imafuturist | FuturePharm, Tuesday Afternoon

The difference between showing up alone and showing up with someone in a superhero costume was like night and day in how the security team in the building treated Pepper.

That and the fact that she placed a stern phone call to the board of directors.

"I swear, this is ten times worse than when AIM attacked us."

"We can deal with ten times worse," Jessica suggested. "Eleven might be a problem. But ten? We've got this." Her goals right now were threefold. One, make sure the security team was uncomfortable around her. Two, be ready for any advanced science that might need to be scienced, although she was probably out of her league here. And three, try to keep the tone light (or frustrating... but she was shooting for light!) around Pepper, who was clearly not having a good day.

Pepper kept her chin up and continued on like she was the boss of everyone they passed. Because it was close to being true as JARVIS continued his hostile takeover of FuturePharm.

She was going to have words with Tony about that one.

"If anyone asks, you're an Avenger."

"Yes, ma'am. It's close enough to true anyway," Jessica confirmed as she followed close behind, waiting for any warning from her spider-sense.. "But am I going to get weird looks if I call myself Black Widow? I've heard there's already someone on this world who uses that name."

"I... don't know." Look, she could not keep up with all the people in costumes all the time. She knew the Avengers and the Fantastic Four because she'd met them.

Also, Pepper was the superior redhead, damn it.

Yeah, Jessica's red was fake, so she couldn't argue that point. Also, the red really worked for Pepper. "I'll use it if necessary and see how it turns out," Jessica decided. "We should be getting close to the right lab."

Which was why their was was suddenly blocked by a woman in a lab coat. "Excuse me, where do you people think you're going?"

"You are going to want to get out of our way," Pepper said. Because she wasn't about to stop now, damn it.

"I'd do what the lady says," Jessica said. "She's pretty determined right now."

Maya looked like she really, really wanted to argue that one. In fact, she was already pulling out her phone to call for security when there was a noise from the room she'd been in before confronting the pair.

It was way too early for the process to be over. "Tony," she said, taking off at a run.

Which meant Pepper was hot on her heels, moving surprisingly fast for someone in a sensible pencil skirt and high heels.

It was a talent.

Reasonable boots were the way to go for this kind of running around. But still, credit given, even as Jessica passed her by running along the wall. "What's he doing in there?"

What he was doing was being in a cocoon, Jessica. Like a cybernetic butterfly.

Or he had been and now he was breaking out of the strange metal surrounding him in the most dramatic way possible with a flash of light that resembled a repulsor blast.

He was also naked as he pulled himself free. Because that seemed reasonable.

Edited 2016-02-24 02:00 (UTC)

Pepper only came to a stop when she ran into Maya's back. Because some people here couldn't just run on walls. God.

"Oh my god." Yes, she'd be averting her eyes now.

"Dear lord, Tony. Decency," Jessica said, letting some webbing fly at his lower body. "It'll dissolve in an hour. Plenty of time for you to tell us what the hell."

"Jesus Christ," Tony hissed, hands over his crotch where he was suddenly shot with webbing. "Things just healed! Can we not injure me again?!"

"Extremis is supposed to take a full twenty-four hours!" Maya shouted to be heard over the clamor. "How are you even alive?"

"Hurt again?" Pepper shouted at the same time as Maya.

"Did that actually hurt? No," Jessica snarked at the same time. "It didn't."

Of course Tony was being shouted at by three women for his stupid choices. Of course he was.

"I'm fine now Pepper," Tony began, trying to be reassuring. "As long as no one shoots me in the groin again."

Jessica.

"And I might have made some alterations to your code while you were out of the room."

"You did what?" Maya asked, getting louder in alarm. "You were half out of it on painkillers!"

"Oh my god," Pepper said, having to turn away before she did something like quit her job on the spot to lower her blood pressure.

"How is he so unconcerned with his lack of pants?" Jessica said, dropping off the wall to give Pepper a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I hope that means he's okay and not just a pervert."

"I just got out of a techno-organic cocoon and you're worried about my pants?"

"If nobody's going to explain what a techno-organic cocoon is for those of us who are new on the scene, I'm going to pretend that it doesn't sound like a crazy thing to do to yourself and is perfectly reasonable," Jessica said. "Therefore, snarking about nakedness. Know how you can change that?"

Sorry, Jessica. You'll have to get information out of Tony on that.

"I worked on the coding for Extremis for years, Tony. Years. And you altered it all in ten minutes while on drugs and one handed?!"

It was safe to say Maya was a little perturbed by this.

Of course he did, Maya. He was Tony Stark.

"JARVIS helped." If that made it better. "Extremis was another attempt at the super soldier serum. The emergency that brought me here was an unauthorized test of it on a guy who makes Doom seem reasonable."

"Wait, did you use it too?" Tony no. TONY NO.

"So the cocoon is part of the process?" Jessica reasoned. "And you're okay?"

"Had to repair everything," Tony said, touching his newly smooth chest. No scars and no electomagnet jammed into his ribcage. "Can we tone down the shouting? I think I've regrown ear tissue."

