Players:
Summary: Dinner plans are destroyed when Kaji winds up attacking Alessia, and Tony.
Date: July 15, 2010
Log Title: Unknown Blocks
Rating: R for Language and Violence
NYC- Stark Towers - Personal Residence of Tony Stark
With the grand reveal of Theo's Stark-car done with, that left Tony with a few things that could be taken care of via a few well placed phone calls. Happy was driving back to the Towers, as Tony thought about whether to explain what was going on or to bring up what he was hoping to get up to in an hour or so. In the end he put together both, "I had a few guards in place since I was out of the Tower. I was coming back after Theo was in good hands. After that I thought I might convince you to go out for dinner and a movie."
"Did Ah seem overly worried about things, Tony?" Al asks, tugging the sticks from her hair to let it tumble loose. Her voice is quiet, a slow, subtle stretch given before one hand presses fingers against her eye. Then she starts, looking at him. "Dinner an' a movie. Out."
Tony looks across his shoulder at Al. "Are you tired?" At least, that's how he's reading the stretch and the fingers to the eye. He has a habit of rubbing at his eyes with a fist when he's overtired and ignoring it. "If you'd rather stay in and watch TV, that's all right. I just thought we could have some time away from the Towers."
Alessia shifts to be closer to him, now that she's not all professional. "Wait. Ya are actually askin' me out. Like a date. In public."
His expression is slightly nervous now that its been mentioned as such, even if it only is a fleeting glimpse of emotion. "I am. I'm still not ready for the paparazzi but I'm not about to hide in a tower, that's the fair damsels job, not the Knight." Tony lifts an arm to settle about her shoulders as the car is stuck in a bit of traffic getting back to the Towers. "Is there anything you want to see? I thought we could get Indian food, if you like Indian food."
"Then why are ya askin' me, if ya aren't ready for people to know?" There's a note of exasperation in the redhead's voice, even as she curls up closer to him, eager for that contact. "Ah've never had Indian.'
"Because, I want to go out with you. I'm never going to be ready for the invasion of privacy, but I don't like having life curbed worse than their insatiable need for dirt." Tony seems to relax over the course of a few minutes. So much so that he's closed his eyes and is toying with the ends of her hair at her shoulders. "I know this Indian place where you get to sit on giant pillows, and they have candles all over the place. I've been thinking about that place for days. I thought you might like to go there with me, maybe over stuff on the fondue."
"Ya know you're contradictin' yourself, right? Ah mean, ya know Ah'm not worried, but like hell Ah wanna out somewhere with ya, an' have ya sell it to someone as me bein' with you because Ah'm your Security an' fillin' in for your bodyguard."
Again, he fails at explaining himself when it comes to this. Clearing his mind of all of the random thoughts, he attempts to make better sense, or at least something that is passable. "I've no intention of passing you off as my security. I don't think I'm explaining the problem very well. I'm not going to draw attention to myself, but should anyone figure out who I am, then whatever happens happens." Tony sighs, "Forget I mentioned it, I can't explain it. You'll just have to see what happens when people find out." Nope, still can't explain it. It might even be worth it just to get things out completely in the open so he stops bobbling his words.
"But…what would Ah wear?" Al's voice is very quiet, very small. She's tucked up under his arm, as if she wants to just curl up in his lap. "Forget…which part? The goin' out part, or people findin' out part?"
"The people finding out part, love." Tony says solemnly. The problem was going to be lurking around till someone did leak out that he was seen with Al. It would end their quiet outings but it really didn't change much of anything else, and he was sure they'd be able to get around things if they wanted to. "Want me to tell Happy to head over to your apartment? I don't need anything back at the Towers and I think everything we have at my place is in the wash."
Alessia lifts her head to look at him. "Ah have Vegas stuff Ah still haven't worn, that Ah stashed at the Towers. More likely to find somethin' Ah can wear in that stuff, than at my place." She blushes, looking down. "Told ya Ah spent too much money there."
Tony chuckles, "I don't think you did, if that's any consolation." The ride back to the Towers goes well enough, and Happy drops the pair off in the parking garage. Once upstairs Tony will busy himself with something while Al digs through her clothes for something to wear. "I'll call ahead to the Indian place, and check the movie times while you get ready."
