shieldsup | First Shield: A lack of unstable molecules...[Action/Voice]

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First Shield: A lack of unstable molecules...[Action/Voice]

[Action]

[Early in the evening of July 9th, Susan Richards wakes up in a very, very strange place, an unfamiliar couch. In YOUR living room. She blinks and looks around, extremely confused. When this strange, blond woman sees you...her eyes go wide she disappears, clothes and all. Astute listeners may hear the sounds of her feet as she gets up and moves away from you and the couch.]

Wha! What on Earth?! WHO are you and WHERE am I?

[Susan's voice is pretty demanding for an invisible person who just woke up in your house, and it seems to be coming from all around you, her powers distorting it.

Maybe you could help talk some sense into her? Explain the situation? Perhaps you're feeling pretty mad? Break time, go nuts! This isn't locked to anyone!]

Voice

[Much, much later, Susan's voice will appear over the journal after she's collected herself and gotten out of whoever's house she wound up in]

Hello everyone. This is Susan Richards of the Fantastic Four. If there are any members of the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, or even anyone that just recognizes my name I would appreciate it if you would get in touch with me. Hell, even if you are just feeling helpful and are willing to share information, I'd really appreciate it. I've just arrived and I need help getting my bearings. I don't want to impose, but I really need some answers.

Also, if anyone comes across a blue jumpsuit with a 4 on it, I'd ask that they not touch it, its made of highly unstable molecules that can react oddly to anyone that isn't me.

[Her voice isn't terribly upset, more confused. Its not like she's never woken up in strange places or been in rough situations alone before. Thats...sort of what the Fantastic Four do!]

(OOC: Feel free to break time with the action portion of the post! I've got nobody in particular who needs to find her so she can wake up in anyone's living room that wants an Invisible Woman)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Pepper is so proud of that formality. Even if she knows it won't last.]

I can't say I blame you. There's a lot to take in the first day. [Pepper's first day had ended in the same bar, in fact. And Pepper doesn't miss that Sue talked to Billy, but she doesn't press. Especially not with Tony right there.

And speaking of, Pepper will wait until Tony gets settled to get his crutches out of the way, propped safely against a wall.]

I'll be back in a minute. [Pepper smiles to Tony, then heads off to the bar to order one scotch and one vodka martini.

And yes, there will be olives.]

[Sue, for her part, has been there for a short while and has been gently nursing a whiskey-sour. She hadn't drank much since the kids were born but tonight it just felt right]

So far, its been nothing but accommodating. It's got a nice atmosphere though, like Reed's cousin's place in Scotland. And please, call me Sue.

[She raises her glass and nods at Pepper, leaning casually against the bar and giving Tony an appraising look. A broken leg? Well, she hasn't seen that in a long time...]

What happened to you, Tony? One of those experiments?

I'm thinking Susie. [Formality gone. Here comes the nicknames.

He hauls himself into an adjacent seat before ditches the crutches against the counter top, watching Pepper go before answering the question.]

Got into a little scrap on the moon with a spartan with giant wings. [That's not even half the story, but it's all he's going to tell.]

[And she's back ~~it's MAGIC~~ with said drinks. Tony gets the scotch, and Pepper settles neatly into the chair next to him.]

Thankfully he's getting the cast off soon. [Very thankfully. The restriction on recreational activities is less amusing the longer it goes on, even if Pepper is determined to stick to it.]

[She shrugs. Thats...exactly what her Tony Stark used to call her before all that mess. Besides, its what Ben calls her...and provided he doesn't add a Q its no big]

Well thats good to know. And...did you say spartan on the moon? One of the battles you mention then?

[Consider her nonplussed. No real thrill, the moon.]

Welcome back, Pepper.

[He sips the scotch before answering--and yes, thankfully the cast is coming off soon indeed. He would have thought twice about getting busted up in space had he known the consequences would be so severe.]

A draft. The Spartan-like ones are our assigned enemies--the Third Party.

[Assigned because, well, they don't exactly choose to fight them.]

I wouldn't be surprised if we're off the hook for awhile, though. Drafts don't come around often.

Thanks.

[All eyes are on Tony then, and Pepper takes the opportunity to eat one of her olives. It's not a story she likes to hear, even if Tony is thankfully not giving details.

At least this one ends well. Hopefully.]

If you didn't just jinx it.

Lovely. Why are we fighting them again? The guidebook was pretty slim on the information there.

[She takes another sip and waits for Tony]

Claims differ. The Malnosso want us to believe that they--The Spartans, the Third Party--oppose their experimentation and and trying to stop them--then again, the Malnosso also claim they're trying to get us home by said experimentation, but--you know, I'm not too inclined to believe them.

[But he's been on three drafts now. It's enough to convince him of one thing.]

One thing is for certain--the Third Party is not our friend. They want us dead.

Edited 2012-07-17 21:48 (UTC)

[The enemy of my enemy. Pepper's had this conversation before, except from Sue's perspective, so can understand why she asked.]

And fighting is definitely better than being killed. [Pepper doesn't want to think about Tony being worse off than just limping around with a broken leg, thank you very much.]

Well, if they want us dead just as much as the Malnosso want us here, then its pointless to even consider them any different than an enemy.

[She doesn't really want to be caught up in fighting, but if its fight or die then she knows where she stands. And where the others here would too.]

