4647/Secret Doors: Message

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Secret Doors: Message
Date of Scene: 08 January 2021
Location: Avengers Mansion - Second Floor
Synopsis: Tony sends a message to Pepper, though she is still stuck in outer-dimensions.
Cast of Characters: Tony Stark, Pepper Potts




Tony Stark has posed:
* BRRRRT! *

With a little chime and chirp, the robot next to Pepper lights up as well, turning itself on and actively turning little robotic face towards her. It repeats the sound again, and then makes the same sound Pepper's phone makes when she's missed a call and it's gone to voicemail. The robot then just seems to sit there.

It's in decent shape, and has stayed glued to her, as if well aware of it's duty and assignment to keep watch over her. It has a severed cord still hanging out of it, from where it was connected to Tony's power source, and that drags on the carpet a little, but otherwise it seems to be fine. For a robot, anyway.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper has taken to talking to the little guy, about nothing really, and everything. She's back upstairs in their spot, her spot, and with her startled reaction in hearing the noise of her companion, wipes her eyes from the bit of exhausted sleep she's gotten. Sitting on the floor, her arm is outstretched to give her support, and with that 'call has gone to voicemail' sound, she stares at the 'bot.

"What was that?" Pepper knows //what// it was, but what was that? "Did you really.."

Pushing herself up to a straighter sit, rather than a lean, Pepper tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, checks her watch (an analog), and exhales, looking expectantly at the robot. "Did I just-- did Tony just--" and another audible exhale exits, her brows rising,

"Well?"

Tony Stark has posed:
The robot looks at her a little bit longer, and then makes another noise.... another voicemail? -- but then, it pauses and begins, very obviously, to play the recorded voicemail. At least, the first one.

"Hi, Pep," Tony's voice comes out immediately; a warm, confident, relaxed tone - to convey that he's fine, and perhaps to lend her a little bit of relaxation in sensing that he sounds confident and on top of things.

"If you're hearing this, then I've managed to send some tech through, and some other things: a care package. They're down in lab two, though. Only come down there when it's safe, though, okay?" Some concern fluxes into his voice, but it's subtle. He's conveying info!

Pepper Potts has posed:
There's a dip to her head as she waits, and with the second ping of a 'received voice mail', Pepper is rising to her feet, dusting off whatever may have collected while on the floor. She's barefoot, easier to move around, and as the received message plays, she's staring intently at the robot, her brows creasing as she listens.

Relief floods her expression; he's safe. He's okay. And, thirdly, he's -there-. Not 'here', but.. 'there'.

If anyone can solve this problem?

The sound of his voice brings a certain calm to her, and she finds herself nodding in the message. "Lab two."

Pepper rolls her shoulders back, her resolve filling in those previously empty spots as she looks to her faithful companion, her brows rising in inquiry, "So.. is it too much to ask that you could actually send a message?" There is that second part, however, and there is a pause before, "Did I hear that you got another call?"

Tony Stark has posed:
The message is still going, the robot partially interrupts her question with it: "When you get down there, play the second voicemail - it's instructions on how to set up a relay point that should get me an anchor on your location to hold open a gateway."

Tony pauses, and she might be able to sense the smile there, before he teases, "No need to listen to it early, it's not full of compliments. Just this one is. You're amazing and will be fine. I know you know I'm always right, so. Stay safe, Pep."

The message ends, and the somewhat clueless bot prompts questioningly, with a little 'boooouuuup?' noise.

Pepper Potts has posed:
The rest of the message plays, and Pepper can't help but smile, that ghosted expression that she holds just for him. "Right.." she nods, the word underscored with affection. She did get the compliment, though! Right before his own chest puffing, but it soothes otherwise frayed nerves. He is Tony, and if he was any different, she'd be concerned. More than she is now, that is.

"Okay," it's time, perhaps, to move basecamp, as it were. "Tony said there's a way back," and here, she begins to chat with the bot as if it's yet another victim of this creature-thing. "We have to go to the lab. Lab 2." Her head cants and she studies the little robot, "You do know where that is, right? Or do I have to lead?" Pepper actually does know where it is! "You're the one with the glasses." With that, she offers that grand gesture with a swinging hand, as if requesting that it leads the way, or at least, moves beside her.

Tony Stark has posed:
The robot doesn't seem to understand what she wants at first. Tony mostly directed it in very specific directions - it wasn't designed to parse long conversations into what it is supposed to do, as it isn't an AI. So... the robot seems to look at her a while with infinite patience... and make the questioning noise again.

