Pepper Potts-Stark (gotyoukid) wrote in chances_rpg, @ 2021-12-06 08:46:00 |
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Entry tags: | !gamewideplot, mcu: pepper potts-stark, umbrella academy: ben hargreeves |
THREAD: Ben & Pepper
WHO: Pepper Potts-Stark & Ben Hargreeves
WHAT: Fighting off some elves.
WHERE: Outside the Station
WHEN: Monday, Dec. 6
RATING: PG
STATUS: Completed via GDOC.
Pepper didn’t go looking for trouble. She left that to her husband and Peter. Still, she wished for her Rescue suit for a reason; she always wanted to be prepared, especially in such uncertain times. She now wore a watch that she could press in an emergency to get her suit, which made her feel better, especially when taking Morgan places. Sure, the turkeys had been benign and Halloween hi-jinks weren’t too bad, but what about those bats? They hadn’t been innocuous!
She was just returning from work and parked her car in the garage when she heard a commotion. Instinctively she turned around and saw what looked like a group of deranged holiday elves charging for a group of citizens. Well, damn. She quickly pressed her watch and was suited up within seconds. “Not today, Christmas rejects!” She blasted several before they could harm anyone, but she remained vigilant. Surely there were more. “Everyone okay?”
Most of the crowd had already begun to scatter, especially with someone in a mecha suit pelting down the street at them. A small clutch of people remained, standing around a huddled figure in the middle with a shredded backpack spilling books on the sidewalk. Within the protective circle of said figure's arms, a tiny voice cried out and squirmed a hand free to make frantic flailing motions. "Daddy! Daddy!"
Running full tilt from down the street with speed to rival the suit and apparently having been borne away by the rest of the crowd, a man bellowed out, "Tomás! Where is my son?"
The boy wiggled harder, and Ben leaned up just enough to let him go free and be snatched up into the arms of his tearful father. Ben was given no more than a cursory nod of thanks, but hadn't even expected that. There was only a half second to think about what that kind of paternal care must feel like before he picked himself up and winced when the rest of his books fell on his heels.
"We're okay," he said for the quickly dispersing group before he finally registered who it was who'd asked. His eyes went wide at the futuristic armor, and he took a reflexive step back—onto one of his books. The angle was perfect for him to twist his foot and start to fall.
Pepper noticed Ben handing the young child back to his father. She waited, wanting to make sure Ben also got home. However, before she knew it he was tripping over his books and she instinctively reached out and grabbed him. She was careful not to latch on too hard with her gloved hand. “Easy,” she said gently. “Are you okay?” She noted his wide eyes. She must look ridiculous to him. She felt ridiculous in her suit, like she was playing dress up, but it had served her well during the battle with Thanos so she tried to get used to it.
His ankle gave a little bit of a twinge, but at least he wasn't picking pavement out of his palms. And he was still staring in shock. "Mrs. Potts-Stark?" He thought he recognized her voice, but it was distorted through the apparent speakers in the suit. The sound of a scream down the street shook Ben out of his shock, and he managed to get his footing again without further incident. Even the pain was beginning to subside. "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. They—they came out of nowhere. Demanding we swear our loyalty to-to Santa? What is happening around here?"
Pepper retracted her helmet. “It’s me, honey,” she said. She glanced in the direction of the scream, but someone else seemed to have taken care of that for the time being. So much for getting home to make dinner. “They wanted you to swear loyalty to Santa?” An incredulous expression crossed her face. It sounded like a damn cult, but she wasn’t going to mention that given what she’d seen of Klaus and Allison’s argument over the webboard. “I don’t know, Ben," she admitted. “Strange things happen around here sometimes, but this is the first time I’ve seen real danger.” The elves were stupid-looking so it was hard to picture them as a threat, but their candy canes were brutal. “Is Allison home? Do you know? Is your brother still in the hospital?” She wasn’t sure how old Ben was or what his story was, but she wasn’t going to leave him alone. “You can stay with my daughter and me for a bit if you like.”
