Field Trip to the Golden Age for rekindledtitan

[red_room]

There's a whole lot to like about Steve's new place in the Nexus.

It's in a quiet part of the multiverse, plenty of open air and room to train or scout undisturbed. It's a bigger place with a lot more room for furniture and a spare room that Natasha has already commandeered for a makeshift safe house including a bug out bag all ready to go at the drop of a hat. Ready for missions or trouble and ready to come back and have a safe place if her own place is compromised.

The other nice thing about it is having a perpetually warm doglike creature napping over her leg as she cleans her weapons next to one of the windows. Thanks to the Accords and Steve's determination to have that all go sideways and the fallout because of it they'd be on the run a lot more if they were frequenting their home. Having a safe place to escape to in the Nexus for a breather is every kind of good for the soul.

Natasha spies the bots PINpointing to the front walkway and tosses a look over her shoulder toward where Steve's sitting with his sketchbook in lap.

"Looks like the party's about to be started, Rogers."

She'll let Steve worry about getting up and answering the door for Blaze and Ghost. It buys her a minute to finish with her guns.

Comments

[rekindledtitan]

Ghost keeps his relief to himself, getting to work listening to Tony and making suggestions about what he can do. Maybe Blaze will sleep more often if he can point to such a compelling reason why it's necessary.

"Yeah." Blaze takes the cloak gently, smoothing the stained and ragged cloth in her lap. It still smells faintly of decay and must. The scent of the Nightmare. "I'm not going to reboot. I can actually hear myself think." She lets out a short chuckle, staring down at the cloak for a couple of seconds before she starts folding it over.

"You know, I always figured the reboots were part of our design. Some kind of maintenance protocol - or a security measure, maybe. A necessity our creators couldn't avoid. I used to hope it was a good reason. I don't think I ever considered that it might be unintentional. Hnh. Starting to wonder if they- if any of us knew what we were doing." She looks around then and reaches up, placing her hand over Natasha's for a moment. With its owner back, the mesh lining of her gauntlet is starting to warm up again. "Guess I'm just lucky to have friends who do."

[red_room]

"There is a damn good reason they're in there." Tony pipes up from where he's looking over the schematics with Ghost. He nods at Blaze with more seriousness to his expression than he's had at all when she's been awake for any of this visit. "They're keeping you from shutting down for good. And not like your body or whatever. Your mind. Forced wipes and restarts from backups are a safety feature. Better for you to lose your memories and wake up again than for your mind to go total meltdown and shut down for good. I'm not sure how that would work for you though, since that Light function seems to be keeping you online either way."

It's possible she'd just go back to being a non-sentient robot lady if the Light was bound and determined to keep her functional. Tony doesn't think that would be doing anyone any favors though. He doesn't understand how any of that works. What he does know is that Blaze's wipes smell suspiciously like a work around or a design feature moreso than a bug. There's enough "smart" tech he's built to recognize someone else's ideas for what they are.

Natasha gives Tony a grim eye until he's finished before nodding back down to Blaze. For better or for worse, Tony seems to understand what she is a lot better than most. Even if he's woefully ignorant on some big things about her and her world, including her, there's enough familiar for him to wade into it with some degree of confidence.

Natasha doesn't let go of Blaze's shoulder until Blaze pulls away first.

[rekindledtitan]

The emphatic way Tony interjects makes her sit up and pay attention, even if she doesn't enjoy the point he makes. Logically, yes, better to lose some memories than the whole mind. And yet... Blaze doesn't consider that a obvious choice these days. Even if Tony's last remark presents a new and particularly horrifying alternative. Were her mind destroyed, what Light could she still bear? Or does the Traveler's power really care? Would it go on sustaining her no matter what actually remained? Surely it would try to repair her. But she doesn't feel certain.

