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[gotup]

action/text/pictures/whatever I'm easy

something less lazy coming in another two years

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[myheartglows]

Yup. Into the wild blue yonder. [ stepping away, iron man lifts off, speaking over the thrusters, ] We're heading east, to the next mountain over. We'll be safe there. [ long enough for him to figure out their next move, he hopes. ]

[gotup]

Sounds like a plan.

[He's spent long enough in this territory to be familiar with the terrain; that and his speed and stamina allow them to keep a healthy lead on the soldiers. He might not be able to move as fast as Tony can, but he still has no problem keeping a consistent pace faster than any human's.

His thoughts wander as they travel; there isn't much of an opportunity to converse, not when Tony mostly keeps an eye out from midair and relays directions to him. He remembers when he'd come down here originally, sneaking rides on cargo trucks through Russia, then going his own solitary way until he'd found the right spot to settle down. He'd been looking over his shoulder then, afraid of who - or what - might be following him. After a few months, he'd realized that he'd already cost enough, that they didn't want to expend more lives trying to capture him again.

He remembers the base in Siberia, the blood that had soaked into his fur and matted his mane, dripped in runnels down his face like tear tracks. He doesn't regret any of it - if anything, he wishes he'd done it sooner.

God, he hopes he's not making a mistake with Tony. But he seems different, and he genuinely wants to believe that. It's not like he has a whole lot of options left.]

[myheartglows]

[ it'd take at least several days, even at their speed, to reach the next mountain, but the idea is to keep their distance from the search party. tony leads simba through the lower paths, where there's not much snow (less tracks) and more rocky brown earth than anything, the tufts of grass straggly and a dull green. the hindu kush mountain range rolls through and spikes into the horizon and clouds thick and puffy cover the sky, useful for tony to get an aerial read on the land ahead without being obvious. he relays information to simba through the armband (bracelet now, he guesses, whatever suits the big guy best), focused on their mission; no small talk. until finally, after they've been traveling for over an hour, tony's voice sounds out from the comm, ] You're not claustrophobic, are you?

[gotup]

I've been living in caves. I think you can safely assume the answer is no.

[He's not afraid of much of anything, as far as he can remember.]

[myheartglows]

[ there's no real path, but farther in the direction they're heading hovers iron man, steady in the air, a splash of vibrant red and gold. ] Okay. I might be challenging you on that, [ comes tony's distracted voice. ]

[gotup]

It mostly depends on how small the space you want me to fit into is.

[Because he's not exactly a small guy.]

[myheartglows]

Hn. Cats like boxes, right? [ iron man lowers himself down a steep decline up ahead, slipping a little on the loose rock. he raises a hand and waves the gion forward. ] Come over here. I see a cave.

[gotup]

[He simply jumps down, landing on all fours briefly before he rises to his feet again.]

Boxes?

[myheartglows]

[ tony closes his line to the bracelet. ] Cave first. Then we talk. [ he points the cave out before he hover-surfs down to it, rock and dirt tumbling with him, balanced and graceful in the armor. ]

[gotup]

Showoff.

[It's muttered under his breath, but without any real malice to it - more amused than anything else. Of course a guy who flies around in shiny red and gold armor likes to show off.

Going down on all fours again, he descends in a series of long, zig-zagging leaps, then picks himself up before he heads into the cave.]

[myheartglows]

[ iron man stands vigil, scanning the V-shaped valley of rock that the cave is tucked into, until simba safely heads in first. from above, the bottom looked wide and flat enough to land a black hawk helicopter; it'd suit their purposes fine. "as good a place as any," tony mutters and follows simba in. ]

Ready for the next chapter in your life? [ he asks, his hands spread out. he has a plan, yes, so this is simba's last chance to back out, but tony doesn't think he will. he doesn't seem the type. ]

[gotup]

Are you always this dramatic?

[A beat.]

You don't need to answer that.

[The answer is probably yes.]

I'm ready. What's the plan?

[myheartglows]

[ tony sneaks in his answer ("no. sometimes i'm more so") during that beat, anyway, before he explains, ] Bottom line? I smuggle you back as cargo. You'll need to sit still and quiet in a cramped crate for hours at a time. [ a forewarning and a question. if simba can: ] You manage that and I promise no one will find you. The only people touching the crate will be me, myself, and I.

[gotup]

[He hesitates for a moment before exhaling a long breath. He's trusted Tony this far, and he's not going to back out now.]

I can do it, [he promises, and he's not sure whether he's reassuring himself or Tony.]

[myheartglows]

[ had a feeling you would, tony thinks and nods. ] Then let's get this show on the road. [ he's still and quiet himself for a moment while he speaks to jarvis. ] Sit tight. I need to make a call.

[gotup]

[At this point, he's just accepted that Tony has methods of communication that are more advanced than he's familiar with, and so he just nods his agreement.]

I'll be back in a minute.

[He can hear a trickle of water from deeper in the cave, and he might as well drink while he has the chance.]

