<div class="floatleft">(http://i1212.photobucket.com/albums/cc446/ffxivghost/74814A.jpg) </div><hr/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>  Name:</strong> Tony Stark<br/>  <strong>Title:</strong> Genius, Man With The Plan<br/>  <strong>Affiliation:</strong>  Humanity<br/>  <strong>Location:</strong>   Rurouni Safehouse<br/>  <strong>Tags:</strong> Every man, woman and child on God’s green Earth; and then Domino and Husk specifically<br/></span></span><hr/>Diamondback and Blade are well on their way to their assigned errands… and Tony hopes they can pull it off. He might be a dick, but he knows what has to be done if the world is going to get back on it’s feet. Namely, people being able to talk to one another. Kind of important.<br/><br/>Now alone in his safehouse, Tony looks towards his very impressive workshop, a deep frown on his lips. The world needs communications… he knows that… but it’s going to need something else. It’s going to need Iron Man.<br/><br/>++Satellite requisitions completed. We now have 42 satellites under direct control.++<br/><br/>Tony’s thoughts are pulled back to reality as he hears Jarvis’ pleasant, calmed tone.    “Good work, J. Let’s see ‘em.”   Now he turns towards the projection table, the image of the globe once more coming to life as the room darkens just a little. All around the globe, almost 4,000 little glowing dots pop up. Most of them are red, but a tiny amount of them are green. Tony nods a little as he inspects the globe and it’s many satellites, and he speaks softly as he starts to pace.<br/><br/>“Okay… so we need global comms up. Gonna assume the baddies will shut us down as soon as they realize we’re on the air. So… change the encryption keys for our satellites and all the ones we get ahold of so even if they take control, we’ll have plenty of warning. We’re gonna have to play hopscotch with these satellites to keep communications up.”      ++Yes, sir.++         Tony’s eyes now linger upon the armors mounted on display within the workshop, specifically the Stealth Armor.   “Power up the communications arrays on 5 of the satellites, the ones we can use for optimal global coverage.”   Now he turns, looking back towards the globe. Jarvis goes to work isolating the specified number of satellites, calculating their geostationary orbits to maximize coverage.   “Make ‘em satellites with K-U band transponders, as well as C-band and S-Band… and VSAT. Just to show off.”   He says with a small smirk.<br/>++How could we not show off at least a little, sir.++    Tony nods in agreement as now the images of 5 different satellites are enlarged, and large patches of the globe are now colored green. The green is where the satellites will have the capabilities to broadcast to… and it covers are good portion of the Earth.<br/><br/><br/>++I have commandeered Eutelsat 16A, Nimiq 4, Echostar 10, Apstar 7 and NSS 5. We will be able to broadcast out, however ground to ground communications will still be impossible until Ms. Leighton activates the Wilkoff array.++<br/><br/><br/>“That’ll do.”   Tony says softly as he now moves to sit on the stool in front of the table.  “Broadcast this out, Jarvis. I want anyone with ears to hear my voice.”    ++Ready, sir.++<br/><br/>A small blue button begins to flash on the console in front of Tony, and he just stares at it. His mind is lost in thought… he knows he should say something to the world at large. He wants to. But suddenly… the man with a smartass remark for every situation under the sun doesn’t exactly know what to say. He continues to stare at that softly flashing button, and he leans back a little on his stool.<br/><br/>++Sir?++     Tony doesn’t look up, his mind filled with something that hasn’t reared it’s head in a long long time with him. Doubt.    ++If I were one of the surviving people trying to live, I would want to hear someone’s voice. If only so I could know that I was no longer alone.++<br/><br/>Tony’s eyes widen just a little with realization… Jarvis was exactly right. He had wondered what he would say, what he could say. He had it in his head that he needed to give the Gettysburg Address or something. But it doesn’t have to be anything of that scale. It just has to be enough to let everyone know that they aren’t beaten. Not yet.    “Thanks, Jarvis.”    He says softly.    ++Of course, sir.++<br/><br/>Tony now sits up, and his thumb brushes over the flashes blue button. It turns to green, and he now speaks in a firm, confident tone.