"I'd rather not find out what happens if the Light only restores my body," she admits, voice low and grim. She clips the folded cloak at her side again, an unwieldy Titan's mark. She clasps Natasha's arm as she stands, giving the spy a look of wordless thanks. Then she crosses over to see what Ghost and Tony are working on. She may not understand all the details flying by, but it's a strange thing to look over their- well, Tony's shoulder at the scans of her own internals. Ghost looks so wrapped up in the task, it's easy for her to forget that he must be speaking to Steve right now, letting the captain know what's happening at each and every step.

"So what now? Can you replicate the procedure, Ghost? This mean we can stop a reboot from becoming necessary?"

"Yes and... not exactly. It will help your mind function better and reduce the chances of a reset. But as Mr. Stark says, that's only part of the problem."

[red_room]

"It's a start though. A step in the right direction." Natasha doesn't approach the screens. Blaze deserves some manner of privacy where her own mind is concerned. Tony's said more than enough already and the spy wants to remain professional and respectful given the sensitive nature of the talks.

There won't be terribly much insight Steve can offer on the technical jargon, though he sends a text back to Ghost after the explanation that's curious and a bit worried.

If it's to protect her formerly human mind, does that mean the solution could be a human one too? If so, I can help there.

[rekindledtitan]

"I'm not complaining. This is more than anyone's done for an Exo in at least eight hundred years." And yet now she has to wonder how much further they can go. There's a nightmare on her heels and now she tastes hope they can stop it in its tracks.

A human solution? Ghost puzzles over Steve's suggestion, shooting a glance aside at Tony. He floats closer to the screens and peers up, shell twitching back and forth. "Human problems... human solutions?"

"Ghost?"

He looks back at his Guardian quickly. "Well, if the instability issues are tied to the- um, human element of your mind, maybe we shouldn't look at this solely as a mechanical problem." He says that as if he's sure, but he's checking with Steve: You're saying there might be other methods of protecting it?

[juststeverogers]

There's plenty of stuff humans do to protect their mental health and well being all the time. Sleeping right, eating right, healthy hobbies and social interactions. One of my friends used to work at a Veterans' Hospital in the capital dealing with mental trauma in returning soldiers from the field. No one treatment works for everyone but there's coping strategies that help. Might not be that different for Blaze. I can ask Sam about it.

It takes Steve a minute to sent the lengthy texts to Ghost but in that time both Tony and Natasha have turned their attention back to the little bot. Natasha's carefully watching everything, sensing that Steve might have been the trigger for this new idea and not wanting anything to fall through now that they've come so far.

Tony nods though and gives a shrug of one shoulder.

"It's definitely possible. Those measures do seem to be in place to keep the kindasorta human brain that's been turned into a program from freaking out and just shutting down altogether. I'd have to do more scans but that's getting into shit like psychology and I am so not the man to talk to about that if that's the case."

[rekindledtitan]

I would appreciate that, Steve. I think I know what she would say to suggestions like those, but I say we need to evaluate anything that might help.

"Ghost," she's warning right now, "if you're working up to suggest a shrink, just remember the last one."

"I don't think Dr. Hill-"

"Besides," she says flatly, overriding whatever he meant to say, "psychology won't do much good if I can't hold on to it." She glances up at Natasha, then turns an intent look on Tony. "Is there anything more you can do to figure out the physical problem?"

[red_room]

"Don't look at me, Blaze."

Natasha holds both of her hands up this time. Shakes her head ever so slightly from side to side. This isn't anything she understands more than vaguely generic topics of and they're way outside her area of expertise on this one. Tony was supposed to be the expert here.

"Not without a lot more data. We did just meet today you realize." Tony gives a sharp sigh there. Without a lot more data all he can really do is guess.

"We'd have to do a bunch of scans and you'd probably have to be awake this time so I could suss out any differences or errors as they happen. No telling how long we'd have to look before I could catch one. You did say you were a couple hundred years old."

