[Thread] Here Econtra...

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Characters: OU Tony Stark/Iron Man, OPEN
Where: anywhere near the cemetery/church area, and one of the open lots on that side of Econtra
When: after Pepper's disappearance
Summary: After spending the entire morning searching for his beloved Pepper Potts and not finding her, Stark dons his IM suit and goes on an emo-trinsic rampage.
Warnings: He is

Comments

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Iron Man glanced down as he hovered in the air next to the damaged building, readying another attack that he wasn't quite sure if or why he was about to unleash. The scream caught his attention. His HUD quickly calculated the sight before him in a splattering of blue while on the inside Stark struggled with himself and debated on his next course of action.

His better half somehow managed to grab the reins and his reflexes automatically kicked in. However, there was precious time lost while he mentally battled himself and a good portion of the crumbling stone had already hit the ground by the time he turned towards the girl below. Still, the largest portion seemed to hang in the air for a moment while he followed his HUD's direction and aimed at the piece that would hurt the girl the most.

He blasted it from the sky with little time to spare (a matter of .245 milliseconds to be precise, his accusing heads-up-display told him). He remained in the air, a floating statue for all intents and purposes; his arm still held straight out and everything else frozen in its last stance, the rocket boots the only thing "moving" as they continued to burst the flame that kept the Iron Man afloat. It seemed as if he knew not what to do now; perhaps the inner battle within was still raging, or yet beginning again.

[ringhost]

Ryoko was on her knees, staring up at Iron Man with wide fearful eyes. For a moment she just sat there, several minor cuts bleeding, one right above her eye was screwing with her vision but she didn't seem to notice right now.

Only when she felt something tugging on her sleeve did she notice anything else around her. "Faith..." She said softly, looking down at the plushie that didn't want to leave her side. She was torn in several places, but still had the same, friendly smile.

She picked up the plush and held it close. "I'll get you fixed soon."

She then looked back up at Iron Man, still afraid to move from where she sat.

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Blue target reticles hovered uncertainly over the plushie and the girl on Stark's HUD for a moment. The one on the girl almost immediately disappeared, but the one on the plushie lingered longer yet. It never quite locked on, the uncertain hesitance from its master's uplinked mind confusing it into deciding whether the object was friend or foe.

Finally it locked on and turned a sickly yellow. Stark would have to turn off the safeties on his weapons' system if he truly wanted to fire at the object.

But his hesitance proved a saving grace today. He locked down his weapons and continued to hover immovably for a long moment. Finally, the Iron Man lowered itself closer to the ground (though he did not touch it). He floated there several paces away from the damaged girl and stared dispassionately through his helmet.

[ringhost]

She watched the Iron Man for a moment, holding onto the ruined plushie that was still somehow moving a bit. She was unarmed, she didn't even really know how to fight, no, that was the Spirit of the Ring that she no longer wore.

As he floated several paces away the fear in her eyes turned to anger and she glared, a look that was very much like the Spirit that used to possess her.

[yeah_i_can_fly]

The remained silent and mostly unmoving except for the "bouncing" hover produced by his rocket boots. Then finally he flipped his hands out, holding them palms upward in a gesture of peace. They were silent and unpowered which meant no glow suffused them with that deadly potency.

He wasn't going to hurt her. And the plushie was safe so long as it was within her grasp.

[ringhost]

"Why?" She asked simply. She didn't know why something like this had happened, but she wanted an answer. She wasn't going to let the Lady of Faith go, at least, not for now.

[yeah_i_can_fly]

"Pain for pain," he responded. His tone was flat and bland, the pure monotone of the metallic armor's filter. When he wanted it that way his own voice didn't effect the tone of the robotic quality of the speakers.

The answer was elusive and he pondered expanding upon it for a moment. "I lost someone; they were taken away."

[ringhost]

"You sound like the Spirit. Pain for pain. I have done nothing to anyone in this place." Yet she had been hurt twice now. She shook her head a bit, carefully setting the Lady of Faith down on the ground as she took a step closer to Iron Man.

"This person you lost...they were probably sent back home. To a safer place. No one knows what the Keepers plan. They might just end up killing us all."

[yeah_i_can_fly]

Iron Man paused. "I didn't plan on you being there," he said. Truly he hadn't, and therefor hadn't meant to hurt her in the first place. That didn't rectify the situation but... at least it explained it.

Her next words sent a deadly trill down the Iron Man's entire being. He growled deep in his throat and the metallic filter only made the angry gesture sound all the more threatening. "'Probably' doesn't cut it. 'Probably' still means there's a good proportionate chance that those sent away aren't anywhere near home. 'Probably' means there is a possibility that those that don't return here at a later time are already dead."

[ringhost]

"Probably is the only thing that we've got here." She snapped. Not much got her this angry. Blood covered one of her eyes as she continued to glare at Iron Man.

"There is the possibility that no one ever leaves this place. But I had a roommate that was sent home and brought back. The same thing happened to one of my friends."

[yeah_i_can_fly]

"Which could easily be nothing more than a ploy. A chance at hope to skew the eyes of those that are truly doomed. No. What about the many--possibly hundreds--that never return? What of them? How do you know what happened to them? Did they go home--or somewhere else, somewhere more sinister? No one knows a damn thing!" the Iron Man sneered at her. It was obvious from his tone that the man beneath was doing exactly that.