Pepper returned exactly thirty minutes later, dressed far differently than she had been the last time he'd seen her, with her hair french braided and a waterproof sack slung over one shoulder. "I'm driving," she said, snatching the keys up with a grin before he could protest and climbing inside to adjust things while waiting for him to join her.
The drive took about an hour, with Pepper driving faster than usual, up into the mountains of upstate New Jersey and then off-road inside one of the state parks. At what seemed like a random point along a dirt road, she took a left down a narrow path and pulled to a stop along one shoulder.
Take everything out of your pockets except your cell phone," she told him, emptying her own into a ziplock bag and stowing it under the driver's seat. "Or a knife, if you carry one." Her own Swiss army knife stayed with her. Taking only the key to the car off the ring and slipping it in her pocket after locking up, Pepper lead them in a thirty minute hike further up the mountain along an animal trail, then down a steep bank which ended at a vast, hidden lake.
Gently taking Tony's hand and showing him where to stand, she pointed around the lake where the mountain broke again and a flat expanse of stone formed another shore, approximately a mile away. "We're going to swim out there," she told him with a grin. "That's where we're going."
From her backpack, she took a small vinyl laundry bag and stripped down to her bikini, putting everything but her backpack inside the bag. "Put your clothes in here," she said. "I'm going to hang them so they don't get wet or stolen." From the backpack, she took out some vacuum sealed food canisters and put their cell phones in them, then those in ziplock bags, along with the car key and her swiss army knife. Lastly, she sprayed herself (a second time) with 70 SPF sunblock, which she handed to Tony.