1503/The Hunger: Message In A Bottle

The Hunger: Message In A Bottle
Date of Scene:	04 May 2020
Location:	Stark Tower: Workshop
Synopsis:	Pepper finds a vital clue to solving the disappearance of Tony Stark.
Cast of Characters:	Pepper Potts, Tony Stark

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Pepper Potts has posed:
It's been.. who knows? Pepper honestly doesn't have the best grasp of time at the moment. It's hit the news that the head of Stark Industries, Tony Stark, is missing, and for the past little while, the PA with some sway has been making sure the stock doesn't tank on the news. From the time Natasha left her, Pepper's been busy online, shoring up investments, putting out subtle news in professional business papers that all is right with Stark Industries.

SHIELD has taken up some semblance of residence in the Tower, ostensibly to 'keep her safe'. Pepper's no fool, of course; any chance for SHIELD to be within the Tower is yet another opportunity to discover more of Tony's secrets... and she's not having it. Period.

Pepper is tired; tired of being followed, tired of being afraid, tried of fighting with her feelings, tired of feeling helpless, and tired of being watched over.

Slipping downstairs, Pepper makes it to the first step, the second before it's realized that their 'contact' is on the move. Once she catches the sound of 'pursuit', Pepper takes the steps by two, and slapping her hand onto the scanner, the door slides open for her. Quicker than she'd ever imagined she could move, she's several steps away when the door closes, leaving the SHIELD babysitters on the other side.

"Miss Potts?" is mouthed from the other side of the glass.

"I'm fine.. Just.. leave me alone."

For the next few hours, Pepper really is boring. She's simply sitting down on a chair at Tony's workbench deeper into the lab, staring into space, eyes focussing on nothing though she faces one of the many little experiments that is completely beyond her ability to understand... until it's explained to her. He's never condescending...

Sighing, Pepper picks up a little bob and turns it around in her hand, the metal cool to her fingers.

"Tony..." is whispered, "You'd better come home." To me. "I'll hate you forever if you die."

Tony Stark has posed:
The workshop is quiet.

It sees a little use from some of the Ironworks employees, but for the most part it is Tony's private sanctum sanctorum. The place that he goes to work in peace and silence. Without him around, it's dark. There's a half-constructed engine block dangling from chains in the ceiling, and a clutter of 3D-printed suit models scattered across one of the desks.

Further in, behind an actual Model-T Ford brought to the workshop in pieces and reconstructed completely by Tony, is a table. On that table is an old transistor radio. One of his first designs as a child. It'd been at the Avengers Mansion, and Pepper had saved it from the trash heap when the Avengers moved in and given it to Tony as a birthday present.

To his credit, he kept it on display but the workshop got cluttered and now it's half-lost behind the accumulated junk of two years.

Usually it sits idle, except for some reason it isn't now. It's hissing. Static.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper finds comfort in the lab; it's something that has a fingerprint that is uniquely Tony's, regardless of whether or not anyone else uses the place. The older pieces are like 'old friends', and the newer pieces are all the more obvious for it. The Model-T... that provided an immense bit of fun, particularly when the 'aaaa-oooooo-gah' horn was fixed. How simple the car is, the engine, but how innovative!

Pepper sets the little sphere down, and wanders towards the car, her hand running across the rounded front fender. The static sounds loud, but at the moment, Pepper's not really registering it as a noise that 'shouldn't be there'.

The hiss, however, gets louder as Pepper moves past the running board towards the back. The sound demands to be noticed, however, in the quiet of the workshop, and it's actually registered as 'not normal'. Green eyes widen, and she moves towards the sound, the culprit, the little transistor radio. The radio dial is dimly lit, and reaching out, Pepper lifts it to check it. //It wasn't on before.//

"Jarvis, is that you?" Stranger things have happened than a very intelligent ... intelligence finding a way to jump to something more primitive. In this Tower, Pepper wouldn't put it past anyone to work it out.

Tony Stark has posed:
The radio static continues to hiss, and there's no immediate response from JARVIS. It's unsurprising. The AI is largely focused at the Avengers Mansion these days, and when his services aren't required at Stark Tower he often deactivates his receptors there to consolidate information. Since Tony has been missing, there's been little need for him there. So silence reigns on that front.

But the radio continues to hiss, and after a moment there's a beep. It's barely audible. But slowly the volume rises, another beep. Longer than the others. Then a shorter one. Random sounds, coming through the static. Over and over.

It's a pattern. Repeating itself.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper misses Jarvis, she does. Homer just doesn't sit as well, even though there's nothing wrong with the 'newer' AI. It's just different is all.

No response from Jarvis, so Pepper sighs softly but audibly, calling into the aether for 'second string',

"Homer?"

