2013.04.18 - Intimidation Tactics

Pepper Potts is just returning to Stark Tower after having gone to 'accost' Tony at the night club where JARVIS told her he was hanging out with several people including Bruce Banner, Thor, and Steve Rogers. She originally went there to gently read him the riot act for having not invited her as well, and would have stayed longer if she'd not been called back to the Tower to check on a strange glitch JARVIS noticed in the security systems. She steps out of the taxi, shoulders her bag, and starts toward the building entrance.
The sound is just barely on the edge of human hearing. A snap and a soft buzz. Neither is an ongoing irritant--it's an iterating sound, audible at around 35 second intervals. JARVIS is an intelligent piece of equipment, and it won't be hard to tell that something's interfering with the security feeds on this side of the building and causing intermittent glitches throughout. As Pepper approaches, she'll hear it first, that faint bone-vibrating buzz. And then she'll see it.
It looks like someone shot at the building with some kind of rocket.
Planted about seven feet up from the main entrance, a missile is embedded about halfway into the concrete substructure of the building. It's clearly the source of the problem. It's not a normal munitions rocket, either--split open at the belt, it has a long drill probe extending from the center of its body through the substructure of the building. You can't expect to be an engineer about this kind of thing, but the probe is emitting visible sparks from the rocket casing, and sending glowing embers of molten concrete tumbling into the air intermittently. It doesn't look friendly, and it's probably what's playing merry hell with the connectivity on this side of the building.
Due to the glitching, it's also really hard to get an external feed from local traffic cameras on this side, too. It's the sort of problem that Tony can fix probably in less than five or six minutes, but..
For the moment, Pepper might come to the realization that she's stepped right into a dead zone of security. Uh oh.
Pepper Potts frowns faintly at the strange buzz-snap sound, finding it to be disturbing enough to stop and look around. The taxi that dropped her off has already pulled away, and there doesn't seem to be any other traffic around, but movement overhead catches her attention and she looks up to see glowing ember tumble away from that... thing. Almost instantly her phone is in her hand. "JARVIS, can you get a reading on the outside of the building, just over the main entrance?"
...
"JARVIS?"
 
Each light, in sequence, begins to flicker and go out. First the nearby streetlights, then the local lighting, then the art/deco lighting, and finally, all the little accent lights leading up to the entrance. In about ten seconds, only the flickering light from the lobby can be seen, bathing Potts in the warm glow. But with every other light out in the area, the light starts to become harsh and blinding.
Still, it's the only area of immediate visibility.
From the angle that one needs to stand to see the probe extending into the building clearly, it's about a seven second run to the door. Maybe eight, in two to three inch heels.
A dark shape dives out of the black sky.
He'll strike in five.
If Pepper doesn't manage to escape, Batman will drop right out of the sky like his namesake, and scoop her up into an impossibly tight iron grip before banking away into the sky on an already-attached line. Despite the force and speed of his dive, there is still no sound. At that point, someone could be standing right next to her and never hear her leave.
The lights going out all around Pepper are increasingly worrying, as if the lack of response from JARVIS weren't enough to cause a mild panic. But then a shape comes swooping at her from above and she reacts. For most people the run to the doors would take about eight seconds in heels like she's wearing. But this is Pepper. 
She's ONE second from the doors when arms nearly as strong and unyielding as Iron Man's scoop her up off of the sidewalk. Her initial reaction is to gasp in shock, but then she starts trying to fight her assailant off. Yes, a fall from anything higher up than about eight feet would be REALLy bad, but she'd rather risk that at the moment. With her phone still in hand, she uses the extremely sturdy little device to bash at any part of her attacker that she can reach, and kicks for all she's worth, and even tries the old tried and true skull bash to mugger's face routine. Her mace and taser are trapped inside her shoulder bag being smashed against her ribs along with her tablet.