And I don't buy that nonsense about them wanting to send us home. If they did, they wouldn't lock us up like prisoners.

[He can agree with that. Even if dying here isn't permanent, it's still not a record he'd like to break. He's pretty good at cheating death, after all.

He won't mention what a close call it was on the moon. Not just against the Dream Shifter, but the General as well.]

Take everything you hear with a grain of salt, but some people think they're just as trapped here as we are. That this isn't their own world at all. [He shrugs.] It's anyone's guess, really.

[All good decisions, on Tony's part.]

Either way. When it comes down to it, we're probably our own best bet for getting home.

[Because the one time the Malnosso tried--well. Pepper's heard that story. Rogue's a sweet girl, but Pepper isn't keen on the idea of anyone's memories being manipulated, especially not to that degree.]

I don't think it matters much if the Malnosso are trapped here or not, they're still our captors. Pepper's right, we shouldn't be counting on them to do anything for us.

[This was complicated. Dammit, why didn't they have the luck for Reed to show up too. Or even Victor. That'd be better than nothing]

Basically all we know for sure is that we're stuck here, and its not our reality, then?

You're telling that to the guy who's been stuck here a year.

[He knows it's in their hands. He's known that since day one--and it's only been clearer since he came back. He doesn't count on favors from just about anyone--least of all secret-keeping organizations that force children on battlefields and play with their minds every month.

But he doesn't want to spoil the conversation that badly. He isn't in the mood.]

Depends on your definition of reality. It's real--it exists. We exist. But the popular theory seems to be, yes--we're in another dimension.

[Pepper gives Tony a look of sympathy, moving a hand under the table to touch his knee. She knows it's nothing he needs to hear, that he's felt the weight of that responsibility for the entire time he's been in Luceti. And she also knows there's a lot he doesn't say then, some things that she's been told and others that she hasn't. But Tony's silence is revealing enough.]

From what you were telling me earlier, Sue, you've got a fair bit of experience with that. [And anything she can offer that Tony might find helpful is worth hearing. Considering the man made an arc reactor in a cave, and an element in his basement, Pepper doesn't underestimate what Tony can accomplish, even with very little.]

[Sue gives Tony an apologetic look, she feels bad that an ambitious man like him has been trapped her for so long. They may not be seeing eye to eye at home, but Tony was still a brave, brilliant man with a can-do attitude.]

I do. I've been to more parallel realities than I care to count, to be honest. Like I told you earlier, my family, the Fantastic Four? We're not really super-heroes. We help out, but mostly we explore. If there's something that needs looking into in deep space, or at the bottom of the ocean, we're usually the first ones there.

Modern-day voyages of discovery, hm? [It's easy to let the conversation shift here, away from the ongoing battle in Luceti against the Third Party and the Malnosso as well.]

And do you find much out there? Deep space, I mean. We're sort of only just discovering life exists outside of Earth back home.

[In a big way, but still.]

[Leave it to Tony to grossly understate things.] I think it's been firmly confirmed at this point. [In Pepper's mind, anyway. The aliens pretty much made their existence clear all over Manhattan.]

Yes, we've found quite a lot. Aliens aren't entirely uncommon on Earth to begin with. But we've found at least 4 entire extraterrestrial empires, the Skrulls, Shi'ar, and Kree being the most prolific. I understand from Pepper that you've encountered the Chi'tauri as well.

[An apologetic look. The Chi'tauri were bad news, not Skrull bad, but bad.]

The bigger discoveries? The Negative Zone, a universe outside our own. Think...if reality divided by zero. Then there's the Titans and Celestials, mad star gods. And Galactus...

[She trails off there. He's...not her favorite subject even if Reed's technically his friend]

That we did.

[He's really not a fan of those guys.] Asgardians, too. If you count them as aliens. [Which in his book, he does.]

Sounds like you've got some fun neighbors out there. Good to know the rules of physics are a lot more flimsy than original thought. In your universe, at least.

[Pepper can't imagine anyone on earth who would be a fan, considering. And she nods at the inclusion of the Asgardians, though they had (thankfully) been much fewer in number.

She'll take a sip of her drink then, not adding anything more to the conversation just yet. Pepper's not entirely comfortable dismissing the possibility of other alien species outright because there are so many parallels between the universes--but there's also a significant number of gaps.]

Asgardians too, if you want to count them. I tend not to, but I tend to subscribe to the theory that they are literally the Norse gods. I've seen Thor and the others pull off one too many feats to believe they're just aliens. There aren't very many of them, either.

[She finishes her drink and nods, though]

There are tons of other alien species out there though. I'm sure you'll run into them eventually. And they mostly aren't unfriendly. There may even be other species on Earth, hiding in out of the way places. Thats how it was for mine, anyway.

[Well, she'd know more about them than he would--not that he ups and admits that.]

Something to look forward to then, I suppose. SHIELD's pretty good at keeping secrets, even from people like me. So it's just a matter of playing the waiting game.

They could be both. [Pepper interjects there, not so eager to believe in deities as portrayed in mythology. Aliens are easier, somehow. Funny how perception works.] There's been debate for years about ancient gods actually being aliens. People just didn't have to take it quite so seriously before.

[She's quiet again though, when Tony talks about SHIELD keeping secrets. Phase Two had been bad enough, from what Tony had told her, not to mention the nuclear missile. Given the story Sue shared, Pepper is pretty concerned about what they might come up with next.]

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