Rooms

[Comm to Helena W.]
[Beep, beep.]

[Stephanie N.]
[Because he knows she knows.]
It's not funny.

[Jason T.]
Jason.

[Holly R.]
Do you want to come over here? I have zebras.

Who: Harry & MJ
What: Meeting up to talk.
Where: Outside Stark Industries, to start.
When: At onset of toxin hijinks.
Warnings/Rating: Will update as needed. Likely language & imagery & violence.

True to his word, Harry headed over to meet MJ after putting his signature on a couple checks of minor importance at the office. He knew that these little tasks were meaningless and way below his capabilities. Harry believed himself to have knowledge of the finer, innermost workings of Oscorp's scientific advances... so signing off on delivery transfers was a total waste of time from his point of view. Still, he knew that only through completing these minor tasks without complaint was he ever going to endear himself back into his father's good graces as far as the company was concerned. That's what he told himself, anyway.

His father hadn't actually told Harry that he was disappointed in the way that Harry had run the business in his absence, and Harry wasn't directly blamed for the pulse that had caused Oscorp such a PR nightmare... but Harry couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't entirely welcome at Oscorp anymore. He was endured by the employees, but they didn't really have a choice in that matter.

He really didn't know what to think about the whole thing, and the ride over to Stark gave him plenty of time to contemplate slights both real and imagined. By the time his driver pulled to a stop in front of the large, corporate building, Harry's mood was dramatically different from the ecstatic flirt he'd been on the phone.

That had been getting worse, too. Highs and lows. Manic, oscillating idoltry for his best friend, for his lovers, for his father. All of it plateaued with brief moments of crisp reality, and then the darkness threatened to suck Harry in again. On bad nights, his memory was worse than that of a raging drunk; broken snapshots from the night he'd taken the goblin serum, from that day the Pulse had slammed through the city. Sometimes he felt like two different people.

It was frustrating and a little frightening, and more than anything, Harry wanted the brightness of his day back. He wanted Mary Jane to tell him that she loved him, he wanted that night on the dancefloor back. He wanted a lot of things that felt faraway impossible, and then sometimes he didn't want them at all.

As he got out of the car, a brief text was sent her way.

MJ,
Here. Come down.

Do you have a second?

[Accidental Comm to Selina K.]

[Sharon is groggy, half sedated - has no idea where she is even as she tries to remember it's not quite coming to her.]

Steve? [She almost remembered talking to Steve the last time she was here. Where ever here was. She had a sinking feeling at the implications of all of if.] Steve?

[Careless smudges of food on the paper precede the message. Then, there is sketching. Little stick figures begin to collect and spread on the page in bundles.]

dear sestra. today i fold all the clothes for you and kill rat in basement who chews your house. i set trap in basement for him, little scraps of paper. rats like paper they think are written with important things. i leave him there to scare other rats. why do all numbers in green phone ring and ring and ring and ring

soon you come home. i make house for you. i fill basement while you are gone with rats.

[A print of red, red lips. A few more dark stick figures, heavily outlined, and a small postscript.]

i run out of lipsticks from your suitcase so bring more.

Who: Pepper Potts
What: Sedation & Stage III
When: After not telling Tony (sorry Tony)
Where: Stark Tower

( She'd taken the flu to her office, sat red-eyed and rabbity behind a desk and sorted through HR complaints but she'd not been sick, flattened to a bed )

[The dogs were gone. She knew her mama was in the bedroom, fucking her latest boyfriend. She knew that when they were done, he'd come out for her. She could get away now. She had to go now. She knew what would happen if she didn't.

The apartment door unlocked with a quiet snick of deadbolt, opened without a creak of oil-hungry hinges. And she pulled it shut behind her once she was out. She knew some kids in the neighborhood. She could stay with them, maybe. But once she was down on the street, so many people walking by, they all had his face. The first one. The one that liked to paw at her with fat, greasy hands. She pushed herself against a wall, back to it, thin shirt catching the brick, brick scraping skin but pressing blessedly cool against fabric that was soaked through with sweat as she shivered. Brick was wall and on the wall, just a little bit away, was a phone. She could call for help.

Someone.

She would call someone. Someone that would help. Fingers dialed a number that somehow seemed familiar.]


[The caller ID didn't bring up anyone's name. But the automated voice asked if the charges would be accepted for a collect call from: "...*shaky sigh* Hello? Is anyo-"]

It's better when you keep your eyes shut.

]comm to selina k.]

[Immediately after this, and he disconnects to try again. Beep, beep, and he doesn't wait.]

SELINA!

[Comm to Tony Stark and Steve Rogers]

Anyone there? Steve? Tony? Help?

[Voice-to-text to Selina Kyle]

Selina? Can you read this?


[Later, voice-to-text to Bruce Wayne]

Bruce, I just talked to Selina. I'm sending Steve after her, we think we know where she is. She said Crane's dead. It might be a hallucination, but he'll figure it out. I'm coming closer to an answer. I just thought you should know. Steve will probably have all the information and an update soon.

[All crossed out.]

Who: Wren (and brain!cameo by X)
What: Transferring Loki to the telepath (mostly)
Where: Danger Room
When: Nowish
Warnings/Rating: Non

( Wren was really, really scared. )

[There's the accompanying sound of pounding on steel as she's half-screaming, half-crying into the communicator.] SOMEONE HELP ME. OH GOD, OH GOD.

[She had no idea where she was, and the party had broken up, and she was glad.

She was sitting at the edge of the ballroom, her sage turned denim and covered in blood and brains. Black bra, and her shirt had just been too dirty. She spun the plastic-diamond-paper on her wrist, and she read the name over and over, as if she was trying to make sense of letters that kept changing on her tongue.

Twist-

But everything hurt. It wasn't an exaggeration, and maybe it was the way her shoulders kept slamming back against the chair when she shook (seizure). Chills, she thought, and someone should really turn off the air conditioning. She was cold, and she wanted socks.

She could go crawl into bed, red blankets and the loft's windows, and she'd make Bruce take care of dinner. Did he cook? Probably not, but Eddie could help. Eddie was good with those things. But she promised she wouldn't leave the party, and so she didn't.

Twist-

Ankles crossed, and the chair (alley) at her back, and the seat cushion (ground) was uncomfortable, but she waited, muttering into her earring.]

[Locked to Bruce W]
More info incoming, but I'm on my way to pick up Selina. She spoke with Banner.

[After his trip to Stark Tower, roughly a day later. Dashed off quickly.]

Did you leave? Tell me you left. You and Wren and Evie and the kids.

[After several days of listening. Voice-to-text.]

I have a bad feeling about this.

Hello? Can anyone read me?

[Mid this.]

[Call to Steve R]

Ring, ring.

[Locked to Bruce W.]

fnd cran, lkng fr cat [No time for spelling corrections, sorry Bruce.]