♤ [Video] Pretend this was posted earlier because I have no sense of time

[deal_me_in]

Uh, guys? Anyone seen Tony? I am getting some bad vibes about this. His place is a wreck and it wasn't my fault, he didn't even write, network was down during the storm so who knows what anyone was doing-

Also? I think someone's funnin' with us because there is like, nothing on the network referring to or from him. I am pretty sure if he was all a figment of a mass hallucination we must have all been on something pretty wild but I don't think there's anything out there that can produce a guy like Tony Stark so..!

Something weird's going on around here. Sound off if you find anything interesting.

Comments

[in_extremis]

[Trying to pilot any Iron Man took some skill and practice, and this one in particular must have been like trying to control a modest fleet of jetfighters at the same time, so it is fairly impressive that they aren't actively on fire yet. Tony's smiling, anyway, happy enough to be in the air under most circumstances, and kisses the faceplate reassuringly.]

You're doing great. Keep it steady.

[As long as they didn't go bursting off out of control again, Tony feels fairly confident that his, as directed, flailing reach in Biggs' direction can't make things any worse. If he can grab this rope, they can redirect the Iron Man back to the ground, then worry about getting the engines off.]

[alphabeticalplans]

[Knowing he's only got the one shot at this, Biggs lights up his throw, focusing all his growing anxiety on the shot, following Jon's motions with his eyes, waits for them to dip, and lets loose. Hopefully, Tony's arms were free enough to catch the rope as it flew in their directions.]

[beholding_archivist]

[ 'Keep it steady' is easier said than done and Jon would have grumbled a response if it weren't for Tony's approval and lack of distressed screaming. It'll be fine. He just has to focus and maintain their circling course and they will be fine. And staying focused at least is something Jon has experience in. So he does what he can to get them close enough for Tony to catch the rope. ]

[deal_me_in]

Go get 'em, cowboy!

[Someone's enjoying this way too much. But Cayde appreciates the lasso-work, not sure he'd have been able to pull it off himself. The throw looks good, and the Exo dances around to the rest of the rope, ready to grab and start hauling once the other end is secure.]

[in_extremis]

[Tony does not make it particularly easy on Jon. Focused on the rope himself, he releases the Iron Man's neck entirely to swing as close as possible with both arms outstretched for a catch. Which does help, but leaves him bent backwards over Iron Man's arm with the rope in both hands, his intent to drag them down to the ground somewhat overridden by the power of the Iron Man's engines.]

Jon--the hole, the hole!

[The last thing they need is to drag Biggs, their anchor, into the pit.]

[alphabeticalplans]

[Biggs didn't have any idea what sort of force was waiting for them when that rope found purchase, but he dug in as best he could, wrapping the rope around his wrists and gripping, feeling it bite into the leather of his fingerless gloves as it was pulled sight.]

Little help here!

[He didn't know Cayde had been waiting, didn't know someone was going to help him. All he knew was they couldn't let them fall again. No matter what.]

[beholding_archivist]

[ It takes Jon a hot second to catch Tony's voice and his head snapping towards the hole they are still dreadfully close to. ]

...Jesus Christ, slow DOWN!

[ He snarls behind the faceplate as he urges the armor into a sharp turn back around, but also much more down than would have been ideal. The sharp curse following shortly after might give away a certain lack of intention for the sudden drop. ]

Shit!

[ ...at least it has gotten them a chunk closer to the ground. ]

[deal_me_in]

[The rope goes taut behind Biggs just as he shouts, Cayde digging in his heels as he acts as an anchor.]

I gotcha, buddy!

[And then he almost falls backwards with the sudden slack as the armored kite dips down. He starts pulling rope in once Biggs does so they can shorten the line between them and the two above.]

Tony you needa give Jon flying lessons if he's gonna be using that thing on a regular basis!

[in_extremis]

[The sudden drop has Tony scrambling, his stomach swooping as he flails to get one arm around the armor again, the other outstretched with the rope tangled around it, shoulder wrenched painfully. Then he giggles, and does his best to wind the rope in further and help them down along it before Jon manages to drag the whole party back into town now.]

He's not supposed to use it at all, he's a menace! Heave ho, darlings, get him grounded before he discovers what else it can do. There's not nearly enough people around to enjoy that show.

