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Who: Pepper Potts and Natasha Romanoff; Pepper Potts and OPEN
Where: The mansion starting on the seventh floor, potentially anywhere.
When: April 28
Rating: PG?
Summary: Pepper wakes up in Wonderland.
The Story:

Part One:  Locked to Natasha
She’s never needed long to wake up; too many days with more to-dos than hours have made Pepper both an early and a quick riser.  Granted, coffee usually also plays a role in that, but panic serves as a good substitute.  Her mind is quick to recall those last moments of awareness before she’d blacked out: the tightness of Killian’s fingers around her throat, leaving her unable to breathe or to scream.  The frustration in Maya’s voice where there should have been fear, except she wasn’t a friend after all.  The realization that they were going to use her to lure Tony into a trap, and that she was absolutely helpless to stop them.

Pepper pushes herself upright with a gasp, eyes wide as she looks around the darkened room.  She can’t see much, but she’s been lying on something soft—a sofa, maybe.  It’s kinder than she would have expected Killian to be, and Pepper moves a hand to her neck, still able to feel the way he’d gripped her.  She can’t see anyone else, and precious seconds, maybe minutes tick by, marked only by the too-loud sound of her own breathing as Pepper tried to piece together where Killian or his henchmen are.  Why would they leave her alone?

She’s so preoccupied with looking for some sign of her kidnappers that it takes Pepper too long to realize something vital:  she can move.  Not only her hands, but her entire body.  She stares down at herself in wonder as she stands, scarcely able to believe she hasn’t been tied up.  Then again, Killian had been the picture of confidence when they’d met in her office.  Maybe arrogance isn’t that far of a leap for him.

Or maybe he doesn’t think she’ll be able to make it out of the room regardless; Pepper’s gaze turns toward the opposite wall, and the closed door that presumably leads outside.  Would she need to be restrained if there’s a guard in the hall?  If Killian hadn’t thought so, that will be his mistake.  She isn’t a superhero, but Pepper also isn’t a damsel in distress.  There’s a statuette on a nearby table, something solid and heavy she can use to knock out whoever is waiting for her.  Maybe if they haven’t realized she is awake, maybe if they aren’t paying close attention…

Maybe she’ll get herself killed.  But in her mind, she can hear Tony’s screaming at her to just go, and Pepper knows she has to try regardless of the risk.  She can’t let herself freeze again.

She creeps over to the door with her makeshift weapon in hand, leaning as close to it as she dares to try and listen for some sound of movement beyond.  It’s hard to convince herself that they won’t hear her the way her heart pounds in her chest, ruining her plan before it even starts.  But if there is someone waiting she can’t tell, and Pepper worked up enough to open the door.  No reaction from outside, no rush to restrain her.  With no sign of anyone around, she carefully makes her way into the hall.

Part Two:  Open to All
So this is Wonderland.  It’s…well, frankly, it’s impossible to believe.  Pepper makes her way through the mansion almost in a daze, feeling like she has to remind herself with every other step of what Natasha’s said.  It’s not that the Agent wouldn’t lie; their first introduction had been comprised entirely of falsehoods, after all.  But she’s fairly sure Natasha isn’t insane.

So she wanders the halls, trying to get her bearings and maybe find someone to give her answers.  Despite how deeply unsettling this is, she does her best to keep those emotions in check.  She hates when things feel out of control, and right now she’s been put in a situation where the only thing she can keep a handle on is herself.  Regardless of the utter impossibility of it all, Pepper refuses to break down or to let panic grip her.  It won’t accomplish anything if she does.  Of course that doesn’t mean she doesn’t look as lost as she is; Pepper’s never been a good liar.  That mixed with what she’s been through the past couple of days has left her more frayed than she cares to admit.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Natasha had been just leaving her room to head downstairs for lunch when she heard footsteps not that far away, subtle ones, as if someone was trying to move around unnoticed. Curiosity understandably piqued by this, she altered her course, moving to peer down the adjoining corridor for the source.

Only to spot a familiar redhead creeping along, wielding a statue like a club.

Not what she'd anticipated, but that was becoming the norm these days and after a blink, she stepped out into full view, her hands held up where the woman could see them, just in case she startled her.

"Ms. Potts?"

