revivalproject

Entry tags:

Shock

WHO: Tony, Cayde, Jan, Cap
WHERE: In the Tembubble
WHAT: Tony's trying to fix some cameras, but keeps running into curiosities
WHEN: During the mermay event
WARNINGS: Everyone being fish-people and potentially doing offputting creature things.

A natural affinity for electric currents didn't always translate to reliable craftsmanship. Only one camera in the city square remained alert, watching Tony curiously as he held one of its brethren, perched together on the roof of the hotel where they were close to the sun and could overlook the gently sifting sand below. DATA bubbled occasionally with a burst of jetstream to keep himself stable, but Tony's windingly long tail draped down the facade of the building to twine into the open windows and root him while he worked. It was so smooth and matte black that it could have disappeared into the covered murk inside, but for the occasional spark that arced across it while Tony concentrated, casting small glints into the darkened rooms below. That leathery hide spreading up his body only made the tail look dangerously longer yet, snakelike even on his arms up to his elbows like he had been dipped in ink. Only flecks of yellow on his palms and the softest slope of his belly broke up that subtle colour, and the scars that stood out on his scalpel delicate hands. They were mostly faded burns and nicks, and none so starkly white as the perfect rings around several of his sharp fingers. Probably because he used them to work his way into the broken camera, forgoing any more cumbersome tools, and barely flinched when the device sparked and left the water smelling burnt. He had clearly taken more care with his unblemished tail, maybe thanks to the sheer ripple of his single, silken fin that traced a sensitive line straight down his front to his pointed tip. Even a bubble breaking from between the brickwork near it had his tail flinching away to loop again restlessly. His only scales were as synthetic as the broken camera, flashing gold covering him from chest to jaw, the edges precise, minuscule hexagons where the nanoweb blended along his skin.

"This one's fried," he murmured to DATA, who dutifully recorded the state of the final camera in the area. "The glass needs to be recast, too, just like the others. Can probably salvage the case, but..." He had ejected a computer chip, warped to itself like the device had overclocked and burst from the inside out. This was going to take some time, and the glass was going to take the forge which--...Donnie wasn't there anymore. Tony pursed his lips, the room below lighting up in a pop like a camera flash, and leaned over DATA with a gentle brush over its top like Tony was stroking his head with a free hand. "Guess that's not a problem," he mumbled, to the blank stare of the robot.

a. the outpost [cayde??]
A lobster clung to the side of the tower from which Echo had once set himself to guard over this city. As it slowly lifted a pointed leg to lodge into the next stone, so did DATA, and they watched each other intently in their measured, sideways ascent. Inside, in the cooler water and only the sunlight lingering by the windows to see by, Tony turned slowly in place, floating bonelessly. He hadn't made it to the forge. He could see it easily as he swam overhead, feeling dread slowly tighten around his heart. Glancing down at the outpost made that dread feel like a stone, dragging him down and impossible to get his arms around. He might have stayed there in the sand, until he found he was staring at the curious line held taut between the outpost and the clock tower, and frowned. It was enough to send him swimming inside, slowly making his way up the way his robot did on the exterior, and was distracted once more as he found the remnants of a cozy corner long abandoned. He had to shake himself back into focus, and by the time he finally made it to where that line was mounted into the wall, he was holding a limp, hurriedly stitched stuffed animal, its tiny limbs bright blooms of colour drifting from between his black fingers. With the other hand, he strummed curiously on the wire, watching the vibration ripple and letting his gaze roll across to the clock tower like he could see that turbulence cross the open stretch of water.

