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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.

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That has Pepper arching an eyebrow. "You seem very sure that I'm going to lose it." Which she well might, but not in front of anyone. Not if Pepper can help it, and Edward's expectation that she will only cements that notion. But the implication that things are that bad here doesn't go missed, and Pepper finally gives in to both her curiosity and her hunger.

"Do you mind if I sit?" She might as well eat while they talk. Having been here a year Edward certainly has to know a great deal about this place. It's valuable information for Pepper herself and Natasha and Steve. Maybe she'll learn something they haven't.

Ed shrugs. "Sure. I'm not gonna make you eat standing up. And I just meant that you could probably use a break from being the one holding it together while others got to have their reaction to whatever's going on at the time."

"That's very considerate of you." A hint of a grin plays over her lips as Pepper settles into the chair across from Edward. It's a struggle not to forgo conversation in favor of simply devouring her sandwich, but there's still enough restraint in her to succeed.

"Maybe." She suspects that there are plenty of psychologists who would agree that breaking down more often might be good for her. But that simply isn't something Pepper does if she can help it. Rather than talk about the type A aspects of her personality, however, she focuses on more practical matters, getting a question out before she starts to eat. "So just what does go on here? We can't just be here to conjure up food out of thin air."

Ed winces a little. "Sure, pick something that might kill your appetite. Place runs off of memories. Every other weekend there's an event--stupid name but we don't really have another since what happens varies pretty wildly--and those from the world of whoever the memory is from loses a word or phrase."

She gives Edward a wry grin at his quip. “Considering everything I’ve already found out, I doubt anything’s going to kill my appetite now.” Not to mention what she’s been through back home. But Edward certainly does push things with the bombshell that comes next. Pepper barely remembers to finish chewing as she tries to piece together just what he’s said. “It runs off of memories?” One more impossible fact to add to a too-quickly growing pile. She takes another look at her sandwich, slowly shaking her head. “Every other weekend. Does that mean you’ve lost some memory too?”

Ed nods. "I know what the word I lost means, I just can't remember the word itself anymore. Which is annoying. But at least I can describe what it's referring to and people can get what I mean, assuming they're familiar with it. Got to find out that if someone says it in front of me, while I hear it, it's gone too quickly for me to grasp it."

See how not thrilled he is by this.

She can understand why he wouldn't be please by that situation; Pepper's only hearing about it, and she feels much the same. "So they literally took only the word." Not the associations or descriptive factors, and in turn that has Pepper curious. She chalks it up to wanting to be better prepared, but regardless of her reasons, she knows Edward won't be a fan of her next question.

"Would you describe it to me? The word." So she can try and figure it out, to understand just what sort of memories they might go after for her and her friends first.

Ed lets out an irritated sigh. "It's the snake that eats its own tail. Sometimes depicted as being a bit dragon-like. Related to renewal and all that crap and is used as an alchemical symbol."

Among other things, but since he's an alchemist, that's the one he's focused on.

"A snake that eats its own tail? Hmm." Not exactly a common thing, although Pepper thinks she might have heard of it. It feels a little like trying to come up with an answer to a crossword puzzle, but she doesn't strain too much. Not with that sigh, and when the answer doesn't immediately come to mind, she decides to think about it more later. Maybe Natasha or Steve will know.

"Thank you for telling me." Not only about that, but so many other things. Even not knowing the word itself, Pepper does still have other questions. "So is that significant to you, somehow? It seems a little random from my perspective."

"Someone else from my world here has it on his hand. So no, not random." Ed eats another bite of food. Almost done. "What's forgotten seems to be related to the memory Wonderland is making everybody deal with."

She noticed the dwindling amount of food on Edward's plate, which means Pepper needs to pick her next questions carefully. He'll likely want to leave so, and she won't keep him when he's already given her a massive amount of information.

But there is one thing that comes immediately to mind, and hopefully he can help her connect the dots. "How was it related? What event happened when you lost the memory?"

"It's related because it was pulling on Greed. Specifically, his thing where he doesn't lie."

Ed takes a sip of his drink. "Our Mirrors got most of the brunt of that one, although we caught the tail-end. No one was able to lie; we had to tell the truth no matter what. He got more chatty than usual. Probably since it wouldn't affect him otherwise."

It takes a minute for that first part to make sense, if only because Pepper isn’t used to people naming their children Greed. But once she figures out that Edward’s talking about a person rather than the trait, the rest falls in line—so much as it can, anyway.

“I’ve heard about the mirrors.” Natasha had given her that warning, along with Steve’s careful destruction of the glass later on. Still, it’s disconcerting to hear that everyone had to be honest, and they were compelled to talk if it was a normal trait. “And they can just…do that. The same way they make things appear out of thin air?”

Now it's Ed's turn to parse what was said to make it make sense. "The event was something the place was doing. Our Mirrors had nothing to do with it aside from the part where they were the ones over here for some of it while the originals were all stuck Mirrorside. Which, for the record, is boring and smaller than our side."

"No, right." There's been a bit of a misunderstanding, and Pepper is quick to apologize. "I'm sorry, I meant they as in whoever is in control of this place. There has to be someone behind it, right?" Someone in charge, someone that can be stopped. A person seems more feasible to fight than an entire world.

"You've been over to the other side of the mirrors?" That's a whole new revelation on it's own, even if his description has a grin playing on her lips. "Boring and smaller? Sounds awful."

"Oh. Well, the favorite for person responsible was the Queen of Hearts for awhile, but it looks like it's not actually her fault. Even if she's not interested in doing jackshit to help us go home." Ed eats another bite of food.

"While their side of the mansion is in color, the outdoors... not so much. It's like someone got bored before they got around to coloring things out there. It's weird."

"The Queen of...oh lord." Pepper purposely takes a moment to force an image of Disney's version of the villain from her mind. Yes, she's aware of where they are, but until now she hasn't had characters associated with it. And while childhood memories are all too quick to provide associations, Pepper doubts the Queen here will be anything like that.

"Okay, so. Inside is in color, outside isn't?" Another strange thing to add to a rapidly growing pile. At his choice of description though, Pepper grins. "Weird. Because everything else here is so normal?"

"At least here, everything's in color and not like we've invaded a black and white movie. Like I told you, weird." Ed goes for a sip of his drink this time.

“Still. Out of everything that you’ve described, that qualifies as weird?” Which isn’t to say that Edward’s wrong. Pepper just finds it a little amusing that he’s picked that of all things. She grins around a bite of her sandwich, wondering if a black and white world really makes her list at this point.

"I've seen plenty of weird shit. Gotta draw a line somewhere."

"Interesting choice." What does it say about everything else he must have seen? Maybe not that it isn't weird, but that it's too much to be considered; Pepper fears it might be the case, but it's difficult to tell with the young man sitting across from her still. He's been fairly blunt this whole time, even fully aware that Pepper is incredibly new. He doesn't strike her as someone who looks away from what's right in front of him.

"Thank you, for all your help." She's certain there's more she will need to know, but Pepper purposefully glances down at Edward's plate. "Don't let me keep you if you're ready to go. I'm sure I'll find my way around here."

Ed's not very good at sugar-coated things. His brother is better for putting things differently and reining in the worst of Ed's habits.

Ed finishes up the last couple of bites of food. "All right. I'm sure someone will fill you in on anything I didn't think of."

Pepper would definitely be able to sympathize with Ed's brother, in that case.

"Of course. I'm probably going to be exploring the rest of the day, so I'm sure I'll pick up plenty by the time it's done."

"Okay. I'll see you later then," Ed says, finishing up his drink.

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