Prompt#322 -That Which Does Not- Room for Improvement - Tekia – Exalted/the Avengers

[tekia.livejournal.com]

Title: Room for Improvement
Fandom: Exalted/The Avengers
Prompt: That which does not kill us, makes us old and cranky before our time
Warnings: none
Rating: PG-13
Summary: After falling into a trap, the first order of business it to find out where you are. But, if where you are makes no sense, then what are you supposed to do? Traveling to the future is easy, just fall asleep, right? Waking up to a whole different world is harder. Luckily, Tony Stark can adapt to any environment.

They felt the cool air from outside before they could see the exit to the tunnel. White Song crouched down and pulled Tony down by a hand gripping the armor. He dropped to his knees with the faint sound of hydraulics following him.
“Scouts,” Tony asked in a whisper.
White Song nodded. “Most likely. Let me go ahead and find out how many people are waiting for us.” Before he could say a word, she changed into a mouse. He nearly lost his balance when her hand disappeared from his armor and hand to crouch with his hands in the dirt. Tony shivered as she scampered away, the cool breeze snaking down his armor.
There was only the faint sound of water echoing from the cave mouth. Tony sat back on the ground with a soft curse. The sounds we so very different from Afghanistan that he could put up a fight against the upsurge of memories. They were still there, ready to jump forth and consume him, but with his eyes on the shadows made by his caste mark and his ears picking up the sounds of nature, he could stay in the present.
The mouse reappeared around a bend of rock and shifted into White Song. She was frowning.
“There are about ten men with spears. And our new friend.”
Tony frowned and glanced behind him. “At least we know that he’s not going to come up from behind us.”
She stood and leaned against the dark wall. “What’s the plan?”
Tony opened his mouth to reply, paused, and closed his mouth. “Uh?”
She rolled her eyes. “Right. So, let me go first to scare off the humans, and you fight who remains behind.”
“I don’t think you’re going to scare off our resident demigod.”
She had an odd smile tilting her lips. “Yeah. He’s made of stouter stuff, isn’t he?”
Tony rubbed a hand over his brow and adjusted his grip on the helmet. “What is he?”
Together, they pulled Iron Man to his feet. Tony leaned against the wall as he inspected the damage done to his boot. There was a long cut from the sword that he hadn’t noticed hitting. He made a face. He wasn’t going to be able to fix this here, with this limited technology. Hopefully the will get him back before he lost the whole of the Iron man suit, one cut and smashed gauntlet at a time.
He looked back up at White Song, hoping for an answer. “Well? What is he?”
“Your brother.”
Tony froze in the process of pulling his helmet back on. “What?”
She shrugged. “You and I, we’re cousins. In a way. We were made by gods that were siblings, and that makes us cousins. Or near as.” She gestured back toward the exit. “Him out there, he’s a Solar, like you. Your brother.”
“Some brother. He’s trying to kill me.” A thought suddenly popped up. “He thinks I’m a Dragon Blooded.”
“You look like one. You look rich, snobbish, and arrogant. And the armor doesn’t help.” Her eyes went to the arc reactor glowing softly in the cave, nowhere as bright as the caste mark’s light flooding the immediate area. “Only, that sets you apart. That can easily label you as a follower of Autochthon. Either way, you’re a threat to all of us.”
Tony flinched. There that was again. His brain was a threat. His life was a threat to these people and he didn’t even really understand why. What had he done in his life to make it so that he was such a dangerous person? Well, don’t answer that. He slammed the helmet down into place and fisted his hands in the new gauntlets. They, surprisingly, held up very well under his new brother’s power, unlike his boot.
White Song grinned. “Right as rain,” she commented to him, after looking him up and down. She clapped him on the shoulder, but he couldn’t feel it through the armor. “Now let’s go and get back before Iron Dust explodes with worry and rage.”
He nodded and pushed away from the wall. “Let’s blow this joint.”
White Song nodded and turned away. She changed back into that large cat form, looked at him over her shoulder once, then dashed out of the cave. Seconds later there were shouts echoing down the tunnel of the cave. Tony took a bracing breath and followed.
He wished he had a sword. Or a weapon of any sort.
