thecapitol | I'm really not sure if I'm floating or drowning here.

Entry tags:

I'm really not sure if I'm floating or drowning here.

WHO| Tony Stark, and anyone who can see him!
WHAT| Tony is not really loving this whole kidnapping death match thing
WHEN| 11th of the May
WHERE| Several locations in the tower
WARNINGS| References to the end of Winter Soldier but it's only a spoiler if you haven't seen it or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. But you can avoid it by not reading what Tony's doing/thinking on the roof

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[District 12's floor]

After Tony had told the Gamemakers what they could do with their evaluations and had been left in his room with a communicator and a credit card, he stood in his room for a moment staring at both. Then after a moment he dispassionately drops the card on the bedside table and starts turning the communicator over in his hands.

Sure it wasn't the first time he was taken away from what he knew and threatened with death, really it's starting to become a major theme in his life, he's had better themes to be honest, just as destructive, but on the whole more fun. However this was the first time he was kidnapped, given an allowance and technology. He isn't sure if it's amature, or cocky but he's not going to pass it up. Frowning a little Tony pockets the communicator then starts looking through his room as he runs a hand through his hair now and then. Clothes, Shoes, a remote (Which he also pockets) but no much else. Frowning at what he's found he leaves the room and turns his attention to ferreting his way around the floor as a whole, for now he's staying out of the bedrooms but if he can't find so much as a screw driver, very narrow knife or a broad fork he's going to invade privacies.

But as it is, right now he needs what he knows, and that's playing with tech, and he's probably not being quiet in his looking as he loudly moves things about and mutters to himself.

[Central Commons - Cocktail Bar]

After his attacking of his floor for something to do, Tony started to feel a little claustrophobic and found his way to the bar, something else that was familiar enough to act as a calming agent. You know what Tony also finds calming? Scotch. When he orders, he doesn't even realise it's free, he's just assumed they've given him an automatic tab, which for him isn't unusual.
He contemplates the two neat amber fingers in the glass then toasts the air.

"Here's to kidnappers with a resort and open bar."

He takes a drink and takes in who's wandering around the bar, feeling the twinge of homesickness. It's weird being held hostage but not you know being threatened with pain if you don't build a weapon for them while being allowed to apparently roam free for the moment.

[Roof]

The homesickness got to him for a while so after just idely riding the elevator with no purpose, Tony takes it up to the roof. It's about as quite as a roof top in a large city can be and if he closes his eyes he can almost pretend he's standing on the landing pad back in New York, Pepper listing the names of S.H.I.E.L.D agents who have jumped that sneaky ship and are banging on his doors for work.

He runs a hand over his face and huffs, he really needs to quit being a hypocrite with all this sentimentality of his. He walks to the edge and looks down seeing what little he can of the busy streets.

Tony let's his mind tick back to when he was told that he had been selected for a battle to the death.

"If this is going to involve swords, and war horses then I am in a lot of trouble."

He could probably use another drink. Actually, what he could really use is Pepper.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Twenty feet?" Her eyes boggled at the idea "That's like...bigger then a house!? Where would you even keep something that tall?"

As an after thought she added "I dunno what ergo-whatever means but I didn't write the commercial. I just know that it felt good to win something for once even if it was only second place. And the bike is pretty fun."

"Well, I had to have a construction team come in and well open up a wall to bring it inside. I was trying to be romantic" His voice rises a little at the end defensively, he might agree now that it was a dumb idea, but at least he tried for him that's new.

"Ergonomic. Shaped in a way that compliments natural bone movements. You know like a waterbed, or those rubber grips on pens."

Sandy was starting to get a better idea of who this guy was and it was kind of amusing in a distracting sort of way. She decided at this point there was no harm in just asking.

"Are you a mad scientist? You talk like one." At least he spoke like the ones she'd met through this horrible multiverse kidnapping project.

Tony's eyebrows slip up as he's accused of being a mad scientist.

"Uh, well that's subjective, really. When you think about it. Also, I'm an engineer so I guess that would be a... This is not how mad scientists talk."

Really he's been accused of being many things, but this is new.

"Are you sure?" She challenged with a hint of a smirk as she studied him inquisitively "I guess I've never heard of a "Mad Engineer" but you wouldn't be the first science guy to show up here and be a little off." She then politely tapped her head as if he couldn't figure out what off meant.

"It's OK, I still think you're probably OK, but if you're a little crazy I just wanna know."

He contemplates her for a moment then shrugs his face.

"I think it's one of those fine line things that comes with being a genius."

Be picks up the book and flips through the pages so he has something to do with his hands.

"I mean, look at internal combustion or human flight, crazy ideas that couldn't happen. And then." He slams the book shut and drops it back on the counter. "We have Audi R8 spyders with V10 engines, and sort of personally modified Boeing 737s to take us where we want to go."

Of course, Tony would think back to the cars and planes he has for reference, but they were really great feats of engineering. Also his.

At that Sandy couldn't help but smile and nodded.

"My dad always liked cars. Fast ones. I think that's why I like riding my bike as fast as I can." She supposed.

"What's the coolest thing you've ever engineered?" She added seeing no reason to leave him alone to work on something she was pretty sure would yield no results.

