Or if he moves, will he fall?
"Climb!"
It might have looked like he was running, not that Tony imagined anyone could see what was going on. Except maybe the military, and he had to hope that Rhodey was doing as he'd asked and keeping the skies clear; there was no way Obadiah's armor didn't have countermeasures built in, and by the looks of that monstrosity there was no way they would be limited to something as restrained as flares.
Which was why he was doing this; if he'd had the arc reactor he'd designed for this suit, instead of the obsolete piece of nostalgia - thank you, Miss Potts - rapidly running out of power, if Obadiah hadn't started using civilians as projectiles and melee weapons... if, if, if. If he'd paid enough attention to see this coming, if he'd suspected just how unhinged Oby actually was.
But he hadn't, and it had come to this, and he couldn't and wouldn't fight this fight on the ground, where more innocent people would die because of one of his weapons in the wrong hands.
So he climbed, and he climbed, and when Jarvis got to "Seven percent," Tony told him to stop telling him. He knew the math, he knew how much power he had remaining, but he knew something more important. And not just that Obadiah had to be stopped.
Obadiah, who was right on his tail, and no, not just on his tail, he'd caught up, grabbed him with that over-the-top suit. "Great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!"
He could have smiled. As it was, he resorted to glibness, because that's what he always did when he was a step ahead. Which was most of the time.
Because he knew that the only way to really test something out was to push it to the redline. And he also knew that none of the scientists Obadiah would have had working on the project thought like he did, and that none of them would even dream of doing something as simple as almost killing themselves trying to beat an altitude record, that they'd only try it out to the limits the computer models told them were acceptable and assume that told them everything they needed to know.
Which meant if he was right - which he was - they didn't know about... "How'd you solve the icing problem?"
"Icing problem?"
Yeah. That's what he thought. The lights went out. Obadiah's armor was just a coffin, now.
"Might want to look into it." Tony gave him a tap on the head to help the message along, and to dislodge the grip. Obadiah fell away; Tony watched, some distant part of him working out rate of descent, but mostly he just thought, another mistake fixed.
Then "Two percent," - thank you, Jarvis, the way the repulsors were cutting out was totally not tip-off enough he was on the brink - and he had other things to worry about. He fell, caught himself, did it again. Short bursts, that was the key, space them out, lose all gained velocity each time, should make it to the ground-
-which was a lot closer and also the wrong color-
-Tony hit something. It was a roof. Emphasis on the was, because after he hit it, it wasn't much of a roof any more, just a big hole, the contents of which were surrounding the sprawled form of Tony in the suit on the ground of wherever he'd landed. The armor took most of the impact. But he was still a little stunned.
"Sir, we appear to have changed location."
"Thank you, Jarvis," Tony said, deadpan. "That's very observant. Would you mind-"
"Attempting to calculate co-ordinates."
"-figuring out where, yes, thank you."
He took stock; he still needed to get out of the suit. Problem was, he'd just noticed he wasn't alone. Wherever he was, someone was home when he fell through their roof. That was... just great. Wonderful. Just what he needed after a fight to the death: awkward explanations. With, he noted, a lost cellphone connection - no signal, apparently - to Pepper, so he couldn't even get her to come do it.
[ETA: Okay, no more new tags, thanks. My brain, it does not want to explode.]
It might have looked like he was running, not that Tony imagined anyone could see what was going on. Except maybe the military, and he had to hope that Rhodey was doing as he'd asked and keeping the skies clear; there was no way Obadiah's armor didn't have countermeasures built in, and by the looks of that monstrosity there was no way they would be limited to something as restrained as flares.
Which was why he was doing this; if he'd had the arc reactor he'd designed for this suit, instead of the obsolete piece of nostalgia - thank you, Miss Potts - rapidly running out of power, if Obadiah hadn't started using civilians as projectiles and melee weapons... if, if, if. If he'd paid enough attention to see this coming, if he'd suspected just how unhinged Oby actually was.
But he hadn't, and it had come to this, and he couldn't and wouldn't fight this fight on the ground, where more innocent people would die because of one of his weapons in the wrong hands.
So he climbed, and he climbed, and when Jarvis got to "Seven percent," Tony told him to stop telling him. He knew the math, he knew how much power he had remaining, but he knew something more important. And not just that Obadiah had to be stopped.
Obadiah, who was right on his tail, and no, not just on his tail, he'd caught up, grabbed him with that over-the-top suit. "Great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!"
He could have smiled. As it was, he resorted to glibness, because that's what he always did when he was a step ahead. Which was most of the time.
Because he knew that the only way to really test something out was to push it to the redline. And he also knew that none of the scientists Obadiah would have had working on the project thought like he did, and that none of them would even dream of doing something as simple as almost killing themselves trying to beat an altitude record, that they'd only try it out to the limits the computer models told them were acceptable and assume that told them everything they needed to know.
Which meant if he was right - which he was - they didn't know about... "How'd you solve the icing problem?"
"Icing problem?"
Yeah. That's what he thought. The lights went out. Obadiah's armor was just a coffin, now.
"Might want to look into it." Tony gave him a tap on the head to help the message along, and to dislodge the grip. Obadiah fell away; Tony watched, some distant part of him working out rate of descent, but mostly he just thought, another mistake fixed.
Then "Two percent," - thank you, Jarvis, the way the repulsors were cutting out was totally not tip-off enough he was on the brink - and he had other things to worry about. He fell, caught himself, did it again. Short bursts, that was the key, space them out, lose all gained velocity each time, should make it to the ground-
-which was a lot closer and also the wrong color-
-Tony hit something. It was a roof. Emphasis on the was, because after he hit it, it wasn't much of a roof any more, just a big hole, the contents of which were surrounding the sprawled form of Tony in the suit on the ground of wherever he'd landed. The armor took most of the impact. But he was still a little stunned.
"Sir, we appear to have changed location."
"Thank you, Jarvis," Tony said, deadpan. "That's very observant. Would you mind-"
"Attempting to calculate co-ordinates."
"-figuring out where, yes, thank you."
He took stock; he still needed to get out of the suit. Problem was, he'd just noticed he wasn't alone. Wherever he was, someone was home when he fell through their roof. That was... just great. Wonderful. Just what he needed after a fight to the death: awkward explanations. With, he noted, a lost cellphone connection - no signal, apparently - to Pepper, so he couldn't even get her to come do it.
[ETA: Okay, no more new tags, thanks. My brain, it does not want to explode.]