outer_divide | [Audio: Filtered] Tying Loose Ends: (Friday, Week 19)

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[Audio: Filtered] Tying Loose Ends: (Friday, Week 19)

[Filtered to Tosh, Lyall and the three Avengers still above ground and breathing:]

I'm a little concerned with how the second stage is hitting me. I don't want to worry people generally, but I know all of you can keep on top of things.

[Pepper honestly sounds more dead level than concerned, voice a colourless murmur and the video kept off.]

Just in case I'm too out of it: if we get samples, or a dose of vaccine. Anything. Let people know to talk to Captain Silene. She has a communicator, she's a contact at the port town. Knows me. She might know where manufacturing facilities are.

[Filtered to Tony:]

I... Tony. I would really like you here right now.

[This, spoken privately, is where the concern has gotten to. Beyond that, there's a thread of naked fear that's been missing from Pepper's previous determined sulking her way through Stage One.]

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It's Lyall, Miss Potts. Let me know Captain Silene's contact information, and I will be sure to keep in contact with her. Is there anything else I can do?

[For her, in particular? If she can keep concern out of her voice, he can do the same-- in no small part because most of his tone is colored by exhaustion, so not much emotion gets through at all.]

[It takes four tries, but eventually the proper contact is sent to Lyall's phone.]

Hold the fort. Look after yourself. I know you and Tony don't--

[Some of the concern escapes, leaving her voice even quieter.]

I remember how I took it, when he was gone.

[Yes, they don't get along. But that doesn't mean Lyall can't at least keep an eye on him for her. He's dealt with people he dislikes before, after all, for the sake of those he does.]

I will look out for him as best as I can. Make certain he eats and such, as he allows.

[Normally he'd be sure he could at least manage that, but Tony Stark is, as always, a special case. Even his managing is a bit curtailed with the likes of him.]

Thank you.

[There's a long silence after that, broken only by the light and too-rapid breathing that at least reassures that Pepper's still in the land of the living for the moment.

When she does speak, it's with the air of someone saying something while they can still get it out.]

I can't say I don't wish I was still in New York, but... I'm glad to have met you, Randolph. You're a good man.

[Lyall doesn't say that she shouldn't talk like that and she certainly won't die-- her breathing doesn't sound right, as it is. It sounds too much like people who have died, here in the hospital and the sickrooms.]

Who knows, Miss Potts? Perhaps someday in your world, if we ever get back to our own places and times, you will meet me again. Though I am not entirely certain why I would go to New York.

[He does add, more seriously-- though that was fairly serious, anyway, despite the words themselves,]

And I you, Miss Potts. You are wonderful to work with, and I would hate to take on this whole arrangement on my own. Take care of yourself. I will be by again in the morning, all right?

Well, now I have two reasons to pull through this.

[Pepper's tone is light but threadbare, as she reaches for humour and confidence enough to fake it for Lyall's sake.]

Finally getting you to call me Pepper, and finding a way home so we can have lunch in Manhattan.

Now, Miss Potts, that would be highly inappropriate. Mister Stark might take it amiss, my being so familiar with you.

[He's joking. Sort of. Mostly. It is, however, unlikely she's going to manage getting her given name just yet.]

Even if you do not, Miss Potts, there is still the option of the pods. Chime came back... you have every chance that he does.

Hope for him. Hope for Bruce...

[Pepper's fading out badly, and her breathing is getting sharper and faster.]

Keep hoping. For all of us.

[It takes another minute before the connection is dropped, but aside from the continued fight to breathe there's no further word from Pepper.]

I will, I promise.

[And he listens to her breathing for a minute until she disconnects. For a moment, he strongly considers contacting Stark right then... not to mention stopping by her apartment. Though what the latter would do... he really doesn't know.

For now, he just puts the phone down and gets back to his rounds.]

Don't be ridiculous. You're going to be fine.

[It's a little too sharp to maintain the illusion that he actually believes that any more.]

I'll be right there.

[Tosh doesn't sound terribly healthy either, but she can't ignore Pepper's message.]

I'm not sure how much help I'll be right now, but I'll do whatever I can.

Oh no. You too?

[Pepper's murmur is a little hazy, as if she's directing a complaint at some intangible spirit of disease.]

Take care of yourself. Silene... knowledge shared is knowledge that won't be lost.

Mm. I've been in hospital ever since I came back from the island. Just coming out of the first stage now, I think. Not terribly enjoyable, the black death.

I hope - I don't want Ianto to have to deal with losing me again. Though I don't know if he has for the first time, actually.

Edited 2012-11-22 03:59 (UTC)

Keep strong, then. The second... yeah. Not good. Not good at all.

I'm not sure how much more conversation I have in me right now, but there's one other thing. Have you heard about Bruce?

[There's a pause before Tosh speaks again, and her voice is hesitant.] What about Bruce?

God. This is not how I want to share the news, but--

[But there may be no time to share it later, and better her to tell it than other options available.]

Tosh... he didn't make it. The second stage-- Tony and I got a call, but it was limited audience, and we didn't have time to--

I'm sorry.

[...even more silence. This time, she sounds a little choked up when she speaks again.]

No, I- I understand. [She's trying to tell herself that she and Bruce weren't that close, not close enough to warrant something as personal as a deathbed visit. On the other hand, he's probably her closest friend on Verdana.] Thanks for telling me, Pepper.

Please know that if there had been any time, I would've made sure you were there. As it was...

[Pepper knows those silences well, and lingers in one for a long moment.]

