Summary:A Stark Industries Employee is targetted by enhanced werewolves. Pepper is a target as well. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's late. It's quite late, really. Late enough that even Pepper should be on her way out, perpetual workaholic that she is. Most of her workers have long gone home at this point but there are a few as dedicated as she is. They should be on their way out by this point as well. Everyone but the security people.
"Miss Potts, Mister Gleason's truck has just arrived in the parking lot. He appears to be waiting for you." JARVIS informs her.
That is indeed what has happened. Nick didn't know for a fact that Pepper would be here but he had a hunch about her work habits and, needing to speak with her, decided to give it a try. Low and behold her car is still here. He pulls his pickup next to it and places it into park before handing his passenger another drink. "You awake there, kitty?"
Isis stretches as Nick speaks to her. She had indeed been dozing, the rumble of the engine had soothed her to sleep. "Where are we …" the blue eyed feline peers out the window "Are we going to see Miss Potts?" There's a feeling of 'joy' that comes at that thought.
Taking the drink, she sips through the straw "You got me a lemon ginger zinger. My favourite." It must seem to Nick he's always feeding her but Isis does need a lot of food or so it seems.
Opening the door to truck, the slim mutant slides out. She's dressing differently lately. Today, it's a bright pink crop tank, jeans and jacket. All very nice, if not entirely up market.
Nick's estimation was quite accurate. Pepper is just now leaving for the night, as evidenced by the fact that her heels are hanging from one hand and she's wearing a pair of flip flops instead. JARVIS' notification that Mr. Gleason is waiting for her causes a brief blink of surprise, but Pepper is nothing if not adaptable. "Let him know I'll be right out, please, JARVIS? Thank you."
Spending the last bit of the elevator ride stepping back into her heels, so that she steps out to Gleason's truck looking as put together as she always does, the flip flops stashed in a draw string bag in her purse. "Isis, hello." Yes, she notices the different attire, but isn't about to pass judgement on someone's clothing choices. The young woman is clothed. Good enough.
"Miss Potts." Nick says in that deep rumbly voice of his. He extends a hand. "Sorry to bother you but I had a break in the case that I wanted to consult with you about. Isis found-"
Nick is cut off by a bloodcurlding woman's scream. He spins on his heel and looks. That came from one level below.
Without a word he takes off for the stairs at a dead run, vaults over the guard rail and hurries on down.
"Miss Potts someone is accosting Miss Barielles. I am summoning security."
"Hello Miss Potts!" Isis greets the redhead when she arrives. Waiting for the woman to draw near before she rubs her ears on her arm. "Nick wanted to see yo—-"
Those ears lay back at the scream, it hurts Isis to hear it. "Nick!" She follows the werewolf, lickety split, watching to see if Pepper is following but not willing to let Nick get too far ahead. "Come on, Miss Potts." She grabs the womans hand to make sure.
Pepper reaches to shakes Nick's hand but startles at the sudden scream that echoes through the parking structure. She's just barely starting to react when Nick is off and gone down the stairs.
Starting to chase after Nick, she calls to Isis who's ahead of her, "Go! I'll catch up!"
She stops to kick off her shoes, and then continues chasing after the pair barefoot, a $1200 pair of Louboutin pumps left strewn behind her.
Thank the powers that be that she thought to wear slacks today instead of a pencil skirt.
By the time Nick and Isis get down there, Miss Barielles has screamed again. When they reach the location two floors down they see four great, shaggy werewolves. Like Nick but bigger. One of them has a passed out Barielles. The other three are standing in positions that would have been blocking her exit.
"Hey! Put her do-"
The nearst one 'whuffs' at Nick and sends a sonic shockwave towards the stairs. He dives out of the way, but Pepper and Isis may have to watch out.
"She's one of ours. She just doesn't know it yet." That might be the first time they've really spoken, these beasts that they keep encountering.
"Miss Potts, it dangerous…" Isis is torn, which puts her just that many steps behind Nick when the sonic blast comes. She's quick, but not quite quick enough and is caught on the edge of the blast, her tumble sending her sliding towards the three wolves blocking Barielles.