b. a much deeper pool [jan???]
The forge would have to wait. A later project, further along in the schedule. It would be pointless, after all, to do all of that work without solving the cause of the disruption. Talking directly to Billy was out of the question, too; a distraction really, and he didn't deserve to feel interrogated, he needed some time. No, Tony would have to go to where he understood the source was. Even several feet above the wide, black mouth of the mine, the water was cold. He stared down into it, waiting for movement, and starting to shiver, expecting tentacles to unfurl from the rocky sides, pull him in, hold him down until the sun was a pinhole high above him. He went darting back to the ledge of the hole, where a sticky residue remained, staining the rock in drips and keeping him circling it to avoid touching the discoloration. It had been intended to keep the threat contained, he vaguely recalled. That didn't explain the pitons he found driven into the stone, both on the ground and barely hidden by the sand, and the wall inside the pit. He had to dig his fingers into the ground to try to work one free, throwing bolts of static into the water around him while he hauled up on the rusting metal. At the edge of the pit, a pair of funfronds floated up out of the darkness, watching curiously and flipping energetically at each other.

c. the civic centre [steve???]
Tony's tail was a black banner, ribboning through the water over the roofs of Temba for DATA to track and try his best to scuttle after through the purple streets. Tony swam with the piton clutched in one hand, looking like he moved with confident aim, and feeling entirely the opposite. Who was he supposed to ask? If Jon knew what it was doing out there by the mine, would he think Tony had just been out looking for an excuse to talk to him? Was Tony out looking for an excuse to talk to him? In that case, he should have been collecting flowers, about ten hours ago to accumulate a bouquet that neared big enough to justify himself. He slowed over the greenhouse, peering down through the glass and feeling reluctant to go inside even if it would help make up for the lost time. Cutting any flowers from there had felt like a violation ever since Lauri-Ell had been so gently intent on correcting the one time he had made that mistake. In his minds eye, she practically glowed, blue skin that should have melted into the water instead shining like the colours vibrated in conflict. Tony's focus darted toward the civic centre then, only for his brow to furrow with a new question, that strange image of Lauri-Ell fading. The answers weren't any more forthcoming the closer he got, and still nothing as he sank into the strange bowl of the pool on the roof of the centre. It was half filled with purple sand, and teeming with lobsters, more secure up here than on the ground, but it didn't exactly look like a lobster sanctuary. Tony's free hand and a loop of his tail wound around a ladder bolted to its side. To help the lobsters? One of them pushed up from the sand and helicoptered its way out of the depth of the pool, onto the roof, as if to prove otherwise.

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Whatever impression that Tony had given Steve of a very normal social life was backfiring on him now, because he also had only actually met Leonardo a couple of times, and it was clear that the kid hadn't needed any more than that to figure out he hated Tony. The invasive tracking that Tony did on all of them didn't tell Tony much about what Leonardo liked, and he grimaced a little guiltily before he managed an unsure, "Video games?" That was what Donnie liked, anyway, they must have played some together. He wasn't convinced yet this was the correct answer, but he gestured for Steve to follow anyway, so it at least felt like they were accomplishing something as he led the way to the replicator.

In the meantime, he said, "The ones in the mine stayed out of the light, they might only do that when they're fully grown. I don't know if killing them is even the answer. We didn't kill all of the mosquitoes, just made barriers, controlled populations, treated malaria. Do they have a predator, that isn't the sun--a structural solution, you know?"

Well, Steve doesn't know anything about videogames and for all he knows that's the name of a movie, so, they're all out of luck on that one. "Can you get him one?" he asks. He means a videogame - obviously he doesn't even know that they've gotta play it on something. "Or. That requires electricity, right? You can't power it."

If only.

"Okay. well, I don't know if we can carry on with trials, considering what they're doing," he answers. "So maybe what we oughta do is build something to capture them in. Enter only, no exit. Whatever it is, we gotta build Billy an armor made of it."

"I can try," Tony replied with a wry smile, flicking the tip of his tail around Steve's as he swam to send a tickle down to his fins. More seriously, he suggested, "We'll see if this thing'll give us a Gameboy. Can't be too hard to make one of those rechargeable. Take a couple hours, max." He had enough of the Agrii's old electronics around to cannibalize for the honour.

Thoughtfully, he considered, "A trap needs a lure. If we knew what it was about Billy that was so alluring, we could just scatter it out in the woods, keep them happy out there, make sure everyone knows the territory."

