Flight Test
The camera pans around You's frame as Tony addresses the camera the bot is holding, "Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0."
“Alright more of this.” Rhodey exclaimed rubbing his hands together.
“You’re excitement at the idea I could get hurt is irritating.” Tony sighed.
“Less excitement about the actual injury and more excitement about the humor of the situation.”
He's back in the 'test zone' of his lab, the boots once again strapped to his feet, and the new flight stabilizers over his arms. He has wires connecting the armor parts to the arc reactor in his chest, glowing brighter as it powers the parts.
He glances back at Dummy, "For lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety." He points a firm finger at the whirring robotic arm, "If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college," the bot gives a sad whir of understanding a droops its' 'head.'
“Cruel.” muttered Clint. Vision glared at him.
“Tony would never donate any of the bots to a city college.” Tony smiled slightly.
Looking through You's camera, Tony shifts somewhat nervously in the repulsor boots, "All right, nice and easy," He holds his hands out to his sides, palms down, "Seriously… just going to start off with 1% thrust capacity."
He takes a deep breath, his shoulders following the motion before he's finally ready, "And three, two, one."
Rhodey held his breath in anticipation deliberately looking extremely enthusiastic. Tony rolled his eyes.
The repulsors in the boots and the in the palms of his hands activate, pushing him off the ground and allowing him to hover in the air. He stays like that for a minute, getting a feel for the sensation before he drops back down, breathing out an, "Okay."
“Nice.” Rocket grinned particularly enjoying the scenes with the suit.
He looks over his shoulder at Dummy, taking a step or two to face the bot before addressing him, "Please don't follow me around with it, either, 'cause I feel like I'm gonna catch on fire spontaneously," he explains, much to the bots displeasure, "Just stand down. If something happens, then come in."
“Are you regularly bursting into flame?” Drax asked staring at Tony. Quill rolled his eyes.
“It’s a joke Drax.”
The view is no longer being shot from You's camera as Tony prepares himself for another test, "And again, let's bring it up to 2.5," he shifts a little in the boots again but seems much more confident this time around, "Three, two, one."
The repulsors activate once again, this time with a bit more force, propelling Tony a little bit higher than the previous test. You's camera zooms in on his creator as he tries to steady himself, before the view is no longer shown through the bot. The repulsor boots are shown up close, the machinery hissing as it keeps Tony in the air. Having little experience flying, the genius starts to shift backwards, away from the testing area. He grunts a little as he tries to adjust his limbs so as to return to where he started, but instead moves over to his row of cars.
“Not the cars!” cried Scott dramatically.
"Okay, this is where I don't want to be!" He grunts again, trying to keep the repulsor blasts as far from the expensive cars as possible, "Not the car, not the car! Yikes!"
“Why do you keep your cars there when you test?” Steve questioned.
“Because it’s a garage Rogers.” Tony rolled his eyes.
"Table!" he continues his path over the vehicles and over one of his desks, sending papers flying around the room. As he approaches the wall he throws his hands out in front of him to stop the forward motion. It sends him back the way he came, the hand repulsors flickering once or twice. He gives a sort of hysteric, nervous laugh as he moves over the table again, yelling out reassurances to himself, "Could be worse! Could be worse, we're fine! Okay!"
“Yes, you could be hitting things again.” smirked Peter. Tony smiled fondly at him.
“It would be entertaining though.” Shuri added.
“Even if it meant the repulsors weren’t working.” Peter finished.
He flies back to the starting point, finally starting to get a hang of the motions. He brings his hands to his sides, careful to keep his palms down, and pulls his legs together. He does a slight spin as he slowly makes his descent. The repulsors cut out and he lets himself fall the remainder of the short distance, the boots sparking as he hits the ground and stumbles to find his balance.
“Congratulations.” Bruce said politely, beaming at the screen.
“Although this was a decade ago, I will not deny the compliment.” Tony answered grinning back at the man.
He lets out an exhilarating sigh, turning back to face Dummy, who is raising his head, ready to do his job as fire safety.
Rhodey gave an exaggerated gasp of anticipation.
Tony holds up his hand, "NO, ah ah ah ah!" the bots gives a sad whir and lowers his head, "Yeah, I can fly."
The scene switches and Tony steps forward, once again wearing the repulsor boots. This time, though, a set of robot arms come from the front and back, and attach a silver covering around the framework. A joint is being screwed in at the elbow, locking the armor into place.