Flashback to two days ago, when Tony was describing a patrol he wanted it to do... and it made the same noise after seeming to be accepting all of it! Tony had laughed, and had programmed it in himself, telling it to follow the new procedure. Then the robot happily did it. There are limits to some of this old tech, really.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper's shoulders slump, and she gives the little 'bot a //look//. "Okay, what is it you're not understanding?" As if it'll tell her? "I can't put instructions into your code. That'd be your father." Her voice lowers into a softer tone; the 'bots can be sensitive. Even the earlier models. "We're going to Lab 2. Come with me and watch for the creature." That should be okay? Maybe? How specific does she need to be?

A breath is chuffed in light frustration, but she's hopeful. Now, however, Pepper is leading the way with her little bot hopefully //still// not leaving her side. The door is opened, and peeking first one way down the grand corridor, then the other, she's headed not to the grand staircase but a smaller one; one that servants in times past had used to access the floors in the background.

Tony Stark has posed:
Oh! Lab 2!

The robot comes along with her then, and ...rolls past her directly to the hallway. It scans this way and that as it goes, moving at a decent clip towards the main stairway. It can handle stairs...

BOY, can it! It loves to vaccuum stairs! Nothing better! But it doesn't do that now, it just proceeds down them, flipping the little rotators on it's lower body to evenly descend the stairs. Understand longwinded narratives to divine intent, no.

Stairs? Yeah, baby.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Pepper is turning towards the side stairs, only to have the little robot whiz past her and head down... and she exhales in that frustrated sigh she has before she calls out, "Hey.. this way."

It's already heading down, but while she knows that the little guy can actually go //up// the stairs, it's probably a little quicker for her to just grab it. A couple of rapid steps is all it takes before she's scooping the little thing into her arms, and heading back up, "We're going this way," is said in a correctional tone. "You remind me of someone else," is muttered. "Always running off to do something else. Not listening.." That's said with the greatest amount of affection, however. The little 'bot is definitely Tony's creation.

Setting it back down, once again, Pepper is on her way to the back stairs; she doesn't want to be too obvious in her movements around the grand mansion. (Not to the monster, anyway.)

Tony Stark has posed:
The robot, unalike Tony though, takes the correction eagerly. ...Mostly since it is, in fact, used to working for Tony, who does give directions suddenly and expects results! So the robot goes the way Pepper wants, finding a new path immediately, and comes along readily.

Once they get downstairs, though, it buzzes in warning a little bit, indicating that it senses something, and stops. It doesn't retreat, just hesitates... and finally seems to have resolved it or the thing that worried it has moved on, and it continues onward on down to the lab floor in the basement.

A search of lab 2 is easy: the thing is on a table on the left side of the room. It is a black duffel bag, with a zipper, but has some heft to it, though it's not too hard to carry should Pepper choose not to stay in the somewhat closed-in lab.

Pepper Potts has posed:
Following closely behind the bespectacled little robot, Pepper can't help but look over her shoulder as they pair take the stairs. At the bottom of the landing, when her guide-drone pauses in its path, she too stops, her wide-eyed gaze straining to see perhaps what her companion does. It's not that long of a hesitation, though it's enough to concern her, and once on their way, her steps are a touch quicker.

The Lab is reached, and as she enters, there's her search again, up to the ceiling, the corners as she walks in, studying, looking for anything that might help.

"Tony?" The sound is soft, tentative, as if fully believing that it's a complete shot in the dark to have him actually //respond// to her before she exhales in a soft, resigned breath. "Of course not," is followed up, no doubt in just looking to hear herself talk. It's quiet, just with her and the *beeps* of the little robot.

Pepper spies the dufflebag, set out for her on a table. The room looks so strange, so empty, even though she knows this is probably a haven of activity 'on the other side'. Padding towards it, she takes it, slides it across the table to get a quick look inside. If Tony got it here, maybe he's still here?

Ghosts, spectres.. any shadows or shades of the genius? Looking up from her quick perusal, she lifts the bag, at the same time, really looking again. This time, a different name is called,

"JARVIS?"

Anybody?

Tony Stark has posed:
Nobody answers to those names. There's just a duffel bag, but it has a great assortment in it.