Green eyes are on the radio now, and as the hissing resolves into those beats, Pepper's got the radio in hand, moving it around for the best reception that could possibly be had by the antenna.

"Homer?"

A pattern. It couldn't be.. it's a transistor radio. In the workshop... and there has to be a million other transistor radios in the ..

"Homer? What's the distance on frequency 770?" That's something she knows about- radio range! "Can you make out the pattern, please? Show me." She wants a holograph of the pattern, at the very least.

And if this isn't Tony? At least there's something to occupy her time.

Tony Stark has posed:
<It is a local AM station, Ms. Potts. The pattern appears to be Morse code. Shall I translate it for you?>

HOMER's voice comes back smoothe and easy. He lacks the wit of JARVIS, though he has had less time to grow into more of his own being. Indeed, he seems more of a computer than his predecessor ever really did.

In response, the lights in the workshop quietly flick on and bathe the area in their white fluorescence.
.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Yes, yes please." Pepper is trying to like Homer. Jarvis would have just done it! At least, at this very moment, she fully believes he (see? Jarvis is a 'he', not an 'it'!)

"And, can you give a radius, please?" Pepper is trying not to get her hopes up. There's a million ham-radio operators that use Morse, and it could very well be some teen getting practice, 'talking' to some other kid. But, it's not answered; it's a repeated pattern. That's the only thing that has Pepper's hopes up a little.

The light that gently bathes the workshop now feels a little warmer, and she walks the little radio for the best reception, stopping at the spot. "Please let this be something.."

Tony Stark has posed:
<It is in the New York Metropolitan Area,> HOMER explains evenly, going silent for a moment, <I've uploaded the address to your personal device. It appears to be a former radio station.>

There's another moment, HOMER continues to 'listen' to the beeps.

<I believe they are spelling out ... pepper spray.>

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper forgets to breathe for those heartbeats as Homer announces the location for the broadcast. She's looking intently at the radio, willing it to continue so it's easier for Homer to track a pattern.

Oh, and track Homer does... maybe Pepper will go a little easier on him. Maybe.

'Pepper spray'

It's all Pepper can do to //not// drop the radio. //He's alive!!// "Homer, it's Tony!" She can't help a tear before, "He's alive!"

Spinning around quickly, Pepper looks around the workroom and is at a complete loss. "I have to get a message out... I have to.." is murmured. Basic radio, though; if it's broadcasting, can it receive?

"Homer? I need you..." No, can he even do something like that? "Can we tie into a transmitter that can transmit on the same frequence? One word... 'elevator'. Break into whatever system you need to." Even SHIELD's. She smiles in the memory the message evokes, even though green eyes gleam with tears.

Years ago.. a new Virginia Potts going up to the top floors for the first time, after being chosen from the Pool. A handsome young man enters the elevator with her on a middle floor, not looking at the buttons. A smile, a flirt, and the new secretary feels she has to protect her honor by threatening the use of the possessed (but not brandished) pepper spray. Feelings of horror emerge when it's discovered she'd ridden the elevator with Mr. Anthony Edward Stark. She's never lived it down.
    Relief is in those tears, certainly, but with Tony? Who knows how long?

Tony Stark has posed:
<I've utilized the Tower's radio assembly to broadcast back on the same frequency, Ms. Potts, but I do not know if it is being received. There is more to the message.>

The silence that follows is agonizing. It goes on for a long moment as HOMER does whatever it is that he needs to do to translate the Morse code. For seconds that feel like hours there is only the static and the irregular beeping coming from the old radio set.

<I have the full message, I believe. It begins: 'Follow the trail. Get help. Trust her.' There is then a string of numbers that appear to be coordinates, but they are incomplete. I have transferred those to your device, also.>

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper does wait those agonizing moments, her breath held without her even realizing it. Homer's doing what she's asked, and she's grateful. Maybe someday when Tony is back, she'll ask him about teaching her a few things about basic electrical circuitry, because this is so far out of her league, and it's oh so simple.

"He did..." Pepper fully believes the rest of the message wouldn't have come if he didn't get the sort of response that he was expecting. She's quiet, listening to the message, hearing his voice through the beeps, the dashes.. and in the translation, her lips press together, her jaw tightening. Shaking her head, Pepper uses the back of her hand to draw the tear from its path down her cheek. She's got no choice, though...

"I'm only doing that for you," she whispers.

"Homer.. send a reply, "I hate jobhunting." Read: don't die. Or she'll never forgive him. Whether or not Tony gets the message, as Homer had suggested, it at least makes the redhead feel better. She knows he's on the other side.. and so close to her.

Yet so far.