idea, but it doesn’t work out like that. When your name and every mistake you’ve ever made is plastered across the news and cameras and mics are shoved in your face and you’re constantly asked if you agree with the idea that you’re holding your family back because if Elaine Barrish can’t even keep her own son under control then how could she possible keep the country under control…when the only good thing you’ve ever done is create the nightclub you overdosed in on opening night…Yeah, just pretending you don’t care doesn’t really work."

[autistark]

"Well, that's why you just pretend."

"I didn't say it'd be easy."

[autistark]

[[ totally forgot i queued that starter ]]

[autistark]

"Hey--that's mine!"

[firstsonhammond]

"With the way the press goes on about it, you’d think I’m the only one."

"And some of us are stuck in the White House. Not as much privacy there as you’d think."

[autistark]

"...sounds like you've had a pretty hard time in the spotlight. But, you know--"

"Ah, you probably don't want my advice, but here it is anyway. People never forget this kind of thing, but once you get older and move on with your life, they do stop caring. The people waiting for you to fuck up again are always going to be outnumbered by people who aren't paying attention anymore, and you probably won't hear about those jackasses anyways, if you stay away from the tabloids. So, you know, it sucks, but just pretend like you don't care what people think about you, and eventually it kind of comes true."

[autistark]

Tony made a face halfway between incredulous and amused—did Bruce really not notice a dog following him home? Then again, Tony wasn’t exactly the most aware of his surroundings all the time, either, so he supposed he couldn’t really talk.

"Well, it seems friendly enough," he said, crouching down to look at the dog. He kept a reasonable distance away, though. He wasn’t about to take any chances. "Doesn’t have a tag…looks like you picked up a stray."

[brucenyethescienceguy]

Bruce reached out his hand cautiously and the dog sniffed at it. Bruce flinched as its mouth opened, but instead of biting, the dog gently licked his fingers. 

He looked at Tony, relief washing over his face, and knelt down to get a closer look. 

"I think….. I think it’s a girl," he said, and quickly corrected himself. "Well okay, dogs don’t have the concept of gender and also ‘male’ and ‘female’ are restricting categories that a lot of organisms—"

He cut himself off, shutting down an infodump in its tracks. Tony already knew all that. He blinked a couple times to reroute himself, and spoke again. 

"She looks hungry. Mind if I…?"

[autistark]

Tony stood up again, watching Bruce make friendly with the dog. Tony had never really been an animal person, himself, but Bruce seemed to at least want to take care of it, whether or not he actually liked it or not. Tony couldn't really tell.

"Go ahead," he says, though he's not entirely sure what he's agreeing to. "Don't know what you're going to feed it, though. Or do you keep kibble around for emergencies?"