Seeing her face went a long way in easing the fear response still jangling along his nerve endings. He looked down in dismay at his books, his latest haul from the local library with some of his school books mixed in. She was asking him some important things, but his brain was stuck on the crushed and wrinkled pages that didn't really belong to him. "I was— I was coming home. I just got my library card, and Allison said I could go there and come straight back." Ben sucked in a deep breath. "Klaus was right. About the elves. I mean, of course he was. Other people have been talking about it, but… I just… You don't believe a thing until you really see it, right? I think—I think Allison is out picking up our brother? I'm supposed to be home before…"
The rest of what he was going to say died on his tongue when he spotted movement past Mrs. Potts-Stark's shoulder. Dozens of elves were running their way in a red, green, and gold wave of frothing holiday cheer.
Pepper saw Ben’s face before the commotion behind her registered. She quickly set her helmet back and sent a blast toward the elves. She aimed to keep them away from citizens, but there were so many. “Ben, go inside!”
For a second, he considered obeying, because this was a nightmare. Even with the energy weapon plowing lines through them, they just kept coming like a swarm. As scared as he'd been before, when he didn't know what was happening, now his training was starting to kick in. Eliminate the threat, save the bystanders. One quick look at Mrs. Potts-Stark's suit made Ben wonder if she could handle the latter while he took care of the former. "No, ma'am, I can't do that. I have to help!"
He stepped around her and wrenched up his shirt. An instant later, dozens of giant tentacles were streaming out of his chest and torso and rocketing at the onslaught of elves.
Pepper was too busy throwing herself in front of a pedestrian to notice Ben didn’t run off. However, she definitely noticed when he used his abilities. She shouldn’t have been surprised given their circumstances, but seeing tentacles shooting out of a young teen still threw her. However, an elf was hanging off her arm so she didn’t have time to dwell. She shook it off, sending it corralling toward his friends. “I never liked candy canes much anyway.” She flew above the fray then and sent a blast from above. “Ben! You good?”
As little control as he had over the creatures that used his body as a conduit, he still exercised what he did have to crush and rip apart the elves. Fortunately, they only exploded in glitter. He'd been covered in worse over the years. Ben's lips were pulled back into a grimace as he tried his best to stay on the ground. If he really let them loose, his body would be whipped around like a rag doll. Distantly, he wondered if that was how he'd died. But, no, he didn't want the details. His nightmares were already bad enough without them. Looking up and once more awed by the suit, he barely managed a nod and a thumbs up. "Good enough, ma'am!" The elves were going down in droves between their combined efforts. "And maybe we're winning?"
“Of course we are winning against these jerks,” Pepper said in her best reassuring "mom” voice. She couldn’t see too many left, but she didn’t know how long that would last. She ushered some frazzled citizens into their building, which was next door to The Station.
She turned back to Ben. “Honey, I think we can go inside now. Do you need anything to recover from using your powers?” She wasn’t sure what he might need after an impressive display like that. Juice?
It took a pretty significant effort to pull the monster back into his body, could feel it fighting him every inch just like every time. He got a slap of glitter on “the side of his face for his trouble right before the last tentacle slithered inside. Still not the worst thing it had done over the years. Honestly, sometimes he wondered if the Horror had the mental equivalent of a toddler. It certainly had the temperament of one.
He took a step toward his fallen books and staggered, but managed to stay upright. "Usually a shower," he muttered under his breath, but to Pepper, he said, "No, it's okay. We've got snacks at our place." Ben tried for disarming smile, but it lost a little something in the way his hand shook when he raked it through his hair. "I can make a sandwich or something and wait for Allison and Klaus to get home."
Pepper once again retracted her helmet and joined Ben to help with the books. “Nonsense, you can come back to my place or I can wait with you at yours until your sister arrives.” Pepper wasn’t sure what she’d seen, but she didn’t want to leave Ben alone after it. “Does it hurt,” she asked after a few seconds. “When you use your powers like that?”
After all that, Ben's refusal had been a token one. Mrs. Potts-Stark was really nice and her office seemed genuine. He nodded and said, "Okay," while trying to wipe off the side of his face. The street was covered in a carnage of glitter, and he shuddered before looked back up at her. "Sometimes, yeah, especially when it starts jerking me around. I used to ruin a lot of clothes before my dad made me a super suit that it could just go through somehow."