She tightened her grip on the statuette, swallowed as she crept further from the room she’d been held in. Anyone could appear, Killian or some henchmen, maybe that man that Happy had so mistrusted, and she kept her eyes ahead for that reason. But as it turned out, the shock would come from behind, forcing Pepper to turn sharply when Natasha called her name.

“Stay away from me!” The words were out of her mouth before she got a good look at the speaker, the makeshift weapon raised threateningly. But fear gave way to confusion when Pepper recognized the other person in the hall, someone who she hadn’t expected to see there.

“Agent Romanoff?" That got Pepper to lower the statuette, though she didn't drop it completely. "What--what are you doing here?"

Well, at least she didn't have to worry about dodging ceramics just yet.

Natasha let her hands lower to her sides, although she remained where she was, standing at the end of the corridor and letting Pepper calm before making any move towards her.

"I could ask you the same thing. I didn't realize you were... here." Unless she'd just arrived, which might explain the statue. Unless Pepper just had a thing against ugly, half-naked statues.

"Ms. Potts, do you know where you are?"

Relief at seeing the agent was slow coming; after being betrayed by Maya Hansen, Pepper was wary even of a familiar face. But Natasha had fought beside Tony in New York, both against Ivan Vanko and the alien invasion. That the woman would be undercover now made sense, enough for Pepper to cross the hall herself after another wary glance around.

"Believe me, this is the last place I want to be." Somehow it seemed her shout hadn't managed to attract unwanted attention. Not yet anyway, because Pepper knew their luck couldn't hold out for long. Her voice lowered now, Pepper shook her head. "I don't have a clue. Killian brought me here."

The memory earned another fearful look around the hall, and Pepper couldn't stop herself from touching her throat for a brief moment before she went on. "He wants to use me as bait for Tony."

"Killian," Natasha echoes, going still, because of course she knows that name, she's been keeping tabs on her teammates, even if she'd been too far out of reach to make it back in time to help much with the disaster involving the Mandarin.

"Aldrich Killian?"

Was Natasha missing something or was this Wonderland playing with them again?

"Ms. Potts, would you mind telling me the date? Humor me, please."

There was something immediately wrong with Natasha’s reaction, although Pepper couldn’t place her finger on just what until the woman echoed Killian’s name for the second time. It wasn’t the recognition, but the surprise; wouldn’t Natasha have been told who her target was if she were there on assignment? But then again, maybe SHIELD was after the Mandarin and somehow didn’t know all the players. Killian wasn’t the one Maya called the Master, after all.

“Yes, Aldrich Killian. He works for the Mandarin.” But whatever she may have expected to come next, what Natasha asked wasn’t it. Pepper frowned, shaking her head slowly as she tried to figure out why on earth the other woman would be asking what day it was. “You want to know the date? While we’re standing in the hall of a terrorist’s house, or at least the house of one of his followers.”

As difficult a time as Pepper was having wrapping her head around the situation, it would probably be good to make sure she and Natasha really were on the same page.

Edited 2014-04-28 18:49 (UTC)

"Just... Pepper. Trust me," Natasha answers, meeting and holding the woman's gaze for a moment, taking a step closer. "I'm not here to hurt you, you know that, you know me at least, and despite us not exactly meeting under the best of circumstances, I'm not a threat to you. Besides, if anyone here means you harm, they've gotta go through me first and that's not happening. I promise I will explain everything I can to you but yes, before I start, I'd like you to give me the date. It's relevant, I promise."

She tilted her head downward at that, looking away from Natasha as she tried to reign in her fears. She still couldn't see how the date was relevant, but she knew she had to trust Natasha. There was no one else there she could rely on, and with her abilities the agent was their best chance at getting away from Killian alive, or maybe even putting a stop to his plans. With a huffed breath she met Natasha's gaze again, her confusion still so evident even as she finally gave the woman her answer.

"December 23, 2013. Or maybe Christmas Eve by now." Who knew just how long Pepper had been out for? Now it was Natasha's turn, and Pepper waited for the promised explanation.

Natasha exhaled, the sound almost a sigh, and tucked her hair behind one ear as she pursed her lips together and stepped closer, closing the distance between them.

"Christmas. Wonderful. Alright, this is going to sound strange, but trust me, I can prove it - sort of. Mostly. You're not in California, Ms. Potts. Or New York. Or even on earth, as far as I can tell. You're..."