She's fast. Very fast, to her merit. She almost reaches safety. Interestingly, the security feed in the lobby itself is not at all affected by the external security glitches--it has a perfect view of the lobby, and Pepper running out of the dark into the light. And then the shadows swallow her, and she is simply gone into the night, with not even enough time to finish a gasp of breath.
In the dark sky, it's like trying to fight a brick.
In this situation, even mace or a taser wouldn't do much damage--there is no heat emanating from the hard plates of his suit, and the only indicator that he actually is human literally at all is the grizzled face appearing just beneath the cowl concealing his identity. For all of what little good it does--even hitting him in the face doesn't seem to do much more than cause him momentary irritation., and his jawline is cut from stone. At least she doesn't break her phone on him. After all, Pepper's not to be discounted. Anyone with the idea that she was just some random woman would have come away from the encounter with a bloodied lip and empty hands, but the ground is receding from underneath the black curtain--fast. That means past a certain point, that one arm was holding on for dear life.
Just not his dear life.
As he cuts underneath the street lights, Pepper can see the streets flashing by, and his own shadow--it's the spread wings of what seems to be a great monstrous bat. The street becomes a tiny thing, and then he climbs over a building, a small grappling implement detaches and whips back towards him. In only seconds into her ride, she's part of the skyline of Metropolis, and its all-consuming night.
Pepper Potts is smart enough to realize after a few seconds that this person is NOT going to let go and continuing to struggle is futile. She missed seeing the bat-shaped shadow as they were moving, so she's still not sure who this is. Thus, by the time the grappling implement is retracting, she's gone still. But that doesn't mean she can't still speak.
"You have probably just made the biggest mistake ever. When..." she turns to look at the face and THAT'S when she recognizes the cowl, and is struck momentarily speechless. but only momentarily. "...why are you doing this?"
 
"A mistake was made," Batman replies flatly, his voice as ground down as the mountain.
"But it wasn't mine."
Miles pass in moments, even underneath the soundless flight of the Bat. It's much different than Iron Man's suit, there is no audible power systems, no warmth, no sound of engines or servomotor assists. Only the ripple of distant fabric, and the passage of cold air. It's even hard to tell where his cape ends and the night sky begins. There's nothing at all to prove that the man is staying aloft from anything other than sheer willpower. And he's doing a fine job of it.
He doesn't answer the question. Mercifully, the flight is brief, and when Batman lands, he picks the top of a Chinese chemical office downtown, his landing powerful and deep in the skid of his boots across the asphalt, his cape melting around him with the effort. He sets Potts down, his movement roguh but her landing comparitively gentle. He stands to his full height... and wipes a bit of blood off of his chin. He might be caught smirking, if he had that kind of expression.
"Miss Potts, I presume."
It's hard to mask a sardonic tone.
After taking a moment to reorient herself once she's back on her own feet, she takes a step back away from the Batman and looks at him as if trying to figure out what's going on. "I'm guessing you already know who I am. What I can't figure out is why. What mistake was made? And by whom?" 
While addressing her kidnapper, Pepper presses one of the very few surface buttons on her phone three times quickly -- a pre-determined 'panic call' built into the phone and designed to notify JARVIS immediately as well as activate a tracking beacon.
 
He stands as a statue. Even staring right at him, it's hard to make out the fine details of his suit, swathed in that cape of his. The symbol on his chest is about the only thing immediately clear, a highly stylized bat. However, the direction of his attention, marked by the white optics embedded in his cowl, is unmistakable. He tilts his head just barely, looking at the phone in Pepper's hands. He interrupts her about halfway through her line of questioning. It's like he heard the cellular signal, somehow.
"Don't bother. JARVIS won't be able to call out this way for another few minutes yet. I had to get creative to keep him out of regional civilian security systems. Stark's a lot better than I first gave him credit for, but not good enough..." Don't misunderstand. Tony's technology is such that anything Batman could do to it in the time he spent would be nothing but a brief hiccup. But sometimes, a hiccup is all you need to get what you want.