[myheartglows]

[ tony is still speaking inside his helmet by the time the gion returns, outwardly silent in juxtaposition to his gesticulating hands and slow, aimless pacing, but soon he's wrapping up the call. turns out his white lie to pepper last night about the armor being damaged works in his favor now. he told rhodey his armor is on the fritz and he needs transport out, so if rhodey mentions anything to pepper she'll unknowingly collaborate. he silently apologizes to her for making her job so much harder, especially lately. the work he performs as iron man outside of, well, work is just so important and no one else will or even can do it. he can't trust them to.

coordinates and the specifications for the crate ("and straw. or packing peanuts. there's delicate circuity in here," tony said, to which rhodey deadpanned, "i thought it was armored," and tony submitted, "fine, i don't want to scratch the paint") given, tony hangs up, but not before he exclaims, "i appreciate you!" down the line as his goodbye. because he does. he really, really does appreciate james rhodes, even if rhodey laughs it off as tony just blowing air. he hasn't told rhodey it nearly enough over the years. if rhodey didn't blow him off that time in the airbase, before tony started building the mark ii, he'd be the one flying the suit.

finished, iron man clomps to the lip of the cave where the shade and light clash and sits down, legs bent in front. he rests his helmeted head back against the rock. ] All right. Take a load off. Helo'll be here in a couple hours.

[gotup]

A helicopter.

[He eases down into a crouch.]

I've seen them from a distance. [He's probably been in them as cargo, but he'd always been sedated and caged when traveling.]

And then a plane? [Something about that makes him nervous, but he can't figure out why, so he ignores it for now.]

[myheartglows]

Yyyup, [ tony answers. for a period of time, the armor sits there unmoving, but hidden by it, tony is watching the gion curiously. now that they've a moment where they're not plagued by the danger of discovery, the oddities about simba that've piled up bug tony: the morality, the seemingly random knowledge of the human world, the (new york?) accent. tony needs to know more about him and not just to unveil the mystery. he's caring a lot more about people in general these days, or rather, caring more about making connections. real ones. he doesn't want to be a man who has "everything and nothing". maybe that's why he offered up his home.

whatever. he can armchair psychologist himself another time (or never). right now tony wants to figure out his upcoming houseguest. ] So what's your story? [ he asks bluntly. he figures it's not a happy one. he can sympathize. ]

[gotup]

[He can't say he's surprised by the question. It's simple human curiosity, after all - and Tony's giving him a home, which means, at the very least, he deserves to know something about him, even if it's just a reassurance that he won't kill him in his sleep.]

I don't remember a lot. I know I wasn't always like this, but - [he spreads his hands.] I don't remember before. It's on purpose. They didn't want me to remember anything. I was just supposed to kill when they wanted me to. I spent the rest of my time locked up, and when they needed me, they'd put drugs in my food. I'd wake up, they'd aim me at the target, and they'd drug me again.

One day, there was this little man visiting. A German. He taunted me, and it was like he'd known me before. He had me taken out and paraded around to humiliate me. [He smiles grimly then, something dark and full of teeth.]

He said the wrong thing, and I ripped his throat out. He was already dying - I could smell it in his blood. They tried to shoot me with darts, but I kept fighting, right down to the very last man.

[He's pretty sure that'll just give Tony more questions to ask. Maybe, if Tony's lucky, he'll even get some answers.]

[myheartglows]

[ "supposed to kill when they wanted me to," simba says and iron man lifts his head from the rock with a mechanical whir, more attentive and alert. the mask betrays nothing, expressionless and designed to intimidate (designed to carry the anger tony bears toward the ten rings; toward himself). his fingers twitch, his palms feeling warm. though the mask stares at the gion, the anger is directed elsewhere. ] Who were they? [ tony asks gruffly. if they're still operating, he's adding them to his shitlist. holding someone captive and telling them to kill (to build what'll be used to kill). their stories are just parallel enough to feel it.

'course, simba could be trying to gain sympathy. tony has more people than just himself to worry about, but he wants to believe in the gion who saved his life and won't even eat livestock because people here already "work hard enough". ]

[gotup]

[He shakes his head.]

I don't remember. Russians, mostly. They hid within the government, but they were more. Bigger.

[He wishes he could remember, wishes he could root them out around the world. Maybe they've disappeared over the years, but he doesn't think so - not with the way they could hide in plain sight.]

I knew them before, I think. I'm not sure. [He flexes his claws, and they scrape against the rock. God, he hates the way his memory works, the way things hover just out of reach no matter how hard he tries.] But they weren't Russian. Then, I mean. I don't- [He shakes his head.] I told you, my memory is...strange. I can remember stuff without really thinking about it, concepts and things. I don't even remember learning Russian, but I know it. But my life is just- [He waves a hand.] I know it's there somewhere, but I can't get it.

[myheartglows]

[ tony purses his mouth. this brings up more questions than answers, but every answer the gion can give will likely be a resounding IDK or have too many holes. unless he's lying. or hiding things, tony's self-preservation warns, but he's never been good at listening to it. none of this changes how he feels. it just makes helping simba possibly more complicated than simply finding him a forever home. ]

Well, keep thinking on it, okay? I might be able to track them down and get some of the answers you're missing. [ he rolls his shoulders, trying to stretch his chest and back out. ow. you don't really appreciate not having a chunk of metal in your sternum until you do. ] Or not. Your call. New place, new you, if you want. [ he's no stranger to leaving the past behind. ]

[gotup]

[For now, he's happy leaving well enough alone - and there's the fear that Tony will draw their attention by doing the wrong thing. They'll find both of them, and-

He's not going to think about that, he decides. Better to focus on one problem at a time.]

You think I could get some real pants? [he asks instead. The loincloth is a little too Tarzan for him, okay?]

[myheartglows]

[ a beat, and then tony chuffs, tilting his head. the amusement comes through even with the mask. ] Probably not at House of Bijan, but I can have something made and modify it.