Al has discovered that she bought /way/ too many clothes in Vegas. How can Tony not think so? But there is, at least, a simple black dress. She's got it laid out, a pair of heels, and is poking through the accessories to decide what else to wear with it. No rushing about.
Tony has called ahead to get the reservations for dinner and checked the times of the movies to keep in mind for whenever they leave the Indian place. As he's standing in the middle of the living room looking for something to do he realizes that he left something in the lab that requires immediate attention before he can go out. He makes his way down the hall to peek into the bedroom, "I'll be right back, I left something running downstairs that I need to lock up." With that Stark is off to the elevator to make a mad dash down to the lab and come back upstairs.
Coming out of the spare room is Kaji, looking a tad more disheveled than normal. He spots Tony heading towards the elevator and then he walks over towards the door to the bedroom. A soft knock on the open door and he calls over towards Alessia. His voice sounding tired as he says, "Hey, Al. Ya know how I asked for your help this weekend? Think… ya can do it now? I know you're about to go out and all. But… I don't think I can last."
Alessia turns to look at Kaji, taking in his current state. She glances down at the glittery fake jewelry in her hand, before she tosses it back in the little box, and sets all that aside. "Sure, Kaji. Ah know Ah told ya Ah would." Sorry, friends come before dates! She moves to put her dress somewhere out of the way, so Kaji can sit. "Ya know it won't be the smoothest ride ever, right? Ah ain't all that practiced. You'll know Ah'm there."
Kaji moves over towards the bed. "Thanks," then he shakes his head, "I know it won't be the smoothest. But I can't seem to get a clear picture of my own head. I need someone to go in there and see if they can't try to set things right." He climbs up onto the bed, moving to sit cross legged in front of Al.
Alessia reaches over to ruffle his hair, a faint smile. "So what is it you want me to specifically look for, an' set to rights, Wuffie? An' don't worry, Ah promise to ignore pretty much anythin' else Ah see. Promise that it goes no further than me, an' Ah'll try to forget."
Kaji hehs a bit at the ruffle of his hair. "I just need to know how it looks in there. I've been having nightmares and stress isn't making it easier." He laughs a bit before he looks up at her, "I know you won't be going around snooping, I trust you."
Alessia leans in to kiss his forehead in a sisterly fashion. "All right. Ah'll take a poke around, see if anythin' Ah can do can help organize stuff, all right?" A wink at the Wuffie, her hand dropping to his shoulder. "Jus' relax, all right?" She closes her eyes to focus, a deep breath in and out, before she's doing her best to slip into Kaji's mind to see beyond the clutter of surface thoughts to see why he's having nightmares.
Kaji lets out a deep breath, relaxing a bit as he closes his eyes. "I'll try." Past his surface thoughts, Alessia would see a sprawling city that has a forest nestled in the middle of it. While it would be nice and clean cut, at the moment it looks like mother nature has taken its own course of action. Buildings are crumbling as the foilage is visibly crawling through the streets and up the walls.
Alessia uses empathy first, to try and make Kaji feel calm, safe. She's curious about this city, of course, the way the nature is running wild. Questioning why, even as she tries, in a manner of speaking, to make it stop and prune it back. It would make sense this disturbance is the reason why Kaji's having nightmares, even as Al sort of finds herself surrounded by the foilage.
While the empathy does help Kaji feel nice and calm, even safe with Alessia with him; that doesn't stop the forest from encroaching on the city limits. With Al walking, or even standing in the foliage. If she can take note of it, there's a feeling of something watching her from the depths of the forest.
Al figures that is Kaji's subconscious, reacting to an invader and is watching her. With a mental push, she's trying to trim the foliage back, and make it loosen the hold it is gaining.
The creepy feeling becomes a low growl that seems to echo from the forest, soft thuds on the ground come from behind the woman. So, it seems that the weakling has called in help, hm? A deep chuckle as it starts to circle around into Al's field of vision. Lot of help that it'll do.
Alessia straightens up, eyes straight ahead. She pushes harder, teeth gritting. "It is not weakness to ask someone else to look. To ask someone else to help if they have different skills." Her voice is tight, throat feeling hot. "Why are ya lettin' this go wild, an' disturbin' his peace of mind?"