The Batman leans over, levelling a provocative icy glare on the senior executive.
"Besides. You wouldn't want to interrupt your boyfriend in the middle of a long night of partying, would you...?"
He knows where she just came from. He's clearly edging her on, trying to see just how far she'll be pushed. "Anyway. You should know by now that I came to talk to you about Iron Man. And Stark."
Pepper Potts very pointedly tucks her phone into her shoulder bag then crosses her arms, as if having to deal with a particularly annoying business executive. She doesn't react to his comment about JARVIS, knowing that Tony will be livid enough for both of them when he finds out. Even when the Bat tries that looming thing to intimidate her, her only reaction is to raise an eyebrow. She is NOT about to let on that she wants to back up a couple of steps. "If you wanted to speak with Mr. Stark, you could have called me to make an appointment."
The Batman is a master of reading body language. Normally he abuses it to detect fear in criminals and find psychological weaknesses, but it's instinctive--it's not something he really controls. Thus, when Potts gives him that cocked poise, he can tell that she's more than a little annoyed about her situation. Spunky little friend Stark has.
Then, she puffs at him.
Batman frowns. His frown is as sharp as a combat knife, clear as day even in the blackest night. And it certainly is a black, black night.
"Do I /look/ like someone who needs an appointment?"
"You look like someone who should know better than to kidnap a person to get another person's attention." Pepper's not frowning, but she does look extremely disapproving. "Honestly. If you had just /called/ me, I would have arranged a meeting anywhere, and at any time. Now?" She shrugs one shoulder lightly. "I think you're pretty much earned anything that happens from here on out." Even while she's talking big, inwardly she's really REALLY hoping that even if JARVIS can't transmit to the authorities, he can somehow get a signal to Tony. Or hell, that her phone will start autodialing someone. Anyone. Her contacts list DOES include Dr. Banner, Thor, Sif, Rhodey, and Agent Coulson amongst others, after all.
He isn't entirely concerned with who her cell phone is trying to call, and it's likely that he expects someone to pick her up within at least an hour, or whenever Stark notices she's missing, whichever comes first. In fact, he's counting on it. "You're presuming an awful lot, aren't you?" the Dark Knight observes. Even when not actively trying to loom, he has the mood of a stalking wolf, watching Pepper far too closely to be purely conversational. There's a vaccuum of caring about him. He doesn't seem to have serviceable emotions that can be scolded, nothing can be related to with simple humanities. It's like trying to yell into the wind, or win a staring contest with a rock. "Unless you're talking about one of your other connections."
"Otherwise, you'd be putting a lot of faith in someone who puts your life in danger on a daily basis with his Iron Man scheme."
"At least I allow myself to have someone to put that faith in." Yes, that was probably kind of harsh, but Pepper's ANGRY so she's not pulling her punches. And even while she's working to maintain that angry front, that little voice in the back of her head that wants to just start freaking out and crying and asking someone to be the brave one in her stead for a while, it's getting louder. She's faced off with some of the most intimidating CEOs in 86 countries, but the Batman... that's taking intimidating to a whole new level. And she's only going to be able to take it for so long.
He doesn't seem to like that.
Though trying to sway him might be about as useful as negotiating with a storm, she is unnaturally tough for a civilian. As expected, for someone who puts up with Stark all day. Potts' jabs do evince a certain amount of irritation in the Dark Knight. The verbal spar isn't really what he's in this for, and the look he gives Pepper is the eyeless sort that suggests he might be counting out every bad decision Pepper's ever made, from that one boy in college to...
He takes one step towards her. He's getting less patient.
"Don't be dense," Batman growls bluntly, a mountain being drug across the street in tone. "Stark is going to learn the hard way that all that ego of his is going to do is hurt him. That's fine. He made that bargain. But it's not going to be him that pays the price. It's never us that pays." With that, Batman leans over, until Potts can maybe get the faintest glimpse of his eyes, bright and piercing behind the mask and those lenses. He's not a happy person.
