ataraxion | 002 ⇒ video

[Tony is sitting in a chair, feet propped up against a table with a drink in one hand. He's still avoiding those dreadful jumpsuits so he's dressed in one of his fancy suits instead although it's a little rumpled as he has no idea how to iron. Looking at him, you wouldn't be able to tell that he's barely keeping himself together.]

You know what I miss?

Good alcohol. Scotch, whiskey, a martini. This stuff is good enough to get drunk on, but still disappointing.

So let's barter. I'm sure some of you out there have something decent in your possession. I can build you a personalised nanite fleet, portable teleporter and/or force field, dimensional gate, super-soldier exo-suit, Thor's hammer-- actually scratch the hammer, weather manipulation in an enclosed space is just stupid, for the really good stuff and in large quantities.

For the lesser stuff you can choose between a weapon of your choice provided it's not something like a nuke, your very own pet Wall-E or some other small trinket, coffee machine, whatever.

Everything is negotiable and if you have something specific in mind feel free to ask. I also reserve the right to not do business with you for whatever reason.

[It means anyone wanting something that could be used as a weapon beyond a simple gun or sword will be scrutinised heavily. Also any of the big stuff will have built in safety mechanisms so he can shut it down remotely if the need arises. He doesn't really see anyone actually fulfilling his criteria for the big stuff, but he's crossing his fingers.]

The offer is open indefinitely and I'll probably have something up on that noticeboard.

[filtered to the Ultimates; encrypted 100%]

And just as an addition. I realise with the whole different timelines and all, not all of you would know about this. Clint knows already, but I'm sure you've all wondered at one point or another why someone like me is in this business.

I'm dying. [He looks incredibly relaxed as he says this and taps the side of his head.] Brain tumour, inoperable. Blah blah blah. I figured I'd go out with a bang. It's gone into remission a couple of times which is the only reason I'm still around, but it's back right now.

This isn't the important part.

[Speaking off camera.] Come over here.

[A young boy walks into view dressed in a suit just like Tony, basically imagine Tony as a child. The important thing to note here is that he is rather ghostly.]

This is Anthony, he's my tumour. Say hi, this is my team.

[Anthony smiles and waves at the camera.]

He's also a technopath. So any questions?

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[Wanda doesn't answer for a long moment because quite frankly this isn't anything she ever expected to hear from Tony. It could have somewhat to do with the fact that she would have expected him to get cirrhosis, but really but really it's just the simple fact that he's dying at all. For someone who understands that people die every day, it's odd to think of anyone from their time dying. After all, the only person they "lost" at Wanda's point in time was Natasha and well, good riddance.

Of course, the second reason that Wanda doesn't answer right away is the fact that apparently Tony's tumor is sentient, and she is staring at her communication screen having a hard time believing it.]

Oh, Tony.

[Yes, taking a deep breath.]

Still taking things to new levels.

I wouldn't be me if I didn't.

[He's watching their responses carefully. Tony doesn't want to be babied, he initially hid it to avoid that.

Maybe they're trying to take it all in, but Tony has had years to deal with it and as such can modulate his responses easily.]

I hope you won't take it personally that I kept this from you.

No of course not, why would I?

[And truthfully she's not sure she could have handled more revelations on top of everything else right away. The point is that this is something that's his to deal with how he likes and there's no reason for her to take offense or take it personally.]

How did this happen though? How did he happen?

Not too sure myself. I'd had tumours before and I realised that while I'd poured a lot of money into finding a cute there was one thing I hadn't tried.

Talking to it. Surprisingly, it talked back.

[You know if this was anyone else Wanda would wonder if they were crazy. But it's Tony and well, he's his own special brand of crazy that seems to work and well, she doesn't really have room to judge.]

How does all of this work exactly? How separate are you two? What are his limitations?

[She kinda wants some more details because it's hard to understand how this is possible.]

[For all that Tony is a genius, he's incredibly selective on what he puts his mind to. Sadly, this means his genius is underutilised. He really doesn't care as long as it works.]

Not quite sure since I never got round to testing it fully. I don't know what he's thinking, but he's a child so it's not that difficult to figure it out. And lastly, haven't found them yet. At the very least he's capable of travelling the length of a city away from me.

And for all of this he has his own independent thought and free will?

[You have to admit this sounds a bit like a disaster waiting to happen, Tony, and Wanda's never been one for underestimating children, not with the upbringing she'd had.]

As far as I can tell.

[It is definitely a disaster waiting to happen, but considering Tony's history with his own father it doesn't seem likely to him. Anyway, they like each other and their relationship seemed to be off to a great start barring the fact that one of them would eventually grow up to kill the other.]

[Don't mind her if she's just...going to keep an eye on you and this situation, Tony. She's dead already so it doesn't really matter what happens to her, but he's still alive. Dying, but still more alive than her really.]

Well, all the same I appreciate the introduction. This isn't particularly anything I'd want to find out about by accident.

[She summons a smile, however bare or merely polite it is.]

If something does go wrong I'm easy enough to take down.

[As far-reaching as Anthony's abilities may seem, the squishy human body is fragile. He'd want them to take him down if it came to that anyway.]

Before this I'd only ever told Thor and Steve. This was back when the Ultimates first got together. Funnily enough while I was telling my morbid little story to them, Hank and Jan had that... incident.

[And now they're dead.]

[Wanda's reminded that Jan and Hank are dead when he brings up their names, and though he can't see her, her body freezes a moment as she remembers. She clears her throat awkwardly and tries to keep her tone light, though not happy.]

You have a point, though one I don't expect we'll need to take into account.

[Perhaps with her abilities and a medical practitioner they could work together to stabilize things, to keep his tumor from getting worse...]

[The thing now is that he is taking into account Anthony's position. He's fond of the boy even if he will be the reason he dies. Anything he does to prolong his life negatively impact's on Anthony. Does he want to live? Absolutely. But at the cost of another's? That he's less sure of. However if Wanda is able to do something to stabilise them both, he'd grab it with both hands.]

He's a good boy, I believe in him.

['Billionaires don't get rich by being stupid' was something he'd said once and it would be foolish of him to stop following his own example just because the potential risk came from him so despite his words, he isn't completely unprepared.]

[It's interesting to see how Tony's changed since she last saw him, and in this situation it's more evident. She's not used to hearing him say things like that, and mean it. It seems surprisingly sincere.]

Then I suppose I can do no less than the same.

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