Sophia Warren (twostepsahead) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2012-04-25 20:17:00 |
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Pepper’s office was far larger than it really needed to be. The large, wooden double doors opened to the room, giving whoever entered a fantastic view of the New York City skyline. The entire opposite wall was made of large square glass panes framed by brushed steel and it was, perhaps, Pepper’s favorite thing about her office. Her desk was just in front of the windows, a sleek black thing that was just as modern as the comfortable chair she sat in. A computer and company phone were set off to one side of the desk, leaving the rest of it typically open for her paperwork. On the opposite corner, two vases of orchids were positioned next to each other and took over a good deal of space. She didn’t mind in the slightest, thoroughly enjoying having flowers sent to her for the first time in years. On one wall, a flat screen tv was mounted, with two comfortable armchairs and a couch positioned around a coffee table, which held a vase of blue orchids in the middle of it. The opposite wall was dominated by a large shelving unit which housed mostly books and a few knickknacks. Dotted along the shelves were seven vases of orchids of varying colors and arrangements. There was a decent sized conference table in the corner and that held two vases of the same orchids on her desk. She wore a knee length grey dress with cap sleeves and a modest neckline. Her hair was pulled back into a tight, no-nonsense bun, leaving her bangs free. A few tendrils escaped here and there, but it seemed to be intentional. The only jewelry she wore was a simple watch on her left wrist, and her shoes were black, sensible things that still managed to be quite stylish. It was a bit more business professional than she had been dressing over the past few days, but there were video conferences that needed attending and she had every intention of looking presentable for them. Her conversation with Thor had come near the end of her last video conference for the day and although it was quite a surprise, she was glad he’d reached out to her. Her phone rang and it was the front desk informing her that Thor was on his way up. Pepper walked to the door and opened it just before he had the chance to knock. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” she greeted with a warm smile, stepping aside to let him in. What fleeting inner peace he’d managed to grasp between the battle and returning here was short lived by the conversation with Tony.The death of innocent lives always weighed heavily on him, it was part of the reason why the words spoken by his father before his banishment had stuck so strongly in his mind. The cost of war was paid not only by the warriors who fought, but their families and those in the crossfire. He may not have showed it in tears or speeches, but Thor felt their loss as keenly as any other. He had sworn once to protect the nine realms before the whole of Asgard. Failure was never something he could tolerate well. Still dressed in his standard armor, he did his best to avoid limping into her office. Thor had stayed on Asgard only long enough to take a few of the healing stones, not long enough to see to the cut down his knee. There was no guarantee that anyone on Midgard could work them, but they were worth the chance. “Pep-- Lady Pepper,” he caught himself, and flashed her a smile that didn’t quite reach the corners of his eyes. “And you as well. I wish it were under better circumstances.” He walked in, not quite his usual stride with his aching knee, but he put on no show to either hide nor call attention to his injury. His gaze moved over the interior of the office, but he offered no comment until he saw the orchids. Flowers. Ben smiled in the back of his mind. “I’m relieved that you liked them.” He cut an impressive figure, dressed as he was. There was no denying the presence he commanded, standing at his full height, and she imagined he would be just as impressive in civilian attire. The door to her office closed behind him and she gestured for him to move toward the chairs that were set up on this side of her office that surrounded the flat screen tv. She had the video files of the recent attack queued up already, though they could get to that later. Pepper had a feeling he might need to talk first. Her smile broadened considerably when he addressed her as ‘Lady Pepper’. “Please, Pepper is just fine,” she insisted, though she still enjoyed how proper he was, if secretly. It was impossible to not notice the way he limped, but she didn’t ask. Instead, she focused on the flowers. “As I said, they are quite beautiful and I haven’t received flowers in years,” Pepper replied, taking a seat on one side of the couch. It could comfortably seat three if necessary, but