"When I took you, where /was/ he?"
Pepper Potts's voice becomes slightly higher-pitched, evidence that her steely countenance is starting to slip. "Now you're the one being dense. Do you /really/ believe everything the media has to say about Tony?" But then the Batman leans way into her personal space and her resolve cracks a little more, causing her to lean back a little in reaction to his proximity, her eyes going a little bit wider as she looks at his eyes through the cowl's lenses. She hesitates to give Tony's location away, perhaps for a moment longer than she should have.
"I don't have to," Batman responds, cold.
"I know that he's Iron Man. And so does everyone else on the planet with an axe to grind."
There's something about Batman that is uncompromising, and leaves little room for feelings or emotions--there's just nothing there, no matter how far she looks into those white optics, the only thing she can see is disaster given great black wings. He is an explosion waiting to happen, and worse yet, he is an explosion that knows your name.. "That means anyone who has a problem with him is coming for you, first."
"Where. /Was/ he," he asks again, this time much less politely.
But the strangest thing is, Batman already knows.
"He's been more than aware of that for years, and I'm pretty sure you're already aware of that." She's getting shakier, pretty sure that if she has to face off with the Batman much longer she might burst into tears. And that just won't do her reputation any good. Really. 
Then when he asks for Tony's location again she blurts out quickly so as to keep the tremor in her voice away as long as possible. "If you knew how to find me, then I'm betting you already know where he is. You just want me to say it to prove that you successfully intimidated me."
And Batman stares at her, for a good few seconds as she admits to being scared, of being frightened. His omnipresent frown deepens. For a second, it seems like he might be about to yell. But then, just like that, the Batman's cape twists through the air, receding as he walks away, and even the silencers on his suit don't mask a heavy, angry footfall. In a moment or two, Potts has her space back, and breathing room.
It's unclear as to why.
"Knowing it," the Batman starts, still terse as ever, "and doing something about it, are two different things. If I could take you that easily, what's to stop anyone else? Deterrent?" He's not unfamiliar with the idea of Iron Man as a scorched earth defense. He shakes his head, back facing Pepper as he turns searing gaze onto the far distance of the skyline. She even threatened him with Iron Man's reprisal only a minute or so ago. "Protecting the people isn't about striking after the fact. That's just revenge. And the problem with revenge is, you have to lose something first to get it."
"You know... you're going to have to leave him, if you ever want to be safe. If you ever want him to learn anything. The hardest lessons can only be learned by yourself."
Pepper Potts blinks after Batman as he actually moves away, her arms tightly crossed in a more defensive than belligerent posture. As he continues to verbally bash Tony she wants to badly to tell the Batman how WRONG he is, but that would be giving him free dirt. And she's way too savvy for that, even when bordering on scared witless. "That's wrong. It doesn't work that way for Tony. He's not you."
She's wise to do so. Even now, Batman is scouring every inflection, every word she says, for details that he can use to complete his understanding about who the man behind the Iron Man mask really is. That was one of the reasons he brought her out here. One of several.. As Pepper insists on Tony's truthworthiness, he adjusts the edges of his gauntlets, and steps onto the edge of the roof. His cape floats in the wind around him as he does, the heavy fabric whipping about.
She tells him that he's wrong. That he's not like him.
"You're right," he agrees. "He's not."
He stares over his shoulder at Pepper. That baleful glare never faded.
"He hasn't lost you yet."
And then Batman is gone, disappearing soundlessly over the edge of the building into the open sky below.
Pepper Potts startles as the Batman just steps off of the building, but when he doesn't return after thirty seconds or so she takes a breath then digs in her bag for her phone. It takes her a few fumbling tries but she finally gets the phone to dial. And once the other side is answered she says in a very shaky voice, "Tony?"
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