Iron Girl Part 02

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Tony Stark. Industrialist. Inventor. Philanthropist. Multi-billionaire. He is interested where the energy that Metahumans get there powers comes from, little does he know that soon he will have more experience with that power than he ever wanted.

Tony Stark, Wolfsbane and other characters belong to the real owners, the Comic Retcon was Lilith's idea. Thanks for letting us play.


Tony sat at his desk, in his meeting office. He was unsure what Alan wanted to talk about, although the note had said it was a security issue. Randall was to follow that meeting, and he hoped that he knew what that was about. It had been about a month since he had found out about Randall's powers.

The door buzzed and Alan walked in and took the offered seat. "Good afternoon Alan."

Alan looked at Tony, with a worried face, "I hope it is Tony."

"So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about? Some thing to do with security?"

"Yes. I, uh. During a recent security check I found that someone had been hacking into the server that stores the security data from one of the properties Stark Security monitors. I tracked down the hack, and found that it had come from Doug's computer."

"Doug Ramsey?"

"Yes," he nodded. "That's why I decided to tell you. If he was making official changes he would have logged them. But these, I checked, and there are several accesses going back about a month."

Tony leaned back and crossed his hands. A moment later he asked, "Do you have any idea what he did or is doing?"

Alan laughed, "To be honest, I didn't even try to figure it out. I wouldn't even have found out about if it weren't for the automatic logs. There's maybe a dozen individuals, that given a reasonable amount of time could figure out what he did. The Feds could do it, again given enough time, probably other governments, and a few corporations. But, any of them would have to get physical access to the server. I might be able to do it, if you want the report I should have it done in about 10 years, assuming I don't do anything else during that time."

"No, that's alright I'll just ask him. I doubt it is anything illegal, or unethical. And don't worry, I won't mention your name."

Alan let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you. I doubt he would be vindictive, unless he ends up in jail or something."

"Is there anything else?"

"No, I think that I should get back to work."

"Have a good afternoon, and let me know if anything changes about that."

Alan got up and left the office, nodding to Randall and the secretary as he headed through the outer office. As he left he heard Tony over the intercom, "Miss Robinson, please tell Randall to come in now."

"Yes, Mr. Stark. Mr. Sinclair please go in now," she answered and said to Randall.

Randall walked in to see Tony sitting with his head in his hands. "Did she call you Mr. Sinclair too?" Tony asked.

Randall chuckled as he sat down, "Yes, Mr. Stark."

"Don't you start on me. I've been trying to get her to call me Tony for fifteen years. Every time she just nods and says 'Yes Mr. Stark.' So what did you want to see me about?"

"It was about that special project. Control is coming along well. I can consciously control it, but I'm not sure about the unconscious control."

"That's good, so are you interested in some scientific testing?"

Randall paused, "I am, but I really don't want everyone or anyone else to know about it."

Tony thought for a minute, "How about if we keep the data in a secure folder, only accessible by you and I? Oh, and apparently Doug, because he can go anywhere he wants, no matter what I do."

Randall laughed, "Yes keeping Doug out would be nigh impossible. That would be on the in house server only?"

"Absolutely! I don't want to cause you any problems. Oh, and speaking of Doug, he is your his good friend, right?"

"Yes, he's going to be my best man."

"You wouldn't happen to know why he has been hacking into one of the Stark Security servers?"

Randall blushed, "Uh, I kind of asked him to. Could we make this private?"

"Alright, Jarvis."

"Yes Mr. Stark."

"All recorders off this office."

"Yes Mr. Stark."

"That's all Jarvis."

"Thank you, I asked Doug for a little help. That night June and I were attacked, I went in and edited the recording of me coming into the building. I did an OK job, but if anyone examined them they would have known that they were edited. So I had Doug fix it."

"So was that what he was doing?"

"The first time, after that I asked him to set up a way for me to leave without it being recorded. I guess it took him a few times to get all the coding right. Since I don't have to worry about any errant recordings, I can change back and forth consciously, but I don't know if I can still control the change in a stressful situation."

"So are you going to be the next big 'Superheroine'?"

Randall looked away a bit, "I don't plan on that, but I have been chasing away the drug dealers and muggers from my neighborhood."

"Is that safe?"

"So far, I am being careful. I've wired some of the alleys with cams, and I scout out the area before doing anything. Having a backup would be great, do you know any one capable of doing that?"

"Well despite having been looking for volunteers, we haven't found any real metahumans. We have received a few messages, the first was from Jade. It was simple it said "No. Jade" that's all. I was suspicious about it, but Doug said that it just appeared in our Inbox, and couldn't be traced back to anywhere. We've tried getting in touch with Green Arrow and Blue Beetle, but haven't heard from either. We thought about Booster Gold, but I am not sure I trust that "from the future" thing."