"Get away from herrrrrrr." It's a feline growl those words come out on, claws extending from the felines nails. That growl is accompanied with a feeling of fear and terror, though Isis's slitted blue eyes fix on Nick, hoping he'll give her the emotion she's looking for.
"Careful, Miss Potts."
The moment Pepper catches sight of the three Lycans, she gasps and ducks back hopefully before any of them see her, putting her hands over her ears just in time to avoid the worst of the sonic attack.
"JARVIS, full lockdown on the garage. Have security bring taser guns, and if you have a way to dampen sounds, I'll have Tony double your server's processor allotment."
She's clearly scared by the fact that these werewolves are attacking, but she's even more so outraged that they're attacking one of HER people. HERE. How DARE they invade HER building…. well, it's at least twelve percent hers.
Heavy security shutters come down over the stairways and open air sections of the parking structure. Which does prevent them from escaping but ALSO means that Nick and Isis are stuck in here with them. And that's winds up being a bad thing for Nigel's car. Nigel's car is a Fiat. It's very nice. But it's also small. And Nick lifts it up and clocks one of the werewolves in the face with it.
Which seems to just make it angry. In very short order it's two on one.
The one who has Miss Barielles is looking with an unpleasant grin at Isis. "You want her? Come get her Kitty. You'll be perfect to drag back to the fold."
And the OTHER one is homing in on Pepper. "Why Miss Potts. Lovely to see you… Why don't we go for a walk. Care to unlock the shutters?"
I am working on a counter signal to be piped through the fire alarm speakers. JARVIS informs Pepper. Security is thirty second out. I will inform them to try not to taze Mister Gleason.
Nick DOES give Isis what she's looking for. Anger and an Alpha-Wolf territoriality that's not entirely unlike Pepper's. Just less squishy. And scared.
Isis prowls. It's the only way to describe how the normally scatterbrained mutant moves as her feral nature starts to take over. For Pepper, this will be a big a difference but not so much for Nick. He's seen Isis do this and often the results are bad.
"You will let her go…" the feline like mutant growls again "… I'm too good to add your fold. But …" Nick gives her what she's looking for, she takes it and blasts it in the direction of that werewolf, but it's emotion, it will go everywhere.
At the same time she throws herself in the wolfs direction, sharp claws aiming for his nose as she tries to sail past him.
Ah, but scared things can often times be the most vicious. Pulling a couple of items out of her purse, she leaves the bag in the stairwell and stands to face the werewolf coming after her. She will NOT be caught cowering.
"I can't unlock those shutters," she tells the creature shakily, her hands clenched into fists to hide what she's holding in them — a hairfork made from rather dangerously sharp rosewood in one hand, her phone set to taser mode in the other.
"And if you want me, come get me." Yes, she's still scared almost witless. ALMOST. But she's also just this side of mad enough to spit and hiss like Isis.
"Then I'll unlock them for you. After…" The werewolf is wearing a belt and he pulls what looks like a syringe out of it, coming right at Pepper. He lunges… and get shocked. A bunch. It's enough to stagger him back and leave him open to being hair-stuck.
And then security arrives and begins moving in. Sort of. They move in very quickly on Pepper. But Nick is still swinging a car around and they're giving him a wide berth.
The blast of emotion from Isis actually rocks the werewolf she's squaring off with back and makes him drop Miss Barielles. She slides to the ground as the creature holds his head. He looks up and barks… but nothing happens. JARVIS has flooded the parking garage with a sonic field that cancels out the blast waves from the werewolves throat weapons.
But not claws. Not claws. The angry beast lunges at Isis even as she can see Nick driving an engine block down on someone's head.
That's gonna hurt someone. Hopefully the driver of the now definitely former car has good insurance.
Isis is a fighter. It was one of the reasons she was made. Made, not born. That's how she thinks of herself. Landing on the hood of a car, she turns on the spot, rolling to avoid the lurch of the wolf. That should put him off balance, possibly with claws stuck in the hood - either way, Isis jumps and lands on his back, coathangering him and *squeezing*.
Adding Nicks Alpha emotion and lassitude to the mix. "You know you want to give in." She whispers in his ear - whether he hears that is a good question. "Become part of our pack …"
Where did that come from?
