and amalgam had no hand in this

[ofsteel.livejournal.com]

WHO: Iron Mang and Thupermang
WHERE: Man idk yet!!
WHEN: I...dk that either. Backdated to just a bit after the Major's major catastrophe and after Tony was dead cause. Homie I don't talk to zombies I beat them up.
WARNINGS: Elle still doesn't know what she's doing
SUMMARY: Hi I'm a superhero omg me too let's talk about the ~greater good~ and maybe even do some greater good while we're at it?
FORMAT: No



Superman finally got the stomach back to take to the air, and he wasted no time getting back to business. Magic never sat well with him, and in the state he was in now, well...I ought to've known better than to take that kind of constitution for granted before. The air was good for him, though; he drifted over low-hanging clouds that gave the City below a whispy, hazy look. When he'd taken in a few breaths, he reached down to his belt and lifted the communicator, rolling on his back to fiddle with the formatting. They always make the buttons too small...

He found what he needed to find, though, and the device was ready for his voice.

"Iron Man," he said. "This is Superman. If you've got the time...I'd like to have that talk."

Comments

[liverletdie]

Tony had been honestly waiting for the PM to jolt into his comm. Despite the fact that it was far across the country back in the City, and he was in DC, the instant flare to life from the device to his brain was faster than Superman had probably expected. The reply was shot back within moments, as soon as he'd thought it, and transferred the data.

It was even in his voice. "Affirmative. I'll zero in on your location."

Did he forget to mention that it had a small line of tracer code? It was obvious, and at the end of the message, a string of: "ZmluZCBzdWJqZWN0OiBTdXBlcm1hbg0KUXVlcnk6IGN1cnJlbnQgbG9jYXRpb24NCmZvcm1hdDogY29vcmRpbmF0ZXM9PyBMb25naXR1ZGUsIExhdGl0dWRl" across the text accompaniment to the message.

Then he shot off once he'd managed to disentangle himself from the press, and he shot into the sky. Although he'd pinged for the coordinates, he hadn't bothered with looking for elevation, since he'd been able to determine that when the closest satellite turned it's attention toward it.

He flew up, before resting into a neat, calm hover.

"Superman, good afternoon." It had taken him about 10 minutes to arrive.

[ofsteel.livejournal.com]

The tracer code was duly noted with a soft, almost nostalgic sigh. How very Batman. Superman shook his head, smirking to no one but himself as he clipped the device back onto his belt and waited. He didn't drift too far, but a pleasant day with a pleasant breeze had a tendency to tug the cape along, and he made no move to fight it. Three commercial planes rumbled by overhead before a different rumble came distinctly close at hand. Superman turned and followed the high-speed shape, as distinct as if he'd been right next to him with that telescopic vision of his. He waited until the aptly-named Iron Man (well, it didn't look like iron to him, but--) had come to that hover before extending a hand. Impulse.

"Iron Man. It's nice to meet you, face to face."

[liverletdie]

He took the hand, and shook it, and he smiled behind the metal faceplate. "Technically, face-to-mask," he corrected, a bit of his sardonic humor already coming out. "It is a pleasure to meet you," he admitted, and released Superman's hand.

"Have you had much trouble adjusting to the..." he trailed off and waved a hand in a motion that was meant to encompass the chaos of this world. "City?"

[ofsteel.livejournal.com]

"I can recognize some of the sights," Superman replied, folding his arms. "Sounds, smells, crazed villain speeches...They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. This Earth isn't too different from the one I was taken from, truth be told. It's the faces that change that concerns me the most." Too many missing faces. Too many new ones. "Even when I was here before, there wasn't the time to really learn about the people here. The ones here by birth and the ones forced here. Both."

[liverletdie]

He nodded, his gaze switching from Superman to the city down below their feet. There's almost a melancholy look to the way the suit looks down at the city.

"True enough. This place is far too much like my own world, except the prejudices here run even deeper than they had where I'm from," he said simply, almost sad. "I didn't think it could be worse, but here we are. Welcome to the city, you're automatically a second-class citizen."

Sarcasm came through the speaker pretty clearly.