"Coolest? Easy. My suits."

Tony says with a tone that suggested that was the easiest thing in the world. If she had asked best, that would have been a bit harder but only because then he has to pick between the arc reactor redesign and the suits.

That didn't quite land with her and she looked puzzled.

"What was so cool about them? I mean I've seen alot of different suits since I got here...I wouldn't call all of them cool but our Stylist team are really really good at making suits that look cool and feel good."

She was still rather fond of the bird armor that Cinna had put together for her once.

He pauses and looks at her for a moment.

"Wait, the other Tony gave you a pizza in the shower. But didn't mention the suits?" He gives her a flat look.

"Told you it wasn't me. They're fully pressurized armored suits, with and integrated A.I system, each of them were specialised for different tasks, all of them were bullet proof to a point, and capable of flight while running off a clean sustainable energy source."

She returned the flat look "Maybe the other Tony was trying to help me out. It's not like knowing about the suits would have helped me any." She shot back before trying to wade through his techno babble.

"Armored suits that fly...wait..." Her eyes went wide as realization donned on her and she finally put two and two together.

"You mean like the Iron Patriot?"

Unfortunately even if Sandy was swinging in the right direction, her worlds history was still a little skewed.

Tony's face falls when he hears that god awful name.

"Uh, better than Iron Patriot. Also, I'm never calling it that, because War Machine's a better name." Sighing he rubs at his forehead. "I really don't like focus groups."

Tony doesn't have too many things that really bother him. However the Iron Patriot is most of them.

"Hey it's not like I made up the name. It's in the history books." She held up her hands in a gesture of abandonment. "Iron Patriot helped the liberated government of New York arrest metahumans." She explained "I got lucky, no one knew I was one."

"History books? Why would- No, hang on Metahumans. Okay, you're going to need to recite your history books here. Because I don't remember Rhodie dealing with that."

This just sounds a little too sureal and confusing for Tony.

It wasn't the first time someone had asked her to clear up her history "Where I come from, New York split off from America and outlawed all super powers and masks. Meta humans and mutants were arrested and taken to jail." She explained "My dad was one of them. But no one knew I had powers because I was so little."

Lucky her.

"They cut off the city from the rest of the world with a big force field that made it rain all the time."

"That" Tony starts looking surprised and a little confused. "Is not the New York I know and live in. What year is this?"

He focuses a little more on her, as if her giving him some future date gives him something to work with.

"Wait, powers? What powers?"

"2064." She answered plainly "They took my dad away when I was like five or six." She added so he could get a more accurate idea.

As for powers, "You don't know about powers? Everyone knows about powers! Like mutants? Metahumans? I can turn into stone when the Capitol allows it."

"That's... If I was a cautious man I might live that long. But then, my record proves that's not going to happen."

He raises a sarcastic eyebrow at her. Ignoring her exclamations about mutants, because he's never heard about them so they clearly just haven't shown up yet.

"Turn to stone. Well that's.. As in just your skin, or is this a whole gargoyle deal, where you're just solid through and through?"

Sandy was of the belief given their situation, none of them should expect to live too long.

"I uh...well it's all the way through I guess. Hold on lemme..." She took up the remote again and scrolled through more video options till she found another scene of violence and horror.

People were fighting in what looked to be some kind of museum. The displays on the walls were broken or ransacked, and the people swarming around seemed to be brawling over guns of various ages and sizes.

A small girl had attacked a girl who had Sandy's build but was wearing a mask. This girl also appeared to be some kind of moving statue at the moment. With a sickening crack her arm came off completely.

"Ah...yeah right there see? Stone all the way." Sandy looked pale and squeamish revisiting one of her most recent failures.

While he manages to keep a neutral looking face, his eyes give away how horrified an disgusted he is about this.

"Turn it off."

He looks away from the screen, because he really doesn't want to see it anymore. He shakes his head then eyes the drinks on show for an alcohol content, really starting to think he doesn't want to hear anymore while sober. Probably not the best response but it's a crutch for a reason.

"Sorry." She fumbled the remote and the screen went black. Looking sheepish she tossed it over her shoulder where it vanished with a clatter. The embarrassment then turned to shame.

"Guess I've been here too long...I've gotten too used to seeing that crap on TV. It just...doesn't seem as real when it's me on the screen you know?" She shrugged her narrow shoulders.

"It's like waking up from a nightmare but everyone knowing about it."

"It's not a nightmare, it's just wrong." Tony shakes his head, then rubs at his face at a loss as how to stop this from happening right now.

"Welcome to the last year and a half of my life." She sighed slumping over on the sofa and letting her arm drape over the edge of the sofa to the floor.

"But the people living in this city have lived with it for so long they don't understand why. The only ones who really do are so high up they can't be touched, or so low down they live out in the districts and can't help us except to send gifts."

"Believe me, everyone can be touched. You just have to know where to reach."

He inhales deeply and then exhales with frustration.

"It's not easy. But. Sometimes you get the lucky shot."

That was...strangely comforting.

"Sounds like you've gotten lucky before." she offered feeling the flutter of optimism once again trying to tear it's way through her depression and cynicism.

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