CHAPTER 10: YOU'VE GOT THE TOUCH

Remnant, System Unknown

Kingdom of Vale

Stark Residence

June 18th, 56 AGW

Stark Industries would one day dominate this world, that much Tony could say for sure, but only if he kept at his pace. Each step, big or small, was always important to keep track of.

In a week's passing, he had recruited some more people, had a discussion with the council of Vale to finalize the agreed-upon transactions, and talks between Atlas were proceeding smoothly. All of this was good news, but it was hardly surprising news.

What time wasn't spent working on the company was invested into shoring up his own resources. His home was a modest place, easily affordable by an upper middle-class family. His reason for not spending exorbitant amounts of lien on housing was simple. What money wasn't going directly into the company was being used to make more money. He needed every penny that he could muster.

As luck would have it, there was a stock market in this world as well, but then again that seemed only sensible given that business existed here too. The Stark CEO was scraping together everything he could in order to maximize his potential earnings. Contrary to popular belief back on Earth, he was more than just an egghead. Being the heir to his father's legacy, he had picked up many tricks and hacks of the trade that he was now applying on Remnant. He kept tabs on trends, found obscure information regarding potentially game-changing inventions, and carefully observed the history of this world's market.

Tony was confident in his ability to predict what would make him the most money and he invested accordingly, but he would be a fool to bet all of his cash into only a few sectors. As good as he was in seeing the big picture, he knew not to underestimate a global economy. Even the most experienced and skilled traders couldn't always predict the status of the market with total accuracy. It was impossible, thus the need to have backup plans in the event that these new ideas didn't pan out.

And speaking of new ideas, the genius had recently developed an interest in Atlas's evolution of technology. Being the most superior of all the kingdoms in this regard, knowing how to anticipate their growth would allow him to keep them coming back for more. Perhaps because they relied so heavily upon technology made them very easy targets.

To add to that, Atlas was also the place where the wealthy and influential held the most dominion over the general population. However democratic the kingdom was, the fact remained that their fundamental way of life was clear as day. There were the ultra-wealthy and the ultra-poor. Atlas was the former, Mantle was the latter.

More importantly, Tony began to ponder something he had always been wondering. Atlas itself was a massive floating city in the sky, suspended by gravity dust according to official sources, but as far as the inventor could understand, no gravity dust crystal, no matter how big, could support so much mass like the kingdom of ice, not even when networked with a massive amount of gravity dust. Something about the math was off and he had done numerous calculations himself to confirm this.

This begged the question: what was really supporting Atlas in the sky? What could manipulate gravity so much that would allow Atlas to stay afloat?

Answering that question would undoubtedly do more than satiate his curiosity. It could very well be the most advantageous thing he could find out. Hell, it could even change the game entirely. Imagining the possibilities with that kind of secret could unlock the doors to many other avenues of profit.

Tony now required a means of infiltrating the most classified places of Atlas, but before he could do so, he needed to make sure that his little side project was moving along smoothly. Thanks to Team STRQ, the young man had secured a foothold into Beacon Academy without anyone even knowing it. All he did was ask them to take some pictures of their weapons and send them to him so that he could figure out how he was going to break into the huntsman market for weapons and gear.

What he didn't tell the four of them was while those pictures were being sent, he was simultaneously returning an invisible package back. It was a little thing that was now spreading throughout all of Beacon Academy's systems to any sort of electronic device. Now, he had a way of collecting data without needing to be physically present. If anyone tried to do a system sweep, the package would simply adapt and speed up, almost becoming part of the system rather than being an invader of the system.

A week later after his call to Team STRQ, the information pouring in was making things pretty spicy. As Tony had expected, all the men that the wizard had connected him to had one thing in common: they all were involved in a sort of secretive brotherhood that dealt in something unexpected.

Four women with magical powers.

As if aura and semblances weren't hard enough to believe, now there was magic. That was the sort of thing which could only happen in a comic book or some really weird fantasy movie or TV show. Star Wars seemed the closest point of comparison and even that sounded pretty logical when comparing it to this.

