Making Connections (open)

[Pepper]

Pepper didn't see or hear much as she strode down the streets of New York City. All she could hear was Jarvis' voice in her ears, that disapproving tone as he told her coldly that he wouldn't help her kill herself. How ironic and how sick was it that those were the precise words she had spoken to Tony when the entire shindig had started? And how strange was it that Tony's computer was telling her the same thing? The fact that he'd even brought up that she should take up Tony's mantle made Pepper blink Had Jarvis learned the meaning of legacy so soon?

Not that it mattered. What did matter? The only thing Pepper cared about right now was staying alive. Staying alive so she could empower herself to the point that she would be a match for Darkseid - a match for a god. And then she would avenge Tony's death. After that, she would consider 'taking up his mantle'. But the important thing right now was vengeance. She brimmed with it. Her eyes glowed steel blue, her hair done up in a tight bun at the nape of her neck. Her body sinuously slid along the sidewalk, clad in a black bodysuit and leggings, her heels clicking furiously. And the ring. The ring shone on her finger, the last symbol she carried of Tony on her person.

She wasn't going to fail.

[Echo]

Michael was just getting over the shock he had been in after Stephen told him that Tony Stark had been killed. His idol, the man he admired more than any other, was dead. He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. But, he knew that it must have been true. After all, Stephen wouldn't lie, and he wouldn't give Mike such news unless he was sure it was factual.

Mr. Watz felt like he couldn't breathe after his right-hand-man give him the news, so he quickly left his office, and went outside. For a brief moment he stopped thinking about how this was effecting him, and thought about who this would hit hardest--Pepper Potts. He dashed down the street, his silver hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail, flapped a bit in the wind, as did his loose fit black jeans. ~What must she be feeling right now? After losing someone she's been working with for so long...~ He thought to himself as he rounded a corner, and then froze. There she was. He didn't move for a moment, he simply examined her. There was something different about her, but he just couldn't put his finger on it for some reason.
The young man tucked in his green T-Shirt as he walked toward Ms. Potts, and once he was only about a yard away he called out to her. "Ms. Potts!" He said loudly, but in a gentle tone.

[terminator]

Deathstroke came out of a building having just finished a job and was about to head home when he spotted Pepper Potts there was something different about her from the way she walked and the way she acted it was much different from what he remembered about her. Looking around for a moment he didn't see Tony Stark anywhere that seemed odd those two seemed to have been joined at the hip. He must have missed something when he took off for Okinawa something big to change her this much. Deathstroke narrowed his eye before making his way up to the roof of a near by building and began following her to see what she's up to and maybe find out what had happen.

[Pepper]

The voice behind her made her spin so fast she almost fell over. Cold steel eyes lined (not heavily, rather tastefully) in mascara locked onto the young man before her. Her lips pressed together and she regarded him with a cold and distant stare. She remembered him, of course. Michael Watz, the owner and operator of Watz Industries. Competition for Tony - except he didn't need competition now, did he?

"Mr. Watz," she said, and her own voice was just as cold to her ears. She remembered the last things she had said to Jarvis - she had heard her own voice drop in temperature and she hadn't realized just how chilly she'd gotten. She should try and warm her voice a little for the young man. He had, after all, lost his idol.

Did it really matter?

"I'm afraid I can't help you right now," she continued. "There's...something I have to do."

[Echo]

"That's not why I'm here." Michael said tenderly. "Stephen told me about Mr. Stark..." He swallowed a lump in his throat after speaking the man's name. He was actually kind of surprised he was taking this so hard, after all he hadn't actually known the man. But still, he admired him greatly. "I just wanted to see how you were handling things, and ask if there was anything I could do for you."

[terminator]

"You could get out of her way." Deathstroke said after he landed behind Pepper and stood up "She's on her way to kill someone and doesn't want a runt like you slowing her down with questions." He said giving a guess after having watched her move and heard the way she had talked to Mike it was cold to cold for someone like her. He was still wondering what was going on something happened to Stark he knew that much thanks to the bart but that was about.

[Pepper]

[with Deathstroke's permission]

"That's not why I'm here...Stephen told me about Mr. Stark..."[/b]

Pepper's eyes narrowed and for a moment she thought about telling the little kid to step off and shut up. She didn't want to hear Tony's name and she didn't want his sympathy. There wasn't time for sympathy. There was only time to move. Like a shark, if Pepper stopped moving for too long she felt she would die. A long time ago, both her cousin Gwen and the woman she thought she hated Natalia had told her she needed to stop letting emotion rule her life. They were right. She didn't need the tears of some seventeen year old kid.

"I just wanted to see how you were handling things, and ask if there was anything I could do for you."[/b]

The little boy was swallowing a lump as well. Was it truly possible that he actually had cared about Tony? Pepper's heart had turned to metal in an effort to protect itself, but that didn't mean she didn't feel compassion for someone equally in pain. She reached out to pat him on the shoulder, but a cold voice from behind stopped her.

"You could get out of her way. She's on her way to kill someone and doesn't want a runt like you slowing her down with questions."

