For those who are just tuning in, "Is this anything?" is an irregular feature where I post sections of works-in-progress to find out if they are, in fact, anything
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You know, given that Tony Stark built an Iron Man suit in a cave with a box of scraps, I don't think anyone would want him as Guide just because he's ridiculously dangerous if he doesn't like you.
Even if he does like you, he's an exhausting, irritating, attention hog who irritates even his closest friends on a recurring basis.
There must be a category for Guides who meet all the necessary genetic markers and are still completely unsuitable for the job, and Tony fits there. I'm not sure if he'd be happy with being labeled a reject/defective, but unless there are so few Guides that they need every one that is identified, he's really really not suited for being a Sentinel's support person.
Of course,and there might be an extreme shortage of Guides, since it's genetically testable. Even if it's not legal, prenatal genetic testing would almost certainly lead to selective abortion as people who could afford to test for Guide genes prenatal are also the people who could decide not to carry a pregnancy to term if the child would only be in for a future of oppression and semi-slavery. Not to mention people might find out they carry Guide genes and decide not marry other carriers or have children.
Otoh, I'd love to see Steve take on this situation head on, because when you're on the other side of a moral dilemma from Captain America, you're on the *wrong* side, almost by definition. Also, I'd love to see what the world looks like from Steve's perspective as someone who has enhanced senses, but not enough to qualify as Sentinel. Do people who are not quite Sentinels get any of the same pressures as Sentinels do, just lesser amounts, or do they get ignored even if they need training to deal with their one or two enhanced senses?
You make a compelling point, Neotoma. Unfortunately, the DBAU lacks any administrative apparatus for identifying Guides who have no business being Guides. Also, G-TAC is gradually losing power due to Blair's activities during and after the trilogy, but one area of untrammeled authority that they still have is to go after draft resisters like the vengeance of an angry god. This goes badly for Tony. And they even manage to make themselves look like the Good Guys to some people, because the official position is that no one should be able to get out of national service simply because they're rich and famous. (Not to mention dangerous and obnoxious.) Now that you've said that, I'm going to want to do more with that in the next draft.
In the current draft, I do have a scene where all of SHIELD's Sentinels sit around talking about how nobody with any sense at all would want Tony Stark for a Guide. Including the one who eventually gets stuck with him.
To look at it from another perspective, he does end up as a Guide because the story I want to tell is about Tony returning to the Avengers badly traumatized and almost broken, accompanied by a new pseudo-teammate who is officially authorized to keep him that way. Really, I'm not sure that this story has any audience beyond just me. ;)
To look at it from another perspective, he does end up as a Guide because the story I want to tell is about Tony returning to the Avengers badly traumatized and almost broken, accompanied by a new pseudo-teammate who is officially authorized to keep him that way.
'Authorized to' is not the same as 'a good idea to', especially given that Tony is friends with *Bruce*. Tony's assigned Sentinel might want to really consider whether treating Tony so badly that Bruce loses his temper is a good idea or not. You know, before The Hulk does a Wookiee and pulls their arms off...
Not to mention it would be hard for that person to work with the Avengers if they're all disgusted with the Sentinel's behavior. Social shunning and white mutiny seems quite likely responses, as well as Hulk-smash.
In the current draft, I do have a scene where all of SHIELD's Sentinels sit around talking about how nobody with any sense at all would want Tony Stark for a Guide. Including the one who eventually gets stuck with him.
LOL, given that Tony is pretty much a daredevil and goes straight into situations like 'divert a nuclear bomb by flying into a transdimensional portal', I don't blame the SHIELD Sentinels for going "Not ME!" about Tony.
And they even manage to make themselves look like the Good Guys to some people, because the official position is that no one should be able to get out of national service simply because they're rich and famous. (Not to mention dangerous and obnoxious.)
Oh, I can see the point, but Tony isn't a resister so much as a latent/fallen-through-the-cracks Guide, right? You'd think there would be pressure to make a compatible match for PR purposes -- since Tony is impossible to disappear, after all.
Otoh, does G-TAC try to seize Tony's assests? Because I can see the Stark Industries lawyers making *that* case drag on for *years* and possibly even getting the laws changed, because a big corporation like that has seriously deep pockets for litigation and lobbying. Tony is too valuable to Stark Industries for them not to fight for him, because he is quite literally their money machine, what with being the genius designer that he is.
'Authorized to' is not the same as 'a good idea to', especially given that Tony is friends with *Bruce*. Tony's assigned Sentinel might want to really consider whether treating Tony so badly that Bruce loses his temper is a good idea or not. You know, before The Hulk does a Wookiee and pulls their arms off...
Yes, I have a partial scene written (a little ahead of where I currently am in the draft) where Bruce makes this exact point to Tony.
You'd think there would be pressure to make a compatible match for PR purposes
That's also why he ends up being assigned to SHIELD, rather than some other government agency. But G-TAC gets to "train" him first, and that's where the trauma comes in. The deal they end up working out is that he'll do a standard (for this universe) draft term of 4 years, which Fury will decline to renew once he's finished. And during that time, there will be some sort of timeshare arrangement where his duties are split between normal Guide stuff and being Iron Man/the Avengers' equipment designer/supplier. And Fury, Steve, and Pepper are working together to choose a Sentinel, from among those already assigned to SHIELD, who can cope with this arrangement and will hopefully not make Tony's life a living hell. So, everyone except G-TAC is being pretty reasonable--but at the same time as they're being reasonable, Tony's at G-TAC having the shit kicked out of him on a regular basis.
