(no subject)

[iron_bat]

Who: Tony.
What: A lot.
When: Early morning.
Where: New York.
Interactions: Open
Warnings: TBA.



"Good evening Sir, you summoned the jet?" The voice from inside the black and silver bat jet was the all too familiar English accented voice of Jarvis. "You were scheduled to arrive home approximately two hours ago. According to my sensors at the mansion, your soup is cold."

Climbing into the jet, a fully armored Tony Wayne sat in the pilot seat, looking at the empty house that was actually home to Arkham Tower. "I had to see Doctor Strangefate." said a clean shaven Iron Bat. He was sure that if anyone knew about the world's current condition, the Mage Supreme would. "I'm not going back to the mansion Jarvis. There has to be something here in New York. Too many things triangulate here. Make arrangements for me to stay here, schedule visits for Wayne Resilient that don't interfere with my investigation." Switching the controls of the jet from A.I. to Manual, he took off.

"Very good Sir. Notifications have been left at the main offices of Wayne Resilient of New York as well as your personal accommodations therein. Is there anything else?"

There was a long pause as the jet flew over the clouds in the night sky. Finally the white light in the eyes of the back armored mask narrowed slightly. "No. I think I can find a gorgeous blonde on my own."

The smallest of smiles was visible on Tony's lips.

-------------

Morning had come abruptly as the sunlight filtered through the large windows of a luxurious suite at the top of Wayne Resilient. Tightly clenching his eyes for a moment before opening them, Tony's darted back and forth. From the bed he was in he could see a trail of female clothing on the pristine white carpet leading up to the foot of the bed. Under the sheets sleeping next to him was a blonde woman, likely a model as was his preference, and her name eluded him entirely. With silent finesse, Tony slid out of the bed and headed out of the room into an open living area with couches, foot rests, multiple televisions on the wall along with a bar. "Shower." he said as he walked past the room and through another door that led to an expansive bathroom. Being already naked, he walked into the water that had been running with hot water since the moment the word had left his lips.

"What did you do with the fake me?"

Jarvis' voice, crisp as ever answered "The Life Model Decoy that has been performing your 'minor' duties at Wayne Resilient has been decommissioned and put in stasis last night Sir. It will be ready to continue activity at your request and has every media channel in full belief that Anthony Wayne and the Iron Bat are two very separate people."

Listening to the usual response, Tony had washed himself and begun drying off. "Good. Set my official arrival at the company for noon. Oh, and clean" he motioned in the direction of the bedroom "all of that up." he said.

Minutes later he walked out of the bathroom, clothes materializing on him. A dark red silk shirt covered by a black sports coat paired with black slacks and crimson shoes. When the elevator doors opened he walked out giving a smile and smart nod at a woman who had just passed it. She froze in disbelief as he continued on. A young man on a cell phone dropped his briefcase upon seeing the owner of the company suddenly appearing at Wayne Resilient in New York.

"Don't worry, you didn't get the memo because there wasn't one." Tony said still smiling and pointing both fingers at him. He swiftly walked past the young intern at the desk nearby the main entrance/exit to the building. "Don't get up, I'll let myself out." chimed Tony as the doors opened smoothly and automatically. Fishing sunglasses out of the pocket of his sports coat, he snapped them on and began simply walking into the streets of New York keeping an eye out for breakfast options. After having been out most of the night and missing dinner, Tony definitely needed some food. For thought of course. Who could conduct a competent investigation on an empty stomach?

Comments

[barbara_gordon]

Like the Batsignal in the skies of Gotham, Tony's signal suddenly lit up the screen on the computer terminal Pepper had been using to scan for him. He was in New York again, but no where near the location of Strangefates Mansion. As soon as the signal was there though, every thought disappeared from Pepper's mind and she swung around in her chair without even managing to notify Angie.

"Door! Anthony Wayne's location!" The woman called out. She'd pretty much gotten it down now and in an instant the golden glowing rectangle appeared and she was through it, ginger hair swishing with each stroke of her arms against the wheels of her chair. She appeared on the other side of the door right on the sidewalk of New York City, a couple of people having to hurriedly swerve their feet in order to avoid her. That was fine however as she was more intent on giving her esteemed employer the most blood chilling glare she'd ever given him in their long history together.