Pepper doesn't at all hesitate to taser the crap out of the werewolf, then she aims her hairfork at the hand he's holding the syringe in. If she can make him drop it, all the better. Then, without waiting to see if he did drop the needle, she scrambles over the retaining wall next to the stairwell and dashes across the way to put at least one car between herself and the wolf.
"JARVIS," she half-whispers as she crouches next to one of those ugly little BMW i3 cars. "Can you remotely start this car for me?" If any car in this garage is overloaded with remotely accessible electronics, it'd be the overpriced Gee Whiz.
Affirmative. JARVIS says over the phone. Transferring controls to your smart phone now. The car starts up. The lights go on. And the werewolf is just trying to pick himself up and grab his dropped syringe.
Isis finds herself with a thrashing, struggling werewolf that she's choking. It isn't easy. He's trying to claw her off his back. He snarls and wheezes. He doesn't respond to her 'invitation' but she can feel his emotional resonance change. Juuuuuust before he passes out.
Nick finishes clubbing one of the beasts over the head with an engine block and turns to wrestle the other. Or rather to prevent the other from breaking his arm. His shirt is shredded and his fur matted at this point. Security fires to taze the one he's fighting.
And one of them hits him. Glaaaaaaaaaaare.
There's sounds coming from Isis as she strangles the wolf she's clinging to. He throws himself back, trying to batter her against anything he can, but the slight feline doesn't let go. If anything she just squeezes tighter. "That's it… you know you want…."
She's dragged to the ground as the wolf passes out. She's not gracious in victory - that would require her to be a 'good woman' - and kicks the wolf once she struggles to her feet. She's sweaty and covered in wolf-hair. As Nick's hit, she leaps to put herself between them. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
"Thank you, JARVIS," Pepper says softly as she opens the driver's side door and slips into the car. GAH. Why did she have to pick the one car that clearly is driven by a giant? She doesn't bother to adjust the seat forward, instead hastily puts on the seatbelt, puts the car into drive, and guns the stupid electric engine sending the little black and white car shooting out of its space and toward the werewolf just getting to his feet.
Oh god, the airbag is going to hurt…
The security backs off at the angry kitten and then jumps when Pepper slams the car into the werewolf. That does put it down for the count but yes the airbag does deploy and yes… being cushioned by an explosion is every bit the good idea it sounds like. Owie.
But just like that there ARE no more threats. Nick's eyes are a bit wild. He hadn't heard Isis either. He might be a bit worried if he had.
The only sound at the moment though is Jarvis going 'Miss Potts? Miss Potts are you okay?'
Angry Kitten is angry and Isis hisses at security as they back off. Not quite turning her back on them, she angles herself to face the brown were-wolf "Nick, Nick… look at me …" She's already checking for him injuries "Are you alright? Miss…" The car shoots forwards, causing Isis to yelp.
"…Potts? See to her …" that's to the security guys. She's not leaving Nicks side. Sorry Pepper.
Yeah. That hurt. It takes her a solid ten seconds before she registers JARVIS' concerned voice and can formulate a reply. "'m okay." She's still mostly stunned and only partly responsive when the security guards make it to the car to check on her, but when one of them mentions ambulance she forces herself to focus.
"No, I'm fine. Really. Just… where are Nick and Isis? Is Miss Bar— Barielles okay?"
Nick shakes himself. "I'm okay. I'm… okay." More or less. He's bloodied and bleeding but not TOO injured. It looks worse than it really is, what with the fur and the way it gets matted. Seeing security having trouble opening Pepper's door takes Isis' hand and comes on over to the G-Wiz.
And rips the door off.
"Mister Gleason is right next to you, Miss Potts." JARVIS says helpfully. Security is already seeing to Miss Barielles. "She's been injected with something!" He calls back. Same kind of syringe that had been used to threaten Pepper. "We're calling 911 now."
Nick shakes his head. "They came after her specifically. They have to have known something we don't. Do you know her. Miss Potts?"
Even as he's asking he's turning to look over Isis and make sure that SHE is unhurt. That had, after all, been a nasty fight. "How'd you hold up?" He has no idea. Definitely no idea that she was urging the werewolves to 'switch sides'.
