dear_mun | Latverian Tony Stark voicetest. What have I done.

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Latverian Tony Stark voicetest. What have I done.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

That's me. Idol o' millions.

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.]

[He grins.]

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

[A broader grin.]

Salute, huh?

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.

Kid, I been fightin' Doom longer than you been alive. He's a tin-plated tyrant who ain't never gotten over the fact that he forgot to carry the one. As far as I'm concerned, he can kiss my rocky...

[He trails off. Maybe not in front of the kid, eh?]

[Instead, he copies the gesture and phrase.]

Like that?

You can say 'ass'. I've spent nine months in the States in New York City; I've heard worse. I didn't even know the English language could work the way it does with swearing until I took a cab.

[But his face grows serious as he nods approvingly.] Like that, yeah. You say your 'r's' like a Southern Latverian but it's still understandable. Doom likes to say he united the nation by stomping out 'inefficient language'. The reality is, accents and dialect changes were just stomped out so he could start controlling people from the inside out. It's very Orwellian, actually, now that I've had a chance to read Orwell.

So you can see why spoken slogans are so important. It's a way of saying we refuse to be controlled. And the salute shows that no matter what he says about a divided Latveria being destined to fall, we'd rather have stayed divided than be under his rule.

..I probably shouldn't be saying 'we' since I guess I'm technically American. I'm a superhero, I'm probably not supposed to have national allegiances. But it's hard not to when you grew up in a place and you've seen everything. The re-education, the mind wipes, the media blackouts, it's hard not to take it all personally. I know you've been dealing with him for longer than I've been alive, but I've lived under his rule. Nothing really sums up that experience properly.

Doom there deserves whatever's comin' to him.

[He frowns a little.]

But if ya do take him down... Just be careful, kid. I seen Doom get knocked down a few times, and mosta those, somebody even worse manages to pick up where he left off.

I've been thinking about that, yeah. Latveria without Doom will be a pretty tricky thing. Power vortexes don't end well. But what am I supposed to do? I can't just let the system continue. I can't. The people are good even if Doom is crazy. They, we, vjey deserve a chance at freedom. And my tech, my genius, can help that chance be a thing.

What would you do, if you were me?

Honestly...? I'd knock old Doomsy on his ass six ways from Sunday. Tomorrow's one problem, but he's the problem today.

Then why haven't you done it? I mean, you and the others, you exist in my universe, and in others, too. And I have to assume you're more capable of kicking ass than a teenager in a scrap metal suit. So why...?

[Amatljen would've killed Doom as quickly as possible. At this point his only regret is he hasn't gotten to it sooner, gotten to it before good people went down under Doom's reign. Latveria is suffering and every day he spends away is a day he's wallowing in riches like his American canon counterpart instead of taking a stand.

But the Fantastic Four aren't like him. They're a team, they're smart. They know their enemy. He doesn't understand them.]

Aw, kid... It ain't... it ain't that simple. Big American super-hero goin' off and overthrowin' some other country's leader...

Could probably start World War III.

Aiding the Resistance and letting us break the system down from the inside didn't ever occur to you? It's been priority one for us since the Resistance got more organized and less scattered groups of people running around sabotaging things. [His voice starts out as harsh, but turns softer, less accusatory as he takes a deep breath and perfects his game face, the one that hides that he's in so deep over his head he can't tell what way is up some days.] Latveria needs help. Under the table or over.

Yeah, look... politics... politics are complicated.

[Who's he trying to convince here? His voice is mixed with regret and resignation. He'd like to punch Doom right in his ugly face. Especially after some of the stuff he's done to Ben's family.]

[He struggles with himself. He's been so good at putting on a mask of indifference or slightly eccentricity uncertainty, the kind of offbeat behaviors that coasted him through Latverian life without suspicion, that when he expresses emotions these days they're in excess. He is both too happy and too reckless and much too serious. When the weight of everything hits him it hits so hard it throws him off in ways he doesn't know how to handle.

So what comes out of his mouth are unfiltered words, tumbling out with all the exhaustion of a teenager who has seen re-education camps and torture and a bottomless well of despair in the eyes of entire cities.]

My foster father used to say that everything was complicated but nothing was unsolvable. He wasn't my real dad, but I grew up with him. He was supposed to make me into Doom's perfect spy, use chemical cocktails and brainwashing to keep me in line. Markus, though, he wasn't that kind of a guy. Maybe he thought he could do it when he signed on for the job, but he was just... a dad. Moje otac, my dad. He tried so hard to keep me from getting cynical, tried to make me see the good in Latveria, in the culture and the people and the little things like making soup and planting flowers. He was born and raised under Doom's rule but he still believed in freedom and a bright future, even though most of his family had been disappeared in the night.

He loved Latveria so he had no choice but to get involved with the Resistance to take it down. That is complicated. The hope he had that someone from the outside, some hero, was going to contact the Resistance and breathe life back into the country, that was simple. Like faith. He knew it would happen.

They kept taking him to the re-education camp just outside the capital. More than a human body could take. Too much, too often. He started to get weaker, could barely make it up the stairs to the apartment, couldn't remember how to do things or recall the stuff we'd done even just days before.

But he believed outside help was coming, right up through the end. I know, because I was there. I held his hand as his mind finally gave out under the strain of all the chemicals and all the neurons quit firing.

Politics are complicated. I just don't know if they're worth letting people die for. Not like that.

[Well, well, well.]

...this is a surprise.

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.

[Say what you will, but Ben's got an awful big soft spot for kids. And no kid should have to deal with what this alternate version of Tony has.]

Aw, geeze, kid, I...

[He shuts his eyes and bites his lip, hard.] I'm sorry. I'm guilt tripping you. I just - if someone had even come before that last time they sent him to the re-education camp, if someone had even come in that late, with time he could've recovered. With real medical care instead of me and my biology textbook he could have made it.

He didn't deserve to die just because his country's ruler is monster.

[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?

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.

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.]

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Latverian Tony Stark voicetest. What have I done.

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

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yes good

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

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