That large being moves to stand in front of the woman, the forest around it not nudging as it growls low. The very air seeming to vibrate from it. Because he needs to learn. The animal lowers his head down, its hackles rising up as he snarls at her. And you're encroaching on -My- space. Get. Out.
Al, like the stubborn fool she can be, digs in her heels. Literally and figuratively. "This is Kaji's mind. He invited me in, an' Ah'm stayin' until Ah can fix what's givin' him trouble. An' if that's you, then that's you. What is it he needs to learn, ya think?" Instead of trying to pull back the tendrils growing over the city, Al pulls back her power, ready to lash out at the being in front of her.
That wolf raises its head, letting out a deep chuckle before a howl echoes out. He hasn't figured it out yet?! It wears a sneering smile on its face as the gaze levels back down at her, its golden eyes burning bright. He can't keep me locked up forever. He's going to have to accept it. He'll know. He always has.
"If you would TELL me what he has to accept, did it ever occur to ya Ah might help him figure out a way to deal with you without lockin' ya up, like ya say?"
Another low growl echoes through the mind scape before that head lowers down to be level with Al's. It's up to him to figure out. I'm not going to hold his hand through this. A massive paw lifts up, and moves to just slam down on Alessia. To get her /out/ of Kaji's mind.
Alas, telepathy is not quite like a dream. Al lashes out against the being with her telepathy. "Get OUT." Shouted, really, even as she gets slammed by the paw. She can't keep her empathy from sharing, this deep in, and Kaji may get jolted by pain as she's slammed down. "Help me help ya both, or get the fuck out yerself!"
Kaji lets out a grunt as he feels the pain, but compared to what he's been through the past two days? It's nothing but a smack to him. The wolf though just lets out another low laugh. Yer a feisty one. And I can't leave darlin'. I'm stuck here. I'm what makes Kaji him. It backs up, and then charges forward; its maw open to snap down on the woman to jolt her out of the mutant's mind. The wolf is getting quite annoyed.
Al might get seriously agonized over being snapped down on, but when he's close enough, she's SO punching him right in the nose. But after that? It's like she evaporates from Kaji's mind back to her own, though her own is currently unconscious and laying on Tony's bedroom floor in a heap.
The punch to the nose does little to deter the wolf from its attack, but when she does evaporate; Kaji's snapped back to reality and he looks down at Alessia on the floor. "Fuck me running," is all the man utters before he drops down onto the ground; putting an ear to the woman's chest to make sure she's breathing.
The elevator doors open on the 93rd floor allowing Stark to come through, he's clearly agitated by whatever has kept him in the lab for this long. Definitely not the way to start a date, that isn't really spose to be a date, or /gah, just apologize and babble so that things can get sorted out/ "Sorry! I'm back, I've got things under control in the lab!" Tony heads down the hall as he calls out to Al, thinking that she might still be doing something in the bedroom. "Sia?" He calls out since he hasn't heard anything and opens the door, eyes widening in horror. "What happened!??!" Tony cries out and all but drops to the floor pushing Kaji out of the way with one hand.
Kaji grunts as he's shoved onto the bed, and he's babbling at the moment. "I just asked her to help me look into my mind to see what was wrong in there. And I… I don't know!" He does know, and it's grating on his nerves now as he runs his hands through his hair. "My wolf side is getting more and more aggressive. I thought Alessia could help me in getting it under control! I didn't think that it'd go that for and attack her!"
Breathing, yes. Heartbeat, yes, though it's slower than one would expect. There's no color in the redhead's face, leaving those freckles stark against her skin. No pun intended.
With fingers pressed to the side of her neck, that turns into a hand against Al's cheek, Tony is barely listening to the wolf babble about what has happened. His concern is entirely on Al who isn't fairing very well at the moment, and it sends a trill of panic down Tony's spine. When he does hear Kaji mention that /he/ is the reason that Al is laying on his floor, the panic turns to barely controlled anger. "GET OUT," Tony snarls through clenched teeth.
At least Al's head turns when Tony's hand is on her cheek, perhaps recognizing the familiar touch, though she flinches when Tony erupts in Anger.
Kaji moves to get off of the bed, putting a hand to his forehead as he moves towards the door. His footsteps stop though as he looks back at Tony, if he was looking at the man he'd notice that Kaji's eyes were more golden than hazel. He brings up a hand to cover his eyes as he closes them as well before he starts to head towards the door more.