Actually, it would be incorrect to say that Tony had learned about the Maidens from listening in on Ozpin. He had heard the headmaster referencing the four seasons in relationship to four women. From there, it wasn't hard to look up stuff on the CCTS. Lord and behold, it was a reference to a fairy tale that went back hundreds of years ago and it was a popular one at that.

The Four Maidens, a story about how four girls came to befriend an old wizard, each giving him a gift which warmed his heart. These gifts were not given for any other reason than simply because it was possible to do so and thus should be done so. Basically, it was a story about how kindness should always be cherished and spread around. In return, the wizard granted the four sisters unimagineable power. Then everyone lived happily ever after.

The end.

But it wasn't the end because if Ozpin, a man who was such a calculating individual, believed in the story, then it must have happened in the past, or at the very least there was an element of truth to it. Jumping to conclusions was a bad idea at this juncture, but with all the evidence gathered, the only rational thing to do for now was to take all this talk of magic and maidens seriously.

So assuming that the maidens were a thing, were these four women still out there?

No, that didn't make any sense. There was no talk of immortality or anything like that. More likely, the power had to have been passed on to someone else, presumably other women otherwise they couldn't be called maidens.

Accepting that assumption as fact, what were the criteria for becoming a maiden?

Who were the current maidens now?

If he knew about them, who else did?

Could they be potential targets?

Tony threw all the questions that he could muster, but with such barebone knowledge on the subject, the best answers he could find were shots in the dark and he wasn't about to play a game of Twenty Questions. His mind demanded concrete, tangible proof that could not be denied. Finding those answers was the tough part and short of asking the Wizard of Oz or his cohorts, there was nothing else to be done.

Or maybe...

The twenty-two year old sat up straight and began to access his console. He had been primarily listening to Ozpin's side of a conversation in regards to phone calls, not really getting the entirety of the situation. Fortunately, Tony knew the names of the people that the headmaster was speaking to. Now he needed to find those phone calls.

If he was lucky, then it wouldn't be all that difficult to retrace a call made. The CCTS made information easy to obtain. All data electronically sent went through this system and even better yet, both ends of the line were already known. Now he just had to cross-reference the dates and times and he had a winner.

Tony slid back from his desk to spin around in his chair. He was feeling tired right now and yet it was the middle of the day. He still had calls of his own to make, people to talk to about the progress of the first shipments of the Jaeger missiles, important offers to make and respond to, and all of that.

When was the last time he had taken a vacation?

Right. Never.

But there would be no rest for the wicked. World domination wasn't going to get done by taking some time off.

Tony moved to his wardrobe, taking a minute to fix himself up. Dressing himself was a critical part of how well his dealings went over. No matter where he went, it went without saying that a well-dressed man curried respect from all people.

Plus, wearing an all-black suit to Atlas made him stand out and that was perfect for what he needed. Part of his game plan to become a household name required that he use all the tricks in the book to stand out. The number one reason that any good idea failed to take off was on account of failing to be distinct.

And Tony Stark didn't fail.

Iron Man - - - RWBY

Remnant, System Unknown

Kingdom of Atlas

Polendina Laboratory

June 24th, 56 AGW

Pietro found himself utterly amazed by what he was witnessing here. Never in his entire life would he have imagined witnessing a true Artificial Intelligence come to life for the first time in all of Remnant. This was the stuff of science fiction at best if not for the untimely appearance of one very talented and genius engineer.

Even the good doctor couldn't help but concede that his fellow scientist was his superior in this regard, but what was more important was that he was learning all sorts of new things from this project. With a little tweaking and some more time, there was no telling where this could all go.

"This artificial intelligence recognizes Mister Tony Stark and Doctor Pietro Polendina as its creators." A male voice with a Mistralian accent sounded. "Designation is J.A.R.V.I.S."

"Jarvis?" Pietro looked confused.

