InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You're that pinball wizard!"

Name (twostepsahead) wrote in doorslogs,
@ 2012-05-18 20:00:00

Entry tags:

iron man, pepper potts, plot: las vegas

WHO Pepper & Tony
WHAT Continuing their phone call
WHEN During the dragon thingy
WHERE Outside the Marvel Door
WARNINGS/RATING Probably none. Will update as necessary.

Pepper didn't even hesitate when she heard him over the phone. She wasn't just going to leave him there, especially after seeing the footage of Loki's attack dozens of times. She'd spent as much time as she could containing the situation, organizing clean up and doing what she could to distract herself from thinking about Tony's condition. SHIELD hadn't let her see him, something about not having the clearance, and she didn't have the energy to argue with them. He would be safe with them, she trusted, but that had all gone to hell with this new situation. Pepper hoped he would have the sense to stay put, no matter how desperately they might need him. He would do what he wanted though, just like always. She just hoped he'd survive whatever anomaly that allowed them to be in Las Vegas. She hurried up the steps, a path all too familiar to her, and she was about to reply through the phone when she turned the corner and caught sight of him.

She wanted to stop, to take a moment and worry, but they had a crisis on their hands and Captain Rogers and the rest of them really could use his help. She allowed herself a soft "Tony," as she closed the distance between them, showing her relief at seeing him alive and in one piece. Now wasn't the time for sentiment or anger or anything else. The next mission is all that matters. Hadn't he said that to her, way back when? She could focus on that. "They just need a way to get Hulk toward where the dragon is." Pepper couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth but that wasn't reflected in her voice. She was already pulling up the still photos on her phone to show him.

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silverandiron
2012-05-19 06:29 am UTC (link)

Tony was the physical embodiment of the phrase how the mighty have fallen. He was about two feet from the sealed Marvel Door where he had been pitched not too long before, and he hadn't been able to get much farther than that. He was wearing a hospital gown that tied at the back of the neck and green nurse's drawstring pants. He was gray under several days' beard and he looked both battered and tired despite being scrubbed and stitched. There were bandages covering his entire lower back, soft cotton held by long wraps, and the same covered one shoulder, making his silhouette oddly askew. He had his phone in his left hand, and it glowed there, bright in comparison to Tony's skin.

He looked up as she approached. "Pepper." He smiled. "We can do that. Here." He took her phone from her hand, glanced at the photos with a grim look, but then flipped them away. He connected the two wirelessly and started using hers to boost his signal, fingers tapping heavy on the devices as he laid them on the lap.

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twostepsahead
2012-05-19 06:51 am UTC (link)

He looked horrible and Pepper made a note to thank Natasha for not letting her see him earlier. She'd been much more productive distracting herself with work and today would be no exception. There was a slight twinge of guilt for leaving Anne in the lobby, but she was fairly certain Thor would understand. She'd apologize later regardless. Spider-Man was already en route to Captain Rogers so she knew he wouldn't be completely alone. Pepper knelt down next to him, pointedly only giving him a cursory once over. She caught every detail, every bandage, and the damage wrought to him lit an anger inside her that she kept an extraordinarily tight lid on.

She handed over her phone wordlessly and watched as he did his thing. Pepper would never be able to understand the majority of what he did when it came to technology but that didn't bother her in the slightest. He did was he was best at and she did what she was best at. "They have a way to bind Loki," she informed him, leaving out the fact that it was Thor going after his brother with a set of cuffs she wasn't entirely sure would work. It was certainly the best option they had. After a few minutes, she asked, "Did he take anything?"

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silverandiron
2012-05-19 07:13 am UTC (link)

Tony's fingers stilled for a moment on the surface of Pepper's phone, his head still bent. "...Yes. He got a piece of the Mark V." The portable armor had been extremely valuable but it didn't hold up to the kind of physical punishment Tony had been putting himself through in the times following its use in Monaco. "Took a fucking chunk out of it." Tony was angry, but he had to concentrate. Pepper would understand how Tony felt about his tech being stolen and misused.

"Ah," Tony said, pained but satisfied as his phone lit up with a more interactive UI projected into the air in front of him. He started to move things around, pinpointing locations in a topographical map of the Strip and perhaps hacking a military satellite or two for satellite imaging and GPS for the little beauty that he had zipping its way toward the Hulk right now. Even though he was only moving his arms, he tired quickly, however. "Pepper," he said, after he tried to sit up better and failed. "I need you to go find me some painkillers. Legal, illegal, just get them. Okay?"