Tony startles the moment that Al appears to flinch. He's not sure what has caused this reaction but the fact that she is laying on his floor, hurt by whatever happened with herself and Kaji, has rattled Tony's control. He pushes himself up from the floor to face Kaji who is standing over nearby the bedroom door. "GET OUT of my room. In fact get the hell out of my apartment…NOW." If the snarl in his voice isn't enough to tear into his friend, the fact that Tony has just bodily thrown Kaji right into the doors might be a clear sign that the wolf needs to get the hell out of the apartment. Not really wanting to get into a fight with his friend, because he's not able to figure out what's happened, and knowing subconsciously that Kaji would never hurt either of them, Tony turns his back on Kaji and heads back over to see if he can help Al.
Alessia whimpers when Tony is yelling at Kaji, rolling onto her side and curling up into a tiny little ball.
Kaji wouldn't harm Tony or Al. But the wolf inside of Kaji doesn't care, and it'll do anything to get Kaji to realize that he needs to do something. The mutant shifts into his anthro form, not of his own free will before he pushes off of the door. He grabs an award off of the table near him, and just moves over towards Tony. His voice deeper than what it usually is, "Thanks for the fresh air." With that, he goes to clock Tony upside the head with that award; putting in a good bit of strength to give Tony a bit of 'shut eye.'
Tony hasn't a chance to process the words that are spoken. As an outsider would see, the award comes down violently on the side of Starks head causing the mans head to turn harshly under the force. All Stark registers is a massive amount of pain before everything goes black and he slumps down, hitting the foot of the bed before he lands in a boneless puddle on the floor. A small puddle of blood pools under where his temple is against the carpet. The Extremis all ready trying to repair the damage even if the conscious mind is out to lunch.
The other downside, is that Al can't shield when she's 'under', so she feels Tony's pain, and it makes something stir inside her head. One hand reaches out weakly over the carpet towards him, even as her mind tries to push itself to consciousness.
The anthro lets out a soft chuckle before he flexes his fingers. "Don't know how long I'm out. So. You all'll need to have a lovely chat after this." With probably too much glee, the anthro is gone. The elevator down to the lobby, onto Kaji's bike and out into the town. Kaji's going to have one hell of a morning. Especially with Task's training ahead.
Tony is nonfunctional. Having not expected an attack his defenses were down, and the blow was strong enough to cause him not only to be knocked out but to cause a serious injury. The nanotech is working furiously to repair the bleeding and to erase the damaged cells, but this process can take upwards of an hour depending on the severity.
Alessia starts to stir. Perhaps she wasn't put out that deeply. Perhaps it's knowing Tony's angry and/or hurt. Perhaps she's just PISSED OFF AT THE WOLF. Since she doesn't have a damned bleeding head wound, she starts coming to, after a few minutes, slow to uncurl from that protective fetal position. It only takes a few seconds, though, for her to realize something is right. Tony's mental blocks aren't in place! What the…?!
The nanotech is busily removing the build up of blood from the head wound, and the skin has all ready healed itself over externally. Inside Starks head is a completely different matter. As the tech communicates to rewrite the damage to the skull, the internal bleeding still causes pressure to the brain. He's clearly in pain, unable to dig himself back up to consciousness, even though there is a clear will to fight against what is keeping him down.
Alessia sees blood, and that's enough to make her panic. Crawling on her knees to Tony, frowning at seeing the skin healed up and over. "Tony…baby? Talk to me, please?" Fingers brush along his cheek, even as her powers tiptoe along his mind, her telepathy only for the first time able to sense anything in his head. "Tony."
If Al took a look around at the room she'd notice that there is a bloodied science award laying on the floor next to where she is at the moment. There is also no sign of Kaji anywhere near them, just the double doors of the bedroom seeming to be off the hinge from an impact. Tony is struggling towards consciousness, even as he keeps getting pulled back down into darkness. Every time he surges up, determined to snap out of it, he gets closer to surfacing.
Alessia doesn't dare move him, leaning down to kiss his forehead. A murmur against his skin, almost like a prayer. "Wake up, baby. Don't make me scared, huh?" Her telepathy works to slip into his unblocked mind, to try and encourage him. Let him know she's there, she's with him, she's not going anywhere.