Does Isis even realise that she was doing that? There's things about her that they simply don't know even though it's been three years since they saved her.
"I'm … ok." Isis won't mention the bruising on her calves where the werewolf managed to trap between it and a fender. Or her shoulders - that concrete pylon was solid. Nick can see the claw marks on her side where she hadn't been fast enough and took a glancing blow - those are bleeding.
With security helping Miss Barielles, Isis finds the syringe and picks up. "They'll want this, to work out stuff, I think." She sniffs at wrinkles her nose, growling low. "Smells like the facility I grew up in…"
She'll head to see Pepper in just a moment.
Finally, Pepper releases her seatbelt and turns in the car's seat to sit with her feet on the parking garage's cement floor. The coldness of the concrete is helping her scattered thoughts settle.
"No, Mr. Gleason, I don't. Not personally. She's part of Legal. Maybe JARVIS… JARVIS?" She tries to turn to find her phone in the car where she'd dropped into the cup holder between the seats.
"She is a paralegal for our chief counsel." JARVIS reports. "I am not seeing in her file or medical history any reason she would have been targeted for something like this."
Nick carefully picks up the dropped syringe and sniffs it. Then makes a face and puts it down. "That smells awful. But I can smell reverbium in it. Which means it might be mutagenic." Which makes it perhaps a biiiiit terrifying that Pepper was going to be injected with it.
"Do any of them smell familiar Isis? Do you think you knew any of them?"
"It's more than just reverbium in this one, Nick. It smells like … " There's a tremor that runs through Isis now that she's not fighting. "… what they used on me when I was a kitten." A kitten. She does this when her mind is stuck in that facility.
Looking at the werewolfs that are sprawled and smashed, Isis' nose wrinkles "He does … " It's one of the younger ones, well he looks younger. "… but I don't recognise his look. Just the smell. Maybe I'll recognise his mind when he wakes up. Or his dreams…."
But yes. That was likely one of the other 'experiments' along with Isis.
"Miss Potts…" Isis moves to stand beside Pepper, lending the woman her shoulder if she needs it. "… you were amazing. I saw … some of it."
Pepper accepts Isis' help in getting out of the car, still far more shaky than she'd want to admit to. "They dared attack here. They're lucky it was only me." She can't help but think that Tony would have been far LESS kind to these attackers.
Standing up is helping to further clear the dazed feeling from her mind, and she looks at the various security guards securing the area. "I don't want to have to deal with the police," she murmurs faintly and petulantly. "Can we just go back to my office so I can lay down?"
"We can deal with the police Miss Potts." One of the security says. Pepper can go give a statement later. There's plenty of security footage that JARVIS can produce. Nick helps Isis support Pepper as the security shutters start to come up.
"We can take you back up, Miss Potts, unless you'd like us to drive you home?" He's happy to do that but she might just want the safety and security of your office.
As they move away Nick waits until they're out of earshot of the others. "They had to know you'd be here. They had multiple doses of their drug. Either they meant to get you too, Pepper, or they had multiple locations to hit tonight. Isis, you got up nice and close to one. Could you tell where else they'd been?"
Specific parts of the city have very strong smells. Getting a rough timeline of how someone has travelled is actually not hard for Nick and Isis provided a person didn't spend the entire trip in an airconditioned car.
"We can do that, Miss Potts." Pepper might feel the calming emotion that comes from Isis. The feline-like mutant is very skilled at that.
"The river at least, down near the ocean." The scent of seawater is strong. "Lots of others smells but I suspect that's because they were passing." The blue eyed mutant looks up at Nick "They were intent on Miss Potts. There was satisfaction when she came down the stairs."
"Upstairs. I don't want to deal with getting in a car again quite yet." Translation: Pepper's sore and wants to lie down sooner rather than later. "And, tea. I want some tea."
Letting the pair lead her back up to her office is no hardship whatsoever, though she does make them stop to retrieve her phone, then her purse, then her shoes.
Well, she honestly couldn't care less about the shoes, but if they're already passing right by them…
Pepper's office had of course been dark and Nick… well he might be slightly jealous. It's not that the office has a great view, though of course it does. It's that the office is CLEAN. It is so very clean it's not even funny. Nick's office is always paperwork, notes, phone call transcripts and casefiles. And a roll of paper towels for when Isis starts batting drinks around.
