outer_divide | [Voice] Reboot the mission?

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[Voice] Reboot the mission?

What the--

[There's a series of muffled clicks and thumps as he fiddles with the phone settings for a bit, and then his voice comes through clearer, more decisive.]

This is Hawkeye requesting a situation update on what the hell just happened to my team. And, uh. The entire operation, while we're at it.

Can anybody read me?

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Natasha also seems to have a cat's ability to see things invisible to the rest of us.

[Pepper's dimples intensify briefly at the thought before business overtakes her again.]

At the moment, Tony, Bruce and Steve in addition to Natasha. Jane Foster used to be here, but has, um, returned to her pod. And on the topic of pods... well, we found one with Phil in it. Alive, just not awake. Or not awake yet, in any case. Which is what we're hoping. No sign of Loki.

[He stops short, a little bit of the color draining from his face.]

Coulson's alive?

It's complicated.

[Pepper's explanation is brief, given just in case anything touching the Avengers should ever be straightforward.]

He's in the pod, in stasis, but looks unhurt. We don't know when he's from, though. Tony and Bruce could give you a lot more of the technical details, but there seems to be some time-shifting at work -- we haven't all come for the exact same time. We don't know from when Phil was taken.

Edited 2012-10-27 16:05 (UTC)

[He nods, starts moving again.]

Good. That's... good.

[It's good that he's unhurt; maybe he's been spared what Loki did to him. In which case... shake it off, Barton.]

Wouldn't want things to be too easy to figure out around here.

I think the owners of the ship that brought us here may have included a baseline level of paradoxes to explore, just to keep Tony and Bruce, at least, out of too much trouble.

Where are you heading? Have the others caught you up on the layout of the Old City yet?

Smart owners.

Right now I'm just heading out.

[And then it occurs to him they might be underground or in space or something.]

Uh... there is an 'out'. Right?

Definitely an out. The spaceship we wake up on appears to have crashed some unknown time ago. Until Tony and Bruce get really bored, it's grounded and there's a very large hole in it that you can walk out of.

Oh. Did anyone tell you about the dinosaurs?

[It's a testament to both several months on the planet, and a combination of Pepper's calm under (most) pressure and her sense of humour that she delivers this question in the tone usually reserved from commenting on the weather.]

[He's nodding along, looking more and more apprehensive as the details start piling up. Spaceships and dinosaurs. This has to be a new record for them in terms of weirdness.]

You mean how realistic they were in Jurassic Park?

[It's said hopefully, even though he knows he's just stalling the bad news.]

I wish. Although -- small bright spot -- the raptors are at least the little feathered kind rather than the Jurassic Park ones.

[What, says some quality of Pepper's expression, is her life. She's giving a briefing on dinosaurs.]

Well. Comparatively little. They scavenge around the edge of the city in packs, and while I have no doubt you can handle them, I thought you should know.

Oh, well there's a relief. [Not really much of one, Pepper.]

Anything else I should watch out for?

Mm, mostly the Outer Authorities -- paranoid military police belonging to the city behind the big blue energy dome you'll see as you step off the ship.

[She pauses for a moment, looking considering, before adding a quick reassurance.]

Um. Nothing to do with tesseracts or Loki, that we've been able to tell. Just a totalitarian hermit kingdom that makes North Korea look laid back. They take pot shots at anyone who comes too close. Miraculously, Tony hasn't poked them yet.

Got it. Man, this just gets better and better.

How do you feel about giving me a full briefing once I get settled in? [Somehow he's sure she won't mind.]

And this is why I enjoy working with SHIELD agents. You actually want briefings. Here.

[Pepper's brow furrows with mild concentration, before a few swipes and taps pull up a map of the Old City -- rough though it may be -- with a few annotations for things like the Flop's housing for new arrivals, the hospital, and the apartment for Pepper herself.]

Breakfast of champions.

[Said absently; he's already squinting at the map she's sent him. He doesn't take too long to study it yet-- he can do that on his own time, and hopefully Nat will show him around a bit. But general bearings gotten, he nods.]

Thanks. I'll give you a call before I swing by.

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[Voice] Reboot the mission?

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