<br/><br/><br/><strong>“ I know you’re out there listening. Looking for hope. Hiding from those that seek to destroy you. This being, Apocalypse has committed the first offense against us, against all of us. Borders, nationalities, religions, they don’t mean anything to him. If you are alive, you are a target; but you probably know all of this already, don’t you? <br/><br/>     I want to tell you that hope still exists - that right now I am building an army for the grand counterattack... but I'm not. I can’t, not alone against such powerful tyranny. Every single one of us has been struck, or someone we care for has been struck. I have. But I know I have to keep going. And so do you. <br/><br/>     We’re far from ready to come riding out of the dawn and save the planet, but soon we will be. If you can hear me, and you aren't under the control of Apocalypse, then you are a part of this too. It doesn't matter what you think about yourself or your abilities or what you can or cannot offer - you are a part of this! <br/><br/>     Mourn for the dead, pray for the living. That’s all we can do right now, until we are ready to strike back. To rise. To stand. To resist.  <br/><br/>     I have full confidence that if all of you answer the call, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our home. To ride out this storm of war - and to outlive this menace of tyranny and violence. We are the only resistance left. You are humanity’s hope, each and every single one of you. You are the heroes now. <br/><br/>     It may take days... it may take years... At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is what I am going to do.<br/>Because I am Iron Man, and Apocalypse has not seen the last of me yet; nor has he seen the last of you. <br/><br/>     Our vengeance is coming.”</strong><br/><br/><br/>The more he speaks, the more passion shows through his tone. As if he wants to reassure everyone… but also make sure this acts as a warning to Apocalypse and his forces. A promise of what is to come for them. His thumb once more brushes over the green button, and it goes dark. Tony sits there silently, staring down at the console, his eyes wide.<br/><br/>++Mr. Rhodes would have applauded your words, sir.++<br/><br/>Tony feels himself smile a little with that. Indeed, Rhodey is the one he was thinking about as he spoke. And now as he thinks more about him… about how his friend so selflessly gave his life… it is decided that he has to act. Not just to get the world together, but to bring Iron Man back into the fold. But not just rebuild the armor that was destroyed in New York. No… this war is going to take an Iron Man of another level.   “Jarvis…. Prep the Stealth Armor.”    He abruptly pushes himself to his feet as machinery around the room comes to life, and the display of armors shift slowly, the Stealth Armor sliding from it’s housing.<br/><br/>“Nambi Tech has been working on nanotechnology, yes?”    He says as he strides towards the armor. Arms from the ceiling and floor disassemble the dark colored exosuit as Jarvis speaks.    ++Yes, sir. Their research has produced astounding feats. They are considered to be years ahead of anyone else on the planet in regards to nanotechnologies.++    Tony now stands before the Stealth Armor, the dark eyes seeming to stare back at him.  “And last I checked, Nambi Technologies was still a subsidiary of Stark International, right?”    ++That is correct, sir.++<br/><br/><br/>A small panel slides open near the top of Mount Kumotori, and the moment is slides open, a dark colored armored suit explodes from within the mountain, soaring into the clouds. Within the Stealth Armor, Tony takes inventory of what he’s going after, and what materials he already has.  “J, what generation were the nanites at last record?”   There is a moment’s pause as the Stealth Armor jets through the lower atmosphere, slicing through the skies like a dark wraith.    ++Their last report had the generation of 1 million, 500 thousand. It could be double that by this time.++      “Perfect.”<br/><br/>Tony heads towards Tokyo once more, towards the industrial districts. He knows precisely where Nambi Technologies is located… he’s been there enough times in the passed 2 years since it’s acquisition. The chairperson of Nambi Tech is just the hottest Japanese woman…     ++Detecting  a transmission, sir. It’s on the PN-235 frequency.++   One of Tony’s brows perk up as he flies high above the city, now looking down towards it.    “That’s one of the Xavier comm units. Trace it.”   A small glowing orb appears on Tony’s HUD, and he opens a communications channel.<br/><br/>“Check CHECK this is Domino.. zebra23niner.. anyone there…”    Now Tony never forgets a gal’s face, especially those of the chalk white persuasion. He doesn’t remember a lot about Domino persay…  only that she existed and all. He knew that for sure. He speaks in a chipper tone, now pulling up and coming to a hover above the clouds.    “Domino, nice hearing you alive and all. What’s your location?”    His head tilts down as he traces the signal to a more specific location, close to getting a fix on her now.    “who are you. Give me a recon code NOW!”     Tony is perplexed… recon code? Cripes he’s heard Rhodey use that term before… was that when they were in a real battle or playing Call of Duty? Hmph…   “Well I don’t know what a recon code is… how about mocha mocha mint chocolate chip? This is Tony Stark… maybe you’ve heard of me. What’s your…”    He tries to think of terms he’s heard Rhodey or Steve use… but they were really of no consequence to him, so he tended not to retain that knowledge       “What’s your.. uh… 15? No, what’s your 20. Yeah, that’s what you military types say, right?”  He nods, finding himself rather pleased with himself. He’s fairly sure he got that right. Buuuuuuut…<br/><br/>“RIGhttt… Ironman is dead dickhead, they have been showing the video to all the bully boys and girls here, rumor has it some are wearing pieces of the armor as adornment back in the states. So DICK…you don’t mind if I call you DICK! now do you…”  He now hears tires screeching and gun fire, and he frowns as he gets a general lock on her communicator.   “As I was saying DICK, since Iron Man is dead, I doubt you are really Tony Stark, so go tell your boss not all the X-Men are dead and I am coming for him. Domino Out!!!”<br/><br/>And with that, the communications are cut off. And Tony is rather speechless. Which apparently lasts about a second.   “Jarvis, I get the feeling she didn’t believe me.”     ++An astute observation. I am locked onto her communication device. It is a standard PN-235 device. Shall I alter course to intercept her?++     Tony shakes his head as his body leans forward, and they are zooming through the clouds once more.    “Let’s get our shopping done, and then we’ll look in on her. She can handle herself. Besides, if we did that we’d be tipping our hand. No point in having a Stealth Suit if you’re gonna be showing yourself off all over the city trying to convince/impress girls. That’s what the gold colored armors are for.”<br/><br/><hr/><br/><strong>No more than 20 minutes later….</strong><br/>Nambi Technologies is the world leader in robotics and nanotechnologies… hence the reason Stark International bought them out. And so when the Nambi Tower comes into view, Tony finds it a nicely familiar place. And the first thing he notices… just how intact it and the surrounding buildings are.   “Well looks like I was right.”    A moment’s pause   ++Of course you were, sir. Might I ask what you were right about?++   He now hovers above the Tower, keeping himself as hidden as possible in the cloud cover.   “This part of the city is hardly touched. The enemy forces wanna use it for their own purposes. All the more reason to get<em>my</em>nanotech out of there.”  Tony now starts to reroute power in his armor in a preplanned configuration, and the engines cut off abruptly. Like a rock in water he falls from the sky, the flaps along his back coming to life and igniting every half second or so to control his descent. And as he falls, the dark colored armor seems to begin to shimmer gently. Parts of it starts to blend in with the beautiful cloud filled blue sky, until he is simply gone from sight. He lands fairly lightly upon the roof, his sensors doing a full sweep as he approaches the hatch leading down into the building.<br/><br/>++Small groups of hostiles are detected within the building, sir.++   Upon his HUD, an outline of the Nambi Tower appears, showing the location of suspected hostile forces. Namely those wearing the same sort of suits and jetpacks they encountered earlier. Tony now enters the access hatch, landing without a sound in one of the hallways. His Stealth Armor might be horrible in a real fight, but it wasn’t made to be in fights. It was made for… well for stealth. Sound dampeners, a cloaking system, heat dissipation systems to keep him invisible to infrared… all the bells and whistles. Well not bells and whistles… those make to much noise, it is a Stealth suit and all.<br/><br/>It takes only 5 or so minutes for him to navigate to the nanotechnology laboratories. He passed about a half dozen scientists and workers, but none of them could detect his presence. Even when he was walking within a foot of them. As he expected, the building is rather empty of their usual compliment of workers. Doomsday is a good reason to take an early day off, after all. So getting into the lab itself was easy. It is Stark International and all.. so he has a good idea as to the cipher keys and encryption protocols of the security systems. And once he is alone in the lab, he begins to access one of the nanotech workstations.   “Jarvis… Change the encryption keys as I work. If I can make it so they can’t access any of this stuff when we’re done.. well that’d be just awesome.”    Jarvis starts to go to work as the station he stands at comes to life. A small panel opens, and Tony grasps a clear glass like canister from a near table. He affixes the canister to the panel, and dials in a code onto the keyboard.   ++Sir, security is aware of a possible intruder. I am ghosting our presence to direct them to the cafeteria.++   Tony smirks a little as the canister starts to fill with a dark blue thick liquid.<br/><br/>It takes almost a half hour for Tony to get the full compliment of nanites into the canister and get out of the building… undetected. But, he made sure that they would know it was him. He left a small virus in the security system. After he is gone and out of range, it would activate. For the span of 10 minutes it would show on all monitors in the building a picture of a very drunk Tony smiling widely and giving the finger to the camera. Sadly, that was his Christmas card photo from a few years back.<br/><br/>Once more he is in the air with his precious cargo, his cloaking systems still engaged. Just in case one of the enemy forces were smarter than he gives them credit for. Which wouldn’t be hard, since he doesn’t think to much of them to begin with.   ++Sir, another communication. They are on open broadcast channels. It can be traced by enemy forces.++   Tony nods as he looks down into the city… and an orange line curves on his HUD, showing right where Domino and her communicator are.   “Husk… Whisky18Bravo… Come back?”    Now again… it’s hard for Tony to forget a face. Well a girl’s face. And everything south of her face. Domino he vaguely remembers, but Husk he remembers moreso. He and Charles were speaking over dinner once about the new students at his place.. and he saw a picture of Husk. And Charles told him about her powers… and he remembers her well now. As he speaks, he puts the mute on, so neither Domino or Husk would hear him, but he would still hear them.    “Get a lock on that second communicator.”    Jarvis goes to work as Tony now hovers in the air, the building Domino in now within sight far below him. A second orange line emerges on his HUD, this one with an outline of green, leading right in Husk’s direction.    “There she is.”   His eyes follow the lines in his HUD so he can get a general idea as to what he’s dealing with. Wow they are really far apart.<br/><br/>"Hayseed, what the hell are you.... never mind that listen up dahling. Its Apocalypse he has attacked the entire fucking world and is killing anyone in his way or changing them into mutants. Comms are probally being monitored so be careful. I am worried. I get nothing from the school, Professor X should have contacted everyone by now. So be very careful... Check back with me when you have put a mile from your position and I will see how we can link up...and Husk try not to run around naked!"    Now Tony’s brow perks up as he hears that last word. Naked, you say? Okay Tony, take it easy. People are in danger. Being a chauvinistic pig can wait. ALWAYS time for that later. Tony now speaks, and both Domino and Husk would be able to hear him.   “So, even though I’m apparently not really Tony Stark, I’ve got location locks on both of you. You two are a good ways apart. Now if I were really Tony Stark… and I am… I’d be more than happy to give you a hand. Domino, if you look out a window and look up and to… the east… you’ll see me way far up.”   As he says that, his cloaking systems would disengage, making himself visible again. If Domino actually looks up, she could barely see him though. Since he’s so high up and all.   “Now if you want, I can swing down and pick up… Husk… was it? Or if you don’t want the help of the world’s smartest man, well I can just leave you two to it. I’m sure you’ll do fine fighting the world on your own. “   His tone isn’t condescending or threating, he actually sounds like he’s in a good mood.<br/><br/>And he has good reason for his upbeat mood, despite everything that has happened. Because Diamondback has succeeded in her task, and as he intended, the communications around the world slowly start to come online once more. Programs and protocols start to run to patch the world's voice back together. It isn't a perfect system yet... you might not be able to call Idaho from Tokyo yet... but it's a good start. Slowly the patchwork of communications is being put together, spearheaded by Tony's programs and Jarvis's monitoring.