Otoh, does G-TAC try to seize Tony's assests?
TBH, I had completely forgotten about this aspect of the Dreaded Bonding AU. Crap. I'll have to decide whether I want to fully engage with that, or handwave it by having SI's legal team shove everything into a blind trust for the term of Tony's service. I'm pretty sure that whatever laws exist regarding Guides' property would draw a line between Tony's personal property and SI's corporate assets, but that's something I haven't really hashed out elsewhere in the DBAU.
Even if he does like you, he's an exhausting, irritating, attention hog who irritates even his closest friends on a recurring basis.
There must be a category for Guides who meet all the necessary genetic markers and are still completely unsuitable for the job, and Tony fits there. I'm not sure if he'd be happy with being labeled a reject/defective, but unless there are so few Guides that they need every one that is identified, he's really really not suited for being a Sentinel's support person.
Of course,and there might be an extreme shortage of Guides, since it's genetically testable. Even if it's not legal, prenatal genetic testing would almost certainly lead to selective abortion as people who could afford to test for Guide genes prenatal are also the people who could decide not to carry a pregnancy to term if the child would only be in for a future of oppression and semi-slavery. Not to mention people might find out they carry Guide genes and decide not marry other carriers or have children.
Otoh, I'd love to see Steve take on this situation head on, because when you're on the other side of a moral dilemma from Captain America, you're on the *wrong* side, almost by definition. Also, I'd love to see what the world looks like from Steve's perspective as someone who has enhanced senses, but not enough to qualify as Sentinel. Do people who are not quite Sentinels get any of the same pressures as Sentinels do, just lesser amounts, or do they get ignored even if they need training to deal with their one or two enhanced senses?
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In the current draft, I do have a scene where all of SHIELD's Sentinels sit around talking about how nobody with any sense at all would want Tony Stark for a Guide. Including the one who eventually gets stuck with him.
To look at it from another perspective, he does end up as a Guide because the story I want to tell is about Tony returning to the Avengers badly traumatized and almost broken, accompanied by a new pseudo-teammate who is officially authorized to keep him that way. Really, I'm not sure that this story has any audience beyond just me. ;)
Reply
'Authorized to' is not the same as 'a good idea to', especially given that Tony is friends with *Bruce*. Tony's assigned Sentinel might want to really consider whether treating Tony so badly that Bruce loses his temper is a good idea or not. You know, before The Hulk does a Wookiee and pulls their arms off...
Not to mention it would be hard for that person to work with the Avengers if they're all disgusted with the Sentinel's behavior. Social shunning and white mutiny seems quite likely responses, as well as Hulk-smash.
In the current draft, I do have a scene where all of SHIELD's Sentinels sit around talking about how nobody with any sense at all would want Tony Stark for a Guide. Including the one who eventually gets stuck with him.
LOL, given that Tony is pretty much a daredevil and goes straight into situations like 'divert a nuclear bomb by flying into a transdimensional portal', I don't blame the SHIELD Sentinels for going "Not ME!" about Tony.
And they even manage to make themselves look like the Good Guys to some people, because the official position is that no one should be able to get out of national service simply because they're rich and famous. (Not to mention dangerous and obnoxious.)
Oh, I can see the point, but Tony isn't a resister so much as a latent/fallen-through-the-cracks Guide, right? You'd think there would be pressure to make a compatible match for PR purposes -- since Tony is impossible to disappear, after all.
Otoh, does G-TAC try to seize Tony's assests? Because I can see the Stark Industries lawyers making *that* case drag on for *years* and possibly even getting the laws changed, because a big corporation like that has seriously deep pockets for litigation and lobbying. Tony is too valuable to Stark Industries for them not to fight for him, because he is quite literally their money machine, what with being the genius designer that he is.
Reply
Yes, I have a partial scene written (a little ahead of where I currently am in the draft) where Bruce makes this exact point to Tony.
You'd think there would be pressure to make a compatible match for PR purposes
That's also why he ends up being assigned to SHIELD, rather than some other government agency. But G-TAC gets to "train" him first, and that's where the trauma comes in. The deal they end up working out is that he'll do a standard (for this universe) draft term of 4 years, which Fury will decline to renew once he's finished. And during that time, there will be some sort of timeshare arrangement where his duties are split between normal Guide stuff and being Iron Man/the Avengers' equipment designer/supplier. And Fury, Steve, and Pepper are working together to choose a Sentinel, from among those already assigned to SHIELD, who can cope with this arrangement and will hopefully not make Tony's life a living hell. So, everyone except G-TAC is being pretty reasonable--but at the same time as they're being reasonable, Tony's at G-TAC having the shit kicked out of him on a regular basis.
Otoh, does G-TAC try to seize Tony's assests?
TBH, I had completely forgotten about this aspect of the Dreaded Bonding AU. Crap. I'll have to decide whether I want to fully engage with that, or handwave it by having SI's legal team shove everything into a blind trust for the term of Tony's service. I'm pretty sure that whatever laws exist regarding Guides' property would draw a line between Tony's personal property and SI's corporate assets, but that's something I haven't really hashed out elsewhere in the DBAU.
Reply
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