“That looks much cooler than if I see it videoed back home.” Tony sighed longingly.
“Agreed.” Rocket was gazing at the screen entranced.
“I cannot wait to see if they show the suit up for my current suit.” Tony grinned looking at the box of disks hopefully.
An armor clad hand reaches forward and snags the mask of the suit, bringing it closer to the billionaire's face, "Jarvis, you there?" The face plate is attached, and the eye slits glow a pale blue as the AI responds, "At your service, Sir."
“Awesome.” breathed Peter.
Tony's face is seen from the view inside the helmet , the HUD scanning his facial features and lighting up with information, "Engage heads up display."
“How you don’t get eye damage from bright artificial lighting constantly close to your eyes is a mystery.” Stephen said sounding slightly exasperated.
"Check," Jarvis responds as the HUD continues to flash with data and calculations.
"Import all preferences from home interface," Tony says as the view switches to reveal his point of view, the suit scanning the workshop with remarkable detail.
"Will do, Sir," Jarvis scans the work benches and Tony's expensive cars, along with the exit ramp of the garage. Inside the suit, Tony is looking left to right, letting Jarvis set everything up.
"Alright, what do you say?"
"I have indeed been uploaded, Sir. We're online and ready."
"Can we start the virtual walk-around?" Tony inquires as a display of the armor appears on the HUD, enlarging off to the side.
"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment."
Tony allows for a slight quirk of his lips, "Do a check on control surfaces."
A display of the leg of the armor appears on the screen, "As you wish."
Music starts playing when the camera reveals the full exterior of the suit, the calves and knees of the armor open up and out, checking the flexibility and movement of the parts. Next are the thighs, arms, and back; the pieces flipping out and showing off the advanced mechanics of the suit. Tony flexes his left hand before the camera shows the right arm, a hidden slot opening up in the bicep and closing again. Last are the shoulders and neck, the camera panning around and showing off the glimmering silver armor as the genius turns his head from side to side.
A cheer ran through the more excitable or mechanical members of the audience. Like Peter, and Shuri specifically.
The camera zooms in from the front, arc reactor and eye slits glowing brightly as Tony flexes his fingers again. Jarvis' voice cuts in, "Test complete; preparing to power down and begin diagnostics."
“That was anticlimactic” moped Brunnhilde.
Inside the suit, the HUD continues to supply information in a glowing blue, "Tell you what. Do a weather and ATC check. Start listening in on ground control," Tony commands with the faintest of smiles, the HUD displaying the locations of nearby planes, the lights glistening in the genius' eyes.
Rocket let out a cackling laugh, Groot joining in.
"Sir," Jarvis' somehow worried voice responds, the point of view from the suit showing a holographic display of the landscape outside the garage and the planes in the air, "there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight is-"
"Jarvis," Tony cuts him off, sounding like a parent lecturing his child, "Sometimes you gotta run, before you can walk."
“Which made utterly no sense.” Vision muttered. Tony smirked.
“Definitely does.”
“Sure.” Stephen sighed.
The camera pans out from the front, showing off the silver plated armor, "Ready?" Tony straightens up inside the suit, his feet moving closer together and his hands palm down at his sides, "In three, two, one."
The repulsor boots come to life, instantly lifting the genius a half a foot off the ground. He's a bit unsteady, but leans forward nonetheless, the mechanics of the suit whirring as he shoots forwards and out the garage ramp, skimming the cement of the exit with an exhilarating yell that fades into a crazed laugh.
Tony smiled fondly in memory of his first flight, how fun it had been. Up to the point he almost died.
"WOO!" Tony yells again, the camera capturing the pure exuberance in the billionaire's features. There's a brief shot of the back of the suit as the flaps positioned on the shoulders work to steady the flight, the repulsors seen thrusting and glowing below.
“You definitely look happy.” Bruce commented amused.
“That is a very true statement Banner.” Thor added, Tony nodded happily.
The camera zooms out a bit just as Tony spins and twists in the air, doing his best to level out the flight. Finally he gets the hang of it, his face ecstatic as he gasps from the adrenaline rush.Through the helmet's view, the screen is shown locking onto the horizon, before the view zooms out again, the Malibu home disappearing in the distance.
“You got good at flying irritatingly fast.” Rhodey muttered.
