Anthony Edward Stark

When the battle for humanity started, it was in a small castle in Scotland, well removed from Tony Stark’s usual stomping grounds. His world had been one of espionage and terrorism, of opposing government factions and super humans all jostling for control. No one, not SHIELD or HYDRA, not AIM or the Ten Rings, not the kingdom of Wakanda or the United States president had ever truly understood that their petty squabbles and races for technology meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.

When Voldemort won, when the Boy Who Lived lived no more and the powerful wizards who might have faced him were slaughtered, it took some time to trick over to the other hemisphere of the globe.

But once it did, the changes happened almost overnight.

Tony was never happier to have had the arc reactor removed a year before. A silence charm that functioned like an EMP over the muggle world stopped the use of all electronics at once. Planes fell out of the sky. Cars crashed. Lights and elevators stopped working. The internet went down. Satellites burned up in the atmosphere.

High on the 98th floor of Avengers Tower, Tony sat in the dark for a long while, feeling the presence of a friend who had only just returned from wherever it was his sorrow and betrayal at Black Widow’s hands had taken him. “Uh…” Tony frowned. “So, this is cozy. FRIDAY? How’s the rebooting coming?”

All was quiet. All was dark. The city was black.

"You have my name. On your arm."

Tony hadn't been agonizing about it but maybe he had just a little and maybe he had driven down to DC to tell Steve Rogers what he was pretty sure that the blond already knew. A plane or the Iron Man armor would have taken much less time, but Tony needed to make frequent stops along the way so that he could try to get himself to turn back and just leave it.

It didn't always happen, the mythical arm writing, but that's what made it to special. Every teenager pretty much spent their years before college hoping for a name to turn up one day. Less than ten percent ever did, and that number was dwindling seeing as how people didn't really care if they had a name on their arm or not. If their parents and religion weren't going to tell them what to do, weird indelible writing appearing on their bodies was not either.

The thing one, Tony did not have a name on his arm. There was no corroborating Steve Rogers written in interesting patterns on his skin. There was nothing. Tony hadn't been a lucky one.

But he'd seen, accidentally, on Steve well after they had first met and it was pretty obvious that yeah, Steve would know that he'd just met Anthony E. Stark, fought beside him in New York, nearly watched him die, and then just moved away to DC after as if nothing at all happened.

Now he wanted answers,

http://bakerstreet.dreamwidth.org/3040262.html?thread=1486106374#cmt1486106374
and
http://fossilised.dreamwidth.org/1550.html#comments

It's official. Why do you hate me? Never mind. Don't answer that. And by the way? This is not exactly like dealing with the stuff I've already been through. I have never had to deal with deranged teddy bears or unkillable lizards who hate all of humanity.

Chitauri don't count.

"Will someone please tell our resident Super Soldier that he's needed on 6th?  Like...yesterday?  Okay, yesterday the Chitauri weren't attacking and Banner and I were having freeze dried blueberries on the hellicarrier, but you know what I mean, stop being so critical and literal with everything I say.  You guys suck."  Stark burst across the sky over Thor's head and the blond turned towards the archer standing next to him.  A smash of the hammer into one foe did not even cause him to look away from Barton.

"I do not understand many of the words that he speaks," the Asgardian confessed.  "He has a conversation with no one but himself."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Clint said, shooting a flying mercenary through the eye while he watched Thor look even more confused.  He found a new pasttime, he decided.  But, like Tony, Clint wasn't exactly sure where Steve was.  He's seen him in one of the buildings but after that--  Clint touched the side of his collar.  "Cap?"

"Earth to Captain American, come in Captain America," Tony said, piping music into the background.  There was a reason Natasha had taken out her earpiece.  "Grandpa, you asleep?"

Nothing would ever be as sweet as this.  Tony Stark had not liked his father much, but every son has a need for revenge when they don't get to take out the big bad in their life personally.  His dad hadn't hit him, but abuse can work down other channels.  And even so, his old man hadn't deserved to die, and certainly not like he did.  It was so ordinary to be shot down, for it to look like a cheap accident.  Though it left Tony free of him, it also robbed him of his mother in the same stroke.  He never understdood why unless it was all just for show.