He has no idea what a gameboy is but assumes that's going to be a videogame, so he'll let Tony handle all that. In the meantime, he gently swats away his fin, only for tickling.

He is, after all, particularly sensitive, as a super-soldier.

"Well, what's everyone who gets bit got in common? It might be that they can smell their blood, like mosquitos." But then, wouldn't it be weird that Tommy didn't get bit?

Or are they fraternal...

That swat was a challenge, but Steve was going to have to wait in anticipation with just the warning glint he got in return, Tony's tongue between his teeth, hardly hiding his smirk. First, Tony had to lead them into the building that had started to look like an emergency shelter, with blankets, rope and flashlights stored neatly around. He ignored all of it to head for the replicator, a usually sacred and very carefully measured moment as he made his replicator rations stretch as much as possible. This time, he stared at it, hands up and tense as he considered, static crackling between his fingers. Even as he thought, he answered, "Was it just Billy this time? Last time, they got Tommy, too. And Billy's boyfriend. I assumed it was an environmental thing, they shared a house. Billy's out there with..." The static changed, jumping off of Tony's fingers with a snap before he reluctantly finished, "Soldier didn't get bit?"

"I think it was just Billy," he says. "Because Tommy came to bring Hargrove to the hospital - he said that he'd been training with Soldier and that's when it happened, so I'm assuming he was holding Billy off." Plus, he's sure Tommy could have explained the situation when he came back, if that had happened.

But then: "I thought Billy's boyfriend was Tommy?" he asks, confused. "--Hargrove, not Kaplan." It's very confusing having the two of them.

Tony had time to blink several times before Steve sorted the names for him, and needed to give that one a bit of room to clear out so he took his time ordering the gaming device from the replicator. It came out looking right, so he turned it proudly toward Steve with a clawed tap on the screen, which lasted about as long as usual before Tony was frowning again to consider the procedure. They were going to have to go to the shop, they had wasted enough time, so Tony started his swim for the door already as he finally answered, "Billy's boyfriend, Wiccan, he also has a boyfriend. Did Hargrove also get bit?"

Steve is waiting for the gaming device as he stands, surveying the replicator. He never actually asks for anything for himself from this thing, and he doesn't think he needs anything. They're lean times, but not the worst.

"No, but Hargrove's always been a little angry, so if he got a tiny bit, I wouldn't know." Very funny. "Kaplan has a boyfriend? Who is it?" he asks, not because he's nosy but because something's bothering him about the interaction. If he dug into it, he'd realize it was because Tony mentioned him and then clarified about him, but not his name.

But as it is, he's choosing to trust Tony.

The identity of Billy's boyfriend was a question that Tony felt he had already come too close to answering, making his tail sizzle and mouth open and close too much like a guppy's. If that wasn't obvious enough, he was suddenly in a hurry to get out and head up and over the library to get to the back entrance, and instead he suddenly had a lot of insight on Billy's brother: "Tommy kind of suggested that, too, that he's got this anger problem, and I didn't really know what to make of it, you know, that's not normally his type, he's sensitive, that kid, but he gets attached easily, maybe he doesn't know what he wants, either."

Huh. Well, now Tony's acting very strangely indeed. Steve narrows his eyes and crosses his arms over his chest, which gives him a natural boost. "Huh. You really wanna tell me all this about Billy's boyfriend but you won't tell me who it is. Wait, they've been going out since the last time this happened, right? You said that was a year ago, so it's gotta be someone who's been here a year."

And then: "And you know I don't care that they're both guys, so it's someone you don't think I'd approve of. Couldn't be one of the turtles - is it... York?"