“Do you have it here?” She asked as her eyes swept over him. She was a mom now and it was instinct to make sure kids were okay. She touched her watch, allowing the suit to disappear. She held an arm out, wordlessly offering to steer Ben inside if he was ready. “If not, my husband is good with these things. I’m sure he could come up with something.”
Ben shook his head again, and shuffled the books he'd managed to retrieve to his other hand so he could take her offered assistance. "All I came through with was my school uniform, and we burned that just after I got here. Too many bad memories. I don't—" He paused for a long moment as he struggled with what to say. "I really appreciate the offer, Mrs. Potts-Stark, but I never wanted to be a superhero. Not with what I can do. If I help people, I want it to be as a scientist or a doctor or an engineer or a teacher." His head tipped forward until his hair slid across his eyes. "I've—I've killed a lot of very bad men since we started the team a few years ago. I can't— I want to help where I can, but I can't do that anymore."
“Oh, honey,” she said as she led the way inside, “you don’t have to do anything you don’t feel comfortable doing.” She smiled warmly at the boy. His childhood sounded dark, which brought out her motherly instincts tenfold. “No one will force you to use your powers here.” She’d make sure of that. She opened the door to her apartment. “How about some hot chocolate? You can rest on the couch and tell me all about you. You must be very smart to want those careers.”
He sat gratefully, even though the couch was nearly identical one in his apartment. The truth was, using his ability was exhausting if he went for a long time without. The books were kept in his lap for a moment, and he thought mournfully of the ruined backpack he wasn't sure his siblings could afford to replace. Just because he came from the home of a man with obscene wealth didn't mean he hadn't learned very quickly the value of an honestly earned dollar.
Ben let out a quiet breath and set his salvage off to the side of him, but kept a hand on them like they might be attacked and ruined like the others had. "Yes, please. Hot chocolate would be good. I had some at Ned's movie night. I liked it. That was a really good night." He lifted a shoulder and let it drop. "I don't know if I'm very smart, but I like to read. Dad didn't allow very much outside our textbooks, so all I got was whatever I could cram into the 'designated time for fun and games'. But I like all kinds of stories and poetry and stuff that teaches me things. Your husband is a scientist and an engineer, isn't he? I know I have school, but do you think he might be willing to teach me about what he does?"
Pepper stepped into the kitchen and started the hot chocolate, but kept an ear on what Ben was saying. His father sounded dreadful, and she knew she’d do anything to protect Ben from him should Mr. Hargreeves arrive at The Station. She, however, smiled when he mentioned Ned. Pepper was just getting to know him, but he was a good friend to Peter so she liked him immensely.
“Tony is,” Pepper said as she poured the hot chocolate into mugs. She carried them to Ben and held one out. “And he loves showing off so I am sure he would. Would you like me to ask him for you?”
"Thanks," he said by rote as he took the mug and immediately wrapped his hands around him. Exhaustion was pulling at every inch of his frame, that much was clearly obvious. If he'd been on a less vertical surface, he would have been out in seconds. Ben's head drooped for a second, but then he snapped it back up and smiled at Mrs. Potts-Stark, and said again, far more earnestly. "Thank you." And then he nodded with a grin. "Yes, that would be awesome! I've seen some talk on the boards, so I'm really interested in what Mr. Potts-Stark does. What do you do? I'd like to know that too!"
Pepper chuckled at the use of “Mr. Potts-Stark” and made a mental note to tell Tony he should use that more often. “I’ll tell you all about it,” she promised, “but you seem tired. Do you want to lay down and take a rest? I can write to Allison and let her know you are here.”
Ben looked at his hot chocolate with open mourning before admitting to himself that a nap would be better. A yawn was trying to push itself out before the thought had even finished forming in his head. He nodded slowly, blinking even more so. "Yeah. Yes, please. I can just curl up here, if that's okay? Just for a little while. 'Til Allison gets back."
“Of course,” she said, already grabbing the throw blanket that was draped over the back of the couch. “Settle down and I’ll be right here with more hot chocolate when you wake up.” She smiled down at the exhausted boy before settling herself down on a nearby chair to write to Allison.