Though he'd never had a name or a face, Tony had hated Bucky Barnes for a very long time.  That his parents' murderer had been Steve Rogers' best friend, or had been brainwashed to be some sort of mindless slug, he didn't care.  He hadn't cared at all, not until he found him asleep on that birdshit stained park bench with newspapers over him.  And he hadn't cared then either when he stood there, repulsors aimed towards that piece of scum, until he muttered something in Russian and rolled onto his side.

The cap slipped.  His gaunt face showed a man half his own age, looking absolutely wretched and...lost.

Tony Stark had spent the better part of a week on the new suit which, he did tell JARVIS, he didn't quite care if it could kill him or not with the way he disregarded every last safety measure in the book he himself had written.  He'd managed to keep is secret from all of the comers and goers from the Tower too.

And now, now that he's here, now that the Winter Soldier had been tracked down in this park in the slums of DC, he can't bring himself to that revenge that had kept him drunk since he discovered how to track the man.

So Tony stands there.  And waits.  And sometimes forgets to breathe.

Player Info:

Name: Jeni
Age: 30
Contact: (plurk, AIM, DW, email, etc) AIM/PLURK: substituteskull
Player Journal: NA
Reservation Link: (if applicable) here

Character Info:

Full Name: Anthony Edward Stark (AKA Iron Man)
Called By: Tony Stark/Iron Man
Age: 47
Canon: Marvel Cinematic Universe
History: Here  Or because write ups are fun....

Tony Stark was born with a platinum spoon in his mouth to genius and philanthropic parents. He has never known anything outside of luxury, minus a small stint in Afghanistan as a prisoner of war, and it shows in the way he carries himself in public. He is likely one of the smartest men on Earth. Forced into boarding school to help contain his genius, Tony was building working engines before he reached double digits in age, attended MIT at fifteen, holds two doctorates, one in physics and one in engineering. Though he did inherit his wealth and the family company, Stark Industries, it was not out of sheer nepotism but a genuine ability to not only invent and adapt new technologies, but handle the complex world of corporate moguls.

After being targeted by a terrorist cell in Afghanistan (directed to do so by a longer term family friend and business partner) and nearly killed by one of his own weapons, Tony was taken into captivity for three months with several pieces of shrapnel buried in his chest.  Through the help of a fellow prisoner, Tony was able to survive with a magnet fitted into his torn apart chest cavity to keep the metal from reaching his heart.  Using technology pioneered by his own father, Tony was able to create a miniature version of an arc reactor power source, a powerful electromagnet, to keep him alive.  Afterward, Tony devized an escape plan by building a crude armor plated suit to battle his way to safety.

Once free, Tony immediately switched his company's focus away from weaponry and declared that Stark Industries would not longer design or manufacture them.  This distressed his share holders and his business partner, who later tried to kill Tony by stealing the reactor from his chest.

Feeling the need to give back after his weapons caused so much damage to civilians, Tony invented a new version of his metal armor suit, streamlining it and making it able to fly and interface directly with an AI supercomputer butler that already helped him to run his home and other aspects of his life.  He dubbed the power armor Iron Man and used it to successfully keep the world safe from terrorists.

Unfortunately, the constant use of the Iron Man suit and his own rigorous lifestyle was too much for the arc reactor to sustain safely and the power cells that Tony had been using to keep the electromagnet running was also poisoning him to the point of near death.  It was during this time that he took up drinking heavily and became more of a menace than a super hero.

After a visit from Nick Fury, who would eventually become the director of the Avengers Initiative that Tony would later join, Tony was able to discover a way to reverse and cure his illness and developed a new element to keep his reactor running safely.

