ptsd is just spicy nostalgia (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
billionaires) wrote2022-08-27 10:43 pm
billionaires) wrote2022-08-27 10:43 pm
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one of these things isn't like the other✨
Tony had actually done pretty well tracking down the totem-bearers and convincing at least some of them to help him put down Thanos for good. Without ever meeting him, he somehow already knows Behrad will be the glue for this operation, and after everything Zari told him he desperately wants this to go well. Behrad is visiting his family because their superhero group actually gets vacation time, as Sara explains to Tony. Being able to harness time itself does have its perks, or so he would assume. Strange always looks miserable, but there's a lot to unpack there aside from the time stone.
Anyway, that's how he ends up being dropped off in a really nice neighborhood sometime in the 2030s and wondering how long he's been dead in the present. Hopefully, they won't find him as recognizable as Zari had. He buzzes at the gate of their McMansion, remembering all too vividly that portion of his life where he lived in a gated community. It doesn't seem to jive with totem girl, but she did say the family changed completely after her sacrifice.
"Singing telegram for Behrad Tarazi," he deadpans, waving at the security camera and holding up the bouquet of flowers in his hands to show whoever is watching he isn't a threat.
Anyway, that's how he ends up being dropped off in a really nice neighborhood sometime in the 2030s and wondering how long he's been dead in the present. Hopefully, they won't find him as recognizable as Zari had. He buzzes at the gate of their McMansion, remembering all too vividly that portion of his life where he lived in a gated community. It doesn't seem to jive with totem girl, but she did say the family changed completely after her sacrifice.
"Singing telegram for Behrad Tarazi," he deadpans, waving at the security camera and holding up the bouquet of flowers in his hands to show whoever is watching he isn't a threat.
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Not like he thinks he'll ever finish repaying the people he's wronged, but this seemed neater than the way things usually go for him. At least no one new is dead... okay, so it's a tragically low bar.
"Now maybe you get why I had trouble putting this into words...?" Hopefully, they'll forgive him too and he'll be three for three. A new record, actually.
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The Tarazi siblings eye both of them warily. Zari is the first to say something. "Yeah, you weren't kidding. It's me dressed as a twelve-year-old boy. I even have the entitlement down! Consent isn't a big thing where you come from, is it?" She asks sharply. Getting kicked into the totem while someone hijacked her body is the worst possible first impression.
Tomaz looks away because accident or not, she'd been tempted to stay. It's only Behrad's rejection that made her stay on the mission. "Yeah, I probably deserve that. Look I can explain everything and then I am going to need you to listen to him." She jerks a thumb in Tony's direction. "As far as I can tell from listening in, the world went from one egomaniac killing everyone in sight to another. I didn't sacrifice my existence so that my family could die all over again. We need to work together on this." That earns stunned silence from the pair. Good. Tomaz is sick of the guilt trip already. She glances at Tony. "You up for explaining your problem after?"
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"He's right as much as it pains me to admit." Tomaz points out snarkily. It's a cover and comfort. Being mean is a way to dodge her grief. The source of it is across from her. She stares at him before giving something real. "The truth is up until recently Tony Stark was the man who ruined our lives. I come from a version of the timeline where Ultron killed off most of humanity. He was only interested in sparing metas or people who were special in some way like us." She swallows thickly. "People who were chosen for a higher purpose." She stares straight at the younger Tarazi to make her meaning impossible to miss.
"Behrad couldn't accept a world where people died because a robot decided they didn't have any value. I wasn't a fan either no matter how much he tried to force us to change our minds." Her eyes glaze over as she recalls some of the cruelties she endured. She'd been an easy person to make an example out of as someone old enough to remember life before Ultron's reign. She's grateful Behrad had been spared imprisonment unlike her. Death had been kinder in so many ways. "Eventually we started fighting back. Behrad used the family totem and I got really good at turning Ultron's machines against him. He was the hero and I was the sidekick. I was happy to follow his lead." That part clearly shakes the siblings. Out of the two, it's plain to see which of them was a natural leader.
"Eventually, Ultron found us. We got our parents out but, Behrad he..." Her eyes well up with unshed tears. "You were killed. Our parents were killed before I could catch up to them. I couldn't accept it so I decided to the only way to win was to destroy the game. I joined the Legends and started hacking history bit by bit. It took a lot of time, but I found a point where I could safely change how the story goes. I made a world where Ultron loses the Battle of Sokovia. I made a world where we grow up free together this time." A soft laugh that borders on a sob escapes her mouth. Go figure she didn't get to live it. "Guess history didn't like me screwing with it because now you're both going to have to fight again. Different bad guy, pretty much the same plan." She looks to Tony for confirmation. "Your guy is wiping out as many people as he can to make the world a better place, right? I can only get so much here."
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"Not my guy this time," he points out helpfully with a sharp sigh through his nose before continuing. "But that's the gist, yeah. He thinks half the people means more plentiful resources and a better experience for all involved, allegedly. And his rocks are shinier than yours, but if we stop him before he collects 'em all I think we stand a fighting chance."
Only once he's done does he turn that kicked puppy look to the siblings on the other couch. It is kind of funny how fast he and Zari got through their ish, meanwhile the one from his timeline he'd immediately connected to now seems like she'll never trust him again in just as short a span.
"If you and the other totem bearers are willing to help little ol' me, that is."
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(Tomaz fails to hide completely how much it wounds her to see someone else enjoying the relationship she longs for with Behrad.)
It sounds like a nightmare. Some parts are simply hard to accept. Behrad as the big hero? Zari as his faithful sidekick? They both suppose that is the dynamic they are in now. They can only hope it doesn't end nearly as tragically because it doesn't even need to be a discussion. Neither have ever been good at ignoring a call to action when it counts.
It doesn't change how on guard they are. It's difficult not to feel sorry for someone who went through such a terrible ordeal and essentially died at the end of it. Tony is a more complicated matter for Zari at least. Behrad, while cautious, is always the more forgiving one.
They exchange looks once Tony speaks up. Despite all the drama and disagreements, for now, they are perfectly in sync with what they should be doing as a unit. Zari is naturally the one to speak up. "We're in. Morons and shiny weapons are a pretty dangerous combo. I can talk the rest into it." It doesn't matter that she never met them before. This is where she shines.