"It's short for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System." Tony explained. "It's kind of like an A.I. butler if you will."

"And I am pleased to assist either of your gentleman in any affairs that you deem necessary."

"J.A.R.V.I.S." Tony immediately thought of a command. "What are the current numbers on Stark Industries in regards to our valuation?"

"Sir, when accounting for all known factors, the current valuation for Stark Industries is standing at around 100 million."

"Amazing." Pietro said with awe. "And you didn't even feed it any information."

"This is just the beginning, doc." Tony grinned. "The applications are numerous. Pretty much any industry can benefit from this research. Agriculture, aviation, computer science, finance, medicine, communications, military, you name it and this could improve them all a hundred fold and then some."

"How do you see it being used?" Pietro cut to the million-lien question. "As a matter of fact, why involve me? I'm honored to have been a great help, but I get the feeling that your reasons are more far-reaching."

"Well, you're not wrong." Tony gave him a straight look. "Yes, I do have a reason for choosing you. Since you have a connection to the Atlas military, I was hoping to softly introduce a bit of all this into their systems. We'll call it a massive system overhaul because let's face it. Systems now will become obsolete. We need something that is constantly adapting and evolving to a changing world."

"That is true." Pietro could see the merit in that thought process. "However, who gets to have access to this A.I. research? Depending on who knows about this, we could be affecting millions of people positively or negatively."

"There's a plan, granted it's still got some bugs, but it's there." Tony leaned forward on a work table. "The first thing we need to do is experiment in a controlled environment to see how it functions. I intended to use J.A.R.V.I.S. as a first step."

"So for now, this is all private." Pietro thought about it for a moment. "How long is this testing phase going to last?"

"I'd say we'll give the first phase two years, maybe three if I need additional data." Tony inspected his scroll for live information. "If we need more ones and zeros, then I'd say we expand our pool and move to phase two."

This sounded like a master plan in the works, something that Doctor Polendina couldn't say that he had much experience dealing with. Most of the time, his work consisted of helping people on the ground. Helping the little folk was basically his entire reason for becoming a scientist. While not ignorant of big changes in the world, he wouldn't say that he could catch all of the nuances when it came to ground-breaking progress.

As far as he saw it, artificial intelligence could see all of Remnant's technology improve by leaps and bounds. Humans and faunus were flawed beings, capable of making many mistakes proven only by the history of the world, but a mind that could potentially eliminate human error would do more than produce fewer imperfect products and services. It would accelerate the time between concepts becoming reality. Taken to its Nth degree, A.I. was capable of entirely changing social interactions, which would then affect culture.

Of course, all of this was surface-level analysis on the matter and this entire project was far from going public. It probably wouldn't even be a good idea to introduce this stuff to the governments of the world. They were having a tough enough time trying to wrap their heads around Stark Industries weapons technology.

"And now that we're on the subject of future plans, I do have one other thing that I want to try out." Mister Stark accessed some information on his scroll. "Take a look at this and tell me what you think."

Sliding the device onto a surface, a hologram appeared, showing a human head, which was then converted into code. That was what Pietro interpreted, but he didn't quite understand what exactly this was supposed to mean. He kept reviewing, taking in each and every detail carefully.

After the fifth time, it finally struck him. This was supposed to be a person's brain interfacing with code or technology.

"Is it possible for people to directly interface with technology?" Doctor Polendina, as optimistic as he was, was unsure. "Certainly, prosthetics are one matter, but a brain being able to connect to electronic devices is more than a little dangerous."

"It's closer than you think it is." Tony crossed his arms. "Think of it like virtual reality utilized in a more simplistic manner."

"But virtual reality is meant to simulate real life." Pietro pointed out. "While we know what hardware and software are, we have nothing that would let us picture what it would feel like to our senses. The experience would be completely new to all of Mankind. In order to better accommodate a normal person into accepting computer data, we would need a more user-friendly approach."

