2014.02.22 - Who is the Damsel In Distress Again?

It takes only a few minutes for Pepper to get Tony back to the Tower, aiming to land on the roof hopefully out of sight of prying eyes. She's been in almost constant communication with JARVIS on the flight over, having the AI get everything prepared the way Tony himself usually would if he were returning from a combat situation and avoiding medical assistance.

The Rescue armor lands on the flight deck on the roof and walks straight in and toward the inventor's bedroom without pause, not stopping until Tony is settles on his bed. Then the armor folds itself back into its bag configuration and Pepper lets it settle onto the floor, the open concern on her expression now visible. Shoes abandoned with the bag, she spends the next several minutes getting JARVIS to help her remove the odd skeletal armor from Tony's head and limbs as well as plying the contents of a not-so-surprisingly well stocked first aid kit.

Finally, with a bottle of cold water and a bottle of ibuprofen on the nightstand by the bed, Pepper allows herself to sit on the floor with her back leaned against the bed to wait. God, what a screwed up day. At least she's glad she'd chosen to wear a pants suit this morning. If Tony takes more than ten or fifteen minutes to wake up, Pepper nods off where she's sitting, with her head thrown back on the side of the mattress.

JARVIS voice is usually different with Pepper than it is with Tony. With him, it's adversarial. Snarky. Contrary at times - unless the pressure is really on and only then do they become one of the best duos on the planet. With Pepper, his voice is gentler, more conversational, empathetic even. Such it is now:

"Miss Potts, medical scans show sir is moderately injured. The injuries he sustained just a few days ago have been aggravated and added to in the form of a bruised kidney, several surface contusions, and technical scans show some damage to the arc reactor. I've already taken the liberty of beginning fabrication of a replacement unit with a new Unobtanium element. It will be complete in three hours, forty seven minutes."

Pepper Potts starts and sits up straighter. "Um, right. Thank you, JARVIS. Is there anything I can do in the meantime?" And who the hell thought up the name 'Unobtainium'? God. Stupid name.

A stirring, then a groan and a long sigh. "Yeah.." a tired sounding voice says from the bed, "find out the license of the truck that hit me, and get Thor to beat it with that hammer of his."

Pepper Potts starts again and hastily turns to look at Tony. "Tony. Just relax. You're home. And I did better than asking Thor to find that truck. I sicced JARVIS on it." She doesn't bother asking how he feels. She's pretty sure she can guess. Speaking of... "JARVIS said your arc reactor took some damage. He's working on a new one already, and it should be done in a few hours. Why don't you try to rest in the meantime?"

Tony starts to sit up, and about a quarter of the way through the process decides this is a bad idea. "How bad.." he says between measured breaths, "..did Bones get crunched?" he asks. "It barely counts as a suit. It's more of an emergency measure."

Pepper Potts tries to stop Tony, but then just ends up helping him lie back down. Bones? Like, Dr. McCoy? Oh, right, that skeletal armorish thing. "Not so bad that I had to get out the can opener to remove it. JARVIS sent it down to your workshop to deal with later. Right now just lie still or I'll go get the saran wrap." She tries to smile at her own attempted joke, but it's clear that she's too concerned to banter at her usual level of ease.

Tony Stark grunts slightly from the bed, "Oh my..was it that kind of party?" he asks, "This whole side effect of doing good things sucks, lemme tell ya."

"Well, at least you can honestly say that if you look this bad, imagine what the other guy looks like." Yes, Pepper is still trying. "Would you like some water, or maybe some ibuprofen?" She's kind of hovering next to the bed, as if not daring to even sit on the edge of the mattress.

Pepper Potts glances at her watch. Three and a half hours left. She'll lose her mind in that time. "Will you be okay for a few minutes? I'm going to go, um, wash my face."

Tony Stark waves his hand, "Pepper.." he says roughly, "I'm good. Go ahead and get outta go home and take care of yourself. I'll be fine here..just need to rest..and reinstall this reactor when it's ready. I'll just nap 'til then.."

Pepper Potts looks at Tony for a long moment. She does not believe for a second that he really is 'good'. But, she just nods. "Okay. Have JARVIS bug me for anything, okay? And I mean that." She collects her bag and shoes and pads toward the door. Instead of going home, though, she goes to her office and camps out there. It's not like she's never done it before.