[...But, for once, Duo decides to actually elaborate. That bastard, as much as Duo didn't like him, had witnessed so much more. Had been one of the keys to Lachesis. It was important information.]
Tony Stark. Alias "Iron Man". The longest-running imPort. Although, not the oldest- I currently retain that dubious honor. He's been an imPort since a few months after I arrived in the City, maybe three or four. And from what I understand, he's been an imPort pretty much continuously since then, bar a few "trips" back home. Therefore, he's been around for almost everything that's gone down since the beginning of imPort history.
Almost.
But what's important is his particular relevance to early imPorts, and Lachesis' first appearance. Requires some context first. (It's a lot, don't fall asleep, this will be on the test):
His "powers" amount to the ability to speak to and intuitively control machines using his own proprietary nanites, but what he's known for is the suit of armor he wears. He builds them himself- his main trade is being a bigshot tech CEO. "Genius inventor", all that junk. Full-body titanium alloy. Particle and incendiary ballistics, suppressive mechanisms, I'm sure it has all sorts of other nasty tricks. Self powered. Has a native on-board AI to help I presume with the general UI needs, targeting, logistics, any typical "concierge" necessities of the pilot. I don't know what other tricks he's gotten since back then, but after this long, I'm sure it's plenty.
[...Maybe all this tech talk would go over Dee's head a little, but for Duo, it was simply intuitive.]
Also important to know are his politics. Back in his home world, he was the chief of what I suppose you could call their world's equivalent of imPort Affairs. Control and suppression of powered individuals. Also in the United States. He was infamous for introducing hardline policies requiring all powered individuals to register with the government- much like imPort registration, except with the penalty for not registering being indefinite imprisonment. Led to civil war.
Anyway, when the very first imPorts began to be pulled from their worlds and arrived in the City, the figure that faced them wasn't Lachesis. It was Iron Man. We were fed a sob story about the City being in need of heroes, blah blah, the exacts aren't important anymore. Ask if you want to know them later.
Suffice to say, given that a large number of the imPort population back at that time came from the same world as "Tony Stark", many became suspicious of him as time went on. Amongst other things, no one had ever managed to see his real, human face. He kept the armor on at all time and refused to speak to anyone outside of a sparse number of network-wide communications. Me and my [...Heh, what to call him?] allies uncovered various other information that solidified the theory that he was a fake.
This was confirmed when Tony Stark himself was Ported in. Turns out that "Iron Man" was a rogue armor suit of his whose AI had overdeveloped. (Actually the specifics are pretty funny there, too. Ask me another time.) From there, it was only a short time until Lachesis revealed herself as inhabiting the Porter, and destroyed the suit, since she didn't need the puppet anymore.
And here he is still, ten years later. For whatever reason, between her keeping Stark here all this time and using his image as her first face to us imPorts, it's undeniable that she's got some kind of draw or favoritism towards him. Whatever that is.
longest 2/2 in the history of EVER
Tony Stark. Alias "Iron Man". The longest-running imPort. Although, not the oldest- I currently retain that dubious honor. He's been an imPort since a few months after I arrived in the City, maybe three or four. And from what I understand, he's been an imPort pretty much continuously since then, bar a few "trips" back home. Therefore, he's been around for almost everything that's gone down since the beginning of imPort history.
Almost.
But what's important is his particular relevance to early imPorts, and Lachesis' first appearance. Requires some context first. (It's a lot, don't fall asleep, this will be on the test):
His "powers" amount to the ability to speak to and intuitively control machines using his own proprietary nanites, but what he's known for is the suit of armor he wears. He builds them himself- his main trade is being a bigshot tech CEO. "Genius inventor", all that junk. Full-body titanium alloy. Particle and incendiary ballistics, suppressive mechanisms, I'm sure it has all sorts of other nasty tricks. Self powered. Has a native on-board AI to help I presume with the general UI needs, targeting, logistics, any typical "concierge" necessities of the pilot. I don't know what other tricks he's gotten since back then, but after this long, I'm sure it's plenty.
[...Maybe all this tech talk would go over Dee's head a little, but for Duo, it was simply intuitive.]
Also important to know are his politics. Back in his home world, he was the chief of what I suppose you could call their world's equivalent of imPort Affairs. Control and suppression of powered individuals. Also in the United States. He was infamous for introducing hardline policies requiring all powered individuals to register with the government- much like imPort registration, except with the penalty for not registering being indefinite imprisonment. Led to civil war.
Anyway, when the very first imPorts began to be pulled from their worlds and arrived in the City, the figure that faced them wasn't Lachesis. It was Iron Man. We were fed a sob story about the City being in need of heroes, blah blah, the exacts aren't important anymore. Ask if you want to know them later.
Suffice to say, given that a large number of the imPort population back at that time came from the same world as "Tony Stark", many became suspicious of him as time went on. Amongst other things, no one had ever managed to see his real, human face. He kept the armor on at all time and refused to speak to anyone outside of a sparse number of network-wide communications. Me and my [...Heh, what to call him?] allies uncovered various other information that solidified the theory that he was a fake.
This was confirmed when Tony Stark himself was Ported in. Turns out that "Iron Man" was a rogue armor suit of his whose AI had overdeveloped. (Actually the specifics are pretty funny there, too. Ask me another time.) From there, it was only a short time until Lachesis revealed herself as inhabiting the Porter, and destroyed the suit, since she didn't need the puppet anymore.
And here he is still, ten years later. For whatever reason, between her keeping Stark here all this time and using his image as her first face to us imPorts, it's undeniable that she's got some kind of draw or favoritism towards him. Whatever that is.
Even if I can't fucking stand the guy.