Owner	Pose
Pepper Potts	It's Christmas time in the City. It's time for sharing, for cheer, for giving presents and leaving little bits of 'thank yous' around. It's a time when people come together and appreciate the little things they have, and perhaps realize it's the little things that truly are the greatest. In that tradition, then, Pepper Potts comes bearing gifts and cards to the Avengers' Mansion. Laden with bags, helped by Happy, the redhead has the door opened by a very helpful JARVIS. She's dressed in a more festive dark green suit combination, relying upon the red of her hair and her delicate ruby earrings to offer up the red tones for a true rendition of the holiday. "Over there, Happy," is directed the moment she sets her bags down outside the study. While he's more than willing to help, he first has to take his things over before he can get to hers. In the meantime, Pepper is taking out the cards, lining them up on the entryway table like calling cards. There's one for everyone with a corresponding gift, the likes that Happy is now setting up under the lit tree. Once he's done, and it does take him more than a few minutes, Happy reports back to Pepper with an 'I'll be in the car'. After all, Pepper doesn't really need a bodyguard in the Avengers' Mansion, right? Because, well... the AVENGERS live here. "Okay, Happy," Pepper's tones sound a hint distracted; she wants the display to her standards before she's willing to leave. "See you in a few minutes. It won't be long. There are still a few more stops that have to be made."
Tony Stark	There's a sensation of being watched, though, even after Happy heads out. Enough to potentially cause someone to turn and expect to see one of the Avengers standing there. But a look shows there isn't anyone. Maybe just a decoration that looked like it had eyes? "Ms. Potts," JARVIS says suddenly, "I have picked up an anomaly in this room, opposite you. Please vacate the room slowly but promptly, for your safety. Try to remain as calm as you can..." The area opposite, that's where that creepy sensation was. Yet it doesn't appear any different: as if the thing that is looking is somehow doing it from hiding: safely able to watch without being picked out, like some sort of camouflaged stalker.
Pepper Potts	Bows. The bows need to be straightened, and as practiced fingers deal with the display of the red, velvet bows. Pepper's is distracted almost to the point of not quite catching what it is JARVIS is saying. "Hmmmm?" Looking away from her handiwork, green eyes narrow as her brow furrows slightly. There is a sense that someone is watching her, and initially, it doesn't feel wrong. Janet? She'd have heard her friend. Steve? He wouldn't just 'watch'. Neither of them would. Turning around to look in the direction where she believes that JARVIS had mentioned... what? This is the Avengers' Mansion. What could be a problem here? This place, this home, is at least as safe if not //safer// than the Tower, and Pepper's secure in the knowledge that the much loved AI would be looking out for-- Oh. The now empty bags are retrieved and folded and tucking her clutch under her arm, Pepper spins around, ready to do just as the trusted JARVIS has asked. "An anomaly? Here? I thought Tony had things-"
Tony Stark	"Pepper? Pepper? Open your eyes. If this is a way to get mouth to mouth, we need to bargain another way," Tony's voice is saying. Palms are gently on her face, cradling her head up, and there's pressure against her back -- she's laying down, and Tony's above her, knelt next to her side, his knee touching her arm. And one of those hands is in armor. Ten minutes earlier... "Sir, a new anomaly has opened," JARVIS reported to Tony. Tony had been downstairs in the Avengers mansions' labs, checking on that very thing: he'd been noticing some threads of a trend, that suggested that it might be waking up again. They hadn't seen any evidence of the anomalies since Steve and Clint had an encounter with it perhaps a month before. "In the bedrooms again?" Tony questions. "Who's near it, anyone?" "No; the ballroom area. Ms. Potts and Mr. Hogan are present," JARVIS clarifies. "Get them out of there - carefully and slow, don't excite the thing again," Tony demands, immediately turning to the computer bays and scanning equipment nearby. "And send in some drones to survey the spot." Pepper should be okay - Steve was okay, right? But she's not a super soldier. And what if ... "Get medical ready, and send one of them up with a full kit, but keep them out of that room until I give an okay." Tony won't put one of the medical staff in harm's way, but ready? Yes. Tony snares one of the physical tech scanning devices off the shelf, and after only a little pause, also unlocks one of the cases of spare Iron Man parts to pull one of the extra gloves out, pulling it on to lock over left hand and forearm. He runs to the elevator, while hooking up power to it from his chest. "JARVIS, also alert everyone that---" Tony doesn't get through it, he's entered the area of warp and tilt. But he fights his way through a mire of twisting, disorienting half-reality, like being flung into a shadowscape of the mansion, to the beacon of Pepper there. She's collapsed in the whirl of disoriented location: wherever this is -- and he immediately moves to try to rouse her, a vice on his heart.