[rekindledtitan]

"Then do it." She says it without hesitation. Without thinking. Then adds, "Please. I don't want to forget again, Mr. Stark." She doesn't mean to sound desperate, but it's creeping into her voice. She can't let this chance go. "I can't have lasted more than a few years between resets. It's been six already. Whatever's screwed up in my head, it should already be happening. Anything you have to do, it's not going to be worse than what's ahead of me."

[red_room]

There's a tic in Tony's jaw and a twitch of his nose that Natasha has learned is a sign when he's upset or having a Feeling about something that he's none too happy with. Stark used to be terrible in these kinds of situations but lately something seems to have been helping him mature at least a bit. He gives a jerky nod of his head after a few moments of silence.

"Alright, no more today though. I need to go over the data I've gathered here and crunch some numbers. See if I can refine my program at all to find what exactly it is we're looking for. Shouldn't take more than a week. I'll make it work."

The spy gives Ghost a meaningful look before turning her attention to Tony and then Blaze very noticeably.

"Might be best to give your contact info to Ghost then, let him know when we can continue, if this is going to be an ongoing thing."

[rekindledtitan]

Ah. Ghost bobs slightly at Natasha's look. If they're going to repeat this visit, they're going to have to make sure they exercise the same care as they did today. Blaze is only going to get less comfortable with how much they're hiding. The more they get to know Stark, the more he does for them, the more he becomes a friend as well as Steve, then the harder it will be for her to accept lying to him.

But neither bot would accept putting Natasha or Steve in danger, so they'll have to take the alternative.

"Right. I'll always be available for contact," he says for now.

Actually exchanging details will have to wait, however. Just now Tony's getting swept up in a big metal hug from the Titan, stray sparks and all. Blaze doesn't know what this job represents for him, but she knows what it means to her, and her gratitude is intense.

[red_room]

"Romanoff what--?!"


Every line in Tony's posture is rigid and startled by the hug. His arms halfway raised as though he's not sure if he should defend himself or reach up to touch Blaze. Given the level of Tony's PTSD when it comes to robots trying to kill him Nat's honestly surprised his knee-jerk reaction wasn't to summon his suit.

Is someone else hugging this wreck of a man lately? Pepper, while affectionate, isn't much of a hugger. Curious.

"I think it's called a hug, Tony." She makes sure to drawl out the words just enough so that Tony's clear that Natasha knows there's no danger here. She's careful to watch until Tony relaxes ever so slightly and accepts his fate.

"Okay that-that's nice let me go. We don't do hugs here."

[rekindledtitan]

"Blaze." Ghost's optic flits over them, assessing carefully. But his Guardian is already releasing Tony and stepping back.

"Right. Sorry." She's a little sheepish, moreso when she realizes how tense Stark looks. There's an awkward rub at one antenna before she folds her arms. Most people she knows can be a little twitchy about sudden physical contact, but Stark definitely doesn't care for it. Probably better they establish that now, anyway. "I'm just- extremely grateful that you're willing to help. Thank you."

[red_room]

"Try. I'm wiling to try to help. Your tech kit is way different to what I'm used to dealing with. Honestly getting to learn more about your structure and systems are only going to help me out in the long run, so it's no trouble."

The more weird ass things Tony can study and reverse engineer the better off they'll be in the long run as stranger and stranger threats keep making themselves known. Without the Avengers (the proper Avengers at least) around to handle things Stark's trying to take on as much as he can manage on his plate to help keep things safe.

This will be a much needed research opportunity with something that won't potentially end in death or an all out war.

"You're welcome. I'll shoot you a message when I'm ready to do some follow up work. Until then, relax, have some fun. You should be running a bit better than you came in here."

[rekindledtitan]

Despite Tony's attempt to temper her hopes, Blaze doesn't look the least bit swayed. It seems she's determined to trust in him no matter what he'd prefer.

She gives him a nod, and turns to join Natasha while Ghost sorts out the contact details. "I owe you for this, too, Romanov. Both a debt and my thanks."