"Gotta break it in somehow," Jessica said. "So you're a supersoldier now? Any side effects? Not gonna go Hulk or anything, right?"

Tony held out his hands, looking at his arms. "Let's see if it works. Start program Iron Man."

And instead of the shiny Vegas gold from the comics, the undersuit that slithered over his skin was black and detailed like Tron. Just like the old one.

"What else did you change?" Maya demanded.

The briefcase he'd asked her to bring into the room yesterday clicked open suddenly and pieces of easily recognizable Iron Man armor floated out to circle him for a moment before slotting into place.

"Look at that."

"So you could have been wearing pants this whole time," Jessica joked. But she was clearly impressed because LOOK AT THAT FANCINESS.

"I would have if someone hadn't webbed me." You are so lucky he liked you, Jessica.

Pepper, meanwhile, was letting out a sigh of relief that things seemed to be mostly normal with him now.

"If you disappear like this again, I'm finding other employment."

"It shouldn't be a concern when going after that failed test case this time," Jessica said. "He's enhanced and have another supersoldier as backup."

"See? Nothing'll go wrong." This time. Unlike last time. "Get back to New York and I'll meet you there, okay? Make sure my company hasn't collapsed."

Pepper's expression was leaning more toward wibbly before she nodded. And then pushed forward to give him a quick hug. "I'm serious about the job change."

Tony huffed out a little laugh, hugging her back before she pulled away. "I don't doubt you."

Oh god, the emotions in this room right now.

Pepper nodded, smoothing her suit down to get her emotional state back under control.

"Thank you, Jessica. For helping."

"It comes with the territory," Jessica said, flashing a smile. "Hopefully the next time you call is for something good and not because Tony did something crazy without telling one of us first."

Always leave a note, Tony.

He would never leave a note, Jessica. Because that was too much work while nearly getting his dumb ass killed.

Pepper did manage a small smile at that. "I'm going to go deal with your impromptu hostile take over now," she said in a tone that strongly implied more yelling at a later date.

Edited 2016-02-24 14:49 (UTC)

"We don't even know where he is now," Maya pointed out. Helpfully. "Even if the two of you could stop him."

She still voted for the 'wait for the fucking Avengers' plan.

"Yes we do," Tony replied, cocking his head to the side as he sifted through CCTV footage to piece together Mallen's movements since their fight.

"Do I want to ask how?" Jessica checked while giving Maya a glare that technically couldn't see because of Jessica's mask. But the context clues were there! Her head was cocked and she was frowning very severely.

"Some of the changes I made to Extremis may have let me access data feeds with my brain."

Which was less dramatic than announcing 'I can see through satellites' while standing there naked. But some changes had to be made.

"He's on his way to D.C."

"That's weird," Jessica decided. Not as weird as her Tony, whose brain was such a monumental event that an Infinity Stone developed inside of it, and the Stone presented itself as a tumor, eventually gained sentience, and then became a technopath. That was much, much weirder than this.

"But whatever. Let's go to DC."

...Jess, the actual fuck. How was that even a thing that happened? Just. What.

What.

"It's not weird." A beat. "Okay, remind me to not attempting looking at things via satellite. Weirdest sense of vertigo."

"My To Do list is much stranger when I'm around you," Jessica said.

"I keep you young," Tony replied before looking over at Maya. He'd have to deal with her after this was over. "Let's get moving."

"Locals are finished with the evacuation of the area," Tony said, tracking Mallen and keeping an open line to listen to the police chatter in case something slipped through. "Ready?"

"Yep," Jessica said, scoping out the area from her rooftop with binoculars. She really needed to add a HUD in her mask's lenses. Get some digital magnification in there. "You're the big gun since you have the new fanciness. I'll be looking to keep him off balance so you can hit him hard. And if anything goes terribly wrong, I'm also ready for extraction."

Get to work on that, Jessica. Or let Tony repay you for helping him with new tech. It was how he rolled.

"You know me so well," Tony replied, taking off to position himself above Mallen. He lined up the shot and then fired far more missiles than he'd risk with most humans. It was about Loki level number of missiles to knock Mallen down.

"Lay down on the ground, hands behind your head and ankles crossed. Or we will do this the hard way."

He was sort of hoping for the hard way. Look, he still remembered what the bones in his hand breaking felt like.

"Then we're gonna do this the hard way," Mallen sneered. Mostly because that seemed to be his normal expression. "I have the power to protect people from the criminals in the White House and I'm gonna use it."

Wow. He lived to be a cliche.

Tony really hoped this wasn't going to be a poorly written monologue. Because it was starting to sound like it.

"Hard way it is. Lock him down, Jessica."

While Tony was firing missiles, Jessica found her way into position and snapped on her shock gloves. Diving from a story above Mallen, she she fired an electrified web-net. From what she understood, it might not hold him long, but it should hold him long enough. And annoy the crap out of him with the shocks!

"Nobody has ever chosen the easy way," she said as she landed. "Ever!" She was on the move immediately, going for cover.