Pepper Potts	It only takes a second. Everything that happens to her is done in the blink of an eye, a single beat of her heart. Pepper was there, speaking to JARVIS, ready to go even if she had absolutely no idea why. She'd learned that lesson early in Tony's formative Iron Man's months. Move when he said move, even if she still asked for explanations on the way, and nothing's changed when it was JARVIS doing the same. If she had heeded the warning without complaint, would she still have made it to safety? There's no real answer to that, but the real question, then, is does Pepper fare as well as the super-soldier when met with the same sort of contact? Her legs fold underneath her as her eyes roll back into her head in a dead faint. The bags she'd had in hand fall onto the floor as well as her clutch. Ten minutes. The warmth of a hand upon her cheeks, the cool of the other, the pressure of the contact, the sound of Tony's voice seems like it's miles away from her. Eyelids flutter open, bringing in a world of dizziness, the feeling as if she can feel the world spinning with her on it, and with it, she closes them again, trying to lock it out. "Tony?" Of course it's him, who else would it be? Could it be? Her arm is lead-weight, a fight with gravity is taking place between Pepper and the world, and for a moment, the world seems to be winning until finally, she can actually lift it to rest, to lay on Tony's arm, fingers wrapping lightly around his forearm. "What is going on?" Green eyes crack open again as if she simply can't trust anything around her to stop spinning, going for that one constant, her anchor in every tempest she's been through. Now it begins to register that he has a sleeve of armor on, and slowly, there's a dawning awareness coupled with a rising sense of panic that something must not be right. Not if he has that on. Pepper begins to move in hurried motions, failed motions as her head begins to spin all over again, and she rocks her head back to the floor, eyes closing. "One.. just a second.."
Tony Stark	"Lay still if you're hurting," Tony answers with firmness, and assurance. He's there, he'll look after her. This is his realm, really: solving these things. The Hero side of Tony Stark. "I'm working on it." Working on what happened. And pushing the terror about Pepper's health down out of his face. "Looks like we're just .. out of phase, somehow," Tony says, mostly to himself. The tone is a 'no big deal' mode, but that's Tony taking things in stride, lightly, even if he knows it could be well more serious than that. He just tends to approach things with this cavalier quality even in the face of doom. Tony stays with her, though he lefts go of her face, and brings his hands in to pat down his pockets -- and check his hair. He has his lab, protective glasses on his head, which do have some specialized vision, but they're not his high-tech HUD ones. He still pulls them down to cover his eyes, scanning their vicinity. "Miss ya already, JARVIS..." Tony mutters, to no response. A look around the room is very bizarre. Shapes of the wall are weaving and tilting, changing tones into teal and blue, and then mushing back together. It's entirely surreal. There is still that sense of being watched, but invisibly, and Tony starts to deliberately look for it, switching between vision modes with his glasses.
Pepper Potts	"No, not hurting," Pepper assures, her tones soft.. "Just a little dizzy. It'll pass." And pass it does, though it does take a few more minutes. Finally, she sits up slowly, deliberately, and gets a good look at their surroundings. Soon enough, she's able to sit on her legs, tucking them in and under her. Of all the things that she could catch in Tony's murmurings is the suggestion that somehow they'd found themselves out of phase. "What do you mean, we're out of phase?" The question, as asked, has a rise of her tones at the last word. She pauses, but it's only to catch her breath in order for, "How? Tony, how could that happen?" Pepper must be feeling a little better in that her normal, more rapidfire questions are coming in, one after the other after the other, not really allowing a chance for Tony to actually answer the first question before the fifth or sixth comes in. Should he even try, Pepper will simply continue to ask.. Looking around the room, green eyes settle back on Tony, and she has a most definitely //concerned// look on her face. "Is this still the Mansion? How can you fix this?" Reaching out now, Pepper's looking for his hand as she looks at things without the use of glasses. She calls out, "JARVIS?" She hadn't noticed, couldn't know that he's not present, and it's the lack of response that brings her back to Tony. "This isn't good."