Gosh she hated being the one to do this part because honestly how ridiculous was this explanation?

"We're in Wonderland. Yes, like the book, movie, whatever source material you're most familiar with. No I swear I'm not crazy, we are literally down a rabbit hole right now."

Pepper raised her eyebrows; strange wasn't an entirely unexpected thing when she considered the way her life had gone recently, or over the past few years. But even limiting it to the past several days, wherein the high point might have actually been coming home to find a ten-foot giant stuffed rabbit at the end of her driveway, Pepper thought she was ready for whatever version of strange Natasha was about to throw at her.

She was mistaken, of course. Not in California, not in New York, that was reasonable enough. But not on earth? She was about to ask if she'd heard that right, because she couldn't have heard that right, there was no way, when Natasha said they were in Wonderland.

Wonderland.

"Wonderland? As in Alice and the white rabbit and running late?" Pepper's jaw had actually dropped a little, enough for her lips to part as she tried to wrap her head around that. For everything that had come to light about their world over the past year, which included aliens, mythological beings, long-lost superheroes and the Hulk, that was pushing it. But as unbelievable as it was, Pepper didn't want to think Natasha had lost her mind, or set off a woman so dangerous as the Black Widow. So she swallowed in an effort to restrain her shock, silently thankful that she still had the statuette in hand. "And--and you said you can prove it?"

"Oh, can I ever," Natasha sighed, giving her a rueful look. She glanced around, aiming for one of the doors that led to an unclaimed room - because she'd been paying attention to comings and goings on their floor, who was staying where and fortunately Pepper had come from the end of the corridor that was mostly empty.

She headed towards one of the unclaimed doors, motioning for Pepper to join her. "This isn't a hallway you recognize, right? You've never seen it before, never been here before? Of course not. You wouldn't be wielding statues if you knew where you were. Alright, pause a moment. I want you to think very hard of a room you're familiar with. Any room, I don't care. Your office, your bedroom, some place you are intimately familiar with the details of. Have it pictured? Good. Now open the door."

She followed without much thought or protest; Pepper was honestly too busy trying to reconcile what Natasha had just said with the implications of her claim.  The woman had seemed perfectly normal up to that point, aside from demanding to know what date it was.  Given the way Tony had fallen apart after New York, it was possible the others might have as well.  Still, simply knowing what she did of SHIELD, she wouldn’t have expected it of someone she presumed was one of their best agents.

But who was she to say what could break a person?

She shook her head, confirming that she didn’t recognize the hallway they stood in.  Natasha continued to go on, and in the back of Pepper’s mind she couldn’t help but think that the woman sounded a little like a magician about to perform some great feat.  The amusement she might have gotten from that was tempered by what she was told to think of, however.  Certainly her office would be easy enough to bring to mind, but images of what had once been her bedroom, her home came much more aggressively.  The rubble that she had stood in for hours, the empty space where there had once been furniture and Christmas trees and a ridiculous stuffed rabbit.  She could picture it all too clearly, and when Natasha implied what she would find when Pepper opened the door, she was quick to hold up her free hand.

“Wait.”  Not that Pepper actually believed she would suddenly find herself on that same ledge again, but it still felt like a risk somehow.  So instead she closed her eyes, and forced the image of her office at Stark headquarters to mind.  Her lips parted with a breath once she cemented the picture in place, and then Pepper at last opened the door to reveal the very same room she’d so carefully chosen.  It was exactly the same as it had been a day before, just prior to her meeting with Killian.  She stepped inside, eyes wide as she looked around in disbelief.

“This—this isn’t possible.”

"Magic," Natasha replied, her tone dry as she stepped in after Pepper, glancing around at the room curiously. It was different than the office she'd last seen Pepper working in, but there were still similarities, reflecting the woman's sense of style.

"I don't think it pays any attention to what is actually possible or not. It just is. Apparently all the bedrooms in the mansion are like this. You can make them into whatever you need them to be, by force of will. Or something else I don't understand, I just know that it works. The closets are similar except you can get specific items from them that you might need. Apparently they're occasionally a little bugged though. might not always get your request exactly right, although I haven't had any problems yet."