"Good point, but there's no point in worrying about that now seeing as this is all theory." Tony pointed back to his scroll. "Back to this, just imagine what could be done if everyone could process information faster. Better yet, what if we could take a person's consciousness and transfer it into a machine and vice versa."

"Perhaps, but then we would have the problem of dealing with a body and no brain functionality, at least partially." Pietro had unknowingly picked up a pencil, moving it around in his hand. "And I don't see the practicality."

"I wouldn't say that just yet. You haven't even heard what it can do." Tony replied. "It does have lots of potential in the right hands. For example, a person that has their mind transferred and stored in an electronic device is now an open book. Lying becomes a thing of the past and truth becomes the hero."

That sounded like something that militaries would pay top lien to have in their arsenal, but that presented lots of other issues in regards to morals. People all around the world had a deep respect for privacy and individuality. As such, bringing this to life would no doubt put quite a few people on edge.

An argument could be made that this wasn't strictly enforcing any rules or regulations against anyone's will, but if it was advertised that it could do such a thing as prevent lying, that would be more than enough to influence mass amounts of people. If that was the general perception, then it would be little better than population control.

It felt inconceivable that Mister Stark was the sort of man that sought to use his intellect to coerce people into his way of thinking, yet he had been the one to put forward the idea. Was there some sort of plan behind this too?

"Okay so maybe that wasn't the best point to start off." As if sensing reservation, Tony attempted another sales pitch. "If we can directly read into someone's signals, we can modify behaviors, enhancing good traits and reducing or even eliminating bad ones."

"I think that it's best that this be put to rest." Pietro decided his stance on the matter. "As much as it would be nice to become better versions of ourselves, it's best to do these things because we chose to ourselves, not through augmented means."

"People do love their underdog stories, don't they?" Tony grabbed his scroll and shut it off. "Well, I'll save it. It could be useful later."

Another scrap to add to the pile. That was the work that scientists were involved in. Bad ideas were a dime a dozen and good ideas were very scarce.

But it was still worth it to pitch something and see if it stuck.

RWBY - - - Iron Man

Remnant, System Unknown

Kingdom of Vale

Beacon Tower

June 28th, 56 AGW

Ozpin stared out the window. He had a call with James and Leonardo in a few minutes. In the meantime, he took the time to review what he was going to discuss with them.

Four months. In the early days of February, one Tony Stark had come from another world with no explanation. In that short time, he had gotten a highly successful company off the ground and his name was becoming famous. In all of his years of witnessing the best of what Mankind could offer, the old wizard could say that this man was truly a unique gem, a once in a few generations find.

But the genius's cooperation in the war to come wasn't going to be necessarily easy. It's not that the headmaster doubted that the young man wouldn't see a reason to join. What was most problematic about this other-worldly traveller was that he was highly unpredictable. While perfectly willing to play along with others, Mister Stark was hardly a straight shooter. His actions ranged from logical to looney and everything else in between. Keeping him out of the public eye was no longer an option seeing as he had already made himself known to very powerful and influential people.

But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Having the ability to influence mass audiences was a sort of power that was hard to obtain and the few that did have such an ability were truly forces to be reckoned with. Used in the right way, hope could be inspired quickly and from a well-known person. Granted, said person would have to have strong ties to the people and have a very good public image. Still, it was worth considering.

For now, it was enough for Stark Industries to be supplying the world's kingdoms with weapons intended to kill Grimm. Not only would this be a massive boon the militaries of the world. Huntsmen and huntresses too would also benefit. As skilled and deadly as these men and women were at their jobs, there were limited in number and very few people in the world had the qualifications necessary to become such elite warriors and even these unique individuals couldn't do anything. There was still a place for conventional military forces.

The question was how much was this going to change the dynamic between the councils of the four kingdoms as well and the huntsmen and huntresses meant to protect all of civilization from the Grimm. The reason why the huntsman academies had such a good relationship with the world was because they played a critical role in securing the peace that the average person enjoyed.