Tony Stark	Pepper doesn't pause to give Tony much chance to answer, but he didn't actively try: he was looking around, and his powerful mind was kicking into gear to launch into some logical ideas about what might be a good way to resolve it. Pepper asks another question, and Tony looks at her with a sly little grin. She's worrying, but Tony seems relaxed and competent. Perhaps she'll be infected by it? Maybe that's the hope, for him. "Let's try to just move out of this immediate zone, it might be that we can just sidle on out of the influence of it," Tony finally says, as she gives him opportunity. He drops one hand more, to offer her assistance in getting up, to lean on his unarmored forearm. He picks an area, in the same zone JARVIS had wanted Pepper to move, and attempts to draw Pepper that way, while inspecting. A few moments later, four drones enter the room, flying at high speed, and rush right AT the pair. Tony automatically reacts, though not necessarily in alarm-- until it's clear the bots are going to impact them, and he starts to duck, protective of Pepper, and lifts armored hand to bat one out of the way away from them -- only for it to directly pass through his arm as if it were a ghost. Surprised and interested, Tony remarks, "Yes, I'm also going with very 'not good'."
Pepper Potts	Is he even listening? The moment he gives her the sly grin is the moment Pepper gets that 'really?' expression, her head ducking slightly, lips pressed, her brow creased and it's just this side of frustrated. Still, she has faith in him, even if she can't even begin to guess what is behind that expression of his other than the usual Tony-level of cavalier, 'I got this'. She chuffs a softly audible breath before she nods at his suggestion. Moving. Moving is good. Unless, of course, that it's not because JARVIS may be on the other side, assuming that they're still where they were, and working on a solution on that side, and if they're not there? Pepper takes the help up, her legs briefly unsteady before she does gain her equilibrium. A breath is taken, something specifically to center herself, and she does allow herself to be moved, even if she does offer her concerns. "Tony, what if JARVIS.. "Tony!" Okay, so she's a little late, and the drones don't appear to be stopping. She ducks, her head tucking into his shoulder as he lifts his armored arm to bat it away, only to see what it is he saw. The drones never saw him, never saw them. The one passed right through without seemingly detecting anything. It's when Tony echos the 'not good' that her worry is put into overdrive. Pepper is trying not to panic, trying to stay calm. JARVIS probably called for the drones? right? Are there protocols for this sort of thing?
Tony Stark	Tony pivots, following the drone's path. Then, they see it. A shimmering mass alongside the area where the drones were headed, like strange ghost-bots, yet the shimmering mass is definitely with //them//, on the 'side' of where Pepper and Tony are, that side of the disconnected reality. It seems to have eyes, somehow, yet they are also pits of dark. Tony's pulling Pepper more behind him, and raises the iron man gauntlet that way, with a clear flare of energy. It's blinding, streamers of light arcing off of it, in this weird place. The messy shape of eyes and energy swirls, and then advances towards them a few feet. "Hoooold it right there, or we're going to see how your dimension reacts to my repulsors," Tony 'threatens' it firmly. The mass with eyes stares blankly at them, and then advances a little bit, slooooowly...
Pepper Potts	Pepper is already behind Tony, her fear of the thing causing her heart to pound in her chest, and she can feel it reverberating in her ears. It's horrible, and she takes a step back, keeping hold of Tony's free hand. She can't take her eyes off of it, her mouth partially open in fear. The shade of the drones headed towards the spot where the anomaly is gives her that momentary feeling of hope in that JARVIS is doing something on the other side, or someone is. (It's just more likely that the AI is? just, well.. because.) There's nothing that can be done by them, at least not what little she can see because it's quite formed on this side. "Tony," Pepper sounds a decidedly worried note. She slips off her heels, one and then the other before wielding one of them. She looks around quickly, looking for anything.. she has her clutch purse, but it's halfway across the room. "Do we need that thing to get back?"