given the two extra chairs on either side of the coffee table made it unnecessary for three to be seated. She was quiet for a few moments, waiting for Thor to take a seat along with her. “Would you like to get started on the footage, or...would you like to discuss what happened?” It was a delicate situation and a great deal of her knowledge came from the research Felicia had done in Las Vegas. Another time and he might have enjoyed the view out of her office or taken her up on the offer to discuss things. Not this time -- he’d barely had enough time to digest what had happened himself. The battle hadn’t bothered him, it was nothing unusual, but that it was against Loki, and that his brother had threatened war did weigh heavily on his mind and conscience. They’d had their fights in the past as all brothers did, but this was different, far more serious and with an edge of loathing that hadn’t been there before. Thor hadn’t needed Tony to tell him that Loki was his enemy now, the look in his brother’s eyes had told him that. Yet, it couldn’t change that simple fact for him: Loki was, and would always be, his brother. Of anyone, Thor knew him best, even if he saw him through eyes that still believed the best of him. Perhaps his brother was right and he was little more than a fool, but he would rather have a single half destroyed shard of hope than not. “Footage, if we may,” he said quietly as he sat down, carefully, his leg stretched out so he would have to bend it as little as possible. Pepper acquiesced with a short nod and reached for the remote panel. Usually, she would have simply asked JARVIS to play the footage, but she wasn’t entirely sure if Thor would understand the technology. He clearly had quite a lot on his plate already and there was something about the way he sounded that had her holding back a frown. He wasn’t supposed to be like this. A moment later, the screen lit up with footage from all of the news sources. It worked a lot like those sports channels that showed eight games at once that could be toggled to back and forth. The remote she used was a flat square screen that operated with touch technology. “Just tap the box you want to focus on and it will come up on the full screen from the beginning,” she explained, handing the remote over to him. News sources had gotten the footage from different angles and a number of stations had cameras in Times Square for stock footage purposes, so there was a lot of material for him to cover. She’d gone through all of it already, at least four or five times, and had it cataloged and archived appropriately. Organization was a good way to ease her worry, particularly given that Tony wasn’t operating at full strength, hindered as he was by the stitches Silver had incurred. His gaze moved back and forth between the boxes, studying the different angles. It really was a fascinating technology, but he was busy staring at the construct. It reminded him of other illusions Loki had made, namely the snakes at his aborted coronation. Those had been small though, mottled blue and black, slithering and writhing. This was quite a bit larger. Wherever Loki had gone between his fall and now, he’d been practicing, growing stronger with the magic that made him suspicious to the people of Asgard. Those illusions had saved them all more than once, but as he watched the people fleeing, dying, the buildings that had been destroyed and then returning, Tony’s words returned to him. Loki was his enemy, but also his brother. He’d been Thor’s brother for far longer than he’d been his enemy, but that knowledge came with a feeling that he was missing some part, some piece of this puzzle that would make it all fit together. It was clearer that Loki was an enemy to Midgard and that whatever Thor used to think of his brother, Loki was different in ways he no longer knew. He continued watching the footage through their fight, but the flickering of the illusion, that was something he’d barely noticed while it was happening. As their fight progressed, it had weakened and faded. For so long, Thor had relied on his brother to be the smart one in their battles, the strategist, the diplomatic one. It felt odd to take up that mantle again, to watch for weaknesses, to think beyond the next strike. Where his brother was concerned, Thor needed to calculate. Loki would do no less and if Thor truly knew him best of anyone else, he would have to put that to his use. “That’s all I need to see,” he said quietly. “Thank you, Pepper.” Tony had been standing in the doorway to Pepper’s office for two or three minutes, watching Thor’s expression. He’d been sewn up and he’d taken the time to shower before he’d started working, so he was wearing a mostly clean Metallica shirt that cut close enough to reveal the awkward thickness of a bandage that covered the length of his side and every rib