She tucked her hands in her pockets, rocking back on her heels for a moment as her gaze comes back to Pepper. "The same rules seem to apply downstairs. There's a kitchen you can get food to make yourself or a dining room where you can wish for ready-made meals. Not quite the fast food we're all used to but I suppose it works in a pinch."

Natasha shot the other redhead a faint smirk. "Confused yet?"

Magic, as if that explained everything. She gave the other woman a brief look, but Pepper got the sense that Natasha wasn’t satisfied with the answer either. Stepping further into the room, Pepper reached out to touch one of the chairs, the leather familiar under her fingers. It was eerie to say the least, but it also felt very real.

“Confused doesn’t begin to describe it.” In truth Pepper suspected she had simply gone numb after listening to Natasha continue on about closets and kitchens, all of which were apparently capable of manifesting objects out of thoughts. She pressed her lips together in a fine line, then looked back to Natasha.

“Why did you want to know the date?” Because as nonsensical as all of this still felt, Pepper couldn’t help but try and connect it somehow. Being in Wonderland, surrounded by magic: none of that explained why Natasha had been so insistent on Pepper saying what day it was. Maybe it was a small thing in the grand scheme, but she just wanted to feel like she had a grasp on something right now.

"Oh, that's the other gift of this place," Natasha gives her a cheerful smile, because this just keeps getting better.

"I arrived here a week ago, just as unexpectedly as you. I was in DC before that. It was April. 2014."

Natasha's grin was way too happy, although it gave Pepper a momentary reprieve from the shock. "I think you're enjoying this too much, Agent Romanoff." International assassin or not, Pepper wasn't afraid to give Natasha a flat look in recognition of being teased.

Still, she couldn't entirely blame the woman. There were way too many impossible things to cope with, and Pepper crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm guessing you have a way to prove that too?" She couldn't assume it was real. She just couldn't, not when it felt like she was taking her sanity and throwing it out the window.

Natasha's grin doesn't fade at all, just turns a hint sly as she meets the flat look she gives her. "Well, it's been a strange few days, my humor's a little off at the moment. I could be standing here assuring you we're all mad here, but I'm not quite that far gone yet."

Still, she chuckles, her arms crossed over her chest as she shakes her head. "No, not really, although I could try, I suppose. We had brunch in February, if that makes you feel any better, but that's something else you'd have to take my word for."

Pepper might have been bordering a look typically reserved for Tony’s brand of antics, an eyebrow quirking upward as Natasha pointed out she simply could have resorted to the mutual insanity theory. “Thank goodness for that. Although at this point, having lost my mind might actually be the only way this could make sense.”

She didn’t offer much for evidence from being from the future, but Pepper realized she didn’t really want proof in that moment. When Natasha casually threw out their brunch date, it implied something drastically important to Pepper. “In February. So that means I’m okay? Or I will be.” That she made it through Christmas and Killian alive, and she couldn’t help the hopeful note that found its way into her voice. “What about Tony? Is he all right?”

"Well, there are others here that are trying to babble science or magic or both, so if that makes you feel better, you're welcome to try and decipher any of that," Natasha replies, her express turning wry as she wrinkles her nose. "Good luck making heads or tails out of it, I'm more interested in finding a way home. Not that there seems to be one yet, but I can keep hoping."

She expected questions like that, especially if Pepper's in the middle of what Natasha suspects and she's nodding before the woman even gets all those outs. "Yes. Yes, you're fine. As is Tony. As well as Tony ever is, at any rate. You've actually both been in New York, working on renovating the Tower. From what you said, he had some very... ambitious plans."

She avoids details for the moment about what happened in December in particular, because there's somewhere in the back of her mind that's worried about how all this playing with timelines might actually affect something or someone, but if Pepper wants more than that, she'll do her best to think of something.

“Unfortunately, I’m not the scientific genius behind Stark Industries.” Just the CEO, and the complexities of the science involved in bringing any number of people from different times to an alternate universe would soar over Pepper’s head. As for the magic? She wasn’t even touching that.

But there was some good news; if Natasha was right, both Pepper and Tony would live past Christmas. Tension bled out of her posture as Pepper let that wash over her; whatever Killian had planned, they would make it through. She would be okay to have brunches by February. In light of what she’d experienced only a short time before, that was a relief to hear.