Tony Stark	"I don't immediately go to violence if I can avoid it," Tony teases Pepper, but there's a lot of tension in his voice, as he faces down this spirit-like thing that is slowly starting to advance on them. Maybe it can't understand them, or isn't afraid, or something else? The creature/mass seems to have inched closer, while Tony tries to determine how hostile it really is, and starts to extend a tendril out of its mass, like a weird feeler from a weird ultra-energy slug beast. But suddenly, the whole of the mass lunges forwards, and Tony reacts immediately, firing a repulsor blast at it. The whole place turns into blindness of stars and disorientation, as Tony yelps some at the visual vertigo, and everything is just WHITE. WHITE WHITE vision, but Tony's hand is still in Pepper's trying to haul them both blindly away from whatever just occurred. Things start to fade out, as they move, back into a fuzzier state. They find themselves in another ghostly, weird room as the location starts to stabilize. It's full of... items, on 'their' side of the phase. Stolen items? There are garments, food items, kitchen utensils, magazines. It's a very strange amalgam of packrat, or maybe a weird intra-dimensional mermaid collecting thingamabobs. There's at least four forks. And no sign of the energy creature. "Huh. So this is where those socks went. And we blamed the dryer."
Pepper Potts	"I-I-I think I wouldn't be upset at you if you did go to violence first.." Pepper stammers, her hand still wielding her high heeled shoe as a weapon. She's got that step distance between her and Tony, but she's ready to pull him back if- The tendril snaking out gets a look of absolute disgust on Pepper's face, only to be added to with a scream as the thing takes a lunge at Tony, at them. She drops her shoe as bright light absolutely blinds her, her hand drawing up to her face to shield it, though it is rather ineffectual. It's a strange feeling, the disorientation, and in the next few heartbeats, Pepper is pulled elsewhere, but it's by Tony, and right now, she's not about to dig her heels in to ask what is going on, what just happened. That is something to be saved for later. Pepper digs at her eyes with her free hand, and after a few rapid blinks, tries to focus on something, anything with limited success. Soon enough, though, she's able to look around, to try and figure out where she is, where they are. "What is this-" and she takes a step forward, her head canted as she tries to work it out. "Is this Steve's room?" Pepper looks back at Tony, the quip regarding the socks.. and she gestures, "They're all left socks. See?"
Tony Stark	"Steve have a collection of socks I've never seen?" Tony asks, though it doesn't sound like he's actively paying all that much attention to that. Instead, he shifts back to look into the hallway they came from, and then where they are, getting a scope of it. "This is one of the meeting rooms on the main floor, near the ballroom," Tony identifies, based on general layout - but not contents. He scans over the items visually, then heads over to one side, to bend and paw through some of the things - "there's some tech here. That could be .. .vital." Tony can do a lot with some parts - particularly parts of things he invented, likely! "I think we need to figure out how to signal the other 'side'. But... if that thing is still right here.." Tony shakes his head. That's where his focus truly is: looking for that strange monster. "Keep watch a minute, okay? It showed up to my vision as this sort of red mass, before it appeared," Tony says, taking off his tech glasses and handing them up to Pepper as he squats to try to look through the tech in the rubbish pile.
Pepper Potts	Tony would know the house far better than she. He probably knows secret passageways and servant stairways that are either boarded up or just not used anymore. It //was// his house, after all. Pepper nods in terms of where they are, her memory coming back with a basic layout of the floor that Tony says they're on. Green eyes also scan for that many-tentacled thing, but so far, everything looks clear, which allows her to take a breath, if only to gather her senses. With the glasses handed to her, she sets them on her face and blinks, looking around as if with new eyes. The spectrum is dizzying, but in an amazing way. A breath of excitement coupled with a touch of trepidation is expelled, following up with, "Oh..". Nothing like feeling even the least bit protected and empowered. Things look a little more 'right', though, and her mood is a touch buoyed by the fact that Tony is actively looking through the tech pile while she stands protectively close. "I have my phone," she begins, and her tones drop soon after, "in my purse, which is in the other room."
Tony Stark	Tony glanced up quickly, dark eyes alert, as she mentions she has her phone. But a smile ruefully slides out the instant she says it's not on her person -- and is not in phase with them. "There might be one here," Tony adds, with a snort of air, rummaging and pushing some various random items. There's a few packs of superhero figures from earlier in the year. Maybe this explains where the missing Vision ones went! Tony hands something up to Pepper without looking -- it's one of the Iron Man ones. Mint in box. "Priorities," Tony comments mildly, but then pauses. "There's one of each here. That's a little bit of a coincidence, in a creepy way. Unless maybe it was from a display of them. Still." Still. "May as well rescue Iron Man." Tony's distracted in tone, he's found one of his cleaner drones, offline, and drops to fully sit cross-legged to get a better scope of what's wrong with it. "Huh." 'Huh' was never a good noise from Tony. It's too similar to 'oops'. Just to the left of 'interesting'. "Something big would have to deplete this battery," Tony observes. "We still clear?" He sets the drone aside, just to finish his inventory of items.