There's what is very obviously an improved version of the dehumidifier - drinking water maker. It's labeled as such. There's a cup with it, too, so they aren't trying to drink out of some weird leftover invention. With it, is a smaller backpack, full of individually packed food selections. There's also a plastic box of some fresher food selections, bottles of multivitamins.

The other side of the duffel bag has tech in it; there's four odd round things with antenna, some cords in a loose wrap, and a big spotlight-looking thing, that weighs the most out of all of the things.

Lastly, there's another set of the glasses that the robot is wearing.

No other clues are present -- other than the memory that there was another message ready to be played.

Pepper Potts has posed:
"Anybody?"

The word is actually spoken, and it hangs in the silence of the room. Pepper leans on the table now, a hand pushing back wisps of red hair that hangs forward in an attempt to both tame the medium length locks, and to silently express the frustration.

To go through the collection, there's a breath of momentary relief at the CARE package. The food selections, the vitamins.. and she smiles. He pays more attention to her diet than she realized? But first? The glasses are put on, and a quick scan of the area is given; brief due to the grumbling of her stomach.

At that soft rumble, Pepper reaches for food. "Oh, Tony..." is murmured as she opens one of the prepackaged salads. Protein in the spinach, the kale, and from one of her shops, too! Once it's opened, it doesn't take her long to eat it down to the last sunflower seed in a corner of the plastic packaging. As she eats, though, she looks to the little drone consideringly, the fact another voicemail, as it were, had come in.

"Play that second message for me, please?"

Tony Stark has posed:
The robot is ready to oblige.

"Hi! I figure you haven't eaten, but rushed to this message as soon as you got down to the lab," Tony's voice teases. "So take a minute to eat something while I talk. JARVIS pulled a bunch of things from your recent menu. But I'll take credit for having him do that," TOny chatters.

"There's a series of relay points; you're going to want to anchor them each at maximum length in a circle around the robot, and plug them in. They'll upload the programming to the 'bot, and it'll self-extract. The big light is literally... a big light. You can power it off of the robot as well, but don't just leave it on, it'll drain him out. When the whole thing lights up green, that means it'll start relaying to this side over here. Blue, and I've got a lock on you. Mostly this'll be a waiting game, while I search on this end. These messages were send through from a mobile hotspot I sent through with the bag - I'm not just able to call whenever. But this should be enough. So, stay safe, eat up, and we'll get you free of that place."

Pepper Potts has posed:
Listening to Tony's voice coming through, well, her lean becomes a little more relaxed, green eyes look to that middle distance as she listens to his words, and their sounds. She can hear the little nuances of his words, the sounds as they rise and fall, giving a boost to both her confidence and morale.

He's got a plan!

Now, the question is, where does she set up? Her gaze lifts to the floors above, where they'd been before or down here in the lab? It's confining down here, nowhere to go in case- and that thought brings her head around to look at the door with her newly acquired glasses. Nothing, and her little companion hasn't hit on anything either, so...

Lifting the bag, testing its weight in her hands, Pepper looks to the drone and steels herself. "So, back upstairs to our spot. Come on, let's go."

She pauses at each doorway, the first leading from the lab, the corridors, the stairs- searching for any hint of the creature, its passage, or perhaps any of the residents of the mansion itself in its phases.

Tony Stark has posed:
Things seem entirely uninteresting, until they get to the stairs again. Coming down the stairs are two wisps of light, and the robot stops again, uncertain about this. It's almost two humanoid forms, barely ghostlike, mvoing side by side down the stairs. Possibly conversing, but it's hard to really say - they just drift by. That must be what the drone saw before. They don't seem to react or orient towards Pepper or the robot... they just pass by as if too distracted, or just unaware, perhaps...

Pepper Potts has posed:
Reaching the stairs, Pepper sets barefoot upon it, only to look up to see the phantasms. Her breath catches, and she calls out in recognition. Her hand, too, reaches out, only to have the wisps pass through on their path down. A chill runs through her, and turning her body completely to watch their passage, there's a moment when her determination is beat out by despair, only to have it return as she turns back around, looking back up the steps.

"Right.. come on.."

With that 'close encounter of the dimensional kind', Pepper begins her ascent once more, her possession of the bag gripped a little tighter now. The presence of the pair does throw some seeds of doubt as to where she should go- upstairs, or follow the pair down to see if they can see her with the light setup? But, her path is quickly decided, and she's all in.

Time to head back to -their- known position, the study that had been their fall-back.