video | un: iron.man

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[The video opens on a very nice view of a warehouse ceiling, at least until there's a muffled curse offscreen and it tilts to reveal one Tony Stark. He's practically vibrating with the kind of manic energy that means he's been working for possibly too long, all hair standing on end and a few dark smudges on his face, but he looks pleased at least. Just behind him is a glowing blue hologram picking out the lines of something circular, spinning lazily like it was hurriedly abandoned.]

So hey, you all know those power plants out there in yonder abandoned wasteland? Sure you do. I know there's one working, but I've got some ideas for how to give the other ones a good kick. Thing is, I could use an extra hand.

[The metal arm that's been slowly rolling along behind him suddenly straightens and twists in Tony's direction, claw at the front contracting. Without looking back, Tony just snorts.] Not you. [The arm droops, somehow giving the impression of looking disappointed, but continues his trek to wherever he thinks he's going.]

Anyway, yes. Manpower needed. Preferably the kind that knows it's way around a welding iron, but I'll take what I can get. Oh, and a metric shitload of palladium. So if anybody's got a spare catalytic converter or twenty, let me know.

[He reaches for the phone, then pauses, something slightly sardonic flicking across his mouth.]

Or if one of you magic types wants to straw-into-gold me up some, I'll take that too.

Thanks in advance.

[Looking much more satisfied, he reaches the rest of the way to cut the feed.]

Comments

[buildsomething]

No kidding.

[The smile he gives is entirely wry.]

I got here and there were three of me. So believe me, I get it.

[There's a slight pause as more things occur to him.]

So that's another thing. There are, uh, a lot of Avengers here from various universes, and keeping track of what everyone does and doesn't know is a little bit of a nightmare. So some of them might know about you or a you-adjacent and some might not.

[spideys]

Three of you? You serious?

[ What would a world made up of three Tony Starks be like?

Better yet, what would a world with three Peter Parkers be like? Nothing good, that's for sure.

Never mind that small existential crisis, however, because there are clearly bigger problems afoot. Peter swallows, free hand moving to cover his mouth, rub his chin, a subconscious gesture of anxiousness. ]

Oh. Uh. So, like. Should I ... I mean, maybe - would it be better if I went by an alias or something? [ Is this a dumb idea? This is a dumb idea.

Peter exhales. ] I mean, clearly you knew someone exactly like me, masked identity and all, as soon as I told you my name. How do other people do it?

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[One eyebrow lifts, if only mostly because Tony is having a hard time parsing through all that. He lets it rolls around in his head for a moment before he lets out a huff of something that's not quite a laugh.]

So look, you can go by an alias if you want to, but look at it this way. Any of the people here who would know? None of them are just gonna out you. So if you want to do the whole secret identity thing, you do you.

[spideys]

Huh.

[ Peter takes a second to think about it. ]

That's - uh. That's good to know. Guess I'll have to give it some thought.

[ You know, in addition to everything else he's got to think about since getting here. ]

Who else is here? Just out of curiousity.

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Uh.

[He has to think about that one for a moment, before he starts counting them off on his fingers.]

So there's two of Cap, two of Barnes, two of Strange, two of Loki and two of me. [That last one accompanied by a small ironic bow.] Also Wilson, Romanoff and Thor.

[spideys]

[ Two of ...

That's practically two of everyone. What the hell ... ]

Please tell me you all live in like, one big Big Brother mansion or something.

[buildsomething]

I'm pretty sure someone would end up dead, so no. I think some of us are still in the communal building, though.

[spideys]

[ Well.

It was a nice, if short-lived dream. ]

Oh, hey. I'm in the communal housing. It's - uh. I haven't actually met anyone on my floor yet, but fingers crossed they're all cool.

[ And also maybepossibly won't notice if a spandex-clad superhero leaps out of the window every now and then. ]

[buildsomething]

I'm still there too. Technically. Don't spend a whole lot of time there, but hey. Where are you?