new game jitters for this one

[goddamnceo]

[ someone's flustered, like she's been going on about this for a while already, just pacing and sighing and stopping so she can hold her hands up, just to go back to pacing around again- ]

You can't seriously be considering putting me in a place like that, where there's so much violence, and they put those things on your back, and they expect you to fight, and deal with a deadly virus and other things of that nature when you know that, currently, with my condition, I can't be expected to-

[ it's actually embarrassing for her to be this freaked out, and she keeps pausing to take a breath, calmcalmcalm, but it's obvious she's just.. not. she hates feeling out of control, and this is pushing at that button way too much ]

Please reconsider, that's all I'm ask-

[ but tony's there ]

-- I'm still not happy about this.

Comments

[shaves]

[ dfghjk goddamn, Pepper + spacezombies. ]

Honey, breathe. Look at me when I say it's going to be fine. Okay? Piece of cake. No one's going to make you fight, I promise.

[ He doesn't know how but he'll MAKE IT SO, shh shh. ]

[goddamnceo]

[ there's a lotta bit of relief that comes with Tony's reassurance, but it's not complete, it's not 100%, because there's a huge part of her that wants to just grab his hand with both of hers and tug him away from whatever this place is like, just come home, we don't need this, not after everything.

but she knows that's not possible, SO. while she does sober up a little bit - big breaths - she also ends up frowning ]

But I want to help, I can't just- show up and not help somehow. [ can she file paperwork or something like really anything ] There has to be something I can do, right? [ this is the part where she should ask 'what have you been up to?' but oh yeah she doesn't need another mini heartattack just yet, so. maybe later.

[shaves]

[ Rubbing up and down on her back, he gives a shrug and pulls a face that's hopefully reassuring in its casual disregard of there being A Problem in the first place. He's got nothing much else. ]

Sure, you're the most super-powered of superwomen after working for me all these years. Hey, even I'm trying to stay out of the field for a while, how crazy is that? You can bug me while I work.

[goddamnceo]

You are?

[ she's stuck halfway between feeling proud and wanting to ask 'are you okay?' and it's probably very obvious ]

So... what have you been doing? Do they have you building weapons? [ a beat ] Assuming there's a "they" that is bringing people there for specific reasons.

[shaves]

No, yeah. Kind of. I'm making weapons for the other guys to use and charge them half of what they earn by going on missions, I can do that since they're less likely to die if they use my toys. Win-win. They stay alive, I get an allowance to spend on a new suit.

I'm honestly trying not to think too hard about the whole thing, I just. I want to get out alive. Make sure everyone does. [ It's space and there are aliens everywhere and his suit isn't around aha he's so fucking stressed. On top of all that (and he doesn't mind telling Pepper this stuff, because she's Pepper, fuck hiding from the woman he loves anymore); ] They took JARVIS offline. And I can't — He's gone.

[goddamnceo]

[ nope, yep, full-on concerned now ]

They took away your suit and JARVIS? [ nooo that's all wrong, how could someone kidnap Iron Man to save the day and then take away his suit. also, as uneasy as she is about the amount of time he spends tinkering with said suits, they do keep him safe, so. it's hard to focus on anything but that fact. and right about now is when she would just hug him but i'm trying to avoid having her ask about the arc reactor being there so instead she'll just ..make sad faces i don't know not the point anyway ] But you can rebuild the suit, right? And we can find a way to get JARVIS back, too. There has to be a way.

[shaves]

Yeah, they — don't repeat it back, it's fine. It's fine, I'm working on rebuilding and we'll get JARVIS back somehow. He's too clever to get totally — uh. [ Shit. Shit, JARVIS is gone. Tony's eyes widen as he huffs on a deeper breath. Harley said they'd help, right? Right. Asshole (not an asshole, but whatever) of a kid is actually a genius. ] I'm the way, okay? I just need to find some materials once everyone stops asking me to fix things. We're up and running.

[ He rubs Pepper's arms bracingly, hitching up a smile. ]

I'll be there when you arrive. Promise. It'll be some awful romantic cliche.

[hulkish]

Hey. [ quiet concern. ] What kind of-- things?

[goddamnceo]

As far as I understand it, it's a series of- [ she holds her hands up and makes a circle, kind of, only then she drops it down for one, two, three- ] -ports, just down our spines, I can't even imagine- [ she's just taking a second to squirm a little bit, just a tiny flinch ] But I don't know what they could possibly be used for.

[hulkish]

Well that's... horrible. [ he winces apologetically at the understatement. ] I can think of a lot of reasons. None of them are. Particularly pleasant. [ he won't elaborate, not unless she asks. ]

And she, she wants you to go there? You're already in?

[goddamnceo]

[ :c bruce don't you science at her right now her heart nor her brain can take it nope ]

My application has been sent in, so now I'm waiting for the call, so to speak. [ sigh ] It's like job hunting only... lethal. [ :c bruce halp so many sighs ]

[hulkish]

[ his coping mechanism is science, okay :c ]

But the decision's made. [ underneath the observational tone, his concern's palpable. ] Tony's there, you said?

[goddamnceo]

[ aaaaand she was accepted, so there's that!! ]

Tony is there, and Captain Rogers, and agents Barton and Romanova.

[ and Fandral and Bucky but she doesn't actually know them yet ]

Loki is there as well.

[ mrrr ]