“I’ve never known Tony’s plans not to be ambitious.” She still hadn’t decided how much of what Natasha had said she could believe, but she’d accepted enough to relax some. Enough to poke a bit of fun at her lover, and even to grin a bit while she did. “Usually to the point of ridiculousness.”

"Well, he is Tony," Natasha mused, lips curving upwards at the corner as she met Pepper's gaze. "I'm told it's part of his charm."

She moved towards one of the chairs Pepper's office had so thoughtfully provided. "So. I'm sure you have a million and one questions and I'll be happy to answer them if you'll forgive me for answering 'I don't know' to about half of them."

"Whoever told you that has an interesting definition of charm." Although the thought that it could have been Pepper herself did cross her mind in that moment. She supposed it was part of the strangeness that went to speaking with someone who came from her own future, and at the same time? Highly doubted it was a strangeness she would ever get used to.

She followed Natasha's lead, taking a seat in the same place where she always did when she had a meeting in her office. Another thing that still felt crazy, and one Pepper decided she couldn't think too much about. "Especially any that do with the 'hows' of this place?" How things work, how it's all possible, how they ended up here to begin with: she ticked off each in her mind as either unanswerable or unable to be understood, since Pepper suspected it was all very complicated and advanced.

But she could shift to the traditional w's of curiosity, and Pepper crossed one leg over the other, her posture so much like it would be on any other day at work. "I guess I'll move on to why, then. Why are we even here in the first place?"

"You've seen our team," Natasha counters, crossing her legs as she gets comfortable in the chair and smiles at Pepper. "We have interesting definitions of everything."

She inclines her head at that in agreement, taking a deep breath. "Yes, that's pretty much right. The closest I've gotten to an explanation on how is 'magic', which is a pretty crappy explanation if you ask me, but it's what we've been given to work with. The why... as close as I can gather, it has to do with the fact that this place seems to feed on memories."

That sounds ridiculous and also a little terrifying, so she's quick to explain what she's been told. "Apparently there are... they call them events here, they happen every few weeks apparently. Strange things, anywhere from the strange and benign to the potentially dangerous. If you stumble across anyone randomly breaking into song today... well, lets just say it's been an interesting few days. But after these events people will sometimes be missing a memory. A word, or so I'm told. I haven't witnessed firsthand evidence of this myself yet but the person who explained it to me said it happened to him, told me he can think of a place, can remember being there, but he doesn't have a name for it anymore."

"As for why us specifically?" Natasha lifts her hands as she shrugs, her expression rueful. "We're back to the 'I don't know' portion of this conversation."

She couldn't argue with that, particularly since she was dating the most interesting member of said team. Still, despite everything that had changed in her world over the past few years, Wonderland seemed to be on an entirely different scale. The quips of humor only made words like magic a little easier to swallow.

"Maybe they got tired of saying 'I don't know.'" Because to Pepper it felt like the two might as well be interchangeable. Magic or a lack of explanation: either one left them stuck here.

Of course it went beyond simply being trapped, in equally unfeasible ways. Pepper struggled to keep her jaw from actually dropping as the explanation went on, to events and stolen memories, and the frequency with which they happened. Pepper stayed silent throughout; what could she even say to something like that? But the horrified look in her eyes likely spoke volumes regardless.

Ironically enough, the next time she found words was when Natasha again claimed uncertainty. Why them specifically, and Pepper slowly shook her head. "Maybe whoever is responsible has a twisted idea of supply and demand." After all, if they're just being brought here, their world could have been seen as a missed opportunity for now. To meet their demand for memories, those in operation of Wonderland created a supply. Their group had a vast array to choose from.

"They've certainly got a twisted sense of something," Natasha retorted. "Either way, here we are and it looks like we might be for a while, unless the powers that be change their minds. Not exactly a pleasant prospect, but I suppose it could be worse."

"There's still a lot of information I'm trying to sort through, but I'll answer what I can for you. We're contained here within a confined area. I'm not sure how far it extends exactly, but I've been told when you reach the end, you're either turned back or you pass out and wake up back where you started. This includes going up, apparently. There's the mansion here, which you've woken up in, where most people caught here live. Outside, there's gardens, a stable, orchard. An ocean and forest to two sides of us, although from what I've heard, the forest doesn't sound very safe. Steve and I have been working towards getting a better feel for our surroundings, but we got a bit of a late start, he had some healing to do when we first arrived."