Tony is unprepared for a feeling to enter into the picture other than the anger and pain. This is far different, this is sort of like the empathetic nudges he's used to. The pounding in his skull seems to lessen enough that he sucks in a deep breath, and moans pitifully. He's coming around, but it still feels like a funvee ran into the side of his head. It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that in the next moment Stark may roll and wretch all over the carpet.
"Tony." Al's voice is there, soft and attempting to be comforting, both audibly and mentally. "Hey, baby. Ah know you're in there, huh?" Empathy is working to try and keep him calm, her hand taking hold of his. "Squeeze my hand baby, please? Let me know you're comin' around."
Al may be discouraged as several moments pass and her request goes unanswered. Finally there is a response as Tony's fingers lightly curl in around hers. A groan proceeds the opening of his unfocused eyes. His thoughts are pretty loud even if a jumbled mess at the moment. Whether it is how he's going to keep from being sick all over the place, or if Al is safe, or the loudest thought being that he's going to tear Kaji apart, he's aware now. Al would feel a wall slam down between her mind and his as he's come around enough to lift his head from the floor. "Sia?" His eyes close again as if even softly speaking her name sounds like he'd used a megaphone next to his ears.
"Hey.." When she sees his eyes open, a relief that her empathy shares with him. There's a flinch as that walls comes down, severing her mind from his without warning, making her eyes shut tight. "Ah'm here, Tony. What happened?"
Slowly he puts his hands down on the carpet helping to push him up onto all fours. Tony's head hangs for a moment before the position makes him ill. He sits back on his heels to look about the room. "Where is he?" The most pressing question that has to be asked because of what has happened. If the wolf wasn't in the apartment any longer, the other questions could be asked and answered but right now, her safety and to some extent his, was paramount.
"Kaji? He was gone when Ah woke up, baby. He hit you, Ah can figure that out, but..the door? What all happened in here?"
Tony reaches up to press the heel of his hand against the side of his head. There is however, a breath of relief issued as he realizes that the immediate threat is over. How long had he been out? "I don't know. I came in to find you on the floor with him over you. He said something, I can't even remember what it was other than it was his fault." He reaches a hand out to rest against the side of her neck, "I told him to get out, he didn't take the hint. I threw him into the doors and turned back to help you. That's all I know." Tony swallows against the sudden bought of nausea caused by his body repairing itself. "Are you all right now?" His concern is plainly etched across his face.
"Oh sugar… He.. over the weekend, he asked me if Ah'd take a look in his head, try to figure out why he's havin' nightmares an' all. His subconcious…kinda attacked me, just …made me go under. Was too much to take for me all at once. Kaji didn't..Oh Tony. This is all my fault. Ah.. Ah shoulda told him no, but Ah just thought Ah needed to look around!"
Tony growls, "How is this your fault? He attacked you. Hell, he attacked me!" His own yelling causes him to gasp and bring both of his hands up to his temples to apply pressure. He knew he had to calm down, to think things out, but after seeing what he had seen and then to wind up attacked himself, it was too much. Relying on the meditation techniques that had been taught to him, Tony tries to regain some semblance of control, for he'd do no one any good in this state.
"/HE/ didn't. Kaji… no. It was somethin' else, somethin' in his mind that… talked about makin' him wanna learn something, something he didn't understand." Al tries to explain, hand rubbing at his shoulder, empathy trembling and weak as she tries to help calm him down. "Ah don't think it was Kaji. Not the wuffie we know."
There isn't a snowballs chance in hell of Tony listening to this explanation of what happened. It was entirely possibly that there was something wrong mentally with the wolf, as he's known many people to have been attacked psychically, and done things without their consent. It didn't change the fact that both of them had taken the brunt of whatever was happening. Some part of Tony will eventually pick up the thread that he needs to figure out what is going on with the wolf but right now he's too far gone too think rationally; part of his own problem. "I can't," the rest of the statement tapers off as he tries to force down his rage. "I'm locking him out of here. No arguments."
Alessia clenches her jaw, stubborness kicking in. Empathy presses hard to mellow Tony out. "Tony. If he needs us…if he has somethin' wrong in his head. Who does he have to help him, but us?"
