(Untitled)

[fired_once]

Who: fired_once  and lessmanmoreiron
What: Meeting in PPHQ
When: Shortly after Tony 2.0's arrival
Where: PPHQ
Rating: PG-13 for numerous references to alcohol (probably)

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[lessmanmoreiron]

Another Tony, although not the Tony he was hoping to speak with if his conversation with Black Bolt was any indication. He was running continual scans of the area, and noted that there was much more technology here than in the last castle he'd been in that hadn't belonged to Dr. Doom.

Interesting, but he could probably attribute that to meat Tony. How was he going to explain his current situation to a Tony Stark who hadn't even been an Avenger yet? It didn't take long to find where he was supposed to be. He was too smart to accept 'trapped in my armor' without the specifics of the situation and how he planned to survive being trapped. Even before he'd joined the Avengers.

He wondered how much meat Tony had learned in the time he'd been here. Or if he'd have a brain with similar enough function to the brain that he'd been derived from that he could be used to add some stability to his program and reset his sensorium. He really wanted to get the taste of blood out of the mouth he no longer had.

[fired_once]

To say Tony was surprised was a little bit of an understatement, once that suit showed up on the monitor. Coming in full armor? The meatier Tony couldn't help but feel a little under-dressed.

It was a pretty big suit of armor, too. Larger than his usual. It shared the triangular shape for the uni-beam on the chest like his most current model, but the extra bulk no doubt led to a higher power output, assuming they were on comparable levels of technology. The look of the boots and hands suggested a pretty mean acceleration, too.

Well, his office was designed with him and his armor in mind, so meeting in his office still wouldn't pose a problem. A quick push of a button and the door to his suited self would find the door to his right opening. Speaking, and letting it channel through an intercom, he said, "Head on through, take the second door to the left."

He hoped this wasn't one of those psychotic, evil doppelgangers. Otherwise this would be a very bad plan. Ah, well, that moment was come and gone, best to roll with it.

[lessmanmoreiron]

"No butler?" Tony asked the disembodied voice he recognized as his own. At least, that was how he had sounded before becoming trapped like this. Maybe he should adjust his voice modulator

[fired_once]

"Now who are you calling old?" The response was out of Tony's mouth before he had time to even register the second statement. Was this other him expecting some teenaged superhero, like the guy in the spider suit?

Still, it was over and forgotten soon enough. "Thanks for the compliment. You have good taste." He mulled over a few thoughts internally, but simply took a relaxed posture in his chair. "I'd ask if you'd like to take a seat, but I didn't design any of other chairs with large metal suits in mind. An obvious oversight, sorry about that." Joke, haha. "So what brings you down here? In full armor, no less."

He took in the nuances of the way this man, the suit, moved. It did seem to move like his own suits; easily, naturally. Not the jarring movements of Stane's Monger. And he listened, waiting for a response.

[lessmanmoreiron]

There was a short, mechanical laugh in response to Tony's apparent offense at being called old.

"If I showed up partially armored, people might talk," He said, gesturing dismissively. He paused, then looked more closely at Tony. Brown eyes? Well, that was an odd, subtle difference.

"First, I think we should establish some baseline data. I'm certain our timelines have diverged already, but we should still look for commonalities. I've been Iron Man for more than fifteen years, and an Avenger for more than ten."

[fired_once]

"Huh. I guess that makes you the old one, huh?" To others, joking might be a way to lighten the mood, or some sort of coping mechanism, but to Tony, it was just who he was.

He paused for a moment, considering what information to start with. The same seemed the best course; an equivalent exchange. "Back home, I'd been Iron Man for a bit over a year. Just trying to start up the Avengers Initiative with Nick Fury and SHIELD. I've been here over two and a half years here, though."

He wondered if that meant it'd take five years for the Avengers to get up and running in his own world. Seemed like a long time.

"At least the Avengers seems to be common between our timelines. Last person who knew me told me I was a part of the 'Ultimates.' Which seems like a much more generic and boring kind of name, if you ask me." He was leaving himself open for a pretty easy jab about the Peace Patrol name, but hey.

[lessmanmoreiron]

"You don't look that much younger," He said, "You could have a few gray hairs by the time you reach my level of experience." Another good thing about being in his new body. No growing old. Not in the way fleshy bodies did. He could upgrade to newer models whenever he wanted.

