madeofsocks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
madeofsocks) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bakerstreet2014-05-07 10:58 am
madeofsocks) wrote in bakerstreet2014-05-07 10:58 am
(no subject)
the AU VERSE IDEA meme
In your top level comment, describe an idea for an AU you have. It can be anything from a couple of words ("High fantasy AU!" "Jill dies instead of Jack!") to the most teal of deer describing how you see this AU playing out. Do not leave your comment blank. Feel free to include multiple prompts/ideas!
Now go around tagging other people whose AU ideas intrigue you. Plot further, or just fire right in with a starter tag for a thread in that verse.
????
Profit
Now go around tagging other people whose AU ideas intrigue you. Plot further, or just fire right in with a starter tag for a thread in that verse.
????
Profit
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would you like to set something up or would you prefer I do? (also, where? I have a musebox if you don't!)
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OOPS kinda forgot I was meant to be starting this ALL THE APOLOGIES SORRY I SUCK
There's a resistance, of course, flourishing underground and growing with every new atrocity. It's something that Zola didn't understand, that Insight didn't account for, that HYDRA still seem blind to: fear will only keep people down for so long. No matter how tight your grip, how brutal your retaliation, there will always be someone who has so little left to lose that fear means nothing to them any more.
A lot of people lost everything in those first few terrible days. The dead number in the millions. Tony should know; he's among them. Officially, anyway: the record shows that Tony Stark died in the ensuing explosion and structural collapse when Insight targeted Stark Tower. It was nearly true. Only special defenses and emergency protocols built into the Tower after the attack on the house in Malibu had saved his life. Even with them, he'd escaped far from unscathed; nearly a year on, the injuries have healed, but the scars remain. Ugly scarring across his cheek and down the side of his neck, cutting into the thick, identity-concealing scruff his signature goatee has been allowed to grow out into where it crosses his jawline. A slight limp that's yet to heal fully and probably never will. A dozen others besides, old burns and bones healed crooked, mostly hidden beneath his clothes.
It doesn't matter. He's learned to live with it, like he once learned to live with the hot weight of the arc reactor and the cruel claws of shrapnel buried in his chest. What they're doing is far too important to let anything slow him down.
The past year has been a hard one, for all of them. But at last they're close. He's been working on a way to take down the helicarriers for months, and at last, they're at a point where they can do it. The technical part isn't difficult. He designed those helicarriers, he knows them from the ground up; he could cripple them both with a screwdriver and a couple a paperclips if it came to it. The hard part has been finding a way to get there. Iron Man could have done it in an afternoon and been home before they hit the ground, but for obvious reasons that's not an option. It's been a long year, but they're finally there. Tomorrow, those helicarriers are going down.
The technical aspect may have been the easy part, but there's still infinite potential for it to go horribly wrong. That's why Tony was absolutely adamant that he had to be the one to go up there. They need to be able to react to changes of plan instantly, and no-one knows those helicarriers like he does. If something goes wrong, no-one stands a better chance than he does of improvising on the fly and still having it work.
It's also why the darkest hours of pre-dawn find him still poring over plans and schematics in what passes for their war room. He can sleep when he's dead, which actually might not be all that far off if anything goes wrong tomorrow. They're only going to get one shot at this]
No prob!
The last year has been worse than anything out on the field, worse than MREs and wet boots and tromping through the forests at winter.
He's seen more people die and not been able to do a goddamn thing about it than he had ever considered possible, and Steve - well, Steve's had enough of it. It takes everything in him to bide his time, to wait for them to figure out the best way to do this without risking everything and messing it up.
He doesn't know if Bucky is still out there, either. No one's seen him or heard from him but that doesn't mean anything. The news - what little there is, is controlled by HYDRA, just the same as everything else. It's not as if they'd publicize it like they did other events. He's not sure he wants to know, either. Going against HYDRA again means going against Bucky, potentially, and while Steve has enough anger built up inside to single-handedly throw himself against HYDRA, it's not the same against Bucky.
Whatever it takes, though. He'll take Bucky down, but not out, if they survive this, but they need to get the mission finished, first. That's the priority.
Steve steps down the stairs, boots falling heavy on the cement, easing into the war room and closing the door. Somehow, he's not surprised Tony's in there. ]
You'll need to sleep eventually, Tony.
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He does glance up at the sound of his name though, up from the vast array of files and blueprints spread out on the table before him. He gives a thin, mirthless smile, and shrugs]
Plenty of time for that after the mission [Snort] One way or the other.