Pepper Potts	Tony would be hard put to be more disappointed than she, but Pepper does speak up to briefly offer, "Maybe you could call it, and, I don't know.. log into it somehow?" She's not the tech genius, and who knows what he'd put in the new Bees. She hasn't even touched on half of the things that she knows it can do, much less what she doesn't know. She's even gotten 'phone calls' from HOMER on it. Super hero figurines? Pepper stands near, her fingers tips touching his shoulder as he's crouching to go through things. Brows rise in response to the boxed -toys- as she looks between the pile and the walls of the room. "Vision?" Then, of course, she's handed Iron Man, and with a soft chuff of amusement, she takes it from him. "Right." Tony is getting somewhat comfortable on the floor, and Pepper is now in possession of the Iron Man (still in its box!), and she takes a barefooted half-step away. It's the 'huh' that gains her attention; it usually means that he's discovered something that is going to lead him further into discovery, and it could be a toss-up if it's good or bad. When that utterance happens, in order to determine which it is, Pepper has to ask, sometimes prod, depending upon Tony's level of focus. "What? Why 'huh?'" Pepper is still looking at the walls, dividing her attention between 'guard duty' and watching what Tony is doing. "Depleted? Or maybe it didn't go for its recharge?" Of course that wasn't what happened, couldn't have happened, and she knows it. "Maybe?" They're still clear, and the question gains a quick nod, though Pepper now feels the need, a draw to take a closer look at the walls as Tony looks back at his pile. The glasses do make things strangely clear, the spectrum showing things in different, varied colors. "How long do you think we have?"
Tony Stark	"I'm going to boot him up, see what he will connect to," Tony clarifies of the drone. "But if there's something better here, then I'll use that instead." So far at least, no red energy signatures. Tony does find a few more things, including a small bag of peanuts. That goes in a pocket. Then he's opening the drone and then using the connector that fuels his gauntlet from his chest to swap to the drone. It rapidly comes online with a chirp. "Okay, let's see. It's not finding any networks. So, we're... pretty severed." Tony picks up the drone, standing. "Let's try to get out of here; could just be a zone of this; I've got a debug started on this guy, he's giving data that doesn't make sense."
Pepper Potts	Pepper's looking out and away, her nose scrunching slightly as she tries to keep the glasses on, pushing them up with a finger as she takes in the room at large. "Okay," though she's more than aware that he's more talking out loud than conferring. Bouncing ideas is a good way of getting her into the program, and she really doesn't mind. She enjoys it, actually. Wandering back slowly, still with that glance over her shoulder as if she's expecting it to come in from a direction she's not looking, she stops near Tony once more. "No networks? Can it find my phone?" It does send out a GPS signal, after all. Always pinging. Heck, sometimes that's how she and Happy find the car after he parks it. The glasses are relinquished happily and with a touch of relief, at least offered so he can see. "Back in the entry way?" She's concerned, certainly. "Could there be another one, somewhere else?" Pepper holds a hopeful note in her tones, "Maybe?"
Tony Stark	"Looks like it's just finding things on 'our' side of wherever we are. Like this gauntlet," Tony explains. "Which aren't networks. But it's not talking through outside of this situation we're in." Tony has, at least, got the drone online even if it's attached by a lead to him for power reasons. He gets it into hover mode, and it comes along. "Come on, let's test the boundary of this," Tony beckons, then grins at her a little in the glasses. "Maybe you lead, keep your eyes peeled," he says. He has the drone to deal with. Once headed out, though, the pair find that they seem fenced in - just the area of the mansion. Trying to leave seems to feel like there's nothing out there. "Do you remember the movie 'Beetlejuice'? This feels like that. Stuck in place, like ghosts," Tony says, thoughtful but not alarmed. "We're not dead, though. I think we'll get more answers in a little bit, once this guy's done calculating," Tony assures Pepper. They'll just have to camp a little while and see...