[alphabeticalplans]

[Biggs might have been a mind over matter kind of guy, but at the end of the day, he was only a man trying with all his might to fight the force of jet engines. He didn't bother replying, using the energy instead to put more strength behind his anchor, grunting with the effort.]

[beholding_archivist]

[ Jon gives a small grumble no one should realistically be able to pick up, but then pauses as an idea crosses his mind - And then he focuses, if only for a moment. The result is a burst of nasty static disrupting the HUD of the Iron Man's helmet, but also a sputter in the armor's engines. It only lasts a moment, but Jon hasn't really tried yet. ]

Right. I believe I can bring us down once we get low enough for it to be a safe fall.

[deal_me_in]

Just so long as I don't end up getting shot at again!

[Cayde continues to haul back and wind rope up as Biggs works on pulling them in. He looks slightly alarmed when the engines seem to gutter out a bit, casting a brief look at Sundance before he looks back up again.]

Uh... how about we not fall? Only one of you is in armor and I'm not sure I can handle catching you both without breaking something.

[in_extremis]

[Another jitter has Tony squeezing tightly again, and this time he narrows his eyes at the Iron Man's faceplate suspiciously.]

Don't break my stuff.

[Breaking it will get the out of the air, though. He glances back at Biggs struggling and heaves a sigh of determination to wrench them closer with the rope winding around his arm.]

Come on, just a little fall. I've survived worse.

[alphabeticalplans]

[With Tony's help and the sputtering of the engine, Biggs wasn't quite as stressed, at least enough to respond.] "Again?" What exactly did I get pulled into?

[He did look up, though, raising his voice to be heard over the, well, everything.]

Whatever you need to do to throttle those engines, do it. [And after a beat.] Please.

[beholding_archivist]

I didn't shoot you on purpose!

[ Jon argues with a quick look in Cayde direction, then quickly checks that they have enough distance to the pit. Nodding to himself, Jon brings the arm he has been used in his steering attempts back around quickly to not only wrap is around Tony again, but also use the momentum of the movement to spin them in the air, effectively making it be his own armored back which is facing the ground. ]

And I'm not breaking anything. Just turning it off.

[ He focuses again, properly this time, and the Archivist Sees. Not the static exploding on the helmet's HUD, not the flashing warnings, not the way the electronics practically scream at him before shutting off. What he sees, is fear. All of it. And not an insignificant part of it is his own as he is fully aware that if he doesn't protect Tony well enough from the impact, it will have been himself who has hurt the man he loves. ]

[deal_me_in]

[Biggs just gets a crooked grin from the Exo- before he yells back up in Jon's direction.]

-but still one too many times to be chance!

Crap!!

[The tension on the rope suddenly goes slack, and Cayde lands on his backside with an 'oof!' He checks real quick to make sure Biggs is okay before he's scrambling towards the falling pair.

Yeah, he knows the rough plan there. No, that won't keep him from throwing himself into a slide like he's stealing home plate as he makes to try catching the pair and cushioning their landing.]

[in_extremis]

[Just because the armor could stop a bullet didn't mean it didn't hurt to fall out of the sky. It definitely didn't mean it wasn't heavy. This becomes a much worse plan as Jon finally figures out the attitude control, and Tony's arm is wrenched back in the hold of the rope again in sudden silence without the noise of the engines.

It's the perfect position to watch Cayde come sliding in below them, panic, and start yelling again.]

[alphabeticalplans]

[Biggs has seen some bad ideas, but this one was pretty up there. Watching the two come down, and Cayde slide in to catch them was enough to give him palpitations, but he kept his hold on the rope as they came down regardless, only lessening his hold once they landed.

"Landed" being figurative. Crashed was more like it, and he ran over, pulling what first aid supplies he'd managed to gather out of his pack as he did.]

[beholding_archivist]

[ Of course the armor is heavy and its weight only accelerating their fall. And with Cayde throwing himself right underneath them, the Exo might end up crushed. It's no surprise Tony is yelling. ]

...shit.