The night was full on, but JARVIS was his ally, making everything visible to him. He watched White Song’s tail flicker away behind a tree as bodies of heat signature dashed as fast as they could in front of her. Tony had a moment of worry that they were now separated, but shook it off as something told him that his brother had indeed decided to attack from behind.
Tony ducked under a sword swipe arching over his head, the HUD alight with warnings. He grinned as he rolled away from the next attack. “JARVIS, am I now faster than you?”
“It would seem so, Sir. Your reaction time has more than doubled since your… second breath.”
Tony scrambled to his feet and held his hands out before him. “Look, bro, we’re not your enemy.”
He snorted and charged. Their feet tangled as he followed Tony step for step. Tony caught one hand and held him away. “I’m a Solar, like you.” He ripped his helmet off, the light from his caste mark still shining bright.”
The man’s eyes went wide and he finally stopped his attack. His eyes were on Tony’s caste mark.
“My village.”
“Was already lost before we got here. I’m sorry, we really were trying to help.”
The man took a step back. He looked over Tony’s shoulder toward the forest behind them. “They don’t know about me.”
“Which would explain why they called me a demon, yet work willingly with you.” Tony grinned and ran a hand through his hair. He made a face when the stone of the gauntlet snagged his hair. He pulled his hand free and looked around them. “My friend was just trying to scare them away.”
“Friend.” Then he understood. “Lunar.” He reached out toward the arc reactor and Tony, unthinkingly, backed away. “What is it?”
“It keeps me alive.”
“Why?”
“Well, you know, that which does not kill us, makes up old and cranky before our time and all that.”
He smiled, and Tony counted that as a win. The sword had been lowered. Tony tapped his hand against the reactor and grinned. “This keeps me alive and sane after all that.” He touched a finger to his brow. “This gives me a third chance at making all that right.”
The man’s eyes went sharp when they caught Tony’s gaze. “Third?”
Tony dropped his finger from his brow to his chest and the man nodded. Tony took a breath. “Look, I’m trying to get back home and save the people I care about. We’re looking for a water manse on this floating island.”
Instantly, the man frowned, his grip on the sword tightening. His lip curled back over his teeth. “Then you came to the right place.”
He moved before Tony, his fist slamming into his chest, into the arc reactor again. A shockwave threw Tony away from him, the armor crumbling as easy as tin foil under the force of the punch. The man’s own caste mark, an empty circle, blazed on his brow. Tony gasped, the air leaving him as his whole body erupted in pain the second time that night. He fell to his knees, gasping.
“What the hell.”
He crouched before Tony and pulled his face up by his chin pinched between his fingers. “That water manse is under my protection. Nobody will ever step foot inside without my command.”
Tony caught his wrist. “L-Luna,” he gasped out before the man threw him away from him. Tony fought to scrambled away, to scramble to his feet as the man brought the sword up.
“Do you think I believe your lies? Do you think you’re anything more than yet another treasure hunter that wants to gut my ancestor’s seat of power?” He braced himself, putting his body behind force of the sword arcing toward his neck.
A shadow loomed up behind him and something heavy swung out, connecting to his head and knocking him clean out.
Tony breathed out a laugh as he finally got to his feet. “Wow, he didn’t even see you coming.”
Iron Dust pushed his hair out of his face and glared at Tony. “Of course he didn’t. Where’s White Song?”
Tony shrugged. “Who knows? She was chasing some people, and hasn’t returned yet.”
“I’m here,” she said, coming out of the shadows, in her human form. “What happened to him,” she asked, eyeing the man out cold.
“Iron Dust took him out. One hit to the head.” He couldn’t pull the smile from his face.
“Indeed.” He tossed his bag to Tony, who caught it against his chest.
He frowned down at the bag. “Did you just take him out with a book?”
One fine silver brow arched up. “Of course.” He knelt down and touched a hand to the man’s face. “What happened here?”
White Song stepped between Tony and Iron Dust. “This village was attacked. We were trying to help. He didn’t want our help.”
“I may have made the mistake of telling him what we were looking for.” Two pair of angry eyes turned toward him and he threw up his hands. “What? White Song said he was like me. I had hoped he would be an ally.” Their eyes narrowed. “He wasn’t.”
“We noticed,” White Song said.
Tony shrugged then grinned. “But he did know what I was talking about when I said water manse on a floating island.”