[ofsteel.livejournal.com]

"It's the same song with a different instrument," Superman agreed, nodding, but there was no sarcasm in his words. "And it's one of the reasons I keep the cape. It's a bad situation, but it can be made better. I don't have any illusions about how rough things can get here, but from what I've seen so far? There's more than plenty of folks willing to shoot for positive. Those numbers just need to stack up on the end for the people we're imposed on." Easier said than done, he knew.

[liverletdie]

"Very difficult, but very true," he said simply. "The largest issue in this world is that people are afraid. There is nobody with abilities to speak of, and their science hasn't advanced well enough to create their own, as mine are. With us not only in the city, destroying their buildings, and overtaking their police, it's no wonder they're scared."

He looks back to Superman. "That's the whole reason for keeping the costumes, isn't it? Helping the people who can't protect themselves."

[ofsteel.livejournal.com]

"That's how it's supposed to be, but a lot can get lost in the translation. It's why I wanted to speak to you, everyone I didn't know. When it came down to crunch time, plenty of people stepped up, stranger or not, but be it for duty, conscience, other gains..." Superman shook his head. "I need to know where things stand on all fronts, if I can."

[liverletdie]

He smiled beneath the mask. Oh he liked him. Superman, despite the name, was not stupid by far, and the fact that he'd stepped up and was actively initiating talks with the superhuman community. He was a leader, and it showed.

"So you're wondering where I stand, of course," he extrapolated, and nodded. "It's a good question. I've been here for a long time now, but for a while, I was more set on getting us out," he explained. He didn't state that he'd been so close, or that he was starting to lose hope. "However, as much as my world needs me, and I need to return to my duty there, this world is also in turmoil. The fact that I wouldn't be able to force people to leave means that things could be worse if someone did leave."

He stopped, and gestured downward to the city.

"They need us. I do what I do because I have the ability, because it's habit, because only I can do what I do, and because it's my responsibility. I'm a man who knows how things work, and how to fix problems, and I don't want to waste it when I could be shaping the future." Then he nodded in Superman's direction.

"What's your story?"

[ofsteel.livejournal.com]

Superman was a lot of things, and a good listener was one of them. His attentive gaze never left the mask, as if he was waiting for some crack of expression on the surface. Truth be told, he could see the face behind it, and it was that face he was watching, looking and listening for all those signs of a lie that he'd learned. The heart, the breath, the gaze...He heard sincerity in words, but saw it where it mattered--his face.

He let the words sink in before replying, weighing it all in his mind. This Iron Man could be a strong ally, perhaps...Though the politics of superheroing always made things sticky when great numbers were gathered. Steady as she goes.

"This isn't the first time I've been brought to another Earth," Superman started, glancing away for the first time, down towards the congested city below. "This isn't the first time I've been here, either. The ties I have back home are important to me, and I'd love to have a way back, but I can't go in good conscience until I've done all I can to help here."

He looked back at Iron Man. "My powers have gone through the wringer here, to be honest, and I'm not going to be able to do everything I've been capable of before. All the more reason to make those connections and use them. The superhero community here is smaller, less familiar, but I think that it's good a good advantage." He untangled his arms and tapped a finger against the device on his belt. "And the only drawback there is that it doesn't look like the good guys are the only ones with the access.

"It's something I've been addressing with others...Just throwing ideas out there to see what sticks, but I think it's worth bringing to the table to those genuinely in the mindset to do some good here, like yourself. A secondary network of sorts specifically for the heroes."

[liverletdie]

"I've heard that from others," he admitted. "Some of my own allies from home have seen their abilities or suits downgraded," he admitted. "However, any powers can help. Hell, no powers can help. For the majority of my adult life, since getting into this I never had a thing but my brain and a lot of money to build a suit," he gestured down at the sleek outfit.

"Allies are the most important thing, not the power set, if we're going to be honest. I've had the opportunity to work with the best," and the worst, "of my world, and when we're working together, we make the real difference," the inflection even came through the suit's speakers.

"I'm starting to think that this world needs us just as much as our own worlds do, if not more. I don't think our arrival is what started the chaos, and if we left, I don't think it would end, either."