[ Jon mutters to himself, but allows the armor to boot up again, hoping the main engines don't burst right back to life as he takes his arms away from Tony to bring them behind his own back, palms facing towards the ground they're approaching. The gloves are actually a part of the armor Jon has gotten fairly decent at using, which allows him to fire several quick bursts from their palms to hopefully slow them down enough. He only has to hope for one thing here: That Cayde knows better than letting himself get hit by those thrusters. And maybe that Tony will do what he has clearly always wanted to do: Throw himself in the Exo's arms.

Jon himself will be fine. He knows that. Even though he doesn't really realize the impact is happening until he stops falling and everything just hurts. ]

[deal_me_in]

[Sorry Biggs. It's kinda per the norm with these three, heart-attacks and all.

All things considered, Cayde's figured he's better suited to cushioning the fall of a metal man than Tony had been back when the radio tower spiked the Exo back down to the ground.

...unless the Iron Man is just that much more heavier than an Exo. Hm. That's not something Cayde's gotten to figure out.]

-what the?!

[You know how hard it is to reverse a slide? Cayde jams the heels of his boots into the ground to try slowing himself once Jon starts firing his palms towards the ground. What is it with these guys and not letting him do his job?!]

[in_extremis]

[The whole experience turns out to be the worst of all worlds. The last minute burst of the repulsors does manage to slow their descent somewhat, but without Jon holding onto him, the impact sends Tony bouncing off with a sharp crack of his head against the armor as a parting gift. He hits the dirt with a short roll to land in a haze of dust thrown up by the thrusters and his tumble, where he would really like to remain very still and prone for a few minutes or hours. Except the Iron Man had landed awkwardly half on Cayde, and he really felt like he owed Biggs some kind of apology.]

I'm up--I'm good--

[He starts to scramble back toward the heap of metal.]

[alphabeticalplans]

[Sometimes it was nice to be merely human, and this was one of those times. He didn't make it to the crash site until everyone was down and the dust was swirling, but he did make for the one guy not wearing armor first.]

You sure about that, Tony? You hit your head pretty hard.

[He'd worry about processing this whole situation later.]

[beholding_archivist]

[ If Jon ever claims to not be minding pain, he will be a liar. He hates pain and his low tolerance for it. Especially now that he knows that his body will simply patch itself back together. In a slow and rather pointedly painful manner that makes it hard for him to hide any of it. He lets out a strained groan while turning his head slightly in the direction where an unfamiliar man is rushing towards Tony amidst a cacophony of alarms and warnings the armor is yelling at him from all directions. ]

Don't listen to Tony. Just- Please help him. I- hah- M-may not sound like it, but- I'll be fine. Sh-shortly. But Tony...

[ Yes, Tony hasn't even had any armor to protect him. And if Cayde got hurt in a way Sundance can't fix, Tony will very much be needed for that job.

But speaking of the Exo... ]

...C-Cayde...?

[deal_me_in]

[The Hunter's lying on his back, the position he'd been in when he'd skidded to a stop. His metal face is set in a scowl at the sky as though he's trying to work out some aerial calculations that would tell him how this had turned out so poorly.]

Guys...we needa work on the whole coordination thing.

[Well, at least he sounds okay, even when awkwardly pinned beneath the Iron Man's legs. Cayde lifts his head with a grunt, craning it over in Biggs and Tony's direction, glad to at least see movement there. To Biggs he'll even flash a thumbs-up.

Then he's looking down at the bright metal sprawled half-way across his torso before reaching out towards it. He pauses.]

You think you broke anything, Jon? Or can I start moving your rebar-encased legs? Seriously, how do you even move with these, Tony.

[in_extremis]

[Tony isn't moving very fast, but that doesn't mean he's going to make it easy for Biggs. Biggs is going to have to put up with being dragged along a little more yet as Tony grabs him to maybe, a little bit, keep himself upright as he makes his way back to the other two.]

I'm fine, don't worry about it. Good arm, by the way, cowboy.

[By then, he throws himself back down anxiously to--put his hands on the Iron Man helmet, not sure what else to do about getting Jon out of it, or off of Cayde.]

It's a whole--system--

[One he'd clearly be happy to talk about if Jon wasn't making those noises that were making him pat at the faceplate.]

You didn't bring any cigarettes, did you, boss? Could really use one about now.