An Alleyway in the Abandoned Warehouse District, Thursday Night

[spoilthatforyou]

There were probably more atmospheric settings for this kind of thing, but Stephanie had grown up in Gotham City and spent time working with Batman, so she knew that there was a certain amount of value in being able to lurk in the shadows like a creepy, creeping creeperLurk in the shadows, while dressed head to toe in an eggplant (not purple, thank

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[nomoralcrisis]

Know what the problem was with setting up clues leading someone to your hiding place, Steph? Sometimes those clues might pique other people's interests too. Other, explosive-happy people who really liked taking out Resistance types and were preeetty certain they could hear people talking in that alley.

Maybe Topher didn't have his taser anymore -- which was annoying, and meant he wasn't about to get too close to whoever it was that was talking in there -- but he did have other toys. The kind that blew up.

In fact, here were a few of them coming in now.

[hooraycivilwar]

Because it wasn't a real party until Stark tech showed up the go boom.

IT WAS A THING.

"Run," Tony snapped, hitting a button to assemble the suit around himself.

[spoilthatforyou]

"What?" Stephanie hissed, pulling her hood back up -- she didn't have the fancy-schmancy titanium armor like some people -- and reached for the grappling rope on her belt to flee in a vertical direction.

Too bad about it getting snagged, because that one bomb was exploding awfully close to where she stood, right about when she looked like she was struggling to unhook the stupid thing from her belt . . .

[hooraycivilwar]

"For the love of--" He shoved her back, placing himself between her and the bomb. The bomb that he recognized as his own.

"This is going to hurt," Tony muttered to himself just as it exploded.

[spoilthatforyou]

Oh, Tony, you had no idea.

He just had to go and do something stupidly heroic and sweet, didn't he? It was impossible to stay mad at him. Damn it.

Stephanie had the presence of mind to dive away from that bomb as it exploded, but stupid Topher had to go and be extra generous with the munitions, didn't he? She got caught up in the shockwave of another explosion and yelped in pain when something slashed across her ribs.

[hooraycivilwar]

HE WAS ALLOWED TO DO THAT SOMETIMES.

Know what else he was allowed to do? Be unconscious. Because he made some damn good bombs. And being right on top of the damn thing hadn't helped at all.

[spoilthatforyou]

That's what you get for being so good, Tony. THAT'S WHAT YOU GET.

Actually, Stephanie managed to finally unhook that stupid rope from her belt and fling it up to a trusty fire escape in mid-flight. Of course, when she landed on it she realized her cape was on fire. There, Tony, see? You were vindicated about the cape thing.

Said flaming cape got tossed down into the smoldering mess of what used to be a dumpster, near Tony's unconscious body, but Stephanie wasn't going to risk sticking around. If those were Stark bombs? Maybe she'd been stupid to trust him after all.

[hooraycivilwar]

By the time Tony forced himself back up onto his feet, Stephanie was long since gone. The only thing left behind being that damn cape of hers.

He brought a hand up to his helm, tapping the side to get the display to stop blinking in and out. When that failed, he retracted the suit entirely to make he way home on foot. His bruised and pissed off way home.

"Fuck," he muttered, getting up and out of the alleyway before someone came looking for him.

[drippingred]

Sorry, Tony, that was not actually what was going to happen, because there was a redhead in black leather in the mouth of that alley.

She ran toward explosions.

"Mr. Stark," she said as she drew her gun. "I could say it was a surprise to see you here, but." She shrugged. She didn't tell lies the other party would know weren't true.

[hooraycivilwar]

...damn it, hot redheads who ran toward explosions.

Tony closed his eyes, wondering just what the hell he did to deserve this litany of crap. Other than be a multibillionaire superhero with issues.

"Nothing says boom like Starktech," he said dully, wondering just how operational the suit was after that explosion.

[drippingred]

"Is there a reason you're blowing up perfectly good alleys now, or is it just more senseless violence from the people that claim to be keeping order around here?" Natasha asked archly. "And I'd strongly recommend not triggering your armor, unless you're sure it can beat a bullet."

She wasn't going to shoot him in the head. First. Just a kneecap to distract him. He was still a minor, after all.

[hooraycivilwar]

The smile he gave her at that was nowhere near happy or pleasant. "If I was the one doing the exploding, do you really think I'd still be here?"

His hand fell away from the activation of the suit at least. She made a persuasive argument.

"I'm not here to make trouble."

He was here to... something. But for now, he'd settle on not thinking about Stephanie's burned cape and the odds of surviving that blast even if she managed to get out of the area.

[drippingred]

"I don't know. I don't understand why you people do about ninety percent of the things you do. Except the brainwashed ones," she added. She understood brainwashing. And she understood fear and sociopathy, which accounted for the other ten percent.

She kept the gun leveled on him, her hand perfectly steady, as she asked, "So what are you here for? Just happened to wander by right when the place blew up with your technology?" Yeah, she wasn't buying that one for a second.

[hooraycivilwar]

"Says the Russian." Tony, now was so not the time for this. He rubbed at his forehead for a moment. "Surprisingly, I don't enjoy testing my suit out with explosives on a whim!"

[drippingred]

Excuse you, she defected. "So why did you blow up the alley?" This was actually a question she would like a good answer to instead of more deflection, Tony. Listen to her. And her gun.

[hehasheart]

Unfortunately, Natasha probably wasn't going to get that answer right away, since she might be busy dodging away from the arrow flying her way.

Explosions drew all the Avengers to the yard, apparently.