Post by Pepper on Jul 22, 2008 11:50:21 GMT -5
Pepper walked into Stark Towers, ignoring everyone around her. Her suit was messy and her hair fell over her red face. Her eyes, puffy from crying, stared straight ahead as she slowly slumped towards Tony's office. No one knew of his death yet, and Pepper couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. Most people around her just drifted away, sensing that something was wrong but unwilling or unable to take that inevitable step forward and ask about it. And for that Pepper Potts was grateful.
She reached the office she and Tony had left in such a hurry, and she walked into his part of it. Staring at the bright windows and the scattered papers, she cried freely in the center of the room for a short period of time. Then, she walked around gathering things...some personal, some professional...and packing them into bags. When she was done, she slowly walked out of the room and requested Jarvis lock the doors behind her. He did so, and she walked out of Stark Towers...seemingly forever.
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It was in Tony's mansion that Pepper collapsed, dropping the bags on the ground and then following them. She lay stretched out full-length on the cool floor, her body heaving with sobs but no tears rolling down her cheeks. She was badly dehydrated and there was no Happy to give her juice and kleenex this time, (somehow she'd avoided him the whole way). She lay there choking on sobs and dry throat, and after a long time she was able to drag herself to her feet and get into the kitchen to make something.
I hate job hunting, she had told Tony. A kind of glib joke, the accepted I'm glad you're all right at the time. SHe had no idea now just how true it was. How could she look for another job? Her life had been Tony Stark. She knew him better than he knew himself. Was she expected to become someone else's personal assistant now? Was she supposed to go back to accounting work? What was she supposed to do?
Not now. Don't think about it now. Think about...
It was only now, for the first time, that she was able to think about what Rose had actually said. Darkseid had come out of nowhere - not Deathstroke, Darkseid - and shot Tony through with 'omega energy'. Pepper didn't know Darkseid or omega energy, but she knew she would find out sooner or later. She knew Tony had vanished, leaving nothing but the ring behind. Vaporized. Who could come back from vaporization? Why was she even thinking about him coming back? She needed to keep her grip on reality. To lose it would be to succumb to the madness she could feel welling up underneath the grief. But the grief was still a heavy, wet blanket, pinning her into a seated position, making it hard to breathe if she moved around, and making her head hurt if she tried to think the words
Tony's dead.
With a scream she hurled the glass of water she was holding across the room. It smashed against the wall and the sunlight caught the glass as it fell in pieces to the ground.
The atmosphere changed.
What went through Pepper Potts' mind at that exact moment remains a mystery. But something about the sunlight shimmering on the glass brought her to her feet and sent her down the stairs to Tony's workshop.
"Jarvis?"
"Yes, Miss Potts?"
"I need your help."
She reached the office she and Tony had left in such a hurry, and she walked into his part of it. Staring at the bright windows and the scattered papers, she cried freely in the center of the room for a short period of time. Then, she walked around gathering things...some personal, some professional...and packing them into bags. When she was done, she slowly walked out of the room and requested Jarvis lock the doors behind her. He did so, and she walked out of Stark Towers...seemingly forever.
--------------------
It was in Tony's mansion that Pepper collapsed, dropping the bags on the ground and then following them. She lay stretched out full-length on the cool floor, her body heaving with sobs but no tears rolling down her cheeks. She was badly dehydrated and there was no Happy to give her juice and kleenex this time, (somehow she'd avoided him the whole way). She lay there choking on sobs and dry throat, and after a long time she was able to drag herself to her feet and get into the kitchen to make something.
I hate job hunting, she had told Tony. A kind of glib joke, the accepted I'm glad you're all right at the time. SHe had no idea now just how true it was. How could she look for another job? Her life had been Tony Stark. She knew him better than he knew himself. Was she expected to become someone else's personal assistant now? Was she supposed to go back to accounting work? What was she supposed to do?
Not now. Don't think about it now. Think about...
It was only now, for the first time, that she was able to think about what Rose had actually said. Darkseid had come out of nowhere - not Deathstroke, Darkseid - and shot Tony through with 'omega energy'. Pepper didn't know Darkseid or omega energy, but she knew she would find out sooner or later. She knew Tony had vanished, leaving nothing but the ring behind. Vaporized. Who could come back from vaporization? Why was she even thinking about him coming back? She needed to keep her grip on reality. To lose it would be to succumb to the madness she could feel welling up underneath the grief. But the grief was still a heavy, wet blanket, pinning her into a seated position, making it hard to breathe if she moved around, and making her head hurt if she tried to think the words
Tony's dead.
With a scream she hurled the glass of water she was holding across the room. It smashed against the wall and the sunlight caught the glass as it fell in pieces to the ground.
The atmosphere changed.
What went through Pepper Potts' mind at that exact moment remains a mystery. But something about the sunlight shimmering on the glass brought her to her feet and sent her down the stairs to Tony's workshop.
"Jarvis?"
"Yes, Miss Potts?"
"I need your help."