The flurry of words that was about to erupt from the woman's mouth was plain to see in her severe expression, imposing even while bound to a wheelchair.

[iron_bat]

About to pull out his phone to check for the location of the nearest location that served a big selection of breakfast items, Tony was stopped by the sudden emergence of Pepper. Just as quickly as he had blinked was she there, not even more than a few steps away.

"How did you know I was hungry and needed directions to some hot food?" he asked quickly as he let the shades slide down his nose a little so his eyes were visible over the top. "Because seriously, I can't decided between Sarabeth's, Big Daddy's, or just some IHOP."

While he spoke his eyes flitted towards the after image of whatever she just wheeled out of. After seeing the absolute scowl he was being given he pushed the glasses back up.

"Sorry mom, spent the night at a friend's house, didn't get what I wanted so I took a jet to New York for some fun." he did get out his phone and turned it on. "But I got here by jet, what's your excuse? Shouldn't you be in Gotham?" he asked casually as he began walking again expecting her to follow him. "I'm thinking Sarabeth's, they have an omelette to die for."

[barbara_gordon]

"I'll tell you all about how I got here just as soon as you're finished telling me how you got away from Strangefate. After you were...you know kidnapped by his sunshine assistant leaving Cindy and I to find our own way out of the Magic Mansion from Hell?" Pepper managed to restrain herself from scowling anymore but the days spent in exhausting stress and worry were definitely still present on her face and in her body. She did take a quick deep exhale however.

And then as if she wanted to spite him she muttered "I like IHOP better." as she turned her chair so that she could roll along side him. "Resilient Gotham is fine by the way. Although your new assistant is getting more attention from the media than the company is right now. And you've got a corporate lunch coming up. I had to reschedule like 5 times now because you were missing but amazingly Starrware's CEO is still interested in a partnership. I already sent you the portfolio." The Ginger haired woman chose her words carefully so that she could avoid awkward questions about Karen Starr. Besides; she didn't need to. Let him find out about the woman on his own.

[iron_bat]

As Pepper began her berating Tony moved his fingers across his screen and the phone emitted a soft light that was instantly rendered invisible due to the sun's natural light. Once that was done he held the phone aloft in his hand smiling as people passed by, not even giving them a once over.

"What would you do without me?" he asked under his breath before he began "First of all, I wasn't kidnapped by anyone, I voluntarily went to go see the good Doctor to see what his input was on the recent changes in the world. I instructed Jarvis to send a notification to you." Again he eyed his phone where thumbed up a new window on it. "Which shows that it was received by you so don't even try to pin this on the Jarvis Pennyworth system, it's flawless."

As he continued walking towards the IHOP building he sighed. "I'll just have to go to Sarabeth's another day. Without you." he said as he opened the door by pushing the handicapped panel that opened the door. A small wink was all he gave to Pepper when he did so. "I'm in New York for a week or so, maybe. Could change." he said non-committedly as he pointed to the two of them and the hostess quickly went to find a large booth. "They really do love us here, don't they?" he asked as they were escorted to their table which was separate from most the other customers.

"I'll check the Starrware stuff later. Right now the Iron bat has a lot on his plate." thumbing through the menu Tony held it up to the waiter and pointed at an omelette entry on the menu and then the Orange Juice item on the menu. He gave a thumbs up with a smile and the waiteR looked to Pepper. Still smiling Tony looked at her also.

"Go ahead, ask how I'm doing it." he said obviously excited about having casually talked about him being Iron Bat and talking with Strangefate in public. "And don't forget to order."

[barbara_gordon]

His account of the event wasn't anything like what had actually happened. Which could only mean that Strangefate had tampered with his head somehow. Yet another reason to dislike magic. But that had to wait a moment as she turned to the waiter to order, only to find him staring at her blankly. All that intellect and she still managed to stumble over whatever Tony was so excited about at just that moment.

"Why aren't you responding Tony why isn't he responding?" She changed her question quickly as she realized mid-sentance that there was little chance the waiter would understand her if he hadn't heard her order just a minute earlier. While waiting for him to go into his undoubtedly enthusiastic explanation the Woman pulled out her phone and swiped through the files until she had the now infamous world broadcast of Caitlin's announcement queued up.

[iron_bat]

Giving a smile, Tony hand up his hand, palm out, and just nodded his head quickly point at the menus. The waiter smiled and nodded saying "Take your time, I'll check back with you in a minute."