Guessing was so much worse than Tony anticipated, making his shoulders draw up in a cringe. And Steve was using that voice, the one that made Tony want to show his belly, except if Tony was going to be breaking hearts, he'd rather be doing it from a magazine cover. At least he had pedantry to fall back on and focused on correcting, "Last time was...I don't know how long ago, more than a year, before Billy's last boyfriend left. It was a different boyfriend. I've been told they get married at home so, hey, you'll meet him some day, Teddy, good kid, calls himself Hulkling because he gets big and green. Don't worry, Bruce is a gentleman, it's not his."

"Bruce isn't that much of a gentleman," he says. "But alright, so he might not have been here last year. But - you're still dodging the name," he says. "Is it someone I don't like? I wouldn't get mad at Billy for dating someone like that. I'm not his dad," he says.

"Is this because you're mad at me?" he asks, more quietly.

Any part of Tony's rambling could have been an effective distraction, if Steve didn't insist on being so stubborn. Tony was willing to do the work for them, glad to pursue just who Banner had been knocking up on Steve's Earth, but then Steve had to sound so cautious. It made Tony whirl around, abandoning his intent path toward the workshop and sending a glitter of sparks through his wake. "What? No. Do I look mad at you?" he demanded, and maybe that sounded a little mad. He had to consciously ease off the gas to continue, "This has nothing to do with...," only to reevaluate. If he did trust Steve completely, he might have trusted him with someone else's secret, so he might not have been entirely wrong. That wasn't the only thing Tony was worried about, though. "I just don't think you want to hear it. From me," he produced, with shaky foundations.

Steve is definitely more than a little stubborn, but it'd only ever just bothered Tony if he pushed it too far. But he's thinking that maybe he had pushed him too far with something else. He taps his arm as if to show Tony that he doesn't really believe him, but he'll let that go for now. He doesn't think their spat will boil over yet.

"I wouldn't rather hear it from anyone else, Tony, it's just information." He flips his tail back and forth, not sure if it's worth pursuing, but also thinking that the more Tony hides the information, the more suspicious he gets.

Nothing was just information, and if Steve really believed that then he couldn't be trusted not to spread that information all over town. If Steve really believed that, he wouldn't insist on this secret that he was keeping of his own. Tony frowned, lips pursed with an expectant tilt of his head, crossing his arms in return for Steve to admit to his own poor logic, except Tony's pose looked more like a defensive hug with his elbows held. His own logic wasn't particularly sound. He couldn't imagine hearing it straight from Bucky was going to be the ideal way for Steve to find out the love of his life had moved on. "It's not my information," he finally insisted, and it felt like an admission, his challenging glare gone now so he could avoid Steve's eye and the sharp edge of his argument dulled to more of an apology. He would rather be saying that he trusted Steve.

"Alright, fine," he says, more confused than anything but it gives a slightly frustrated tone to his voice. "Guess I'll just ask Billy, then." Which is going to be slightly awkward, because he doesn't talk to him a whole lot, so this would be a strange thing to start the conversation with.

Maybe Tony knows that. It'd simply be too awkward for Steve to ask, and it's not like he flirts with anyone so there's no danger of him finding out accidentally.

That definitely was going to be awkward, especially because they both knew Billy couldn't exactly say no to Captain America, and now Tony had backed him into that corner. The question was, which crime was worse? Tony's fingers flexed anxiously, but there were too many variables that he couldn't confidently map, and ultimately his guiding star was right there in front of him. They kept secrets from each other now. Tony gave a jerky nod, and spun around again to swim for the workshop.

Steve swims after Tony, because he hadn't said anything about leaving or anything. "Where are we going?" he asks. We. Because he can yeet himself out of a conversation by jumping out of a window in a ten story building, but god forbid anyone else try to do the same thing.

"The shop," Tony readily answered, holding up the Gameboy to remind Steve they were on a mission. "Rechargeable." It did seem like Steve was dropping the issue, so Tony wasn't going to shoo him away. Someone was going to have to deliver this to Leonardo and give him a good distraction and speech about walking it off or whatever. Maybe that wasn't their most pressing issue, but Tony noted, "Billy probably won't be by the hospital for a little while. He gets...he'll need some encouragement. But when you can get him over there, ask Tae, see if the three of you can come up with what makes him so delicious. I can make a delivery device for it, but the biology part, that's not my area."

