[Dinoplot - Day 2]

[wildlyconflicted]

Without a doubt, the last 24 hours have been the most miserable of Pepper's life. To think, she'd believed that time she had been trapped in an elevator with Tony, a Vegas showgirl and a chihuahua had been bad. Right now, she'd give anything to be back in that metal box with Amber and Mr. Winky.

The dinosaur that had initiated their group into this mess had eventually gone away, although the four of them had remained treed for at least another hour before daring to climb down. Determining which way to walk had been an impossibility, the sun all but completely obscured by thick, ugly cloud cover as the rain continued. It seemed hours they'd trudged along at a snail's pace, trying to keep the baby quiet and jumping at every errant twig snap, and Pepper can't say for sure they weren't just walking in circles.

The night they spent in another tree, and Pepper had assigned rotating watch duty, although the only one of them who got any real sleep at all was the toddler. They've been hiking through mud and rain since this morning, Cooper, Rachel and herself taking turns carrying the little one. Pepper's beginning to think this may be Hell.

Comments

[sluttylyingliar.livejournal.com]

"If I don't remember any of this, I'm going to go back to the same shit, I know I will," she says, blowing out a breath as her foot taps on the sloshy ground. "Fuck, at least I'm not dead. That would suck, right? Or...I don't know. I guess at least I'm going back to fucking...Earth."

[wildlyconflicted]

"Maybe you won't go anywhere," Pepper pauses in her pacing to point out. "Maybe you'll stay here. Nobody knows, and it doesn't look like anybody is ever going to. So, you live your life according to what you know now. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to plan for circumstances that may or may not even exist."

[sluttylyingliar.livejournal.com]

"So how's that working you?" Rachel asks after a minute. Rachel's never thought much, if at all, about the future, but she's also never felt so completely helpless, either.

[wildlyconflicted]

For a long moment Pepper holds Rachel's gaze, and then drops her eyes to her feet, half-covered in mud.

"I don't have a choice but to focus on the present, right now," she answers, heart hitching in her chest.

[sluttylyingliar.livejournal.com]

"Oh shit," Rachel murmurs, feeling all kinds of shitty. "Are you dead back home or something?"

[wildlyconflicted]

"No," Pepper is quick to correct with a shake of her head. "It's complicated," she repeats, wishing she could just explain but knowing it isn't really hers to tell. "Suffice it to say that people can have serious problems here just as easily as back home."

[sluttylyingliar.livejournal.com]

"True," she concedes.

Probably like whatever reason Pepper and robot guy were arguing. "So is this guy really going to fly us back? That's insane."

[wildlyconflicted]

"Whether we like it or not," Pepper huffs, and turns to peer worriedly back up at the sky again. It's so difficult to see through the rain that she doubts they'll know Tony is coming until he's arrived again, yet she continues to look for him nonetheless.

[notawastedlife]

As much as he just wanted to open it up, there were passengers to consider, and it wouldn't be very useful if he arrived and found he'd broken someone's neck by pushing the speed. There was windchill to consider, too.

So it was a rather gentler landing in front of the compound than he traditionally went for, which wasn't to say that his entrance following this was any less abrupt; he marched in, stuck the injured kid on a table and handed off the younger child to the first official looking person he found and marched straight out and took off. He didn't even raise the visor the whole time.

The return journey, he opened it up, staying just above the treeline right up until he cut the engines, threw his hands out in front of him to brake and dropped below it, skidding to a halt a few feet from the tree beside Pepper and her companion.

[wildlyconflicted]

Desperately, Pepper wishes she could be angry. She'd managed to be plenty annoyed earlier but can't quite hold onto the feeling now in the wake of talking with Rachel, too much preying on her mind and too tired to deny it. Now when she looks at Tony in that suit, more than anything she feels frustrated and useless and burdensome. He's dying and she can't do anything about it, she can't even convince him to not make things worse.

Emotion hits her all at once. With her normal means for restraining herself so worn, she simply gives in to impulse and crosses immediately to Tony, to that damned suit, in the pouring rain. Wordless, she shoves him with both hands with all of her weight, which naturally does nothing at all. Mouth turned down in a petulant frown, chin trembling, she proceeds to smack him on the chest, over an over, although it's impossible to tell whether she's actually crying because of the rain.

