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[chickbro]

[ SUDDENLY there is a woman on the PORTAL screen, her face half covered by her mask while the other half shows off her newly branded eye, and the scar now running down it. Some will recognize her from last weeks incident in the Unnatural where she exposed the ruler of the city as a child

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[redheadpepper]

[Pepper - carefully coiffed and wearing her little blue mask - gives the other woman a quick once-over.]

Noah? Tony's been worried about you. He'll be glad you're all right.

[chickbro]

[ Whoa, hey there. ]

Tell me, how much dumb shit has he been doing and how hard will I be punched when I see him? If you had to guess.

[redheadpepper]

Charles effectively kept him locked up, so he's mostly just been drinking.

As far as punching, I'll do my best to prevent that.

I'm Pepper, by the way. But you probably knew that already. [Her mouth turns up a little, because the only real reaction to everyone knowing who you are before you know them is, well, amusement or insanity. And Pepper is going to stay sane, thankyouverymuch.]

[chickbro]

I hope he hasn't been drinking alone. That's just sad.

Nah, I probably deserve it. Thanks though.

[ She figured, but just kind of spazzing over people gets old. And half the time they look at her funny. ] Nice to properly meet you, Pepper. Current circumstances not being perfect, but hey. Could be worse.

[redheadpepper]

I might've had one or two with him. [But, you know. Pepper's not exactly a binge drinker.]

You may or may not deserve it, but from what I know of the situation, you did pretty much exactly the sort of thing he would've done, so it'd be the pot calling the kettle black.

[chickbro]

Oh, good.

Trust me, I know. In fact the only reason I didn't tell him was because I knew he'd try and do it instead. Can you just imagine him putting on that suit and stomping around to try and stop me? Yeah. Not the best idea.

[redheadpepper]

I almost never think that's a good idea, but there you go. I don't think what you did was necessarily the smartest thing, either.

[chickbro]

Not the smartest, I'll give you that, but one of the more effective routes. Considering no one was doing anything.

[redheadpepper]

There are things you can do that are less dangerous...

[chickbro]

That probably wouldn't produce anything useful.

[redheadpepper]

Reconnaissance? Information-gathering? Espionage?

Those things have never produced anything useful, it's true. [A hint of sarcasm? Perhaps.]

[chickbro]

Did all three, actually. The whole thing was planned for months, I just didn't tell anyone. In case you didn't get the details, I was working as a double-agent under the guise of a royal guard, handing information off to Tony's resistance group. In the end, the only way I was getting through that door was with physical force.

[redheadpepper]

So you had to go in alone, with no backup and no one else aware of your plan. [Why does she feel like she's arguing with Tony?]

[chickbro]

I had others aware of my plan, but none that could go in when I busted down the door. It's...complicated, and not something that needs to be discussed over the network. Let's just say my informants were around, and we all knew the risk. [ She might as well be. ]

[redheadpepper]

I'm already reconsidering that whole 'not letting Tony punch you' thing... [She tilts her head a little, mouth twisting with bemusement. How does she always find herself in league with people like this?] Are you coming to Charles' home?

[chickbro]

I figured you might. [ She's grinning, it's probably really irritating. ] If he wants me to. [ Read as: yes ]