"You!" Pepper snarled as she spun around and then she was in the air and hitting Deathstroke. Her hands tore at him, finding the only weaknesses they could and exploiting them. She clung to him like a cat, punching at any exposed areas, at his suit, trying to tear off any bit she could get to. No sound came out of her mouth until he got a hold of her. Then she let out a shriek of fury as he dangled her before him, well out of range.

"He's dead" she shouted at him. "And you helped. You weakened him. You hurt him. And now he's dead! Are you happy now? Are you?"

She spit at him, unable to reach him now.

[terminator]

"Help kill him? I did no such thing I just got back from Okinawa." He said looking at Pepper who he still held on to he wasn't about to let her go so she could attack him again not that she could ever really hurt him. "But that does explain why your acting the way you are now." he said before pushing some guy away who was trying to help Pepper thinking Deathstroke was attacking. "If you knock it off I'll let you go and people can stop getting in the way." he said looking back at Pepper now that the guy gone.

[Echo]

Michael looked to the man behind Pepper, and arched a brow. He didn't know who the devil with guy was, but he could already tell he didn't like him. Suddenly Pepper snapped. Needless to say Mike was quite surprised by this--Ms. Potts always seemed to be one to keep her composure rather well.

"Ms. Potts!" He yelled once again. All audio was gone for a brief moment as his eyes locked on a vulnerable Pepper.
He quickly snatched her out of the guy's hand and pulled her behind him. He grabbed a metallic hilt from the back of his belt, and pressed a small button on it as he came in front of Pepper. A green energy blade about half a foot long extended from the hilt, and Mike just stood there glaring at Slade. "Make a move toward her and I swear I'll slice you to pieces." He said with contempt as he scowled at the man.

[Pepper]

Pepper wasn't crying. Her body was alive with rage and energy, and she beamed that energy out through her eyes. If hate could burn, Deathstroke would be an inferno on par with a supernova. But some part of her heard what he had to say and as Mr. Watz yanked her backwards out of his grip her eyes narrowed and turned curiously suspicious. Watz pushed her behind him and threatened Deathstroke with a blade that looked suspiciously like a lightsaber from that Star Wars movie. The little boy was a bit of an idiot, smart as he was. Deathstroke hadn't actually fought back, though goodness knows he could have. He could have killed her when she attacked him and that was the truth of it. But he hadn't.

He...hadn't?

"Put your lightsaber away," she said to Watz. "Before George Lucas shows up to arrest you for copyright infringement. Okinawa, Slade?" She didn't dare ask him what he was doing there - there was no way he would answer. But if he could confirm he hadn't killed Tony she might let him live. Not that she could kill him now, that was, but...he didn't need to be a target for her just yet.

[Echo]

Mike cast an annoyed look toward Pepper. He didn't much like it when people compared his technology to Star Wars items, if anything his weapons resembles the tech of MegaMan. "It's called a Beam Dagger, and I invented it." He said firmly as he retracted the blade, and then clipped it on his belt once again. "George Lucas can kiss my behind." He added as he folded his arms.

[terminator]

Deathstroke stared at Mike like he was a complete idiot then rolled his eye "Why don't you go back to your Star War conventions and leave the adults alone to talk." He said not at all impressed with Mike's little glow stick. "So you want to kill who ever killed Tony? Your going to need to learn how to fight I'd be willing to help with that if you got the guts to do it." He said as he folded his arms a cross his chest. "Yes, Okinawa its in Japan you know on the other side of the world very far from you and Stark." He said.

[Echo]

Michael was dangerously close to whipping out all the weapons he had on him and turning this old man into a bloody mess. The more this fool talked the more he disliked him. But, now wasn't the time for a fight, even though it would probably make him feel real good right about now.

"Hold the phone! What's this about killing people?" Mr. Watz asked as he looked between Pepper and Slade.

[Pepper]

"I'm aware of the location of Okinawa," Pepper sniped back. She wasn't entirely sure she believed him, but the tone of his voice was flat and blunt. If he was lying, he was a master at it. But it was the first thing he'd said that really caught her attention. He was offering to teach her how to fight? She needed to learn, there was no doubt about that. Her little stunt she had just pulled was worthy of a Class-A fubar. But Deathstroke, who was a known villain, who had attacked Tony more times than Pepper could have thought, who had kidnapped her...

She didn't trust him one bit. But this was the first time he had spoken to her with something like respect in his tone. Or at the very least acceptance.

"Rose said it was Darkseid," she said, defensive, distrustful, but curious. "Can you teach me how to fight a god?"

[terminator]

Annoyed Deathstroke pulled out his gun at inhuman speed and pointed it at Mikes head "I'll put a bullet in your brain before you could pull out your glow stick so get lost before I do." He said glaring at Mike he didn't look away "Darkseid? I hope you plan on using more then just hand to hand combat to take him on or your as good as dead as Stark." He said knowing that monster could kill her in a blink of an eye. "If your going to kill Darkseid how do you plan on getting pasted his troops alone?" He asked.