there. During his lean he had his arms crossed over his chest, hiding it in favor of the blue glow that came through the thin cotton, but now he pushed away and walked all the way into the office. Pepper would be familiar with his mood, a nearly invisible simmer noticeable only because he was not smiling, not even a little. Pepper had watched the footage so many times that she could picture it perfectly just by the sounds filtering through the tv’s speakers. She kept her focus on Thor, trying to gauge what was going through his mind. She knew Loki was his brother and it didn’t appear, at least to her, that Thor had been prepared for the confrontation in Times Square in that regard. “It’s the least I could do,” she replied sincerely, giving him an encouraging smile. She was about to ask about the items he’d mentioned over the journal but there was movement near her door. One glance at Mr. Stark indicated the sort of mood he was in and her lips pressed together in a thin line. “Mr. Stark,” she greeted with the inclination of her head, though her gaze slid back to Thor a moment later. “Are you sure that’s all you needed, Thor?” she asked, taking the remote panel from him and setting it on the table next to them. Pepper would have offered to give him copies of the footage, but she didn’t think they had the proper equipment on Asgard to view it and it wasn’t something Ben should be burdened with. She glanced at Mr. Stark and bit back an offer to let him use her office again if he needed it. Somehow, she didn’t think that would go over well. At her greeting, Thor turned without getting up and nodded his head slightly to Tony. Tension settled more into his shoulders at the arrival of the other man, but he still gave Pepper a small smile in return. The only thing that remained was currently a weight against his leg, the pouch flattened against his thigh. "Only this," he said as he pulled it out and unrolled it across her coffee table, metal studded side down. "They should work for you," he said as he fished the first of the dull dark gray rocks out. "They will work on you, all you need do is to crush them. They'll turn to powder," Thor started to explain as they were both in the room. They couldn't help the people that had already been lost today, but if they, whatever they were calling themselves, were the best option for saving lives then Thor wanted to give them the best chance he could. "We use them for life threatening wounds." By rights, Thor should look strange sitting, or behind a desk, but he didn’t. Maybe that was part of being Thor, you were just hot blond guy twenty-four seven and that was that. Tony didn’t have a problem with Thor, but despite what he felt he should know, he’d never met the man, and he didn’t have the affection or respect that came with fighting alongside someone, the feeling he had for Rhodey, for Happy. Tony didn’t have a lot of friends, so friendship didn’t come easily to him, especially when he was hardly trying. Tony crossed the room, and without a trace of concern or hesitancy, he picked up one of the rocks and held it up to the light to stare at it. “Handy. You use any today?” Tony lowered his hand and stared out at Thor over the desk. "No," Thor replied, watching Tony for the first time. He'd seen him in the Iron Man suit, spoken (as it were) to him over the journals, but this was really the first time that he'd gotten to see the man. "I returned home to get them." Though even if he had them, he never would have had enough to save the people today. His gaze met Tony's and held it, unafraid. It didn't escape his notice that Tony looked completely at home in the office, though it was Pepper's and not his own. Kings and Princes were always at home within their own domain and he understood that of Tony now. She watched curiously as Thor rolled the pouch out onto the table. They just looked like rocks, which earned him a questioning look. “A person needs to crush them?” She picked up one of the rocks and rolled it in her palm, testing the weight and feel of them. It was certainly an interesting concept and she hoped they wouldn’t need to be used. When Thor revealed he’d returned to Asgard to retrieve them, she smiled and put her free hand on one of his. “Thank you for bringing them here.” It was a very sincere thanks, and relief was evident in her tone. After a moment, she removed her hand and turned to look at Mr. Stark. The bandages were noticeable beneath his shirt and that reminded her that Thor was injured as well. “We have medics here, if you need someone to look at your leg,” Pepper offered the Asgardian. “There are papers on the conference table that need your signature, Mr. Stark,” she added, inclining her head toward the table in question. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the orchids, but then she turned back to Thor, ready to summon a medic if he wanted. Tony had just come from a battle with Thor’s brother. He had his side stitched up and then he’d started immediate improvements on the tower, almost everything targeted toward telling illusion from reality with technology. The news was going on about the disaster like the days after 9/11, and it didn’t matter to anybody whether they were all fictional or not. It was real in the here and now, and when you got hurt, you bled. He didn’t notice Pepper’s sudden affection for flowers the way he would have noticed if she had a new computer on her desk, but he did notice the way she put her hand in Thor’s. Tony’s dark eyes flicked up from the hand to Pepper’s face, to Thor, and then back to Pepper. “It can wait.” Then he seemed to again focus on Thor, and it was clear his mood had not improved, but as Steve had advised, he was making an effort to be fair about this. “So? What did you come to see?” Tony nodded at the screen in front of Thor. A younger Thor might have antagonized Tony once he noticed that look. As it was, Thor had far too much on his mind to bother with all the nuances of their relationship. "Your recordings," he replied, his gaze following Tony's to the screen. "And thank you, Pepper, but I will be returning to Asgard after this." There he could be healed, patched up, and perhaps start to find some of the answers he needed. He glanced back and forth between the two of them before offering her a small smile. "Unless either of you have further need of me?" He paused, considering. Tony would be a useful ally and of all the things that Thor knew, he knew how to treat those. "You are welcome to come back with me," he said directly to the other man. "We have some of the finest healers in all the Nine Realms." “I meant in the recordings...” Tony’s attention focused. He acquired that look of arch, intense curiosity that he wore when he managed to do something everyone else had told him was insanely dangerous or completely impossible. Come back? Back to Asgard? It would be good to see Asgard, find out where Loki came from, get an understanding of these people in their crazy cloud. He might be able to figure out more about Loki’s illusions and the science of their environment. For Tony, everything was science. “Really? To Asgard? Would you give me a tour? I want to know what we’re dealing with...” It was as if Thor hadn’t actually mentioned healing at all, and the bothersome issue of Pepper’s hand wouldn’t be a problem if Pepper was here and Thor was there, in Tony’s opinion. Had Pepper dated before? She must have. But not in front of him. Her eyes narrowed when Mr. Stark brushed off the paperwork. “Not for very much longer,” she informed him, but then, when had she ever had to ask only once for him to sign a variety of things. She chose to ignore the look he gave her, because there wasn’t anything inappropriate about trying to be a friend for Thor. Pepper hadn’t been on a date since the second year she’d worked for Mr. Stark. She just didn’t have the time. Her ‘dates’ were generally the brief personal socializing she managed during various functions, never anything more than that. “I don’t,” Pepper replied, but it was lost in Mr. Stark’s reply about seeing Asgard. She knew that it was important, so she wouldn’t say anything about it. “Just don’t ignore it,” she counseled, regarding his leg. “I’m not sure how long of a reprieve we’ll have.” She was worried about how aggressively Loki would go after them. She also knew Felicia wouldn’t be making it back to Las Vegas for a few days at least so that she could stay on top of things here. Pepper stood and made her way over to the conference table, collecting the papers Mr. Stark insisted on ignoring and brought them over to him, snagging a pen on her way. “Please.” She held out the pile to him, and every place he needed to sign was marked with a ‘sign here’ sticky. "Yes," Thor answered simply, watching as Pepper went to get the papers. "It's an illusion Loki has used before, but not to that magnitude. Before they were smaller, only snakes." Just a bit of fun. Planting one foot on the floor, he used it to keep his balance as he levered himself out of the rather comfortable couch and without putting too much weight on his knee. "We'll see how much time we have for a tour once the healers have had you." There were other things he needed to do besides escort Tony Stark around his home. The first of which was to get answers to the half formed ideas that he had lurking around in his skull. The second thing he was still not sure of. Physical prowess had always been the staple of his skills, but now he was beginning to worry that it wouldn't be enough against his brother. "I don't need healing. You can just get someone to show me the place, right? Maybe someone who knows your brother. Knew. Whatever." Tony made a face when Pepper brought over