How would that all change as military technology changed and evolved to meet greater challenges on the battlefield?

In a world where a single infantryman was capable of doing so much more than in the past, what did that mean for the ongoing conflict with the Grimm?

How would she respond?

Ozpin heard the sound of a ring and immediately turned to take a few steps forward, taking a seat in his chair, then positioning himself so that he sat squarely in the middle of his desk before answering the call.

"James. Leonardo." He spoke with an air of familiarity. "I know that both of you are pressed for time, so I won't be long."

"We ought to think this matter over carefully." Leonardo said. "After all, our dealings with Mister Stark have brought him very close to the truth."

"Yes, I think it's best that we take whatever time we need to sort this out now." James nodded his head. "After all, it's not every day that we induct a member into this brotherhood with so many skills."

"Indeed." Ozpin pulled up the full file of the subject in question. "Anthony Edward Stark. I've sent you all the files regarding everything I know about the man, but I wanted to get your opinions about him in full and see if our viewpoints are aligned."

"Then I'll start." James didn't miss a beat. "Mister Stark has a myriad of characteristics. On one hand, he certainly does present himself as a very professional and cunning businessman. I daresay that he surpasses even Jacque Schnee in terms of overall potential."

If the rapid growth of Stark Industries was any indicator, it was clear that there was no stopping the snowball that was descending down the hill. Who knew how massive it would grow, but it seemed clear that there was no stopping it.

"As for what he brings to the table, there's no doubting his ability to deal massive damage." James wasn't one to offer praise like this so easily. "After reviewing all his work, I can say with certainty that this man will usher in a new era for the military. What I am concerned about is his tendency to let his ego get the better of him."

"Agreed. I won't discredit Mister Stark for his work, but there are concerns regarding whether or not he is capable of keeping secrets, especially given that he is rather bombastic in how he presents himself." Leonardo followed up. "Also, I feel it prudent to bring up his ability to work with others."

"I understand all of your concerns, but I do believe that you underestimate him." Ozpin folded his hands together. "Tony is many things, but stupid is not one of them, far from it. If he understands the gravity of what we do, I am quite certain that he will keep what we do here in the dark. After all, he does have many secrets that he keeps to himself."

As a man who knew too many things about this world, the headmaster of Beacon Academy knew what to look for when figuring out if a person was keeping or withholding information. The Stark kid had one big secret, but he already knew that one, so the important secrets left to keep were related to his inventions.

"I'm not sure he would even want to join us even if we offered him." James moved the discussion forward. "Stark is a big fan of doing as he pleases. Yes, he can work with others in a very professional manner, but he only does so when it suits his goals and ambitions."

"Quite. I can see that he has numerous things on his mind constantly." Leonardo offered more input. "His talk of outfitting huntsmen and huntresses with top-tier weapons made it clear that no matter what, his primary focus is in matters relating to conflict."

War profiteering. Two words that generally had a negative connotation to them, but belied the more bleak truth about the world. Talking about peace was all well and good, but most people in the world had little idea the lengths that the defenders of the world had to go through in order to maintain over half a century of no conflict.

Contrary to popular belief, being a warrior on Remnant was arguably the hardest job in all of the world. Soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and huntsmen, all of them had the largely thankless job of protecting people who were almost entirely disconnected from the harsh realities of the world outside the safety of the walled kingdoms. Yes, the Grimm were the main enemies of all humans and the faunus, but they weren't the only threats.

Tony Stark seemed to understand perfectly well who he was and what his business did. He either didn't care about the consequence or didn't see them, maybe both if his personality was anything to go by. In any case, his work was morally grey, yet an inevitable fact of life in a world defined by a bloody struggle for survival.

"He may not want to be one of us, but I think that given the way things stand, he will be compelled to at least be partially involved." Ozpin took a sip from his mug. "After all, he is a businessman and he can't very well do business if there's no one to do business with."

