[for Pepper] Down to Earth.

[notawastedlife]

It had been a hell of a day. It wasn't exactly over yet, and frankly he'd still be up there if Jarvis hadn't started harping on about the fact that he was running out of residual power and he'd left his arc reactor back with Pepper. Who was probably a little bit... there might be an issue there. Still, he couldn't have come running back immediately

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[wildlyconflictd]

After the second hour, Pepper had sent Peter home. It had taken some doing, but ultimately claiming that she wanted to be alone had convinced him, and wasn't that appropriate? Wasn't that what people requested when they were in mourning?

Be right back.

Tony hadn't been right back.

For awhile she'd waited, in the workshop and then on the front balcony, first with Peter and then without. She'd waited, time like a vise around her chest, every minute that ticked by tightening it just a little more. Stunned, powerless, she'd eventually wandered into Tony's bedroom, laid down atop the meticulously made bed and stared numbly at the wall.

"I'm not ready yet," she whispered, manicured fingers curling into the coverlet.

[wildlyconflictd]

Sighing, frustrated and conflicted beyond measure, Pepper wrapped her arms around him as best she could. This wasn't like the superhero movies, where the guy could take his girl on a romantic flight. There was no wonder to it. Your eyes watered and it was freezing.

She turned her head in toward Tony's chest. "I'm ready."

[notawastedlife]

Tony bet Lois Lane never sighed like that. Then again, Superman could just dangle her at the end of one arm and she'd stay up, apparently, whereas he had to deal with actual physics.

"One exciting trip, coming up," he said, and launched them straight up, curving once they were other the house to level up and make for the second island, keeping it at what he felt was a reasonable cruising speed for a passenger.

Assuming said passenger didn't feel that any cruising speed was unacceptable when occurring while hanging on to a suit of armor and being hurtled through the air.

[wildlyconflictd]

At least this time it wasn't raining.

Squinting, Pepper stole a glance beneath them, long enough to watch the deep blue of the ocean to give way to a green blur of jungle. "WHERE ARE WE GOING?" she called, ponytail flying around against her cheek when she turned her face away from the onslaught of cold air.

[notawastedlife]

He resisted the urge to call it the final frontier.

"We're going... here!" Tony called, tilting their flight path down, skimming over the treeline and then into the ruins, planting them next to the wall containing the portal, which he was glad to see was still running. That would have been... embarrassing.

From where they stood, it simply looked like one of the walls had a hole in it, through which could be seen a room done out in white tiles. It could have been a door, or an ordinary window, if it wasn't for the blue energy crackling and swirling about the fringes. The trick was, of course, that if you walked around it, looked at the other side of the wall, there was nothing there. "Step this way," he said.

[wildlyconflictd]

Pepper let out a little yelp of surprise when they touched down, glad she'd changed her shoes when she stumbled a couple of steps backward. She didn't need a mirror to know her hair was a mess despite the ponytail, through, and she made a mostly useless attempt to sort it with her fingers as she peered around them.

"What…is that?" she asked, eyes narrowing at the portal. "Tony, is that-" Her breath caught. "Is that what I think it is?" If he'd found a way home, that was definitely 2 carats. That was more like 200 carats.

[notawastedlife]

"Depends," Tony said, walking forward, ducking through. Just taking a step, one place to the other, the distance between them removed. Fantastic, he liked it so much he didn't even mind not having invented it. "What do you think it is? It's not home. It is... a step in the right direction. Come on."

He held up a gauntleted hand.

[wildlyconflictd]

After a beat, Pepper slowly slipped her hand into Tony's and allowed him to help her step forward. She preemptively winced as she moved through the portal, but with no reason; it was as easy as stepping through any standard doorway.

Eyes wide, she turned in place, taking in the room around them. It definitely wasn't anywhere she recognized, cold and sterile like a clean room in a laboratory.

"Tony," she quietly began, "where are we?"

[notawastedlife]

He took off the helmet and popped his eyebrows at her, tugging her along to a doorway which slid open with a pneumatic hiss. A large glowing rectangle opposite the door lit up in white, the number 6 appearing in black. He took a moment to remember which way he was going, then headed down the hall.

"This isn't it," he said. "Well, this is it, but this isn't the good part. It is, but it isn't. It'll explain- some. You'll see."

[wildlyconflictd]

"Did that door just open like on Star Trek…?" Pepper asked as she hurried along after him. Looking back over her shoulder, she watched it slide closed behind them and then turned her attention forward again.

[notawastedlife]

"Yup," Tony said, crisply, finding the door he was looking for. The panel beside this one had a numeral, too, but also a pictogram of the kind found on bathroom doors and warning signs, a line and an image of a person crossing it, hands in the air as if they were falling.

He'd been worried about that, but he'd figured out it was meant to indicate what happened if you broke the window.

The window that stretched from roof to floor in the room he pulled her into, angled down. The better to see the world with.

"Not the moon," he said.

[wildlyconflictd]

In her time, Pepper Potts had experienced some very strange days. Apart from the ruckus of the past couple of years, being Tony's assistant had never been without surprises. One particularly trying example had involved an alligator, two strippers and fifty pounds of vanilla pudding.

But absolutely nothing compared to today.

It felt like Pepper's stomach had dropped clean out.

"Oh my god," she exhaled, all astonishment as she stared out the window and into…space.

"We're in space. We're- I'm- Oh my god."

How did you even properly react to something like that? It wasn't as if Emily Post had advice for accidental astronauts.

[notawastedlife]

"That's gotta be more than 2 carats, right?" he said, admiring Pepper admiring the view. "This is where I've been. Not right here, I've been looking around. But up here."

[wildlyconflictd]

It really was unfair the way things always seemed to work out for him. A completely reckless act had just happened to drop this into his lap, and he had every right to be pleased, but Pepper had still had one hell of a day.

She was in space, staring down at the world. Whatever world it was they happened to live on now. Tony could have brought anyone up here, but he'd chosen her. To suggest this was overwhelming combined with everything else she'd been through that day was a vast understatement.

"I think I need to sit down now," she said, and then did, right there on the floor, tears spilling silently down her cheeks as she stared out the window before her.

[notawastedlife]

"Do you need a- you need a moment," he said, hovering slightly behind her, twisting to look behind him and frown at nothing.

After a moment of this, he sat down on the floor next to her, armor and all, and studied the view alongside her.

[wildlyconflictd]

For a long moment, Pepper said nothing, instead simply watching the world below them and occasionally lifting a hand to wipe at her cheeks. Being emotional was always difficult for her, someone so used to being in control. This, though, this was completely beyond her.

"I'm sorry I hit you," she said, when she finally dropped her gaze to her lap. "I'm not sorry I was angry. I'm still angry. But I'm sorry I hit you." When the shock had worn off, all that emotion had had nowhere to go.