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twostepsahead
2012-05-19 07:53 am UTC (link)

She had assumed Loki had, given the state of the upper floors that had borne the brunt of the attack. Pepper understood all too well how he felt about his tech. It was an extension of him and, somewhat, Stark Industries as well, and he had come back from captivity with an iron suit and a driving need to rid America's enemies of the Stark Tech they possessed. Tony would go to hell and back to keep his tech close to the vest and the fact that Loki had just come in and stolen it...well, she had a very good idea indeed of how pissed he was.

As soon as he tried to move, she was there, her hands doing their best to simultaneously support him and avoid the bandages. Pepper helped him get into a more comfortable position as best she could before standing up. "I'll be right back," she promised, lingering for half a moment longer before turning and making her way to the stairs. She kept her pace even until she was at the staircase, where she sped up considerably, all but flying down the stairs toward the triage center.

There were only a handful of people there and she immediately pulled one of the nurses aside. After working her magic, Pepper made her way back upstairs with two shots of 10 ccs of morphine for him with instructions on how to administer it, and tucked in her pocket was a bottle of painkillers that he could take after the morphine wore off. She wasn't running this time but she was moving quickly and before long at all she was back by his side.

"I have morphine for you. The nurse downstairs said to give you the first dose and if you don't feel any improvement in twenty minutes to give you the second. Is your stomach injured at all? Or your thigh? That's where she suggested the shot be administered." Pepper had insisted on doing it herself and the process was easy enough. All she needed to do was pinch the skin and inject him with the dosage.

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silverandiron
2012-05-19 06:43 pm UTC (link)

After what Tony had been through, a big needle shouldn't have been much, but he made a slight face when she reappeared with it. In the interim time he had taken off the hospital gown so he could attach his phone to his chest piece and keep it going. It was kind of like hooking up a generator to a supernova, but that was okay. The cord controlled it and the phone was perhaps one of the most useful pieces of tech Tony had ever put together. He stopped what he was doing for a second to put a hand on her arm, a thumb against the inside of her elbow just to feel her there for a second. Stomach and thigh were fine, but when she was done he gave her a tired, but familiar look. "You enjoyed that far too much."

He let her go and turned back to what he was doing. The 3D imaging now showed a glowing orb about the size of an apple, and Tony appeared to be running something like schematics on its equipment. Pepper's phone didn't have the ability to project, but it was showing a picture of what the orb was seeing. It appeared to be flying over Downtown.

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twostepsahead
2012-05-19 09:14 pm UTC (link)

She did it quickly and recapped the needle before putting it off to the side. She still had the second dosage just in case but he would tell her if he needed it. A small, honest smile crossed her lips for a brief moment when he touched her arm. "Just a little bit," Pepper replied easily. Even though she was never a fan of providing medical attention for him, administering a shot was far easier than replacing his chest piece.

His attention turned to the phones and her's did as well. She recognized downtown easily as this Las Vegas wasn't any different than the one in their world. It put her and the others at a great advantage over some of the other Door inhabitants, she imagined. Pepper sat down next to him, staying close in case he needed her, and watched as he worked. "Where did you have that stashed away?" she asked curiously, in a tone that was soft enough to be ignored if he was too busy concentrating.

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silverandiron
2012-05-20 12:53 am UTC (link)

"Silver's got a storage container for some of his little secrets on the outside of town," Tony said, casually. "Illegal arms and whatnot. A little more contraband isn't going to hurt him."

After a few minutes, Tony showed obvious improvement. He moved a little better and he seemed able to stretch farther. His focus, however, was worse. He squinted at the screens and one or two times his fingers got tangled and he had to start again. Using the wall to stay upright, he kept the phones going and, after a few minutes, seemed to be piloting the camera zooming along on her phone screen. He tipped slightly until he was against her shoulder. "That's some good stuff," he said, quietly, blinking again to try to push the drowsiness away.

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twostepsahead
2012-05-20 01:17 am UTC (link)

Pepper arched an eyebrow at that particular tidbit of information but she didn't pry. Tony was the one here now, so she'd let Felicia worry about Silver when things returned to normal. This had to be some kind of fluke and they had far bigger things to worry about then figuring out how all of this happened. Everyone would likely be too distracted by the ice and dragon to notice wherever the tech appeared from. "Try not to get him in too much trouble. He's already got the police looking for him."

Tony's focus was one of his best qualities, when he was focused on work. She furrowed her brow when she noticed his fingers slipping, second guessing the decision to get him involved. She'd never regret giving him the pain medication but it would affect him past relieving the pain. Pepper was about to ask him if he wanted her to help when he shifted, leaning against her shoulder. Her eyes widened just slightly but a smile tugged at her lips. "I'm glad it's helping," she admitted, letting her head rest against his for a moment. "Any luck finding them?"

