Latverian Tony Stark voicetest. What have I done.

[latverian_metal]

Zemaljskoj,

The username is inaccurate. I mean, yes, the metal in the arc reactor was leftover from projects I'd done in Latveria, but the armor was constructed in the States. Also, I don't really think your grasp of the Latverian language is solid enough for this project to get off the ground even if Gospodet Doom wasn't here. Since he is and I'm pretty sure the other heroes aren't about to help me out, given where I was raised... this seems more like a trap than an AU. I've had people try to get me killed before, I'm getting a knack for sensing that kind of thing.

But if there's a chance I can get some more people on board with the Latverian Resistance here, well, I'm used to taking attempts on my life and turning them into personal triumphs, so I'm not about to back out on this.

Just... I'm not really going to get into relationships, right? You put those tags on my journal as joke, right?

...right?

Oh, gods.

Sincerely rethinking this already,

Amatljen Marijus Stark

Comments

[idol_o_millions]

Hey, anybody who's got it in for ol' Doomsy is a-okay in my book, kid.

[latverian_metal]

There's more people who have it in for him than you'd think. It's just that in Latveria, we're constricted in our ability to mobilize.

So I'm trying to amass resources as well as I can while I'm abroad. Resources which could include allies, if my mun could quit looking at romance memes and other pointless crap. [He makes a dismissive gesture with one hand, clearly annoyed with his mun's priorities.] Apparently in most universes I'm 'Iron Man' and fairly competent as a hero in the United States. Hopefully I can be something just as good in my universe for Latveria.

[idol_o_millions]

...Waitasec. You're supposed ta be Tony Stark?

[latverian_metal]

Amatljen Stark. I got my last name back upon legal custody being switched over to my dad. But... I was taken, somehow, before I can remember. Raised in Latveria. So whoever I was supposed to be, I'm not going to be the same as.

[His eyes flicker with color as Extremis kicks in, hooking him up with the nearest internet connection to retrieve information.] And you're one of the Fantastic Four. [His grin betrays the fact he's barely 15 and in utterly over his head.] Oh, this could be good.

[idol_o_millions]

Huh. Just when ya think ya seen ev'rything...

That's me. Idol o' millions.

[latverian_metal]

Yeah. I'm sticking with the Latverian name since... I never knew, what my parents were gonna name me. I mean, I met my dad. Knew him for about seven months before he died under suspect circumstances. But he and my mom had a deal that she was going to name me if I was a boy, he'd name me if I was girl. Tony, huh? I wondered what Americans would abbreviate Anthony to. It's nice. Normal.

[He tries not to think about how much he's missed out on. About how his life could have been, and more importantly the life his parents didn't get to have. Basic things like naming their own child, taken from them in an instant to have living, breathing blackmail material. It's stomach churning.]

You have no idea how true that is. I think the Latverian Resistance would pass out if I just got so much as a four second video of you doing our salute and saying 'keep fighting' or something. You know your image is banned in the entire country? [He admires that. Openly fighting instead of hiding under a suit of armor and a secret identity, being a symbol of real day to day heroism instead of hiding in the shadows. It's all he could ever dream of.]

[idol_o_millions]

[He grins.]

Don't surprise me none. Doomsy there's the type ta hold a grudge.

[A broader grin.]

Salute, huh?

[latverian_metal]

It's strange to hear Gospodet Doom being called Doomsy. Even I usually watch what I call the guy. People've been 're-educated' over less.

Yeah. See, before Gospodet Doom made everyone speak one dialect and dress the same, Latverians were actually four groups of people, with their own language quirks. Part of the Resistance's goal for a post-Doom Latveria is a Latveria where everybody can be who they are and speak their own tongue. So four has become a pretty important number.

[Amatljen smacks his fists to his head lightly and holds up his hands, index and middle fingers out on each, wrists turned to point his hands to opposite directions.] Latveria, mi mobrav!

Or, in English - 'Latveria, we will be free'. Although 'Boriti prodol, rjutki prodol', 'keep fighting and stay angry', is catching on, too. That one was my foster father's idea. He was a good guy. [The wicked grin falters, for a moment. Just enough to hint at the anger inside. The revolution will not be civilized if Amatljen's involved; a lot of people besides Doom have actions they need to answer for. The systematic oppression of a nation takes more than one man, after all.]

My mun's been working out the grammar of Latverian based on his knowledge of Serbian, Proto-Slavic and Russian. He's not terrible at it, honestly. Accent's atrocious, though.

[wrathfulkhan]

[Well, well, well.]

...this is a surprise.

/handwaves this as sometime mid-season one for this AU

[latverian_metal]

Temugin. [Being bilingual since birth means he says that not only correctly, but with the same pronunciation a Mongolian native might.

Amatljen's always had some suspicions about his 'friend'. Transferring over to the Tomorrow Academy just as Amat transferred in, a little too eager to look into the Rings Howard was researching - he hasn't put it together yet, but he can tell he's being played. Another difference is that with his status as a citizen of Latveria, the damage that gave him the reactor came from somebody else's assassination attempt. Gene is very useful, though, and his snark is appreciated after too much mommying by Rhodey. So he smiles, a little.]

I didn't think you'd be here. It's good to see you're alright.

yes good

[wrathfulkhan]

[Ah, yes. It's good to have someone around who understands - or at least can pronounce his name correctly.]

Is there some reason I shouldn't be all right?

/snickers as my iTunes shuffle tries to give us mood music

[latverian_metal]

You have a mun. Mine's already writing out alternate deaths and destinies for most people I know. I guess yours isn't as morbid.