"Don't!" Tony yells, then suffers for it. He knows she only wants to help him, to help Kaji, but things are too unbalanced right now. The fact that he can't gain the upper hand on his emotions isn't helping either of them, and its partially because the side effects of his altered humanity are rearing their ugly head. "Don't ask this of me, please," his voice sounds pleading. After what he saw when he walked in, and what has happened, he just can't deal with Kaji now, if even the near future. At least the thoughts of tearing Kaji apart limb from limb have died down in the last few minutes.
Alessia flinches away from him, to the point she physically recoils and loses contact with him. "Tony…would Ah lie to you? Ah /saw/ somethin' in his head. It wasn't Kaji, it was somethin' tryin' to get loose. An' if he attacked you…Ah helped it get free." She starts scooting back away from him, eyes lowered to stare at the carpet. "Ya need to rest, need to… take it easy. Ah…somethin' happened, Tony. Ah was inside your head."
Tony listens as she talks about Kaji, even if he doesn't want to hear it. He even talks over her as she continues, "I know you wouldn't like to me. I'm just not going to listne to this. Not now." The pounding in his skull has let up enough that he's able to turn himself around and lean back against the foot of the bed without getting vertigo. When Al says that she was inside his head, he blinks several times. "That's not possible, not with the blocks…" Tony tilts his head to the side mid sentence and after a moment his eyes go wide. "Well, I'll be damned. The idiots put in tech based blocks? Did they think that was the smartest thing to do?" Tony drops the block as if it were some sort of on/off circuit.
"Damnit it, Tony." Then he's saying it wasn't possible.. "Like hell it's not. Ah was so! Ah know.." Then he drops them, and she jerks again. Blue eyes wide. "Ya can just…drop them like that?"
Tony seems about as shocked as she is by this. The people at SHIELD had told what the blocks in his mind would be capable of doing but not how they functioned. He knew there were several different kinds of blocks that could have been placed, but he had never really paid attention to it before. Quickly his mind accessed his file in the SHIELD database, and he poured over the information. "Well damn," he mutters. Tony reaches out a hand toward her, "The block would remain up and unmoving had they done it another way but they didn't take into account my ability to manipulate tech. They put in a mental block that I can drop at will."
Alessia doesn't reach back for him, still afraid that she can't handle him being angry, and upset. She's just staring at him, not sure how to react to all of this.
When she doesn't accept his hand he lets it fall down to rest against his thigh. He's not sure what she is thinking but he raises the pyschic block again, just in case his reactions were overwhelming her. He's not nearly as hostile as he was several minutes ago but he's still upset. "What a time to figure out that I could do this," he sighs.
Alessia stirs when he puts it back up, hand rubbing at his knee. "Don't…Ah've never …been able to even consider talkin' to you in your head before. Ah…don't shut me out."
Tony rests his head back against the bed, closing his eyes to try and quell his tempest of feelings. "I thought it would be better to keep from bombarding you." Even as he tells her why he lifted the block again he lowers it again, this time there is no rage battering everything apart. There is just a sense of confusion, and he's clearly rattled by the events.
"Ya think it's better to hide from me?" Al questions, moving to be close to him. "Tony,…do you trust me?"
"I'm not hiding from you," Tony replies. "I have never had anyone enter my mind that didn't want me to destroy something or someone. The fact that you just had one hell of a problem, and my general lack of control right now, I thought it best to keep the wall up. Well, now that I know I can manipulate it." His arm lifts up to fall about her shoulders as she gets close to him. What a pair they must make looking drained as they sit at the foot of the bed, "You know I trust you. I've told you that before, many times."
"Then let me show you what happened." Al whispers, a quiet plea. "Let me show you that Kaji never hurt me. It wasn't Kaji, not the Kaji we know." Her hand squeezes at his thigh lightly. "Ah'm all right, Tony. Ah…Ah just wasn't prepared."
The initial thoughts that spring to mind can clearly be picked up by Al since the wall is down; none of them are pleasant. If she is willing to wait several minutes Tony might be more receptive of the idea. As it is, the thin line of control he has will be completely obliterated if he's shown the wrong thing. A hand covers hers, and finally he nods his ascent.