Good thing she moved because Tony was taking a page from Mallen's playbook and picking up a nearby car that he'd totally pay for--sorry poor person who owned it--to launch at Mallen. And then fire a few more missiles for good measure.

"What would we even do if they did?"

"Shut up!" Mallen snapped, crawling out of the burning pile of scrap metal and looking a little worse for the wear. Hey, they were making a good dent on his... shirt. "You're all part of the problem!"

Jessica leaped in to deliver dropkick to the back of the head so she could smash his face into the street. He was a big boy, he could take it. "Interesting theory, unsupported by facts."

Tony helped keep him down with a punch, breaking the asphalt of the street as Mallen's head was forced further down. "They never think these things through."

Excuse you, stupid heroes who needed to die. Mallen gave this loads of thought. Murderous, murderous thought.

He pushed himself up, digging fingertips into the street to send an electric burst of energy.

Jessica sprang off a building, snagged a nearby manhole cover with a web, and swung it like a pendulum at Mallen's back. "This guy can take too much damage. I don't like it."

"Agreed." Tony went with a new method of damage, running through the plans for the city electrical grid to punch down into the ground and pull up a super convenient cable.

Which he used to electrocute Mallen so hard, the man flew into a building.

Aw yeah.

"My shock gloves feel a little inadequate now," Jessica said, getting low on the ground just in case that didn't put Mallen down.

That would be too easy, Jessica.

"Just die already!" Mallen shouted, going for villainous dialogue number five as he pulled himself free. He grabbed hold of a convenient plow--seriously, who left that parked there?!--to throw at them both. "Die!"

And the best part of Extremis meant Tony was able to catch that before it could hit him. Booyah. Look at that.

"Sorry, I've upgraded!"

Jessica fired two web lines, one at Mallen's face and another at his shoulder and pulled, hard. "I think you just gave him something to hit you with, buddy." Because calling him 'Buddy' sounded less dumb than using his stupid name.

He stumbled forward before wrapping his hands around the lines and yanking hard right on back. "You're going to die next."

Jessica jerked forward, but her feet didn't move. Thank you, spider-powers. "Don't make promises you can't keep. Go with 'I'm going to try to kill you!' That's much easier."

Tony had taken a moment to put the plow back down because he didn't need more collateral damage on his bill.

Which totally explained why he tackled Mallen back down against the ground to punch him hopefully into unconsciousness. And then go about trying to imprison someone with his abilities.

Mallen was stunned from the attack for all of five seconds before he attempted an old trick of electrocuting Tony again. And when that failed, he just wrapped his hands around Tony's neck.

Because he was really set on murder here.

"Hey, handsy! This is only your second date!" Jessica said, running over and kicking at Mallen's arm with a punt.

"Mallen, don't make us use lethal force," Tony ground out, grabbing onto the man's forearms when Jess' kick didn't do more than make him sway just a little.

"I'll kill you all," Mallen shouted back. Because he was living that crazy dream of his. "And then I'll finish what I started and free us from this government.'

Yeah. Living the dream.

Jessica shot webbing at his mouth. "I'm just really tired of him saying he's going to kill us," she said.

Thank you, Jessica! Only so much ranting could happen before it go annoying.

"Step back," Tony ground out, charging the unibeam.

Jessica backflipped onto the building behind her. "Clear!"

Mallen's response was somewhere along the lines of 'Mmph mmph mmmph!' which was probably more death threats.

This time he was hit with the unibeam, it didn't knock him back. Oh no, instead it punched right though his torso.

But he still wasn't dropping.

Be grateful Jessica had been trained by by Ultimate SHIELD leaders and wasn't going to lecture you about killing, Tony.

Oh wait, he wasn't dead? "Oh come on!"

Well, thank god for that. Even though Tony was going to have one hell of a freak out about it later. With alcohol.

"How is he still alive?!" And choking Tony still.

"Well, Extremis." Jessica webbed her fist up, then pulled herself in with a webline to add some extra velocity to web punch to Mallen's stupid face.

Extremis was the worst. And the best. But mostly the worst.

Tony took a deep breath and cupped Mallen's stupid, stupid face between his hands and fired both repulsors.

Which made one hell of a mess.

But it also finally caused Mallen to fall to the side. Until the headless body attempted to push itself back up and Tony had to scramble to the side like a macho superhero who spooked like a baby deer until it fell one last time.

"Should I web him to the ground just to make sure?" Jessica checked. "I don't think I fully believe that he's dead yet."

"...just to be safe."

Jessica webbed his arms and legs down, making sure to leave the gaping chest hole open so they could see if it healed somehow.

"Could've been worse. In my world, he probably would have also been a Hulk."

"What." WHY WAS YOUR WORLD SO TERRIBLE?

"It's a thing," she said with a shrug. "I need coffee. Know any place around here?"

DC was largely destroyed by an anti-matter person created by Reed RIchards by the time Jessica spent much time there. So she wasn't familiar with coffee places.

FuturePharm, Tuesday Afternoon

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