"Where's your. Oh here it is. Tea, Isis?" Nick starts brewing water. He's more a coffee guy himself but he does know how to make tea.
"Ocean. That means they probably came from there. So we're looking for a coastal area and not one along the river. And amybe in Jersey." Jersey isn't far. But thus far most of the source of this kind of thing has been IN New York. So it's probably IN New York they're going to look.
"Are you hurt other than just sore, Pepper? Didn't get stuck or anything like that?" Beat. "I thought that you had a bigger car, by the way."
"Tea?" Isis gives Nick the strangest look and shakes her head. "Uh, no thanks." She answers, helping Pepper to the couch to lay down. Looking around, she finds the crocheted blanket that's folded neatly at the end of end it and shakes it out, ready to cover the redhead with it.
"There was oil … in the scent. Faint but it was there." Which might give Nick a better idea of where to look. "Might be Jersey, if we go, I should be able to tell you."
"They're getting bold, Nick."
Pepper settles into the sofa with a sigh, and all but snuggles into the blanket when it's draped over her. She seems to be not paying attention to the others, at least until she offers a bit dreamily, "Rote Grtuze, please." And then, when they continue speculating, she pushes herself to sit up. "Jersey City. Maybe Constable Hook. And, no, pretty sure he didn't get me with that syringe."
She stares blankly at Nick for a moment when he asks about the car, then goes pale. "JARVIS, whose car was that I just crashed?"
It takes Nick a moment to find the container for that. And the strainer. And then he starts to brew, going onto his phone to check proper brewing times.
"That vehicle belonged to Gerald Baker of Accounting."
"Naturally accounting. Oil…" Nick thinks. "It'd be near boats, then. What's the closest private harbor to both the bridges AND the drainage tunnel network?" That's a rhetorical question but in response JARVIS brings up a map and highlights three locations.
"Hrm… Isis? Anything that stands out to you on that map?"
The timer goes off and Nick pours, then gives tea to Pepper. And some for himself. None for Isis, she didn't want any.
Isis looks up at ceiling as JARVIS speaks, frowning slightly. "Why hasn't your assistant gone home, Miss Potts?" And why aren't they in here fussing over her? That might be problematic at some point, if Isis decides to use her brain more.
"It was a nice car…" The slim mutant settles on the floor by the couch, petting Pepper absently as she looks at the map.
"There … I recognise the smell of the chicken shop." Because food.
Speaking of which "That tea smells good."
Pepper takes the tea from Nick gratefully, then offers almost offhandedly, "There's some whole cream in the little fridge there." It might seem random, especially as Pepper has never been one to add milk or cream to her tea.
She actually has to think for a moment about the name JARVIS supplies, then ohs and puts a hand over her mouth. "Gerry Baker? Who dressed up as Lurch for Halloween the first year I worked for SI? You'll make sure both car owners are taken care of, right, JARVIS?" Even if she thinks both sacrificed vehicles were ridiculous little pieces of European automotive junk.
She offers her teacup to Isis to sample while studying the map that JARVIS has displayed. "Wait, what chicken shop?" She looks from one investigator to the other. "Where are you getting all of this information?"
"Oh is there…" Nick smiles a slightly evil smile. He goes to get a cup and the cream and a bit of sugar. And a fork. And then there's tink tink tink tink as he whips the cream and then turns… "Oh Isis…"
Sugary, creamy and milky. It's a drink made in heaven for Isis provided it isn't on the edge of a table.
"Some from experience, Miss Potts." Nick says. "And some because I literally have a nose for it. I've lived in this city a long time. Every part of it smells different. It doesn't take too much logic to figure out where someone has been. You just need to match what someone smells like to what the city smells like…"
He pauses as Jarvis highlights the only one of those piers with a diner that serves chicken soup nearby.
"Bingo. That's where they came from. Which means they must have been hiding…" He taps an outflow pipe on the map. "Here."
There's a distinct change in the emotion in the room when Pepper mentions milk. Interest and excitement. After trying some of the tea, the feline-like mutant doesn't want to seem rude, Isis is already on her feet by the time Nick turns back. "You're the best, Miss Potts." she says as she takes the cup from Nick, rubbing her ears against his arm.