They had to rely on faith that Mister Stark was someone who wanted people to live so that he could continue to do what he wanted. After all, no matter how wealthy and powerful a single man could get, those things only mattered when there was a society to judge him that way, so the weapons developer was more or less in the game of life and death whether he wanted to be or not.

"It sounds like we've already come to our decision." James summed up what they were all thinking. "And despite all of our reservations, we still all seem to agree."

"It's better that we do what we can now so that we're not caught with our pants down later." Leonardo voiced another shared sentiment. "It's been awfully quiet all around us and that quiet is what scares me the most."

It was true. She was quiet.

Iron Man - - - RWBY

Remnant, System Unknown

Kingdom of Vale

Downtown

June 30th, 56 AGW

Tony had been recently visiting all the local bars that he could find in order to discern which ones were to his liking. Tonight, he stumbled into this place that he didn't even bother checking the name of. It was busy and he was curious to see whether or not there was some hot tail he could pick up. Scratch that, there was plenty of hot tail he would definitely get a shot at. He was himself after all.

So the young man settled himself at the bar and ordered a scotch for himself. After the drink was brought to him, he began to peruse the sights all around him. There were many women here. Tall, short, petite, curvacious, human, faunus, pretty much everything that he could remember from Earth minus the last one, but it was pretty cool new addition. This place catered to everyone regardless of species, so there was that as well.

Every time he met a woman's eyes, he gave only five seconds of eye contact before turning his head away from them. This was just one of his many ways of showing that while he did appreciate good looks, he needed more incentive than a pretty face. Beauty wasn't all that hard to find and he did realize how that sounded coming from him, but it was true. There was plenty of beauty to be had in the world, so there was something else that needed to happen, something to really kickstart a spark.

It was then that he noticed someone dancing on the floor. At first, he couldn't make out her entire figure given the lighting of the place, but then the lights came flashing on, just enough time for him to see her features.

Raven-black hair that just barely reached the base of her neck, large black cat ears, golden eyes, nice proportions, but that look on her face was clearly that of a girl having a good time.

She was a total looker, no arguments there, but for some reason, a thought clicked in his mind.

Looks like I've got your date, Ghira. Tony recalled their bet. Now let the matchmaking begin.

Pushing himself off the bar and getting his game face on, he began casually making his way through the crowd, looking like he wasn't searching for anyone in particular all the while keeping his friend's date in sight. Thankfully, this crowd was manageable to deal with and he was quick to get to her.

Once he was within a foot away from her, he initiated.

"Nice moves." Tony casually complimented her. "You must dance often."

She swirled around to meet him. When she met his brown eyes, he could tell that her interest in him was there.

"I do love getting out." A pretty smile was on display. "What about you? Are you any good?"

"Eh, every other Tuesday." Tony shrugged while turning his head lightly to his right. "But I supposed I could make an exception."

"An exception?" She moved closer to him. "Well, then, you can call this exception Kali."

"Kali." Tony tested that name. "Cute. The name's Tony."

Okay, so maybe this was kind of fun for himself, but he needed to remember why he was here. This was not a date for him. This was a date for a buddy.

He just had to hope that this one dance didn't completely screw this up.

Robert Downey Jr. sounds the same when he first rose to prominance in acting when comparing him to now. If I never knew what he looked like and I listened to his voice when he was younger, I would have assumed he was much older. Younger RDJ definitely looks more boyish, but still no less attractive.

As I write this story, it's becoming more and more clear to me that while Tony Stark/Iron Man is arguably most interesting character in the MCU, I find myself aspiring to be more like Steve Rogers/Captain America. In reality, only a few people can manage to pull off the sort of attitude that Tony Stark displays yet still be loved. By contrast, Steve Rogers is an ideal that anyone can aspire to be like him, not a perfect soldier, but a good man.

I still think Tony is awesome 3000.

This chapter was intended to hint at several key plot points that will be critical to the direction of this story. It's not time for all of you to guess what they are. I look forward to people seeing what might happen.

Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.