paperwork (he had been hoping she didn't have it on hand), but he was secretly pleased to be the center of her attention again, so he took the pen while he was speaking. He started signing--his signature had big slashes and loops--without paying any attention to what the papers actually said. "You can't be the only one flying around with info on this guy." Tony paused. "You should let me bring Rogers, too." The Captain had a good head on his shoulders, and he might have some insight without necessarily running to anyone else (like SHIELD) to share it. "How about the Sif one you mentioned?" He pronounced it "seef." Pepper arched an eyebrow when he insisted he didn’t need healing. “It wouldn’t hurt to at least let them have a look at you,” she said, watching as he signed the necessary paperwork. She wouldn’t need to bother him for a few weeks now about anything to do with Stark Industries if he wasn’t interested in hearing of it. His argument was a good one and Pepper hoped Thor would agree to it. “Sif,” she corrected, pronouncing it as it was meant to be. Once Tony had signed the papers, Pepper took the pen, smiled at him, and set everything on her desk to be distributed later. “It would be a good idea for others to get somewhat more familiar with Loki,” Pepper chimed in. “Bringing Captain Rogers along could also give you another perspective on how to handle all of this.” Her reassuring smile was directed at Thor, meant to soothe any potential worries he might have about opening his realm to people he didn’t know for the purpose of giving them better insight to his brother. It was a very personal, very delicate situation and Pepper hoped Thor would come out okay at the other end of this. That smile was not nearly enough to soothe his concerns. "Sif is here," he pointed out, at first confused who Tony was referencing until Pepper corrected his pronunciation. "You don't need to go to Asgard to see her." And more to the point, Thor didn't particularly want Tony wandering around his home, asking questions about Loki. His brother was still a tender subject and Thor had no desire to let anyone probe that particular wound. "Myself, Sif, the Warriors Three, my mother, my father, we are the ones that knew Loki best." It wasn't much and though he didn't voice them, Thor wondered how well any of them, including himself, had known his brother. "And if you can find any of them to ask, you may do so." The thought of letting Steve through as well, that at least had some potential. Tony may have the brains, but Steve had the manners. "If you are not in need of the healers, I will take Steve son of Rogers, and Lady Pepper," he decided. They'd get into far less trouble, if the look in Tony's eyes was anything to go by. "If you are still interested in learning how to defend yourself, there is much you could learn there. Most of our warriors start with the sword and I am sure my metalsmiths could find you one to your liking." This was addressed to Pepper as he ignored the sound in the back of his mind from Benji. He'd ask later. "Unless you know of anyone else that has injuries?" “Hey, whoa, wait,” Tony said, taking his chin up off his chest and widening his eyes. He took a step up closer to Thor so he was within reach, no more intimidated by the man’s mass than he was by his brother’s magic. “The whole point of the visit was to see your home ground. Steve son of Rogers isn’t going to know what to look for, and besides, if Lady Pepper goes--” And here he managed not to say the word lady with the same amount of sarcasm as he had said son of Rogers, a great feat indeed, “--then I go. She’d tell me anyway. Right?” Tony turned his shoulder to give Pepper a look of hopeful expectation, like a child asking to go out to play. Pepper was not prepared for what Thor suggested. The idea of learning how to defend herself appealed immensely to her, despite her relegation to desk duty for the foreseeable future. She hadn’t expected that the Asgardian would renege Tony’s invitation and the combined effect left her momentarily speechless while her boss replied. The ‘Lady Pepper’ bit threw her for a loop coming from Tony’s lips and she had to visibly shake herself out of it. Tony’s look didn’t help either and she sighed. “He’s right, Thor,” she said, moving between the two men. Her back was to Tony, more focused on Thor because she didn’t know all the ways to handle him like she did Tony. “I would tell him everything.” Another pause as she looked him very carefully in the eye. “I do appreciate your offer and I would love to learn my way around a sword, but that will take time and right now I can’t be away from Stark Tower for more than an hour or two. I know that it can’t be easy facing your brother. I’m truly sorry that you have to do this. I promise, if you let Mr. Stark accompany you to Asgard, he’ll be respectful of your home and