"That is the best chicken shop. I make Nick take us there anytime we're in the area." Isis nods, slow blinking at Pepper as she asks that question. "He smelt of it. I have sensitive nose and it's easy to remember some things. Sea water, oil and chicken… "
Point
"See."
Of course, that makes Pepper wonder what SHE must smell like to these two. She's polite enough to not ask, though, and instead just takes her tea back from Isis who clearly prefers the cream. "That sounds… both useful and supremely annoying," is the politest thing she can think of to say.
She sips at her tea, studying the map floating there and apparently lost in thought. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she speaks up again. "JARVIS, are there traffic cameras around that one diner, and if so, can you track vehicles and pedestrians in the area for the past…. three hours?"
"It makes getting around the city rather…" Nick wrinkles his nose. "Well. People stink. Literally. This whole city smells like a toxic garbage dump unless you're in a really good Italian restaurant. In which case it smells like oregano." And just oregano.
"Seraching. Yes. There are two cameras. Pulling footage…"
The one camera is completely uninteresting but the other, that shows about an hour ago four shapes that are hard to make out bolting past at close range. When JARVIS slows the footage down and enhances it, they appear to be the very same werewolves.
"So they stopped for a meal, or took it from someone, and then ran past those cameras. And it took them an hour… no… it didn't take them that long. They were waiting. They must have been waiting for ten, twenty minutes easily…"
Nick folds his arms and looks at Isis. Then scritches her ears. "I want to know what was in that syringe and why they wanted to use it on Pepper. Er, sorry, on you Miss Potts." He hadn't meant to be talking about her while she was in the room with them.
"We'll have to check that out. Soon."
"Smelly and noisy…" Isis agrees, happily slurpy that sugary, milky treat Nick made. Jarvis gets another look as he responds and Pepper might see Isis' eyes move to the door. But only for a moment because Nick scratches her ears and she purrs, distracted back to the conversation.
"I can get Hank to look at the syringes, Nick. I need to visit my counsellor… again." She sounds unhappy about that "… and can see him them. Want to go and buy chicken for dinner?"
"Since whatever was in those syringes was used on Miss Barielles, we should get a toxicology report back. I'll be sure to have JARVIS share it with you." Pepper takes another sip of her tea, then tucks the crocheted blanket a little closer around herself. Speaking of…
"JARVIS, I think I'm going to sleep here tonight." And no, she's not even close to contemplating dinner, though she could very easily have whatever chicken Isis prefers delivered.
"Very well Miss Potts. Shall I inform Mister Stark of the incident?" Tony would go nuts for sure. Pepper has to know that.
"We can get chicken. You want waffles too?" Nick isn't thinking that Pepper could have pretty much anything in Manhattan delivered. It is literally not something that occurs to him. All he knows is that while horrible… this might be a very significant break.
Isis had really meant to visit the shop and the area, see if they could pick up any more clues. "Uh, yes? Can I have more milk? Please?"
If they're staying though … The feline-like mutant pads over to where Pepper is, Nick can see the bruising on her back now, and settles down next to the redhead.
"We'll stay with you for a bit, Miss Potts. I'm sorry that happened to you."
As much as Pepper doesn't want Tony to find out, it happened quite literally on their doorstep. She'd be worse than remiss if she didn't inform him. "Yes, JARVIS. Tell Tony everything." She knows the consequences of that statement, but she'd rather deal with Tony's concern than his anger at not being told.
When Isis sits next to her, Pepper offers her a slightly wan smile. "How about I have some chicken and waffles sent up? The executive kitchen is definitely closed for the night, but JARVIS can order from just about anywhere for us. Doesn't even have to all be from the same place."
"Very well Miss Potts." Jarvis goes quiet as Isis settles in. Nick finds the milk and starts to pour again. "Chicken sounds good to me too." He rumbles.
The two mutants sit down. They can stay for dinner. They can stay until Pepper is settled, calmer, feeling safe. What happened here was terrible but it could have been much worse.
And next time it might be. So in the morning, Nick has some things to do.