We were almost too late ourselves. But he's in the pods now, and I already know of one person who came back, healed from this-- and that sounds so empty right now.

Tony-- I'll tell Tony he should come see you. Yes.

[It's not that Pepper's voice is any firmer: she's getting even threadier in point of objective fact. But she does sound a little more sure of herself with the decision reached.]

Professor Lyall told me about it, too. I just hope it's the same with Bruce. I'll have to ask Tony how he thinks it might work - it can't be cloning, not if people are the proper age and have all their memories.

[Yep, Tosh can even nerd out while she's crying.]

I know you don't exactly have any choice in the matter, but do try not to die. Even with the possibility of resurrection, it's still stressful for all parties involved.

[What she means is something along the lines of "please don't die, you're my friend". Way to develop feelings in the middle of the black death, Tosh.]

I can't die. [Pepper's assurance would be more reassuring if she sounded better, and if there wasn't a faint thump transmitted across the audio link.] I have too much to do, and Tony shouldn't be left--

[The joke, old and familiar, isn't so funny now. Pepper doesn't finish it.]

I think I need to rest. Be OK, all right?

Yeah, you too.

[Natasha isn't 100 percent herself, but she's soldiering through as best she can, keeping herself moving and in some semblance of working order. she can't blame Pepper for having contingency plans, either. she'd do the same]

Is there any possibility she might have been targeted by the Authority?

It's not impossible, but it's not likely, either.

[Pepper's breathing rate is high, and the pauses between phrases are a little choppier as a result.]

The Authorities seem to act on perceived threats to the dome. She's not one of them.

[she files that away, along with the sound of Pepper's breathing, the inconsistencies in the cadence of her voice]

And her relationship with us, does that make us a threat to the dome? [moreso than they all ready are, at any rate]

So far, our business with the port town has been for medical supplies. Our business with Silene has been to exchange tech for grain.

There's a facility. She gave us the location. [The phrases are getting shorter, and the pauses longer, but Pepper's tone grows more determined as she remembers new information to share.] Weeks' trip on foot, faster by air. I have a map. Tell Tony?

[assuming Tony will want to leave Pepper's side, considering she's sounding worse and worse. but Nat won't say that]

I'll tell him. I'm sure we'll figure out a way to get there soon as possible.

So much to do, so little time.

[As jokes go, it's a weak and wistful one, but Pepper attempts it anyway. There's a little rustling noise, like someone sliding down a wall, but it's a controlled sound rather than an alarming thumping tumble.]

And how are you doing? Clint worried, while you were away.

[Pepper worried too.]

[the joke, weak though it is, still makes her smile a little. the rustling she pins on Pepper sitting down, and honestly, that's not such a bad idea. Natasha takes a seat on her own bed, the creak of mattress springs loud enough to make it through the communicator

there's really no point in lying, is there? it's not like Pepper is going to tell anyone]

I've been better. It came back about a day before we returned to the city. I can still move around, though, and that's all that matters.

Shame the people responsible have been dead for decades.

[Despite the quiet of her voice, there's still a flicker of sharp displeasure in it, soon extinguished.]

This... I don't know how to process this. [The admission is a hard one to make but Natasha knows secrets and their keeping.] After Bruce... if something happens, Tony won't take it well.

I would certainly like a word with a few of them.

[she takes a long, slow breath, laying out across her bed because her head swims otherwise, listening as Pepper speaks, focusing on the cadence and inflection because it tells as much as the words]

Then we'll just have to make sure nothing happens. [she isn't an optimist. she doesn't have any flowery plans and she doesn't cling to hope. Natasha is a pragmatist, but she's also a survivalist, and she'd rather not see anyone else die on her watch, no matter how inevitable it might seem] We've handled worse.

We had a few more resources at our disposal.

[Pragmatic Pepper, curator of the hospital's inventory lists, knows this all too well. Still, she takes a long breath, shallow and unsteady and leading to a few pants in its wake as her body tries to catch up, and there's an almost tangible sense of her squaring her shoulders.]

Plans are already underway, it's just a matter of hanging on. You should come by.

[Pepper sounds decisive on this point.] Not now, not necessary, but there's heat and hot water here. I could never get Bruce to take me up on it...

[A hot shower may not do much against genemod hantavirus, but Pepper, it seems, has gotten an idea for Something She Can Do To Help. That she herself has had to give up on her attempt to make it down the hallway to said shower... well, Natasha needn't know that.]

[Nat laughs faintly] I'm good at hanging on. Better than most, it seems.

[the prospect of a warm shower is tempting, and Nat is tired and sore, but she's not quick to accept an open hand, even from someone she considers a friend. not when it isn't life and death, at any rate]

You need it more than I do. I'm sure he thought that, too.

Showers are not a zero-sum game.

[Pepper is bone tired, and thus her observation comes across warmly amused rather than briskly teasing.]

Pretty sure I'm not standing up for the next while anyway. Someone should benefit from the hot water if I can't.

When you put it that way, it's a little more difficult to decline, Ms. Potts.

Take care of yourself. Try to keep the boys from doing anything too disastrous.

If possible.

I'm... going to try and get some more rest now.

[Normally, a wryly exaggerated 'go try not to die now' would be more fitting. This? This is not normal, and the joke would have a little too much truth to it. Pepper ends the call and rests her had agains tthe wall for a long moment, eyes closed as she gathers some limited strength.]

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[Audio: Filtered] Tying Loose Ends: (Friday, Week 19)

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