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From their first meeting at MIT to the re-branding of War Machine after the mess with AIM, Rhodey knows Tony chose to be his friend – just like Tony chose to stop building weapons that could have changed the face of warfare, only to give birth to Iron Man; his greatest creation.
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- Part 60 of Genius, AI & Bots
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Weapons of Choice by Del_Rion
Part 60 of Genius, AI & BotsSeries Information:
ID: 52795
Words: 204,932 | Works: 75 | Complete: No | Bookmarks: 512
Description:Featuring Tony, J.A.R.V.I.S., DUM-E and U.
Fluff, angst, drama, love... a family.Big and small fics (so far, mostly small ficlets).
All of the stories stand alone, with tiny references here and there. Author will attempt to keep stories in some kind of chronological order.
A list of stories & timelines here.
SUB-SERIES: Genius, AI & Bots AUs (alternate universe, canon diverge... stories also listed in the parent series)
FEATURED ART:
"Family Portrait" by LePeruWork/Series ID: 5841244
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From their first meeting at MIT to the re-branding of War Machine after the mess with AIM, Rhodey knows Tony chose to be his friend – just like Tony chose to stop building weapons that could have changed the face of warfare, only to give birth to Iron Man; his greatest creation.
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Rhodey meets Tony at MIT. They’re not in the same class, with Rhodey being a freshman while Tony’s in his second year, but Rhodey immediately knows who the kid is: Tony Stark, son of Howard Stark. A prodigy, ahead of his time and ahead of his class even here where the playing field should be evened out by the simple rules of maturity.
There’s nothing simple about Tony.
He’s hard at work in the engineering lab, going there after hours and missing morning classes because he probably stayed up all night working on one of his projects. Rhodey’s heard about the robots he built, the AI programming and complex learning algorithms.
At the same time, he’s almost as likely to find Tony at one of the parties he’s legally too young to attend, but who’s going to stop Howard Stark’s son from picking up a bottle if he wants it bad enough?
The first time Rhodey comes within real touching distance of him is while helping Tony out of the building hosting one of said parties and supporting him to keep his balance as he throws up in the bushes. Tony’s too young to be drinking and Rhodey feels like it’s up to him to look after the genius child.
Tony doesn’t make it easy, not feeling like gaining another babysitter after he’s obviously just lost his previous one.
They become friends, though, and Tony even attends some of Rhodey’s classes even though he’s not supposed to be there, just so that they can discuss it later.
When Tony graduates, there’s a bit of a buzz around him, but he doesn’t fail to wink at Rhodey and tell him to keep up the good work in his last year. He also promises they’ll see each other, and while Rhodey doesn’t instinctively cling to that promise, he isn’t too surprised when Tony shows up for his graduation ceremony and later crashes the party at his home.
Tony’s in a phase between school and work – a phase that lasts for four years and ends with the crash that kills his parents in December of 1991.Rhodey stops by Tony’s a lot.
Stark Industries had big military contracts even before Howard Stark passed away, and after the brief uncertainty of whether his son will be taking over the company, the ball continues rolling.
Even when it felt like Tony was wasting time in between MIT and becoming the CEO of his father’s company, it was hardly true. Tony helms the creative work of SI with an even hand while other people handle the paper trail and logistics.
Tony designs weapons that are meant for the next generation, and Rhodey is pestered by the top brass to ask him why that is.
“Why would I build a gun to replace another gun – when I can instead create something more sophisticated, controllable, effective, and advanced?” he challenges the question the brass strong-armed Rhodey into asking. “Why would I focus on a single bullet when I can conquer the battlefield?”
Rhodey takes that answer back to his superiors, and while they frown and murmur in response, Rhodey knows there are at least a few who understand: Howard Stark helped build the atomic bomb. His son will most likely design and build something even greater. It may not look like the things they’re used to, but it will get the job done.Tony spends hours molding Iron Patriot back into War Machine, Rhodey reflects on Tony’s old statement about a high-tech prosthesis and wonders how true it is, for both of them.
The suit and I are one.
In that old film reel, Howard Stark stated that Tony was his greatest creation. Not the best choice of words to leave for your estranged son to hear, but casting an odd shadow on Tony’s own obsession nonetheless.
Iron Man is, for certain, Tony’s greatest creation to date, and whether the prosthesis is physical or emotional – or a combination of both – it is impossible to say without the wisdom of hindsight.
What is certain, however, is that the only weapons Tony will ever be creating are an extension of himself, one way or another, and Rhodey knows that there’s a whole lot of luck and coincidence to thank for his share in it. He has no delusions that Tony chose him at some point, to be his friend and confidant, an ally and the only person to wear one of the suits like his own.
An extension of Tony’s greatest creation, whether it is chosen to be seen as a weapon or not.