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silverandiron
2012-05-20 01:50 am UTC (link)

"Mmmmthere," Tony said, triumphantly, moving his fingers slightly and shifting the bot's camera to direct it into the faces of a crowd of heroes standing amongst the rubble. JARVIS identified Captain America and Spider-man, but the blonde archer and the girl with the squirrel tail didn't have any records yet. After a few seconds the AI would tap into wikipedia on this side of the door, but at the moment, Tony was focused on listening in.

The holograms shifted in front of them, and a white light focused on Tony's head and shoulders so he could speak through the bot at the people below. He lifted himself off her shoulder and leaned heavily back against the wall to get upright, but he managed to sound normal. After introducing himself (and the bot) Tony turned his head to look at Pepper. "I haven't got a name for it yet. I was just going to use it for recon but, you know. Things change."

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twostepsahead
2012-05-20 02:26 am UTC (link)

Pepper was glad that Spider-Man had made it to Captain Rogers and that the pair had some help. Tony was in zero condition to go anywhere and while she was hopeful that he didn't have a suit on this side of the door, she wouldn't have put it past him. He sat upright and she turned to watch as he addressed the heroes. Despite being injured and basically confined to the hallway, he was still his usual self. Hopefully the morphine wouldn't affect him too much more past easing his pain.

She stayed quiet until he turned to look at her. "It's alright," Pepper replied, keeping her voice low. "The point here is to help if you can and you're doing that." She had to stop herself from cautioning that if it was too much, he could stop. Her gaze dropped to the camera feed on her phone and she was glad he wasn't out there, not with the state he was in.

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silverandiron
2012-05-20 09:05 pm UTC (link)

Tony was relieved beyond belief that the constructed Iron Man hologram had been effective in attracting the Hulk's attention. He got him turned around and going in the right direction, wincing a little as he shifted to see better through the Bot's screens. It wasn't like being there, and Tony obviously chafed at the restriction, even when sitting up was a struggle. He cut the microphone and said, in a newly strained voice, "Didn't expect him to be that lucid. That was good. Right?" He was talking to himself for the most part, and while the Bot continued to hover, Tony slipped sideways to lean again on Pepper's shoulder. "You got something like that shot but... maybe half-strength? Another one is going to knock me out." He sounded exhausted even though he'd only carried on one conversation, and he was now eying the entry made by Phil Coulson.

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twostepsahead
2012-05-20 09:33 pm UTC (link)

Seeing the Hulk was a little disconcerting, even through the camera screen. She was glad that he listened to Tony though and she hoped, as he cut the microphone, that he was done with this fight. "Very good," she assured him softly, shifting so that he was as comfortable as he could be given his injuries. Pepper was really happy that he was leaning on her for support, literally, though she couldn't help wonder if it was just because of a combination of the injuries and the medication. She was quiet for a moment when he asked for more morphine. "I could give you half of the second shot," she offered. She had the pain killers but Pepper didn't know if they would interact with the morphine negatively and she wasn't going to risk it. She'd rather risk knocking him out.

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silverandiron
2012-05-21 01:47 am UTC (link)

Tony continued to watch the screens for at least another minute, but he couldn't keep it up for long. The morphine helped, but the pain seemed to break through, growing more and less by throbbing turns until eventually it was much more than it was less. Tony grunted. "Pepper." He had turned a hand under hers and was now gripping it very tightly. "I'm going to lie down." Because if he forced his back to support all those stitches anymore, he was going to scream. He turned around to his good side and, without asking a bit of permission, slide sideways to put his head in her lap. All the same he forced his eyes to stay open. "You watch that screen," he ordered, pointing at a panel of blue light in the air in front of them that was the Bot's controls. "They're sensors for... a lot of things. They spike, something else is probably coming."

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twostepsahead
2012-05-21 01:56 am UTC (link)

It was obvious that he was in pain and she wished she could just take it away from him or at least do whatever she could to keep him comfortable. He was taxing himself too much and she squeezed his hand in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. "Okay," she said softly, trusting that he knew how he'd be most comfortable. As soon as his head was in her lap, Pepper brought her free hand up to gently stroke his hair. "I'll watch the screen," she promised. "I'll take care of it, just like I always do." Somehow, she managed an honest smile for him. She was honestly more focused on him, watching his breathing and reading his body for signs of how much pain he was in. Caressing him, trying to soothe him, it all came so easily for her and she wouldn't stop unless he told her to. "Everything's going to be alright."

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