[open] You don't have to be mad to have a good time on thin ice...

[nightmare_scientist]

WHO: Wilson & You~
WHERE: Sh'Ka
WHAT: He's totally doing science. On ice.
WHEN: Mid-December
WARNINGS: %

While Temba is covered in snow, Sh'Ka has become much more frozen over, leaving the paths and most of the ground covered in a thick layer of ice.

It's not that Wilson has much of a fondness for snow or ice, though, so it's for no apparent reason he's currently in Sh'Ka, a pair of shadow skates under his shoes and idly skating circles over what may have been some sort of plaza back when the city was still inhabited. Whatever it was doesn't matter. Right now it's a comparably big open space which the scientist makes use of while contemplating... Something.

But he isn't entirely alone. A couple of his shadow creatures are also gliding aimlessly across the ice, radiating a certain uncertainty as of why they are even present while receiving the occasional nudge from a randomly appearing shadow hand to keep them moving.

"No, you got this all wrong!" Wilson exclaims towards a smaller creature slowly spinning on the ice as he passes. "I don't want to fight a Treeguard, I'm saying I wouldn't be surprised to find one here!"

Comments

[tyrants_son]

"Of course," Felwinter said, almost dismissively. He didn't much care for being pushed and so shifted to plant his foot in such a way that allowed for his other foot to slide him in a lazy half-circle as though Tony were pushing open a stubborn door than trying to scoot an uncooperative Exo across the ice.

"Or alternatively 'with' rather than 'on'," he suggested.

[nightmare_scientist]

"Children?" Wilson pauses, seemingly contemplating the question before shrugging. "Been a while." He lifts a claw-like finger to point out. "Fascinating creatures to watch, but annoying to do science on. Especially when freshly born. Too small, hysteric parents at your back- And yet science saved all of them, allowing the science of their bodies to make them function and grow." A pause followed by Wilson shaking his head. "Not my favorite science, but useful." It hadn't been his choice to study medicine and yet Wilson still has excelled in it.

"Fixing human bodies is easy. But boring. Can't really turn them into something new like you can with a machine." That last part is certainly said with a curious leer towards these two clearly mechanic people.

[in_extremis]

That was a weird enough way to talk about babies that Tony was willing to accept it as conclusive evidence that this one was best kept far away from any of them, with a baffled raise of his lip and his insistent pushing of Felwinter around in a frustrating circle starting to flag. He did have to agree, though, that the biological sciences were boring and gross, along with magic, and machines were much more worth the while and his enthusiastic interjection, "You just have to think of them more like machines." Felwinter was finally abandoned on the ice as Iron Man went sliding away with the momentum gained from trying to push him, hands up instead to gesture emphatically, "We should be manufacturing our own evolution."

[tyrants_son]

Felwinter was staring yet again at Wilson, perhaps even appalled by what the man was implying. If he wasn't already wary about the man then he was definitely so now.

He watched Tony finally go off as he himself came to a stop, uncertain of where the other was intending to go with this suggestion. He also still had his shotgun in hand, but at least he was tucking it away so Tony didn't have to worry about the Exo making use of it. For now.

[nightmare_scientist]

That's hardly a suggestion even Wilson expects and if anything then he's certainly not sure what to make of that 'we' at all. He pushes himself forward nonetheless, roughly in Tony's direction but more to go in a lazy curve around him. "A very frankenstainian proposition, I must say. Are you speaking of experience here? Which ones of the curious beasts of this place have you manufactured?"

[in_extremis]

Frankenstein was a lot darker than Tony considered his manufactured evolution, making him frown and slide slowly backward in a curve mirroring the scientist's, circling them around Felwinter and his gun. "Show me yours and I'll show you mine, sweetheart," he negotiated, tucking his hands and what they might have been capable of primly behind his back. Tony wasn't the one that was supposed to be under interrogation here.

[tyrants_son]

"This is getting nowhere," Felwinter said. He's usually quite patient, but so far as he could see, this nattering was only going to go in circles and he still had no clear idea of why they were seeking out this man- if it was indeed him they'd been searching for.

Those four words could have served as a warning enough, at least for Tony, but then the warlord was still a difficult read, and the lack of any emotional inflection in his tone gave nothing away. It was almost a casual movement that he raised a hand, golden fire sparking in his palm before he clutched it tightly, the flames suffusing his form without a hint of burning even that greatcoat of his. The heat was palpable and yet simultaneously comfortable in contrast to the frigid temperature of the city. It washed outwards from his feet and made short work of the ice buildup they skated upon, leaving the ground slightly slick with streaming trails of vapor.