[Sleep is the furthest thing from his mind. He'd be the first to concede that he looks like death, pale and worn with bruise-like shadows under his eyes and half-faded scars not quite hidden by the dim light. The funny thing is though, despite all this, he doesn't look tired; his eyes are bright and alert. This close to the end, what's powering him has little to do with food or sleep]
What about you? Isn't it past your bedtime?
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He doesn't comment on Tony's appearance - they all look like varying levels of crap depending on the day. Lack of sleep, coupled with lack of sunlight and poor nutrition on some parts means that no one really looks their best. Tony's done a lot with what he's had but it's been rough, on all of them. ]
No one's around to enforce my curfew.
[ Steve's lips twitch a touch, and he settles down next to Tony, glancing over the plans and layouts he's spent hours and hours pouring over already.
His voice isn't quite kind when he speaks, but it is a little softer, because out of all of them, Tony's the type to press himself the hardest. ]
We've been over these plans dozens of times, Tony.
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And I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one [Of course responsibility is relative, and in their merry little band it's a bit like being the sanest person in the asylum.
He sighs, rubbing a hand over his eyes, and sits back in the rickety chair] I know. I know, I just-- need to be sure [Of what, he doesn't specify, but it's not hard to infer the rest. That they haven't missed some glaring flaw in the plan. That he can actually do this. That they aren't about to lead a band of brave and dedicated people to futile deaths]
lmao we should decide who bit it and who didn't.
I'm the most responsible person in the room, if that counts.
[ The snark doesn't have the normal snap to it, though, as he moves closer and hooks his thumbs in his belt, glancing over everything. He knows it back to front, remembers everything about it, but he understands the need to go over it again. ]
Let's run through it.
[ They'll do another run the morning of, when they're all prepping, but if Tony needs someone to bounce this off of, Steve's awake and here. ]
Hah, we can figure it out as we go, I'm down with preeeetty much anything
[He flattens the schematic of the helicarrier machinery decks, smoothing his hands over the worn and much-folded paper. He taps a particular point on the plans, a bottleneck at the pressure door between the main deck and the engine room itself] I'm not sure about this one. We get made before we get this far, we're gonna lose a lot of people trying to break through
lmao yeah ultimately hydra basically ruined everyone's day. also makes shit up...
Our options are the Hulk, using some of our explosives, or - [ He pauses a moment, souring just a touch. He's not a huge fan of Magneto, but he's useful, and he's on their side. ]
We're going to need the explosives later on, here - [ Steve points to another set of doors, the reinforced steel too much without someone to break them down or blow them out. ] And Doctor Banner would be better used in case anything happens on the higher decks.
They do that. Assholes.
He'd been accused once of always looking for the third option, for the easy way out. He's not going to deny it. Not when more often than not he finds an easier way precisely because he's looking for one. He's an engineer. That's what he does]
What if we send-- [He snaps his fingers] --god, what's his name, that scottish kid Coulson's been running around with. The tech. If he goes in with Hill's team, they're gonna be near enough to this wiring conduit [He taps the relevant part of the plans] to cut power to the security room if they have to. They'll know something's up, but they'll be blind for at least five minutes. That might buy us the time we need if we get made.
SAD TROMBONE.
Steve thumbs over a wrinkle on the plans, and furrows his brow as he traces the lines of the teams, glancing at the wiring conduit and the doors. ]
Some of the bulkheads were wired together at the same points, here, here and here. [ He motions to them, and mulls over it. ] If we cut power to everything, none of the doors will open, but if we have all the teams in place before that, we can prop the doors open and close them behind us, and then retreat after we've completed the mission and the power goes back on. It doesn't give us a large window, but...
XD
[Not enough to get back out again. Not necessarily. But they both know that, so belaboring the point won't do them any good. They'll get this done, one way or another, and then they can do their best to get everyone out in one piece. But the order of their priorities is very clear.
He slouches down in the seat, scratching at the scruff along his jaw, and sighs] That's about all I've got. Anything you're not sure about?
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[ Mostly because they can't. Steve glances over everything once more, and feels like he's looked at this too many times to really be objective about it, but it could be worse. They seem to have accounted for everything, but HYDRA has the bad habit of making that useless when they turn everything upside down. ]
We've looked at this enough that I think we've accounted for anything we can. Everything else will have to be adapted to in the situation.
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He stretches lazily and gives a weary grin] So. Eat drink and be merry, huh? [For tomorrow we die]
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[ Also, they're not dying, Jesus, Tony. Steve starts folding the papers, handling each one with a little more care than is probably necessary, but care all the same. He's slipping into concerned leader mode, which means cleaning up and then turning to Tony, tone low. ]
I know you probably can't sleep but you should try.