your family.” Pepper spoke in very soothing tones, hoping to appeal to the gentler side of him. She smiled again and added, “It would mean a lot to me if you did.” Pepper didn’t turn to face Tony or even look over her shoulder at him, trusting that he’d just go with it so that he could get to Asgard. Few people ever tried to placate Thor as it was often easier just to let him burn through whatever emotion he was feeling at the moment than to try to calm him down. Pepper had no way of knowing that and little of succeeding, especially once she mentioned Loki. It had been enough that he'd had to fight his brother again and then to have a tin man demanding answers about him, wanting to visit his home so he could pry into their lives -- even if Thor had made the invitation, he'd made it to help, not to put his people through Hel -- it was more than he was going to allow. "You may tell him anything you like, I care not, but your promise means nothing until he makes it himself." Tony was bemused by Pepper’s sudden movement in front of him, frowning at the idea that she would need to physically protect him from anything, much less Thor. His expression changed into something incredulous when Pepper said learn my way around a sword, but other than a faint snort of derision, he wisely kept his opinion on that point to himself. Tony took a step at a neat angle to come up next to Pepper, not exactly nudging her aside but making it clear he would not be protected. He was going for intellectual support, here, and nobody did that better than Pepper. “Hey, I can be respectful. I go to other countries all the time.” And completely bypass custom by using a whole lot of money and smiles, but nobody complained if Stark Industries brought jobs. That notwithstanding, Tony wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t there to insult a bunch of people. He just wanted to get the lay of the land, so to speak. He flashed Thor a ready smile that was probably not comforting at all. “I promise.” If he'd been a complete idiot or a brick, he might have believed that smile and found it comforting. Despite what his brother might have said, Thor was neither and received no relief from the smile nor the promise. "This is not another country, this is Asgard. The people have little love for my brother and I will not allow you to harass them." There were no threats as to what he would do, it wasn't his custom to make them and Thor wasn't going to start now. That didn't mean that his words didn't carry the implication that something would happen if Tony wasn't respectful of his home. It was a good thing she’d been practicing not rolling her eyes so much because if there was ever a moment to do so, it was when Mr. Stark implied he was respectful of the customs of foreign countries. He wouldn’t be able to buy off the Asgardians like he did everyone else, but she would be there to soothe Thor’s fears. She glanced at him as he stepped up next to her, silently grateful that he didn’t comment about her learning to use a sword. That could’ve gone badly, though part of her wondered if he’d have something to say about it later or if he’d make an offhand comment quite publicly to everyone over the journals. Again. “If Mr. Stark says he’ll be respectful, he will be,” she insisted, opting for the firm, professional tone she generally addressed Tony with. It was then that she realized she’d started referring to him as Tony in her head and that needed to be quashed immediately. Pepper shook her head just slightly, and focused on the topic at hand. It was important that they all get along if this group had any hope of coming together without Nick Fury. “Just give him a chance, Thor.” While Pepper’s support was important (since apparently she and Thor had a thing), Tony didn’t necessarily appreciate the way Thor implied she needed to babysit him everywhere. He was a grown man, after all, and if he didn’t want to be escorted, whether by government or female (he thought to himself) he wouldn’t be. All the same, he really wanted to see for himself the kind of country Loki came from. It was important, even vital. “Me?” Tony said, putting out his lower lip as if hurt. “Harass? I don’t harass.” The look that Thor was giving Tony was clearly not his 'I believe you look.' He recognized the importance of Tony going to Asgard, but that didn't mean that he was going to let him loose. And as much as he liked Pepper, he really wasn't sure that she could keep Tony on a tight leash. "The more you attempt to make yourself look trustworthy, the less you actually are," he said, purely to Tony. "You are not going to agitate my people. Loki's done that enough," he added. He'd make sure that some of the guards stayed within close range of Tony as soon as they came through. "As long as you remain with him," this he said to Pepper, and nodded slowly. "Let us go." |