"Avengers Initiative?" That was different, Iron Man thought about that. Nick Fury getting in on starting the Avengers. "Fury is- I'm not even going to touch that. It looks like you got a later start than I did."

The Ultimates? That wasn't anything he'd heard about. "The Ultimate what? I think that might actually be worse than Peace Patrol, but not by much."

[fired_once]

"Just the Ultimates." There was a lot Tony could comment on, but he chose not to. Best to keep at it and such. "Spider-Woman told me about them, that I was on their team. She'd never heard of the Avengers." He paused, then continued. "Not much more data on it than that. There are more important things than who I hang out with in an alternate timeline."

A pointed look.

"Usually."

[lessmanmoreiron]

Had he been capable of it, Tony would have grinned at his other self. As it was, he shifted his stance slightly, and internally he was grinning.

"If any enemies that are out for my blood or angry exes show up from home, I'll be sure to tell you," He said, "We can deal with 'Ultimate' Tony Stark if and when he shows up."

Apparently Spider-Woman was from that universe and not his. Black Bolt was probably from his, or one closely related.

[fired_once]

"I'd hope you would," Tony replied, half-jokingly. "Here's hoping that none of those show up, though."

He gave a small chuckle, but his expression shifted from joking to thoughtful after a moment. "I'm sure you'd already know about mine... Stane, Vonko... I'd say Hammer, but he's more of an idiot than a threat. There's a few threats here, but only one after me specifically." He tapped a few keys, and an image appeared projected up on one of his holographic monitors. "This one follows interesting tech and tries to steal it. Took a liking to my suits. I guess they are fashionable."

[lessmanmoreiron]

"Very fashionable, and appropriate for any occasion." That was an interesting selection for his other self to already know. His long term memory was still a mess, but that didn't quite match up in his mind for being from the first year.

"If you make it out of here, you're probably going to spend the rest of your life keeping people from stealing your tech. For here, though, I'd suggest implementing integrated biometric security and a few other measures to render it useless to anyone else, if you're not doing that already," Tony suggested. He might be altering things in this other Tony's timeline, but not in the past. Did that make it more acceptable? He wasn't quite sure, but it would keep people here who shouldn't have the technology from getting it.

"There's no chance he'll be able to steal my armor."

[fired_once]

A long, long pause followed that statement. Well, Meta wasn't high on the threats list, with his current position, but

[lessmanmoreiron]

There was a strange, mechanical noise that came from Tony as the meatbag Tony explained about the stolen technology that might have been some kind of frustrated sigh. This was just perfect. He started to bring a hand up to his face but aborted the motion and let it fall again

[fired_once]

"What about your current armor?"

Tony had gathered a little more about this other Tony from their conversation. He wasn't an evil version, he was fairly certain. And he wasn't a fake. A fake wouldn't be so knowledgeable about his own suits, nor would he be as intelligent as Tony himself was. That might have been an ego talking, but it was good enough.

But what was this problem his alternate self had that he could help with? It got him curious.

[lessmanmoreiron]

"Well, as I'm sure you know, the original armor was made under unique circumstances. It preserved my life and kept my heart beating... with this latest model I decided to preserve an even more critical organ," Tony said, he paused, and contemplated making a joke there about the critical organ.

"In the even that I was near death, or fatally injured, an emergency protocol would kick in. My consciousness was uploaded, or rather, copied to this suit."

It was fairly unbelievable, so Tony opened up the helmet and the chest plate, the hidden joints exposing the interior of the armor and the fact that there was no one inside. There was, however, a fair amount of dried blood on the interior lining. "I am now literally one with my armor. The benefits of my shiny new body are varied and numerous, but there are some limitations and downsides."

Explaining this to himself was simple, he didn't actually need to spell out the limitations.

[fired_once]

Tony's response to the plot twist was rather downplayed, but still very much like Tony Stark. "I'm not sure writing a program to simulate being drunk would be as satisfying."

Still, by the expression on his face, it was obvious that he was a little, if not a lot, taken aback by this revelation. Copying his consciousness was something that, well, might work in theory, but having actually been able to pull it off, and be willing to pull off, was something else entirely. If it was a last-ditch effort to save his life, then it also meant that he lost it- or almost lost it.

His mind was still processing this all, figuring what it meant- for him, for his double, for their stay in Paradisa.

After a few moments, he spoke again. Naturally, what he said didn't quite reflect his thought process. "You know, this is one of those times I surprise even myself."