So, there hasn't been any success?"

"Actually there were a couple in the Bay Area, that we got messages from. None have of them have checked out."

"Did they actually show up for the meeting?"

"Yes, and the reports I got back were a bit funny. One was a guy named Eli Heller. He said he could bend spoons, and he could; his own spoons anyway. Funny it didn't work on the spoons my people supplied."

Randall laughed, "I wonder how many con artists are out there trying to make a buck off of fake abilities. And the other?"

"According to the report it seemed very promising, the guy claimed to be able to teleport to anywhere in the world. Unfortunately when Stan and Jack met with him and asked for a demonstration, he went nowhere."

"Were they surprised?"

"By him going nowhere? No. They were surprised by what he was wearing though. It was a green bodysuit, they said it looked like latex, there was also a hood with two orange antennae on top."

"This guy was walking around dressed like that?"

"Yes, but it was downtown San Francisco, and he had clothes on over it, but his head and antennae were exposed."

"Uh, I'm glad they have that job and not me, I would be laughing too much. Well, I should get back to work."

"Yes, you should, I am not paying you to chit-chat with the boss. Would Saturday be good for testing, I don't have anything planned for that day."

Randall thought for a moment, "Saturday should work, around Ten?" When Tony nodded, Randall continued, “Is it alright if I bring June along?"

"Certainly, and how is the wedding planning going?"

"It's going well, we have a church and thanks to you, a place for the reception. June has talked to a couple of photographers and all the other fun stuff, so just about everything is set."

"That's good, and just send me the bills."

Randall looked startled, "You don't..."

Tony cut him off with a stare, "I said I would pay, and so I will."

Randall sighed, "I'll have June send them here, or rather you can tell her Saturday, because she will want to argue about it."

With that Randall got up, shook Tony's hand and left.

-----

Saturday morning came and Randall and June showed up at Stark Industries, at security they were surprised when June received a permanent guest ID. When they asked about it, the guard said Tony wanted her to have it, and that he expected her to be visiting more often. He also congratulated them on their upcoming wedding.

Randall and June joined Tony in one of the labs, where he had had some testing equipment placed. June walked up and gave Tony a hug. He flinched for a moment before returning it.

Randall waved, "Good morning Tony."

"Good morning, Randall." He looked down at June, "Good morning June."

Randall looked around at some of the equipment, wondering where Tony had gotten one of the TSA's full body scanners, there were also several sorts of video cameras set up, including a 3D setup. "Uh, there's quite a lot set up here."

Tony came the closest he ever did to blushing, "Well other than some medical gear I wanted. EEG, EKG, and others that would be stuck to your skin, I got everything I could think of. June, you wouldn't know how to hook that sort of stuff up would you?"

"I'm an ER Nurse, we don't often do that, so when we need it, we call an expert. The same thing for any thing beyond pulse, blood pressure, and the other basics."

Tony frowned, "I'm not all that knowledgeable about medical things, beyond how the muscles and bones work from an engineering stand point. I may have to see about hiring a doctor. Oh, and speaking of hiring; June are you interested in a new job? One of the on staff nurses mother had a stroke, and he will be leaving soon to take care of her full time."

Randall looked up, "Who's leaving, and how come I hadn't heard about it?"

"Damn, I wasn't supposed to say anything. He didn't want anyone to know or make a fuss."

June hesitated, "I'll have to think about it, I really like it where I am."

"That's fine, just let me know. So Randall are you ready to start?"

"Uh, Tony," June interrupted, "just how safe is all the information you are going to collect? I really don't want to see Randall on YouTube."

"Hmmm, the shortest explanation is that if you do, you can beat up Doug." He paused, and June looked a little blankly at him, and Randall laughed.

"What does that mean?"

"A slightly longer explanation. Everything recorded here goes directly to a computer in the basement. That computer isn't connected to the internet or to any computer that is. Actually it isn't connected to any computer that has an external drive or connection port attached to it. And only Doug and I have the authorization and passwords to remove data from the computer. It's about as secure as any computer in the world."

With a slightly glazed look to her eyes, she said, "OK, I guess."

"So Randall, are you ready?" With a nod from Randall, Tony continued. "Jarvis."

"Yes Mr. Stark."

"Turn on all sensor recorders in Lab 6 and record all data in file folder 'Furball.'"

"Yes Mr. Stark."

Randall stared at Tony, "'Furball?'"

"It's better than your name, isn't it? So where to start?"

"Well Tony, this is your show. What would you like to see first?"

"How about a high-speed recording of you changing?"