[sluttylyingliar.livejournal.com]

So...this is awkward. Rachel hangs back under the thick canopy of the trees and decides to just watch this go down. Pepper deserves a nervous breakdown and she's still pretty sure she's going to get a ride at the end of all this.

[notawastedlife]

So... this was awkward. To be a part of. Tony supposed it was deserved, he wasn't the easiest man in the world (well, depending on what sense you meant it in), but still. Awkward.

He let the visor open and gingerly tried to catch her upper arms without gripping any tighter than he would if, say, he wasn't wearing a suit of armor that augmented his strength significantly.

"Hey," he said, "Hey. Easy now. Could we save the smacking for... later? Or the dinosaurs? Later. Let me get you... two... home, and you can smack me around all you want."

[wildlyconflicted]

Still frowning, Pepper lets out a heavy huff but doesn't reply aside from staring up at Tony with eyes much more woeful than angry, which for now probably says enough. For a long, tense moment she simply stands like that, then jerks a look over her shoulder to Rachel.

"Let's go."

[sluttylyingliar.livejournal.com]

Rachel scurries, there really is no better word for it, scurries over as fast and silent as she can, shooting the robot guy a quick look not to piss Pepper off anymore than he already had.

"Okay, so just...hang on, then?" she asks quietly.

[notawastedlife]

"Tightly," Tony said, "hang on... tightly. I'll keep a hold of you, but I need one hand to steer, so..."

He dropped his hands from Pepper's arms, since she'd let up with the hitting, now, and was less likely to injure her hands, and gestured that both of them should step into the space between his upheld arm and body.

[wildlyconflicted]

Holding on tight is easier said than done, especially in the rain, but somehow Pepper isn't remotely worried about that part of it. She knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that Tony isn't going to drop either of them, although that doesn't make the concept of being flown back home like this any less daunting. She tucks herself against the suit, cheek pressed to cold metal, and just stares at the pale glow of the arc reactor.

[sluttylyingliar.livejournal.com]

Rachel sort of shuffles in there, trying not to squish Pepper as she wraps her arms around the giant robot arm. This is just...so strange.

"Shit, okay. Shit."

[notawastedlife]

"Please make sure your tray tables are- ah, just hold on," Tony said, and fired up the repulsors, lifting them straight up to hover for a moment as he steadied with the one hand he had, before shooting to above the treeline.

Once there he swooped to horizontal, keeping at what he thought was a reasonable pace for someone with healthy, non-child passengers.

Tony's perception of reasonable pace did not always line up with that of others.

(In particular, traffic officers. People who liked their windows not shattered by sonic booms. Unreasoable people, in other words.)

[wildlyconflicted]

Being able to actually see what's going on is nigh on impossible, Pepper's eyes watering if she turns into the wind. Her hair had been loose and if she opens her mouth she finds herself eating it. The worst, though, is the rain, which was annoying before but stings now that they're zipping through it like a bullet train.

"Not everyone is wearing armor here!" she hollers, although she can't be certain she can be heard at all with the way the wind is whipping over them.

[sluttylyingliar.livejournal.com]

Rachel would throw up, if she had anything in her stomach to do so. Instead, she settles on a mixture of panicked screams and clinging. It feels like she's going to die of a heart attack or exposure before they're going to get anywhere and she squeezes her eyes shut, hoping it'll just be over soon.

[notawastedlife]

Unsure of where Pepper's companion was meant to be deposited, and figuring they should have someone check them over anyway -- more than just a scan with Jarvis's sensors, at least -- he made for the compound, coming around in a wide descending circle to land with care that belied how fast he'd been going moments before.

Once he was sure they were on their feet and fairly steady he stepped back, because there were some queasy looks going about and he didn't want vomit on the suit. It'd clean off, but he'd always know it was there.

[wildlyconflicted]

Momentarily disoriented, Pepper took half a stumbling step back and then caught hold to Rachel in an effort to steady them both. Just being outside of the Compound was a relief, and for the moment all she could think of was getting a hot shower and something to eat.

"Please go take that off now," she pleas to Tony as she ushers Rachel inside.

[sluttylyingliar.livejournal.com]

Rachel heads in unsteadily, hovering in the doorway to make sure Pepper was actually coming in. There are people swarming around, fairly chaotically, and she just blinks at everyone. Everything is just completely surreal.