Tony Stark became the biggest leader and provider of green energy, building a massive skyscraper in New York powered off of an arc reactor located in the bay.  He had just finished moving in when Fury decided to recruit him for the Avengers after an alien by the name of Loki stole a top secret energy source called the Tesseract.  Tony, along with other  typically loner super heroes and misfits, managed to defeat an alien army called forth by Loki by working as a team for the first time in their lives.  When the Army released a nuclear weapon to destroy the aliens, and all of Manhattan, Tony directed the missile up into space, knowing it would likely kill him.

After delivering the payload to the mother ship and losing all power and life support in the Iron Man suit, Tony blacks out in the depths of space.  He knows he's potentially saved the day (take that, Captain America!) but he's pretty sure he's toast.  Cold, icy, space toast.

Personality:
Tony's intellect is at savant levels when it comes to being a technopath. He can literally McGuyver tech out of primitive tools and scrap metal. Unfortunately, he also knows he's a genius and it comes across in his ego and personality. Tony Stark is primarily self-motivated, a master manipulator, often times outwardly cold, uncaring, and extremely narcissistic. Though he can be personable to others, more often than not he finds pleasure in manipulating situations, out talking or ignoring opponents, and simply believes he is always entitled to get what he wants. There is a reason his file, compiled by the government agency SHIELD, states that he does not get along well with others.

Tony does not have friends. Though he recently started a relationship with long term personal assistant turned CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts, and has a very friendly and amicable relationship with Rhodes, his contact with the contracting department of the US Army for whom he use to design weapons for and Happy Hogan, his driver and boxing partner, Tony is still a womanizer at heart and has trouble relating to common people (or, truly, anyone that isn't himself). In fact, most of his 'friendships' with these people are based on a take rather than give relationship. They are fundamentally assistants and outsiders and despite genuinely caring for them, he still treats them like help more often than not. The one exception to this is Pepper, who has learned to get around Tony's ego enough to keep him in line as much as possible, and whom he has come to trust after the betrayal of long time family friend and father figure Obidiah Stane. Tony also built himself various AI and robotic companions, most notably in the form of his integrated butler program JARVIS and a sort of pet-like apprentice he calls DUM-E, to keep him company when he tires of people.

After the accident that resulted in the need to embed and electromagnet in his chest to keep him alive, three months of captivity in the Middle East where he was forced to manufacture weapons for terrorists, and a daring escape using a mechanized suit, Tony's personality changed slightly to include a new found desire to expand his already blossoming god complex by helping to protect the world through more peaceful measures. This led him to develop a new technology and craft a super hero persona called Iron Man. Once again, however, his ego stepped in and though most heroes assume secret identities, Tony embraced his role as Iron Man, leading to rivalries with the US government and other manufacturing moguls. Coupled with a slow self poisoning of irradiated materials to keep the reactor in his chest functioning and scotch to help him cope with his high stress life, Tony's self destructiveness had taken a turn for the worse until his genius once more uncovered a safer method of energy to keep himself, and Iron Man, going.

Being part of the Avengers Initiative has taught him better how to rely on others and how to work towards a common goal as part of a team. However, Tony is still deep down a brilliant, troubled virtuoso who grew up believing his father did not love him, has trouble trusting anyone but himself, and has become a functioning alcoholic in his day to day life.

Tony Stark's biggest fear has nothing to do with being alone or penniless as one might expect from a playboy billionaire, but rather, being a failure scares him the most. He is an adrenaline junky, nearly suicidal in his attempts to prove himself, and though he claims not to care about the opinions of others, it is extremely obvious that he desires praise for his abilities and his creations.

3 Interesting Character Facts:
* Tony is a germ-a-phob of the highest degree.  Shaking hands means he likes you or has anti-bacterial hand gel in his pocket.  Don't even try to hand him anything!
* Tony's heart can't work on it's own thanks to a small reactor being implanted in his chest to keep shrapnel from worming it's way to his death.  He now uses it as proof that he does, in fact, have a heart and, more recently, as proof that he and the Iron Man suit are one in the same.
* Tony is a scrappy fighter.  He takes boxing lessons regularly but he's too undisciplined physically to be much good at hand to hand combat.  Without the suit and the gizmos attached to it, he's just an average guy, physically at least.