“There, there, Honeybear.” Tony grinned, “I’m just a natural.”
"Handles like a dream," Tony notes, zooming out of frame, only for it to refocus from the helmet's view again. The music is much more pronounced now as the HUD focuses on a Ferris wheel, particularly a little kid eating ice cream. Upon spotting the armor, the kids eyes go wide and the scoop of ice cream falls from his cone.
“That must've really surprised that kid.” Sam said.
“Definitely looks like it.” Natasha agreed.
Zipping over the skyline and through the clouds, the city lights shining beneath him, Tony abruptly changes direction, shooting skyward.
"Alright, let's see what this thing can do," he addresses Jarvis as the view reveals him inside the suit again, "What's SR-71's record?"
“Oh God Tony.” Rhodey sighed, “You didn’t really?” Rhodey groaned. Tony smiled mysteriously in response.
As Jarvis responds, the HUD is shown again, the moon visible above as an image of 'SR-71 Blackbird' appearing to the right as the billionaire continues to gain altitude, "The altitude record for fixed wing flight is 85,000 feet, Sir."
"Records are made to be broken! Come on!" Tony shouts as the suit continues its' ascent.
“Alright! This is getting interesting.” Rocket noted, a glint in his eyes.
"Sir," the AI speaks up again, the HUD flashing red with warnings, "there is a potentially fatal build up of ice occurring."
“Tony…” sighed Natasha.
Completely ignoring that bit of information in favor of breaking the record, the suit continues to shoot upwards, "Keep going!"
“He’s almost as reckless as you Strange.” Wong commented, causing several in the room to jump having forgotten the quiet man was there.
“That is so not true.” Scoffed Stephen.
“About the same amount of arrogance as well.” Wong continued.
“Gee thanks.” Stephen rolled his eyes.
“Let’s not forget the sarcasm.”
“You about done?” Stephen muttered, Wong hummed in agreement.
The metal is beginning to creak and groan from the restricting ice, but still Tony keeps going, "Higher!"
“Idiot.” Rhodey said fondness accompanying the worry in his voice.
“I prefer the term moronic genius.” Tony corrected. Rhodey glanced at him unamused.
The repulsor boots spark and die simultaneously, the glowing eyes of the helmet fading out, briefly revealing the genius' eyes inside before the climb stops, and the suit begins to plummet back to earth.
Tony winced, memories of the wormhole flashing through his mind. He began to nervously tap his Arc Reactor again.
Tony screams as the world spins through what little vision he has through the eye slits, "We iced up, Jarvis! Deploy flaps!" There's no reply, so the billionaire tries again just as the suit is falling out of the frame, "JARVIS!?"
The room collectively held their breath. Forgetting that the genius falling on screen was currently sitting among them.
In a final attempt, Tony manages to turn his body belly down, slowing the fall only slightly, "Come on, we gotta break the ice!"
He scratches at a circular spot on his upper thigh, chipping away at the ice and manually twisting the circle. The flaps on the back of the armor flip open, breaking through more ice and slowing the descent a little bit more.
The eyes light up again, the mechanics beginning to groan as the suit powers on. The HUD comes to life again, hundreds of images and code flashing over the screen as Tony continues the fall, the ground approaching worryingly fast.
Suddenly, the repulsor boots come back, just in time to avoid crashing to the street. A car beeps and swerves out of the way just nearly missing the metal suit.
The collective breath was released as several glares were thrown in the direction of the reckless man.
Rising into the air again, Tony breaks into a toothy smile and lets out an exhilarating half-yell-half laugh for his success, "YEAHAHAHA!"
Tony soars over the ocean as he approaches the Malibu home again, shooting a little higher into the air to get to the roof. He hovers over it, the armor swaying back and forth before he manages to steady it.
Tony groaned quietly realising what was happening.
"Kill power."
The eccentric genius drops through the roof, crushing the piano and dropping through the ceiling of his workshop, right on top of one of his very expensive cars.
“Which is why you don’t test things in your garage.” Steve spoke over the laughter sounding exasperated. Tony ignored him, unable to keep a slight smile off his face among all the humor.
The car alarms go off as the debris settles, Tony remaining in his spot atop his demolished vehicle. Dummy helpfully turns to face him, spraying him with the fire extinguisher, his creator leaning his head back in either pain or exasperation at his incompetent bot.