Be Superior

_{Tony returned to his lab, his armour peeling off and returning to it’s rightful position in one of the slots indicated for the Iron Patriot. He strode past, hand clasped over his aching jaw as took a seat in his huge leather chair. His eyes momentarily took to the bottle of whiskey he had not too far away, but then snapped back toward the bright screens in front of him.}

_{The incursions were turning Earth into a new world, into Battleworld - and there was nothing Tony could do. His machine was broken, his team had dissolved and he was alone.}

_{On top of that, trying to make amends before he was probably killed along with his world was out of the question.}

_{Tony wasn’t someone who abused his power, but he could be rather selective when he wanted to be. If he wasn’t in the right state of mind, particularly.}

_{“Jarvis, access data stream of satellite 132. Find the last place I was, access an audio only stream alongside mentions of ‘Tony Stark’- I don’t need to hear it directly, spare me the manuscript. Just give me the brief. If they are talking about me, what are they saying?” He asked, hearing the squeak of one of his bots rolling over holding out an ice pack, which he took into his hand and pressed against his jaw.}

_{“Are you sure you want to hear this, sir?"}

_{"Sure. Listen, if I’d found out that people were trash-talking about me behind my back and I used to call them friends, it would’ve saved me a lot of trouble in the past.” He coughed and muttered Sunset’s name under his breath.}

_{“The implications that follow the mentions of your name within that area are that by placing those cameras in his home you are being depicted as placing the civilians in an abusive relationship.”}

_{Tony reached over for his bottle of whiskey, uncorking it with his teeth and taking a swig. “Abusive relationship huh…” Try being shot in the spine by your girlfriend, or being hunted down, or made to sign over your company.}

_{“Indeed sir. The cameras were an invasion of privacy, and there are beliefs that you may have been using your feeds in order to spy on the civilian during moments of intimacy or spy on his daughter."}

_{Tony spat out his drink with shock, grabbing a towel and dabbing his mouth. "Wait wait wait, hold on a second. Did you say they think I was spying on his girl?” He wiped his mouth, with a bitter taste lingering on his tongue, and it certainly wasn’t from the drink. “So they think I’m some sort of perv. That’s what they think of me. That I’d spy on them, get off on him sleeping with other people and then spy on his little girl? Someone half my age?” It was strangely painful to hear that, to even believe that they had thought that Tony was some sort of bottomfeeder, that he would stoop so low for his own pleasure and personal gain. That was what Tony was talking about - Trust. Friends, in his mind, trusted one another with their lives, they knew each other well enough to know that they have the best intentions - not the lowest ones.}

_{“We live in a nanny state where quite frankly cameras are everywhere in this world. Satellites orbit our Earth and feeds cross globally. He should be glad that I’m the one controlling the feed by his home, it could be the government, hell, there could be undetected cameras everywhere that even I haven’t picked up. But wherever we go in this world, we’re being watched. I had everything protected, encrypted, all of my friends and family are covered - safe from those eyes that are everywhere… But no matter how I explain, they don’t understand."}

_{He pinched his brow tightly, feeling the throbbing in his chest. Everyone thought low of him, everyone misconstrued his intentions, threw him into a darker light when he was just trying to protect them. The truth of it all was that he wanted to protect what he couldn’t have, but as always he was made to look the villain. His friends had hurt him, his own friends had beaten him. That punch that Nick delivered felt exactly when Steve had broken his nose when he was trying to protect him.}

_{His eyes shut, knowing he needed to find a way to stop his chest from aching. "Run diagnostic- Chest…” He spoke with a hoarse voice.}

_{“You appear to be fine sir. A raise in blood pressure is all the systems are detecting."}

_{He shook his head, placing the bottle down and clutching his chest, staggering over to a tightly sealed box. "Unlock… New armour, codename Superior."}

_{"Sir - the symbiote is untested, if you are enduring any mental unsuitability as you are with your unrelenting state of depression the symbiote may exploit that and take you over, as with Venom, Carnage and Toxin."}

_{"I don’t care… I need… I know it’ll help heal me, at least it’ll look out for me, I’ll have something to protect me…” He winced. “Jarvis, come on. Unlock."}

_"Sir-"

_"Jarvis."

_{The case unlocked, and the silver coated symbiote crawled up Tony’s skin, coating him instantly and wrapping around, gripping over his head and sending volts throughout his chest that felt more powerful than Thor’s hammer. It went inside his reactor, into his body as he tilted his head back and allowed it to take him over.}

_{untamed symbiotes were famous for bringing out the worst in people.}

_{When his eyes re-opened they were glowing a bright cyan and he laughed a little, admiring his new armour in the mirror and tilting his head. "See, I told you the pain would go away…"}

posted; 6 years ago with 2 notes - reblog

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