Is anyone else we know here currently? Rhodey, or Pepper? [The scientist in him wants to map out the possibilities, and it shows, a little.] If I had some stuff from the lab this could be amazingly helpful. Not just in our search for the Rings, in other fields, too! Are there other scientists here? I need to get this data down.

[wrathfulkhan]

Oh...oh no, she's plenty morbid. She keeps coming up with, and I quote, "fun ways to kill me off". [He wishes he was kidding.] Potential assassinations...she nearly got me mauled to death by a hellhound...it's fun. We have fun. [Sarcasm intensifies.]

There's lots of scientists here. Other yous, mostly. [Aww, his enthusiasm might be contagious. Given that Gene's grinning and all.]

iTunes thinks Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis is their jam.

[latverian_metal]

I'll keep an eye out for you now that I'm here. Don't worry. Nobody's dying on my watch, Temugin. [He saw enough death in Latveria to last him a lifetime. His face grows serious.] Hellhound?

Hm. Might be good to get some advice from, but they'll probably invoke time travel rules over giving me technological information. We're gonna have to swipe it from them and their computers.

oh my goodness

[wrathfulkhan]

Enormous soul-reaping wolf from the pits of hell. Also shows up as a woman. Friend of mine. She wasn't exactly in her right mind. I got healed and she apologized, so we're...all right.

Yes, let's do our best to avoid violating the Temporal Prime Directive.

iTunes can be cynical.

[latverian_metal]

That's... I need to look at the biochemistry behind the transformations, maybe I could help.

Was that a Star Trek reference? [Amatljen grins at him, utterly delighted.] Mli zolest, I think I'm in love. Unless you think Enterprise was the best series in the franchise, then I'm in the exact opposite of that.

[highprofilerichkid]

Um.

[??? ? ????? ?? ???]

What?

[highprofilerichkid]

[?????????????????????????????????????]

[highprofilerichkid]

...Yeah, I got nothing.

[Welcome to Tony Stark's brain, current population: one big ol' bag of WTF.]

[latverian_metal]

So you're me if Howard raised me.

[Long, profoundly awkward silence as Amatljen tries to process this.]

...I need a drink, you want anything? My mun will probably let us have at least a beer to get through this.

[Yeah, no, he can't process this sober.]

[highprofilerichkid]

[Longest, awkwardest silence.]

And I guess you're me, with a somehow even more depressing backstory. Wow. [Very tactful, Tony.] Latveria? Really?

[Tony's pretty sure he can't process this sober or drunk, and 'dealing with crisis by turning to alcohol' is not a coping strategy he's eager to repeat or reinforce, but...]

...Yeah. Okay. [What the hell. Extremis boosts his metabolism anyway, right? He's got, like, a super-liver now.] You know, I'm not sure I can even get drunk anymore.

[latverian_metal]

It's hardly a competition. Or one anybody would really want to win. Yes, really. Zolograd, to be precise. It's about nineteen miles from the capital.

Oh, Extremis doesn't keep you from getting drunk, you just have to be willing to work for it. I've tried. Hard not to, but Rhodey doesn't exactly approve. Is his such a mom in your world, too? [That said, he hands Tony a beer, sighing.] So. You grew up with Dad. Like, your whole life. What... what was that even like?

[His foster father had been nothing like Howard. Howard had been all over the place emotionally, but that might've had a lot to do with having thought his son was dead for over a decade.]

[highprofilerichkid]

I know Rhodey says I'm too competitive, but I think I can live with losing that contest.

[The comment about Rhodey's mom-ing makes him grin just a little.] Yep. Definitely still a mom. He'd flip out if I tried to 'test' Extremis. [Though the reasons are a little darker than just Rhodey's usual prudence. Rhodey had been there to pick up the pieces after the plane crash, including when Tony's grief had taken a turn for the... self-destructive.]

Dad? Dad's, uh... it was great. [How bizarre, to be talking to a version of himself that hadn't even know Howard until his teens.] I mean, I basically grew up in Stark Industries. He let me do pretty much anything I wanted in the lab. What did Rhodey call us—? Right: dueling mad scientists. [Tony's grin widens. Fond memories.]

[latverian_metal]

Rhodey says that to me, too. You correct a few professors at Stark Industries and suddenly it's a 'complex' with him. [He bites his lip before admitting,] I tested the limits of Extremis without telling him. He found me passed out on the floor. It was Hell when I woke up. But I needed to make sure that Etremis could neutralize the chemicals used in Latverian re-education camps, make sure that even if I fail fighting Doom, he can't get anything from me.

[He looks at his beer and tries not to get emotional. But he's desperately envious and incredibly sad all at once.] I had about nine months with him. It was... like he wasn't sure how to be around me sometimes. Sometimes I'd make something and he'd be thrilled but sometimes he seemed freaked out by the areas of science I was focusing on. I don't think he understood that how I grew up changed me. Or maybe he did and it was too much. I don't know, really.

[highprofilerichkid]

...Re-education camps? I'm guessing that's not the fun kind of summer camp, huh? [Tony chuckles, but the joke still comes off flat and uneasy. He doesn't really know how to respond to that kind of grim matter-of-factness about horrible atrocities.

This other self of his isn't a very cheery dude, is he?]

Rhodey could get that way, when I was doing the secret superhero thing. He wasn't a fan of some of my suit upgrades. Didn't like me reverse-engineering my enemies' weapons so I could protect myself against them. Dad hasn't said anything yet. I... I'm not totally sure how he feels about the Iron Man thing.