After a moment Tony leaned forward, his fingers interlocked right in front of his smiling face. "I've developed a program that neutralizes sound. The idea came to me while I was on patrol a couple of weeks back and heard some incredibly annoying bass while in the Bat Mobile. I simply activate the program, I installed it on my phone as well, select any invention of mine as well as a 'target'. When noise reaches that target, the device emits an opposing sound wave to create silence. So say if you were driving and had the program set to a specific sound wave, bass for instance, any bass that would normally reach your ears is cancelled by an opposing sound wave that spares your ears from that noise." Obviously he was dying to introduce his new toy to someone. "Now for us, wouldn't that mean that we couldn't hear anyone talk, but everyone could hear us talk? Normally yes. I simply reversed the function and made the specifications to allow us to hear each other. I chose your suit" his fingers motioned to her chair. "And of course for me, well, you know. And the selected targets are ourselves of course. So when our words come out, they are countered by neutralizing sound waves so no one can hear anything we say, not even a dog's ear would catch it. But I made it so you and I are able to still hear each other. It's actually a simple process." he said as he took out his phone, turning it on and pointing at her phone. "So when he comes back, just simply point out what you want, otherwise you'll look like a silent movie. But in color. With no text."

"So what is this?" he asked as he began breaking into her phone to see what she was looking at.

[barbara_gordon]

Of course he would invent the countermeasure to bass music. Who else could do that? Still Pepper couldn't help but feel awkward when the waiter returned and she had to point to what she wanted on the menu and then wait for him to nod and leave again. Idle thoughts passed across her mind about whether the waiter was getting annoyed or not. It seemed like it could come off as extremely arrogant. Pointing and such and refusing to address him verbally.

Of course almost as soon as he was finished talking he was attempting to break into her phone. "Oh would you stop? I was going to show it to you anyway." She told him with a sigh. "You know this is why I have a constant algorithm shift activated. Look; I already have it queued up so just watch okay?" Tony was ahead of Pepper in a lot of ways. But she could always compete with him where computer programming was concerned. After all there was a reason Oracle was a legend in the hacker community.

But for the time being; that had to take a back seat to the video that was playing. The message Caitlin had sent to the world about how she and the "Good Doctor" were going to "help" them all.

[iron_bat]

With a sigh Tony stopped his attempt, put his phone away and looked over at Pepper's phone. His face shifted into a hardened, serious look. His jaw set as he continued looking at her phone even after the video had finished. Putting his elbows on the table he interlocked his fingers, his eyes on Pepper, but not looking at her. More looking through her. In his mind he was looking at the conversation he had with Dr. Strangefate. A man whom he had known for quite a long time, but still didn't trust. Then being escorted out by Caitlin. Tony had never liked or trusted magic. Was he being played was the question that mulled over in his mind. It was hard to instantly dismiss Pepper's video but it was also just as difficult to dismiss everything he remembered. Some things fell perfectly into place now that he had seen that video, but a lot of other things became disjointed. Unrealistic.

"Make sure to send that to send that to Jarvis." he said finally. This would need a lot more looking into. Researching this could take a while and now it looked like more restless nights and re-engaging that LMD. But there was at least some business he could attend to.

Once again his phone was in his hand and he was looking through recent files. "What's this about Starr Corp. or Inc. …whatever?" he asked absent mindedly as he thumbed through the company's mission statement, his head lightly moving back and forth as he mentally read "Blah, blah, blah. and through their technology breakthroughs. "Nice. A little behind, but it is kind of cute." he said as he read on their concepts of nano technology. And then...then-

Tony suddenly sat straight up, his mouth going slightly slack as he stood motionless. Save for his eyes which were darting up, down, side to side on his phone, and they moved to Pepper.

"I need to have a meeting with their CEO." he said almost automatically as their food arrived. "It needs be a good meeting. A really, REALLY good meeting."

[barbara_gordon]

"I thought you would say that" Pepper replied while trying not to sound too proud of herself. She'd sent the file practically before he'd finished telling her to and now was sending another file directly to his phone.

"There is your meeting. Time and place. And also-" The woman drew out the word, the way she always did when she was in the middle of sending something she thought was important "The second annual charity Carnival and Date Auction is coming up. It's going to be in Gotham this year."