"I'm keeping Billy out of the hospital until Hargrove doesn't have to come back for appointments," he says. "I know he knows it's not Kaplan's fault, but I don't think that it's really sinking in for him. I don't think it'd be a good idea to get them around each other for the time being. Any way we can move operations with Kaplan elsewhere?"

Kind of inconvenient because the equipment's all at the hospital, but, hey. Tony's got equipment too.

That was baffling enough for Tony to slow down again, twisting enough to catch how serious Steve's expression was about keeping them separated. He still had to ask, "What--why?," because last time this happened, Billy had technically, for a few seconds, killed him, and it hadn't occurred to him to hold it against Billy. "Don't they know each other? They're, like, in-laws," he said. That should have been enough for Hargrove to understand that Billy wasn't in control.

By then, they had dived over the library to touch down in the weeds growing up around the sunken back entrance, where another family of lobsters had huddled in the seclusion and were startled into scattering at the static of Tony's tail. Tony's shoulders sagged, looking reluctant to go in as he considered Steve's request, because the next best venue might have been his shop. "Maybe..." he grasped, and fell back on his next strongest instinct, "you could ask Jon? If he can't just tell you what to do--he's brilliant, he probably can--he's an accomplished chemist, has something of his own lab, down the hall here." That sounded very reasonable, enough to encourage Tony along inside and into the shop, where it didn't look very conducive to biological experimentation, hopefully.

"What?" he asks. "They're not married," he adds, so they can't exactly be in-laws. And while they might consider each other family, that doesn't mean the reunion isn't going to be very awkward. While Hargrove understands fundamentally that Kaplan's not at fault, Steve doesn't think that he's ready to forgive that yet.

It's sort of like a certain other situation, with someone that Steve doesn't want to talk to about, to Tony.

"I could try Jon," he says, thinking it through. Tony does tell him he's a genius all the time, and Tony's kind of the leading expert on that. "You never told me what kind of chemistry he works on," Steve says. Maybe Tony could tell him a little bit about Jon.

Legal marriage was a trivial detail that Tony waved away with flapping hands as he threw down what he was holding and started sifting through his collection of scraps and broken treasure. "I didn't blame him," he reiterated the more important point, distant and distracted. The first device he had to find in the array was a chrome pen, not the easiest to spot, but he had definitely left it here...He spun around with a proud flourish of the pen, then pushed it onto Steve impatiently so he could actually get to work.

Even back in his sorting, he sounded much more engaged to explain, "You already know. He's the one synthesizing most of your medications, the replicator is an emergency solution. He can do it on the spot--we were stung by a bunch of fish once and he knew how to neutralize it before it even took." By then, he had come up with a few options to bring to the bench and start dismantling.

"So why don't I see him working at the hospital?" Steve asks, wondering if maybe Jon didn't like interacting with other people. And then, in that case, how did he ever manage to get together with Tony?

Steve takes the pen and looks at it, not sure what he ought to be doing. He can wait for instruction.

He was going to be waiting a while, because Tony was already focused on his project and seemed to have trusted Steve to have figured out what he was meant to do. Even with his head bent and hands moving quickly, his voice was warm enthusiasm as he answered, "He did, for a while. That was his first instinct, because there wasn't enough people to do the job then, and he says he doesn't care but--You know how you can tell with Thor, sometimes, he's looking at us, and he's so aware of how much bigger he is? Not just physically, although, you know, so--he's a supermassive black hole, and we're just meteors, he's holding the whole galaxy together." Finally then, he turned to check, to make sure Steve understood that gravity, only for his face to fall and eyebrow to raise at Steve just standing there. "Don't tell me he still keeps paper around," he surmised. "Here, just..." With a slight lift of his chin, the holographic network shimmered drawing up a convenient, glowing easel for Steve to focus in a more familiar way.

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