Who do you trust more to drive you to a destination? Who do you trust more to defend your civil liberties on the field of combat? Man or machine? That is the question that dominates the current landscape of technological innovation. Tony Stark seeks...
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The original New York headquarters for the Avengers was a refitted mansion that Tony had initially dumped everyone inside due to the lack of other places for them to operate out of. It worked though, and it proved to be a comfortable home for anyone who needed it. Once the roster expanded however, the Avengers were in great need of a larger base. Fortunately for them, one of their charter members was a multi-billionaire. Avengers Tower was built in the heart of New York City, and was a reminder to everyone that they were going to be looked after.
Tony just exited from the extensive security check-in process at the entrance of the Avengers HQ, then pulled out his phone. Once again, he ran through the data that he requested from Agent Romanoff, who was currently engaged in a deep cover op somewhere in east Asia. She was in the process of gathering black market intel on a large number of both S.H.I.E.L.D and Avengers targets. What Tony was after was more dirt on A.I.M., a company that he had dealings with in the past but couldn't tie their crimes to them directly.
The Black Widow's intelligence package contained a lead on what was apparently a stockpile of illicit materials, chemical weapons, and stolen technology. Her data indicated that it may be tied to A.I.M., but there was nothing concrete. Tony intended to find this link personally.
Stark strolled through the main lobby of the Tower and saw that it was, as usual for the middle of the day, empty.
Seconds later, Tony entered the armoury; the specialised facility inside Avengers tower that stored and maintained what he called his 'Powered Defence Systems', known colloquially as the 'Iron Man suits'. The main chamber of the armoury was an extremely tall cylindrical room, filled to the brim with PDS units. They lined the armoury's walls in levels, continuing all the way to the ceiling. Each suit was confined to a secure cell that was ID locked. The circular floor acted as an elevator, so if Tony wished to inspect a certain suit, he could slap a command on the computer or verbalise it, and the elevator would move to the desired level.
Tony said out loud "Model thirteen."
The armoury's speech-recognition instantly interpreted Tony's verbal command and responded with a chirp. Tony set his phone onto the computer table as he removed his jacket. The floor hummed as it began ascending to the level that the PDS Model 13 was docked at. Stark dumped his jacket onto the desk as well, then found himself gazing at the other suits that were looking right back at him with lifeless eyes.
Iron Man had become his obsession. He had an entire fleet of PDS machines, each one designed to fulfil a particular purpose. Tony had devoted his time to constructing dedicated models for eventualities such as stealth missions, operations in space, survival in extreme temperatures, all-out war scenarios, maximum thrust output, and more.
The 13, called the General-Purpose Type Iteration 6 or the 'Modular Suit', was the sixth suit Tony had designed to be well-balanced and useable in most Earthly situations. It was the thirteenth suit in total that he built. What set the Model 13 apart were the attachment packages that could be fitted to its modular frame, which could increase its hardware capabilities on the go. Some examples of these packages are a high-speed thruster array, an extended weapons armament, harmonic resonator attachments, and hydraulic load arms. Although they would not be as effective as some of the aforementioned specialised suits built for similar circumstances, the module packages could be installed during flight and removed all the hassle of having to change suits in the middle of a battle or dangerous situation. After all, the PDS mechanisms weren't some kind of magic material that could instantly cover Tony as soon as he needed it to; they were held together by bolts, brackets, locks, vices, and all of these needed to be tightened around him. It was human technology. This made the Modular Suit a good all-rounder since it could adapt to a certain degree, despite it being years older than Tony's latest suits. Right now, his latest model was Number 27.