Powers: Tony Stark is one of the world's most intelligent people. His IQ listed as well above genius level. He is an inventive mechanical engineering prodigy, able to not only create new technology, but perfect or alter anything else he might across. He has a remarkable ingenuity when it comes to tactical situations, he is business savvy, and a master negotiator.

Without his suit, Tony is otherwise a normal human being in regard to physical speed and strength. The only exception to this is the arc reactor embedded in his chest. It acts as a pace maker and an electromagnet to keep the shrapnel in his chest from reaching his heart and killing him. It should be noted that as of now, the arc reactor currently runs off of a new element created by Howard and Tony Stark and runs almost perpetually. It can conceivably be used to power other electronics and can be used as a backup system to the reactors built into the Iron Man armors.

As Iron Man, in the power suit, Stark is able to lift over 100 tons, move at mach 8 speeds and fly. His suit is fitted out with a self-contained life-support system so he can work underwater or in space. It can also shield him against radiation and produce a magnetic field to push or pull metal objects. It has an on board computer that allows him to connect via satellite and wifi, make phone calls, follow GPS uplinks, and tap into communications. By directly interfacing with JARVIS, he can get up to date battle information and follow his own biological readings. The stabilizing jets in the palms of each gauntlet can also act as energy weapons, as can the repulsor weapon on his chest. He has a series of flares that he can fire from his shoulders and several plasma beam weapons. A highly detailed explanation of the Mark VII armor can be found here.

Special Skills: Tony can make killer omelets, hack into databases for the fun of it, and drive cars really, really fast.

What is your character's comm icon and why? The arc reactor....  Tony sees himself literally as being part of the Iron Man armor and the arc reactor in his chest is one of the ways he interfaces with the suit.


Anything else? So!  Tony had been from the end of the Avengers, floating around in space inside of the suit..  Upon the Hulk roaring him back to life once he fell through the vortex, Tony thought that his time on the Station was actually just his brain having been starved of oxygen and coming up with fanciful things to keep him busy during his near death experience.

I would like him to return to the Station under similar pretenses as the first time.  After the attack on his home in Malibu, sending it into the sea and the MkXVII suit coming to rescue him, rather than crash land in the snow, he'd be back to floating around in space.

Writing Samples:
Action Tag Sample:
CHEAT

Third Person Prose Sample:
Flash!  JARVIS's voice in his ear was so very far away as the Iron Man suit powered off.  Mentally, he calculated how much oxygen he had left and then forced a half smile when he knew it didn't matter.  This had been a one way trip into outer space.  He should have just been pleased that the suit made it out this far at all.  Instead, he hoped Fury submitted his name for a Nobel Prize or two.  Posthumously, of course.

Another save-the-day under his belt, Tony let exhaustion and the blast wave from the exploding ship carry him off into blackness where he could hopefully die in his sleep because honestly, he didn't exactly want to be found by space-faring future generations looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger at the end of Total Recall. 

It was JARVIS' voice that lulled him away from sleep and death some time later.  Residual energy had brought the suit's basic functions back online.  "Sir?"

"Not now, JARVIS.  Dying," he grumbled.

"Sir, you'll want to wake up for this."

Tony made a mental note to reprogram JARVIS to be less commanding and opened his eyes so he couldn't be nagged.  Of course, the HUD was down inside of the mask so Tony saw a lot of blackness.  "When does the movie start?"

"Power has been rerouted from all non-essential systems, sir."  Tony tested that out by trying to move.  Indeed, the pneumatic joints refused to function, so he was basically left in the dark and unable to move.  That was awesome.  "I have started a distress call."

Tony sighed.  "Let's hope Captain Star-Spangled PJs doesn't pick it up."

Steve has rescued kittens.

More Tony and Loki saving each other and dying for each other drama!

Loki joins the Avengers.