[nightmare_scientist]

"Woah! Careful there, big boy!" Wilson exclaims and is quick not only to dart away but also to push himself up and off of the ice, his own skates dissipating as the scientist seamlessly switches to hovering above the now steaming ground. "Can't you see the adults are talking?" He adds with a displeased tone and that very moment Felwinter's own shadow comes to life to birth a massive hand, similarly clawed as Wilson's own to grab, pick up and restrain the Exo.

But Wilson doesn't really wait for any of that to properly play out since he shoots a look towards Tony. "What's wrong with him?!"

[in_extremis]

It might have been a clear warning, but Tony was in no way prepared for the light show. Simultaneously, he was also lifting off of the ice, with a louder burst of his jets than the whisper of the shadows, and his hands raised more in surrender as he talked over the scientist, "Coming on a little hot, darling."

Iron Man might have been mirroring the other man, but he drew the line at weird magic, grabby shadows. Luckily, he had already found out how to deal with those, and fired a quick blast at it as he dropped down to grab Felwinter's shoulder himself, ready to raise him off of the ground as well if that was where all of the threat was coming from. "Don't touch my stuff," he snapped back.

[tyrants_son]

Ironically Felwinter wasn't even using an offensive ability. Well, perhaps the ice might beg to differ.

This was one way to gauge a possible opponent, not that he'd quite planned it that way The Exo looked down as he saw the shadows beneath him begin to twist wildly before the large hand came up. He leaped but not nearly high enough, he didn't quite have the Hunter's nimbleness, his jump shifting into a gradual upwards drift, but then Tony was there.

"That does not look like science," he noted.

[nightmare_scientist]

Unfortunately, the hands that are being summoned don't work the same way as the creatures that tend to materialize around him more or less on their own accord. Therefore Tony's blast doesn't cause the hand to disappear but rather split around the blast before reforming. And while Tony manages to get a hold of the Exo, the shadow remains as well, increasing its size to seize both armored beings.

"Did you come here just to threaten and insult me?" Wilson snarls through sharp teeth but other than the large hand holding on he takes no other action.

[in_extremis]

"That's not good--uff," Tony muttered when he was first easily dodged, then handily restrained. At least crowded up against Felwinter maybe meant that the Exo could feel the full force of his meaningful glare for not rolling with the clearly incredibly effective romantic skating date narrative. It did also mean he had to power down his gauntlets, though that didn't stop him from trying to burst free with a good kick of his jetboots as he wiggled.

"We can also kick your ass, if you want," maybe didn't seem like much of a threat while the guy had them pinned, but Tony said it brightly like this was a much better goal than mild insults.

[tyrants_son]

Felwinter remained perhaps annoyingly calm in spite of the outcome, not that being crushed against Tony was very comfortable. He turned his head just slightly enough for Tony to know that he was well aware this wasn't going however the other man envisioned, but to be fair, Felwinter wasn't sure what the expectations were either.

"I was making observations. Is it my fault that you take them as insults? You are the one who has jumped to conclusions. If I meant to threaten you, I would have done more than melt ice."

[nightmare_scientist]

"Your observations are faulty and an insult to science." Wilson decides and points a claw-like finger at his two armored captees. "You will leave now and not disrupt me any further!"

With those words Wilson turns away to take his own leave as the large hand lets go of both Tony as well as Felwinter before disappearing into nothing.

[in_extremis]

Felwinter was, in fact, annoying, though how annoying his unflappability was to Tony was in equal balance to how useful that was when they were supposed to be on the same team, kind of. Maybe the scientist found it annoying, too. The sudden release was just as surprising as being snatched, shocking away Tony's glare toward Felwinter as he flailed around to keep them both from being dropped back to the ground, grabbing blindly at Felwinter's coat again to ease the drop.

[tyrants_son]

Tony was given a chance to recover with the sudden release due to Felwinter's not completely dropping like a rock. The warlord glanced back at him as he found his coat being grabbed, and he allowed for the Iron Man to guide them back to ground level.

"...that man has problems," he said, looking at the spot that Wilson had vanished before he looked to Tony. "Was I supposed to stop him?"

[in_extremis]

They hadn't exactly started this venture with a plan, so Tony could not say one way or the other if they had failed in executing it. Instead, he considered the ground where the shadow had been very seriously with a finger tapping at his chin, then produced, "No," only to reconsider and allow, "Maybe." They knew more than what they had started with, at least, and that was about what Tony had wanted. Unfortunately, he was fairly certain that Tommy was correct to have concerns.

"How do you think we're supposed to fight a shadow?" Iron Man eventually asked. When it was a problem, they were going to be more prepared.

[tyrants_son]

The answers he was getting only made things less clear as to what they were doing here, but at least Felwinter could feel a little vindicated with that 'maybe.'

"It was not intangible," he noted. "And clearly it was being controlled by him. If we take care of the source, the shadow is no longer a problem."