[ Opening Mingle ]

[randomly_modding]

[Everyone will wake up suddenly, as if having drifted off -- while sitting upright in an uncomfortable office chair. In one hand they're holding the communicator, and in their lap is propped a clipboard with a job application (standard, looking something like this; it requests up to ten years of job history, ) and a pen. The waiting room is also fairly standard, except for being empty.]

[The communicator's lock screen reads, Complete the job application. Time limit, twenty-four hours.]

[There are magazines, fake plants, and computers. There's a staff lounge with food -- tupperware that might have belonged to some of these nonexistent workers, popcorn and cocoa packets, vending machines -- and restrooms. There are exits, but characters will be unable to use them... or make their own, or escape in any way.]

[So the characters are stuck here, until tomorrow morning. Set up a comment telling everyone what your character is doing, and thinking, whether they're obeying the task or not, at any time during the day. Then tag other people! Be sure to check back later in the week, when people are encouraged make threads for the evening as well as the day! Characters that have been claimed are also welcome at this point to join the community, and will be able to make their own posts, which can be tagged by anyone taking part in the event.]

Comments

[sublimating]

[a little sigh, but he allows] I wouldn't expect to find a weak coupling in a... 90s software startup. [he flicks a gaze around]

Are you proposing that there's a universe where I got kidnapped during our car ride, and -- a universe where you got kidnapped seven months later -- by the same transdimensional culprit?

im3 spoilers /im a little late warning, sorry everyone

[cleanedslate]

[ this is why you're his fave ]

Hey, I'm not proposing anything. This is not a thesis. It's not even a hypothesis. [ he rubs his wrists, tilts his head back to look up at the ceiling himself ] Plenty of other explanations.

[ Skrulls ] Memory-modification. Or loss. [ he doesn't like either of those ideas, and one of his hands drifts down to rub his ARC reactor through his shirt. he was really looking forward to getting this thing out of him ]

[ then he glances at you, and he feels guilty! ]

Maybe we've been here the whole time and I've just been hallucinating from the pain of whatever they did to grab us.

[ a beat ] I don't exactly like any of the alternatives, though.

/yep, all the spoilers

[sublimating]

I think I'm gonna go with the many-worlds version myself.

[he does rest his hand on his chin, though] So what do you exactly -- think happened in these seven months? [try the cliffnotes version. he knows you can do it, Tony]

/WHEEEEEE

[cleanedslate]

[ he raises an eyebrow at Bruce, because this is literally a seven month long story, but okay ]

We put the Tower back together, only now it's less me and more Avenging Things. There's a suite for everybody, but the top ten floors are still Candyland. [ promising, and then he turns on his heel: ]

I know you've been playing Lord of the Flies for the last half a decade, but tell me you know who AIM is, that'll save me a lot of time.

[sublimating]

Sure. Advanced Idea Mechanics. They're all over the news. They've made some of my favorite anti-personnel weaponry. [that were designed to hit him in the face]

[cleanedslate]

[ also why you're his fave ]

Heh. Yeah, that's the one. But on the side, they also front for a major terrorist organization, and churn out slightly less than super soldiers who are awesome at everything right up until they literally explode. Nasty little bug in the code.

[sublimating]

[oh] That... seems like it could pose a small problem.

You know, I was really kind of hoping somebody would learn from my mistakes.

[even though Ross made another Hulk just to try to erase the first one. c'mon, guys. is maybe making more Steves really worth making a lot of Hulks and Extremises?]

[cleanedslate]

[ unfortunately not everyone agrees the Hulks and Extremises are bad, per se ]

What can I say? Learning from mistakes is not in everybody's wheelhouse. [ he spreads his hands ] In fact, AIM seems especially bad at it. More than ten years, and they never went back to the drawing board. Just swept the bodies under the rug and kept right on going.

[ a beat ] Hey, at least their tech worked -- 83% of the time. That's at least twice the odds you get with Hammer Tech.

[sublimating]

Yeah, it would be -- dreadful if a terrorist organization couldn't get their artillery working.

But if all this came out... somebody handled them, right?

[cleanedslate]

[ his lips -- twitch ]

Yeah, well. You create something, you've gotta deal with it. [ right? ]

[sublimating]

[he wants to protest, but he swallows it a little]

You know, Tony, it seems like you're taking credit for a lot of supervillain stuff lately. Something you want to tell me?

this whole thread is spoilers but this comment even more so RUN AWAY AIEEE

[cleanedslate]

Yes. I am the Mandarin. [ a suspiciously similar tone of voice to certain other I Am declarations past, but then he speeds right along ]

Or that's what I would say, if I were Aldrich Killian.

Right after "boohoo, Tony Stark was mean to me ten years ago, now I'm gonna take it out on the rest of the world".

[sublimating]

Yeahhh, because that guy sounds super, incredi-sane. You are definitely to blame for him going off the deep end.

"super incredi-sane" is my new favorite thing

[cleanedslate]

[ a quiet, amused snort ] I don't take full credit. Just like... Maybe 35%. And not all because of him personally, so much as what I scribbled on a business card while I was drunk.

[ are you not hearing his full culpability in this situation?? ]

[sublimating]

You need the full Hannibal Lecter treatment, it sounds like. Who knows what sort of deranged engineering graduates you might offend, or what drunken doodles might inspire someone to misuse them, if we don't keep you muzzled and in a straitjacket. [he's reasonably confident in his analysis of the situation, and he's decided to be amused by it]

[cleanedslate]

[ okay, maybe a full, actual grin for that ]

The point is I did, in fact, clean up the mess. Unfortunately not until after Pepper acquired superpowers.

[ he says it dryly enough but some of the genuine peters out of his grin ]

[sublimating]

[okay, he's not smiling anymore either. he can put two and two together] That sounds... like something probably upsetting.

With the flawed super-soldier serum?

[he didn't actually get to meet or talk to Pepper or anything but she's your girlfriend and that means she's probably awesome and her exploding would be bad]

[cleanedslate]

Yeah. [ just... yeah. ] That'd be the one.

[ a long beat, then he perks up a little ] They figured, if someone I cared about was on the line, maybe I'd help them with their homework.

[sublimating]

[you wouldn't be joking about it if she'd exploded. but you're obviously still worried so... you haven't corrected it yet, either. she's still in danger]

Do you need help working on the formula? [a shrug] As long as we're stuck here... [might as well put it to good use]

[cleanedslate]

[ has he mentioned eight times yet that you're his fave? there's the tiniest pause, and then ]

Need is such a strong word. [ he'll definitely take it though ]

[sublimating]

[a quick smile for him, and then, flipping over the job application] Show me what you've got.

[cleanedslate]

What, right here? We don't even have a dry erase board.

[ but he sketches out a few equations quickly, all the same ]

It was always an interesting idea. Tap into human potential. Screw around with our DNA. Everyone loves the idea.

Stronger. Faster. Smarter. Aging slows down, injuries heal themselves. All great in theory. But it's not stable. The molecules get too excited. All that heat has to go somewhere...