Randall stripped down to a pair of shorts and got into position in front of the high speed camera and changed into Wolfsbane, and back several times. Simultaneously energy sensors of several types recorded changes in every energy type Tony had been able to think of and get detectors for. This was followed by strength tests, an aborted endurance test (after around 3 hours and 2 marathons they gave up for now) and several comparison tests between Randall's and Wolfsbane's reaction times.

It was a long day, and it would take a long time to go over all the data, fortunately Tony had people to do that for him.

It took several months of study, but he finally had a report. He glanced initially at the various test results, increases in strength, reaction time, endurance etc. They were interesting, but didn't tell him much. Unfortunately where the energy came from to support the changes and increases in physical attributes was still a question. The energy was there and some of it had slipped over into the electromagnetic spectrum. It had been detected, but the amount was tiny, almost undetectable. The investigation team had almost dismissed it as part of the equipment being used, but it showed up during every change and only at those times.

Time to see if he would be willing to be tested again, but that would have to wait until he was done with his wedding and back from the honeymoon.

******


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Comments

I like it so far!

I only have two issues. First, it's too short! I 'm kidding-kinda!

Second, when Randall went meta, shouldn't his gender have changed? Maybe I just don't understand the "rules" here. Regardless, I guess your stuck with it-otherwise, June is going to be very unhappy!

Don't get me wrong-I really like it so far!

Wren

Wolfsbane

Randall changes gender when he becomes Wolfsbane (http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/fiction/22230/wolfs-howl). As for the rules, I don't believe that there were any particular rules that required a sex change with the activation of the Metagene. Catwoman, I believe didn't change sex until the nanites changed her when he attempted to activate his "dormant" metagene.

June isn't disappointed with either Randall or Wolfsbane, she is bisexual and into furries.

To a point

This is true to a point. If the metagene activates WITHOUT external stress forcing it to manifest, the sex change aspect doesn't accompany the change. However, stressful situations that force the dormant metagene to manifest, will force the sex change.

Think of the "sex change" as the light switch and the circuit to the light as the metagene. You can disassemble the cover on the box holding the light switch and then use your knowledge to bypass the switch part, to cause the light to come on. It is dangerous and time consuming to do so, but it can be done. Or you can just hit the switch. If the switch is "on" you get light AND a sex change. If you bypass it, you get light without the sex change.

Lilith has never had any objection to that little "hack" but this IS, after all, a TS sex-changing story archive, so it kinda requires TS elements in it. But not totally.

;-)

(And when I say "stress" I mean the "manifest or die" kind of stress, not the everyday headache tense muscles and tension stress. From what I assume (and Lilith can override me on this), even mental breakdown stress if done over a period of time and not all at once, will manifest the gene but not the sex swap. All at once stress, fight or flight, and so on will manifest both. I threw that in as an "escape clause".)
----
May the Stars Light Your Path
Maid Joy
http://i-know-i-know-but.net/

No hard and fast rule

Granted, this is a TG-intensive website and gender issues are the primary topic we write about, but there is no hard and fast rule about there absolutely having to be a core change in the gender of the metahuman in question.

This means that there might not be any change at all, just powers of some type. It's just that nobody's really written one. It always made me chuckle a little bit when some people insisted the CRU was nothing but me and others changing the sexes of superheroes. I've always encouraged others to totally dump the original storyline of the character they wrote about and make up something entirely new. Wolfsbane is one such idea that works very well in the CRU.

~Lili

Blog: http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lilith_langtree

~Lili

Write the story that you most desperately want to read.

Thank you.

Actually Randall/Wolfsbane's uncle is Rusty "Collins" and has not had his sex change, his powers are extremely weak compared to the comic version though.

It's also kind of unsure whether Clayface's sex changed or if he can still be defined as having a sex.

While Tony(i) Stark will share some of the comic book stuff, she is not going to have an 'arc reactor' implanted in her chest. Nor will she have all the bells and whistles of the comic or movie or cartoon Iron Man.

There will be a delay on new chapters until I get a new laptop up and running.

More Please

terrynaut's picture

These chapters are kind of short, but I can always wait until a few chapters are posted and then read them all at once. I'll behave.

I can't wait to see Tony's change.

Thanks and kudos.

- Terry

Iron Girl Part 02

When Tony figures it out, onder if Rhodes will become a Lady War Machine?

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Probably not. Remember,

Probably not. Remember, Toni Stark has the same "metahuman" power that Catwoman (in this retcon) has, Gadgeteering or invention. The superhuman ability to make things, with shitty equipment, lack of facilities, spare parts and so on. Ironman's powers come from the suit, totally. In the movie, and in the comic, Tony is kept alive by a heart thing (it changes from the different stories), but that is independent of his abilities. Rhodie will take the suit, but not the sex.

Sorry, just a little black splotch in your white sheet of paper.
----
May the Stars Light Your Path
Maid Joy
http://i-know-i-know-but.net/