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[ironyman]

[Surprise, it's Tony! He's in his apartment, having hooked up devices of some kind to the network. Also he's wearing sunglasses. Yes, inside. Maybe that's to hide the lines under his eyes and overall weary, strained look, because after months of insomnia he's fraying at the edges.

Maybe it's just because he's Tony. The world may never know.]

Okay, so, granted, our benevolent huggytime captors are apparently goddamn psychopaths, since shadow demons and evil snowmen count as "no big deal" for the science department. Yeah. You got a lot of 'splainin' to do, Lucies. But come on, seriously, who really thought this was a good idea?

[he jerks his thumb behind him at two industrial robot arms in the background with chassis labeled U and DUM-E. The one labeled U spins its claw in apparent confusion, while DUM-E just makes a quizzical mechanized hum. Tony makes a disgusted face that is far too exaggerated to be sincere.]

Two most useless robots, ladies and gentlemen. Anybody want 'em? They're good for, ah... well, nothing. I dunno. Dummy's pretty good with a fire extinguisher. Aren't you, Dummy? [he glances back at the bot, which tilts its claw, then wiggles its arm up and down enthusiastically in its approximation of a nod. Tony turns back to the camera and shakes his head sadly.]

God, it's like having a kid that never grows out of the idiot phase.

[U, meanwhile, has rolled slowly out of view of the camera. Shortly after, there's a loud crash from elsewhere in the apartment. Tony jerks in surprise and bolts out of his chair.] You! I swear, I'm going to sell you to the highest bidder, give you to that magic dragon kid, let him use you as a cape rack, wand holder, whatever the hell magic people use.

Comments

[blackhorse]

[They're everyday things to Tony but not to everyone else, including this guy.]

Did those robots just show emotion?

[ironyman]

[Tony could go into the replication and approximation of emotional responses programmed into a highly advanced artificial intelligence system... but that seems like it would take a long time with this guy.]

Uh... sure?

[blackhorse]

The technology of your world must be more advanced than in my own- at least in robotics. Where I come from engineers are only beginning to figure out how to program emotional signals into robots.

Those robots- did you build them yourself?

[ironyman]

Technology's not more advanced, persay. Not in general.

Just me.

[blackhorse]

You are the creator then. Wow. [Is this that guy Steve mentioned before?]

I'm sure you hear this all the time, but you must be the most talented engineer I've met. But I really mean it- I'm impressed, and I've seen a lot of the most advanced technology in my world.

[ironyman]

Hey, whoa, I'm the most talented engineer I've met, too. How about that?

I must be really talented.

[blackhorse]

[Canada laughs. Clearly he is very talented with sarcasm also.]

Mr. Stark? I heard about your skills from your friend Steve Rogers.

If you've been here a while you've probably heard the claims from the locals that we visitors generate electricity for their city by making contact. Nobody has proved it is absolutely true yet. Do you think you would be able to build a machine that could test whether it is true or not?

[ironyman]

Got it in one, great job. Guess I should be glad Rogers is saying good things about me behind my back, but somehow I get the feeling that's a pretty small fraction of what he says.

Anyway: can, yes. Always yes. Will? Probably. Got some other projects on my plate that are higher priority. [like designing another dozen armors he neither needs nor has the materials to build. Tony has some issues to work through]

Why the curiosity?